Thirteenth February. Racino Pass.

Hawke tightened his jacket around him as the wind brushed past him sharply. It was so cold on the mountain, he thought tiredly. His blue eyes searched the cloudy sky.

'Come on, Dom.' He muttered as he shivered violently. Where the hell was Airwolf? If he wasn't found soon…the fire flickered with another gust of wind and his trembling fingers quickly added some twigs and leaves to feed the flames. He was so tired; all he wanted to do was close his eyes…he forced his drooping eyes wide open. Hypothermia. He was losing consciousness because he was too cold. His eyes drifted to his numb leg and the red stain on the bandage, on the ground beneath him. Or maybe it was the loss of blood. Either way, he thought stubbornly, he needed to stay awake…stay conscious. Dom and Caitlin would come for him. They had never let him down before; they'd always come through for him.

He needed a distraction. He'd been thinking about the day before and the run-up to the camping trip…his bachelor night. Hawke blew on his cold hands, rubbed them together. He needed a distraction like remembering the camping trip…

Eleventh February. The Campsite.

They had taken the chopper up to the top of the mountain. It was a beautiful clearing surrounded by tall trees and plenty of natural shelter. There was a view across the mountains and in the far distance they would swear they could see the smoke from the cabin meandering into the blue cloudless sky. The stream cut across the right side of the clearing; a wide, babbling torrent of water that poured over the rocks and rushed past them on its way to the lake. They made camp on the left side of the clearing away from the water and nearer to the shelter of the trees. It helped keep the sharp breeze away from the tents and campfire. The position of old campfire stones and fallen logs told of past trips and it wasn't long before a fire blazed in the centre of their camp.

Darkness was swift and sudden at the top of the mountain and they watched the sunset with a hushed awe as they finished a simple meal. The firelight cast a golden glow over the assembled men and there was a comfortable silence broken only by the faint scrapings of the forks on the camping tins. Dom reached for the coffee pot and refilled the mugs which Patrick topped with a measure of whiskey.

'To the groom.' Patrick toasted.

They raised their mugs at Hawke who followed the gesture before they all took a drink.

'To the bride.' Dom added.

'To the bride.' They all toasted.

'You know,' Callum said, 'I don't think I know how you and my sister actually met.'

Hawke glanced over at Caitlin's brother. 'Cait hasn't told you?'

'No.' Callum shook his head.

'She's never told me either.' Brian, the eldest of Caitlin's brothers, added.

'Come to think of it,' Patrick said slowly, 'I haven't heard the story either.' He looked over at Hawke who was studiously staring into the fire and at Dom who was looking into the bottom of his mug avoiding everyone's gaze.

'I know I haven't.' Michael rubbed his moustache thoughtfully. The first time he'd met Caitlin had been shortly after she'd started working at Santini Air. Hawke and Dom had introduced her to him as a new addition to the air service without any further explanation. Of course, Michael had run a background check; he hadn't been comfortable with the idea of having someone else so close to Airwolf. He'd discovered she'd been the police officer assigned to escort the body of a James Blake, one of Hawke's wartime buddies, to LA and that it had been her last assignment before she went on a leave of absence. He had always assumed she'd connected with Hawke and Santini at the funeral and being an out of work pilot had wangled a job with them. Looking at the expressions on the faces of the two pilots he had a feeling he'd missed something. 'Why don't you tell it to all of us?' He suggested.

'Now that sounds like a good idea.' Callum said raising his mug.

Hawke sighed. 'It's really not that interesting a story.'

'Oh come on.' Doc agreed. 'How did the two of you meet?'

Hawke glanced over at Dom who shrugged at him resigned.

'You might as well tell them.' The older man said.

Hawke took a gulp of his coffee. 'Caitlin was working as a Highway Patrol officer in Pope County when we met.' He said finally.

'You met Caitlin when she was in Texas?' Callum checked.

'Yeah, I thought you didn't meet her until she moved to LA.' Patrick said puzzled.

'That's what I thought.' Michael added a little sharply.

'So what's the story?' Doc asked seemingly oblivious to the undercurrent of tension. 'Did she pull you over for speeding?'

'I…er…well,' Hawke gestured awkwardly, 'I was kinda in jail.'

'You were in jail?' Patrick's voice rose.

Doc's eyebrows rose. 'And you think this isn't interesting?'

Hawke shot him a look that effectively silenced him. 'Maybe I should start at the beginning.'

'Maybe you should,' agreed Callum laughing.

