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AvalonReeseFanFics

A/N: It's Christmas in October, major Nightmare Before Christmas vibes in this chapter! This one's a longer chapter so you guys don't mind. Don't forget to tell me what you think and hopefully I see you next week!

Chapter 449

Once they had established that their Santas were out of their costumes and trying to blend into the general crowd, they knew they had to move fast. Steve started by locking down the building. Luckily by then Kekoa was set up at the entrance they were funneling people out of with the facial ID rec. No one could leave unless they went through that check point and Kekoa and Grover gave them the okay.

He had HPD outside and manning the other exits. Tani was with Henry who was looking over the blast site to see if he could find a way to identify their two Santas. The others were waiting on more information and direction from Steve.

Steve was on and off the phone coordinating and waiting for Jerry to send over any information. They couldn't really do anything until they figured out who they were after, but Tani had found a blasting cap with Henry's help. There had been a fingerprint on it and he was waiting for Jerry to see if it matched anyone in the system.

His eyes kept darting over to the mall bench that Rowan and Nahele were sitting on. Wo Fat hadn't left their sides. At that moment, though, Wo Fat had a hold of Nahele's chin and seemed to be appraising him with that intimidating unreadable gaze of his.

"I'm fine Uncle Wo," Nahele kept saying to him but Wo didn't seem to be so sure.

"Stop manhandling my son," Steve said sternly as he moved over to them. Wo Fat took a step back, and Steve took his place, dropping his hands to his son's shoulders. He had already checked him over when he found him, but some trauma showed up later. "You can tell me, you know, if you're hurt."

Nahele's eyes watered briefly before he finally whispered: "I'm okay, really."

"He's just shaken up," Rowan said, slinging that an arm around him and tugging him to her side. "Which is understandable."

She shot Steve a warning glare like she thought he'd say something stupid. Like how it wasn't. "Of course, of course, it's understandable, that's why I told him he could talk to me."

Rowan didn't answer him though, she simply rubbed a hand up and down Nahele's arm, trying to comfort him. Steve wanted to press Nahele for more, to be more honest with him, but his phone beeped in his pocket.

That would be Jerry coming back with the info about that fingerprint and who it belonged to.

"Give me one minute, okay?" he said as he fished out his phone. He looked over the file briefly, noting that the man on his phone was the Santa that he had been squaring off with. Nice to have a name to put to the face.

But now that they had a target, it was time to tell the others the next phase of the plan.

"Hey," Steve said to Wo. "We got an ID on one of our Santas, can you come join the powwow for the next steps?"

Wo Fat nodded and followed after him as he moved back to where the others were waiting. Since the official Five-0 team members were off doing the more official tasks, Steve had only civilians for the search part.

He had Adam, Frank, Junior, Reggie and Josie all waiting for more orders. And he knew that he could trust them with this so long as he was very clear with his rules.

"Alright, guys, this is our primary," Steve said showing them the mugshot he had on his phone. "His name is James Wendall, 35-year-old Caucasian male, six-foot-one, medium build, multiple felony convictions. Alright?" He waited for a nod from all before continuing. "Now, we know him as one of our Santas, but he's ditched his costume. Jerry's gonna send this picture to all of our phones."

"Uh, my phone don't do pictures," Frank said as he held up what had to be the oldest looking flip phone Steve had seen in a long while. He was actually quite surprised that it was working in the first place.

Steve just nodded. "Don't worry about it Frank. It's alight. We're going to be breaking up into teams. Okay? Reggie, you're gonna go with Junior. Josie, you're going to go with Adam."

Right away Adam turned to Josie and offered her a hand to shake. "Hey, Josie. Adam Noshimuri."

She took the hand and shook it warmly. "Hey, you Five-0?"

"No, just a guy who has a habit of being in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Steve turned back to Frank. "Frank, you're gonna be with me, okay?"

"Yes, sir," he said right away.

"You're gonna show me every nook and cranny in this mall. Alright? Every alcove, every janitor's closet, every secret little cubby hole that you and your boys ever snuck a smoke break in."

"Done," Frank said with a nod of agreement.

Steve nodded and then turned back to the rest of the group. "These guys may have ditched their costumes, they have not ditched their weapons. Especially Wendall, he's armed, he's extremely dangerous. So under no circumstances should you engage. If you guys get a visual on this guy, you let me know, Five-0 handles it."

And by Five-0 he meant him, because it was personal now for Steve. And he was going to enjoy making Wendall pay for hurting his son.

"Everybody clear?"

