Watchers and other problems

Standard disclaimer: the concept of Immortality and the Immortals belong to Rysher and are copyrighted by them. This story is for fun, not for profit.

This story is written without a beta. I am not a native English, so there will be very likely many mistakes.

Hope you like… and I always appreciate reviews very much :-)

Notes: this is an AU; in my universe, Methos has never been discovered by the watchers.

Watcher HQ

Alexandre Lafiette stopped in front of Dr.Zoll's office and extended his hand to knock, as he suddenly noticed his image reflected in the glass-door: a 50-year-old man with grey eyes looked back at him. A bit angry, he glared for a moment at the first grey strains in his else absolute black hair before he finally continued his movement and knocked.

"Come in," a surprisingly pleasant voice invited him in after a second.

When Lafiette opened the door, he found himself face to face with a very expensive furnished room that perfectly fitted his own taste. To his right and to his left he discovered very old and expensive-looking wooden cupboards – he guessed that they had to be at least over 200 years old – which were cram full with also very old looking books. But even more impressive was the enormous wooden desk that dominated the room. Lafiette needed some seconds before he finally discovered a small figure sitting behind the hundreds of books that were piled up on the desk.

"Take a sit," the figure - which turned out to be Dr.Zoll - asked him while she pointed with her small left hand to a delicious looking carved wooden chair. "You surly want to know why I asked you to come to this meeting," she then continued, examining him with intelligent-looking blue eyes while he was sitting down and trying to make himself comfortable – what happened to be not a very easy task, because the chair he now was sitting on, proofed to be much better looking than comfortable.

After moving back and for to find a relatively comfortable position, he examined the doctor a bit closer. Though the pale colour of her face indicated that she had spent significant more time with her books instead in the sun, she seemed to burst of energy, her eyes almost gleaming of… enthusiasm?

"You know that I'm the head researcher of the Methos chronicles," she began. "About two weeks ago a rumour came to my ears: the rumour that Duncan MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod has a connection to Methos!" She paused, glancing for a moment at her desk were Lafiette now discovered a small book. Then she looked up again, her blue eyes once more starring into his, "MacLeod is in contact with the Old One - and that not only for several weeks… You surly understand that I was interested - very, very interested. I mean, MacLeod meets with the Ancient One and there is no single watcher who gets to know of that fact?" She shook her head. "I couldn't believe it; so I decided to do some research. I checked MacLeod's chronicle and the ones of the other Immortals involved with him." Her body relaxed a bit as she leaned back on her chair. "And what do you think I found?"

Knowing that she not really expected him to answer, Lafiette shifted his body once again on the chair, feeling already a slight pain in his back. Focussing his attention then back on the doctor again, he heard a slight trembling in her voice as she continued, "I found out that there was a dark-haired Immortal reported to have been around MacLeod - and that several times! … An Immortal who obviously has no watcher assigned to him. An Immortal who I believe is Methos!"

At the mention of this name, Lafiette saw for a short moment something flash in her eyes… something predatory.

"Take for example the Sean Burns incident some years ago – you surly have heard about it." Not waiting for him to answer, she continued, "Burns's watcher reported a dark-haired Immortal who tried to stop MacLeod from killing Burns. He didn't succeed; Burn was killed. But his watcher reported that the same dark-haired Immortal later faced MacLeod on holy ground. The watcher wasn't able to get closer, so we don't know what they talked about and by which name MacLeod called him; but he wrote down a description of the Immortal." She sighed. "It's not a very good one, I'm afraid." Looking down in her book, she then read out loud, "a white male with short dark hair, relatively young-looking."

Sighing once more, she then looked up again, meeting Lafiette's eyes. "And that wasn't the only sighting of that particular Immortal. I found another one in the report on the Immortal Ingrid Henning, a woman that tried to kill Hitler once, but failed. According to the reports on her, she wasn't able to forgive herself for it and so began to kill people she thought deserved to die." Zoll once again glanced in her book, searching for more information on the Immortal woman. Obviously having fount it, she then said, "MacLeod beheaded her… after that he was seen walking together with another Immortal, both deep in conversation. The watcher who reported the incident described the Immortal as young-looking and dark-haired - I'm absolutely convinced that the Immortal is the same one as the one described in the Burns report."

Then Zoll opened one of the many drawers of her desk and took out another book, which she placed in front of her. Curious as every good watcher should be, Lafiette bent a bit forward, trying to get a better look. It happened to be a chronicle - according to its enormous volume, it belonged to an older Immortal.

