Airwolf Legacy

Chapter Twelve

Hawke brought Airwolf into land inside the hangar, he was shattered. It had been a long mission to Africa. One of Michael’s so called ‘baby sitting’ jobs had like always, turned out to be a full blown mission, usually resulting in Hawke using Airwolf to dissolve a long term situation. Dominic too was exhausted and he left Hawke in Airwolf to await Kristien’s arrival. He did not have to wait long. He watched her enter and took in her beauty as she walked over to him. Hawke was already out of Airwolf and when they met he picked her up in his arms and embraced her deeply. One week away from Kristien was far too much. They kissed for a long time, not wanting to part, their hands just holding each other. Neither of them wanted to make love, not like this, their lust for each other would have to wait. As the minutes passed Hawke sensed something. Kristien was keeping something from him. Hawke gently broke off the kiss.

“Miss me?” Hawke asked.

“No!” She lied and smiled cheekily at him. “Miss me?”

Hawke smiled at the lie. “Me neither.” He lied to her.

They both hugged each other affectionately at their weak attempt at lying to each other. Kristien listened to Hawke’s heartbeat, something she never got tired of doing.

“Why don’t you go and freshen up and grab a bite to eat?” Kristien suggested. “I will finish up here and then meet you up at the lodge.”

Hawke gently teased his lips over hers. “Don’t be long.”

“You want me that much then?” Kristien teased.

“No, if you leave it too long I will be fast asleep.” Hawke joked to her.

“Typical man.” Kristien laughed and gently pushed Hawke away. “Off you go then.” And she walked away from Hawke and went direct to the laptops to run the diagnostic to see what they had broken on Airwolf but also to have a look at what they had been up to in the week from Airwolf’s on board computer.

Once outside the Hangar Hawke saw Carsten sat patiently waiting for Kristien to come out, he was busy on his blackberry. Carsten looked up at Hawke.

“Everything been ok?” Hawke asked Carsten direct.

“Yeah, fine except……” Carsten paused not sure if he should tell Hawke.

“Except what?” Hawke prompted and folded his arms impatiently.

“Sayid has been meeting with Kristien, secretly.” Carsten replied.

“What do you mean secretly?” Hawke put his hands on his hips in a defensive pose.

“Well, I saw a pattern after two days so I followed him up to the woods and there was Kristien.” Carsten replied. “I don’t know how, but she is disabling her internal GPS locator and disappearing, obviously meeting Sayid.” Carsten explained. “I don’t know why she would do that.”

Hawke turned angrily towards the Hangar but did not go in. He stood visibly shaking with anger. He was so cross with what Carsten had just told him. How the hell was Kristien disabling her internal GPS? And why would she want her meeting’s with Sayid secret? He felt when Kristien first kissed him, she was keeping something from him-what? He knew he had told Sayid that Kristien was a free spirit and could do what she wanted but that was with him about, not the second he flew out over the horizon. Hawke’s anger grew. He struggled with what he was going to do next, half of him wanting to storm into the Hangar and have it out with her and the other half telling him to go up to the Lodge and calm down then speak to her.

Hawke walked away from Carsten and the Hangar. “Thanks.” He said, but did not mean it.

Hawke passed the main house and Sayid’s servant was loading up the Saudi Limousine. That intrigued him. He wandered over to Sayid’s servant.

“Stealing the family jewels?” He joked lightly.

Sayid’s servant bowed his head with respect to Hawke. “No Sir, we are leaving for Saudi tomorrow afternoon.”

“When will you be back?” Hawke enquired hoping to have a few days to himself with Kristien without Sayid about.

“We won’t Sir.” The servant explained. “We will remain in Saudi, Sir.”

Hawke was about to launch into a ‘what the hell is going on’ conversation but the servant was not a high one in Sayid’s household. After Tariq’s attack on Kristien Sayid only brought a basic servant back to assist him.

Up at the Lodge Alfred had prepared various snacks for Dominic and Hawke and fresh coffee was on tap as always. Hawke ignored all of these and went direct to the drinks cabinet in the dining room. He poured a large tumbler of cognac and downed it in one. The alcohol did nothing to him, so he poured another large tumbler and took huge mouthfuls and this time brought the crystal decanter with him. He went upstairs to his and Kristien’s bedroom and walked in to the bathroom and ran the shower. By the time he had stepped out of his boots and Airwolf Flight suit he had consumed another tumbler of cognac.

The powerful shower stung his aching body with its hot water, making his muscles tingle and yearned for Kristien’s light hands to massage him. Her gentle touch always relaxed him. His mind was racing ahead thinking up all kinds of things about secret meetings with Sayid and what she was keeping from him. He was trying desperately to get those thoughts out of his mind.

