Methos took a moment to study the building. His lips twitched at the thought, 'Only Amanda!'. Who would have thought Amanda would end up living on holy ground, but then again, who would have thought of opening an exclusive Parisien club on holy ground!

He sauntered up to the door. The doorman looked ready to refuse him entrance, but was forced to allow him in on production of a card from Amanda, a card she had obviously sent out on opening the club, but he had only picked up his mail recently on returning to Paris.

He could feel the immortal presence within, and passed through into the bar, expecting to see Amanda. Instead, there was a sandy haired man watching his entrance. Reminding himself this was holy ground, he acted unconcerned, and ordered a beer from the bar. From the bartenders facial expression this was neither a common, nor an appreciated request, but he served Methos with a bottle of his favourite. Saying a silent thank you to Amanda, who had obviously stocked it, he turned to survey the rest of the room, reflexively noting all the exits, trying to ignore the immortal who was still watching him carefully. With a small sigh, he figured he should at least introduce himself to the young man and hopefully ensure that the rest of the evening remained challenge free. However, as he decided, the buzz hit him and they both turned to the entrance.

Amanda swept in, only her eyes scanning the room giving any indication of concern, smiling at a few of the regular patrons and gesturing to the barman for a drink while doing so. Her eyes lit on Nick first, and she smiled, then moved on to the man sitting near him. After one frozen moment, she flung herself at Methos with a cry and wrapped herself around him, to the amusement of the patrons.

Nick wasn't sure what to make of anything. A scruffy immortal walks into the place, ignores him almost completely, lounges against the bar and then Amanda greets him with a joy he had never seen from her in any of her previous encounters, even with the immortals she seemed to like.

Methos pulled her tightly to him in a reflex action and, as he recovered from the shock of her greeting and noticing the tiny tremors running through her, ran his fingers soothingly through her soft hair. He wasn't used to such effusiveness even from Amanda. He hadn't been sure what reaction to expect after his long absence, but that definitely hadn't been it. He briefly wondered what it was all about, before putting that problem aside for the moment as she broke the contact. She searched his face, then apparently satisfied with what she saw there, took him by the arm, back to her usual self.

"It is good to see you, old man. Come and catch up." She nudged him in the direction of one of the private salons, saying over her shoulder, "Nick, be a darling, bring us a round of drinks and I'll introduce you to .." she looked at Methos in query.

"Adam."

"Adam. Where have you been for this past .. oh .. year or so?"

"Here and there. Mostly there."

When she had them settled in to her satisfaction and Nick had arrived with the drinks, they caught up on the events of the past year. She spoke of her time in the States, meeting up with Nick and their adventures, ending up with her new business venture. She glossed airily over Nick's becoming immortal, but Nick got the curious feeling from Adam's shrewd glance in his direction, that he had seen the slight shudder Nick had repressed and understood a great deal of what had not been said.

The evening progressed comfortably and the three chatted about a variety of topics. Methos was amused to see Nick bristling with disapproval when Amanda described some of her more adventurous heists.

"What is it with you and the boy scout types, Amanda?" he queried playfully.

Amanda just smiled at him, and Nick couldn't be sure he really had seen the brief flash of hurt in her eyes. Methos, on the other hand, had seen it, and mentally filed it away as another question to find the answer to. Deciding to push a little and see what he could discover, he continued, "So what is MacLeod doing with himself these days?"

"Why would I know?" Amanda got up smoothly, if rather abruptly and turned. "I need to have a word with Pascal about arrangements, I'll be back in a few minutes."

'Okay, so definitely a touchy subject.' He hadn't imagined the possibility of a serious rift between these two. Although he knew MacLeod still had some issues to work out after the strain of the last few years, he had thought that he was recognising just how important Amanda was to him. What could possibly have happened?

Nick watched Amanda leave and this Adam fellow watching her leave with curiosity and a deep sadness in his eyes. He cleared his throat, and noticed that Adam's eyes showed no signs of the emotions of a few seconds ago.

"Who is MacLeod?" he asked quietly.

Adam tilted his head ever so slightly and regarded Nick for a long moment, until Nick started to feel decidedly uneasy.

"She has never mentioned him?"

"Never."

"Interesting." Adam seemed content to leave it at that and withdraw into his own thoughts.

Nick realised he was not going to get anything further out of Adam on the subject, and knew that it was futile to try and push Amanda on a subject she didn't want to discuss. Well he would just have to keep an eye out and if this MacLeod turned up, he would handle him.

"So have you known Amanda long?"

"A while."

Informative was obviously the trend for this evening!

Adam took pity on the young man, asking about his views on Paris compared to his home town and then leading him into a light conversation.

Amanda breezed back into the room a little later.

"Adam, are you staying? I can get my spare bedroom made up."

"That would be nice, if …" he glanced between them, " .. I wouldn't be in the way?"

"No of course not, anyway Nick has his own apartment."

Nick noticed that she stayed near Adam whenever she was in the room, making some form of contact with him when possible, even if it was just her fingertips brushing against his arm. This man was important to her. He wasn't sure what to feel. They had seemed to be moving towards a relationship before she shot him, but then things had become complicated and he hadn't had time yet to sort out his feelings for her. Her attitude and actions toward this man was so far out of sync with what he thought he knew about her that he wasn't sure he could get a read on this situation, and he didn't like that feeling. He realised again, just how little he actually knew about Amanda. Adam too seemed to defy his attempts to assess him and the danger he might present. He looked like a young man, but Nick was starting to have enough experience with immortals to realise that that was no accurate guide. He seemed laid back and relaxed, yet Nick had noticed the practiced way he had scanned the room, and guessed at the power in the man's lithe form.

He pictured her clinging to Adam for dear life, as she seemed to be repressing the urge to do just that, and almost snorted aloud as he saw Adam's face as clearly as if it was actually happening, amusement and sympathy laced with pure panic.

Nick returned to the present to hear Amanda making plans for tomorrow. They were going to see Dawson, apparently he and Adam were old friends, which intrigued Nick. He was invited too, and decided to tag along because he was puzzled by Adam and hoped more time would enable him to make a proper threat assessment, besides which he liked the old watcher.