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AvalonReeseFanFics

A/N: Are you guys ready for another fun chaotic-sibling chapter. Cause that's what we have here. As always don't forget to leave a review or drop a fav or a follow and I'll see you guys next week!

Chapter 420

Trevor had been adamant that Rowan Pierce could be trusted.

He was adamant that Rowan could do all these wondrous things. That with a touch of a button, a flick of her wrist, all of Sarah's problems would be gone.

But he had lied.

There was nothing magical about Rowan Pierce. Her amazing siblings hadn't pulled out that Hail-Mary pass that Trevor had bragged about.

Despite her harassing Trevor to get him to harass Rowan, the court date to decide on the custody agreement between her and Howard, rapidly approached.

She had hoped that somewhere along the line he would just… drop out. Kind of like Rowan had said he had done in her world. But that had been because she was harassing him, and no one could prove it was her, and therefore couldn't stop her, so, since that wasn't happening in this world, the day he'd drop out never came.

Then she was in court and her discount lawyer who had said he had a good case was suddenly fumbling everything up. It was honestly looking like she was going to lose custody of her daughter.

Howard and his beach-Barbie coke-headed wife were going to get full custody and she'd NEVER see Evolet again.

Luckily for her, the judge had said that he didn't have enough information to make a verdict that day, so they were expected to come back tomorrow to finish everything out.

Trevor, who had been kind enough to come with her, had not been happy. He had said he would call Rowan right away, see what she was doing about this situation, but Sarah didn't want Rowan anymore. She clearly couldn't be trusted.

She went home and just held her daughter. She was struggling to keep her from realizing what was happening and how serious this all was. She ignored Trevor's calls and all the texts he sent saying that apparently Rowan had it handled.

They were lies.

All lies.

She wasn't going to put a single iota more of faith in Rowan Pierce.

So the next morning, she left Evolet with her Uncle Mal, who she loved more than anything, again. She spun it as a fun uncle day, and, just like the day before, he'd spend the whole day doing all the fun stuff with her.

She then donned her best outfit, a completely different best outfit from the previous day, and then went to court.

She was hoping that she could impart how worried she was about letting this man and his wife who wanted to change every bit of her daughter, who wanted to dress her up and erase everything there was about her mother the second they got custody. She knew in her heart it wasn't going to work, but she wasn't going to stop fighting.

She'd never stop fighting for her daughter.

"It's not looking good," her lawyer whispered as they sat at that stupid table together. She wanted to shout at him, ask him if he was doing this on purpose, because he had been so sure that they'd win before. But she couldn't make a scene at that moment.

The judge came out of his quarters and approached his podium. He sat down, glanced at both tables to confirm that they were all there, and they were.

Howard with his expensive lawyer, his wife sitting in the pew behind him. Sarah sitting with her horrible lawyer, and Trevor sitting in the pew behind her.

After a moment of regarding them he said: "Alright, if we're ready…"

The door banged open and when they all turned it was Rowan coming down the aisle towards them. She seemed calm, like she hadn't just let her down.

She was in a blue skirt suit combo. Dark navy blue, shoes matching and red-bottomed, with a starched white blouse. Her shoulder length brown hair was pin straight and somehow a dark chestnut. She wore a blood red smile that seemed more pointed than friendly and there was an ice in her eyes that seemed to hold everyone attention.

Sarah could see that Howard did not look happy that Rowan had appeared, though Trevor did. He stood right away to greet her, but she merely put a hand out to brush him aside, her eyes on the judge and judge alone.

"Hello, could you give me a second to speak with my friend?" she asked the judge. "I believe we have some new information that you would like to hear, but I need to confirm it with her."

The judge nodded to her and Sarah stood right away. She couldn't believe that Rowan had actually pulled through for her.

"What do you have?" she asked in a lowered tone.

Rowan turned to attention onto her with a distracted: "Hmm?" Sarah almost repeated the question but then Rowan said: "Oh, I just needed a distraction. So we need to look like we're conferring…"

Sarah recoiled. She couldn't believe that this was Rowan's plan. Distraction. How long did she expect to distract the judge for? The rest of the day?

