You Can Find Anything.... 5/?

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Wishing she were taller, Naomi hurried into the detective division of the Metro police department on Caine's heels, though she was having to make a real effort to keep up with the output of his long legs. She followed him over to the desk of another detective, a pretty, dark haired young woman, then leaned on the desk catching her breath while he asked questions.

"Detective Skelany."

"Caine. Hi. You look upset. Is something.... Peter? Don't tell me he didn't get home last night. That boy is in for the butt-whooping of his life, I swear..."

"I cannot reach him by phone. This is not so unusual after he has been out late. Nevertheless I am... concerned. Do you know where he was working last night?"

"Of course I do. I was with him." Skelany answered distractedly as she reviewed Peter's strange behavior again. Caine picked up on her bewilderment instantly.

"Something happened."

"Maybe. I heard him give this screech over the radio. He said he dropped coffee in his lap. Then he told the rest of us to head on home. He said he'd wait for the backup team to get there then head out himself. It was only gonna be a few minutes. I didn't think he could get into any real serious trouble.... what am I saying, this is Pete. If there was a pit of quicksand anywhere in a three state area, he'd be the one to fall in it."

"It is a... gift."

"So you say. C'mon. I'll take you to the warehouse, but we're picking up a few dozen extra cops on the way."

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Using gestures instead of words, Skelany directed the positioning of the eight officers she was able to grab on such short notice. Two of the group she took into the warehouse with her. The trio came on Peter's sprawled form almost immediately. Caine and Naomi were there before she even had time to call for them.

"Oh, my Lord. Is he alright?" Naomi exclaimed quietly as she crouched by Peter's side and grasped his arm. The moment she touched him, the warehouse swirled away like water circling a drain and she was back in the snowy open field she had inhabited in her dreams the previous night. This time, however, she was standing quite still and listening, only occasionally pawing the ground with one hoof. After a moment, a form appeared out of the swirling snow and cried out to her plaintively. Confused and unsure, she hesitated, unwilling to move forward as the creature, now clearly visible as an enormous panda, seemed to want her to do. When it cried again, the sound was filled with anguish and tinged with fear. Naomi's tender heart overrode everything that might have been holding her back and she followed the other animal at a fast trot, knowing her journey was almost over.

"Ma'mm? What's wrong with her, Caine? Ma'mm, are you okay?" Skelany asked, shaking the older woman slightly.

"I... do not know. Take her over there and I will see to her in a moment. Peter has been injured." He responded, gently turning his son over onto his back. Being pulled away from Peter's side broke Naomi's contact with him and she immediately protested. "No! Leave me alone... I was so close! I was almost there! Don't you understand? Let me go, damn it! I have to go back...."

In the middle of his tightly focused examination of his son, Naomi's words began to filter through to Caine. He rose and moved to her side.

"It is alright, detective. You may release her. To what place must you return, Naomi? Tell me what happened."

"I was there... in my dream. Whatever it is I'm supposed to find... I almost had it. I could almost touch it... then she pulled me away."

Sensing the situation turning into another of Caine's truth-is-ten- times-stranger-than-fiction moments, Skelany backed off and spoke into her radio, asking for medical assistance, then moved outside to dismiss the extra personnel. "Is Peter going to be alright?" Naomi asked.

"I... do not yet know. I must finish examining him. Come." Caine said, leading her back to where Peter still lay. Silently, he encouraged her to re-establish contact with his son. Crouching, she touched the young man's face and felt the world vanish in a slow dissolve once again, returning her to the cold, windswept plain. Panic swallowed her, however, because she was utterly alone. The panda she'd been following was nowhere in sight and even the steady pulse she had been depending on to guide her could no longer be heard. Naomi collapsed to the floor, crying softly. Knowing now that what had happened to his son was nothing anyone other than Peter could heal, Caine moved to comfort her. As he helped her back onto her feet, he turned her to face him.

"No... God, no...."

"What is it? What did you see?"

"I failed. I lost him... I can't hear him anymore..."

"You did not fail Peter. His path will not be clear until he chooses it."

"You don't understand! Before she dragged me away, I was following the panda.... I knew it was right... I knew he'd lead me to.... Now he's gone and I don't know which way to go anymore...."

Caine's hands tightened on Naomi's shoulders.

"Lead you to what?"

"I don't know. Someone who needs me.... I think. They're in danger.... or about to give up something they shouldn't.... I need to find them...."

"You have." Caine told her, looking from her to his son.

Naomi gazed at Peter's still form, swiped at her eyes and turned back to Caine.

"Peter? I don't understand...."

"Nor do I.... just yet."

