Leading the Blind
"Richie, are you up yet?" Tessa called outside his bedroom door.
"Yeah Tess," Richie said, appearing behind Tessa, "I'm up."
"You certainly have been quiet," Tessa said, "if I didn't know any better, I'd swear you were still asleep."
Duncan looked up from the newspaper, Richie being too quiet for anyone to know he was awake, "Is something wrong?"
"No...nothing's wrong," Richie replied.
"Are you sure?" Duncan asked.
"Yes," Richie responded, getting annoyed by his asking.
"Well, if you say so," Duncan started.
"I do," Richie returned, "what's the matter with you? Did I do something that bent my credability completely out of shape?"
"No you didn't," Duncan said, "which reminds me...would you like to guess who is going to be helping me when I get my orders in today?"
Richie glared at him with eyes that practically screamed: Get out of my face. Finally he said, "You're a sick man MacLeod."
"It's part of my charm," Duncan returned his eyes to the paper, "or so I'm told."
"You call that charm," Richie replied, "I call it-"
"Watch your mouth," Duncan said, not taking his eyes off the paper, "there are ladies present."
"Really? Where?" Richie jokingly looked around.
Tessa took the paper from Duncan, rolled it up and tapped Richie on the head with it.
"What?" Richie turned around.
"I'm serious Richie," Duncan told him, "you've been here almost a month, would it kill you to watch your language?"
"It might," Richie replied, "I go to my old part of town, and say to one of the local thugs 'Hello sir, lovely weather we're having', I'll get stoned to death."
"Richie, are you serious?" Tessa asked.
"Sure am, they pin you to a wall and throw stones at you all day. And sometimes it's worse, sometimes they throw cement blocks, and bricks as well. I'm telling ya, Mac, virtues get you nowhere except pounded six feet below," Richie said.
"Richie, I think you may be over-reacting a bit," Duncan told him.
"Yeah, sure, Mac," Richie replied, "if you think I'm overreacting, then why don't you go on over there and try it for yourself? Cuz I sure as hell am not going to be the Gineau pig."
"Richie," Duncan warned him.
"Sorry, regardless Mac, incase you forgot, I'm still getting used to being here, sometimes when I get up, for an instant, I forget I'm living with you guys," Richie told him.
"And sometimes when I get up, I forget I'm not-"
"Duncan!" Tessa cut him off.
"What is it?" Richie asked her.
"I don't know, but usually these types of conversations don't end well," Tessa said.
"Look, Richie, I don't ask much from you, could you try to be nice today?" Duncan asked.
Richie stared at him for a long time saying nothing, finally he turned around and left the kitchen.
"What'd I say?" Duncan asked.
"Nothing, nothing at all," Tessa said, leaving the room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Richie, what're you doing?" Duncan asked as he entered the next room, and found the boy crouched down on the floor beside the table.
"Trying to fix the leg on this crooked table, it keeps coming loose and everything tilts to the right," the lad replied, "trust me Mac, you don't want to set your coffee down here."
Duncan got down on the floor next to Richie to observe his work, he was getting nowhere fast.
"Why don't you let me take care of that, Richie?" Duncan asked.
"No, I can get it, Mac," Richie refused.
"Richie, that's unnecessary, I can do it," Duncan insisted.
"Man, what is wrong with you?" Richie snapped, "you're always reminding me to do what I'm asked, and when I try to do something without you nagging me to do it, you don't want me doing it, why don't you make up your mind?"
"I didn't know about the table until now, although I'm glad you are learning to do these things without being asked, why didn't you tell me? I could've done it," Duncan said.
"Mac!" Richie complained, "What's the matter? Huh? Am I doing it wrong? Is it not how you wanted it fixed? What's the matter with you? Why is it no matter how hard I try, to you I keep screwing everything up!?"
Richie wasn't one to quickly forget something, Duncan quickly found that out. Over the past few days, they'd engaged in arguments concerning Richie's responsibility around the shop. A few times, Richie had forgotten a few tasks Duncan had requested him to take care of, a few other times, Richie had tried to get the work done without being told, and it only resulted in a larger mess than the first place. To Richie, this was just another fight between the two of them, another one to mark down in his records, to Duncan, it was like an expert college course, Raising Teenagers101.
