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AvalonReeseFanFics

A/N: Hey my lovely readers! I hope you're enjoying the marathon. I know this is a little later in the day but it's been quite busy for me today. School started and I've got those dreaded 8am classes. We've got the wonderful conclusion to this chapter which I thought was super cute, I hope you guys think so as well. Don't forget to leave me a review and I will see you guys tomorrow!

Chapter 167

Roman Zednick was livid. Past livid. This day, was not going the way she wanted it to. First she got shot and had to play up the wounded victim with a stupid but quite attractive cop. Then she found out that all the men she hired had been killed, but at least she had managed to convince the stupid cop that Emil Hossa was the real Roman. She was about to be released, about to escape when she hit the problem. That black gun runner, the snitch, the one working for ICE, she had ordered him dead but he wasn't dead. He was alive and wheeling around her ward. That would have been bad enough except for the appearance of the red-head. She body checked Roman while she was attempting to chase her wheelchair bound witness and then sprinted away with him shouting exactly who she was to the other cop on the ward.

Anyone else would have just turned tail and run but Roman hadn't gotten this far by playing nice. She wasn't going to let any of these people get away with what they knew. So she had cut power to the ward, locking them down in the elevator, now that they were trapped all she had to do was kill them.

She got to the elevator and paused by the wall. She heard hissing, she saw a strange white like mist escaping from… something and when she turned the corner gun ready to go, she tripped a wire by her ankle. She glanced down, confused as to how she had missed it in the first place, it wasn't even transparent or thin, just a stretch of gauze across the space, she wasn't sure how she missed it. When she looked up it was in time to watch an unknown chemical drop into a bucket of something else entirely, the source of the white ebbing mist. And with a large flash and a big bang it exploded in her face.

Stunned, Roman staggered back. That was a homemade flash bang. Not enough to cause damage, but enough to blind her briefly, to cause her ears to ring and to knock her back a bit.

Clever.

Someone on this wing with them was very resourceful. She'd have to be careful.

It was while she was waiting for her vision to return that she spotted it. The trail of blood leading away from the elevator and out and down the hallway. Someone was bleeding. Someone must have been hit by one of the bullets. Wonderful.

She followed the trail of blood. It lead to a closet but when she opened it all the supplies came crashing out at her knocking her to the ground. Once everything was done falling on top of her, she stood up, inspecting the door she found that a roll of gauze had been tied from the inside handle to the shelving unit inside the room. That way when she opened up the door everything would fall out.

Great. So she was dealing with a clever saboteur. She'd have to be more careful. She glanced down at the blood on the floor. Realizing that it was probably a trap of some sort. She was hoping that someone was actually injured but she was starting to think that someone had made themselves bleed deliberately to create a trail to follow. Devious. It also showed a certain cunning and a level of determination she had only seen in herself.

Too bad they were on the wrong side.

Still she followed the blood trail because it was all she had. That stupid blood trail led her to a door where walking through tripped a wire that turned on a fan and blew a powdered chemical into her face. She followed that trail to different door that when opened a bucket of something else fell down onto her. That liquid mixed with the powder she had left in her hair and she felt the burn, but wasn't until she caught sight of herself in the mirror that she realized it had put blonde spots into her black hair.

When she found this little saboteur she was going to shoot them so many times.

So she abandoned the blood trail and looked everywhere else that the blood hadn't led her to. And she found a room, door moving as if someone had already gone through. She stepped into the darkness and found a simple observing room, but the problem was the second she stepped into the room the door slammed shut behind her.

Roman rushed to the door trying to open it but something was blocking the door and no matter how many times she hit it with her shoulder it wouldn't move. Roaring with frustration Roman slammed herself against the door wondering if it would help if she got her arm through that small glass window and then there she was.

The red head. Across from her. On the other side of the glass just staring at her with those cool blue eyes. They stared at each other for a moment and then she smirked and Roman realized that this was by design. She had been herded by this… god… how did one describe someone so unimposing until this moment?

Yeah well, joke was on her, cause Roman had the gun.

She brought her hands up and fired, but the girl had thrown herself to the ground and with all the angling in the world, Roman couldn't get eyes on her, couldn't shoot her, she didn't think anyway. She stuck her hand through the window to try and get a better angle on her and suddenly the girl popped up to the side, grabbed her arm and slammed it down on the jagged glass sticking out of the pane that hadn't shattered. Roman cried out, dropped her gun and the girl let her go.

