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AvalonReeseFanFics

A/N: Hello my wonderful readers! It's the 11th day of the 12 days of Christmas Marathon! (Or it was when I started editing this chapter, got side tracked by last minute present wrapping and here's another late chapter) Luckily everything ended well with Nahele and now we're heading into Colombia with Rowan and her boys. I know it's odd timing, but in a few chapters AFTER our special Christmas chapter, we'll be getting into the actual story's Christmas chapters. We're going to have some interesting things happening. And once we get back the Valentine's Day chapters, we'll be about half way through the story and onto the REAL drama. Essentially Colombia is the start of all the MAJOR drama with Rowan, I mean less about Steve and her broken heart and more about her powers and her family. I know you guys aren't quite as fond of the Rowan chapters, but I've been having a lot of fun writing them. Don't forget to leave me a review and I'll see you tomorrow for our last and final marathon chapter!

Chapter 229

The sleek black Audi pulled into the large cobblestone courtyard where Armando stood ready to welcome the people inside. He had one hand shielding his eyes from the bright Colombian sun, as he waited for the door to open.

In a flash the door opened and a familiar bounding red-headed ball of energy hurtled herself at him. Armando, who only put up with hugs from his own girls, wrapped up this girl in a tight hug with no problem what so ever. He even managed to smile while doing it.

When Juan Carlos came back from Japan with horror stories of breaks and bruises and constant crying Armando had worried that Rowan wouldn't heal the same. But the girl smiling up at him from his chest looked to be the exact same as he remembered her.

"Hi Papa bear," she said and he smiled down at her.

"Get off," he ordered in the most loving way possible that just made her beam brighter and had her snuggling into him again. By this time Wo Fat and Sin Nombre were out of the Audi and one of his men was moving forward to take the car and put it in the garage.

Sin Nombre put out a hand, gripping the back of Rowan's shirt and tugging her back to him which meant Wo Fat could move in. The two shared a stiff hug before he pulled away and turned back to the girl and the bodyguard.

"Can you two get settled in without me?" he asked. "I've got business to attend to."

"Kay cool, don't commit any murders until Conejo can go with you," Rowan said. "Remember, you promised."

As Wo Fat no doubt rolled his eyes Armando was stunned in surprise. "Rabbit?" he echoed. The great Sin Nombre, murderer of many, who struck fear into the hearts of all criminals, let Rowan Pierce call him Rabbit?

"Laugh it up Papa bear," Sin Nombre shot back. "She can call me that, you can't."

"That's right, no teasing!" Rowan scolded him, pointing a finger at him, her other hand on her hips. She scowled up to him in that warning way she had which just made the whole situation so much more ridiculous. Because she was clearly attempting to emulate her bodyguard, and failing cause she just looked cute.

Well… wasn't that… interesting? Armando had just been starting out when Sin Nombre came onto the scene. The men he put into the ground five, almost six years ago, helped to create the empire Armando was so desperately attempting to save. Everyone knew him as this cool and detached assassin. The man who did what he wanted, held no one close to him, and killed with a singular drive. He never failed a mission, or at least he hadn't before Rowan got snatched out from under his nose. It was strange to see him exhibiting any sort of fondness or emotion for Rowan.

"We're going to go unpack," Rowan said rushing to Sin Nombre's side to take one of her suitcases. "I'll send him down when we're done. I take it I can pick my room?"

And then Rowan left before Armando could answer. He watched her go with Sin Nombre trailing after her before he turned an amused looked to Wo Fat who was watching them go from behind wide brimmed sunglasses.

"I know, it's a problem," he said with a heavy sigh. "His attachment to her and vice versa. But he took a reasonable discount for this job and he's the best I can do right now."

"Best you can do? He's the best of the best. Ain't nothing gonna get to that girl with him sitting on her."

Wo Fat turned a scowl on him. "Yeah that's what I thought when I left him on her in Hawaii. We both know how that went," he reminded him. "Not to mention Hawaii had him at a distance. Now that they're together day in and out… well…"

Armando couldn't help it, he snorted. Wo Fat definitely had his hands full between those two. He bet the two of them were even ganging up on him.

"I'm glad you're enjoying this," Wo Fat snapped. "Why don't you tell me why you called me here, what happened?"

