CHAPTER 1
"Single Parent"
The pink and orange rays peaked over the mountain tops, dawning another beautiful day. Hawke, having been up for only a few minutes, enjoyed his cup of coffee and the sunrise with Chance and Tet as companions.
Before long they would have to head up to the hangar, but for now they would watch the sun rising into the sky and warm the chilly October air.
Soon, the two of them were in the Jet Ranger heading for Santini Air. It was good to be back in the air, something he'd missed dearly since his injury while rescuing Dom, Saint John, and Le. Finally he had gotten the all clear and found himself back in the air as soon as possible. Today would be his first day back at work and he was looking forward to it.
\A/
By the time String landed the chopper outside the hangar, Saint John was already leaving with the second Jet Ranger, and Dominic was barking at some stunt coordinator about how ridiculous a certain stunt would be for such little money. He settled Chance in the back and checked to see what jobs they would have and if he was scheduled to do any of them today. No doubt Dom would try to keep him grounded as much as possible until he was absolutely positive there were no long lasting effects from his injuries, but he needed to be in the air, it was a goodly portion of his life and he had no qualms about that. Getting paid for what you love evidently was actually possible, and nothing could keep him down today.
Finally he could he Dom slamming down the phone receiver, only to have it start ringing impatiently again.
"Santini Air," he answered gruffly.
Only minutes later, he marched himself into the office and stood before the desk String was sitting at. Grabbing for the large brown book that resided there, he skimmed the notes scribbled in it. He read it again, hoping to find some way to avoid putting String up for the stunt across town, for more than one reason. Everyone else would be in and out, but not have enough time to do the stunt themselves. Cait could do it - if she were here. Where was she anyway? She'd never officially quit, nor had she even made the slightest hint that String was pushing her too close to the edge, that she was even thinking about leaving him and Chance. Something had obviously put her over the edge, but what? He sure wasn't getting crap from String, who obviously figured it was all his fault and missed her, but somehow figured that in the end it was better this way. Just what he needed, Dom thought, to go through the whole love thing again. Probably had something to do with him thinking he was jinxed or cursed thing again.
Well, time was running out and he'd have to face the inevitable sooner or later.
"Hey String, you ok?"
"Yeah, why? If I weren't up to flying I wouldn't have shown up for work today."
"What about Cait?"
"That's between her and me. Yeah I miss her a hell of a lot and I wish…. I wish she were here, but maybe it is better this way."
"What'd you mean better?! She is good for you and you know it."
"Was good for me. I can't force her to stay at home all the time after we got her into the whole mess, but I don't want to risk loosing her too. And before you get started with 'you're not jinxed or cursed; and 'she's not Gabrielle' or any of that, don't bother because I'm not interested."
His prediction of Dom's intentions were true, of course. They'd gone round and round on this one, but when would he learn? He had been doing so well at handling old fear like this lately, but then he pushed her away.. Now he was a single parent with a two year old to watch over, a slightly more risky than normal job flying movie stunts, and more than plenty of enemies and risks due to Airwolf and all those related missions. How could one normal human being deal with all of that?
"Did you have some job for me or not?" String asked, interrupting Dom's musings.
"Oh yeah, if you're up to it I'd like you to do a stunt across town…"
"And?" she asked impatiently. There was something Dom hadn't bothered telling him, something he didn't want to say.
"And nothing. The director tells you what to do and you do it - that's all."
"Alright. I'll be over there by two."
"It's at - hey, how did you know?"
"I overheard," he replied wryly. "You were kind of hard not to overhear though, probably even Ed across the way knows about your stunt at two."
"Well, I otta get going then."
"Yeah, me too before long."
\A/
Saint John came into the hangar and filled his mug full of the string brew from the coffee pitcher while he took a quick break. Next, he would refuel the Jet Ranger and wait until Dom got back, then he would go pick up Le from school who would his homework and watch Chance until String finished the stunt on the other side of town and he dropped off the film. The business was good, but the work was exhausting, would have been nice to have another person.
"Saint John," Dom called. "Saint John!"
"Huh, what?"
"Need to get going."
"Oh yeah," he answered, having evidently dozed off during his short break.
\A/
That Night
7:00pm
As the sun was sinking into the wispy clouds and the shadows cast by the mountains the Santini Air Jet Ranger came to rest heavily on the end of dock; String, with a sleeping toddler cradled in his arms, climbed out of the Jet Ranger and made for the cabin.
Tonight just a simple dinner would suffice. He, for one, was too exhausted to do much else and Chance looked like he was planning to sleep through dinner anyway.
Dom had made a wise choice in not giving him all the details for the stunt because if he'd known he was going to have to work for Gabriel Ramirez again he wouldn't have gone at all, or better yet, he would have gone just to punch his light out then come back. Maybe next time instead of bringing in the helicopter a little too close for comfort he'd just land o the guy.
