Rewrite

AvalonReeseFanFics

A/N: *For those of you who came when this chapter was unedited, it's edited now.*

I swear, I should just start posting Tuesday Thursday and Saturday because that's when I end up posting. Don't worry, if I get this right, which I'm pretty sure I will, I should have another chapter up later tonight, so you guys will get another update relatively quickly. But who knows, maybe I'll end up posting Thursday again. God I hope not. Anywhere, this here is another talking updated. There's going to be a lot of conversation between them all but it's going to be cute. So get ready for that. As always don't forget to review or drop a fav or follow and I'll see you guys soon.

Chapter 358

Steve's plane landed early morning in Hawaii. It was officially the next day. He figured after all the excitement he'd see his wife when he finally got him, but Rowan and Nahele surprised him by being there at the arrivals gate waiting for him.

They were standing there smiling at him, and waving wildly as if they actually had been separate the four days he was supposed to be in Colombia without her.

He hadn't really slept on the plane, mostly because he was beside Danny and Danny annoyed him with the etiquette of the middle seat, which, no matter what Steve did was not correct. He begged any of the other team to switch with him but they didn't want to deal with Danny either. Then of course, Steve didn't sleep when he wasn't with Rowan so he got a little bit of a nap in but nothing substantial.

Seeing both her and Nahele there, well rested and ready to take him home, had him grinning like a fool. And when they saw him and both started to bounce and clap and wave like they hadn't seen him in days and not the hours it had been, he might have gotten a little weepy.

He crossed to them immediately to wrap them both up in tight hugs and then they were heading home, or at least, they were supposed to head home.

Rowan stopped at a house and Steve, who had fallen asleep in the passenger seat bolted up. He looked at the house he semi-recognized and then turned to Rowan.

"What's going on? Where are we?"

"I'm going to Makani's house tonight," Nahele said pushing at Steve until he got out so Nahele could push the seat forward and climb out himself. He hugged Steve again. "Bye Steve, I'll see you tomorrow."

He almost took half a step forward before he turned around and shouted: "Bye mom, love you!"

"Love you too!" she shouted after him. "Make good choices!"

Steve slid back into the passenger seat. "You're letting our kid go over to someone's house tonight when I just got back? When we have to talk about what happened?"

"When was the last time we had sex?" she asked him and for a second, only a second he was quiet.

"I love you," came out of him instead of an answer and a sleepy smile dawned on his lips. "I do you know. Like I really do."

"Good, because before we get to the good stuff you get to ask me all your questions," she said. "Wo and Con are waiting back at home. Would you like me to drive around for a bit while you nap first?"

The only reason she was offering was to try and delay the inevitable, so he shook his head. But when he woke up in the driveway, he was alone in the car and it was an hour later.

Damn the car smelled like her so he must have fallen asleep and she had left him there. He got himself out, realized she had taken his bag in and then went into the house through the garage.

When he got in he found Rowan sitting at the kitchen table, across from Wo Fat and Sin Nombre. Wo had a mug in front of him, probably filled with alcohol and Sin Nombre was eating Chinese food, which meant they had ordered in while he was sleeping. Or maybe before his plane landed. How long had they been there? He had forgotten to ask Rowan.

Seriously they were going to have to get him to a doctor to see if he had a tapeworm. Normal people didn't eat as much as he did.

Rowan smiled up at him nicely like she hadn't purposely left him in the car to sleep so she wouldn't have to answer his questions.

"Hey how was your nap?"

"Good," he said leaning in to kiss her softly. "You should have woke me up, though." He then turned to the two men sitting at the table. "You guys enjoying the social hour? Eating all my food and drinking all my coffee."

"Is he always this grumpy after his naps?" Wo asked and beside him Sin Nombre snorted so hard rice came out of his nose and then promptly started to choke. Wo turned to him. "Jesus it wasn't that funny."

But Sin Nombre was coughing and Rowan was getting up to pour him some water. Rowan left taking care of him up to Wo who was just staring at him almost perplexed like he wasn't sure what to do with this coughing, choking man.

"Want some? They're left overs from last night, and if Con hasn't inhaled them, I can warm them up for you."

"Sure, I'm going to make me a coffee though, okay?"

Rowan nodded, already going about setting up a plate for him. He noted that with that plate she put in the microwave, she had also picked up beer that she put in front of Sin Nombre who was guzzling water. Instead of taking it, the man just did something with his hand and the top came off and then she was putting that beer in the spot that Steve was going to sit in.

