Rewrite

AvalonReeseFanFics

A/N: Is this an update on a Monday? What? What does this mean? It means that this whole COVID-19 self-isolating thing has actually brought something good to my life. That's right, I've got a bit of reserve built up. I'm going to start by just trying to post, at the very most twice a week again, just until I get a certain amount of chapters a head. We're almost back to normal guys, we are almost there. If I can get us back to 3 chapters a week we'll fly through the rest of this season. Oh! Did you guys like my little update the end of the last chapter? I so hope so. Don't forget to leave me a review and I'll see you guys, hopefully Wednesday but if not, you'll see me on Friday!

Chapter 263

The mail came in and Pete practically tackled the mailroom clerk who was delivering it. It was the first of the month and that meant that his monthly package from Rowan would be coming in.

Thank god for that girl, she was saving his monthly numbers. They were in the shitter before she started sending him songs again. Granted every song she gave him was some heart broken ballad in different musical genres, but it wasn't like he could tell her he needed fresher stuff. That didn't change the fact that they were essentially all the same song and sooner or later they were going to get old. But it hadn't happened yet, her singles were still selling for crazy amounts, so he'd worry when they ran out of people willing to pay for sappy, broken-hearted love songs.

The package from Rowan was thicker than usually was which could either be really good or really bad but Pete waited until he was back in his office before ripping into it. Inside he found the usual demo single waiting for him, there was sheet music and a CD filled with the soundtracks that she promised him for the newest Disney movie that would be coming out next year. But there was something else.

A typed manuscript, and on the front there was a title and the name of the author and a note from Rowan that held a phone number, and the words: "I wrote the songs to go with it, first three included, more to come."

Pete had no idea who Trevor Pierce was but if he was related to Rowan then he was probably quite talented. He flipped through the first couple of pages and was wowed by what was there, but because he wasn't a movie rep but a music rep he wasn't completely sold until he heard the songs she had included.

Pete knew that this was gold, he was literally sitting on gold. He could be a part of a blockbuster, but he needed everyone's permission not just Rowan's.

Luckily, she had been kind enough to include this Trevor person's number. He figured he'd jump a head of the game and start contacting Trevor now, just so he could get the ball rolling on turning this musical into a hit movie.

But dialing the number didn't get him Trevor, it got him some woman.

"Uh… I'm sorry, I'm… I'm looking for Trevor Pierce…"

"Oh, yes, that's my son…"

Okay, just his mother, Pete could work with that. "I'm Pete Ganbarg, I'm a music Exec here at Atlantic Studios."

"Oh, that's nice."

"I'm calling because I received a manuscript and music for a musical your son wrote and we would like to start talking about the project."

"My son wrote a musical?" his mother asked as if she had no idea that her son had managed that. "Well, isn't he just full of surprises? I'm sorry, but Trevor's not in town at the moment."

"Oh…" he said trying to not sound too disappointed. "Do you know when he'll be back?"

"Unfortunately, no, Trevor's in Witness Protection at the moment. I shouldn't have told you that. I… it's a good thing they didn't tell me where he actually went."

Fucking WitSec? Well, apparently, drama and trouble ran through the Pierce blood. "Hey you don't happen to have a daughter by any chance?"

There was a pause on the other end before the woman very icily told him: "No." and he figured either Rowan and her mom had bad blood or Pierce was a more common last name than he thought.

"Okay, sorry," he said quickly. "Well… since you're his mother I'm sure he left you in charge of his things until then? Do you think maybe I could talk to you about the manuscript and uh… whether or not he'd want to turn it into a movie?"

"Well… I wouldn't be best for this," she said after a while. "I'll uh… I'll take your number and see what the agent's say about contacting him, or maybe I'll give it to Sarah, she would know his best interests, god knows he always told her everything."

She seemed bitter about that but it wasn't for Pete to comment, he was okay to wait for permission to speak to anyone at this point, this golden hit wasn't going anywhere at that moment anyway.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

The morning started out all light and fluffy like the pancakes Steve had invited him out to. Wailana Coffee Shop had the best pancakes on the island, so Steve said, except for the fact that they both knew that these pancakes didn't even come close to trumping Rowan's pancakes. Nothing could beat a stack of Rowan's specially crafted pancakes. Lou wasn't a cruel man though, so he sat there and agreed being sure to eat every bite of those pancakes that were good but nothing close to the amazing both men were used to. Determined not to mention Rowan, and how her pancakes were better, not when everyone knew what mentioning her name did to the man. McGarrett even offered to pay the bill, even if it was with money he won off a bet with Lou. But his morning was not destined to stay as light and fluffy as it had when it started.

