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AvalonReeseFanFics

A/N: Happy Monday my wonderful readers. All of y'all were so worried about Steve and Catherine. No, he didn't cheat on Catherine, he just fell asleep beside her. I thought you guys would remember that in season 6 episode 1 he and Catherine woke up in the same clothes as the party before which I kept in, but I totally should have explained that. And as for what happened to end up in that situation, we're going to get a cliff noted version of it from Steve later in this chapter. More importantly, today we're officially starting Season Six here and a lot is going to get changed time-line wise, but when we get to the time line changes I'll tell you. There's a lot that's going to happen in the next 10 chapters and I know you guys are gonna be annoyed so I'm sorry in advance, but I promise, we're going to get character growth and at the end of it, it will be made worth it. And if you remember the 200th episode, literally 5 episodes after Steve gets Rowan back, he's gonna propose so we DO have good things coming we just need to get through season 6 first. So please bear with me.

Chapter 204

Their honey moon was supposed to be romantic and wonderful. Their very first day as an officially married couple started with Adam making her breakfast. Of him telling her that one day he'd love to have a family with her. She had been trying to tell him that she might not be ready for kids yet when the doorbell rang.

And that would be when Gabriel showed up and tazed Adam and then took her down too. Now they were both tied to chairs. Kono, having woken up after Adam did, awakening to Gabriel beating her new husband senseless.

"Stop it!" she cried once she realized what was happening and then Gabriel turned onto her.

"Nice of you to join us."

"Let him go!" she ordered as if she had any place to do that, as if she wasn't tied to a chair too. "Please. He's done nothing to you." Gabriel answered her by punching Adam again. She struggled against the ropes holding her there. "What do you want from him?"

"She's a little late to the party. Wanna catch her up?" Gabriel asked Adam who she could tell was struggling to hold in his grunts of pain.

Gabriel moved away from him and after Adam had composed himself, he said: "Gabriel wants me to transfer all my assets to a holding company he controls."

"Shouldn't be difficult, right?" Gabriel said to Kono. "He was scheduled to transfer all that cash to his father's ex-partner in three days. I'm just asking him to move that money now."

But Kono knew why Adam hadn't agreed to Gabriel's demands. "If he does that, the yakuza will kill him."

"If he doesn't, what do you think I'll do?" Gabriel growled to her.

God Kono had never wanted Rowan and her wonder app more. She wished she could just throw that at Gabriel, but she had no idea how Rowan would even know they would be in danger or whether or not she and Steven would be on good enough terms to join forces and come and rescue them. Maybe Rowan would just send Steve and Chin.

And then suddenly the front door opened and everyone froze. There was a beat of silence before they heard the door close again, already one of Gabriel's lackeys was heading towards the intruder. No gun in his hand, just that tazer that took down both she and Adam.

"I understand your concern, but unfortunately, it's too late I'm already in the house," someone said everyone turned. Rowan was turning the corner, both Adam and Kono shouted the same word that was falling from Gabriel's lips. But though all three of them shouted NO at the same time, Gabriel's lackey still tazed Rowan. The poor girl jerked and went down. The phone with the bright red screen clattering from her hands and skidding across the floor.

That was not good for anyone.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

When Rowan came to, Gabriel was sitting in front of her eating something. Her head was buzzing and everything in her felt like it was on fire or just plain heavy. Gabriel smiled at her and then turned to Adam.

"This was good. What is it?"

Before he could answer Rowan grumbled: "It's quiche."

Gabriel turned back to her. "How did you know that? You didn't even see it!"

She got it from a vision but she wasn't going to tell him that. "I've been the sounding board for his practice quiches," she said and then turned to Kono. "Do you know how many shitty quiches I had to taste before he put something that tasted passable in front of me?"

"Enough!" Gabriel shouted which caused Rowan to jump, simply because she hadn't expected it. He put the phone in front of her, the screen red with alerts flashing all over it. "Turn it off."

"Mmmm…. No."

"Turn it off or I shoot your friend."

"I mean… I get that Kono loves Adam, but like… I don't really care… we're not all that close…" Rowan said and then Gabriel pointed that gun at Kono who was sitting there with duct tape over her mouth. "Oh… well I mean… I love Kono too, don't get me wrong but like… she almost died cause she wouldn't listen to me and I'm a little bitter…"

And then Gabriel slapped her. Rowan bit back her yelp and then shook her head free of any more pain. "Well damn Waincroft, I sure as hell don't wanna turn it off now."

