Disclaimer: 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.

Thicker than Water

Chapter 4

Hawke and Dom clung to the fact that the only saving grace for Caitilin was that she had been flying low meaning she didn't have far to come down. On the other hand, it had been a high speed flight, at least as far as helicopters were concerned, and that meant she'd be coming in fast with little time to try and slow it down or pull out. Both men prayed that she'd have time to at least try.

Getting close to her last known location, Hawke grimaced as he saw smoke rising from the ground. "That's her," he said pointing down to a mangled mess of metal at the bottom of the canyon. "I'll see how close I can set her down. You better make sure medics are on the way out," he ordered to Dom.

As Dom called in for help, Hawke set the Jet Ranger down in a clearing about 50 yards from the Black Hawk. As soon as he hit the ground, he unbuckled and jumped out of the chopper running towards Caitlin.

"Caitlin!" he yelled as he approached the smoking wreckage. Looking around he tried to find an approach to the cockpit. Finally rounding the far side of the machine, he could see inside the broken out front windshield. For a split second, he'd almost wish he hadn't looked.

"Whatchya got kid?" Dom hollered as he came up behind him stopping short as he came upon the same scene that had frozen Hawke in place. "Mother of God," Dom muttered as he saw Caitlin's twisted and unconscious form laying half in and out of the cockpit.

The sound of Dom's voice broke Hawke out of his stunned silence and he quickly began climbing over debris to try and get to her. Finally reaching her side, he tentatively felt for a carotid pulse. "She's alive!" he yelled back to Dom who quickly made the sign of the cross.

Thankful she was still alive, Hawke was careful not to put too much stock into the fact as he started to assess her injuries. She was bleeding heavily from a head wound on her right temple, her right arm was bent back at an unnatural angle, her abdomen was bent over the yoke meaning she had probably hit it hard, possibly causing broken ribs or worse, and he couldn't even see the bottom of her legs from the knees down as they were seemingly trapped under the cockpit dash. Looking around he could see large shards of broken glass, many covered with blood where they had cut through Caitlin's skin.

"Where the hell are those medics?" Hawke cried back to Dom knowing that time was of the essence.

"I hear them coming down the canyon road," Dom informed him. "They should be here in about five minutes. I'll go lead them in!"

"Better tell them to make it three!" Hawke yelled back as he positioned himself as close to Caitlin as he could. Leaning over her, he tried to speak to her. "Caitlin, it's Hawke, can you hear me?"

Although it wasn't the answer he was hoping for, Hawke was slightly relieved when he heard her moan. At least somewhere in the depths of her mind, she could hear him. "It's okay, baby, Dom and I are here. We're going to get you out. Just don't move, okay?"

"Hawke?" Caitlin whispered as she tried to open her eyes.

"Yeah, it's me, Cait. Help's coming," Hawke tried to soothe her.

"The trees, Hawke…I hit the trees," she mumbled.

"I know, baby. It's okay."

"Why didn't you tell me?" she said as she grimaced in pain and looked up at the blue eyes that were staring back at her.

"Caitlin, shhhh, you need to stay still," he pleaded seeing she was becoming agitated.

"But you didn't tell me, Hawke," she mumbled as tears began to roll down her face.

"Caitlin, I did tell you. I told you to pull up. I'm not sure what happened but we'll talk about it later. Don't worry about it now, it's not important," he said as he gently wiped the tears from her already blood-stained face.

"No, Hawke, I never heard you," Caitlin insisted. "You never told me. Why didn't you tell me?" she asked with one last gasp before she passed out.

"Dammit!" Hawke shouted. "Dom, get those medics in here, NOW!"

Within seconds, Hawke saw the medics climbing into the wreckage. He reluctantly moved out of the way knowing they would need room to work. "Get her out of here and we can take her in our chopper," Hawke informed him as he climbed out and immediately headed for the Jet Ranger, Dom quickly falling in step behind him.

"So…how is she?" Dom asked as they reached the chopper.

"Not good," Hawke answered stoically. "Dom she said she never heard me telling her to pull up out of the way of those trees? I don't get it. I told her twice to pull up to 125 feet."

"I heard you kid, I know you did," Dominic confirmed.

"It doesn't make sense."

"Look, String…none of that's important right now. Let's get her to the hospital and then we can figure out what the hell happened."

"Yeah," Hawke said absently as he climbed into the cockpit and started the engines. Before he had much more time to think about, the medical crew had removed Caitlin from the wreckage and was loading her onto the chopper on a stretcher. "Let's go to LA General, it's the closest trauma hospital. She's going to need all the trauma expertise we can give her," the medics informed him as they climbed into the back of the chopper.

Without a second thought to anything except Caitlin's well-being, Hawke lifted off and headed towards help that he prayed could save her.

TBC…

A/N: well the muse is definitely in high gear with three chapters today! Pshew, I'm pooped…lol.