A/N: This was originally posted on my LJ and the H/C comm back in April of last year but I'm finally getting around to putting it here for anyone who's interested but might not have stumbled across it before. This is a complete story but I have often talked about writing a little epilogue to it, hopefully one day I'll get around to it I just seem to have had a lot on my plate this past year or so. Anyway thank you to Alipeeps for making me look literate. Hope you all find something to enjoy here.

Lost by Pilgrim Soul

Prologue

The rain pattered down on the roof of the car and the wipers squeaked on the windscreen. Rob Parker drummed his fingers along the top of the steering wheel in time to the radio, humming along to the familiar melody of Baba O'Reilly. He'd taken the long way home, letting the drive work out the frustrations of the day before he got home. It had been one hell of a day. He sometimes wondered why the hell he'd decided becoming a flight instructor was a good idea - he wondered even more how some of the dumb rookies that were offered up to him for sacrifice ever made it into the service. Had he ever been like that? Yeah, he probably had; he smiled to himself as images of way back when flashed through his mind. God, he'd been a cocky little son of a bitch but hadn't they all?

It was the kids that had done it. He'd been sitting at the airbase in Kandahar; they'd just lost another chopper, three good men, good friends gone just like that, just the latest of many. It had been his little Katie's 6th birthday and he was sitting half a world away surrounded by death and horror and he knew there and then that he couldn't do it any more; it wasn't fair to Shelly and the kids. So he'd put his head down and worked his ass off to become an instructor. Sure, he'd thought about leaving the service, he really had, but it had never been a serious option and Shelly understood that. She said she'd married an air force officer and she wouldn't have it any other way – besides, she liked a man in uniform. He smiled at the thought of his wife; she was a tough lady and had put up with more than most. He'd seen plenty of his friend's marriages fall by the wayside over the years but they'd stuck out the bad times. No doubt about it, being Rob Parker was pretty good.

The figure was dressed entirely in black, the hood of his sweatshirt pulled up covering his face, and Rob didn't see him until his headlights caught a flash of movement in their beams. Someone with slower reactions would have hit him, as it was Rob's heart leapt into his throat as the man stumbled out into the road in front of him. Rob hit the brakes, the car skidding on the wet road and coming to a halt inches away from the figure in the road. Rob panted a couple of heavy breaths, enough to feel his heart slowing in his chest. Looking up out of the windscreen, he saw the man still standing in the road, his head down as though frozen in place.

"Son of a bitch!" Rob hit the button to open the window. "Hey! What the hell…"

That was as far as he got, however, as at the sound of his voice the dark figure took off into the rain like a greyhound. Thirty yards up the road, he darted off to the left, cutting down between two houses, and he was gone. "God damn it." Drunk by 7:30 on a Friday night, Rob thought, I have some catching up to do. Shaking his head, he put the car in gear and pulled away, throwing a glance to his left as he passed the spot where the man had disappeared. He was nowhere to be seen.

Pulling his jacket up over his head, he made the quick dash from the drive to the front door, shaking the raindrops off his jacket as he entered the hall.

"Hi, honey."

"Hey sweetie, did you miss me?"

Rob laughed and shook his head at the sound of his old friend's voice. "As if anyone would miss you, Mac." Rob wandered into the kitchen to find Mac sitting at the table reading the newspaper.

He looked up and batted his lashes at Rob. "Just for that you don't get a kiss."

"Thank heaven for small mercies. Now what have you done with my wife?"

"She's upstairs doing girlie stuff with Katie."

Rob opened the fridge and took out a beer for each of them. This was just what he needed, a chance to sit back at home and have a beer with Mac.

"I'll stay out of their way in that case. So what are you doing here anyway? Shouldn't you have a date or something? I seem to recall that's what single guys do on a Friday night."

"You can remember back that far?"

"You're a real comedian tonight, you know that?"

"I just thought it might be nice to hang out with you and Shelly tonight. It's been a while."

"So she bailed on you then?"

Mac cast him a sideways glance and swigged his beer. "Yeah," he admitted grudgingly.

Rob chuckled. Mac had always fancied himself something of a Casanova. Sadly, he was the only one under that delusion.

Shelly wandered in from the hallway, leaning over to kiss him on the top of the head. Their West highland terrier, Cookie, trotted along behind her and nuzzled against Rob's ankles. He'd wanted a more manly dog but the girls had outvoted him and they'd ended up with the little white fur ball. Rob bent down to scratch its head.

