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AvalonReeseFanFics

A/N: Hey there my wonderful readers! So this is it. We're officially starting season 7. And in this chapter both Steve and Wo Fat are going to make a major decision. ALSO, right off the bat this is where I'm going to start messing with the time line and with which episodes go where. Okay? So, to give you guys some warning, half of Episode 1 is going to happen in this chapter. THEN we have all of episode 2 happening, THEN Rowan and Steve are getting back together. Then the rest of episode 1 will be happen. There will be some chapters considered the "Summer months" and once we get to the Halloween episode well be in the proper season part. Does that make sense? I'm going to be messing around with episodes later on as well but I'll give you some notice before that. I know that's a lot to take in, but I promise, this season, we have a lot of really cute things that are going to happen, like I'm dialing back on the angst HARD. Don't forget to leave a review and I'll see you guys on Wednesday.

Chapter 289

Steve had, when he thought Danny wasn't looking, been trying to look into Rowan. More aptly, trying to find Rowan in this big huge giant world. Which was a lot harder than it had been before, now that she had the power to jump around the world.

He found several crimes that fit Wo Fat's MO and had Rowan's powers written all over them. Such as a diamond heist in New York that could have only happened if the burglars had gone through walls. A murder at the Spanish Real where nothing was stolen but there was no trace of the burglars outside of the room the body was found in. Then of course there was the Louvre, that had been looted and their security system, had been taken down but only on the route the burglars had taken through the art gallery which included the gift shop.

There was a bar fight in Moscow where Victor Stepanov lost his life but no one knew how they got into his office or out of the club let alone the country. In fact, there was a lot that went on with the Stepanovs that had Rowan's fingerprints on it. Not really, but he just knew, in his heart, that she had been the one to make sure Roman Stepanov crashed his car. Again. God how he hopped she wasn't in the car when that happened.

But though he found crimes with her MO on them, he didn't actually find her. No hotel reservations, no plane tickets, no trips through customs. He had found a few with Wo Fat's alias' named, but basically after her trip into Canada their movements became untraceable.

It was hard not to be disheartened. It almost made him want to talk to Danny about it, to reach out to other people to get help. But he had made a big scene after getting that card from her, about being over her. About wanting to move on and being mad at her. He had been lying but he didn't want to admit that now.

That wasn't all he lied about either. He told Danny he didn't remember, but that was a lie. He remembered bits and pieces of that flight from hell. He remembered a bit of Rowan coming to him, because he remembered the kiss. That kiss was the only moment that came to him clearly after he had been shot. It was only clearly because it was the only time he hadn't been blinded by the pain he was in. All he felt was bliss, and safe, and healed with her arms wrapped around him and her lips on his.

In that moment he knew the love he had for her was as deep and true then as it had been before he broke them up and got back together with Catherine.

And that was completely pathetic, because Rowan could be anywhere in the world and she was mad at him. Mad at him for some reason, probably some lie that Wo Fat had told, and he couldn't even tell her the truth.

To get away from Danny and out of his own head, Steve was prone to taking long trips down the hallways, made longer, of course, by the fact that he was forced to use a wheelchair to move around. Pop his stitches once walking down to the gift shop to get a card and a stuffed bear for Danny and he was forever banned from standing. It didn't help that all the nurses knew he was, not because they thought he was cute, which they did, but because he was trouble and kept trying to get out before he was ready.

This particular jaunt he found himself in the Tripler Army Medical Center's Chapel. He carefully wheeled himself down the aisle and stared at the cross as if it would answer all of his problems.

It had been a long time since he had been to any kind of church, sometimes he wasn't even sure he believed in god. But he had just been lucky enough to live through some kind of shooting so he was starting to believe there was a god. And he was punishing him.

What he wanted was a sign. A simple sign, something to tell him what to do. Part of him wanted to give up, searching for Rowan was too hard, with her powers he wouldn't be able to keep them in one spot long enough to arrest them. The other part of him wanted to keep looking, he wanted to find her, he wanted to get her back. But that old fear was holding him back. The fear that she meant what she said last year and she didn't want to get back together with him after all.

