Caine furrowed his brow and pulled back from Kermit's hospital bed.

"What is it?" Karen asked.

"I … do not know." He said, in frustration. "He should waken. Something is keeping him from connecting to the waking world. He is there, I can sense his mind, but I could not reach his consciousness."

Karen swallowed. "Is it possible that Yulong Yeoh is causing it?"

"It is possible. I believe he aided Navarro in his escape. If that is when Kermit was stricken then yes, it is probable." He said. "Made more so by Yeoh coming here to try and convince you to betray my son."

"I wasn't going to so much as consider it if Peter hadn't been insistent that it would work to his advantage." She said. "I'm a little dubious. I know his plans, more often than not, come together at least in the same ballpark as where he intended…"

"But sometimes the same ballpark isn't close enough," Caine said with a nod. "I do not think this has gotten to an actual plan."

Karen gave a near-silent laugh that could easily be mistaken for a sob. "That's unfortunately the nature of most of Peter's plans. But I've seen him accomplish more by the seat of his pants than other detectives with solid plans."

"Sometimes all that is needed is to know where to be at the right time. Peter has always instinctively known where to be and what to do even if it makes no sense to the rest of us." There had been many times that his son had driven Caine to distraction, tearing apart the carefully crafted air of serenity that surrounded the Shamballa master.

"What do you think about his idea?" She asked. "You know more about what he's facing than I do."

"If he intends what I believe he does, it should work." It would allow them to lure Yeoh into a trap in an area that they could control. With luck without Hu Li interfering.

"If he's the one doing this to Kermit, he should be able to reverse it too."

"Yes… but it is an empty promise. He can undo his … healing. I will continue to search for the means to reverse it permanently."

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Peter sighed as he turned the sheets down. "God I'm tired."

"Me too," Leanne said. She slid into bed and watched as her fiance stripped down before climbing into the bed with her. She lay her head on his chest,

"Tomorrow is going to be more of the same." Peter put his arms around her, holding her close.

"I think to some degree it's going to be going on even when we get back from our honeymoon."

He drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly "I know. I just hope we get the situation with your grandfather resolved before we go. I don't want to spend our honeymoon looking over our shoulders."

"We can postpone our honeymoon until it is." She said.

"I'm not going to delay our wedding. If we go that route we'll never get married. There's always something happening that's going to pull at us. No. We're getting married on January 14th no matter what is happening around us."

She smiled. "I've been waiting to marry you since 1872. I have no intention of putting it off. Our honeymoon… can be postponed if we need to. I don't want to look over my shoulder any more than you do."

He nodded. " I hate to say it but we may have to anyway. The damage to the kwoon isn't substantial but it's not going to be cheap to repair it and we have the apartment to finish. We can't keep living here and paying the mortgage on the building too. So, I guess we can put off the honeymoon. We can take off for a long weekend after the wedding and go to China for our anniversary or something."

"What's the plan as far as my grandfather goes?" She asked.

"I'm still sorting that out. So far, Shamballa has agreed to help with his capture. If we play it right with Simms, we can direct him toward a place that we can control without a lot of collateral damage. The problem I haven't managed to work out is how to keep Hu Li out of it. Wukong is right, She will do what your grandfather says because the people she loves are held hostage somewhere in Kunlun Shan, If he sends her to retrieve the book, the plan falls apart instantly."

"So we find a reason for her to follow me." She said.

Peter shook his head. "No."

"We're not having this argument again."

"You're right, we're not." He said firmly. "And before you say anything it is not because I don't trust you or think that you can't take care of yourself. But no one is going to believe that I would let you out of my sight after you were kidnapped by the Sing Wah."

"That is exactly why she'll follow me," Leanne said. "Because if we're separating something has to be going on."

Peter was silent for a moment. "She's celestial. So we'll have to ask Wukong and Sparrow to go with you, if they can stay out of sight they'll be able to step in and protect you if needed."

Leanne nodded. "Trust me I'm not in any hurry to wind up Purina Fox chow." It hadn't been so very long ago that she'd fought Hu Li in the kwoon. It galled her to realize the damned fox had let her win. Now that she knew though, she knew she'd have to be more careful. And perhaps a touch more vicious if there was another go-round.

"Then that's what we'll do." He said, relaxing. Part of him wanted to wrap Leanne up in cotton batting and keep her safe, but he knew that would destroy them as a couple before they ever got married. Neither of them was weak, or foolish, and they were both more than capable. It was going to be a learning curve for both of them. Well, at least something was normal in their life.

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Caine returned to Kermit's hospital room the following morning. He smiled a little to see that Karen was resting. She was doing too little of that in Caine's opinion. He moved silently through the room to stand at Kermit's bedside.

