Author's Note: This is a story co-authored, by me and my fellow writing buddy Majkia. We both really love the Highlander series and we decided to write a story together, which we have dubbed jokingly in our minds 'Methos Season 1'. Julian, Adele and Sydney are written by Majkia, I write Duncan, Methos and Ressa. We hope you enjoy this first chapter.
Cast: Duncan MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod
Methos/Adam Pierson
Varessia Julietta Amaraldi a.k.a. Ressa, Portugese Immortal who is a friend of Duncan and Methos and who is recovering from the death of a friend.
Adele Blakesely - witch, in more ways than one, and friend of Ressa and Julian
Julian Vaurien - mage, troublemaker, newly married and worried about it.
Sydney Watson - mundane human, assistant professor of history at NYU
The small international group arrived at an English style establishment on Washington Square in Manhattan that proclaimed itself as the Dark Horse Pub.
"Now, this is more like it." Methos said, rubbing his hands together. "A good draft beer is just what you need, Ressa."
The Portuguese immortal just chuckled at his enthusiasm, dressed in one of her old black dresses, looking delicious on Duncan's arm.
Adele wore her usual, jeans and a nothing of a top along with high heels. Her hair swung free behind her. She was on Methos' arm but Julian didn't look too happy about it. Adele hurried them inside, already curious and looking around at the crowd. A bit of magic, and suddenly there was a table they could nab.
Julian, looking, and feeling, like a fifth-wheel, a rather odd experience for him, followed rather glumly along, worrying about what his newly minted wife was up to and how he'd pay for this...
Duncan, being the gentlemen he was, held out a seat for Adele after he saw Ressa seated. Taking a seat next to his friend as Methos walked to the head of the table.
"All right, order up. I'll pay for the first round, MacLeod and Jules get the rest." Methos offered.
"Oh gee thanks," Julian muttered taking the corner seat. Adele sat next to him and patted him on the head. "You're an old married guy now, Julian, get used to it!" she said with a laugh, as she gave a waiter her best smile to get some service.
"Well, hello." Methos said to the young man. "We'll need a single malt whiskey, a glass of your best red wine, a nice dark ale on tap for me, Glenlivet scotch for this one, and..." He trailed off on the last order and looked at Adele. "Well this young lady's going to have to order for herself actually."
"Hmm," Adele said as she gave it some thought. "Cuervo Platino with a Dos Equis chaser," Adele ordered. "Oh and bring the blond here the bottle of Glenlivet."
They made a rather remarkable group. Julian, a blond-headed cute fellow with a pout that could kill, Adele, heavy dark hair hanging down her back, and her clothes showing all her ample curves. Her blue eyes flashed as she laughed with Duncan and winked at Methos. Ressa being the youngest of the immortals with dark hair, sun kissed skin and a honey laugh, Duncan with his ruggedly handsome hair and long hair pulled back in a ponytail. And Methos, as ever the oldest at the table, but most definitely the most juvenile of the bunch with his high cheekbones, roman nose and mischievous green eyes.
"Did these guys ever tell you, Ressa, how we all first met?" Julian asked. When Ressa shook her head 'no' he explained, "Well, see, I was having this little party. I think it was for New Years, or maybe Bastille Day. This was in Paris. So here we were, minding our own business..."
Adele interrupted, "Yeah, right. Causing such a ruckus he had to magic the neighbors into oblivion so they wouldn't call the gendarmes," Adele added with a snort. "What a hundred people?"
"Oh, surely not that many," Julian protested.
"I still don't know how you kept all those people from talking afterwards," Methos said thoughtfully.
Duncan finished off his drink. "Adam and I were on our way back from the pub when we got attacked by another immortal somewhere between the barge and Julian's place."
"I still can't believe we lived that close by one another and had never run into each other before that night," Julian said laughing. "I always wondered what all the lighting and blown fuses and unscheduled fireworks was all about. And that old black barge sitting there."
"Anyway," Adele continued, "we hear screaming sirens coming toward Julian's and he's convinced they're gonna bust us."
"So this one over here," Methos said, jerking his thumb at Duncan. "Thinks it's a good idea to join the obnoxious noise coming from the building near by and ends up sending us into Harry Potter hell."
"I honestly thought they'd drugged the drinks they were handing out." Duncan admitted.
"Oh yeah," Julian said, grinning. "That was the night we were competing to see who could magic up the most weird illusion. I think the prize was Adele."
Adele punched his arm. "I," she said with dignity, "won."
