Disclaimer: I don't own Highlander, only the OC I created.

Rating: Warning this chapter is K+

Beta Reader: FanLass (thank you). Typo's are all mine.

Author's Note: Hi everyone and welcome to my new story, I hope you enjoy it. Thank you once again to FanLass for beta reading and giving me some really good ideas. Credit also goes to FanLass for the title of the story. I took her two best ideas and made them into one title. Now on with the story.

Timeless:

The Methos and Fairchild Chronicles

Chapter One:

Caren Fairchild moved quietly around the private room as the patient lay sleeping on the bed. Finding him frozen had been the find of the century, the fact he was an Immortal was even more significant.

The time of the Gathering had finally come. One after the other Immortals had died until it reached its peak and the last Immortal had remained standing. The world discovered the secrets the Watchers worked so hard to hide. But even the Watchers never realized being the winner of the game also meant years of loneliness and insanity from the voices of all the Immortals departed comrades' that now resided within the winners mind.

Caren wondered what was going to happen when the news got out that there was an Immortal alive. That one had survived the Gathering, by having the bad luck to have fallen into an ice cave and buried alive. Frozen for six hundred years… forgotten until an archaeological expedition had found the cave by accident. She had been a member of that expedition, in fact she'd been the one to fall through the ice into the cave and find him. Frozen! She'd read her ancestors journals; read about the Immortals he'd made friends with. The ones who had been at his side in his last days, the last page had been written by his daughter with entries from those close Immortals. She had a gut feeling this was one of those Immortals.

Caren jumped when the Immortal opened his eyes and stared directly at her. She smiled trying to calm her rapidly beating heart. "Good afternoon."

He looked at her confused and disorientated. "Where am I?"

"New Haven Hospital," she answered him. "You were found frozen in an ice cave, north of the old McMurdo Research Base."

"Old?" His voice faded as he looked around the room before looking back at the young woman before him. She wasn't tall, about 5"6, slim. There was something in her brown eyes that reminded him of another mortal he'd known. The one question that needed to be answered had to be asked. "What year is this?"

"2616, you were buried alive in 2016, 600 years ago," she revealed and took his hand in hers. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be, it wasn't your fault."

Caren understood his attitude. She sat on the bed, not letting go of his hand. "I found you," she chuckled softly. "Actually I fell through the ice and landed on you. You're lucky you were frozen."

He laughed. "I doubt you would have hurt me even if I hadn't been frozen." He turned her hand over and ran his fingers over the calluses on her fingers. "Why were you at the Antarctic to fall on me?"

"I was part of an archaeology expedition."

"In the Antarctic?"

She smiled at his scepticism. "We were following the route taken by the Williams expedition, so in essence we were following in your footsteps."

"Mine?"

Caren nodded. "You're Marcus Williams, the leader of the expedition." She waited for him to acknowledge she was correct with the nod of his head. Though from reading her ancestors journals, he wasn't just any Immortal. "Though as an Immortal, I would guess you were known to your close friends by another name."

He pulled his hand free. This woman knew far too much. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Taking a breath, Caren explained. "In 2020 the Gathering happened, Immortal fought Immortal for the Prize. You missed it. Everyone thought you were dead, that you'd lost your head to some unknown Immortal. Once the fighting was over, only one Immortal remained. Duncan MacLeod." She saw the reaction in his eyes. "His prize was mortality. The drawback was he had to live the rest of his life with the voices of every Immortal in his head. The first five years he wrote down everything he knew about Immortals. Everything that he knew about every Immortal whose memories he now had. It became an obsession and over the next five years he slowly lost the will to live. He was found dead in his apartment, he'd shot himself in the head to silence the voices." She paused. "The prize was nothing but loneliness and insanity. In a way you were lucky."

"How did the world find out about Immortals?" he asked her, as he gripped the sheets in his hands.

"When Duncan took the last quickening, it was like an over load. He was propelled fifty feet into the air and hung there as lightning crackled around and passed through him. It went on for four days, by that time every new station around the world was watching," Caren explained. "When he finally floated back to Earth, he was unconscious. They rushed him to hospital and once he recovered, he told everyone what happened. It was all revealed, Immortals, Watchers, everything."

"So now Immortals are what, history lessons taught to children?" he snapped at her.

Caren flinched at the remark. "Children are taught what Immortals did throughout history, how they lived among us in secret. How some even changed lives with their actions or participation in historical events. There is a memorial dedicated to Immortals."

Marcus couldn't help but laugh. "A memorial?"

She nodded. "There's one for the Watchers too. My ancestor was a Watcher. I have his journals and I've had them transcribed onto digital journals so I can read them." Caren reached into the pocket of her jacket and pulled out a holographic photo album.

To Marcus, it looked like an iPhone, just wider. "What is that?"

"A holographic album," she told him and turned it on, scrolling through the photos she found the one she wanted and activated it as she sat it on the bed. A holographic image of a man was projected. It was small but large enough to show him. "My ancestor journals and photos were carefully preserved." She gestured to the hologram. "That's you, but according to the journals, your name isn't Marcus Williams at the time it was taken."