Behind him something creaked and when he turned around there was a man sitting in the pews that he hadn't even noticed. Dear god, no wonder Rowan got so spacey on morphine, just look at what it was doing to him.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize anyone was in here," Steve said struggling to turn himself around so he could wheel his pathetic ass out of there. The man looked older, maybe not much older than him, but the lines around his face told him that he was clearly very stressed about something. His suit, while nice, was wrinkled and he clearly looked like he might have been crying recently. And he had one head of nice hair.

"That's alright…"

"Hey, I can leave if…"

But the man cut him off. "No, it's okay. I… I can use the company."

"Okay."

So, Steve stopped halfway turned in the aisle and clasped his hands together not sure what to say. Maybe he'd just be silent company, he didn't want to interrupt any prayers or anything.

"My wife's in surgery." Okay, so maybe he wasn't interrupting anything at all.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that."

"She beat cancer a few years back, and put up with me for 45 years. So, this should be a walk in the park."

Steve tried not to laugh. He didn't know this man, but that kind of relationship sounded like his and Rowan's. She had survived him, she had survived Wo Fat, and Danny and everything else, she'd survive a normal old surgery too.

"Right," he said when he got his smile under control.

"What happened to you?"

Oh, okay now they were gonna get personal. Alright. What wasn't scary sounding? "Work-related injury."

Well he wasn't exactly lying.

"If you don't mind me asking, what type of work do you do?"

"I'm, uh… I'm in law enforcement. Five-0 Task Force."

The man nodded. "Hmm."

"What?" God this better not be one of those anti-gun nuts who was gonna go crazy on him for his excessive use of force via deadly bullets.

"I was a cop, too. Long time ago."

Oh, so someone who got it then. Steve immediately let his guard down and managed to turn his wheelchair the full way around to give this man his undivided attention.

"Okay. I'm sorry. You were a cop? And you've been married for 45 years? What's your secret?"

The man shrugged. "No secret. I just met the right gal."

Steve nodded. "Huh."

"What about you? You married? Girlfriend?"

"No."

"Well, I'm sure the right woman's out there for you somewhere."

Yeah, if only he knew where the hell she was.

"What if I already met the right woman and, uh, and I couldn't hang on to her?"

"Then she wasn't the right woman."

"See I'm not so sure about that. You see, I had a girl who put up with everything, literally loved me for all my faults. Was always waiting for me when I got home. Who would do anything for me and I… I let… I let everything drive a wedge between us."

The stranger took that in and Steve found that, even to this stranger he couldn't voice the words. Couldn't say that what he had done, couldn't explain the guilt he felt in what he had done, in the part he had played in Rowan's kidnapping. He swallowed down that lump in his throat and shifted the blame away from himself once more, just so he could get through this conversation.

"Sometimes, it feels like this job of mine has taken everything good from me." But that wasn't true. It wasn't Five-0 that drove Rowan away from him, it was himself. "I've been wearing the badge for six years and I'm really starting to wonder whether… whether any of it's worth it."

"Son, what we do can't be quantified. Your worth is measured in the closure you bring. The people you save. That's your real legacy. And the best legacy a man can leave behind is the people whose lives he's changed. Trust me."

Steve nodded that was… that was a good point. And then the man added: "And a girl as good as you described only comes around once in a life time. If she loves you, really truly loves you, you should go to her."

"That's the problem. I don't know where she is. And… even if I could find her… she wouldn't want to see me."

"Sounds like you've already made your mind up."

Maybe he had. But then again that was what had ruined them in the first place. He decided that they weren't going to work and low and behold, after Rowan spent a year piecing them back together after every crack and fissure he put into them, they actually did break apart.

"You don't know what I did," he whispered. "She's never going to forgive me."

The man thought that over and then shrugged. "Well… how will you know if you don't try?"

And to be honest the man had a point. He obviously wasn't getting over Rowan like he thought he would be by now. So… so maybe it was time to start earnestly searching for Rowan this time, sit her down and actually have her talk to him.

