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AvalonReeseFanFics
A/N: Happy Hump Day my wonderful readers! So, this chapter's a little slow but the two of them are going to be talking about the past and airing out what happened, but something semi-big goes down. It's big for them, but you guys will probably think it's natural. Next chapter things are going to pick up. A big announcement is going to be made, bigger than this chapter's little event, so at least there's that to look forward to. I'd love to hear what you guys are really looking forward to so don't forget to review and I'll see you guys on Friday!
Chapter 299
After his break down and after the kitchen sex and the breakfast after, Steve picked up the woman he loved more than anything, and took her up to the room that was theirs. She was tired, of course, so he lovingly put her back into their bed and tucked her in. The intention was to let her sleep, to put distance between them simply so he could try to get a better reign on the emotions that seemed to be choking him right at that moment. But like his heart, Rowan wouldn't let go.
Her arms entwined around his neck and with those big blue eyes she asked him: "Couldn't you stay and cuddle?"
And then he was curled up with her in his arms while she dozed. She always felt like she belonged, like her arms loosely draped across his torso were an extension of him and were always supposed to be there. And that was where they stayed for the rest of the day. They alternated between sleeping and sex and in the morning when they were both away and she turned that sleepy smile up to him, Steve found that he could still smile too, despite that panic still tugging at his heart.
When she turned those blue eyes back up to him, though he wanted nothing more than to incline his head those few millimetres down and kiss her. Instead he said: "I think it's about time we talk about what happened."
The smile drained not just from her face but her eyes at well. But Rowan got herself up, rather primly if he did say so, got out of the bed to pull that grey sweater of his that she loved so very much out of the second drawer to put it on and then arranged herself across from him on the bed.
Once she was ready, she said: "Yes I figured this day would come. How about we do it this way, I tell you a little bit about what was going on with me, and you tell me what you were doing at that time."
That was actually a very good plan. "Yeah, I like that," he told her. "Uh… can you start with… when did you… when did you get grabbed?"
It hurt him to ask that question. Like physically and he was sure, absolutely sure, that it was going to kill him to hear the answer. And this was just the beginning, it was only going to worse as it went on.
"Oh, that's where we're going, huh? Right at the very beginning?" she asked and then inclined her head. "Alright. The night I left."
Steve winced. Yeah, that felt like a stab to his heart. It may have been a year ago but he was so not over what happened.
"Where were you?" he asked. "When they grabbed you?"
"Outside this little airstrip in Waimanalo," she whispered. "He had a… this long-standing agreement with a charter that flies out of there, they'd fly me out for free if necessary, where ever I want to go. No questions asked. Payment was already sorted so I didn't have to worry about having cash."
Did it surprise him that Wo Fat had all of that planned to a tee? No. Did it surprise him that she had actually drove out there on her own? Well it shouldn't have, because he had always sort of known that she had gone there of her own volition.
"You really were going to leave?" Steve asked in a quiet voice. He had always sort of hoped that they grabbed her and dropped her car at the airstrip, but that obviously wasn't the case.
"I was angry enough to be contemplating it," she admitted. "I don't know if I was going to actually do it, Steve, maybe I would have. All I remember about that night was being angry. I was angry at you, angry at Catherine and… we had broken up and I was thinking… it would serve you right if I left and took Nahele. But do you know what else I was thinking?"
"What?"
"I was thinking that I loved you, and I loved our family, and if Catherine thought she was going to get that from me now well, then… I was just going to have to introduce her to Conejo."
She loved him. That was… that was… before she left, before he fucked up. He had been holding those words back, afraid that he didn't deserve her, afraid she didn't feel the same way but she had loved him. Oh God. He hadn't deserved it back then. How had she had ever found it in her heart to love him when he had been an absolute disaster and an emotionally abusive dictator. He couldn't handle thinking about that at that moment though, so he glossed over it to the next question he had.
"And uh… just confirm this for me… who's Conejo, again?"
"Uh… my bodyguard. He said he met you a few times."
"I did. Humour me. This is the assassin. Sin Nombre?"
She nodded carefully. "I call him Conejo."
"Yeah, I heard about that. Why do you call him bunny?"
"Cause of the mask," she said with an almost an aggravated huff as if she didn't like talking about the subject. He didn't see why asking about Sin Nombre's nickname would upset her though. "Can I go back to the story?"
"Yeah sure, sorry…"
She kissed that apology right off of his lips and his smile widened despite the nervousness he had about the impending story.
