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AvalonReeseFanFics

A/N: Look at me, posting on the right day! This next chapter has more of Jealous Steve and a but of repercussions for his Jealous Actions. I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 5

The call came in on the way to the suspects house. When Steve saw Duke's name flashing on the screen his first thought was of Rowan. He figured she'd be mad and he hoped that Duke had managed to calm her down, or that she hadn't done anything too rash.

"Duke?" he answered, and he noticed the silence on the other end of the call. Rowan wasn't screaming or ranting so that must have been a good sign.

"I picked up Rowan like you asked," Duke said and Steve avoided Danny's glare. "She's understandably very upset."

Steve winced. He didn't like that he upset her but he was certain that he could convince her that he had done it for her own good. He had a whole speech planned for when he went to get her.

"Yeah, well, she's an over emotional woman, Duke. She'll get over it," he told him trying to play off how worried he really was. He was clinging to that belief because the alternative was a bit too scary for him.

"Actually, I think she's the right amount of emotional considering what you just put her through," Duke said, the disapproval dripping from his tone. For a moment Steve was at a loss of words. How bad had that scene been if Duke was this upset with him? "I would greatly appreciate it if you left me out of these arguments you have with her. And it goes without saying that I will not be picking her up if she goes AWOL on you again. Unless she's in real danger, of course."

Steve nodded before he remembered he was on the phone. "Yeah, of course. I'm sorry I put you in that situation," he said, hoping that would help mollify the older man. "And I'm very grateful for all your help with this matter."

Duke's response was curt and the phone was hung up shortly after. Once it was hung up Steve could feel Danny looking at him which was why he pointedly kept his eyes on the road.

"You're going to have to buy that girl a diamond necklace to get her to forgive you," Danny warned him.

"Naw, Rowan doesn't like flashy things like that. She'd want books," Steve shot back before he could stop himself. These were the kind of things that he didn't need to know, he wasn't dating the girl. And yet there they were, sitting in his brain, memorized and saved for later.

"Fine. You're going to have to buy her a damn book store," Danny amended. Steve said nothing because if it was so bad that Duke got upset with him, Danny may have been right. "You know maybe it might be a good idea to let her stay over with someone else until this all blows over. I don't have Grace this weekend…"

Steve glared at Danny. Surprise was written on his face. Not over Danny offering to take Rowan off his hands but because of the way his body tensed at the suggestion. He didn't want Rowan anywhere else but his place. It was her home, he wanted her to be there, to see it as her home too. And he was certain she would if she wasn't so mad at him.

"We'll be fine," Steve replied through grit teeth.

"Alright, but I get to say I told you so if she tries to smother you in your sleep," Danny said.

The thought of Rowan climbing into his bed and straddling him set him on fire more than he cared to admit. He tried to ignore the warmth that spread through his body and tried very hard not to imagine what he would do if he found himself in that situation. But he couldn't stop the smile from creeping up on his face even though he knew he should feel bad.

To remind himself that he needed to feel bad he dialed Catherine. He was happy to hear her voice. Happy to hear her tease him about needing yet another favour. He could hear the displeasure in her voice when he asked her to go pick up Rowan but she agreed to do it. This would be good for him. He needed reminders. He was more than a little worried he was going to lose himself in Rowan's soothing presence. And maybe he was hoping, just a little bit, that Catherine could help calm Rowan down.

H5O-H5O-H5O- H5O

After rescuing the victim and taking down the crazy person, Steve was looking forward to getting home and relaxing. He was not looking forward to talking things out with Rowan. But when Steve got home, Rowan was already asleep. For a while he had stood at her door just watching her. He noted the tissue box by her bed, the used tissues scattered on the floor and the redness of her cheeks. The fact that he had made her cry stabbed at him. He wanted to go to her, to caress her cheek, to brush that redness away and tell her just how sorry he was. But he also knew he needed to stand his ground.

He went to bed with a heavy feeling settling on his shoulders. Tomorrow's argument was going to be a whopper, probably their biggest yet. He would have to revise his speech to include an apology but other then that it was going to stay the same. But when he got up in the morning she was still asleep and he was being called into the Governor's office.

So, he left her a note saying where he'd be and when he'd be back. He called Duke and begged him to post a uniform outside his house to make sure she didn't run off but Duke refused, so he called Catherine and asked her to go over and just make sure that Rowan was okay.

Asking a second Rowan-centered favour had not put him in her good graces. He could tell be the tone of her voice. He explained that he may have screwed up, that Rowan might be a flight risk and the worry laced in his voice had been enough to send her over and maybe a little be because he promised the date that got interrupted a few nights previous could be picked up when he got back. That left him feeling a little better heading down to the Governors.

When he got into the office, the Governor looked less than pleased, but that was also his default face so Steve wasn't sure if this was a good meeting or a bad one.

