Chapter 66

After storing Airwolf in the hangar and spending some time with the former officers of the MASH 4077th, the crew sat down for a much needed break in the office of the hangar and spoke amongst themselves.

Sam looked at her family and stated, "We have obviously had a huge timeline shift."

Caitlin agreed, "And how! String's parents are alive and he and Dom are business partners. This is huge but in a good way." she smiled at String.

"I can't believe I got them both back." he confessed. "Once Sinjin comes home…" he sat beside himself, "I will have my family back. Life couldn't get any better."

Dom stated, "We just got to get past that day of the bomb and we're in the home stretch. Then there should be another version of you in 2022, String."

"I hope so." he agreed.

Sam spoke, "I have yet to meet my grandma. What is she like?"

Dom stated, "You and Maggie are actually a lot alike, Sam. You two will get along great."

String wiped away a tear, "I haven't seen her since I was a kid. She coming here today." He admitted, "If I start crying I hope she understand why."

Dom assured him, "You will be fine."

Caitlin looked at Dom and admitted, "You made thing better, Dom. Warning John about the boat made things so much better on us all. Who would have thought something so simple could do so much?"

"Domino affect." String told her. "Something simple can lead to a bigger result."

Sam agreed, "True! Now I just have to figure out how to get my dad's chopper back in time for the next air show. I suppose we could take it apart piece by piece and walk it through the wormhole and reassemble on the other side."

String gave a heavy sigh, "That could work but the warp engine would be faster and less backbreaking. If you can plot us coordinates for 2022 we could bring it there without nanites."

"I don't know how to plot those coordinates. The nanites did all the work going to Korea and back. I just thought about it." she explained.

Dom spoke up, "If need be we can take the Lady apart and walk the parts through the wormhole piece by piece and resemble her. We're not playing with those nanites. Those things have a mind of their own."

Caitlin agreed, "You can say that again."

String nodded, "We will need both Ziggy and KITT to get an handle on the nanites and how they react to Sam. We still scratching the surface with the ones Ralph has and that suit."

The room fell silent for a moment as everyone pondered the situation.

Sam confessed, "I do wonder what I can do with them." She held her hand out before her, "I want a candy bar." In her hand a chocolate bar appeared out of thin air. She paused and looked at the Hershey bar. "Can I get a candy bar the rich people eat?" Nothing happened. "Hmm…" she puckered in thought.

Caitlin asked, "What is it?"

She figured, "Either the rich eat the same candy that we do or it doesn't understand my command."

String stated, "Only way to figure that out is with Ziggy and KITT."

Sam then opened the candy to test it. She broke of a small piece and placed it in her mouth. "Taste like chocolate."

She handed the bar to Caitlin who smelled it and then took a small piece, "It's chocolate." she concluded.

String stated, "I wonder where the bar came from? Did the nanites create it themselves or just take it from someplace else?"

Caitlin shrugged, "Who knows."

String took the candy and inspected it. "If the nanites made it, then these nanites could end world hunger in the blink of an eye."

Dom figured, "That would be a heck of a power to have at your fingertips. Sam, you need to keep this between us about these tiny robot things. Not only would the elite be after your engine and your research but after you for the tiny robots that you control."

Caitlin agreed, "Don't tell anyone about this, Sam. For your own safety."

"Cait and Dom are right." String sounded. "You need to keep this a secret. Just family!"

"I understand." she agreed.

A rap came at the door as the door swung open and an older blonde haired woman walked into the small office. "Cait! Sam! You in here?" she called.

String gasped as his mother just walked into the office. She looked good, wore makeup and kept her hair in style. She wore designer blue jeans, work boots and a flannel top and carried a large binder with her.

Maggie Hawke grinned at her son, "Hi, honey! I got the binder for the printer to look at." She flipped through and held it before Caitlin, "I was thinking the white and blue theme."

Caitlin found herself looking at samples of wedding invitations. "Um… wedding invites?"

Dom cheered, "Who is getting married?"

Maggie gave him a look, "These two silly." She motioned to String and Caitlin.

The pair traded glances as they were not aware they were to get married.

String spoke up, "We haven't discussed that yet."

Maggie waved the motioned off. "I know how you two are. Always too busy with work, the FIRM…all that. So, your father and I are just making the armaments, we are even paying for it and you two just have to show up."

Sam stood against a wall and grinned from ear to ear amused.

"Mom!" he gasped.

"What?" she asked. "Unless, you tell me of a different invite, I'm ordering this one. This weekend we go to pick out dresses, Cait. Sam!" she turned, "You have to come too. You are in this wedding. And don't bring anything weird from the future. We have to try to keep that wormhole a secret as best we can." She rolled her eyes, "It's not for show and tell."

String grinned at Sam as her grandmother chastised her about how the wormhole was being misused.

She rebutted, "It was never intended for show and tell…" she paused wondering what she would call the woman. "Grandma…" she cocked her head in thought.

String couldn't help but ask, "Who owns the cabin?"

She informed, "Me and your father own it. Why did you ask that?"

He cocked an eye, "Then where do I live?"

"With Cait! You two have an apartment together." she informed.

They traded glances surprised.

"We do?" Caitlin asked.

"You've been living together for six months now." Maggie told them. She rubbed her hands eager, "I can't wait for the grandkids to come."

