Highlander 1. Chapter 1

DISCLAIMER: _Highlander_ is the property of Davis/Panzer Productions or a successor corporation; no copyright infringement is intended.

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_Daybreak in Paris, Jan. 2, 2001._

Duncan MacLeod clicked on "Sleep," and watched his computer screen go dark.

He half-wished _he_ could go back to sleep so easily.

Instead, he leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and performed the slight, indescribable opening of his mind that heightened his awareness of the other Immortal aboard the barge.

He drew comfort from that other presence.

_But just a half-hour ago, I thought the news I have for him would be wonderful. Mind-blowing, but wonderful. Now I'm afraid the bad part of it may outweigh the good._

_But I have to tell him. Everything._

He got to his feet, and padded into the section of the barge where Richie Ryan lay asleep on the couch.

And of course, the sudden heightening of the sense of _his_ presence brought Richie wide awake. He sat up with a gasp, instinctively reaching for a sword that was nowhere near him.

Then both men relaxed and grinned. "Sorry," Duncan said. "I guess it'll take a while for us to get used to each other again." _Assuming you'll stay. God, I hope you will._

"I'm glad you were here when I woke up," Richie assured him. "I still have moments when I get panicky, and think all this - your being alive - is just a dream." But then he added, less seriously, "I'm not sure I'll ever get used to seeing you with short hair! Are you gonna let it grow long again?"

"Don't know. Are you going to cut yours, and get rid of the beard?" _Oh, Richie, you look older than I do..._

"I haven't decided, either. But I sure will get to a barber, and have it made neater than it is now. I feel like I'm starting a whole new life!"

"Me too. And...there's something very important that I have to tell you, Rich. After breakfast, okay?"

"Okay. In fact, there's something very important that I want to tell you, too."

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Forty-five minutes later, when they were drinking their second cups of coffee, Duncan said, "I guess it's time for that talk. Okay if I go first? I don't think I can hold it in much longer." _And if it's going to turn you against me, I may as well get it over with._

Richie smiled. "Sure. Age before beauty, and all that."

"Okay. Remember what Methos told us last night, about Darius's Immortal baby son? The fact that Immortals _can_ father children? I know you were as stunned as I was."

"Y-yes." The smile was gone. "At first I thought Donna's son Jeremy might really be mine, after all. But then I realized that if he was, we would have sensed him as a pre-Immortal."

"Yes." Duncan took a deep breath. "But after I went to bed, I got to thinking... I know you were born in Seacouver, Rich. In 1974. I've always known I was in the right place at the right time, but I was so _sure_ Immortals were sterile..."

Richie's face had gone white. "Are you saying... Mac, I did let myself hope for a minute, last night, that you could be my father! But then I reminded myself that we look nothing alike. And I thought it would be way too much of a coincidence. Are you saying...you _are?_"

"Yes," Duncan said steadily. "I'm sure of it now. You have your mother's coloring - I would've seen that long ago, if I wasn't so damn sure I knew everything. And I was overwhelmed - overjoyed - when I realized you're my son! But...I have to tell you the whole story.

"I was in a relationship with your mother, a beautiful young woman named Clare Josephson. Before you ask - it wasn't a great love like I had with Tessa. But it might have grown into that, if we'd stayed together. I hadn't told Clare the truth about myself - Tessa was the first mortal lover I told - but like I said, our relationship might have gotten to that point.

"As it was, I got caught without a condom on a night when I wanted sex. And like a damn fool, I told Clare I was sterile due to a childhood case of mumps."

Richie rolled his eyes. "Ye gods. You actually used the old 'mumps' line?"

"Yes. And about two months later, Clare told me she was pregnant! She was happy about it, even though she hadn't been planning for motherhood at that stage of her life. She thought I'd be delighted to learn that the doctors had been wrong, and I wasn't sterile!"

"Oh my God." By now Richie saw where this was going. "And of course, you refused to believe the baby was yours..."

"Yes. But to make matters worse, Clare realized from my reaction that I'd been lying about the mumps. I admitted I'd lied about that, but kept insisting I knew I was sterile, for a reason I wouldn't reveal. She could see by then that I was being dishonest with her, about a lot of things. She thought I'd carelessly - recklessly! - made her pregnant with a child I didn't want and wouldn't acknowledge.

"I'd had absolutely no reason to think she was cheating on me. But I assumed she must have been. And...this is what I'm most ashamed of.

"We were quarreling, and I yelled at her, 'What's the problem - is the real father _married?_'

"She hauled off and slapped me. Harder than a woman had ever hit me before.

"I turned on my heel and walked out. Went to - of all places - Cambodia, leaving no forwarding address. And I never saw Clare again."

They sat in silence for a minute.

