Disclaimer - I don't own anything but the plot and Sarah.
The Hardest Thing
"Have you told her yet?" Duncan asked looking at his young friend. Richie refused to meet Duncan's eyes as he shook his head no.
"You're going to have to tell her sometime. You guys have been together for a year. I can't believe you've been able to keep it secret all this time. You've been lucky that she hasn't been around when the others came looking for you."
"I know, I know. But how do you tell the love of your life that you're immortal and occasionally people with swords are going to come and try to cut off your head?"
"I never said that it was going to be easy, but you have to tell her. She's in danger and she has to be alert. You know how much I like Sarah. She's almost like my daughter, that's why I'm telling you this. Richie you know as well as I do that to some immortals, family is not off-limits, in fact to it is a weakness to be exposed. She needs to know." Duncan said trying to stare his point into his friend's head.
"I know, okay!" Richie said angrily. "I'll tell her." Richie stalked out of Duncan's apartment looked at his car and decided to walk home to let off some steam. Richie lived about 10 blocks away with Sarah, his girlfriend, so he had plenty of time to think. He started thinking back to when he first met Sarah.
It had been at one of Tessa's art openings. He had been standing in a corner trying to figure out how to leave with out hurting Tessa's feelings, when he saw her. She was holding a glass of champagne, studying one of Tessa's more abstract pieces. She was beautiful. She had waist-length hair that was almost black. She was much shorter than Richie, which was saying something, since Richie is only 5'7". Richie walked towards the woman and began a conversation about the piece, but what really won her over was when Richie offered to introduce her to Tessa. After that, they became almost inseparable. They went to museums, cafes, and everywhere else together. It was six months later though when Richie realized that he loved Sarah. When Tessa died, both Duncan and himself were almost helpless. Neither of them knew what to do after Tessa died, but Sarah had stepped up to the plate. She helped Duncan with all the funeral preparations, took care of the shop and made dinner every night for all three of them. Then late at night while they were lying in bed together, Sarah would hold him while he cried over the loss of a woman who was the closest thing to a mother he had ever known. She never laughed at him, she just held him. She also never pressed him to talk about it, but Richie knew that if he wanted to, she would be there to listen.
It was just about a year since he had met her, and he knew that Mac was right. He had to tell her. But God was it going to be hard. Richie looked up and saw that he had made it to their townhouse. Richie walked in the front door. He could hear Sarah singing in the kitchen while she cooked dinner for the both of them, and by the smell filling the house, Richie could tell she was making his favorite, Chicken Parmesan. Richie walked into the kitchen and was greeted with the love of his life running into his arms and kissing him passionately.
"I was beginning to worry about you. I called Duncan and he said you had left a half hour ago."
"Oh, yeah. I decided to walk home instead." Richie said absently.
"Are you okay?" Sarah asked immediately looking into Richie's eyes.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just needed to do some thinking."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm positive." Richie said slapping a big fake smile on his face. It seemed to satisfy Sarah though because she beamed back at him and said, "I made your favorite."
"It looks delicious." Richie said. By the time Richie and Sarah went to bed, he had forgotten his conviction to tell Sarah about his immortality.
That night as they were lying in bed, Richie awoke suddenly as the presence of another immortal exploded inside his head. As Richie looked around, he saw his worst nightmare coming true. There was a man pointing a gun straight at Sarah, who was still sound asleep, and coming in the room was the immortal he had sensed. "Don't bother reaching for your sword," The strange immortal said reading Richie's mind, "I already have it."
"You bastard. You're not even going to challenge me to a fair fight are you?" The immortal opened his mouth to answer Richie, but just then Sarah woke up. She looked at Richie and saw him madder then she had ever seen him before. At first her groggy mind couldn't understand why he looked so furious, especially at 3:30 in the morning. Then she saw them. She saw a man holding a gun that was pointed straight at her, and another man holding a sword.
"Richie," Sarah said, unable to mask the fear in her voice.
"Sarah, don't move. I'll take care of this."
"How sweet, a knight in shining armor." The other immortal said, disdain dripping from his voice.
"What's going on? Why does that guy have a sword?" Richie opened his mouth to answer her, but the other immortal cut him off.
