Chapter 7

Little boys and visitors.

Saint John came awake to the knowledge of someone in his room. He opened his eye slightly, spotting a woman at the end of his bed with his medical charts in her hand. Noting the white clothing he assumed she was a nurse or doctor; at least till she looked up from the chart.

"Major Hawke. Good morning, I'm not sure if you remember me?" She said as she returned his chart.

"You're the lady who String introduced me too, you were with the guy in white. Sorry I can't remember your name though." He replied. She was an attractive woman, and he took a moment to take in her features and colouring. Her voice suggested she was perhaps Hawaiian, especially with her dark colouring.

She smiled and introduced herself. "My name is Marella. I work for the FIRM. Your brother Stringfellow has been flying missions for us for a few years now."

"Yeah, I know. Can't say I'm happy about him working for you guys though. He said he had a deal with you about that chopper he was flying." He watched, waiting to see what her reaction would be. He was curious as to why she was here to see him. "

That's correct he did have a deal with Michael. Your return in exchange for Airwolf." She replied.

"Why are you here? Not that I'm complaining about having a pretty woman visiting me, but I'm sure you're not here just to shoot the breeze." He said, his eyes making contact with her. She didn't break eye contact with him, just smiled.

"I'm here because my boss has asked me to speak to you. To put things quite simply, Stringfellow Hawke, Dominic Santini, and Caitlin O'Shannssey have been offered the chance to continue flying Airwolf for the FIRM." She paused, before adding. "Our only concern is you."

"Me." He asked confused. He was surprised she'd told him as much as she had. "What have I got to do with anything you've just mentioned. String's the one being offered the job."

"I'm assuming that when you landed in the Lair, you were awake?" She raised her eye brow, and when he nodded his head in confirmation she went on. "That makes you a prime target for anyone wanting to get their hands on Airwolf. No one at the FIRM knows of the location of Airwolf, the only people who do know where she's hidden are her crew."

"I'm not going to tell you where String has her, if that's what you're asking. You can do anything you want to me, won't be anywhere as bad as what the VC did to me." He said angrily. No way in hell would he betray his brother or uncle

"You misunderstand me Major, we don't want the location of Airwolf. I'm here to make sure that you keep your brother's secret. Airwolf is safest in your brother's hand's. Michael and myself have known that for a very long time, thankfully the committee have also just come to that realisation." Marella took a deep breath then continued. "Airwolf is wanted by every foreign country there is, along with most of the criminal world and intelligence agencies. She's extremely advanced, and most importantly has the best flight crew there is. Her blue prints and schematics are all stored in her on board computers, no one has any copies of them. Moffatt, her creator planned it that way." She stopped, to see if he was keeping up with what she was telling him.

"Go on," he said.

"Airwolf and her crew have become targets for every government and organisation there is. No one but those 3 can fly her, Michael can work the engineering console, but nowhere near as good as Dominic or Caitlin, but even he can't fly her. We need to know if you will keep her secret?" She asked.

"You're asking if I'm prepared to keep my brother safe," he growled. "I figure you know all about our parents being killed in the boating accident." When she nodded, he went on. " Were you aware that we were both with them that day, the force of the blast, threw String and myself clear. I saw String being thrown from the boat, just before I went under the water. I managed to swim back to the surface, but I couldn't see String, he'd gone under, I dived down looking for him. He was out cold, he'd hit his head on something, and I had to drag him back to the shore, he wasn't breathing. I'd done a life savers course with school, so I did CPR on him, managed to get him breathing, coughing up the water, but he was in shock. He just kept staring out at the lake, watching the boat burning, both of us knowing our parents were dead. We were quite away from the family cabin, probably a good 5 miles, we were wet, cold, in shock and alone.

I managed to get String moving, heading back to the cabin, I knew we had to radio Uncle Dom, get the authorities notified, but more importantly I had to get my brother help. When we got back to the cabin, I was literally carrying String, I dragged him to the bathroom and more or less had to strip him to get him in the shower, to warm him up. After I'd got him dressed and sat him down, String was shaking so bad, neither of us could stop crying. I managed to keep it together enough to get Uncle Dom on the radio, and he alerted the authorities and flew out to the cabin to us. I was 14 at the time, String was only 12. Mom was always trying to hug us, especially String, but we'd long since grown out of that, hugging was for sissies. Well, that afternoon on the lake, waiting for Dom, all we could do was cling to each other, because he was all I had left in this world.

