"Master Chaoxiang! Master Chaoxiang!"
The aging fox turned toward the voice and was nearly knocked over by the young monkey. A child they had convinced the Evil One was too young to be used as the others were. Chaoxiang doubted his age would protect the boy for long.
"What is it, Jian?" He asked. There was an edge of panic on the boy's face. He tried so hard to be brave but Chaoxiang could see it, hear it in his voice.
"He's back." The boy said softly, as though saying it louder would draw the monster's attention. "And he's fighting with the Overseer!"
"Get into the barracks." He said, firmly. "I want you to stay there until I come." Chaoxiang walked away from the little monkey and approached the main buildings. The fight could only be happening in one of two places: the overseer's home, or the storehouse.
"You ignorant buffoon!" Yeoh yelled. His voice was the deep and forceful tone that came with true rage, not mere anger, larger in might than one would expect from a man with his slight build. "There is nothing here but qi! It has not been altered. It cannot be altered until I retrieve that damnable book you were supposed to retrieve for me. You fumbled even that simple task.
The storage building. They were at the Storage building. The Evil One must have discovered the pilfering. Good. They had little left to give him, they were being drained dry, and they couldn't afford to replace what the overseer drank out of boredom or addiction. Chaoxiang didn't know which of them drove the human. In the end, it didn't matter. The cost was the same.
Chaoxiang couldn't make out what Navarro said, it was a language he had never heard before the man had come. The Evil One's shout he understood well enough. Even if the words were unintelligible to him. He moved quickly away from the building just barely before the dark-haired human hit the ground mere feet away.
Chaoxiang looked from Navarro to the building and moved away further as Yulong Yeoh exited through the hole in the wall made by the overseer's passage.
Javier got to his feet. The distilled qi in his system made his already short fuse shorter still. "If you don't like how I do things, send me home."
Yulong Yeoh advanced slowly, with clear intent. "Send you home? I sent you here to keep you from causing me more difficulties than you already have! All you had to do was sit behind the desk and read the reports you were given. If you had done that I could send you home after the wedding when your jealousy could no longer interfere."
"Jealousy? Do you think I am jealous of Kwai Chang Caine? Don't be ridiculous." The last man on earth he would ever be jealous of was that damned priest if Laura had wanted a man like that she would have chosen another just like him. Instead, she had chosen Javier. She had wisely traded up. He'd have her back in line soon enough. It was where she truly wished to be after all.
Yeoh laughed. "Not the father, you imbecile, you are jealous of the son. You are jealous of Peter Caine. She has been watching him his entire life. Peter is the fly in the ointment that is your family. She will never walk away from him now. A mother's love can be stronger than any spell or for that matter, the love a wife bears a husband. The gods knew that his wife had had similar failings.
Navarro sneered. "I'll put him in the ground before I let him or anyone else disrupt my family."
"Once he has created the next male child in the Caine bloodline you can do what you wish. If you move against him before then I will flay you alive while your children watch."
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Peter lay back on the newly carpeted floor and sighed contentedly. "I think we were supposed to initiate the place after we move in." He teased, pulling Leanne into his arms. Things were finally coming together. It felt good to have one more thing off his list of worries. Especially this one.
She nestled in, laying her head on his chest. "I don't think the home initiation gods will complain." She teased back.
"Home initiation gods? Really?" he grinned at the thought.
"Well, there were gods for everything else… and nothing at all. After all, Sun Wukong is titled a god even if he isn't one."
"And he helped put in the water heater," Peter said suddenly finding that whole concept funnier than it was. An immortal creature from mythic China had actually helped install a water heater.
"Well, there is a story for the future generations. How the Monkey King helped rebuild the kwoon and the home of the holy priest."
Peter laughed. "I am not all that holy. That would be my father. You know, in about two hundred years, the story will change to the Kwoon being a temple."
"You're probably right about that. You know… Hu Li thinks you're pretty holy."
"I'm not sure the word you mean is holy," Peter said. "And it's not as funny as it sounds. I worry about her."
"You worry about her even though she works for my grandfather, and I think she would happily carry you off to Kun Lun Shan for him… and herself possibly because of that little crush she has, and you say you are not a holy priest." She said gently, lightly caressing his chest. "I think you should reconsider that and I don't mean reconsider your concern for her." As much as his concern for the fox frustrated her, it made her proud of him as well.
"I'm still too much of a cop inside to really be holy. Sometimes my feelings and thoughts are less than priestly, much less the thoughts of a holy priest." He didn't think he would ever be truly holy. He was a good priest, and one day, he would become a better priest when he could follow his father's example. It was difficult.