She can't possibly have thought this would work.

Face red, angry tears welling up in her eyes, Sarah felt she might shout, or sob, or something. "You said you'd do something about this!"

Rowan's eyebrows furrowed but otherwise she remained calm. "Uh… I did…"

"Excuse me? No you haven't… I mean… look around! We're in fucking court and yesterday was a DISASTER!"

"Yes, I can see that."

The door to the courtroom banged open again and this time a man came in. He was tall, fit, tanned. His suit was well tailored and clearly expensive. His black hair was coiffed back and he walked right up to them and then just stopped.

Sarah was confused she didn't know who this man was. Actually, he looked familiar but she wasn't quite sure where she could place him. He didn't really look like either of her brothers. They had oozed danger in a completely different way, he oozed a more business class kind of danger. Like a I'll tie you up in litigation for the rest of your life kinda aura as opposed to the I could end you with a flick of my finger aura her two brothers had.

"Where were you?" Rowan asked. Ah. So Rowan knew him.

"Dealing with… things," he said and then turned to Sarah. "I'm your new lawyer."

"Oh… uh…"

"He offered her a hand with a bit of a suave smirk. "Sebastian," he said and then paused. Just completely froze. A wide eyed look of confusion hit him. Geeze, if his name confused him it would not bode well for her case.

But then she glanced to Rowan and saw that she was just as confused as he seemed to be. "Really?" she asked.

He turned his confused look onto her. "I… it just slipped out."

"Right well… you're stuck with it now."

Stuck with a name? Right. So clearly Sebastian wasn't his real name. Why was this guy lying about his name?

"Yeah," he said with a sigh and then turned back to Sarah. "Sorry. I'm Sebastian Montoya of Coleman and Golde. I'll be representing you today."

He handed her a card and she looked it over. It didn't say his name, just the name of the firm. But just looking at the card she knew that she couldn't afford them.

But then again, if he was lying about his name, he was probably lying about who he worked for.

"You guys look expensive."

"We are, Miss. Pierce is covering the costs," he said. "And don't worry. We're very good."

We, the Royal We. Which meant that his firm was good, no telling whether or not he was that good.

"You are?"

"Haven't lost a case yet," he said with a shrug. "And even if we lose today's, she's always got a plan B."

Rowan nodded deftly but that didn't reassure Sarah. She didn't want to lose at all.

Sebastian focused on the lawyer Sarah had actually hired. "Get up. Get lost. Refund the lady her money."

"Now wait a second…"

"You're going to throw this case, and I have proof of it too."

Wait.

What?

"Oh my god… is that why you did so poorly yesterday?" she hissed and the man went red.

"Now, hold on…" he said.

"Look," Sebastian said in this low and dangerous tone, the I could kill you with a flick of my wrist aura appearing out of no where. "I can make sure a full investigation is done into you, or you can refund this lovely lady's money and disappear. Your choice."

He glanced at Sarah, his eyes briefly flitted over to Howard and then he packed up all his files. Or, well, he tried to.

"Nope. Leave that," Sebastian ordered.

He huffed but he did as he was told. Shooting one last: "Good luck, you'll need it," to her before he stormed past Rowan and Sebastian.

Once he was gone Sebastian took his place and then smiled warmly at the judge who was glaring down at them.

"Sorry, please continue…"

The judge stared at him, no doubt wondering where this man got the gall and then quickly growled: "Counselors approach the bench."

Sebastian did as he was told, approaching the podium as requested. Howard's lawyer did the same, a sort of concerned stare pinned in Sebastian's direction. He just ignored it entirely. He smiled warmly as the judge continued to glare at him.

"What is going on?"

"There has been a change of plan. It's become clear that there is a… conflict of interest with Mr. Khatri. I will be Ms. Isley's counsel today," he said.

"I haven't agreed to that," the opposition said.