"Tell me why I got a report that you used HPD resources to stalk your girlfriend?" he asked before Steve could even sit down.

Steve stared at him drawing a blank. He hadn't sent anyone to stalk Catherine… and she wasn't really his girlfriend. "Uh… sir?"

"I have just been informed that you had HPD tail and detail Rowan Pierce," he clarified. "Is there a reason? Because the one I was given was that you two were in a domestic dispute and you sent HPD to keep her from a party and to forcibly pick her up from another guy's house?"

Steve just sat there staring at him. Had Duke snitched on him? Had Danny? Had Rowan? And she wasn't his girlfriend, she was his roommate. The distinction wasn't that hard to catch was it? The Governor took in his shocked face and looked back down to his report. "When I gave you immunity and means I assumed you'd use it responsibly. Am I to assume that this recent behaviour was due to a misunderstanding about the safety of the lady in question?"

"Yes," Steve said through grit teeth. "It will not happen again."

"It better not, Commander. I gave her a citizenship and I can take it away or send her away if it proves that her presence here is affecting you in an adverse way," he warned.

Steve's features hardened. He felt it. Because the second the Governor even mentioned sending Rowan away his heart stopped beating in his chest. He put on his most serious face, because this was the most serious of threats.

"No sir, it will not be a problem," he swore. Because from now on it wouldn't be.

H5O-H5O-H5O- H5O

Steve had avoided going home. He had called Catherine and told her that he would be bringing by dinner and they were going to finish off that movie they had started a couple nights before. He purposely didn't mention Rowan despite being quite curious about how she was doing.

He had forced himself to revaluate what he was doing. His behaviour was threatening Rowan and it needed to stop. But he didn't know how to do that without avoiding her. But after a few hours he missed her. She hadn't texted him to pictures or funny observations about her day, she hadn't called to ask how his day was, or forwarded him funny memes. He wanted to hear her voice, he wanted to go home to her smiling face and a dinner waiting for him.

When he finally forced himself to go home, he found that Catherine was waiting for him. Rowan was no where in sight. The house was eerily quiet and dread set upon him again. This was going to be bad.

"You had HPD pick her up? Twice?" Catherine asked him. "Is there something you're not telling me?"

The accusation was there. He knew exactly what she was implying. Was his interest in Rowan something deeper than friendly? The problem was he wasn't sure and he sure as hell didn't want to blow what he had with Catherine over a passing attraction to a strange new girl. Yes, she made him feel funny, but he was certain that was nothing but nerves and the fact that he didn't trust her. The fact that this was the second person in one day to question his feelings for Rowan worried him more than anything. This was clearly a problem he needed to get a handle on.

"I just didn't like the guy, okay?" Steve hissed. "I got a bad vibe."

"Why because you don't think she was pretty enough to be with a guy as handsome as Alex?" Catherine snapped. "That's what you said to her, isn't it?"

"No, not really. I mean, it kind of came out that way, but that's not what I meant," Steve argued. But by the look on Catherine's face that wasn't an acceptable response. Damn, if it wasn't working on Catherine it sure as hell wasn't going to work on Rowan.

"I would suggest you go to talk to her," Catherine said. "She keeps breaking out into tears and I can't keep comforting her."

"Oh, it can't be that bad," Steve said with a sigh, though the worry and the guilt were nearly strangling him at this point.

"You think? Ask her how Alex reacted," Catherine offered sitting down on the couch. "I'll be down here, good luck sailor!"

Steve stared up at the steps not wanting to go, but he made himself do it. He might as well get it over with, because once it was done he could move on to making sure people didn't think he had a thing for her. Because he so didn't.

As he walked up the steps he thought about Catherine's comment. He reasoned out what Alex's reaction most likely was if Rowan was crying over it, but it made no sense to him. For a girl like Rowan Steve wouldn't have let something like a grumpy Commander stand between her and him. Not if he really wanted her. Okay, that was a bad example, he should have gone with Catherine. He wouldn't let anything stand between him and Catherine.

Steve knocked on Rowan's door and was met with silence. He knocked again and this time her got a very sullen: "Go away!"

Steve ignored that command and opened the door anyway. Rowan was sitting on her bed with her back to him, but he saw it stiffen when she realized that he was in the room with her.

"Let me guess… your house you'll open whatever door's you want… right?" she snapped, which was exactly what Steve was going to say if she asked why he had just let himself in. He was starting to sound like his father. Or at least he did when Rowan talked for him.

"We need to talk," he told her.

"I don't want to talk to you," she replied.

"You don't have a choice."

Rowan turned at this point. She gratefully didn't look like she had been crying but she definitely looked angry. He noted that there was a duffle bag at the foot of her bed, and it looked pack. Steve chose to ignore it.

"Of course, what does Dictator McGarrett want of his lowly serf?" she growled.

