Rewrite

AvalonReeseFanFics

A/N: Hello my wonderful readers! Another late chapter sorry. I've just been so busy with school and work and co op and what not. I didn't quite like the flow of this chapter, but I don't know how to fix it. I'll try to come back to edit this one later. Don't forget to tell me what you thought and I'll see you on Friday.

Chapter 236

Conejo was still mad at Rowan for taking him down with a cookie cutter. But it was Christmas so he had to put it aside. He'd be mad at her again once Christmas was over, but today she'd get a temporary reprieve from his silent disapproval.

When he woke up in the morning he found that she had left the ugly sweater for him on the end of the bed. He hadn't heard her come in, so that meant that she was in the room sometime in the early morning… it also meant that she was getting better at sneaking around. He didn't know if that was going to be a good thing in the long run, but he'd worry about that on a different day that wasn't the first Christmas he was going to be celebrating since 2009.

Conejo slipped on a pair of shorts and then went for the sweater. It was a hunter green sweater with bright green mistletoe and a white arrow pointing down at his crotch. Between the arrow and the mistletoe was he words: "Kiss me under the mistletoe."

Suggestive, dirty and flirty, this sweater was him to tee. She really was good at picking out gifts. That meant that whatever gift she gave them for Christmas was going to be just as thoughtful. Damn. His gift was going to suck in comparison.

He came out of his room to find Wo Fat standing across from him in a red and white ugly sweater designed to look like a suit. A play on his inability to dress down, also a very good choice for him.

"You're here," Conejo said with a smile, because Rowan had been worried that he wouldn't make it when he hadn't shown up last night as promised. He had assured her that even if Wo Fat was late, he would make sure that they had a great time. "She know you're here?"

"Yeah, woke her up last night when I came in, so she wouldn't worry," he said. Conejo looked around but there was no sign of the Christmas Crazed girl that they were in charge of.

The fact that she wasn't there to meet them did not bode well though. "She's not in her room is she?"

"No, but there are certain family traditions…"

"How do you know about her family traditions?" Conejo snapped. "You weren't talking to her last Christmas."

"Doesn't mean we hadn't discussed it…"

"And you've barely been here for her set up…" Conejo continued as they headed towards the foyer where the large tree had been set up.

"Okay, as much as I'd love to answer your questions, you keep interrupting me…"

"Fine, fine! I'm sorry, just go ahead."

"Thank you," Wo Fat answered primly, his hand going for his sleeve as if to play with the buttons. When he found that his buttons weren't there, he seemingly paused as if he didn't know what to do. He regained his composure and said: "Her and I spoke of our Christmas traditions when Christmas came up last year. She likes to be prepared she bought my Christmas gift in August of that year. Her mentioning that she had done so brought on the conversation."

Wow, he knew that Rowan was very thorough, but that's a little next level, even for her. "Okay…"

"She's most likely getting the French Toast Casserole ready," Wo Fat said. "And the hot chocolate."

Conejo groaned and Wo Fat merely shushed him. "The AC is on, can't you feel it?"

Not really because he was in a freaking sweater. He fiddled with the neckline of his sweater, it was already itchy as he was sweating.

"What did you get her for Christmas?"

"What did you get her for Christmas?" Wo Fat shot back. Yeah. Helpful.

"Something… nice," Conejo answered softly.

"I went for something she's always wanted again," Wo Fat told him and Conejo sighed.

They came to a stop by the Christmas tree, where Armando and JC were waiting for them, they too in ugly sweaters. JC's was a blinking Christmas tree, whereas Armando was wearing a glowing Rudolph sweater, the deer's nose was the source of the light. Conejo was certain it was the kind that sung. But that would be annoying so he wasn't about to press any of the buttons on Armando's shirt.

For a while the four men just stood there, none offered a Merry Christmas to any of them, because the only one who cared about this holiday wasn't there. Armando would rather be at home with his family, as Conejo assumed JC would rather be as well, and well… neither Wo Fat nor Conejo did Christmas. Or… at least… he didn't think Wo Fat did Christmas. But Wo Fat had had Rowan in his life for a lot longer, it stood to reason that she probably got him into Christmas before this.

"So…." JC murmured breaking the heavy silence around them. "Do we uh…. Just find our gifts and open them?"