He crossed to Kono and stood there as Rowan just narrowed her eyes not sure what the hell he was going to do. Before she could stop him, he had back handed Kono and Rowan yelped for her.

"Ah, okay, okay, JESUS! Sandy, there's been a misunderstanding…"

"No!" Gabriel interrupted her. "You use the real code."

Rowan blinked her eyes. "What?"

"The real code. The one you used in Colombia. Use the right code," he ordered. Rowan blinked her eyes a little more rapidly. How the hell did he know about that? "That's right, I've been watching you too and I know exactly which codes do what. Now. Use the right code, or next time I hit your girl it'll be with my fist."

Rowan glared at him. She really didn't want to do this but she really had no choice. "Fine. Fine… Sandy, it's okay, I'm A-Okay."

Confirmation needed.

"I'm A-Okay, Sandy." She said again this time a little bit more shakily. "Uh… make sure someone beams up Scotty, okay? Time to go night night."

Thank you. Have a nice day Professional.

"Beam up Scotty… what does that…"

Oh, so much for knowing about all her codes.

"She had people on the ground heading here. I pulled them back," Rowan said. "I didn't have to but I figured a good will gesture would do well in my favour."

Before Rowan could say anything else duct tape was put across her mouth. "Now that ought to keep you from activating it again, since I know destroying the phone so soon after having you take it offline is a red flag."

Great he knew that too? Who the hell had given him all this information?

Gabriel then turned onto Adam. As he asked Adam, again, to give him the money Rowan concentrated on the strings around her. Not the ropes around her wrists but the strings attached to them. She pulled the right one and bam, knots undone.

She quickly ripped the duct tape off of her mouth and said: "Yeah but what you're asking him to do is not possible. And I know he's told you that. The money belongs to the Yakuza and whoa everyone's got a gun…"

Rowan was surrounded by them. Gabriel had his gun out, his two men had his gun out the only one that didn't have a gun was her. Rowan had stood, stood to approach Gabriel, to maybe throw him off but now she couldn't do that so she just sat back down.

"How the hell did you do that?" he asked her coming to stand in front of her again.

"Do what?"

"How did you slip the ropes?"

"I'm double jointed," she answered with a shrug because that was the only answer she could offer. What was she really told him that she pulled a different string to get a different outcome? Yeah cause that didn't sound crazy.

"Tie her up again!" he ordered which his lackeys quickly did. Once he was certain that she was tied up properly he turned back to Adam.

"Now I'm trying to be professional about this. There's absolutely no need for anybody else to get hurt," he told him and over his shoulder Adam and Kono linked eyes. Kono slowly shook her head no. Well that was where she stood on that.

"Now, all you have to do is give my friend Damon here the account codes."

"Oh my god who knows that shit off the top of their head?"

Gabriel turned to her and the man who was hovering close behind her. "Why isn't she gagged."

"Well for starters you didn't tell him to do that and by the looks of it my man over here he doesn't wanna come near me again… so…"

Gabriel turned accusing eyes to him and the man actually bowed his head and moved around the couch, around Kono to sit by Damon with the computer.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Gabriel growled.

"I just uh… I don't wanna go down with you, you know. We should have turned her lose the second we realized who we tazed."

"Ohh he's a smart man," Rowan said. "It's gonna suck when they kill you."

Gabriel whirled around to her again and that time when he hit her it was a full-blown punch. Rowan couldn't help but cry out when that hit landed.

When she had composed herself, she turned a dangerous glare onto the man heaving in front of her. "I'm growing impatient with you Gabriel Waincroft," she warned and when he just scoffed at her she donned her best Ice Queen smile and asked: "How's Sara by the way? When was the last time you went home to see her?"

For all of two seconds he recoiled and then he slapped her. It hurt, but instead of crying out that time she just laughed. When she looked at him again, she was proud to say that the Ice Queen mask had not slipped off of her face.

"Ohh touchy subject. What's the matter, didn't think I knew about that? What thought you had some secrets?" Rowan spat back at him. "Someone told me once, that living and operating in your world means having no weaknesses and anyone who gets close to you is a weakness. Sara is such a pretty… little… weakness."