"Anyway, I drove out to the airstrip. I left Wo Fat a message cause I was upset and I knew he'd call me if he thought I needed him and uh… I got out of the car and dropped my phone and they got me while I was looking for it. I… uh… I came to a few times while I was on the plane but they'd just hit me with the drug again so I wouldn't be a problem. By the time I was properly conscious again I was already in that basement. The guys came in a few minutes later, they knocked me around a bit, forced me into the chair and uh… started demanding the money and…"
"You obviously said no."
"Yep. They started with the hitting, and when that didn't work, they started waterboarding and when that didn't work either, they brought out the cattle prod," she said. She wasn't looking at him anymore, but instead at the hands she had hidden in the sleeves of that sweater. "They made me call Wo, but he was in some jungle with no service and I couldn't reach him. And then after that… it became less about getting info and more about just making me hurt... and… and… they… I unno, they'd go at me for hours. Sometimes I thought it was days and whenever they finished, they'd take me out of the chair, drop me on the mattress and leave me there. I'd just lie there and wish for home."
She looked up to find him shaking. The look on his face must have been bad because suddenly she was moving forward and towards him. "No, no, it's okay, it's okay, see, I'm fine," she said putting herself into his lap as the shaking became full tremors.
Steve held her to him, unable to quell the shaking, just letting it happen. Letting her remind him that she was still there, and was, in fact, okay. For a while they stayed there, his lips against her shoulder, his arms wrapped tightly around her, her own arms languidly wrapped around him, slowly stroking him, up and down his spine and through his hair.
"Why don't you tell me what you were doing?" she asked. "How about that? Okay?"
"God, baby, I… I can't…"
"What's wrong now?"
"Because I… I should have…" "I get it, you feel guilty right?" "Yes," he said. She always understood him. Danny hadn't gotten it but she did and he didn't even have to voice it.
"Well that's okay baby," she said. "I know you probably feel like you should have done more to save me but what else could you have done?" she asked him and he realized that she didn't know. She had no idea that he had ignored her call through the void.
"Are you worried that I'm going to be mad about what you were actually doing?" she asked and he almost shuddered at the thought. It was yet another reminder that this girl just got him. She just understood.
Her hand came to his jawline, cupping his cheek and he found himself pressing into the soft contact. "Aw, baby, "'m not going to be mad, I just want to know what happened too. I missed so much, you know?"
He nodded and then leant back, holding onto her hips so she couldn't get off him. The feel of her on him, beneath his palms was keeping him calm and grounded.
"Fine, but uh, please don't get mad, I feel bad enough as it is," he whispered. She hit him with a knowing look, one that told him that he had nothing worry about. "So, uh… after you left, I went to bed. I decided I wasn't going to chase you this time, but I also figured you'd come back, you know? I was hoping to wake up and have you home already, but I woke up to Nahele crying cause you didn't come back and he was worried. But I know you and your runners so I figured you were going to stay away to punish me."
"Fair," she said with a nod and he was glad she felt so, because it was true and it was good that she realized that.
"I sent Nahele to school, said I'd go looking for you, even though I didn't mean it. I was mad too, you know, and I figured it would teach you right to not have me going look. But then I got a call from Duke saying your car got abandoned at that airstrip and I realized that… well… that you had left the island which you had never done before," he told her. "So, I tracked you on the app and it had you somewhere in Tokyo and I just… I figured you really had gone to Wo Fat, you really had broken up with me and I just… I just lost it…"
"You knew I was in Japan?"
The way she said it, her voice soft with a hint of betrayal. He winced under the pressure of it.
"God Rowan, yes, yes, I did. But I thought you were with Wo Fat, okay? And I was just so devastated and mad at you that I ignored all the signs."
"Signs?"
"I knew you wouldn't have just left Nahele. I knew that you going radio silent for that long was wrong and I felt it Rowan, I felt the void twinges and ignored them."
"Aw Steve that's okay," she said. "I knew you weren't all for that void stuff, I knew that we had broken up…"
"I should have gone after you," he half sobbed and then Rowan clasped him to his chest as he tried to quell the sobs of painful guilt he harboured in his chest.
"Steve it's fine," she whispered. But she was lying, she had to be, because it wasn't. He never should have let this happen to her, but he had. She made him look up to her. "It's okay, remember, remember what I used to say? That some things happen for a reason? Well I think, I think that this was one of those times."
Steve stared up at her. How was it possible that his girl could look at what happened to her and say that it was meant to happen?