"Yes would that make this go faster so we can take our sweaters off and be cool again?" Armando asked.

"We should probably wait for Rowan," Wo Fat told them and while Conejo agreed with the whole wanting to get this over with, he also wanted Rowan to be happy.

"We have to get on the road, I want to be with my girls for Christmas," Armando growled. The Christmas season had put him in a bad mood. He missed his family. Conejo understood that, but all Rowan wanted was to share her kind of Christmas with the only family she had left.

"If you have to go, go, she'll understand," Wo Fat said, once again fiddling with the cuffs of his sleeves. It was often that he did that. Conejo was starting to think that it was a nervous tick as he always did it when he was uncomfortable… or when he was lying. Because there was no way Rowan would be cool with them dipping.

"As much as I'd love to stay have some honeys to wine and dine tonight and I'd like to get ready instead of wasting my time with this lost cause," JC added.

It wasn't the first time JC had said something like that about Rowan. The first comment was enough for Conejo to get the message. Rowan and JC had hooked up while he was gone and she had quickly kicked JC to the curb when she was done with him. Conejo had confirmed it with Rowan later but the constant comments were unnecessary.

JC looked up from his phone to Conejo's dark glare and Wo Fat's confused glare. "That was uncalled for," Wo Fat snarled.

JC just shrugged and from the hallway came the distinct humming that they all knew was announcing Rowan's arrival. Conejo quickly crossed the distance to JC took a hold of the boy's phone so he couldn't use it as a distraction and stared darkly into his eyes.

"Listen here cabrón, I don't care if you've got hurt feelings. She didn't want you, so suck it the fuck up because if your sour attitude ruins her day they're not gonna find your body you got me?" he hissed.

"I'm sorry what happened?" Wo Fat asked, not moving to help JC, simply curious as to what was happening. The panic on JC's face was what clued him in to JC not wanting Wo Fat to know what happened.

Well if he didn't want anyone knowing he should have kept his fucking mouth shut.

"She fucked him and chucked him. His ego's bruised but he's gonna get over it. Aren't you?"

"She slept with him?! When?!"

"Awww Con why did you tell him?"

They all turned to where Rowan was standing. She had a big tray in her hands that had two plates with big thick pieces of French toast that look coated in nuts and syrup. Behind her were two other servants, each with another tray, one with three more plates, and one with five mugs of her world famous cocoa.

She was staring at them with big wounded eyes and Conejo inwardly groaned.

"Mans wouldn't stop whining like a little bitch," he growled. "I told him to stop before he ruined your Christmas… I didn't realize Wo Fat had no idea you and him got it on while I was gone."

Rowan sighed heavily. "Alright, how about we stop talking about my sex life and move onto breakfast and presents."

"Wrap mine up to go, I wanna get to my family before lunch," Armando ordered. Rowan handed him the tray with two plates and while he handed off to a different servant to pack up, she stooped down to take their presents out from under the tree.

"It's just something small," she said to them, offering it up. "Yours is just a song," she told JC.

Immediately he had that package out of her hand. "It's called Hey DJ, it's got a good mix, if you like what I got for you we can lay down vocals and I'll let you negotiate our royalty price."

JC hugged her suddenly and tightly. "You're the best." He kissed her cheek, before quickly scrambling out of the protective glares of both Wo Fat and Conejo. Armando was next to hug her, he too wishing her a soft Merry Christmas and then the two of them left them alone at the tree with their French toast and gifts.

Conejo already had his plate with the French toast on it and managed to get through half of it before Rowan had turned back to them.

"Guess it's just us!" she cried and he smiled at her through his mouthful of delicious French toast.

"I'm okay with that if you are," Wo Fat said. "If not I'm sure I can get someone else to stand in for them…"

"No it's okay, I don't mind," Rowan said. She put her own plate down on the center table that was really only for decoration and then practically dove under the tree. When she came back she had two gifts, one for him and one for Wo Fat that she then handed to them.

"So the way it worked in our house is we'd take turns opening presents, cause me and my brother never…"

"Wait a second you have a brother? Like a real brother?"

"Don't ask about her Canadian family they suck," Wo Fat snapped.

