THE ELIZABETH SERIES
CHAPTER ONE
CROSSFIRE
By JoLayne
EnyaJo@aol.com
RATING: PG
CHARACTERS: DM M J A Amy OCs Elizabeth Bennett, Kevin, Joshua Logan
SUMMARY: Amy's friend, Elizabeth, gets her father, Joe Dawson, caught in the cross fire of an immortal feud.
DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fan fiction. Highlander characters you recognize belong to Panzer/Davis. The others I guess belong to my warped imagination. No profit, only fun, is to be gained from the writing of this story.
NEW YORK CITY
SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 3, 2000
Amy had too much to do. Her wedding was only six days away. The wedding planner she had hired left a message on her machine while she was at church saying, "Come! Come right away!" Well, Jerard was the excitable type; it could be nothing, but it was too close to the wedding date to put him off. So, while she put her coat back on and petted the cat goodbye, she thought of the other things she still had to do that day.
Her father, Joe Dawson, and his friends from out of town were coming over for dinner and she'd only met one of them before. Adam Pierson, the ex-watcher who turned out to be an immortal, who had saved her life from Morgan Walker. That was the only time she'd ever seen him, but since Joe talked about him ad nauseam, which was a high recommendation in her book, she felt like she knew him. The other two, Duncan and Amanda, she'd only heard about and couldn't wait to meet. When she noticed the cardboard Brooks Brothers box on the couch, she picked it up and walked out.
As she was locking the door to her middle class apartment, she heard the bell signaling the arrival of the elevator. What luck! That elevator was the slowest in the Tri-borough area. As soon as the clanky, old elevator doors opened, Amy yelled down the hall, "Hold it please! I'll be right there!"
Elizabeth Bennett smiled, as she stood at the elevator, leaning against the bucking door to keep it open. Amy deposited her key ring in her purse and started down the hall, she smiled when she saw the elevator was being held by her friend from across the hall. "Thanks, Liz."
Elizabeth stepped aside to let her pass and said, "There you go, ma'am." She saw the box and asked, "What's that?"
"I got the wrong size shirt for Kevin. With everything I have to organize for the wedding, you'd think he could buy his own shirt." Amy punched the lobby button, ready to start on her errands, but she could see through the false facade of Elizabeth's smile, "What's wrong?"
Elizabeth sighed, "Eliot called again this morning."
Amy stood on her side of the elevator opening and leaned against the other door. "Oh, God. Now what does he want?"
"He still wants the coffee table."
"The judge said it was yours."
"Eliot knows that too, he just loves ruining my day."
"He's not over you," Amy replied in a sing-song voice.
"Then why did he sleep around? He's territorial, that's all."
Amy peshawed the memory of Eliot from her mind and changed the subject, "You're still coming over for dinner tonight, right?"
"Of course," Elizabeth's smile returned, genuine this time. "Joe will be there. Do you think he'll play for us tonight? I did buy one thing today," she reached into her backpack and pulled out a CD titled, "Joe Dawson and the Blues Boys".
A compliment about Joe Dawson was a compliment to his daughter, Amy. She smiled, took the CD from Elizabeth and studied the cover art. "Now, that's a great picture of him." It was a picture of the band during a performance, with Joe Dawson front and center in the spotlight, leaning against a stool, lost in the emotions he had to dredge up to play his tunes. Amy grinned, "Joe told me he looks constipated in this picture. He doesn't."
"I want him to play 'Fire on the Water'. They were playing the CD in the store. It was just beautiful."
"I'm sure you won't have to twist his arm. Around 7:30?"
"Sounds great. Should I bring anything?"
"Just yourself. See you then."
Elizabeth finally let the doors go and they clanked closed immediately. She pulled on the long chain that was tucked inside her blouse and retrieved the key to her apartment door, across the hall from Amy's.
7:30 PM
Elizabeth, with her long auburn hair pulled back off her face and neck, dressed in a simple dark green dress and low shoes for the informal gathering Amy had organized for that evening, wondered if she'd feel like a fifth wheel. This would be the first 'adult' outing she'd had since her divorce from Eliot.
After going through her closet, wondering if Joe's band would wear jeans, she debated whether or not she should dress up and decided on the former. Elizabeth was assuming that the guys in the band were the 'few people' Amy had invited for dinner, but loved dressing up and slipped into an emerald green sheath that she had bought for herself to pick herself up after the divorce. This would be the first party she'd had the opportunity to wear it. It hung a little loose and realized that she had lost weight. She pulled her long wavy, auburn hair back and let the back hang loose in waves that she controled with a curling iron and some hair spray. While putting on her makeup, she noticed that her almond shaped brown eyes looked tired. She hadn't gotten a lot of sleep since the divorce either and decided some extra light eye shadow would open them up more.
When Kevin answered the door wearing what looked like a brand new, expensive sweater and pants, she was glad she dressed up as it wasn't an informal gathering after all. She handed the telltale pale yellow cake box from Delano's Bakery to him.
He said, "I smell a crispy crust, smooth custard center, a hint of powdered sugar... This isn't a beehive, is it?"
"Of course, it's a beehive."
"You're the greatest," he said, kissing her cheek. "Come on in."
Kevin, Amy's fiance, was a tall man, muscular blond man who could be confused as a 'surfer dude' but hadn't gone near a beach in his life, and melted at the sight and smell of the box like a little kid who spied a Hershey bar on the top shelf of the cupboards.
"You have to wait until after dinner, now, Kev."
"They say," he offered. "That if you eat dessert first, it helps digest the meal."
"Well, then, knock yourself out. I know I believe everything I hear 'they say'," Elizabeth smiled. In the living room, there were signs of company to come, hors d'oeuvres on the table, wine chilling, but no Joe. "I'm not too early, am I?"
"No, everyone else is late. Including Amy. Is this what I have to look forward to after the wedding?"
"Of course," Elizabeth smiled. Kevin took a very nervous breath. The wedding was coming to quickly for Mr. Randall by the looks of it. "You said 'everyone'?"
"Yeah, Joe, and some of his friends that just got to town for the wedding."
"Oh, Amy didn't mention that. Do I know them?"
"Probably not, I haven't met them yet myself. They're from out of town and are more friends of Joe's than ours."
Elizabeth heard Joe's CD drifting in from the bedroom. "Where's Amy?"
"In the bedroom getting ready." Kevin put the beehive on the kitchen table using all the willpower he could muster not to open that box. "Something about not finding a particular pair of shoes. I told her, we're at home. What do you need shoes for?"
"Men," Elizabeth muttered with a smile, shaking her head. They'd never understand. "I'll help her find them."
"Do you want some wine?"
"Absolutely."
"It'll be ready for ya after the great shoe search."
One was that Amy was blissfully unaware that Elizabeth was immortal. The other, that Amy was at one time a watcher, along with her father, Joe, and Elizabeth had no idea such a job existed.
Amy looked at her as she walked in and said as if it was the last straw, "I can't for the life of me figure out what happened to them. I've never even worn them."
"Which ones?"
"The Enzo Burgatti's."
Elizabeth looked at Amy's sweater outfit then scanned the shoes on the floor of Amy's closet and said, "The red ones?"
"Yeah."
"Those are mine, Amy. They're in my closet."
"Oh, that's right. I bought the green pair," she said, shaking her head, looking at the green pumps in the closet. "Why did I buy green? I hate green." Spotting Elizabeth's green dress she changed her screwed up nose into a smile in no time, "On me. You look great in green."
