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A/N: Happy Friday my wonderful readers! This episode, I believe, is going to be wrapped up in just two chapters. We're going to start to see that resentment and annoyance from our two love birds but they're still gonna be cute, well I think they're still being cute. We're almost there guys! We're almost to that special 200th chapter. Are you guys getting excited? I know I am! Don't forget to leave me a review and I'll see you guys on Monday!

Chapter 191

For the last week things with Rowan had been quiet which was a nice changed compared to her usual dramatic nature. In fact, everything in Steve's life was quiet and calm… suspiciously so.

Nahele was getting into exam prep as by the end of the month he'd have his final exams. He was getting extra help as he had transferred in mid semester to catch him up on everything he had missed. Rowan had nothing but meetings and demos and practises so that helped in keeping her out of trouble, while Steve's case load was light and he could spend more time with Nahele helping him study or with homework or working on his football throw. Sometimes it still amazed him how domestic life seemed to suit him, how quickly he took to it, and how dependent he seemed to be on it now.

But that day, with Nahele at school and Rowan off at some event, it left Steve open to pick Grover up from the airport.

When Rowan's visions and network failed, when they couldn't find any real evidence that Clay Maxwell had killed his wife, Grover had gone back to Chicago to tear into Clay's life. But it hadn't helped, it hadn't worked and Clay had gone free despite everyone knowing he did it.

Steve had asked him about his trip and how it went and Grover had told him how it had not worked and everyone, including his old friends had all stone walled him. Steve had been sympathetic but Grover had brushed that off and then told him about the six deep dish pizzas from a pizza shop that was such a big deal for him and his family that he had smuggled them in through customs in his suitcase. It sounded like something Danny or Rowan would do, but as he got to know Grover he was starting to realize that he was more like those two then he was like Steve.

Then the two of them got called in on a case, or at least, Steve did, and since Grover was in the car with him when he got the call, he had no choice but to come with him. But if Steve had realized that Grover was just going to hit him with not-so-witty quips he would have dropped him off at his house

"The King is Dead. Again."

Both Steve and Max turned to Grover with incredulous eyes at the fact that he had made that joke. Granted they were standing in a hotel room where a dead Elvis impersonator was lying on the floor, dead, still in his costume, in the midst of an Elvis convention that the hotel was hosting. So the joke had context, it just wasn't funny.

He calmly took in both of their stares before adding: "Come on, man, somebody had to say it."

Steve decided to ignore it. "Alright, Max. Tell us exactly what happened."

"Well, a few months ago, Jerry invited me to attend the convention with him. He already had his Elvis costume, so I decided to go as Presley's long-time manager, Colonel Tom Parker."

"Can you skip ahead to the part where this guy died?" he asked. "Please."

"Oh, of course," he said. "Well Mr. Collins was in the middle of a rousing rendition of Burning Love when he suddenly got disoriented and collapsed."

"I was brought back here and found him unresponsive. And despite my best efforts, I was unable to resuscitate him."

"Alright, well, we got pills, we got liquor. We can see what toxicology says, but I think this guy partied too hard and paid the price for it."

"Looks like a classic rock n 'roll death to me," Grover added.

"Except the pills are a commonly prescribed allergy medication. And he hadn't ingested enough alcohol to warrant such an adverse reaction."

"If there's a point, get to it," Grover ordered. "I have a bunch of pizza's in my suitcase and they need to be eaten and since McGarrett doesn't want any I'mma give share it with everyone else… starting with that wonderful girl of his so she can rub in his face that she had some and he didn't."

Steve shook his head and rolled his eyes. Luckily he was saved from any more of Grover's melodrama by Max. "The point is this was not an accident," he announced. He looked like he wanted to say more but suddenly there came a shout for Max and their coroner was suddenly distracted.

"She won! Max, MAX she won! She won!" Jerry said sliding into the room and past the cordoned off area due to the dead fucking body.

He paused when he saw Steve. "Oh, hey, how's in hanging McGarrett?"

Max however, had dropped the stern coroner look and was now smiling at Jerry. "How well did she win though? Is this a second place…"

"Nope! She literally won the whole contest!" Jerry cried. "She sang an acoustic version of Can't Help Falling in Love that had tears in everyone's eyes including the Judges!"

Steve sighed. "Rowan's here?" he asked, though why he did he had no idea, obviously she was here, obviously she had just won a singing contest.

"Oh this is excellent!" Max cried. He shot a less than covert look at McGarrett before saying: "I can't wait to congratulate her on her success…"

"You sure you don't mean pick up your winnings?" Rowan asked coming into the room. She too completely ignoring the crime scene tape that was supposed to keep her out. She was dressed just like Jerry but in black. She had her guitar strung on her back and she was wearing a sash that read: "Wailani Hotel's #1 King." But the most prominent change was her hair. Her hair was jet black and done up in this elaborate wavy do that was supposed to mimic Elvis' famous hair.

