Second Chances Part 2- The Trouble with Teenagers

Disclaimer – I do not own any rights to Airwolf or the characters created in the TV series. I have just borrowed them for entertainment purposes and make no profit from writing this.

This story contains adult situations such as consensual sex, rape and language. See ratings on title page for full list.
If you are under-age or easily offended please read no further.

This is the second story in my 'Second Chances' series and is set between seasons 2 & 3. I would be helpful to have read part 1 but not essential.
Some references are made to episodes but I don't guarantee 100% accuracy although I do try!
This is fan fiction based on the series and the story and original characters are my creation.
Thanks to Graham for an idea in chapters 2 & 5 - if you ever read this, Graham, you'll know what it is!

Second Chances Part 2 – The Trouble with Teenagers.

Chapter 1

Archangel sighed deeply and set down the file he had been reading. He swivelled his chair away from his desk to look out of the window and briefly closed his eyes. He must have been more tired than he thought because he was awakened abruptly when he heard his office door open. He took a moment to compose himself before turning around to see who had entered.
“Marella.” His delight at seeing his aide was expressed in the way he said her name. She had taken a few days off to recover from a bullet wound received during their last mission, which he had just been reviewing, and had only returned to work that day. “How are you feeling?”
“Fine, thank you sir. I have the final report you requested,” she limped over to his desk, the bullet wound to her hip still slightly sore, and handed him a buff coloured folder.
“I didn't need that today!” He thought she had been relaxing at home, not working.
“Beth and I worked on it at the cabin, we agreed to get it over and done with. We both want to move on, sir.”
“I understand.” Marella had been dating Robert Hunter, who worked for the Firm, and he had turned out to be a kidnapper, rapist and traitor. He had kidnapped and raped Beth and she was still recovering from her ordeal, staying at the cabin belonging to her lover, Stringfellow Hawke. Hawke had killed Hunter, along with the men he had been working with. “How is Elizabeth?”
Marella smiled, “Much better, sir. She wants to come back to work on Monday.”
“How does Hawke feel about that?”
“She hasn't told him yet. She doesn't know if the relationship will survive her working for you. You know how he feels about putting his women in danger, he's convinced she'll die. I don't think he'll take the chance at happiness.”
“With good reason,” Archangel said grimly, thinking back to how Hawke had lost Gabrielle, “but she's an independent woman, otherwise I wouldn't have employed her. He'll either have to live with it or let her go.”
“She's moving back to her apartment this weekend and I promised I'd call. Can I tell her Monday then?”
“Yes. Monday 0900hrs. Have her report to you.”
“Yes sir.” Marella turned to leave the office.
“Marella?” Archangel spoke just as she was about to open the door.
“Yes sir?”
“I was wondering, if you don't have any plans would you like to join me for dinner tonight?” Outwardly his voice was confident but inside he was worried about her response. The last mission had got him thinking about his feelings for Marella, knowing that if he had lost her he would be living now with a gut full of regrets. He knew that he loved her, had done for a long time, and he thought she might feel the same way towards him. Working together had always kept their relationship on a professional level and he realised that if he didn't make a move then it would always be that way.
Marella hid her surprise at the question. “I was only planning a TV dinner.”
“I think I can manage something more exotic than that, on one condition though.”
Marella raised an eyebrow, “What condition?”
Michael smiled, “You're not to call me 'sir' at all during dinner.”
“I think I can manage that - sir,” she replied with a wink, then turned and gracefully exited the office with a silly grin on her face that she hoped he hadn't noticed.