"Hey! Good day?" his wife asked.

"Don't ask. Some lunatic just jumped out in front of the car, scared me half to death and then just ran off. And as for work, I swear, each new crop they send me is dumber than the last. If these kids are our future we're screwed and some."

"I'm sure you'll soon whip them into shape."

"No. I asked if I could use a whip. Apparently it's inhumane." He flashed a grin at Mac. "So what's for dinner?"

"You have a choice. Pizza or Chinese?" She unpinned the menus from the notice board and tossed them on the table. "You're not the only one who's had a bad day at work. The Robinson's are stalling again, the whole sale's going to fall through and guess who'll be left to clean up the mess?"

"Pizza it is then."

Thundering footsteps sped down the stairs and his two little girls ran in. Amy, the youngest, dived on to his lap with a joyful "Daddy!" while Katie, who had informed him she was now too old to call him Daddy or hug him, hung back.

"Hey, Dad. Mom, that weird guy is still out there."

"What weird guy?" Rob looked from his eldest daughter to his wife.

"There was some man standing out on the road a minute ago."

"In the dark and the rain and he's still there. He's just staring at the house. It's creepy, Mom." Rob slipped Amy off his lap.

"Rob, he's probably just waiting for someone."

"I'm just going to go check; I don't want some pervert hanging around the house."

"Daddy what's a pervert?" Amy asked.

He looked down at the perfectly innocent expression on the little girl's face. "Ask your Uncle Mac."

Rob wandered through to the lounge and, leaving the lights off, drew back the curtain. The rain ran down the windowpane in thin rivulets but in the edge of the street light he could make out a figure standing facing the house. A figure, dressed in black, with a hood pulled up over its head; the same man he had seen earlier in the evening and here he was, outside Rob's house.

Darting out into the hall, Rob flung open the front door. He stepped out onto the driveway, the cold rain smacking against the skin on his bare arms making him shiver, but the spot where the man had been standing was empty. He looked up and down the street but there was no one to be seen.

"Rob? There a problem?" Mac was standing in the doorway behind him.

"No. No, it's just… let's get back inside." He headed back through the house, feeling the chill rain soaking through his shirt.

"What is it?" Mac knew him well enough to know when something was bothering him.

"I saw the guy standing out there and it's the same guy I saw earlier, the one I nearly ran over on the way home."

"Are you sure? " Rob nodded. He was certain the man had been dressed identically and he recognized his build and something about the way he stood. He felt a twinge of familiarity when he pictured the figure, something he couldn't quite put his finger on. "He still out there?"

"No, by the time I got outside he was gone."

"You recognise him?" No but there was that nagging voice in the back of his mind telling him that he should.

"Couldn't see his face."

"But you're sure it's the same guy?"

"Yeah, I'm sure."

"Daddy?" Suddenly Katie wasn't too big to call him Daddy. She looked up at him, her fear obvious. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her to his side.

"Oh hey, it's okay sweetie. He's not out there anymore. And like Mommy said, he was probably just waiting for someone. Maybe he's a friend of Jerry's." Somehow he couldn't imagine the brooding figure with his middle aged accountant neighbour but if it eased the worry lines on his little girl's face he'd make it sound like he believed it.

Suddenly the little dog darted across the kitchen floor and barked at the back door. The little terrier jumped back and forth, growling and barking, trying to make himself sound bigger than he really was. Rob looked to Shelly who grabbed Katie by the hand and ushered Amy along with them.

"C'mon, let's go find something to watch on TV and leave Daddy and Uncle Mac to order the pizza." Rob watched them leave, seeing Katie's suspicious and worried face looking back over her shoulder, and all the while the little dog whined, yapped and snarled at the door.

Rob and Mac shared a look and each moved silently to the door, Mac moving to one side. Rob gently took hold of the door handle and, with a nod from Mac, swiftly pulled it open. He prided himself on his fast reflexes and rock steady nerves, he wouldn't be much of a pilot without them, but he hadn't been prepared to find the tall, dark figure standing just inches away on the other side of the door. Rob's immediate reaction was to put distance between them and he stumbled back into the kitchen. Mac, regaining his composure quicker, turned, ready to attack, but his blow was deflected the figure moving into the room and pushing Mac back against the wall.

Rob saw Mac's jaw fall open as his brain caught up with his reactions and he recognised the familiar face that Rob had found himself looking into just seconds before.

"Holy crap, Shep! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

TBC….