"I saw you guys putting bets in with the bookie," she said and then smiled up at Steven. "Hey baby. Ohh the blue button up, you know I like that blue button up on you." When Steve could only stare at her, taking in the change she narrowed her eyes at him. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Your hair… what did you do to your… it's black…" Steve stuttered.

"Uh-oh, tread lightly Commander," Lou hissed into his ear but Steve swatted him away. When he left that morning, Rowan had red and blonde hair, the hair he was used to. What the hell had she done?

"That's a wig, right?" he asked reaching out to touch her hair. Nope silky soft, that was Rowan's real hair.

"No, it's a temporary dye, it'll wash out in one to two showers, though with the black it might take more like four to five" she said to him. When he just stared at her she sighed at him. "I can't be an Elvis impersonator with red hair, Steven, I obviously had to dye it. So, stop panicking it'll wash out eventually…"

"No, no, I'm not saying it's bad," he said quickly.

"I didn't say that either," Rowan said with narrowed eyes. "Do you think it looks bad?"

"Oh boy… you've hit dangerous waters, my friend," Lou hissed into his ear again and Steve practically shoved him away."

"No, I like it, I just didn't realize… you didn't tell me this was happening so I was surprised, it looks good… I think it looks good. I…. uh… hey, I hear congrats are in order," Steve said pulling her in for a hug. "Look at me, dating Wailani Hotel's #1 Elvis Impersonator." He pressed a kiss to her temple as she melded into his side. "And Grover has pizza for you that he smuggled through in his suitcase."

"Oh… deep dish from… uhm… Malnati's right?" she asked him suitable distracted from Steve's insinuation that he didn't like the new hair. "I can't wait to try it!"

"So you can psychically get the name of a pizza shop but you couldn't find anything I could use to lock Clay up?" he asked her and Rowan frowned.

"No! I did not psychically get anything about a pizza shop, you talked about it non-stop before you left," Rowan snapped. "And I tried. Lou. I tried. I tried really hard and there just… wasn't… did you check out the car in the garage?"

"The car in the garage is just an old beat up jalopy that Clay was trying to fix up. He's had it for years, it's got nothing to do with Diane," he said.

"Yeah but why is it in the garage in the winter? Hmm?" she asked him.

"Okay, we keep going on about that car, the car is not helpful, don't know why you're so fixated on it. But thank you, for looking, thank you for trying," he said. "Now, I got a very important question for you… little mama what are you wearing?" Grover asked her.

Rowan looked down at her outfit.

"This is Elvis' black Butterfly Jump Suit. He wore it through his '72 engagement in Vegas from January to February," she answered. God why did she know Elvis trivia?

"Oh, yes, and there were two slightly different versions, Rowan is wearing the gold one, the other was lined with yellow."

"Oh REALLY?! Wow, you really know your stuff," Rowan said turning an appreciative smile onto Jerry. "I have never been so attracted to you before."

Jerry blushed and Steve recoiled. "Hey, babe, standing right here."

"Yeah but you don't look like Elvis," Rowan said still smiling at Jerry who had gone bright red and was avoiding both of their eyes. Steve continued to glare at Rowan but her eyes never turned back onto him.

"Okay, that's it, both of you out, actually no," he said grabbing Rowan. "You stay with me, Max, body, why is this a murder?"

Rowan's eyes fell down to the body at their feet and he felt her eyes go wide with shock. "Is that a…"

"You know what, go outside, but try not to run off with Jerry on me," he said shoving her away.

"I mean… I'll try… but if he can sing like the King, I'm gonna have a hard time keeping my hands off him," she said as she walked away.

Steve turned his eyes heavenward and groaned inwardly. This girl was KILLING him. He liked it better when she couldn't keep her hands off of him. It was why he was wearing blue anyway.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

While Steve and Grover were talking things over with Max and Duke, Danny, who had been enclosed in the back stage like area with a bunch of fake Elvises got stuck with Jerry who hit him with a lot of Elvis trivia as if Danny was going to be quizzed on it later. Like the plural of Elvis was Elvii. ETA stood for Elvis Tribute Artist. The green shag carpet they were standing on, was a close copy of the one in Elvis' jungle room, except it was a shade too light. And lastly, like the jungle room was a lounge of Elvis' that he turned into recording studio, you could even hear the waterfall in the background of some of his later tracks.

None of this was useful information but Danny couldn't get Jerry to shut up. Luckily he was saved by Steve and Grover finally coming over to them.

"Alright guys, here's what we know. Uh… victim's name was Lane Collins. He died from cyanide poisoning. Delivery system was a bottle of bourbon in his dressing room."