In Stringfellow Hawke's cabin, he and Beth were sitting on the floor in front of a roaring fire, sipping wine. Tet, Hawke's Blue Tic hound, was lying sleepily next to Beth as she absent mindedly stroked his head. Hawke had asked his friends to leave them alone except for emergencies, and for once there had been none. They'd had no contact with the outside world for over a week, apart from when Marella had called to fill out her report with Beth, and Hawke was just thinking that it was too good to be true, that he was feeling too happy, when Beth disturbed his thoughts.
“String?”
“Mmm,” he replied sleepily, “what?”
“You know I'm moving back to my apartment this weekend?”
“You don't have to,” he pulled her close, nibbling at her ear.
Beth playfully pushed him away, “Stop it String. I have to go back,” she paused, the said hurriedly, “I'm going back to work on Monday.”
His good mood was instantly gone, “It's too soon. Michael said you could have as long as you needed.”
“I'm ready to go back. Besides you told Dom you would be back at Santini Air on Monday. I can't just stay here waiting for you to come home,” she tried to keep her voice patient.
“You could. You're safe here,” he was standing up now, pacing the room.
Beth stood up too, disturbing Tet. His head moved from side to side as he watched his master pacing, before deciding there was nothing much to see. He put his head back on his paws and went back to sleep.
“I'll be safe at work. Archangel won't give me any outside assignments until the plaster is off my arm and I'm strong enough to take care of myself,” her voice was rising and Tet opened his eyes again, stood up and trotted to the door. Hawke opened the door to let him out, slammed it behind him and continued to pace.
“Safe! Working for Archangel,” his voice dripped sarcasm, “Not bloody likely!”
“It's my job now. It's what I want to do and you can't stop me.”
“I can try,” he replied darkly. Then in a quieter voice he said, “I don't want to lose you.”
“String,” she moved to his side, taking hold of his arm to still him, “you won't lose me. I promise I'll be careful.” When he didn't reply she continued, cautiously, “I know about Gabrielle, Marella told me.”
He whirled around, grabbing her by the shoulders, “She had no right,” his face was a mask, his cold eyes meeting hers.
“She thought I should know, to help me understand why you didn't want me working for Archangel,” his grip tightened and she tried to pull away, “String you're hurting me.”
He let her go abruptly and she lost her balance, sitting down heavily on the chair behind her. He stormed outside, calling for Tet and Beth decided to go to bed.
She didn't hear him get into bed and he was already up by the time she awoke the next morning. He was still angry and unapproachable and Beth made the decision to go home that day, instead of waiting for the weekend. She packed her bag while Hawke was fishing on the lake and walked out to meet him.
“Will you take me home or shall I call Marella?” she asked him as he climbed out of his boat, trout and fishing gear in his hands.
“Can I change your mind?”
“No. I'm going to work on Monday whether you like it or not and it you can't accept it then there's no future for us.”
“Then I'll take you. No point Marella flying out here.” Dominic had let Hawke keep one of his helicopters at the cabin so they could come and go as they pleased, besides he didn't want Marella knowing his personal business although he suspected that Beth would tell her anyway; the two women had become good friends.

Returning to the cabin alone, Hawke poured himself a glass of wine and sat outside on the porch steps reflecting back on the last few days. He wasn't sure what had gone wrong, but he suspected it was his own stubbornness that had driven her away. Why did he always do that? He sighed deeply, he knew why. He was afraid of losing her. Of course he had lost her anyway by letting her go but at least he didn't have to worry about her, knowing she was on some crazy dangerous mission for Archangel. But of course he was going to worry anyway so surely it was better to have her close where he could keep an eye on her. His thoughts were jumbled and he wasn't making sense, even to himself.
He finished his wine and went back inside to collect his cello. Maybe some music would help, it usually did.
After playing for the best part of an hour, just for himself and the eagles, he picked up the cello and stool and went back inside the cabin. Now he felt really lonely. The last few nights he had played cello for Beth and when he had finished they had gone to bed, relaxed and happy, to make love. That side of their relationship was still a little awkward, she was still recovering from being kidnapped and raped, but while he had been willing to wait, she wasn't. She needed to prove to herself that she could still feel and although she had proved it over and over, she still needed to have him close, to use his body to express her emotions. And he had the bruises, bites and scratch marks to prove it.
Right from day one of their relationship she had used their lovemaking to release pent up emotions, and a couple of times he had returned the favour, but since the rape it had been worse. She had to be in control and afterwards there were usually tears from both of them, but it was getting better, she was slowly learning to trust him to take the lead.
She hadn't gone into details of the rape with him, but he knew she had confided in Marella and Andrea, the firm's counsellor. No one had offered counselling to him, probably because they knew he would refuse, and he hadn't had the time alone to come to terms with what had happened to her. There were times when they did something in bed and he guessed from her hesitation that it was something that Hunter had done to her or made her do to him. He went along with it, knowing that she needed to work it through, but in truth it hurt.
He thought back to the last time they had made love, two nights ago. She had instigated oral sex, going down on him, eyes wide open and looking at his face. Normally that would have been a turn on, having her look at him like that, but he knew she was just reminding herself that it was him and not Hunter who was with her. She had told him early on that she needed to keep her eyes open or to breath in his scent so she didn't get lost in memories. He'd had to force himself to stay aroused that night, closing his eyes and giving in to the sensations.
He was getting aroused now, just thinking of the sensations he'd felt that night. “Dammit,” he muttered to himself, it was going to be difficult enough sleeping alone without the added distraction of a hard on.
He stripped off, ready for bed, and lifted up the bed covers. “Oh Fuck!” he cursed as he saw her black silk nightgown folded neatly just below her pillow. He slipped into his side of the bed and picked it up, holding it to his face to breath in her scent. “Oh god Beth!” he sobbed. He was about to throw the nightdress onto the floor but had second thoughts and held it to his chest, imagining it was her he was holding. He had been aroused before but now he was painfully hard, his body expecting the release that it had had nearly every night for the last week.
He didn't want to but he couldn't help himself and reaching down he gripped his erection and started to masturbate. With the scent of Beth all around him and the memories of their recent lovemaking still fresh in his memory it wasn't long before he came hard, crying out her name. He curled up in the foetal position and fell asleep, tears of guilt falling down his face.