It looked like Steve had gotten the sign he was asking for. This time he wouldn't take no for an answer until he heard it straight from her.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Kono and Grover came out of the elevator that afternoon and Danny and Steve, both in wheelchairs went zipping past them.

"Oh yeah, that seems like a real good idea," Grover groaned, because in no world was it really a good idea.

They watched the two as they careened down the hallway, causing nurses to yelp and jump aside. Great, this was definitely a competitive thing and Steve seemed to be winning.

"Got Ten bucks on super SEAL."

Grover shook her hand. "Oh, sister, you got yourself a bet."

What Kono really wanted to ask was what this was about, because why? Why did two grown men want to be in a wheelchair race?

And Steve actually did really well, jostling his wheelchair into Danny's to try and rattle him, kicking the back of it so Danny would spin out. But in the end, Danny tripped him up with an IV rack and came in the lead.

Breathless and grinning he drifted to a stop in front of Kono and Grover where he looked up to them and said: "That felt really good."

Well, that was good, because his little trick had sent Steve flying out of his wheelchair. The poor man was still healing for Christ sake, couldn't Danny have at least kept Steve in the chair?

"What happened to going easy on him?" Kono hissed as she went about handing the ten dollars to Grover.

"He got on my nerves."

Well that was fair. But you know what wasn't fair, the fact that Danny cheated.

"You know, you can't really call it victory if you cheat," she reminded him but Danny was on that victory high and didn't care.

"I did not cheat. I did not cheat. I did the same thing he would have done, only sooner."

Kono shook her head, watching as Steve kept shooting them glares. Oh he was really pissed off about not winning. And he probably didn't like Danny's comment either.

"Besides, he was drafting off of me the whole time."

He shot a triumphant grin at Steve as one of the nurses helped him back into his wheelchair. Once he was seated, he said: "Where in the rulebook does it say I can't do that?"

"I unno, it's probably right next to the page where it says, you're an idiot if you challenge somebody to a wheelchair race."

"Bigger idiot if you accept the challenge."

"Kono, I know what you're trying to do," Grover announced as he pocketed the wallet that now held her cash. "And you ain't getting your money back." He then turned on Steve and Danny. "You know what, McGarrett? I thought when you had near-death experience and your man gave you part of his liver that you'd become closer. But now that that's been blown to hell, we settle it like this. Have another wheelchair race next time you're both in the hospital."

"Knowing this genius, that should be very soon, but that's not why we were doing this," Danny said and then turned expectant eyes on Steve who suddenly looked quite uncomfortable.

"You cheated."

"No, I did not cheat. I won the race. Start talking," Danny ordered.

Steve shook his head. "No. You cheated. The bet is null and void."

"The bet said nothing about winning without cheating."

"So, you admit you cheated!"

"That is not the point. The point here is I won. Now tell me what you've been all secretive about."

Steve sighed, hung his head and then said: "Fine, but none of you are allowed to freak out."

"Fine. I promise. We promise. All of us, we promise, right?" Danny said, he glanced back to Kono and Grover who nodded to him, affirming that none of them would freak out.

"I… against Governor Dennings wishes, have started looking for Rowan again. I have put a PI onto her, and I called Joe to see what sort of information he could find. I'm not expecting much… you know… with the super powers and what not, but… yeah. There. That's what I've been secretive about."

Danny took that in and then asked: "But why did not you want me to know that?"

Kono noted that Danny didn't say we. It wasn't we anymore, it was him. Why didn't Steve want to tell him?

"Well I made such a big scene about being over her…"

"Yeah so, I knew you were lying," Danny said cutting him off. "You're not over her. You know we've been sharing a room. You don't think I hear you waking up screaming for her every fucking night? You think I'm deaf? You've been keeping me up with it. We all knew you weren't over her, babe, don't know why that was such a big secret."