'I had a friend called James Blake. He was a chopper pilot back in 'Nam, same as me. He saved my life a couple of times back in the war.' Hawke began. 'Anyway, Jimmy ended up drifting after we came back and every couple of months or so, he'd call, usually wanting bail money or a favour.'

Brian nodded thoughtfully; he'd served in 'Nam, had friends like Jimmy himself. 'Happened to a lot of men.' He murmured.

Callum and Patrick glanced across at him. It was rare for Brian to talk about 'Nam.

Hawke nodded in agreement. 'I never minded. Jimmy was a good guy. The war just screwed him up a little. Anyway, the day before I met Caitlin, I'd gotten a phone call from a friend of Jimmy's. He explained that they'd escaped from the Pope County jail and Jimmy needed a rescue.'

'So you headed to Texas to help your friend out?' Doc clarified. He almost smiled; it was classic Hawke.

'Yeah.' Hawke gestured with his mug. 'Only there was no sight of him. I headed into town to see what information I could rustle up…'

'I stayed with the helicopter.' Dom added and avoided Michael's sharp gaze.

'When I was having a quiet drink at the bar,' Hawke continued, 'the sheriff arrested me for having no id.'

'Are you sure all you were doing was having a quiet drink at the bar?' Michael asked sceptically; he had known the pilot to start the odd brawl.

'The sheriff had some kinda racket going on.' Dom said supporting the younger man before Hawke could respond. 'He'd catch drifters and sell them to a local landowner who'd have people hunt them.'

Patrick's eyebrows shot up. 'Did I hear you right?'

'You heard me.' Dom said. 'I tell you this guy?' He shook his head and whistled. 'Real bad guy.'

'He was a real mean son of a…' Hawke checked himself. 'He beat me up a little and threw me in jail.' His eyes met Patrick's across the fire. 'The next day, Caitlin showed up.'

'It turns out she'd seen the sheriff run Hawke's friend off a verge out by the highway. Only the sheriff had pulled rank on her and forced her to leave Jimmy in his custody.' Dom said.

'She wouldn't let it go though and came looking for him.' Hawke added.

'Sounds like Caitlin.' Brian commented.

'She came storming into the jail demanding to see Jimmy.' Hawke shrugged. 'I figured she was my best chance of getting out of there and managed to convince her to let me make a phone call.'

'To me.' Dom confirmed. 'Only before I got the chance to go get him, the sheriff turned up.' He caught Hawke's warning stare too late.

'The sheriff turned up?' Patrick looked over the fire at Hawke.

'Yeah, the sheriff turned up.'

'So what happened?' Doc demanded.

Hawke sighed and rubbed his chin. 'He took Cait hostage and took me out to be hunted.'

'Caitlin got taken hostage.' Patrick yelped.

'Only for a short time.' Hawke assured him. 'I got away from the hunters, found Dom and went back for her.' His jaw clenched at the memory of seeing Caitlin in her small Highway Patrol chopper desperately trying to get airborne before the sheriff could shoot her down. 'We got her out safely.' He finished.

Patrick subsided. 'Now I know why she's never told me the story.'

Michael hid his face in his mug; he had a feeling Hawke had judiciously left quite a bit and didn't want to alert Caitlin's father to the possibility.

'So you and Cait met in Texas.' Callum stated. 'I always thought it was when she'd taken that body of some dead guy…' his voice trailed away at Hawke's almost imperceptible flinch. 'The dead guy…that was your friend wasn't it?'

Hawke sighed and nodded. 'They found Jimmy out in the desert.'

Patrick shook his head. 'It sounds like you saved Caitlin's life.'

'We saved each other that day.' Hawke allowed.

'So you reconnected when Caitlin brought your friend back to LA for the funeral?' Callum mused.

Hawke nodded. He wasn't sure if he should tell them Caitlin had searched him out so he kept quiet.

'Sounds like it was quite an adventure.' Doc said. 'Almost like the time we met.'

'Ah that's true.' Dom said laughing.

'Sounds like another story.' Callum said reaching for Patrick's whiskey bottle. He refilled the mugs and Dom topped them off with more coffee.

'I'm not sure how much of it I can tell.' Doc said glancing at Michael.

Michael shrugged. 'I'm know I couldn't stop Dom telling it even if I tried.' He commented wryly.

Dom pulled a face at him before he agreed much to all of their amusement.

'So?' prompted Callum.

Doc gestured. 'I have a place up in the Halynon National Forest…'

'That's some beautiful country.' Patrick commented. 'Good fishing.'