He had been forced to go on the run, but something was sitting right with him. The Philly's Black Mafia, and Aarron Barnes Jr. shouldn't have been able to find him. But he had. And something felt… wrong about that.

And it didn't help that both his kids kept asking for Rowan. Rowan and her wonder app. But Rowan's app hadn't found them yet… Rowan's app had nothing to say at all and that didn't sit right with him either.

Now they were on Moloka'i supposedly heading towards an airport and new start but his gut wouldn't let up on something being wrong. Zagar had brought in two guys from the Hololulu field office he said, but they were pale, so pale he was certain there was no way they lived in Hawaii. Not even Rowan looked that pale and she never went outside. No, that was the real tip off. And judging by Zagar's willing complacency with this well… he was obviously in on it.

Without telling his family, without alerting Zagar, who was in the car in front of them, Grover veered off the road and sped away from them. But he didn't know Moloka'I well and Zagar and his team had caught up to him and was trying to side swipe them off the road.

It took some maneuvering but they finally slammed Zagar's truck into a tree rendering him unable to chase them, but that didn't stop him and the two men he had with him from getting out of that truck and firing off after Lou's truck.

Lou was almost relieved to get away, at least Zagar would be on foot, but he took a wrong turn and crashed. The wheel lodged in muck and fallen branches, he didn't have time to get it out. They were going to have to be on foot now.

"We're not going to make it very far on foot!" Samantha cried and that was true but Lou couldn't let her see that.

"Yes, we will, we've got a quarter-mile head start, so let's go little girl. Let's go, go, go," he ordered. Renee didn't need prompting she was already dragging Samantha into the underbrush of the jungle

Damn he wished Rowan were here, if only to get his family to safety. He wouldn't have even needed the app, he just knew that if Rowan were around, her crazy brother or Steve wouldn't have been that far behind either. But he could do this on his own, he had gotten out of scrapes like this before Rowan Pierce and her wonder app and he could do it again. Would have to do it again. For his family.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Getting everything ready in the house took all three of them and a team of contractors. As promised, once Rowan showed the boys where the body in the panic room was they got it out. Once the body was dealt with, they familiarized themselves with the panic room and Rowan found yet another secret passageway that also lead down to the dock in the caves below the mansion, except that it could only be opened from inside the panic room.

While Conejo and Rowan had guessed what had caused the previous owner to go into that panic room and expire, Wo Fat had Kong hack into the computer system in the panic room so they could figure out how to use it. Kong then decided to update the entire system so it worked better, which just meant that they had an automated version of Sandy connected to the safety and security systems, which Rowan figured would be safer for them.

Once the security systems and Sandy were in place, they moved onto renovations for the house. They had the tennis courts taken out and turned into a shooting range so Conejo could practice. Wo Fat put a secondary cellar adjacent to the wine cellar for his whiskeys. And Rowan put a recording studio onto the first floor, sound proofed of course so she didn't bother the boys late at night.

This was, of course, after they decided which parts of the house would be theirs. The main floor was obviously the common areas, this was the kitchen, the living room, the ball room and the various sitting and dining areas. Though the home theater got it's own section of the house.

Rowan got the tower part of the mansion, this singular spiral that held three floors, the first door off the spiral stair case, the first floor was the sound room, the second door was the library and the third and final was her bedroom. The library had the reading nook she had always wanted, the room had a balcony and the best view of the ocean.

Wo Fat took the wing closest to hers, and Conejo got the one just under it. Each wing, of course, lead into the tower area as it was more an extension of the house than it was its own tower. For a while Rowan went crazy shopping for all the things they needed to decorate their own areas with their own styles.

This meant that anyone could tell which part of the house they were in depending on the style.

Then of course there was all the redecorating in the washrooms, and setting up the other living areas in the house as guest rooms, though none of them really had any people to they would want to invite over. Except for Rowan who was secretly putting together a room for Nahele, and once she convinced Wo Fat of the idea and they were really truly settled she would jump to Hawaii and steal her son back no matter what Steve or Catherine thought. With her powers they wouldn't be able to trace where Nahele had gone.

She was thinking to do so in the summer so she could figure out a schooling situation and he didn't miss any more of it. She was thinking home school.