Yes, Duncan knew taking in a street-savy teenager, the same one who broke into his store and told the police about he, Connor, and Slan Quince, would be a challenge. A challenge was what he had expected, but instead, it seemed like since he moved in, they were going through 20 rounds of arguing, and this one that had come up out of nowhere in the last few days was the fight to the death. Richie had been taking up a real attitude with Duncan, and he was getting tired of it, he wasn't sure where it was coming from, but he was certain it would stop soon.
Duncan looked at the boy, who seemed to be on the edge of exploding at him, he just had one of those looks on his face, that every-day teenaged 'get out of my way' look. Duncan had been seeing quite a lot of that face lately, and he was getting tired of it.
"Richie, I've seen a lot of you in the last month, and I've seen enough of that look on your face, now get rid of it," Duncan said in a firm voice.
"How bout I do you one better?" Richie stood up, "And just get rid of myself?"
The last time Richie said that, which was two days ago, he went to his room, slammed the door and locked himself in for 5 hours. As Duncan opened his mouth to say something, the boy quickly cut him off.
"Oh but don't worry, I'll be around when your orders come, I wouldn't want you to think I'm incapable of doing that around here," Richie said, with both anger and hurt in his voice.
Like Duncan had predicted, Richie went into his room and slammed the door.
Duncan let out a long, lingering breath, and said to himself, this is going to be one of those days.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Allright Richie, get moving, the truck's here," Duncan told him.
"Right," Richie said as he ran out the door.
Richie ran out to the truck, signed for the packages, and started taking them in before Duncan could get out there. Richie passed by him on the way in with two heavy packages, one in each arm.
"Hey Mac," Richie said.
"Hey Rich-" It then hit Duncan that Richie had already passed him.
For some reason, Duncan saw Richie as being a little too cocky today, and he also seemed to be a bit careless as he brought in the packages. Duncan went after Richie to make sure he didn't drop anything.
"Richie, be careful with those!" Duncan warned him.
"Yes Mac," Richie said, paying little attention to what he said.
"Don't hold them so loose, they'll drop," Duncan added.
"Yes Mac," Richie repeated.
Richie took the packages into the storage room and started to set them down near the door.
"Richie," Duncan followed him in, "don't set them down there, put them over here!"
"Yes Mac," Richie picked up the packages again and went over to the other side of the room.
Unfortunately for Richie, in an instant, one of the packages got loose and fell from the grasp of his arm and landed on Duncan's foot.
"Ouch! Richie! Try to be more careful!" Duncan screamed.
"Sorry, Mac," Richie bent over and picked up the package again.
"You see Richie?" Duncan asked, "Do you see what happens when you get careless?"
Richie shook the package and when he didn't hear anything, he set it down and tapped on it, whatever was in it was metal.
"Doesn't sound like it's broken to me, I don't see what the problem is," Richie said.
"You know very well what the problem is, you're still too reckless with some things," Duncan told him.
Richie set the other package down on the table and turned to face Duncan, "You know what? I'm sorry Mac, I'm trying here, but apparently it isn't good enough for you. I'm sorry I'm not the ideal kid you want me to be, you come from a different time with different rules...as do I, you live by your rules, I live by mine...I'm trying to be nice here, but with all honesty, it's getting on my freakin' nerves."
"That does it Richie!" Duncan exploded, "I've had it with you being so irresponsible and unappreciative around here. You can't do what you're told, you don't mind your manners around company, all you think about is yourself, what is the matter with you?!"
"I have a fucking drill sergeant for a father, that's what the hell's wrong with me!" Richie defended himself.
"Richie-" Duncan quickly got cut off.
"And another thing, I'm not irresponsible, and I'm tired of YOU only thinking about YOURSELF around here, I didn't come to live in bootcamp, I'm leaving!" Richie said.
No sooner had those words left his mouth, Richie headed out of the store, he jumped on his motorcycle and left. Tessa saw him leave and went in to speak with Duncan.
"What just happened? Where's Richie going?" Tessa asked.
"We just had a heated argument, I think he's being irresponsible, he thinks I'm being self-centered, so he left," Duncan said.
"What!?" Tessa asked, "You mean permanently?"
"I highly doubt he'll take it to that extent, he basically made the threat to take off like that...but I think once he cools down, he'll come back," Duncan said.
"Then what'll you do?" Tessa asked.
"Then we're going to discuss quite frankly...what the hell's been going on here that he would think I'm only thinking of myself," Duncan said.
"I see," Tessa said, "and where did you get the same idea about him?"
"Tess, how long has Richie been staying here?" Duncan asked her.
