Can We Chat II - Enter The Silly Zone

by Maria (with warped ideas from Deb, JG, Vicky, Maya, Faye and Emily)

Note: Part reality, part fantasy, part wishful thinking, all comedy in this brief visit to the twilight zone. All resemblance of real or fictive persons purely coincidental. Chat cited with permission of participants.

The CP BBS finally calmed down after all the commotion the last month. Everybody posted on like never before. The fantastic adventure did give everybody a lot to talk about. Jule and June was spamming the board with inside details about their new partners and JG was countering with equal numbers of obnoxious questions.

The chat room was as popular as ever, more people stopped by and Maria, Deb and JG welcomed everyone with happy laughter and hugs, even Mimi. She sneaked in when she was able to fight her way to the only PC in her new, very secure home. Tom had not been entirely truthful when he had said they only had IBM PCs there.

So when June reported Peter missing in action everybody was shocked but tried to keep the mood up.

<Maria>What’s going on here? I don’t understand?
<JG>I have no idea either. But he does have a dangerous reputation. He’s not like my Tom, he do have weird enemies
<Maria>True, but June said earlier he was on a routine assignment only.
<JG>Wait and see, he might show up again when he finished off whatever enemy he’s fighting now
<Maria>Ok, JG, will do but now I may never have the chance to meet him *sad face*
<Deb>Sure you will dear, calm down, he will be just fine.
*Deb gives Maria a reassuring smile

~~~

Peter sneaked into the cargo hangar of the city airport. "Shaolin stealth powers is real good for this sorta thing" the thought when he passed a guard with a huge watchdog inside. Inside his own mind he babbled to himself " I just gotta have that tape back…Wolf will never forgive me if I slip this up…He should never have done that tape of him and Debbie at his ski chalot in Vail…Why didn’t you keep it?…You should have known she might share it with her friends…what girl would not…thank God you found out about this crate she is sending to her Swedish friend before it left the country"

In the very last minute he discovered the crate. It was about to be loaded. He used a screwdriver to pry it open. It opened willingly and he swung the lid open. Eager to find the embarrassing tape he jumped up onto the filled crate. Not aware of his surroundings he dug deep into the plentiful tape-collection. As he opened tape-covers he wished the girl had labeled them better. Too late he noticed the moving machinery behind him which was loading the crates onto the plane. Struck in the back of the head by a rotating beam he was knocked into the crate unconscious. The machinery automatically sealed up the crate and loaded it aboard the plane. Left on the floor of the hangar was only two SS tapes and the screwdriver.

~~~

The next day Maria got a call from a friend of hers. "You got a large crate waiting for you in the cargo bay. Have no idea what’s in it but it’s heavy as hell, you better get a truck."

"That’s OK, I think I know what’s in it", Maria happily replied "Some friends of mine promised to send all the SS tapes they could find. Must have done one hellova job if they filled a crate."

Maria raced down to the rentalshop down the street. "Need the truck again!" she managed to pant, out of breath. "More zines, or is it tapes this time?" the manager joked. He knew what was up when Maria came running, as did the nearby postoffice.

With a speed that not only endangered herself and others but also threatened to blow the engine she was off to the airport. The half hour drive never seemed as long as when she was on her way to pick up fan-stuff.

Maria tried to get the remarkably heavy crate up the stairs but soon realized she could not get it up in one piece by herself. While she ran up the stairs to get her crowbar to open it she tried her neighbors to see if someone was home to help her. Benny and Charlotta was and the three together managed to get it up the three stairs to Maria’s apartment.

Inside the door she quickly opened the crate and got the shock of her life doing it. Inside was a still unconscious man among a bunch of crushed tapes. "MY TAPES!" she blurted out before she got to her senses and examined the unconscious man. As she turned him over and examined him closely for any sign of life she noticed that he was a striking resemblance of her favorite movie star Wolf Gannett. Baffled she looked again, or didn’t he look kind of like Peter Caine too?

With difficulty she got him out of the crate and over her shoulder. Her knees bulging she staggered towards the bedroom. Both falling over into the large waterbed she finally got him conscious again. He moaned and turned over while she entangled herself from his limbs and quickly rose from the bed.

Standing against the wall two yards from the bed she gazed at the strange man in her bed. As he woke up even more he also became aware of his surroundings and the strange girl watching him intently. While rubbing the back of his aching head he asked "Who are you? Where am I?" and then coughed loudly, his throat sore and dry.

For a short moment Maria could not speak at all. The man didn’t just look like Wolf Gannett, he sounded just like him too. That was not the softspoken voice of her favorite Peter at all. "You seemed to have ended up in my bedroom Mr. Gannett" was all she could say that moment.

Still disoriented Peter tried to sit up but everything just waved and rocked and he quickly laid down and closed his eyes again. He was not in good shape, maybe a concussion? What on earth was the girl talking about? Gannett? "I’m not.." he whispered as he once again slipped into unconsciousness.

Maria still in shock made her strange visitor comfortable under the sheets. Sitting beside him all evening, watching him toss and turn she wondered what lucky star had brought this man to her. The crushed tapes forgotten on the hallway floor she sat down by her computer to tell her chat friends what had happened. The machine didn’t even flicker when she turned it on. Completely dead. Maria quickly checked out all the cables and the power supply, nothing wrong there she tried again. Nothing. Eager to get online she quickly found her old 386 computer in the wardrobe. It started allright but the screen was not showing any picture. With a big sigh she gave up for the night. Bummer, why did the whole thing have to die this night.

