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A/N: Happy Friday My wonderful readers! So this is it, the closing of this particular plot arc. The Stepanov's have been dealt with, Rowan has been saved, but we need to figure out if Con's gonna tell Rowan about what he witnessed. You guys will be happy to know that I finished writing all the chapters and I've finally gotten Rowan and Steve back together. And it's still going to happy at chapter 298. So there we go, I got them back together before the 300th chapter. Barely but I managed it. We're almost there, guys. Only 21 more chapters and they're back together and we get to start seeing all the happy stuff! Are you guys excited cause I know I am! Don't forget to review and I'll see you guys on Monday.

Chapter 277

They all slept in Rowan's room that night as she had the king-sized bed and neither Wo Fat nor Conejo wanted to be away from her after the couple of days they had had. She lay between them, nestled into Wo Fat's side. Her back to his chest, as he gripped the back of her shirt like it was a lifeline while Conejo slept with her nose practically against his, his arm draped across Rowan's waist before settling on Wo Fat's hip where his own grip at tightened. It was silly put it made him feel better to feel both of the people he cared about under his grip. They hadn't even eaten after they had gotten back. They had all just gone to bed. She was exhausted. They all were.

Last night could have gone differently. Much differently. And while his lessons in self defense and running had proven helpful, he couldn't help but think that Rowan… well she really shouldn't be in this life. Because there would always be someone who wanted to use her against Wo, and sooner or later, against him.

Conejo didn't even want to know how he'd react if the tables were reversed. If it were him who was being told that they were holding Rowan hostage to get him to agree to whatever twisted demands they had. He would like to think, that like Wo Fat he'd keep a level head and rampage after her got her back, but he had a feeling he'd go in guns blazing, killing everything in sight, sort of like he did when his family had died.

But he didn't want to get to that point. He didn't want Rowan to get hurt. He wanted her safe… even if that meant it wasn't with him.

He was still holding onto the sea-shell necklace. He wanted to give it back, he wanted to tell her what he saw when he was in Hawaii, but he hadn't. He still wasn't certain what he was going to do about that situation, not when Wo Fat had unpacked an entire file of evidence proving that Steven did not deserve Rowan in the least. Conejo had already known that, of course, but somehow Wo Fat had managed to make it so much worse. So, he was either telling her the truth and potentially sending her back to a terrible situation, or lying to her and letting her be miserable. Either way both he and Rowan lost.

That was just how much he cared about her, he was willing to lie to that naïve, trusting girl who had been nothing but kind to him.

When he woke up at some point in the early morning hours, he had been panicked to realize that Rowan was no longer between him and Wo Fat. Wo was still asleep, his hand now outstretched to him gripping his shirt, clearly thinking that Conejo was Rowan. He was so out of he would have had no idea where she would have gone, no point in waking him up. Conejo highly doubted that she had just jumped away from them, not after she knew how frantic the two of them were to get her back. Though he had no idea how she got off of that bed without waking him up if she hadn't jumped.

So, without waking up Wo Fat, he slipped out of bed and then checked all her hiding spots in her rooms for her, and didn't find her. Once he established that she was no longer in the bedroom he decided it would have to go looking for her.

Then he had to think about where the hell she would go because this place was massive and it would take way too long search the whole place for her. Then he figured, girl was probably either hungry or thirsty, because the only other thing that would have woken her up was a nightmare. And if she had one of those both of them would have woken up after that one.

Luckily, he didn't have to worry because he found her in the kitchen, glass of water in one hand, toaster waffle in the other.

"Had a feeling I'd find you here." His heart finally slowed down and as he headed towards her, he put his hands in his pockets where he once again remembered that he still had that necklace to give her. "You gave me a fright."

"Yeah, I have a feeling we're going to stay away from the void for a while."

Ah, she meant the incident that separated them. "No, I meant waking up and finding out that you were gone again. Like four minutes ago."