"She's Canadian?!" Coenjo thundered because that was news to him. From the research he had done the girl had dropped out of the sky, literally, one day and no one knew how she survived or who she was. But a week later, Five-0 had gotten her an identity, a Hawaiian citizenship card and she moved in with McGarrett the first time.

But neither Wo Fat or Rowan answered his question.

"The point is," Rowan interrupted them. "The point is my brother and I used to argue about who got to open presents first, so my mom would list conditions. Like, eldest opens first, and we'd open in that order. Do we needed to do that?"

"No," Wo Fat snapped just as Conejo shrugged and said: "Maybe."

Wo Fat turned a dry glare on him and Conejo smiled. "I was joking. What about you, what gift are you going to open?"

"I unno, whichever one, I guess," she said.

"Oh, then open mine!" Coenjo said. "It's small but I bet you'll love it."

He had hid his present for her actually in the Christmas tree, but it was so bushy she hadn't even noticed it. He didn't even have a hard time lifting it off of Wo Fat, the man was barely around.

He handed her the nicely wrapped box and she thanked him for it before plopping down on the floor, cross legged, ready to unwrap. Wo Fat and Conejo mirrored her positions. She counted down from five and then they ripped apart their gifts.

Conejo opened his and found that his box held two things. A burned CD with the word Brother written on it and a simple draw string bag. Inside that bag was a bracelet. His was a black leather strap with red beads and a simple Hamsa amulet.

He looked up to find that Wo Fat had the same CD and was unpacking a similar bag. His Hamsa bracelet was all black. Black leather band, black beads, except for two green jade ones his own little Hamsa charm dangling off of it.

Conejo was not impressed because he didn't wear jewellery. But Rowan was smiling at them warmly. "I got the manliest ones I could find."

"These are nice," Wo Fat said hesitantly, no doubt feeling the same way as Conejo about the bracelet. "Uh… but why a hand?"

"It's a Hamsa charm," she explained, though Conejo already knew that. "They're protection charms, so you boys will be safe."

That wasn't how the world worked, but it was a nice gesture. For a long time Wo Fat just stared at her as she smiled at them. He looked down to the bracelet before he made a big show of slipping his onto his wrist and Conejo followed suit.

"You haven't opened your gift yet," Wo Fat told her as he fit the bracelet to his wrist. "Also what song is this?"

"Brother, it's my newer song, but I'm going to switch up the lyrics. I have two different versions, one that is more EDM that I gave to Con and yours is more poppy…" she suddenly trailed off staring at the small box she had in her hand.

Wo Fat looked up, clocked the box and then turned to Conejo with a shocked look on his face. Just as Rowan opened it up revealing that ring she wanted nestled in the box. Already Wo Fat was groaning.

"Wait a second… is this… how did you know about this?"

"Why the hell would you give her that?" Wo Fat cried.

"Well the whole point of getting it for her was to give it to her eventually," Conejo told him.

"No!" Wo Fat cried. "The plan was to eventually give it to the guy she was interested in that we approved of to give him a decided advantage! How did you even get this out? I had it locked up!"

"It was locked in your suitcase. I got that lock open with a paper clip." Conejo said with a huff and rolled his eyes at him and Rowan hand to cry: "Guys!" to get their attention.

When both if them turned to her she showed them the ring as if they had forgotten what they were arguing about and asked: "How did you even know I wanted this?"

Conejo turned an unimpressed glare onto Rowan. "I'm a trained assassin, I'm trained to notice patterns. You stopped in front of that store like five times a day. You seriously thought I wouldn't notice that the ring was the reason you were stopping?"

Rowan narrowed her eyes at them. "Who paid for this?"

"Conejo technically got it for you but I…"

"HOW did you pay for this?!" Rowan thundered.

Conejo was slightly taken aback, he didn't understand why she was so unhappy. She had wanted that ring he knew she did, so why was she so upset that they got it for her?

When neither of them answered her she asked: "You stole this didn't you?"

"No!" Both Conejo and Wo Fat snapped but Rowan was just frowning at the two of them.

"Oh yeah? Where's the receipt?"

Conejo turned his eyes to Wo Fat. He had dealt with the purchasing of the ring, Conejo had gone to pick it up once it was resized. If anyone had the receipt it would have to be him. Had he saved it?