He got a yes commander from everyone except Wo Fat who raised a hand.

"You have not given me a buddy, or a role. Am I on doors? Or am I following you and making sure you don't get shot?"

Steve hit him with a dry glare. "You're on Ro detail."

Wo Fat's face dead panned immediately. "You called me on my day off to use me for Rowan duty?"

"I did not call you," Steve growled. "And I didn't know that Ro was going to be involved, but she is. So if you could, I would very much greatly appreciate it if you could get her and my son out of this mall and keep them there."

"Okay, but seeing as I'm your heavy hitter, wouldn't it make more sense if you kept me in the mall? It'd be a better use of my talents, after all," he said with a shrug. Steve tried to argue but Wo Fat continued. "Let's not forget that this guy won't get past me. He already got past you. So I recommend one of your civilians going with her."

"Rowan only listens to you," Steve growled and Wo sort of half nodded like he agreed.

"Fine, but we're wasting my time," he said turning around and leaving them there to go join Rowan and Nahele.

Steve watched him walk back to his wife. Steve wanted to follow, he wanted to hug Rowan and Nahele one more time but he also needed to start this search. He reminded himself that the sooner this was done, the sooner he could go home with his family.

God how he wished he was at the parade instead.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Once Rowan and Nahele were safely out of the mall, Wo sent him a text to confirm. And then to add salt to the wound he sent a picture of himself with Joanie on his shoulders.

Like what the hell? He wasn't even her Uncle. Mary didn't even like him. How had this happened? Steve knew how it happened. Wo had probably told Mary that this picture would piss Steve off and Mary being Mary she went along.

So Steve didn't answer, which was mostly to piss Wo Fat off, and also because there was a development. In their search Adam and Josie had found two mall Santas tied up in a janitor's closet. They told Adam that two men had forced them at gun point to take off and hand over their costumes, then they were tied up and tossed in that room.

That meant that the costumes that Steve and his team had found were planted.

They were still dressed as mall Santas

Steve told Grover at the check point, and it turned out they had already let one go. He wasn't that far though, so Grover went out to get him and the man bolted.

Too bad for him, Junior was around the corner. Tackled him straight to the ground. All that was left was to find Wendall, and Steve was still taking finding that man personally.

By this point the mall was empty. Everyone else had been evacuated. All that was left was drawing Wendall out, and Steve had a plan.

He got control of the intercom and hit him with his carefully crafted speech: "James Wendall, we have your partner. We have evacuated the mall, we have it surrounded. Your only option is to surrender. You understand? Show yourself with your hands raised above your head. You got 60 seconds."

But Wendall didn't come out peacefully. He came out with a gun and a plan to escape.

Jerry spotted him right away, gun in hand, sack filled with cash in the other hand, heading towards the southwest stairwell which had no camera coverage.

Luckily Frank knew where he was going. That stairwell ad roof access, and from there it was a short jump over to the top level of the parking garage next door. Even luckier was that Frank knew a short cut that would put Steve on that roof much faster.

When they got to the end of that short cut though, the elevator they needed to use had been locked in the lockdown. Steve almost wanted to call Rowan and tell her to throw him, but Reggie and his metal arm came through.

It was strong enough to fit into the crack and pry that elevator door open with the help of Steve, Frank and Reggie pushing down on it.

Steve had expected to have to face down Wendall himself but before he even got on that roof there was a gunshot.

Steve burst out onto that rooftop half dreading what he'd find. Someone must have been up there, someone who didn't know how to evacuate, someone who got shot by Wendall. And while there was a dead body up there, it wasn't an innocent bystander.

No, it was Wendall who had died. Shot in the chest, lying in a growing pool of his own blood. Above him, Wo Fat stood, calmly staring down at the body before him, gun still in his hand, clearly making sure that the man was actually dead and not just faking it.

Not sure how he could fake it by the looks of it, Wo Fat had shot him in the heart.

Steve lowered his own gun and glared at the man he had left supervising his wife and son. He was supposed to stay with them. How had he even gotten back into the mall.

"Wo…. What… what the fuck?" he cried as he approached him

Wo turned him as if he hadn't noticed Steve before that, which was odd for him.

"What?"

"How the hell did you get up here?"

Wo seemed surprised by that question though Steve wasn't sure why. "I took the stairs."

"You took the… you chased him up the stairs? How you were with…"

"She's outside, I left her out there."