Sitting by the side of her bed caring for the stranger she soon fell asleep by his side.

~~~

Peter woke early next morning, he was as confused about the whereabouts as the day before but the headache and the spinning of the world had stopped. He looked down at the girl now sleeping in his arms. He could smell jasmine from her curly dark hair and she had a pleased smile on her lips. Her arm was locked firmly across his chest. She was fully dressed so he guessed she had fallen asleep while watching over him. He gently shook her body to wake her up.

She looked as confused as he did when she abruptly disengaged herself from him.

"Who are you?" they both said at the same time, laughing.

"Peter Caine, Shaolin Cop, at your mercy"

"Oh my, you’re for real! "

"So? Why wouldn’t I be?"

Maria backed away from him much like she had done the night before. Getting out of his silly zone she managed to give him an answer. "I’m Maria, we met once in the PotterPals chat room, I think. You came looking for June and we all thought you were someone trying to fool us with a fake name, remember?"

"Vaguely", and just as he said it he remembered. "You’re that Swedish girl, the one getting all those tapes from Debbie in Colorado"

"Yup, that’s me. And now you showed up, practically on my doorstep, inside the crate with videotapes, what were you doing in there?"

"Hmm…" he looked embarrassed, "I was doing a favor for a friend. It seems your friend happened to put one too many tapes in there. A tape my friend never intended anyone but himself and Debbie to see."

Now Maria started to giggle and soon couldn’t help herself but start laughing out loud. Tears running down her cheeks as she bent over from the laughter. Peter just looked at her and then realized that she knew exactly what was on that tape. And then he too started to laugh at this very absurd situation. He had chased a tape to keep a secret that was already out, and he had gotten knocked out of his senses for days and ended up in a strange girls bedroom because of it.

For minutes they laughed together, unable to stop themselves.

Maria was the first of the two to put herself together again. "Come, I’ll make you some breakfast" she offered and gestured for him to follow her.

He felt guilty when he saw the crate and all the broken tapes on the hallway floor just inside the door. He made a mental note to try to help her fix them later. As for now breakfast sounded very tempting.

A cup of filter coffee strong enough to wake up a dead horse made him wide awake in notime. "Wow, this is great, where did you find this stuff?" he innocently queried when he had sipped some of the hot liquid.

Maria turned away from the sandwiches she was making, surprised. "Oh, down the supermarket, nothing special… Why? It’s just ordinary coffee. What do you want on your sandwich? I have shrimp-cheese, Kalles kaviar or ox-tongue?"

"Huh?"

"Hehe, I’ll make you one of each to taste"

When she sat down with him and handed him the plate to choose he finally realized what the strange coffee and the weird breadspread really meant.

"I’M IN SWEDEN!?!?" he almost shouted as he rose so fast that the chair tripped over and he spilled coffee all over himself.

"Sure you are Peter. You didn’t realize until now?" she almost started laughing again but somehow managed to keep a reasonably straight face.

"Oh, man, the Captain’s gonna be pissed at me this time"

"Don’t worry, I’ll do my best to help you get back", Maria offered the miserable looking man in front of her. "Sit down and have some more coffee and a sandwich, you need it".

He moved the chair back to the table and sat down with a big sigh knowing he could do nothing about his situation at the moment. The sandwiches went down easily in spite of the weird taste as he remembered how hungry he really was. Half a carafe of orange-juice followed the coffee down. Across the table Maria silently studied him as she absentminded chewed on her own sandwich.

"I have to go to work, I’m teaching a bunch of beginners this week, I can’t get out of that, I’m sorry. So until four thirty this afternoon you’re on your own, I’ll show you how to make international calls and give you the number of my travel agency and you can make the arrangements you need to get back home again."

"No problem, I’ll survive a few days in a foreign country", he smiled. "I was just surprised, its a very absurd situation I’m in, you have to admit that!"

"yeah, tell me about it", she smiled back as she moved past him to do her usual morning ritual, the silly zone was once again threatening to overcome her.

~~~

Alone in the strange apartment Peter used the shower for a long time to soften up his aching body. Wrapped in a bathrobe that actually fit him he went back into the bedroom to relax for another few hours. The shower made him all woozy again and he needed to lay down, just for a bit, that waterbed looked soo tempting.

He did more than a short nap, when he woke up the alarm clock on the bedstand showed high noon. He felt a lot better. He found a clean black T-shirt in a bedroom drawer and discarded his coffee stained white shirt into the hamper standing beside the drawers.

After talking to Simms and Kermit he didn’t feel as good though. Simms was pissed that he once again left without a word and Kermit reminded him of the fact that he was abroad and without a passport. That made it pretty difficult to get back again. No American consulate or embassy in town either. Being without papers would cause a lot of trouble he didn’t want. Kermit offered an easy solution, he would put Peter’s passport in an envelope and send it express over to Sweden. The only drawback was the four days it took for it to travel the ocean. "Oh well, guess I could use some vacation", he sighed as he disconnected the call.

The travel agent was happy to comply, and within ten minutes he was booked on a flight to Sloanville via Stockholm and New York. He was pretty amazed, the girl had taken his order and credit card number without a slightest hint of surprise that someone called and ordered in English and didn’t even ask for references. He didn’t know Maria had given him the VIP hotline number to the agency that her company used for business travel.

With the arrangements made he tried to relax and started clearing up the mess on the hallway floor. He put the tapes in two neat piles on the living room table. One of them with the cracked or unusable ones the other one with tapes in good condition. "I’ll fix that later, lets find something to eat", he said to himself as he entered the kitchen. He opened the fridge to find out what was available. He laughed as he looked into a mess of old jars, milk cartons, old leftovers and molded cheese. It was just as bad as his own fridge. The stuff she had offered this morning was just about what was fresh in there. He opened one of the plentiful bottles of Coke Light, no beer to be found whatsoever in there. He turned to try the cupboards and found only pasta, rice and different kinds of spices and flours in there. Sure he was hungry but pasta without sauce didn’t exactly appeal to him and it seemed they had finished off all the bread for breakfast.

He looked out the window, and then stepped out on the balcony. It was a wonderful winter day, sunshine, no wind and no snow at all. He wondered why Maria had left him such a strict instruction not to leave the apartment. "Don’t leave the apartment, Peter. Whatever you do don’t leave this place. Don’t go outside, promise me you don’t leave this apartment Peter". As he looked around the peaceful neighborhood street he wondered why. As a Shaolin he sensed her sincerity, but he didn’t understand why he needed to stay inside and she didn’t offer any explanation. He didn’t sense any danger at all here. "I can take care of myself, " he thought as he decided to go looking for a restaurant or café.

~~~

A small shopping square was located just around the corner from the car rental shop. Peter quickly located a pizzeria and a kebab place, he went for the Viking Pizzeria and on the way he passed a bank office. In the window he checked out the exchange rate for the dollar and then he punched out some kronor from the ATM machine next door.

He didn’t notice it at first but people turned to look at him and started whispering behind his back as he browsed the windows of the stores on the way towards the pizzeria. Nobody had the courage to walk up to him.

Next obstacle was the menu at the pizzeria, they had a listing of some fifty four different kinds of pizza. And ten different kinds of salads and pasta too, all in Swedish. He turned towards the man behind the counter. "I need an English menu? You got any?"

The man looked almost comic, he dropped his jaw in stunned surprise. Couldn’t get anything remotely understandable out of his stunned mind. Peter’s silly zone doing a good job on this man. All he could finally squeeze out was a short "No".

"Do you understand English?" Peter asked politely.

The man nodded, still not saying anything.

"I want a pizza with ham, cheese, tomato sauce and mushrooms. To go" he explained

"OK, fifteen minutes" the poor man managed to respond and quickly turned to make the pizza himself.

Peter sat down to wait, no other customers this hour of the afternoon. He looked out the window at the few people going about their business outside. A bunch of teenagers talking, some senior citizens buying fish from a mobile store in a trailer, a mom with large grocery bags trying to keep her children from running under the trailer as she walked towards the small parking lot at the other end of the square. A nice and quiet place he thought, very different from the busy streets of Chinatown at home. What was it that Maria was so concerned about? What could happen here?

He got his pizza and a small can of salad and started back towards the apartment. No matter that he didn’t see anything weird, he better get back as soon as possible anyway. As he passed the teenage girls they all stopped talking to glare at him. Checking if he had his fly open with his free hand he just smiled and continued walking past them. They looked almost as the pizza guy, completely stunned. Peter shook his head. " I must be imagining this, what’s wrong with these people?"

Peter didn’t notice they followed him. His cop mode didn’t kick in today, he was too far from home for that and this place made it easy to relax. Now all he wanted was to get home quickly to eat this wonderfully smelling pizza.