Elizabeth smiled, "You had a quite a day, huh?"
Amy, still frazzled, wondered, "It shows that much?"
Elizabeth nodded and took a pair of shoes from the floor of the closet, "Wear these. You can't go wrong with black." As they sat on the bed, she asked, "How are the wedding plans going?"
Amy was in her own little exasperated world as she put on the shoes, "I'm going to lose my mind. Jerard is no help whatsoever. My dress is still big enough for two of me, the florists forgot all about the sprays for the pews, and I could kill the caterer. The wedding is Friday and they're under the impression that I want to serve salmon for the meal."
Elizabeth smiled and sat down next to Amy knowing she needed to talk it out. Amy continued, "For the hundredth time, I had to tell them the smoked salmon is for the appetizer and the shrimp stuffed chicken is for the meal. And do you know what? They forgot to order the chicken! They don't know if they can get such a large shipment in time, Jerard actually asked me, 'Ow 'bout beef?' Of course they could get beef, beef is bad for you. Thank God I met with him today." She took a breath after the long tirade.
"I like beef," Elizabeth said with a smile to lighten her friend's mood, then massaged Amy's tight shoulders. "Relax..." Elizabeth had gone through a few weddings, and knew what Amy was up against, although she'd never used a wedding planner. That must be a new thing. "So, we'll eat beef. It's not that big of a deal."
"When you got married did you have all these headaches?"
She had only told Amy about the last one. Elizabeth cringed to utter his name. "To Eliot? Not one. We eloped in Vegas."
"Oh...," Amy wistfully moaned. "Kevin and I should just elope." After a short pause while fastening the straps of the shoes, she revealed, "I wish my mother were here. She wouldn't let a stupid caterer forget about the shrimp stuffed chicken."
"Oh, honey..." Elizabeth said, wrapping an arm around Amy's shoulders. She softly smiled at the thoughts that the memory of Amy's mother evoked. "You're right, Laura wouldn't have. She would have pushed that little Frenchman around to keep him in line, too. Isn't that what he's supposed to do, make things easier for you? Laura would have loved to see you get married." It was sad she didn't make it that long.
Just three years earlier Laura Thomas, a segment producer for CNN, a woman on top of the world and her craft, died when her chartered passenger plane crashed somewhere in Alaska. The authorities were able to locate the area where it dropped from radar and determined that it went into the sea. After three days of searching, nothing. There was no way any survivors could have endured the freezing Alaskan waters in November. The search was ended when the outlook was bleak. When Joe heard about the crash, he rushed to Amy in New York. He was her father and firmly stated that he would always be there for her.
Weeks later, Joe quit the watchers and moved to New York when Amy opened the door to having a relationship, not as father-daughter, but as friends. He was pleased when their relationship did eventually become father-daughter, and Elizabeth had been privy to it all, except for Joe's former profession.
"Weddings..., "Amy commented. "I didn't know they were this much trouble. And all the expense. You can't even look at any of the so called helpers without writing out a check."
Responding to Amy's earlier comment Elizabeth said "No." Remembering her five weddings, she disagreed. "Eliot and I eloped, and we divorced. You have to do it in front of God and everybody or it's not going to last." Only her wedding to Teddy had been in a church with family present. His little sister Marcy, her parents, the whole town of Gettysburg was present back in 1851 when she was still mortal. "Your wedding is going to be beautiful. You have excellent taste. It will all work! Just think about that. Then it's going to be over and the marriage begins."
"All this work for one day of my life. I must be out of my mind. I blame Hallmark." Amy stood and fished through her jewelry box for a pair of earrings. "They promote all these celebrations, protocols and holidays with commercials that make you cry... the people in," she paused, then shrugged, "wherever it was, have the right idea. You walk around a table three times and you're married."
Elizabeth tightened as the all too familiar sensation rumbled from the small of her back to the nape of her neck. An immortal buzz. Living in New York City, it was a normal thing, but not here, not in the safe haven of her apartment building. Amy sensed her discomfort and studied her tense face. Elizabeth said, "Someone's here."
"I didn't hear the door bell..." Amy said, right before the doorbell rang. Amy looked at her and smiled, "How did you know that? Are you psychic?"
"Yes, Adam," Kevin smiled in greeting. "It's nice to meet you. Come on in."
When Methos looked around the room and didn't see MacLeod, he became nervous. "Who's here?"
"Just Liz and Amy," Kevin said without a care in the world.
Methos looked at him, shook his head. Mortals... they didn't understand. He knew that Amy wasn't the source of his discomfort, so there was only one other possibility. As he privately wondered if he should high tail it out of there, he asked, "Who's Liz?"
Just then Elizabeth appeared in the hallway to the bedroom and tried to stare down the strange, lanky immortal. Leery with him on her turf, she asked straight out, "Who are you?"
Kevin turned to her and said, "This is Adam Pierson, Liz." He tried to remain the pleasant host, but it was difficult when the two of them were definitely on guard with each other. "Adam, Liz Bennett. She lives across the hall."
Methos recognized her, but damn if he could place her. He was going to ask, to decide if she was friend or foe, when a new buzz hit both of the immortals' radar. Then door bell rang. Methos relaxed, it could only mean reinforcements had arrived in the form of Duncan MacLeod. Elizabeth was ready to jump out of her skin with the arrival of the newest intruders. When Kevin mentioned friends of Joe's, she didn't expect immortals, and didn't know how Joe could know immortals. Kevin opened the door to Duncan and Amanda.
One immortal didn't seem threatening and Elizabeth might have been able to keep her eye on him, but not three. She didn't have her sword never thinking she'd need it to have dinner with Amy and Kevin and listen to Joe strum on a guitar with his band. Duncan outstretched his hand to Kevin, "Nice to meet you Kevin, Duncan MacLeod. This is Amanda Montrose."
Amanda shook Kevin's hand and admitted, "My heel broke," as an explanation for their lateness.
Duncan handed Kevin the gift of wine and they stepped into the living room. "Adam," he shook Methos' hand. "Long time no see."
"Well, you know," Methos said. "Life..."
Amy came out of the bedroom and saw them all. "Oh, everyone's here. Liz, did you meet everyone?"
With fear overriding her good manners, she said, "I was just leaving." She kissed Amy on the cheek. "I'll talk to you later."
Kevin asked her, "Where are you going?"
Elizabeth said, "Sorry, but..." She kissed Kevin on the cheek saying, "See you later." She was gone before even checking to see if the immortals meant her any harm. They all felt her buzz and knew what she was, that alone was too much for her.
Amanda took it personally, "Did she want you all to herself or something?" She was used to females cowering from her, but this was ridiculous.
Methos, wondering where he'd seen her face before, concentrated on digging the tip of his shoe into the carpet as he debated. Duncan saw the look of deep thought on Methos' face and said, "What did you do to her?"
"Me? Nothing. I've never seen her before in my life." As soon as he said it, he knew it was a false statement. That sent a chill up his spine. Instant recognition of someone was a gift of Methos'. One he had appreciated having through all through his many years, and now it was failing him.
Amanda laughed, "Well, something got to her."
Kevin said, "She's... I don't understand it. She's a people person."
Amy took Duncan's arm, "That's not how Liz behaves. I'm making a wild stab in the dark, but..." Amy couldn't believe she was even making the assumption, she'd known Elizabeth for too many years without even thinking about the possibility, but it was the only explanation. "Is she Immortal?" All the immortals in the room looked at Kevin, a mortal. Amy said, "He knows about it. It's all right. I told him. Kevin isn't going to tell anyone."