All the silly arguments, and bickering we did, meant nothing from that point on. Let's just say most of my friends and girlfriends after that got used to having String tagging along a lot of the time."

Marella couldn't trust herself to speak, she could feel the moisture building in her eyes. She knew of Hawke's parents dying in the boating accident, and that the 2 Hawke brothers had witnessed it. Michael and herself had read the accident reports when they had been considering Hawke for the test pilot slot with Airwolf. Reading that report and hearing the harrowing tale recounted by Saint John Hawke were two entirely different things. Her heart ached for the small boys that they'd been, and finally made her realise why Stringfellow Hawke was like he was. Saint John paused, noting the agent's eyes glistened with the hint of tears.

"When I heard String was going to be joining me in Nam, I managed to call in a few favours, got him transferred into the same unit as me. Most of the other pilots struggled to keep up with his flying, but not me. I wanted to make sure I could keep an eye on my little brother, which I did, right up to my chopper going down. All I've wanted to do for the last 16 years is to be with my little brother, I had no idea if he had made it back from Nam, or if he did what state he'd be in. I've spent the last 16 years praying my brother was safe, and I'm not about to let anyone hurt him now."

Marella nodded her head, gave him a small smile, before she replied. "That's all we needed to know, Major. I don't know what your plans are now that your home, are you planning to stay in Van Nuys with Stringfellow and Dominic?"

"Yes. I haven't thought about anything else yet though. I'm still trying to get my head around the fact I could be a dad." Sinjin admitted.

"I don't know if your brother has mentioned DNA testing, but that could answer the question on if Le Van Hawke is indeed you child." Marella told him.

"Yeah, String mentioned it. I just need some more info on exactly what it is. I don't want the kid to be hurt in anyway." He said sharing his thoughts out loud.

Marella smiled, glad she could help to ease his mind on the subject. "I can explain the process involved for you, it's a very simple and none invasive test. All that's required from yourself and Lee is a swab test. We'd just take a swab of the inside of both cheeks, and then the samples are sent away to the lab for testing. Lee would not be hurt in anyway. I can get it set up for you, if you'd like."

Saint John felt himself relax, if Lee wouldn't be hurt then he was ok to do the test. "Thanks', I'd like to talk to Le first though. I think he has a right to decide if he wants to do the test. I'm happy to raise him as mine, regardless of what the results could be. I owe his mother and grandparents so much, it really is the least I can do for them."

"Of course," she handed Saint John a business card. "If you'd like me to set it up for you, call me on that number. Just give my assistant your name and she'll put you through to either Michael or myself."

"Thanks," he said, accepting the card.

...

The hospital parking lot was only half full as String pulled the Santini jeep into a parking spot and cut the engine. He spotted a white limousine near the entrance, knowing instantly that Michael or one of his people were probably here. Question was, why? Picking the magazines up of the seat beside him, he exited the jeep. String made his way across the parking lot, and just as he got near to the VA entrance, a white suited woman exited the building. "Marella," Hawke greeted. "What's going on, why are you here?"

"Good morning, Hawke." She greeted. "I've just been visiting your brother. Michael wanted to make sure he would not be a security risk." Hawke merely raised an eyebrow at her, but Marella noted the tightening of his jaw, and the slight tic in the muscle. "I took the liberty of checking his charts, he's doing quite well. He's still on the drips for nourishment, but the doctors will be starting to introduce a more solid diet over the next couple of days. I'd expect him to be released within a week, providing his stomach can handle the adjustment. His diet for the last 16 years will have been extremely poor and limited, and given the extreme weight loss, he needs to put that back on slowly, and in a controlled manner. I'd imagine his doctor will explain all of that. As for the infections, the antibiotics are working well, they have flushed most of it out of his system. His doctor has also scheduled him for all his shots, and there's a notation in his chart for a orthodontist and opthologist to check his teeth and eyes."

"Thanks," He said, "So did he pass."

"Yes." She said with a smile. "Sorry but I need to get back."

Hawke nodded his head and opened the door for her. He waited for her to get in and slide across the seat before he closed the door. He stepped back from the vehicle, turned and made his way to the entrance.