Firstly, how sweet of his wife to get him a beer. That was really nice of her. Secondly, what the hell had Sin Nombre done to get the top off that beer. And could he teach Steve how to do it?

Rowan finished first, putting the plate in his spot and then taking hers. Sin Nombre finally seemed okay enough to breathe and talk and wo Fat turned to him.

"Ro asked that we hold all questions until you got here, so uh… I'm going to ask mine then you can go question crazy."

Steve stared at him for a moment. "You only have one question?"

Wo shot a glance to Sin Nombre before the two devolved into sniggers. Like that guy should be laughing he was almost taken down by rice.

"You really do always have a question, don't you?" Sin Nombre asked and Steve scowled though it was true.

"Yeah, I only have one question," Wo said. "It shouldn't take long."

Steve took his place at the kitchen table, across from the two boys but beside Rowan, he nodded and Wo turned his eyes onto his sister.

"Steve said I touched him and shut down his void sense which we needed to track you. And uh… that's never happened before, so do you know why that would have happened?"

"Yeah, you're his off switch."

For a moment the three men just sat there staring at her. The answer had come out of her with no hesitation, there was no surprise at all. That meant she had known the answer already.

She took in the stares and said: "The owl told me you're his opposite." She jerked her head towards Steve. "You counter act everything he does, though, and you've never done this to my knowledge, you have the same abilities as him. You just don't use him the way he does."

So Wo Fat could do what he could but he used it to fuck with Steve in the same way that Steve fucked with Rowan? Wasn't that just typical.

Wo blinked his eyes. "I could stop you from jumping? Or pull you to me?"

"In theory, yes. But you tend to use the ability to free me from Steve…"

"So, all those times you were panicking and … I got you to jump. That was my own power?"

Rowan nodded.

"It makes sense. Both times she vortex and called me, you got her away from me," Steve whispered and that smile widened across Wo Fat's face. He was clearly very happy with this new found ability.

"Did it say if I had powers too?" Sin Nombre asked.

"No, but I didn't ask. Next time I see him I will."

"I'd rather you not see Fate again," Wo said stiffly which Steve agreed with whole heartedly. "So, I can counter act Steve. Good to know."

In theory it meant Steve could do the same to him but he wasn't going to bring that up at that moment.

They had all turned to him which meant it was his turn. Finally, time to get answers.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

They let him finish eating, which was done in painful silence, before he got to the questions. He was alternating between sipping his beer and his coffee and he opened with the question he was most interested in.

"I wanna know about Paris."

Everyone at that table with him winced.

"I know it's not a void incident but it is an incident. And I'd like to know about it before something like yesterday happens."

Wo turned to Rowan. "Is that something you want to talk about?" he asked her as she winced. "I know it upsets you to think about it and I don't know how much you remember. Con and I can tell him the gist if you want to wait outside…"

"I remember everything," she said in a small voice and that seemed to surprise Wo. "It's flashes and fuzzy but uh… I know what I did."

"You did nothing kid, I keep telling you. Everyone woulda been fine. U finished hem off…" Sin Nombre said glaring at Steve. He didn't like this conversation obviously and he was clearly lying for Rowan for some reason.

But then he turned to his wife and found her shaking and suddenly he didn't want her to tell him about it. He wanted her brother's to so she wouldn't have to think about it.

"Actually now that I'm think about it… I uh… I don't want to know about Paris right now. I uh… Paris… right. Paris happened and that brought Sin Nombre to you?"

"Called him to pull her out… he uh… he had followed you to Japan to scare you off which uh… which didn't work and then he dropped off the stuff he had stolen out of the house…"

"Who steals pictures outta frames?' Rowan asked snarling at him.

"He said grab everything that could be of intrinsic or emotional value," Sin Nombre growled back and Rowan scowled at him.

"How much did that cost you?" Steve asked. Rowan had really racked up the bills that year and it must have started early on.

"It should have cost him a hundred thou…"

"I got him for free. He owed me."

"Owed you for what?"

"He was being paid to sit on her when she got grabbed, you know, at the beginning. So not only did she get grabbed right out from under your nose, she got grabbed out from under his."

Steve turned to Sin Nombre, seeing the man in new eyes. Sin Nombre wouldn't even look at him though. He just kept his eyes away but he clearly very much felt guilty about it. So that was why he stayed, because he was guilty.

"Guilt had me sticking around at first, but that was only because I saw how broken she was. Paris brought out all that trauma she had been repressing from the first incident and she was just… It was my fault and I felt bad so I stayed. Only because this guy was clearly struggling on his own with her," Sin Nombre said with a sniff. "He tried to warn me I'd get attached and I didn't believe him. But you know, I got to know her, and she's just so damn loveable that well… he was right. She grew on me, I got attached and now here we are."

