Peter put four take-out containers on his father's work table, followed by six clamshell containers of cake. Carrot, Chocolate, white chocolate, red velvet, lemon, and coconut. "I am overwhelmed by too many choices," Peter said. "You know I had never even heard of a groom's cake before."

"Oh yeah," Mary Margaret said. "That's a big deal when you go further south. Are you having one?"

Peter laughed. "Apparently. I decided on that one so that I could defer this one to a committee vote."

Leanne laughed "We'll serve his at the rehearsal dinner."

"Something else I didn't know was a thing," Peter said.

"You're the one that left me to make the majority of the decisions." Leanne teased "And I have always found American wedding traditions fascinating."

"I for one don't mind helping with any decision involving cake." Mary Margaret said.

Caine shrugged. "I like cake."

"So do I." Peter said, "That's the problem."

The four of them settled in to enjoy their dinner putting the discussion of cake off until afterward.

"Do you think you'll have the apartment ready before the wedding?" Skalany asked.

Peter nodded and swallowed before speaking. "We have a couple of months so it should be ready by then. It's going pretty quickly. We have the framework up for the walls, and I'll run the wiring through it tomorrow then we wait for the inspector before we start putting up sheetrock."

"We're having a plumber do the plumbing" Leanne said. "There is already plumbing up to the second floor for a restroom, they'll expand from there for the kitchen and full bathroom. Neither of us knows anything about plumbing."

"I will help tomorrow," Caine said.

"Thanks, Pop, I appreciate it."

"Don't call me Pop," Caine said, his tone frustrated. He was certain that Peter did it to get a reaction out of him.

He looked up and toward the door, as he heard footfalls on his stairs.

"Kermit," Peter said, recognizing his gait.

"The one and only," Kermit said entering the room, followed by Jody Powell.

Peter rose from the table to hug Jody. "I've missed you. You should come around more often. Jody, this is Leanne Garret, Leanne, this is Jody Powell."

Leanne smiled. "I'm glad to meet you. Peter talks about you a great deal."

"Yeah. It's good to meet you too." Jody said. She smiled a little as Peter offered her his seat. "Nah, I'm good. I'm sorry to say this isn't a social call."

So this was the woman Peter was going to marry… this time. She wondered if this one would make it to the I-dos. Peter Caine fell in love at the drop of a hat and chased women off equally fast. She had her doubts this one would last any longer than any of the others had. She wanted him to be happy. She did. She just wished he could be happy with her, even though she knew that was never going to happen.

"I should have realized that since you two showed up together." Skalany said, "You don't normally socialize in tandem."

"Well, I'm about to do something else I don't normally do." Kermit said, "And give the victims information about our investigation. If you tell anyone I'll deny it."

"I have never been a rat." Peter said, "What did you find?" It had to be something out of the ordinary or Kermit wouldn't break the rules, well okay he would but he wouldn't do it with that look on his face.

"Did you get a visit from your stepfather?" Jody asked.

"No, and don't call him that," Peter said, his features clouding.

"Why do you ask?" Leanne asked, resting her hand over Peter's.

"Because we found his fingerprints here and in your apartment," Jody said.

Caine's brow furrowed. "Why would he ransack our homes?"

"I was hoping you would be able to tell me," Kermit said. "We went to their hotel to speak to him but he wasn't there. I imagine we'll hear from his lawyer tomorrow. I don't want to get into your business, but is there anything going on that would piss that guy off enough to lash out at you two."

"Other than the fact that his wife isn't his wife… she's my father's wife? No. That has to be huge a problem for him. Still, that's way over the top." Peter said.

"You should call your brother over at Interpol," Kermit said. "Javier Navarro wasn't always the squeaky clean businessman he appears to be. He's got a history and he's one mean son of a bitch."

Peter shook his head "It wasn't just someone blowing off steam and trashing the place. They were looking for something. Besides if Navarro is going to be pissed off at anyone it would be Dad, not me."

"Peter is right," Caine said.

"They were looking for something and I think it was the book," Peter said.