"Shut up!" Gabriel warned. "Shut up."

"Or what Gabriel?" she asked. "What are you going to do to me? Kill me? You do that… well If Five-0 doesn't get you Wo will. You thought Black Cat Protocols were bad now? You've had them on low level, what do you think it's going to feel like when he cranks it up to extreme?"

"Low level…"

"That's right, I bargained him down from straight up killing you to a low-level Black Cat Protocol. But if you had just left when I told you to that wouldn't have mattered, we would have pulled back. Now… well… now it's just going to get worse for you."

That time when he hit her, he punched her in the stomach effectively winding her for a while. And while she coughed and sputtered, he turned away, beginning to pace. Her words having finally affected him.

"You know Gabriel… I got a little song for you, you wanna hear it?"

He turned to her and Rowan didn't even hesitate she launched into a song from a comedy sketch she saw years ago.

Kill yourself, it'll only take a minute. You'll be happy that you did it. Just go over to your oven and shove your head in it. Kill yourself, really you should do it, there's really nothing to it. Just grab a mug and chug a cup of lighter fluid.

He hit her again to get her to stop and then hit her a second time no doubt to stun her and then a third probably for good measure.

Rowan leant back against the chair everything fuzzy and in pain. "Just do yourself a favour, save me the money, and kill yourself. You're walking dead anyway."

"Is this a game to you?" he asked. "Do you think I'm playing a game?"

"Well it feels like a game," Rowan said with a grin similar to Steve's roguish one on her face. "And it feels an awful lot like I'm winning."

"Winning. You're tied to a chair. I have Adam and Kono locked down and in a few short minutes I'm going to start by extracting a little cooperation by extracting…"

"Kono's teeth," Rowan finished for him which had him frowning all over again, because how could she have known that. She had had a dream that morning. But she wasn't going to tell him that. And she wasn't going to let him.

She caught a brief flash of movement and Rowan paused. She leaned past Gabriel to look out the window. Gabriel turned and followed her gaze. "What are you looking at?"

"How many men did you bring?" she asked. "There were three outside when I got here, very easy to get past by the way, and two in here… do you have more?"

"What does that matter?" he asked. Outside the window, just behind a tree she saw a splatter of red fly into the wind and a body drop before being dragged out of view. Oh… oh… she was saved. Thank god because she really, didn't think that she could take getting hit again.

Straightening Rowan looked up to Gabriel with a patient smirk on her face. "Are you sure you locked the front door?" she asked. Gabriel just glared at her. "And all the windows?"

"No. you're not going to trick me. No one's coming. You turned off your app."

"Did I?" Rowan asked with a patronizing wince on her face.

"I know your codes…" "—All my codes?" At that Gabriel paused. He stared at her as if she had grown two head. "Do you want to know what the Beam Me Up Scotty Function really does?"

Swearing, he left her, quickly rushing to the front door while Rowan smiled and leant back. He was screwed he was so fucking screwed. There was twenty seconds of agonizing silence as Gabriel went to the front door. Twenty seconds of silence that ended in Gabriel getting hit with god knows what and going down.

The two men inside never even stood a chance. By the time the man in the white rabbit mask had come around the corner he had shot them both dead where they stood. And Rowan, Rowan just sat back and exhaled out a few breathy chuckles of relief that rose into loud laughter.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Wo Fat had given him one task. And he gave him a lot of money to complete that task. He had told him that this task would probably be the hardest mission to date. But he hadn't believed him. All he had to do was sit on Rowan and make sure she didn't get in trouble. It was one girl, how bad could it have been?

But Wo Fat had been right.

When he had gotten that phone call that morning, he had excepted the issue to be small. The girl had been out at a wedding, then out all night drinking, there wasn't anything he could think she would need him for, other than killing the girl she probably found asleep in her man's bed. He was immediately reminded that Rowan always called him NA. He was also made aware that she had found a fucking hostage and torture situation and she was dead ass going to walk into it to stop a crazed psychopath from hurting her friends.

NA had been horrified. For one, she had no back up. Well he was supposed to be the back up, that's what she had called him for, but he was on a different island thinking her safe and sound and he wouldn't be able to get there fast enough. But she wasn't going to wait for him either. He had been unable to stop her, had been powerless as he heard someone taze her, and then pick up her phone and end the call.

