The early morning mist hung over the lake like a blanket, turning the water into a shimmering silver that glistened like a mirror. Hawke shifted on the bench and gazed out as the eagle dived for its breakfast before ascending, wings beating powerfully as it gained momentum. Bit stirred at his feet, getting up and circling round, before dropping back into his original position.

It had been a week since Hawke had gone flying in Airwolf; a week since the new Airwolf had exploded; a week since Henman had kidnapped Caitlin and Hawke had brought her home again...

A sound by the cabin door drew his attention and he raised an eyebrow as Caitlin padded over to sit beside him. She handed him a large mug as she leaned into him. He switched the mug into his other hand and hugged her to him, enjoying the warmth that flooded through him as she cuddled him.

He took a sip, pulled a face at the herbal tea and handed it back to her. 'I could have had coffee.'

'If I have to suffer, you have to suffer.' Caitlin drawled dryly. It was a rule she'd established when she'd been pregnant with Amelia. She took a gulp of the drink, pulled her own face at the taste and handed it back.

He kissed the top of her head.

Caitlin sighed contentedly. 'You set for picking Mike and Sarah up later?'

'Yeah.' Hawke shrugged, nudging her head under his shoulder.

'Nicky's excited about going with you.' Caitlin commented. Her fingers played with the buttons on his shirt.

Hawke's lips curved. Rescuing Caitlin from Henman and bringing her home had done a lot to repair his relationship with his son and Hawke had made an effort in the past week to spend time with him. When Nicky had asked to go along with him to pick up Mike, he hadn't been able to say no.

'You know Michael's not going to like him being in Airwolf.' Caitlin murmured.

'He'll be fine.' Hawke said dismissively. He nudged her. 'How about you?'

Caitlin blew out a huff of annoyance that he'd picked up on her worry. 'One of the Airwolf choppers did just blow up you know. I think I'm entitled to be a little concerned.'

'It's the original Airwolf.' Hawke pointed out. 'She's fine. Besides, Red Star's been confirmed clear of all explosive devices. Henman just wanted me dead.' The final report had indicated Henman had only planted a bomb on the helicopter he'd known Hawke was scheduled to fly.

'How are you doing with that?' Caitlin asked pointedly as she took the mug back and took another gulp of warm liquid.

Hawke grimaced. 'Better.' It was an admission of the guilt he still felt but he was handling it. He wasn't responsible for what Henman had done.

'You were right about Lydia.' Caitlin reminded him with enough chagrin that he knew she was beating herself up for her own assumptions about the woman who'd ultimately helped save her. 'Henman had her completely terrified.' She sighed. 'Marella said the FBI are still finding bodies out at the farm.'

'Doesn't seem real.' Hawke murmured. Caitlin's evidence of her conversation with Lydia had led to a full scale investigation of the farm. Agents had discovered Henman's father buried in the back yard and more than fifteen other graves in a nearby field. They were all blonde girls; all very much like Polly in build. Hawke shuddered, a flicker of renewed mourning for Polly drifting through him. It saddened him that her death had been caused by Henman's jealousy of him. He was just relieved Henman hadn't killed Caitlin. His arm tightened around her.

Caitlin raised her face to his and he kissed her gently.

He pulled back and smoothed a lock of her hair back behind an ear, drinking in the love in her eyes. 'Saint John was right.'

'About what?' Caitlin asked.

'I'm incredibly lucky.' Hawke admitted gruffly.

She hugged her and settled back against him. 'How's he doing with the whole Jo thing?'

'OK.' Hawke said, taking the mug for a sip of the liquid. Jo had been helping out at the airfield since Sarah stayed with Mike.

'You think they're back together?' Caitlin asked, giving up on her indirect approach.

Hawke made a face. 'I don't know.' But he hoped so. He really hoped for his brother that Jo had stopped running and found her way back.

Caitlin sighed dramatically. 'You're just no good at gossip, Hawke.'

He kissed her.

'But you are good at that.' Caitlin said breathlessly when he eased back.

His blue eyes warmed and he leaned in for another kiss...

The cabin door was flung open.

'Dad!' Nicky ran out onto the porch and gestured at him. 'Come on! We're going to be late!' He ran back inside before Hawke could respond.

Caitlin smiled at Hawke's irked expression. She patted his arm. 'And now you owe ten bucks since I bet you Nicky would be up before you had to wake him.'

