Now what?

by AmandaFaye

The captain calls in a favor to solve the problems created by Thank you. Read that first. Highlander crossover featuring the Old Man.

Now What?

AN (I own nothing, despite all my efforts to the contrary. This will make no sense if you haven't read Thankyou. So if you haven't, stop now and go back and read it. The Captain's family belongs to CBS and RA Dick. Adam belongs to Rysher and the whole Highlander saga. He's on loan because how many lawyers could handle legal issues like this? )

The house was entirely too quiet after the kids left for school. Martha looked at the breakfast that never got eaten. Mrs. Muir had been missing in action for some time now. The captain had popped in, gotten coffee and gotten mysterious, then vanished. By now, she was used to the weird chemistry that made the two of them act strange at times, but today she wasn't going to settle for it, or she wasn't if she could find anyone besides Scruffy. Mrs. Muir wasn't anywhere Martha looked and Spooky just glared down in from the mantle without appearing. Irritated, she looked out the window.

Carolyn Muir was sitting on the beach, crying. Watching from afar, Martha felt like she was intruding on something deeply personal, so hating it, turned away to glare at the portrait. "If you've made her cry, -"

That caused the captain to appear. "I have no idea how I could have."

"Why is she out there bawling?"

The captain looked out, noticing she seemed somehow younger, as if time had reversed a bit.

It couldn't have happened, could it? "Ah- perhaps a female moment- realizing the children are growing up - all that."

Martha glared at him. "Female moment?" The captain was ridiculously glad she couldn't swat him with a rolling pin or some such. Because he did not technically have a body, which meant Carolyn could not be crying because of something he had done, at least not that something. He'd been around women too long. Their unique logic was starting to wear off on him, but - it seemed a good thing.

Sighing, he ingnored the question. least said, soonest mended. Changing his course, he went on, "I'd planned on paying Claymore a call, but he can wait. Until I find out what that's about down there."

Martha nodded triumphantly, and returned to business.

As the captain headed down to the beach, he noticed a lone owl in the monkey puzzle tree. "Well? Did it happen or not?" he glared at the avian. But only a soft "whoowhoo" answered.

"Blast." With that, he just popped to Carolyn's side.

She did not look up. "My dear lady,"

"Carolyn."

He accepted this, but did not speak, seeing that she had more to say.

"I mean, after last night, formality is sort of stupid, Daniel." When he did not ask what she meant, added, "Was that one of your dreams?"

"I told you, it was not. " He paused, "but I am glad you saw it as well. I feared it was only a dream."

"Does it mean we're-"

"Married? That is something I have yet to determine, from a legal standpoint." Awkwardly, he hesitated. "But with your permission, may I say that my heart does not give a damn about legality."

"Rhett Butler," she murmured.

"Pardon?"

"When I dreamed, I had a thought that reminded me of Gone with the Wind. I was trying to remember who Rhett was. "

"I see," but he didn't.

"And you- do you- is it Blast, how do you feel about the dream?"

"Or reality? I want to be as happy as I am about it, but it almost hurts too much. It was so -" her eyes closed "everything I've ever hoped, and I miss it. " She chunked a rock to the sea, then softly sang, "I saw a man walking by the sea, alone with the tide was he, I looked and I thought to myself with a sigh- There but for you go I."

"Brigadoon," the captain commented softly. "Lonely men around me, trying not to cry. Until the day you found me, there among them was I. If you recall, Madam. Carolyn, Tommy and Fiona had their happiness."

She did not reply, just buried her head in her arms, hooked around her knees. "Would we have had kids?"

"I hope so."

"Good. I think- I think we are going to."

Daniel blinked. "I must have lost some hearing in death. "

"No, you heard me. I think that when we- ah- you know." A furious blush pinked her cheeks.

The captain hid his grin. "Well, it would be a most likely event, all things considered. "It was a rather tiring night after all."

"You aren't helping," but it was said with a laugh before striking the sand with a fist. "How can I go on after that night, when those two nights were all we can have? Much less, how am I to explain what happened?"

