P(re). S(cript). When I first started this story it was back in '98 but when I finished it was in '04… at least that's the date I've assigned for the story to take place. As I said in the AN in the first chapter this story does not follow all the rules of the Highlander universe. I've made up my own origin of the Immortals which will be revealed as the stories unfold though it probably won't be unveiled until book two. Thanks for reading this far and I hope it doesn't disappoint.

Highlander: *** The Series *** Immortal's *** Child *** Highlander: *** The Series *** Immortal's *** Child *** Highlander: *** The Series *** Immortal's *** Child

Immortal's Child

By: Vanidot

Chapter 2

Seacouver

Joe's Bar

2004

In the back of the bar sitting on the stage strumming a bass guitar, Joe Dawson was using music to vent his anger but it was more than just that, it was pain and probably some confusion as well. He had a habit of using music to vent his frustration at the world and now he was aiming it at one person in particular. For the past eight years he had gotten a post card in the mail from all over the world, unsigned and otherwise mysterious but they let him know that she was alright and better yet… wasn't dead. It had been two years since he had received the last post card, two years of wondering if she was still breathing, two long years of mind numbing waiting.

With the arrival of each new post card he had breathed a sigh of relief that she was still alive, unharmed, and still going strong. She had always dreamed of seeing the world, places like Andalusia, Friesia, Perche, not to mention Morocco and the post cards hadn't stopped there. He had gotten postcards from France, Spain, Italy, Israel, Russia, Mongolia, Austria, Japan, as well as New Zealand and Australia. She had been to so many places, lived the life she had always dreamed of, but he had to wonder if she was really okay. Every time she had sent him a new post he would try to find her, but they would always have just missed her; she seemed to disappear before the post had been mailed. She had money of her own he wasn't worried about that; he wasn't even worried that she had used the money that had been set aside for her to spend on college. He was worried for her and more importantly about her because, given everything that they had been through together, she was like a daughter to him.

Her mother had been killed when she was only eight years old; a heinous slaughter of which she had been the sole witness, a crime which no child should ever have to see. Joe, a personal friend of her mother's, had taken her in raised her as his own when no one else had wanted her. Margaret had begged him to look out for her daughter if something ever happened to her; he had kept his promise until eight very long years ago. She had been a witness to yet another murder, the shooting death of a friend – a man she was in love with had been killed… or so she thought.

She hadn't even stuck around for the funeral, not that there was one, but in her mind she was the only witness to another crime. She hadn't stayed to find out that the murder she had witnessed was nothing more than a foiled robbery were the dead man had come back to life. The guy she loved, who she thought had been killed, was in fact an immortal. If she had lingered a few minutes longer she would have seen his resurrection and would have only been a bystander of a burglary, a break in where the victim had been the perpetrator.

Joe knew he was miserably off key so he set the guitar back in its place and stood up to find something else to keep him occupied. There were a ton of things that needed his attention but none of which seemed important at the moment. He couldn't think about anything else but her, if she was hurt or worse lying dead somewhere he would never forgive himself. Someone was saying something to him but he didn't pay attention to who it was.

"Joe!" Duncan MacLeod said putting a hand on his friend's shoulder, he could tell something was wrong; Joe didn't even appear to notice he was in the room. It was not like Joe to let a comment about his music slip unnoticed without some sort of cleaver retort.

"Mac, how long have you been here? I didn't see you come in." Joe looked at Duncan in complete surprise. Duncan shook his head and laughed a discomforted chuckle. This definitely was not like his friend to be so distracted.

"I've been here a while. What's up? You want to talk about it?" Duncan asked, concerned for the Watcher.

"I've just had a lot on my mind lately, Mac. How long have you been back in town?" Joe asked grateful for something to do, he shoved his concern to a corner of his mind and shuffled behind the bar to serve Duncan his usual choice of beverage, genuine Scottish whisky on the rocks.

"Just got back today, thought I'd stop in and get the scoop on the game." Duncan lied, he had actually gotten back last night and Joe knew he hated sports of any kind except boxing and of course highland games. Joe smiled knowing what his friend was fishing for, but didn't feel like taking the bait.

"Come on Joe what's eating you? I've never seen you like this." Duncan asked as his concern grew more intense, had someone died? Joe was flipping through the mail.

"I'm not sure Mac, It's just…" Joe cut off as he gingerly fingered a post card. Joe flipped the card over and Mac saw a tear roll off his cheek. Mac knew something was wrong then, his strong macho friend reduced to tears by a simple post card; something wasn't right about that picture. Joe's artificial knees locked in place but without a cane or a wall to lean against Joe had a tendency to topple over. Duncan grabbed him and led the way to a table were he sat his friend down and called for a round of drinks from a nearby waitress.