"I do grow on people. Like a mold," Rowan said proudly and both men smiled. Even Steve smiled because it was true. Except her would call it ivy. But that was cause he loved her.

"Right. Okay. So… let me just walk through the time line and you can tell me if I'm missing anything."

All three of them nodded.

"Okay, so Paris was first… then Italy? Then uh… Venice… did anything eventful happen in Venice?"

"She sung at that opera house," Sin Nombre said and Wo Fat nodded and added: "Yeah at the La Fenice. I sent you a video of it."

That was right he did. And he was going to ask why he did then when Rowan said: "Wo killed someone and we had to run."

"An undercover Interpol agent, yes I heard about that," he said and then turned to Wo. "You had no idea he was undercover?"

"No, I did. When Sandy hit me with the notification."

"It was badass, actually," Sin Nombre said with a sudden grin. "So he was, like, talking to this guy about a bid on some shipment Wo Fat had coming in. His phone goes off. He says huh and then just pulls a gun out and shoots the guy. Then he looks at me and says: He's an undercover cop. Then Sandy told him that we were under surveillance, literally at that moment, and they were dispatching units to our position and that would be when we panicked."

Steve nodded. Yeah, that was pretty badass. He'd give Sin Nombre that. "Okay and that was around Halloween?"

"It was. And then you guys doubled back to Paris to get them off of your scent."

"No we didn't. We doubled back to the Paris because it was the only way to get to Berlin on the Orient Express. Which was a must do."

"You enjoyed it," Rowan said primly which just had Sin Nombre rolling his eyes but he didn't argue. Steve blinked his eyes. Really? The only reason they had gone back to Paris was so Rowan could get on a specific train? Fine, he'd ask her about that later.

"Okay and then… then Colombia was next…"

"Yeah that was because Armando needed help. It wasn't supposed to be one of our stops," Wo said.

"And that ended in the Diego incident and you guys decided to change her hair?"

"We uh… we had a witch hunt. We needed her disguised. The new hairstyle was all her choice though," Wo said. "I was just going to change her name, maybe recommend she wears a wig for the time being…"

"You said you liked my haircut," Rowan said with a pout and Wo Fat turned a glare onto her.

"Of course I did, I'm just saying that I didn't say you had to change your appearance, you chose to do that all on your own."

Yeah Steve needed to stop the burgeoning argument before it got out of hand.

"Right, let's get you guys back on track here. So after Colombia you guys went to Canada. Now… can we explain to me how she ended up mixed up with the Stepanovs again?"

Both boys turned to Rowan. "Yeah, you wanna explain that, Rowan?" and his wife practically shrunk under their glare. He reached a hand out to her instantly so she knew she had no reason to be afraid.

Even if her brothers were glaring at her like that.

"We went skating at our… uhm… at my old arena. And uhm… Trevor showed up and he knew who I was… oddly. And then Wo knocked him unconscious and I saw this… this uhm… scar, a burn, like a brand in his skin and it was the Stepanovs crest which meant that that…"

"Because you weren't there to help him, when he got in with the Stepanovs he had no one to help him get out of it. But you showed up, so you got him out of it. And you killed Roman in the process."

"It wasn't supposed to end that way, Wo and Con were supposed to kill them… I had thrown them into the vault, you know? And… they changed the plans part way through and… and… I had to crash the car again."

Steve nodded. He knew how Rowan felt about that one but he didn't want to go into that right at that moment.

"Right. So car crashed. How did that end up with you guys going down to Russia?"

"Uh… it didn't right away, remember, we did the heists thing… I told you about those…"

"You did. You," he said pointing to Wo. "How the hell did you let that happen? I mean, I don't understand how it's possible that she convinced you that you had to take her on heists with you."

"I had told her you married Catherine. She was devastated. I felt bad…" "—Because you made it up." "…because I made it up, and she was just so upset that when she asked to be let in on the family business I said sure. But only on heists cause I didn't think she could handle anything else. So yeah, that was how that happened."

"She was actually really helpful."

"We're not doing heists anymore. Spain was a literal disaster. Never again. Simple. I don't care how good she was at heists."

Rowan turned to Steve. "I was really good at heists."

"She was, but never again."

"Okay so… so… why? Why Russia then?"

"Because of London," Wo said. "Ro got picked up by MI6 because of the rumors Irina was spreading about her. I mean they were true, but unless someone literally says yo, that girl has magic powers, no one can really prove it. And when we figured that out we went to Russia and fucked them up."