"About a month," Tessa calmly answered.
"And how long in that period of time have I been trying to teach Richie to have respect for people, and to mind his manners, especially when we have company over?" Duncan asked.
"Since day one," Tessa answered.
"At first, he simply refused, and I figured, 'he's not used to surroundings like these, he's not used to being around people that actually want him, give him some time to break in his welcome around here, be patient and eventually he'll come around'. For a while, I thought it was working, now all of a sudden, he's acting different, Tess," Duncan told her.
"Different?" Tessa briefly laughed, "what do you mean different? Did you walk in on him trying on my dresses and high heels?"
"Tessa, the boy has suddenly become ruthless, you saw him being a smart aleck earlier, it'll only get him in trouble again, and he doesn't seem to care, he only cares about himself," Duncan said.
"And you find it odd he thinks the same way about you?" Tessa asked.
"What're you talking about, Tess?" Duncan asked.
"Duncan, you're expecting so much from Richie based on YOUR view on the world, YOUR view on how he does behave AND should behave, YOUR view of how everything goes, YOUR view of everything, is it any wonder he said you were thinking only of yourself?" Tessa asked.
"Tess, I'm only thinking about what's best for him," Duncan explained to her.
"Yes, but the best in whose eyes? Yours, or his?" Tessa asked.
"Tessa, you should have heard what the boy was saying earlier," Duncan said.
"Oh, I imagine it couldn't have been anything that awful," Tessa laughed it off, "what did he say?"
"He started in again about leaving, I think somehow he's gotten the impression that we only want him here to work, earlier he was trying to fix the table and when I told him I'd do it, he snapped at me," Duncan explained.
"Duncan," Tessa laughed, "that's exactly what teenagers do, it's practically their job, you've just never been around any long enough to know, they're always acting smart aleck, like they know more than us, rebellious."
"Well I'm getting tired of it," Duncan told her.
"Parents always do, but think about how Richie must be, his teenaged hormones are still going crazy on him, he's been abandoned by everyone and everything in his entire life, the man who takes him in and actually cares for him, is the same man who owns the antique store he broke into, and then, is also the same man who is 400 years old and battles with other Immortals, which ends with taking their heads. Now, he's trying to get adapted to living here with us, I think for his first month here, he's done a good job, and he's always trying, Duncan. Trying to please me, trying to please you, that's what he's been doing the most of aside from anything else. You can't always expect him to be perfect and never make any mistakes," Tessa said, "he is going to have his teenaged explosions now and then, you just can't take everyone as a personal attack at you.I do however, think that you have a little explaining to do when he gets back."
Duncan glared at the clock, it was going on 9, he figured the lad would be back in an hour at the most...
He was wrong.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I don't believe it, 2 hours, 2 hours and he's not back yet, didn't I tell you, Tessa? Didn't I tell you he was irresponsible?!" Duncan exploded.
At first, Ducnan had been waiting for Richie to return so he could explain himself, he figured Tessa was right and he had been too harsh on the lad. Now the way he saw it, he wasn't harsh enough, now Richie had to explain himself when he got back.
"I don't believe it, he's never been gone this long before, do you think he's allright?" Tessa asked.
"For now, yes, but when he gets back, I'll-"
Duncan got cut off when the Immortal buzz struck him, he half-expected it to be Richie returning, but nevertheless, he grabbed his katana and headed to the front door as the Immortal came around, "I am Duncan MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod."
"So what do I look like?" Connor asked as he stepped in the store, "The Avon lady?"
Duncan sighed in relief and put his sword down.
"Connor, where did you come from?" Tessa asked.
"New York, where else?" Connor grinned.
"I think what Tessa meant was, what are you doing here?" Duncan asked.
"I was in town on business and thought I'd drop by, so what's been going on here since I left?" Connor asked.
"It's a long story," Tessa said.
"And we can discuss it another time, right now, Richie's been gone for the last 2 hours and I don't have any idea where the hell he is!"
"Calm down, Duncan, what happened?" Connor asked.
"He and Richie were arguing about something, Richie got mad and took off on his bike, we haven't seen him since," Tessa calmly explained with a hint of panic in her voice.
"Well calm down, Duncan, I'm sure he's not too far off," Connor told him.
"Maybe not, but he'll wish he was by the time I get through with him," Duncan said.
"Duncan, what are you going to do to him?" Tessa asked, concerned about Richie's near future.
