It was as if they had been swallowed by the highway. No accident report. No sign of them anywhere. Kermit Griffin had scanned every inch of the highway at thirty miles per hour. No sign anywhere. He'd passed panic hours ago. He was raw with fear.
By the time the word had gone out from headquarters, it was dark and too late for a chopper to do any good in a search. All patrols had descriptions and had been instructed to make finding the trio "top priority per the Governor." Still, nothing.
"Kermit, we're seventy-five miles from Sloanville. We know they made it past here. We should stop for the night." Paul could see the pain and exhaustion in Kermit's body. Hands choking the wheel. Eyes scanning the roadside like radar. Not wanting to miss a broken tree branch or piece of scenery out of place that could signal a vehicle leaving the road.
It was nine o'clock. It was cold. And all Kermit could think of was Kat, in her new boots, out in the freezing cold. "So, you want to stop looking and crawl in some warm bed somewhere?!" he snapped. "Nice, Captain."
"No, STUPID! I want to find my son, dammit. But we CAN'T find them in the dark. What if we pass them in the night? What if you get so tired that you miss the one sign of them there is?" Paul sat back and pulled his control back into place. "Think, kid."
He understood that Paul was right. Paul was ALWAYS right. Times like this, that really pissed him off. But how could he do it? How could he check into some comfortable bed when his whole life, Savannah and Kat, had dropped out into a void somewhere?
"Kermit," Paul tried again, "you know Peter would do whatever was necessary to keep them alive. Falling apart WILL NOT help them. Stop up here." He directed Kermit to a small hotel down the road and called to check in with Annie and the highway patrol. Still no sign of them.
Paul checked them in and practically ordered the detective into the restaurant for coffee and dinner. There, over dinner, Paul tried to pull Kermit out of the dark visions of death he could read on his face. "Tell me about her."
"You know Annie's already told you about her." Kermit smiled into his coffee in spite of his pain. "She's been really nervous about meeting you."
"Why in the hell would anybody by nervous about meeting me?"
"Well, you're the only member of the..." he paused, then finished, "family she hasn't met yet."
Paul understood what Kermit was trying to say in his roll-around-the-sentiment style. "Sorry I missed the wedding. At least you had Marilyn there."
"Yeah, Savannah and I were both kind of short in the family department on our wedding day." Kermit was twisting his wedding ring.
"Your father would have been pleased to see you with a family."
"My father could have cared less if I ended up with a family or not. Didn't know shit about it himself." The words just came spilling out. He wasn't sure from where. Everything he'd learned about being a father, he'd learned from Kat...and Paul Blaisdell. His own father was never there enough to qualify. The resentment he held never faded. When his father died, when Paul brought his body home, the chance to ever have those close ties between father and son shattered.
Paul couldn't argue to any great degree. Mitchell was a good man but he let his family slip away over the edge of his obsession with work. "Be grateful that you got a second chance at a family. He never got that chance." Attempting to change the subject, he poured Kermit another cup of coffee. "So, Peter was your best man?"
"Oh, yeah," Kermit couldn't help but laugh at the memory. Savannah had teased Peter later that the best man was twice as nervous as the groom. Kermit had threatened Peter with a trip to the emergency room if he lost the ring. When he got it stuck on his little finger....
*****
"CAINE! You'd better get that ring off or I'll cut it off!"
Peter Caine was frantically tugging at the wedding band he'd slipped onto his little finger. Kermit had threatened to raise Peter's voice an octave if he lost it. It might fall out of his pocket, so he'd slipped it onto the end of his finger. "Calm down, Kermit. It's coming off...eventually."
Just as Kermit was making a move to peel ring and finger off his best man, Caine walked quietly in between them. Gently, he took his son's hand in his and the ring slid easily into his palm. "Here is the ring. Kermit, are you well?"
He didn't *feel* well at all. Not cold feet. This was something he wanted more than his next breath but the *idea* of it had him in what Savannah would call "a tizzy." "Why wouldn't I be? It's not like I haven't done this before. Hell, I have a Ph.D. in wedding day etiquette." Pulling his shades down onto his nose, he glared at the amused look Peter was throwing his way.
"Yes, but they were not like this wedding day." Caine placed a fatherly hand on Kermit's shoulder. He understood the magnitude of this choice. Kermit was forcing his fear and past down into the void and reaching up for the light. Even though he *still* didn't feel worthy of it. "You are not the only one who is uneasy about this day."
