Recovery: A Sequel to Thicker than Water

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: So as the title says, this story picks up where Thicker than Water left off. Actually it starts about 3 weeks later. It's about Cait's recovery, perhaps something starting between her and Hawke and another Airwolf adventure thrown in for good measure.

Chapter 1

Caitlin stood on the dock at Hawke's cabin, leaning on her crutch and waving goodbye as the helicopter carrying her parents lifted off, Dom in the pilot's seat taking them back to the airport for their trip home. After the events of just over three weeks earlier in which Cait had crashed during a movie stunt and was almost killed, her parents had come to California to help her out when she was released from the hospital. For the past week they had stayed to take care of her at her apartment. Caitlin was grateful but her mother tended to be quite over-bearing and her father, while concerned about his daughter, was ready to get back to his ranch. So after a week Caitlin was more than relieved when Hawke had offered to have her come to the cabin to finish her recovery.

"Now, Caitlin honey, I know that Mr. Hawke is a nice young man but I just don't think it's proper for a young lady to stay alone with him at his cabin like that," Caitlin's mother had bemoaned as she tried to convince her daughter that she should stay.

"Mom, Hawke and I are friends and I trust him completely. Not to mention I don't really care what anyone else thinks!" Caitlin had said as she looked with pleading eyes to her father for help. She loved her mother but she also knew that another week of hearing how nice girls don't fly helicopters and how she should be finding a young man who could provide her with security and babies would eventually drive her crazy.

"Maggie," Caitlin's father gently prompted, "Caitlin's right. She'll be fine with String and it's time we get back home. You can see she's alright and I know she'll be in capable hands with String and Dom both keeping an eye on her. And don't you want to get back in time for the birth of your grandson?" he added knowing that the upcoming birth of Caitlin's first nephew would be the one incentive to get her home.

Caitlin's mother had finally agreed to go back but only after she had escorted Caitlin up to String's cabin herself. Reluctantly Caitlin had agreed but had almost died upon hearing the speech that her mother had given Hawke regarding proper behavior and being a gentlemen. Caitlin had wanted to crawl inside of her own skin and Hawke had done his best to keep from bursting out laughing, responding to Mrs. O'Shannessy with a mere, "Yes, Ma'am" when she was done. Caitlin loved her parents but she couldn't help breathe a sigh of relief as she watched the chopper fly around the mountain and out of sight.

Hawke had waited until lift off before coming down off the cabin porch and joining Caitlin on the dock. "So, as a gentlemen, am I allowed to put my arm around you to escort you back into the house or should I just follow a dutiful three steps behind?" he asked with a grin as he came up beside her.

"Oh God, String," Caitlin said in embarrasment, "I'm so sorry for my mother. She's quite old fashioned when it comes to her daughters," Caitlin said as her cheeks reddened.

"Hey, don't worry about it," he said with a chuckle. "I think it's nice that she worries about you. Although, I can understand where it might start to wear a little thin if you had to hear it all the time. Now, how bout we get you back in the cabin? You look tired," he said as his smile turned to a look of concern as he studied her face.

"Yeah, well my mother tends to wear me out pretty quickly, even when I'm healthy," Caitlin agreed with a slight smile. Allowing Hawke to slip a supportive arm around her waist, they started back towards the cabin. Caitlin had come a long way in her recovery since the crash three weeks earlier but her injuries had been numerous and quite severe as one might expect from a helicopter crash, and she was still not back up to full strength. Her concussion had healed and her cuts and bruises were beginning to fade but her broken right ankle, broken right arm, a couple of cracked ribs and recovery from surgery to remove her spleen still left her in pain and fatigued. It would be several more weeks before she was back up to speed.

Carefully leading her back into the cabin, Hawke made sure that Caitlin was comfortably settled on the couch in front of the fire before heading into the kitchen to make her some lunch. Usually a loner, Hawke was actually surprised to find himself feeling content having Caitlin in the cabin. It just felt right when she was there. Of course he realized that part of that came from feeling that he was finally righting a wrong. Even though Caitlin had insisted that he and Dom weren't to blame for the accident, he couldn't help but believe that he could have and should have prevented it from ever happening. He had been pre-occupied with his own petty argument with the older man and instead of double checking all system functions before the stunt he had been careless and the radio communications hadn't been up to par. No matter what Caitlin said, he would always know in his own mind that he had, at least partially, caused that accident. At least helping in her recovery would hopefully give him some sense of repayment to her.

Carrying a sandwich and a glass of milk back over to the couch he chuckled as he looked down and saw Caitlin sleeping. Putting the food on the coffee table, he took the blanket off the back of the couch and gently covered her up with it. Taking a seat in his favorite chair next to the hearth, he picked up a book he had been reading earlier and settled in. Actually he tried to read, but instead, after re-reading the same paragraph about three times, he laid the open book across the arm of the chair and just sat back and watched Caitlin as she slept. She seemed so peaceful as her breathing settled into a nice, even pattern.

As he continued to watch over her, Hawke began to ponder the emotions he was feeling. There was no question that he cared for this woman who had unexpectantly showed up in his life two years earlier. Since then she had consistently and surreptitiously worked her way into his life, his work and his heart. He often referred to her as "family", just as he did Dominic Santini. But over the last several weeks he had spent a lot of time wondering if it was more than that. As of yet, he'd been unable to answer that question fully. All he knew was that when he first saw her unconscious form laying in the crashed helicopter, his heart skipped several beats and a feeling of despair over possibly losing her had encompassed him. He couldn't imagine not ever seeing her sparkling blue-green eyes or hearing her infectious laugh or seeing her mischevious smile ever again. He also knew that he felt more whole when she was around. Hell, even the fact that he wanted her around most of the time was significant for a man who had spent most of his life running away from people.

"Hawke?" The sound of her voice broke him out of his reverie and he got up from his chair and went to sit on the edge of he coffee table next to her.

"That wasn't much of a nap," he said.

"I didn't even realize I had nodded off," she said as she yawned.

"Yeah, well, I think all of that business with your mother wore you out," he explained. "Hungry?" he asked as he picked up the plate containing the sandwich and offered it to her.

"Yeah, I guess I am," she said as she sat up gingerly. Taking a bite of the sandwich she looked at Hawke for a minute. "So, you going to tell me what you were thinking about so hard over there?"

Hawke cocked an eyebrow at her as he was caught off-guard by her question. But then she always had been good at reading him. "Nothing we need to talk about, not right now anyways," was how he chose to answer her. He realized that he needed more time to understand his own feelings before talking to her about them.

Caitlin studied Hawke's face as she took another bite of her sandwich. There had been a look in his eyes that had intrigued her but she knew that pushing him would do no good. He was man who had to come to things on his own terms. "Okay. But you know, String, if there's anything you want to talk about, I'm a pretty good listener. Especially now since there's not much else I can do."

"Yeah, I'll remember that," he said with a grin as he got up. "Look, if you're okay, I'm going to go out and get some more wood for the fire."

"Yep, I'm good," she said.

As Hawke headed outside, he marvelled at the way Cait could see right through him. "This could be an interesting next couple of weeks," he thought to himself.

TBC...