Then Richie said, "It's a shame it ended that way. But, damn, it's so understandable! _Both_ of you had every reason to believe you were in the right." He hesitated. "Do you think she gave me up for adoption because you'd hurt her? I'm not blaming you, Mac! But I'm wondering...should I try to find her now, or leave well enough alone? I've survived this long without a mother. And I wouldn't dare tell her about Immortals."

"There's more to the story," Duncan said heavily. "The worst part.

"I got up before dawn this morning, did some research online. And I learned Clare had no intention of giving you up for adoption! For some unknown reason, she began hemorrhaging and _died_, right after you were born."

"Oh my God..."

"She had no kin - that's why you were put in foster care. But your original name, the one she'd picked out for you, was...Duncan Josephson."

_"D-Duncan?"_

"Yes. Do you see what she intended? She thought that if I someday returned to Seacouver and looked her up, her having named you for me would convince me that there really hadn't been another man - that I was your father.

"She hadn't anticipated that she'd be _dead_. If only I'd learned that! I swear I would have come back, Rich, if I knew she was dead and there were no kin to raise her child. I would have wanted to make sure the child wound up in a good home.

"And when I saw you, I would have realized you were a pre-Immortal. That might have convinced me you were mine. God knows what I would have done. Tried to raise you myself? Probably not, because you'd be in too much danger. But I would at least have found you that good home. In your case, a good environment for a pre-Immortal."

After a long silence, Richie said, "Given the horror of my mother's being dead - I'm still trying to wrap my mind around that! - things may have worked out for the best. If you'd gotten me settled somewhere and not stayed in touch - meaning to 'protect' me - there's no telling how different our lives would have been. I might have become Immortal at a bad time, and lost my head to some villain before we could meet as adults."

"So...you can forgive me?" Duncan had scarcely dared to hope.

"_Forgive_ you? There's nothing to forgive, Mac! My God - I've thought of you as my father, loved you as my father, for years. Knowing you really are my father, biologically, is a dream come true!"

And suddenly the two men were embracing, both in tears.

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Five minutes later, Duncan managed to say, "You have something to tell me, too."

"Uh, yeah." Richie looked a bit sheepish. "I didn't tell you yesterday because - well, for one thing, I thought you'd jump to the conclusion that I'm in a hurry to rush off somewhere. And I'm not. I need some time with you, to...readjust.

"But the main reason I didn't get into this is that I was afraid you'd think, 'Oh, the same old Richie, he hasn't grown up at all! Still falls head over heels for any pretty girl who smiles at him!' And what's been going on in my life recently isn't like that.

"In fact, the only way I can explain it...may be painful for you. But the truth is, I've found the great love of my life. _My 'Tessa.'_ "

_Oh God_, Duncan thought. _I can see the new maturity in him. This is serious. But I was almost four hundred years old when I found my great love. If he's found his now, in his twenties, for how many centuries will he have to mourn her?_

Aloud, he said, "That's wonderful, Rich! Tell me about her."

Now relaxed and beaming, Richie said proudly, "Her name is Monica..."

"A beautiful name," Duncan murmured.

"Yes. A beautiful name, for a beautiful woman. Wait a sec, I'll show you." Richie rummaged through the few belongings he had with him, found his wallet, and produced a photo. Of a young black woman, who was indeed beautiful.

Duncan said, "She's black..."

"Uh, yes, she's black. Obviously." Richie looked puzzled.

_Damn. He knows I'm not a racist, couldn't possibly disapprove of his lover's being black. So why did I mention it?_

"The thing is," Duncan said slowly, "I realized when I looked at the picture that for some reason, I'd _expected_ a woman named Monica to be black. And I don't know why."

Then he was struck by a sudden thought. "Wait a minute! I remember your telling me years ago that you'd been going with a girl named Monica - met her in New Orleans, and the two of you went to Brazil together for Carnivale. Is this the same Monica?"

"Yes." Richie was grinning now. "The same Monica - I met up with her again."

"So you must have mentioned back then that she was black." _I don't remember his mentioning it, but that has to be the explanation._

"Yeah, I must have."

"What I do remember..." Duncan shuddered. "When I thought I'd killed you - after I defeated Ahriman, I traipsed all over several continents, telling your friends that you were dead, and that I'd killed you in a hunting accident. Let them beat up on me..."

"Oh God, Mac!"

"But I couldn't find this Monica. Didn't recall, at the time, anything but a first name. And your having met her in New Orleans didn't prove she came from there - she could have gone there for Mardi Gras, same as you did.

"I wonder what would have happened if I had found her, and told her my story when you weren't there, but_ she knew you were alive?_"

After a long pause, an ashen-faced Richie said, "She would have thought you were Ahriman! Wouldn't have believed a word you said - and she would have been terrified." Duncan's expression must have revealed his shock, because he went on to say grimly, "Yes, I've told Monica about Immortals, Ahriman, _everything_. Just like you'd told Tessa everything - pre-Ahriman, of course."

