Chapter Four: The Return

Cait returned to the hanger after her flight. It had been a long day. She had flown a group of businessmen to Las Vegas for a meeting that started at ten this morning. They were supposed to wrap up by five but ran over. It was ten o'clock but she wanted to finish up her paper work from the flight before she went home. She left the hanger lights off since she could see her way to the office where her desk lamp was still on. She sat down and turned on her laptop and entered the information from her flight.

A voice spoke out from the dark . " It's a bit late for you to still be working isn't it?"

She should have been startled or scared but she knew who the voice belonged to. Without looking up from her laptop she replied. "There's a lot of work to do. I don't have the luxury of going home when I want to." She tried to keep the anger out of her voice but that was hard to do. Six months and no word from him.

String had been standing in the doorway of the office watching her. Guilt was hitting him hard. She looked tired and she had lost some weight. But even with that she looked good. He always thought her beautiful. Though she seemed somewhat fragile, something he never thought about her before. He was expecting her anger, hell he couldn't blame her. He deserved it and more.

Cait calculated her fuel cost from the flight and finished the invoice still not looking up. "Does Dom know you're back? If not you might want to tell him. He's been worried sick since he hasn't heard from you." She closed her laptop then took the manila folder and filed it away pushing the drawer shut with her hip. She looked calm and collective on the outside but on the inside her emotions were running amuck. Anger at him for leaving them in the dark for six months and relief that he was ok. She picked up her purse and turned to leave. She waited for him to move from the door but he continued to lean against it. "I need to go home String, I'm tired."

String stood to the side giving her just enough room to get by. As she walked to the exit she noticed he remained behind. "Aren't you coming?" String was leaning against the door again with his arms crossed over his chest. " No, I thought I would just crash here for the night if you don't mind."

Cait continued to leave " It's half yours, not mine. You don't need my permission." And with that the door closed and she was gone. The silence was almost unbearable. He didn't expect to be welcomed home with open arms but Cait's coldness cut him to the quick. He hoped things would go better with Dom.

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It was 3:00 AM, String tossed and turned. He forgot how uncomfortable the cot could be but the cot was not what was keeping him awake. He kept seeing Cait. She was not the same woman that he left a year ago. The woman he left was his best friend and someone with whom he could be himself. He forgot how easy she was to be with. How she could make him laugh and see the good in life. He wondered if that Cait still existed or just not with him. Before he turned in for the night he took a look at the books. Dom wasn't doing so well. He knew Cait had to have put in a lot of work to keep Santini air going. Dom was still as good a pilot as he ever was but had been slowing down on the amount of work he was doing even before he left. He never should have gone he thought. Over the past few months he was trying to figure out how he got to where he was. His grief had influenced his decision to leave Dom and Cait and run off with Caroline. He thought he could out run his pain. Caroline he had to admit was a distraction for him. At first their relationship was new and exciting. After weeks of feeling nothing Caroline seemed to wake a piece of his heart that he thought was dead. Deciding he couldn't sleep he tossed the blanket off and went into the office. His stomach reminded him that he hadn't eaten much that day. He looked at the small refrigerator and hoped that Cait still kept food there. Opening it he had to grin. Carrots, cheese and a few hard boiled eggs. He imagined that she was still trying to get Dom to eat right. He pulled out the eggs and poured himself a glass of orange juice and sat down at Cait's desk. As he ate he thought about how much he missed this place, no not this place. It was Dom and Cait he missed. He thought back to the day he decided to come home.

( Seven days ago)

String was up at six am having his morning coffee. He looked around the upscale apartment that he shared with Caroline. Shared was not the right way to discribe their living arrangements. It was her apartment not his. He missed the solitude of his cabin and the easy companionship he had with Tet. When he left eleven months ago Dom had agreed to check in on the cabin and Tet once a week. It just occurred to him how much of a burden that would be for Dom, Cait was probably taking on some of the responsibility as well.

He was hoping to avoid Caroline this morning. He went over in his head the fight they had last night. She saw a change in him and he was denying it. He hadn't been happy for months. She wasn't so much concerned for him as she was herself. He knew she wanted more than living with him, she wanted the whole package. It's not that he was opposed to marriage just not to the wrong person and Caroline was not the right woman for him. He knew that when he left with her. He was looking for a diversion not a comitment. At first he liked flying for her father, it took him all over Australia. He owned mines and land that needed looking after. Saying Mr. Benson wasn't a trusting man would be an understatement but for some reason he took to him and trusted him with his daughter. String knew he also wanted a marriage.

He put his mug down in the sink looking out the expansive window that over looked Sidney. He wasn't in love with Caroline and she wasn't with him. His mind drefted to Cait. He smiled as he pictured her in her jeans and tee shirt with grease smuches on her face. That smile of hers that could light up a room and those eyes. He loved her eyes. Why didn't he ever tell her these things. He hadn't talked to her in over six months. She probably hated him now. After all he never considered her feelings when he left . He also never considered how they felt about giving back the Lady even though the deal made with the firm was just with him. He opened his eyes and as he watched the sun come up he had his answer. It was time to go home. His self imposed exile was over. By searching for happiness else where he in fact had kept himself from real happiness. There was no time like the present, he headed to the bedroom to wake Caroline and end things.

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Cait sat on her couch flipping through the channels. She had tried to sleep but gave up at two am. Seeing String out of the blue like that had affected her in a way she didn't expect. As much as she wanted to hate him she couldn't. She loved him, always had. She wanted to be happy at his return but figured that if he was here that Caroline wasn't far behind. She noticed her phone sitting on the coffee table. She hadn't looked at it all night. She picked it up and saw she had a text message. It read "Hey beautiful, I need to see you tomorrow. " It was from Doc. Cait laid the phone down and headed to bed. She was too tired to think anymore.