Silence answered her. He'd thought of that as well. What to tell the family? Martha might understand. Jonathan though- and Candi? They accepted his surrogacy in their lives, but as a real step father, but one who was still somewhat less than real. Yet real enough to give them a sibling. Schooner Bay was a small town, with huge tongues. Perhaps he had married Carolyn somehow, but to the world, she'd be a single mother with a fatherless child on the way. And what to tell that child?

Despite all the complicated ramifications, he did not regret the day they had shared or the nights.

So, all he said, very softly, was, "We will find an answer," before enfolding Mrs.- Muir? Gregg?- in a gentle embrace that she could feel in some manner.

"Well, my parents did know that we're engaged," Carolyn finally said, trying to find some avenue of explanation. "We eloped?"

"I will not have Claymore standing in my place claiming you are his wife. Or that my child is his."

"You're right. That lie would be unthinkable." A shudder passed through her. "But we aren't even sure if this is real. Maybe I just had a bug, the kids are always picking up viruses. Or time travel might be hard on a body."

Disappointment clouded the captain's face, he hated the idea of her preferring a bug to a baby.

Even if it was logical. Almost sensing this, she went on, "Strange, that would be easier, but it's not a happy thought. I really, really want it all to be true. Even if that's all it is."

Taking her face in his hands, the captain looked down at Carolyn. "What happened should not have been possible in any way, but it was. Who is to say that that was the one miracle we will be granted, especially considering that every moment since you and the family came here has been a miracle."

"You are right, of course. I'm afraid to hope for more."

"Never fear hope, my dear." He lifted her left hand, kissing it before continuing. "Look, there is the ring I gave you. It survived the trip through time, so shall everything we shared, somehow."

She'd have to accept this. "I don't want to see a local doctor. The checkout lady would know the results before I did."

"True. Have you any ostensible reason for a trip?"

"Let me work on it," she replied, new determination in her eyes. "Will you-?"

"I'd be honored to come with you. And if you didn't want me to, I'd just sneak along invisibly."

"I know. That's one reason I asked... and I do want you... to come along." He did not miss the slight pause heavy in double meaning.

"We'll figure that one too," he added, delighted at the blush his words caused.

"We'd better," she laughed fiercely. "I do love you, always have, but the new dimensions are most pleasant."

"Merely pleasant?"

"No need to add to your ego. Shall we break the news to Martha now or wait?"

"Which is she less likely to try and cause my second untimely death if we do?"

"Good question."

On the walk home, Carolyn decided to level with Martha; the last secret they kept had turned out badly. So, bracing herself, and occassionally blushing, she hit the at least PG rated highlights. There was a silence, then Martha grinned and left the room, and the couple in dismay. She returned momentarily, toting a stack of five books massive enough to cause the captain's chivalrous instincts to kick in and help her carry them.

"It's just like Jamie and Claire!" she beamed.

"Who?" Carolyn asked, racking her mind to recall a couple with that name.

"Diana Galbaddon's books, Claire's a modern woman who goes back in time and falls in love with Jamie, and they get married, and she's pregnant, but gets sent back to this time. But eventually, they do get together."

Looking at the size of the five books, the captain wondered at how long eventually might be. He'd had cannonballs that were smaller.

"Great," Carolyn tried to smile. "So, we're heading to Boston, in the morning. Will you cover for us? For me anyway?"

"Certainly, Mrs M- Gregg. "

"And Martha, do you have a Boston phone book?" the very pleased Captain asked.

"Somewhere. Why?"

"The law firm I used moved there sometime back. I need to see about something there. Benjamin Addamson and Sons. Grandsons by now."

Martha sent a questioning glare his way, but complied. As she returned to her work, after stowing the Outlander saga, Carolyn asked, "Well?"

"It may be nothing, my dear. Or it may be quite a bit. Trust me."

Never should have let the kids bring home those Indianna Jones movies, she thought. But Harrison got her everytime. Well, almost everytime.

The ride to Boston was less than eventful. The captain left Carolyn at the doctor's, promising to be back forthwith, then popped to the address Martha provided.

Since the Muir family had entered his life, Captain Gregg had increased ability to solidify, a fact in and of itself worthy of hope, and one for which he was grateful as he ascended the converted brownstone's steps. His knock was answered by an attractive young woman of indeterminate age.

