Rewrite

AvalonReeseFanFics

A/N: Happy Wednesday my wonderful readers! We have the start of the March updates coming today. Sorry it's a bit late my day was rather hectic! Please enjoy Wo and Jian not only being cute but getting their shit together. Don't forget to leave a review and I'll see you guys next week!

Chapter 470

Wo sat at the kitchen table, shoveling matcha pancakes into his mouth. Just like he would with Rowan's matcha pancakes, he had covered them in honey before starting to cut them up. Jian was sitting beside him, a magazine in her hands, flipping through it slowly, her eyes darting to him with each bite he took.

He knew what was coming, and he was ready to lie.

"Are they good?" she asked demurely. Her eyes never leaving the magazine pages before her.

Wo finished chewing before saying: "Yeah!" and then stabbing another piece.

"Better than your sister's?"

Wo paused in bringing the piece to his mouth. He knew this was where they would end up.

The new weekly therapy that Jian was attending had been helping her with her grief but it hadn't helped with her resentment towards Rowan. She still was uncomfortable spending extended periods of time with her, and she wasn't comfortable with Wo spending more time than needed with her. She had also started to view everything with Rowan as a competition.

She started with asking if Wo had done whatever they were doing with Rowan first. If he said yes, she'd ask who he had more fun with. Then she started asking who he thought was funnier and who he had more fun with in general. Then she started asking who he thought was better at things that Rowan was honestly very good at. Like singing, driving, and now cooking.

"Of yeah, they're so much better," he said, though he was lying. Unfortunately it didn't matter what Jian, or literally anyone did, no one could get Rowan's pancakes right. Of course they tasted just fine, it was just that Rowan's tasted better.

He was starting to believe that Steve and Con were right, there was a secret ingredient that Rowan wasn't telling anyone about. Which was awfully petty if he did say so.

Jian, however, frowned at him for a moment before her lips pursed. "You're lying."

Well, she wasn't wrong. He hated that she knew when he was lying.

"It's not your fault," he said quickly. "I think Steve's theory about a secret ingredient is correct."

"So secret she hasn't even told you?" she asked, a strange sort of smirk on her face.

"Believe it or not, Rowan and I don't tell each other everything," he said. The silent just most things following that statement much louder then he thought it would be.

"Well, if I had a secret ingredient in a recipe I'd tell you about it," she said and he smiled at her as he finally got the piece of pancake into his mouth.

"Thank you, very much," he said between chewing.

They lapsed into comfortable silence for a moment, until he finished the two pancakes that she had plated for him. Then he finally looked up, physically starting when he realized what magazine she was reading.

"Is that… is that a bridal magazine?"

Jian looked up to him surprise. "Well yeah… you're going to propose right?"

"I… yeah… that is what we agreed on…"

"Well, I have to plan a wedding, it's very time consuming. Best to start now so we're ready."

Wo blinked his eyes. "That makes… yeah that makes sense but I… I guess I thought I had more time."

"More time?" she echoed her eyes narrowed at him. "How much time?"

"You said you wanted it soon, like two months at the least. I didn't think you meant NOW," he cried.

"Two months? I thought we'd be engaged by the end of the month."

"End of the month?!" he echoed. Dear god. He had no idea that was the time like that she was on. They were miles off if that was the case.

Jain shut the magazine quickly. "Have you not planned anything… at all?"

"Why would I? We hadn't agreed to me proposing properly until recently!"

"But… I mean… you didn't have any idea of what to do? You had bought a ring…"

"I was going to take you to dinner, or put you on a beach or something, then propose and take you home."

"That's it? Steve had a whole…"

"Steve had a plan I gave him!" Wo reminded her. The words coming out lower then intended as they made their way through his ground teeth. "And he literally gave me three days to get the proposal and wedding ready to go!" Jian turned away from him, but he could tell that her eyes were watering. He took a deep breath before trying again somewhat calmer. "I thought we agreed that we didn't want to be like the McGarretts?"

"I know… but… Rowan's proposal was…"

"Planned and put together by me. All Steve had to do was play the guitar to her and then ask. That's it."

"Yes but you did it for them. You couldn't do it for us?"

Wo dropped his head to his hands and then his elbows to the table as he groaned. Dear God, this competition between her and the McGarretts was going to kill him. Why couldn't she understand that he wasn't like Steven. He just wasn't hardwired that way.