Noticing his attention, Dr.Zoll smiled slightly and handed him the book over, so he was able to see which Immortal it was about. He read the name Cassandra – a name every good watcher was familiar with… or should be, as he thought by himself.

"Melanie reported that Cassandra had contact with a dark-haired Immortal," Dr.Zoll explained as he handed her the volume back. We don't know about the kind of relationship between the two, but Melanie reported that she meant to have overheard Cassandra call the other man Methos. At that time I didn't believe her…" Dr. Zoll focussed her attention again on Lafiette, a slight smile around her mouth, "I mean, you know Melanie, she is not one of the best watchers… no wonder if you consider the many alcohol she almost daily consumes..." Dr. Zoll let the last words trail out, her right eyebrow raised in sarcasm.

Lafiette snorted in agreement. He too knew Melanie in person, and he too, had not the best opinion of her. To be honest, he still wasn't able to understand why she had gotten such an old Immortal as assignment… had to be her special 'connection' with one of the older directors, he thought mockingly while he once again in vain tried to find a more comfortable position on the chair.

"Thank God that not every watcher is like her," Zoll said, her dislike for the woman openly shown on her face. "Take for example the watcher of the de Valicourts: he also reported the dark-haired Immortal, noted that the Immortal fought Robert de Valicourt. Apparently it was a faked fight, because in the end the de Valicourts and the dark-haired Immortal behaved like best friends… they even invited him to their marriage." She shook her head in disbelieve.

"What does Dawson say to all of this?" Lafiette wanted to know. "A man of his reputation must surly have noticed the Immortal, too. Has he written down something in his reports?"

"Ha… Dawson!" Dr. Zoll spat the name with a twisted face as if she had just bitten on a lemon – a very sour lemon. "Joe Dawson is part of the whole problem," she then continued with an angry voice, unconsciously clenching her right hand around the small book on her table. "I believe – no - I'm absolutely convinced that Joe Dawson knows the Immortal very well. I can't prove it, but I think that the dark-haired Immortal was also involved in the Walker affaire, in which one of our younger watchers was kidnapped by her assignment… Dawson was involved in the whole thing, too. As far as I heard was he very interested in the girl – don't ask me about their connection; I don't know, and it's totally irrelevant. The important thing is that Walker was beheaded shortly after by an unknown Immortal who happened to pop out of the dark and than vanished from earth – and that without being seen by neither Dawson nor the other watcher. What a pure accident!" Zoll's voice dripped of sarcasm.

"No," she then went one, fixing Lafiette once again with her blue eyes. "I don't trust Dawson the slightest bit." Suddenly the anger vanished out of her eyes and was instead replaced by a predatory glimmer. "And that's the reason why I asked for you. You are one of the best watchers we have."

When Lafiette tried to contradict her (although he was totally agreeing with her), she immediately silenced him with a wave of her right hand. "No," she said, "no false modesty, Alexandre… I know it, and you know it! You are one of the best watchers we ever had… and this particular task requires the Best." A smile appeared on her face as she eyed Lafiette. "Namely you!"

She bent forward, her eyes never leaving Lafiette's while she said with an almost seductive whisper, "find Methos for me, find the Ancient one – and we both will gain glory in the watchers!" Her eyes glittered with enthusiasm as she continued, "we will have our pictures hung up in the 'Watcher Hale of Fame'… you will become the first active Methos watcher in centuries!"

Lafiette blinked; his heart was speeding up as he pictured her words in his mind. Official Methos watcher! he enthusiastically thought, now no longer feeling his hurting back. Official Methos watcher - yes, that was exactly the assignment that entitled him – him, and no one else! Without him noticing it (also Zoll's sharp eyes didn't miss it), a dreamy smile began to spread on his face.

"Are you interested?" Zoll's voice finally interrupted his daydream.

He blinked a bit stunned, needing some seconds to find back to reality. "Count me in," he then agreed. "Where do we start?"

"MacLeod is in Europe at the moment; he is watched by Rene Van Dame… but I don't think that the Ancient stays with him at the moment. So the other logical start point is Joe Dawson." The smile on her face widened. "Lucky us that he doesn't know you in person."

Then the smile on her face vanished as her blue eyes once again met Lafiette's grey ones. "Watch Dawson and you will find Methos!"