Chapter 87

String, Caitlin and Sam had returned to the airfield after school. Sam debated if she should stay in the school as her cover seemed to have been blown by the VHS tapes circulating about. They gathered with Dom in the office as business operation wound down for the evening.

Sam sat in the chair by the desk and stared at the floor looking depressed. She crossed her arms, disgusted with the situation. "I really screwed up with the documentary. I never should have brought it back. Now everyone knows about Airwolf, my real name and about what I do."

Caitlin comforted, "They don't know what you do. That documentary you made focused on Airwolf and the demonstrations that you and your dad flew at the air shows and not your engine." She added, "It was well made documentary, Sam. You shot most of that with a cell phone and you edited it together on a home computer. That's mind blowing to me."

"But I exposed Airwolf. The whole damn school knows about it now." she countered.

Dom figured, "It's doesn't matter if they know about Airwolf or not. That doesn't stop us from flying missions. What matters is you, Sam. Sure, they know you're a Hawke. They also know your mom and dad were on the documentary and what their names are." He suddenly grew worried, "If Jo sees that tape…Oh' boy…" he winced.

String added, "Or Sinjin when he gets back."

Caitlin countered, "I don't know. If I got a chance to meet my future adult daughter and found she was as cool as Sam, I wouldn't mind."

Sam blushed, "Thanks Aunt Cait."

"You got it!" she leaned over and gave her a comforting hug of support.

A voice was heard calling from the hangar, "Uncle Dom!" It was young Jo. She walked to the office holding a VHS tape in her hands. She wore blue jeans and a white blouse with a leather flight jacket. "Uncle Dom!" she called and looked inside the office. She spied Sam sitting on a chair surrounded by Dom, Caitlin and String. "Um…" she held up a tape, "Have you seen this tape going around?"

String asked, "Airwolf?"

"And I'm on it!" she nodded. "I'm an old lady, your brother is on it and he's an old man and that woman is on it and she claims…to be my kid." she sounded.

Sam looked up, "Hi Mom." For some odd reason she felt much like a child who was caught raiding the cookie jar.

Dom let out a sigh, "Oh' boy."

Jo demanded to know, "Just what is going on?"

String figured he might as well tell her. "Sam is your daughter from the year 2022 and she was using the hangar to develop a new kind of engine which ripped a hole through time and space, creating a wormhole connecting 2022 to now."

Dom cheered, "You know all about this on the other side of the wormhole, Jo."

She waved the tape, "According to this tape I am married to Sinjin and we own and fly to some top secret chopper that you helped develop, String."

String nodded, "Airwolf is currently top secret. Me, Dom and Cait fly her on missions for the FIRM."

She stood shocked, "Oookaaay. Apparently, I will be taking over doing that kind of thing. Why am I always the last person to know about what is going on?"

Dom excused, "You are not the last person to know. Sinjin here doesn't know yet. He's still a POW. And when all this happened I went through the wormhole first to 2022 and Sam took me to your house. You didn't even want to send me back. You wanted to keep me like a puppy."

Sam assured, "When all this started and Dom came through to us, you and dad were first to know what was going on. Matter of fact, this was your idea. Well, dad's idea. He wanted me to go back with Dom to prevent something bad from happening."

She challenged, "Really! What was that?"

"A bomb will kill Dom and injure String for life." she flatly replied. "That's how you and dad ended up taking over Airwolf's missions. You got the hangar after Dom died."

Dom stated, "We got a year to change that."

Jo stood beside herself. "Where is this engine and this…wormhole?"

String told her. "It's here! In the hangar." He motioned, "Come on! I'll show you." He led the group out of the office to the corner of the hangar. He used the cell phone to send a text to the other side and activate the engine which pushed them through to the future.

Jo felt the slight shake as if an earthquake hit. She then found herself still in hangar. The engine sat on a large table and sitting around the table was older Sinjin, Caitlin and herself as they ate lunch.

Older Jo looked up and remarked, "Oh' look! It's young and dumb me."

Sinjin placed his sandwich down. "You didn't tell me you were bringing both Cait and Jo with you, String."

Older Caitlin looked upon her young self, "Damn….I wish I could be that skinny again. It really sucks getting old."

Older Jo nodded in agreement, "I wish I could fit in those old jeans again. Your metabolism drops and damn…" she shook her head. "I will never be able to wear those jeans again." she complained.

Sam started, "Remember that documentary I made for the sale booth a few years ago? Well, someone stole that, the player and all my DVD's out of the classroom over Christmas break." She took the VHS tape from young Jo's hand as she stood shocked looking at her older self. "Young you saw it, Mom."

She figured, "Must be another timeline shift. I don't remember seeing the tape. I may remember it later though."

Young Jo gasped, "You are me!"

"No shit, Sherlock." she replied nearly amused.

"Um…" she stood wide-eyed. "This is real. This is all real."