"Yes," Duncan said, hesitantly, not knowing how reliable Kevin actually was.
"I didn't know that," Amy said, putting her hand to her chest. "She never said anything about it."
Duncan said, "Why would she? How long have you known her?"
"Almost five years. I had no idea."
Amanda asked, "What's wrong with her? It's like we scared her."
"I don't know," Amy shrugged. "She was looking forward to seeing Joe tonight."
That got Methos' attention. That could be where he'd seen the woman before, "She knows Joe?"
"Of course. He's my father and she's my best friend."
Duncan asked, "Where does she live?"
"Across the hall. 3B."
"I'll see if she went home and talk to her."
Kevin was suddenly leery, no longer the cordial host. "You're... all... immortals?"
Duncan smiled, tada, and walked to the hallway. Kevin pulled Amy over to the semi privacy of the living room and said, "I didn't know they were immortal."
"So? They're friends of Joe's."
"I've never met one before. How do you talk to them?"
Amy smiled, put her hand on his and said, "They're people, Kevin. You just talk. Be normal." Some immortals scared her, Walker for instance, but Joe was a reliable judge of character and if they were all good friends of his. There was nothing to worry about.
Kevin watched everything they did while two of them hovered near the door to his apartment. They looked like normal people. When Amy told him about immortals, he didn't really digest what she said. He heard Amanda talk, paid attention to every word, as if she was speaking a foreign language. Her words weren't foreign, but she suddenly was.
Amanda asked, "So, Adam... what have you been up to? And don't say this and that again."
"Oh, a little bit of everything," he enjoyed playing with her.
"I would imagine... Are you going to make this like a quiz... twenty questions?"
"I don't like to play games," he looked over the foyer, wondering when they'd be allowed to enter the domicile farther than the entrance. And more importantly, if he'd eventually get a beer.
"What are you doing in the Big Apple?"
"I'm researching."
"Well, you were always handy at that," Amanda smiled. "What are you researching?"
"Right now, where to get my hands on a beer."
Kevin heard, smiled, liked him, "Coming right up."
Methos looked at Amanda, who was still staring at him, and asked, "Where are you living?"
"In a loft above a dojo, I'm so glad Mac came to his senses and bought it back from Wally. I also live on a barge in Paris. Although I still have my villa in Tuscany."
"MacLeod still hasn't come to his senses, huh?"
"Ha, ha," she wasn't really sure if he was kidding or not and didn't like it when he teased her. Methos could get too close to the bone with some well chosen words.
Methos leaned close to her and suggestively commented, "Or better yet, you're not tired of boys?"
Duncan came back to the door, carrying a guitar case. "I heard that. Look who I found loitering in the halls." When he moved aside, Joe walked in.
Methos smiled and patted Joe on the shoulder, "Hey! Even when we're in the same city, I don't see you. Where have you been?"
"On the road. My new CD just came out. Have you bought it yet?"
"First thing in the morning, Joe," Methos promised with a smile. "First thing in the morning." It was good to see him again.
"You'd better," Joe said, then walked to his daughter and held on to her. "How is my girl?"
"I'm glad you're back, Joe." Amy laid her head on his shoulder. Instantly her crappy day faded and she felt a calm wash over her.
Joe looked around, "I thought you said Liz was coming tonight. Is she running late?"
"Running is the operative word there, Joe," Amanda said as she hugged him.
Amy countered, "She was here. She had to leave."
Joe was disappointed, but he was still among old friends he couldn't wait to catch up with, "Oh, well. Let's eat."
Over dinner all the immortals caught up with each others lives since they were last together, and with Joe, and found out more about Kevin and Amy's romance and lives. Methos was cordial, even sweet. He did have a soft spot for Amy. He'd challenged for her. Or was it for Joe? Or was it for himself? He was thinking that he should have taken care of Walker himself years before, then remembered that Joe had been telling him that repeatedly all the years since the incident.
Methos hustled Joe into the kitchen for a private talk after they enjoyed dinner and the bee hive. After positioning himself against the counter, Joe said, "I'm not going to like this, am I?"
Methos softly laughed, "That depends on how you take it."
"Well, come on, let me have it."
"How old is she?"
Joe shrugged, "Who?"
"Elizabeth Bennett."
"Around Amy's age."
"She's immortal."
Upon receiving that information, Joe had to take a chair by the table. "She is?"
"Yes. Can you find out where she's from and where she's traveled for me?"
"How?"
"You have access to information."
Joe smiled a tired smile. "I retired, remember."
"Oh, come on," Methos jerked his head. He always had to beg for any scrap of watcher information from Joe when it was freely given to MacLeod, whether he wanted it or not. "You still have contacts."
"We've had this conversation before..." Joe didn't like to remember when his daughter was held captive by Walker, someone Methos should have taken care of long before Joe's ancestors were born. "What do you care?"
"I've seen her before, I just can't place her. It bothers me."
"So you aren't all knowing, all powerful?"
Methos sighed, "I'm not Superman, Joe. I'm only immortal."
Joe repeated, "Only immortal..." It was a gift to have everlasting life, one that Joe at times would loved to have, he sometimes didn't like how immortals took it for granted.
"Although it would make life a lot easier if I were Superman..." Methos mused. "But how many times does one have to say, 'I'm just a guy'?"
"Yeah, you're just a guy who likes to have his friends do his work for him." Kevin came in with some dishes so Joe carefully continued, "Do it the old fashioned way, Adam. Keep me out of it."
Methos finished his beer and helped himself to another from the fridge. After Kevin left the room, Methos said, "She lives right across the hall from your daughter. Does that give you comfort?"
Joe, not liking how Methos always jumped to the worst conclusion, frowned, "Liz is Amy's friend. Hell, she's my friend. She's a good woman."
Methos leaned close to whisper, "But she's got secrets, doesn't she? She has a history you knew nothing about."
That angle finally seeped in for Joe. "Why didn't I see that?"
"You don't have the power, Joe."
Methos was an immortal, and Joe figured he should take his comment into consideration. "If you find out anything bad, let me know. She's close to my daughter." Then Joe shook his head. "But you won't. Liz is a solid, trusting woman." A twinkle filled his eye when he said, "No fan of my music can be all bad. And I'm a good judge of character."
"Are you sure about that?"
"I'm friends with you, aren't I?"
Methos smiled, Joe always was quick. He tried one more time, "You know you can get the information faster than I could."
"Whatever happened to talk to her?"
"She bolted out of the room as soon as I showed up."
"Why? What did you do to her?"
"Nothing!" Exasperated, Methos moaned. "Do I have a sign on my back or something?"
Amy set a tray of asperifs on the table for everyone. Duncan and Amanda politely declined and made their departure. They wanted quiet time together to talk about their reclaimed romance, this time around they wanted to spend quality time together.
After they made their departure, Methos and Kevin both reached over for a glass, not missing a beat in their discussion of Japan. Kevin, a junior marketing executive for a banking company, had just come back from Tokyo on business, and Methos hadn't been there for centuries. Amy and Joe did a little toast and sipped.
When Methos and Kevin resumed their conversation, Methos stopped in mid sentence when the tingling sensation crept up his back. There was an immortal buzz in the air.
Amy noticed the lapse in conversation, even though she really wasn't listening and asked, "What? Oh! Is she back?"