"Yes well, the other option is we bring your client up on charges of tampering," Sebastian said just loud enough for everyone to hear and a murmur ran through the court room. "Yeah, I think it's only fair the lady gets a fair shake… you know… with a lawyer that hasn't been paid to look out for your best interest."

Howard stood right away. "You can't prove that!" he then turned to the judge. "Your Honour this is all a vicious attack on my character, orchestrated by Sarah and her friend of there," he cried nodding to Rowan. "They have no proof!"

Sebastian held up the folder he had taken up with him. "Yes I can. I have bank statements, emails and a text chain between his drinking buddies. Either I enter the court or the documents do, your choice."

Howard's lawyer looked at him, really looked at him, saw the panic on his face and then turned back.

"We'd rather he enter the court," he said and Sarah's mouth dropped in shock, because with that admission alone, it was clear that Howard was guilty of tampering.

It might not have been explicitly said, but it was implied.

"Thank you," he said, inclining his head to the judge and then he took his seat beside Sarah as the judge made his opening statements.

He recapped where they were in the case, and what he wanted proof of, but Sebastian Montoya didn't seem to be paying attention.

"So… how are you doing to do it?" she whispered. "Do… do you have another file to prove that Howard will be a terrible father who actually alienates me from my daughter?"

Sebastian stared at her for a moment before half scoffing at her.

"Oh I'm not going to prove anything, this case will be over in ten minutes," he said and then lounged back in his chair.

My god, he was going to ruin this for her.

She stared at him as just sat there lounging back in his chair. He didn't turn to her, didn't acknowledge her. And honestly, Sarah was at a loss. Honestly, a completely and utter loss.

She thought things were going to get better, not get worse.

Why, oh why, had she trusted Rowan Pierce? Why?

When the opposition finished basically laying Sarah out and making her out to be a horrible person and mother it was Sebastian's turn.

He stood up beside her. Nodded to his opponent and then turned onto the judge.

"Your honour," Sebastian said, clapping his hands and then spreading them out. "With all due respect, in one minute the opposition will be eating their words. This man is a vile low life, hiding behind daddy's money. He doesn't want his daughter because he's missed out on having her in his life. He wants a pre-grown child for his wife to dress up and show off. Lord knows she can't have a kid with all the coke in her system…"

"These are all baseless lies!" Howard shouted shooting to his feet. "They have no proof…"

But by then they had realized that Sebastian was staring at his watch. He seemingly counted down to something and then pointed at the door.

Except nothing happened.

Sebastian's eyes crinkled in surprise, but he kept staring at the door.

Still when no one came in he turned to Rowan was simply glaring at him.

"Mr. Montoya," the judge growled. "If you're done show boating… do you have any proof of your claims?"

Sebastian turned back to the judge, his mouth opened, either to stall or to lie, but he was cut off by the door banging open.

They all turned and there they were, a row of cops lead by what had to be a detective judging by the suit, heading to the front.

"We're sorry to interrupt but we have a warrant to arrest Howard Czernyc."

"On what grounds…"

"We have reason to suspect you've been using your father's company to traffic drugs… this is the warrant we have to search your car…"

Howard sputtered, glanced to his lawyer who then sighed and took the warrant from the detective.

"I would like to know why you think my client, who is an upstanding citizen and member of this community could be…"

"We got an anonymous tip a few days ago. Had a list of things, all of them have been right. So it stands to reason if the rest of the tip was correct… this has to be too. Clearly the Judge Krivacik believes so too… so, you can come with us willingly or in cuffs…"

Anonymous tip.

Sarah turned back to Rowan who had an icy smug smile pointed in Howard's direction. Oh my god. The dirt she told her brother to dig up.

This must have been it.

Sarah's judge slammed his gavel down. "Now hold on a second," he cried. "How legitimate do you believe this claim to be?"