The gun was scooped up and the girl ran off, leaving her there howling more with rage than pain, rattling the door, each movement jostling whatever was blocking the door.

When she got out of there, and she would get out of there, she was going to make that redhead suffer.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Kono had gone to the only part of the ward that would have an independent power, something she learned when Rowan had been in surgery and she had let off an electromagnetic blast. The operating theater.

She had put Dekker in the laundry room to hide him from Roman, and judging by the sounds she heard in the distance, Roman was not having fun with Rowan.

But it was six gunshots that broke the charge silence as Kono tried to get a message out to Steve, even if it was just: Rowan in danger, that worried her. She had turned, worried that Rowan had just got shot, knowing that if she got shot on her watch, Steve would never forgive her.

But she didn't need to worry. After a few quiet moments a scuffle was heard and like that Rowan slid into the room and slammed the door shut.

She whirled around a wild look about her. "I've got her trapped, but I don't think it's going to last…"

"Are you bleeding?"

Rowan paused looked down to where her arm was slowly leaking blood and hit her with a surprised: "Huh, yeah, I guess uh… I guess I hit something."

"What?"

"It's a thing that… you know needle full of blood, hold it perpendicular to the floor and let it drip, voila, fake a blood trail? Never done that before? Kay well I used to be better at injecting myself with a needle…"

"Why would you be good at that Rowan? Did you used to do Heroin?"

Rowan blinked her eyes. "Sure?" but she was lying. Kono knew she was lying but clearly Rowan didn't give a shit about that because she just said: "So uh… we gotta get out of here, what's the plan?"

Kono nodded. "Working on it, trying to get a hold of Steve."

"Maybe uh… if we got a connection… maybe I could get a hold of…"

She didn't get to finish. Kono noticed her first. The appearance of Roman, looking less than flattering, whitish blonde spots marring her black hair, chemical burns trailing down her cheeks and along her forehead, blood seeping from one of her arms had startled her as it had been so sudden, and Kono's look of surprised had silenced Rowan. Rowan half turned, managed to take a half step back and then Roman slammed the door open and bowled right into her.

Yeah that wasn't going down on her watch.

Kono round house kicked her square across the face dislodging her off of Rowan and letting her scramble away to relative safety.

"Fight someone your own size," Kono ordered.

But when Roman stood she had a surgical knife in her hand and Kono nearly swore. She deflected the first jab and the next oncoming slash. She hit Roman, one good jab to the jaw, then grabbed the arm before she could stab her. Kono hit her with one quick jab to the wrist and that was the knife gone, but Roman grappled herself to her, trying to leech onto her and slam her into everything hard.

Unfortunately it worked. She got Kono trapped on her back against the operating table while Roman got on top of her trying to strangle the life out of her with one hand while trying to reach for a knife to properly stab her with the other.

The table with the knives went clattering and that was when Kono realized Rowan was standing but she wasn't doing anything, in fact all she did was grab the paddles to the AED and suddenly the thing was super charging leaving the machine stuttering trying to keep up.

Charg… char… fully charged.

Roman looked up and so did Rowan. She half let go of Kono in her surprised because she sure as hell wasn't expecting Rowan's eyes to be full wide and completely white. "Clear," she snapped and then she hit her with paddles. Paddles that that shouldn't have been charged but were.

The electrical current that hit her seemed to be tripled by the sudden orange electric bolts she swore were erupting out of Rowan's arms and into the paddles and in that moment all went a mix of orange and white.

Kono looked up just in time to watch Rowan press the paddles into Roman's chest. The resounding blast was accompanied by a high pitch whine and threw both Rowan and Roman back. Roman slammed into the wall opposite them so hard her body dented the wall, Rowan flew across the room, hit a counter and collapsed.

Coughing Kono rolled off the operating table she had been pinned to and rushed to Rowan's side. She was still… too still but when she put a shaking hand to Rowan's back she groaned.

"She's dead right?" she asked and Kono shot a glance over her shoulder to where Roman lay on the ground.

