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A/N: This chapter ended up being almost 20 pages long so I ended up cutting it in half. I haven't had a chance to edit it, so this is the unedited version and I'll update it with the good copy tomorrow! Please enjoy, and sorry for any mistakes!
EDIT: Right, so here's the edited version of the chapter. Hope you guys still enjoy it. We have one more chapter, for real this time, before we move onto episode 10. Don't forget to leave a review and I'll see you guys next week!
Chapter 440
Grover and Adam went with Rowan, Wo and Sin Nombre to get that antidote and it was the easiest acquisition in the world.
It hadn't started off easy.
First, Rowan refused to be left behind. Everyone, especially her brothers, kept telling her that this was most likely going to be a fire-fight. There would be lots and lots bullet flying, and she would be safer staying behind.
Rowan wouldn't have it.
She was coming. She was seeing to it that they got that antidote, herself.
So they had brought her with them, but made her promise to stay with the car while they went about gearing up about a block away from this place. They weren't going to go in sirens blazing, because they didn't want to chance them destroying the antidote.
This was going to be a stealth operation.
Or as stealthy as an operation could be with Wo Fat and Sin Nombre with them.
Rowan, however, did not feel the same way. Before Wo Fat or Sin Nombre could stop her Rowan had stormed over to that warehouse and thrown open the doors to what they had been assuming was an entire building filled with dangerous terrorists and shouted: "I'm Rowan Pierce and I'm fucking pissed off," on the top of her lungs.
There should have been gunshots, screaming or some kind of an attack, but apparently everyone in that building had known exactly who she was and knew better than to shoot at her.
Didn't stop Wo Fat from swearing and completely abandoning the gun he was readying to join her in case someone decided to take her on anyway.
By the time the rest of them had joined her she had all of them in front of her. "Give me the fucking antidote or I let Sin Nombre kill you all in inventive and very painful ways!"
Sin Nombre had his mask on by that point, a massive high powered gun in his hand. He clearly looked ready but the way his mask whipped to her the second she said that told them that he had no idea that was going to come out of her mouth.
But he did eventually shrug and turn back to them. Clearly fine with doing as she said if need be.
The men in front of them didn't even exchange glances, they just handed it over without a single bit of fuss.
Then, after arresting them, it was time to get that antidote to the boat.
Grover was planning to go by himself, but Sin Nombre wouldn't let him.
Wo was taking Rowan back home to keep her from jumping off, promising to take her to Steve the second he was cleared or safely quarantined. Sin Nombre was to make sure that that case got to him and, of course, to Tani.
The problem was they were flying into a storm to get it to them and it was getting bigger by the second.
H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O
It had been seven hours and eleven minutes since they had been exposed and it was getting really bad now.
Once the storm hit he got them all down below. Danny had taken the plush blue couch. Steve had helped him make a pile of pillows to lean against and then tucked him in all nice like.
He had told himself he was fine, but that was far from true. Eventually the aching chills got to him too, and he found another blanket to wrap himself up in to try and keep it at bay.
He tried to keep himself moving.
He went between Tani, Junior and Danny, checking on them. Making sure they were all as okay as they could be.
He knew, before Wo Fat texted him, that Rowan knew what was happening now. He had been trying to quiet his strings, but the second she knew the shields he must have been putting up were taken down.
He could feel her worry mixing in with his own.
But he knew that meant that Wo Fat and Con were on the hunting down of the cure, and the only reason they were both involved was because Rowan was.
He knew that they had found the antidote, but CDC wanted to be sure. They wouldn't take Rowan's psychic prediction as true, they wanted to be sure it was the right antidote and not a poison meant to trick them.
The other issue was the storm. Obliviously they were going to do their best to get to them, but the storm was making this hard.
Steve just wanted his wife.
He wanted her in his arms. He wanted to be safe at home, curled up in their bed. He wanted to be checking in on Nahele, he wanted to be making dinner with them. He wanted his family more than he wanted to breathe.
And my god it was getting hard to breathe.
Every step felt like a marathon. He had never been this winded before.
He was checking on Danny this time, and he could barely walk straight. Forget the fact that the storm was pitching them around, he wasn't sure he could have walked straight even if the ocean had been calm.