"You haven't told me what you did for the other four days," she said. "Tell me what you were doing then."
Steve winced again god he was going to have to go there… tell her the truth.
"I got back together with Catherine," he admitted. He saw the pain in her eyes and his heart hurt too. "I'm sorry, Rowan, it was the worst decision I ever made, it was, truly. But I was mad at you and I thought you went back to Wo Fat so I… I…"
"You thought I followed through with my bluff so you followed through with yours," she summed up and he nodded.
"And then you proposed…"
"No, I didn't… I didn't…"
She brought her hand forward, slipping out of the sleeve to reveal that velvet box he had hidden, coincidentally in the drawer that he usually kept her favourite sweater. Fuck him, he had forgotten all about it. She must have found it the first night they were there, but she hadn't said anything until now.
"I should have thrown that fucking thing into the ocean," he growled. For a moment a flash of hurt and pain crossed her features.
"I was really hoping that this was one of Wo Fat's lies, but you bought her a ring…"
"Yes, fine, yes, yes, I bought Catherine a ring and yes, I almost proposed despite Nahele being furious that I was going to, and everyone thinking I was fucking crazy. But she left before I could, and when she left… I realized I was relieved. I realized I didn't want to propose to Catherine, I wanted you…"
"But you kept the ring?"
"I tried to return it but they only give you store credit and what the hell was I going to use store credit for? You're only one who I wanted to buy a ring or jewellery for, and you haven't been here in a year!"
"But you kept the ring, Steve."
"The thing cost seven grand…"
Rowan suddenly broke out in a large grin. "God you are so cheap," she said with a shake of her head and Steve smiled with her. "Alright, so Catherine left. You realized you wanted me…" "—Like literally the second said she was leaving. I swear. I was so relieved I wouldn't be going through with it!"
She paused to chuckled and he could only hope that meant that she really got it. She was not a second choice, she was the choice he should have made all along.
"Okay, I get it. So, what did you do? Did you go looking for me?"
"Sort of. I started calling you first. I was contemplating going to get you but I was also worried that it wouldn't end well if you weren't ready… I didn't know that you…"
"Wo Fat said he called you about me and my situation…"
That fucking bastard.
"Oh… yeah… okay, I could lie, but I'm not going to. Remember that for later, I deserve brownie points for not lying. Yeah. He did," Steve admitted lowering his eyes from her. "So, timeline wise, I still didn't know that you weren't with Wo Fat. It was right before I had the conversation with Catherine where she was leaving, so before I realized I was relieved she was going and I wasn't going to propose. So, I was still mad. He did call, he got maybe the first syllable of emergency out of his mouth and I hung up on him. I figured if you were in trouble, he could deal with it… and then immediately regretted it. You called me the next day."
"I see."
"How did you uh… how did you manage to make a call?"
"I unno, I just woke up with this… need… the burning need for it to stop. And I had been trying to send you void messages that you weren't getting so… you know…" she looked down and away from him. "I uh… I had been trying to use the void but I was so scared and panicked that I couldn't harness it right. But that day, I guess because I was so desperate to get out, it worked. I used that string trick to open a door. Stole a burner phone and called you."
"Why didn't you leave the building?"
"Cause I couldn't… I was having trouble breathing, my head hurt so much I couldn't keep my head up. And the place was crawling with those men. I knew I couldn't get out if I couldn't run, so I got the phone, hid in a supply closet and hoped they didn't find me."
Steve's grip on her tightened again. He was shaking again, her could barely breathe just thinking about it. His fingernails cut into her skin and for a second he was certain he might actually start crying.
"Okay, you feel really guilty about this," she whispered. "Steve, it's okay…"
"No, it's not. There's no world where what happened to you is okay," he said. "Every time I think of you in that situation, I just feel so… helpless… I know you feel like this was one of those things that had to happen, but Rowan… I can't stomach the thought of what happened to you. I can't believe that I let something like that happen and if I could go back, I'd change every decision I made to save you."
"Oh, Steven I know that," she whispered. "I do, I really do. But it happened, and there's no changing it now, so letting it affect you, suffering over decisions you can't go back and change, isn't going to help you. It's going to make things worse."
Yeah, he thought otherwise. He most definitely could torture himself over what happened to her, and how his decisions helped guide them to that future. She might have thought that everything was fine, and that this was just something that had happened, but Steve was going to feel guilty about this until the day he died.
No point arguing about it now though.
"So… so… okay… so Wo Fat came and got you?"