"And Con ended up in Hawaii."

"I hit my head during the fight with Irina. I couldn't focus on the strings. I mixed up who went where. Con went to Hawaii to you, I went to Japan to Jian and I sent Wo to Colombia."

"Yeah, a graveyard. Don't know how that was a safe place to put me, or why you were thinking cemetery but yeah, that's where I ended up."

Rowan and Sin Nombre shared a little bit of a look but both said nothing despite clearly knowing the secret behind that. Okay, ask about that later too.

"Right. Okay. After Russia was… California. Which was Mackie. Then after California was the concert and then after that was the cruise."

They all nodded. Right so he was caught up.

"Okay, so there's a lot of down time between these places, where were you in between?"

"Well uh… Ro bought us a safe house after… uh… after what? Vegas?" Wo asked her and she nodded. "After Vegas. We moved our base of operations there."

Okay, wait a second they went to Vegas? When? Okay one thing

"Ro bought a safe house. Rowan, my Rowan," he said turned to Rowan. "You bought a safe house?"

"I did. I told you this, it's part of the contingency plan I can't tell you where it is."

Steve narrowed at her. "Not sure I was aware it was a purchase solely made by you."

The people around him just shrugged so Steve shook his head and changed the topic. "Okay you said Vegas, when was Vegas?"

"Uh between Canada and Russia. We were only there for a day. Jumping powers you know," Wo said and Steve nodded.

"Anything eventful happen there?"

They exchanged glances, which meant something had. Great. Rowan really just went from one bad situation to the next. It was actually terrible that she was like that.

"What happened?" he asked sounding about as frustrated as he felt.

"I can count cards, Steven…." She started and Steve cut her off by groaning.

"Are you seriously telling me she got caught counting cards," he cried to the two boys and Wo Fat turned to Sin Nombre.

"You wanna take over this question? Cause this is all you."

Right so this was another time where Rowan was alone with Sin Nombre and got into shit. Wo Fat was right. The two of them were not good together. Sin Nombre really just egged her on.

"She won at least two mill in like… two hours. Girl is good, like really good. She had me chasing her chips in in intervals. She moved tables every twenty minutes. I went to different tellers every time, they still managed to catch on to what she was doing. I got jumped by 5 guys, she got taken down to the basement by the pit boss. They didn't rough her up, they only tied he rup, confiscated her chips and Wo Fat got her and the chips back. Easy peasy."

"Boy was freaking out," Wo Fat said. "I showed up and he was in a full panic. She was told to not come back. Which is quite upsetting because she loves that hotel. It's Egyptian themed."

The Luxor. She got banned from the Luxor.

"I spoke to the pit boss, who is an acquaintance of mine, we agreed that she could go back to stay in the hotel but she was not allowed to gamble. At all."

"Wow really?!" Rowan cried and Wo Fat nodded.

"Yeah, except he's spread your name and picture to the other gambling establishments, so you can't gamble anywhere," he said and she groaned but Steve wasn't even going to chance it.

"Okay, noted. Don't take her back to Vegas. Moving on. The other men. I want to know about all six men how she met them, why them and I want to know who they are."

"I keep telling you there's five, McGarrett."

"Right, Paris was Ares," Rowan said. "Then in Colombia it was JC. Then Roman in Vic. Then Harry in London. MacGyver in California and the last one was Captain Johnny on the cruise."

At that Wo Fat blinked his eyes. "Oh I was wrong. That's six."

"Then I was wrong, there's seven. Because I know there's one in Venice and one in Berlin, the repeat. Who's that? Why won't you tell me who it is?"

"I keep telling you there is no person in Venice or Berlin, because it was just the three of us the whole time. Except maybe in Berlin, cause there's one night none of us remember, but I'm serious that was it. I'd know about a seventh guy."

Steve turned to Rowan waiting for the answer but she wouldn't look at him. "I gave you the list, Steve."

Except she was lying he could tell. God he just wanted to know which one of her brother she had slept with. And that sentence, even thought just to himself, made him sick.

"Okay how did you meet Harry Langford?"

"He came up to our table after I sang a song and asked me out."

Steve blinked his eyes at her. "I… what? That's it? He just… and you guys let her go with him?"

Wo Sort of sunk in his seat briefly before sitting up again and squaring up his shoulders like he was expecting this to be a battle. "Con followed her for the first date…"

"Oh my god Wo!"

