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AvalonReeseFanFics

A/N: Hello there my wonderful readers and happy Friday! So, remember how I mentioned I was going to be messing with the time line? (Kind of like last chapter.) Well, this chapter is hella out of order, it's parts of a season 6 episode. I promise that this is going to be a cute chapter, so I hope you guys enjoy this one! I know I've been doing a lot of filler chapters, which means this season is going to be even longer than the others, but I have a lot of stuff that I need to get done in this season! As always, don't forget to leave a review and I'll see you guys on Monday!

Chapter 316

Steve was weaving in and out of traffic, running at least 50 over the speed limit trying to make it out to where Nahele said he was.

He was on the phone with Rowan completely panicking but she was being unreasonably calm. Which was not making him feel better.

"I'm telling you Steve, I have nothing in the strings and he hasn't even tried to call me. Don't you think he might have called me first?"

No, Steve didn't think that. Not if the emergency was law enforcement related. Not if he needed someone with a gun to help him. Not if he was getting kidnapped. Not if he only had one text to make.

"Well something's wrong, Rowan, he texted me with an SOS, said it was an emergency," Steve cried. That was literally all the text from Nahele had said. Just Help. Emergency. Shrimp truck.

What the fuck had happened at work today?

"Okay, well you called and asked if I saw anything in the strings, and I'm telling you I didn't, Steven," Rowan snapped. "Look, according to what I see, he's fine, but if he texted you there's gotta be a good reason, so why don't you go and figure out what that is and you can call me when you do."

And then she hung up on him. Granted she was fielding a lot of request for her music at this time, but like, come on, Steve really needed her right now. Was this how she felt when he left her on her own while he was off chasing cases? Cause if so… damn, he had to be a little more considerate of her.

He pulled up to the truck, still sitting there, despite everything being put away. It looked desolate. And then he saw Kamekona coming towards him. Fuck. Was Nahele injured?

"Hey…"

"Hey thanks for coming!" he said. He looked serious. Dear god, how bad was this injury? If it was bad why didn't they call an ambulance? Cause if he rounded the corner and found that kid covered in blood he was going to lose his shit.

"Yeah. Is Nahele alright?"

He got around the truck and there was his kid, holding a tire up while looking at a flat that the truck had got.

"Hey Steve."

Steve blinked his eyes, his heart rate slowing down now that he could tell that his kid wasn't fucking hurt or in any danger what so ever. Once the panic left him the anger quickly took it's place.

"Don't you hey Steve me!" he cried. "Your text message said it was an emergency. You had your mom and I worried sick."

Nahele's eyebrows drew together in confusion and then he went for his phone. "Really? Mom didn't call me…"

Course she hadn't called him, she knew Nahele was safe, it was only Steve who was freaked out apparently.

He pointed to the flat tire. "Is that the emergency? Is that why you texted me?"

Nahele shrugged at him. "I was just following orders."

Steve turned an angry glare onto Kamekona who had clearly been the one to order his child to give him a heart attack today.

"It is an emergency brudah," he said to Steve though clearly it was a lie. "If I don't get to Waikiki Food Fest within the hour, Sammy's Shrimp Shack is gonna jump my spot."

"Oh," Nahele cried still looking at his phone. "I just gotta text from mom, wants to know if I'm okay."

Oh, now she cares. He watched Nahele shoot off a text and then one came back immediately and he half laughed at it. You know the kind of breathed out laugh that now constituted as an LOL from a teenager.

"She says hahaha and then she said to tell you I told you so."

Yeah that was his girlfriend for him.

Steve shook his head and scowled at Kamekona. "Kame. An emergency is a life-or-death situation. You understand that? And if it's coming from my kid, it's obviously going to panic me! This… your truck… is not an emergency. It's not… do you have any idea how fucking scared I was?"

"You were scared?"

That came from Nahele who seemed to be star struck by the idea that Steve had been worried about him in anyway.

"You fucking opened with just the word help and then followed it with emergency, what did you think… how did you think I'd react to that? Seriously," Steve cried and when Nahele opened his mouth to answer Steve pointed a finger at him. "And I want you to seriously think about who your mother is and the kind of shit she pulls on me."

Nahele's face fell and then he nodded. "Yeah, okay, probably not my best choice. But he said we needed you ASAP and I thought…"

Steve turned away from him too angry to talk to him at that point. "This… this is a flat tire, this is not an emergency."

"It's called an economic crisis," Kamekona shot back and it took all of Steve's will power not to groan loudly.

"An economic crisis?" he echoed shaking his head in disbelief.

"If I don't shell shrimp, Nahele don't get paid. If Nahele don't get paid, he's gonna go looking for alternative sources of income which might directly impact your financial situation."

"Do you… do you know how much Ro makes, cause I can have him working for me at home and she'd probably give him a better salary," Steve snapped. "And I don't appreciate my kid being used as blackmail in that… really weird way."

He then glanced at Nahele who was wincing. "Not that I don't love you guys… but uh… I don't wanna work for mom. She scares me."

That was fair, sometimes his mom scared Steve too. "Alright. There's a jack in my truck in the toolbox."

