Finding Normal: Story number 3 following Thicker Than Water and Recovery
A/N: I do not own or make any profit off of the Airwolf name or any of the characters involved within. My stories are for entertainment purposes only. .
A/N #2: So I've decided to keep on with the thread of stories that I started with Thicker than Water. I'll continue on developing Cait and Hawke's relationship and the lives of our three heroes. However, in case you haven't noticed in my earlier stories, I'm not a fan of bringing kids or even necessarily marriage for Cait and Hawke into my plot lines. In my vision of the Airwolf world, I just don't think the two of them really have room for kids in their lives (I know, look at Le in the series, but I was never a fan of that and always felt it was just another ploy by the producers to bring in a younger and more family friendly audience) and I can't see Hawke being one to jump into matrimony at the drop of a hat. So…I'm just letting you know if those are the particular happy endings you're hoping for, you probably won't find them here. Anyways, I think we have enough writers who do a great job of covering those things already. Having said that…I am a hopeless romantic so there will be plenty of interaction between Hawke and Cait and I'm still a fan of happy endings Now on with the story
A/N #3: This story takes place about six weeks after Recovery ends.
Chapter 1
"Didn't Cait come in with you this morning?" Dominic asked as he looked around Stringfellow Hawke who was walking into the Santini Air hangar office.
"Gee, good morning to you too, Dom," Hawke replied with a sarcastic tone. "And, no, she drove herself to the doctor's office. She has her final checkup and physical therapy session today," Hawke said as he reached for the coffee pot.
It had been almost three months since Caitlin O'Shannessy's near-fatal helicopter crash while performing a movie stunt for Santini Air. While Cait had made it clear that she didn't blame either Dom or Hawke for the crash, both of them had had a hard time dealing with the fact that they had almost lost Caitlin because they were fighting instead of putting all of their attention into the stunt preparation. A minor mis-adjustment of the radio frequencies had caused Cait to lose communication with the men who were providing support from the ground and she crashed into a tree line when she had been unable to hear Hawke's warnings to pull up.
In the crash, Cait had suffered a severe concussion, a broken right ankle and right arm, several serious internal injuries and some pretty severe lacerations all over her body. For the past three months, she had spent most of her time working with physical therapists and doctors provided by The Firm trying to get back to full strength.
But for all of the pain and heartache that had come out of that crash, at least one good thing had happened. After spending a lot of time with Caitlin helping her with her recovery, Hawke had finally realized how much he cared for the red-headed pilot that had dropped into his life over two years earlier. Through a few missteps and with a little push here and there from Dominic Santini, Caitlin and Hawke had morphed into a couple and were enjoying the joys of a developing, new stage in their relationship. Between Hawke's fears of his curse that anyone he got too close to would die and Caitlin's insecurities that she could never compare to the exotic, extraordinarily beautiful women that Hawke had been known to date in the past, the road to love hadn't been an easy one but everyday they seemed to be working it out and Dom could tell, they were both happier for it.
It had been a long three months but finally, things at Santini Air seemed to be getting back to normal for all of them. Or, at least as normal as things could get when you were the caretakers of the world's most technologically advanced, armored helicopter and you worked for a covert government agency performing top-secret missions.
"Sorry about that String," Dom said with a smile. "It's not that I'm not glad to see you this morning it's just that I'm ready to get that girl back to work. I've got calls coming in from all over for stunts and charters and whatnot. Being short a pilot sure has made it tough."
"Well I never thought I'd hear you complaining about too much work, Dom!" Hawke said with a grin as he took a sip of the dark sludge that Dom claimed was coffee.
"Oh, I'm not complaining, kid! I'm just anxious to get us all back in the air and some money flowing in. More work means more bills for maintenance and everything else, you know."
"Well, Cait's hoping the doc will give her her flying papers back today. Believe me, she's just as ready to get back to flying as you are. It's all I've heard for the last month!"
During her recuperation, Caitlin had been banned from piloting any aircraft until she got a clean bill of health from the doctors. While she had been allowed to take short trips with String or Dom as a passenger, she was itching to get back in the pilot's seat again.