He pulled his head out of his hands with a deep sigh, and Jian sighed right back at him. "I'm sure I'll be happy without a big proposal. Anything you do will be just fine."

Wo grit his teeth against the need to tell her that just fine was obviously not ok, and a big proposal would have to be planned now.

"I'll figure it out," he said, trying to smile and failing miserably. "Don't you worry about it."

Jian cocked an eyebrow at him, her doubt in him and whatever he'd come up with palpable between them. He tried to smile, tried to feel confident, but honestly, he didn't, especially since the one person he knew could help him with this couldn't be involved.

God.

This was going to be a disaster.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Sometime after they had finished breakfast and the dishes that went with it, Wo made up an excuse to cross the street to Con's house. When he thought Jian wasn't looking he had flipped through the bridal magazine to see what she was dog earing.

Everything she was looking at was opulent and fancy, much different from what Rowan's wedding had been, so at least she wasn't aiming for a similar wedding vibe. Though he wondered if she knew their wedding would be just as small if not smaller than Rowan's had been. It wasn't like either of them had a lot of people to invite.

He had gone to Con because, outside of Rowan, Steve or even Williams, he was the most realistic and romantic person he had at his disposal. But nothing they had come up with was good enough for Jian who was expecting the spectacular. Everything seemed generic and not personal to her the way Steve's had been for his song-writing wife.

By lunch, Con was officially done with Wo shooting down every single idea he came up with, which was clear when he said: "Dude, I don't know why you're over here wracking your brain. Just call…"

"NO!" he snapped. "I need to do this without her… Jian… she's still…"

"Honestly Wo, I don't know why you want to propose to someone who's not okay with your sister. If she's doing it now, she's not going to get better when you two marry."

Wo put his head in his hands again, elbows braced on his knees. "I know… but… she wasn't like this before the miscarriage…"

"Yes, she was. She just wasn't as vocal about it."

Wo winced. He didn't want to admit it, but Con was right. Jian had been staunchly against Rowan to begin with, but he had thought both he and Rowan had won her over. She had complained much less about Rowan's presence in his life but almost every argument they had directly linked back to Rowan, with either something she had done, or because of how he had reacted to something she had done.

Wo pulled his head out of his hands to stare at him. "What do I do though?" he asked softly. "I… I love her… I love them both. I don't want to have to… choose."

"Look… this isn't… it's not ideal. But… it's not like Rowan's making this difficult like Steve was for you and her, or the way she is for Tani and me. This… this jealously that Jian has, where she's constantly comparing everything to Rowan… to her and Steve, it's not healthy and I don't think… I don't think it's all about you."

Wo hadn't thought about it that way. Maybe he'd have to ask her about it.

"Now, are we going to be sensible about this, or do you want to be difficult a little longer? Con asked. Wo found himself groaning again. "Seriously, you know she's got an idea, and it's going to be right up Jian's alley."

Wo hung his head. Con was right. He had been right a lot today. "Yeah, let's… let's go."

They crossed the street once again, this time heading towards the McGarrett homestead. Con went in first, letting himself in to a call of: "Take your shoes off!" coming from the kitchen.

Wo had paused to do that, Con liked to tramp through her house with his boots. But he sighed and kicked them off for her.

"You know, you could have slippers for us, like Jian and Wo do," he called right back.

He shot Con a bit of a glance, wondering how Rowan would react to that. For a moment she was silent and Con refused to move. He stood in their front foyer, right beside the couch, waiting to see what she would say. With her pregnancy hormones it was hit or miss how she would react to something like that.

Just a couple of days ago she had dropped Steve into the surf outside their personal beach over an argument they had been having. Something about him wanting to do the laundry and her wanting to do it herself. Wo still wasn't quite sure what had set her off so badly because the entire argument was pure stupidity.

"That's it, no cookies for you," Rowan snapped and Con groaned while Wo stifled a laugh. That was just like Rowan to go straight for the weakness.

Con got over it quickly though because he followed up that threat with: "Are you baking… again?"

"Yes!" she snapped.

"Are you here alone? I thought you had Adam today," he asked moving towards the kitchen.

"Nahele's upstairs."

"Nahele is not proper protection and you know it!"

Wo trailed after Con, following him into the kitchen where Rowan was carefully rolling dough into balls that she then flattened before placing on her cooking sheet. Con dipped a hand into the batter bowl and came back with a rather large glob of dough that he quickly split in half and handed to Wo Fat.