Hawke flew out to Santini Air late on Monday morning. Dominic Santini, his best friend and surrogate father greeted him warmly.
“String, good to see you, even if it is nearly lunch time,” he caught the younger man in a bear hug, “you finally ready to do some work?” he teased.
Hawke hugged him back, patting Dominic's back in a manly fashion.
“Good to be back Dom,” he looked around the hanger,” Caitlin here?”
“Should be back any minute. She went out to get lunch,” Dominic replied, not quite able to avoid another dig at Hawke being so late, “She's going to catch up on the paperwork while me and you go to the Lair and work on the Lady.”
“Problems?”
“No, just some routine maintenance. Got to keep my lady sweet,” Dominic grinned.
“How many times do I need to tell you, Dom? It's just a machine.” Hawke smiled fondly at the older man, who just laughed.
Caitlin pulled up just then in her car and struggled with the door, her hands full with the lunch.
Hawke rushed over to help her before lunch ended up on the tarmac.
“Thanks,” Caitlin handed the bags over gratefully before looking at Hawke closely, “you don't look so good for someone who's just had a week's vacation.”
Hawke glared at the pretty redhead, “Thanks,” he said, dryly.
“Oh you know what I mean. You look tired. And you are awfully late for work. We were worried.”
“I'm fine.”
“How's Beth? She back at work too?”
Hawke shrugged, “I guess so. I'll go get changed into some overalls and do a bit of work around here, then we can visit the lady after you two have finished eating.” Hawke walked towards the men's room to get changed.
He had just unbuttoned his shirt when the door opened. He looked up, expecting Dom and was surprised to see Caitlin standing in the doorway.
“Uh, Men's room Cait!” he said, pointing to the sign on the still open door. She pushed the door shut and stood with her arms crossed in front of her chest, looking very fierce.
“Talk to me String. Dom was starting to get worried, you being so late and you really don't look so good.”
“I'm not that late and I'm just a bit tired, that's all.”
“Look String, I know something is wrong, call it women's intuition and I'm not leaving until you tell me what it is.” She stood firmly in front of him, feet apart and arms still crossed, looking as though she could stay all day if she had to.
Hawke thought for a moment, considering his options, then made a decision.
“OK,” he said.
“OK?”
“Yes, you can stay if you want. I'm getting changed, I've work to do if you haven't.” He took off his unbuttoned shirt and started to undo his jeans.
Cait stared at him in horror and practically ran from the room, Hawke's humourless laugh echoing behind her.