"Well it's not like I was there when they met. This is all Con's fault," Wo cried. Yeah there was a lot of that. Wo not being there and shit going down because Sin Nombre couldn't reign in Rowan.

"It is not my fault. I had been telling her for days that he was law enforcement. But someone had that do whatever she asks rule."

Wo was scowling and shaking his head.

"Right… and how did he get her to that facility. He said it was a surprise arrest."

"He told me he was going to take me to one of Henry the VIII's castles, and uhm… it turned out to be a detention center. The plan was to tell Wo that they had me and then capture him when he came to get me out."

Steve blinked his eyes at the two men who were scowling. "And you two just let her go on another date with him?"

"No. The girl jumped out of her room and left without telling us where she was going."

Steve put his head in his hands. "Right and is that how she met MacGyver too?"

"No we weren't there for that," Wo admitted.

"Why?" Steve almost groaned.

"Because Armando lost a shipment and he asked us to help him find it. So we left Ro in California…" "—For like two weeks." "It was ten days stop lying. We came back and the two of them were already dating."

Steve turned to Rowan who sighed and said: "He kept bumping into me. For like three days. He'd bump into me and then freeze. So I talked to him, realized he was there to try and seduce answers out of me, answered his questions and then we you know… we went for drinks."

Steve just stared at her and then turned back to Wo. "He made her happy, okay? Did I think that it was a good idea? No. But it made her happy and…" "—He had a rule about doing whatever we had to to make her happy."

WOW! So they like really pandered to her that year. She was basically spoiled rotten. No wonder she was having issues now that she was back. She was used to getting her way no matter how stupid the plan was.

"Oh my god. You two are a pair of enablers, you know that?" Steve cried but the two men just crossed their arms and glared at him. "Whatever, fine. Just… dial back how did you escape MI6?"

"I jumped obviously. Just little jumps. Jumped a whole car at one point though."

"Really?" Steve asked and the two boys nodded. Wow that was… that was definitely new.

"Okay so MI6 arrested her, you guys realized that the Stepanov's did it so you guys just…"

"We jumped to Russia. Wo and I took out Victor, Ro went after Irina and stabbed her, which I hear is symbolic," It was. "But it didn't put her down. We got separated after that."

"And North Korea was…"

"Her," Wo said just as Rowan said: "Me."

"Okay how…"

"She downed the plane," Sin Nombre said. "Then ran off into the jungle."

She. Did. WHAT?!

"She was heading for that compound I held you in. When we were there and I was torturing you," Wo said as if Steve had no idea what he meant. Of course he knew what he meant. "It was a base for US army, some special team or something. They took out the guy following her and then she got recognized and they were taking her to the nearest naval base…"

"To take me back to you. But I got out of my cuffs and ran back to Wo," Rowan finished.

"Then we went home and we went home to the safe house…"

"And then we went back to Japan because we had found out that she ended up on that place to Russia because Shioma had sold her to Irina, and we tod her if she tried that again we'd kill her…"

"And you're still trying to find her," Steve muttered.

"No, we know where she is," Sin Nombre said and Steve's eyes bugged out. "We can't make a move because she told us we can't."

"It's not in the strings yet."

God. Rowan and her stupid strings. They needed Shioma to be put down before she tried to go after Rowan again. And they could say she wouldn't but literally everyone who was warned to stay away from Rowan came after her a second time. It was stupid because no one survived the following attempts but no one had ever been dissuaded from taking Rowan simply because Wo Fat and Sin Nombre, or even Steve, told them to stay away.

But he knew better than to argue so he just clamped his mouth shut.

"Okay. So uh… the concert. Rowan said that was to cheer her up."

"Mackie arrested her and she was sad," Wo said. "Concert was his idea."

He had jerked his head towards Sin Nombre who simply smiled. "She loves singing and everything was going great until you showed up. How did you even figure it out? We were jamming all signals at that point."

"Both Nahele and Grace were in the crowd, Sandy wouldn't have shut down their phones," Rowan said. Both men nodded as if that made sense.

"Which one called him?"

"Grace," Steve said softly. "She told her dad and he told me and… yeah… All of that because of MacGyver?"

Rowan nodded. "I didn't think I was that sad, and I didn't think it was a good idea to crash a concert in Hawaii but Con was so proud and excited that I just… I just went with it."

"Okay I have one last question for the group and then I want to talk to your brothers, alright?" They all nodded. "Look, I know you've answered this but I've kinda danced around the topic. So. When you first got grabbed. Did they… at any point in those four days, did they sexually assault you?"

Rowan went an ashen color as all three men peered at her.

"No."

