Betrayal

A/N: I do not own or make any profit off of the Airwolf name or any of the characters involved within. My stories are for entertainment purposes only.

Chapter 11

Hawke walked down the hall towards Caitlin's room with a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. He had failed to eliminate the threat against them, more specifically against Caitlin, and he knew that Michael had brought her up to date on what had happened since her crash. As much as he loved flying Airwolf and needed the leverage that keeping the helicopter allowed him to have in his search for St. John, he was beginning to wonder if it was all worth it. How could he even think that he had the right to put other people's lives in dangers just to further his own personal causes? When had the search for his brother and his materialistic love for a hunk of machinery become more important than those that were with him in the here and now?

"So are you just going to stand there or are you going to come in?" The sounds of Caitlin's voice, low and raspy as it was, brought String back to reality. He had been so caught up in his own thoughts that he hadn't even realized he had made it to Caitlin's room. Looking around he also realized that the ever-present guards that he had gotten used to seeing outside of her door were gone as well.

"I guess I wasn't really sure if you'd want to see me," Hawke said as he hung his head and avoided eye contact with her.

Caitlin was surprised at Hawke's demeanor, to say the least. In all the time she'd known him, unself-assured was never an emotion she'd seen in the man: anger, denial, introspection, a stubborn streak a mile wide, and even tears of sadness, but never a lack of self confidence or inner strength.

"Hawke, come here. I need to know that you're alright," Caitlin coaxed.

"Me?" He answered with a humorless chuckle. "You're the one who's been in a coma and almost died," he said softly as he slowly approached the end of her bed.

"Are you kidding? You guys can't get rid of me that easily," she said with a smile. "But for some reason you look like you've lost your best friend when I'm still right here."

"Caitlin, I know that Michael told you everything and that you know we failed to get the people who were really behind all of this. You were willing and almost succeeded in giving up your life to protect Dom and me and what do you get in return…Nothing but more reason to have to keep looking over your shoulder for fear of the next time. I'm supposed to protect you and keep you safe and I failed."

"Seriously, Hawke? Sometimes your ego astounds even me!" Caitlin replied with sudden anger.

"What?" Hawke asked, surprised at the tone in the red-head's voice.

"I never asked you to be my hero or my protector or my body guard, Stringfellow Hawke! That's something you decided on all on your own. I don't know what it is about you but you see a woman and automatically feel that she needs a knight on a white horse to ride up and save her from the all of the perils of the world around her. Well maybe this damsel isn't in distress and doesn't need saving! Maybe all I've ever wanted or needed from you was the one thing I guess I was too stupid to realize that you couldn't give me…your love. Maybe I was asking too much," Caitlin said as the tears began to fall from her hurt-filled eyes.

For a few moments, Hawke stood stunned at the end of Caitlin's bed but the sight of her tears tore at his heart and he moved around to the side of her bed and carefully leaned over and wiped the tears from her cheeks. Gently taking a seat on the edge of the bed he reached down and took her hand in his own. "Caitlin, I'm sorry. It's just instinct. Don't you know that it's because I do love you that I just want to hide you away and keep you safe from all the horrible things we see every day? I need you, baby, and the thought of not having you in my life scares the hell out of me. I'd rather have you in my life as just a friend than not at all, so I guess I over-react and go a little overboard trying to keep you safe and I forget what an amazing and capable woman you are."

"Then just let me love you, String," Caitlin said as she squeezed his hand, "and more importantly let yourself love me back. You of all people should know what a precious gift it is. All I want is for you to love me and let me in behind those walls of yours. Is that so hard?"

"But what if I lose you?" Hawke asked quietly, averting his eyes from hers.

"Then at least we'll have had whatever time we had together and know that we didn't let our fears keep us from experiencing what could be the most wonderful thing either of us has ever known. Are you really willing to give up something that amazing because you're scared of what might happen? You know, the old saying really is true, String…it's better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all. Would you give you up what you had with Gabrielle never to have known the love that you felt for her and she for you? You deserve that kind of love again, Hawke. I want to be the one to give it to you." Caitlin reached up and put her hand on his cheek.

Hawke looked into her blue-green eyes and realized that she was right. He'd been denying both of them something that few people could ever hope to have just because he was scared and only thinking about his own feelings. Without a word, he bent down and put his lips on hers, kissing her with a passion he hadn't felt in a very long time, and perhaps one that was more intense than anything he'd felt before.

"Wow!" Caitlin said as they finally broke apart. "If I'd known that that would be the result, I would have crashed Airwolf a long time ago," she said with a mischevious smile.

"Well you know, Dom always says what a hard head I have. I guess something drastic was needed to get through to me but how about we leave the crash landings out of it from now on and the next time you want to get my attention, you just do something a little less severe like one of those infamous karate kicks of yours?" he said with a laugh.

"Yeah, easy for you to say to the woman who's leg is in a cast for at least the next two months!," Caitlin agreed as she gave him a playful jab on the arm.

"Oh yeah, I hadn't thought about that. Well maybe we can think of other ways for you to get my attention from now on," he said with a wink as he leaned back in for another kiss.

THE END!

A/N: Hope you liked it. I'm not sure when the sequel will happen, we'll just have to wait and see how long it takes the Muse to be inspired. Thanks for all of the reads, reviews, follows and favorites…each one makes my heart happy