Instantly, Kermit forgot the buzzards beating around in his stomach. "Is she all right? This might be too much for her. She shouldn't get upset...."
"Do not be alarmed. Your bride-to-be is well. Mary Margaret and your sister are with her and she is as anxious to take her vows as you are, my friend. She did ask me to tell you not to 'fret', if that is the correct term."
"That's the correct term, all right!" hooted Peter Caine.
"Shut up, Peter, or I'll tell Savannah about the *entertainment* you arranged for the party last night and she'll use her secret sauce to barbeque YOU." Kermit looked up to see Mary Margaret, hand over her eyes, coming into the room.
"You guys decent?" Removing her hand, she quipped, "Oh, darn! Well, you can't have everything. Here, Kermit, a gift from the bride." She tucked a small package of gummi bears into his pocket. "She *knew* you'd be nervous and thought if you had these to keep you busy...you okay? You look sort of...green?"
"Yes, dammit! I'm fine! I'm calm. Okay?!!" Softening, he asked, "Is she feeling all right?"
"Yes, dear. She's fine and beautiful." She leaned over to give him a peck on the cheek. "I'm so happy for both of you. Better get back. She's fine, but just a little wired."
*****
"I look like a big, white circus tent!" Savannah was turning sideways in the full-length mirror provided for them by the hotel. Finding a wedding dress had been quite a feat with only one week to prepare for her big day. Jody and Mary Margaret had gone shopping with her and endured the curious glares at every bridal shop when an extremely pregnant Savannah identified herself as the bride-to-be. After spending an entire exhausting day, they found it. A soft, chiffon dress that fell to her ankles. She adjusted the pink ribbon that rested just above her rounded stomach and touched the pearls around her neck. Something borrowed from Marilyn.
"Now, do we have everything?" Marilyn stood behind her soon-to-be sister, arranging the tiny white flowers woven through her hair. "The something old...."
"My Great Aunt Maddie's handkerchief."
"Something new...."
"The dress, or should I say, the tent!" She patted her tummy and frowned into the mirror.
"Something borrowed...."
"Your mother's pearls, which you were sooooo sweet to let me wear."
"Something blue?"
"Now, Marilyn," Savannah turned to her and started to laugh, "I elected to change that tradition, in light of your precious brother. This bride will wear somethin' *green* and no, I won't say what it is."
Giving her a light squeeze to avoid crushing her dress, she giggled, "Oh, no! He's infected you, too."
Savannah felt pangs of guilt at the way Kermit had handled all the arrangements for the wedding. He'd worried that she would do too much and wear herself into exhaustion. Kermit had taken care of every detail except her dress, he left that to the ladies. All she had to do was show up at Sutton Place and take her place beside him in front of Caine and their witnesses. Then, become his wife.
Rapping lightly on the door, Mary Margaret came into the room, holding the bride's bouquet. "Well, Kermit's gift arrived. Boy, the guy just doesn't do anything halfway, does he?" The special surprise that Kermit had ordered was a beautiful bouquet of orchids...a private message between the two of them.
A deeper voice called their attention to the door. Frank Strenlich had graciously offered to give the bride away. Her parents had apparently elected to boycott their daughter's wedding. A pregnant daughter marrying an ex-mercenary who stated his profession as "I kill people" must not be their dream come true. Frank had a daughter. Had a soft heart, also. "Savannah, Caine says that they're ready whenever you are." He offered his arm.
"Well, I'm ready all right," she said, gathering her flowers and slipping her hand through his offered arm. "I'd better hurry before he chickens out and heads for Beruit!"
*****
From the moment Savannah appeared at the end of the aisle on Frank's arm, all fear faded from his mind. Kermit could only focus on her. His future floating toward him with flowers in her hair. She beamed at him with sparkling eyes and an electric smile. When Frank put her hand in his, the rest of the room disappeared.
*You are the sappiest man on the planet, Griffin.* he thought. Today, it seemed like an appropriate way to be. He kissed her hand and basked in the warmth of her smile.
Caine looked fondly at the couple preparing to begin their journey together. He had married others and had always taken great joy in the process. This was special because he would be marrying two people for whom he cared deeply. Two people who'd struggled and would continue to struggle. When they had settled there in front of the crowd, holding hands, he began the ceremony.