His shoulder knocked into the wall, he stumbled a bit to other side with the next pitch but he managed to make it to Danny. Danny had just watched him struggle too, he was too weak to try and help him.
"What happened," he asked as Steve dropped to one knee beside him. Steve didn't answer, he was trying to get the water bottle open. A real struggle with how his hands were shaking. He needed Danny to stay hydrated. "What happened to the champagne?"
Steve half smiled at him. "If you're still telling jokes it means you're not dead. Drink some water."
Steve brought the bottle to his lips but Danny shook his head. "I'm cold."
They were all cold, it was the fever, tricking their bodies into thinking they were cold. They were all sweating profusely, they were all achy, and shaky and cold.
Steve's panic was paramount at this point. If they couldn't get the antidote through the storm, they could die. The could die before they even got the antidote to them, though he had a feeling if it got that bad his wife and her portals would start appearing.
At this point he wanted that. He wanted his wife, he wanted her portals. If he was going to die he wanted to see her one last time. And by god did it feel like he was dying.
"Drink some water," Steve said again, more insistently this time.
"I don't want it."
God why was he so goddamn stubborn. "Drink some water."
But Danny wouldn't let him, and Steve was too tired to argue anymore so he basically just gave up and drank it himself.
He sat back, leaning against the couch for comfort. He'd just rest, just for a little bit, then he'd go back to check on Tani and Junior.
"Commander McGarrett, this is Air One, do you copy?"
That little voice in his ear almost startled him because he wasn't expecting it at that moment. It was the pilot.
They were coming now.
Oh thank god.
"Yes, Air One, go ahead, I read you, go ahead."
"Commander McGarrett, be advised, we're approaching your location."
"Copy that."
The next voice was Grover's. "Steve, we have the antidote!"
He already knew that, but he was still happen to hear him.
Steve put a hand out, tapping Danny's cheek. "Danny. Helo's here."
"Go ahead," he kept mumbling, but he was clearly too out of it to come with him.
It took a lot out of Steve just to get to his feet which was not a good sign at all.
He got out onto the deck, it was raining it was dark, and he could barely see a thing. He turned, over and over, until he finally spotted it. The search light on the helicopter.
The second he saw it he pulled the flare he had been saving out of his cargo pants' pocket. He lit it and waved it around, hoping to help them spot him.
"Lou! I see you do you see me?" he called.
"Hold on," came back at him and then a couple seconds later he heard: "Yeah! Alright, I got a visual on you. Just hang in there, baby, hang tight."
Yeah like Steve was going to go anywhere.
"The wind shear's spinning us around!" the pilot cried. Yeah that wasn't good.
Grover didn't seem deterred though. "Just get us a little closer, a little closer now."
Yeah, he could see the pilot was doing his best but the storm was fighting them back.
"Okay! Steve, we're gonna send a cable down to you. When you get a hold of that cable, you attach it to the rail and I'll send you down the package. Confirm!"
"Copy, Lou, I copy that!"
"Hey! McGarrett!"
That voice was Con, why was Con in his ear right now. Had he come in the helicopter?
"I know you don't like listening to anyone, but for the love of god, do not find a way to near die while getting this package."
Steve wanted to cuss him out. He did, but he was too tired and too sick to actually do it.
"Shut up, I am not doing this on purpose!" Steve cried but he knew that Con didn't believe him.
At this point, Junior and Tani had joined him on deck. Steve had gotten a hook ready, he had prepared for this moment, he was trying to catch the cable around it. By the time it was down he had it wrapped around the end of it but he wasn't steady enough to get it off the stick.
Luckily Tani was a little more able. Both her and Junior had been feeling the symptoms, just not as badly as Steve and Danny. Steve was thinking it was because they were younger.
Either way, Tani grabbed that cable off of the hook and wrapped it around the railing before clipping it to itself.
"We're good!" she called to him and he nodded.
"Okay, Lou! Let's go!"
He could see the orange case sliding down the cable towards them. They were almost there, almost saved, but the universe had other ideas. The ocean lurched, hurled itself against the boat so hard that it threw everyone back.