"Yeah, she created a... I don't even know what to call it," Julian laughed. "Chimera does not even come close. It was sort of a rabid raccoon with bunny ears and it began attacking the guests."
"I remember." Methos grumbled.
"Why am I never in town with these things happen?" Ressa complained.
"We'll make sure to call you next time," Duncan said with a grin.
"Then there was the David competition, which I believe you got volunteered for MacLeod." Methos added cheekily.
The Highlander glared daggers at the ancient.
"Don't be like that," Adele chided Duncan. "You have a terrific ass. Not to mention everything else," she added with a whistle at the end. "He won Ressa."
"I'm not surprised." Ressa said with a grin, which only made Duncan turn redder.
"Well, while you're all chatting, I'm going to get another drink." Methos said as he stood from the table with an empty glass and a need to get away from overly agitated Highlanders.
As Methos/Adam approached the bar there was a noisy and very drunken guy there, who was attempting to tell a joke mostly with his hands, which was probably a good thing since his words were so slurred no one could make them out anyway. Just as Methos reached the bar the drunk's hands connected with a briefcase apparently belonging to a woman who was perched on the next stool. The briefcase went flying and the woman cursed roundly, diving to the floor to begin gathering up papers and books that had spilled out.
"Oh, shit," she muttered. To make matters worse the woman's glasses had gone flying too. "Jeez," she huffed gathering papers up as quick as she could.
Methos instinctively crouched down next to her and grabbed a handful of papers, his scooped up the glasses as well but held those under the papers. "Need a bit of help?" He asked cheerfully, holding out the papers but not the glasses.
She looked up at him, her hair falling out of its restraints and over her face. "Thanks. Exam papers," she explained as she scooped more up. A book lying near him, spine up, read A Concise History of Medieval Europe.
She was rather beautiful, with or without the glasses. Long blond hair and clear blue eyes with an interesting spark of defiant intelligence behind them. An agitated set to her full mouth as she tried to get herself together which Methos found attractive in an odd way.
She blew at her hair to get it out of her eyes. "Are you going to help or gawk?" she asked.
Methos raised a brow. "I'm not gawking, I'm just trying to figure out why you're squinting at me. I can't be that repulsive, I checked this morning, same face."
"My glasses seem to have gone missing," she explained crawling around a bit looking for them, unwittingly giving him a rather nice view. "Oh, my God, I do not want to even guess what else is on this floor," she added.
"Then, allow me..." Methos said, unfolding her glasses and setting them on her nose. "To bring some light to the situation." He said, smiling as he pushed them up her nose to sit right. "Adam Pierson."
"Thank you, much better." She shoved the exams into her briefcase and then said, "Sydney Watson. I'd offer to shake hands but considering where my hands have just been, I don't think it wise."
Methos shrugged, offering his hand. "We can share, seeing as my hands have been the same place."
She grinned and shook his hand. "Thanks for the help. I'd have a lot of angry students if I told them their exam papers were lost in a pub. Not very good for my reputation either."
"I'm going to take a guess, I'm not always right, but that's rare. Literature teacher?" Methos asked teasingly.
"Hardly. World History," she replied. "Obviously my speciality is not the whole of World History, but I'm stuck with Freshman History this semester. A fate worse than... well, a lot of things."
"Ah, see? You are the exception. But frankly, this did throw me off." Methos said, holding up her copy of A Concise History of Medieval History. "Contrary to the title it is not at all concise or entertaining. I fear for the wakefulness of your class if this is what they're learning."
"Yes, well, I did not select the text. But it is only one text; there are others. Are you a historian?"
Methos tried to cover up choking on his beer by chuckling. "Not exactly. Would you like to join my friends and me for a drink. Our number is growing at such an alarming rate I'd feel left out if I didn't bring someone back with me."
Sydney glanced at the table. Adele was waving her over. "Oh, why not." She followed Methos over and inductions were made all round, the conversation taking a much tamer route when Methos introduced Sydney as a historian and without having to say it, human.
"So, Ressa, some homecoming week, eh?" Julian asked her. "Let's you and me ignore the mob and get drunk together."
Ressa blew out a sigh. "Sounds like a plan, Julian." She looked at her empty wine glass. "I'm going to need something stronger."
Julian poured her some Glenlivet.
"So, Sydney." Methos said, setting down his empty glass. "Why is a highly respectable history teacher grading exams in a pub?"
"Who dared to say I was respectable?" Sydney demanded to know.