"Diego hit my house," he said. "Went after my kids."

Wo Fat turned to him clearly surprised. It was an unspoken rule, not to go for children. Before Rowan, Wo Fat wouldn't have understood why Armando was upset. But he understood now.

"Well we can't have that, can we?" he asked. "Are they alright?"

"A little scared. Wife is very mad at me. She's gone to her sister's until further notice. I sent my best men with her."

"You can pull her here if you want. Sin Nombre's here, he'll take care of them," he said. "Unless uh… you want me to set him lose. Send a message. I'm sure he'd love the change, Ro's been running him ragged with tourist attractions. Claims that it's driving him crazy but he's always taking pictures of them and buying his own souvenirs."

That whole sentence was amazing. There as so much in there that he could use against Sin Nombre if he wasn't afraid that the man would just stab him in the throat if he tried. Instead he moved onto the main flaw in Wo Fat's plan.

"Sin Nombre doesn't kill kids," Armando reminded him. They were walking towards the study of this compound.

"Fine, we'll send me. I don't care who I kill," he replied and Armando nodded. Despite being on a plane at the time, Juan Carlos knew what Wo Fat was going to do next. He knew what was goin happened to Riku Sato and his family, so no one was surprised when news hit. But rage had been the root behind those murders. He wasn't sure if Wo Fat had it in him anymore.

"I agree a message must be sent, but I want more than a family decimated. I want his business crippled. I want him run out of this country," he growled and Wo Fat nodded.

"Then we have a lot of work, don't we old friend?" he asked. There was a gleam in those eyes that Armando recognized. A glimmer of that old villain that Wo Fat used to be before he met Rowan. This incident with her, it had done wonders for the evil in the man. It had finally brought it back to the surface.

Maybe Wo Fat still had it in him after all.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Wo Fat locked himself in Armando's study, they were busy mapping out their plan of attack, he had said. Rowan was bored, immediately. She wanted to explore, she wanted to go and see new things, she wanted to go shopping. Conejo had stopped her. He was nervous, Colombia, or at least the part of Colombia that they were in, wasn't safe for tourists, especially pretty little white things like her.

He wanted to do perimeter checks on the house, and recon on the places she wanted to visit. She quickly realized that she was going to spend a lot of time in Armando's mansion. Much like the last one she had been in, the one in Bogata, there was a pool, an indoor gym, and a large library for her to use. Though the library and the study were attached so she hadn't been able to go into yet. But that wasn't going to be enough to keep her entertained.

The first thing she convinced Conejo to do was escort her to the Vault. That request involved an armoured car and a team of men under his control with Kevlar vests and automatic machine guns and while she thought that was ridiculous it got her out of the house.

The Cartagena branch of the Vault was under a church. They walked into the Templo de Santo Domingo, the team of men left outside as to not desecreate the hallowed grounds they were on. Conejo even made the sign of the cross as they passed through the threshold. Rowan walked to the alter where they were accepting coins to light a vigil candle.

Rowan handed them a few coins. Lit her candle looked the priest assiting her in they eye and then whispered: "They say hell has three gates. I'd like access to the third."

The man nodded to her and gestured for her to follow him. He lead her to the back where, behind a hanging tapestry was a set of a stairs. The stairs lead down to the main chamber where a man with a laptop was waiting to take her finger prints and iris scan to prove that she was who she said she was. Behind him a giant vault door, like something out of cartoon or old western.

"Welcome to Cartagena, Miss Pierce, how may we help you?" the man asked her once everything was confirmed.

"I'd like to make a withdrawal, from the joint account," she told him. He typed away and pulled the briefcase out of Conejo's hand and readied it for the money she was about to receive.

"I'm sorry, your emergency fund has been emptied."

Rowan started and looked up to him. What? No. That couldn't be true. "Excuse me?"

"It's currently empty," he repeated as if she were stupid. She scowled at him.

"Show me," she ordered, and then before he could tell her no, she had grabbed the laptop to confirm it. It wasn't fully empty but it didn't have a lot of money in it. There was only one zero after that number. She hadn't realized that it was that bad.

"You and your brother have burned through it, I don't see why you're surprised."