Now he was in no mood for being reasoned with or doing anything useful. Going to bed sounded good. Tomorrow would be better, maybe.
In the steamy southeast Asian jungles of Vietnam, he waited. Silently estimating and calculating how hard it would be to take out this village, so he could begin his hunt for Saint John again. He'd already been messing for the better part of a year, but somehow he knew that his brother had to be still alive. He had already lost both his parents in a boating accident and Carrie in the car wreck just before shipping out here. He couldn't bare to lose his brother too, his only family left.
He watched as the others on this little group returned from their own scouting and ready to return with their reports. Again they marched through the all too familiar dense green jungles. Taking up the rear, he followed, at least until a shabby prison camp caught his eye and pieces of torn army fatigues. After reaching down to pick them up, he wiped off the sticky mud, revealing letters that read 'ke' and one tattered piece before it that could have been an 'H.' Could it be Saint John Hawke's? He was almost sure of it, and there were a few prisoners in that little cage… No one appeared to be around; what could it hurt to take a look?
Cautiously approaching, he saw why there were no VietCong guards here - there were no living prisoners to guard. None of them appeared to be the brother he knew and loved though. Guiltily feeling thankful, he ran to catch up with the rest of the group.
All was as well as war can be the next day until one of his commanding officers brought him aside to lead another scouting mission for another village. He agreed, not knowing what awful thing he would find.
It was late and dark, an oppressive heat still hanging in the air, but everything he felt, had gathered, collected, calculated, was all gone, washed away and pushed aside and allowing him only to be able to focus himself on the dead body in front of him, of Saint John.
"No!" It was so wrong, so unreal. Saint John couldn't be dead, just couldn't be. Unheeded tears flowed generously down his dirty cheeks as a shaking hand reached for his brother. "Saint John! No Sinj, you can't be dead!"
Startled back into consciousness by his own cries for his brother, String pushed aside the covers and slid out of bed, willing himself to get the awful compilation of feelings, memories, and fears out of his head. Saint John was alive and safe so why couldn't these terrible dreams stop haunting him?
In the other room it didn't sound like chance was sleeping any better, begging to be let out. He obliged, carrying him out of the bedroom and down the stairs. "You're too young to be getting nightmare," he scolded teasingly. "Couldn't you inherit something better from me?"
Chance simply slung both arms around his neck and hung on as they descended the stairs.
"You want some hot coco?"
Chance nodded his approval of the idea.
Soon the two of them were enjoying mugs of hot coco by the warm fire, the soft crackling and aroma of burning wood an almost silent comfort against the cold night and their rather unpleasant dreams.
It was kind of strange, the things that brought the two of them closer, String mused silently. He and Chance made an interesting, but good, team, his only regrets being that they had so little time together and that he had run Caitlin off because of his fear of being cursed.
"Music?" Chance asked as he climbed off the floor and walked toward the Stradivarius.
"Sure." There wasn't any reason why not. There wasn't anyone to disturb and neither one of them would be getting any sleep anyway.
Reaching for the cello, he brought it up in front of him and drawing the bow across the strings began to play.
\A/
When Dominic arrived at the Santini Air hangar the following morning, he was greeted by the aroma of the strong brewing coffee and the sound of giggles and laughter from the back. Glad to see String was in a good mood; he'd been afraid of that now being the case after he set him up to work with Gabriel Ramirez again, but he hadn't had much choice, and String hadn't been totally agreeable to anything since Cait left, so this was a very good improvement. Figures, it would be the two year old to get through a problem he'd been battling since String was his late teens. At least somebody was, that mattered more than who got through to him, and Chance did share more than his fair share of resemblances to String, almost like a miniature version.
"I'm still taking the charter to Laguna Beach at three, right?" String checked.
"Yeah, I guess so."
"If I'm not back when you close up then would you mind watching Chance until I get back? He'd probably prefer not to have to go on the ride with nothing to do, wait, then come all the way back."
"No, I don't mind, didn't have any plans for tonight anyway."
"You're sure?"
"I'm sure. Now get back to having some fun with that kid. We don't have anything to do right now and they grow up so fast."
Dominic was right. It was hard to believe Chance had become a part of he and Cait's life two years ago, and not long after they had officially become a true family, even if the marriage did only last twenty three months. It ripped him apart every time he thought about it too. At least now Cait, wherever she was, could find someone more deserving, and someone that wouldn't get her killed in some foreign Airwolf mission abroad. What bothered him the most though was that she didn't take Chance or ever say anything about him at all. Chance would always have a place in his hear and life, and honestly he wanted to keep him, but why didn't she even seem to care anymore?