~~~

Maria had to make way through a crowd to get into the stairway up to the apartment when she returned from work a couple of hours later. "Hey, get out of my way! I live here, let me through!" she grouched and realized they were all looking up towards her apartment. She could easily guess what had happened.

"Peter, damn it. Why did you have to go outside!" she yelled at him as she pushed two teenage girls out of the way to be able to shut the door behind her. The silly zone all forgotten she stared him straight in the hazel eyes.

"Don’t be mad Maria. How was I supposed to know? I’m in a foreign country, everything looked really quiet and I could sense no danger what so ever"

"Cause I begged you not to leave. And you agreed willingly not to. You should have sensed that I was serious about it".

"I did. But…"

"Okay, Peter", she interrupted him "Done is done. Now we have to face the consequences of your actions." She broke the connection and started taking off her coat and gloves, keeping him in the dark another few minutes even though she knew he was dying to know what had happened and why he was now under siege.

"I don’t get it Maria, why are all these people gathering down there? Why didn’t you want me to go out?"

Maria turned to face him once again and offered two words "Wolf Gannett".

"Oh", was all he could say as he finally got it.

"Oh, Yeah!" Maria confirmed.

"They think I’m Wolf Gannett too, just like you did last night?"

Maria laughed as she moved into the kitchen with her grocery bag. "You obviously don’t know, Wolf is a really BIG Star over here. Just about everyone knows who he is, his last movie premiered here last month, a lot of media attention lately. He’s been a huge star for years. And you already know you look just like him. Peter Caine is not that well known though, some fanatics like me know you did some stunt work for him but that is all. The story of your life went rather unnoticed since it aired before Wolf had his breakthrough here. If I hadn’t been hooked on the life of yours already and an Internet junkie I would never have known you or found out about your other twins Tom, Frank, Dan or Chris either."

"What story of my life? And what other twins?"

"Oh, you don’t know do you?" Maria mused as she stuffed her fresh groceries in between the old ones in the fridge. "This is gonna be fun! Come lets watch some videos".

With the questions buzzing in his mind he followed her obediently into the living room.

"Did you know what was on the other tapes I got from Debbie?" Maria asked as she browsed the pile of undamaged tapes.

"Not really, it says SS or Silk Stalkings on most of them I think. Never heard of it. But then again I rarely watch TV these days", Peter replied as he dropped down on one of the couches.

"Well then, this is gonna freak you out. Let me introduce Tom Ryan, he’s a cop like you but down in Palm Beach" she said as she popped one of the tapes into the VCR and turned the TV on. Just as eager as Peter to see what was on the tape she sat down on the other couch, lacking the courage to sit down beside him, the silly zone once again noticeable now that she had calmed down a bit again.

For a long while the expression on the face of Peter looked like those he had met outside earlier. Shocked and speechless. Maria on the other hand just looked thrilled and excited. She had been waiting to see this for so long. Her friends had told her so much about it she already knew the characters and the story she now watched. It was everything she had expected and more, not even the crowd outside the door or Peter Caine’s questions could distract her as she enjoyed the show. The silly grin on her face said it all.

Then she decided to shock him even more. "You said you were a Shaolin Cop, right?"

"Yeah", he answered a bit hesitant, wondering what she was cooking up now.

"You’re not considering becoming a priest any time soon?

"No, I’m not. I like my life the way it is now"

"Then you will be surprised to know it is in your future to be. And I have all the details on this very tape"

And she really had. If Peter had been shocked by the appearance of Tom he gasped for air as he watched himself and his close friends on the TV screen. "This can’t be, this can’t be…" he mumbled to himself over and over.

He remained silent long after the tape had ended and Maria had left him to make dinner in the kitchen. And then he rewound and watched the last part once again. Saw himself accepting the brands, helping his father and leaving the precinct. He ran his hand through his hair, feeling out of focus, unbalanced and very very vulnerable. He had been through some pretty unbelievable adventures with his father but this one beat them all in weirdness. It was as if he had been not only transported to another part of the world, but to a completely different one where he was only a character in a TV-show.

And the girl he now depended on to help him, who was she really?

Trying to get a grip and regain his lost balance he turned the TV off and started to meditate.

Maria put the lasagna into the oven and returned only to find Peter long gone into himself. Not wanting to disturb him she quietly slipped back out to the kitchen. Just for a moment trying to forget the crowd outside and the guy in her livingroom, she started doing the three days old dishes, needing something familiar and safe to do. Needing a break from the strain of this long day and the very unlikely events. She didn’t really succeed, cause the crowd outside once again started chanting. "We Want Wolf We Want Wolf We Want Wolf We Want Wolf."

She was painfully aware that if the guy in her livingroom had shown up anywhere else in her town she would have been one of them. The full force of the silly zone hitting her in the guts she almost fainted right there.

"What are we gonna do?" she whimpered aloud to nobody but herself.

~~~

Peter came out of meditation with a renewed sense of calm and focus. A very temporary state of mind. It shattered when he realized what the loud noise really was. He got up from the couch and moved over to the window to observe the screaming crowd he knew was down there. It was dark outside and they could easily see him through the lit window, the roar rose to new heights. "This is too weird, I had no idea Wolf was this famous".

"Believe it Peter," Maria replied as she joined him by the window. "They all want to meet you or at least get a glimpse of you through a window. And they will do anything, and I mean anything to get it. I’m so sorry, I should have explained the nature of the danger this morning".

"No need to apologize, Maria. I should have kept my word and trusted you", Peter hugged her with one arm around her shoulders. "Now put those fanatics out of your mind and explain to me how I can watch myself on TV."

Maria laughed shortly as she turned towards him. "Easier said than done Peter, I’m one of them. A fanatic".

"Nah, you can’t be, you haven’t assaulted me yet, or even made me feel the least uncomfortable like they do".

"I’m worse", she said being cryptic with a purpose as she freed herself from his arm and sat down on the couch. Not able to look at him she continued. "Three months ago I was part of the prayer that made you real".

"What?"

"It was a prayer. A Christian prayer. We did it together, all the people from the chat and the CP BBS, all at once. Emily, a very devoted Christian and CP addict came up with the idea". She finally looked up again and Peter still looked just as puzzled when she started explaining.

"CP? What did you pray for?" he urged her to continue.

"CP is short for Chris Potter, he’s the actor in the shows you just saw on video. You see, it’s not really you in there, it’s him acting. He’s a really good actor, he made you all so real", Maria’s passion for this guy showing through her mask of calm. "But we wanted more, we soon started writing stories, making up new adventures, trying to get inside your head, trying to know you better. We never wanted it to end. That’s when Emily said we should pray to our God that he made you all come to life. And we did".

Peter looked at her, stunned. Knowing she told him what she believed to be the truth. Not knowing if he wanted to believe it to be the truth himself. He never believed in the Christian God.

"We prayed. And for a while we didn’t know if it had done any good. But there were traces all over. A new city called Sloanville started to pop up in the news, a promo for a new movie with a very familiar star seen in the entertainment magazines, a chance sighting in the street. And then the kidnapping case put it beyond questionable doubt that our prayer had been answered in quadruple. Not only the characters of Chris Potter but all of the people and places from the shows were now real". Maria stopped to let Peter digest the information given and to get the lasagna out of the oven.

"A prayer", he said, tasting the sound of the word. It was something he never done himself for serious. Sure, he knew about Christianity, his foster family were sincere in their belief but they had never forced it on him. While living with them he had gone from honest curiosity to the realization that he didn’t believe in it, that it was not his faith. He was Shaolin, almost a priest. A Shaolin confronted with the fact that a Christian prayer created his very life. "Accept this, accept what you cannot change" he told himself.

Maria served the silent Shaolin a big piece of lasagna and they ate in silence, both needing to come to terms with the situation.

