I do not own any of the characters and am just taking them out to play.

Chapter 18

Dom was shown into Michael's office as soon as he arrived. He sat looking around the office waiting for Michael to come back from his meeting. Dom's mind began to drift while he waited for Michael.

It had been about a month since String had come home to the cabin from the hospital. Michael had gotten him a nurse, then another, then another, … String had managed to go through 9 nurses in that time. Every one of them had found some reason to leave without making any progress in String's treatment. Now he was back to ask Michael for another one. Dom knew that Michael wouldn't be happy about that, but if he wanted String to recover he was going to need to provide the help.

Just then the door opened and Michael came in. "Dom, it's good to see you. How are you doing?" Michael asked.

"I'd be doing a lot better if I wasn't here to see you about getting another nurse out to help String."

"What! How'd he chase off this one?" Michael asked with a shake of his head.

"I don't know. I just know that when I flew out there to check to see how everything was going, Donald asked me for a ride back to Van Nuys. He wouldn't explain why he was leaving," Dom said sadly. "That's the ninth one in about a month."

Michael walked over to look out the window to hide a smile that was growing. Maybe he had a solution. He just needed to get Dom to see it. Keeping his eyes facing the hills in the distance, he suggested, "Maybe he just needs someone who won't leave for any reason."

"Yeah, and who is that?" Dom laughed.

"Cait."

"Cait? String doesn't want to see her. He went and hid in his room the last time that she and Nicky came out. How is that going to help?" Dom queried.

"We don't give Hawke any say in the matter," Michael speculated. "You just take Cait and Nicky out there and leave them. Tell them that you won't be back to pick them up for a couple of weeks unless it gets unbearable then they can call for a pick up."

Dom took a couple of minutes to turn things over in his mind. "It might just work," he said. "Maybe being stuck out there with Cait and Nicky will do him some good. Yeah, let's try it. I'll talk to Cait this morning and see if she can do it. Thanks, Michael."

"Let me know what happens."

"Of course."

Dom left Michael's office a little happier than when he had entered it. He didn't know how this plan would work out, but it had better for String's sake.

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String woke up to hear a helicopter landing on the dock. It sounded like Dom's so he assumed that Dom was bringing another nurse out for him. He wished that Dom wouldn't waste his time with the nurses. String just rode them until they got so put out with him that they left. He smiled to himself as he thought about how many had been out here since he got discharged from the hospital. This one would be gone soon too.

String managed to get himself up on the side of the bed and into the wheelchair before he heard Dom's helicopter lifting off again. That was strange. He couldn't imagine that Dom would leave without bringing the nurse up to the cabin to get him or her acquainted with the situation. Must be something was up. He'd just need to go and see what was going on.

String started to roll the wheelchair across the living room towards the door when the door opened and in walked Cait holding Nicky. That stopped him in his tracks.

"You can just turn around and go back where you came from!" String choked out.

"Sorry, I can't do that because Dom left and won't be back for two weeks," Cait said. "Here, hold Nicky while I go out and get our suitcases." She walked over to String and plopped Nicky down in his lap, then turned and left the cabin.

String looked away from Nicky. He couldn't afford to get involved. But Nicky had other things on his mind because he started to climb up String's chest to get his attention. "What do you want?" String asked Nicky as Nicky grabbed onto String's nose and tried to turn it. "It doesn't come off so you can stop trying," String said as he grabbed onto Nicky's hand.

That caused Nicky to look up at him. He got a big smile on his face as he said, "Os! Want Os!"

String smiled as he recalled the last time he had given Nicky some Cherrios. "Yeah, I'll bet you want some Os. Let's see what we can find for you to eat." He balanced Nicky on his lap as he rolled the wheelchair to the kitchen to see what he could find. String spotted a box of Special K on the counter and pulled that down to see if Nicky would eat that but he wasn't interested. "Sorry, little guy, but I don't have any Os. What's taking your mother so long?" String grumbled as he rolled the wheelchair to the window to look for Cait.

String spotted her coming up the path with two suitcases and automatically moved to the door to open it. Cait came trudging in carrying the two suitcases.

"You don't know how much stuff you have to take when you travel with a little guy," Cait said as she set the suitcases down. "Most of what's in these two suitcases belongs to Nicky."

"Don't unpack anything because you aren't staying long," String said as he held Nicky out for Cait to take him.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but Dom is not coming back for two weeks like I told you earlier. He asked me to come and look after you because you had scared off 9 nurses in a month and Michael wasn't going to get any more. So you're stuck with us."

Cait started moving the suitcases down the hallway towards the new bedrooms totally ignoring String and Nicky. "Which room are you in so I know where to put Nicky's and my stuff?"

Cait paused waiting for an answer, but none was forthcoming so she continued to move down the hallway looking in each room as she came to it. Finally, she selected a room for Nicky and moved the suitcases in.

String just sat staring after her as she vanished down the hallway leaving him holding Nicky.