It put too much pressure on the cable and it snapped sending the orange box tumbling into the water.
"No!" Steve cried and they all went to the edge, flashlights brandished trying to spot it.
Junior spotted it first, brought it to his attention. He almost dove in, but Steve couldn't let him do that. He stopped him only to hurl himself over the edge.
"Don't you fucking jump in that water!" was the last thing he heard, in Con's frantic timber, before he hit the water.
The second he was under he knew he had fucked up. He was too tired. Too sore to have done this. But he couldn't stop now.
He had to think of Rowan, of Nahele, of the son they hadn't picked a name for yet. He had to find a way to get home to them. He had to fight through this.
He forced himself to the surface. He could hear Tani and Junior screaming at him, telling him where to go. He forced himself to swim as fast as he could for that orange case he could see bobbing in and out of the lights of their flashlights.
He had gotten to it. Had gotten his hands on it and the giant swell returned and pushed him under again.
He had the case, he had a death grip on it, but the ocean had it's grip on him. It was trying to suck him under, to keep him there. Every time he got the surface it would pull him back down. It was stupid that this was how he was going to go. He was a SEAL, he had trained in this, to think he'd end up drowning in the ocean after all the drills he ran, after all the swimming he did in the ocean outside his house. Had he not been sick this wouldn't have been so hard.
But he wasn't at his peak performance. He was having a hard time finding the light to lead him to the top. He was finding it hard to keep his legs moving. The ocean was knocking him all over.
He wanted Rowan, he wanted to go home.
Electricity skated up his body, the water around him warmed and the waves pitched again. This time instead of getting sucked down, something crashed into him.
Junior, with a life buoy.
He had jumped in after him.
Together they got the case back to the boat. Junior and Tani had to help get Steve back onto the boat because he was too tired to actually move his limbs.
Steve actually had to collapse into the railing to force himself to breathe and even that took all his will power.
Once everyone was out of the ocean and Steve could breathe again, they all went back into the lounge area where Danny had been lying. Steve was the one to open up the case.
There inside were four antidotes, just for them. All ready to go.
Steve made sure that Danny got his first and Junior made sure that Steve got his next.
Maybe it was just the power of suggestion, but he felt better the second he got that antidote in him.
It wouldn't be until later that Junior would tell him it was weird. He had jumped in, was trying to spot him when the current pulled him down. All he saw was darkness, and then the ocean practically shoved him into him. It was weird, because he hadn't been anywhere near Steve, he hadn't even managed to spot him yet. Just one second he was sucked under, surrounded in darkness, and then he was at the surface again and he had collided with Steve. Steve agreed that that was weird, but he had a feeling he knew what had happened.
He just didn't know how Rowan's void could have reached him all the way there, enough to have the ocean nudge a rescue to him. Unless, he had done it himself.
But Steve didn't know that yet. What he did know was that the CDC are coming with a boat, they'll quarantine the team and bring them back.
And he knew, when he got to shore, his wife was going to be there waiting for him.
H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O
And he was right.
CDC showed up a little while later, they hooked the boat they were on to theirs and towed them back to shore.
By then they had a plan. They were going to get them off and into a quarantine zone to get them disinfected.
It was the middle of the night, his wife should have been home in bed, but he knew, he knew before he got off the boat that Rowan was there. He could feel it. Like an electrical current under his skin. The second he disembarked he could see her though.
She wasn't alone, she was with Nahele. Both of them were standing, huddled under this makeshift tent waiting for him. They were both in their rain jackets, and yet both looked like they were soaked.
Steve had half laughed, he was just so happy to see them. He should have been worried about his family catching a cold waiting for him, but he didn't care. He just wanted to see them, to hug them and hold them close.
He managed to shrug off the CDC agent, who was wall done up in a hazmat suit, that had a hold of his arm and then he was heading towards her.
Luckily they caught him again and pulled him off. Even luckier that other CDC agents had intercepted Rowan and Nahele, all telling them the same thing.
He might have gotten the antidote but the virus was still present in his system, they couldn't guarantee that he wasn't contagious.
So apart they would have to be.