~~~

Peter slowly woke to the sound of a flute, his father’s flute he soon realized. He almost jumped out of the bed to find out the origin of that tranquil tune. Disappointment tugged at his heart as he realized it was coming from the stereo in the living room. But the sight of Maria in the middle of a Tai Chi form restored the good mood the flute had inspired. He stood silent, watching her flowing motions for a moment and then joined in as she turned and smiled as she met his eyes.

"Good morning, sleepyhead". She greeted as she finished her form and reached to turn the music off. "Feeling any better today?"

"Yea", he sounded surprised. "I think I do."

She laughed lightly. "Me too. I think I’m actually beginning to get over the initial chock of having you here."

"What about them?" he nodded towards the window. "are they still out there?"

"Oh Yeah, as Kermit would say", she confirmed. "And there’s more of them too along with a camera team and some paparazzi with telescopes on the roof across the street. That’s why I closed the blinds".

He shook his head in disbelief. "We need to get out of here. This is getting too disturbing for both us and your neighbors."

"I know, lets see if we can come up with a plan. Want some breakfast while we try to come up with one?"

"Sure".

This time Peter ate alone, Maria only sipped some coffee, looking at he clock on the kitchen wall he realized why, it was already high noon. "Don’t you have to go to work today?" he asked.

"I have lots of vacation days, what better time to use them. And I don’t have any more classes to teach this week either".

"What is it that you do? I don’t think I quite got that".

"Heh, guess I never told you properly, did I. I’m fixing uncooperative computers and pet the owners with information."

"Huh?"

Maria smiled and offered the more traditional explanation. "I’m a computer technician with some occasional classes, teaching beginners how to user their computers and the software.".

Now Peter smiled too. "Oh, that’s what you do, no wonder you got so much computer stuff at home."

"We need a plan, Peter. We can’t stay here much longer".

"I know".

"I was thinking we could get some help from the real Wolf. You know him, don’t you?"

"Yeah, I do. It was his fault I’m here in the first place. Getting that tape of his out of the crate. It would be only fair if he did something to help me out here".

Maria, now completely out of the silly zone, started explaining what she had in mind.

~~~

"Wolf, no, you do not have to come over here yourself, you only need to send the jet over to get me", Peter was getting upset now. The Wolf not only wanted to help out, he wanted to help out in person. "I know I’m a lousy actor Wolf, but I can be you, done it successfully before, remember. And its not like I’m gonna do a movie or something, I’m gonna rush past the crowd, maybe do a couple of howls and some autographs. I can pull this off".

"Peter, listen to me. They are not going to accept just that, you will have to do interviews and other appearances once they know you are there. And if you don’t you are damaging my reputation and that I will not accept, GET IT!", the Wolf now getting equally worked up.

Maria on the extension had to hold the receiver away from her ear. Hit by yet another powerful silly zone she had trouble cutting in. "Please, gentlemen" she finally said. "Behave yourselves. Peter, with your Shaolin training, can’t you tap into the essence of Wolf and use that to be more like him? And Wolf, if Peter can do that, you don’t need to get over here. You can tell Peter what he needs to know over the phone, we got a cellular available. What do you guys say?"

A moment of silence.

And then both of them at the same time "Okay, Maria!"

"I think I can do it, give me a couple of hours and I’ll be able to tell you", Peter explained.

"I’ll get the jet ready and help Maria out with the arrangements while you do that Peter", the Wolf offered, now a bit less reluctant to let Peter loose on his Swedish fans.

"Great, lets get to it", Maria cheered happily.

Peter left the two of them on the line to start the process of connecting to another person’s chi. He went into the bedroom and lay comfortable on the bed. Some deep, regular breaths and he was in meditation. His father was easy to reach.

"~Pop, I need your help~"

"~Son, where are you? I was worried about you for a while. I could sense you were in distress. And now, you are far away~"

"~I’m in trouble, Pop, as usual. I could use some help. I need to become Wolf Gannett for a couple of days. I need to reach his essence and tap into it.~"

"~Ahh, the actor. Yes, my son I will help. Come let me show you what I did when I pretended to be that gambler…~" Caine showed Peter how to go about it and helped him make it happen, the strength of a Shambhala master very much needed. Then he left his son with some of this extra strength left for support.

~~~

When Peter came out into the living room there was something distinctly different about him. The soft and smooth walk of the Shaolin was gone, replaced by the sexy walk of the cocky Wolf. "Get that phone over here", he said with the harsh voice of the Wolf as he reached and pulled the receiver from the hand of a very surprised Maria. The gentleness of Peter completely gone, replaced by the self-confident rudeness of the Wolf.

"No worries, man. I got the hang of it now. Talk to ya later, man", and then he disconnected before his friend had the opportunity to say a thing.

"Wow, Peter! This is almost unreal! That’s the Wolf!" Maria just stared at him.

"Yep, that’s me girl! You wanted Wolf, the Wolf you got!" he winked at her and did his trademark growl.

And for a moment they both laughed, he let the mask slip for a moment. "Forget Peter for a while Maria, I need to keep this up all the time not to loose the link. It takes a lot to open it, not as much to keep it open. Okay?"

"Okay Peter, lets do the Wolf thing from now on", Maria smiled. "And one more thing, Wolf, the real Wolf talked me into to being his Swedish girlfriend. So we both got our parts to play".

Two hours later when Maria served lunch, or in her case early dinner, both of them were different. Wolf had spent time in front of the bathroom mirror fixing his hair and Maria had found her very sexiest dress and done some fixing in the bathroom too. It was a difficult task, trying to make her look like one of the bimbos Wolf usually was seen with.

"Man, this is hard, Maria", Wolf grouched as he wanted to touch and hold the woman in front of him. "The Wolf is sending me images of what he would do. And it’s not what I would do"

"No need to fight it Wolfie", Maria said practically. "Be the Wolf, no need to sensor him for me, Peter. I can take it".

"Okay", he said as he surrendered and gave in to the driving urge.