"I'm just going to lay down the law around here, Tess, he can't be careless like this and not expect it to backfire at him," Duncan briefly explained.
"Duncan MacLeod, I swear if you raise a hand to Richie, I'll-"
Before Tessa could finish her not-so empty threat, there was a knock at the door, it was a police officer, Duncan went over and opened the door.
"Can I help you?" Duncan asked.
"Are you Duncan MacLeod?" he asked.
"Yes I am, why?" Duncan asked, "Is something the matter?"
"Just a minute," the officer went around the corner and came back with Richie caught by the back of his shirt, "this kid yours?"
Richie got loose from the officer's grip and walked in a few feet, "Hi Mac."
"Richie, my goodness!" Tessa ran forth and embraced the boy, "are you allright, mon petit?"
"Thank you officer, I'm sorry if he caused you any trouble," Duncan said.
"No trouble, in fact he's lucky I saw him when I did, I was investigating a homicide a few blocks from here, when I heard this crash, so my partner and I ran around the corner, the next thing we knew, we saw this kid lying on the pavement somewhere. So, we took him to the hospital to make sure he wasn't seriously damaged, he declared himself well enough to check out and get back here to his family. Even though the boy insisted he was fine, I decided he should have a police escort, you know, for protection," the officer explained.
Duncan thought for a minute, something here was amiss, surely by now every flatfoot within a 5 mile radius would know of Richie Ryan, unless...
"You're new to the police, aren't you?" Connor asked.
"Yes, but what I lack in experience, I make up for in knowledge," the officer said.
"Thank you for bringing him back," Duncan said, "good day, officer."
Tessa let go of Richie and took a few steps back to give him some room to breathe, Duncan closed the door and waited until the officer was out of sight, then he turned to face Richie.
"Richie, what is the matter with you!? How could you have been so STUPID!? Being reckless at work is one thing, but going off for TWO HOURS without an explanation!? WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?" Duncan yelled in Richie's ear.
"Thanks a lot Mac, just what I need! First, I get yelled at here at work cuz I can't do anything right, then I go off to blow some steam, I get in an accident and you STILL yell at me! Great, just wonderful!" Richie replied.
To Duncan, Richie seemed to be carrying the same attitude he left with, but to Tessa, the boy seemed on the verge of tears.
"Duncan, don't yell at him, he's just been in an accident for goodness sake!" Tessa said, "Richie, are you sure you're allright?"
"He was fine up till now," Duncan exploded, "That does it Richie, I'm going to-"
Duncan got cut off when there was another knock at the door, it was the officer again, this time, Connor answered.
"Mister MacLeod, I wouldn't go hard on the boy if I were you, it's not his fault he's blind," he said.
Everyone was speechless as they went in shock, the officer left a few seconds afterwards. For several minutes, no one knew what to say, or even what to think. Finally, Tessa mustered up the strength to say something.
"R--Richie," she finally said, "you're blind?"
"As a bat," Richie admitted.
"My God, I can't believe this," Connor said.
"Hi Connor," Richie said, an odd sense of optimism remaining in his voice.
"Richie, what happened?" Tessa asked.
"Ah I don't know Tess, the minute I got out of here, I was mad as hell, I didn't care where I went or what happened...I just wanted to get away from here, you know, go someplace private, yell at myself, maybe break a few things, cool off and come back. Well...I was so incredibly angry, my vision was blurred for like 2 seconds, the next thing I know, I fell off my bike, and rolled down the street a few times before coming to a complete stop and hitting my head harder than when I fell off. I blacked out, when I woke up, I realized I couldn't see anything and at first panicked. Then the cops came around, I didn't say anything because I had no idea what was going on, when they told me I was in a hospital, I told the doctor I was fine and could be checked out. When the officer stopped me to offer an escort home, I told him I couldn't see, but I needed someone to be with my when I went back to the hospital, you know, to make sure they weren't screwing with something that would make my condition worse. So I gave him the address and he brought me back," Richie calmly explained.
Everyone was in shock by his story, the worst part of it was that it seemed he was telling the truth. Tessa murmured a few French words and took the boy in her arms, stroking the back of his head as she fought to keep the tears from falling from her eyes. Right now, the last thing Richie needed was the people looking after him falling apart. Duncan felt awful, not only because the officer had caught him yelling at the boy, but now he was unable to see, practically helpless, and it was his fault and his fault only. Duncan had failed to show Richie his presence was appreciated around their home, now he had to make sure he got Richie the best care possible.