She confirmed, "It is! Sam is my…I mean our daughter."

Young Jo felt simply overwhelmed, "This is a lot to take in."

"Don't worry. You will get the hang of it. We've been dealing with the wormhole for six months now." she told her. She held up the VHS tape, "How many of these were made?"

String stated, "We don't know yet. That's two that I know of."

"Three with the one that Ali's dad has." Sam informed.

Sinjin stated, "Copying that disk to VHS and passing that around will take time. It won't go viral like it would here, honey. You got time to get the tapes back. Concentrate on the Airwolf tapes. Don't worry about the films from your collection."

Sam countered, "But would those films being seen before they are made affect the timeline?"

He waved it off, "It's Hollywood. You know how weird Hollywood is anyways. They will pass it off as a marketing tactic and steal their own work."

String agreed, "Sinjin is right. We focus on getting back the Airwolf documentary, copied tapes and that DVD player."

"I guess that sounds like a plan." she agreed.

Caitlin just looked upon her older self. She couldn't help but ask, "Hey…ah…older me. You got anything you want to tell me?"

She turned in her chair and looked up at her younger self. She gave a nod and stated, "Yes! Be kind to yourself. Stop worrying about the latest fashion and if your hair is perfect. Enjoy your youth because before you know it…your body gets old and things just don't work as well anymore. And don't put your career before your future or your family. Employees are replaceable. Family is not."

She asked her older self, "Do I ever have kids?"

"That's up to you." she told her. "But I can tell you one thing. Menopause hits before you know it and it's too late to have kids."

Jo added, "Not to mention the hot flashes and the weight gain." She then licked mayo from her fingers that oozed out of her sandwich.

Older Caitlin added, "Only time ice cream ever tasted so good."

Sinjing gave a pleading look to his brother. "Please make it past the bombing unscathed. I need you here. Now, my neighbor Bob thinks I have a wife and a girlfriend."

Sam soured, "You mean Creepy Bob who is always looking at me?"

Older Caitlin laughed, "I found out that he was always watching you through the window, Sam. So I told him that your dad had a secret sex cult and is a stud in bed. You should have seen the look on his face."

Older Jo added giggling, "Then Cait and I went to that sex toy shop near the old plaza and asked for a bunch of old boxes and we made it look like the garbage was over flowing with sex toy boxes."

Sinjin asked, "And the catalog? Was that you two doing that too?"

The pair burst out laughing as they nodded.

String asked, "Catalog?"

He explained, "Apparently, they signed my name up for a sex toy catalog, and had it sent to Bob's address."

Older Caitlin stated, "It worked! It took Creepy Bob's eyes off Sam and onto you, Sinjin."

Sinjin warned String, "Be careful having Cait and Jo working together. Those two are vicious."

String looked upon the two older women who seemed to work very well together at getting even with a peeping tom who had been watching Sam at home. He looked at the younger counterparts. "I'll keep that in mind."

Later

String and his crew returned to 1985 with younger Jo and Sam in tow. Jo gathered herself after meeting a much older version of herself in the future. She looked to Sam and asked, "Where do you stay when you are here?" she wondered.

"In the hangar with Dom." she told her.

Dom assured, "I treat Sam like she's my own daughter, Jo."

"I realize that." she agreed. "It's just I literally just met myself from the future and I'm an old lady who is married to Sinjin and I sent my own daughter back through time to save my uncle and my future brother in law. I'm a little blown away by all this." she admitted.

Sam shrugged, "You in that other reality seemed to have handled everything pretty well."

"Other reality?" Jo asked confused.

String stated, "It's multi universe theory, Jo. It's real and to make a long story short we went to another version of Earth that was invaded by lizard people. We came back after helping them get Airwolf together."

Jo gulped, "Are we talking aliens from space now?"

"Yes." he nodded.

She replied, "This is all just so much."

"We can use your help, Jo." String assured.

"What do you need me to do?" she asked.

String told her, "Find the tapes and whoever is making copies. We need to shut that little operation down."

"I will do what I can." she assured.

Caitlin stated, "I have a few friends in the highway patrol. I can have them keep an eye out for the tapes too. Plus, those three undercover officers they sent into the school can help us find who is doing this."

String stated, "Good idea, Cait. We need to get the tapes back."

Dom added, "All while checking out Baltar R&D and Sam trying to find the Pegasus to get them a message. Plus any missions the Firm throws at us."

String stated, "Steve and Jamie are investigating Baltar R&D. I'm sure they can handle that. Mac is helping them. The biggest hurdle is Sam being able to find and connect to the Pegasus."

Jo asked, "The Pegasus?"

"A battlestar." he simply told her.

"What's that?" she wondered.

He remarked, "A space ship."

"And Sam has to find it. How?" she wondered.

String explained, "Using some alien tech that she is in possession of."

"What alien tech?" she wondered.

"You will find out." he told her.