"Okay, enough with the attitude please," he said. "I want to have a calm and rational conversation. Can you do that?"

"I don't know. Can you not boss me around for three seconds or not treat me like a child?" she shot back.

"For fuck sake, Rowan, he is one boy! It's a large island I'm sure you'll find another!" Steve shouted finally losing his cool.

"That is not the point, Steven!" she shouted back. "I liked that boy and you purposely drove him away! And why? You have no romantic interest in me so why the hell would you care who I'm seeing?"

Steve was flabbergasted. Out of everyone who had noticed that he was struggling with an attraction to her, Rowan had not been one of them. He stuttered over his response because he didn't have an answer. An apology would have been good there but he couldn't bring himself to apologise for his actions.

Rowan took a deep breath and the looked at him. "Okay. This was a bad idea," she whispered and suddenly his veins were flooded with ice. No. If she said what he thought she was going to say he was going to lose his shit.

"I think I should go stay with Danny, or Chin or Kono," she told him. "I can't handle your Navy rules and your need to shatter my already rather fragile self esteem."

"No," Steve said. That was it. Nothing else. There was no question, no room to argue. The answer was no. She was not leaving. He watched her stoop down and pick up the duffle bag, hanging it off one of her shoulders. The image burning into his memory before he could stop himself. He shook his head and braced himself in the doorway. He was not letting her by.

Rowan took in his stance and thought over his remark. "No, you can't say no. I don't want to stay here, you can't force me to stay here," she argued.

"No. You're not leaving. We're adults, we can figure it out," Steve told her instead.

Rowan cocked an eyebrow at him. "You can stop being a control freak?" she asked.

"I am not a control freak!" he nearly shouted at her. "Look, I don't care if I have to handcuff you to the bed. You're not leaving this house."

But Rowan wasn't listening to him. "Yes I am. One way or another I'm leaving. You can either move out of the way or suffer my wrath!" she screamed.

Steve wondered just what she was thinking she could do to him. He was a Navy Seal, there wasn't much she could throw at him that could take him down. Unless she pulled a gun on him cause he knew he wouldn't be able to shoot her, he probably wouldn't even be able to even aim a gun at her.

"Oh My God!" Catherine hissed appearing behind Steve. "What the hell is the matter with you two? Danny and Grace are downstairs and you're scaring her! Can you two just make up already?"

"See Catherine's on my side," Steve said to Rowan.

"You're both being unreasonable," Catherine snapped. "Steve, you have no right to try to control her life. Rowan, he was just trying to take care of you. There, now stop it, the both of you."

Rowan and Steve were stuck in a glaring match. Her eyes had narrowed. A challenged had been issued.

"Fuck this," she muttered and then turned away. Steve let out the air he hadn't realized he was holding in. He thought she'd drop the bag to the bed, but she didn't. She crossed to the window that had been open the whole time and dropped the bag out it.

"What the hell are you doing?" Steve asked, though he had a feeling he knew exactly what it was.

Rowan didn't answer him, instead she threw a leg over the window sill and began to pull herself through.

"No!" Steve shouted rushing forward. She was half way out by the time he got her. He gripped her wrist tightly and glared down at her. "Are you out of your mind get back in here!"

"No! Let me go!" Rowan shouted back trying to tug her arm out of his grip. She had both legs out regardless of his attempts to keep her from climbing out the window. She had a death grip on the trellis outside her window and he was honestly going to take that fucking thing down after this.

"Rowan, stop it!" Catherine cried rushing into the room. "This is ridiculous!"

But neither Rowan or Steve were listening. Rowan kept struggling, letting go of her grip on the trellis to sink her finger nails into his hands struggling to get him to let go. Her nails bit into him but he still refused to let go.

He didn't know how it happened, but she must have pushed off the wall, because one minute he had her and the next she had managed to rip her arm away from him and lose her footing while she did so. Steve watched her fall in slow motion. He saw the fear and realization blossom on her face. He heard the surprised yelp as she began to fall backwards. He heard both he and Catherine scream her name as Rowan sank into the darkness.

Her surprised cry was cut off by the sound of her body smacking against the wood of the lanai and it was at that moment that the world decided to start again. Steve was out the window before Catherine could stop him, calling Rowan's name and jumping out after her.

He landed on his feet with no issue, trained Navy seal and all, but Rowan had not been as lucky. She lay on her back, her limbs splayed out in awkward angles, her eyes squeezed shut but gratefully breathing. He had seen this before, dead bodies in strange positions, seeing her in a mirrored position, hearing her gasps of air and her groans of pain was killing him. Steve didn't know how bad the damages were, he knew he shouldn't move her but he wanted to wrap her up in his arms and hold her tightly. He wanted to take the pain from her.