Wo didn't usually like dough, but he never passed up the option to sample some of his sister's baking.

He popped it into his mouth and then frowned. "What kind of cookies are you making?"

"Almond cookies," she said absently, worrying another ball between her palms. "There's a bag of dough in the freezer for you to take home. All you have to do is pop them on the cookie sheet and brush an egg wash over them and then press half an almond on top and then cook for 15-17 minutes."

Wo cocked an eyebrow at her, watching her flatten yet another ball of dough before placing it on her sheet. She eventually turned to him when he didn't stay anything, looked him up and down as he stared at her before saying: "What?"

"That's pretty complicated, you think I'm going to remember that?"

"No, that's why I stapled a recipe card to the bag."

"Oh, smart, thank you."

They watched Rowan finish rolling, flattening and then placing the dough onto the cookie sheet, and were gearing up to watch her brush what was clearly the egg wash onto the cookie when she asked: "So why are you guys here?"

"We wanted to ask you for help," Con said.

"Help with what?"

Con turned to Wo who scowled at him. Yes this was his project, and his proposal, but coming to Rowan had been Con's idea. The least he could do was do the talking for him.

"I need help with… with a proposal… for Jian…" he whispered. Rowan came to a complete standing still, this large grin on her face that had him wincing.

Rowan was so excited for this, it made him feel bad that he hadn't just come to her in the first place.

"It's happening? For real?"

"Yes," he said. "She… she wants something by the end of the month…"

"End of the month? That doesn't give us much time," she said with a frown.

"Steven gave me three days," he reminded her.

"Yes, but she wants something much more elaborate than what you and Steve did for me," she said and Wo hated that she knew that. "Well… you're in lucky. I got something in the works, but… I thought I'd have more time. Do you think you can hold her off for a bit while I get it started?"

"You have… you have something? Really?" he asked.

Rowan stopped pressing almonds into the middle of her cookies and then turned to him. "Yeah, I've had this planned since I clocked the ring on her finger," she said. "If you grab my phone I can show you what I have going."

Wo went to the kitchen table where her phone sat and quickly unlocked it for her. He let her wash and dry her hands before handing it to her. She swiped through pictures before finding what she was looking for and handing the phone back to him. For a moment Wo was silent as he swiped through everything she had gotten done.

"You… you did this for me?" he found himself whispering. He hadn't asked her to do this, he hadn't known she would do something like this for him, and suddenly he felt worse than before.

"Course," she said with a shrug. "You're my big brother and… you need help with stuff like this. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but… I unno… you two deserve something amazing, and… I unno… I wanted to be the one to help you with it. I'm glad that you're going to let me… you know… all things considered."

Guilt hit him full force again, stabbing him in the chest, leaving him aching. Con was right, Rowan had really planned the perfect proposal. They should have come here first and at no point should he have felt like he couldn't come to Rowan for help. She shouldn't have thought that she couldn't just… offer this to him either, that her help wasn't wanted. No matter how true that was.

He had a decision to make now and he honestly wasn't looking forward to it.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

The night she had been waiting for was finally here.

Wo Fat hadn't actually told her that tonight was going to be the night, but she knew it was. A couple of days ago he had told her to go and get a manicure, that morning he had paid for her to go to the spa to relax, to get her hair blown our or her make up done as she saw fit, all on his dime of course. They were dressed up to the nines, he had even allowed her to match them, both in navy blue, and there was no other reason she could think for him to go through all that trouble unless he planned to propose.

He had made her wait too. He had sat her down during one of her bridal research days, specifically venues possible on Hawaii, and had asked if he could have an extension. He needed about a month or so to put together what he had come up with. She wasn't given an exact date, of course, but they were coming up on that month deadline he had asked for.

He had taken her into downtown Oahu, heading for what was commonly known at the art district. The streets were lined with twinkling lights, and little independent art galleries. Excitement hummed under her skin. A proposal in an art gallery. A proposal specifically curated to her. A proposal that had nothing to do with Rowan, because she had told him she didn't want her involved.

Granted, she had tacked that on when he had asked for an extension on the proposal timeline. He could get the extra time, so long as Rowan wasn't involved with the process. He had gone wide-eyed and quiet when she said it and for a moment she thought he'd call her out for outrageous request, but he simply nodded and then walked away.

It was a bit of a gamble, mainly because Wo got most of his romantic ideas from his sister, but she was certain he could do this without her. He just had to want to. He just had to try. She'd forgive a lack luster proposal from him so long as it was clear he tried and Rowan hadn't helped him at all.