'The best.' Doc agreed. 'Unfortunately this particular day, a group turned up needing a doctor; one of the men had been shot.'

'During a raid where they had stolen a new kind of aircraft technology.' Michael interrupted. 'I sent Hawke and Dom into the area to find the group and recover the technology.'

'Only they'd taken my friends hostage to force me to help them.' Doc said. 'I managed to get away and convinced Hawke and Dom here to help me.'

'And we managed to recover the technology.' Hawke concluded rapidly.

'And save that British guy from being assassinated.' Doc added.

'I guess intelligence work is pretty exciting.' Patrick commented with a greater understanding of why his daughter had gotten involved with it; Caitlin always had followed after trouble.

Michael said. 'Most of the time intelligence work is…'

'Boring?' suggested Dom sweetly when Michael seemed lost for an adjective.

'I was going to say routine,' muttered Michael.

'It's hard getting my head around that Caitlin's mixed up in all this kinda business.' Patrick said. He was beginning to realise that Caitlin had kept them in the dark about quite a lot of her life and it saddened him to realise it was probably because she thought they wouldn't be accepting of it in the light of their response to her work as a cop.

'She's very good at it.' Michael said. 'I'd offer her a permanent post if I thought there was any chance she'd leave Santini Air.'

'Huh.' Dom harrumphed. 'She likes the company at Santini Air too much to think about leaving.'

'Has to be the company,' Hawke agreed readily, 'it sure ain't the money.'

The group chuckled at Dom's outraged expression and the subject switched to other topics. It wasn't long before they turned in with the expectation of an early start for their fishing expedition.

Hawke was the first awake the next morning. He'd chosen to sleep outside under the stars and he turned over in his sleeping bag to gaze up at the pale sky brightening with the weak early rays of sunshine. He stretched and yawned before letting his gaze move around the camp. Doc and Brian had followed his example and slept out. Both were still asleep on the other side of the campfire. There was no movement from any of the three tents beyond them; Michael's was quiet, whilst there were competing snores from Dom's and the tent Patrick had shared with Callum. Hawke eased into a sitting position and then noiselessly got to his feet. He headed out of the camp and walked a short distance further downstream to wash-up before he returned and started the chores. By the time Brian started to rouse, Hawke had the fire back to a cheerful blaze, a fresh pot of coffee on the go and was gutting the three large fish he'd caught for their breakfast.

Brian stretched and staggered to his feet. His green eyes took in Hawke and blinked. He headed over to join him by the stream. 'How long have you been up?' He asked in a low voice.

Hawke shrugged. 'A while.'

He pointed at the coffee pot with his gutting knife. 'Coffee's fresh and these are almost ready for the frying pan.'

'I'll get one warmed up.' Brian said. He caught the glint of the POW bracelet Hawke wore and hesitated. 'I just wanted to say…about your brother. I still have friends MIA and I…well…' he trailed off uncertainly.

Hawke's surprised blue gaze met Brian's. 'It was a hard war for a lot of people.'

'Yeah.' Brian nodded. 'It was.' He sighed and headed back to the campfire.

The smell of the cooking fish woke the rest of the camp and after a companionable breakfast, they all headed downstream where Hawke claimed the best fishing would be had. Before too long they were all ranged in positions by the side of the stream waiting for the fish to bite.

'Ah.' Dom swallowed a gulp of cold beer. 'This is the life.'

'It is.' Patrick agreed. His green eyes landed on Hawke who was helping Callum with his bait. 'He's a good man.'

Dom followed Patrick's gaze. 'Yes he is.' He agreed. He hesitated. 'You know he'll do anything for her.'

Patrick's smile widened. 'You don't have to convince me Dom. I can see he loves her.'

Dom gave a relieved sigh.

'I understand you raised him when his parents died?' Patrick asked casually. He hadn't really had the opportunity just to sit and talk to Dom.

'Raised is probably the wrong word.' Dom laughed. 'He and his brother were already pretty self-sufficient. His old man brought both boys up to be independent.'

'His father was a pilot?'

'Yeah. The best. That's how he and I met. We flew together in the war.' Dom smiled.

'And his mother?'

Dom took a swallow of beer before replying. 'Jane was a concert pianist when she met Alan. She was very talented. String gets his love of music from her.'

Patrick heard the reserve in Dom's voice and gave an apologetic smile. 'Sorry, I didn't mean to interrogate you.'

Dom accepted the apology with a wry smile. 'I can understand. If I were Caitlin's daddy…'

'You're a generous man.'

They clicked bottles.