"What book?" Jody asked.

"A 19th-century Chinese manuscript, written by the Emperor's alchemist." Leanne said, "It's been in my family a long time."

"Did they get their hands on this book?" Jody asked, frowning.

"No. We keep it in a safe deposit box." Peter said. "I don't know how Navarro would know we even had it. It doesn't add up." Although he was starting to wonder if maybe it did. He'd have to talk to his father about it when Kermit and Jody left.

"You know how it works," Kermit said. "We keep asking questions until it does. Look, just be careful. I know you two can handle yourselves, but not even Shaolin priests are faster than a speeding bullet." Of course, it was that damned book. It was going to get Peter and Leanne killed one of these days.

"We hear you. We'll be careful." Peter said.

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"What did you do?" Laura asked, once the waiter had delivered their room service dinner and left.

"Today? I had a series of meetings to hopefully buy one of the local hotels and turn it into one of mine." He said "I'm sorry I left you on your own today. I'll make it up to you tomorrow."

"Last night. When you broke into my son's apartment. I don't care that you broke into Kwai Chang's home. Not really, but you need to leave Peter alone. I mean it, Javier." She did not doubt that Caine would win an altercation with Javier. It might do him good to lose a fight for a change. She would, however, not tolerate any action against her son.

He slapped her. "I will do what I need to do to keep this family, MY family safe." He said. "You promised me that you were going to handle this… Caine… situation. That includes forgetting all about your son Peter. No more defending him, no more hiring private investigators to tell you all about him. Once those divorce papers are signed we'll get married somewhere tropical, and tell people that we renewed our vows and you will never again say the name Caine, do you understand me?"

Laura glared at him, getting herself under control before she spoke. "What I understand is that you didn't wear gloves and the police have your fingerprints. Which are apparently on file with Interpol. That's how they got the match. Did I mention that according to my private investigator, Peter's uncle works for interpol. The police showed up with a warrant to collect our passports. I would have told you sooner but you weren't answering your cell phone."

He swore.

"They want to speak with you as soon as possible. I made an appointment with my attorney for first thing in the morning. Unless you'd rather find one of your own." Laura said and began to eat her dinner.

She was furious, but she kept it hidden as much as possible. Javier had a temper, a bad one, but he didn't cross the line very often. In fact she could count on one hand the number of times over the past 25 years that he had gotten physical with her and it was never more than what had just transpired. It didn't make it any more acceptable. It didn't make her any less angry, but she had always just let it slide in the past. Only now he was moving against her son. It was time to put him back in his place, but that would take planning.

He swore again. "I will meet with your attorney." He said. He would like to take all of this out of Yeoh's hide, but he knew that would never happen.

"Can you at least tell me what it is you were after?" She asked.

"Do not press me, Laura. Don't."

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"I don't understand, where is Kunlun Shan?" Peter asked as he and his father took a walk through a nearby park.

"It is… " Caine paused to find the best way to describe it. "Do you remember a novel you were tasked to read when you were young? In English, they call it a 'journey to the West."

"A little. I watched a couple of movies based on it. So I think I have the gist of the story."

"The story of a monk going to retrieve the sutras from India and bring them back to China mixed with folklore," Caine said. "Kunlun Shan is the realm where that folklore is… real."

"So the jade emperor, the celestial court, sentient animals… all exist in that realm," Peter said.

"Yes."

"Demons escorting a holy monk…"

"Yes." Caine said, "Although the nature of demons is not as black and white in Chinese folklore as it is in others."

"Why did the Ancient go there?" Peter asked as he sat down on the park bench and waited for his father to join him there.

"I do not know." He said. "But it has something to do with Yulong Yeoh. He is not telling the other Shamballa masters what he is doing."

"We are talking about Lo Si," Peter said. "If he doesn't have to say anything he says absolutely nothing."

"It is a habit," Caine said. "I believe this is a wise decision this time. There is something about the librarian in Shamballa that bothers me."

"What aren't you telling me, Pop?"

"I do not wish to cause alarm where there may be no need to be alarmed," Caine said.