"I'm not pregnant!" Caitlin huffed.

Maggie replied, "Well…hop to it. I'm not getting any younger here."

"Mom!" String gasped shocked.

"Well…I'm not!" she huffed back wishing for grandchildren.

Sam watched on and spoke candidly to Dom, "My grandmother is awesome! She's my new hero."

He whispered, "She was always a pistol."

Next Day

To protect Sam, it was decided she would remain under the cover of Samantha Santini and return to high school. Thanks to the time warp, she didn't miss a day and upon arriving everything was just as she recalled. In short time she went from acting as an nurse in a war zone to being a high school student once more.

Ralph Hinckley greeted, "Morning Sam! How was your weekend?" He knew there was a scheduled test flight in the future and wondered if it was successful.

"Test flight failed." she informed. "Airwolf ended up in Korea during the war. We were there a week. I was a nurse in a MASH unit." she gave a brief summery.

"Lucky you got back." he stated wide-eyed.

"There was this Corporal who ran around in dresses trying to get out by claiming he was crazy…Hairy fellow." she added. "An orphanage was under attack by a sniper, String had to neutralize him. Airwolf had to go on a rescue mission. We tried to get back but missed 2022 and came out of warp here. So we two versions of Airwolf now. My dad is pissed. We have an air show coming up."

"Sounds like you had an adventure." he told her.

"And how!" she agreed and then took her seat.

Tony came into the class room next. "Morning Mr. H! Morning Sam?" He took a seat, "How was your first test flight of that new engine?"

"Failed." she sighed.

He tried to cheer her up, "You will get it going."

Ralph's eyes grew wide.

She sighed, "Yeah…just not sure where I will end up on the next test flight."

"Don't sweat it, kid." he tried to cheer her up.

Ralph suggested, "Maybe you should consult with Dr. Beckett before another test flight."

She agreed, "That's an idea."

Rhonda came into class next. She was very cheerful. "Morning Mr. H. and class." She smiled and sat down.

Ralph asked, "How was your weekend, Rhonda?"

"It was great. My cousin came to visit me. She's a medical doctor! She came to talk to me about med school. She had reading trouble too." she explained hopeful.

Tony asked, "What's your cousin's name?"

"Julie Perrish." she stated. "She an intern now. She works in the hospital E.R."

Ralph cheered, "That's sounds wonderful, Rhonda. I'm glad your cousin came to see you."

Next into the class was Jose and Karl. The boys took their seats upon greeting the teacher and their friends.

Ralph stated, "I hope everyone had a good weekend." He then glanced as the strain on Sam's face as she just told him about the failed test. He winced at his own words. "Sorry Sam."

"It's okay. Every great inventor has a set back." she tried to look on the bright side. "Just my set backs are a bit bigger…" she winced.

Karl asked, "That test flight not go well?"

She shook her head, "It worked! Just navigation is an issue."

Ralph muttered under his breath, "That's an understatement."

Tony offered, "If you need help, I can help ya. Or old me can do something too."

"Older you is running a garage." she reminded him.

Karl asked, "Can we go back through the wormhole? We never got to see outside the hangar."

She shrugged, "Don't know how much longer I will have control over it. I got two major investors in this end and our security team is in talks with this really rich dude on the other side. Thing is, I had the really rich dude in mind as someone to sell the engine too. He does private rocket flights. Now, I'm not so sure that selling it is a good idea. What if it ends up in the wrong hands?"

Ralph stated, "You don't have to sell your engine if you don't want to, Sam."

"My dad would like it sold so our lives will get back to normal." she mentioned.

Tony asked, "What was normal before the engine?"

"We fly air shows and I worked part time jobs here and there to help support the shows and support my idea for the engine." she informed.

"So, your dad just wants to go back to flying air shows with you and your mom and that's it?" he asked.

"Basically." she nodded.

He shook his head, "His life will never be back to normal. You have ripped a hole through space and created a wormhole that connects to the past. Everything is changing. Even if you sold that engine and some how closed that hole…your life will never be like it was."

She slowly nodded, "I think you are right."

Ralph added, "And what you are sitting on, Sam is too important to let fall into just anybody's hands. If you are not comfortable, then do not sell it."

Rhonda asked, "How much money would you get out of that engine?"

She wasn't sure, "A few billion at least."

"Billions!" Rhonda gasped. "Sell it! Take that money and go build you own space ship."

Jose agreed, "For a billion bucks I would sell it."

Sam stated, "A billion dollars isn't as much as you think it is."

Tony stated, "She's right! The nations debt is in the trillions. Whoever buys that engine will be the world's first quadrillionaire." He shifted in his seat and asked, "Is Musk after it?"

She nodded, "Him and a few others."

Tony sighed, "I hope that security team your uncle hired is up to snuff."

"My grandfather mentioned he was bringing in a friend to help." she stated.

Tony stated confused, "I thought Dom was your great uncle."

"He is!" she nodded. "Timeline shifted again and now I got my grandfather back along with my grandmother…who are planning Uncle String's wedding…who is now engaged to Caitlin and apparently they live together now…Which was news to them too." she mentioned.

Karl laughed, "I don't know what happened but we need to hang out with Sam on the weekends. She has way more fun than we do."