Note: This story takes place after Requiem. Right after it. I wanted the end to be closed better so I wrote this little story to satisfy myself.

Please, email me at mmskalany@hotmail.com and let me know what you think of this story.

Faye

The Love of a Lifetime

by Faye

Mary Margaret Skalany rapped her fist loudly on Caine's apartment door. "Caine?" she called. The door was quickly opened for her but as Mary Margaret stepped inside she was surprised to find Peter there.

"Peter," she said in confusion. "Where's Caine? I need to see him. We need to talk. I-I need to see him."

Peter averted her eyes. "Mary Margaret, my father left."

Her insides turned to ice. "Left? Already? He didn't even stop by... he didn't... how could he leave just like that?" she questioned frantically. Her mind raced as she recalled the events of the previous evening. (flashback)

A gentle knock sounded on Mary Margaret's door. She was in her bath robe but when she saw Caine's face through the peephole, she opened the door with a smile.

"Caine," she greeted him, the friendly smile still plastered across her face. "Come on in. I wasn't expecting you with all that is going on and all. I thought you'd be with Peter...," her voice trailed off as her smile faded, and she was suddenly overcome with sadness about Peter's resignation from the police force. "Seems like you and Peter have a lot to discuss. Peter's career change, your... battle."

Caine looked a little upset and that worried Mary Margaret. Normally, Caine was the example of calm and no emotion. But tonight he was most certainly not that. It was clearly obvious by the strange expression he wore that evening that good news was not on the way. "Mary Margaret, I must speak with you," Caine began and his tone of voice immediately made Mary Margaret sink down onto her couch.

"What is it, Kwai Chang," she asked, scared of what the answer might be.

Caine took his hat in his hands and gazed at her. "You know of my wife, Laura, Peter's mother, do you not?"

"Yes, of course I do," Mary Margaret replied. "You told me she died when Peter was very young."

Caine swallowed hard. "Yes... or so I thought."

Mary Margaret didn't like where this was headed. "So you thought?" she repeated in disbelief.

He took a sharp breath. She could tell that what he was telling her was not easy for him. He reached into his pocket and withdrew a picture of a woman. "This has been in the Ancient's care for some time now. If I am correct, then this is Peter's mother and she is alive. This photograph was taken in France... I must travel there to find if she is alive."

Trembling hands took the picture from Caine's grasp. It was impossible for Mary Margaret to comprehend what she was hearing. She had spent so much time loving this man, trying to build a relationship with him and she couldn't bear to think that with one picture it could all be brought down. "And if you find her?" she whispered.

"I... do not know. But I must see if she is alive. She... meant so very much to me... she gave me a son."

Mary Margaret was crying now. She had wanted to give Caine a child, too. She loved this man. She was here for this man. Now she was going to lose him to a ghost? "Caine, you love her still, don't you?"

Caine stuttered uncharacteristically. "I... I... believe that I do. She has always been in my heart. She was... the love of my life."

The words he spoke cut deeply in her heart. "Have the last few years we've spent together meant nothing to you?!" Mary Margaret demanded, angrily.

He looked pained to see her so upset. "Mary Margaret, you have been dear to my heart... but I feel as though our relationship has become that of friendship. A very close friendship."

Mary Margaret fought the tears and wiped her eyes. "Then you go. Go find the love of you life. I can't believe you! You have been so much more to me than a friend! So much more...," she said.

A gentle hand caressed her face. "I know what you have thought of me. And there was a time when I believed that I could share the feeling with you. But now... I know that I cannot. I am... sorry."

She pulled away from his touch. She couldn't look into the face of the man who she loved and she did nothing as he walked away from her. It wasn't until she heard the door shut quietly behind him that she broke into tears and sobbed. (end flashback)

Peter was giving her a sympathetic look. He gently touched her shoulder in concern. His touch was surprisingly similar to that of his father's. "He went to France... to find my mother," Peter told her.

"I know... he told me that she might be alive. I just thought that-that... he would say goodbye to me... something," she confessed to Peter.

"What did he tell you?" Peter asked suddenly, curiously and cautiously.

Her eyes found her way into the young man's eyes. The eyes of a friend and an old co-worker. She had never noticed it before, but those hazel pools showed the same compassion and strength that his father's did. This kid was more like his father every day. Maybe he had been right to quit the police force.... She suddenly felt like she could tell Peter everything she was thinking and feeling.

"He told me that Laura was the love of his life. And that... the way he felt of me was friendship."

Peter searched for the words to tell her. Yes, he wanted his mother to be alive but he never considered what his father's and his mother's relationship would be if she was alive. But he knew suddenly that his father was destined to be not with his mother, but with the distraught woman in front of him. The knowledge came from deep within his soul and he was as sure of it as he was that the sun would rise again.

"Mary Margaret, when you first began to date my father, I admit, I was unsure of it. But you've been good for him. I know you love him. And I want you to trust me. Trust me when I say my father will one day realize the love he has for you."

Mary Margaret looked up with tears glistening in her eyes. "Don't you want your parents together?"

"I don't know. They've been apart so long. They've both changed. And if my mother is alive, I know Pop'll love her. But not like he used to. Their flame has died, Mary Margaret. But the flame between you and my father is new... and it will grow."

In Peter's eyes, Mary Margaret saw that what he said was true. The worries of losing Caine dissipated. She was amazed at the younger Caine's insight. "Now that you're a priest you suddenly know everything?" she quipped, sniffling.

Peter smiled at her. "Don't you have work or something to get to? Simms isn't big on tardiness," Peter said, changing the subject to lighten the mood.

Now Mary Margaret smiled. "Yeah, I suppose." She opened the door but before she left she turned to Peter. "What about you, Partner? What will you be doing all day?"

"Helping people. Doing what my father did," he said. "People still need help. And they all know that theys should, 'Come to Chinatown. Ask for Caine.'"

"'He will help you'," Mary Margaret finished the well know phrase for him before she left for work.

She wasn't sad or worried anymore. She knew in her heart that Caine would be back and that they'd have their chance for happiness together. And she knew that someday she wouldn't need to go all the way to Chinatown for help; all she'd have to do, was to go home. There'd be no waiting, no one else, just her and her love of a lifetime.

The End