"Yeah," she said. "It's all kinda blurry after that."
"That's fine I saw the video," he said.
Rowan half smiled. "Oh yeah? It's cool, huh? Such a badass moment, it sucks I can't really remember it," she said. Steve did not think I t was cool he would have rather not have it happen at all. "What did you do? How far behind were you?"
"About a day," he said. "Wo Fat was already on his way so I think he got you right after your phone call to me. By the time I got to Japan they had found that building you were in. He had torched it, I got there and they were still pulling bodies out and they had my dog tags… Sato was found dead maybe a few hours after I touched down… I think… I think Wo Fat had activated that contingency plan while I was in the air."
"Yeah, he did it really early on. I don't even remember the conversation that set it off, I was so out of it at that point…"
"Okay, okay, well here's what I can tell you." He said staring at her while she stared back at him.
"When I was in the air, I got a video. It was three… almost four minutes long. It was the highlights of that fifteen-minute video Wo Fat got. And Rowan… Rowan that killed me."
Rowan blinked her eyes. But he needed her to understand.
"I get off the plane and they say they found the building you had been in, but not you. While I was there, I got a call saying that both me and him were never going to see you again. He stayed on just long enough for me to trace the call, which came in from Takanada Castle. There, we found a grave and in that grave was a body that looked like yours with a face that had been blown off."
When she winced he paused.
"Did you know that was a part of the Contingency Plan? That he'd kill someone to fake your death?"
Rowan opened her mouth and then stopped and closed it again. So that was a yes.
"I wasn't okay with it. I told him I would never condone that. But he set it up as the DEFCON version of the Contingency Plan. Since it was only ever supposed to be activated it by me, I figured there was no harm in letting him have his plan cause I knew I'd never activate it at that level. But… Wo used my thumbprint to get access to my side of the app and well… he activated it."
There were different levels of the Contingency Plan? Well that was news to him.
"You had no idea he activacted the plan?"
Rowan shook her head. "You found a faceless body and just assumed that was me?"
"No of course not. I didn't believe it was you at all, so I had it DNA tested, but he had the coroner lie about the results so I was told that it was you, and I just… that broke me Rowan. Thinking I had left you to die, it killed me. I was a mess, a complete utter wreck. Ask Danny, ask Kono, ask Chin, ask Grover, we all thought you were dead, and they couldn't even worry about their own grief. They were all too busy doing everything they could to keep me from spiralling out of control. Poor Nahele, I don't think I gave him time to grieve, he was told what happened and then had to go straight to trying to keep me sober and upright. It was bad, Rowan."
"I'm sorry."
"Well it wasn't your fault, now was it?" he snapped. "You were so doped up you didn't know which country you were in."
"That's true." She whispered. "So how did you figure it out? That it wasn't really me, I mean."
"Max did a real DNA test and a proper autopsy, he confirmed it wasn't you. I realized right away what Wo Fat had done, that this had all been an elaborate ruse to distract me. So, I went back to Japan to get you. But the governor only let me go, not the whole team…"
"You went back by yourself?"
"No, no, I called Joe, he came with me."
"Really?" she asked. "Joe White, who hates me, came to help you get me back?"
"Yeah, he knew how I felt and knew that I was freaking out to get you back so he came to help," he told her. "So, we went back and we started talking to EVERYONE. And I mean everyone, did you know that Wo Fat had a girlfriend?"
"Yeah Jian. They broke up though, my fault, I tried to get him to talk to her or bring her along," she admitted. "He never agreed though."
"Yeah that might be because she thought you were actually related to him," Steve said. "She was quite surprised to find out your name was Rowan, not Ro, and that you were white and adopted."
"Oh… oh… wait… he never told her I was… oh dear. But you did… didn't you? That's not good, that's gonna make it hard for him to get back together with her," she said and Steve froze.
"What?"
"What?" she echoed.
"He's going to try to get back together with her? How do you know that?"
"Cause he liked her Steve, he missed her, I'm assuming that now that things are settled he'll try to get back together with her again," she whispered. She noted a look on Steve's face that she didn't like. "I'm not telling you that so you can go and arrest him Steve."
His face hardened. "That man kept you from me for a whole year…"
"Yes, but he gave me back."
"He shouldn't have had to give you back, Rowan, he shouldn't have lied to us for a full year. That phone call he faked, do you know how much that hurt? Thinking that you were hurt and with him and you wanted me to go away, that you weren't going to forgive me. And why aren't we talking about how he had to tell you I married Catherine to make you want to stay away from me, how can you defend that?"