Wo Fat took a breath clearly trying to remember where he put that piece of paper. "Uh… I'm sure I have it somewhere…"

Rowan groaned. "Oh god you did steal this. You stole my ring and now I can't accept it." She looked down at the ring box in her hand with such a look of sadness and disappointment that Conejo melted. It was his fault after all.

"Can't accept it? Come on now, you're a big-bad-hit-ordering-bad-guy now. You can accept a stolen ring that's nothing compared to everything else…" Conejo started. The look on Rowan's face should have been enough to silence him but it took Wo Fat digging his elbow into his side to stop his words.

The ring box clattered out of Rowan's hands, and then she dropped her head into her hands as she groaned: "Jesus Christ… I'm a bad guy!"

Wo Fat glowered at Conejo. "Look what you did!" he hissed. Slowly and carefully Wo Fat got himself up, and then sat himself down beside her. He put an arm around her shoulder and pressed her to his side.

"All your decisions are made from a place of kindness. Sure you've ordered a few hits, but those people deserved it," he reminded her. "And as I keep mentioning, I was going to send people after Gabriel even if you didn't. I couldn't let him think that he got away with what he was doing, that you would declare war and then nothing would happen. You just got to it before I did."

She turned a forlorn face to him and he smiled to her. "It's true. Had I not been distracted with the Diego situation I would have gotten to it sooner."

Rowan half smiled at him. "Here why don't you open my present, it's guaranteed to make you smile."

He handed her the box that she put in her lap and carefully peeled the wrapping off of it. She looked at the shoe box, clearly recognizing the cursive writing on the top.

"No!" she cried as she took the top off. "NO!" she repeated as she pushed the tissue paper to the side.

A pair of black mesh high heels were nestled in the box. They had the criss-cross straps the girls had to wind and tie up, and the bottoms were red.

"You got me red bottom heels!" she cried.

"Yes, they're going to go with your birthday dress," he said.

"I haven't even bought my birthday dress yet," she argued.

"Yes, you have. I believe that would be Armando's gift for you…"

Rowan immediately scrambled back to grab his gift, tearing that one apart with gusto. Inside that box was a black sequined dress, a halter top, whose strings were sleek silver chains, it had a scoop neck line, but the rest was tight. It would probably land mid-thigh, that was how short it was.

Great he was going to have to beat them off with a stick for her birthday.

Rowan hugged Wo Fat first tightly, and then went to hug Conejo next.

"You guys are the best!" she cried.

"Not yet, I'm not," he said. "Next time we go to town we're going to need to pick a better Christmas gift seeing as this one got shot out of the air."

Rowan smiled up to him and as she was distracted, he noted that Wo Fat had picked up the ring and put it back into his pocket. Both of them knew if that ring had come to her on bended knee from a man she was in love with, there would have been no hesitation.

But he had a feeling that both of them were hoping that ring didn't have to be in Steven McGarrett's hands for her to accept it.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

The rest of Christmas involved opening up more gifts, eating the rest of that French Toast Casserole and then having a movie marathon where they all got to pick their favourite movies to watch.

All other gifts were well received. Wo Fat liked the custom engraved gun that Conejo got him, Conejo liked the emerald encrusted dagger Wo Fat had gotten for him. Rowan put on that dress Armando had bought her and one of the servants walked into a Grecian column because he wouldn't stop staring at her.

Conejo made her change.

She spent the rest of the day walking around in her red bottom heels, looking like a hooker in those lace up strapped heels, short jean shorts and hunter green tank top.

She just loved those shoes. He had never seen her smile like that and already he could see the wheels in Wo Fat's head turning, because as soon as she got those shoes she forgot to be mad at them for allegedly stealing that ring. And now that Conejo thought about it, he never actually saw money get exchanged for it, so who knows what Wo Fat did to get that ring.

For Boxing Day, Conejo took her shopping to pick the accessories for her party dress. As the halter top was made of silver chains, she wasn't going to wear a necklace. She didn't want to wear any bracelets either as she was planning to do a song and dance at her own party and they would be too clunky as she bounced around, she'd be afraid of losing them. And she had the rings to go with the dress already.

The performance at her own birthday party was going to open up the door to more issues.

Specifically because that meant pulling in a band and more staff. That meant having to interview staff, having to run background checks, having to worry about intentions now that Diego was trying to hit Wo Fat back. Conejo wasn't stupid. He knew that Diego was, sooner or later, going to figure out that Rowan was Wo Fat's only pressure point. It all added up to Conejo having to watch her like a hawk.