Because Wo Fat hadn't told her. But why was she surprised? The man had been throwing cash at her since they left for Paris. She had assumed it would put a dent into the funds, but she didn't think it would decimate the emergency funds.

"What are all of these?" she asked pointing to a transfer, someone was wiring money into the account, not that it mattered since they were burning through it faster than a fire went through an Australian bush.

"That would be transfers from your brother's personal account, no doubt to flush out the funds to afford your suddenly lavish lifestyle…"

He was paying for her with his own money. Dear god, she was bankrupting him. That's why he was working while they travelled. He had to, because he couldn't afford all they were doing.

"What about my personal vault, what's in that one?"

He keyed in her account number and then showed her. He must have emptied her bank accounts before they went on this trip, probably to keep Steve from tracking them. It seemed odd to her but it was working in their favour at that moment. It meant that she had a lot of money in there.

"Alright, uhm… can you take half the money in my vault and transfer it into the shared vault and uh… take my withdrawal from that please," she told him. "I uh… I guess ten thousand will do for now, for spending cash."

It was more than enough for this leg of the trip because now she wasn't going to do anything. She was going back to being frugal, no more crazy spending, no more making it rain in souvenir shops. No more letting Wo Fat book out a full train just for murder mystery theater. No more crazy expensive hotels.

She got her money, made sure that the transfer into their shared account was completed and then they were heading back to Armando's. She needed to start pulling her weight, she couldn't be a financial drain, she needed to be useful in some sort of way.

She'd have to start writing songs again.

"What are you going to use the cash for?" Conejo asked her once they were back at the mansion.

"Christmas presents," she said. "Maybe Christmas decorations, we'll have to see what Armando has here."

"Well it's not his main house, so not a lot," Conejo shot back.

"I'll figure it out," she said and then paused. "Hey Conejo… do we like Goro Shioma now?"

Conejo paused himself and then turned back to her. "I suppose so. He forgave your friend's debt and handed over Gabriel like he said he would so I think he and your Oz are on good terms now."

Rowan nodded. "So we wouldn't want him to be dead?"

Conejo's eyes narrowed. "No I suppose we wouldn't… why?"

"I had a dream. I'm going to need you to go to Hawaii," she said as if that made sense. Conejo half scoffed at her in surprise.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me, you have to go Hawaii and make sure Gabriel doesn't kill him," she said. "Should be easy and a fun time for you."

"I'm not leaving you alone in Cartagena, Colombia. Not when you have a tendency to wander off," he growled. Rowan opened her mouth but he shook his head. "No, I'm not going. You can't make me. End of argument. Go put your money in your safe I'm going to go to the kitchen and get us something to snack on."

Rowan let him leave knowing that at that moment she had bigger things to worry about than Gabriel's plan to take over Hawaii's underground by killing all the leaders. Right now she had to write enough songs to keep them rolling comfortably in dough for the rest of the trip.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

I loved and I loved and I lost you. I loved and I loved and I lost you. And it hurts like hell.

For four days, all Rowan did was eat sleep and breathe music. Once she uncorked the waiting words and the melodies, it flowed from her like a river.

Here comes the rain again, falling from the stars. Drenched in my pain again becoming who we are.

Each word felt like it was carved out of her skin, each note stained with the blood of her broken heart. Her love had been set ablaze and laid to waste and from the ashes rose the songs of the dying, the heart broken, the left and the lonely.

Why her, not me? What did I do for you to wreck it all? Oh lord, it's not my fault.

Each song brought Steven back from her. Each chord, each note, they transported her back to a Hawaiian beach. The firefly dotted nights, with embers floating in the wind mixing with her words. Each song reminded her that Steven and her Hawaiian beach no longer belonged to her. And with that renewed grief came more words.

How can I say this without breaking? How can I say this without taking over? How can I put it down into words? When its almost too much for my soul alone. I loved, and I loved and I lost you. And it hurts like hell.

For the first time since that basement Rowan Pierce came alive. She found that pulse, the heart beat of her, the will to live once more. Her purpose. Her drive. For the first time she felt a little bit like her old self, for real, not just for pretend for her brother and her body guard. For the first time Rowan felt like she might just be starting to heal.