"Yeah, you got her," she said. She tried to pry Rowan out of the curled up position she was in but she cried out, coughed a bit and blood spattered out of her mouth.

"Please stop touching me," Rowan groaned and Kono withdrew her hands immediately. "Where's Steven? I want Steven!"

Kono backed away, she wasn't sure where Steve was but clearly Rowan was really hurt.

"Oh god… Rowan… why did you…"

"Because you needed help," she said the grimace back on her face. "I wanted to make sure she didn't hurt you."

Kono took that in. She remembered what she said to her friend that morning, she remembered what she said to Adam and realized how wrong she had been. "Rowan, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry I said those things. You are the nicest person I know, and it doesn't matter if you've got an evil app or an evil brother, you have done nothing but do your best to keep us happy, to keep us safe and we just take you for granted."

"That's nice," Rowan said to her clearly not paying attention. She curled up around her side again groaning a little more loudly. "God it hurts to breathe," she heard her whisper and that worry hit her full force. Oh shit she was really hurt.

"Okay… we… we have to get you up," Kono said but Rowan just shook her head. "We have to get you help."

Down the hall came a crash and Rowan's eyes whipped open as Kono went for her gun. Kono had a feeling that she knew who it was but it was confirmed by Rowan's ragged sob of Steve's name, and doubly confirmed when Steve echoed back with a frantic cry of her name. He too slid into the operating theater not two seconds later leaping over the overturned Rowan before crouching down beside her to put his hands to her.

"What happened?" he asked her but she just groaned and slapped his hands away. He then turned to Kono and shouted the same question again.

"She got thrown," Kono admitted. "She got thrown across the room."

"I hit the counter hard Steve, it hurts to move… it hurts to breathe... I'm pretty sure I can taste blood in my mouth," she groaned to him and Kono watched a flurry of emotion cross Steve's face. Rowan lurched up and gripped his arm while she stared up at him with wide eyes. "Steven. If I have internal bleeding again just let me die. You hear me? Just let me die. I don't wanna live through that shit again."

Steve's eyes went wide watching as Rowan dropped back to the ground. He blinked his eyes glanced up to Kono and then turned his eyes to each of the people in the doorway and then looked back at her.

"She's fucking delirious," he growled hoisting her up to his arms despite her cries of pain as he did so. "Like I'm going to fucking let her die, the fucking psycho."

Kono watch him as he cradled the girl he cared so much for to his chest, desperate to get her to any of the doctors on the ward to care for her. Kono knew that Rowan was in good hands. She knew that Steve wouldn't let her die, wouldn't ever give up on her and Kono never would either.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Despite needing medical care herself for her own injuries, Kono had left the hospital as soon as the scene was cleared by HPD and went to the other person she shouldn't have been giving up on either. He was up in his board room and even though she shouldn't have his secretary let her into the meeting. She didn't interrupt but instead, let her man talk, clearly talking about how he needed to sell the company, even if it was selling it off piecemeal and her heart melted, because damn her man was good to her. Doing as she asked even though he shouldn't have to and she never should have asked him to.

She must have been a right state because all eyes fell on her at the side of the room which got Adam's attention too. Adam turned and spotted her, took in the damage on her face and panic lit up his features. He turned, excused himself and then rushed to her side.

"Kono… god… what happened? Are you okay?"

All of that was cute, and appreciated, but she had something to say to him and she needed to do it right at that moment.

"Can we go talk for a second?" she said and he nodded and took her out onto the balcony overlooking the water.

"Okay… what happened?" he asked, clearly steeling himself for the worst.

"It doesn't matter," she said to him because at that moment it didn't really matter. "What matters is, I love you. And I can't imagine my life without you."

Adam smiled at her, clearly surprised, clearly not expecting it and too full of emotion to properly convey that to her.

"I… you have Rowan to thank, by the way," she said which earned him a strange look. "She reminded me… well… all of us… that someone's past doesn't define who they are, and that I can't pick and choose the pieces of you that I love… like I can't pick and choose the pieces of her that I utterly adore. I love both of you, even your pasts, because they formed who you are today…"

She trailed off, she kind of lost the point there, but Adam just smiled softly. "I uh… I bet Rowan was really happy to hear that."