So while she wandered around trying to find the perfect accessory to match her outfit, Conejo had stood on edge, half watching her and half watching over his shoulder. He had a feeling that they were being watched but he didn't see anything out of place. Eventually, she finally settled on a tiara. This little diadem that would rest across her forehead made of silver and black crystals to match her dress.

Rowan had mentioned wanting to go to the next store over to look at the party options, she had a theme at that point, black with silver and gold accents, maybe some rose blush, whatever the hell that was. He figured she could go to the next store over while he paid with little to no issues. He was wrong.

Rowan got out onto the street and a man she didn't recognized put the tip of something sharp to her side, linked arms with her and told her to walk with him.

She knew making a sound would be a bad idea, so she kept quiet and kept walking. Looking around to see if anyone would notice that she was in some sort of distress, wondering if Conejo would notice her walking away with a stranger and come save her. But she wasn't that lucky.

She wondered what this was about. Did this have something to do with what Wo Fat was doing or was this someone arresting her for her connection to Wo Fat? Was the plan to hand her back to Steven, who Wo Fat kept assuring her wanted to use her to get to him?

He took her down a dark alleyway, saw no one waiting and figured that maybe this was a good old fashioned Colombian mugging or kidnapping.

He threw her into a darkened abandoned room, just off the alleyway, and then barred the only exit with his own body.

The man had to be in his early twenties. He had that scumbag vibe with the low hanging sweat pants, white wife-beater and backwards ball cap. He had a sneer on his face and in the light of the doorway she could see the glint of a knife in his hand.

"Okay, look, if you think I have money… you're right and you can have it," she said, going for her purse. "Seriously, if money's what you want…"

"I want more than that…"

"Well, I'd say you could have the car, but Con drove and it's my brother's car… and I know he'll kill for the car," Rowan said softly as the man stepped closer for her, tossing the knife back and forth between his hands. He was antsy, there was sweat on his brow, not from being hot either. He was afraid of something, probably her or the men around her.

"I want you to get the fuck out of Cartagena…"

"Kay, well my brother's here so I can't really leave…"

"I want you to mind your own damn business and get out of mine…"

"I don't even know where you work!"

"And I want my kids back…"

Now that one got Rowan cause she hadn't taken any kids. And then it hit her. Her pickpockets. This must have been their ring leader… you know before she snatched them all up and gave them real jobs… kind of.

"Ohhhhhh," Rowan cried. "You're Raul! It's so nice to finally meet you!"

She didn't bother to offer the man a hand to shake because she had heard all about him from the kids that she had been helping. He was mean and controlling and took most of what they stole for himself.

"Don't you talk like that to me. Do you know what you've done to me? How mad Diego is!"

"Well… from what I hear Diego is out the door…" she said with a shrug and he moved forward again jabbing that knife at her once more.

"Shut up!" he ordered. "I can't be losing money. So you're gonna give me those kids and you're going to give me all the money you got from their little side racket…"

"Oh I'm not making any money off of this," Rowan said refusing to move an inch. Conejo and been teaching her some defense tactics, but mostly they were working on running cause he didn't want her fighting if he could help it. That didn't mean she didn't know how to disarm someone. They had spent three days on how to disarm someone.

Her answer seemed to surprise Raul. "Then why are you doing this?"

"To give them a better life!"

"BETTER LIFE!" he cried and then swore at her in Spanish. Nothing she'd ever repeat. "There is no better life in Colombia. Not unless crime's involved. They'll make nothing on this, people will come and destroy them, the second you leave…"

He was gesturing wildly, the knife going every which way but his eyes were finally off of her. They two were darting around. He was clearly upset about this, probably getting threatened by his own boss over the lost money. She almost sympathized except for the fact that he had just grabbed her probably to scare her off, he probably wouldn't have hurt her… you know if he was smart.

But now that he was distracted, with his eyes off of her she made her move. She lunged at him, she hit him twice. The first right in the throat the second to the wrist sending that knife clattering away. When he was sputtering in pain and gasping for air, she geared up and kicked him square in the nuts which got him collapsed to the floor.