Rowan paused and then nodded as if it just dawned on her that her disappearing so shortly after they found her might have been upsetting to him.

"Right… sorry. My bad."

"How did you even get yourself out of that bed without waking either of us?

"I just… dropped."

Now that surprised Conejo, because they had just had a void incident, they had just lost her because of the void and she just jumped away from them?

"Why… what… are you out of your mind?"

"Well… I'm in better control now, and I just… I unno I didn't want to wake you guys. I was gonna come back. I just needed a drink."

Conejo just stared at her, he realized that… well… she didn't quite understand what this incident had done to both of them.

"You uh… you don't get it… do you?" Rowan turned her big blue eyes up to him. Yep, she didn't get it. "Kid, we lost you. You know that? We all woke up separated, that's never happened before. Both Wo Fat and I had no idea where we were, or where you were, or how to find you. How… how do you think that felt?"

Rowan took a moment to think it over. "Not good. Probably no better than I felt waking up alone in a strange room, with some strange girl, and all these guys with guns trying to break down the door."

Conejo straightened. She hadn't told him that. "I'm sorry. What? You came up against… I mean… men with guns, real men with real guns? Are you fucking serious? Do you know who they were?"

"Calm down, Con I had it under control. They recognized it was me and they shit bricks."

"Wait… hold on, you said breaking down the door, so they were on the other side of the door?"

"Yes?"

"Like trying to break into the room you were in?"

"Yes?"

"And you opened the door?"

"How else would I have known they had guns, Con."

Fear lanced through him. It wasn't uncommon for Rowan to make questionable decisions when she wasn't concussed, but apparently if you hit her head hard enough all common sense flew out of that pretty little head of hers. "Are you out of your fucking mind?"

"Well I'm pretty sure at that point I was heavily concussed, so yeah, maybe. They took me to Michelle you know, so that's good. She called Wo and told him to come get me…"

"Michelle Shioma didn't call us," Conejo said with a shake of his head. "We found you through Sandy and then we called Shioma and told her she had you. She said she didn't know who you were and that you had just been sleeping. Then she told us you were missing. And then Sandy found proof that she got paid by the Stepanovs…"

"Are they still alive?"

"Well, Victor isn't," Conejo said and Rowan rolled her eyes.

"Seriously? She's still alive?" Then she paused out of nowhere and seemed to think for a moment. "I think they told me that on the plane but you know, that's a blur too."

Conejo just shook his head. He didn't know how Irina Stepanov was still alive. He didn't know how she managed to figure out where Rowan had gone, had managed to get a hold of Shioma that quickly to arrange a trade… unless… Shimoa got a hold of Stepanov first. Now that was something to bring up to Wo Fat when he was conscious.

"Okay, you know what, we're gonna unpack all of that later. I just can't deal with all of that right now."

Rowan half laughed. "Ready to go back to bed then?"

He was but he couldn't at that moment. "In a second, I… I wanted to uh… go over some other things."

"Like what?"

He put his hand into his pocket and pulled out the necklace he had stolen from Steve and then offered it to her.

"We all ended up at each other's safe places. Wo Fat ended up at my grave and I ended up on Steve's beach. Not sure where you ended up…"

"Wo Fat borrowed money from me two years ago for a condo in Japan to move his girlfriend into. That uh… that must be where I ended up."

"So, you met his girlfriend…"

"Do you think someone would send people with guns after Wo Fat's girlfriend?"

"Unlikely… but we've had others send people with guns after you, and that is also a very terrible idea."

"Yes, but I'm ultimately more annoying, and a little more well known."

That was true. "Alright, well maybe we don't mention that his girlfriend might have been in trouble."

"Especially since he broke up with her to be here with me."

She was purposely not staring at the necklace he was still holding out to her. She seemed too afraid to touch it and even more afraid to even look at it. After a moment she whispered: "I… I dropped you at Steve's huh?"

Yeah, clearly it was the place she felt was her home. Her safe place. Even with him and Wo Fat in her life, Rowan felt that safety and home was with Steven McGarrett. And that kind of hurt.