He brought her to the art gallery he had chosen, a warm smile on his face, excitement alight in his eyes. She too was excited, she couldn't wait to see what he had come up with.

"This is a special exhibit, only for tonight," he whispered. Jian noted that no one else was in there. Immediately she wondered if he had managed to create an exhibit of paintings from her favourite artist, but once she got in, once she actually saw what the painting were, she knew that wasn't what he had done.

He had done something completely different.

Each and every canvas was her.

Her favourite pictures of herself. Of her and Wo together. All done up in different art styles that she liked. Images of her painted into some of her favourite painting. She found herself tearing up, looking at them all. She couldn't believe he had done this. No wonder he needed extra time to get it done.

He eventually led her into the main room, the one meant for the main attraction of the exhibit, except the wall was empty. There was, however, a woman sitting there, canvas in front of her, already painting.

A live painter. He had found someone to come in and paint the proposal as it happened. She almost burst out into tears right then and there.

She noted there was tape on the floor, where he led her to. He had her stand on one taped X and then went to stand on the other.

"Did you like the paintings?" he asked and she nodded, unable to get the words out. "I'm glad. That's… that's how I see you, you know? In my mind, you're always that beautiful. My own personal work of art."

It wasn't true, she wasn't that pretty, but she loved that he thought so.

"You've put up with a lot from me," he said, moving to unbutton the navy blue suit jacket he was wearing. "I know that I've taken a bit too much time to get us here, but honestly, I'm just glad you're still here. So, if you're willing to put up with me for… maybe the rest of our lives…"

He took that moment to get down on one knee in front of her, a little green ring box appearing in his hands. He opened it up and offered it to her, the ring she knew and loved nestled in the silk inside, all buffed and polished so it really shined under the lights of the gallery.

"Would you consider marrying me?"

"Yes, yes, of course I will," she cried, offering her hand out so he could slip the ring onto her finger. As soon as that ring was back on her finger, she grabbed his hand and tugged him up to his feet again. She kissed him solidly, holding him in place by the suit jacket, happy tears trailing down her face, a smile from both of them mingling with the kisses.

She eventually let him go, noting that there was a small table with some treats waiting for them to nibble on, and champagne popped and iced, ready to go for them for when they toasted.

It looked like there were plates waiting, so maybe dinner was on it's way? Honestly she didn't care. She was just so happy about the proposal and how wonderful it was that she could skip dinner and go straight to the home part, where she'd ravish him entirely to reward him for coming up with this.

"When the painting is done, it'll go up on the wall and then we can take a picture in front of it. It'll make a good engagement announcement post," he said and she found herself giggling to herself in her giddy excitement. "And you get to take whichever canvas you want home. Any one you want, as many as you want. Just put a sticker beside the ones you want."

He then handed her a sheaf of red dot stickers. She already knew which ones she wanted. She already knew where they were going to go in her house. But she peeled her first red dot off and stuck it directly to him.

He glanced down to the little red dot on his chest, right above his heart and then shot her a bit of a smirk. "You already have me, and going home with me was already a given."

She laughed at that and practically threw herself at him. Winding her arms around his neck as she went about leisurely kissing him.

"See, see how good things can be when you don't let your sister into every aspect of your life?" she asked. "You thought you couldn't be romantic without her. I knew you could."

Wo's dreamy smile faded the second those words came out of her mouth. She wished she could take them back. She wished she hadn't brought her up at all. He straightened, pried himself out of her grasp, taking a few steps back and away from her.

The space between them was palpable as the tension she had brought into this moment.

His shock turned quickly into indifference, which was the same as him being angry. His hands went to his cuffs, worrying at the fabric as if trying to get them to lay straight when they were perfectly fine. She knew that was a nervous tick of his.

"I didn't want to do this today," he whispered softly. "I was going to bring it up later… but you've forced my hand now, haven't you?"

She didn't know what he was talking about.

He turned to the painter and said: "Can… can you give us a moment?"

"Of course."

He waited, watching her leave, his eyes never once moving to her. When his eyes found hers again, she could see the walls were back up, as was the armour. He was about to go to battle, but it was once again against her.

"Rowan planned all of this," he said blankly. "She saw you wearing the ring and she started commissioning artists to get the artwork done. She had me ask you for your favourite pictures, she got your favourite style and artists out of you, she found the painter for tonight and the venue. The only thing I did was ask her for help and make sure the paintings were delivered here and put up."