"Entirely legitimate," the detective said. "We raided their warehouse earlier today and found much more than just drugs. His father is currently at our precinct attempting to come up with some clever lies as to how he had no idea his company was shipping in illegal substances, illegal immigrants and illegal weapons. We have another team going to both his father's home and Howard's to see what else is there. But his car is here, and apparently what we're missing from the warehouse will be found there. They even told us where to look."

Poor Howards had gone red, and then white and then red all over again. He looked like he was going to be sick.

"I suggest a brief recess to have the car searched, and depending on what we find, I'll make my demands," Sebastian said. "Are we all agreed?"

The judge was glaring at Howard but he sighed and said: "Recess until the search is conducted. I will expect a full report of what was found in the car, and what was found in his home and his warehouse."

And then he banged that gavel again.

The cops were going for Howard who, despite his lawyer telling him to cooperate, was fighting them. "She did this!" he screamed, pointing at Rowan. "She did this! She set me up!"

"Me?" Rowan asked, faking shock quite prettily. "Why ever would I do such a thing?"

But she had. Sarah knew she had, and the smug smile on her face said that she had. But Howard had no proof and Sarah had a feeling that they would never find any.

They pulled Howard out as he kept shouting that it was Rowan setting him up but the damage was done.

Sarah couldn't bear to follow them out to the parking lot to see what they found, but later, when the recess was adjourned and the report was put in front of the judge, she found that a lot must have been found.

Sebastian laid out their terms, which were not terms Sarah had originally thought about and she got exactly what she wanted… or well that her lawyer said she wanted.

The judge signed off on full custody for Sarah and Sebastian had them add a clause that only Evolet could decide when she wanted to make contact with her father, at the age of 18. Though it did look like he was going to still be in jail at that time.

He was also ordering back child support to the tunes of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Which would change their lives, basically.

So not only did she get full custody, she was getting all that was due to her too.

She never should have doubted Rowan Pierce.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Sarah was in a complete and utter shock.

She couldn't believe this had worked. Couldn't believe that she had won.

She had gone into this thinking it wasn't going to end well, but nope. No, it had swung in her favour.

She was now back at her house, Evolet was still out with her Uncle Mal, and Sarah was with Rowan, Trevor and their lawyer Sebastian. He was apparently with Rowan. As she in had brought him. Was his ride. The whole shebang.

The story was on the news now.

The Czernyc Family had basically fallen. Everyone knew that they were smugglers now, they were no longer the most respective family in Victoria.

They had found money, weapons and drugs in both of their houses. Drugs in Howard's car. All of their ledgers depicting years of smuggling, all they gained, all they brought into Canada, all they had sent out, all in there.

They were screwed.

But it meant that Sarah wasn't ever going to have to worry about Howard Czernyc ever again.

She had a glass of wine in her hand, and she must have been drunk too much because she suddenly couldn't keep the questions she had swirling in her head at bay anymore.

Yes, she said she didn't want to know exactly what it was that Rowan had done, but two glasses of wine in and she was throwing that out the window.

"I can't believe… I mean how did you know that they… that they there were smugglers? How did… I mean someone tipped them off was that… was that you?"

Rowan turned to her, a cocked eyebrow. She had taken one sip of the wine and when no one was looking she spit it right back out. Weird, but maybe she wasn't a red kind of girl. But she did nod to that last question, so Rowan was the anonymous tipster.

"Okay. But how?"

"My brother knew," she said. "Wo. He had smuggling lines. Knew they were a competitor. They're smart though, they never brought their work home with them, never got their own hands dirty. ."

"Wait… but they found so much in their house, in the car… how did they…"

Rowan just smiled at her and Sarah sighed. "Wow, you guys really did set them up."

"We did," Rowan said. "We were originally going to negotiate with them, but they weren't playing nice, so we went about it the hard way. I didn't want you to know about it… in case they figured you to be complicit. I wanted you to be able to have complete deniability, so I never told you what we were up to. Sorry I worried you."

Nope. She totally got it now. Completely, 100 percent.