"Yeah, well, you just made me alarmed so you might as well come out with it."

He drew in a slow breath. "This is according to Master Yuan, I have not been able to speak with Lo Si directly. I was told that the elixir of immortality that Yeoh created was made with stolen souls."

"How is that even possible?" Peter asked.

"I do not know that it is possible at all. I have not seen where this conclusion has come from."

"I don't know how to tell Leanne this," Peter said.

"Perhaps we should find out if it is true first."

Peter shook his head. "I won't keep secrets from her. But maybe we should take a look at that book and see what he did to create the Elixir and put that whole concept to bed. Then we'll destroy it. We don't have to leave the bank to do that so the book would still be safe."

Caine nodded "Yes, this is wise. We will protect her, my son. No matter what we find out."

Peter nodded "Thanks. I appreciate that. It never seems to slow down, does it."

"No, it does not."

"The next question is how caught up in this mess is my mother," Peter said and leaned against the back of the bench. "It's a little too pat that she's connected to Leanne's grandfather, and her husband broke into our home and tore the place apart. He was looking for something, probably the book … and she isn't here just for a divorce. I'm sorry, Pop, she's not."

"I begin to think you are right about that," Caine said. "I wonder if she knows what she is truly here for."

"Do you think Yeoh is manipulating things? If he wanted the book why didn't he just ask for it? It's his damned book."

"If he is looking for it, it cannot be for any good purpose," Caine said. "That book should be destroyed as soon as possible."

Peter nodded. "Leanne and I were already talking about that. We just don't want to take it out of its hiding place while there are still people looking for it."

Caine nodded. "We need to know who is … pulling the strings."

"It's either the sing wah or it's Yulong Yeoh. I can't think of anyone else looking for it."

"It is likely both."

"What I want to know is which one is Javier Navarro serving."

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Leanne had gone to the kwoon when Peter and his father went for their walk. Her instincts, the ones that had kept the book safe since her Grandfather had entrusted it to her, was to run. Whenever the Sing Wah or anyone else got close enough to try and steal the book she packed up and ran. She couldn't do that anymore Peter would go with her if she asked him to, she knew that, but she couldn't do that to him. He loved his life there and had finally gotten his father to come home. She wouldn't take that from him.

She turned on the stereo and chose a CD to put in. It wasn't the relaxing music that usually played on the kwoon's speakers. She instead put in something with a driving beat and turned up the volume.

She took two tie shan from what she and Peter laughingly called the armory at the far end of the kwoon, even though it was more of a display case. The iron fans she held in her hand were older than she was, and they had been the first weapons she had trained with. It was what she had used to take the life of the sheriff who had shot her twin so very long ago. She feared they would be used for that purpose again before it was all said and done.

She moved to the center of the tatami and slid into the first position of her routine. It looked deceptively like a dance as she walked through it slowly and gracefully the first time through. Each time she repeated the taolu she increased her speed and the strength behind her movements and thrusts until the graceful dance looked like the deadly force that it was. She stopped and was about to begin a cool-down routine when the little metal bells they hung on the doors chimed.

A young woman entered the kwoon. Leanne couldn't place her ethnicity. She had a peaches and cream complexion. Her features were angular, with a long thin nose and amber eyes that were close together. Her hair was a russet shade of red fading into a beige blonde at the end. It was pulled into a ponytail that hung down her back.

"We're closed for the day," Leanne said as she walked over to the stereo and turned it off. "Are you looking for Caine?" People often came to the Kwoon when they needed help. It was the easiest place to find Peter.

"No." The woman said and strode toward the center of the room. "I am looking for you, Li Na."

Leanne raised an eyebrow and moved closer to the woman, still holding her fans. People didn't come looking for Li Na. She hadn't used that as her given name since World War I. "How can I help you?"

"I am sent by your grandfather." She said.

"Are you?" Leanne asked. "What is your name?" She didn't move any closer.

"Hú Li." She answered in perfectly accented Chinese.