Then, once she had Nahele in the house she would work on getting Jian Hui in for Wo Fat who clearly missed her, though he wouldn't admit that he did. But Rowan could tell, especially when he got a little too cuddly at night. Unless that was nightmares, he was still having those too.

So was Rowan but it was easy to get to her boys, even in the same wing. Especially now that she had the power to pop in any time she wanted, she'd have one of her nightmares pop into Wo's room, pull Conejo in as well and then they'd just all fall asleep in a pile together.

She just wasn't ever allowed to tell anyone about them.

When the renovations were essentially done, or at least the ones for her rooms done, Rowan got bored. She went shopping with her boys, found a wig shop and just went fucking wild. With her short hair it was so much easier to put them on. She bought a blue punk rock one, with a half shaved head, a pastel purple with gold trim to match her aesthetic, an all black one for when she was feeling dark and edgy, a strawberry blood with curls that she kept in pigtails for her Country living days, and she couldn't resist the long red-to-blonde fade she found, even if the hair was pin straight and way sleeker than her hair ever had been.

Sometimes she missed he red-to-blonde fade and this wig helped her get out of that… sometimes. The first time she put it on she scared the crap out of Wo Fat. Poor man thought she had time travelled or something. After that she tried not to wear it around her boys.

With the house, and Wo Fat picking up jobs out of country, and Conejo doing the same, Rowan spent a lot of time on her own. Which was how she liked it. Because she had her own little recording studio now. Not only could she put the music together herself, but now she could record her own songs to send off to Pete. So other then organizing the house, getting online cooking lessons from YouTube videos, all she really had to do while she waited for her boys to text her to have her pull them out of whatever country she had sent them off to was write.

Which was what she was doing that morning. She was putting the finishing touches on what she knew was Conejo's newest favourite song of hers, and starting up two new ones. Wo Fat had been gone three days and Conejo had only been gone since the morning. So she was really surprised to come out of the sound booth to find her phone with two missed calls and three texts. All saying the same thing: "Pull me now."

Rowan put her hand out, focused on Conejo's string and then tugged. Conejo adapted the best to being pulled, and thrown, and dropped. Wo Fat was okay with it, but she always knew it was better to open him a portal than to just pull him through when he wasn't expecting it. Even if he had messaged her to get him.

Conejo came through the void with a pop, guns in his hand, having clearly been in a gun fight but he didn't fire a single shot in her recording room. He merely straightened, got out of his fighting stance and put the guns back in the holsters under his arms. He turned back to her, he pulled the plastic white rabbit mask off of his face to reveal a grim frown.

"What took you so long?"

"I was in the sound booth, didn't take my phone with me," she answered, pushing the secondary chair to him so he could sit down. Which he did after stripping himself of his leather jacket and his guns. Holster and all.

"New songs?" he asked.

Rowan nodded eagerly. She loved that about Conejo, he could go from deadly-assassin to cuddly and supportive older brother in a blink of an eye. Rowan really wished she could compartmentalize like her brothers could but it was harder for her to do that.

"A few new ones, yes, some are just melodies, but I was trying out some lyrics today," she admitted. "I put the finishing touches onto Whiskey Glasses."

Immediately, Conejo perked up. She didn't even bother to ask him, she merely pressed the playback button so he could hear the newest version of the melody that she had written.

I'ma need some whiskey glasses. 'Cause I don't wanna see the truth. He's probably making out on the couch right now, with someone new. Yeah, I'ma need some whiskey glasses, if I'm gonna make it through. If I'ma be single, I'ma need a double shot of that heartbreak proof, and see the world through whiskey glasses. See the world through whiskey glasses.

Conejo nodded along with it and then smiled. "It's gonna be great, cant' wait to hear it all together."

"You'll get the first copy I burn," she promised. "Wanna hear the others?"

Though she saw the doubt in Conejo's eyes, she still pressed play. Conejo was an honest but fair critic. He was always certain to tell her how he truly felt about a song without crushing her dreams entirely. So without a second of hesitation she played, for him, the chorus of the first song she had written, country, like Conejo liked.

Don't think about it, missy. Don't even touch your phone. I know you think you miss him, but I promise you, you don't. There's healing in the lonely. Sit back, kick off your boots, and you'll thank me in the morning, like you always do. Signed, sober you.

The last song she had been working on was one she had started writing in memory of Roman. All the men she had slept with so far had their own songs. Roman had one from the firsts time she met him, Conejo had one, Ares had one that she was still working on, and JC had a few. Now Roman would be getting a second one.