"Richie, are you up yet?" Tessa called outside his bedroom door.
"Yeah Tess," Richie said, appearing behind Tessa, "I'm up."
"You certainly have been quiet," Tessa said, "if I didn't know any better, I'd swear you were still asleep."
Duncan looked up from the newspaper, Richie being too quiet for anyone to know he was awake, "Is something wrong?"
"No...nothing's wrong," Richie replied.
"Are you sure?" Duncan asked.
"Yes," Richie responded, getting annoyed by his asking.
"Well, if you say so," Duncan started.
"I do," Richie returned, "what's the matter with you? Did I do something that bent my credability completely out of shape?"
"No you didn't," Duncan said, "which reminds me...would you like to guess who is going to be helping me when I get my orders in today?"
Richie glared at him with eyes that practically screamed: Get out of my face. Finally he said, "You're a sick man MacLeod."
"It's part of my charm," Duncan returned his eyes to the paper, "or so I'm told."
"You call that charm," Richie replied, "I call it-"
"Watch your mouth," Duncan said, not taking his eyes off the paper, "there are ladies present."
"Really? Where?" Richie jokingly looked around.
Tessa took the paper from Duncan, rolled it up and tapped Richie on the head with it.
"What?" Richie turned around.
"I'm serious Richie," Duncan told him, "you've been here almost a month, would it kill you to watch your language?"
"It might," Richie replied, "I go to my old part of town, and say to one of the local thugs 'Hello sir, lovely weather we're having', I'll get stoned to death."
"Richie, are you serious?" Tessa asked.
"Sure am, they pin you to a wall and throw stones at you all day. And sometimes it's worse, sometimes they throw cement blocks, and bricks as well. I'm telling ya, Mac, virtues get you nowhere except pounded six feet below," Richie said.
"Richie, I think you may be over-reacting a bit," Duncan told him.
"Yeah, sure, Mac," Richie replied, "if you think I'm overreacting, then why don't you go on over there and try it for yourself? Cuz I sure as hell am not going to be the Gineau pig."
"Richie," Duncan warned him.
"Sorry, regardless Mac, incase you forgot, I'm still getting used to being here, sometimes when I get up, for an instant, I forget I'm living with you guys," Richie told him.
"And sometimes when I get up, I forget I'm not-"
"Duncan!" Tessa cut him off.
"What is it?" Richie asked her.
"I don't know, but usually these types of conversations don't end well," Tessa said.
"Look, Richie, I don't ask much from you, could you try to be nice today?" Duncan asked.
Richie stared at him for a long time saying nothing, finally he turned around and left the kitchen.
"What'd I say?" Duncan asked.
"Nothing, nothing at all," Tessa said, leaving the room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Richie, what're you doing?" Duncan asked as he entered the next room, and found the boy crouched down on the floor beside the table.
"Trying to fix the leg on this crooked table, it keeps coming loose and everything tilts to the right," the lad replied, "trust me Mac, you don't want to set your coffee down here."
Duncan got down on the floor next to Richie to observe his work, he was getting nowhere fast.
"Why don't you let me take care of that, Richie?" Duncan asked.
"No, I can get it, Mac," Richie refused.
"Richie, that's unnecessary, I can do it," Duncan insisted.
"Man, what is wrong with you?" Richie snapped, "you're always reminding me to do what I'm asked, and when I try to do something without you nagging me to do it, you don't want me doing it, why don't you make up your mind?"
"I didn't know about the table until now, although I'm glad you are learning to do these things without being asked, why didn't you tell me? I could've done it," Duncan said.
"Mac!" Richie complained, "What's the matter? Huh? Am I doing it wrong? Is it not how you wanted it fixed? What's the matter with you? Why is it no matter how hard I try, to you I keep screwing everything up!?"
Richie wasn't one to quickly forget something, Duncan quickly found that out. Over the past few days, they'd engaged in arguments concerning Richie's responsibility around the shop. A few times, Richie had forgotten a few tasks Duncan had requested him to take care of, a few other times, Richie had tried to get the work done without being told, and it only resulted in a larger mess than the first place. To Richie, this was just another fight between the two of them, another one to mark down in his records, to Duncan, it was like an expert college course, Raising Teenagers101.