"What! She doesn't know? Tsk, Tsk Richie. Have you been keeping secrets? Tell me, Sarah, haven't you ever wondered why Richie carries a sword? Why he has never gotten sick? Why you've always felt he was keeping something from you?" Sarah looked guiltily at Richie, and he knew she had wondered all those things and probably more. When Sarah looked at each of the three men, and didn't seem to know who to trust, Richie regretted not telling her about his immortality. "Sarah, you have to trust me. I know all this is crazy but after we get out of this, I promise I'll explain everything."
"Excuse me, I don't mean to interrupt, but I don't think you'll get a chance to explain anything." Richie began to sit up in the bed, toward the immortal, his eyes burning with anger.
"If I were you, I would stay where you are. I'm not so sure your girlfriend would be able to recuperate as well as you can from a gunshot wound." The immortal said motioning to the man who still had the gun pointed at Sarah.
"What do you want from me?" Richie yelled.
"I thought that was obvious," The immortal said lifting Richie's sword. The whole time Richie and the other immortal were talking, the man with the gun had been intently watching the immortal for his cue to shoot. Sarah had taken advantage of their distraction and had grabbed the alarm clock on the nightstand. When the man had started to raise Richie's sword, Sarah knew it was her only chance, she knew that the alarm clock wasn't going to seriously hurt either of them, but all she was hoping for was a few seconds, so she and Richie could get out of the vulnerable position they were in. Sarah prayed that she wouldn't miss and threw the clock at the gunman's head. As soon as she threw it she rolled out of bed and kept rolling across the floor hoping that Richie had realized what was happening in time to do something. Richie, who saw the clock fly and hit the man squarely on the head, jumped up and was going towards the immortal when a shot rang through the room. Everyone stood still for moment. The gunman had seen Richie go for his employer and shot Richie before he got one more step closer. Sarah screamed as she watched Richie fall down dead. The immortal cursed, grabbed the gunman and ran out. Sarah ran to Richie still screaming and saw that he was dead. She began to cry; She knew she had to call someone, but who? Duncan. Of course, Duncan will know what to do. Sarah thought as she picked up the phone and began to dial his number. When Duncan answered the phone with a groggy hello, he could barely understand what the person on the other line was saying, all he understood was two words, he heard, Richie and dead. He realized immediately that it was Sarah and something had happened to Richie. Duncan told Sarah not to do anything until he got there. While Duncan got dressed and headed over to Richie's house, he didn't know what to expect. He wasn't sure whether Sarah had meant dead as in being beheaded or whether he was just killed. Whichever it was he knew it was going to be a long day, he thought as he knocked on the door to Richie's house. Duncan noticed that the next door neighbor's lights were still off and then remembered Richie saying that they had gone on vacation. After a few minutes, when Sarah didn't answer the door, Duncan tried and found the door unlocked. He walked in, and up the stairs to Sarah and Richie's bedroom. He walked in and saw Sarah kneeling next to Richie's body, holding his cold hand. She had blood, Richie's blood, on her hands and on the front of her t-shirt. Duncan also saw Richie's head still attached and released the breath he hadn't realized he had been holding. Now all he had to do was explain to Sarah that her dead boyfriend was going to be coming back to life soon. It was definitely going to be a long day. Sarah looked up and Duncan saw tears running down her face. The pain in her eyes reminded him of the same look he had when Tessa died. Sarah let go of Richie's hand and stood up. She walked to Duncan and buried her head in his shoulder as he wrapped his arms around her.
"I can't believe he's dead." Sarah said into Duncan's shoulder
"Sarah, there's something about Richie that you don't know." Sarah looked up at Duncan, but before Duncan could continue they heard a groan come from Richie. Sarah's eyes opened wide as she heard Richie call her name. She turned around and saw Richie sit up. When Richie looked at Sarah, her look hurt him more than any bullet could have. It was a look of pure fear, and confusion. Sarah stepped away from Duncan, closer to the door. "How…But you were…I saw them shoot you. You were dead." Sarah said accusingly. She looked at Duncan and then Richie and then back at Duncan, "He was dead, wasn't he? You saw him!"
"Sarah, let me explain." Richie said, wincing as he pulled himself up of the floor. "I'm not really sure how to say this, but I've been meaning to tell you for a long time. I just haven't got up enough guts to do it. I'm not like other guys. I…" Richie looked at Duncan for help, but he gave him a look and Richie knew he was going to have to do this on his own.