Dear god Wo Fat was going to kill him.

NA had stolen the fastest boat he could find to get to her. And on the way he got an alert that her app had been force closed and she was calling for an immediate extraction. Great. Double great. He didn't need this kind of stress right now.

When he got to the beach outside of Noshimuri's place he expected to find more resistance. Instead he found three men guarding the entrance, easy to take out. He managed to take out all three of them without using a gun. Silence would make it easier to surprise the remaining two men inside and Waincroft. Damn he should have just put Waincroft down in that cabin. Why did he listen to Wo Fat when he was told that Rowan didn't want him dead? He saw the murderous insanity in the man's eyes, he recognized that lethal streak in him, but noooo he had listened to them and now they were in this situation and he was panicking.

This girl was too sentimental. It better not have gotten her killed either cause he did not want to have to be the one to report that shit to Wo Fat. Not since he kinda liked working with the man, other than this op, all the others had been very interesting.

When he got inside, he knocked Gabriel so hard with his brass knuckles the man went down and would stay down. NA wouldn't have been surprised if he had caused actual permanent damage. Then all he had to do was take out the last two, and with the surprise officially in mid swing it was easy. Two bullets at the other two and they both went down, heads blown. Then he was checking the perimeter to make sure no one else was inside before getting to the crux of the matter. To the reason why he was so out of breath and panicked.

"You absolute fucking moron!" he shouted at her as he climbed over the bodies he had dropped to get to her.

"NA? Is that you?" she asked and he scowled.

"Who else would it be, Rowan?"

"Why are you wearing that mask?"

"It's my calling card, you twit, didn't you read my profile on the app?" he asked her.

"Not really, I skimmed, I mean…" she started but NA couldn't hold it in anymore.

"I had one job, Rowan!" he shouted at her. "One job. To keep you out of a situation like this. And you fucking WALKED RIGHT INTO IT!"

"NA… NA… I know you're upset but do you think you could…"

"Why the hell did you do it, Rowan?! I mean… you knew! You knew that it was happening and you knew you didn't have back up cause I was ON A DIFFERENT ISLAND… why in the fuck did you walk in here?"

"Well cause they were going to take Kono's teeth out and I was fairly certain I could distract him long enough to have you get here…"

"That was your plan? Are you fucking kidding me?!"

"Kay, can you untie me please. Could you… come on now…"

"Yeah fine… fine…" he said kneeling down in front of her, a giant knife that still had blood dripping off it appearing in his hand. Immediately Rowan gagged. NA looked up again probably to sass her but then his eyebrows furrowed. "What happened to your face?"

"God could we use a clean knife?"

"Fuck the knife what happened to your face?"

"Oh he hit me a bunch of times," she answered off handedly. As if it were perfectly normal for someone to be tied up and slapped a bunch of times.

"He hit you? He hit you?" he cried standing up completely forgetting to cut her free. He returned to Gabriel's body and kicked him a few times as if that would make her feel better.

Rowan was nice enough to let him get more than a few kicks before she shouted: "NA! Ropes!" and only then did he come back to her and cut her free.

"He's gonna kill me," NA whispered, rubbing his temples. He sat back and let Rowan rub her wrists free of the red marks. He couldn't believe this had happened on his watch. "How do I explain this? I mean he told me that you were crazy and you run off if a case comes up or if you think your papi is in danger but I didn't think it was this bad. Where's your boyfriend, can't he control you?"

"Wo Fat can't control me, why would Steven be able to?"

"Well everyone knows Fat is blind where you're concerned. I just figured Five-0 man lives with your shit on the reg and would be able to control you better," NA said. Rowan just glared at him. "Or is he still passed out with that other girl?" Rowan hit him with a dark glare and he nodded. "That's a yes then."

"Can you put Gabriel in the chair please? Tie him up or duct tape him or impale him to it, just you know… make sure he can't get out."

"Why am I doing that? Can't I just shoot him?"

"Maybe, but first I want him to suffer," Rowan said and behind that mask she was sure NA was grinning.

"Now that I can get behind. Give me a minute," he said running off to do as he was told. At that Rowan turned to her two friends who were both in their chairs staring at her.

"Uh… I'm totally gonna cut you free… but uh… I gotta do something first, y'all okay with that?"