Yes, Duncan knew taking in a street-savy teenager, the same one who broke into his store and told the police about he, Connor, and Slan Quince, would be a challenge. A challenge was what he had expected, but instead, it seemed like since he moved in, they were going through 20 rounds of arguing, and this one that had come up out of nowhere in the last few days was the fight to the death. Richie had been taking up a real attitude with Duncan, and he was getting tired of it, he wasn't sure where it was coming from, but he was certain it would stop soon.
Duncan looked at the boy, who seemed to be on the edge of exploding at him, he just had one of those looks on his face, that every-day teenaged 'get out of my way' look. Duncan had been seeing quite a lot of that face lately, and he was getting tired of it.
"Richie, I've seen a lot of you in the last month, and I've seen enough of that look on your face, now get rid of it," Duncan said in a firm voice.
"How bout I do you one better?" Richie stood up, "And just get rid of myself?"
The last time Richie said that, which was two days ago, he went to his room, slammed the door and locked himself in for 5 hours. As Duncan opened his mouth to say something, the boy quickly cut him off.
"Oh but don't worry, I'll be around when your orders come, I wouldn't want you to think I'm incapable of doing that around here," Richie said, with both anger and hurt in his voice.
Like Duncan had predicted, Richie went into his room and slammed the door.
Duncan let out a long, lingering breath, and said to himself, this is going to be one of those days.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Allright Richie, get moving, the truck's here," Duncan told him.
"Right," Richie said as he ran out the door.
Richie ran out to the truck, signed for the packages, and started taking them in before Duncan could get out there. Richie passed by him on the way in with two heavy packages, one in each arm.
"Hey Mac," Richie said.
"Hey Rich-" It then hit Duncan that Richie had already passed him.
For some reason, Duncan saw Richie as being a little too cocky today, and he also seemed to be a bit careless as he brought in the packages. Duncan went after Richie to make sure he didn't drop anything.
"Richie, be careful with those!" Duncan warned him.
"Yes Mac," Richie said, paying little attention to what he said.
"Don't hold them so loose, they'll drop," Duncan added.
"Yes Mac," Richie repeated.
Richie took the packages into the storage room and started to set them down near the door.
"Richie," Duncan followed him in, "don't set them down there, put them over here!"
"Yes Mac," Richie picked up the packages again and went over to the other side of the room.
Unfortunately for Richie, in an instant, one of the packages got loose and fell from the grasp of his arm and landed on Duncan's foot.
"Ouch! Richie! Try to be more careful!" Duncan screamed.
"Sorry, Mac," Richie bent over and picked up the package again.
"You see Richie?" Duncan asked, "Do you see what happens when you get careless?"
Richie shook the package and when he didn't hear anything, he set it down and tapped on it, whatever was in it was metal.
"Doesn't sound like it's broken to me, I don't see what the problem is," Richie said.
"You know very well what the problem is, you're still too reckless with some things," Duncan told him.
Richie set the other package down on the table and turned to face Duncan, "You know what? I'm sorry Mac, I'm trying here, but apparently it isn't good enough for you. I'm sorry I'm not the ideal kid you want me to be, you come from a different time with different rules...as do I, you live by your rules, I live by mine...I'm trying to be nice here, but with all honesty, it's getting on my freakin' nerves."
"That does it Richie!" Duncan exploded, "I've had it with you being so irresponsible and unappreciative around here. You can't do what you're told, you don't mind your manners around company, all you think about is yourself, what is the matter with you?!"
"I have a fucking drill sergeant for a father, that's what the hell's wrong with me!" Richie defended himself.
"Richie-" Duncan quickly got cut off.
"And another thing, I'm not irresponsible, and I'm tired of YOU only thinking about YOURSELF around here, I didn't come to live in bootcamp, I'm leaving!" Richie said.
No sooner had those words left his mouth, Richie headed out of the store, he jumped on his motorcycle and left. Tessa saw him leave and went in to speak with Duncan.
"What just happened? Where's Richie going?" Tessa asked.
"We just had a heated argument, I think he's being irresponsible, he thinks I'm being self-centered, so he left," Duncan said.
"What!?" Tessa asked, "You mean permanently?"
"I highly doubt he'll take it to that extent, he basically made the threat to take off like that...but I think once he cools down, he'll come back," Duncan said.
"Then what'll you do?" Tessa asked.
"Then we're going to discuss quite frankly...what the hell's been going on here that he would think I'm only thinking of myself," Duncan said.
"I see," Tessa said, "and where did you get the same idea about him?"
"Tess, how long has Richie been staying here?" Duncan asked her.
"About a month," Tessa calmly answered.
