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

Mychand gave me some good advice so I am actually getting a lot accomplished today!

Chapter 20

A couple of days later, Hawke was out fishing with Nicky while Cait watched from the porch. She smiled as she moved down towards them.

"How's the fishing going?" she inquired as she got close to them.

Hawke looked up with a smile on his face, "He's gotten two and I've gotten two so I guess that we'll quit for the day."

"Good," she said as she moved behind Hawke and took hold of the handles on his wheelchair. "We've got something else we need to do right now."

Cait pushed Hawke's wheelchair to the edge of the dock and then turned him out of it right into the water.

Hawke came up sputtering. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Michael said that you needed to be doing some water exercises but I couldn't get you started, so…" she laughed. "Now you're started!" she said as she started to gather Nicky up and head back to the cabin.

"Wait a minute. You can't just leave me here," Hawke shouted. "I might drown!"

Cait stopped moving away, "I don't think so."

"Well, at least help me get out. I can't do that on my own."

Cait thought about that then set Nicky down on the dock. She went over to the edge and reached her arm out to help Hawke out. Hawke had other plans as he pulled her into the lake over his shoulder.

Cait came up sputtering.

"One good turn deserves another," Hawke laughed.

Fortunately for him, Cait saw the humor in it and started laughing. She swam over to where Hawke was in the water and started splashing him.

They were laughing at the situation and splashing each other with water, until she looked over at the dock and saw Nicky jumping off the edge into the water.

"Oh, Jesus! He can't swim!" she yelled as she took off towards him.

Cait and Hawke both got to Nicky at about the same time. He was crying because of all the water that he had inhaled.

"Nicky, you can't swim! You don't just jump off the dock into the water when you can't swim!" Cait admonished him.

"Shhh, Cait. Don't yell at him, it'll just scare him more," Hawke said as he took hold of Nicky. "Let's give him his first lesson in how to swim!"

Hawke, Cait, and Nicky spent the next hour in the lake trying to teach Nicky to swim. When it was over, everyone was wet and laughing.

Cait got out as Hawke handed up Nicky to her, then she helped Hawke get out of the lake and back into his wheelchair.

"If you'll do water exercises like that, then I'll do them every day," Hawke laughed to Cait.

AWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAW

Stringfellow Hawke sat in his wheelchair by the fireplace holding a book. He wasn't really reading it as he was watching Cait put Nicky to bed and then tend to cleaning up the mess in the room.

When Cait finished picking things up, she sat down on the couch. She was exhausted!

Hawke watched her for a few minutes before saying, "Cait, why do you stay?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Just what I said. Why do you stay here and help me out? It's not as if I've been very …, Hawke paused to think of a word to insert, "cooperative?"

"Cooperative? That's funny. You've been the opposite of cooperative," Cait answered back.

"Yeah. So why have you stayed?"

Cait got up off the couch and came to sit on the hearth right next to Hawke. She paused to think how she would say her answer.

"I stay to help you because you gave me back something that means everything to me," she answered.

Hawke looked confused when she answered that way. "What do you mean?"

"You gave me back Nicky. He means everything to me. Without him, my life would mean nothing," Cait responded. She put her head down.

Hawke was shocked that she was being so honest with him. "Cait, Nicky is important to you, but he doesn't make you who you are. You're a very important person even without him."

When Cait looked up at him, Hawke saw the tears in her eyes. "You will never understand about a mother's love because you will never be a mother." With that Cait got up and went to her bedroom for the night.

Hawke just stared after Cait. How could he tell her that she was wrong? Cait was very important especially to him. She made his life worth living.

AWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAW

Two hours later, Cait was startled awake when she heard her bedroom door open. She sat up in bed and saw that it was Hawke who had come in.

He rolled his wheelchair over to the edge of the bed, then hoisted himself onto the edge of the bed. "Cait, I want to apologize for the way that I've behaved since you've been here. I have been a complete ass."

Hawke waited for Cait to say something, but she remained silent.

"I guess that means that you agree with me?" he ventured, looking at Cait with a small smile.

"Yeah, I do."

Hawke took a deep breath before continuing, "I want to apologize. I did it because I love you and Nicky and I didn't want you to get tied down with me like this." He gestured down at his legs. "I wanted so much more for you. You deserve someone who loves you and can…"

"Can what?"

Hawke looked Cait in the face and said, "Can take walks with you, can play with Nicky, can fly with you, can…" he stopped again.

"Can what?"

Hawke stared down at the floor when he said, "Can make love to you. You deserve to have that in a relationship."

Cait reached out to Hawke and pulled him to her. She gathered him in her arms and held onto him for dear life. "I don't want anyone but you. Haven't you figured that out yet?"

"Yes," he whispered as he started to kiss her.

Cait returned his kiss and pulled him down onto the bed beside her.

Hawke stiffened, "Cait, I can't…"

"I know, String. Just lay here with me tonight and we'll see what happens after that."

AWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAW

Early the next morning, Nicky came bursting into Cait's room to wake her up. He stopped short when he saw that his mother wasn't alone. Going to his mother's side of the bed, he climbed up and snuggled with her.

"Hi, sweetheart."

Nicky snuck a peek across his mother and met Hawke's eyes.

"Hi!"

Nicky wasn't sure what to make of Hawke being in here with his mother so he just snuggled back down into her side. Hawke reached his arm around Cait to include Nicky in his hug. Nicky snuck another peek across his mother at Hawke and offered a small grin.

"Yeah, just keep grinning at me," Hawke exclaimed as he laughed.

Nicky got up and climbed across his mother to investigate Hawke. Suddenly, he was swept up in the air and tossed.

Nicky perked up and said, "Os! Want Os!"

Hawke laughed as he said, "We'll see what we can find for you to eat for breakfast. I'll bet that you're hungry."

"Hungreeeeeee, want Os!"

Hawke pulled Nicky in and kissed him on the forehead. "Yes, you are special." Hawke paused to look at Cait. "But so is your mother." He reached over to kiss her passionately.