"What'd I tell you, kid. Superman to the rescue," he said as Nahele jogged away to get the jack.

Steve turned away so he wouldn't hit him. Luckily he got distracted by his phone. He had a murder. Up at Halawa.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Steve met Duke at the doors. This didn't require the whole team he had been told. So he just had Danny with him.

"So what's going on? Why… why uh… why are we out here? Do we have missing inmates again? Is one of ours inside?"

"No, no. Nothing like that. There uh… there was a riot today. A few inmates were shanked. One didn't make it."

"Alright, so it sounds like… it sounds like you already got this covered, why call us?" Steve asked.

"Because of the victim," Duke said leading them down to the med-bay where the body was waiting for them and the medical examiner was waiting to take the body away.

There, lying lifeless on the gurney was Kaili Huikala.

Aw shit.

Steve sighed and turned away from the familiar face. Once upon a time he had wanted to bash that face in himself. He had been pushing for custody of Nahele when Nahele didn't want it, during the year Rowan was gone. He was so mad at this man that he actually had Kong tell Wo Fat and ask for help. He didn't get much help, of course, but he had been willing to call Fat on this man.

Nahele had helped him put his father back behind bars. Had given Steve what he needed to dig up a body his father had put there years ago when Nahele was still young. Luckily the statute of limitations didn't apply to murder.

He often wondered how that custody battle might have gone if Rowan was home for it. If Kaili had been trying to take Nahele from Rowan and him. Well, Wo would have been a much better help, that's for sure.

"Does uh… does Nahele know?"

Duke shook his head. "Thought you'd wanna be the one to tell him."

Steve nodded. Yeah. Yeah that was great, put it all on him. "Okay, well thanks Duke," he said shaking the man's hand and then watching at the coroner took the dead body of Kaili Huikala away.

Today just wasn't his day.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Rowan had picked Nahele up from work, and according to the text he got from her, the first thing his kid had asked him was whether or not Steve was mad at him.

Of course he wasn't, he had told her. But something had happened today and he did need to talk to him. Apparently that just made Nahele nervous. Kid said he'd rather just have Steve tell him he was mad.

But he wasn't. Not anymore anyway.

When he got home that night, the very first thing that happened was he got a hug. Nahele came right up to him and hugged him tightly.

"I'm sorry about the uh… the whole tire thing. I shouldn't have scared you like that."

"I just can't believe he told you that he was scared," Rowan said from the kitchen. Since Nahele had been at work today they had gotten food from the shrimp truck. She was in the process of plating all of their meals. Nahele, as per his chore list, had set the table already, which meant Steve could just sit down to dinner and eat.

Except…

"Do you think… do you think I could talk to your mom for a second?"

"You said you weren't mad," Nahele countered and then before Steve could remind him that he wasn't he just kept talking. "The jack is the garage, cause you weren't home. After dinner I'll put it in the truck for you."

"That's great but uh… Nahele…"

"And the food fest was amazing! I had so much fun, I made so much tips, and Kamekona… he, uh… he... Yeah, he won best original dish for that uh… that three-alarm chili shrimp dog. Yeah, he was so happy, so that… that was so good."

"Nahele, please, can I just… I just need to talk to your mom real quick. In private, okay?"

Nahele's happy smile faded. "Mom said that you weren't mad," he said and then turned back to her. "You said, you said that he wasn't mad."

Rowan was now staring at him, her eyes narrowed in confusion. "Well he doesn't look mad," she said peering at him. "That doesn't look like any of his angry faces."

"That's cause I'm not mad, but something did happen today and I want to talk to your mom about how to tell you…"

"Tell me? Tell me what?"

"Nahele, please, just, I just need five minutes."

"No, if it's something about me I want to know now!"

Steve turned pleading eyes to Rowan who finally left the kitchen to come join him.

"'Hele, maybe, maybe give us a minute," Rowan said but the kid stubbornly shook his head.

"No, it's about me. So tell me. Did… did Brenda Dean come by? Is it… is it about school? Cause… I know my math mark was low last year, but I got it so much higher than what it was and mom said I could still have a tutor…"

Steve didn't want to do it this way, but the kid was getting frantic. He glanced to Rowan who was just shrugged up at him at this point and he sighed.

"No, no nothing like that, just… Nahele please sit down, can you do that? On the couch, Ro, you too."

"Oh does this involve me?"

"No, but he's gonna need you so just sit with him," Steve said.

Once they were both seated, he pushed the coffee table out of the way and then stood before them.

"Alright so uh… I got called into Halawa today," he said and then both of the people in front of him were staring at him with confusion. "See there was ah… there was a riot today… and a couple of the inmates got stabbed and one didn't make it."

"What does that have to do with me?" Nahele asked.

Rowan seemed to have gotten what he was going to say because she was now looking at Nahele with a stricken look on her face. But Nahele hadn't seemed to get it yet.

"It was your dad, Nahele," he said and Nahele frowned. "Your dad didn't make it."

Nahele just sat there. He didn't say anything, he just stared at Steve while both he and Rowan stared at Nahele waiting for any kind of reaction. They got nothing, so Steve tried again.