"And how long in that period of time have I been trying to teach Richie to have respect for people, and to mind his manners, especially when we have company over?" Duncan asked.
"Since day one," Tessa answered.
"At first, he simply refused, and I figured, 'he's not used to surroundings like these, he's not used to being around people that actually want him, give him some time to break in his welcome around here, be patient and eventually he'll come around'. For a while, I thought it was working, now all of a sudden, he's acting different, Tess," Duncan told her.
"Different?" Tessa briefly laughed, "what do you mean different? Did you walk in on him trying on my dresses and high heels?"
"Tessa, the boy has suddenly become ruthless, you saw him being a smart aleck earlier, it'll only get him in trouble again, and he doesn't seem to care, he only cares about himself," Duncan said.
"And you find it odd he thinks the same way about you?" Tessa asked.
"What're you talking about, Tess?" Duncan asked.
"Duncan, you're expecting so much from Richie based on YOUR view on the world, YOUR view on how he does behave AND should behave, YOUR view of how everything goes, YOUR view of everything, is it any wonder he said you were thinking only of yourself?" Tessa asked.
"Tess, I'm only thinking about what's best for him," Duncan explained to her.
"Yes, but the best in whose eyes? Yours, or his?" Tessa asked.
"Tessa, you should have heard what the boy was saying earlier," Duncan said.
"Oh, I imagine it couldn't have been anything that awful," Tessa laughed it off, "what did he say?"
"He started in again about leaving, I think somehow he's gotten the impression that we only want him here to work, earlier he was trying to fix the table and when I told him I'd do it, he snapped at me," Duncan explained.
"Duncan," Tessa laughed, "that's exactly what teenagers do, it's practically their job, you've just never been around any long enough to know, they're always acting smart aleck, like they know more than us, rebellious."
"Well I'm getting tired of it," Duncan told her.
"Parents always do, but think about how Richie must be, his teenaged hormones are still going crazy on him, he's been abandoned by everyone and everything in his entire life, the man who takes him in and actually cares for him, is the same man who owns the antique store he broke into, and then, is also the same man who is 400 years old and battles with other Immortals, which ends with taking their heads. Now, he's trying to get adapted to living here with us, I think for his first month here, he's done a good job, and he's always trying, Duncan. Trying to please me, trying to please you, that's what he's been doing the most of aside from anything else. You can't always expect him to be perfect and never make any mistakes," Tessa said, "he is going to have his teenaged explosions now and then, you just can't take everyone as a personal attack at you.I do however, think that you have a little explaining to do when he gets back."
Duncan glared at the clock, it was going on 9, he figured the lad would be back in an hour at the most...
He was wrong.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I don't believe it, 2 hours, 2 hours and he's not back yet, didn't I tell you, Tessa? Didn't I tell you he was irresponsible?!" Duncan exploded.
At first, Ducnan had been waiting for Richie to return so he could explain himself, he figured Tessa was right and he had been too harsh on the lad. Now the way he saw it, he wasn't harsh enough, now Richie had to explain himself when he got back.
"I don't believe it, he's never been gone this long before, do you think he's allright?" Tessa asked.
"For now, yes, but when he gets back, I'll-"
Duncan got cut off when the Immortal buzz struck him, he half-expected it to be Richie returning, but nevertheless, he grabbed his katana and headed to the front door as the Immortal came around, "I am Duncan MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod."
"So what do I look like?" Connor asked as he stepped in the store, "The Avon lady?"
Duncan sighed in relief and put his sword down.
"Connor, where did you come from?" Tessa asked.
"New York, where else?" Connor grinned.
"I think what Tessa meant was, what are you doing here?" Duncan asked.
"I was in town on business and thought I'd drop by, so what's been going on here since I left?" Connor asked.
"It's a long story," Tessa said.
"And we can discuss it another time, right now, Richie's been gone for the last 2 hours and I don't have any idea where the hell he is!"
"Calm down, Duncan, what happened?" Connor asked.
"He and Richie were arguing about something, Richie got mad and took off on his bike, we haven't seen him since," Tessa calmly explained with a hint of panic in her voice.
"Well calm down, Duncan, I'm sure he's not too far off," Connor told him.
"Maybe not, but he'll wish he was by the time I get through with him," Duncan said.
"Duncan, what are you going to do to him?" Tessa asked, concerned about Richie's near future.