"Of course," Duncan echoed weakly.

"I almost lost my mind when I thought I'd killed you, Mac! I buried what I thought was your body, and fled. Wore solid black all the time, punished myself with whippings - even made a vow of silence, didn't allow myself to speak. When Monica found me - practically stumbled over me - I was such a mess that she almost didn't recognize me.

"But thank God, she did. She...brought me back to life! When she understood what was going on - to convince her of that, I had to show her proof I was Immortal - she encouraged me to keep fighting. Even gave me hope that if I defeated Ahriman, I could someday find...not _happiness_, even with her, but a reason to go on living. Some moments of peace, maybe, moments of feeling good about myself."

Duncan swallowed hard. "I'm so sorry you had to go through all that! And I understand why you're so in love with Monica. She sounds like a terrific person." A sudden thought struck him. "You have _called her_, right? To let her know how it turned out?"

"Yeah, of course. Once I knew you were all right, I phoned her the first time I was alone - while you were in the shower and I was changing my clothes, away from Methos and Joe." Richie smiled at the memory. "She was blown away! But she still seemed sort of anxious. All this is so hard to believe that she probably won't be sure everything's okay till we're together again. I left her about four months ago, to come back to Paris.

"Now that I've had time to think, I'm going to ask her to come here for a while - she likes travel, so I can't see any reason why she wouldn't. If, uh, you can lend me a little money to wire her for the fare, Mac..."

"You've got it!" Duncan was beaming._ I don't know whether she'll be coming from Nice or from New Zealand. And I don't care._

Then Richie said thoughtfully, "There is - or may be - one problem with our relationship. With a member of her, uh, family. But I'm not sure _why_ there seemed to be a problem. And until I find out why, I won't know whether it's something we still have to worry about."

_Guess we're back to real life, _Duncan thought with a sigh. _Nothing's ever perfect_.

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After they'd finished the remains of breakfast, they settled down to discuss how they'd explain Richie's reappearance to friends.

Richie Ryan had been legally "dead" in France for years _before_ the Ahriman crisis: he'd had a too-public "death" that couldn't be explained away. None of his aliases had been declared dead; and everyone there who knew when and how Duncan had supposedly killed him was a close enough friend to be told the truth. So France wouldn't be a problem.

The U.S. and other countries did present a problem. But despite Duncan's having told hundreds of people he'd accidentally killed Richie, he'd never been declared legally dead. A grieving Joe Dawson had trusted Watchers back in the States to deal with the legalities; years later, he'd learned that they'd never done it. Now, since Richie wanted to keep his original identity, father and son decided to make use of his history of juvenile delinquency. They'd give out the story that he'd gone on the lam after committing a crime, Duncan had helped him fake his death...and he could surface now because of a deal he'd made with the police (the implication being that he'd ratted on someone else).

When they'd agreed on that, and congratulated themselves on their ingenuity, Duncan said, "Guess I should call Joe and tell him what we're planning - oh, Lord!"

Richie blinked. "What?"

"I just realized this. Day before yesterday - December thirty-first - I was really down in the dumps. As you can imagine. Methos and Joe both called, trying to cheer me up. After I'd told them I wanted to be left alone, I decided I didn't want to take any more calls. So I turned my phone off. And I've left it off all this time!"

"Bummer. Wanna bet on how many voicemails you'll have to wade through?" Richie chuckled. "Lucky me - the only person who has my number now is Monica!"

More seriously, he added, "And I'd told her, a couple days before New Year's, that I didn't mean to even look at my phone again till...the battle with Ahriman had played out. However it would. I didn't want any distractions."

After those hectic last two days, it took Duncan as long to find his cell phone as it had taken Richie to find Monica's photo. Both men were laughing when he put the phone to his ear and began listening to a voicemail left back on the thirty-first.

He stopped laughing immediately.

A tight, tense voice was saying, _"Mac - this is Nick Wolfe. God, I hate having to leave a message this crucial in voicemail! But I'm about to get on a plane for a long flight, so I won't be able to keep trying to reach either you or Dawson._

_"You'll find this hard to believe, Mac, but I swear it's true. __**Richie is alive!**__ I haven't actually seen him. But I've learned, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he's alive._

_"That's the good news. Here's some very bad news. When Ahriman tricked you into thinking you'd killed Richie, he also tricked __**Richie**__ into thinking __**he'd**__ killed __**you**__. Richie thinks Ahriman has been impersonating Duncan MacLeod for three and a half years. __**And he means to catch him by surprise and behead him before midnight!**_

_"I know how badly you'll want to see Richie. But please, get away from your barge tonight! Go to holy ground. Have Dawson go to the barge, so he can try to reason with Richie._

_"And...I know you, Dawson, and Richie have all been friends of that old Immortal Methos. I have no idea where he is. But if he's in Paris, it would be a good idea to get him to the barge too, to protect Dawson. Richie's perfectly sane, but he still might perceive Ahriman as able to take any form._

_"Mac...you may be imagining I've gone rogue, somehow. The truth is that for the last year, I've been following up on Watchers' reports that Richie'd been seen alive. Dawson asked me to do that - he'll confirm it. All my investigating accomplished squat, but I finally learned the truth through sheer coincidence. Just in time...__**if**__ I'm in time._

_"Please, please, stay safe tonight!"_

A stunned Duncan simply stood there, frozen, for a long minute.

