The following day at Santini Air
"Morning Cait"
"Hey Dom" replied Cait as she breezed into the hangar, throwing her purse on the desk. "How's Hawke?"
"Huh! Who knows. His mood didn't improve yesterday, I can tell you that much. I just dropped him back at the cabin and left him too it. You know Cait, there isn't much else to do when he's like that."
"Sure, I know…..but shouldn't one of us go and check on him?" asked Cait placing her hands on her hips.
"Nah Cait, I told him to call if he needs anything, and I don't fancy getting my head bitten off again, do you?"
"No, not really Dom, I can't say that I do."
"Right, well in that case, lets get some work done around here then hey?" laughed Dom walking to the bench and picking up a wrench.
The day passed with the usual rounds of maintenance and paperwork and there was good news of some further work at the studios. Cait was just getting changed out of her overalls when Dom shouted:
"Say Cait, I've been thinking. Maybe I will go and check on String. You know, take him some groceries. Do you fancy coming with me?"
"Sorry Dom, I can't. I'm going to watch Ben play basketball tonight. He plays for the club over at Eagle Hills."
"Ben eh?" smiled Dom
"Yeah, I gave him a lift home yesterday, and you know, we got talking."
"You like him huh?" asked Dom, perching himself on the desk.
"Yeah, I think so. I mean we only just met, but yeah he seems like a real nice guy and we get along." smiled Cait.
"Well yes, he did seem like a nice guy Cait, so I hope it all goes well for you."
"Thanks Dom, I'll see you tomorrow….oh and Dom"
"Yeah sweetheart."
Cait paused.
"What is it?" asked Dom
"Oh, I was going to say, send String my love, but he probably wouldn't want that from me either if yesterday was anything to go by." And with that Cait turned on her heels and left.
Dom could do nothing but sigh in reply. He didn't blame Cait for feeling like that, in fact he was still angry with String himself, but he had decided that going to check on him was the right thing to do anyway.
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Dom set off for the cabin in the Jet Ranger. He had picked up some groceries so had the prefect excuse to drop in on String, but he wished Cait was with him. Having completed the journey to the cabin many times, Dom found himself lost in his thoughts. So, maybe Cait has found someone to make her happy signed Dom. I mean I liked Ben too, but he's not String and I am sure Cait has feelings for String. I mean is it selfish of me to hope she has? Ah, you're an old Italian romantic Santini! Life's just not like you see in all the old films, now is it!
Landing on the jetty, the first thing Dom noticed was that there was no smoke curling out of the chimney like there usually was. String always kept the fire going at this time of the year. It got chilly near the mountains. Grabbing the bag of groceries, Dom hurried up the steps into the cabin.
"String! You here? String?"
Dom headed straight over and put the groceries on the bar. The only sign of life was an empty glass, which Dom sniffed…whisky.
Dom headed upstairs to the sleeping loft.
"String!" exclaimed Dom, rushing over to the shape under the blankets.
"String?"
Dom rolled String towards him. He was clammy and shaking and burning up. As the bed clothes moved, Dom could see the arrow wound in his left shoulder. Cait's neat bandage had been removed and the wound looked swollen, red and angry.
"String, can you hear me kid? We gotta get you to the hospital."
String groaned "Dom?"
"Yeah it's me String, come on lets get you out of here."
Dom manged to get String's right arm slung round his shoulders and helped him down the stairs and out to the Jet Ranger. He got on the radio to Archangel as soon as they were in the air and headed as fast as he could to the FIRM's nearest medical facility.
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"So, I invite you to come and watch me play and we can't even win!" laughed Ben as he and Cait made their way back towards the car park after the match.
"Ha! Laughed Cait, don't worry, I really enjoyed watching you and it made me realise I miss having some sport in my life, so I've signed up to the volleyball team. I used to play quite a lot of volleyball in my college days."
"Oh, so you will be hanging out here from now on then?" smiled Ben.
"Yeah, I guess I will" replied Cait, putting her hand on Ben's shoulder. "So, where you taking me for this drink you promised then?"
"There's a new place just opened, it's not far. I've heard good things about it."
"Sounds perfect" said Cait.
Just as they stepped out into the car park, a familiar vehicle pulled up in front of them. There was no mistaking Archangels' white Limo.
The driver's door opened.
"Samantha, what are you doing here?" asked Cait expecting her to go and open the back door and see Michael emerge from within.
