Laura Navarro, formerly known as Laura Caine eased back in her chair, looking at the lights of Madrid. It was a beautiful city, but she had always believed that cities only truly became beautiful when you could pare it down to just the lights in the distance.
Paris had been the most beautiful city of all when the lights came on. She had lived there for the past 28 years. She'd remarried there. It wasn't right, she knew that. She was still married to Kwai Chang Caine. She hadn't stopped loving him, not even now. But she had been so lonely that she'd let herself fall into the illusion of love with Javier Navarro. They'd had two children together. Beautiful children that she truly did love with all of her heart.
They had just celebrated her son's 19th birthday. It was always a bittersweet day for her. Celebrating one son's existence while she could never acknowledge the other... She knew where Peter was. She paid a private investigator to report his life to her. Her husband didn't ask uncomfortable questions. She did not doubt that he knew her secrets even if she hadn't told him. Javier Navarro was a good man, but he was also a powerful man and didn't like surprises any more than he liked asking questions.
Their son Julian bore a striking resemblance to Peter. There could be no denying that they were brothers if they were ever to meet. Which they never would. Her daughter Amelie was a female version of her father in every way. She was so proud of all of her children. Even if she couldn't ever tell Peter that.
She sensed a presence in the dark rather than saw it. She anticipated seeing Javier stepping out of the shadows. Instead, it was a face that she hadn't seen in 10 years.
"What do you want Yulong?" She asked blandly.
"Caine knows that you live." He said."Did I not make it plain what would happen if you contacted them."
"I haven't contacted anyone. If Kwai Chang Caine comes looking… then he comes looking. Although I would think he'd have better things to do at this late date than come after me. " She said. She had cheated death for more than 30 years. She had lived a full life. If Yeoh wanted to kill her, well she was tired of running scared. She'd been free of his nonsense for many years. Why had he chosen now to come forward again?
"Do not interfere with that bloodline." He said.
"I won't let you hurt my son." She told him.
"Hurt him? I have no desire to hurt the boy. Even if I did you could do nothing to stop me. He's going to pay his ancestor's debt to my family."
"You told me it was Caine's debt to pay. When did it become Peter's?"
"When Caine did not pay it." He laughed at the glare he received. "If I didn't know better I would say you were still in love with Kwai Chang Caine."
"He and Peter are my past. There is no place for them here." She said. She wished it could be otherwise but it was not. She also wished that Yulong Yeoh would leave again. She lived in dread of his little visits no matter how far apart they were.
"See that you remember that"
Julian waited until the intruder had left before joining Laura. "Mother, who was that?" He asked.
"No one you need to worry about, Darling." She said, patting his hand gently.
"Dad sent me out to say it was time to come in. I think he wants to surprise me with something and wants you there as well."
Laura smiled "Of course he does. It's your birthday." She said rising from her seat. She had a good life, and perhaps if she told herself that often enough she wouldn't miss the life she'd left behind so much.
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Peter looked out the window and as expected he saw the Kermit Mobile parked below. "I'm going to go invite them up."
"I can make breakfast if you like."
"Nope." He said, "You are not going to do anything strenuous today."
"Breakfast isn't strenuous."
"It is today," Peter said and kissed her gently. "I had to take it easy for three days and I was just poisoned. You were buried alive. So You get at least equal time."
"We'll see."
"Absolutely. We'll see that I'm right and you are going to take it easy." He said and nudged her in the direction of their bed before walking out the door.
Peter took the stairs two at a time and exited the building. He drummed on the hood of the car good-naturedly and went to the driver's side window which Kermit rolled down. "Come on inside, you two. The coffee is instant but it beats no coffee at all." He didn't wait to see if they would get out of the car and follow him. He just went back up the stairs to start the water heating in the electric kettle.
Paul stretched uncomfortably before following his son up the stairs. "I am getting too old for sitting in a car all night." He confided to Kermit. Not that it would stop him from doing it. Especially not when it was one of his children he was protecting. Peter might be a grown man, an accomplished police officer, and now a Shaolin priest but damn it he was still his son.
Kermit laughed quietly "Come on old man. Coffee will do you good."
Paul looked around as he entered the kitchen of the small apartment. It was what Caine had used as an apothecary. "How is Leanne?" He asked, not seeing her in the room.
"Better. I sent her back to bed though." Peter said. "It was a hell of a night."
"Yes, it was," Paul said. "Look, I know my methods are sometimes a little heavy-handed," He began and stopped catching a look from Peter, "However." Again, he began, "That doesn't mean I don't trust or respect you. It means I worry about you. That's not the same thing. So I'm sorry I made you feel that way. It was not my intent."
Peter sighed and nodded. "Okay. I get that. But you need to understand I'm getting married in six months to that woman in there. Nothing is going to change my mind about this. So whatever problems you have with her past… you're going to have to either get over it or pretend that you've gotten over it. I love her. I know I have been in love before but this is different or maybe I'm different."
"Can we talk about these changes in your life without you thinking I'm judging you? Honestly, I just want to understand." Paul said. "I think maybe I can understand your father a little better at the moment. It must have been completely baffling to him that his son whom he'd raised in a temple was a cop. I go away and you become a priest and I'm baffled."