"I shouldn't have doubted you. You said you'd help and you did. I should have guessed it would be illegal in some way," she said and then turned to Sebastian. "Are you even a lawyer?"

"Eh," he said with a shrug and then he nudged Rowan with his elbow. "We should head home. I'm beat."

Rowan nodded. "Well, enjoy your sole custody and your back child support. If you ever need any other assistance let us know, okay?"

Sarah jumped to her feet and clasped Rowan in a tight hug. "Thank you, thank you for everything," she said and then let her go and immediately grappled onto Sebastian who was not expecting it.

She could tell because he stiffened at the touch.

"And thank you for taking my case… I… I'm guessing you took a pay cut?" she asked. When Sebastian just stared at her, confusion clear on his face her eyes narrowed. "Are you making her pay you?"

"It's fine," Rowan said. "I've paid him for a lot of things. This is one in a long list of jobs I've asked him to do. A less bloody one actually."

Sebastian shot her a glare. "Why would you tell her that?"

"Wait…" Sarah whispered, turning to look up to him but not relinquishing her grasp on him at all. "Wait… the leather jacket guy… the other brother. That's you?" Sebastian growled a bit but she just smiled. "Wow, you look different when you dress up."

And by that she meant he looked super handsome.

"Okay," he said squirming out of her grasp. "I'd like to leave now. Can we leave now? Good luck with your… kid…"

And then he just bolted for the door. Rowan watched him go, her eyes also narrowed more in a distrustful confused way. Like she didn't know why he was acting that way. Or maybe she did and she just hadn't been expecting it.

"Don't mind him," she said with a warm smile. "He's right, though, we should go. Enjoy the rest of your day."

Then she too was heading for the door. Sarah was thinking she'd wave them off, but nope. The door shut deftly behind Rowan and when Sarah opened it up again both her and Sebastian were gone.

She might have thought more about that if it weren't for the fact that the two of them were quite strange. She just assumed that this was another one of their weird quirks, disappearing into thin air, and since she was celebrating she didn't give it another second of thought.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

The two came out of the portal in the kitchen. It was her favourite place to open a door to, apparently, because they always ended up here.

Con came through first, as always, and Rowan came in after, shutting the door immediately and the portal fizzled out.

He turned around to see if she was alright because he could feel it, something was wrong. She made a face when she got them to Victoria, and she was making a face now.

He looked her up and down ready to ask her what was happening but she beat him to it. "So what was all of that?"

"All of what?"

"Con… you told Sarah your real name," she said and he frowned.

Yes. He had done that.

He didn't know why he had done that and he knew his sister was going to ask him why.

"Yes. I know, Rowan. And before you ask… no… it just slipped out," he said. A smile lit up on Rowan's face and he pointed a finger into it. "No. I'm not psychoanalyzing this. It was a slip up. That's it. Nothing else."

Rowan completely deflated, the disappointment clear on her face. She clearly wanted this to mean something, but it didn't. He was going to refuse to let it.

Cause really, what future could he have with Sarah? He was a wanted assassin, he could never settle down with her. They'd be in danger… of either revenge for one of his hits or watching him get arrested for one of his hits. Plus she had a kid and… well… he wasn't sure he could handle caring for another kid as if it were his own.

He'd be too afraid to lose them again.

And that was a lot to have on his mind for a slip up… so he really didn't want Rowan to know about it. Cause she would not let it go.

"We're turning the tables," he said and Rowan balked.

"Onto me?"

"Yes you. What's going on with you?"

Rowan let out a shaky laugh. "Me? What do you mean?"

"You're acting weird," he said. He could have told her that she was being extra emotional recently, and that she had started liking food she never liked before. But he knew what that could be and he wasn't sure he'd handle it well if she told him what that was about.

So he opted to go for the other thing.

"The void, it makes you make faces when you use it now. Specially jumping, so what's up? You not charged enough?"

"No… I don't know," she said and then took a deep breath. "It… it feels weird all of a sudden."

"Weird? Weird how?"