"So, why aren't you at the doctor's with her?" Dom asked suddenly realizing that it was unusual for Hawke to allow Caitlin out of his sight for longer than a few minutes since the accident. During her recovery, the couple had split their time between Cait's apartment and Hawke's mountain cabin but wherever one was, the other was always close by. Dom had even started joking about them being attached at the hip.
Hawke shrugged as he stirred a little sugar into his coffee trying to lessen the bite of the ridiculously strong brew that Dom had seemed intent on making lately. "You know, Dom, you could save some money and just use this coffee as motor oil."
"Very funny, kid. That's how they make it in Italy, it's good for you…it'll grow hair on your chest. Now why aren't you with Caitlin?" the older man asked sensing a little hesitancy on Hawke's part.
"She said that I didn't need to come," Hawke explained with another shrug. "Something about it was going to be a long appointment and I'd just be bored sitting around waiting on her. I don't know, Dom, she's been different the last few days, like she doesn't want me around so much."
"Oh, I'm sure that's not true String. She's probably just anxious about getting her release papers from the doctors. I know she's tired of being chained to the desk in here and not being able to fly. She's probably just pre-occupied with getting all of this behind her, you know?"
"You think?" Hawke asked as he finally gave up on the coffee and set his mug down on the desk.
"I'm sure of it! Trust me, you two have worked too hard to get where you are. She's not going to push you away now. Just give her a little space. I bet by the time she gets back here today she'll be right back at your side with a big smile on her face!" Dom got up from behind the desk and gave String an encouraging pat on the back. "Now, what do you say that you and I get some work done around here? We've got a big charter coming in, in the morning and I've got maintenance to do on all the choppers."
"All right," String agreed as he followed Dom out into the hangar hoping the work would get his mind off Caitlin.
AWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAW
Caitlin had finished her physical therapy and was glad that she had been cleared for flying once again. For the past month she had been excited about getting back in the pilot's chair and being able to do what she loved more than anything, fly. It was what she had hoped for for months and yet, there seemed to be a lump in the pit of her stomach.
While she truly wanted to fly again, ever since her last appointment a week earlier when the doctors had told her she would probably be released from therapy, a feeling of dread had begun to overcome her every time she thought of getting back into a helicopter. Actually, it was more a feeling of fear. "I don't understand it," she often thought to herself over the last week, "flying is what I love, it's who I am…I've never been scared of it before."
The fear had gotten so bad, she had convinced Hawke to stay at her apartment for the last week just so she wouldn't have to get into the helicopter to fly up to the cabin. While she had had no problems flying as a passenger up until the last week, the thought of even climbing into the cockpit now seemed to terrify her. Of course, she hadn't given Hawke that reason, she had just said she felt like spending some time at her own place and thankfully, he hadn't questioned her on it.
"Ms. OShannessy?" the doctor interrupted her thoughts as she sat across from his desk.
"Huh?" she said as he looked up, not realizing she had been so lost in her own world.
"I said I've signed the papers allowing you to fly again and giving you a clean bill of health. You can pick them up from the nurse on your way out. I have to say, I never expected to see you back in this good of shape so quickly but you really worked hard at your therapy. I wish all of my patients were so diligent," he said with a smile.
"Oh, well, thank you, doctor," she said with a weak smile as she reached over to shake his hand. Getting up, Caitlin picked up her purse and started for the door. Turning back she asked the doctor one last question. "So you're sure there's no restrictions on my flying? No altitude or speed restrictions or maybe things I shouldn't be doing like stunts?"
"No, Ms. O'Shannessy, you're free to go back to whatever you were doing before the accident. Just be careful out there. I don't want to see you back here again, understand?"
"Yes, sure, that's great," Caitlin said, her stomach turning to acid with the thought of getting back into the air. Putting on her best fake smile, she picked up her releases from the nurse and left the building. By the time she got to her car, she was shaking so bad she dropped her keys and could barely get them to work in the door lock once she retrieved them.
Sitting behind the wheel, she looked at her release papers once again. Sighing, she folded them up and stuffed them into her purse. "Maybe I just need a few more days," she said to herself. "I'm sure Hawke and Dom can handle things until then. I'll just tell them the doctor wants to see me once more and I'm sure they'll understand. And by then, I'll be ready to fly…I'm sure of it," she tried to convince herself.
TBC….