"I need to see Mr. Addamson," he informed her. "I'm a - relative of one of his firm's clients, now deceased, and wish to see about probate issues. "

She listened. "Sorry. There is no Mr. Addamson. The current owner retained the name for continuity, why I'll never know. It's never been a big deal for him before, sorry, I digress. I'm Ms. Montrose; the caretaker when Mr. Pierson, the original owner's granddaughter's son, is away, as he is now."

"Can I contact him?" Daniel asked, preparing to turn on the charm. "It's rather important."

Suddenly, a quirky looking fellow peeked around Ms. Montrose's shoulder. "Never mind, luv. I'll handle it from here."

"Adam, what the blazes are you up to?" she hissed.

"Nothing that need concern you. Go harrass someone or rip off a jewelry store so I can practice bailing you out."

Daniel watched all this in bemusement.

"Not everyday a ghost comes calling," the young man grinned. "You have kept my secret all these years, I hope?"

"Of course I have," Daniel groused. "Dying on my ship was most disconcerting. But you did say if I ever needed a favor, you'd help, and I do."

"Yes, I do owe you for hiding me after I got drunk and got into a duel with that fop. He had much better aim than I expected. You turned white as a - ghost when I revived as you were nailing me into a box for storage until landfall. How long've you been ghostly?"

Daniel frowned at the Immortal. "Lost count a while back, it hardly matters. Tell me, did I approach you with a will change shortly before my death?"

Adam frowned. "For some reason, I have two sets of memories, and in one, you did. Care to explain that?"

"Very long story."

"Aren't all stories? At least the worthwhile ones. Let's see which set is right, at this point." With that, Adam rose and went to his computer. "I scanned all the old documents into this thing a while back. Efficiency. Don't worry, your will, whichever one it turns out to be, is still safe in storage, but this will tell us if we need to look for it, and why are we looking?"

So, the ghost told his story, trusting that a five millenia old man would be able to accept it.

He looked thoughtful, but shrugged. "Well, why not. I think I can help with the question of establishing your legitimacy of marriage and so forth. Certainly had to make up my own new lives often enough. But, the price will be dear. Do you still have any of that Madeira?"

"Naturally."

"I want at least one bottle, if I - when I pull this off."

"You may have a case if you do."

"Well, that settles it. Consider your family name perpetuated. Even if I'm deuced as to how. My assistant should be helpful. She's been the best thief on three continents for a thousand years. "

The captain tried not to look to startled.

"How well can you hold onto the corporeal bit?" Adam asked as he browsed.

"I've never tried for very long, " was the admission, reluctantly made.

"Might want to practice." He paused to let the rather colorful implications of that sink in, before adding, "for legality of course. Simplest thing would be to make a descendant of yours that is you your heir who meets the lovely widow and struck by the resemblance of the man her imagination has fancied, is swept away in love and marriage and all that jazz. But it'll only work if you can hold form decently."

"I'm always decent," he huffed.

"No one gets anyone in trouble who's always decent," Adam muttered, very low.

"What?" the ghost asked sharply.

"You wouldn't have this trouble if you hadn't insisted on being helpful," Adam smiled. "I've told certain Scots that a thousand times."

"Mmphf."

"Yes, that's what he always says."

"Aha, yup. On November 12 in the last year of your life, you summoned my prior self and changed your will to be left to your wife or if she, Carolyn Williams, died early, any issue you two would have. Bet you hadn't planned on that issue showing up over a century-"

"Blast!"

"What'd I say?" Adam looked alarmed.

"I promised I'd meet her at the doctor's by now."

"Fine," Adam said, unphased. "Let me pack up the laptop and I'll drive you. No-" he held up a hand - "No popping, poofing or other such - get used to trying to live like a normal person. Besides, I ought to meet this lady. Why didn't I get to come to the wedding?"

"That detail escapes me. Besides- it's not like either one of us did the planning, per se."

"Okay, won't hold it against you, especially since for legality's sake, one in this century would be a wonderful idea. Most marriage certificates expire after a century or so, which is irrelevant since there's no one around to renew them. The whole death do you part thing- but in your case death united. ah Hell."

"What?"

"What what?"