Amy walked out of her apartment and saw Elizabeth unlocking her door. "Hey, what happened earlier?"
"I was thinking they would have gone by now," she said, walking into her place. "Its pretty late."
"Blame Japan. You get Kevin talking about work and he doesn't stop," Amy said, slipping into the hallway.
Not wanting to be vulnerable out in the open hallway, with at least one immortal just feet away, Elizabeth was impatient to get behind her locked door. "Goodnight," she said hoping to curb any further conversation Amy may have in mind.
As usual that did not do the trick with Amy, who followed Elizabeth into the apartment. "It's late, Amy," Elizabeth said, trying to steer Amy back to the door. "I have classes tomorrow."
Amy wouldn't be put off. She said, "You can't expect me to find out you're immortal and not talk about it."
"Could you keep it down?" Elizabeth had expected them to have told her, but immortal came out of her mouth so easily. Amy Thomas must have known about immortals for a long time. "How do you know so many?"
"They're friends of my father's."
"How did he pick them up? Joe's not immortal."
"He was a watcher."
"What's that?"
Amy was talking to her friend, not some immortal who wasn't supposed to know of the watcher's existence, still she didn't know if she should let Elizabeth in on things, so she said, "A researcher."
"Of what?"
"That was just his job description. He's retired," Amy said putting her off. She looked at the furnishings in her friend's apartment for the first time with the new knowledge that Elizabeth was much older than she appeared. Elizabeth taught history at NYU, with a specialty in Civil War Studies. Amy looked at the framed historical pictures on the walls and the cavalry sword in a case in the corner and wondered if they were actually her personal possessions. Was that union cavalry sword that Amy saw all the time actually Elizabeth's weapon of choice? Had she ever used it to slice off the head of an opponent? Amy just couldn't picture Elizabeth doing that, with any type of sword.
Elizabeth set her purse on the sofa and rubbed her arms as she kicked the radiator. It was cold on the walk home from the movie she caught at the theater a few blocks away. Amy wasn't leaving and she didn't want to be rude. "Do you hang out with a lot of immortals?"
"Obviously, I don't know. I didn't know you were one of them."
"How does Joe know about us?"
"I can't..."
"You can tell me anything. My goodness, Amy, you have. I've seen you through two relationships!"
Amy figured that if she gave a little, maybe Elizabeth would too. "My father was a watcher. You don't know what that is, do you?"
"No. Should I?"
Since she trusted Elizabeth with every secret she ever had, she knew the information would be safe with her. "They are a group of people who watch and record the lives of immortals. Every known immortal has one."
Elizabeth took a step back. Maybe that was how Joshua Logan always found her. There'd been someone following her? "You're shitting me," she said, hands on her hips.
Amy laughed at the response, "No," but then sobered when Elizabeth didn't match her reaction.
"What? They follow us around? Record what?"
"What you do. Who you see. Where you go. How you play the game. Who's heads you take. When your head is taken."
Elizabeth stared at her friend, stunned. Amy knew everything about immortality and it had never come up once in any of their many conversations. Watchers... they're assigned to immortals like we're lab animals to be monitored? "I've had someone following me and didn't know it? When did this start?"
"There have always been watchers; at least for the last thousand or so years."
"That can't be. I would have seen one."
"They're not supposed to let you see them. Immortals aren't supposed to know about them. It's a secret you have to keep. Watchers only watch and record, they never interfere."
"What for?"
"So an accurate history can be chronicled of you, all of you."
Elizabeth tightly laughed, let it sink in that she'd had a tail and didn't know it. How could she be so stupid? Wait! If she had one, Logan had one also. Maybe that would be the way to find him, or lure him out of hiding, or something... she had to get him out of her mind. The deadline for his reappearance in her life was getting close.
Amy said, "Liz, I don't know why you ran out like that this evening. We're all friends. You didn't even give us a chance to explain."
Elizabeth shook her head. Other immortals couldn't be trusted, not at all.
##################
SAN FRANCISCO
MAY 1920
##################
Holy ground, St. Mary's Cathedral in the middle of the city, was packed during mass. In the middle of the sermon, Elizabeth felt the tickle of an approaching buzz. When she turned to scan the church, a tall, blond immortal named John Dieterle caught her glance, and smiled. She didn't believe she had anything to fear. She was so naive!
After the service was over, John approached Elizabeth suggesting they talk during a long walk. That evening, they danced the charleston at a club; laughed and drank and she ended up at his place. It was a very flagrant thing to do at that time, but it was too easy to be manipulated by his charms and his baby face.
After two months together, John and Elizabeth were having a nice, quiet picnic in the park. A rolling river supplied the music for the afternoon, the sun was shining bright and the birds were singing. Dieterle lifted a glass of wine and toasted them. "Aren't we perfect together," he smiled at Elizabeth. They hadn't known each other for long, but there was indeed a spark that Elizabeth hadn't felt since her beloved first husband, Teddy, was killed in Fredricksburg during the Civil War.
On that perfect afternoon, with the glorious sun overhead, a mild wind and the park seemingly to themselves, Elizabeth smiled and felt a tingle of excitement. She fully expected him to propose to her. She'd never thought about attaching herself to an immortal after the death of her teacher, but John Dieterle was someone she certainly could visualize herself with 50, 100 years down the line. He was so sweet to her, they could get through the game together, protecting each other. Her needs were the most important thing to him, or so she thought. When he kissed her instead of drinking his toast, she closed her eyes, totally his.
What Elizabeth didn't know, was that John had opened his eyes during the kiss and was looking into the trees. He nodded to the phantom that hovered out of sensing range, and pushed her away, looking into her eyes. "Let me say one thing up front, Lizzie."
"Yes," she smiled, fully expecting a proposal.
What he said was, "I'm sorry."
Suddenly she felt another immortal near. She swung her head around towards the trees and just about fainted when she saw Joshua Logan, the one legged Irish immortal who turned her in 1863 and murdered her teacher in the summer of 1880. She screamed, wondering how a handicapped man could get the best of her when she least expected it. Logan limped toward her. She didn't have her sword, thinking she was safe with John and his. Before she could make it her feet to get the hell out of there, Dieterle grabbed her arm and pushed her to the ground.
Because she fought with all her will, John had to punch her in the face so she'd be more manageable. She kicked and screamed, "What are you doing?!" He rolled her over, smashed her face into the grass and pulled her arms together behind her. Logan, when he limped close, threw a rope at them and Dieterle tied her up. "I trusted you!" She screamed with all her might, "You said you love me!"
Dieterle droned once again that he was sorry as he tied a bag of rocks to her bound wrists. "It's a wonder what money can do," Logan said as he kicked her in the face, breaking her nose. He leaned down to peer into her face while she howled in agony from both the pain and hopelessness of the situation. "It's time, once again, for you to remember just who I am. I will always win, Elizabeth Tennison. I believe you may have forgotten that."
"Please," she pleaded with John. "He'll kill you, too. He can't be trusted. He's going to kill me, then he's going to turn on you!"
Logan said, "She's a raving lunatic! Do it!"
Dieterle picked her up and throw her into the river. She screamed, "You son of a bitch!" As the water rolled down her throat, burning her lungs, she tumbled to the bottom struggling to get free. She could see her two enemies clearly through the water but she couldn't rise to the surface. Logan handed Dieterle a wad of bills, not a sword to the stomach, which she thought he deserved. That rat bastard!