"I unno, like it's harder to use the power, no matter how charged I am. And there's this pressure. In my stomach and chest when I portal now… even just walking through a door…"

Well, that didn't sound good at all.

"Kay… so you obviously stop using your powers Ro… god, why would you continue?"

"Because people need them," she cried. "And… I mean… what if I stop and something happens?"

Con shook his head at her. Of course she was worried about everyone else and not herself.

Con nodded. "Right… well… have you told Steve?" Rowan shook her head. "Right, what about Wo?" When she shook her head again he frowned. "What? Why not him? He's the most supportive…"

"I know, but he relies on me to jump him to Jian and vice versa… and… well… I'm the only way those two can see each other quickly and…"

"Mami that's stupid," he said. "If you tell Wo, he's not going to care. He's going to be upset you continued just for him. And I think we both know McGarrett's gonna love this development cause he hates your powers."

"That's not fair… he's been very…"

"Girl. I love you, but if you say he's been better I'mma slap you," Con warned. "He might be keeping his concerns to himself, but everyone knows how that man really feels about your powers… when they're not convenient for him…"

He said that last part bitterly, even Rowan's nose curled up at it. After a moment of silence he reached out for her.

"Don't worry, okay?" he said. "Just… just stop with the void for now, unless it's for an emergency. And me and you, we'll figure out how to tell everyone you're taking a break from having powers, and we'll try to figure out what's going on too. What do you say?"

"You'd really help me?" she asked. For a minute Con was confused. Why would she assume he wouldn't help her? "You're not busy with your girlfriend?"

"Aww… mami," he groaned. "You couldn't wait for me to tell you about me and Tani?"

"I was gonna, but you seem adamant about keeping it to yourself," she said primly. In fact, it sort of sounded like she might be jealous. Why did that excite him?

"That's cause… honestly, I'm not sure what it is we're actually doing. We're… we're keeping things casual." Rowan rolled her eyes at him and he fought back the urge to growl at her. "She just got her place on five-0 she doesn't want to put it in jeopardy by telling everyone we're dating…"

"Steve's not going to care."

That may be true, and he had told Tani as such but she had been adamant. She didn't want McGarrett to think her loyalties has switched up just because she was with him now.

Again. Stupid. Because he was very clear with her that his loyalties would always be to Rowan and his brother ad not her.

That was a shitty thing to have said to her, too, by the way. She told him flat out, you know after she ignored him for a week.

"Okay, well, she wants to keep it on the down-low, so please don't tell anyone."

"Even Wo?"

"Wo has a habit of forgetting to keep things a secret," Con said with a scoff.

"That's not true," she said softly. "Look at how well he kept secrets during the Year of Deceit."

"Ro, that was to save his own skin, and considering you can see strings and tell when people are lying, I'm surprised you never figured it out."

Rowan sighed a bit. "Yeah, Steve said the same thing," she said. "Honestly, I wish I could say that Wo can mask his strings, but honestly. I just never checked. For some reason I just… I just trust him implicitly…"

That was something Rowan did though. She trusted him implicitly, as well as Wo and Steve. If she put her trust in you, she never doubted you. Wo had given her great cause to distrust him, but even now she trusted him.

Their sister was just too good.

"Yeah, well that's stupid, but I'm not going to argue about it, honestly," he said. "Just… can you let me tell him? Please?"

Rowan nodded and he slung an arm around her shoulders. "Kay, well you go up, get changed into something comfortable, I'm gonna go across the street and do the same, then me and you, we're gonna veg on the couch, sound good?" when she nodded he added: "And we'll brainstorm what we're going to do about your powers, okay?"

Rowan nodded again and he pressed her to his side, holding her close to him.

When she finally let go, heading up the stairs to get comfortable, Con tried to shrug off the feeling, that flutter in his chest when she was that close to him. He was getting over her, that's why things with Tani had been working out, because he was getting over her.

He just needed to keep going, just needed to keep shrugging that feeling, that desire, down. It would work… eventually.