Paul knocked at the cottage door and waited. He didn't recognize the man that answered the door.
"Can I help you?"
"I'm looking for Peter Caine or his father. My name is Paul Blaisdell."
Martin smiled, "Come on in. Peter told me about you. I'm his Uncle Martin."
"Ah yes, I have heard about you," Paul said entering the cottage. "I hope I waited long enough. I'm never sure how long is appropriate after a loved one has died."
"You're fine," Martin said. "I was about five minutes from heading out the door. Time to head back to work."
"Interpol, right?"
Martin nodded. "Yes. Caine and Peter are in the backyard. Leanne is around somewhere. I've seen mice with heavier footsteps than that girl." He laughed."Anyway, let me show you the way through to the back."
"Thank you," Paul said.
They found Peter and his father seated across from each other, deep in meditation. Paul sat in one of the deck chairs to wait. They'd come around eventually. He wasn't in a hurry.
"I guess I'll be sticking around a little longer," Martin said with a quiet laugh. He wanted to say goodbye before he got in the car. He didn't know what to think about his sister-in-law, or his brother's unwillingness to file bigamy charges. Caine was far more forgiving than he would have been in that situation. He personally would have hung her out to dry. Especially after seeing what it was doing to Peter, but his brother was a very different sort of man. He thought maybe he was a better man if it came down to it.
He carried his luggage out to the car and put it into the trunk. He'd been reassigned to Paris, and it was definitely not going to be a hardship. He could put some of that high school French to work, maybe learn to appreciate art a little more. He and his brother were going to hang onto the cottage rather than sell it. They would just need to find someone to tend to the cottage and the grounds. It would make a great weekend getaway when he could manage it.
He went back into the house and smiled finding Leanne in the kitchen. "So that's what you were up to." He said, watching her wash the new storage containers she had gone out to pick up.
"There is so much food in the refrigerator from the reception that it was necessary. Don't take off right away. I want to send some of this with you." She looked out the kitchen window and couldn't help but tense up. Blaisdell. Of course, it was Blaisdell. She forced a smile and put the tea kettle on to boil.
"Are you okay?" Martin asked.
"I'm fine." She lied and figured she was going to have to get used to lying about that whenever Peter's foster father was on the scene. She didn't want to come between Peter and the people he loved, but she didn't think Paul Blaisdell was going to show her the same courtesy.
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Lo Si got to his feet and reached for his pack.
"May I carry your pack, Old One?" Wukong asked as he reduced his cudgel and put it in his ear. He had served a holy monk in the past. It felt good to do so again. Even if the old one didn't see himself as such. Humans rarely saw themselves as they were.
Lo Si smiled. "Yes, thank you." He said and handed it over to Wukong.
"Where will we go?" Sparrow asked.
"There are flowers and herbs that I need, that do not grow in Shamballa or the mortal realm. They are necessary to reverse his immortality." He grew less enamored of his quest with each passing moment, but what else could he do? The stolen souls must be released to continue their cycle of life and death, no matter the sorrow it might cause.
"What flower is it you need, Sifu?" Sparrow asked.
"There is a red flower, it looks at first like columbine, with five rounded petals within five longer and pointed petals, the difference is that the pointed petals have tendrils that extend several inches and move as if in a gentle breeze or underwater. It uses those tendrils to capture its food like a venus fly trap."
"Why do you seek a predatory flower?" Wukong asked.
"It is the plant he used in an elixir to steal the souls, it is my hope that this plant will allow me to steal them back and release them to their next life." Lo Si said. He feared that it might take the host's soul as well. He began to walk, and with each step, his heart grew heavier.
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Peter opened his eyes and smiled. "Hey." He said seeing Paul waiting patiently. " I figured you'd be dropping by sooner or later." He got to his feet and stretched, before hugging his foster father.
"Another Shaolin vision?" Paul asked, smiling as well.
"Nope, a visit from Julian Navarro," Peter said with a shrug. "He lifted the contact info you left with his mother."
Paul tilted his head and studied his son. "His mother?"
"My mother's name is Annie. Laura what ever her name is now… gave up that right when she faked her death and ran off to France. But I'm glad I got to meet Julian. He's a good kid."
"Not upset that I interfered this time?"
"You didn't interfere, you just joined in the investigation. The funny thing is that Dad had just decided that it was time to leave the past in the past when Julian showed up." Peter shook his head.
"She's in denial mode at the moment. She says the photo is of her but that she is not now nor has she ever been Laura Caine. I could tell she was lying. So could your brother." Paul said.