"In spite of the fact that we have Wukong in our life, this is not Journey to the West. You are not a fictional priest. You're a man. A flesh and blood man. You're allowed to have the thoughts and the feelings of a flesh and blood man. Don't doubt yourself because of something that is inescapable for anyone."
He stroked her hair "I doubt myself because I don't know if I'm ready for what's coming." He admittled. There was no shame in it. Not when speaking to Leanne. He didn't have to hide his insecurities or fears from her. He didn't have to pretend with her.
"I don't think anyone is ever ready for what's coming. It's whether they face it or hide from it that makes the difference. You don't hide from anything, My Love."
"Not even when I should, or so Paul has told me." He laughed a little. "I thought dinner went well…" They had gone to the Blaisdell's house for dinner. It had been the second time that week. He was surprised that Paul had stayed. He suspected it was because of Kermit's condition. "At least better than the first time."
"By an order of magnitude." She said. "I don't know that he will ever like or trust me, but the storm has passed." She shrugged. "When we were in France he offered a truce between us. We'll make it work."
"I hope so." He knew that Paul was worse than a bulldog when he got a bone between his teeth. He also knew how to be politic when he had to be. This could very possibly just have become a cold war. That was a game Paul played better than anyone else he knew. Except maybe Kermit.
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Annie walked into Paul's office. It was good to have him home, even though she was certain it wouldn't last. His past had come calling and he was trying to protect them from it. She understood it even if she didn't like it. She could smell the bourbon in his glass, a cigar burning in an ashtray that hadn't seen the light of day in 15 years. He was stressed. Papers shuffled on his desk, then the sound of a keyboard clicking.
She closed the door behind her and walked the rest of the way in, coming to the desk. "Are you working on your next travel plan?" She asked, resting her hand on his shoulder.
"No," He said and lay his hand over hers. "I'm staying at least until the wedding. Maybe longer… or you could come with me next time I have to leave," He offered, against his better judgment, but God he was tired of being alone, being lonely.
"I'd like that." She said. She doubted he would take her with him. She wished he could let go of the fear of her being hurt because of the past. They shouldn't be driven apart because of something out of their control.
"So would I. Peter suggested we should go on another honeymoon. I think it was a very good idea. We should give some thought to where we want to go."
She nodded. "Alright. So what are you working on?"
"Trying to locate the detective that Laura Navarro hired to spy on Peter as a child." His anger was evident in his voice.
"Peter came to talk to me about her when she first arrived in town. Paul, she hurt him so badly."
"I know." He said. "When I found her in Madrid she looked me straight in the eye and denied that she was his mother. I wanted to strangle her. I can only imagine how Peter and his father feel about the situation."
"She's his mother. He's conflicted."
"You are his mother," Paul said. "I will gladly share being his father with Caine because he didn't abandon Peter by choice, and even though he's made some questionable choices over the years he does everything he can for Peter. Laura Navarro has no right to the title of mother where our son is concerned."
"I don't know… I'm almost as conflicted as Peter on that subject. She gave him life, that has to count for something." People make mistakes. They make horrible mistakes that they didn't know how to fix and then the mistakes just keep piling on. She suspected that was what had happened with Peter's mother. One desperate mistake led to and another.
"Not always. She left him in an orphanage, in that orphanage. I think most of Peter's conflict is tied to Pine Ridge. All of his anger too. He would have forgiven her by now if it weren't for that one fact. She knew." He took a drink of his bourbon and sighed. "I used to think that it was because of the attack on the monastery, and yes some of his nightmares were about that night but now…" He shook his head "I should have done more to investigate Pine Ridge when he was a boy. He was genuinely terrified of that place."
"He wouldn't talk about it then. He still hasn't told us what he is afraid of there. I wish he could let it go and just focus on the life he's chosen for himself. He seems not only happy, but content as well… until that place comes up."
Paul nodded. "I didn't help him when he was a boy but I can help now. I don't have to worry about the political optics any more. If I could prevent him from going into that place himself I would but I don't think he will heal if I do it for him. He'd still carry the anger inside. I think he gets that from me." He admitted with a sad smile.
"We'll help him get through it, what ever it takes." Annie said and kissed her husband's temple. They would hold him together with duct tape and bailing wire if that was what it took.
He nodded. "I love you, Annie."
"I love you too."
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Kwai Chang Caine smiled sadly at Karen Simms. "Go home, get some rest away from this place, I will stay with Kermit tonight."
"I don't know…" She shook her head.