'I didn't take that bet.' Hawke reminded her with a touch of exasperation.

She stuck her tongue at him. He pulled her closer and kissed her.

A couple of hours later, Hawke landed at Red Star. He changed into his Airwolf flight suit and led Nicky towards the old Airwolf hangar. He wasn't surprised to see a group waiting for them.

Michael got to his feet first. He looked at Nicky and then pointedly at Hawke. 'No.'

Hawke placed a hand on Nicky's shoulder and stared back at his friend.

They locked wills for a matter of moments.

'You know I was your age when I first flew in AIrwolf.' Angelina commented beside her father, drawing the attention of both Hawke and Michael. She smirked at her father.

Michael stroked his moustache and sighed. He pointed a finger at Nicky. 'You don't touch anything.'

Nicky grinned. 'Dad already said.'

'Yes, well.' Michael looked up at Hawke with hidden mirth. 'You should ask what happened the first time your Mom sat in Airwolf.'

Nicky looked at Hawke questioningly.

'She touched something she shouldn't; almost killed us.' Hawke explained succinctly.

'For real?' Nicky's mouth dropped open. 'Wow.'

Angelina grinned back at him. 'Excited?'

'I guess.' Nicky said, a hint of red appearing in his cheeks.

'Why don't you we get you suited up like your Dad?' Angelina said. She gestured towards the locker room and Nicky followed her eagerly.

Michael sighed as he watched his daughter leave.

'You're going to have to let her back in the cockpit soon, Michael.' Hawke said conversationally.

Michael shot him a look. 'But not today.' He waved back at the cockpit. 'Seb's adjusting her systems. I'll leave you to it.' He tapped his cane on the ground and walked away.

Hawke made for Airwolf and stuck his head inside. His younger brother was in the back at the engineer's console. 'All set?'

Seb glanced at him. 'I've done some tweaking to the systems. She'll fly better.' He looked at his older brother warily. 'You sure you don't want company?'

'No room.' Hawke said. Once they picked up Mike and Sarah, Airwolf would be full. Having Seb along would make it a tight squeeze.

'Maybe Nicky should stay here.' Seb said bluntly.

Hawke looked back at his brother evenly. He'd promised his son and he wasn't backing down.

Seb sighed and made to get out. Hawke shifted out of his way.

'Have you been by Santini Air lately?' Seb asked as he disembarked.

'Yeah.' Hawke said.

'And you have to have noticed how Saint John and Jo are together.' Seb gave a short laugh. 'You can't tell me you're not worried about it.'

Hawke shrugged. 'It's their business, Seb.'

'So you're going to just stand by and watch her hurt him again?' Seb demanded.

'All I'm saying is it's Saint John's decision if he's prepared to forgive her for pushing him away.' Hawke replied, keeping his tone even.

'Well, you would know all about pushing people away.' Seb muttered derisively.

'I would. It's easier to push someone away and be alone than it is to love someone and take the risk of getting hurt again.' Hawke folded his arms. 'But you still end up alone. Maybe Jo realised that.'

'Have you?' Seb asked without pause.

Hawke scowled. 'What's your problem with me, Seb?'

Seb flushed. He dropped his gaze and pushed a hand through his hair. 'Everyone thinks you're perfect.'

'And you don't like that.' Hawke said.

'Well, you're not perfect.' Seb retorted.

'Never claimed I was.' Hawke said exasperatedly.

Seb looked at him in surprise. He shuffled under Hawke's regard. 'I'm sorry. It's just...hard having to live up to you sometimes and then when you do screw up, nobody ever seems to call you on it.'

Hawke grimaced with chagrin; there was some truth in his brother's words. 'Dom used to.' He gestured at Seb. 'You remind me of him sometimes.'

'Really?' Seb asked startled.

'Sure.' Hawke patted his brother's arm. 'He didn't think I was perfect either.'

Seb gave a reluctant chuckle.

'Look,' Hawke said, 'I know I screwed up these last few months and I'm sorry.'

'Me too.' Seb responded. 'About giving you a hard time.'

'At least you didn't punch me.' Hawke said dryly.

Seb glanced at the yellowing bruise on Hawke's jaw and bit his lip to stop from smiling. 'Sarah does have a great hook.'

There was the sound of a door banging at the edge of the hangar and both of them turned to see Angelina leading Nicky back in a miniature flight suit.