He stepped out of the shower and dried himself with the towels. The cognac had started to work and relax him. He picked up the decanter and the tumbler and brought it through to the bedroom and put it on his bedside table. He was about to get into bed and await Kristien’s arrival when he looked across to the table that he sometimes used. A large white document caught his eye. He got up and pulled on a pair of jeans on that were out ready on his chair ready for the morning. He put the shirt on but did not do it up. He went and picked up the document. It looked legal. He was about to put it down and not bother with it until he saw Sayid’s name and Kristien’s name. That got the better of him. He brought it back to the bed and sat down on the bed leaning up against the wooden carved headboard and laid the document on his lap and poured another cognac.

He started to read and took a huge gulp of cognac when he realised what this was. A contract between Sayid and Kristien. Sayid would, for one night with her, release Kristien from their arranged marriage. Hawke felt sick to the stomach. He felt mortally wounded. Was this what she was keeping from him? Had she slept with Sayid to get rid of him? Why else would he leave now? Had Sayid got what he wanted? Hawke’s mind created a hundred and one questions all of which brought the cold stone reality that Kristien had slept with another man. He downed another tumbler of cognac.

Kristien entered the bedroom and closed the door as she turned she felt Hawke’s immense rage from where she stood. She froze as she saw Hawke reading the contract from Sayid.

“What the fuck is this?” Hawke spat.

“You’ve read it, so you tell me.” Kristien wasn’t about to explain it not when she knew Hawke had read every word of it. Kristien walked over to the desk in the bedroom where her laptop was linked up to the mainframe. She sat down and started to do some work totally ignoring the furious rage that Hawke was wallowing in as well as envy.

“So you have had a fuck with him then.” Hawke replied with venom and he poured himself another cognac.

“What? Don’t be stupid. I am not going to dignify that accusation with an answer.” Kristien turned and looked at the remains of the cognac decanter. “You’re pissed, get over yourself will you. Go to sleep and sober up and talk to me in the morning.”

“So what was it like? You know, your Royal Fuck in the woods or did you do it here?” Hawke continued and pointed to the bed.

Kristien rolled her eyes at the laptop. “Fuck this.” Kristien got up and marched over to the door. She wasn’t even going to reason with Hawke, not like this, not when he was obviously half cut. As she opened the door, Hawke with lightning speed came up behind her and slammed the door shut with his fist, preventing her escape, and spun her around and pushed her against the door with his other hand and held her there.

They both stared at each other. Hawke breathing heavily barely keeping control of himself and his conflicting emotions all fighting themselves deep inside of him. Hawke felt Kristien pull up her barriers and blocked him from her mind, severing their connection instantly. He could not feel what she was thinking nor what she was keeping from him.

“Please tell me what it was like.” Hawke demanded feeling instantly hurt at her severing their special connection. “Every detail.” He mumbled.

“There are no details……...” Kristien tried to explain.

“So you are telling me it was a quick fuck then? A quick five minutes up at the woods then?” Hawke stood over her, still not thinking straight, he started to feel lost being by himself, her soul, her mind, her heart closing down to him.

“I will tell you as calmly as I can without getting furious with you.” Kristien started to explain, herself feeling hurt at being accused of sleeping with another man, finally she erected her final barrier to Hawke and pushed his body away from hers and she walked passed him and sat down on the bed. “I have not gone to bed with Sayid or any other man for that matter.” Kristien replied. “Now leave this room and sober up and I will talk to you in the morning.”

Hawke’s rage and brooding were getting the better of him. He was in a flat spin, spiralling down to earth at over MACH 3 at being severed from Kristien. All these years he had been connected to her, even during their separation although she blocked him, he could still feel her. She sat less than twelve feet from him and he could not feel she was even there.

“I have read that contract. Sayid says in return for your fucking him he will leave.” Hawke told her.

Kristien folded her arms. “SO?” Her voice began to how the signs of irritation.

“Well he is leaving tomorrow.” Hawke stated his interpretation of the facts to her. Kristien’s face looked surprised at the fact Sayid was leaving.

“Leaving?” Kristien questioned.

“Oh you sad that your new fuck buddy is leaving. He must have been one hell of a fuck then.” Hawke spat vindictively. As the obscene words fell out even he was surprised where they came from.

“Stringfellow, please listen to this as I will say this only once to you.” Kristien tried to reason with Hawke. “You have been the only man ever to make love to me.” Kristien told him firmly hoping this would be the end of it. “I gave myself to you, heart, body, mind and soul that night and every night since.”