"I told you I didn't want her involved."

"Yes I know, but by the time you told me that, I had already asked her. Everything was already in motion," he sighed. "And honestly Jian… this can't… this can't go on."

A beat of fear ran through her as she stared at the man that she loved. His hands in his pockets now, his face passive. Like he had already decided that things were over between them. All over his sister.

"The ring is yours. I want to be with you. I want to marry you. But I'm not, and I can't in good conscience, go any further than this, if my relationship with my sister is going to continue to be a problem."

Jian blinked at him. Okay. So. Not a full break up, he wasn't taking the proposal back, but the ultimatum wasn't appreciated.

"I... I don't think… I don't think Steve's proposal had an ultimatum."

"See that right there. That's the first thing that has to stop," he said pointing a stern finger at her. "I will NEVER be able to keep up with McGarrett. I'm not hardwired for that. Will I be able to get advice from them on romantic ideas and dates, of course, but we're not them, and I will not try to be them all the time. Do you understand?"

She nodded, because he was right. Logically she understood that the two relationships were different. Steve and Rowan's wasn't anything like hers with Wo, just like Ro and Wo's relationship was different from the one he had with Jian. But she didn't think it was all that wrong to want him to be like a little like them. To want Wo to maybe try and show that he loved her the way Steve did for Rowan.

Though she understood where he was coming from, that didn't stop the tears from welling up in her eyes.

"And Rowan is non-negotiable. She is my sister. And I love her. So I expect you to get over whatever your issue with her is, and I won't be marrying you until you do."

She had tried to talk to him about this before and the conversation had not gone well for either of them. He couldn't understand her position, no matter how many times she brought it up. She had promised herself she wouldn't bring it up again because he never responded well to it, but seeing as he was throwing down ultimatums, then she could bring up the uncomfortable argument that was always between them.

"You… you love her more than me."

"No I fucking don't," he snapped. "It's not her I proposed to. You have that ring on your finger, not her. And I could have. I was gone with her a whole year and at no point during the whole year did it occur to me that I could use myself to help her get over Steven. Not once. She never made a move, and neither did I. Because we don't think about each other that way."

"But you still love her more than me," she said softly. "You'll always pick her."

"You're the only one making me choose," he cried. "You're the one that drew that line in the sand. Rowan loves you. Rowan wants you to be her sister-in-law. Rowan put all of this together. She's my fucking sister. She has been trying to include you in this family since we got back together, and you are throwing it all back in her face. If she was treating you the way she treated Tani, then yes, I would tell her off. But Rowan has been NOTHING but kind to you. I really, REALLY, don't see what the fucking problem is."

Jian couldn't stop it, but she burst into tears at that. She knew he was right. Rowan had always been absolutely lovely. She talked sense into Wo whenever he was being unreasonable, she looked out for Jian, she had saved her life twice and always tried to include her in everything. She knew she looked and sounded crazy, constantly trying to keep Rowan at arm's length, holding her insecurities against Rowan as if they were Rowan's fault when she had merely been existing.

"I know, I know," she cried. She watched Wo's hands raise, as if he meant to reach out to comfort her, but they didn't come. They fell back to his side as he stood there watching her cry. "But you… you go to her for everything. And… and… she got all your firsts… and… if it comes down to it, we both know… both of us know you'll pick her. In life or death, for emotional things, just because she gets you more, for everything, you'll always pick her."

"No, I wouldn't. Life or death, I'm picking you. Rowan has fucking portal powers, you don't," he reminded her. "And yes, a lot of my emotional first are with Rowan but you really need to understand that I was a fucking monster before Rowan got involved. And I don't think you get that. I don't think you get how bad it was. Rowan has always understood who I am, what I am, and what I'm like. It's why I go to her for emotional stuff because she can translate into regular-person speak, to help me understand what I've done wrong and how to fix it."

She lowered her eyes at that point.

"Look. I understand that my package… it's not ideal. I can understand why you think Rowan is a problem, and why I would have an issue loving you both. I can only tell you that I do. I love Rowan as my sister, and I love you as my potential life partner. I wouldn't be doing anything of this if I didn't see a future with you, if I didn't see us growing old together, but I also see Rowan there and I don't want to lose that," he said softly. "So… take all the time you need to really think about this and what you want. You need to decide whether or not you can handle having Rowan in your life, in our life, and I really… I really want you to think about why you have this… this need to compete with Rowan. Cause… I don't think… I don't think it's all about me, you know?"