He placed a leaf under Kermit's tongue and sat in the chair next to his bed. Caine began his meditation winding his way through the darkened corridors of Kermit's mind. He hadn't been able to get this far the previous day, and even with the herb he had placed under Kermit's tongue, it was a battle to work his way deeper. The corridors tightened into an ever-narrowing maze. He could hear a pounding that grew louder as he continued onward.

"Kermit," Caine called out. "You must continue to fight." The closer he got to the center and the pounding the maze became darker and narrower, and his feet became bogged down in the floor. He pressed onward, the more difficult the path, the more determined he became.

He reached a wall, solid black bricks. Caine rested his hand against the wall, it vibrated with a rhythmic thrumming. "Kermit." He said as the man on the other side of the wall pounded on it.

"Caine?… He's after Peter. Don't let her make a deal with the devil. He wants Peter."

"I know," Caine said. "It is Peter that wants her to agree. He has a plan. I will protect my son when it is time. We must break down this wall." He placed his other hand on the wall and focused his qi, willing the wall to disappear. The thrumming grew louder as the wall vibrated stronger and faster. Caine was thrown back, in both Kermit's mind and in his hospital room. He opened his eyes as the chair he was seated in tipped over, and he hit the floor hard.

Simms was at his side quickly. "Are you alright?" She asked.

"Yes." He said, slowly getting to his feet. "He is trapped behind a wall that I cannot yet break apart. He can hear what is said around him. Speak to him. I must go to research ways to free him. I will return this evening."

Karen nodded. "You can help him?"

"I believe so, yes."

He hoped.

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Wukong and Lo Si returned to the hospital room to find Leanne waiting for them.

"The nurses are out looking for you." She said with a quiet laugh. "I'd come up with a story before they get back here if I were you. They were talking about a silver alert."

Lo Si scoffed. "Sometimes silence is the better option." He said. "Less to remember and much more mysterious."

"You know, not everyone likes their men mysterious," Leanne said.

"You say that because Peter is an open book." Lo Si said with a shrug as he got back into bed, even though he was certain he didn't belong there.

"Having met his mysterious and secretive earlier incarnation, I much prefer the open book." She said honestly.

"But you once very much liked mysterious and secretive." Lo Si teased.

"I was also barely more than a child." She pointed out. Okay, she'd been a grown woman, but compared to who she was now, she'd been a child. "I don't think anyone over the age of 13 is as naive as I was then. So did you find out anything in Shamballa?"

"We have a way to contain Hu Li," Wukong said.

"Oh good," Leanne said. "When the time comes, I'm going to try and lure Hu Li away so that my grandfather has to come for the book himself. Peter will be much relieved that you can contain her without harming her. He's fond of her."

Lo Si chuckled. "He is his father's son."

She smiled "He says he understands his father better now."

"Not as well as he thinks he does." Lo Si said.

"Likely as much as his father understands him. I think that is the natural state of affairs between fathers and sons." She said.

"Perhaps you are right." He said with a nod. "When do we expect to do this?"

"When the banks reopen. We have until then to plan the details. We won't be able to stall past then. I can only hope she takes the bait and follows me instead of going after Peter. If we move on Hu Li before then Grandfather will get suspicious."

"This is hard for you." Lo Si said.

She drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Peter thinks so as well. It's not that it's hard to work contrary to his will. It's the realization that the man I loved and respected never really existed that is very hard to accept."

"All men have flaws. You know this." He said. "Not that I am encouraging reconciliation today."

"What is wrong with my grandfather isn't a character flaw. Evil isn't a flaw. Drunkenness is a flaw, mean-spiritedness is a flaw. Evil is… evil. " There weren't words in either language to explain it properly. She'd known evil men before. She'd been pursued by the Sing Wa and others, but they had never affected her viscerally, They had never left her trembling with fear after talking to them.

Wukong nodded. Sometimes there was no need for complex explanations. Sometimes it was as simple as Evil is Evil. Especially where Yulong Yeoh was concerned. "If this plan works, all of this will be over soon."

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Peter and Master Khan helped Mrs Chen with the last bit of cleanup in her shop, then put the shelves back into place. She was one of the lucky ones.

"Will you be here to help when they bring my produce this week?"

Peter smiled "Absolutely. That's great that you're able to get your stock back up so soon."

She nodded "I am lucky to have enough in savings. Others do not. They are having to go borrow money."

Something about the way she said 'borrow' bothered Master Khan. "Who are they borrowing money from, Mrs. Chen?"

"That … Man… at the Golden Phoenix. He sits there like he is holding court. No matter what you need he has it to give."

Peter's brow furrowed. "He is Chinese?" He asked. Something about the man bothered her and that bothered Peter. Mrs. Chen liked everyone, or at the very least he had never heard her say anything negative about anyone… ever.