Kill him, she urged Logan on, this time wanting to see the senseless massacre he would levee on whomever she attached herself to. But he didn't do it. Logan just slapped Dieterle on the back for a job well done and hobbled away as Elizabeth sputtered and died, snared amongst the rocks on the river bottom.
It was days before the current of the river unwedged her and she drifted with it. She awoke against a rock on the riverbank. She had to dislocate her shoulder to move her arms from behind her back to her front so she could untie the rope with her teeth.
Laying on her back on the beach, she took long, deep, calming breaths. After popping her shoulder back into it's socket, she cried from the pain and the turn of events. But then she held in the pain and thought back to how she'd gotten into this predicament in the first place. Logan didn't kill Dieterle. He must have liked his work. Had John Dieterle been working with Logan all along? If so, then Dieterle was as heartless and cold as Logan. She had a mission. The first thing she had to do was get her sword.
#######################
RENO
ONE MONTH LATER
#######################
Elizabeth had finally tracked down that rat bastard, John Dieterle. He had registered in a hotel where she was able to bribe the night clerk for his room number and a key to let herself in.
Dressed in black and in the deep of night, she burst in on him while he was poking it into a ditz. John didn't have time to collect himself from the buzz before Elizabeth pushed him off the bed. Grabbing the whore by the hair she threw her out the door, slamming it shut behind her.
Dieterle rolled to his feet and charged across the room, toward his coat. She stepped on it, and lifted her blade to his neck. If he hadn't come to a dead stop, he would have decapitated himself.
"Lesson number one," Elizabeth announced with her blade to his neck. "When you ambush an immortal, you make sure they're good and dead!"
Dieterle backed up, eyes flickering between her blade at his throat and his sword wrapped in the coat on the floor under her foot. The hilt was visible. He could easy topple her and get to it. "How much did Logan pay you," she seethed.
"I needed that money." He thought to explain and wore a mask of guilt trying to look like he was 'oh so sorry'.
"Do you still have it all? Or did you have to pay her a mighty sum to fuck you?"
He reached out and belted her for that remark. Elizabeth blindly swung the sword. She was surprised that her blade hit its mark. She felt the pressure of her blade slicing the area between Dieterle's head and shoulders while she was facing the other way. When she heard his head slap against the dresser and his body fall at her feet, her only emotion was that of a job well done. She giggled when she realized she hadn't had a clear challenge and fight in years and even though this wasn't one either, she would receive the bastard's essence with little or no effort.
She accepted Dieterle's quickening with anticipation and laughed at the quickness of his decapitation. What had she been worried about? He didn't even put up a fight. The mark on her cheek where he hit her would heal... and he never would! When the lightening crackled through the room, into her, and out her body, it broke the window; broke the kerosene lamps, spilling kerosene over the tables and onto the floor. Smoke filled the room. Throughout the quickening, Dieterle screamed in her head and that's when she found out about his arrangement with Logan. He had been approached by that one legged asshole after they had been together for a month. Then there was nothing; no thoughts of what he felt for her. How could John be such a lackey for someone he'd just met because he had a lot of cash? Elizabeth thought he was a better man than that and was disappointed to learn it was all about the money. Nothing more exotic or more satisfying.
As she straightened up and relaxed, she heard people in the halls, wondering what happened. Elizabeth grabbed the money in John's pockets and wallet. After pulling the rest of the broken glass from the window, she climbed out and ran down the alley. When she was safely blocks away from the hotel, she acknowledged that she couldn't trust anyone in this world until Logan was 'sans head'. He was better at escaping than she was.
Elizabeth looked for years and could not find Joshua Logan. Five years later, newly settled in St. Louis she started her life again with her new motto, 'Mortals Only'.
NEW YORK CITY
2000
Logan had ambushed her three more times in her life when she least expected it, until she finally saw the pattern. Every twenty years, in July. This year Elizabeth had gone on vacation during the summer to make sure Amy, Kevin, Joe, Eliot, her students, fellow teachers were safe, no one in her life would be hurt.
Logan either couldn't find her or he was dead. That was what she hoped, that Logan had come upon another immortal and hadn't walked away from the challenge. How long could a one legged immortal last? What did she do to him that was so horrible that he had a vendetta against her? Did he even think about her during the 20 year down time between losing his leg and his first attack on her and her beloved teacher, Hotohke? Elizabeth didn't know the answer to any of those questions, she just hoped it was over and that Logan was history. But she also couldn't believe she'd be that lucky.
Amy was looking her friend over with the new found knowledge that she was an immortal, who was suddenly so quiet, it almost scared her. Elizabeth muttered as she stared out the window, "I'm learning more and more every day." The existence of the watchers, and the knowledge that each immortal had one, meant that perhaps Elizabeth could track Logan. If he was still alive, she could ambush him for once!
Amy said, "I'm not sure I should have told you that. There can't be any contact between immortals and watchers. None."
"Like Joe and those people this evening?"
"It's a different situation. Joe's retired."
"How many watchers do you know?"
"Just my father." Amy didn't tell her that she'd made and kept friends while she was one of them. One of her bridesmaids was still in the watchers, but naturally wouldn't say a word.
"Is he still over there? Joe?"
"No, he had a club date tonight."
Elizabeth opened a drawer of the desk in front of the window and took out a painted piece of leather and held it absently between her fingers, rubbing the etching designs whose paint was starting to crumble. Amy asked her, "What's that?"
Elizabeth looked down at her hands, not even realizing that she had picked it up. "A soul catcher." The one material thing she had left of her Ojibwa teacher.
"A what?"
"Where does he live?"
Amy took her eyes off the leather, surprised by the question, "Who?"
"Joe. He recently moved. Where does he live?"
The question gave Amy goose bumps. Her friend didn't look like her usual self. There seemed to be a wall that had built up between them. To Amy, Elizabeth had a look in her eye like someone who was sitting in the tower with a rifle ready to fire. "Why?"
Knowing that her question came a little too fast and was too telling, Elizabeth shrugged. She didn't have an answer that would make Amy feel better, so she said nothing. She looked down at the soul catcher in her hands, then put it back in the drawer.
"Liz, I don't like that look on your face."
"I can't trust anyone."
"Of course, you can. You can trust everyone that was in my apartment tonight." Amy looked at Elizabeth and still couldn't get over the fact that she was immortal. "How old are you, anyway?"
"32."
"No, not when you died, when were you born?"
"Why does it matter? I'm still the same person you've always known."
"I know that, but... it's amazing, I can't believe it."
Elizabeth about had enough, she wanted solitude, and was angry at Amy's intrusion. "I've known you for five years, Amy. I haven't changed. You know about immortals. You put two and two together and came up with three?"
Amy glanced at her again, except for the hair that was longer, she realized that Elizabeth looked exactly as she did five years ago. "Are you very young and that's why other immortals scare you, or what? How did you die? We have a whole area of conversation that we've never examined."
"And we're not going to."
"You weren't born and raised in Brooklyn and you didn't work hard to get rid of your accent like you told me. You also told me you've never been out of the New York area in your life."
"Amy--," Elizabeth opened the door, hoping she would get the hint.
Instead, Amy stood her ground, "Tell me who you are!"
Elizabeth slammed the door, "I'm your friend. I'm a history professor at NYU. I've been married six times. And that's all you have to know."
"Six times? When you married Eliot, you said it was for the first time." When Elizabeth realized that Amy was flabbergasted, she shrugged.
"Did you really go to college at NYU?"