Steve just blinked his eyes at them. "Well, I didn't want to get anyone's hopes up. Wo Fat's a master at covering his tracks. Rowan's got magic fucking powers now. I just… I unno, I just don't know what to do, but I figure learning everything I can will… I unno… help me find her."

"What about that compass thing?" Danny asked.

"What?"

"Well… you've always been able to tell where she is," Kono filled in for Danny. "You always knew when she was in trouble, and you eerily always knew where she was."

"Yeah that internal compass thing, the one that points you to Rowan, that thing," Danny summed up.

"This is a little different. It's no longer me trying to find her on Hawaii. This is the whole world. It's a lot… harder."

"Have you tried looking at a map and seeing if anything pulls you?"

"Yes," Steve said looking down at his hands. "I got nothing. Or at least, nothing in Colombia. I think… I think I have to be there, like on the ground, like near-by."

They all nodded. That was a clearly something that Steve had a hard time admitting and while Kono was struggling not to show it, she was actually really excited.

"Well I think it's a good idea boss. It's about time she came home."

A sort of strange look passed Steve features, as if he hadn't thought that finding Rowan and her coming home was synonymous, or maybe he was just trying to not get his hopes up. Either way, Kono thought this to be a step in the right direction, and just glancing at everyone else's faces she could see that they felt the same way. Except for maybe Steve who looked lost in thought again.

But Kono figured, the quicker they got Rowan home the quicker she got her old boss back. And of course, her best friend.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Steve returned to his cold, dark, empty house and found he'd rather be in the hospital where at least there was some sort of noise. Yes, the fluorescent lights hummed, and there was always an EKG machine beeping somewhere. Yes, there was non stop PA calls, and Danny snored, probably just to spite him but it was better than the oppressive silence of his house.

How had he not noticed it before, how quiet the place was without anyone in it? Why did that just remind him that Rowan had filled this place with light, laughter and love. It made the echoes of her and Nahele even louder.

So, when his cell phone rang, Steve lunged for it. Why? Because he needed something to push the memories at bay. And because it was Joe which meant he had info on Rowan.

"Hey, hey Joe," he said a little too quickly startling his mentor.

"Hey, son. How are you feeling?"

Steve smiled but his hand went to his incision. "I'm fine. What uh… what do you got for me?"

For a moment Joe was quiet. "You sure you want to start with that, son?"

Well that had nothing else to talk about so, yes. "You can't be telling me you have nothing, Joe. There has to be some sort of trace of her somewhere. I mean, come on, anything."

"I'm telling you Steve I've got nothing. Aside from that North Korea incident, there hasn't been anything on the radar since then. Wo Fat was somewhat active in California, and every now and then he pops up but honestly, the man's a ghost. And there is even less on Rowan."

Steve sunk into his lazy boy chair, his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose. "Explain the North Korea incident again."

"I looked into that for you. This girl showed up at a this compound the navy was using as a secret base of operation out in the jungle. It was just a small little team on site, some hush-hush deep-dark type mission, you know the type." He did. "Anywhere there was a plane crash, and this little girl is out in the jungle trying to out run some Yakuza killer. She had some fancy name, Rory something. It doesn't matter anyway, they took her on and there was some thought that she was your girl, but the DNA didn't match."

Steve sighed once more. Yeah that didn't sound promising at all.

"Okay look… I… I didn't want to say this but uh… kid. Rogers was the only survivor and he was 100% certain he had Rowan in the car with him. Same mannerisms…"

"He didn't really know her that well, you know? It was only a few hours he was with her…"

"Same eyes."

"The Pierce eyes run in their family. I don't know how extended that family is here. it's entirely plausible that…"

"She did this trick with the handcuffs…"

"Wait say that again?" Steve asked.

"Hm? About the handcuffs? Yeah she did some trick, slapped her handcuffed hands to his and then bam they were on his wrists."

Rowan had had a handcuff trick before too. She could get out of everything by pulling on a certain string. If her powers had evolved all the way to being able to open a portal then it makes sense that she would be able to move handcuffs from her to someone else.

"Well… why did he think it wasn't?"