"I'm not defending that. I'm defending him," she snapped. "Yes, those were terrible things. Yes, I'm very, very mad at him. But he's still my brother, and while he went about it the wrong way, all he wanted to do was protect me."
"Protect you from me, Rowan!"
"Well you did call the man and tell him that I was dead to you and if I were to come back to Hawaii you'd arrest us both on the spot," she told him and he froze. Damn, Wo Fat had told her that? "He had just found out I was getting tortured and that's the message he has from you? Then he finds out that you're with Catherine, while I'm in some hospital bed fighting for my life. He's even worse with emotions than you are, how would you have felt if the roles were reversed? You'd have probably shot him on sight if he came near me again, hell he shot me once and you're still holding that against him…"
"Yes, and so should you!" Steve cried. But she had a point. If the roles were reversed and it was Wo Fat who had let her get kidnapped and tortured while trying to adopt another sister, while Steve was trying to call him for help, and being told to fuck off, yeah he'd be fucking pissed as shit too.
"Look. We don't have to agree about this," she said. "I'm not lying when I say I'm not talking to him right now and I'm very angry with what he did. What you need to understand is that he is my brother whether you like it or not, and just cause I'm mad at him doesn't mean I want to see him get arrested. Just like how I thought you were with Catherine and I still had Con sending people to save you when you needed it. This is who I am, and it's about time you either accept me for who and what I am or let me go."
Steve grip tightened around her waist. "No," he growled, that fear climbing up his throat. "No, I just got you back. No."
"God Steve, I'm not leaving," she snapped squirming out of his grasp. "I was just saying. That's all."
Steve semi-relaxed and Rowan leant in to kiss him softly, a motion he pressed himself into without a single thought. "Now I'm all talked out, is that okay?" he nodded at her and she rewarded him with another kiss. "Okay good, cause I was hoping to shower. Think you'll be okay if I go in there by myself?"
She slipped off him hitting him with a sultry look that set him back on fire. "I think I'll manage," he answered. He went for a teasing tone but inside he wasn't entirely certain he would.
He held onto her hand a little too tightly so she had to tug it back and then he just watched her walk away, that grey sweater barely covering her cute little butt. Fuck he loved her in that grey sweater, was it sad that he was so happy that it would finally smell like her again? He didn't even care if it was sad, he was just so happy.
He flopped down on the bed grinning from ear to ear. He loved that his bed smelled of her. He was even going to love that she was going to come out smelling like his shampoo and his body wash. Dear lord it was going to be great, literally wonderful.
His phone rang and Steve turned a glare to it. Yes, as he was on active duty as of yesterday, but he had told them to call him only if it was an emergency. Danny had been calling to check up on him, but Steve never had the time to talk. He knew they had caught a case but Danny had said he wouldn't bother Steve. Him calling now was not a good sign.
It was the case he knew it. He glanced back to the washroom where the shower had been turned on. Rowan had left the door open and he could see the sweater on the floor.
He looked down to the phone in his hand and then back to the bathroom attached to his room. Being needed on a case was a problem because he was really, really worried about leaving Rowan all alone but he had to do it at some time right?
So why did he feel so afraid.
H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O
Rowan was actually really proud of herself. She and Steve managed to have a nice, adult conversation about what happened between them before she left and they hadn't argued. She felt like maybe they had really turned the corner, that the year apart had matured them both. And in return
She had heard the phone ring before she stepped in which mean Steve had gotten that call for a case she figured was coming. He was back on active duty. Must have been a doozy for them to call him when he told them he would only come in if it were an emergency. Guess she was losing him today. That was exactly what she needed that day. It would give her time to get her stuff done.
As she showered, she sang herself a little song. A melody she was working on now that she came back home. She had the melody and the words before but they had been meaningless. Now she had lived them and they meant a little more. If only she could figure out how to end the song.
She finished up in the shower and pulled back the shower curtain and yelped. She hadn't realized Steve was in the room with her. He smiled ffom where he was leaning on the sink and offered her the towel she had picked out.
"I didn't know you were in here with me," she said.
"You were singing, I wanted to listen," he whispered.
Rowan towelled herself off and then wrapped it around her body. "You could have joined me."