"I told you to stay with her!" Steve cried, because what he was hopping for was that Wo Fat would keep Rowan from using her powers. He clearly had not done that. "And… I didn't want her… helping…"

Wo Fat cocked an eyebrow at the helping part of that sentence. "She didn't help… per say… she simply told me that this was going to end of the roof so I got here first. Guy came crashing out of the door and despite the fact that I had a gun still charged me. So I shot him."

"She knew he was going to be up here? Why didn't you guys tell me that?"

"Cause someone needed to chase him up here and that had to be you."

"You're fucking ridiculous."

"I got the guy, didn't I?"

"I mean, yeah, but you shot him."

"Yeah, and?" Wo Fat asked and When Steve just glared at him he huffed. "He shoved my nephew over. I took it personally. And I knew you wouldn't shoot him unless you had to, I was going to shoot him regardless."

"Wo!"

"What! I waited for an excuse this time. He really did charge at me."

Steve threw his hands up in frustration and behind him someone cleared their throat. When he turned he found that, despite telling him to stay behind, Frank had followed him up there. Which was very much a Junior move, so he could see why the two of them were friends.

"Uh… I thought you might need back up," he said addressing the silent question Steve had for him. "But… uh… quick question… how did your wife know he was going to come up here?"

GREAT. Just fucking great. Another person he'd have to sell the my wife's a psychic lie to. Cause he wasn't getting tired of having to do that.

Wo Fat clapped a hand to Steve's shoulder and Steve half turned back to him.

"Your wife, your problem!" he said before stepping away.

Steve tried to call him back, but no matter how many times he called, Wo didn't head him. That was just like Wo Fat to leave him with all the work after creating the mess in the first place.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

After they helped him out like that, Steve thought it was only fair that the Veterans be invited to the McGarrett Christmas Work Party he was throwing at his house the following weekend.

It was a pre-Christmas party that Rowan got to plan and Steve and his friends put together exactly as she instructed them to. Even though he had told her not to stress herself over it, or to over exert herself in any way, she had managed to bake tin upon tin of Piparkoogid and sugar cookies for those not a fan of gingersnaps.

She had also managed to decorate the whole house. Their tree was already up and nice trimmed, presents were wrapped and neatly piled underneath, and everyone had a stocking, even Eddie. Rowan had managed to turn his house into a Martha Stewart centerfold, Christmas Edition, and he loved it.

The McGarrett family were all festively dressed. Rowan in a nice flowing deep green dress, Nahele and Steve had managed to twin again in matching navy-blue dress shirts, expertly untucked and dark blue jeans. They topped that look with a Santa hat, except for Eddie who was, instead, sporting a very festive green and red stripped bow attached to his collar.

See Rowan said she didn't like the dog, she liked to act like she didn't want him around, but she had bought him a range of fancy bows that attached to his collar for various occasions. So Steve was pretty sure she was just acting now. She liked Eddie as much as he and Nahele did, she just didn't want to admit it.

Along with having the Veterans milling around and the regular Five-0s, there was also Dog the Bounty Hunter, Noelani, Flipper and Kamekona and even Wo Fat with Jian and Con. Everyone was in different degrees of festive, except for Con who was still in the black leather, white tee-shirt and black jeans combo.

Even Wo Fat was wearing a Christmas tie for the occasion. Because of course the man came in a three-piece suit to a house party. But then again, Jian was in a dress that looked like a maternity version of a cocktail dress. Grey, just like the suit Wo Fat was in. They actually looked very good together, just very over dressed for the occasion.

Steve was doing most of the hosting, as Rowan was barely moving. Nahele might have been a help, if he wasn't on "keep mom on the couch" duty. Steve was moving around the party making sure that everyone had their drinks and everyone was good on snacks or helping themselves to the potluck.

He just finished a third round, had freshened up the snacks and handed out the drinks people had asked for and everyone was looking good. He figured now would be a good time for a speech.

He moved to where the tree stood and then called for everyone's attention.

"Hey, excuse me everybody. Uh, hey, come on in here a little…Yeah. Come on in, guys. Grab your drinks," he said and then pointed to Rowan. "And someone keep her sitting please, no more exerting yourself babe…"

Rowan shot him a scowl but along with Nahele putting an arm around her shoulders, Wo Fat had Jian sit down beside her and then dutifully put himself on the arm of that same couch to supervise both women.

This got everyone around him and once he had those familiar loving faces around him, he was good to start.

"Hey, listen, I just wanna thank all you guys for coming out tonight. Okay? It means a lot to me, and… to my family. Now, if we look around the room right now, there's a lot of familiar faces in here. Also, you're gonna see a bunch of new faces. Okay? And to the first-timers at the uh famous McGarrett's Five-0 Christmas bash, on behalf of all of us, our deepest gratitude to you guys. Also, my wife makes a mean cookie and she has tins for you to take home, so don't forget to grab yours before you go."