"I felt the need to finish my training. At first, I didn't have any intention of becoming a priest. I was offered the opportunity… the priests at the temple felt that I was worthy but I didn't." Peter said. "So I came back here and I tried going back to being a cop." He paused long enough to make the coffee once the electric kettle clicked off. He handed cups to Kermit and Paul and took one for himself. "It worked for a while, but I didn't fit anymore. Everything was all rough edges and I wasn't helping people the way I wanted to help them anymore. Then my father needed help that I couldn't give unless I was a priest and that made the final decision for me. I took the brands and I haven't looked back since."
"No regrets then?" Paul asked.
Peter shook his head. "No. Sometimes I miss being a cop, but I don't regret becoming a priest."
"I have to ask… how do you pay for things? I always wanted to ask your father that but somehow it never seemed appropriate."
Peter laughed a little "Well, currently, Leanne and I operate the kwoon across the street. We teach Kung Fu and she runs anger management classes there and has counseling clients… she's a social worker. This is Pop's place I promised to take care of for him. Beyond that, I take care of the community and it takes care of me." He shrugged a little "I never understood what my father meant by that until I took over for him. And well I still get to take down the bad guys from time to time."
"This lifestyle makes you happy?"
Peter nodded. " Yes, it does."
Paul smiled "Then that's good enough for me."
Peter visibly relaxed. "Thank you for understanding."
"Oh, I don't understand any of it. But I don't have to understand. I just need you to be happy with it." He pulled Peter into a hug. "So where is your father?"
"St Adele, France." He said, "He had gone to Paris a couple of years ago to try and find my mother… who it turns out is somehow alive or has a doppelganger… any way he went to see my grandfather, who is dying so he's staying there until the end."
" I'm sorry to hear about your grandfather." He shook his head wondering at how many people came back from presumed death in Peter's family. " Your mother is still alive?" Paul asked.
"Not to me she isn't," Peter said bitterly, then took a deep breath and tried to shake off that emotion. "When my father and I were separated and presumed dead that wasn't our doing. It wasn't something either of us chose. My mother chose to abandon us both and fake her death somehow. If she's still out there she wants nothing to do with either of us."
"People don't fake their deaths for no reason, Peter," Paul said. "You can't know her reasons until you talk to her. Don't you think she deserves the same consideration you expect me to give Leanne?"
Peter sighed. "Leanne has been on the run since she was 17." He said. "The Sing Wah murdered her parents, her grandfather and twin brother were killed later. She didn't abandon anyone. There was no one left to abandon or to go to for help. She changed her name to hide from the people that ultimately buried her alive. My mother… she had a family. A husband who would have helped her with whatever it was she was dealing with but she didn't even give him the chance. So no. It's not the same."
Paul nodded "Alright." He would have to put out feelers to see what he could find out about Laura Caine. He wouldn't tell Peter about that though. He didn't want him to think he was meddling. Even if that was exactly what he intended to do.
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Lo Si set out his mat on the side of the road and put up his small awning to protect him from the elements. He had tracked the last known location of Yulong Yeoh to this realm, Kunlun Shan. Ancient, Mythic China. He was not certain whether he remained there or not, but he could not move on to the next realm until he was certain his prey was not still there.
He made a small fire over which to cook his rice and entered into meditation while it cooked. The ancient Shamballa master attempted to slip into the astral plane through deep meditation. He hoped that he could sense Yeoh. He did not doubt that the man's mind was a twisted tangle of hatred and the lust for revenge. Such things would be easy to track if he could just be certain that he was in the right place.
He opened his eyes when his nose told him the rice was done. Both eyebrows went up as he stared into a pair of dark eyes and a nose that was very close to his own. The man before him was covered in golden fur and was dressed in white pants and a tunic. He perched on the balls of his feet, looking intently back at The Ancient.
"You wear the saffron robes of a Shaolin priest." He said. "You are very far from your monastery." He spoke in a dialect of Chinese that Lo Si had only ever seen written. It was older than him by many generations. Yet strangely he could understand it clearly.
"I am. Yes. " The Ancient said. "Are you hungry? I would share my rice with you."
The man grinned a little and tilted his head to the side. "I would very much like to share your meal. Thank you."
Lo Si took bowls from his pack " I am Lo Si, but people call me the Ancient because I am very old."
"I am Sun Wukong," He answered and accepted the bowl offered to him. "Why are you here?" He asked bluntly.
"I seek a very dangerous man." Lo Si answered as he began to eat. He knew that name, oh yes.
"Dangerous men are common. They are usually to be avoided."
"I do not fear dangerous men." Lo Si said. "This man is called Yulong Yeoh."
Sun Wukong wrinkled his nose. "Why is it you seek this man?"
"I sense you have met him." Lo Si said. "Do you know where I may find him?"
"Do you seek his immortality?"
"There are many paths to immortality." Lo Si said. "He is a danger to those I protect. He has proven unworthy of Shamballa and we seek redress."
"You took your potion too late in life." The man said with an impish grin and laughed a little.