"I know, but I wanted to hear you sing," he said letting her wind his arms around his neck, when she was close enough he lowered his lips to hers. When he was done thoroughly kissing her and making her weak at the knees, he pulled away to smile at her. "I didn't realize how much I missed your singing around the house until the house was… silent. So, when I heard you I just… I unno…"
"Couldn't resist getting a private concert?' she finished for him and he nodded. "Well, I'll just have to sing more often… until you get sick of me."
His smile widened. "I don't think I'll ever get sick of you babe, and if I do I want you to slap me and remind me of last year. That shouldn't smarten me up."
Rowan laughed at him and kissed him once more before dropping out of his grasp and padding into his room so she could get changed.
"What do you have planned today?" she asked him.
"Well they put me back on active duty yesterday, but they promised that they wouldn't call me unless it was an emergency."
"Yes, I heard your phone ring," Rowan told him and he sighed.
"Yeah, they've had an emergency so I'll have to go in," he admitted. "Are you… you're not gonna…"
"Well if I'm moving back here, I'm going to have to settle some loose ends, you know?" she said, as she slipped into the underwear she had picked out. Pink lace. Fuck he liked lace on his baby. As she reached for the bra, Steve wrapped his arms around her. There was a slight tremor to his grasp.
"What's wrong?" she asked him.
"I unno… I guess I'm worried…"
"Just cause I have errands to run doesn't mean I'm not coming back."
Steve dropped his head to her shoulder. His lips pressed against her bare skin. "I just don't want to be away from you."
Rowan turned in his grasp and held him tightly to her. "That's okay, baby, it's okay to be nervous," she whispered to him. Immediately his grip tightened around her. "But we can't be joined at the hip forever."
She pulled his head out of her neck and held his face between her hands as she smiled hopefully encouragingly. "Here's what I can do for you. If you're worried, you call me. I will do my very best to pick up. If I don't, I will call you back as soon as I can, or shoot you a text with a time I'll be able to call, okay? Is that okay?"
Steve nodded and Rowan smiled at him, she kissed him quickly and asked: "Can I get changed now?"
"Do you have to?"
She could feel him straining against her, and as much as she'd love to tumble back into that bed with him, they had spent too long there as it was. "Yes baby, I really do."
He reluctantly let her go and she went about getting changed. It was when she was picking out her jewellery for the day that Steve came back to her.
"Is… is that your promise ring?' he asked. Rowan jumped and almost hid her hand from him.
"Oh uh… yeah," she said softly.
"I can't believe you kept it. I figured if you thought that I married Catherine you might have gotten rid of it."
"I did, actually," she said. "When I was in Rome. I dropped it in the Trevi Fountain. Wo sent Con to get it out and he kept it for me."
Steve's eyes were on the ring but he carefully looked back at her and held out his hand. "Could I have it back?"
That time Rowan actually did hide the ring from him. "But I like my ring… I won't wear it if it upsets you… but please let me keep it."
Steve chuckled. "No, just… come on, trust me, can I have it back?" he asked. He didn't look angry or that he might keep it, so she slowly took it off and handed it back to him.
As soon as he had it, he dropped to his knee and offered the ring back up at her. "Steve what are you doing?"
"I used this ring once to ask you to be my girlfriend, with the promise that one day I'd settle down with you. Now I'm using it to ask you, not only to be my girlfriend, but to help me promise to you that, if I don't fuck this up again, me and you will get married. Not in some far off distant future, but like, one day soon. What do you say?'
"Let's hope you don't fuck this up," she said offering her hand out so he could put the ring on her finger. He got up off his knees and kissed her.
"I swear to god I am trying!" he said and she giggled into him.
They kissed for a little while longer, because enough was never enough until she couldn't hold it in anymore. "One day soon, huh?"
"Yeah, maybe not this year, we still gotta get used to each other again, but my endgame is marrying you, and I want you to know that."
"Okay, now just so we're both on the same page…"
"I'm asking you to be my girlfriend again. Like giving you the label right away, no going steady…"
"Oh good, then yes, I accept," she said stepping up on tippy toe to hit him with another kiss. "Okay, my darling, are you ready? To part ways? For the first time in three days? I unno, we've never been apart for so long…"
Steve hugged her close to him as he chuckled. "Alright, alright, no need to be a smart ass," he said into her head. "But uhm… seriously if I call you have to pick it up. I'm trying to play it cool but seriously if I don't hear from you and I panic I will trace your phone."
Rowan snuggled into Steven a little closer. It was bad that she missed him tracing her phone. But she turned her face up to his, promised she'd pick up every call and then kissed him once more. And they kissed a bunch of more times before they eventually went separate ways.