"You did."

"Where… where did you find it?"

Conejo had a choice now. Tell her the truth or lie like Wo Fat had done. But then he saw those watery blue eyes and remembered all the terrible things Steven had done to her, had let her get herself into simply because he didn't like Wo Fat and wouldn't listen to her visions. A psychic that had proven she was right, time and time again, and he didn't listen to her. And the fact that he had never told her he loved her, had fought her over just calling her his girlfriend and always seemed to slide back to Catherine despite being 100% crazy obsessed over Rowan.

It was the hallmarks of a terribly toxic relationship and yeah, Rowan wanted him, and yeah, Steven missed and wanted her now, but there was no guarantee that Steven had changed. Conejo could send Rowan back and then things wouldn't have been changed at all. And after this he sure as hell wouldn't let Wo Fat or Conejo stay in her life. Who would save her when things blew up again?

"Did you… see them? Did they look… happy?"

He had waited too long to respond, but now, at least, he knew what he was going to say.

"I didn't see them, house was empty. Steve had a case, kid was a school, don't know where Catherine was," Well, it wasn't a full lie. "I uh… I found it in a crawl space under the stairs. He packed your stuff in there. The stuff I didn't take I mean. It was hidden way in the back, probably from Catherine."

White lie or not, it did not feel good to lie to her like that. Rowan nodded and he watched the sadness overwhelm her. Great she was going to write more sad songs now. And it was all his fault. How the hell did Wo Fat live with himself?

Conejo put a hand out to her. "Hey, hey," he said softly. "Don't… you know… just… look it hurts. I get that it hurts. But Steven is not worth anymore of your tears you got me?"

He pulled her in for a hug and let her cling to him. "Don't you worry. You're gonna find someone better. I promise."

He held her for a little while longer, just wanting to have her close. To maybe soothe some of that sadness out of her, but Rowan pushed out of his grasp and stubbornly wiped her burgeoning tears away.

"I'm just being silly," she whispered. "Come on, let's go to bed before Wo Fat wakes up and panics."

Conejo nodded and followed after. He noted that she didn't take the necklace back from him, so he put it back in his pocket. Maybe… maybe he should have left that stupid thing behind.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Michelle Shioma came into her office after picking up her kids from school. She threw her purse into one of her father's arm chairs and then gasped, because she had not excepted the chair behind his desk to swivel around.

She knew the man in her chair immediately from the burns on his face. Wo Fat sat there staring at her all calm and collected, in a black suit, with a black button down, the shirt unbuttoned at the collar. He smiled warmly at her but it was anything but a positive smile, it was a dangerous one.

She regained her composure quickly. "Mr. Fat. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

And how had he gotten past her security? She had roving guards and alarms everywhere how did no one notice that he had gotten in.

"You sold my sister to Irina Stepanov."

Behind her the door to the office slammed shut. She turned around. Two people stood there. The illustrious Rowan Pierce and her angel of death. Sin Nombre with his white plastic rabbit mask on his face.

Rowan's smile was exactly like Wo's warm but dangerous with a touch of smug. "I lived bitch."

Michelle felt the fear creeping up on her. They knew what she had done and he had managed to get Rowan back. She had sort of hoped that when her plane went down, and Michelle lost her best team of men, that Rowan too had died in that crash. But it seemed she was not that luck. That did not bode well for her.

She donned her own confident smile and crossed her arms over her chest. Sin Nombre leant against the now closed door as Rowan walked around her and to where Wo Fat was sitting. Perching herself neatly on the arm of his chair. Together the two stared her down.

For a while the silence all but suffocated her, until she cleared her throat and calmly asked: "So what do you want?"

"And explanation," Wo Fat sat, pressing his fingertips together in a sort of steeple before resting his chin on them. "I'd like to know why you decided to forsake your loyalty to me."

"My loyalty… my father died on your watch."

