Chapter 1

The last few months Stringfellow Hawke fought with every fiber of his being to keep his emotions under control. Slowly he found himself thinking more and more about Catlin O'Shannessy as they worked together on their assignments from the Firm. It started out simple enough, a quick glance, and then a smile and then the glances grew longer followed by wanting gazes. He tried to keep his distance. He tried to keep it professional. But one night was all it took for his feeling to betray his logical mind. Logically he couldn't allow himself to love anyone for darkness seemed to follow and anyone he ever loved died with the exception of one man, Dominic Santini.

But it was too late to go back now. Hawke lay in his bed in the loft of his cabin with Catlin lying beside him in his arms. They only had a little wine, not too much. But it was enough to coax them into a relaxed mood. Perhaps it was the wine? Perhaps, he was simply too drunk? But Hawke knew that was the not the case.

He could tell when she woken for her breathing had changed. She rolled towards him, cuddling him with her arm. She opened her bright blue eyes and looked upon him with a loving gaze. For Catlin last night was a step forward and beginning of a relationship with a man she loved and adored.

She grinned, "Morning."

Hawke's fear of losing her became his driving force. He wasn't going to let her die and the only way to protect her was to break her heart. He simply dreaded that morning and the night before. "Morning," he grumbled.

She propped herself up on her elbow, "You don't sound very happy."

"Last night," he winced. "It's just…"

She assumed, "You think now that you have slept with me that I am going to die!"

"They always do," he gulped.

"Are you gonna push me away now?" she asked accusingly.

"I don't want too," he admitted.

She rolled her eyes, "Oh' for…" she pushed herself up and threw back the covers. She retrieved her clothing from the floor and started to get dressed as she chastised him. "You have this black windrower syndrome and you know something? It's all in your head. Not everyone you allow yourself to love dies."

"Yes they do," he disagreed lying flat in the bed.

"Dom's not dead," she mentioned.

"He's different," he insisted.

She sighed and shook her head, "You have convinced yourself that you are jinxed. Other people in this world have crap happen to them all the time but they don't blame it on love and become a hermit."

"I'm not a hermit," he argued.

She pulled her shirt over her head, "You're gonna be one. Can imagine what your life will be like in thirty years from now? You're gonna be an old man living up here all by yourself if you keep pushing everyone away."

"I'm not gonna be an old hermit living by myself," he insisted.

She looked back at him, "And what do you think you will be in thirty years?"

"Probably dead," he confessed.

"And if you're not dead?" she asked.

"An old man in a home with no idea what day it is," he gathered.

"You get out of life what you put into it," she told him. "I'm going to go start the coffee while you figure out what you want out of life."

"I know what I want out of life," he insisted.

She marched out of the room in her red shirt and blue jeans, "I'll be making breakfast."

He watched her leave and he closed his hazel eyes and wondered what he should do.

Later that Day

Stringfellow Hawke took Dom with him the lair to take Airwolf on a test run. He really didn't need to test anything. He simply wanted time to think about what to do with Catlin and if perhaps he was over reacting. Hawke sat behind the yolk and peered over the horizon as Airwolf flew across the desert.

Dom mentioned from his perch at the engineer's station, "I noticed Catlin spent the night at the cabin."

"Yeah," he admitted without another word.

He added, "I noticed you two have been getting close lately."

"So," he huffed not wanting to talk about it.

Dom added, "She's a nice girl. I like her."

"Is that all?" he growled.

Dom tried to sooth him, "I was just saying I like her and I think she's good for you."

"Okay, Dom! You made your point," he huffed.

Dom made a face annoyed for he knew Hawke would call off the budding relationship and he thought they made a good couple. "I was saying…"

"Dom!" he huffed. "I don't want to talk about Catlin right now."

He rolled he eyes, "Fine." Dom then found a disturbance developing ahead on the radar. "I'm picking up a storm cell upheld, String."

