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AvalonReeseFanFics

A/N: Hello my wonderful readers and welcome to the 10th day of the 12 days of Christmas Marathon! We are only TWO updates away from your special Christmas Chapter. Are you guys getting excited? For those who are worried about Nahele, everything is going to be settled in this chapter. The next set of chapters are going to be centered around Rowan, but we do have a very funny set of chapters coming up. It's my favourite episode in season 6 so hopefully I did it justice. Don't forget to leave me a review and I'll see you guys tomorrow.

Chapter 228

The court hearing was scheduled for a Friday evening. Steve had caught his murderer by then, and it was pretty anti-climactic. Just a university kid, the campus pot dealer that had partnered up with their dead Professor for a big time grow operation. Kid got a taste of real profit and decided he didn't want to share. Had a good plan, have the pigs eat the body, hopefully never have it found. Except pigs can't digest lead so the bullet came out and they got a match and the proof they needed to arrest the kid.

After the arrest Kong had called back and said that Wo Fat had not been pleased but had distressingly understood what Kong was asking. Within a few hours he had confirmed that Rowan was dreaming about a little boy that was left in the car. His father kept promising him a shaved ice. But the father always left with his friend, the boy was left in the car with his comic books and then a gunshot is heard. Then the father would then come back without the friend. But she didn't know if it was recent or in the past. She also couldn't tell him who the boy was.

Kong had then asked what the hell her dreams had to do with anything? And Steve couldn't give him an answer because she hadn't given them anything they could use. Granted that was much more detailed than her dreams usually were, she didn't usually have a play-by-play that thorough for something so trivial. Still what was he going to tell Kong? That he had him call Wo Fat to get a psychic dream from Rowan? He'd think Steve was crazier than he had before.

But with his case settled, and Rowan dreaming nothing useful as per usual, Steve could do nothing except show up to that court hearing for solidarity and to offer a bit of comfort. So, he got himself all dressed up in the navy-blue suit that Rowan loved him, and made sure to put on the matching navy-blue striped tie that Nahele had bought him for his birthday. It made Nahele half smile when he saw it and that was all he needed.

He was both grateful and upset that he wasn't the one sitting beside Nahele at that table. And yet it felt wrong to have Nahele sitting at that table, nervous and afraid, his foot tapping, a habit that he had picked up from Steve. He was sitting beside Brandi, with Kong on the other side of his wife and Brenda Dean on the other side of Nahele.

On the one hand it felt like that Steve should have been the one beside him but on the other hand he knew it would have been torture if it had been him in the Liang's shoes. Cause if he and Rowan would have gotten to this point, where they were sitting in a court room about to be told whether or not they would be allowed to keep Nahele, both of them would have been nervous wrecks.

Instead he got to sit down behind Nahele, silently trying to emit nothing but positive vibes hoping that he could sense how supportive Steve was trying to be. Even if it had to be emotional support from afar.

They listened to the Judge read through Kaili's testimony's and affidavits. They listened to what the Liang's had to say about the matter, about how with him Nahele would have all the supplies to properly thrive. And Nahele's plea to not be moved again not when he had just settled in and things were starting to feel homey.

Steve tried very hard not to take that to heart. He couldn't ask the kid to be miserable, he deserved a good home, a happy home, even if it wasn't Steve's home.

And then the Judge was ready with her decision.

"I've gone over Mr. Huikala's testimony as well as the social worker's evaluation, which was extremely detailed as always," the judge said shooting a pleased smile to Brenda Dean who sat on the other side of Nahele. "I also have affidavits here from Mr. Huikala's employer and parole officer."

Steve watched as the Liang's sat nervously, Brandi sitting beside Nahele, holding his hand tightly, like Rowan would have if she were there. The tenseness in Kong's shoulders. To be honest, he could have hacked himself out of this, the fact that he hadn't showed some real maturity. Steve was proud of him, though if there were ever a time for Kong to canon ball into that hazy grey area, this would have been the time.

The Judge closed the file in front of her and smiled at them. "At this point, I feel I have enough information to render a decision."

There was a pause there that no one needed before the judge continued. "The State of Hawaii prides itself in reconnecting families and after careful consideration, I believe that is what we should do here today."

"Wait… what?" Brandi cried shooting to her feet. "Reuniting families? That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard!"

"Mrs. Liang… sit down."

Already Kong was struggling to pull her back down into the chair, but she threw his hands off and he just gave up, like that. Clearly knowing that his wife wasn't just going to let this go.

"No, I will not sit down! Yes, he's said the right things and done the right things, but that's right now. He went to jail for a reason and with that on his record you know he won't amount to anything. We have money, we have station, and more than enough connections backing us. This court should be more concerned in giving this kid a better life, not putting him with some jail junky father who will never be able to afford to take care of him like we can. Nahele doesn't even want to live with him!"