"No, it probably wasn't."

Caren smiled, he was avoiding telling her the truth. "I know what it is." She saw a faint twitch of surprise, so faint someone else might have missed it. But she not to her, she had been taught to observe people from a young age. "I'm not going to tell anyone though. It would be best if it wasn't known."

"Because of who I really am?" He asked her.

"Yes."

Marcus Williams, once known as Adam Pierson and many, many other names, laughed. She knew he was Methos, but was willing to keep his secret. She was definitely had to be related to a certain Watcher he'd known. "Since you know my name, perhaps you can tell me yours."

Caren's cheeks blushed a crimson red as she realising she hadn't told him. She deactivated the holographic album and turned it off. "That was really rude of me, I apologise. My name is Caren Fairchild."

Methos chuckled softly. "It's nice to meet you, Caren Fairchild. Tell me, do you like the blues?"

She smiled. "I do and my family happens to own a bar, where my father plays the blues, the traditional way," she informed. "Perhaps once you've been released I'll take you there."

"Perhaps?"

She blushed again as he flirted with her. "Yes. You have been frozen for six hundred years, you might find even standing up isn't that easy at the moment."

"True, but as you pointed out. I'm Immortal, I heal fast."

"You do indeed, however I think it might be best to let the doctors decide when you start going wandering around. You might find a lot has changed in six hundred years."

Methos had a feeling there was, but he was a survivor, he'd blend in. "Are you here to teach me?"

"Yes, so far it hasn't been released that we found an Immortal. Things might get a little crazy once it is," Caren revealed. "You might find yourself a bit of a celebrity. Which is why the President thought it's best to keep your under wraps so to speak."

"The President knows about me?" That surprised him.

She nodded. "He was informed the moment we realised we were dealing with an Immortal."

"And how did you realise I was one?" Methos asked her, he'd been curious about that fact.

"Well, we dug you out of the ice and brought you back to the old McMurdo which we were using as a base. Once there we melted the ice, it was then you came back from the dead. Scared the dickens' out of my research assistant. She fainted about the same time as you passed out." Caren paused as he chuckled, smiling herself. "After that we scanned you and found you carried the Immortal gene."

"Immortal gene?"

She nodded. "Once the Gathering was over and everyone knew about Immortals, a research team studied the bodies of the deceased Immortals before they were buried. It was discovered there was an unusual gene in them all and it was learnt we all have this gene, just in most of us it's dormant. A researcher also found out the gene doesn't live long outside its host and it can't be reactivated inside a dead Immortal. Duncan MacLeod had the gene as well, but his was dormant at the time he was tested. He was mortal."

Methos frowned a little. "Well at least we're not from out of space."

That made Caren laugh. "No, you're not. You're as human as the rest of us, just with an extra active gene."

"And I'm guessing over the last six hundred years, scientists have been studying how to activate the gene?" He queried.

She nodded. "They have, but haven't had much success. With the gene not being able to live outside the host for long, the research was abandoned. If it could have been, they could have found a way to end diseases, other illnesses and expanded the lifespan of all mortals." She paused for a moment to let him take it all in before adding. "My dad said perhaps Gaia wasn't ready for Immortals to be on Earth again."

"Gaia, the goddess or personification of Earth?"

"Yes."

Methos remembered Gaia being worshiped during his time in Ancient Greece. "Are people worshipping Gaia again?"

Caren smiled softly. "No, but after the Gathering and the revealing of Immortals, it was theorised that Gaia had brought about the Gathering because she was unhappy with the way we were treating her or Earth. At first no one wanted to believe it."

"But something happened?" Methos guessed.

"There was a war and it nearly destroyed all life on Earth, people started to realise that what we were doing was wrong. We were in essence killing ourselves and Gaia. So we changed. It took a few hundred years, but it happened. We have unified Governments and a world leader who is elected by each nation and then the people vote and the winner is sworn in as President," she explained. "We live peacefully - there is no pollution, no hunger, and no overpopulation. There is no rich or poor, there isn't any homeless. We're all equal."

"Sounds too good to be true," he announced.

"To you it probably does, but let me ask you this. How many nations do you remember there being on Earth?"

"A hundred and ninety four, including Taiwan and Vatican City which weren't members of the United Nations," Methos answered her. "How many are there now?"

"Seven."

Methos was stunned. "Seven?"

Nodding, Caren stood and walked over to a visual screen on the wall. "On," she ordered and the screen turned on. "Show me a map of the Earth?" A map was shown. She moved back to his side. "This is Earth as we now know it."

This wasn't Earth as Methos remembered it. In six hundred years the planet has changed, continents had moved and joined together. "This isn't possible; it would have taken millions of years for this to happen."