. ...

Saint John looked up as he heard a soft knock on his door, smiling as String popped his head round to check he was on his own. "Hey, little brother."

"You up for another visitor." String asked, pushing the door open more fully so he could enter. "Yeah, guess you saw my last visitor, huh." He said referring to the pretty agent.

"I've just seen her in the car park. Marella says you should be released within the week, so long as you can handle eating ok."

"Ok, that's good. I didn't think my doctor would tell her anything though, isn't there some kind of doctor, patient kind of deal." He said.

String just chuckled, "Marella read your chart, Sinj. She might be a spy, but she has several doctorates, one of which is in medicine. If Marella says you'll be out in a week, you will be."

"You know I'm not really happy about you working for them. I've seen what they're sort are capable of in Nam, some of the stuff that they did over there, it was bad String, you know that."

"Yeah, I know. Michael's different though. I trust him, he's come through for us an awful lot in the past few years. Whenever any of has needed something from the FIRM, he's always helped, even when it's been personal. Once you get to know Michael and Marella you'll realise that."

"I'm not sure about that, I think you've been blinded by them in your search for answers." Sinjin told him.

String shook his head. "Sinj, you've been gone a long time. I'm not the same person you remember. A lot's happened to me in the past 16 years. I just need you to trust me on this."

"You know, that Marella chick, was here to make sure I kept my mouth shut?" Sinjin demanded.

"Yes. That's what she said when I spoke to her outside. There's a lot of people out there that want to get their hands on Airwolf. Both Cait and myself have been played a few times because of her. Hey, when we first got Cait involved with the lady, Michael arranged for a team to pick her up for an interrogation. You got the easy deal."

"What, and you think that's ok." He asked in disbelief. He couldn't believe his brother would be ok with a woman being interrogated like that.

"I said arranged a team to interrogate her. They didn't anticipate she would fight back as good as she did. She kicked one guy in the nuts, broke another's nose, and almost broke Michael's cheekbone. Marella came of the lightest with a bruise on her shoulder." He looked at his brother, who's mouth was open in astonishment. "Cait might look pretty, and act all girly, but she can take care of herself pretty good."

"Is that a hint, don't piss her off." SinJin asked. String chuckled, blue eyes twinkling at his brother. "Definitely, last time I was on the receiving end of Cait, I had bruises on my chest for weeks."

"My baby brother got beat up by a girl." He said with a laugh.

"Guilty." String said, not in the least bothered with the fact. "I'm hoping she won't do it again though."

"I'm wondering why Uncle Dom hasn't insisted you marry her, you know, do the honourable thing." He pointed out.

"He did and I would if that was what Cait wanted." String said. "Cait pretty much told him to but out, that we would do things our way. That was when we told Dom about the baby. "

"Ok, and now?" He asked. When String didn't answer, Saint John raised an eyebrow at him, silently asking.

String sighed, then started speaking. "Cait and myself have come to a decision. We're going to try at a relationship, see if we can make it work. Dom's agreed to have Le overnight sometimes, give us both a chance of going out and spending some time together."

"That's great. Well, I should be out of here in a week so I'll be able to have him as well. I'm going to let him set the pace, see where he wants to live. I know you've been taking care of him, and I'm not going to change that just yet." He said, hoping that his brother would be ok with what he was saying. "I've still got a lot of healing to do when I get out of here. Getting the weight on will be the easy part, the doctors have advised me to see a shrink, think I might suffer from, PTSD I think they called it, and something about Stockholm's syndrome"

String nodded, "Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, it's something that they've been banding around for a few years now. They recon that a lot of Vietnam vets suffer from it; most are undiagnosed if there still active service." When Saint John looked at him questionably String added. "It's the quickest way out of the service if you have PTSD stamped on your record. I've known a couple of guys who had stayed in after there 10 years, went to the base Dr, ended their army careers."

"You think I shouldn't talk to the shrink?" Sinjin asked, trusting that his brother would give him an honest opinion.

"This isn't about me SinJ, this is about you. You were a POW for 16 years; you need to deal with that. If you find talking to the shrink the best way to deal with it, then I'll be there to support you the whole way. On the other hand, if you'd feel better talking to Dom or myself, you know we'll be there for you." String told him, willing to support his older brother anyway he could.