-= The Secrets of a Good Man =-

THE SECRETS OF A GOOD MAN
© Sin (13/6/2000)


DISCLAIMER: Any of the cannon characters mentioned in this little piece of prose belong to DPP [though that young redhead is disputed property - I think the Clan have first dibs on him]. The newbie watcher in this little story is mine.

WARNING: Some low level course language, but it still stays firmly with the Gen category.

THANX: To Tia, AC and D'ar for the beta and read through. Muchly appreciated guys.

FEEDBACK: Is always welcomed because the muses do so enjoy it!

Shomoret's challenge to the Gen list was:
The quote is: "Will Shakespeare is a good man to keep a secret."
A Durable Fire by Virginia Bernhard.
Could Shakespeare keep the secret of immortality?

This is my twist on that.

You can find this story, archived at http://www.geocities.com/~rynx/hl/goodman.html

The Watcher sat over his laptop computer, hunched into a narrow and, decidedly uncomfortable, seat that did absolutely nothing to ease his tall and extremely tired frame.

"Who'd have thought all this sneaking around after an Immortal could be so exhausting?" The words were accompanied by a fatigued sigh, as he tried to shift to a more comfortable position and stretch out the kink in his back at the same time.

"Now, where was I?" Checking back to the last line on the screen, he compared it to the notes in his pad, and then started typing again.

Subject hate that word>> came down to the dojo at the normal time of 7:00 after an uneventful night. He trained for an hour and was just finishing up his solo exercises, when his live-in companion came down to spar.

"Shit, makes it sound like they're lovers. Not good." He tapped on the backspace key to delete that last sentence and tried again.

An hour of solo training was followed by another hour of sparring with his roommate, the Immortal Adam Pierson. Subject opened the dojo to the public at 9:30 and spent the rest of the morning going over the books in the office. Pierson left around 10:00. [see Watcher Report on Pierson, Adam for more details].

"And, so goes the life of a young Immortal." The chronicler muttered, as tried to blink away the ache of strain that was plaguing his wearied eyes. "Hell, my life is more interesting." That flippant comment brought a small smile to his lips, as he tried to will his concentration back to the task at hand.

It was doomed to failure, as his focus was completely obliterated by an unlooked for interruption.

"Oh, hey, Will. How's it going?" The sound of his supervisor's voice came through the open door, moments before he actually came through the aperture.

Pulling his glasses from his nose, the aforementioned Will turned around to face the new arrival, and rubbed at his aching eyes. "Hi, Joe. You wanna tell me, again, why I left my nice, safe books in Research to become a field agent?"

A bark of laughter accompanied the slap on the shoulder that the bartender gave his newest trainee, as he shot the disgruntled man a crooked smile. "A life of adventure, meeting new people and learning new skills?"

"For that I could've joined the Marines. Would probably have been an easier gig." The ex-historian scrunched around in his chair again, his long limbs unable to find a position which eased their fatigued aches. "And, what the hell's with this furniture, Joe? Can't you afford anything decent? I feel like a goddamn pretzel!"

"Anything else you wanna bitch about while you're at it, Shakespeare? The lighting? The lack of benefits? The company?" Joe shot an amused glance at the other man, knowing that the complaints were simply a way of releasing steam, and were not personal in any way. And, besides, the poor guy looked decidedly uncomfortable in the narrow chair he had chosen to sit in.

"What the hell kind of brain fart was I having? I liked Research. I got to play around in the Archives, the coffee was good and I didn't have to stand outside in the goddamn rain for hours on end!" Will tossed his discarded glasses onto the keyboard of the laptop and grimaced at the last statement to emphasise his disgust with the situation.

"I mean, look at me," One large, long-fingered hand made a directing wave towards his form, as the irate man pressed on with his point. "I'm totally conspicuous. Can you think of anyone more unsuited to field work than me? I stick out like a flamingo amongst crows."