"Not sure if she heard me to be honest, she had to be taken to the ER," she said. Adam balked at that panic hit his face again. "Oh no, she's okay," she explained quickly. "I mean, we thought it might have been internal bleeding, but she just bruised a few ribs, Steve's got her on bed rest so… we should get a few quiet days from her."

Adam let out his breath in a sigh and Kono forged onto the point of this entire conversation. "I wanna be your wife, Adam.

A few wry chuckles of disbelief came out of him before he managed to ask her: "Really?" Already his hands were reaching out to frame her face to pull her in for a few kisses so all she had to do was nod and then his lips gently found hers, no doubt afraid of hurting her further.

"I picked a date," she whispered to him after he had kissed her thoroughly. "And before you ask… yes… I already told Rowan. Well… I wrote it in her get-well card so when she's sober enough to read it she'll know."

And just like that he started laughing and soon they were both laughing and kissing like nothing was wrong in their world at all.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Nahele had quickly realized that living with the Pierce-McGarrett's was hazardous to his mental health. Because having Uncle Chin pick him up and tell him that Rowan was in the hospital with severely fractured, possibly broken ribs had taken years off his life in stress alone.

Still he packed up his homework and let Chin drive him to the hospital where he found Steve getting a list of things that Rowan would need and learning how to administer her meds while Rowan sat in a wheelchair her head lolling to one side. Nahele bypassed Steve immediately to go to her side, kneeling down beside her.

He put her hands to her knees and her head jerked up, those blue eyes he was used to clouded and squinted, like she could barely see him. She smiled when she recognized him, her fingertips resting at his jawline as she whispered: "Hi baby."

He nearly cried right then and there. But he needed to be strong. Strong for Steve who never handled her hospital trips well. Strong for Rowan who was clearly so out of it that she wouldn't be able to function. Strong for himself because he was really afraid that if something happened to her, he'd be alone again.

He helped Steve get her into his truck. He helped Steve get her into the house and then convinced Steve to leave him with Rowan so Steve could pick up her GTO which had been left in the hospital parking lot. When Steve came back, Nahele had Rowan tucked into the blankets of the couch, she was sleeping, while he had made them mac and cheese to eat together.

Steve took his bowl in the kitchen but Nahele had taken his to the couch so he could sit beside her. Rowan slept through dinner, Steve had checked on her periodically, before disappearing to the garage to work on the Marquis leaving Rowan in Nahele's capable hands.

Maybe an hour later she had woken up, starting first with a few low groans and some squirming. She must have been uncomfortable. He carefully laid out two of the pain tablets by a glass of water and then waited for her to properly come to.

As soon as her eyes opened, the first thing that she saw was Nahele's face. And she smiled again in that soft happy way and said: "Hey baby, what's the matter?"

The matter was his new mother figure was in and out of the hospital, just like his real mother had been before he lost her. The matter was she had been so drugged out when he saw her that she hadn't been able to keep her head up. The matter was, that morning she had walked up to a car filled with dangerous mafia men like it was the easiest thing in the world. The matter was she and Steven were arguing so badly recently that he was certain they were going to break up, he wasn't sure CPs would let Rowan keep him if she was on her own, but if they did he knew who he'd be going with if they broke up, and that was Rowan and he wasn't sure Steve would survive losing both of them.

"How are you feeling?"

"Like I got hit by a car," she whispered. "Am I… how did I get home?"

"You got discharged like three hours ago," he said. "Me and Steve got you home."

Rowan nodded like she understood. She attempted to sit up, winced in pain and Nahele moved to help her maneuver into a sitting position. Once he did he gave her the pills to take and then made sure she swallowed them.

Once she was sitting back the pain ebbing away from her Nahele too sat down and then asked: "So uhm… maybe not the best time to ask… but uh… if you and Steve break up uhm… where are we going to go?"

At that Rowan's eyes opened and turn to him. "I'm sorry what? Where… where did that come from?"

"Well it's just that… you know… you and him have been arguing, you know? And my mom dated enough people for me to know what the end of a relationship looks like, and it starts with arguing. So… if you guys break up we're going to move right? Me and you? And then, well, I like Steve… would you be mad if I visited him? Cause like… he might need it I don't think he can survive living without you."