She nodded. "Old. He uses honeyed words and smiles too much It never reaches his eyes." She said. "He has eyes like a snake."

Peter and Khan looked at each other. "Yeoh."

Peter leaned over and kissed her cheek. "Thank you, Mrs. Chen."

The two priests walked out of the grocery store and began to walk toward the Golden Phoenix. The restaurant was closed for business because they needed to make repairs like everyone else. Nevertheless, people were going and coming.

"This isn't good Pete," Khan said.

"I know." There were days he missed being a cop. They were few and far between now as he had settled into his life as a priest. In that moment he really wished he was still a cop. Then he thought of all the desperate people that were in jail. Guilty or innocent they'd all give their eye teeth and sometimes their mother to get out of the mess they were in. No… arresting Yulong Yeoh would be a bad plan. A very bad plan. "Just a couple more days and he'll be in the hands of the Shamballa Masters."

"Do you think they'll be less susceptible to his manipulations?"

"God, I hope so…" Was sending Yeoh there what was going to bring about the darkness in Shamballa? Or was that going to be Master Yuan's doing? Peter shook off those thoughts. He had more pressing issues to deal with. Future prophecy would have to wait.

Peter led the way into the restaurant. It didn't take long for him to find where Leanne's grandfather was sitting speaking to a distraught shop owner.

Peter rested his hand on the man's shoulder. "Mr. Hsiao, this isn't the way you want to go about this. Go on back to your shop."

"I cannot, Master Caine. " He said, "If I do not have the money by next week I will lose my business and my home."

"Something you and my granddaughter should consider," Yeoh said. "I understand that your kwoon was seriously damaged. Although such things as money are rarely the concern of priests, I suppose."

"We're doing fine," Peter said, then looked to Mr. Hsiao. "Has he told you what the cost would be for his benevolence?"

"No." The middle-aged man said, staring at the table.

"I promise you it won't be just repaying the money," Peter said.

"You are marrying into his family, yet you speak this way of him?"

"No. She is marrying into mine." He said gently, but the look he was giving Yeoh was anything but gentle. "He doesn't care about family or anyone else beyond what they can do for him. The help he is giving is just his way of taking control of Chinatown. He's no better than Tan."

"You wish me to leave Chinatown," Yeoh said. "It is simple. Give me what I want and I will leave these people alone."

"I've told you, you'll get the book when the banks open. So there is no point to this attempt at forcing people to make life difficult for Li Na and myself."

"You have something of his?" Hsiao asked.

Peter smiled. "A book that he asked Leanne to look after. We put it in a safe deposit box when we went to spend my grandfather's last days with him. The banks have been closed since the storm. Mr. Yeoh is impatient that's all." Peter said, not wanting anyone to buy into the story that they had stolen anything.

"I will bring the amount you need by your shop this morning," Yeoh told Mr Hsiao without bothering to look at him. The gentleman took the hint and got up from his chair and walked quickly out of the restaurant.

"Have a seat, Master Caine. We have much to discuss. " He said. "That is if you still intend to marry my granddaughter."

"I have always intended to marry Li Na," Peter said, his great-grandfather's voice merging with his own.

"Interesting," Yeoh said. "That explains a great deal about you." It certainly explained why his granddaughter found this man, who was about as Chinese as tap water, irresistible.

"Not as much as you might think," Peter said. He stood behind the chair rather than sitting down as instructed.

"You really should be careful, Peter. Your past life is having an active presence in your current life. That isn't how things are meant to be. I'm surprised your father hasn't explained that to you."

"There aren't rules for how your past life is allowed to affect your current life," Peter said calmly. "Are you worried about what he might say?" He figured Yulong Yeoh simply didn't want him to have access to the wisdom the first Kwai Chang Caine had accumulated throughout his long life.

"No. There is nothing he could say that could hurt me. But he did abandon Li Na. It could hurt her to have him speaking through you."

"She doesn't mind. We've discussed it. I want you to leave the people here alone. They don't know what your help will cost them."

"They know what will happen without my help," Yeoh said. "But I will leave once the book is returned to me."

"You'll get it as soon as I do. Having your minions follow me around, luring people into your spider's web, threatening Leanne… none of those things are going to make things happen any faster."

Yeoh smiled slowly, reminding Peter of The Grinch. "We shall see." He said. "When this is all over and done we will have to have a nice long talk. You are my heir, Peter. Honestly, I would have preferred someone who was more Chinese, but at this late date I fear there is little choice in the matter."

"I'm not your heir. I never was and I never will be." Peter said. "Go back to wherever it is you are staying in Bayview and leave Chinatown alone."