Joe took the time to study his latest Watcher student, grinning at the truth of the other man's words. Over six feet of ex-Stanford running back, voice like a gravely Barry White, cafe au lait skin and features that would have been loved by any mother, were not something that was easily hidden on a deserted street, or in a crowded room. But, somehow, despite these obstacles, the former Researcher was turning out to be a damn good field agent. And it was time that he knew that.

"Will, you're a lot better at the cloak and dagger part of field work than you give yourself credit for." The looked of patent disbelief on the other Watcher's face, was enough to make Joe say a lot more than he intended, to convince the other man of his worth as a field operative. "Sure, Richie's not that hard an assignment, especially when he's settled in one place. But, have you got any idea how many of his Watchers he's spotted, since he became Immortal? He thinks it's a game. We have to keep switching them, because he up and decides to be a pain in the ass and drop his Watcher not long after he spots a new one. The fact that you've managed to keep an eye on him for 3 months, without him spotting you - and I *know* he hasn't spotted you, yet, is a credit to your training."

"You really think so?"

"Hell, yes, I really think so." Joe playfully cuffed the younger man on the back of the head. "You'd think, with a the number of degrees you have, you would've learnt to accept what people say, as truth."

"Tried that. Look where it got me." Will rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically, a rueful smile quirking his lips, as memory of the events, that had kicked him out of his nice, safe library, made another attempt at resurfacing.

"True." Joe admitted, with a wry smile of his own. "Just be thankful that the shakeup in the hierarchy let you off the hook."

"I am." Will agreed, picking up his glasses and twirling them around in his fingers. They became the object of his intent perusal, as he added. "I still need to thank Adam for his help."

"Don't even think about it, Will! He's the one who dropped you in it in the first place." Joe started up in his chair, at that quiet observation. "Besides, you *know* what kind of trouble that would cause you. We aren't talking early retirement here, we're talking a bullet in the head!"

Shooting Joe a burning look, Will pushed up to his feet and stalked across the room, pacing the floor in agitation, as he ground out, "You think I don't know that! How come you get away with having contact with your Immortal, and I almost don't because I stood up for a friend, when they were going to Hunt him down!"

"Because, I *can*. You, on the other hand, *can't*." Joe shouted back at the other man, his own temper flaring, before he pulling it back under tight rein. "Look, Will, I know where you're coming from, man. I've been there. And, Adam is my friend, too. But, you've got to let this go."

"Let it go!? You think it's that easy?"

"I *know* it's not that easy. But, rehashing all of this is just going to get you into trouble."

"You don't know what kind of trouble I'm in, could be *in* if they found out." Will shook his head, and rasped a hand over the bare centimeter of stubble that comprised his hair. "If you knew what I know ..."

"Oh, shit!" Joe looked over at his current protégé, the realisation of what that piece of knowledge was, impacting with frightening force. It brought with it a string of invective that had the other's brown eyes widening in astonished confusion.

"Joe?" The blue-tinged air, worrying the younger Watcher, because he had never see, his mentor lose it like this, before. "You okay?"

"*Goddammit*!! You know, don't you?" Joe demanded, as he stepped inside the other man's personal space.

"Know what?" Will managed a credible expression of disbelief, tinged slightly with fear, while his mind whirled with this new revelation.

"Who he is!"

"Who, who is?"

"You know what I'm talking about." Getting more frustrated by the minute, Joe was very tempted to take his temper out on the equivocating man before him. A good whack might be just the thing to knock some sense into that thick skull.

"Don't know a thing."

"Shit. You know." Joe muttered something, under his breath, that sounded very much like a threat against the person of a certain mutual acquaintance. "I'm going to kill him."

Will tried to hide the grin that was threatening to spread across his face. "You know that he'll just pop back up again. Kind of like one of those targets in the shooting gallery at a carnival."

Message received and understood. "Don't deny me the pleasure of the idea, Will."

"Wouldn't dream of it, Joe."

"You're a much sneakier bastard than I thought you were." Joe muttered, with half-hearted disgust. "You're going to make one good field Watcher."

"Let's just say, that I know when to keep my mouth shut, Joe." Will offered, with another one of his characteristic wry smiles.

"That you do, William Shakespeare. That you do."

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