Rowan just continued to blink her eyes and then just like that she had stood up without any help. She moved, stumbling over her feet a bit, heading towards the door that would take her to the garage with Nahele moving after her, trying to help her, to heed her, to get her back on the couch to rest. She was supposed to be on bed rest until she could breathe without being in pain.

But she banging into the garage and approached Steve. "Hey," Rowan cried to him causing Steve to stop and straighten. He took in her face, seemed to think it wasn't a positive one but he put down his tools, toweled off his hands and turned to her.

Moving hurt so he noted her wince and he suddenly frowned. "Are you okay? You should be lying down…"

"Kid asked if we're breaking up," she told him and Steve blinked his eyes, fear dawning over his features as he glanced from Nahele and then back to her. "Asked if me and him were going to be moving out."

That wasn't all he had asked but apparently that was all she got from his list of questions. She folded her arms over her chest and stared at Steve. The implied question hanging in the air around them.

"Is… I mean… where did he get that, Rowan?" he asked. "Is this something you and him were talking about? Is that like… the plan?"

"Well I mean… if nothing I do can change my past… and you're always going to see me as… well… criminal… do you, with your absolute idea of good and bad, really want me to stay?"

"For the love of god!" Steve cried. "For the last time, we were talking about a company! Of course a person can change, of course a person's past doesn't matter…"

"But a company's past does and working at that company is directly tied to whether or not a person would be considered good?" Rowan shot back.

Steve groaned and Rowan looked away from him. "It's not fair, your sense of absolute rightness. When I use my app you get mad at me, but it's perfectly find for you to get into a situation and ask me to use it for you. And even though I save lives, even though I've helped you guys countless of times, sometimes… sometimes I do things and you guys just stare at me like I'm…. like I'm…."

A monster.

She didn't say it, but Steve knew what she meant.

"Okay, you're right, you're right Rowan. It's not fair to ask you to use the app to help me when I'm mad at you for having it in the first place," Steve said to her, he tried to reach a hand out to her, but she pulled away from him and he stopped. "I understand you can't use it properly now, and I understand that it's saved countless lives, our lives, and your life over and over but that app is a constant reminder of him, and you using it just makes me feel so useless. Like if you have that app you won't need me, and I need you to need me, because if you don't need me anymore what's going to keep us together huh?"

Rowan sighed at him. "We've gone over this." She growled which got a curt: "Yes I know." From him. And she added: "And it really doesn't change the way you look at me when I tell you things, or when I do things…"

"Okay, now wait a second. I don't look at you like you're a monster. Sometimes you scare me, I'm not going to lie but the Ice Queen is intimidating and you know it," Steve said pointing at her. "But I have never once thought you were a monster, you understand me. I know you think differently, but you have never actually gone out of your way to do something evil just for the hell of it."

Rowan nodded again and he moved forward, this time she let him capture her hands in his.

"When you tell me things… things you've been through… look… I get like that when you tell me about your past because I'm horrified," he told her. "Not because you did it, but because… well… because those things shouldn't have happened to you. And it upsets me that I wasn't there, I wasn't there to protect you, or to soothe you and I know, I know you faced that all on your own. Because your brother sounds useless and your parents didn't understand you and you shoulder the blame and the pain all by yourself and every time I'm reminded of that I feel sick. You're kind, Rowan. You are kind, and gentle, and selfless and you don't realize that because you've been brainwashed into thinking you're this terrible horrible person and I just wish you could take that away from you. It kills me that I can't just go back and make sure none of those things happened to you."

She had tears in her eyes when she asked: "Really?"

"Yes, Rowan, really? My car flipped once and it was a terrifying moment, I can't even imagine you flipping over four times," he whispered to her, taking a hold of her face and pressing a kiss to her forehead. She nodded to him and for a moment they just stared at one another. "Are we good now?" he asked when she just quietly stared at him.

Rowan blinked her eyes, cocked her head at him and then said: "Steven… I don't think I can get back to the couch by myself," and then she collapsed into his chest.

A relieved smile hit his face, his arms tightening softly around her form. "Alright, bed time for you, young lady," he whispered picking her up gingerly. "'Hele can you get the door please?" Nahele nodded and rushed off to do what he was asked. Really glad that Rowan and Steve seemed to have patched things up. Now, if only he could convince them to let him stay home to help her, then everything would be golden.