Maria only hesitated for a short moment, soon giving in to his every desire. The food all forgotten.

~~~

It was getting dark when the couple finally left the apartment. They had to push people aside all the way down the stairs to even get one step downward. Maria tried to be her usual nice self, asking people to step aside. Wolf had considerably more experience in these kind of situations and he just shoved them aside. But he did it with a smile and a joking growl. And that made the whole difference, the fans knew instantly that he would take no fuss from them, he was going down the stairs, and there was nothing they could do to stop him. But they sure tried.

Outside the two camera crews quickly moved up close to them, getting their every hope of just sneaking past crushed. The cameras cruelly and ruthlessly showed their torn clothes and Maria’s now smeared makeup and tousled hair.

"Mr. Gannett, why are you here? How long are you staying? Will you do an interview while you are in town? Who’s the girl?", the questions from the journalists and reporters hailed over them in rapid stream, not letting him get a word out himself.

Still Wolf had an air of confidence about him and he hushed them with a loud Wolf growl, "I’m here on private business", he squeezed Maria a little closer. "I will consider written interview requests at my hotel", and he raised his voice even more "And now please let us through!" the last words spoken as he once again made way through the people blocking his way.

The ten steps to the waiting rental car was a nightmare, people tearing their clothes even harder, trying to grab her hair, voices shouting, begging and demanding their attention. Both of them dove into the back seat of the black Volvo 740, the door impossible to shut behind them had to stay open as the car started to slowly move through the crowd. As they caught more speed the people trying to hang on to the door had to let go and Wolf could finally close it.

"Whew, whatta nightmare", Maria sighed as they turned out on the bigger street and caught speed.

"Where do you want me to drop ya, sis?" the driver smiled as he did a sharp turn onto the freeway access ramp.

"Henke! What are you doing here?" Maria only now looked at the driver, it was not the one she expected. "Ante from the rental shop was supposed to pick us up"

"Yea, right, like I’m gonna let my own sis get away with the hero without me helping out. Ante’s an old friend of mine, remember. Its not only Vicky that got connections in the rental business." He laughed as he started driving towards downtown Göteborg.

"Sorry, bro’ guess I did forget that in all this excitement. I should have called, but you don’t have a car and that’s what we were in desperate need of. Mom’s and Pop’s car is too small, this just didn’t occur to me."

"You’re excused sis, I would be stirred and blocked in your situation too, at best, if I got my favorite movie star right in my lap", he shook his head. "No offense Mr. Gannett but I’m just not a fan like my sis here is. I’ve seen what you’ve done but Its not really in my liking. I was more into that look-alike of yours, Chris Potter, he did a mean job on Kung Fu."

Now Wolf could not hold himself back any longer, and that last remark completely set him off in an almost hysterical laughter. Maria too started laughing. Henke didn’t understand anything.

"What?" he demanded

"This…hehehe…is… hehehe…Peter…hehehe…Caine", Maria managed to squeeze in between laughs.

"No kiddin’?"

"Its true!" Peter cut in when he managed to get his breath back. "But I’m pretending to be Wolf cause everybody thinks I’m him anyway."

"And you’re doing a good job, I would never have guessed. I will have to take your word for it cause I can still not see it. And that says a lot, I know you remember".

"He did some Shaolin thing and before I knew it Peter was gone and the Wolf appeared", Maria explained.

"heh, okay, and now, where are we going?"

"To my hotel ofcourse", the Wolf cut in. "To Park Avenue Hotel, and make sure we’re not followed!"

"Yessir, right away sir" Henke joked as he continued driving just as slowly and calmly as he had been doing all the way.

It didn’t take long for the cop in Peter to penetrate the Wolf cover, "Why are you driving this slow?"

Henke just smiled patiently, "Wolf, in a car like this in Sweden, the best way is to blend in and disappear in the traffic, there’s a hundred thousand cars just like this one in this town alone", he explained. "Nobody on that street had a car ready to follow us so we’re not tailed yet".

"That’s a relief", Wolf sighed and relaxed a bit, laying his arm around Maria’s shoulders.

~~~

Too many of the fans and reporters had already figured out which hotel they were going to, and were now trying to block their way in there. But this time they were not alone in their struggle. The hotel security guards helped them get past the crowd with relative ease.

The manager of the hotel eagerly approached them when they entered the blissfully quiet and fan-free lobby. "The suite is ready, sir. Anything else you need at this time, sir?" he groveled.

"Are the computer set up?", Maria immediately queried, not wanting to be locked out one more minute from her friends. The computer was more important than anything else at that moment. And the fact that they even had a laptop for special guests made her almost jump with excitement while she made the reservation of the suite.

"Yes, and instructions are by the machine too, but I will personally help you if you would prefer that, Miss"

"Good, we are also in need of assistance in the clothing department, mine and Mr. Gannett’s clothes are currently unavailable and we need something right away as you can see".

"That is not in our regular service, but I’ll se what I can do Miss", the man bowed as he personally proceeded to show them to the suite.

Giving people orders like this was nothing Maria used to do exactly, but the very comforting arm around her waist gave her the confidence she desperately needed. It also made her give the orders in English without a single error and in a very American accent. She was amazed and very puzzled, she had done it without thinking. It was as if she suddenly had entered the world she was usually living online. That world was very much American and she spent hours there every day. It was like that time when she had done the opposite and spoke Swedish to Debbie without realizing it and Debbie had to point it out before Maria got it and stopped.

Peter was very content that Maria took charge over the practical stuff, this was not anything the Wolf would handle anyway, and she seemed to know what she was doing. But he didn’t really understand why she spoke to the man in English, but he supported her anyway, keeping his arm around her waist at all times, sharing his own confidence with her.

A poster in the elevator reminded Maria of something she had all but forgotten in the excitement of having Peter Caine appearing in her life. Two of her best friends at work were entering a Rock contest in the night club of this very hotel. And it was this evening. "Could you arrange a table and dinner for us at this event this evening?", she asked the manager while looking at the poster. "Looks like a fun event"

"But ofcourse, Miss. I am sure they will be very honored to have you attending. I will make the arrangements".

"Thanks!" Maria answered as she inwardly wondered how she was going to explain this to her friends. Many of the people in the club tonight knew her. But what the hell, it would be fun no matter what, and she’d wanted to see and hear Tobbe sing for a long time. She had absolutely no idea what to expect.

The suite was on the top floor, with a wonderful view over the city and the river, thousands of lights all around. "Wow, whatta view!" Maria commented almost breathless. "I had no idea they had a view like this up here".

"Yeah, its a beautiful city, the small part of it I’ve been able to see so far at least", the Wolf agreed as he joined her by the panorama window in the large living room part of the two bedroom suite. He put his arms around her again and just held her for a while, content with just being near this strange woman.

~~~

Two hours later both of them had new clothes and a makeover courtesy of NK the Tiffany’s of Sweden. Maria enjoyed every moment of it. She had never before in her life allowed herself to be pampered like that. Wolf was used to it, and he was his usual obnoxious self all the time. His powerful silly zone giving them the giggles through the whole experience.

Behind the back of Maria he discussed the arrangements for the evening with the speaker and the main producer of the contest. He almost giggled himself when he went back to see if she was done. She was going to enjoy this. They were not only going down there to see it, he was going to be in the jury as an honorary member and later, before the winners were to be announced he was going to do a number with some of the band members. The fact that this was not a real contest but a thing the involved companies did for some fun and entertainment had made his mind up to add to the fun a bit. And it would be a good opportunity to get some of the reporters out of his face by giving them something to write about.

Maria looked at herself in the bedroom mirror and realized the NK-ladies had done exactly what she had asked of them. She had wanted to look different and outrageous. And she did. It wasn’t her own plain reflection she saw, it was the reflection of a real babe. The hair was straightened out and sprayed huge, her eyes heavily accented with black mascara and the lips were blood red, and made a lot bigger with lipliner. She had a fake ring in her nose and three rings attached to her right eyebrow. It matched the tight leather outfit and red shoes perfectly.

"Wow", was all Wolf could say when he saw her turn to face him.

"Agree!" Maria smiled back "Whatta difference, huh?"

"You’re as beautiful as ever Maria. But yea, whatta difference!" He shook his head not really thinking it was possible to do a makeover like that. But then he saw his own leather clad figure in the mirror beside her and for a brief moment he realized he didn’t look like he used to either.

Maria took a deep breath to calm her nervous stomach and said: "Lets do this!"

"C’mon sweetie", Wolf commanded as he put his arm around her waist and lead her out on another adventure.

No matter what would happen that night, Maria was sure, beyond every doubt, that this egocentric and obnoxious actor would really take good care of her. And she loved an adventure just as much as he did.