“Until now.” Hawke was totally blinkered, and continued down his wrong road not even considering a U turn.

Kristien stood up and marched over to Hawke and stood with her hands on her hips. “If you weren’t half pissed I would kick your stupid stubborn arse into next week for being such a prick.” Kristien told him, her voice more pissed off and upset with him than anger. “Will you look at yourself!”

Hawke stepped forward and through gritted teeth. “I wasn’t the one that sold myself like a whore.”

Kristien had finally had enough with this disgusting line of accusations. He hadn’t taken the hint that she had severed their connection so, like him, she sank to his level and she was not going to hold back. “How dare you! I wasn’t the one going around fucking anything in a skirt after I was kidnapped. How hard did you look for me hmmm Stringfellow Hawke, not very hard did you, got your virgin and well wanted more.” Kristien began and started to hate herself already for saying it. “How many did you have? Ten? How many notches are on your bedpost up at the cabin, Stringfellow Hawke? Shall I name them? So let’s see, there was Inga, Angelica, Roxy, Kiki and probably Caitlin too and finally lets not forget Gabrielle, you bloody failed her big time, you allowed Moffet to rape and torture her and leave her in the desert to die.” Kristien continued down to the depths of sewer level. “You failed me. Couldn’t even protect me and your baby.”

The verbal abuse hit Hawke like physical blows, he was shocked with Kristien’s delivery of everything about him, how the hell did she know? But more devastatingly she was right about Gabrielle. He turned away from her, trying to deal with his uncontrollable anger.

The bedroom door swung open and Dominic burst in after hearing all the shouting, worried that something similar to Tariq’s attack on Kristien was happening again, he put aside any worries and jumped into help. He stood looking at Hawke turn from Kristien and scared that he was about to hit her during their first ever argument he shouted across at Hawke. “What the hell is happening here?” Dominic looked at Hawke visibly shaking with his anger. “String, you get out. NOW!” Dominic ordered.

Hawke stood firm, struggling with his troubled anger.

“STRING, if you don’t get your sorry arse out of this bedroom right now I will kick it out myself and by God you will be damn sorry.” Dominic started to roll up his sleeves. “You are not too old for a good smack you know.”

Hawke walked away and met Dominic at the doorway, he looked Dominic in the eye and then walked down the landing with his head hung in shame. Dominic walked in and gave Kristien an affectionate hug. Kristien took a deep breath. “Thank you Dom, I haven’t a clue what’s gone wrong here.” Kristien was relieved someone had got through to Hawke’s stubbornness.

“I’ll get him sober.” Dominic walked towards the door and paused. “Er tell me to mind my own business but what the hell has happened between you two?”

Kristien walked over to the bed and picked up the contract and walked over to Dominic and handed it to him. “String needs maths lessons.” Kristien cryptically replied. “He has added up two and two and made six somehow.” She looked at Dominic who looked very puzzled at her. “Dom, keep him away from me please, just for tonight, I can’t deal with this.” Kristien asked.

“Sure thing Kristien.” Dominic said. “You get a good nights sleep and in the morning it will be better, you’ll see.”

Dominic closed the bedroom door and looked down the landing where Hawke was trudging. He shook his head and looked up in the air, searching for a heaven sent answer. He took Hawke down stairs back to the kitchen to start giving him gallons of hot black coffee in an attempt at sobering him up.

Kristien sat down back in front of the laptop. She held her head in her hands struggling with the replay in her mind of the first ever argument with Hawke. She typed in the various codes and Archangel appeared.

“Hello Kristien, have you thought about our proposal then?” Archangel asked.

“Yes Michael, Carsten and crew are all looking forward to their field trip.” Kristien replied. “Send over the details and I will meet the Minotaur and find out who he sold the warheads to.”

“Great! Am sending over the information now, it’s all compatible with Airwolf’s computers and Hawke can do the high level scanning and videoing of the meeting.” Archangel explained. “We know the first meeting is in Paris, he will then send you elsewhere for the deal, twenty million dollars electronically sent to his Cayman Island account in return for four nuclear warheads.”

“Fine.” Kristien replied. “You know I am still not happy about funding terrorism here.”

“Welcome to my world, besides getting four nukes off the market is better than finding them in another one of our carriers.” Archangel replied, explaining it quite perfectly.

“Well when you put it that way, fair enough.” Kristien answered.

Archangel tried to look around the webcam. “Is Hawke there?”

“Michael please, he has only just returned from Africa.” Kristien reminded him. “What you trying to do, break him?”

“You’re right as always.” Archangel replied.