"Dear friends, today you embark on a joyous path. No longer two separate lives but one spirit. You will find that once insurmountable obstacles melt in the face of this union. Joys will be doubled in the sharing. Embrace one another in your pleasure and pain. From this, you will draw your strength. Strength that you may share with the new life you prepare to welcome.
"Trust in the truth of this love. Trust in the other's heart. That faith will sustain you through what ever trials are to come and fill you with happiness at every blessing granted your family." Caine took Savannah's hand. "Now, Savannah and Kermit wish to make their own vows to one another." Giving a slight bow, he stepped back to allow them to focus only on themselves.
"Kermit," she began, a happy blush flooding her cheeks, "I always knew that we would find each other. Even through all that river of trouble. Even after all the struggle. I knew that I would be here with you. If I'd never known you, I would have never known the power of this feeling. You give me joy that I can't begin to measure. This love I have for you is enough to clear away all the storm clouds in your heart." Lacing her finger tenderly with his, she continued, "There's no distance between us, now."
Kermit grinned and touched her stomach. Savannah laughed softly and looked down at his hand. "Well, maybe just a little." She placed her hand on his. "But, no matter what comes, you're safe here with me. And I vow to love and cherish you for all time. I can promise you that as long as we have each other, the worse will only be half as bad and the better...is going to be spectacular."
She took his wedding band from Mary Margaret and slipped it onto his finger.
Now, it was his turn. Taking a deep breath, he began to open his heart to her. In the presence of their friends. "From the first day I met you, Scarlett, you made me want things I didn't even know I needed. In the face of my ugly past and stupidity, you loved me anyway. You loved me IN SPITE of myself. Something that still mystifies me. And until the day I die, I'll thank God or fate or Mary Margaret for bringing you into my life. You found me at a time when love and mercy were lost to me. You brought Spring back into my life. Into my heart. You and this baby are the second chance that I never expected. A chance for light instead of darkness. And I swear that I will love you with all my strength until the day I die. And beyond."
Peter dropped the wedding band into Kermit's outstretched palm. As he slipped it onto her trembling hand and looked into her tear-filled green eyes, he vowed, "Neither one of us will ever be alone again."
They stood there, wrapped in the warmth of the moment. Holding hands and forging a bond that would hold through out a lifetime. Caine stepped forward, and quietly asked, "Kermit...Kermit. Would you like to kiss your bride?"
"Oh yeah." Kermit leaned down and softly kissed his bride....
*****
Paul could see the comfort his friend took from those memories. Made him feel closer to her, somehow. "Next time I want to hear about how your lovely bride nearly strangled you with your own tie! We'd better turn in and get a couple of hours sleep." He tossed a few bills onto the table and followed Kermit out into the cold night air.
Kermit stopped to look up into the stars. The same stars that were over her head out there in the night. *I love you,* he closed his eyes and "felt it" to her.
"We'll find them, Kermit. I know how determined my son is and any woman that would marry you must have more guts than a slaughterhouse. They're out there and we'll bring them home." Paul patted his back and left him alone in the dark with his thoughts.
The warmth flowed into his dreams. Peter could feel it coursing inside his chest out into his skin. Bitter cold retreated. For a moment, he was afraid that he was freezing to death, then he placed that familiar presence. *Father!?*
As he was beginning to reach out with his mind, a low groan pulled him back to consciousness. Peter had placed the baby in between his body and her mother's to keep her warm. Sometime during the night, he'd fallen asleep with his arm around both of them. Through his sleeve, he could feel the raw heat of fever.
Jerking himself awake, he turned his attention to Savannah. She was burning and nearly delirious. Eyes glassy and breathing in gasps. Gently, he moved away from the baby who was still resting in the breaking dawn. Taking his friend's face in his hands, he called, "Savannah! Honey....can you hear me?"
His hands felt cool on her face. Comforting. "W..what? Where?"
"Out in the great outdoors, that's where. Here, drink this." He held her head up for a drink. Coughing and sputtering, she lost what little liquid she drank in.
When she had voice again, she whispered, "Peter....you have to go...get her out...please...."
What she was asking was for him to take the only option left to them. He could no longer wait for a rescue team that could only find them accidentally. The situation screamed of limited options. Peter couldn't carry her. Moving her improperly might kill her. Unless he got her to help soon, she would die anyway. If he left, she'd be alone in the wilderness. Immobilized. Delirious. In the elements at the mercy of any animal that found her.