"I'm just going to lay down the law around here, Tess, he can't be careless like this and not expect it to backfire at him," Duncan briefly explained.
"Duncan MacLeod, I swear if you raise a hand to Richie, I'll-"
Before Tessa could finish her not-so empty threat, there was a knock at the door, it was a police officer, Duncan went over and opened the door.
"Can I help you?" Duncan asked.
"Are you Duncan MacLeod?" he asked.
"Yes I am, why?" Duncan asked, "Is something the matter?"
"Just a minute," the officer went around the corner and came back with Richie caught by the back of his shirt, "this kid yours?"
Richie got loose from the officer's grip and walked in a few feet, "Hi Mac."
"Richie, my goodness!" Tessa ran forth and embraced the boy, "are you allright, mon petit?"
"Thank you officer, I'm sorry if he caused you any trouble," Duncan said.
"No trouble, in fact he's lucky I saw him when I did, I was investigating a homicide a few blocks from here, when I heard this crash, so my partner and I ran around the corner, the next thing we knew, we saw this kid lying on the pavement somewhere. So, we took him to the hospital to make sure he wasn't seriously damaged, he declared himself well enough to check out and get back here to his family. Even though the boy insisted he was fine, I decided he should have a police escort, you know, for protection," the officer explained.
Duncan thought for a minute, something here was amiss, surely by now every flatfoot within a 5 mile radius would know of Richie Ryan, unless...
"You're new to the police, aren't you?" Connor asked.
"Yes, but what I lack in experience, I make up for in knowledge," the officer said.
"Thank you for bringing him back," Duncan said, "good day, officer."
Tessa let go of Richie and took a few steps back to give him some room to breathe, Duncan closed the door and waited until the officer was out of sight, then he turned to face Richie.
"Richie, what is the matter with you!? How could you have been so STUPID!? Being reckless at work is one thing, but going off for TWO HOURS without an explanation!? WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?" Duncan yelled in Richie's ear.
"Thanks a lot Mac, just what I need! First, I get yelled at here at work cuz I can't do anything right, then I go off to blow some steam, I get in an accident and you STILL yell at me! Great, just wonderful!" Richie replied.
To Duncan, Richie seemed to be carrying the same attitude he left with, but to Tessa, the boy seemed on the verge of tears.
"Duncan, don't yell at him, he's just been in an accident for goodness sake!" Tessa said, "Richie, are you sure you're allright?"
"He was fine up till now," Duncan exploded, "That does it Richie, I'm going to-"
Duncan got cut off when there was another knock at the door, it was the officer again, this time, Connor answered.
"Mister MacLeod, I wouldn't go hard on the boy if I were you, it's not his fault he's blind," he said.
Everyone was speechless as they went in shock, the officer left a few seconds afterwards. For several minutes, no one knew what to say, or even what to think. Finally, Tessa mustered up the strength to say something.
"R--Richie," she finally said, "you're blind?"
"As a bat," Richie admitted.
"My God, I can't believe this," Connor said.
"Hi Connor," Richie said, an odd sense of optimism remaining in his voice.
"Richie, what happened?" Tessa asked.
"Ah I don't know Tess, the minute I got out of here, I was mad as hell, I didn't care where I went or what happened...I just wanted to get away from here, you know, go someplace private, yell at myself, maybe break a few things, cool off and come back. Well...I was so incredibly angry, my vision was blurred for like 2 seconds, the next thing I know, I fell off my bike, and rolled down the street a few times before coming to a complete stop and hitting my head harder than when I fell off. I blacked out, when I woke up, I realized I couldn't see anything and at first panicked. Then the cops came around, I didn't say anything because I had no idea what was going on, when they told me I was in a hospital, I told the doctor I was fine and could be checked out. When the officer stopped me to offer an escort home, I told him I couldn't see, but I needed someone to be with my when I went back to the hospital, you know, to make sure they weren't screwing with something that would make my condition worse. So I gave him the address and he brought me back," Richie calmly explained.
Everyone was in shock by his story, the worst part of it was that it seemed he was telling the truth. Tessa murmured a few French words and took the boy in her arms, stroking the back of his head as she fought to keep the tears from falling from her eyes. Right now, the last thing Richie needed was the people looking after him falling apart. Duncan felt awful, not only because the officer had caught him yelling at the boy, but now he was unable to see, practically helpless, and it was his fault and his fault only. Duncan had failed to show Richie his presence was appreciated around their home, now he had to make sure he got Richie the best care possible.