"Hell what?"

"It just seemed an appropriate time to say it. You don't know how to drive do you?"

"As there were no cars when I was alive-"

"Excuses excuses. Fine. My calls will have to wait. Dying is entirely too uncomfortable to risk doing it while talking and driving."

The Captain provided navigation instructions and they were at the doctor's in five minutes, thanks to a few ghostly traffic assists. Carolyn was in the waiting room, staring at a two year old Reader's Digest blindly.

"Mrs. -" Adam paused, then went on once a decision was made, "Gregg?"

It took a moment for his words to sink in, then she looked up, startled. "I think so," was her wary reply, glancing at the Captain, not sure if anyone but herself could see him.

"I'm visible, Madam."

She nodded, shooting Adam a look that said "who's this" rather loudly for a silent glance.

"I'll explain in a better place," he smiled. "But I know all, and then some. However, your captain has enough dirt on me to keep my quiet."

The nurse opened a door, looking out. "Mrs. Gregg? You and your husband can come in. We have the results."

Carolyn looked at the ghost and Immortal, as if to say, well, which one of you is coming? knowing Daniel might be pressed to remain human looking.

"You can handle it," Adam said out of the corner of his mouth. "I will wait here, Sis."

Half an hour later, Adam drove them back to the brownstone. The results were what they had expected, but even so, it was still shocking to some extent.

Settling the couple in comfortable chairs, Adam stretched his lanky self across a chaise casually. "I've about got it figured. After the captain became life challenged, his widow was so grief stricken she moved, taking with her their unborn son-"

"We can't determine the sex yet," Carolyn frowned.

"Just a cover story, darling," he went on without missing a beat. "She left before the will was read, and unfortunately, the amended will fell between the cracks, so the invalid one was accepted. Somehow, a recent descendant, named in honor of the revered ancestor, that would be you, Captain, will show up in Schooner Bay, and for convenience's sake, you two had a secret romance and eloped. Of course, this nephew of yours will want DNA tests and to check the validity of the original document. The latter - no problemo. DNA- ah- time to make that phone call." So saying, he reached to grab the cordless behind his chair. "Grace. It's Adam. Do you have a valid doctor's liscense in the US? Wonderful. Are you authorized to do gene work here? Wonderful. Complicated, and who knows what kind of conspiracy nuts, much less bloody Watchers, are monitoring my phone? Grab a flight out of Orli and come to Boston, ASAP. I'll meet you and we'll drive down to where we need to be. Don't lose your head between here and there. Ciao, darling."

He hung up, grinning to himself at their mystified looks. "Grace is an old, as in centuries, friend. Once in a while, one of us has to get medical work unavoidably done for legal business, and since our genes are strange or maybe your people's genes are the strange ones, we keep try to have medical connections available. Grace is the soul of discretion and tact. More trustworthy than I am, actually. "

"Centuries?" Carolyn looked pale, but was luckily sitting.

"I'll give you the short version, especially since my accent is not as regal as some and does not lend itself to epic sagas. Long ago, at least five thousand years, babies without parents began to be born or hatched or something. They, we just show up as foundlings and grow up normally, until someone kills us and we come back to life. Then we quit aging and can't die unless our head comes off. That's the good side. Bad side, there's only supposed to be one of us in the end, of time, of the game - end of something. So, we're supposed to try and be that one by fighting to the death. Most of us try to ignore that clause and just work on being unobtrusive in this life, lives. Change name, identity, etc. from time to time. Most of us have a few spare id's lying around. In fact, I'm going to see if some spares can't be used to construct a family tree for the newly discovered Daniel Gregg and possibly the Carolyn Williams of the previous - no- sorry- century before last. Marvelous things computers. Little hacking and voila. Let me see if my assistant has returned. Miss Montrose is much better at hacking than I am."

As he left, Carolyn found her voice, "How old are you? Are you Adam as in well, Adam?"

"No, grandfather was dead by the time I came along. I think I might have shown up shortly after the flood."

"Oh."

After he vanished, Carolyn stared at the captain. "How did you two meet?"