Then...there was Kat. Leaving her here with her mother was impossible. He'd have to take her with him. Crawling God knows how far through the woods with a baby. What he needed was another body. A body that belonged to a Shaolin priest. A priest who just happened to be a few too many states away to be of any help.
He didn't know what to do. Correction, he *knew* what he had to do but didn't know if he could. In the back of his mind, that feeling he experienced in his sleep returned. *You must get help. You are strong. Believe and do what you must.* That could be only one voice. A presence that could cut through any confusion and reach the heart of a problem. Solve it with slicing clarity. But this time...the solution sucked.
Peter tossed as many logs onto the fire as he could gather. The fire would help keep her warm and might warn off the source of the howling. In the remains of the wreck, he gathered a makeshift hiking supply kit. Slicing the seat belts to use for rope and grabbing the last canned drink to use for the baby. On his way back to camp, he kicked the truck's rearview mirror that had been ripped away during the wreck. He picked it up as an afterthought then returned to Savannah. He pulled her hand out from under the blanket and pressed his gun into her palm. Looping her finger around the trigger, he instructed, "Honey, hold onto my gun. If you hear anything that even remotely sounds like an animal come through the trees, fire. Understand?"
She wasn't responding. Being consumed by pain and fever. He took her face again to focus her.
"Savannah, hey, listen to me. Can you listen?"
She was trying to focus on his face. Pull herself together. "Yes...shoot if I hear anything."
"That's right." As he pulled the baby up and slipped her into his jacket, he said, "I'm going to have to get help. I'm taking Kat with me." She snuggled next to his chest as Peter pulled up the zipper to keep the child warm and secure.
"I...know. I'll be fine." As Peter crouched beside her, she reached up to stroke Kat through the fabric of his jacket. "Bye, angel girl...please....take care of...." She was too weak to finish.
"Don't worry. She's safe with me and I'll be back as soon as I can." He kissed her flaming cheek and set out into nowhere.
*****
The choppers were flying. The cars were rolling. Every law enforcement officer within a 300 mile radius was searching for one missing Ford Explorer, two adults and one baby. Kermit was standing outside the hotel room, grilling Captain James, the ranking patrol officer for the area.
"I want some RESULTS from you people. That's what I want, dammit!"
Captain James remained calm. He'd seen this bone-chilling fear in the eyes of other men. Other fathers and husbands who were searching. Waiting with the dread of finding dead bodies instead of loved ones. "Detective Griffin, we're doing our best. Using all our resources...."
"Well, evidently you people don't know WHAT THE HELL YOU'RE DOING! If they wrecked, where's the vehicle? If somebody snatched them, where's the vehicle AND the witnesses?" Kermit had wasted as much time as he planned on. He twisted and flopped all over that lumpy mattress. Tumbling over possibilities and scenarios in his mind. If this were vengeance, someone would be gloating. If there had been an accident, why hadn't someone seen them? All he had was that stretch of highway.
"Good morning, officer. Any news?" Paul Blaisdell could be cool-headed in a furnace. The quality that made him a leader of men. Melting down on the inside, but the picture of calm displayed on the exterior. Like now.
Relieved to have a rational individual to deal with, the man replied, "No. I'm afraid not, sir. The choppers just went up and all my men are out in the field looking for your family. Are you two going to wait here or do you want to come down to headquarters?"
"Hell, no, we aren't. Come on, Paul. Let's go." He was halfway to the car. Paul nodded his apologies and left to follow the ex-mercenary to the rental car.
*****
Peter had to move carefully. For one, his leg was throbbing and it took all his strength to push it forward. For another thing, his good arm had to be wrapped around the now-squirming child inside his coat. She was happy, but difficult to hold in one position. His injured arm was the only appendage remaining for balance. "Glad you're enjoying your adventure, Tadpole. Your Uncle Peter sure isn't."
He'd been walking for an hour and STILL hadn't found a way up to the road. Stopping for a moment to rest, his thoughts traveled back to the woman he'd left behind him. What if he'd made the wrong choice? Left her alone to die back there. *Pop could have pulled something from his bag, patched her together, and levitated up the side of this cliff,* thought Peter in his frustration. *One trick I've got to learn.*
"Okay, kid, if we're going to get to your daddy, we'd better get moving." He set out once again, only to have his leg fold beneath him. Twisting to keep from landing on top of his tiny passenger, Peter fell flat on his back onto the dirt. The terrified infant screamed into his face.