'I don't suppose I could ask you one more question?' Patrick asked hesitantly.

'Sure.' Dom agreed readily.

'Have you written your speech yet?' Patrick asked.

Dom looked at him bemused. 'I didn't think they were having speeches.'

'I know that's what they said but…' Patrick sighed, 'it doesn't feel right seeing my little girl get married and not commemorating the moment.'

'I have to admit,' Dom said, 'I was looking forward to doing one but…' he shrugged, 'if they don't want it…'

'Maybe we could surprise them with a joint speech.' Patrick suggested. 'Something short.'

Dom raised his beer bottle. 'You're on.'

Hawke sat down beside the older pilot and shook his head at the beer Dom offered him. He'd overheard much of the conversation between the two men although he figured he'd leave them ignorant of his eavesdropping. He knew Caitlin would be thrilled at the gesture of a surprise speech and he didn't want to spoil it for them or for her. He glanced back down the stream. Michael and Doc were sat together discussing something; it wouldn't surprise him if Michael were offering Doc a job, Hawke mused, but then he half-expected if his cousin, Matt, had been able to attend, Michael would have been offering the Navy SEAL a job. His blue eyes drifted further down where Brian and Callum were sat. The two brothers were laughing at some shared joke and Hawke felt jealousy bite at his gut as he remembered how he and Saint John had come up to the stream camping in years past. He sighed and got to his feet pulling on his jacket.

'Where are you going?' Patrick asked.

'Camp.' Hawke said succinctly. 'Cait'll be expecting us to have checked in by now.' A noise caught his attention and his head cocked to the side.

Dom caught the action and sighed. 'What is it? Another chopper?'

Hawke shook his head. 'Plane.' He frowned and pointed at the sky and a moment later they all saw the small aircraft lurch into view. The plane was headed straight for them. The steady stream of black smoke from its right engine left an ominous trail across the bright blue sky.

'Mamma mia,' muttered Dom shielding his eyes with his baseball cap. 'He's going down.'

'Yeah.' Hawke agreed tracking the path of the plane. 'And he's headed straight for us. Get down!'

They threw themselves to the floor, Dom instinctively protecting Hawke, as the plane flew low directly over them, missing them by mere feet. The stuttering noise of its one remaining engine filled the once peaceful clearing. Hawke looked up to see the plane shake as it lowered itself to the ground on the opposite side of the stream. There was a horrendous sound as its wing hit a tree. The last engine failed and there was a deathly silence.

Hawke was up and running, splashing across the stream, before he'd even stopped to think; Doc was at his heels with the others not far behind them. Most of them were pilots and knew there were only moments to get free of a plane crash if the fuel tank had ruptured. He grabbed the cockpit door and yanked hard, pulling it wide open. He stepped up on the wheel prop, boosted up by Doc to look into the cockpit. Two men looked back at him.

Hawke estimated both men were in their forties. One looked like a retired military man and sported the same buzz cut favoured by the Marines. His hair was silver and his eyes a pale dazed blue. The second man was smaller with olive skin. He was dark haired with brown eyes hidden behind a pair of unfashionable glasses and a nasty gash on his forehead. He was clutching a briefcase for dear life. They were both dressed for hunting but the second man wore brand new clothes as though this was his first time. Hawke helped both of them from the cockpit and the other men in his group helped them away from the plane wreck.

They sat them by the edge of the stream a safe distance away. Doc grabbed the first aid kit they'd brought with him and squatted down in front of the second man.

'I'm a medic.' Doc said. 'Let me take a look at that.' He cleaned the wound up and applied a small bandage.

'Thanks.' The dark haired man said.

'Hey, are you guys OK?' Dom said. 'That was some crash.'

'There's no smell of fuel.' Patrick said. 'I don't think she'll go up.'

'Pity,' growled the ex-Marine, 'worthless heap of junk gave up on us just as we got over the first mountain.'

'They sometimes have a tendency to do that.' Dom said sympathetically.

'You're a pilot?' The pale blue eyes shot to Dom.

Dom gave a nervous laugh. 'We all are pretty much.' He gestured back upstream. 'We've got a chopper back at the camp. We should get you boys off the mountain and get the crash reported to the authorities.'

'Yes. The authorities.' The dark haired one glanced over at his companion. 'I guess we should do that.'

'Let's get packed away.' Hawke suggested quietly.

Michael helped Hawke gather the fishing gear. 'What's up?' He asked quietly.

'My gut.' Hawke said shortly. His guarded blue eyes flickered to the two men and then to the plane. 'Something's not right.'