"A little over three hundred actually, it seemed Gaia fought back and brought forth a new Earth after the war," Caren told him. She pointed to one nation. "This was once known as Arctic Ocean or the North pole. Now it's New Arctica." She then pointed to the bottom of the map. "As you may have guessed Antarctic is still called the same thing." She then pointed to what used to the next land mass. "There is no Canada or United States of America, it is now North America and of course beneath it South America." She gestured to the left of the map, where Africa, England, France, Europe and the Russian Federation use to be. All of it was now one land mass. "Africa is divvied from Europe by the Mediterranean Mountains." She pointed out the last land mass. "Lastly is Australia."

"So England and France no longer exists?"

"Not in the way you remember them, no. They're all a part of Europe, as is the country you called Ireland and Scotland." Caren explained and then shut down the screen. "I think that is enough for today."

Methos couldn't have agreed more. "This isn't a bad dream, it's a bloody nightmare."

"I'm sorry, Marcus," she paused for a moment. "Do you wish to be known as Marcus Williams, or something else?"

He didn't know. "Ask me tomorrow?"

Caren had expected he would need time. "I will," she agreed. "For now, only a small group of people know you're here. You're in a secure section of the hospital, so you won't be bothered."

"Thank you,"

She smiled. "I'll see you tomorrow then."

Seeing he wasn't going to acknowledge her, Caren left the room feeling she'd revealed too much too quickly. Even for an Immortal who was used to disappearing and then reappearing as someone else this was going to be difficult for him. He'd disappeared in one century and woken in another.

Going to the office they'd set her up in, Caren sat and put a secure vidcall through to her father, who lived in the city of New Paris in Europe.

His smiling face came on the screen. "Hey sweetheart, now are things in Antarctica?"

"Good, daddy," she answered.

He frowned a little, he knew something was up. "Then why the need for a secure vidcall sweetheart?"

"Do you remember when I was a child, you used to read me from Joseph Dawson's journal?"

"Of course sweetheart, you loved those journals, you still do."

"Well, we found one of the people they refer too, daddy."

Joseph Fairchild was stunned. "You're sure?"

She nodded. "I've just been speaking with him. You can't tell anyone though. We're not releasing his name."

"Who is it, sweetheart?"

Caren hesitated. "The one Dawson referred to as ROG."

Her father was doubly shocked now. "You're kidding?"

"No, I'm not daddy," she answered and rubbed her temples. "I found him and I'll do everything I can to protect him."

"I know you will sweetheart."

"I'll talk to you again, soon."

"Caren, be carefully."

"I will daddy." She smiled and waved then cancelled the vidcall, sitting back in her chair. Nothing could have prepared her for Methos' arrival - nothing at all. Now she just had to make sure he stayed safe.

The next morning, after a rather restless night's sleep, several cups of coffee and a rather drawn out meeting, Caren headed back to Methos' room. Last night she'd realised she'd left her holographic album in his room. She knocked before she walked in, seeing him standing by the windows. He had recovered fast.

"Good morning," she greeted.

He turned. Now he was very gratefully the nurse had gotten him the scrubs to wear. Standing there with his bare bum showing would have been….. Breezy. "Good morning."

"You look a lot better this morning," she commented as she shut the door. She walked further into the room.

"A good night's sleep can do wonders," he remarked dryly and then turned back to look out the windows. He'd found out the New Heaven was also the name of the city the hospital was located in. The nurse had also revealed the city was within a Bio dome, thus keeping the snow and ice on the outside and the green grass and habitual areas on the inside. The city had literally been built within the climate controlled dome to make the Antarctic more habitual.

"You left your holo album behind last night," he noted.

"I realised it after I left." She stood next to him. "Did you work out how to use it?"

Methos chuckled. "I did, it took me a while though."

She smiled. "I thought you might."

He turned a little. "Your ancestor, the one you said was a Watcher. His name was Joseph Dawson, wasn't it?"

"Yes. I thought you might figure it out."

"It wasn't that hard, you have his eyes and your father, who is in more than one of those photo's looks like him. Younger, but like him, as does your brother," Methos told her. "You also love the Blues and your family owns a bar."

"They certainly do, the bar is called "Joe's" by the way," she revealed and sat on the bed. "How would you like to take a walk, if you're feeling up to it?"

"You're letting me out of here?"

She nodded. "I thought a stroll around the city would be good. You'll find clothing in the cupboard. Though it might all go a lot better once we're out of the hospital if I know what to call you?"

He had thought about that. "Well since Marcus Williams is dead, and I'm the last Immortal or if you look at it another way, I'm the first. I think Adam is appropriate."

She couldn't help but smile at his logic. "I think it is too," she agreed and stood. "I'll leave you got get dressed and then we'll go."

"Afraid you'll see something you haven't seen before?" he teased.

Caren grinned as she walked to the door. "I stripped you at old McMurdo, so there's nothing I haven't seen before." She opened the door. "It was impressive though," she observed with a sparkle in her eyes and walked out.

Methos chuckled. "Touché," he smirked and hurried to get dressed. He had a feeling he and Caren Fairchild were going to get along just fine.

To be continued…

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