"Really? I sent down my best man to save him, and he did. Your dad died on the operating table, we told him not to go… are you seriously blaming us for what happened?" Rowan cried. "We were the only ones who tried to help!"

That was true, but her father was dead and they were all still alive. "You let Gabriel escape…"

Rowan's head tilted to the side and just like that she understood. "You asked me about Gabriel… before I woke up in the plane." Wo Fat turned to her and then back to Michelle.

"This is about Gabriel Waincroft?"

"You and I have the same goal," Rowan told her. "We both want him dead. Okay?"

"Yes, and your little pet hasn't managed to put him down yet."

"The man's a cockroach. He's surprisingly resilient." She looked away briefly before turning those ice-cold eyes back onto her. "Doesn't explain why you took your anger at him out on me? What did I ever do to you huh?"

"I saw an opportunity and I took it," Michelle said with a sniff. She wondered how loud she could scream, if she could get the drop on them to get out of what was probably going to be her execution, while at her chair Rowan scoffed and repeated the word: opportunity as if the mere word offended her.

"I don't appreciate what you did, Michelle. You and I we could have been good friends. A strong ally, instead you chose to alienate yourself," Rowan said getting up off of Wo Fat's chair to approach her. But Michelle wasn't afraid of Rowan Pierce. She was afraid of her two dogs, but not that girl. "We had a long talk, my brothers and I, about what to do with you. And we decided that for now, for now we'd let you go. But let me explain something to you. If you do anything to cross me again, I will come back into the house and I will rip everything you love from you."

It was a dangerous threat and Michelle felt more than she saw that the two boys had left their posts to surrounded her as Rowan squared off with her.

"I'm the real monster here," Rowan growled. "They don't call me a witch for nothing."

And then Michelle swore, her eyes those light blue eyes went this glowing white, just as the lights began to flicker.

She swore she saw lightning envelope the girl before her, swore she watched her hair fan out like she was underwater or like the wind had taken a hold of her before the room went black. For a moment it was silent and in that awful black silence all she could see was the white of those eyes, right where Rowan had been.

That glow too blinked out of existence, leaving her in the dark suddenly chilled to the very core. And then the lights came on again and all three of them were gone. She let out her breath carefully, and for the next week she jumped at every shadow and every sudden noise or movement. She had no idea what happened in that office but it was going to haunt her for the rest of her life.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Over the next two weeks the three siblings spent a lot of time together. Wo Fat didn't want to let his sister out of his sight, and Conejo felt similarly about the whole situation.

Conejo had also managed to deflect the whole being sent to Hawaii thing quite well. He had come up with his own set of cover lies. He simply told Rowan that he arrived to an empty house and that had basically halted all of her questions. It was pure and simple genius.

But after two weeks not only was Rowan going stir crazy both Conejo and Wo Fat were going stir crazy too. Wo Fat waited for Rowan to be down for one of her midday naps before approaching Conejo about it though. After confirmed that Rowan was sleeping, he went looking for Conejo and found him in the kitchen, practically climbing into the fridge.

"I was thinking…"

"Me too," Conejo said absently as he moved everything around. "We should have her throw one of us for more supplies. I'm thinking me since you don't trust leaving me with her."

"You did lose her in England," Wo Fat reminded him. "But that wasn't what I was thinking…"

"Well we need food, Wo, so I unno what you think we're gonna eat…"

"I was thinking that we start travelling again."

Conejo straightened and turned away from the fridge, shutting the door with as much of a slam as he could manage with a fridge door. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me."

Conejo seemed to think it over. "You want to take Rowan on another trip? After what happened on the last one?"

"Well… for starters I'm not proposing we use the void. I'm thinking we stick with straight espionage, and we pick a place that both you and I are comfortable taking her."

"The only place I'd feel comfortable taking her is to Colombia and she's not going to want to go back there."

"I don't think it's safe for her there yet," Wo Fat murmured. "I was thinking… maybe…"

"CALIFORNIA!"