Amy didn't like her stare, but waited for an answer. The true answer. Elizabeth gave up and said, "No. I went to the University of Pennsylvania."
"When?" Long pause. "I'm not going to let it go. You've lied to me."
"What do you expect? You expected me to tell you that I started college in 1890 only two weeks after I meet you? Be serious!"
"1890? How old are you?"
"Will I still be worthy of your friendship if you know?" Elizabeth spouted. "Will it make you feel better?"
"Yes."
"I was born in 1831. I died in 1863. I went to college in 1890 so I could make a life for myself. I've been a history professor at 14 different universities. I've been a nurse in four different wars. I've been married six times. Do you like those numbers?" She was really seething by this time. "My first husband was killed in the Civil War. My second husband was killed in a car accident in 1946... My third husband..." she tried to shake off the memory, "Died..." was murdered by Logan... she couldn't think about it!
She skipped the rest, but Amy knew about one, so she included it, "Eliot, you know about. That's my life. That's it. The 1800s was my turning and training, the 1900s was me giving my life over to men. Satisfied?"
Amy's mouth hung open. "No. I can't believe it. I thought I knew you."
"Where does Joe live?"
Elizabeth was back to that, and Amy didn't like it. "Why?"
"He has what I need," Elizabeth stated very cold, very determined and the intensity of the statement made Amy's skin crawl. The last thing Amy would do is tell this sudden stranger anything she wanted to know about her father. In fact, with the dangerous look in her eye, Amy was feeling a little apprehensive just being in the immediate vicinity.
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2000
Elizabeth's lecture was on the Battle of Gettysburg in Civil War Studies, she was finishing up with the candid moments that were known about the fabric of the battle. "Pickett, to his dying breath, hated Robert E. Lee for killing his men, by putting them in the position of fighting at a disadvantage in the first place. He knew Pickett's Charge wouldn't work and was probably a little more than peeved that it was named after him."
A hand went up in the middle of the group of seated students. "Yes, Katie?"
"Robert E. Lee is revered as a hero," Katie whined. "Even in the north."
"That's true," Elizabeth said, moving around the lectern. "But there were mistakes made by him during the war. You have to understand that, they were still, in their battle plans... fighting the Revolutionary War; regiments storming lines... It didn't work anymore and it took a long time and a lot of casualties for the men in power to figure that out. The weapons were more sophisticated. Some commanders, such as Chamberlain up on Little Round Top, used textbook maneuvers like he was taught at West Point, maneuvers from previous wars, but with a twist. The Civil War produced numerous patents for weaponry. Sometimes, when a battle was finished, such as with the Ironclads, all of a sudden, everything changed. For example as soon as the battle between the Monitor and the Merrimack was finished, every single floating army on this planet was obsolete."
Elizabeth could get carried away in her recounting of the war that occurred during her turning. She saw the battle of Gettysburg with her own eyes. In a flash, Elizabeth heard the guns and cannon firing, while nursing the wounded in her saloon that had been turned into a makeshift hospital. Thankfully, she saw she was losing her class' attention and stopped.
"Getting back to your question, Katie," Elizabeth smiled. "General Lee had charisma, he was smart, thorough. One thing that did make him a hero was the fact that he accepted his faults and failures. And put yourself into Pickett's shoes for a moment. His battalion was sacrificed on the fields south of town."
Elizabeth moved back to the map on the wall behind her desk, took a moment to once again look at it. She could pick out where her tavern was in the 'diamond', the center of town. And her home growing up, to the south.
Not wanting to lose herself so personally in the past, she pointed to the area northeast of the small town. "Lee knew that Jeb Stuart had scouted an area out of town, a clear area, perfect for a battle."
Turning back to the class, she said, "Lee knew where the bulk of the north's army was. That's were Longstreet wanted the battle to be waged. Nobody but Lee wanted their men to fight on a hilly, tree-filled landscape that would provide camouflage for the enemy to hide behind." She turned back to the class and paused. "A fair fight, that's all they wanted." That's all everyone really wants. Except Logan. And Dieterle.
"Why did they do Pickett's Charge, then," a guy in the back asked.
"Well, Pete," Elizabeth got her mind back on the class. "Lee was already dug in. The battle lasted three days. The first day of fighting was a confederate victory. If reinforcements hadn't arrived for the north from the flatlands, they might have won the battle. There's conflicting evidence and no one really knows for sure why Lee was adamant about staying right where they were, and continuing the battle..."
"It's a guy thing," Julie piped up, making some chuckle.
"That could very well be," Elizabeth smiled at her favorite student in the third row. "Pride played a factor in a lot of battles in a lot of wars. I think Lee just wanted it done. I think he saw, or at least prayed for, the end of the war with that charge. And he picked Cemetery Ridge to the south of Gettysburg to be that victory. There's also unsubstantiated rumors that Lee was very ill at the time. That he'd picked up pneumonia and was vomiting and had diarrhea, and couldn't physically be moved, so he had his men fight."
When the bell rang, she quantified what she just said with, "That's unsubstantiated and will not be on the test. Just something else to think about. Test tomorrow and then onto Vicksburg and Chickamauga."
The students walked out, grumbling about the volume of information that would be on the test. One student shook his head and said, "Jeez, she knows so much, you'd think she was there."
"I know," said another. "Half of what she had us take notes on wasn't even in the textbook."
Elizabeth smiled and said to them, "You shouldn't have signed up if you didn't want to learn something."
They did a double take when they realized that she heard them and walked out. She sat at her desk, smiling at the thought of what she could put on the test to see if they were paying attention, then tightened with the sensation of a buzz. Immortals couldn't be taking over her school too! She moved toward the closet where she had hidden a sword behind a fake plywood wall she'd put in when she first got the teaching position, she had never yet needed to use.
Duncan MacLeod appeared at the door. He was alone. He wasn't threatening. In fact, he didn't even look at her. The posters and graphs on the walls of her classroom took his total attention. She opened the closet door and demanded, "Now what the hell do you want?"
"That's quite a greeting," he smiled.
"I have another class in twenty minutes that I have to prepare for."
"This will only take two tops," he said as he walked to her desk. "Amy told me how you reacted to her knowing about you. The fact that you got so jittery around us makes me wonder why."
He didn't go for his sword, but she was leery anyway. She tossed out, maybe a little too argumentary, "Do I know you?"
"I'm a very good friend of Amy's father."
She looked around. There was only the two of them in that large classroom, but their voices could carry if they weren't careful, so she whispered. "Do you like walking into a den of immortals? Do you always run in packs? I don't like immortals who run around together. I don't know who in the world you are and I don't care. Just stay away from me."
"We were invited to Amy and Kevin's party because we're friends. We're nothing to be afraid of. Yet you left anyway."
"Amy didn't tell me immortals were coming."
"I take it you aren't a challenger," Duncan closed the closet door, making Elizabeth walk back from him, while calculating if she could make it to the hall before him. "But Amy said something interesting this morning. After finding out about Joe's former profession, you asked where he lived. Why did you do that?" Duncan moved between her and the door to safety. "Joe is an old, dear friend of mine. I don't like him being dragged into immortal business."
"I have nothing against Joe. I like to think I'm a friend of Joe's myself. I'm a big fan of his. But he's a watcher."
"Was a watcher."
"Was, yes," Elizabeth agreed. She didn't know how Joe could help, but she needed it desperately. She'd be damned if she gave any of her thoughts away to the immortal who busted in on her home and her workplace. "So, it doesn't matter, then, does it?"