~~~

They were quite late, and the first band was soon to be introduced and most people had already arrived when Maria and Wolf stepped into the lobby of the club from the smaller hotel entrance. They were both given two bright yellow backstage passes as they greeted Joakim Geigert, the speaker. The few people still arriving were not the kind to throw themselves at a star, they just made some appreciative remarks and then they were on their way into the club to cheer for their friends and colleagues.

"As I said before, Mr. Gannett this audience will not be the kind to make real trouble. Sure they will cheer and have fun, but most of them are ordinary working people here to see their friends perform. You will like this".

Maria, still quiet beside her dominating companion, was enjoying herself immensely but felt she now needed to make her voice known. "I’m sure we will, Jocke!" she answered in Swedish. She wanted to make sure from the start she was not just another American bimbo living in the shadow of Wolf. "We’re here for that reason too, I have friends in the Digital team".

Geigert made big eyes. "What a pleasant surprise!" was all he could say.

Maria smiled, she really really liked to surprise people. And it was not often she got a chance like this.

The Wolf smiled too, he didn’t know what she said to the man but he liked the reaction.

The place was crowded but not packed, they could make their way over the dance floor without too much trouble to reach the table at the other end of the room. The party at the judges table was already in full swing. Beer, drinks, shots and all kinds of snacks were all over the table and were constantly added to by the friends of the competitors. Wolf and Maria soon found out that bribing the judges was very much allowed.

Without any real food the drinks hit both of them hard and fast. The Wolf was not as careful with the beer and shots as Peter usually was. And Maria was not the one to say no to free drinks. Especially not when she didn’t have to get up early to work the day after. Both of them found themselves in a very relaxed and playful mood.

When Maria’s friends entered stage as third she jumped up and down in excitement just as the others from her job did. In an instant she was no longer sitting by Wolf’s side, she was down in front of the stage, cheering her lungs out, clapping hands and singing along just like all the others when Tobbe started a mean rock tune. "Would I lie to you", she sang and laughed at the irony at the same time. And then she lost herself in the music, having a rockin’ experience.

When it suddenly was all over she found herself by the side of Berit. Looking into her surprised eyes she gave her an enthusiastic hug.

"Maria?! Man, you look different!" she almost shouted in Swedish over the recorded music from the speakers.

Maria posed in front of her friend and laughed. "Fun, huh?", she teased.

"I would not have recognized you at all if we weren’t this close", Berit confessed and then she realized where she had seen this girl before. "Maria, you’re here with him?!" she pointed towards Wolf.

Maria nodded enthusiastically and smiled even more.

"So that was the surprise visitor you had to take care of the rest of the week. Wow, you should have told us."

"Yea, sorry about that". Maria looked sorry for a moment then shrugged it off. "Wanna meet the guy?" she asked as she held her friend around the shoulders turning her towards her date, leading her that way.

"Sure", Berit agreed.

As they came closer Berit became aware of a strange influence. And as she was introduced to Wolf Gannett and looked into those hazel eyes she lost every word she knew in the English language. "Hi!" she managed to get out of her uncooperative brain. And then after an embarrassing moment of silence and a hug from Wolf "I am Berit, a friend of Maria’s".

"I know".

Maria laughed, knowing exactly what had happened to her friend. She knew all about silly zones. Only way to get over the effect was to spend enough time under the influence of one.

Now the rest of the gang came round to see what Berit was up to and that saved Berit from further suffering in the silly zone. Once again Maria introduced her friends and Wolf got the opportunity to tell Tobbe he really liked his voice. "You got my vote, that’s for sure", he smiled at the very surprised Tobbe.

"What are you doing here with Maria?" Tobbe asked without being affected with the slightest touch of the silly zone.

"Oh, We met through a friend of ours, and it was love at first sight", Wolf confessed readily.

"Really?", Tobbe had a hard time believing it.

"Oh yeah", Wolf nodded just as his attention was drawn towards the scene again as the next competitors were introduced. He had to at least appear to be interested in this he thought.

Maria’s friends didn’t want to impose so they went to sit at an empty table further down the aisle. Maria was about to follow them over there to continue talking when the Wolf grabbed her and dragged her down on his lap. "Tonight you’re all mine, my lady", he teased as he kissed her.

Friends and surroundings all forgotten she kissed him back. And then they playfully scored the next performing band together, accepting drinks, trinkets and playful bribes as they kept having a great time.

And then the six bands had done their best to win and it was time for the jury to do their job. "Come, lets go back stage!" Joakim Geigert waved as he lead them behind the curtains.

Maria wasn’t really in the panel, but nobody objected as she came along with Wolf. He kept her close with his arm wrapped around her at all times. Nobody questioned his authority, he had an air of confidence around him even though he started to get visibly drunk. And he was too much fun to be with even then. Even though the rest of the jury was quite well known in Sweden they were not in Wolf’s league, at first they too had been affected by the silly zone.

What Wolf said would probably have a lot of pull. But he never needed to use it. Everybody was very much in favor of the Dig-It-All team. The forty five minutes they had to agree on a winner and come up with some fun awards was not needed. In twenty they were done and Joakim could go ahead and announce the surprise of the night. The all star band with Wolf Gannett.

The best musicians from the different competing bands were called up on stage for what everybody thought was a complete surprise. But it wasn’t, earlier they had all been asked and they had even rehearsed once. But without knowing who was going to do the vocals, they had their suspicions when they got the tune of course, but not until they saw Wolf in the jury they knew for sure.

The audience almost lifted the roof with their cheer when they heard the first couple of guitar rifts, they knew exactly what was coming up even before Wolf appeared on the scene, doing those short playful yells in the beginning of his by then very well known hit Shakin’. He was a master on stage, giving the audience everything he got. Maria enjoying it more than anything, watching from behind the curtains by the side of the stage.

By the middle guitar rift he was suddenly over by her and dragged her onto the stage. Singing with all his heart to only her. She was stunned as she realized the silly zone hit her once again, harder than ever. He finished the song off by kissing her right there on the stage, with the flashes of the photographers having a field day.

And suddenly it was all over, most of the audience was dropping off as well as most of the performers. It was only Thursday, most of them had to work the next day. Maria found herself with Wolf and a bunch of party people at the backstage bar, drinking yet another pretty looking drink. None of her friends left but she didn’t want to sleep just yet. And she didn’t have to. Wolf was just as wide awake and ready to do some serious partying.