Except she nibbled her lips before saying it, she avoided his eyes. Her lips twitched back and forth.

"You're lying," he found himself whispering and Wo straightened.

"Is she? Are you? Rowan, did they…"

"No!" she said a little more quickly. "I swear… they didn't, nothing like that."

"But something else happened, I can tell," Steve said but Rowan wouldn't answer she just shook her head and started to shake. She went to stand, no doubt to run but Steve grabbed her. "No. Rowan. You tell me what happened. What was it? Tell me!"

Wo Fat was reaching out across the table but Steve was dealing with Rowan who was trying to twist out of Steve's grip. He hadn't noticed it but Sin Nombre had gotten out of his seat the second Steve had latched onto her.

"You can't keep hiding things from me," Steve was staying just as Sin Nombre grabbed a hold of his arm and ripped him off of Rowan.

"Stop it," he hissed. "Stop." He then wrapped her up in his arms and held her there to him as she shook and the tears started. He was glaring at Steve as he held her. Clearly any questions needing Rowan there were done.

Steve felt his heart sink. He had done it again. He hadn't meant to but he had gotten aggressive with her again.

"Babe I'm sorry…" he started reaching out for Rowan but Sin Nombre slapped his hands away.

Steve launched to his feet, and Wo Fat followed. "Both of you stop!" he hissed before Steve could throw a punch to get that man away from his wife.

Wo's eyes then focused in on Rowan. "Baby girl… how about you go outside? Hmm? We'll set you up with a chair and your blanket and a cup of tea. Con will get your ice cream, what do you think?"

Then he didn't give her a chance to answer him. Between him and Con they got her out onto the lanai. Steve had just stood there watching.

Something did happen in that basement. Something she wasn't telling them about. Something that clearly upset her. A lot.

For the first time, in his whole life, Steve didn't want to know what it was.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Once Rowan was calm, once they had her out on the lanai covered in her blanket with a bowl of ice cream and a mug of tea beside her, the two brothers finally went back inside.

Steve had waited inside, no doubt feeling like he couldn't come join them, and Wo Fat didn't care. He was the one who was pushing her to answer that question. Well, Wo was too, but he stopped when she started shaking.

Once inside, Wo took a different seat, one that allowed him to keep his eyes on Rowan, but unfortunately also meant that he was sitting adjacent to Steve.

"Tell me about Paris."

Not a question. A demand. Rowan was outside now, that meant she couldn't hear them, which meant Steve was going to ask all the questions that he couldn't when shew as there.

"She fucked an art thief named Ares and he stole her. There that's Paris," Sin Nombre snapped.

He had been telling Wo Fat for months now that he didn't like how Steve treated Rowan. The questioning clearly reminded him that he didn't like Steve's behaviour with her. On top of that, it was clear that Steve didn't trust Sin Nombre with Rowan. Though Wo wasn't certain why. The man was a skilled assassin he was probably the best person to leave Rowan alone with.

"There has to be more to it then that if she freaks out about it. If you guys freak out about it…"

"Alright. So. For the timeline. Her arm was still broken, she was still covered in bruises and cuts and I was dragging her out to fancy dinner parties because I was trying to work while having her with me. And because I didn't trust her to be alone in the hotel."

Yeah, sounds about right.

"Ares was basically a French you. Same build. Same height. Same hair. Even had blue eyes. He was just a little leaner and his face was a bit narrower. But he was you. I left her alone with a French version of you. Which was very, very stupid of me."

Great so Ares was his look alike? Yeah like that was good.

"She fucked him at a party. He got it in his head that she was some concubine of mine or something. Tried to buy her off of me. I thought I set him straight but he sent a man to pay me double for a piece I had lifted and realized he was paying me double for her. I got the location of two of his villa's. One in Sovana the other in Naples. I went to Naples, I called Con to go to Sovana."

And then Wo turned his eyes to Sin Nombre, because clearly he was the one who found her.

"Alright. I got there, and there's a trail of bodies. Starting with Ares in the cell he was holding her in. She had stabbed him in the chest. I left him to bleed out," Sin Nombre said. "There was a trail of bodies leading away from that cell. Each of them had been stabbed. Like sneak attacked. And expertly hit. Only went for vital organs. Except for one, he had defensive wounds, so I guess he saw her coming."

Oh my god. How… how many people did she kill?

"When I found her she was kneeling beside some guy. Just going ham on his chest. She must have stabbed him twenty times. She was covered in blood and when she saw me she just started laughing. Like straight up laughing and then crying, and then she just kinda went catatonic."