Methos bit the inside of his cheek as he smiled. "No one said you had to be."
"Well, I'm not," Sydney explained. "And I came to meet a friend right after class. He didn't turn up, the bastard. He's toast when I find him, I swear. And are you respectable?'
Methos was more interested by the minute. "Not at all. And this friend, he wouldn't happen to be an obstacle to a unrespectable guy like me, would he?"
She looked him up and down. "I'll let you know when I figure it out," she replied with a grin. "You a local? Or just slumming. That accent isn't New York."
"Ooo, she's sharp!" He said. "I have a flat in Paris, but right now I'm crashing with Boy Scout here," his eyes moved to Duncan,"While we try to cheer up the Queen of Swords over there." He pointed to Ressa who was in the middle of getting pissed with Julian.
"Oh, you two are doing a fabulous job of that, then. Boy scout is really helpful for that."
Methos nodded. "Yes, but you see this is just the tenderizing stage of my great master plan." He said, moving in closer to Sydney as he relaid his covert operation. "First we get Ressa over there good and drunk, make her forget all her little troubles, maybe fix her up with a decent man...believe me, the woman can take care of herself in that department," He added quickly at the look he was getting. "Then tomorrow when she's too hung over to take a good swing at us, we start taking care of the problem. So see? A work of genius."
"I seem to get lost in this glorious plan somewhere between getting her hung over and taking care of the problem. Which problem might that be again?" she asked.
"Uhm...you see, she's lost some close friends recently." Methos steered carefully, looking at Ressa with softer eyes for a moment before looking away. "They died and she couldn't do anything to save them. She blames herself, silly girl."
"And you're fixing the problem by getting her drunk. It makes perfect sense given it's a male-centric solution. Or does this involve throwing her into the blond guy's arms? Because very soon I'm expecting the both of them to break out into a chorus of 'Danny Boy.'"
"Look, take it from some one with a lot of experience. It's a lot easier to numb the pain first, deal with it later." Methos's voice dropped and the his eyes were suddenly old and hard. "Besides...the blond is too much in fear for his family jewels at the moment to even lay a finger on Ressa," he quipped and the hardness passed, guarded now but not gone.
Syndey's eyes went to Ressa for a moment. "I'm sorry for her loss. And it's kind of you to want to help her. But really, she's going to have to do it for herself. Still, just knowing you folks are here for her should be helpful."
Methos then really looked at Sydney for the first time that night. Really looked at her and listened to what she said under the words. He wanted to tell her so much in that moment, of years and experience, possibly all of it if she had the time. But whether he wanted to tell her so she'd have hope or to make her fear the future, he didn't know. Instead his brow furrowed.
"I need another beer I think. Do you want another?" He said instead and grinned like a fool.
She watched his face for a moment then said, "Sure."
"Julian..." Ressa said a little slowly but far from sloshed to the disappointment of her two immortal kinsmen who thought it wouldn't take much to achieve their goal. "We still need something stronger." She said, eyeing the empty scotch bottle. "You still look too pretty for your own good." She complained.
"Be happy he isn't pouting," Adele advised mournfully. "I've been in love with him since I was 3."
"Stronger," Julian nodded to Ressa. "Surely there's something stronger than bloody scotch."
"Try Everclear," Methos said helpfully.
"Good idea!" Julian said gratefully, and began waving at the waitress, who, seeing how cute he was hurried right over.
Adele looked glumly at Ressa. "It's bad when the guy is prettier than his two dates."
"I have some eyehadow, maybe we can give him some dark circles under his eyes." Ressa said.
There was a little too much thought going into this topic.
Duncan sighed and looked at Sydney. "And you're not in on this because?"
Sydney grinned. "Because I know when I'm bested. And, I really should be getting home. I've got an early class in the morning."
Methos attention snapped to her at that point. "Do you live far?"
"Only a few blocks from here. It is quite safe," Sydney replied, making sure her briefcase was safely latched.
"Obviously you don't remember where you live," Methos said with disbelief as he stood and offered his arm. "A lady and a scholar needs someone to protect them from the criminal capital of the world."
Sydney laughed then said, "Your friends?"
"Friends, what friends," Julian muttered. "Take him away. Please! We'll be fine, won't we ladies," Julian added, pouring Everclear for both Adele and Ressa.
Methos gave Duncan a long suffering look. "Save me a seat, and don't let them fall under the table," he said before escorting Sydney out of the pub.
Author's Note: Reviews are lovely and make us and the old man happy.