Hell to Pay

After a very short while, the sky had filled with clouds and now it was pouring down rain. Richie found that with every step he took now, he risked tripping and drowning himself. But he didn't care, he couldn't slow down, he had to keep running, he had to get away, away from Mac, away from Tessa, away from everybody because he knew he was no longer welcome in their lives.

He knew he'd made a mistake by interfering with the fight, but he just couldn't let Mac take Felicia's head. Why had he stopped the fight? He didn't know, he already knew what a lying bitch Felicia was and that she had only used him. She didn't love him, she didn't care about him, she was ready to kill him, and Tessa, and Duncan, so why did he stop the fight? Why did he beg Mac to spare her life? He didn't have the answer, and he didn't need one, because it didn't matter, because he'd already ruined any chance he had of going back to them.

His foot connected with something, causing him to trip and he fell face first into the cold, muddy water. He tried to lift his head up but it felt like somebody hit him over it with a pipe or something, so he laid it back down, as he did so his forehead met with something. He raised his head enough to see a pair of white sneakers in front of him.

"Richie."

Connor, dammit! Richie groaned and lowered his head again, this time on its side, just great, Duncan must've sent Connor to get rid of him. Just what he needed, an Immortal hit squad.

"Richie, are you allright?"

Connor sounded confused, even worried, that surprised Richie, what was going on?

When he didn't move fast enough to get himself up, Connor knelt down, grabbed Richie by the waist and pulled him up. "I'm sorry about that, Richie, are you okay? Are you hurt?"

Richie quickly came to the realization that Connor wasn't here to make him a greasy spot in the pavement, and he didn't know how to respond, so he didn't, he was too embarrassed and shocked to speak.

"What's the matter, Richie? Are you hurt?"

Richie finally managed to shake his head as an answer, he was thankful for the rain and the darkness, he felt it camouflaged well the tears that were building up in his eyes. Connor grabbed Richie's wrist and pulled him in the same direction he was going, after a few minutes, Richie saw something come into view, something familiar, even seen in the dark. It was Connor's car, the door on the driver's side was open and the headlights were shining but looked almost burnt out.

"I thought I saw you down the road, so I came to check, does Duncan know you're out in this weather?"

Richie tried to answer but couldn't form the words, so it just came out as a bunch of moans. Connor stopped Richie once they came to the front of the car, he tried to get a look at him in the car's dying headlights but it didn't amount to much good.

"I can't find anything wrong---Richie, can you tell me what happened?"

The tears were running down Richie's face now and he knew his cover was blown, but he was too far gone to care. "I fucked up, Connor—I really fucked up…"

Connor's expression was unreadable, though to Richie's surprise it did appear to contain a hint of sympathy. "Get in the car, Richie."

"W-w-where're we going?" he asked.

"First we're going to wait until you calm down and can tell me what's going on, and then---"

"Don't take me back, Connor, please!" Richie practically lunged at him and grabbed handfuls of Connor's jacket. "I can't go back!"

"Shhhhhh, Richie, it's okay, it's allright," Connor carefully placed his hands on Richie's arms and tried to keep them at his side, "We're going to go somewhere where we won't be bothered…too much."

"What do you mean?" Richie asked.

Connor moved his hands so he held one at Richie's stomach and the other at his back. "I'm going to go on a limb and guess you haven't eaten yet, correct?"

Richie nodded.

"Well I know a place that stays open late, and by this hour there won't be too many people there – and once we get there, you can tell me what's going on, allright?"

Richie nodded again, and Connor helped him into the car. Once they took off, Richie slumped down in his seat and closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep, this whole night was turning into a bigger mess by the minute. He couldn't think, he didn't know what was going to happen next but he just knew that it would be trouble all the way.

Richie came to when he felt something shaking him, he woke up and saw Connor with his hand on Richie's shoulder.

"What is it?" Richie asked.

"We're here," he said.

Richie looked through the rain and the moving windshield wipers and saw a large neon sign, an all-night diner.

"Is the food good?" Richie asked. Suddenly his stomach was feeling like he hadn't eaten in a week.

"Let's just say you'll never see the board of health marching in to complain," Connor said, "Are you feeling better?"

Richie nodded weakly, "A little."

"You'll feel better once you get something to eat, come on."

They got out of the car and dashed in to avoid getting anymore soaked than they already were. Once they got inside, Richie saw the lights were low, and as Connor said, very few people were in currently, and those who were seemed to be minding their own business.

"Let's go to the back, we can talk in the closest thing to private there," Connor told him.

Richie followed Connor to a booth at the far back of the diner, nobody else was sitting anywhere near them, Connor slipped into one booth and Richie seated himself in the other. The first thing Richie did once he sat down was lay his head on his folded arms and close his eyes, he still felt terrible about what happened and he wasn't sure what Connor was going to do when he found out.

"Mister Nash, are you back in town?" a waitress asked as she came up to their table.

"Well I'm not having an outer body experience if that's what you mean," he replied, "How's business going, Agnes?"

"Same rate the coffee's pouring at, slow – what can I get you two?"