Duncan moved closer to her and whispered, "I don't know YOU from Adam, either, but if I find out you do anything to Joe Dawson... we're enemies, not friends."
She couldn't literally stand nose to nose with him, he was a good six inches taller than her and Elizabeth should have been intimidated, but she wasn't. "I heard you. Must be nice to have such friends to stick up for you. I never have."
Students started drifting into the classroom. "Maybe you pushed them away before you realized they were friends?" Duncan softened his face for her benefit, but it wasn't until he left the room and his buzz faded that Elizabeth finally relaxed.
On her way home, Elizabeth was able to snare a seat on the subway and sit back after the long day. Feeling someone watching her, she locked eyes with a blond man across the car. He had a faint scar on his forehead and wore a blue denim buttoned down shirt and jeans. On his feet were those ugly, but very popular sneakers that Elizabeth hated. They looked like they weighed a ton just on their own and should be worn only by athletes and children.
His eyes darted away from her when she stared at him. Only now that she finally knew about watchers did she noticed the mortals around her and spot one. Or he could have just been looking her over. She wasn't used to it, but seemed to remember that men did look at her on occasion. It was amazing what a filandering husband could do to even an immortal's self esteem.
She turned her attention to a little girl sitting with her mother. That little girl was a beauty. When Elizabeth eavesdropped on their conversation, she heard, "Do you think we should get me a better agent, Mommy?"
Her mother said as she scanned the trades, "Oh, we can give Martin another chance. You should have played Bruce Willis' daughter, but Martin has a lead on that remake of National Velvet. We'll see what comes of that, first."
When the train arrived at her stop, Elizabeth got out, along with a hoard of the other passengers. The denim man, was one of them.
Elizabeth got off the elevator in her apartment building and marched straight to Amy's door and rapped on it. When Amy answered, she happily announced, "Good news! My dress finally fits."
Elizabeth walked in and slammed the door behind her, "How could you tell them what we talked about? I thought I could trust you of all people!"
Amy stepped back, not expecting wrath from her friend, "What are you talking about?"
"The tall one with the ponytail paid me a visit."
"That's Duncan MacLeod."
"A complete stranger knows what we talked about. I was telling you, not the New York Post!"
"Duncan is a friend," Amy said.
"A reinforcement, you mean? Did I scare you or something? Have you told others about me and what I've been saying all along?! I don't appreciate it, Amy! He could find out where I am."
"Who?"
"If he finds me..." she couldn't go on. She didn't need immortals talking to each other about her. Sooner or later, Joshua Logan could find out. It wasn't Amy's fault and Elizabeth didn't want to blame her, but the fear that had gripped her heart ever since meeting up with Duncan MacLeod and his friends wouldn't recede. Maybe Logan knew about watchers and that's how he'd always found her. How could she be so dense as to not notice a tail for so long... all her life?
"Just," Elizabeth said, "Keep your mouth shut okay? Or we can't be friends anymore."
Elizabeth walked out, letting the door slam. When she got into her own apartment, Amy appeared. "I don't have any idea what you are talking about, Liz. Just explain it to me. Maybe we can help you. You seem to need friends."
"I thought you were a friend, Amy." She pulled open the drape an inch and looked outside on the street just to verify the nagging suspicion she'd had, about that man in denim on the subway, that he could be a watcher. There was the same denim man across the street leaning on a building, pretending to read the Daily News. "I need to get away for a while."
"Sure, after the wedding..."
"No, now."
"You can't! You're my matron of honor. You have to be there."
"You don't understand, do you? Logan's probably bribed them to ambush me already. They're just lying in wait."
"That's ridiculous."
"Logan needs help to get at me and he always finds it. It is very real and it's been twenty years. He strikes every twenty years. In July. I went away for the summer, remember? I thought I was safe."
Elizabeth took a breath and muttered. "I can't ever be safe, not here, not anywhere." She needed to find out who that man on the sidewalk was and who he worked for. Without another word, she left her apartment and ran down the stairs.
Twenty years.... A phrase like 'he comes after me every twenty years' came so easily out of Elizabeth's mouth, Amy took a second to grasp it. When she went back to her place, she tried to call Joe, thinking that's where Elizabeth was heading. She just didn't seem like the same person since Amy found out about her secret. She couldn't even look her in the eyes. There was no answer at Joe's, so Amy called Duncan's hotel room. Methos answered the phone.
"Hello, Adam? This is Amy. Can I talk to Duncan, please?"
"He stepped out for some ice."
"I really need to talk to him, Adam."
"Hang on the line. He'll be right back. What's the problem?"
"Liz is scared of a..." she was going to say immortal, but her watcher training was so ingrained that she didn't speak freely over unsecured lines. "She's just scared. She's ready to take off before the wedding."
"If she's uncomfortable, it's the best thing to do, leave." Methos didn't feel it was necessary to let on to Amy that Elizabeth's leaving would make him feel better too. He still couldn't place the woman and it irritated him, not knowing what event they might have had in common.
"Adam, she's an attendant in my wedding on Saturday!" Methos had to hold the phone away to protect his eardrum from the decibels. He could never remember having seen or heard of Amy being so boisterous, except when she stormed out of Joe's bar when she found out he was her father. She'd calm down, he'd just let her talk. Amy quieted, "It's not just that. She's my friend. My best friend. We're like sisters. Do you know where Joe is?"
"Not at the moment, but we're off to see him play tonight."
Duncan came back. Methos said, "Just a sec," and handed the phone to him. "It's Amy. She's looking for Joe."
Duncan put the phone to his ear and said, "Hi, Amy. Joe's playing at Michael's tonight, you didn't know that? We were going to grab some dinner and watch him. I kind of enjoy watching him after he watched me all those years."
He jumped back, was confused, fumbled with the paper in his hands, "What are you talking about?"
"I don't like the fact that you're following me." She grabbed the newspaper and flung it in the air.
"Hey!" He picked up as much of the paper as he could catch before the wind took the rest. "I didn't get the box scores."
"Drop the charade! I can't be 'recorded'. Do you get that?" She looked at him and wondered if she would be able to get information on Logan from him. No, Joe was a friend and as long as she kept calm, Joe might be willing and able to help her out.
"What?" The man's demeanor and tone of voice made it seem like he actually didn't have a clue as to what she was talking about.
She stood back and put her hands to her hips and stared at him. "Are you honestly going to tell me that you aren't a watcher? You're standing outside my apartment because you're following me!"
"I live here," he pointed to the building he was leaning against.
That stopped her, she paused, looked at the building across the street from her own. "Then why aren't you inside?"
"I'm meeting a friend and it's a nice day. Is that against the law? Look, lady, I don't know what in the hell you're on. I might have been interested on the subway, but..." he shook his head. "Forget it."
She couldn't believe she was wrong. It just felt so right. Or he was keeping tabs on her for Logan. "Where do you work?"
"In the village."
"What do you do?"
"I'm a furniture refinisher." His answers were so quick, could be true. He continued, "Are you through bothering me? Can I get back to my life now?"
Elizabeth stepped back, embarrassed. "Sorry. I thought you were someone else."
"Just chill out," he said as she walked away. "It can't be all that bad."
HOTEL
When Duncan hung up with Amy, he was sorry that he might have added to Elizabeth's fear with his visit and voiced that thought to Methos. Methos only laughed, "You added to her fear? You?" The concept was ridiculous and Methos couldn't stop laughing. "What did you say to her?"