Both Kono and Adam and glared at her, denoting that it was clearly wasn't fine but Rowan had already turned away. NA had dragged Gabriel's body to her. Though she tried to assist, it was all NA who got Gabriel into the chair that she had previously been in, and it was NA who strapped the man to that chair, Rowan just supervised.

"Alright, he's in the chair, now what?" NA asked her.

"Uh… well he needs to be awake…" "—Well I hit him pretty hard so that might take a while…" "… Okay but I'm on a timeline here so like… is there a way to get him up faster?"

"Sure," he said with a shrug, that knife coming out again. Before she could stop him he had put the knife to Gabriel's arm and in one twisting slicing motion, he had lacerated Gabriel from wrist to elbow. Rowan immediately cried out, her cry drowned out by Gabriel's sudden scream of agony, as blood gushed everywhere.

"Oh my god! What did you do?" Rowan cried.

"Oh… I only filleted him a little bit," he said. "If I did it right I've separated the muscle from the bone in at least one spot." Rowan gagged, immediately moving away from him which caused NA to scowl. "Really? Really? You're going to throw up?" he called as she ran to the kitchen to do just that.

For a moment she was silent, simply because she was throwing up into the garbage can, the sound of her hurling slightly muted by Gabriel's hisses and whimpers of pain. Oh, so he can dish it but he can't take it huh? The baby.

"Well I didn't know you were gonna fillet him, what the hell man?!" she cried before she turned away to hurl again.

"If you're this bad you shouldn't be here for this," NA said to her and Rowan frowned. "Why don't you go home to your cop? Hmm? You'll just be a hindrance if you stay here and I'm sure you'd like to kick that other woman out of his bed."

"You want me to throw this trash can of vomit at you?"

"Don't you fucking dare!" he ordered pointing the bloodied knife in her direction.

Rowan narrowed her eyes at him. "I'm going to get a drink. Try to contain yourself."

NA shook his head and then turned his unsympathetic mask down to Gabriel tear streaked face. "This is bullshit. I should be on a beach relaxing but no, you had to completely disregard a direct order to run. I mean… how do you fuck that up man? It was so fucking simple."

"Well clearly Gabriel is not a smart man," Rowan said returning to NA's side with a glass of what he figured was ginger ale. "Which is unfortunate cause I am so fucking mad right now that you're really, really gonna wish you listened when I told you to run."

"It's true. She had been so nice to you," NA said with a patronizing shake of his head.

"So, uh… in case you can't tell. That game you said I was playing. I won it. Fucking knocked that shit right out of the park. And for your information I lied about what Beam me up Scotty means. It doesn't pull people back, it's for immediate extraction. And you know, I've been really nice to you Gabriel, this was all so uncalled for, that you know… you know what I'm gonna do… I'm gonna send NA over to Sinaloa and since Sara likes bunnies, NA is gonna…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, who is Sara?"

"His kid," Rowan said which got Gabriel straining against his bonds, a look of panic on his face.

NA's rabbit mask stared at her but she swore she could feel the confusion behind it. "How old?"

"I unno, little. Like… seven or eight. Hey Gabriel how old is Sara?"

"I don't do kids." He snapped before Gabriel could answer.

"Really? Didn't you kill a nun?"

"Killed a whole convent, actually, they were standing in the way of a housing development and I got paid a lot of money… You remember that but you didn't remember that I wear a rabbit mask? Kay, not the point, the point is just cause I'll kill nuns doesn't mean I do kids. I'll kill the wife. Hell, I'll kill the wife in front of the kid. But I don't do kids."

"Your morals are confusing," Rowan said before turning back to Gabriel.

"Okay, luckily for you, even though I'm really mad and I'd totally do it, my retainer will not be going after Sara. Which means we'll just have to have fun with you instead."

"You think I won't get you back for this?!" Gabriel shouted at her. "You don't think I'll come after you even harder if you even go near my Sara? You have a kid now, you wanna know the shit I'll do to him. I'll make you beg to save him and then I'll shoot you in the face!"

NA took that in, clearly unimpressed, the gun lifted immediately. "Okay and now you die."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Rowan cried putting a hand out. "What the hell are you doing?"

"He threatened you so I'mma put a bullet it him," he said again, putting the barrel of his silencer flush to Gabriel's forehead.