You can pretty lie and say it's okay. You can pretty smile and just walk away. Pretty much fake your way through anything but you can't cry pretty.

Rowan Pierce was on fire, but this time the flame was one of her own creation. And like a phoenix she was going to rise from the ashes. Stronger than ever before.

No, I won't lay low, low, low. You gave me my soul, soul, soul, I'm not giving in, no. No, no, no, I won't lay low, low, low I've done no wrong, wrong, wrong. I'm not giving in, no.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Once she had songs to put down, she made Conejo take her to a recording studio. The trip involved the same team with Kevlar vests and automatic machine guns. She laid down the lyrics and the music faster than she ever had before and by the end of the week she had five new songs. They were all so different, she had a punk rock, a country, a ballad and a pop song. But all of them were about love lost and the pain of living without the one you loved.

Once she had put the final song on a CD, Conejo took her back to Armando's. She went straight to the study, but both Wo Fat and Armando were not there. She hadn't seen much of her brother over the last couple of days, the most she had seen him was in passing as he and Armando returned to the mansion for supplies and to check up on her.

He always smelled of gun powder and sometimes he'd be bleeding, or at the very least covered in blood, from pools of it to flecks. So, whatever it was that her brother was doing, it involved a lot of blood. So she figured it was a lot of murder that she wouldn't be able to talk to him about.

"They're enacting Wo Fat's ten step plan to ruination," Conejo said from the door. "He's uh… heading for a turf war and he's trying to avoid a full-blown war by cutting down as much of the army and the resources of the other side as he can."

Rowan nodded, made sense. Maybe. She turned to stare at him wondering if he wished he could be out in the middle of all the blood, guts and fighting instead of stuck there with her. "I guess it's just me and you again tonight."

"I suppose it is," he said. "What do you want to do tonight? Not card games, not now that I know you can count them."

"Honestly… I really need you to do something," she said and he sighed once more.

"Mami, I have told you once, I have told you a million times. I am not going down to Hawaii. I'm not leaving you in cholo country on your own. I'm not doing it."

"Yeah well you wanna keep getting paid right?" Rowan snapped and he frowned. "I need you to go to Hawaii for two reasons."

Conejo sighed as aggressively as he could but Rowan continued. "Firstly, I'mma need you to give the demos to Pete Ganbarg. He's my producer. I'll give you notes on what he's to sell them for and all that. I've already set up the account to put the money in, he'll get a new one each month. That way we can still make money…"

"Selling a few songs is gonna make us money?" he asked sarcastically

"It's been how I've been making my money so far," she shot back and that seemed to impress him. She hadn't quite given him the exact amount, but the fact that she was using her money to fund them at that moment, he had caught the implication that she was making a lot.

"And lastly, and probably most importantly, I need you to go to Hawaii, to keep Goro from dying."

"Yeah but I don't care about him…"

"Well you should, because it's Gabriel who's going after him. So the real reason I want you down there for, is not for Goro, but for Gabriel."

"I keep telling you, it can't be Gabriel," Conejo snapped. "The last number I did on him should have taken that man out of commission…"

"I had to send people to Hawaii to get him off Chin a month ago," she reminded him.

"Yeah and not only did you declare war on him, you sent down mounted machine guns, there's no way that guy survived… and if he did why the hell would he still be working on Hawaii? That's just dumb…"

"Well he is, Con," she cried. "He is and I'm sick of it. I want him gone, Con. I want you to kill Gabriel Waincroft. For reals this time."

Conejo took that in. He was quiet for a minute as he thought it over but he only needed to take that in for all of two seconds before he shrugged and said: "Down. Done, I'll leave tonight. But you, mami, you gotta promise me that you're gonna be okay without me."

"Course," she said with a shrug. "I promise, no excursions. No touristing. Just sitting here in the mansion doing nothing."

"Write more songs or something," he offered. "I'mma have dinner before I pack and head out, you coming with me mami?"

Rowan nodded trying really hard not to feel the slightest bit of trepidation for what was about to happen. She hadn't been without Conejo since Paris, and she hadn't been on her own since she got kidnapped. She was nervous, she was worried but she couldn't let that show or Conejo would never leave.

They needed the money. And she really, really wanted Gabriel dead.