Then he saw Richie's quizzical look, and handed him the phone. "Listen to it yourself," he whispered.

When Richie had heard the message, he dropped into a chair, muttering, "My God..."

Pulling himself together, Duncan said, "Nick's a friend of mine, Rich. An Immortal. A young man - in his thirties, but a newer Immortal than you are."

"I know who he is. Sort of." Richie was shaking his head, in something like disbelief. "Talk about a small world! I sensed him stalking me in Africa. Caught a glimpse of him, learned his name - he wasn't using an alias. I thought he wanted to take my head - which could have meant he was a good guy, seeking revenge because he'd somehow learned I'd killed _you_.

"I wanted to die. But even though I wasn't really functional, I felt compelled to keep myself alive. To punish myself...and because I believed I was the only person who could_,_ sometime in the future, save the world from Ahriman. So I lit out, went to Brazil. That was where I ran into Monica - she'd stayed there, after we went there all those years ago for Carnivale. When I wound up telling her everything, she told me this Nick Wolfe is her _brother!_ By adoption, of course..."

Duncan couldn't stop himself from blurting out, "That was it! I knew the family that adopted Nick was black, knew he had a kid sister named Monica. I heard that less than two years ago. So _that's_ why I 'expected' a young woman named Monica to be black!"

"He's the relative of Monica's that I've been worried about," Richie explained. "Back when he was stalking me, I thought he could be either a bad guy or, like I said, a good guy trying to avenge you. Monica hadn't known he was Immortal till I told her, of course - she was shocked, but she said her brother couldn't possibly be a bad guy.

"Later, though, I became _certain_ no one but me had ever believed you were dead. So I couldn't guess what Monica's brother had been up to. Now I know."

"He thought his 'investigating' had accomplished squat," Duncan said thoughtfully. "So he must have concluded back in Africa that you _weren't_ Richie Ryan..."

Richie finished the thought. "And months later, he just 'dropped in' on Monica! She's the only one who could have told him what I was planning to do - the only one who _knew_. She was sure she could trust her brother, so she told him how worried she was. Hell, she was probably terrified.

"I'm sure she hadn't known, before I called her yesterday, that I'd been on the verge of killing _you_ - the real you. She probably told Nick she had no way of reaching me before midnight. So he decided not to upset her more by telling her I was about to make a terrible mistake."

Duncan nodded. "Yes, that sounds like Nick. And his having been in Brazil would explain that 'long plane flight' he mentioned."

They were still staring at each other, trying to absorb it all, when they sensed the approach of another Immortal. Heard an anxious voice yelling from the pier, "Mac? _Mac?_"

Duncan smiled. "I think you're about to make a new friend, Rich."

"Uh, yeah. Unless this guy thinks no man is good enough for his sister!"


	2. Chapter 2

"Okay, we're alone. And I've hiked halfway across Paris with you, in January, so you could introduce me to your fave restaurant. Neat restaurant. Now, what do you _really_ want to talk to me about?"

Nick Wolfe gulped. He hadn't thought he was that transparent.

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Nick had of course known before he arrived in Paris that tragedy had been averted. Monica had phoned him as soon as she'd learned the amazing outcome of Richie's "battle with Ahriman." Nick had gone weak with relief - been surprised his hair hadn't turned white.

He'd known, from Joe Dawson, that Duncan MacLeod was still refusing to take heads. Emulating _him_. (That thought always made him uncomfortable. It was one thing to make that decision for himself, quite another to feel responsible for the safety of the man he regarded as the best of all Immortals. The only one who could, if necessary, become the last survivor without endangering the world.)

_But if Mac didn't recognize Richie in the darkness, he might have decided he couldn't endanger the world by letting this apparently crazy opponent take his Quickening..._

Nick had envisioned at least a half-dozen scenarios. Too damn many of them had wound up with either Duncan MacLeod or Richie Ryan permanently dead, the other a shattered ruin.

_And either way, Monica would have been a shattered ruin too._

But that crisis, at least, was over. Nick had spent hours celebrating with Mac and Richie on the barge. Joe Dawson had joined them; even the legendary Methos had put in an appearance.

Nick had explained that while he'd been sure the man he'd been stalking in Africa was the one Watchers had thought resembled Richie, and could be sensed as an Immortal, he hadn't been able to conclude any more than that.