Wo Fat rolled his eyes, alright, so his sister was awake. "What did I tell you about eavesdropping?" he called and she rushed into the kitchen.

"Can we? Please? I want to do Harry Potter world, and Disneyland and…"

"So, all the expensive touristy stuff?"

Rowan ignored Conejo. Her big blue eyes and wide smile were pointed right at Wo Fat and he was already caving.

"We can't use the void, we're going to go on a plane, a regular old, plane." Rowan nodded. "And you have to listen to me." "I promise." "And we're not going for business, alright? None of us." She nodded once more.

Wo Fat sighed, he glanced to Conejo who was also smiling. He waited to see if he'd give him any indication that he was against it. When he didn't give him a sign Wo Fat looked at Rowan who was so terribly excited and said: "Alright you two go pack, I'll break your passport out of storage and get everything set up."

Rowan hugged him tightly, a hug that he returned. She thanked him loudly and then ran off. As he walked past to join her Conejo pat his arm in an almost consoling way. It wasn't until they both left that Wo Fat recognized that this was probably not going to go to plan. Nothing he did with Rowan ever went to his plan.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Angus MacGyver had been pulled into the Phoenix Foundation's main building by his director, Patricia Thornton. He had been pulled in without Jack, who was his partner in everything, so he was absolutely sure that he was in trouble. So… he had spent the whole wait out in the lobby fiddling with not one, but three different paperclips, worrying them into different shapes and uses.

When he was finally called in, he was trying to remember what exactly he had done in his last mission that would warrant a reprimand such as this one. Patricia was wearing a severe frown on her thin face, her black hair was pulled back into this severe bun that her bangs had escaped from and she was wearing one of her signature black dresses that hugged all the right places if Angus cared what she looked like.

She gestured to the seat in front of her and when Angus took it, she folded her arms over her chest and just stared at him for a moment. God damn it he was in trouble.

She suddenly laughed at him and the frown on his face deepened. What the hell was so funny?

"You can relax, MacGyver, you're not in trouble." He… he wasn't? "We have a special assignment we'd like to put you on."

Immediately Angus was sitting straighter in his chair. No longer worried he was much more interested in what she had for him. She pulled out a file and handed him a picture. It was a surveillance still of a girl walking through a crowded area, he'd guess an airport

She was in, what had to be high couture for English ladies. She was in a white and black striped long-sleeved shirt, with what seemed to be leather patches on her elbows, a pair of black leggings and brown riding boots. She had chin length dark brown hair that was impeccably straight. Her eyes were hidden behind black cat-eye sunglasses, so he had no idea what kind of eyes she had but he had feeling they were going to be as beautiful as she was.

But this woman looked like a house wife, not a dangerous terrorist. So, what the hell did the Phoenix Foundation want with her?

"So, who is this?" he asked her, though his eyes couldn't move off of her picture.

"At the currently moment we're not sure who she is. She's going by Rory Wickerby, but we're almost positive she's Rowan Pierce."

Who the hell was Rowan Pierce? Patricia handed him a second picture, this one of a smiling red-head with the bluest-blue eyes that he had ever seen. Her hair was that ombre the girls were fond of, fading from a beautiful red to a light blonde and it had to be down her back it was so long. She was in a grey sweater and a pair of dark blue jean shorts. The sweater couldn't have been hers as it was massive on her and looked to be a man's sweater, but she rocked it in this off shoulder, sleeves covering her hands kind of way. The picture was obviously cropped, he could tell that someone else was supposed to be in the picture of her. He could see the arm around her waist and the pieces of him pressed to her side that they couldn't cut out.

There were major differences between the two photos, starting with the girl no longer smiled like that, and of course the change of hair and style. But they looked well… the same.

Angus looked at the two pictures side by side and then said: "Pretty sure? They're practically identical."

"Yes, except Rory's DNA and fingerprints don't match Rowan's. So, either that's a clever piece of forgery or Wo Fat has a type."