"I think I'll just go downstairs and make some coffee." With that Duncan excused himself out of the room, and left the two younger people alone. He wished he could have helped Richie with this, he knew how hard it was to tell the person you love about your immortality, but it was just something he was going to have to do by himself. Upstairs, neither Richie nor Sarah had moved. The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife. They didn't know what to do or what to say. Finally Sarah said, "Richie, what is it? Please tell me, because I'm so confused right now, I don't know which way is up. What is all this about? Please, Richie," Sarah begged as tears began rolling down her face. "Tell me. Whatever it is, just say it. Please." Richie looked away for a minute and then looked Sarah in the eye.
"Fine. Sarah, "Richie took a big breath before he began. "I'm immortal. I can't die unless my head is cut off." Sarah looked at Richie and then yelled,
"Richie! That is not funny! Why are you doing this? Why won't you just tell me the truth?"
"Sarah, it is the truth. I know it's hard to understand, and it's pretty unbelievable but you just saw it. You were right, I was dead, but I came back. You have to believe me." He wanted to make her trust him again, but he wasn't sure if she would ever believe him. Sarah looked at Richie and her eyes got wide and she began to shake her head, as the realization that what Richie was telling her was true.
"How did this happen to you?" Sarah asked quietly.
"Nothing had to happen to me. I was born like this. The night Tessa died I was also shot and killed. The only difference was I came back, and she didn't." Sarah saw the guilt flash through Richie's eyes. Part of her wanted to comfort her, but the other part wasn't sure if she should. Richie saw her hesitancy, and he wanted to take her in his arms and make her believe him, make her understand, but as he stepped toward her she put her hand up and said, "Don't" with a warning tone in her voice. She wanted to cry at the hurt look on Richie's face, but she stood her ground. She just wasn't ready to kiss and make up yet. She had to think about all of this.
"Sarah, I'm still the same person. I still love you as much as ever. This is just part of who I am. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, but you can see it's not an easy thing to explain or understand." Sarah looked at Richie and didn't know what to say. They stood there looking at each other for a moment. "Sarah, please say something." Sarah looked down at her ruined t-shirt and bloody hands and said, "I'm going to take a shower. I need some time by myself." with that Sarah turned around and walked into the bathroom right behind her and closed the door. Richie stood there and realized that it would do no good to go after her. That's when he remembered that Duncan was still sitting downstairs. Richie took his bloody shirt off, grabbed a clean one and walked to the bathroom downstairs. There he cleaned the blood that had begun to dry on his chest, and put on a new shirt. He walked into the kitchen and found Duncan sitting at the table with a cup of coffee. When he saw Richie walk in, He asked,
"How is she holding up?"
"I don't know. She's in the shower. I don't think she believes me." Richie said as he sat down across from Duncan, the despair he felt filling his voice. "What if she leaves? What do I do if she decides it's too much to deal with?"
"Then you have to let her go, and move on. I know that it'll hurt, but I think that asking those kinds of questions is little pre-mature. Give Sarah some credit. She's a very smart woman. I think she'll surprise you." Richie looked up and Duncan saw the hope fill his eyes again Duncan decided it was time to change the subject. "So tell me about this immortal."
Upstairs in the shower, Sarah stood there not moving. She watched the blood wash off her hands and circle around the drain, when it occurred to her that Richie was alive. He should be dead, but he was alive and okay. He was always going to be okay. A sense of joy elated Sarah. She decided that as strange as all of this was is was a blessing in disguise. Sarah began to stir out of her stupor. She washed her hair with a new sense of life. When she was done, she headed downstairs to the kitchen. When she walked in, Richie's back was to her, but Duncan looked up at her and she realized that Duncan was one to them. An immortal. She smiled at him and he smiled back. Richie looked up and saw Duncan smiling at someone behind him. Richie turned around saw Sarah standing there in a clean shirt, looking as beautiful as the first time he saw her. Richie stood up and Sarah stepped up to Richie and gave him a kiss.
"Richie, I'm still not sure how or why this happened but I know that I love you and I will always love you." Richie beamed at her, and they sat down at the table. As they began talking about the immortal that had been there, Richie realized that he had just made it through the hardest thing he would ever have to do in his very long life.