"I'll have the usual, and my nephew will have---" Connor grabbed Richie by the hair and lifted his head up so he could look him in the face, "What are you having, Richie?"

"I don't care," Richie tiredly responded and laid his head back down.

"We've been out all through the town today," Connor told the waitress, "We're both dead tired only my nephew seems to be more so than I am – about all we want right now is some food and some sleep, but I hope we don't get both at the same time. Well, I know my nephew is none too picky about what he eats, so bring him the usual too."

"Coming right up."

After she left, Richie looked up at Connor through one opened eye. "What's the usual anyway?"

"You'll find out soon enough---now, you want to tell me what happened or am I going to be picking your brain all night?" Connor asked.

"You mean Mac hasn't told you yet?" Richie asked.

"Duncan doesn't know I'm here—I've been in town for a few weeks, restoring a house I bought, but I didn't tell him I was coming, for all he knows, I'm still back in New York."

"Well, there was this lady," Richie started.

"I see."

Richie's eyebrows met his bangs, "Connor!"

"Well what can I say? Duncan talks my ears off telling me about you, and what you do you can practically set your watch by. So what happened?"

"She---she came to the shop, and she seemed out of it, I mean way out of it, Connor, she didn't know how she got there, or what she was doing, and she was bleeding, and by the time I came back with some bandages, she was gone. She went to the top of a building, and threw herself off, dropped 700 feet, but she didn't stay dead."

"Oh boy."

"Yeah – she got out of the morgue and came back to the shop, and she was hysterical—she asked me for help, she begged me—Mac found her, and he told her everything about Immortals and the Gathering—and so he started teaching her how to fight, but—"

"What?"

"It was all a sham, Connor – she was an old Immortal, maybe even as old as Mac, she wanted to kill him, and she used me as the bait for it – and – she sent me off on a wild goose chase to her apartment. Then Mac showed up, and they fought, and---"

"He took her head?"

"No—he was ready to, he could've done it, he would've, but I stopped him," Richie said, "Even now, I don't know why I did it – she lied to us, she used me, she tried to kill us –

but I stopped the fight, and I don't know why. I just don't know, I've been trying to think of a reason, one good reason why Mac should've let her live – but I can't."

"You don't have any idea how often that mistake can be made with Immortals," Connor said.

"But I knew what she was, I knew she was trouble, plain and simple – so why did I make him spare her life?"

"That's a question that Immortals have been asking themselves since their beginning of letting enemies walk," Connor replied.

"Anyway, now---Mac is so pissed about what happened, I mean this is really it, Connor, I've crossed the line."

"How do you know? What did he say?" Connor asked.

"Nothing, that's just it," Richie said, "No matter what I've done since I moved in with them, even when Mac was screaming at me, I knew that it would blow over, it always does – but tonight, when he walked away, he didn't say a word to me, I tried talking to him, I tried to say something, but I didn't know what to say, and even though I tried, he didn't have anything to say to me. That's how I know I can't go back."

Richie hung his head low in defeat. He felt Connor's hand stroke the hair on the back of his head, and a few seconds later, two plates were put on the table with fried pork chops, baked potatoes, steamed vegetables, two bowls of raw fruit, and two glasses of water. After the waitress left, Richie picked his head up again and stared at his food for a while.

"Richie, I'm sure it's not as bad as you're making it out to be," Connor said.

"I have never known Mac to get so mad he doesn't say anything---but I've been around people who got like that before, and there was no going back."

"But Duncan's not like other people."

"It doesn't matter, Connor, there are some things that no matter who you run into, it's all the same, and now—I can't go back, Connor, I just can't."

"Why not?"

"I'm too scared about what might happen—what they might say, that's providing they'd even still speak to me."

"Richie, I've known Duncan a lot longer than you have, I know how easy it is for him to hurt somebody, but the thing of it is that Duncan doesn't always know that he does it."

Richie started picking at his food and some of it actually managed to find a way to his mouth. "What do you mean?"

"I mean he, like everybody else, will say things, do things, that solely happen to hurt other people, but he doesn't realize that that's what it does."

"But Connor---"

"Don't worry about Duncan, he may be upset now and he might have a reason to be, but within time he'll cool off and things will return to normal," Connor insisted.

"No," Richie shook his head, "Not this time – I just know it, nothing's ever going to be normal between us again, so it's best that I don't go back."

"Richie calm down, you're being ridiculous."

Richie lowered his head and shook it, "I can't go back, I can't bear to look at them, I can't stand what they might say—I just can't."

Connor was starting to understand what was happening here, but he said nothing, and from there they finished their dinner in silence. After the main dinner, Richie started picking up bread rolls from a bowl kept in the center of the table and started stuffing himself on them one at a time. Connor watched in awe, wondering the entire time where Richie put it all, and after he had four rolls, Connor moved the bowl back and said, "You're a machine, Richie, you can't still be hungry."

"What now?" Richie asked.

Connor glanced at his watch, "It's getting late, and you look like you're about ready to drop."

"We're not going back," Richie said in a panic.

"Of course not," Connor calmly replied, "We're going to my home, the one I've spent the last three weeks putting back together. There's not too much there right now except for the bare necessities, but I think you'll like it."