He looked up and saw a worried Danny standing at the door, phone in hand. Grace standing beside him even though Danny was trying to shield her she too looked terrified and concerned for Rowan. Steve wanted to tell them that it was going to be okay but he didn't have the words, his throat had clogged blocking everything including his air. As the sirens grew close he gripped her hand tight and was relieved when he felt her return the squeezing. Her eyes were still closed, her breathing still laboured but if he listened very carefully he could hear her whispering his name, and one phrase over and over again.

Don't leave me.

H5O-H5O-H5O- H5O

"So, the good news, is nothing is broken and the blow to her head wasn't too serious," the doctor said to her. "The bad news is that the bruising she has is extensive and will feel like a break. I'll have to prescribe her some meds for the pain."

Rowan was already on some pretty heavy pain meds which was why she was smiling goofily up at the doctor talking to her. She didn't know why he was talking about her like she wasn't there, there wasn't anyone else in the room.

"You should be talking to Commander McStupid," she said and then broke out laughing at her own joke.

The doctor ignored her, focusing on something to her right and when she turned there he was. Commander McStupid in the flesh. Rowan gasped at him. "Oh my! How long have you been standing there?"

Steve turned to her looking not to pleased with her. "Long enough to hear you call me Commander McStupid six times. It wasn't that funny the first time and it continues to not be funny," he told her.

"Commander McStupid!" she cried and broke out laughing again. She didn't care what Steve said, that was absolutely hilarious.

After that things got quiet and she got tired. She must have slept because when she woke up she was in more pain than before, Commander McStupid was not as funny as before, and understandably she was quite alone.

Rowan had sort of hoped that after practically throwing her out the damn window Steve would stay, but High Rowan had also insulted him quite crudely so she wasn't surprised that he hadn't stayed with her. Rowan shifted in her bed, her back was on fire and lying on it wasn't helping the situation much.

She rolled herself over onto her side being careful of the IV that was in her arm. The door opened once she was settled and ready to will herself back to sleep. She expected Steve, or maybe some of her Five-O friends.

She was not expecting Nurse Alex.

Rowan didn't even try to get up. It hurt too much to try. She just lay there, eyes wide, certain she looked like death and wishing that he hadn't been working today.

"You must like the food here," he said with a warm smile.

Oh, so that's what he was going to do now? Pretend they were fine? Sure, she could do that…. Oh who was she kidding? She was an awkward mess, this was going to be a disaster.

"Yep, what can I say I love my food so soft I could consider it prechewed," she shot back. She'd stick with sarcastic retorts, that way she could get some sass out but still seem like she was joking and not being purposely being mean.

Alex came to stand in front of her. He put a hand to where her back hurt the most. "They tell me you fell out a window," he whispered and Rowan frowned with confusion. Why did he look concerned? He had no right to care, he ended things between them.

"Uh… yeah… it's a bit of a long story," she said to him, shifting trying to dislodge his hand but it didn't work.

"I've got time. You could tell me," he replied.

At this Rowan forced herself to sit up, wincing while she did so. She pointedly ignored the fact that Alex's hands hovered at her sides like he was spotting her. What did he think she was going to do? Fall out of the fucking bed and break her back for real?

"What are you doing Alex?" she asked. "You said you didn't want to see me anymore. That means you don't have to make small talk with me or act interested in my life anymore. Just do your rounds and go."

Alex looked down to his hands. "Yeah, I regret saying that to you," he whispered. "Look, I'm not going to lie, it was super intimidating knowing that Commander McGarrett was so over protective of you when everyone around here knows he's a loose cannon. If he was willing to arrest you just to keep you from seeing me I fully believed he could make me disappear if I stood up to him."

Rowan nodded, that's true, Steve could do that. The question was, would he? And she figured he might… just to spite her. "Okay, so why are you here, then?" she asked.

"Because he hunted me down last night while you were getting checked out and he told me that he was sorry and he wouldn't interfere anymore," Alex said. "He did threaten to make me disappear if I make you cry, but essentially he said that if I really like you then I should try to make it work and he'd step aside."

Rowan stared at him. Did she want to make things work with Alex? He was really handsome and she couldn't really blame him much for being scared of Steve and Five-O, not everyone was as brave as her. The only thing that was holding her back was Steve. God she was so very fucking attracted to him. Just being near him affected her sometimes. It was sort of ridiculous. But she couldn't cling to that. She wasn't Catherine and Steve would never be interested in her.

She smiled at him softly. She thought Alex was attractive too, she just didn't get the same reaction as she did with Steve but she could make this work.

"Is that what you'd like to do? Make it work?" she asked.

"If you'll have me," Alex replied.

She nodded and Alex broke into a giant grin. She tried to focus on him as he talked but she caught sight of Steve just behind him, looking into her room with a strange look on her face. She smiled to him and slightly waved to which he just tipped his head. She watched him walk away, butterflies flying around her stomach, and not because Alex was holding her hand.