"He… he died today, Nahele. Your dad, I mean."

"No, I heard you," Nahele said. He then turned to Rowan. "Mom?"

"Yeah?"

"Can we eat dinner now?"

Whatever she was expecting, that wasn't it. Rowan turned surprised and concerned eyes up to Steve and then smiled to Nahele. "Sure… uh… are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, I'm just hungry."

"Sure," she said getting up. "Uh… everything's ready to go, just uh… go get your plate."

Nahele nodded leaving the couch for the kitchen. The two adults watched him go. "That was weird right?" Steve asked her in a hushed tone in case Nahele heard him.

"Oh yeah, hella weird."

Rowan left it at that though. She went to the kitchen collected her plate and then went and sat down at the table. And since Rowan didn't seem to care that Nahele wasn't reacting, he wasn't sure he should.

So he sat down with his own plate and shot covert glances at Nahele who was pushing his meal around. He glanced to Rowan who was also shooting covert glances to both him and Nahele.

They were silent for a second, Rowan looked like she was going to say something, but Nahele suddenly got up from the table and bolted away from them.

As soon as the door to the back slammed shut Rowan sighed. "Well, that's more like it."

He was finally crying.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

This was ridiculous. He knew it was ridiculous, but Rowan made him wait, let the kid cry a bit before the two of them went outside to join him.

Rowan sat on one side of him and then Steve sat on the other. Nahele was sobbing so hard at this point that he was shaking. The second Rowan was sat beside him, he pressed into Rowan for a hug. A hug she gave him. Steve put a hand to his shoulder and tried to not be hurt by the fact that his kid really only wanted Rowan and not Steve.

After a couple minutes of more crying he finally straightened and tried to swipe away at his tears.

"I don't know why I'm crying?" Nahele said. "He wasn't a very good person."

"No," Rowan said. "But he was your dad. And he did just die, so… you know… crying is an appropriate response."

"Could you maybe not go all shrink on him right now Rowan?" Steve hissed and she turned a glare to him.

"I got no more family left," he whispered between the argument quickly burgeoning between the two of them and both Steve and Rowan turned to him. "I'm… I'm all alone."

Rowan took that in. She actually dropped the hug she had Nahele in, which meant the boy turned to Steve for that comfort. He had an arm slung around his kid's shoulder the second he slumped into Steve's side. He couldn't help but eye Rowan because she was glaring all of a sudden.

"Okay, I know you're upset but that was hurtful."

Nahele turned to her surprised and when Steve took a good look at her he could see that Rowan seemed to be on the verge of tears herself.

"What?"

"You just said you got no more family left," she said. "And sure, maybe you don't have blood relatives, but what about me? What am I? I mean… I adopted you… does that count for nothing? And what about my brothers?"

Yeah, notice how she didn't mention him. Why wasn't Steve brought up? Didn't he matter?

Nahele sniffed and whispered: "They're not really your brothers…"

"By blood," Rowan snapped. "Doesn't mean they won't take care of you if something were to happen to me."

"Whoa, wait a second…" Steve started.

"I'm not going to Steve if something happens to you?" Nahele squeaked out which was exactly what Steve was going to ask anyway so he let the interruption slide but he did back that question up.

"Yeah? What the fuck Rowan?"

"Okay I didn't phrase that right. Steve gets first dibs, but he lost you once and I don't trust him not to do it again, so Wo's the back up in case Brenda and her clipboard comes back," she said and then she scowled at them. "And that is not the point. The point is that you do have family. Steve and I are here, and we love you. So you are not alone, you are never going to be alone, you got me?"

Steve shook his head at Rowan. "That has got to be the most aggressive, I love you this kid as ever gotten, hands down."

Rowan scowled at him. "At least I say it to him," she snapped. She then looked back at Nahele, taking his chin in his hand to force him to look at her. "You know I love you, right? Like I say it enough?"

"Yeah, mom, I know."

"Just when I thought it couldn't get any more threatening," Steve snapped but Nahele was laughing.

"She's got a point though…"

"Point?" Steve echoed. "About me? Not… well… I'm not… I just don't… aw come on! 'Hele, I did 50 over the speed limit just to get to you today for something that was not an emergency! What does that mean to you?"

"That I worried you. Doesn't mean you love me," Nahele said with a teasing grin.

Beside him Rowan smiled. "It's true, you're very good at showing how you feel, but you're not very good at saying how you feel. And sometimes people need to hear it."

"It's true."

Steve groaned he hated it when they ganged up on him. "Aw come on, you guys."

"No seriously. I think today, of all days, you owe him at least vocal I love you," she said.

And then Nahele turned expectant eyes up to him and he was sighing again. "Ugh fine but I don't appreciate the emotional blackmail."

He put a hand onto Nahele's shoulder and then very carefully said: "I love you, you know that, right kid?"

Nahele smiled. "I uh… I love you too dad."

Rowan let him have one hug all to himself before pressing herself to their hug. For the first time in a really long time, he really felt like he was actually a part of the family and not just slightly removed from it.