"DNA between Rowan's files and Rory's files are completely different. Same with her finger prints."

"Wo Fat could have given in the wrong DNA for Rory…"

"Nope, tested against several different sources. Rory's DNA is Rory's but Rory's DNA isn't Rowan's."

So, there was this girl, with Rowan's powers, running around looking like Rowan and acting like Rowan, telling everyone she was Wo Fat's sister, but wasn't Rowan? Bull shit.

But what if… what if Wo Fat hadn't changed Rowan's DNA if she became Rory. What if he had changed Rowan's DNA long before that.

"Joe… Joe I think I gotta a theory. I'll call you back if I'm right."

Steve hung up the phone and then rushed up to his room. He dialed Max next.

"Hey, hey, I know you're busy, but I have a favour?" He asked once he got max. Steve was in his off in his bedroom washroom, on his knees at that point looking for something specific. "If I have someone's hair from… a year ago, could you get workable DNA off of that?"

"Uh… I believe so…It depends on the conditions of the storage space and whether or not any hair follicles have survived," Max said hesitantly. Steve pulled out Rowan's travel make up bag, it didn't have anything of use in it so Sin Nombre hadn't thought to take it during the first sweep. "What am I testing it against."

Steve looked down to the small mermaid hairbrush he had bought Rowan from the dollar store because it had reminded him of her. Strands of her red blonde hair were still stuck in the bristles. "Rowan's DNA file on record with the Palace."

He could tell that Max had questions but luckily, he didn't ask them. Steve just had to hope that his hunch was right, because if he was right, it would open up the door to a completely different line of inquiry. If he was right, he'd be one step closer to finding her again.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Wo Fat had been thinking long and hard about what he was going to do next. He knew he couldn't stay on the path that he was on. Rowan wanted things from her old life back, just getting the car would have been hard enough, but she also wanted the kid.

Yes, with her powers, the physical act of stealing those things wouldn't have been hard, it was that both of those things would have made it easier for Steve to find her. And he was certain if he got the kid in her presence and he could see for himself the depths to which her broken heart ran the kid would crack and tell her the truth. OR, at some point while stealing the kid, she'd realize he didn't live with the McGarrett's and if she knew that Wo Fat had lied about that then she'd wonder what else he had a lied about. And it would all come out.

He'd be crazy to think that it wasn't going to all come out at some point. He knew when she figured it out, all the lies he had told this past year, she would be mad. She may not even forgive him but he knew, someday, he'd have to tell her the truth. Was it really so bad that he just wanted it to come out on his own terms? When he was ready?

It wasn't until Rowan debuted her newest song that Wo Fat had finally made up his mind. Maybe it was because of the way she sang it, maybe it was because of the lyrics, but it changed everything.

Girl, won't you stop your cryin'? I know that you're tryin'. Everything's gonna be okay. Baby girl, don't you hang your head low. Don't you lose your halo. Everyone's gonna be okay. Baby girl.

It was a song comprised of things that both he and Conejo had said to her over the course of their year together. And it was all about how, essentially, she was going to be okay, because she had them.

He didn't even care that it was a country song.

Unfortunately, it hurt his heart more than anything because he knew that the whole reason she was broken in the first place was because he had lied to her. He could fix her. All he had to do was tell her the truth and ship her back to Hawaii.

But there were logistical problems. Like at this point, he had filled Rowan's head with so many lies she wouldn't know what was true. He knew if Rowan showed up on Steve's doorsteps, she wouldn't have to say anything, he'd be all over her, but Rowan didn't know that, and she probably wouldn't believe him if he told her that.

Plus, he wanted some kind of assurance that, if he did give her back to Steven, that he wouldn't lose her entirely. And the app had to stay up and running because seriously, he didn't trust Steven to keep her safe. He was even willing to give Steven full access to the app to track Rowan for himself as the man was clearly useless at keeping tabs on her. He worried, briefly that Rowan would be upset by this, but she literally had the power and the ability to teleport across the world. So you know, having McGarrett be able to at least know what part of the world she was in was a small sacrifice, if it meant he still got to talk to his sister.