He paused to let everyone laugh before he continued on.

"So thank you very much, not just for helping us today but for serving this country we all love. It's our honor to call you guys o'hana now. So welcome and merry Christmas"

With the speech done everyone dutifully clapped, he got a few cheers and a few others raised their glasses or drinks in toast to him. His eyes naturally moved to Rowan who was clapping politely, but when their eyes met, she hit him with a wink and a proud smile that had him beaming. After all of that had died down, and people had gone back to their party conversations, Steve moved towards Junior.

"I wanted to say thank you, Junior. If you hadn't have showed that initiative today, we probably wouldn't have caught those bad guys."

"What are you talking about?! I got the bad guy!" Wo cried from across the room.

Steve immediately went about trying to reach his back again in case Wo Fat planted something on him again. "Does he have me bugged? Ro, did he plant a bug on me?"

"No," Wo Fat said. "I can hear you perfectly fine from where I am. I'm not that far away from you. … And stop taking credit for my take downs."

Steve shook his head and turned back to Junior who said: "I'm always happy to lend a hand,"

"Yeah, I know you are. That's why I got a little something for you."

At that Junior got a little flustered. His eyes moved away from Steve and he began to shift back and forth on his feet. "Um.. I'm sorry. I didn't realize we were exchanging gifts."

"No, we're not. It's not a gift. A gift is, uh, a gift is a charity. This is something you earned."

Steve then took the badge he had put specifically on his hip to camouflage it, and then offered it up to Junior.

Junior stared at that badge in his hand for a moment before whispering: "For real?" in a shaky breath.

"No, I'm kidding. What do you think? Yeah, for real. Come on."

Junior took the badge from him and then really stared at it for a moment before turning his eyes up to Steve. "But, um, my HPD training, I haven't finished the course yet."

"You didn't finish? I thought you guys told me he'd finished the course," he said to the crowd, obviously joking before turning back to Junior with a serious face. "Listen, you will finish the course, alright? But over the last couple of months, you've proven to me, you've proven to all of us, that you're more than ready for that. So Merry Christmas and welcome aboard."

That earned them all another round of applause and cheers from their friends, and Junior pulled Steve in for a big and long bro hug.

As this died down he heard Rowan call out: "Does this mean he gets to move off our couch?"

Junior tensed in the hug he still had Steve embraced in and Steve quickly whispered: "Just ignore her."

Eventually Junior let him go and the team moved over to congratulate Junior on getting his badge. Steve got to step back and move towards his family where he'd rather be. This was shaping up to be one of the best Christmases so far.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

It was Christmas Eve and Danny got to have Charlie for the holiday. Since he rotated with Rachel he didn't get to have Charlie last year, so this year he was doing all the fun stuff he could with him. Charlie hadn't wanted to go to sleep though. Like most children, he was all excited and riled up because Santa was on his way. So, to try and get him tired, Danny decided to tell Charlie story.

Uncle Steve and the Angels versus the bad Santas. The angels being the Veterans of course, because they had to be angels to deal with Steve.

He got through the whole story and Charlie was finally asleep which meant that Danny could get the final touches to Christmas started, which included prepping for Christmas dinner tomorrow and some last-minute wrapping.

He was not expecting anyone else in the house with him.

"Yo, why you got to hold on me with these cookies?" Steve said appearing from the kitchen. Danny would have jumped if he wasn't so goddamn annoyed. Where the hell had the man come from? Why the fuck was he here?

Steve, by the sound of his voice, had one cookie in his mouth, two more in one hand and a massive glass of milk in the other. "Why wouldn't you tell me about these? These are shockingly good."

"I don't know why that's shocking. I'm a fantastic baker?'

"You baked these?"

"Yeah I baked those… do me a favour…" "—is this one of Ros recipes?"

It was but Danny wasn't going to admit that.

"Okay, Steve, pay attention. Do me a favour, next time you steal…" "—Wait, wait, wait. What did you just say, steal? I didn't steal anything. They were sitting right there!"

My god, with the interrupting and the lies. See, this was probably why Rowan and him argued, that was why he was here right now. He got kicked out on Christmas Eve.

Though, if that were true, he'd expect more tears from the man, and definitely a lot more panic. That meant that he hadn't been kicked out or the shock hadn't worn off and it would hit him later. Probably once they were done arguing.