And they stayed until they were all alone, dancing to the silent music of their minds.

~~~

"Four AM, time to chat", Maria slurred and steered her drunken body towards the computer on the desk. She didn’t even notice that Wolf headed for the bed, all she could think about was meeting her friends. As Maria babbled on while connecting he fell asleep on top of the covers, fully dressed.

<JG>Maria!!!
<Maria>Hi JG!
<JG>Wow, you’re here, and at the late date!
<Maria>Are you all alone? Aren’t there usually more people here this time?
<JG>It’s been slow the last days, I’m getting worried. We need to do something to boost interest!
<Maria>You’re not gonna believe this!
<JG>What?
<Maria>Peter Caine is HERE! Here as in MY BED!
<JG>Hehe, yeah right
<Maria>Its TRUE! And its not any cheap clone I make up this time either.
<JG>You’re serious?
<Maria>heh, I just knew my joking attitude would turn on me one of these days ;o)
<JG>He’s really there?
<Maria>Oh Yeah
<JG>oh man, and Deb is not here to hear this
<Maria>Where is she? I thought she’d be here jumping in excitement. I emailed her earlier to tell what happened. My home computer died on me and I haven’t had the opportunity to talk to any of you until this afternoon.
<JG>I have no Idea, she wasn’t here this afternoon either.

Maria was puzzled but didn’t pursue it further, she was too far gone into the mists of alcohol to do that, it had been a great party. She stayed and talked for another hour by sheer will power. Then she ended up sleeping on the sofa with the laptop still on her lap and JG calling out to her on the unseen screen.

~~~

Maria woke late the next morning when roomservice discretely knocked on the door. Hung over and a bit confused she opened the door to let them in with the huge load of breakfast.

Instantly hungry she opened the lids to see what delicacies hid under them. She found bacon, scrambled eggs, sausages and meatballs. "yum", she purred as she put a piece of bacon in her mouth and spooned over some eggs on a plate. The hangover making her extra hungry, just as it used to. With a sausage half eaten on a fork she went towards Peter’s bedroom.

He was not there, the bed was crumbled but he was nowhere to be seen.

"Wolf? Are you in there?" Maria queried as she knocked softly on the bathroom door. She didn’t get any response. She knocked again. "Peter? Are you feeling sick? Can I come in?"

No response.

Now she got a bit worried and entered anyway. What she found tug at her heart. Sitting against the wall with his arms tightly wrapped around his legs and his head resting against his knees was a silent Peter.

"Peter?" she sat down beside him.

"I’m so scared", he said after a long while as he raised his head to look at her. "I’ve lost myself. He took me over, completely", his whole body shivered as he said it out aloud for the first time.

Maria moved closer, held him. Trying to comfort the wreck of a man beside her. "What happened?" she asked when he seemed to have settled a little.

"I looked at myself in the mirror, and saw nothing but the Wolf"

"Yeah, and?"

"And it was no longer the face of Peter Caine pretending to be Wolf Gannett that I saw. I don’t know when it happened but sometime last night I stopped being me and turned completely into him. At that moment looking at myself I knew what had happened. Pop never told me I would actually come to believe in the illusion myself", he took a long shivering breath before he continued. "And I can’t break it off"

"I don’t get it? You seem very much like Peter now?"

"I’m trying to fight it"

"I told you once before, Peter, don’t fight it. Be the Wolf for now. The jet will be here later today and then when you get back home your father will help you out of it, just as he helped you into it. If you can’t contact him as Wolf you can go to him in person".

Peter looked at her, amazed. The voice of reason soothing him with its easy solution. "You’re right Maria I don’t need to fight this alone. Thank you!" the life and the smile returned to his voice and the friendly comforting hug turned into something completely different.

~~~

"Fasten your seatbelts, we are about to land on Landvetter airport", the Captain of the small private jet instructed his two passengers. "Local time is 12.30 PM and its snowing heavily. I expect us to be on the ground in another five minutes".

"Great", mumbled the female passenger as she buckled up, "thought I would get away from that damn snow for a couple of days. No snow here at all this winter and when I come it pours, typical"

"Calm down, Debbie. We’re not here to pick flowers you know. I promise, you don’t even have to take one step outside if you don’t want to. You’re with the Wolf you know".

She laughed. "Just kidding Wolfie, dear. I’m not complaining, its just so typical, the snow follows me around. It was even snowing in LA when I arrived with the jet. And we had to circle for two hours before we could land in Sloanville to pick up Peter’s passport from Kermit, remember"

Wolf laughed too and then they were finally on the ground.

~~~

When they stepped out of the plane in the rented private hangar at the very end of the runway the authorities were already waiting to check their passports. Wolf, dressed in blue jeans and a sportsjacket, handed over Peter’s passport to be checked. He couldn’t very well be at two places at once and thought he would get in easier and more unnoticed if he pretended to be Peter.

"What are you trying to pull?" one of them asked suspiciously, looking from the passport to Wolf’s face several times. "We know who you are, this jet is famous around the world, no other plane is painted out to look like a grinning wolf. You are Wolf Gannett! Why are you pretending that you are not?" He smacked the passport shut and ordered the other officer to cuff Wolf.

"But, I’m not", he protested mildly, not knowing how Peter would react. For an actor Wolf was not much of an observer of other’s. He honestly didn’t know what to do about this without blowing his cover completely and start acting like himself.

Debbie were pretty much ignored once her identity had been checked. "Hey, what are you doing?" she almost shouted as they lead him away.

"Trying to get into the country with a fake passport is a serious offense", the mean looking customs officer replied as they left the place through one of the side doors.

Debbie hurried after them outside into the now light snowfall.

"But...This is really Peter Caine", she objected. "He’s Wolf Gannett’s stunt double and stand-in, they look alike, that’s all, and we’re here to pick up Mr. Gannett. He’s already in the country!"

"Sure he is!" the officer said with an ironic tone that revealed without a doubt he didn’t believe her at all.

"I’ll prove it to you! Let me come along and I’ll clear this up in notime"

"You got to believe me, I’m not Wolf Gannett. If my passport is not enough to prove it, what is?"

"We will check this at the precinct downtown. Until then, shut up and get in the car. Both of you".

The slow journey into the central parts of Göteborg was a nightmare for both of them. Wolf wishing he had done what Peter and Maria told him and stayed in LA, shooting his latest movie. Now wondering if he was going to jail for this stunt. He should have known better, he told himself.