Once he was down she hopped over him, back out that door and into the alleyway calling for Conejo. She only had to say his name twice before he darkened the mouth of the alleyway she was heading towards. She could tell just by his posture that he was in a panic. She had been panicking too, it actually occurred to her that she didn't know how long she was gone for. How long had he been looking for her with that panic setting further and further in?

But the second she set eyes on him that panic left her. She was safe. She knew she was safe, because he was there.

It was that momentary pause, where she slowed down, thinking herself safe, that allowed him to grab her from behind. Conejo came to a stop immediately because with his grip came the cool edge of a blade being pressed to her neck.

"Not another fucking step!" he cried in Spanish to Conejo who had stopped moving and instead was simply staring the man down, his hands out to the side. "One more move and I'll… I'll slit her throat."

"I haven't moved," Conejo assured him. "Why don't you just tell me what you want?"

"I want the kids back…"

"Okay, we can do that…" "Uh NO!" Rowan interrupted and got a glare from Conejo who clearly just wanted to get this guy away from her and he was willing to say anything to do so.

"He said he'd deal with it," Raul said starting to inch her back.

"Who? Who told you that?" Conejo asked but Rowan wasn't getting kidnapped again. She just wasn't.

Before Raul could tell them who he had sent them after her, Rowan twisted in his grip. She planted her closest foot on the wall next to them and used that purchase to push off. Just like with the Chinese spy her body slammed into his, the back of her head his the front of his and together they went flying.

The second after she hit the ground someone had a hold of her arm and practically threw her to the other side. Conveniently off of the man she had landed on. Well, the concern Conejo felt had clearly left him if he was content with tossing her around like rag doll.

Rowan forced herself up to watch as Conejo literally chocking the life out of the man he had gotten on top of. Blearily Rowan got herself to her feet and then over to Conejo. She put a hand to his shoulder and shook him until he stopped.

Conejo put a knee to Raul's chest to keep him pinned and breathless and then turned to look up to her. "What? Can't you see I'm busy?"

"Yes, I can see that, but I'm going to need you to stop throttling him."

"Stop throttling him… Rowan," he cried. "This man held a knife to your throat."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I was there," she answered dryly. "But I'm pretty sure we can negotiate."

"Negotiate?!"

"Yes, can you just… stand him up please," she ordered and though she could tell that he thought she was crazy, he still got up off of Raul. He pulled the man up, threw him against a wall and then pinned him there.

"It's your lucky day ese," he growled. "Let's see what the girl has to say."

His wide fearful eyes found Rowan over Conejo's shoulder. Rowan's head was buzzing which to her meant yet another concussion but she had to keep her shit together to finish this out.

"Look, you're getting threatened by your boss right?" she asked and the man nodded. "Okay, well, on top of me being able to get you a better boss I can cut you in on a very profitable deal."

Raul looked from her to Conejo and then very shakily asked: "What?"

"Okay, look. The kids. The kids they're mine now. You got me? But I'm not staying forever, and they need someone to run their Seeker's stall. That someone could be you," she said. "You'd be answering to me via Armando, though. Would that be something you're interested in?"

He blinked his eyes. "Uh… yes…" he answered. "but…"

"Oh there are rules. There are major rules. Like the kids are keeping at least half their profits. And you're not allowed to abuse them," she said. "And you can't be threatening or scaring off tourists, so you're gonna need a new wardrobe."

He blinked his eyes once more, swallowed his excitement down and then asked: "Are you for real though?"

"So far yes, we can discuss it when the holidays are done, how about that?"

"Yes… thank you… uhm…"

"Let him go, Con," she ordered and then he too was looking at her over his shoulder.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me. He's not a threat anymore, let him go," she repeated.

Conejo stiffly let him go and then glared at him. "Run," he ordered and Raul rushed off. Putting them both behind him as quickly as possible. As soon as he was gone Conejo turned to her, clearly unhappy with her.

"Girl, don't take this the wrong way but I think… I think you need therapy… cause like… the normal response to that sort of situation is not setting up your attacker with a job."

Rowan just shrugged. Maybe she did need therapy. But at that moment what she really needed was a doctor. But luckily she managed to hold it together just long enough to get them back to the car, where she missed out on Conejo's lecture because she had promptly passed out the second her butt was in that car seat.