From there the rest of the plan simply came into place.

So, the plan started with him telling her that he had a surprise for her. That this surprise would start with her needing to pack both fancy and for somewhere warm. He did tell her that there was still logistics to plan out, but she needed to start packing.

Rowan, who had been quite bored recently, had hugged him immediately. Wo Fat found that he had held her a little too tightly and for a little too long. He could help but think that he was orchestrating the end to their relationship, that these next few weeks with her would be the last few weeks he had.

Then he went to find Conejo who was at his gun range practicing his shooting. Had to stay sharp after all.

"Hey," he said once Conejo was done with the pistol and was moving on to the SMG. Conejo nodded at him but didn't answer him back. "There's going to be a change of plans."

Conejo put the SMG down and turned to him. "What does that mean?"

"I've been thinking. About what you said. About Rowan. About Steven. And I think… you were right. If I didn't get her over him during this year it's probably never going to happen."

"Oh my god you're going to send her back. But… what happened to they're toxic together and he's going to kick us out of her life."

"Both of those things are still true, but she's a hell of a lot worse without him, and well… I'm hoping, with my plan, that I'll still have her in my life."

"She's going to freak out when you tell her about the lies."

Yes, she would but he would deal with that when he got to it. "I've got a plan, a plan for everything, but I'm going to need your help."

"Okay," Conejo said leaning against the booth. "What do you need me to do?"

"Well, the plan entails making Steven prove that he loves her. A test if you will, but to bring him to us… I'm going to need some leverage."

"Dude, you give him a location on Rowan and that man will show up. No need to leverage."

"My plan ends in an immediate wedding," Wo Fat snapped. "So she's gonna want the kid and he'll want Danny, so I'mma need both of them brought to us."

"And that's part of the test?"

"No, the test will be giving him the option between arresting me and getting Rowan back. If he picks Rowan, he'll have proven to her and me that he loves her. If he picks me, we're jumping through the void to Hawaii to get her car back here. Oh, and we'll be taking the kid."

"He's not going to pick you."

Yes, Wo Fat was almost 95% sure that he wouldn't. "Well I want to be sure. Then you get to put your shot gun to his head and tell him that he has to marry Rowan right that minute, and then we'll give him the contract to sign."

"You mean marriage licence."

"No. I mean Rowan's safety contract. I'm going to have Sandy fully operational by then and I'll want her online and ready to go. Armando and I are currently getting the Captain America Contingency up and online again. Different method this time. And I will want to negotiate the ability to at least speak to her, I'm thinking once a month, and the chance to see her every three. I figure that's would be agreeable."

Conejo blinked his eyes and then looked down to his shoes. "You… you think you'll be able to handle that?"

Wo Fat narrowed his eyes. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying, we've had her every day for almost a year, and you even longer. Are you going to be okay with not seeing or hearing from her when we've both gotten used to a certain level of contact?"

He had slipped up there. It wasn't just Wo Fat that Conejo was worried about, he was worried about missing her himself. So much for not letting that girl get under his skin.

"I think, for Rowan's happiness I'll make the necessary adjustments."

Conejo took that in with a nod and then said: "Alright and when are we going to do this?"

"Well, I want one last little vacation with her, and then, while we're there, I'm going to send you to Hawaii to sit on the two people we need," Wo Fat said.

"What if I wanted to come?"

"It's a cruise."

"Good call. Yeah, I'll go to Hawaii."

Wo Fat almost laughed, he really wanted to know what Conejo had against the open ocean and boats, but he figured once he gave Rowan back he'd have more time to ask Con the hard questions. "I'm thinking this will all come into play in a month or so. I'm thinking, two-week cruise. Two weeks in Paradise island with her, before getting Steve to come to us."

Conejo nodded again. He clearly liked that plan. But he could tell there was a sadness around the great assassin. He too, didn't want to see their time with Rowan come to an end. But for Rowan, well… both of them would do anything.