"She has chosen a different path," Caine said. "I could wish for answers but I do not think she is ready to give them." He shrugged.
"Why don't we go inside and have coffee." Peter said, "And talk about something else." He could feel that old pesky anger percolating under the surface. He wasn't up to dealing with that just yet.
He led the way back into the cottage and smiled seeing Leanne there putting the leftovers into proper containers. He walked up behind her and slid his arms around her and nuzzled her neck lightly, knowing it would tickle. "I love you." He said.
"I love you too." She said and leaned her head back against his chest. "The coffee's fresh."
"Music to my ears." He doubted he would ever be able to drop the coffee habit. He took down two cups for the coffee and started the kettle of water heading up for his father's tea. "Has Uncle Martin left yet?" He asked as Paul and Caine entered the cottage.
"Not yet." She said. " He wanted to be able to say goodbye before he left. I'm sending about half of this home with him. He won't have to go shopping for a week."
Caine laughed. "I would not have been able to eat all of it on my own."
Peter handed a cup of black coffee to Paul and then took a seat at the farmhouse table.
Leanne smiled politely at Blaisdell and turned her attention back to preparing the small ice chest to pack Martin's food into. Caine lay a hand on her shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze as he often did Peter when he sensed the young man was tense.
Peter had told him about Blaisdell's reaction to her. Unfortunately, they couldn't tell him the real reason for her identity changes. He'd never believe it and think all the worse of the situation for the telling. There was never going to be a satisfying end to that situation. It made him sad to think about it.
"So yeah, we're going to close the house down here and then go home," Peter said. They had considered leaving the next day but had both decided that it would be unwise to leave his father to handle that on his own while grieving.
"I'm glad to hear it. Your Mom worries about you." Paul said. Annie had always been Peter's mother in all the ways that mattered. She loved that boy with all of her heart and he knew that Peter loved her too. Laura Navarro had no idea what she had given up when she walked away from her eldest son. Her loss was Annie's gain.
Peter smiled. "Are you going back too or are you off to Argentina?"
"Argentina?" Paul laughed "I'm not an escaped Nazi. I'm headed to Belgium for a while. I would like to make it to your wedding… if you and Leanne can forgive my sometimes overly suspicious nature." He looked between Peter and the woman who had been politely ignoring him since he'd arrived.
Peter looked to Leanne who nodded.
"We would love for you to be at our wedding," Leanne said. It was a start. If he could take a step toward her, she could do the same.
Paul relaxed "Thank you." He said. There had been moments when he'd thought he'd lost Peter forever. He was relieved to find that was no longer the case. It didn't mean he trusted that woman any more than he had before. It just meant he was willing to fake his way through it to keep his son in his life. He hoped he was wrong about her, he really did, he also knew in his gut that he wasn't wrong at all.
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Laura paced the floor in front of the massive fireplace in her living room. "Julian, you can't just take off without telling us where you are going and you certainly can't cross international borders. What if something had happened to you? We would never have known."
Julian rolled his eyes. "I have my ID on me, I even had my passport just in case I needed it. You would have known if something had happened to me. I wouldn't have gone if you had just told me the truth."
"My past is my business. No one else's. Including you Julian Matthias Navarro."
"Does my father know?"
"Yes." She said although that had been a recent development. One she was less than pleased with.
"Does he know about Peter?"
She tensed. "Yes. I wish you had not gone there and stirred things up. I don't need my past knocking at the door."
"Don't worry," Julian said petulantly. "Peter isn't interested in turning up on our doorstep. He chokes on the word Mom when speaking of you. He doesn't remember you. I don't think he wants to. I'm starting to think maybe I don't either." He turned on his heel and left the room.
"Julian!"
Javier stepped from the shadowed recesses of the room. "Let him go." He said.
Laura gasped and pressed her hand to her chest. "I do wish you would stop doing that." She said, "Some days I think you're trying to give me a heart attack."
Javier ignored her protests. "Julian will come around eventually." He said. "At least Amelie learned the truth from you, not a ghost from the past."
"You're still angry." She said.
"Of course I'm angry." He yelled and stepped closer, lowering his voice. "Our Marriage doesn't exist. It's not the fact that you had another life that makes me angry, it's not that you abandoned your child that angers me. I'm not even angry that you kept it to yourself all this time. What angers me is that you are still married to another man and you married me anyway. It's all been a lie." He shook his head "And you still refuse to accept responsibility for what you have done."