"I really couldn't be sure he was 'either Richie or Ahriman,' because he could just have been a previously unknown Immortal. Being Immortal myself kept me from getting close enough to see how strong that resemblance to Richie was. Even his skill at dodging me didn't prove anything, because he could sense me. Didn't prove, for example, that he knew about the Watchers."

He hadn't followed Richie to Brazil; Richie had succeeded in shaking him. He really had gone there to check on Monica, because there'd been something strange about the tenor of her recent e-mails and phone chats. And he'd found her totally distraught.

An exuberant Richie had phoned Monica from the barge, and all five men had talked to her. Nick last.

He'd heard an anguished whisper. "Nick! Don't do it!"

Keeping his voice casual, he'd asked, "Why not?"

"Because I have a better idea. Listen..."

He'd heard her out, then said firmly, "_No_. I won't let that happen." And hung up.

Feeling four pairs of curious eyes on him, he'd quipped, "Sisters, y'know? Worrywarts. Now that mine knows I'm Immortal - and still new at it - she thinks there's someone lurking around every corner, just waiting to take my head."

Joe Dawson had replied with a laugh, "You and I are the only guys here who've ever _had_ a sister. Mine is long dead, God bless her. But you're right about them. My sister was sure I'd be the first to go, killed by an Immortal who'd caught me Watching him. Hey, let's drink a toast to worrywart sisters!" They'd all complied.

When the impromptu party was winding down, Nick had managed to get MacLeod alone. Said in a low voice, "Hey, Mac. Will it be okay with you if I steal Richie for a bit? No offense, but...after all the poor guy's been through, I think it might be good for him to spend some time with someone in, uh, his own age bracket. Might help him get back to _feeling_ as young as he really is."

"No offense taken," Mac had assured him. "Great idea! But...you aren't going to give him grief about being with Monica, are you? Believe me, it isn't just a fling with him. He's really serious about her."

"I understand that. I know a mortal and an Immortal being in love is risky, for both of them. But I'd never try to stand in their way. And if I did, I'd get nowhere! Monica's always had a mind of her own...that's one of the things I love about her."

He'd used a different approach with Richie. "Would you be willing to come off with me for a couple hours - to a great restaurant I know? I'd love to share some stories with you, about Monica and me growing up together."

Evidently, Richie had sensed from the start that he'd really had something more important on his mind.

_Of course, if he didn't, my heading for this out-of-the-way corner booth may have given him a clue._

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He fiddled with his wineglass. Spent a long minute gazing into its depths. _Wish I knew how much he knows! It could save me a lot of time. But I can't risk assuming anything._

So at last he said, "Okay, I'll level with you. You're right, I didn't just want to chat about Monica's and my past.

"The truth is, I've learned something...extremely important. That I'm sure very few people know. It's about Immortals - affects all of us! But it's so shocking that I haven't dared tell even Mac. I sort of want to try it out first by telling someone young, a new Immortal like myself. Someone who hasn't been clinging to a set of beliefs for centuries. And I feel like you're almost my brother-in-law, whether or not you and Monica ever actually marry. So..._can_ I tell you this thing, in strict confidence?"

"Uh...of course!" Richie's expression was somewhere between flattered and simply stunned.

"Before I became Immortal," Nick began, "I'd had a police background, then worked in private security. And I'd been hanging out with Amanda - no, there was never any rivalry between Mac and me, over her! But I'd learned about Immortals from her.

"I found myself investigating an Immortal named Julian Heller - a really bad guy, at least at that point in his life. He was a doctor, had been one for centuries. In our time, he was a renowned transplant surgeon. But he secretly headed a ring of criminals who were killing vulnerable people and stealing their organs, for profit."

"Ugh."

" 'Ugh' is right. I knew how an Immortal can be killed permanently. And after a lot of provocation, I...well, I did it! I beheaded the guy."

Richie's jaw dropped. "Oh my God! You didn't even know you were a pre-Immortal?"

"Nope."

"Incredible. I don't think I would have had the guts to do it. And you got away with it?"

"Yes. There was a Quickening - Amanda was so near us that it went into her. But even so, it started a fire. The authorities were glad to see Heller dead. So they pounced on the excuse that gave them, and said he'd died in the fire.

"Mac knows all that. Here's the part he doesn't know. After Heller's death, his lawyers informed me about a will he'd written long before. Leaving everything to _me_, Nicholas Wolfe."

"Wh-what?"

"And they also gave me a letter he'd written long before...to me, to be delivered in the event of his death. In it, he informed me that _he was my father!_ He knew that for a fact, Richie! There are passages in the letter that prove he knew I was destined to become an Immortal - might or might not understand those passages at the time I'd be reading them. And he included details about the circumstances of where I was found and how I came to be adopted by the Wolfe family, that he couldn't have known if his story wasn't true."