"Mrs. Liang!" the Judge near screamed at her banging the gavel as if that was going to stop Brandi. Damn, the angrier she got the more she seemed like Rowan. Except Rowan would have activated her app by now. Sandy would be running through Kaili's and that Judge's life by now looking for dirt to throw in this court room.

"WELL it's TRUE!" she shouted she then turned onto Kong. "Don't just sit there! DO SOMETHING!"

He opened his mouth, Steve wasn't even certain what he could say to calm her down, but was interrupted by the Judge who had decided to move on "Regardless of how you feel, Mrs. Liang. This court feels that it's is in Nahele's best interest to be reunited with his father."

"Well with all due respect, this court is STUPID!"

Now if that wasn't a Rowan comment if Steve ever heard one. Steve almost smiled, hell he almost laughed at that one.

"Mrs. Liang, one more comment and I will hold you in contempt of the court," the Judge said shooting her a warning glare that should have shut her up. Brandi seemed to realize that she was shouting at a loosing battle.

"I'm already holding you in all sorts of contempt woman!" Brandi cried but none-the-less took her seat.

The Judge shot her one last angry glare before she stamped the form in front of her and said: "The petition for custody is hereby granted."

Before she could even finish the sentence Nahele was out of his seat and speed walking away. The door to the courtroom slammed behind him as he disappeared, despite Brenda Dean and both Liang's shouting after him to come back.

Once the door was shut Brandi turned back on the judge ready to fight her loosing battle again.

"See! See what you did!" she shouted at the judge. "He's a flight risk you knew that, it's on his file. If he runs away and never comes back it is on YOU!"

As Brandi and the judge argued, Kong turned. The look on his face was all Steve needed. He nodded and got up, ready to chase after his boy. Maybe, maybe if he got Nahele to talk they could find a way to fix whatever this was.

Or maybe, he'd have Kong put him in touch with Wo Fat and demand he talk to Rowan. Hell, he'd ask Wo Fat for the favour if he had to. Anything to fix things for his boy. It was the least he could do.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Steve found Nahele in the first place Steve thought to look. In his garage. Sitting in the passenger seat of Rowan's pastel purple GTO.

Steve, who had untied his tie and unbuttoned a few buttons on his shirt on his way over, stripped himself of his suit jacket before slipping into the driver's seat.

"Yeah I thought I might find you here," Steve said once the door was shut and he was sitting comfortably. Nahele didn't even bother to look up.

"You know, after a bad day at school, specially that private school where they were bullying me, getting into the passenger seat of this cat always made it a little better. I always felt like, when I was in this car, I was safe. Cause Ro wouldn't have let anything happen to me," Nahele whispered.

Yeah Steve got that. Rowan had a way of making you feel impervious to everything. "Look, Nahele, I know that things didn't go down the way you wanted them to but…"

"I don't care what… I don't care what that judge said. They can't make me live with him."

"Actually, they can…"

Nahele shook his head. "This wouldn't have happened if she were here," he whispered, his shaking getting worse, he was getting more and more closer to breaking into tears. "She wouldn't let them take me."

"But she's not here, kid," Steve said. "She's not… and… you know… if she was here… whatever she would have done to keep you probably wouldn't have been legal…"

"Yeah but she would have done, something," Nahele snapped finally turning to look at Steve and he fell quiet, because he got it now. There was an anger in Nahele's eyes he hadn't seen before, that maybe, Steve had been blind to. Nahele felt like no one had done anything to keep him. That they just let him go. Steve included. "I keep… I keep calling her and leaving messages. I thought… if maybe… if I could just talk to her, I could maybe get her to come home and… I unno… we could be a family again… I keep telling her you don't have to be there and it could just me and her… but I guess I'm not…"

Steve sighed. God this poor kid. But he couldn't keep hear this, having that guilt trip thrown at him. Did Nahele not know how painful it was to hear that he didn't need the family with Steve, it could have been just Nahele and Rowan. Steve would have been a bonus. Yeah this was his fault but he didn't need it thrown at him or cut out of the shared family dream.

"Hey! This is not your fault, okay?" Steve said putting an arm out to him. "Look, I'm sorry, kid. I'm sorry I did this to you," he said. Nahele opened his mouth to tell him that it wasn't his fault, but it was. And they both knew it. "She didn't come back cause of me. Cause I picked Catherine. It wasn't your fault. She didn't leave cause of you."

"But she didn't come back. She said she'd come back for me…"

"Well from what I hear, she's travelling around the world with a deranged psychopath and an international assassin, so you know, she probably just doesn't want you around that. She probably just wants to be settled…"

"She hasn't called me either."