"Wo Fat?"

Patricia went into the file and pulled out a third picture. This one was of an Asian male with burn patterns up the left side of his face. He was in a black button down and a pair of black dress pants. And on his arm was, you guessed it, Rory. In the same outfit as before, this time outside being handed into a rental Audi.

Now this guy looked like a dangerous terrorist and more like the type of guy Angus and his team hunted down.

"He's an arms dealer. At the moment he's suspected of five different heists. A small bank in Victoria B.C., The Louvre, The London Museum, Harry Winston's Vault and the Cape Town diamond museum. He's also wanted for the murder of an Interpol agent in Venice. And those are just his most recent crimes, there's a long list of previous offenses."

Yep, that made sense. He narrowed his eyes at the picture of the two of them not quite understanding how a girl that started looking so sweet and innocent could turn into the severe looking girl on his arm.

"And you think they're working together? They're not just… I don't know, together? Maybe he's using her?"

Patricia shook her head. "We're unclear what her purpose could be. We're not even sure if they are working together, but we know for certain that she and him are more than just friendly. She recently escaped custody in England, killed almost everyone on the team. MI6 is looking like a prized idiot right now over the whole incident."

She finally offered him the whole file and he got to look it over. There wasn't a lot about this girl, a back story they were certain was fake but was very well put together. There were a lot of surveillance stills and while Wo Fat and some other man was always with her, she only did touristy things. The photos of Wo Fat alone, of course, showed more about his business and the bloodiness that came with his job.

Rory was never seen in the all-business pictures. She looked to just be on vacation. And even dressed to the nines in what probably all designer clothes, she didn't look capable of anything too devious.

"This girl escaped MI6 custody? On her own or did she get help?"

"Surprisingly on her own and they're still not sure how she did it. One second, she was in holding the next she was in a car breaking out of the place. They even lost the car during the chase, they have no idea how she got back to London as quickly as she did."

"So… how did she… you said she killed the whole team?"

"Almost everyone. They corner her and her benefactor in their hotel room, someone threw a grenade at them, blew up half the floor and most of the team. Only one survivor, they say he's traumatized by the whole thing."

Yeah Angus would be traumatized too if he had to deal with all of that in a short period of time.

"So… what do you want me to do? Am I going to arrest her?"

"Well, you see, that's the thing. Rory, or Rowan, hasn't been seen since England. So, no one knew where she was," she started. Angus nodded. "Until recently. Rory has just touched down... in California."

Ah the airport photos. She was here. Oh, he saw where this was going. "Now Wo Fat has a bodyguard on her, and the man is just as lethal as Wo Fat. But Rory, Rory is gullible, and apparently lonely. She's been known to take lovers so…"

"I'm sorry you want me to pose as a potential love interest? To what effect? What will we gain out of that?"

"Knowledge for one. We have a special unit operating in Hawaii who is very interested in finding Rowan Peirce, bit of a stalker ex situation, and she hasn't been seen since Colombia. If we can confirm whether or not she's Rowan he'll be grateful, they'd be a good team to have in our pocket, you know?"

Alright that made sense. They wanted him to figure out if this girl was Rowan or not.

"MI6 reported that Rory had no idea what was going on with Wo Fat and his business, though she is aware that he's a criminal. We figure the best way to get him in a room is to grab her first."

That sounded a lot like what MI6 had tried, but they had all died.

"She's staying at the Beverly Hills Hotel."

Jesus. That was the most expensive hotel in Los Angeles. He was definitely in the wrong job.

"We would like you to engage the target, get close to her, but stay away from Wo Fat. If he finds out who you work for, he'll slaughter you. Not even your paperclips will save you from him."

Angus looked back down to the picture in his hand. It definitely helped that Rory was quite pretty, but even he could tell that there was a sadness in her eyes. One that wasn't there in the picture of Rowan. If it was the same girl, something must have happened to upset her. Maybe he'd figure out what if he managed to get close to her.