Too exhausted to rise, Peter comforted Kat. "I'm sorry, Tadpole. Shhh..." Slowly, he pulled himself upright and leaned back on a rock. Kat began to calm down and chew on the inside of his coat. His reserves had expired. He could barely breathe, much less continue a forced march through rough terrain. Kat didn't weigh much but controlling her in his condition made her seem like fifty pounds.
He had to find a way. *Think, Peter. There's an answer to this...all you have to do is find it inside yourself. There's too much at stake.* There must be a lesson...a long-ago lesson for him to find. His father had left so many guides inside his mind over the years. Landmarks left from his childhood to lead him through every maze presented in his lifetime. As he relaxed and searched, the lesson returned. As clearly as the day it had be learned....
*****
Peter and Dennis had followed Caine into the wilderness. The priest was in search of a rare plant found only the mountains near the temple. Grasping for an escape into the outside world, the two young boys tagged along behind Peter's father, pausing to punch each other and toss rocks down into the caverns that ran alongside the worn path.
Caine had thought he would have this time in meditation and quiet reflection. This was not to be. The two shadows following in his wake were not led in the same direction. The increased winds and dropping temperature served to excite them and make them more rowdy than usual. He thought of suggesting that the young men take this opportunity to feel the serenity of nature, but sighed at the pointlessness of the gesture. Better to let them play out their roughhousing before the return trip.
After collecting the delicate plants and storing them carefully in his bag, Caine directed the group to return. The weather had been in a state of flux for several days as the seasons struggled to change. Before they had progressed even one quarter of a mile along the five mile trek, they were trapped in a violent thunderstorm. The winds were whipping around their bodies with tremendous intensity. Flashes of lightning streaked to the ground. Striking and retreating all around them. Wrapped in the rumble of constant thunder. There was no escape from the raging elements. No shelter.
They pressed forward through the veil of storm. Making slow but steady progress. Without any warning, a bright flash of lightning split the air beside them. Sparks flew as the electricity split the trunk of a massive oak tree. Dennis, who had lagged behind, screamed as the full weight of the tree crashed down on top of him. Peter and Caine were immediately at the child's side. The tremendous tree trunk was crushing Dennis into the mud. Both father and son strained against the weight of the branches. Trying to free the unconscious student.
The gesture was futile. Not even their combined strength could budge the snarled wood as it threatened to choke the life from Peter's young friend. The volume of the howling wind and rolling thunder precluded conversation. Peter watched, stunned as his father seemed to step back - leaving Dennis at the mercy of the mud and crushing weight.
Caine dropped to his knees in the sheets of rain. Eyes clamped shut in concentration. Hands outstretched to the four winds. Before his eyes, Peter watched as his father readily drew in the power of the storm through his fingertips. Energy glowed and sparked around his body. Twisting into his being in a luminous stream. Caine's formidable body shuddered and appeared to rise briefly from the ground. Held aloft by the energy he was pulling from the elements.
When the transfer was complete, Peter stood shock still as his father lifted the fallen tree from his friend's broken body. Tossing it across the road like a stick of firewood. Motioning for his dumbfounded son to follow, Caine scooped up the injured child and returned to the temple.
Later, in the safety of the temple, Peter approached his father as he left Dennis's room. Miraculously, the child was only slightly injured and would only require bed rest for a few days. "Father...how did you DO that?"
Sliding his hands inside the sleeves of his robe, he answered, "What?"
Exasperated, Peter clarified, "You know what! Pick up that tree. No one man was strong enough to move that weight. Where did you pull that power from and how?"
"My son, all power...all energy is as a circle. The energy of your chi, of others, and of nature flows freely between us." Placing a hand on his son's shoulder to guide him toward his own bed, Caine continued, "It was necessary to access that flow of energy. To channel the power of the elements to achieve a goal."
"But...how? Teach me."
As they reached Peter's room, the priest ruffled his impatient son's hair. "My son, one day, you will complete your training. You will then be ready to learn to focus your talents to achieve such a task. Do not rush forward without the proper tools."
Peter dropped down onto his bed. Aggravated at what appeared to be another attempt by his father to NOT give him the answers he craved about one of his "tricks." Before he could press further, Caine countered, "I have full confidence in your abilities, Peter. As I have told you on many occasions, when the need arises for you to draw on these skills, they will come to the surface. You will learn and grow. Good night."
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