_No need to admit I'd already known Immortals can father children, from hacking into Dawson's files. Or that I'd known Heller was my father, because I'd done research in the hope it was Mac! At least I haven't told any outright lies._

_Yet._

Richie was staring at him, open-mouthed. Then he said, "Ye gods...you killed your own father..."

"Yes."

"Nick...I think I can tell you this, because you're such a close friend of Mac's. I came within a hair's breadth of killing _my_ father!

"This seems crazy, but just last night, Mac and I learned from someone else that Immortals can father children. And by this morning, Mac had found proof he's my father."

Nick took a deep breath. _Good thing I acquired some acting skills, when I was working undercover as a cop..._

"Th-that's amazing!" He did his best to sound amazed. "That it's a fact, _and_ that you've just learned about Immortals being able to father children now, when I was about to tell you!"

He knew it must have been Methos who'd told them. He'd thought all along that Methos _might_ have told them - there was no longer a reason not to.

_But I guess he still didn't want them to know he's Mac's father. If he was telling them that, he would have told them the other half of the secret as well, not left Mac to figure it out for himself._

"I'm happy for you," he said slowly, "that you have such a _wonderful_ father.

"Your knowing that makes this a little easier for me. I thought I might have a hard time convincing you we're not sterile...might have to show you Heller's letter, as proof. I've kept it, of course. But it's in a safe deposit box, back in the States."

Now Richie looked puzzled, and slightly alarmed. "Wh-why did you think it was so important to convince _me?_ I mean, to think about showing me _proof_..."

He must have read the answer in Nick's eyes.

"We're not sterile...oh my God! I haven't seen Monica in months..._is she __**pregnant?**_"

Nick nodded. "Yes," he said quietly. "She's six months pregnant. She was a wreck when I saw her a few days ago! On top of fearing you were about to be killed by Ahriman, she was also afraid that if you survived and then saw her pregnant, you wouldn't believe the baby was yours. And believe me, she was most concerned about how hurt _you_ would be."

Richie had gone pale. "I like to think I would have believed her. But Mac - who's my idol - told me _he_ reacted badly when my mother tried to convince _him!_ So, God help me, I can't swear what I would have done...

"Maybe everything happens for a reason. The timing, I mean. Maybe God _is_ watching over us. Anyway -" A sudden smile lit up his face. "Right now, I'm the happiest Immortal who's ever lived!"

_Oh, no._ Nick almost wished he'd let Monica have her way. _Methos didn't tell them the bad part. I'll have to do it. Richie may not even survive a horror like this! And Mac will never forgive me..._

But it had to be done.

"Richie...I guess I'm thankful that you _want_ to be a father..."

"Of course I do! I'm thrilled! And I'm sorry Monica's been so worried about it. I'm gonna call her right now -"

"No!"

Richie, who'd been reaching into his pocket for his cell phone, pulled his hand back. "Wh-what's wrong?"

"Remember my telling you my father had been a doctor, for centuries? That's how he'd come to learn...what I have to tell you now."

_Okay, there's my first lie._ He'd learned it from the hacked Watcher files, wasn't sure Heller had even known. _Why do I still care about covering my own miserable ass, at this point? _

"Richie...I'm assuming you know it's only male Immortals who are fertile, supposedly very infrequently, with mortal women. The babies can be either sex, but they're always pre-Immortal.

"This is the part you and Mac were apparently never told. _The mothers always die_."

After a moment's pause, Richie said uncertainly, "Well...they're mortal. Of course they die eventually, don't stick around for their children for centuries, like we might..."

His voice trailed off. Eyes widened.

"Oh God...Mac told me my mother died right after I was born. We thought that was some sort of fluke. Are you saying the mothers _always_ die _then?_ _**After having the baby?**_"

"Yes. I'm sorry!" _Most inadequate thing I've ever said._

_Why the hell did I decide to tell him this in a restaurant?_

_Oh, yeah. Telling or not telling Mac will have to be Richie's decision. And I couldn't think of any other place I could plausibly ask him to go with me._

Richie was shaking like a leaf. "Oh God, oh God...Monica! _Does Monica know?_"

Nick nodded. ""Yes. Maybe it wasn't my place. But...I told her, and urged her to have an abortion."

"Yes, you were right to tell her. _Of course_ she should have an abortion! H-has she had it yet? Did you just not want to tell me she'd had an abortion till you could explain why?"

"No," Nick said miserably. "I'm sorry, Richie. She refused to consider it!

"At first she said it was because she's so far along - six months, remember? So near the time the baby might be able to survive. She said that by now, she thinks of it as a 'person' - couldn't live with herself if she 'killed' it. She probably knows whether it's a boy or girl - I was so upset I didn't think to ask her.

"An hour later, she'd done some more thinking, and told me she wouldn't have agreed to an abortion even if she'd known much sooner. Couldn't choose her life - a century at most - over that of a child who might live for thousands of years."