She nodded at that. It wasn't an unreasonable ask and it honestly warmed her heart that when he pictured his retirement years, he saw her sitting beside him. Granted he probably also saw Rowan on the other side of him, but she was there too.

She sniffed lightly and dabbed at her eyes. "I really wish you had waited to drop all this on me."

"Yeah… Rowan's going to be pissed I did this," he said, his hands firmly in his pocket again. "The plan was to confront you about it before your next therapy appointment, give you some time to bask in the proposal and then maybe you could talk to them about what's going on about this. But… after what you said… I just… I guess I didn't see the point in waiting."

She nodded again and he sighed.

"I know that this… this ruined everything but… do you want the painter to come back in, do you still want to pick your favourite canvases? They're all paid for you can pick whichever one you want," he whispered.

Stupidly she did want the painter to come back, she did want to pick her favourite canvases off the wall, she wanted them all in their house, a reminder of their proposal even if it was slightly tainted now. She nodded to him soundlessly and he cleared his throat.

"Alright, well, there's a washroom over in the back corner, if you'd like to go and… and… freshen up. Not that I think you need to, you look beautiful no matter what but I thought… I know how… girls…"

What he meant was he knew what Rowan was like after she cried. But he was right, she did want to refreshen her face, see if she had any black smudges to remove.

Though they tried to salvage the night, it was ruined. They went home before the dinner came, they only stayed to finish the live painting, there was no picture before it, the happy moment all but gone and as much as she wanted to blame Rowan for it, she knew that most of this was her fault.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

It took a week for her to gather up all her courage to walk over to the McGarrett house to talk to Rowan.

She had had three emergency therapy sessions with her therapist after the proposal and how awful it was. They talked about Wo Fat ultimatum, they talked about how it made her feel. Then they talked about why she was so upset with Rowan, why she was so adamant on having her out of his life. They made serval breakthroughs, she had a better understanding of herself and the trauma she had gone through that had made her the way she was. But even with that new understanding, even knowing how she wanted to approach the situation, she was too scared to go to Rowan.

She felt ashamed for how she acted, she worried that Rowan wouldn't forgive her, or understand why things had been the way they had for so long. Maybe she had been so awful that Rowan didn't want her in the family anymore.

The canvases she had taken from the proposal were in limbo too. Behind the closed door of the nursery, propped against a wall. She hadn't found it in herself to put them up.

Today, however, she had decided that she didn't want to be afraid anymore. It was time to woman up and confront the problems she had created and try to find a way out of them.

She waited for Wo Fat to leave for work before heading over to the McGarrett homestead. She took a deep breath before knocking on the door and then waited a bit for the door to open.

Despite having all the strings and a psychic knowledge Rowan seemed surprised to see her.

"Oh. Uhm… Hi… are… are you okay?"

The fact that Rowan was immediately worried for her boded well for the whole conversation.

"Yeah. I'm fine. I Just… I wanted to talk to you, if that's okay."

"Sure, come on in. I was just vegging on the couch."

She moved out of the doorway, letting Jian follow her inside. As Jian kicked her shoes off, Rowan went back to the couch.

"I'm sorry, for not… I'm not going to be a good host today. I'm not really feeling well and my feet hurt so I just want to… you know sit here. If you want anything you go help yourself."

"I can do that," Jian said quickly, heading for the kitchen. "Do you want anything?"

"A ginger ale would be great."

Jian nodded, moving through the McGarrett kitchen. She made herself a green tea, which Rowan kept stocked because she knew Wo and Jian liked it. Put together a plate of cookies for them to share and then brought it all back to the living room where she put the plate on the coffee table and handed the ginger ale to Rowan. She sat on the other side of the couch, sipping her green tea and Rowan opened her ginger ale and took a generous gulp.

Her eyes were on the TV across from them, she was watching some daytime reality TV show that she normally didn't like but was probably bored. She didn't move to open the conversation so it would be up to her to do it.

Jian cleared her throat and Rowan's eyes slid over to her. She tried not to squirm under the stare she pinned on her. "I wanted to thank you for the proposal. I took a few of the canvases home."