"Michael sent me to get you."
"Me, why?" asked Cait
"Dom and Hawke are at the hospital."
"What!" has something happened to them? What's going on?"
"It's Hawke" said Samantha as she climbed back into the driver's seat.
"Ben, look, I'm sorry, I need to go. Can we take a rain check on that drink?" said Cait leaning down and giving Ben a kiss on the cheek.
"Yeah, sure Cait, you go, it's fine, I'll call you tomorrow." replied Ben as Cait jogged round to get into the Limo next to Samantha.
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"Dom, what's going on?" asked Cait as she hurried into the hospital to find Dom and Archangel waiting for her.
"It's String" replied Dom "I found him in bed when I got to the cabin, looks like the wound in his shoulder has caused an infection."
"Well, I'm not surprised, I mean I did the best I could yesterday, but he should've seen a Doctor!"
"Cait, you did a great job, I'm sure, but it looks like the arrowhead had some sort of toxin on it's tip, which is making Hawke's condition harder to stabilize." said Michael.
"But he is going to be OK?" asked Cait
"We'll know more in the morning, once the antibiotics have had a chance to get into his system."
"Sorry, we dragged you away from your date Cait, but I just thought you would want to know." said Dom dropping into the nearest chair.
"Of course I wanted to know Dom" replied Cait sitting down next to him.
"Look, I'll leave you guys to it" said Michael. "I'll make sure the medical team keep you updated on Hawke's condition."
"Thanks Michael" replied Dom.
"Dom, can I get you a coffee or something, you look beat" asked Cait.
"Yes please sweetheart, but look you don't have to stay if you don't want to."
"Dom, I'm staying."
"Thanks Cait said Dom placing his hand on her shoulder and giving it a little squeeze.
It was 06.30, when Dom looked at his watch for what felt like the 50th time. He hadn't slept much. Cait had stretched out on the chairs and Dom had covered her with his coat and she had finally managed to nod off. All they had learnt during the night was that thanks to the intravenous antibiotics, String's fever had broken, and he was now stable.
The door to the waiting room opened waking Cait, who sat up and tried to stretch out the awkward position she had been lying in.
"What news Doc?" asked Dom
"Mr Hawkes is awake, groggy, but awake, which is of course good news" replied the doctor.
"So, he is going to be OK?" asked Cait
"Yes, we think so, we need to run some further blood tests, but yes we think Mr Santini got him here just in time."
"Can we see him?" asked Cait.
"Yes, but Mr Hawke has said he doesn't want any visitors at the moment." said the doctor.
"No visitors. Why?" asked Dom.
"I don't know the details I'm afraid, but he just said that he doesn't want to see anyone."
Dom rolled his eyes and looked at Cait. He knew that look.
"I didn't just miss my date and spend the night in a hospital trying to sleep on a row of the most uncomfortable chairs on the planet for Hawke to send us away Dom. I'm going to see him!" said Cait angrily as she opened the door and headed down the corridor to Hawke's room.
"Cait!" shouted Dom, but he knew there was no stopping her.
Cait got the door of Hawke's room, took a deep breath, pushed it open and stepped inside.
String was lying propped up in bed and after he had seen the reason for the door opening had looked away.
"Go away Cait. I said I didn't want to see anyone." said String
"Why? Why don't you want to see anyone? Are ya afraid I'm going to tell you I told you so? Well let me tell you Hawke, I did! I knew you needed to get checked out at a hospital, but you just ignored me. Not that I should be surprised by that, you do it a lot! And now Dom and I have spent a night in a hospital waiting room, worried sick about you!"
"You through?"
"I've not even started!" replied Cait, still with anger in her voice. She sighed. "Look, I am going to take Dom for a slap-up breakfast and then we are going to work. You can do what you like for all I care." Cait didn't wait for a response, but simply turned and left the room.
Hawke shifted slightly in the bed to get more comfortable. He knew Cait was right but spending time with the guys during the mountain ascent had made what happened to him seem trivial somehow. As he laid there, he found himself realising that he had always loved the fact that Cait wasn't afraid to speak her mind and stand up for what she felt was right. If there was something that needed saying, you could always rely on Cait to get it said. He deserved that mouthful and more besides. He knew she cared about him and he had been trying to allow himself to show her he cared too, but maybe the odd hug or touch here and there wasn't enough. He knew he would need to do more.