Deb worried that she would not find Maria and Peter. Sure she got a cellphone number and the name of a hotel, but this was a foreign city in a foreign land, what if she couldn’t make herself understood at all here? The lump in her throat grew by the mile. By the time they could see the city she didn’t enjoy it very much, her mind was elsewhere.

~~~

"Wow, its snowing!", Maria cheered happily when she pulled the drapes from the panorama window.

"Yeah, so what?" the Wolf replied not understanding her excitement.

"I just love snow, and we haven't had any this winter. Makes everything lighter and really beautiful. I get bored with the gray and black of the naked winter".

"Okay, I never thought of it that way. For me its just too damn inconvenient, traffic becomes hell and the snow never stays white anyway."

"Lets have some fun today, lets sneak out and play in the snow!"

Wolf laughed at her enthusiasm "Okay, lets do that. But first finish off your breakfast"

Their happy and playful conversation was cut off by a frantic knock on the door and a faint voice through the thick wood "Peter? Maria? Are you in there?"

Wolf tied his robe and unlocked the door. He almost got the woman knocking in his arms as she almost fell inwards when he opened. "Hey, how did you get up here? I thought we made it clear that we didn't want any visitors?"

The darkhaired and very upset woman looked at him and for a moment she lost her voice. Then "I told them I was your travel manager. I had the right code from your booking". And after an additional short break, " I'm Debbie Christiansan"

"Debbie!!! You're here!" Maria almost yelled from the other end of the room and ran over to hug her friend.

The hug ended sooner than it could have, the urgency of Debbie's trouble made the first meeting of the good friend short and forced. "You gotta help us, I couldn't get through to the cellphone and the hotel couldn't get trough to your room, please you gotta help us. Wolf's in jail!" she pleaded desperately.

"What? I'm right here!" the Wolf replied from his position by the door.

"Huh?" now it was Debbie's turn to look surprised? She looked from Maria to Wolf, not understanding anything. Why did he pretend to be the Wolf even in the presence of them, they knew the truth.

"Calm down Debbie, tell us what happened", Maria asked in a pretended relaxed and confident tone, inside she slowly began to get worried too. She didn't want to tell her friend what happened to Peter just yet.

"He used Peter's passport and the officers checking it didn't believe it was real. They said he was Wolf Gannett and they absolutely did not want to listen to me or Wolf. He's at the police precinct right now, being checked out. You gotta come over there and prove he's not Wolf, I have his passport in my bag. All you need to do is show them you are already here."

"Easy thing, babe!" Wolf laughed as he held up the cover of a newspaper he just found on the table by the door. The whole front page was covered by a picture of him singing, taken at the party the other night. "Everywhere I go I make headlines!" he sounded proud and very pleased to see his face on the cover.

Debbie dropped her jaw in surprise and confusion. If she had not left Wolf cuffed in the hands of the local police only fifteen minutes earlier she could have sworn this was Wolf in front of her now.

"If Peter needs me, I'll help. He's a good friend!" Wolf continued. "Have some breakfast and we'll be ready in a flash." "Heh, like I can get anything down now? I'll just wait. Thanks!"

"Come", Maria said as she dragged her friend along into her unused bedroom. "I got something to tell you", she whispered out of hearing distance from Wolf.

Wile dressing she started to explain. "Believe me Debbie he will be very convincing as Wolf because Peter really thinks he is Wolf Gannett. And nothing we say or do can make a difference. Caine helped Peter do this with some Shambhala magic, and now Peter can't undo it. And as Wolf he can't contact Caine for help either. Our only hope is to get him back to Sloanville and find him in person."

Debbie sat on the bed, wondering what would happen when the two Wolfs met. That would be a very interesting meeting. The long awaited real life reunion with her friend and partner Maria had to wait until this mess was cleared out. But she could clearly see that Maria was exactly as she had imagined her, calm, confident and friendly. She could see a hint of a sparkling smile in her eyes, now hid by the seriousness of the situation.

~~~

Less than an hour later they were on their way in a cab. No fans saw them sneak out the back entrance, exactly as they had hoped. The press would probably find this out sooner or later anyway, but they all preferred it was later. The silence was uncomfortable and forced, none of them knew what to say when they could not discuss the situation at hand.

Wolf was the one to take charge when they arrived. He just acted himself, being concerned about a friend in trouble. The female officer at the front desk was very surprised to see this man walk into the room. Only an hour and a half ago she had registered someone looking just like him.

"Where's Peter Caine?" he demanded, looking her straight in the eyes, willing her to cooperate.

When she got a mad Wolf Gannett in her face she backed off without saying a thing. After calling her superior from the back room she made a forced smile. "Just a minute Mr. Gannett and we will settle this." She didn't doubt for a minute who this man was.

It was an awesome sight. Debbie and Maria giggled behind him, trying not to LOL.

A few short minutes later the real Wolf appeared with an officer. He looked like a madman on the verge of a breakdown. He was steamin' with the anger and frustration he could not act out without compromising his cover. "It was about time you showed up!" he grouched.

The officers looked from Wolf to Peter to Wolf, now realizing their mistake. The real Wolf Gannett would definitely not pretend to be someone he was not. He had too much ego for that, and now that they had him in their face they knew instantly that all rumors of this man was true. He was an egoistic bastard. But he was a loyal egoistic bastard that backed his friend all the way.

"We are very sorry about this, Mr. Caine." The pushy officer apologized. "Seeing the two of you together I can clearly see my mistake".

"You can be grateful this is not America, I would have sued your asses off!" Wolf cursed the officers.

"Calm down, Wolf!" Maria pleaded as she put her arm around him. "They are not keeping him."

"Okay, I'll lay off. Come Peter, lets have some fun while you're all here."

And they all turned their back on the still shocked officers and walked out into the now promising winter day, the sun was breaking through the clouds and the snow covered ground made everything look really beautiful, even in the midst of a busy city.  

EPILOGUE:

<PeterCaine>Hi Gang!
<JG>Hi Peter
<Maya>Hi Peter!
<Deb>Peter, is that really you?
<Maria>Hi Lover!
* Maria sends a kiss to Peter!
<PeterCaine>Yes its really me, told you I would come and tell you all what happened when I got back.
<Maria>Its only been less than twenty four hours and I really miss you :o(
<PeterCaine>I know Maria, I miss you too
<JG>You were really there, in Sweden?
<PeterCaine>Yep, that I was. And I guess its safe to tell you all that. You know all about me already.
<Maya>It's so wonderful to finally get to meet you, even if its only online.
<PeterCaine>I'm happy to be here Maya.
<Deb>And?
<PeterCaine>what?
<Deb>You got yourself back?
<PeterCaine>Heh, yes I did. And Pop didn't have to do a thing. The very moment we took off from Landvetter it was gone. Pop told me that it was my subconscious that made me keep the conviction that I was Wolf until it was truly safe to drop it.
<Maria>That's a relief, I've been really worried.
<JG>What happened? Maria and Deb have been really secretive this far today.
<PeterCaine>I wanted to pretend to be Wolf Gannett, and with some help from Pop I made it a bit too real.
<Deb>You two left us for a while back there, what did Wolf say? He must have been just as shocked as the police officers?
<Maria>Yeah, you were both a bit too secretive in my opinion
<PeterCaine>Heh, now that's between me and my double. Lets just say, we got along just fine. He actually liked to be out of the light for a while, he told me he would be happy to be Peter until we went back home, he didn't mind at all. He thought it was fun.
<Maria>I bet. He had just as much fun as the rest of us. Snow CAN be alot of fun, huh Deb?
<Deb>Yea, yea, yea, rub it in!
<PeterCaine>Shit, gotta go, we got a hostage situation in Chinatown. Talk to ya later!
<Maria>Okay, talk to ya later Lover!
<Maya>Bye Peter!
<Deb>Bye Peter

and The Chat Continues...