"Damn, damn, _damn!_" Richie wasn't trying to hold back his tears. "Maybe _I'll_ be able to reason with her. She'd encouraged me to believe in myself. But maybe she really believed Ahriman was going to kill me, and she wanted, at least, to have my child. Even if that wasn't it, maybe I can convince her that as the child's other parent - and the man who loves and needs _her_ - I should have some say in the matter!"

"You can try. But..." Nick hesitated, then said, "I've been thinking more about it, since I left her. Six months is pretty far into a pregnancy. Maybe...maybe the damage to Monica has been done already, and she'll die even if the baby's taken out of her now! If we were sure of that, the best course might be to try to save the baby -"

"God!" Richie buried his face in his hands. But he looked up after only a few seconds, and said grimly, "We can't be sure. But if you've thought of that possibility, Monica's thought of it by now, too. That'll make it even harder to get her to change her mind."

Nick shook his head. "I don't think there's ever been a chance of Monica's changing her mind, Richie. In fact...when I spoke to her on the phone back on the barge, she asked me _not to tell you!_ She said she'd break up with you via a 'Dear John' letter, and you'd never have to know about either her pregnancy or her death - she and I could make some arrangements for the baby. You'd be hurt, but now that we knew Duncan MacLeod was alive, she was sure you'd be able to cope."

"Good Lord. _Thank you_ for not agreeing to that! You did tell her you still meant to tell me?"

"Yes. I tried to imagine myself in your place. Hard to do...but I was sure that if it was me, and I really loved the woman, I wouldn't want anyone 'sparing' me. I'd want the truth."

They sat in wretched silence for five minutes.

Then Richie said decisively, "Okay. The first thing I'm going to do is call Monica. Tell her how much I love her - and that I'm going to fly down to Brazil and be with her, through all of this.

"The next thing I'm going to do is go back to the barge and tell Mac. And I'll also tell Joe, because he's a good friend. But especially, Methos."

Nick frowned. "Why 'especially Methos'?"

"You said Julian Heller knew the things he did because he was an Immortal who'd been a doctor for centuries. Methos has been one too, on and off, probably longer than Heller. He may not know a medical way out of this - but I'm sure as hell not gonna give up without asking him!"

x

x

x

Methos was crushed.

He'd been enjoying the happiest hours of his life, knowing Duncan MacLeod and Richie Ryan were both alive and well, joyously reunited.

Now a new disaster was unfolding. One for which he knew _he_ was to blame.

_Why didn't I warn them years ago? Even if I didn't want to get into the family thing, I could've told them there was a chance they could make mortal women pregnant. And kill them!_

Yes, Darius had told him it happened very infrequently. But still, he'd taken precautions in his own sex life, ever since Margaret MacLeod died in his arms. He couldn't have endured a repetition of that.

He'd forced himself to recognize that he might have fathered children older than Duncan. Children he'd never known, might even have killed. But there was none younger than Duncan...and never would be.

_I'm sure that if I'd run into him and become his friend while he was with Tessa - if I'd seen, close up, the depth of that love - I would have warned him. He and Tessa lucked out, at least in that sense. A dozen or so years, no pregnancy._

_How in blazes did it happen to Richie and his lover so quickly? Do Immortals have some kind of hive mind, that individuals aren't aware of? It got some of them all revved up about the millennium being the "Time of the Gathering," so there was way more headhunting than usual. That thinned the herd. Is fertility increasing now, to replenish the species?_

Foolish speculation, he realized. The "why" of it didn't matter; all that mattered was the impending death of a much-loved woman.

His misery was compounded by the fact that Duncan, Richie, Nick and Joe were all gazing piteously at _him_, as if they expected him to come up with some magic solution.

He opened his mouth. Meaning to say, "I'm sorry. I feel worse about this than you'll ever know, but I'm just as helpless as the rest of you."

Then a sudden thought struck him. And very different words came tumbling out.

"I have an idea! Looking at things a different way than I have been... Richie, do you know your blood type? And Monica's?"

Immortals had long been aware that for whatever reason, standard tests showed no difference between their blood and anyone else's. They could even be blood donors, without the recipients being either harmed or made Immortal.

"Uh, yes," Richie replied. "We're both A-positive."

"That's good. Here's what I'm thinking. I have known new mothers died in these situations - thought to be rare. I've always assumed they died because carrying a pre-Immortal fetus is somehow toxic. But nothing seems to go wrong till _after_ the delivery..." _At least, that's the way it was with Margaret._ "Richie, Nick - does either of you know whether Monica's been having any problems?"

Both of them said she'd told them the pregnancy was going well, with no complications. Nick, who'd actually seen her recently, added that despite being upset, she'd looked wonderful. The picture of health.