Kristien smiled. “I know, I am never wrong.”

“Well tell Hawke to contact me when you have the second set of coordinates for the delivery. We will have the FIRM’s agents ready to get the Minotaur once and for all.” Archangel told her.

“Will do.” Kristien signed off.

Dominic poured out a cup of coffee for String who sat, silent at the kitchen table, still hanging his head in shame. He sat down at the head of the table looking at Hawke. He put the contract down on the table and started to read it. Dominic’s eye brows raised and he was almost disgusted with what he read. He felt like going over to the main house and hit Sayid into next week.

“What the hell’s got into you String?” Dominic asked. “Mamma mia you have the soul mate that everyone is envious of.”

“That’s the trouble, everyone wants her.” Hawke mumbled, his head still looking firmly at the oak table. Dominic pushed the contract under Hawke’s nose. Hawke looked at it and then at Dominic.

“Like this?” Dominic raised his eye brow.

“Yeah.” Hawke grimaced at looking at the indecent contact.

“Is this what you were arguing over?” Dominic asked.

“No, we didn’t argue, it takes two to argue.” Hawke inhaled deeply and let a breath out before answering. “I wasn’t listening to anything she had to say. I accused her of being a whore.” Hawke shook his head.

“String, you didn’t?” Dominic could not believe it. The pressure that Hawke was under was immense. The annulment of their marriage, the attack on Kristien, the tragic miscarriage, the aircraft carrier and the deaths of the FIRMS agents had all taken its toll. “Kristien would never betray you, surely you know that.”

Hawke looked at Dominic, he was so hurt, so mortally wounded at being severed from Kristien’s thoughts and calming nature he looked like a small boy again in Dominic’s eyes. “Dom, I know that, but this is for her freedom, to get rid of Sayid once and for all.”

“Oh and what make’s you think they have done it, not for one minute I am thinking that they did because I know she wouldn’t.” Dominic told Hawke.

“Sayid is leaving tomorrow.” Hawke gave the evidence to Dominic.

“Oh.” Dominic replied still positive that Kristien would never betray Hawke. “So you added up the contract and the fact that he was leaving and came up with this performance tonight did you, huh?”

“In the hangar I felt Kristien was keeping something from me.” Hawke told him.

“Oh? And that something could have been this.” Dominic pointed at the contract in front of them. “You know the last time she gave you information in the hangar straight after a mission, you went off on one, a knee jerk reaction, so I would say she would keep this from you until you came up to the house.” Dominic replied. “So where did she hide it then?”

“She didn’t, it was on the table next to my chair in the bedroom.” Hawke slowly replied slowly realising that Kristien had put it there ready for Hawke to look at and to probably go and knock Sayid off his arse over it. “Oh fuck Dom, what the hell have I done?” Hawke shook his head in shame.

“Well you have some serious making up to do in the morning.” Dominic patted Hawke on his shoulder. “And if I were you, I would be knocking Sayid off his feet for even suggesting such an indecent proposal.”

“You’re right.” Hawke diverted all of his anger into storage, ready for Sayid. “I will go to her now and apologise.” Hawke stood up. “I have been a fucking prick.”

“String no, leave it.” Dominic told him. “Kristien says wait until morning.”

Hawke downed the coffee in one. “Dom, thanks but I know how to handle Kristie.”

Dominic let Hawke leave the kitchen to return to their bedroom. Dominic shook his head and looked up in the air.

Hawke opened the bedroom door and walked in closing the door behind him. Kristien was nowhere to be seen. Her clothes that she had worn were on the bed. He picked up her shirt and smelled it, taking her scent in. It was intoxicating and calmed him instantly. He looked around, still feeling lost without his connection to her. I bet she’s gone down to play with her sports cars and trucks to work through her anger, he thought to himself. Hawke thought about going down to the race circuit and waiting for her, but then she could be a couple of hours, best leave her to it.

Hawke stripped out of his shirt and jeans and allowed them to drop to the floor in a heap. He pulled the duvet down to the bottom of the bed and laid down. He placed his hands behind his head and looked up to the top of the four poster bed. He tried to close his eyes to sleep but couldn’t. His brooding was pointing out to him that he was alone at this moment in the world around him and it was his own stupid fault. How could he fall asleep without his beloved Kristien for company in his mind. He rolled over and looked at the empty space where Kristien should be. He moved over on to her side of the bed and laid there. Her scent was everywhere, on her pillows, on the sheets, he inhaled it several times, sending a calming cleansing breath deep inside of him. He closed his eyes and continued to breathe her scent in. Slowly his body fooled his mind that she was with him and he slept soundly.