Rowan quickly muted the TV. A smile on her face. "Oh wonderful! I'm glad you enjoyed it! Though I did tell Wo to take the credit for it all…"

"Oh, he did… originally…"

"Oh... uh—" "… did he tell you... did he tell you about the ultimatum?" she asked interrupting her.

Rowan's mouth dropped open in surprise. "Ultimatum? Nothing about that night included an ultimatum, what are you talking about?"

"I… I made a comment, about how uhm… he could come up with romantic stuff on his own… without you, and he just went off about how… he loved you and he wanted us both to be a part of his life. He said… he said that he wasn't going to marry me until I figured it out, my… my issue with you. That he couldn't marry me unless I knew for certain I could accept you in our lives. That I had to decide if you being there was a deal breaker and then end things if it was."

"Oh god."

"And… and I think… I mean, my therapist and I have been talking about it and… and I think… I think it's a combo of things. I grew up wanting… wanting my family to love me more than anything. And I never got that. I vowed that if I ever got into a relationship, they'd have to always put me first. But… for Wo Fat, it definitely does seem like you are always his first thought."

"Uh… I mean… I guess it can kind of look like that…"

"And then… you have absolutely everything I ever wanted. You have the loving family, you have the doting husband, you're the perfect housewife and you're pregnant and… and… you have all Wo's attention. And I just… I feel like I won't ever catch up."

Rowan blinked her eyes for a moment. "You know… one day… me and Steve will have to talk you through our whole lore, that'll change your tune about the doting husband," she muttered, folding her arms over her chest. "I know… I know it's hard to believe but, Jian, I'm serious, I have had to fight for this. None of this landed in my lap. I fought tooth and nail to get to where I am, and one of those fights was against your fiancé. And sure maybe I make this look easy but it's not. I work hard. Really, really, really hard."

"I know that…"

"My family… my real family, in my reality, they didn't love me either. You know? They didn't like me, they took me for granted and… and I would have done anything for them to love me. And then… I came here and I decided… I decided that this time around things would be different. My new family, all adopted. Wo, Con, Nahele, adopted. I chose them and basically gave them no choice in the matter. Steven… that… god it was a fight to get him here, a whole out war, and sometimes I feel like I'm still fighting him cause he is ADAMANT on being awful at it when he doesn't have to be, because he feels like he's not worthy and he's into self-sabotaging. The housewife stuff… well this is what I wanted. I wanted to be a housewife, and I worked at being good at it. But you. You are not me. And you don't have to be me."

"I know that too."

"So be the best you," Rowan said with a shrug. "Find all the things I'm not good at and do those. Then… I can help you with the stuff you suck at and you can help me with the stuff I suck at."

Jain found herself chuckling at that.

"You know… I thought… I thought you'd wonder what I picked. If I was thinking of leaving…"

"You're not," Rowan said. "I knew that. You marry him. You two are happy. And if I navigate the strings better, next time the baby will stick."

Horrifyingly, tears began to well up in her eyes. "You'd… you'd do that for me?"

"Of course," she said like the answer should have been obvious. "You know… you're a lot like Wo. You grew up alone, you grew up looking at what you wanted from the outside, never in. And when it came to being a part of it, you didn't know what to do, you wanted to stay on the outside. The difference is, Wo eventually accepted his fate and caved in to me."

"Oh yeah?"

"I mean it took almost a full year and him going down in a helicopter… for him to accept it, but he still did it. Though… it took me forever to train him into the man you're engaged to today, but I think it was worth it."

"Yes… yes it was." Jian said softly. "So… do you think… do you think you can forgive me for being so… so awful?"

"Sure. Just so long as you remember that we're a team. We work together, and in the end everything will work out."

Jian nodded and then pulled her into a hug, one that Rowan returned. She pat Jian's back three times, slowly in measured beats, a motion that Wo Fat mimicked when he comforted people. She knew it came from Rowan, but she never really know how much of who he was came from her.

It made sense now that she thought about it. As a sociopath, he hadn't cared about the emotional side of things, he hadn't known how to fake caring let alone be sincere about it. It would make sense that he would model his behaviour off of the only person he was close to.

Eventually Rowan pulled away from her, but didn't move away. They now sat beside each other on the couch. She smiled at Jian like nothing had ever been wrong with them in the first place.

"I can't help with the Wo seeing me as a priority stuff, mainly because he doesn't see me as priority, he sees me as useless. Some stupid girl who can't do… anything… and he has to save me all the time. From criminals, from Steve, from myself. It's kind of sad, but that's our entire relationship. I get myself into trouble, Wo Fat rides to the rescue. So… you should be grateful he doesn't think he has to micromanage you the way he does me. It means he thinks you're self-sufficient."