"The organizers say the access to the backstage is pretty limited," Grover added. "The only people allowed back there are crew and performers."

"Okay so what are we thinking? One of these guys slips him the bottle, figures he'd thin out the competition."

"Makes sense," Jerry asked. "Collins was a big up-and comer on the scene. He's also a local boy, which made him the favourite to take down the title tonight."

"Yeah, the problem with that theory is that it makes my girlfriend the top suspect again," Steve announced which caused a flurry of cries to rise up from the little group of Five-0's. "She was one of the tribute artists… and she won… and apparently no one is happy about that. They're saying Collins would have won if he hadn't been disqualified for collapsing on stage."

"Wait… she won?"

"Yep, my Rowan, the underdog was FemElvis, don't ask me why I know it's called that, I blame Jerry and Rowan. Anyway, she managed to win the competition, despite being female and not having the trademark low voice," he announced when he got stares from them he added: "I don't know, I'm still trying to figure it out."

"The song she sung, though not in Elvis's trademark low twang, was done so wonderfully, and filled with such emotion, that they had to give it to her. Their official reasoning was that she was singing as Female Elvis, who would not have had the low voice. I've got the video, actually, if you'd like to see how she did."

"Actually yeah, can you send me a copy of it? I'd love to see it," Steve said except he sounded very sincere, like he actually really wanted to watch it.

"Yeah, me too! I love watching her performances, I bet this was the best one yet," Kono added and then they were all seconding it.

"I could just set up a screen so we could all watch it," Jerry offered and they all nodded, they had liked that idea.

"Okay, so the big question is… how much money did she win?" Chin asked.

"Twenty K in cash," Jerry said, "And since McGarrett wouldn't let Max or I cash in on our illegal winnings from the bets we put on Rowan to win, she split it between us."

"I'm sorry… she gave you the money?" Steve asked.

"Uh… yeah… said she didn't need it," Jerry said and Steve growled. Okay maybe Miss. Millionaire didn't need it, but he would have liked to keep it.

"All kidding aside," Jerry said quickly. "I don't think Rowan has anything to do with this, my conspiracy radar is picking up some major bad juju on this one."

"Of course Rowan isn't in on it, Jerry, she made seven figures on her last royalty cheque," Steve said with a groan.

"WHOA!" Jerry cried. "She's making that much? No wonder she was okay with giving us her prize money!"

Steve shook his head again but Danny stepped up. "Uh… why are you sensing some juju on this one?"

"Oh, right, up until the point when he collapsed and died, Collins' performance was spot-on. At least that's what I thought. But later, when I went to the video, I realized he made one ginormous mistake," he showed them his phone which was zoomed in on Collins' outfit. "Check out the jumpsuit. It's a classic sunset design, only the color scheme is more from Elvis' American Eagle suit. Blue and red instead of yellow and copper."

He then paused like that blew the case wide open. "Okay, so what?" Danny asked.

"So! That's like Superman flying around with a purple cape," Jerry said. Dany nodded like he got it but he didn't. "It's unnatural. It's unholy even. Elvis never wore anything like this."

"Oh, alright, I get it. So our victim was not Elvis," Danny said and Jerry scowled at him.

"No, but he was a professional ETA. And considering that points are awarded for wardrobe it seems a little odd that he'd make such an unforced error."

"Yeah, totally. You know, to have a conspiracy theory, you need to actually need a theory, though," Danny said and then turned to Steve. "Is uh… a messed up suit enough to get Rowan out of the clear?"

"I think the fact that she gave up the money which is like… everyone else's motive, puts her in the clear. That and she wouldn't have used cyanide, if she wanted to cheat to win she would have involved the app," Steve said with a sigh. "Just gotta you know… rule her out somehow that isn't just we know Rowan and that's not how she would have offed the guy." He then turned to Jerry. "Well, Jerry, thank you. We will explore the costume angle a little later on. But I think, right now, we should focus on our suspect pool…"

"Yeah but that suspect pool includes Rowan…"

"Yeah it's not the first time she's been a suspect," Steve said. "She knows the drill. I'll tell her you were worried about her though, how about that?"

"Besides, we have to find whoever gave our vic the bottle," Grover said. "We find them, we find our killer. Did Rowan go to his room? Did you see Rowan with a bottle of Hartigan Bourbon?"

Jerry shook his head. "She made me and Max watch her purse, she didn't want to leave it back stage. The only thing she took in was a make up bag, a hair brush and her guitar. Also, she didn't know anybody here and none of them were uh… being very nice to her… she was sticking mostly to herself."

"Whoa, whoa, what do you mean not being nice to her?" Steve asked.