Yeah this was getting harder to justify. Damn why was he even trying to justify her terrible behaviour to him?

"This is gonna sound crazy kid, but this is how she copes," he said. "I noticed it when she got here, this unwillingness to talk about her past and her family. She just… she pretends it's not a problem by pretending it's not there. Like if she doesn't talk about it, or think about it, or acknowledge it, it'll go away. She did that for everything traumatic that ever happened to her. And that's a shitty way of dealing with anything, but it worked for her. I just means… she can never think about it again…"

"But what if she does?"

"It manifested as nightmares most of the time, look it's a messy way of dealing with things and it's not practical, but it's what she does," Steve said. "I think… and I don't have proof, but I think she's got someone screening her calls so she doesn't have to think about it… cause it's hurting her too much to think about it."

"So, she doesn't know what's happening here, and she doesn't want to know because it hurts?"

"Yes."

"That's stupid," Nahele snapped. "She's gonna be so pissed when she finds out."

Yes, she was, wasn't she? But she wasn't here now, which meant it was up to Steve to take care of their kid.

"Look, I can tell that there's something you're not telling me," he said and Nahele's eyes whipped up as if surprised. "About your dad that is. Now I want to help you but if you don't let me in, I can't."

This sucked because before, when Rowan was there, before Brenda Dean and CPS took him away, Nahele one hundred percent would have trusted him. Nahele kept his eyes down, he refused to look up, refused to look at him anymore.

"Look at me," Steve ordered after the silence was too long and the kid's chest refused to stop heaving. Nahele did as he was told and Steve could see the anguish there, and he wanted nothing more than to extinguish it for him. "I'll always protect you, alright? Just cause you're not here, in the house with me, doesn't mean I don't care, and doesn't mean I won't protect you. You got me?"

Nahele nodded softly and then started telling him about the murder he witnessed his dad commit when he was younger. A murder that was word for word, the dream Wo Fat had told Kong that Rowan was having. She was dreaming something useful after all.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Steve called Five-0 the second he got Nahele's story. He purposely didn't call CPS to say he found him, instead he ordered his kid pizza from his favourite place, and then tucked him into his own bed. He told Nahele he was staying the night, no matter what, and that Steve was going to be there the whole time.

But as soon as Kono and Chin confirmed the dead body in the spot Nahele had given him, he left. He left to arrest Kaili himself. Deposited him in jail and then called Kong.

He told Kong two things. One. Nahele was with him and staying the night, no arguments. Two. He had just proved that Kaili had committed murder, Nahele was the witness. Call CPS, get custody revoked. The last thing he had said was to call him when it was good for him to bring Nahele back. As in, as soon as Kong could confirm that he was Nahele's foster parent again, Steve would pack up the kid that should have been his and drop him off at his new home.

Steve then called Five-0 and got the next day off.

He didn't want to chance taking Nahele off his property and chance someone seeing him. He didn't want CPS knowing that he wasn't missing and taking him away again. So they stayed in the house.

Steve made him toaster waffles and smoothies, nothing like Rowan would have made but he couldn't make her pancakes with her living with him and showing him what to do, he wouldn't be able to do it now. They threw the pig skin around like they used to, he got him surfing on the waves outside of Steve's house. Then, when it got a little dark, he let the kid start a fire, roast some marshmallows while Steve tried to practice his guitar. Problem was he hadn't been able to play a note since Rowan left, and he couldn't do it now either.

By the time Nahele was on his third s'more Kong had called back to say that not only were they approved again, but it was okay for Nahele to come home. Steve tried to get him for one more night, feigning Nahele being tired and it being late, but it wasn't that late and the Liang's were anxious to get Nahele back.

So he packed the kid that should have been his up in his truck and dropped him off at the Liang's giant house. As soon as the truck was parked, Brandi was rushing out the front door squealing and flapping her arms like she and Nahele were being reunited after years of separation.

She hugged him tightly, squealing and crying while Nahele limply hugged her back and evenly intoned that it was okay. Steve found, that though this was touching, he couldn't quite stomach looking at this reunion. He waved good-bye to the kid that should have been his and put his car in reverse as Brandi and Nahele headed back to the house where Kong was waiting at the door, to pull Nahele into a stiff hug and to wave his thanks to Steve.

But once that door was closed, Steve started to drive because he wasn't a part of that reunion anymore.

Nahele wasn't his kid anymore. That wasn't ever going to be his family. But that didn't mean he didn't love him. That didn't mean he wasn't going to look out for him. And it didn't mean that Steve was never going to have his own family.

But at that moment, he felt as if anything else wasn't going to be as amazing as that first family he had.