'Where the hell did she get that?' Hawke muttered.

'Don't ask.' Seb replied wryly.

Hawke looked at him. 'You could come with us.' He allowed.

Seb shook his head. 'You need the room for Sarah and Mike. I'm good.' He looked over at his brother with a silent question in his eyes of whether they were good.

Hawke nodded almost imperceptibly.

Nicky grinned at Hawke. 'Look!'

'Impressive.' Hawke said, shooting Angelina a look.

Angelina simply smiled back at him. She grinned at Nicky. 'Have fun.'

'Keep your Dad out of trouble!' Seb said.

Hawke watched as the two of them walked out. He helped Nicky into the passenger seat; strapped him into the rarely used harness. A few minutes later, they were flying.

The blue sky was empty and silent as Airwolf carved her way through it. Hawke glanced over at his son's rapt expression as they went to mach speed and smiled. Nicky's glee reminded him of Caitlin.

'This is cool.' Nicky blurted out.

'Yeah.' Hawke agreed quietly. He adjusted his position. 'Airwolf, run system check.'

Running system check. The words appeared on the pilot's monitor in front of him.

New pilot: Dominic Alan Hawke. Adding to pilots.

Hawke frowned at the read-out. It looked like Airwolf had decided Nicky was going to fly with her for real one day.

The trip wasn't long in Airwolf and Hawke parked on the hospital's helipad. Nicky followed Hawke through the sterile corridors to Mike's private room. Mike had recovered well since the explosion; he was covered in bruises but he was otherwise unharmed. Hawke figured it was something of a miracle given the other man's fall from the sky.

He could hear Mike laughing as they neared the room. He hauled Nicky back when his son would have just opened the door, and knocked. Nicky rolled his eyes but said nothing.

'Come in!' Mike yelled. He grinned at them as they entered; his eyes opening wide at the sight of Nicky's flight suit.

'Hey, guys.' Sarah greeted them and Hawke tried to ignore the fact that her buttons were askew on her blouse. She smiled at Nicky. 'Look at you! Don't you look...'

'Cool.' Mike hurriedly inserted.

Sarah snapped a look in his direction. 'Right. Cool.'

Hawke's lips twitched and he gestured at Mike. The other man was already dressed and looked ready to go. 'You set?'

'Completely.' Mike agreed.

'I'll go organise the discharge.' Hawke said. He backed out of the room and headed for the nurses' station. He was in the middle of signing what seemed like the hundredth form when Sarah approached him.

'Almost done.' Hawke informed her, scrawling his name again.

'I didn't come for that.' Sarah said quietly. 'I, uh, I came to apologise.' She gestured at his bruise. 'I shouldn't have hit you.'

'You had reason.' Hawke replied, his pen hovering over the next signature line. 'He got hurt because I stood down.'

'But it wasn't your fault Henman was a crazy.' Sarah rejoined. She put her arms around him and hugged him. 'I'm just glad everything worked out.'

Hawke hugged her back. 'Come on. Let's get you both home.'

They headed back to the room together. Mike scowled at the wheelchair Hawke had been instructed to use.

'I can walk.' Mike protested.

'Sure.' Hawke agreed. He helped Mike off the bed and let go of him. Mike swayed ominously and Hawke pushed him not-so-gently into the wheelchair.

'Maybe I will just use this until we get to the Lady.' Mike offered with a sigh. He looked at Sarah hopefully. 'Do we have snacks?'

Sarah nudged Nicky. 'Let's go raid the vending machine.'

'No candy bars.' Hawke instructed.

'Aw, come on.' Mike wheedled. 'I'm injured.'

Sarah winked at him and left Hawke to wheel Mike through the corridors while she and Nicky went in search of supplies.

Hawke cleared his throat as they got into the elevator to go to the roof. 'I wanted to say thank you.'

Mike looked at him oddly.

'For the heads up.' Hawke said. 'If you hadn't sent me back home...'

Mike waved away his words. 'I still can't quite get my head around it. I mean, it feels like a dream but...' he sighed. 'I know it was Dominic Santini. Just like I know I saw Bella. And it was Locke who got me back to where I was supposed to be.'

Hawke rolled the wheelchair onto the roof and Mike gave a sigh as he spotted Airwolf.

'There's nothing like the original, is there?' He said.