'I have a healthy respect for your gut.' Michael said. 'What do you want to do?'

'Just watch them, Michael.' Hawke muttered as they retrieved the last of the equipment.

'Got it.'

They started walking single file back along the stream.

'So,' said Dom jovially trying to ease the tension that had entered the small group, 'what are your names?'

'Frank,' stated the Marine, pointing at himself, 'he's John.'

Dom nodded and reeled off the introductions for their party.

'Y'all on a fishing trip?' John asked. He was still clutching the brown leather satchel for all he was worth.

'Kinda.' Dom said but didn't expand. He gave a relieved sigh as they entered the campsite.

The chopper caught the attention of the two men immediately and they exchanged a look that had Hawke's eye narrowing in suspicion.

'You know,' said John turning back to the group, 'we don't want to break up the party and it's clear the chopper isn't big enough to take us all. Perhaps we could just bother one of you to give us a lift to the…the authorities and then they could come back for the rest?'

'It's no trouble.' Hawke said smoothly before anyone could accept the offer. 'The authorities will probably want to take our statements anyway.'

Doc looked at Hawke strangely and slowly nodded. 'That's true.' He nudged Callum who was staring at Hawke in surprise. 'Come on, let's take down that tent.'

'I'll help.' Brian offered.

Patrick stared thoughtfully at the way Dom and Michael had ranged themselves either side of Hawke; his gaze slid to the two strangers. 'Why don't you fellas take a seat?' He suggested pointing at the logs by the fire. 'It shouldn't take us long to pack up.'

'Thanks for the offer,' John continued politely, 'but I'm afraid we're going to have to insist on doing this our way.'

Frank pulled a gun and everyone froze.

'Take it easy now.' Dom said slowly raising his hands. 'Just take it easy.'

Hawke raised his own hands equally as slowly as Dom even as he stared furiously at the two men. He judged whether he could kick the gun out of the guy's hands and decided there was too much risk of it going off and shooting someone.

'Everyone back where I can see them.' Frank yelled. 'Now!'

Brian, Callum and Doc left the tents and moved to stand next to the others.

'Everyone on their knees, hands behind their heads.' Frank ordered.

They all complied.

'Can you fly the chopper, Frank?' John asked.

The ex-Marine shook his head. 'I told you; only planes.'

John sighed deeply. 'Which one of you can fly this chopper to Racino Pass?'

Nobody answered.

'One of you must know the terrain.' John said. 'After all, it follows that only someone who knows the area would know this was good fishing ground.'

They all stayed silent.

John sighed again and shook his head sadly. 'Shoot one of them.'

Frank moved.

'Stop!' Hawke snapped. 'I'm the only one here who can fly you up there.'

'String…' Dom started and stopped at a warning flash from Hawke's icy blue eyes.

'Good.' John stated and reached behind him. He pulled a gun from the pocket of his jacket. 'You're coming with us.' He gestured at Frank. 'I'll cover them. Search their equipment and trash anything that looks like a radio.'

Frank nodded. They heard him the sounds of things cracking and breaking before he returned. 'Ready.'

'On your feet.' John ordered Hawke.

'String…' Dom couldn't have prevented the name escaping his lips if he'd tried as Hawke staggered to his feet. His eyes held his surrogate son's worriedly.

'I'll be fine, Dom.' Hawke said with more confidence than he felt. 'Just make sure…tell Cait I'll be at the wedding.'

Dom nodded. 'I'll tell her.'

'Touching goodbye scene.' John said scathingly. 'Come on.' He gestured with the gun. 'If anyone else says a word or moves until we're gone, your friend here is dead.' His brief look at the rest of the group effectively silenced them.

John climbed in the front of the chopper with Hawke; Frank sat behind him and held the gun to Hawke's head.

'You make one move I don't like and your brains are going to be splattered all across the cockpit.' Frank warned.

'And don't think of trying anything heroic.' John warned. 'I might not be able to fly one of these things far but I do know how to land one.'

Hawke stared angrily at him and checked the rotor speed. 'I'm taking her up.' He growled.

'Take it nice and easy.' John told him.

Hawke grasped the cyclic and raised the chopper from the ground. He glanced back at the worried faces of his friends, of the family he was due to join and swallowed hard on a rush of pointless emotion. He couldn't think about them; they would be fine. Caitlin was bound to realise something was wrong and come looking for them. He was the one he needed to worry about, he thought grimly, because like in any hostage situation as soon as he wasn't any use to his captors, he was going to end up dead.