Duncan didn't think it was so funny, "That if she hurt Joe, she's toast."
"Smooth." He actually giggled; wondered if dealing with Ingrid had made Duncan MacLeod, of the clan MacLeod, finally treat women like equals. MacLeod always was a slow learner, but he was getting smarter all the time. "Why did you have to resort to such threats?"
"She asked Amy where Joe lived after learning he was a watcher and they have files on immortals."
Methos' eyes tightened, and he lost his jolly. "She's hunting someone?" Duncan shrugged and put on his coat. Methos asked, "What are you doing?"
"I'm going over to talk to her."
"What?" The mortality cop of the immortal world was certainly consistent. "That woman's a good one to stay away from."
"I can't believe that. Amy said she was scared. She seemed scared when I talked to her."
"Whatever she's scared of is a good reason to stay away from her."
"I may have inadvertently added to her paranoia, Methos."
Methos shrugged, "What's it to you?"
Duncan had his coat on and waited by the open door, "Are you coming?"
"No."
"Then get out. You'll go through my things while I'm gone."
"I could wait here for Amanda..."
"Amanda spotted a sale at Bloomingdale's. I'm going to call her on her cell phone and tell her to meet me at the pub."
"Oh, all right."
They reached the door and felt a buzz. Casing the area, Duncan stood, ready for anything, Methos said, "I've got beer and Joe's new CD at home. I don't need this," and started down the block, away from the sensation. Amanda appeared, full of details about her shopping spree.
Duncan whirled and yelled, "Adam!" Methos looked back to see the source of the buzz was only Amanda, he hesitated, then thought that it would be nice to see Joe and his band live, talk more with old friends before they leave town... he joined them at the door.
MICHAEL'S
Joe wasn't at the club. His band said he called and was on his way, but that was over an hour ago. It only took ten minutes to get there from his apartment. Duncan and Amanda stopped to debate what that might mean; Methos got the grumbling in his gut that told him something could be very wrong and Elizabeth Bennett may have something to do with it. When Amy and Kevin walked in to hear her father perform, Methos made a beeline for them. "Where's Joe?"
"He's not here?" Amy was suddenly worried, especially since she was looking at three worried immortal faces.
"We don't know where Elizabeth is, either," Duncan informed Amy.
"What would Liz have to do with Joe being late?" Kevin felt foolish for asking immediately upon seeing three doubting faces looking at him.
Amy thought Elizabeth wouldn't harm Joe... would she? There was so much she didn't know about her friend, and she could keep a really big secret. What else was she hiding? Did she have a killing impulse? Could she be a killer of mortals? Then a overwhelming thought came to her, "Is Joe listed?"
"His phone number?"
"His new address," she nodded at Duncan.
Duncan called information and asked for the address of Joseph Dawson, Manhattan. The operator told him his new address. He told them, "Yep."
"Oh, God," Amy said. "But she wouldn't..."
"If she hurts one hair on Joe's head," Methos said. "She really will be toast."
Methos walked out to find Joe, Ivanhoe ready in his coat, and the others followed. Amy caught up to him on the sidewalk, had to almost run to stay in step with him, "Liz doesn't have a dangerous bone in her body, Adam. She's scared and sure that someone's after her."
"This cropped up all of a sudden?" Duncan had to ask. "Someone's suddenly be after her?"
"She's insane," Methos had already determined.
"No, she's not," Amy said to both of them, trying to keep up with their longer legs. "But she said there's been someone after her all her immortal life and of course she wouldn't have let me in on that, she didn't even tell me she was immortal. It seems she got shook up only after you all arrived. She also said she'd been ambushed by immortals before."
"Why was she ambushed? What did she do to piss them off?" Methos asked, trying to get a handle on that immortal woman.
Amy was about to spit tacks at him, "Liz isn't the villain here, she didn't do anything."
"Oh," Methos condescendingly asked, "Did she tell you that?"
"Adam, she's scared. I never saw her like that before."
Just around the corner from Joe's building, Methos stopped, felt a buzz. A few steps later, the buzz drifted to Duncan and Amanda. Amy and Kevin stopped, too. Kevin, studying the faces of the three immortals wondered what their sudden lack of forward motion could mean, asked, "Is Liz here?"
"Someone is," Amanda said, looking around like the rest of them. The immortals put their hands inside their coats. The feel of the hilt in their hands gave them all extra confidence.
Shots rang out down the block from Joe's. Amy started to run towards the sound but Kevin stopped her. "No way," he demanded.
Amy yanked at her arm, screamed, "Liz wouldn't shoot Joe!"
Duncan ran past them towards where the shots were fired and they ran after him. Amanda was going to follow, but Methos held her back, letting Duncan do it, since running head long into the fray was his nature. Amanda grabbed Methos' arm and pulled him around the corner. There was a blue sedan, three men, and two figures lying on the sidewalk. The man on the ground lay with his legs at impossible angles. The woman was lying on her back.
The three men standing over them saw Duncan running toward them. Two jumped into the car, the other one, who had a prosthetic leg, was madly slashing Elizabeth's body. He flipped her over on her stomach and pulled her head up by the hair. When he neared, Duncan brandished his sword and stated, "Don't even think about it!"
Joshua Logan let go of her head and fell into the waiting car. He was getting tired of playing the game with the immortal Elizabeth. It was time to end it. He was convinced that when he finally took her head, he would be at peace. That he could live the rest of his days without another thought for the bitch and her friend who had mutilated him in that dark alley in Gettysburg in 1863 and turned him into what he was, a man he hated. Yes, he would do it! But! He wasn't about to with immortals standing around, ready to take his own head while he savored her quickening.
The car sped off after Logan was pulled into the back seat by one of the flunkies he'd picked up for the evening's excursion. The young man yelled, "You didn't tell us there'd be people in the area!"
"I didn't think there would be," Logan moaned, and slapped his hand with frustration against the front seat head rest. The Irish brogue he thought he'd buried tumbled out from the excitement, and the failure of the attack. "She picked up body guards..."
The driver said, "You didn't mention guns either!"
"I mentioned money!" Logan yelled, to quiet the peon. "That's all you have to concern yourself with."
The kid in the backseat with him asked, "What was the shit you did to the woman back there? What's with the sword?"
Logan pointed it at his nose and said, "The money included no questions!"
"Man..." the teenager in the passenger seat moaned, "Let me out. I don't want anything to do with this! I thought we were mugging, not killing!"
Elizabeth grabbed Duncan's collar and hiked herself into a sitting position. He put his arm behind her neck to stabilize her. She tried to talk, but couldn't with all the blood in her throat. She wanted to ask if Joe was alright, if Logan and his helpers were gone, if he'd been in on the ambush with Logan, why... what had she done to the man to make it his mission in life to see her dead, but play with her first? Carlton was only trying to save Logan's life. He had no idea what that man was and her sister-in-law, Marcy, was an innocent. They were both in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Then she recognized the man holding her up as Duncan MacLeod. Could he have helped Logan ambush her? Elizabeth's eyes grew wide, she shook, gasped, didn't want to die and be vulnerable to whatever he wanted to do with her. Then, all beyond her control, her body relaxed and her head fell back over his arm. She died thinking she would be decapitated by them and said a quick prayer.
Methos screamed as he tried to stop the flow of blood, "Joe! Come on now, talk to us."
CONTINUED in Chapter Two - The Surgery