She… she had a dissociative episode.

That's why she said she remembered things in flashes. That's why it freaked her out. She had PTSD from Japan, Ares triggered it somehow and she lost it. She must have thought herself so monstrous.

"Any way for that to be…"

"Nope. I wiped down the knife and put my prints on it. Got her in the car and then went back in. Put a bullet from my gun in each and every person in that building and then set it on fire. No survivors. No lasting DNA traces."

Sin Nombre was a fucking genius.

"Sin Nombre and I met in Rome. I got her into the hotel and essentially we figured out that she was well… she was finally dealing with the mental trauma from the incident. She was trying to repress it but Ares brought it out."

"And it became abundantly clear that Wo Fat couldn't handle her on her own so I stuck around to babysit."

So that was it. That was how Sin Nombre joined the family.

"When did she decide you were her brother?"

"Some time after Valentine's Day."

Wow that was pretty early on.

"When did she decide that you were her brother?" he asked Wo.

"Uh… when I got blown up. Didn't really become official to me until I put her down as my emergency Contact. You know… in Colorado. It was so I'd have an excuse to call her, really, or she'd get notified if something happened. But I listed her as my sister, so I suppose that's when I gave in."

"Okay… and we're going to come back to that," Steve said which earned him a narrowed look from Wo Fat. "I want to know what you said to Nahele. What did you do to keep him from telling me he was in contact with Rowan?"

Wo Fat blinked his eyes. "I didn't actually talk to him," he said. "I told Kong to tell him that if he wanted to talk to Rowan there were certain lies he'd have to tell and secrets to keep. The kid decided he'd rather be able to talk to Rowan."

Wow. That was it? Really? That's all he needed to say?

"Okay. Last question for the day."

"I doubt that but go on."

"I wanna know why. All those years ago, when you kidnapped her the first time. Why didn't you give her back? Why did you keep her?"

For a moment Wo froze. He couldn't help it. He hadn't thought about that day in such a long time.

"You have to understand Steven. When I first found her… she was very sick."

"She had been jumping. She was trying to get home and the void was sucking all the energy and life out of her every time she jumped."

"Yes well, I know that now. But back then, before I knew the truth, she had told me that she had been held prisoner and tortured. I guess… I guess that was the only thing that she could come up with to explain her injuries to me."

"Where did you find her? Honolulu Harbor?"

"Yeah… how did you…"

"You gave her a bracelet for the Christmas. The year she wasn't talking to you. It had GPS coordinates on the back. She lied when she first got it, said the coordinated were for her home, but I knew they were on Hawaii. It leads to a shipping port."

"Yes well… I know now that she got dropped out in the ocean off of that port. She swam to shore, dropped herself on the doorstep of the office I was using to inventory and I found her outside. She collapsed the second she laid eyes on me."

The jumping had taken it's toll on her. She must have been exhausted by that point.

"I… I'm not sure why, I guess because she was so pathetic I… uh… I brought her back to my hotel to figure out what was going on with her. She had these big bruises fanning down her back she was covered in burns and sand and seaweed. She was in a shark sweater and jean shorts, she looked ridiculous. When she woke up she fed me a bunch of stories where she told me your name was Jamie and you told her to leave…"

"Wait a second… he told her to leave?"

"Yeah," Steve admitted and Sin Nombre was frowning again.

"What the hell is the matter with you?!"

"I spent a whole two or more weeks grounding her to this reality because something was pulling her in against her will. And then she just up and jumps on her own? And Catherine was giving me ultimatums and she… she could have left, you know and that would have killed me and… I make bad choices okay. I regretted it. Telling her to leave. I did."

Wo Fat just rolled his eyes. "Then I figured out she was with you, and you left her behind. I took her and you were like desperate to get her back which was strange behaviour considering you claimed to not be in love with her. You little liar."

"I hadn't realized it yet, leave me alone."

"Anyway. She uh… she got away from me when we were switching safe houses and she took on that man with no hands cause he was going to shoot you. When I got there he had his hands around her neck. I panicked, tackled him and got into a fight. Except I knew better than to let those hands get a hold of me. I shot at him. Think I nicked him too. Was too panicked to actually get a good shot to be honest. And well… I unno after that I just… I just didn't want to give her back."

"Yes but why?"

Wo Fat paused and Steve realized that maybe, the man hadn't ever consciously thought about why he did it. He just knew that he didn't want to give her back, so he didn't.

"I told myself it was to hurt you. To have some sort of hold on you. And a little bit because I was worried if I gave her back you wouldn't actually take care of her," Wo said. "Truth was, I saw me in her and I didn't want her to go through the same things I did so I decided to keep her."