I was drivin', the getaway car. We were flyin', but we'd never get far. Don't pretend it's such a mystery. Think about the place where you first met me

We're ridin', in a getaway car. There were sirens in the beat of your heart. Should've known I'd be the first to leave. Think about the place where you first met me

In a getaway car, oh-oh. No, we never get far, oh-oh-ahh. No, nothing good starts, in a getaway car

She finished playing him her newest songs and then turned to see his reaction. She smiled hopefully. "Well uh… what do you think?"

For a second he stared at her, his breath held as if he were thinking of a good response, he did that a lot before he told her he didn't like one of her songs. "They're good, they're… great…"

Rowan's eyes narrowed. He was lying. He had never done that before. "You don't like them?"

"I didn't say that. Besides, you know how much I love Whiskey Glasses."

"Your mouth says you like 'em but your eyes are cringing, what's wrong with them?"

"Nothing, it's just… they're all sad. You only write sad songs… and I unno, it'd be nice if you wrote something… happy."

"I know but… I unno, I guess I'm not really… feeling the happy," she said and when Con hit her with a look of complete shock, she knew she'd have to elaborate. "It's not that I don't love the house or spending all my time with you guys, it's just that… I had this vision. This perfect family, me, Steve and Nahele and… and it's gone you know and I just can't… push past that. I'm trying, I am, but I'm not like you or Wo, I can't just… turn that hurt off… and channeling it into my music… helps me."

"Yeah, I didn't say I don't get it either, I just… would like to hear a happy song once and a while. Maybe write a song about a house or something? I unno just an upbeat something I can dance too would be appreciated, preferably country so I can blast it in my wing to piss off Wo Fat. Cause Wo Fat likes Whiskey Glasses now and now that it's not working anymore, I need more ammo."

Rowan laughed at that and took his hand and immediately got jolted.

The vision that burned through her came with a terrible insistence because she knew, without a doubt that it was happening then and there. Lou and his whole family were in trouble.

"No… no…" she said bolting to her feet with Con following her, shaking the sting out of the hand that had received the shock with her. "No… it's happening now? Why am I only getting warning now?"

She went for her phone, ignoring Con's demand to explain. She pulled up Sandy but the app wouldn't load. She whirled onto Con. "Give me your phone!"

He handed it to her without question but even on his phone she couldn't get Sandy running.

"What happened to Sanctuary? Why won't it open?"

"Oh, it's down until further notice," Con said altogether too calmly and Rowan turned to him surprised. Why the hell would the app she was using to make sure all her friends were okay, be down?

"What? Why?"

"McGarrett tried to use it to track a location on Wo and he took it down until he can figure out a way for it to be running and for us to be safe. I will say it'll still running for you I believe, if we need help finding you, but it's not tracking your friends anymore."

This was not the time for this to be happening. Rowan scowled. "Great, so I gotta go deal with this myself."

"Whoa wait a second, deal with what?"

"Lou's in trouble, his whole family's in trouble. Some guy named Barnes is after him or something." "—Wait like Aaron Barnes?" "I think so, I unno who he is…" "That's the Black Mafia out of Philly, I did some work for them back in the day."

"Of course, you did. Either way that guy is after Lou and he's been like sold out…" she said. "I would have liked to send someone else in but Sandy is down and they're already in the situation so I don't have time to hire out, I have to move now."

"Are you sure they're already in the situation, you don't usually get your visions that late."

It was true she didn't, but for some reason it had been, she didn't know why it had only showed up at that moment while everything was seemingly already going down. "I don't know what's going on, Con, I just know that I need to go."

"Then I'm going with you," he said, following her out the door and towards her own wing which was the side of the house that held the circular tower and the best view of the ocean.

"Really?" she asked. "I unno…"

"You need someone to go with you to make sure that these mafia guys don't get you, and I'm the best shot in the house," he said. "Besides Wo Fat would pitch a fit if he knew what we were doing. And if you're this upset that means we don't have the time to argue with him."

Rowan nodded silently grateful that he had decided to come along. "And you better wear that red-blonde wing you bought, cause we don't want your new hairdo getting back to Steve… it'll make it easier for him to find you and we don't want that."

Yes, that was a problem but at that moment all that mattered was getting to Lou on time. She'd deal with the Lou and his family and she'd let Con deal with the Mafia guys.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

He had been forcing his family to practically sprint through the jungle. The kids were tired, his wife was tired, and he knew if Zagar and his men found his family he'd kill them just to hurt Lou.