Jian chuckled again. "I guess… from my point of view it's more like you two are co-dependent."

Rowan winced. "Yeah, I'm a little co-dependent. My mom bred that in me, drilled it into me that there was no way I could behave properly unless I had someone with me, so I get… a little wild by myself. Unfortunately, I'm the one who taught him how to be a brother, so I kind of… I kind of taught him to be co-dependent too. So… you know… that's my bad."

Jian had to turn away from her to hide the smile from her. It wasn't funny, having a mother act like that, but the way Rowan was so… apathetic, about it, was something she saw a lot in Wo Fat, something she knew Rowan had picked up from him.

"Honestly, I can get why Steve gets so frustrated with you two… the three of you actually. You, Wo and Con are this pod, it's hard to break past that."

"Yeah, we can try to be better, try to include you two more. But Steve's like hella judgmental. You gotta not be as bad."

"I'm not judgmental," Jian said quickly even though she kind of was. Had been, specifically of Rowan. "I want to be included. Like… why… why don't we like Tani? She's dating Con, but you don't approve. I asked Wo what that was about, because he wasn't a fan either, though he has agreed to be nicer, but he didn't have an answer outside of Rowan doesn't like her. Did you not give him a reason?"

"No," Rowan said with a bit of a sigh. "Wo has gotten very good at the loyalty. He has a ride or die mentality now which is also my fault. He does a lot of things out of solidarity without question."

Jian cocked an eyebrow at her. She wondered if Rowan realized that it was implied that he only did the unquestioned loyalty stuff for her. For a moment the urge to remind her of that rose up her throat, burning her like bile, but she refused to rise to the bait. She wanted to be better after all. After a moment Rowan cleared her throat.

"I don't like Tani because… because well… she's going to hurt Con," she said and Jian gasped. "I haven't told Con all the details cause… it'll get bad now if I do, and I can't tell Wo cause he'll deal with it the way he deals with everything which is drop bodies, and then Con will get upset and so will Steven…"

"You can tell me," Jian said softly. "I can keep it a secret. Our first secret between me and you and no one else."

It was an olive branch, to see if Rowan could trust her after what she did. She fully understood that Rowan probably wouldn't, she didn't deserve it yet, so she wouldn't hold it against her if she said nothing. But Wo kept telling her how full of love Rowan was, how her trusting nature had been her biggest character flaw. She'd like to see if that extended to her.

Surprisingly, Rowan leant in a little closer to Jian until her shoulders were touching. "She's going to cheat on him."

Jian reeled back from that confession gasping. Not only surprised that Rowan had told her what she wouldn't tell her brothers or her husband, but that Tani could even think of cheating on Con. He was such a catch!

"That bitch, now wonder you hate her. Do you know with who?"

Rowan nodded, her eyes wide, she looked around again to confirm they were alone and Jian found herself leaning back in. "It's Junior."

"NO!" she cried and then dropped her voice to a hiss. "The bastard lives here! How ungrateful!"

"I KNOW!"

Jian was surprised Rowan had even managed to keep a secret so big to herself, how heavy it must have been carrying the weight of that secret all by herself. She was surprised that Rowan hadn't been meaner to Tani considering what she saw in the strings, since she knew what the woman was going to do. Though her animosity was definitely warranted after all

The two women sat back and after a moment Rowan turned to her and asked: "Do you feel a bit better now? About me or… everything?"

"Yes," Jian admitted sheepishly. "Thank you for being so understanding about everything. I know that I wasn't the easiest to deal with."

"That's okay, we all understood what you were going through," she said. She paused a bit her eyes on the TV again, then she quickly turned back to Jian. "Do you want help with planning? With the wedding I mean?"

Jian found herself smiling warmly at Rowan and meaning it for the first time. "That would be lovely."

"Okay, do you want to start right now? I don't have any bridal magazines but I can make you a Pinterest board for the wedding vibes."

Rowan was already moving to get up so she could get her laptop, Jian moved to get up with her. She couldn't wait to tell Wo Fat about these developments. And once she did they'd put the canvases up… together.

Just like Rowan and Steve had done with their pictures.

Similar but different. That was what she'd strive for from now on. She was a part of this family now, it was time for her to embrace that.