"For Santa Claus. They're sitting right there for Santa Claus, not for you. Okay? I hope you're proud of yourself. You stole cookies from Santa Claus, you animal."

Still he handed Steve the now empty plate he and Charlie had set out for Santa so he had somewhere to put the cookies. The two then sat down on the couch together.

He noted that on the table, there was a pair of scissors and tape that Steve must have stolen from him, but there was also wrapping paper and ribbon that Danny didn't recognize.

If he had to guess he'd say that Steve was there to wrap gifts, but why couldn't he have done that at home?

"Let me explain something you. Alright?" Steve said.

"Please. Explain something to me. Cause I need things explained to me."

He was being sarcastic, of course, but Steve explained anyway.

"I Santa Claus had his big, fat sausage fingers on these cookies, that means he would be guilty of a home invasion you ever think about that?"

"Wow! I want you to really think about that. Cause next year you're gonna have a baby, and very soon after that you're gonna have a kid who's old enough to believe in Santa, and I doubt Ro's going to let you set up a sting operation with her kid attempting to catch Santa red handed."

"Hey! I'm going to be a great father, and we're going to LOVE setting up traps for Santa, thank you very much. My kids are gonna love that tradition."

Danny just shook his head. "And what about you then? You just broken into my house."

"I didn't break into your house."

"Yes, you did."

"I used the key that's behind the rock, that you leave outside behind the rock that you put there for emergencies."

"Oh yeah, what's the emergency?"

"I forgot to wrap my gifts for Rowan and Nahele and I knew if I tried to do it tonight, she'd find out and I don't want her to."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, I want them to be a surprise…'

"No, you don't want her to know that you didn't get it done when she's been nagging you for a month to do it."

Steve shot him a glare and Danny knew he was right.

"Shut up, you are such a grinch,"

"Me a Grinch?" Danny echoed reaching for one of the remaining cookies.

"Hey what are you doing?"

"I can't have one of my cookies?" Danny asked him dryly so he knew how stupid he was being.

But Steve, being Steve, did not get it. "Yes, you can. You can have the top cookie."

Steve then made a big show of using one figure to push over the two cookies. His big fat fingers contaminating both of them.

"No, now that you touched it, I don't want it."

"I didn't touch it, I'm touching the bottom cookie."

"Oh my god, it doesn't matter. I have a whole other tray of cookies that I can have with my own milk if you haven't drunk it all…"

"Where are they?" Steve asked, suddenly very interested.

Danny narrowed his eye at him. "In the kitchen."

"I didn't see them…"

"Good that means I hid them pretty good…"

"Well go get them."

"I'm gonna."

"Good, Grinch…"

"There's that Grinch again. I'm a Grinch?"

Danny got up to go to the kitchen, the argument trailing after him. Once again it would be another Christmas run in with one of their stupid arguments. And here he was thinking that getting Rowan back would stop them from interrupting their Holidays.

But still… anything was better the Christmases Steve spent without Rowan.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Jian had made a very big deal about this dinner. She had spent the month decorating carefully, doing her best to make it look like it did in the McGarrett home without copying Rowan out right. It was a little harder as Rowan's home was painted in warm colour and was generally considered more cozy. Their house was more black and metal chic which was more their taste, it just meant it was harder to imbue with a cozy feel.

Wo kept telling her that their Christmas didn't have to be like Rowan's, theirs could be well… theirs, and that seemed to help her.

They had opted for a fake tree, a stunning black tree that she had done up in silvers with small accents of gold. The lights twinkled like little stars in the branches and honestly Wo Fat loved it. There were silver wreaths hung around the house, and other silver like decoration.

This was Jian's first year attempting making a turkey like Rowan had last year. She had spent the weeks leading up researching recipes and tips on every aspect. She had it down to a science, and even though Wo Fat wanted her to relax she didn't trust him at the helm of the turkey operation. So he was on making the two different types of potatoes. Con was on vegetable duty, Steve was on the rolls and Rowan was on dessert.

By the time 5pm came around Jian was in a tizzy and Wo Fat was doing everything he could to calm her down. But no matter what he did she was anxious. This was important, she kept reminding him. Hosting meant she was part of the family, officially, and if she let them down they may not trust her to do it again.

Wo thought that was silly. Firstly, Rowan had considered her family for a long time, and Steve basically followed her in that. Con had also been calling her his sister-in-law long before he officially proposed to her. Sure, they may be a little hesitant to let her host again if this was an unmitigated disaster, but there was no way they'd ban her forever.