"You know, new girl, pretty girl, making a take on Elvis that no one was really supportive of. They uh… they were kind of icing her out. She played it off like she didn't care, put out the whole Ice Queen vibe thing but I think it bugged her a bit."

Steve and glaring now, the look on his face was downright animalistic. "Okay, babe," Danny said putting a hand to his arm. "I know you like to jump to Ro's rescue, and we're down for that, but maybe we should clear her for murder before you go standing up to the ETA bullies, huh?"

Steve turned to him. "ETA?" he echoed.

"Elvis Tribute Artists," Danny said pointing to Jerry who had given him that info in the first place.

Steve nodded and then they all fanned out, each took an Elvis to question, except for Rowan. She was getting questioned by HPD to avoid a conflict of interest. Didn't mean that Steve didn't have his eyes on her at all times. The black hair was definitely growing on him.

"H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Max had just unzipped the black bag to reveal the Elvis Impersonator's body. He had just gotten back to the morgue and was going to begin an autopsy to prove that he had been poisoned when Rowan suddenly rushed into his office. Knowing how she felt about blood and bodies, he half covered the body up and moved to intercept her before she saw the body and vomited.

"We need to go," Rowan said, beating him to the Autopsy room door. "Oh… that's a body," she said with a gag and then shook her head. "No, don't got time for this, we need to go out the back… NOW!"

"But Rowan…"

"No, we need to wheel this guy out back, right now!"

Above them they heard gunshots and Max straightened and so did Rowan.

"Right, plan B," she said as she crossed to the body and dropped her phone in the bag. She gagged while she zipped it up, but otherwise, Max was surprised at how well she held her composure considering her track record. "We need to go…"

"We should call 911," Max said as Rowan struggled to push him towards the back exit.

"No need, the phone picked up the gunshots, Sandy will deal with the rest."

But Max didn't know who Sandy was and he didn't move fast enough. Three men in all black wearing ski masks burst into the room. Large guns trained in their direction had momentarily froze them. That pause had been their downfall.

"Freeze! Don't move!" the lead guy shouted. "Down on the ground."

"I can't freeze and get down at the same time," Rowan said even though Max was already dropping to the floor in compliance. Oh god, why was she sassing the men with guns? She had no weapon or no way to stop them from hurting her and if she get hurt… well… Commander McGarrett would lose his damn mind and Max didn't want to be part of the reason that happened. It was okay and mildly entertaining when he yelled at the others for letting Rowan get hurt but he had a feeling he wouldn't enjoy it as much if that angry lecture was turned onto him.

The lead gun man came at her, gun first in her face and then lowered down to her stomach to shove it into her skin Rowan didn't flinch.

"I said get down."

"Not in this dress or these heels," she answered back. The man half scoffed at her.

"I'm not playing games with you, bitch…"

"And I'm not playing games either. I'm Rowan Pierce."

All the monitors in the room, all the electronics whirled to life, all firing up with discordant, unsynchronized computerized voice saying the exact same words.

"Welcome to the Sanctuary Network."

There was a beat of silence between that greeting and the next set of computerized words.

Threat level Orange. Three gunmen, Two gun shots. Eyes on Professional prove her to being held at gun point. Threat level now red. Activating nearest players.

Rowan calmly stared at him. "Go a head. Shoot me. But she has eyes on all three of you now. How far do you think you get before the people he sends someone to catch up and kill you? And if you do get away, who do you think he'll go after to get you? Your friends? Your family? Your loved ones? No one's safe when Sandy's operating under a code red."

"Turn her off."

"Why should I?" she asked.

"Because if you don't, I'll shoot your friend."

Max didn't have to look up to know that the gun was now pointed at him. He felt Rowan take a step in front of him and he really wished she hadn't. He happened to love Rowan, they may not have been good friends, but she was one he had never felt awkward around and he was certain that he wouldn't be able to stand under the scrutiny of Commander McGarrett's disappointment if something were to happen to the woman McGarrett loved because of Max.

"Fine," she said quickly. "Fine. Sandy, this is a misunderstanding, I'm perfectly fine."

There was a pause before the system came back with: Reconfirmation needed.

"It's a misunderstanding, Sandy," Rowan repeated. "I'm perfectly fine."

Confirmation accepted. Have a nice day Professional.

The other gunmen were busy, busy wheeling the body out, the lead gunman was staring at her now as if thinking over the next move.

"You're coming with me."

"What? Why?"

"So you can't activate it again," he said, grabbing her arm. "I'll figure out what to do with you later."

He went to tug her away and Max got up, "No!" he shouted. "You can't take her!"

He reached out, grabbed her wrist and tugged hard. The gunman said nothing, he just took the butt of his gun and bashed into Max's face. As he went down he heard Rowan's cries of distress, not knowing that they were for him and not her situation.