Saint John watched Erin wipe away the ice-cream smears from Sophie's face wistfully. They were sat outside a small café on the boulevard at Venice beach, eating ice-cream and sipping coffee while watching the world of sunshine and surf go by in front of them.

'This is a great.' Erin said. 'Thanks so much for bringing us.'

'My pleasure.' Saint John said.

'Did you used to do that?' Erin asked indicating a couple of guys carrying surf boards as they passed on their way down to the beach

'Surf? Sure.' Saint John nodded.

'So what's stopping you getting back out there?' Erin asked picking up Sophie to cuddle her.

'Age.' Saint John said ruefully. 'Surfing's a young man's game.'

'I think they'd be some surfers who'd disagree with you.' Erin laughed.

'I'm sure they are.' Saint John said. 'Personally, I'd quite like to settle down.'

'So what's stopping you doing that?' Erin asked curious.

Saint John tried to affect a blasé expression. 'Haven't met the right girl yet.' He said lightly picking up his coffee.

Erin's green eyes narrowed on him. 'Really? Because I could have sworn you were in love with Jo.'

He choked on his drink and she watched as he spluttered and tried to mop himself up.

'Sorry.' She said insincerely.

'How did you know?' Saint John said wiping his hands on a napkin.

'Well, I didn't really,' Erin said, 'until you confirmed it just now.' She had guessed based on how Saint John had acted around the blonde pilot.

Saint John stared at her. 'So you asked me…?'

'Expecting a denial.' Erin said cheerily.

'Sneaky.' Saint John commented.

'It runs in the family.' Erin admitted. 'Jo seems nice.'

'She is.' Saint John agreed. 'She's great.'

'And she's single.' Erin stressed.

'Not really.' Saint John gestured with the napkin. 'She's seeing Mike.'

'Mike?' Erin frowned. 'Are you sure? Because I didn't get that vibe from them at all.'

'You didn't?' Saint John said surprised.

'No. I mean they were sure flirting a lot and everything but it didn't seem all that serious to me.' Erin took a sip of her drink.

'It didn't?' Saint John said.

'No.' Erin shrugged. 'If you hadn't told me they were together, I would never have guessed.'

Saint John considered her words thoughtfully. What if Erin was right? What if Jo wasn't with Mike?

Erin watched the play of emotion on Saint John's face. 'You do know for certain that they are together, don't you? It isn't just some assumption you've made.'

Saint John didn't answer and she read the truth in his eyes.

'Saint John.' Erin chided. 'If you love her, you should ask her otherwise you'll lose her because of something you don't even know for certain.'

'That's good advice.' Saint John said feeling a little sheepish.

'Any time.' Erin said.

Saint John felt his bleeper vibrate. He frowned and picked it up. 'Excuse me a minute.' He headed to the inside of the café where there was a phone and rang the airfield.

'Santini Air.' Jo answered breezily.

'It's me, Jo.'

'Hi, we're back in business with the Lady. Locke just called. He needs us to provide an escort for Hawke.'

'Why does String need an escort?' Saint John asked.

'Apparently there was an attempt on Angelica Horn's life.' Jo answered. 'He's taking her to some cabin he knows in the Halynon National Park while Michael makes arrangements for her to go into protection. We're to stay with Hawke at the cabin with Angelica.'

'OK. I'll bring Erin back to the airfield. Can you arrange for someone to fly her back home?'

'Sure.' Jo said. 'I'll take care of it.'

'Thanks.' Saint John hung up and turned back to give Erin the bad news.

They made their way back to the airfield and Saint John saw her safely into the chopper Jo had organised before he headed for the Santini Air chopper.

Jo waited until he was securely inside before she grasped the cyclic and made them airborne.

'Where's Mike?' Saint John asked.

'He went on ahead to prep Airwolf.' Jo answered as she turned toward the Lair.

Saint John wondered whether he should ask her like Erin had suggested. The words hovered on his lips and he swallowed them. After the mission, he decided; he would ask her after the mission.

'So what's the deal with us protecting Angelica Horn?' Saint John asked.

'Don't ask me but I doubt whether Caitlin's too happy.' Jo murmured.

Saint John recalled the story that String had told him and silently agreed.

'Erin seems nice.' Jo remarked.

'Yeah, she is.' Saint John said. 'It's a shame about her husband. He doesn't deserve her.'

Jo registered his protectiveness over the other woman and frowned. Was Saint John falling for Erin? She couldn't blame him; Erin was very pretty and she always seemed very nice whenever they had met before. She sighed.

'Are you OK?' Saint John asked.

'Sure. Why wouldn't I be?' Jo searched for something to cover her moment of jealousy. 'I was just thinking about this new arrangement Locke described.'

'What new arrangement?' Saint John said.

'Sorry, I'd forgotten we hadn't told you yet. Locke says the team is under the jurisdiction of some guy called Evan.' Jo said. 'Apparently he'll be deciding the missions and whether we use Airwolf or not from now on.'

'Seriously?' Saint John was astounded. 'Locke agreed to that?'

'I don't think he had much choice.' Jo said. 'I think he either agreed to it or we were out of business permanently.'

'Maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing.' Saint John said without thinking.

Jo glanced over the cockpit. 'What do you mean?'

Saint John looked back at her. 'Just that I'm tired of it. Don't get me wrong, I love flying Airwolf but I never expected to be chasing around doing missions when I got out of Burma.' He waved a hand vaguely. 'I only really signed up to it to keep Locke from looking too closely for String and Caitlin.'

'I know what you mean.' Jo smiled at his surprise. 'I've kinda liked not being shot at the last few weeks.'

There was a companionable silence for the rest of the journey. Jo stowed the chopper under a nearby outcropping where it wouldn't be seen easily from the air and they made their way into the Lair. They found Locke and Mike sat despondently on the metal platform that housed a range of security and communication consoles. Airwolf stood resplendent in the centre of the cave bathed in early afternoon sunlight.

'What's going?' Saint John asked.

'We've been stood down.' Locke said throwing a pen at the computer monitor.

'Why?' Saint John said leaning over the yellow railing.

'Deputy Director Evan called. He said there had been a change in plan and that he'd decided to go with a regular Company escort rather than Airwolf.' Locke elaborated.

'Does String know?' Saint John asked.

'I guess he does.' Locke said.

'I can't believe he would agree to the change.' Jo said perplexed.

'He probably didn't have a choice.' Locke said bitterly folding his arms over his Airwolf suit.

Mike was also dressed in the lilac uniform; part of their preparation for their anticipated departure. 'This sucks.'

'You got that right.' Locke said.

'Isn't there anything we can do?' Jo asked.

'Nope.' Locke said.

'Let's go anyway.' Saint John suggested.

Mike grinned. 'Now you're talking.' He sprang to his feet.

'No!' Locke yelled at them stopping them in their tracks as they headed to the helicopter. 'Look, I know this sucks but we have to follow orders. If we turn up when we've been ordered to stand down, the Company will take it as a sign Evan can't control us and they will shut us down.'

Saint John held Locke's gaze before he nodded. 'OK. We'll try it your way.' He absently agreed as Jo suggested they run some maintenance checks on Airwolf while they were all at the Lair and went to change into his uniform. He frowned. He had a bad feeling about being stood down and he only hoped his brother was OK.