Steve was carted off to a quarantine tent. There they would have to strip, they'd be hosed down, given a change of clothes and then safely transported to the hospital where Steve would spend, who knows how long, in a quarantine wing with Danny and the rest of his team.
He wasn't particularly looking forward to it.
That tent, however, was clear plastic. Not good if you were modest, but considering it meant that Steve could see through it he didn't care.
The second his wife and son appeared, he was there. A hand to the plastic as if he could reach through to them. Rowan lifted her hand first, placed it over his palm.
Rowan was already crying, he was pretty sure it was a mix of happy, anxious tears. Steve felt like he might cry as well, he was just so happy to see her, to know that this wasn't going to be the last time.
Behind him Danny groaned. "Here we go."
"Shut up, Danny!" both Rowan and Steve said together and then the two of them laughed.
"Yeah, funny," Danny snapped back. "The two of you practiced that?"
They both ignored him. Rowan's hand lowered so Nahele could put his hand where Steve's was and Steve did his best to smile at his kid, who also looked like he was about to cry too.
"It's going to be okay. I should be fine now."
At that Rowan's tears stopped being the happy ones, and became something more fear like. The adrenaline was probably wearing off now that she knew he was safe.
"I was so worried!" she cried. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I didn't want to worry you," he whispered. "I didn't want… I'm sure Wo told you what I didn't want."
Cause he couldn't say it here in front of all of these people.
"I could have helped you sooner… you could have come home…"
"It wouldn't have mattered, I was infected anyway. Quarantine was going to happen regardless," he told her, trying very hard to smile at her. Well it wasn't that hard, yes she was crying but she was still beautiful and he was just so fucking happy to see them both. "Don't cry baby, it's okay. I'm going to be okay."
"I know. I know that now…" she said with a sigh as she tried to wipe her tears away. "I still think keeping me out of the loop was stupid."
"It was and I regret it. But I didn't want you to stress, didn't want to put you or the baby in danger."
"And considering what you did do he was right to worry," Nahele said.
At that Steve froze his gaze whipped between his wife and his son. Great, now he was out of the loop on something.
"Wait what did you do?" he asked. Wo Fat hadn't said that Rowan had gotten into anything, honestly he had just mentioned that she knew, was involved, and then two hours later they had the antidote. He didn't tell him how that had happened.
"It doesn't matter," she said with a wave of her hand and he figured she was saying that because if she told him the truth him blood pressure would skyrocket.
Behind him a CDC agent put a hand on his shoulder. "Give me a minute," he snapped as he aggressively shrugged it off.
"You have to go. We'll give you privacy," she said and Steve winced. He kind of wanted it cause this next bit was going to be embarrassing, but he also didn't want them to leave. "We'll follow you to the hospital."
God that sounded amazing but he knew he couldn't be selfish right now.
"No need, you're both tired," Steve said. And it wouldn't matter either. He wanted to hug his family, he wouldn't be able to do that for at least a week at this point. "Just come see me tomorrow maybe after school?""
"He won't be going to school tomorrow," she said. "But we'll come visit. I promise."
Yeah that made sense, cause it was the middle of the night and their son was still up. He'd be too exhausted to go to school in the morning.
"And I'll have mom tape my game this weekend so you can see it."
"You better."
God he wanted to cry. He would have given anything to be able to go home with his family, to be going to his son's game that weekend. He did want to have to say good-bye to his wife and his kid.
And who was going to watch them now? Who was going to make sure that they were safe?
"Danny," Rowan called. "I know you have Charlie and Grace this weekend and Rachel's got a big girl's trip planned with her friends. She gave her permission for me to have them this weekend so I can bring them to visit you, that cool?"
"Actually yeah, thanks Ro," he called to her and she nodded.
Those blue eyes turned back to him and stole his breath away. "Tomorrow."
"I'll be counting the minutes," he said. She smiled a bit, blew him a kiss that he pretended to catch before turning to Nahele. "You be good for your mom okay? You're the man of the house until I'm back."
"I will," Nahele said almost proudly and Steve half chuckled. "I got this."
Steve nodded again. It was time for his family to leave, for him to get sanitized. He would have given everything, absolutely everything in the world, to be going home with his family. But at least he was going to live to see them another day.