"Your name is Fox? Really?" Leanne shook her head, thinking it was a bit too spot-on for her comfort. "What is it my grandfather wants?"

"Huli is fox, I am Hu Li. And he wants his book." She said bluntly.

"I am not going to give that book to just anyone that drops my grandfather's name," Leanne said. "So, if you are from my grandfather, little vixen, then you can go and tell him that it is safe and shall remain so. If you come from another source, you can deliver the same message. It is safe and shall remain so."

Hu Li began to circle Leanne. "He wants it now."

Leanne stood her ground. Letting the fans slide into a ready grip, keeping them at her side, her body relaxed. "Then he can come to retrieve it himself. I don't know you. "

"Then I will have to take it."

"If you could, you would have already."

Hu Li moved behind her, and Leanne opened one of her fans and moved it to cover her lower back just as the blade came toward her. She turned quickly, blocking another blow with the other fan.

The two women fought ferociously, equally matched, and equally angry.

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Peter walked his father back to the brownstone, "I think I'm going to get a little work done tonight. I'm anxious to get the apartment finished. I miss being here in Chinatown."

Caine smiled. "You have become a very good priest to our community. Everyone tells me so. I am proud of you, my son."

Peter smiled too. "That means a lot to me, Father."

The light was on in the kwoon. This didn't surprise Peter. What surprised him was that there was someone else there with Leanne. At first glance, he thought they were sparring and it was magnificent. But the more he watched the more it made his hackles rise.

"They aren't sparring." He said aloud and began to run toward the kwoon followed by his father.

Leanne blocked the woman's blade with the iron fan again, then planted her foot into her chest, kicking her backward. "There is no way you come from my grandfather." She said. "He would never have sent you to kill me, or to claim his book." She advanced on her opponent, lunging with her folded fan.

"You do not know him as well as you think." Hu li said. "He is a monster, Li Na. You are not the one he needs. He would see you dead or worse if it would get him what he wants." She dodged the sharp tips of the fan and moved in quickly with her weapon.

Leanne rolled and came up behind the girl. She reached around and pressed the flat of the folded fan against Hu Li's throat. She used it to leverage the woman toward the wall. Leanne spun her around and pinned her to the wall with one hand, with the other she held an open fan at her throat. "Give me one good reason not to finish you here and now." She didn't turn her attention away from Hu Li when the door chimes once more rang.

"Because you have witnesses. You can't claim self-defense if I am already disarmed and trapped."

"Leanne…" Peter said, approaching slowly.

"Tell me who sent you."

"I already told you. Your grandfather sent me."

Leanne pulled back the bladed fan. She wanted to plunge it so deep into Hu li's throat that the blades embedded into the wall. She could see it clearly in her mind. She trembled with anger, and the mental determination to not move her arm forward no matter how much she wanted to do so. "If my grandfather sent you, he sent you to die by my hands." She said.

"Leanne," Peter said once more, standing behind her, putting his hands gently on her shoulders.

"Go back to my grandfather." Leanne growled, "Or whomever you truly came from. You tell them that the next person to come looking for that book will find themselves rapidly coming to their next incarnation. Am I clear?."

"Crystal."

She lowered her weapon. "Now get the hell out." She turned around and closed her arms around Peter, resting her head on his chest.

Hu Li walked toward the door, looking Caine over briefly before exiting, laughing in amusement.

"She's lying," Leanne said as she eased out of Peter's arms and went to put her fans back in the display case and locked it once more. "He didn't send her."

Peter said nothing. He wasn't so certain that her grandfather hadn't sent Hu Li. He wasn't certain he hadn't sent his mother. He didn't want to encourage her to trust him, but neither did he want to leave her as disillusioned as he was.

"He loves me." She said, and Peter could tell that she was trying to convince herself more than him. "He raised me when he didn't have to… I know he has done terrible things." She said, still facing the case. "Truly terrible things, but even terrible people love their families… don't they?"

Peter stepped closer again, turning her to face him he slid his arms around her, holding her close. He kissed her temple. "It'll be alright." He said. "It's not alright right now, but it will be again. I promise."