Steve smiled. "You saw yourself in her?"

"From the very first moment she met me she sassed me. I had a gun to her face and everything and she was hitting me with sarcasm and witty one liners and… she's annoying you know, but in this endearing kind of way. She forces you to care about her, because she forces her love and care onto you and in my eyes you had squandered all of that. I figured her better off with someone who would actually care back."

It's true, he had. Very clearly. And he would never do that again.

"I uh… I learned my lesson. Thanks," Steve muttered but it was clear that both Wo Fat and Sin Nombre didn't believe him. He'd just have to prove them wrong.

"Right. Last question. For real this time," Steve said and both men with him broke out laughing.

"You really do never stop asking questions."

"It's the interrogator in me. Just humor me, and I swear for the next ten minutes I'll be quiet." When both men nodded Steve turned to Sin Nombre. "When will I be able to call you Con? Like, give me a time line here?"

"Oh my god, you know the answer to this," Sin Nombre growled.

"When you earn it," the three men said today and then Wo Fat added: "He really has already told you that Steven, multiple times. I don't know how you're confused."

"Well… how haven't I earned it yet? I mean… how long did it take you to let Ro call you that?"

"She came up with Conejo and Con, so, right away," Sin Nombre said and Steve had to conclude that was a stupid question.

"Fine. Wo then?"

"Uh…" Sin Nombre said turning to him and Wo turned back.

"Uh, I'd some time around Canada, cause she gave us fake names and that was the first time I heard Con."

"See, and we had just gone through the Colombia incident together. He had earned it. When you earn it I will tell you, just like I did for Wo."

"You didn't tell me, you just stopped correcting me when I used it."

"Dude!" Sin Nombre snapped clearly expecting Wo to have his back but Wo Fat was looking at his watch.

"Alright, that was the last question. We now get a full ten minutes in silence. Nothing more from McGarrett. I don't know about you but I want to bask in it."

Steve smiled, more than willing to give both of them exactly what they wanted. He stood up, left the table, left the kitchen and joined his wife out on the lanai.

But before he pulled that chair up, before he sat himself down and took her hand, only briefly because she was still busy eating her ice cream, before he was fully out the door he heard Sin Nombre snap: "I'm pretty sure that's cheating."

And Steve had to bite back his laughter.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

After sending her brothers home and cleaning up all the dishes they had left behind, Rowan was bombarded with comfort she didn't know she needed.

Steve just wrapped his arms around her from behind while she was doing the dishes and did not let go.

"You could help you know," she had said but he buried his head in her neck and then just stayed there until she was done.

When she had dried her hands and the dishes were all put aside she turned in his grasp to face him. She looked him up and down, took in the pity in his eyes and almost cursed her brothers out loud.

"They told you about Paris."

"They did." She must have winced because his lips came down to hers in a heartbeat. "You know what that was right? Do You? Because I do. It was a dissociative event…"

"I know. I talked to a therapist about it, Steven."

"Really? Wo Fat got you a therapist?"

"No I got myself one. I called… I called my mother. She didn't know it was me, doesn't want to believe I'm me. But she uh… she was helping me for a bit."

Steve nodded. "Well that's good. That you got help. It wasn't your fault. You know. That wasn't, that wasn't really you."

"But what if it was. What if that is what I really am?"

Steve's eyes narrowed at her. "If that were really you we'd see that more. You're not dropping bodies every other day, Rowan. I'm pretty sure that was a completely isolated event and completely dependent on the trauma of being tortured and kidnapped and I don't care what you say I'm not letting you think anything else."

Rowan nodded and a sort of cocky grin spread over his face. "So Ares huh?"

"Yes."

"Wo said he was basically just me but French."

"Uh… yeah. I mean… that was his whole appeal. I couldn't have you so I took uh… I took him. Terrible sex, by the way. Couldn't wait for it to be over."

"Did you have any good sex while you were gone?"

"Yeah sure. Mackie was pretty good. So was Harry."

"Just them? You had six guys and they were the only good ones?"

Rowan shrugged. "You spoiled me," she said softly and his smile widened. That was right. She was finely tuned to him. No one else could do it to her like he did.

He pressed his lips to hers once more, holding her close to him, knowing exactly where this was going to lead and already he was straining to get to her.

"I love you, Rowan. I need you to know that. I will always love you."

Her smile was a watery one. The kind of smile that had him believing that she didn't really believe him. Well, he was just going to have to work on convincing her too.