To Honor With Love
by Linda Schwartz

Peter sat on the familiar couch in the Blaisdell's living room. The whole family was gathered around. Paul sat in his eazy chair, a smile on his face as he gazed at each of the members of his clan. Annie sat on the arm of the chair to his right. Kelly sat on the couch next to Peter.

Carolyn and Todd sat on the loveseat. Paul was so happy they could all celebrate Father's Day together. The previous Father's Day was a harrowing one. Peter had been in the hospital, wounded yet again during a shootout. 'It's no wonder that I have all these gray hairs' Paul thought. He was glad to see Peter staying out of trouble this year.

They had just finished dinner and it was time to open the gifts. They all gathered around, excitement filling the room. Kelly was the first to give her father his gift, Paul carefully unwrapped it. It was a bottle of cologne. He kissed Kelly on the cheek. "Thank you sweetheart, I love it."

Carolyn and Todd gave him a foot massager. "Dad, you're always complaining how your feet bother you. We figured this might help." Paul was thrilled with it.

Peter handed Paul his gift, a smile came to his face as Paul opened it. "Oh, Peter, this is wonderful, son." He touched Peter's arm, then inspected the tackle box. "This is the one I had my eye on." Peter's smile grew wider. "Why do you think I insisted we go to the mall that day?"

"I should've known you had an ulterior motive." Paul chuckled.

The rest of the evening was spent catching up on family events. Peter had wandered out on the deck in the back and was looking up at the stars. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked down at the face of his mother.

"What's the matter honey?"

"Nothing mom." Peter tried to sound convincing, but Annie could hear the worried tone in his voice. "Well, I'm nervous. I haven't seen Pop yet," Peter said, his head bowed as he looked down at his shoes. Annie's hand went to his chin and lifted it up. "Why not, Peter? Is it because this is your first Father's Day that you've spent together in 15 years?"

"Yeah, and I don't know if Pop even wants to celebrate it. It HAS been a long time since he's had a reason to think about Father's Day. Besides, I wasn't even sure what to get him," Peter stammered.

"Peter, your father loves you, he's anxious to see you. You know he's not interested in gifts. Go see him." Annie encouraged.

"He's probably busy, he-he won't even like the gift I got him"

"Peter! Your father wants to see YOU. I'm sure he'll love whatever you got for him."

"Mom."

"Peter.....GO!" she pushed him back into the house. He made his goodbyes to his family, and promised Paul they would be using the tackle box very soon and went to his car.

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Caine sat on his balcony. He had just finished making a flute and was trying it out. A sweet melody permeated the apartment. Caine remembered he had played this tune for Laura just after Peter was born. The joy of that time came back to him as he played the instrument.

He stopped playing the flute as he felt a sudden change, an energy in the air which brought a smile to his face. The familiar frantic energy that preceeded...."Pop, Pop ya here?" He cringed as his son preferred to call him Pop instead of father, a habit Caine wished he could break his son of doing. He took a deep breath, realizing he should be happy that he has his son back, to be able to hear his voice calling to him. He had greatly missed that so much during the 15 years of their separation. At times, during his wandering, it hurt him to come across a father and son spending time together. It was then he would realize he would never have that pleasure ever again, or so he thought.

He looked up at the face of his beloved child, now grown into a handsome man.

"Pop, um...." Peter hesitated.

"Yes, my son?" Caine had gotten up from his perch on the balcony and came closer to Peter.

Peter placed his hands on his father's shoulders, "Happy Father's Day, Dad." A smile came to Caine's face, they pulled each other into a fierce embrace.

"I've been waiting a long time to say that to you, Father," Peter whispered to him.

"And I have missed hearing you say it, my son."

Peter rested his forehead against his father's shoulder, then looked up into his father's eyes. "Here, I have something for you." Peter pulled an envelope out of his back pocket and handed it to his father. Caine took the envelope and carefully opened it. Inside were a pair of tickets to that evening's baseball game.

"I didn't know what to get you and we've never been to a game before, Pop. I think it's about time we went to one. I can't think of a better time then Father's Day. I know it's not much, I-I didn't know if you wanted to celebrate and..." Caine had put a hand to Peter's mouth to silence his anxious son. The hand moved to cup his cheek, his eyes were misty as he leaned forward and kissed Peter on the cheek.

"Thank you, my son, I would be honored to go to the game with you. It has been too long since I had a reason to celebrate Father's Day. My heart is filled with much joy that you are back in my life."

They went to the game, the Sloanville Cardinals versus the New York Yankees. The Cardinals won 6.4

"Pop, I can't believe we beat the Yankees," Peter said excitedly as he and his father left the ballpark in Peter's Stealth.

Peter took his father out for dinner. He was beaming from ear-to-ear, and couldn't remember feeling so happy in a long time.

"So, Pop, what did you think of the ballgame?"

"It was good," Caine replied.

"That's all you have to say?" Peter started to laugh.

"Peter?" Caine asked, puzzled.

"Sorry, Pop, I can't help thinking about the look on your face when everyone did the wave and you didn't know what to do!" He continued laughing.

Caine cleared his throat. "I have never seen this before, I had thought something was wrong." He said in a deadpanned voice.

"Yeah, well, I still can't believe how you caught that ball, it came right to you. What luck!"

Peter noticed his father had the ball with him and was looking at it. "Whatcha thinking about, Pop?"

"I was thinking of how fortunate I am to have my son in my life again, to be able to share such things as a baseball game together."

Peter put his hand on his father's shoulder. "Happy Father's Day. I love you, Pop."

"And I love you, my son." Caine's eyes showed clearly the love he held for his son. He would never forget this first Father's Day together.