"Okay."

Richie was already asleep by the time they pulled up to the house, Connor couldn't get him to keep his eyes open for more than a few seconds, so he had to basically half drag half carry Richie up to the driveway, up the stairs, and through the front door. From there, Richie stumbled around in the dark and made his way into the living room and onto a large couch to sleep on.

"What do you think you're doing?" Connor asked once he got the lights on and could see him.

Richie opened one eye and tried to think of an answer.

"There's a perfectly good bed in a perfectly good guest room upstairs that you can use, now come on and let's go," Connor said as he pulled Richie to his feet.

"Connor?"

"Yes, Richie?"

"How long can I stay with you?"

"As long as it takes, laddie, as long as it takes."

"But Connor—"

"Don't worry about a thing, Richie, everything's going to be allright, of that I promise you. Now let's get you up to your room so you can go to sleep."

Richie followed Connor up the stairs and over to the first room on the right at the top of the stairs, when Connor turned on the light, Richie was too tired to observe the room itself, he headed straight for the bed, and as soon as he laid on it, he closed his eyes.

He felt Connor removing his shoes and bringing back the covers, then settling him down and tucking him in as if he were a small child. At any other time, he would've been embarrassed by it all, or rather insisted he could do it himself, but tonight, he was too tired. Richie heard Connor explain that his room was right across the hall, and if he needed him, that's where he could be found, and Richie nodded in response and turned on his side and tried to go to sleep. Just when he thought he was finally slipping into unconsciousness, he felt something, it was a kiss. He felt Connor kiss him on the forehead, and then he heard Connor say, "Sleep well, laddie, I promise everything will be allright, I love you."

Richie put on his best act of sleeping for all he was worth, after he heard the door close and he was sure Connor wouldn't be coming back in, Richie sat up in the bed and tried to figure out what had just happened. It had sent icy chills up and down his spine and made his heart jump into his throat, because although it was a first time coming from Connor, Richie had gone through the same thing before. Some nights when Duncan though he was asleep, he would sneak into Richie's room for whatever reason, Richie had guessed to see if he was actually still there and not packed up and left in the middle of the night, and he would stay for a short while watching him "sleep", and just before he left, he kissed Richie goodnight and said in a very low whisper that he loved him, so as not to wake him.

Of course, Richie reminded himself, that was then and this was now, and that wouldn't happen again, not ever again. He knew what he was saying when he told Connor that he couldn't go back, even if he tried to go back, he would not be welcome there, not that he could blame Duncan and Tessa for not wanting him after the trouble he caused them. All the trouble he'd put them through, and the things he'd said to Tessa, he hadn't meant for them to, but thinking back, he was certain that he'd hurt Tessa with his remarks of having time on his side, instead of her.

Of all the times in his life that he could pick to be an idiot, the last few days really took the cake. He was the biggest idiot alive and he hadn't even figured that out until just now, he'd blown his last chance at a semi-normal life with a semi-normal family who was nice and who actually wanted him. After what he'd put them through with Felicia…after all, he was the one who was ready to put her up in his room before Duncan even found out about her, he didn't listen to Tessa even when she said that she knew a hundred women like Felicia, and that last fatal error of jumping in at the last minute, begging Duncan to spare her life.

Richie wasn't even aware that he was crying, he just continued to mentally pummel himself for being stupid enough to ruin the one good thing he had going for him. What he didn't know was that as he continued to do so, he had an audience.

Without even looking over at the clock, Tessa could perfectly guess the correct time, being 12:08, this she knew because it was two minutes past the last time she looked. Duncan had come home exhausted and in no mood to talk, and when she asked about Richie's whereabouts, he had no answer and didn't even try to assure her that everything was allright as he was notorious for when she worried.

When Duncan had gone to bed and Richie still hadn't returned, Tessa had really started worrying, but Duncan insisted that he would return home whenever he was ready to, so not to worry and go to sleep. And here he was dead to the world, Tessa swore she could light firecrackers in his underwear and he wouldn't wake up, whereas she was never anymore wide awake than she was now. Laying in bed, staring at the ceiling, waiting for morning was not too highly a recommended method for spending nights, and Tessa was finding it getting her nowhere. On the other hand, she knew it would do her little good to go out looking for Richie, for one thing she seldom knew who his friends were or even how to contact them, any place she knew that he might go would already be closed by now, and any that was still open he would've already left and nobody would know where he was off to next.

However lying in bed was doing her no good and she knew she couldn't spend all night like this, so she did the first thing that came to mind. Ordinarily she thought, this would only be done in movies, but it was an idea and she intended to go through with it. She carefully slipped out of bed so as to not wake Duncan, and she quietly walked over to her dresser and picked up her keys, careful to hold them in the right place so they wouldn't jangle and wake Duncan. Then she went to the closet and pulled one of her more casual outfits off the hanger, picked up a pair of her shoes and headed for the bathroom. She made the best of dressing herself in the dark, then with her keys in her hand she quietly and slowly made her way down the stairs, and out the front door. Maybe she wouldn't find Richie, but she would be damned if she was just going to lounge in bed and wait for him to finally come back.