He took her hand in his and held it gently. "You cannot help him if you are… empty. I will be here. I will do all that I can to help him while you rest. I promise he will not be alone."
She nodded tentatively. "I suppose it would be alright for a few hours. I won't be gone all night."
"Take as long as you need." He said. He knew that she would not be back before morning. If she so much as stretched out on the sofa she would be asleep in moments. She was exhausted even if she wouldn't admit it.
She made sure that he had her number, and if that failed he had Strenlich's number.
"I will send word if there is any change." He reassured her.
She nodded again. "I won't be very long." She said and gathered her things. She paused at the door and for a moment Caine thought she would change her mind and stay, but she left, even though her reluctance was plain to be seen.
Caine closed the door and walked back to Kermit's bedside. "Now we will build your strength so that you can resist him once Yulong Yeoh awakens you. We have much work to do and very little time to do it. I apologize."
He took two leaves from the peach of immortality tree that Lo Si had given him. They hoped that the leaves would strengthen Kermit's Qi as it had Lo Si's, Caine had little hope that it would wake him. He suspected that Yeoh had trapped Kermit within his mind at the precinct because he tried to interfere with Navarro's escape.
It was one more thing that Caine wanted to lay at Laura's husband's feet, but he knew he could not make him the villain in every situation. He was just a pawn, as Laura had been. Not that he had forgiven her either. He needed to work on that before it damaged his path to enlightenment. It could wait. It could wait until their son was no longer torn apart because of her. He had been able to forgive what she had done to him, to their family as a whole. It had been harder than he had liked, but he had done so. The sorrow and anger in his son's eyes and heart he could not so easily forgive.
Caine pulled a chair closer to the bed and sat down. He pushed the thoughts of his former wife and their son from his mind. He did not have the luxury of distraction. He lay his left hand over Kermit's head, and his right hand over his heart.
He closed his eyes and let himself relax. He breathed in slowly (One, two, three, four, five) and exhaled (one, two, three, four, five) With each breath the count was slower, the breath deeper. In ( One… two… three… four… five…) Out (One… two… three… four… five)
He let his consciousness enter Kermit's mind. Kermit was no longer near death. Neither was he truly near life. It was not the bardo, this was different. The cause was different. The effect was not so different.
Caine walked through the darkened corridors of his friend's mind. He could hear the pounding as he had before. It reverberated through the corridors. He could feel it thrum when he lay his hand on the wall.
(Breathe in: One… two… three… four… five…)
"Kermit." He called out, going toward the source of the pounding.
(Breathe out: One… two… three… four… five…)
He kept his hand on the wall. He could feel the thrumming getting stronger as he went. When a turn in the corridors left him with a weakened thrumming, he would return to the direction he had been going.
"Kermit, can you hear me?" He called out, continuing onward. "Kermit!" He pressed forward. The stronger the thrumming, the louder the pounding the more difficult it was to continue.
(Breathe in: One… two… three… four… five.)
He reached the blackened brick wall between him and Kermit's consciousness.
"Kermit, can you hear me?"
"Caine?" Kermit was exhausted. "I don't know how much longer I can do this. I'm- I'm not getting anywhere." He was trapped, a prisoner, and the hell of it was that he was a prisoner in his own body. His own mind. "It's weakening me as much as it is the wall when I fight against it."
"Rest, my friend. Gather your strength. We must build your qi. When Yulong Yeoh releases the spell he has you under you will need all your strength to resist his control."
"Is this what he did to Pete's mom?" Kermit asked as he slid down the wall to sit on the floor. Floor, wall… It was all just him wasn't it? Just him.
(Breathe out One… two… three… four… five…"
"I do not know." He said honestly. "It is possible."
"If I wake up and start acting like someone else-"
"I will not allow you to hurt others or disappear."
Haoyu stood, leaning against the door frame. He watched as the priest ministered to the man in the bed. He had known men like Caine in the past. He had in his youth spent many years as a young cat in a monastery. They had been happy years. He should have stayed in the monastery. He would have never met The Evil One. He would never have been forced to work against priests. Good priests.
He moved silently as only a cat can and stood at the foot of the hospital bed. He smiled faintly and reached out to touch Kermit's foot. He purred quietly as he shared qi with them, letting it slide from him and into the darkness in Kermit's mind, swirling around them. He stopped just as suddenly as he had started and slipped out of the room.
Kwai Chang Caine opened his eyes, started out of his meditation by the surge. He glimpsed the back of Haoyu's jacket and he smiled faintly. He would be pleased to tell Peter of this. His son was having more impact than he realized. Caine was proud.