So, he came to a painful and complicated decision. He pulled his family to a stop, let the kids go sit down to rest and then pulled his wife to his side.

"Look," he said carefully. "There's no way we're gonna be able to outrun Zagar and his men."

Fear and concern crossed his beautiful wife's face. "Okay… well… what are we going to do?"

God, he loved that about her. She was a ride or die, loyal woman and she took on all his problems as if they were her own. He knew when he told her his plan she'd be upset, but she'd do it, she'd do it because she wanted the same thing as him, which was to keep their kids safe.

"We're gonna have to do something that they're not gonna expect us to do, okay?" He bent down to take the old revolver he kept on his ankle out of it's holster. "Renee, I need you to stay here with the kids."

As he thought she was already disagreeing. Shaking her head and saying no over and over.

"Renee, this is life and death," he snapped putting the gun she didn't want into her hand. "Hold that pistol like you know how to hold it." he watched as she held it properly though her grip wavered a little bit, he chalked that up to nerves. "Now, you know how to use that thing, right? You remember." She nodded for him. Good. "You aim for the biggest part of the body. Center mass."

"Baby please…"

But he knew if she begged him to stay, he wouldn't be able to say no. But he couldn't stay with them, he needed to get these people off of their backs. And Zagar and Barnes wanted him, not his family, just him.

"Sweetheart, listen to me. You think I'd do this if I had another option? I don't have another option. I'm gonna end this thing now, you understand?"

She finally nodded and whispered out a breathy okay and Lou turned his attention to the kids. He forced himself to smile as he walked over to them, he didn't want them to think that this was the last time he'd ever see them though essentially it might be.

"Okay, um… guys. Yeah this is good. Okay, listen, I'm gonna need you to stay here with your mother, understand?"

His kids had two very different reactions. Samantha jerked, shocked into silence by this request, Will was quicker to recover.

"Wait, wait, wait, where are you going?"

He smiled hopefully encouragingly at his kids. "I've gotta to go head these guys off. I gotta find these guys before they find you. And your sister and your mother."

Will hit him with one pleading come on, dad, but Lou couldn't listen to him. He knew what he had to do and he knew that he had to do it fast.

"Dad you can't leave us here alone!" Samantha cried

"Hey listen to me!" he shouted startling everyone in their little clearing. He grabbed Samantha by the shoulders so she'd look at him. "You think I want to leave you? You think I wanna leave my little girl? Now, I don't have a choice. So, I need you to promise that you're gonna stay close to your mother and stay hidden."

Samantha was already starting to cry and he couldn't look at her when she cried so he turned onto Will before she could get him started. "And you, you're my son, and I know you, alright? Look at me, I'm not playing." He waited until Will was looking at him again before he continued. "I don't care what sound you hear or what you think in your mind, do not come and look for me."

He let out another one of those shaky: dads and Lou grabbed him quick and hugged him before he could say anything stupid. Samantha said it to, and he quickly wiped a tear away and he grabbed her and pulled her in for a hug too.

"It's gonna be okay little mama, don't worry."

He let them have a little more time hugging him. Time none of them could afford than he cleared his throat and said: "alright, do what I told you to do. I gotta go."

He took only a few steps away and Will called out for him again. Lou turned and the boy pulled out a pocket knife, one that Zagar had given him when they were boating over to Moloka'i. "You might need this."

Lou took it. "You're a good boy, Will, you're a good boy," he told them. They were all crying he needed to do something to lighten the mood. "Look it's all gonna be fine. Look I've got a corkscrew, a tooth pick. I got some scissors. Everything's gonna be fine, alright?"

Around him his family was letting out weak chuckles and he felt a little better about leaving, that their probable last memory of him will be a somewhat positive one. He walked over to Renee and already she was hitting him with thee baby's and he needed her to not. He needed her to hold things together.

"Listen to me. You can do this," he told her. "You can do this. You're tougher than me. You don't believe me? Ask the kids. They both know I'm scared of you."

She kissed him one more time and the shared a few I love yous because he couldn't fucking resist.

"Babe, your heart is pounding," she whispered and he smiled.

"Babe, my heart's been pounding like that ever since I met you." She kissed him again. "Hey, hey smile. I'll see you soon, you be a good girl."

And with that he finally let her go and forced himself to walk away from his family, knowing that this would keep them safe even if it got him killed.

And somewhere in the jungle electricity crackled through the trees.