Beth had arranged to meet Marella for breakfast before starting work. She had missed Marella's company, having only seen her once since Hawke had killed Hunter. They had become good friends and it was nice to have someone to talk to who understood what she had been through, and Marella felt the same.
The diner was quite busy at that time of the morning, but they found a quiet seat by the window where they could talk in relative privacy. While they waited for the waitress to take their order Beth had told Marella that she and Hawke had broken up. Marella insisted that Beth eat something and they were now sitting in companionable silence sipping coffee and eating warm toast.
Marella took the opportunity to gather her thoughts. She'd had another dinner date with Michael that weekend, the third so far. She had planned to confide in Beth, to ask her what she thought, but it didn't seem appropriate now. She sighed, causing Beth to look up from her cup.
“Want to talk about it?” Beth asked.
“Just thinking,” replied Marella.
“Tell me about it, it might take my mind off String.”
“I had dinner with Michael last night. That's three times now, and one lunch which I'm not sure counts, but that's all we've done – eat!”
“I expect he's taking it slowly. You work so closely together that it could be awkward if things didn't work out, not to mention the fact that it's against company policy. The committee would shit themselves if they suspected.”
Marella laughed, “I expect you're right. We get on so well together, but I'm starting to feel awkward, not sure if I should stray too far away from work topics, and I don't like not being in control.”
“Try it and see. Next time he takes you out try to avoid work topics altogether and see how he reacts. If you get a negative reaction just change the subject.”
“I'm not sure when the next time will be though. He always leaves it until the last moment to ask me, almost as if it's an afterthought.”
“You could always ask him to join you for dinner.”
“I might try that later, if he's in a good mood.” they both laughed, knowing what Michael's moods were like. When they had calmed down Beth became serious again.
“You know, he could also be worried about your reaction if he gets close to you. Hunter hurt us both bad and Archangel was there in the aftermath.”
Marella looked closely at Beth, not sure if she should ask the question that was on her lips. Beth noticed the observation and interpreted it correctly. “Go on, ask me. I won't turn into a blubbering idiot again, I promise.” The last time they had talked about Hunter, at the cabin, Beth had started crying and hadn't been able to stop. It had taken both Marella and Hawke nearly an hour to calm her down.
“How did you and Hawke get over the Hunter problem, if it's not too personal a question? I mean it was worse for you, the way you were treated.”
“We had a couple of false starts. Remember when you walked in on us, in his bedroom?” Marella nodded. “Well just before that he'd kissed me, then remembered what I'd been through and pulled away. I reacted badly to that, I thought he didn't want me any more, but he explained and I asked him to kiss me again,” she hesitated, remembering the second time.
Marella prompted her, “You said a couple of false starts?”
Beth blushed, “He'd kill me if he knew I was telling you this but what the hell. The second time he was the one with the problem. It was the night before we went after Hunter, when we slept outside?”
“I remember.”
“Well I wanted to make love to prove that I could still feel something. He seemed keen at first, worried about me but definitely eager. But he couldn't do it, he said something about feeling too protective of me and being worried that he wouldn't be able to stop if I asked him to.”
“Men! No will power where woman are concerned. What did you do?”
“I didn't do anything..... but he did. He seemed to realise that I needed to be touched, so he touched me,” her face was bright red but Marella seemed to be taking it in her stride, so she continued, “I was so relieved that I could still feel that I just cried and when I told him why I was crying he held me tight and we kissed and cried together. Then his earlier problem resolved itself and we made love.” Beth let out a sigh and had trouble holding back tears as she remembered that night. Then she continued, more seriously, “He did the right thing, in my opinion anyway. He left it up to me to make the first move.”
“But you two already had a relationship. I'm not even sure that Michael and I are dating, I mean he kissed my hand when we said goodnight last night.”
It wasn't that funny but the two women burst out laughing, causing a few diners to turn around and look at them, which only made them laugh more.
In a cheerful mood they made their way to Marella's office, only to find Archangel sitting in Marella's chair behind her desk. At the sight of him Beth started giggling again.
“Are you ready for work now?” he asked, then noting their amused looks, “what's so funny?”
Marella sauntered over to her desk and spun the chair around, with Michael still in it.
“My chair I believe, sir,” she put out her hand to help him up.
“Hmm, I think I'll leave you two alone. I just came to welcome Elizabeth back.”
“Thank you, sir. It's good to be back.”
Archangel allowed Marella to pull him out of the comfortable leather chair and made for the door. Marella winked at Beth and followed him out of the office.
“Sir, I have this new recipe I want to try out. Feel like being a guinea pig tonight?”
“Unfortunately I have a business dinner tonight. But we could try your recipe out another night. Would it be out of order if I called at your apartment just for a drink after the dinner?”
“Yes...I mean no, that would be fine.” Michael grinned at her flustered expression, it wasn't often that she got her words mixed up.

.