"Okay. We all know pre-Immortals and full Immortals are different from everyone else. Even when certain types of tests don't show it. I'm thinking now that when a woman is carrying a pre-Immortal fetus, her body may gradually adjust to having that 'different-ness' inside her. And when the baby's expelled from her womb, the shock at having the 'different-ness' _so suddenly_ _gone_ may be what kills her! By causing fatal hemorrhaging.

"If I'm right, we may be able to save Monica if we start soon to give her small transfusions of Richie's blood - I'm assuming our blood _is_ different, somehow - even though she doesn't need it. To get her body used to it. Then we should be ready, when postpartum hemorrhaging begins, to give her _huge_ transfusions of his blood - as much as needed. If she survives, we should keep giving her small transfusions, and wean her off the Immortal blood gradually. Any Immortal blood that's compatible with her blood type might do, but I'll feel safer if we can use blood from the baby's father..."

"Of course!" Richie had a dazed smile on his face. "Take all you need from me!"

"I won't plan on taking it all at once," Methos assured him, "with the baby not due for three more months. But even if you bleed to death a couple times, we all know you'll pop right back.

"I want to make clear that I'm not sure this will work! It's not based on some ancient wisdom, or on my being Superdoctor because I've been around for a while. We _couldn't_ have done it in an earlier era." _I couldn't have saved Margaret._ "But if no one has a better idea" - no one spoke up - "trying this beats doing nothing."

"Of course," Richie pointed out, "there's one more person who'll have to agree. But I can't see her objecting. Can it be done in Brazil?"

For the first time in hours, Methos managed a smile of his own. "One of my aliases is licensed to practice medicine there - and owns his own clinic! So I'd say Brazil will be just about perfect."

x

x

x

_High noon in Rio de Janeiro, early April._

Methos hadn't known an anxiety-free moment in the last three months. He kept telling himself the ordeal was worse for MacLeod, Nick Wolfe, and above all, Richie and Monica.

_But I'm the one who may have given them false hope._

Once he'd thought of his new diagnosis, he'd never doubted it. He was sure the deaths of all those mortal mothers had been caused, not by their having carried pre-Immortal infants in their wombs, but by the necessarily abrupt _removal_ of the infants.

But just about every other day, his proposed "treatment" had struck him as ridiculous. How could "Immortal blood" solve the problem, when in other medical uses, it functioned exactly like anyone else's blood? He'd even considered replacing one of Monica's perfectly healthy kidneys with one of Richie's, so Immortal tissue would be left in her body permanently. Both young people had been game. But he'd finally decided the risk would be too great. To his knowledge, no one had ever transplanted an Immortal's organ into a mortal; it could prove fatal. (Not to mention the fact that he wasn't capable of performing transplant surgery - and even in his own clinic, he'd have a hard time persuading a surgeon to do something that irregular.)

He'd insisted all the interested Immortals come to Rio separately, by circuitous routes, to elude possible enemies. That degree of - paranoia? - had had a decidedly sobering effect on Richie and Monica. _But if they hope to stay together and raise this child, they have to know what they'll be letting themselves in for._

He and MacLeod had loved Monica from the moment they laid eyes on her. _If we lose her, we won't be grieving only for Richie's sake! This young woman is a treasure._

Now Monica _Ryan_ - a proud new bride - was in labor, and he was prepared to deliver the baby. As they now knew, a boy.

"Methos?" she gasped. "You know I trust you. But...if this doesn't work...will I live long enough to see the baby? To hold him?"

"Yes." _I'm glad that's the truth._

"Good. I want that so much! And...I have to tell you something...I just told Richie this morning.

"If I'd known all along...he could make me pregnant...and it would kill me...I would have wanted it to happen!

"I would have...told him I was on the pill...and stopped taking them.

"I want to have a child of ours..._his and mine_...who can live forever!"

Methos felt tears welling up in his eyes. _There are no guarantees, Monica. Richie - __**and**__ the child - might wind up dying before you do._ But to keep the tone light, he said, "I don't think Richie would have relied on those pills. I can picture you poking holes in his condoms!"

She laughed - then screeched.

And with one final push, the baby came into the world.

x

x

x

A month later, _both_ loving parents were ready to take little Darius Ryan away with them.

Far away.

This change in their lives was bittersweet. They'd acknowledged that if they wanted to try living as a family - a mortal-and-Immortal couple, raising a pre-Immortal child - they couldn't risk staying close to their other loved ones. Richie would see his own newfound father only occasionally. Monica would not only see less of Nick, but cut all ties with her parents and brother Aaron.

Methos's heart ached for MacLeod.

And for himself.

But while MacLeod was bidding farewell to Richie, and Nick to Monica, he held baby Darius in his arms. Lifted him, briefly, over his head.

And then whispered into his ear, _"Blood of my blood."_

x

x

x

The End


End file.

Highlander