"NA! No! Stop it," she said going for the gun that he immediately put out of her reach.

"No! The app was clear, don't let you handle a loaded weapon."

"Oh my god. One accidental misfire and I'm marked for life. I didn't even shoot anyone!" Rowan cried. "Look, just put it away you're not killing him."

"That's a bad idea," NA said. "Keeping him alive when he harbours ill intent invites him to act on his threats. It'll be safer in the long run if you let me put him down."

"But then Sara grows up without a father and that's kinda sad."

"Then he should stop running his mouth."

Rowan turned to Gabriel. "Look man, I'm trying to keep you alive here, but I gotta go get my peeps to a hospital and Adam to the bank, so like… if I leave you here with him… and you run your mouth… he's gonna kill you. So, you can do that right? Not run your mouth?"

Gabriel just stared at her, hatred burning in his eyes. "Right I'mma take that as a yes. Oh, and don't worry, I'll tell the Yakuza that I've taken that pesky money you want so much and put it somewhere they'll never get it…"

"Oh, also not a good idea," NA said and Rowan turned to him. "Yeah, if crazy people want the money you don't put that money in your name. It means the crazy people will come after you… you're not listening to me, are you?"

"No. NA, you're going to stay here… and you're going have some fun… starting with a few… extractions…" Rowan said a smug grin on her face while beside her that blank blood-flecked white Rabbit mask loomed ominously over him in an almost taunting way. "I'm gonna go to the bank."

After that, with NA's rabbit mask staring down at Gabriel, keeping him still and quiet. Rowan finally cut them free. She helped Adam get up, as he had received most of the torture, and then they were heading for the door, leaving Gabriel alone with the man she called NA. She smiled brightly, showing no trace of the demonic woman she had been before.

"Come on, both you and Kono need a hospital, and you need to transfer that money to me," she said. Both Adam and Kono stared at her and Rowan seemed to realize that something was off. She glanced back to where NA was making slowly agonizing work out place each and every tool he had brought with him out on the table beside Gabriel, in plain sight for him to see. "Oh, don't worry about that. He's had this coming for a while. And NA will be sure to clean the mess up. Won't you?"

She got a thumbs up from the assassin and then she turned back to them. "Sufficient?"

There was no point in arguing apparently this was going to happen. So, both Kono and Adam relented. They followed Rowan out of Adam's house. But it wasn't until the door shut behind them that Gabriel started screaming.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Steve wasn't having a good day.

Last night, he had wanted to go somewhere nice, talking things out with Catherine about where she had been and if she found Najib and how. He wanted to know what she did after finding him, because he doubted she needed to be away for that long, which meant she had to have been up to other things. But Rowan had taken them to a bar. And then invited all the other Five-0's. Which had them drinking and partying all night instead of talking like he wanted to. He wanted to be angry about it, but he couldn't be that mad cause he had had fun. Though he was still at a loss as to how he ended up falling asleep beside Catherine and not Rowan last night.

He figured that he could talk to Catherine in the morning, with Rowan at his side, and everything would be okay. But any conversation he wanted to have with Catherine about what the hell had happened in the morning was interrupted by a case. A case that started as a murder and turned into a pirate treasure hunt. In Steve's case if they found the killers, they also found a treasure. So, you know. Win-win situation.

He had tried to get a hold of Rowan a few times, just to talk to her, to make sure she wasn't mad. To explain that no physical cheating had happened. But she hadn't answered. Which told him all he needed to know about how she felt about this morning's slip up.

Even Nahele was ignoring him. He was livid. Absolutely livid with Steven and he kind of got that because he knew how much Nahele loved Rowan, and it looked an awful lot like he was cheating on Rowan with Catherine. Which he was not. He really was not. He didn't think.

Those butterflies he got around Catherine were still persisting and as a result he was feeling conflicted, but only a little. Because every time he thought of Rowan, thought about them ending, about her leaving his house and taking Nahele with him, he felt sick to his stomach. He didn't want to lose what he had. He loved everything about what he had. And he knew he loved Rowan. But if that were true… would he still be feeling something for Catherine?

The call that derailed his day, and would eventually derail his life, came after the case was nice and closed and it didn't even come in on his phone. Chin had gotten a call from Kono and he had answered with a cheeky: "What are you doing calling me on your honeymoon?"