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Sunk deep inside himself, refusing to acknowledge that, for all intents and purposes, the environment around him was real, Peter Caine sagged against the soaring pine tree at his back. Though his thirst was raging and hunger had begun to announce its presence as well, he ignored them both as thoroughly as he ignored the creature that had been sitting at his side for several hours. It had briefly vanished into the surrounding brush some time ago, but it had returned almost immediately and had not left him alone since then.

The panda had employed several techniques to draw him out and gain his attention, but they had been useless so far. Understanding, as Peter did not, how little time the young man had left, the animal decided it had reached the limit of its patience. Moving a short distance away, the bear rooted among the ground cover with paws and nose until it found what it required; a small dead branch that possessed a wickedly sharp point on its unbroken end. Moving back to where Peter sat, the bear gripped the stick tightly in its teeth and swung its head sideways, firmly poking the point into the back of Peter's hand and causing a drop of blood to well up from the minor wound. The human yelped and pulled his hand away. The panda dropped the stick and produced a short, sharp grunt of satisfaction.

//// It's about time you got your ass in gear.\\\\

Peter's eyes widened and he stared around him at the trees and bushes, searching for the source of the voice.

"What the...."

//// I'm over here. \\\\

Slowly, unwillingly, Peter's gaze swung back to the panda. //// That's right. Sorry about the stick, but I couldn't get through to you any other way and I wasn't about to let you commit suicide. \\\\

"Suicide... who said anything about suicide... "

//// I brought you water, but you wouldn't drink it. If I could have brought food you would have refused that too. What exactly do you call that kind of behavior? \\\\

Peter looked around the space where he sat and found several leaves with liquid sitting in them, in various stages of evaporation.

"Look, what is it you want from me? Why won't you leave me alone? Just let me go...."

//// Not my place. You have a journey ahead of you and a decision to make at the end. Until you finish this one way or the other, you don't get an exit sign, champ. \\\\

Peter sat, deep in thought for another few minutes, pondering his options. He was depressed to find there weren't any. When the panda picked up the stick again, the young man scrambled out of range and rose to his feet, anxious to avoid a repeat of the pain.

"Okay, okay! Enough with the torture. Can't a guy think, for God's sake?" He responded irately, brushing pine needles and other accumulated debris from his clothes.

//// Does that mean you're finally ready to get started? \\\\

"Does that mean you're giving me a choice?"

//// No. \\\\

"Didn't think so. Okay. Let's move out." Peter replied, wincing as he limped forward. Noticing his pain, the panda moved close and nuzzled each of Peter's knees with his nose. To the other's astonishment, the pain and stiffness disappeared.

"How the hell did you do that?"

//// I said I couldn't let you go. I didn't say I was totally useless. Follow. \\\\

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THE HOSPITAL

Naomi stood just outside the curtained emergency room enclosure, watching Caine and marveling at his patience. For half an hour, he had been quietly arguing both with the doctor and Mary-Margaret Skelany about his son's care. He knew that no medicine would ever cause Peter to regain consciousness, but he also knew there was no way to explain his certainty and sound rational to uninitiated ears and closed minds. The doctors were intent on trying to understand such bizarre events as the tiny pinpoint wound that had suddenly appeared on Peter's hand a few minutes before and the plethora of mosquito bites that covered his body.

She observed for a few minutes longer, then turned away and walked out of the building, pulling out her cell phone.

"Yeah. Hello?"

"Jim... it... it's Naomi. I-is Blair at home?"

"He's right here. What's wrong, Naomi? You sound like you've been through a car wreck."

"No, really, I'll be alright. I'm a little... shaken, that's all. On second thought, can I talk to both of you at once?"

"Sure. Hang on while I put you on speaker."

"Mom? What is it? Are you okay?" Blair asked, his tone clearly conveying his concern.

"In most respects, yes. I.... something very strange has been happening to me.... all my usual coping mechanisms seem to have gone on strike.... Could you come here? You and Jim both, I mean."

"Mom, you're scaring me. I've never in my life heard you like this."

"I'm scaring myself just a bit... Can you get away?" Naomi asked again, struggling now to control her emotions.

"Are you kidding? I'll be there as soon as I can get packed. Where are you staying?"

"At a little Kung-Fu dojo downtown. Just ask for Caine. Everyone knows him. Blair.... do hurry, dear. Bring Jim... and hurry. There's a young man who... well, I'll tell you when I see you. Call me when you arrive?"

"I will. See you soon, mom."

"Yes. You know... I never understood before. I wasn't sure I wanted to. I'm finding I was right."

"Understood? Understood what? Mom?"

Blair shouted her name once or twice more, but Naomi had hung up.

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TBC.......