"I see it," he reported. He looked through the glass at the developing storm which came out of nowhere. It rapidly grew in size and causing much alarm. "Dom, I'm going to over this storm." He drew the stick back to climb above the ominous storm cell.

As Airwolf tried to climb above, the storm grew higher and higher. It seemed to match the chopper's move and the next thing Hawke knew they were in the thick of the storm.

"I can't see a thing," Hawke reported.

Lightening started to strike the fuselage. Dom's instruments went wild.

"I can't get a bearing," Dom told him.

Before Hawke's eyes a tunnel appeared in middle of the storm. It was the most oddity he had ever seen. The lightening flashed and clouds turned a strange purple and red color. The tunnel rotated clockwise and a brilliant white light appeared at the end.

"I think I see a way out," Hawke told him. He hit the turbo and Airwolf shot through the tunnel and emerged out the other side. Suddenly it was daylight once more and there was no sign of the storm. "That was strange," he muttered.

"Tell me about it," Dom agreed. He went back to his readout. "String, something's not right."

"What is it?" he asked.

"According to Airwolf's navigation we are on the East Coast." he informed. "This can't be right. The storm must have done serious damage to her navigation."

Hawke looked out ahead at the sandy beach below and the water was on the wrong side of the bird. "This is the East Coast!" he stated.

"That's impossible even for Airwolf," Dom told him. "We couldn't have traveled across the country in seconds."

Hawke cocked an eyebrow as the Nations' capital came into view, "Dom!"

Dom looked ahead, "That's DC!"

Before Hawke knew it fighter jets were coming up fast. He watched an F-22 whizzed by. "Um…" he wasn't sure to make of the event. Then before him six Apache Attack helicopters came into view and a female voice came over his radio.

"Unknown chopper please identify yourself." the voice stated.

Hawke replied, "This is Airwolf." He waited for a response. He listened to the chatter on the radio.

Another voice stated, "Is that an old Bell chopper?"

The female voice radioed, "Anybody know if there is program called Airwolf?"

"Negative," another voice replied.

The female voice spoke to Hawke, "Airwolf…You are in restricted airspace. Please divert."

Hawke stated, "Just get Archangel on the phone."

A man's voice came over, "Anyone heard of Archangel?"

"Negative," another voice replied.

The female asked, "Pilot of Airwolf, please identify yourself."

"My name is Stringfellow Hawke," he snorted.

The radio went silent for a minute and the women's voice then gave instruction, "Airwolf please land at the nearest facility. I will escort you."

Hawke spoke to Dom, "You think could be some sort of trap?"

Dom shrugged, "I don't know String but something is funny. We traveled three thousand miles in a fraction of a second and Airwolf is having trouble getting access to satellite data and I'm picking up all this weird radio traffic."

"What kind of weird radio traffic?" he asked.

Dom stated wide-eyed, "Listen." He patched in the strange rap music he picked up from the local station.

Hawke snorted, "What the hell is that? Is that supposed to be music?"

Dom turned the station off, "I think so."

Hawke followed the lead Apache with the two other attack choppers behind him to the nearby military airport. He soon landed the chopper on the tarmac and wondered what had happened and if he had fallen into a CIA trap to get Airwolf back.

The Apache's landed nearby and military Humvees soon arrived to secure the rogue chopper. As Hawke and Dom emerged from Airwolf in the bright blue flightsuits the military descended on them.

Dom noted, "Those aren't Jeeps, String."

"I see that," he gave a nod. He raised his hands above his head and looked up as the crew of the Apache emerged. They were military pilots all dressed in green flightsuits. The female pilot caught his eye. She was tall and had short blonde hair. She looked familiar but different all the same time. She was roughly his own age as she walked over to him and stopped dead in her tracks before him and gasped.

His eyes landed on her name badge, "O'Shannessy."

One of the other chopper pilots shouted out as he approached, "Mike…You know this guy?"

She slowly nodded, "Kind of."

"Who is he?" her friend asked.

"My father," she told him.