Steve found out then that not only had Kono and Adam been ambushed by Gabriel, not only were the two of them in the hospital, but Rowan was with them. And Rowan had gotten most of the beating.

Steve had rushed to the hospital. The bruising along Rowan's face was extensive. A single black eye, bruising along her cheeks, a split lip. It could have been worse. It could have been much worse. She could have died.

So, while Chin ran to Kono and Adam, Steve ran to Rowan. He held her tight, relieved that she was alright and suddenly angry because what the hell had happened?

Between her and Kono he got a story. Rowan had stormed out of the house after discovering Catherine in her place in Steve's bed. She had picked up the wedding gifts, with the intent to drop them off and bitch to her bestie… even if it meant disturbing their honeymoon. What she walked into was Gabriel torturing Adam.

Rowan got Tazed and then she mouthed off to Gabriel who hit her a couple of times. Luckily the abuse triggered Sandy who activated the nearest player. The man who had saved her in Afghanistan. A man in a white rabbit mask. A man she called NA. He had dealt with Gabriel. Rowan brought Adam and Kono to the hospital. Duke had gone to the house. Gabriel was in an unstable condition at the current moment having been beaten within an inch of his life and was apparently missing four back molars on each side.

Steve had a feeling that there was more to this. He had a feeling that someone was lying to him, but he didn't have it in him to argue. He just wanted to hold his girl and reassure her that he wanted her not Catherine. Though, when he was with Catherine he wasn't nearly as stressed out, nor was he this often in the hospital. And when he was in the hospital it was work related not because his girlfriend had gotten herself embroiled in some sort of crime or drama.

Across from him Adam couldn't stop staring. Adam couldn't help it. Watching Steve with Rowan, knowing what she had done and what road she was heading for, he felt like… if it were him, he would have wanted to know. So even though Kono told him not to, even though he had promised Kono he wouldn't. Once Steve got to the hospital, once Steve was certain that Rowan was alright, he pulled Steve aside for a chat.

"Hey uh… how are you doing?"

"I'm fine," Adam said before glancing back to Rowan who was busy with Danny. "They gave you a bit of a story, right?"

"Yeah Rowan came to drop off wedding gifts and…"

"No, she didn't," Adam said. "She came in already on the app. She knew Gabriel was there and what he was going to do to us. She came to stop him."

Steve took that in. "Why did she lie to me? Why is Kono…"

"Because Rowan was on the phone when she came in. She was on the phone with someone who sent an assassin to her location. Kono didn't want you two to argue so she agreed to lie to you, and asked me to do it as well. I've gotten the feeling that this wasn't the first time Kono's done that."

Steve blinked his eyes. "Adam, what are you saying? You think she's been lying for Rowan for a while?"

"I don't know, not for sure anyway," Adam admitted, "That that's not the real problem. The problem is what she did."

Steve stared at him, his eyes haunted as if he could already guess what happened. But Adam told him anyway. "The guy that came in to get her, he tortured him at her order. Granted she just told him to have fun, but she also told him to pull out teeth so you know… that's not… that's not normal behaviour and honestly I didn't think that would just come out of her you know?"

"It doesn't… not normally, but he hit her a few times and she gets angry…"

"She sounded exactly like Wo Fat."

Steve paused at that. He ran a hand over his face as he took it all in.

"Now… I didn't want to… but she made me go to the bank… made me transfer my assets out to her…"

"Why would she do that?"

"To keep them safe until it's time to transfer them to Shioma. She figured them safer with her since it was what Gabriel was after. But when we were at the bank I gotta good look at where she was sending the money to. It was a holding company I recognized... it's one of Fat's. And while she was there, she placed a call, I don't know who to but it didn't sound good. I… I'm afraid she's got herself in a very dangerous position Steve. I think she's going to go to war with the Yakuza, and if she does… I think we both know who's going standing behind her and just how violent it's going to get."

Steve turned his eyes back to Rowan and Adam followed his gaze. He felt bad telling Steven this when Kono had distinctly promised he wouldn't. But he couldn't keep this to himself. Rowan was heading for a disaster that could spill over onto all of them, that could get her killed. He wasn't going to lose anyone else over that money or to the Yakuza. Even if that meant causing an epic fight between her and Steven to do so.