Disclaimer: I do not own the characters in this story. They are not my own. I only cherish them.

My stories are set in real-time. Dom is a Vietnam vet and String and St. John were in Iraq post 9/11.

Chapter One: Love Set In Motion

String stood by the work bench cleaning up after he had finished a repair that Dom had been nagging him do to for the past three days. He was watching the parking lot through the open hanger door not wanting to admit to his self that he was waiting to see who Cait drove up with. Dom said someone had picked her up for lunch but did not offer any details about who it was and String was not about to let on to Dom that he cared.

"String" Dom shouted, "You done with that repair yet?" "Yeah, I'm done." String replied dryly.

"What's eatin you kid. You have been moppin around here for the past two weeks like you lost your best friend"

"Drop it Dom" String cautioned. String knew where Dom was about to take this conversation. It was one they had many times over the past year and a half and it always involved Catlin and their relationship or lack thereof.

"Yeah, yeah I know, you don't want to talk about it. What's new?" Dom replied. "You never do. One day String you're going to wake up at that cabin of yours and find yourself an old man with no one to share your days with except for a mangy old dog."

"Dom" String said as he raised an eyebrow giving him a stern look. At that moment the tension was broken by the sound of a car pulling up to the hanger.

String was wiping his hands on a towel as he watched the driver get out and go around to the passenger side to open the door. He was disappointed to see it was Tom, Cait's old high school sweetheart who had been in town the past two weeks.

String already hated the guy. Cait's sister Erin had told him the story of how they were once in love until Cait caught Tom in bed with one of her girlfriends one week before they were to graduate high school. Cait forgave him but broke off their engagement. They had planned to go to college and then marry once they had two years of school in. Erin had said Tom never got over Cait. Now here he was ten years later trying to make up for lost time. It didn't help that he was also good-looking and worked as a Texas Border Patrol officer which Cait found fascinating. Cait was attracted to dangerous men who have a flair for getting into trouble. After all that is what brought her here in the first place.

Cait gave Tom a kiss on the cheek as he got back in his car to drive away and then turned to find Dom.

"Dom, you here" Cait sang out. "Yeah back in the office" Dom yelled back to her.

"I need to ask you for a favor. I was thinkin that we don't have a lot going on and I thought that this may be a good time for me to take some time off." Cait said as she looked hopeful into Dom's eyes.

It was hard for Dom to resist her. He loved her like his own daughter and her voice was sweet as honey. It was hard to say no to her with those big eyes batting at him.

"So "why" do you need time off?" He said with an emphasis on "why" in as good a Texan accent as he could do.

"Well, next week is my ten-year high school reunion. I wasn't going to go but Tom has kinda convinced me that I should."

"Cait, I've wanted to talk to you about Tom. It seems to me that you two are gettin pretty close. I mean I know this is none of my business but didn't he cheat on you when you were together?"

Cait walked over and gave Dom a kiss and then a hug. "What's that for?" Dom asked surprised that she was not angry for the unsolicited advice. "For carein so much" she smiled back at him cocking her head to one side. "I know Tom hurt me once but I am not the same young girl that fell hard for him back in school. We're just friends is all. I promise I will not do anything reckless. Now may I have a few days off?"

"Sure sweetheart. We don't have much going on around here until the week after. But I will need you and String for the movie stunt we signed on for.

Cait hugged him again and turned to leave. "Thanks" she yelled back at him as she walked out of the hanger and to her car. "I'll go pick up the parts you ordered now, be back in a few hours."

String walked into the office and poured himself a cup of coffee. "What was that all about?"

"Aw, she wanted to take a few days off to go to her class reunion."

String looked puzzled, "I thought she didn't want to go to her reunion. Or at least the last time I talked with her that's what she told me."

"Well, maybe she didn't want to go alone. Did you ever think of that?"

"So I take it that Tom is the reason she's going?" String asked as he went through the motions of mindlessly looking through the paper work that was piled up on Cait's desk. "I mean Cait has a lot on her desk. Is this a good time for her to take off?"

"Why don't you just say what you're really thinking?" Dom replied.

"That is what I'm thinking, what else would it be?" He said as he gave a look that said be careful how you answer that.

"You know as well as I do String that Cait will have all this work and more done before she leaves. She works twice as hard as the both of us and you know it. So don't go using that as an excuse for her not to go. If it bothers you so much that she is spending time with this guy then say so."

String sat the cup of coffee down as if he suddenly realized that he did not want it in the first place and walked out of the office slamming the door to the hanger as he left.

"I swear that boy" Dom said as he raised his fist to Heaven. "Why can't he just say what he is feeling like everyone else?"

"Because he is defiantly not like everyone else," came a reply from the direction of the locker room.

"Saint John, when did you get here?"

"Oh about the time you and String started your conversation in the office."

"Well" Dom said with a little anger in his voice. "Thanks for the backup. I could have used a little help talking some sense into your brother."

"Dom you and I both know that he has always walled everyone off. Even before mom and dad died you know he was never one to show his emotions easily."

"I know Sinj, I just thought that when you came home things would change."

"You know I have worked hard these past five months trying to repair the damage I did to mine and String's relationship. Hell I'm still trying to figure out why I decided to stay undercover all these years. If I would have known it would have affected String this bad I may have made different decisions.

"Well, we can't change the past so we need to move on. Unfortunately your brother has a hard time doing that."

"So, where did he take off to?"

"Who knows" Dom replied. "Probably back to his hide away.