It was a more likely scenario that Rowan, being the control freak she was, would not want to relinquish control of the holidays. But even then he was sure he could convince his sister to give Jian more chances to host.

Turned out that Jian didn't even need to worry. Everything had turned out. All the food was perfect, the stuffing a little too watery but not the end of the world. Everyone family had even followed the dress code.

Like last year, Jian had wanted something everyone had to wear to make it festive. She chose all black with special hats for everyone. She had bought extra hats in case anyone forgot, but no one did.

Rowan had Christmas themed Mickey ears, Steve had hand dear ears with light up antlers, and Nahele had candy cane ears. Both she and wow had Santa hats on, Con had on an elf hat that had stuck on ears. Eventually Doris showed up with Yao. They were both wearing plaid antlers, except hers were red and black and his was green and red.

It made for a wonderful family picture.

They opened presents after dinner and once everything was open they had their dessert. They were all sitting around the tree or in the living room chitchatting. Rowan and Jian were engaged in baby talk, Nahele was sitting with Doris and Yao and Steve telling them everything they had missed.

There was a moment before they had sat down for dinner where Wo and Jian told Yao about the engagement and the pregnancy. They hadn't wanted to do it over the phone, and now that he was there it was the time to tell him. Yao had hugged Wo first and then Jian. He welcomed her into the Fat family and very proudly said that he was excited to bring such a distinguished woman into their family.

A doctor. How impressive.

Everyone in their family was prestigious. Wo Fat the ruthless Crime Boss, Rowan the famous song writer, Con the unmatched assassin, and now Jian, the doctor.

Jian had burst into tears at that revelation.

Yao had also been very excited about the prospect of Wo Fat continuing their line. But at one mention of him wanting a boy, Wo Fat shut him down. This wasn't China, there wasn't a one-child law, and it didn't matter what gentiles his child had, all that mattered was that they were healthy.

And that had made Jian beam.

So yeah. The night had been going rather well. There was just one last thing to do. So with everyone now distracted, Wo took that time to pull Con out onto the lanai.

"I need to talk to you," was all he said as he put a hand to Con's arm and gently guided him out the door.

As soon as the door shut Con turned to him. "What's up?"

"I don't know if you've heard anything but… a lot of my operations have been taking hits," he said softly. "I've been trying to keep on top of it but… it's become clear that someone has set up shop here and is trying to muscle me out. And they're succeeding."

"You want me to track down who?"

"No… no… right now my concern is our family," he said. "I'm afraid that if I fight back too hard, they'll try to hit me back. But then again, if I lose all control, I lose any security I have for us…"

"You think someone will make a play for Ro again? Or do you think they'll try for Jian."

"Rowan would be the obvious choice, it's who they went after in the past. But she's attached to Five-0 and people still call her La Bruja…"

"You know they were only going after her because you didn't have Jian, right?" Con said. "People usually go for significant others over siblings, just saying."

"Alright, so Jian's the most logical choice now…"

"So, you want me to make sure that Jian stays safe…"

"And I'd like to keep Rowan out of it too. Knowing her if she catches wind of this, she'll try to help…"

"I can't sit on both of them, Wo," Con said. "We'll have to loop Steve in if we want someone on Ro…"

"And admit to him that I'm control is slipping through my fingers? No, he'll never let me live it down…"

"It's better than Rowan getting into something. I really won't be able to manage watching both, so I'll have to pick one. I think we'd all feel better if Steve was in on this."

"She's pretty pregnant right now anyway, what are the chances she gets herself into something huh?" he asked. When Con just pinned him with a dry glare he sighed. "Yeah… you're right, it's pretty high if she thinks we're in danger. But you know… she has powers, anything she gets herself into she can just get herself out of it." Con hit him with another dry glare and Wo nodded, knowing he was right. "Just… can we wait a bit? Just until we're absolutely certain? Last resort?"

"I mean, fine. It's your call," he said with a shrug.

"Thank you."

"You still going back to LA?" Con asked after a moment.

Wo sighed heavily, swirling his drink around. "I don't have a choice. If I try to stay whoever's behind this might try to escalate. It might be best if we act as if everything's normal while we get more intel."

Con nodded. "Alright, ask questions, but do so discretely. And also keep track of Rowan and Jian. Easy."

It wasn't but Wo knew his brother would do this for him, so he wasn't too concerned.

"You'll keep me posted?"

"Course," he said. "You have nothing to worry about."

Except that wasn't true. Everything was about to change and he was no longer in control. Things couldn't really get much worse.