'No.' Hawke agreed. He paused outside Airwolf, waiting for Sarah and Nicky. They would need to sit in the back; Mike would take the front seat next to him.

'So,' Mike said, 'Saint John got the bachelor party sorted out?'

Hawke shot him a look. 'I don't think Sarah plans on you being out of her sight.'

Mike pretended to wince but his eyes gave away his own relief. 'I'm glad I didn't die. I have too much to live for, you know?'

Hawke clasped his shoulder. 'Yeah; I know.'

o-O-o

Epilogue

The day was sunny which Hawke considered something of a miracle given the weather reports had all indicated rain. The church was crowded with guests. Mike's family had arrived a couple of days before and they took up one side while the Hawkes and their friends took up the other.

Hawke grasped Caitlin's hand tighter and pressed closer to her. She looked beautiful in a green summer dress and matching shawl. He hated the suit he had been cajoled into wearing, and he and Nicky had bonded in their mutual antipathy of dressing up. His son sat on the opposite side of Caitlin, clearly bored as they waited for the service to begin. Hawke took advantage of the delay to look around the rest of his family.

His mother was in the pew in front with Seb. Hawke was trying to focus on enjoying his time with his parents rather than anticipating losing them again. His relationship with Seb also seemed to have gotten to a place of understanding and Hawke was glad about that. Maybe it would give them something to build on going forward. Jo stood beside Seb. Whatever the status of her relationship with Saint John, she was being treated as one of the family and Hawke was figured Dom would have approved.

In front of his parents, Saint John and Chris stood by Mike. The three men seemed relaxed and happy; smiles and laughter seemed to be the order of the day. Hawke was pleased. He let out a slow breath.

He glanced over his shoulder and Michael smiled back at him. He and Marella were in the pew behind. Sarah had asked Angelina to be bridesmaid.

The organ began playing and they all stood.

Amelia entered first. She scattered flowers in front of her and grinned happily at her parents as she walked past. Jane manoeuvred her into the pew and beamed at her proudly.

Hawke let out a small breath of relief that his daughter's contribution had gone well as Angelina walked past in her role as chief bridesmaid.

Sarah entered on his father's arm. She looked beautiful. Her dark hair spilled out over her shoulders; her blue eyes were radiant behind her filmy veil. Alan winked at Hawke and Sarah grinned as they walked past.

Caitlin sniffed and Hawke handed her a handkerchief. They looked at each other lovingly. Hawke remembered all too well the vows they had taken; he leaned over and kissed her. She looked surprised but her eyes shone with happiness and his hand tightened on hers again as they sat down.

'Dearly beloved...'

Hawke watched as his father handed Sarah to Mike; a lump gathered in his throat as he caught sight of the tears in his father's eyes. There was a lot of history between his sister and parents. He knew his father had once thought he would never have the chance to give his daughter in marriage...Hawke glanced at Amelia. It would be him one day; handing Amelia to some guy she had fallen in love with. Hawke repressed the urge to scowl and the more pressing urge to lock Amelia in the cabin until she was fifty.

'I, Michael Daniel Rivers, take thee...' Mike's voice intoned solemnly.

Hawke saw Saint John look back towards Jo. He wondered if they were remembering their own vows; just as he was remembering the vows he had taken.

The priest called for the rings and Chris produced them with an air of ceremony and a wide grin.

Mike placed his ring on Sarah's finger with a kiss; she placed hers on his.

Caitlin sighed and leaned into him; one hand over her belly where their child grew. He slid his own hand over hers.

'You may kiss the bride.'

Mike clasped Sarah's veil and kissed her with a reverence that Hawke recognised all too well. Mike was head over heels in love with his sister, he realised; just as he was head over heels in love with his wife.

The bells pealed out above them and as Mike and Sarah raced back down the aisle, Hawke turned to Caitlin.

'I love you.'

Caitlin smiled at him. He rarely said the words and she treasured when he did. 'I love you too.'

They stepped out of the church and into the sunshine. Hawke looked at his gathered family; at Michael and Marella; at his brothers and sister; at his parents; at Caitlin and their children. He looked across towards the cemetery and thought for a moment he had glimpsed a flash of blue and red; of Dom...

Something in him shifted and settled. He had love; he had his family; he could stop running, stop pushing them away, stop fearing that he would be left alone again.

Hawke raised his face to the warmth of the sun; the blue of the sky. He had his happy ever after...and now he just had to live it...

The End