"I have been a good wife to you." She said, tears forming in her eyes. "And a good mother to our children."
"How can you have been a good wife when we are not actually married." He said, "Find a way to discretely fix this… or get out."
"You want me to discretely get a divorce when Laura Caine is legally dead?"
"I didn't say that," Javier said. "How you settle this is up to you. But get it settled. I want this dealt with. Am I understood?"
Laura nodded. "Yes."
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Lo Si had in some ways been hoping they would not find the flower. He knew that it was necessary to free the souls that were trapped within Yulong Yeoh. That did not disturb him as much as it should have, he supposed. What broke his heart was that it may have to be used on Yeoh's granddaughter as well. Now that he looked out over the field of blood-red flowers before him, there was no avoiding it any longer.
"I will set up my apothecary here." Lo Si said, "I need to examine the properties of the flower and how best to utilize them." His voice cracked a little.
Wukong nodded. He was worried about the old one. Much like the holy monk he had served in the past, it was hard for him to accept that sometimes things and people were deserving of death. Enlightenment was hard. It was also blind and deaf as far as he was concerned. "We will help."
"Thank you, my friend." He said. "I need to retrieve the things I left in Shamballa. I will return shortly." He promised. He had other promises to keep to Monkey as well. He would do so. But the elixir he was about to work on may be the only way to defeat Yulong Yeoh.
"We will be here," Sparrow said.
Lo Si opened the book of Shamballa and returned to the temple there. He went to his chambers and retrieved the Cinnabar pagoda. He then went to the library and began searching for certain texts.
"You have returned quickly." The librarian, Master Yuan said.
"Yes." Lo Si said and continued looking.
"You have word on Yulong Yeoh?"
"No."
"Surely you must know something by now." He demanded. "There is very little time to waste."
Lo Si sighed and leveled the man with an uncharacteristically steely gaze. "We are both immortal. Time is the one thing we both have in infinite supply." He found the scroll he was looking for and slipped it into his satchel.
"What is it you are truly seeking in Kunlun Shan?"
"The cure for immortality." He answered dryly and left the library. He then went to the apothecary and began to gather equipment he would require to test the properties of the plant without needing living beings to test it on. He feared that was what had happened to Wukong's people. That Yulong Yeoh had used their souls to create more of the elixir. He did not know who he had created it for, and that worried him. Was he building an army? Selling immortality for wealth? He needed to know more, so much more. But until he did he could not share his suspicions with his fellow Shamballa masters.
He did not stop to speak with the others before returning the way he had come and was once again standing before the field of blood-red flowers.
He turned around to see a smug-looking Wukong and behind him a small siheyuan that had not been there before. Lo Si smiled. "You honor me greatly." He said with a slight bow.
He proceeded inside. It was someplace that he would have very much liked to live in for the rest of his days. But he knew that was not his destiny. It would however be the perfect haven to conduct his experiments. He only hoped there was enough time.
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Leanne was seated in the back garden, reading a book that she had found in Matthew's library. She found it relaxing and wondered if she and Peter should consider putting in a roof garden over the kwoon. They would have to be careful about the weight limits, but they could create something beautiful nevertheless. She would have to speak to him about it, but it would have to wait. They would need the apartment first. There was only so much money for remodeling.
She sensed another presence rather than saw him. She knew who it was without looking up. Paul Blaisdell had a presence that preceded him. He wouldn't recognize it as such but his qi was strong and tightly controlled. She closed the book, looked up at him, and smiled. "Hello." She said.
"May I join you?" Paul asked.
She nodded. "Of course."
Paul sat down in the other chair. "I never apologized for the way I handled things the night of my daughter's graduation." He said and held up his hand when she started to speak. "Don't absolve me just yet. I'm not saying that I was wrong or that I trust you, because I don't. But it is clear that you love my son quite possibly as much as he loves you. So against my better judgment, I would like to call a truce between us."
She drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I would like that." She said. "I know you don't believe me but I have no intention of hurting Peter or anyone else for that matter. I don't know how to convince you of that. So I'm not going to try. In my experience, people believe what they want to believe."
"I've been known to change my mind when evidence presents itself," Paul said.
"You have no evidence that I'm not what I say I am, yet that is what you choose to believe."
"I know you're not Leanne Garret."
"I wasn't born Leanne Garret. But it is my legal name now. So yes, I am Leanne Garret."
"The question then becomes who were you before that."
"Peter knows. He's the only one that needs to know."