new Fic: In your eyes (POV Peter, PG, pre-P/P)

I'm re-watching the eps... but don't expect me to write a story to each. :)

title: In your eyes
author: Lady Charena
fandom: Kung Fu - the legend continues
codes: pre-P/P, PG, POV Peter
archive: TOSTwins - others just ask

sum: Hmh, the story's too short for a sum. You'll see. It takes place directly after Pop walks off at the end of "the promise".

Disclaimer: This story's mine, but I do not intend to touch the rights of the owner of the characters from KF-TLC I've used. No moneymaking, no offence meant. Lyrics belong to Madonna "Beautiful stranger"

More P/P stories from me and my friends at the Dragon's lair --> http://tostwins.slashcity.net


**********************************
...I looked into your face
My heart was dancing all over the place...
...I looked in your eyes
And my world came tumbling down...
...To love you is to be part of you
I've paid for you with my tears...
**********************************

My anxiety raises with every mile the Stealth covers. Every mile I'm further away from my father, that's it.

I shouldn't have let him just walk away from me. Yeah, go on fool yourself, Caine. No way to change my old man's mind if he's not willing. Still I feel like an idiot letting him go off all on his own. I could see he's taking the reunion with Teresa harder than he wanted me to know. He must have really loved her, despite everything he said about Mum being the only love of his life. I think he was trying to reassure me, but I don't... I mean, my mother's been death for a very long time when he met Teresa and after losing me too; he'd been entitled to have somebody to love in his life. I guess. I should really get a grip on my feelings, practice some of this control Pop's been trying forever to teach me. It's ridiculous to sulk like I'm still ten years old. Or to envy Teresa...

Well, that's it. My little spare on patience is used. I curb the car and drive back the way I've come.

* * *

Sure enough, there's he walking. I stop the car and get out. "Pop!"

He stops, turns and looks at me. Pop's wearing that damn impenetrable mask of calmness he does on too often for my liking. "Peter." There's no emphasis in his voice.

Well... I guess he wanted some time alone, to sort through everything. But he doesn't quite look like he's gonna mad at me. Still I can't read his eyes and I don't like this. So I plaster a sassy grin on my face and put my hands to my hips. "Sorry, Pop. You won't get rid off me that easily. Either you get yourself in my car or I... I'm walking with you."

For a moment he stares at me in puzzlement, then shrugs. He looks up at the sky as if seeking for an answer, before his gaze returns to me. A small smile tugs at his lips. "In this case I will ride with you for I cannot ask you to abandon your precious... vehicle."

I release a breath I didn't know I was holding. "Glad you do, Dad. I more concerned of my feet than my car. I'm not used to walk so far. You would have lost me somewhere along the way... or... had to offer me a piggyback ride."

"A very... distant possibility," he answers calmly but I see laughter in his eyes.

Only then I pass round the car to go to him. He allows me to hook my arm around his shoulder like he did after the confrontation with that rotten excuse of a police officer in front of Teresa's old house. For a moment his head rests against my shoulder, then he slips out of my grip. I turn - and find him sitting already on the passenger seat of my car. Hell I wish I'd know how he does it...

Taking my place at the driver's seat I look at him, but he's staring straight ahead. "So... there's any place you'd like to see before we're heeding home?" I say in a chipper tone, hoping to get a response from him.

For a moment he looks indecisively, then nods. "Yes, there is a place I would like to visit before we leave."

"Fine with me." I know I'm expected back in the precinct in two hours tops, but I don't want this trip to end. I'll face my Captain's wrath later... "Where to?"

He starts to give me directions and soon we end up at a beautiful lake. The air's crisp and smells of wet leafs, when we get out of the car. I follow Pop down a gentle slope to the shore. Despite it's well into the morning, still flocks of mist hang around, looking very much like pieces of a shredded veil.

I stand close to him and wonder what he sees, staring at the lake. I wonder what we're doing here but I don't want to ask. Somehow I know I don't have to.

"I met Teresa for the first time a the shore of this lake," he says quietly.

I turn sideway to look at him. He does the same and our eyes lock. Slowly Pop lifts his hand to cup my cheek, but his touch doesn't hold the usual warmth. Then his hand falls back to his side.

After hesitating a second, I mirror his gesture and to my surprise, he allows me. "You're taking this much harder than you thought, don't you Pop? I mean, seeing Teresa again, learning about her husband, the memories..." I try to smile, but all the sudden my lips feel like frozen. I wish he would do something... agree, deny it, get angry with me, chide me for prying... anything.

His eyes are very bright as if he's holding back tears. I can't remember ever see my father cry. I guess he just can't, the control he holds over his emotions is too tight, too strong. It strikes me strange but I think... for all his abilities and knowledge and wisdom... my father might not know how to release his own emotions. He can deal with everyone's fucked up life, with all the pain of the world - including mine - but not with his own. Maybe he's been too long alone...

Well, he's not alone anymore. And I won't stand back and simply watch him. I can do this for him. Acting on little more than instinct,
lean forward and press my forehead to his. The skin beneath mine is colder than I'm used to. He doesn't pull back and so I move a little further and brush his eyes with my lips.

I feel his body getting rigid with surprise but he doesn't push me away. Instead his arms come up and around my shoulders as if he needed to support himself.

"I know you're hurt," I whisper, not minding where the knowledge or the words come from. "Make me understand what you feel, Pop. Share with me." A violent shiver racks his body and he slumps against me. I catch him; skim his temple, his cheek with my mouth. "You taught me how to release my pain. Release yours now. It's safe, I'm with you."

It's like I'm suddenly caught in snowstorm, everything turns to a blinding white. Something batters against me like a wave. For seconds the world turns upside down and I'm feeling like I'm falling. Too much, too fast... And just like it started, it's over. I'm anchored to reality again by the strong arms of my father around me. I don't know for sure what happened... Slowly I pull back to look in his face. It's still guarded, his eyes dry and bright.

But it doesn't matter. I can do it for him. I can cry for him...

His grip tightens, his fingers almost painfully digging into my shoulders. Pop leans forward and starts to tenderly kiss away the tears from my cheeks. His lips brush the corner of my mouth and for a breathless second I think he's gonna kiss me. Right now, right here. But his mouth slips away, along my chin - and then he withdraws.

Pop's hands rise to frame my face and he smiles. "Thank you, my son."

Again he moves closer and just like this it happens... his lips press against mine, too fleetingly to call it a kiss but it shakes me to the core. His thumbs caress my cheeks and I feel a promise behind his touch. My heart flutters.

"Let us return to our home, Peter."

Slowly he releases me and we walk back to my car.

I feel like I'm dreaming, when I slide behind the wheel. I turn the key and start the Stealth. Home, yes. And towards a new eginning...


end