" Long life is wasted on the young." He said.
"Perhaps you are right." He nodded. " I do not know where to find him but I will help you search Old One. One should never search for great evil alone." He rested the golden cudgel across his lap and took a second helping of rice.
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Caine watched his father sleep. He was sleeping longer and more often now. He wondered if his father's time was closer than he had feared. He could smell the coffee brewing in the kitchen. He quietly slipped from his father's bedroom and went to the kitchen.
"You look worried." Martin handed Caine a cup of coffee.
"I worry that our father's time is drawing near. " He knew that death was nothing to fear. It was just the door to another life. But he had wanted more time with his father. They had missed so much time together.
"I've been having similar thoughts. Do we contact a doctor or the visiting nurse?"
Caine shook his head. "I do not believe that is what he would want. But when he wakens we can ask him."
"Alright. I assume all of his affairs are in order. He seemed an organized sort." He barely knew their father. He felt cheated, yet at the same time blessed to be able to be there at the end.
Caine nodded "Yes they are." He had asked his father about such things when he first arrived. When his father passed Caine would see that his worldly possessions went to the people he wanted them to go to. "We do not have much family. Perhaps I should ask Peter to come for the funeral ceremonies." It seemed a meager showing… two sons. His father deserved greater honor than that. If only there was a local Chinese community.
"You know he would be happy that we are both here. He never thought he'd see you again and he never knew I existed. He has two sons here that he never thought would be here when he passed.
"Because he never intended to tell us," Caine said. He didn't like the feelings that stirred in him with those words. Was this how he had made Peter feel? Should he apologize to his son? Forgive the imagined slight from his father because he was no different at the end of the day. Both were in order, he thought.
Caine looked at the clock. It was 6 pm. That would make it 9 am in Bayview. He hated telephones on principle. But sometimes they were necessary. He looked in his bag and took out the piece of paper Peter had made him promise to carry so that if anything happened they would know who to contact.
He drew in a deep breath and went to the living room and picked up the telephone and called his son.
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Peter had left Leanne with Mary-Margaret so that he could make his rounds. He wasn't comfortable with it but neither was he comfortable just disappearing from Chinatown for days on end. He was helping move the delivery boxes for Mrs. Chen as he did every Tuesday when his cell phone began to ring. He apologized to the middle-aged shop owner as he opened his phone "Caine." He said by way of hello.
"Peter?" Kwai Chang Caine said.
"Pop? Is everything alright?" His father was using a phone. It had to be important. He didn't just call to call. Hell, he had spoken to him once in two years and that had been in a dream.
There was a long moment of silence. "I believe your grandfather's time is near."
"Do you want me there?" Peter asked.
"Yes," Caine said, reluctantly. "If it is possible."
"Yeah, absolutely yeah." Peter said "I'll ask Master Khan if he can take up my rounds while we're gone. I would be bringing Leanne with me if that's alright."
"I would very much like to mean your fiance," Caine said. "It would do my father good to see you before he continues on to the next part of his journey."
"Okay. Ahm… after my rounds today I'll talk to Master Khan and then Leanne. I'll let you know when to expect us."
"I look forward to seeing you, Peter. I have missed you."
"Pop, are you sure you're alright?"
"I will be as soon as you stop calling me Pop," Caine said, but Peter could hear the smile in his voice.
"I'll see you soon," Peter said. "I love you, Father."
"I love you too, my son."
Peter finished helping Mrs. Chen and then went to see Master Khan at the gym.
"Hey, Pete, what can I do for you?" Khan asked. He and Peter occasionally got together to watch a ball game or when things heated up in Chinatown beyond what he could handle by himself. He had loved the boy Peter had been, and he found that he genuinely liked the man and priest that he had become.
"I have a favor to ask. Leanne and I need to go to France. My dad called and says that his father is close to the end and he needs me there."
"I'm sorry to hear that. How can I help ?" He asked.
"Would you be able to take over my rounds? I have a few people I don't feel comfortable leaving alone for that long."
"I can do that." Master Khan said.
"Thanks. I appreciate it. Do you want to come with me and meet them?"
"Absolutely." He said
Peter was home three hours later. He smiled hearing Mary Margaret and Leanne laughing. "Sorry I took longer than I intended."
"That's alright. It's my day off anyway." Skalany said. "We were just getting to know each other."
"Is everything alright?" Leanne asked.
Peter shook his head. "I got a call from my pop."
"Wait, Kwai Chang Caine used a telephone?" Skalany asked, "How much trouble is he in over there?"
"No trouble. My ahm grandfather is dying. Dad thinks it might be coming sooner rather than later and wants Leanne and me out there. That's why I was late, I was introducing Master Khan to some of the people I see regularly. He's going to cover for me."
"I'll cancel my sessions and let the students know we won't be there for a while," Leanne said. She was suddenly nervous. Meeting one father had gone so horribly wrong, she just hoped that this next one would go better, but how could it?
"Thank you," Peter said. "I know I said you were supposed to take it easy for a few days."
She laughed then, dark eyes twinkling. "I seem to recall I said, 'we'll see.'
Peter laughed. "Yeah, yeah you did."