Tugging his ear reflexively, the captain sighed. "He was a passenger from England, few years before my death. Adam's always had a taste for drink, and one night, he got drunk and he and some young dandy got in a spat over a girl. The dandy wasn't as drunk as Adam and got in a lucky shot. The dandy was sent to the brig, and I had taken Adam down to the hold to box him up. I'd just noticed the hole in his chest was gone, when he woke up. Since he'd died so publically, I had to hide him for the rest of the voyage. He considered it a debt he owed me, so when this situation arose, I knew he could be trusted."

"So he knows all as in all?"

"Yes, my dear."

"And he's not off calling the funny farm?"

"No, not hardly."

The next month turned into a whirl of events. The captain took pains to practice appearing human daily, and was getting rather good at it, though should the blighted barnacle show up, the spectral side of the captain quickly took priority. Grace had arrived during the first week and somehow found an old hairbrush of the captains that still had a few locks in it. It would have to suffice, but she had a few unorthodox tricks to manipulate data if need be. Martha was in her element planning the wedding, which would be officiated by another friend of Adam's, a Father Darius from France. By the end of the month, when all the legal papers were in place, plans made and everyone who needed the whole truth knew it, Carolyn had just given up, deciding that weird was normal now. She just hoped that werewolves and vampires did not show up at the wedding. She had yet to decide about witches, not sure if Cousin Harriet was welcome or not.

Jonathan and Candi had taken things relatively well; they liked the captain and barely remembered their own dad. Fortunately, neither had asked for the hows of the baby. With them, Adam and his assorted friends were a great help; each having more stories to tell than either had ever imagined could exist. It suprised no one when both of the kids' history grades began to soar. Carolyn had asked only that her guests look at the history books and try not to contradict them, even if it was with truth. Adam had glanced at one, proclaimed it utter rubbish, but agreed, provided that he could tell them the real story when they weren't likely to get failing grades for it. After hours, he was often seen reading a text book, muttering under his breath, "Damn it, it didn't happen that way."

All this had been kept secret with difficulty, small town syndrome was not an easy thing to deal with after all. Claymore invented excuses to show up on every turn. Adam and Daniel took turns scaring him off. After accidentally having a saber come too close to his ear, Claymore decided to just wait out the current to do, then raise the rent.

The wedding was of necessity, small, with only the family and those who'd helped facilitate it attending. The good friar had even located a ceremony used in ancient times for marriage of the dead. A few weeks before , Daniel had begun appearing around town, in modern clothes, trying to seem normal. He made it clear he was courting the widow of Gull Cottage, and that he was related to the captain. Adam followed him closely, partially for safety, partially for his own amusement. Claymore had taken the possibility of a more legit heir badly. He'd tried engaging Danny in conversation, and only Adam's hawklike stare had prevented the ghost from going into a long, insulting diatribe and helped him to pretend he had never met his "nephew".

"You know, it'd be a hell of a lot easier just to do that wishing away bit," Adam had to comment once. "And Darius, don't you dare go into some philosophical sophistry about the limited value of ease. Keep out of the kitchen too. Martha tried brewing one of your monkish teas that's not fit for human consumption. Or smelling. " He sighed. "My kingdom for a beer. Anyhow, I passed the final hurdle, how did Miss Williams I survive the gas leak. A bit of doctoring of the papers; and voila, they married in England, not New England and she stayed there for a few weeks while the cottage was debachleored. During that time, the whole kicking the blasted radiator, shutting the blasted window, etc. occurred, and the widow never brought herself to live in what was meant to be Eden. "

"Is that a word?" Jonathan asked.

Adam thought over his words to arrive at the right one. "When you are as old as I, son, inventing language is one's right. There is a word like that in Sumerian or was it Sanskrit?"

Then, it was all over. Claymore had moaned load and long over losing ownership of Gull Cottage, but Mr. Pierson's legal knots were unshakable. Grace made the bride promise that when it was time, she would summon Grace to deliver the child. Who knew what effect time travel would have on the unborn? Adam promised to dig through some ancient records and see if there was anyway to deghost the captain, but it was iffy. But for now, it was enough to equal as happily ever after as was possible. But just to be safe, the groom's lawyer bought a case of crosses in hopes of keeping the weirdness to a minimum, at least for a few weeks.