Duncan eased the post card from Joe's hand and looked at the picture. It was a normal tourist postcard picturing a clock tower, a kilted piper playing his bagpipes, and a Scottish hill in the distance covered in heather. Duncan's heart skipped a beat at the sight of his native land. He flipped the card over and saw a strange hand written message next to the address of the bar. Who ever had sent the post card to Joe had scribbled a brief message with one simple word on it, "Home" It was the oddest thing he had ever seen but he knew that Joe must have an explanation for it and why he seemed so relieved it arrived.

The waitress having seen what had transpired between Joe and Duncan and the odd look on her employer's face hurriedly brought the drinks and smiled sympathetically at Duncan. She knew he was a regular as well as a friend. Duncan thanked her before giving her the night off. As her sift hadn't really started yet she was thankful and gathered her things and went home. Duncan waited for her to leave before he tried to find out what was going on. As soon as the door behind her had closed his friend let out a choked sigh of relief and took a huge gulp of his beer.

"It's Adrian, she's coming home!" Joe said at last. He took another long draft of his beer and spilled the events of the past eight years to a friend he knew he could trust with everything. "I raised Adrianna after her mother was murdered." Joe said after he had finished explaining about the post cards and the eight long years of worrying and waiting for any word of her.

"So you two were pretty close then?" Duncan asked. It was a lot to take in all at once, the girl had suffered more than her share of hardships and it was the first he'd heard of it though he vaguely remembered meeting her once or twice.

"She was more than just a daughter to me Mac; I couldn't have loved her more if she had been my own flesh and blood." Joe said wearily glad to have some one to confide in.

"Connor raised a lot of children in his life like they were his own kin, I canno' imagine…" Duncan said his Scottish brogue slipping out a bit. Joe nodded his head feeling what Duncan had not expressed in words. Duncan got the sensation, that buzz he felt when another immortal appeared. His hand reached for the jacket he had shed earlier and gripped the handle of his Katana. Joe saw his friend's reaction and tensed, hoping it was friend rather than foe.

They both visibly relaxed when Methos walked through the door, wearily set a large duffle bag down beside the bar, picked up a bottle of whiskey Joe had left on the bar, another glass, and came to sit down at their table. He sighed long and heavy as he poured himself a drink, took a sip, and let the contents of his glass sear its way down his throat. He closed his eyes and let his body conform to the chair almost too tired to hold himself upright.

He felt old, older than his five thousand years, too old to care anymore, but that didn't stop him. Duncan filled Methos' glass again and poured himself another drink of the same, not concerned that his ice was nearly melted. Joe and Duncan waited for Methos to be the first to say something. They could tell he was tired, but why they did not know.

"Eight years is a long time to waste." Methos said finally. Joe and Duncan both stared at him in such a way that he couldn't help but laugh when he finally opened his eyes.

"I've been searching for your lost puppy Joe." Methos explained reaching into his coat pocket and retrieved a folded piece of paper which he then tossed onto the table before them. He closed his eyes leaned his head against the back of the chair and sighed again.

"After I got back… after Alexa… I thought that I could find Adrian and maybe explain things…" Methos sighed and looked up at Joe and then Duncan. Duncan seemed a little confused but with a confirming nod from Joe, Methos surmised that Duncan had already been told about Adrianna Russell. He emptied his glass again before continuing.

"The post cards weren't the only reason why I went to look for her," He nodded towards the slip of paper on the table. Joe picked it up, examined it, and then passed it to Duncan.

"This looks like some sort of map or itinerary." Duncan said a little confused.

"I'd better start at the beginning. I started the Methos chronicles when I first found out about the Watchers, what they where, what they did. I wanted to keep them from finding out who I really was. I've been my own Watcher for years, thousands of different times. I wrote the chronicles as a way to tell them only what I wanted them to know. I've kept my secrets, the things I'm not really proud of… like the four horsemen; things like that I've kept to myself. I didn't mean any harm by it, I just didn't want to admit to them I guess." He paused took in a deep breath and poured himself another glass.

"Why all the secrecy?" Joe asked. Methos shook his head but it was Duncan who spoke first.

"We've all done things we weren't proud of Joe, most of us don't have the luxury of hiding them." Duncan thought the file the Watchers kept on him and grimaced, thinking of all the things he'd done in his life, the mistakes he had made that were probably forever written down.

"I tried to forget my past, to move on, to be a better man than I was. I didn't want to be reminded of it every time I read the chronicles. The Methos Chronicles!" Methos smiled and shook his head. "Adrian named them that. She said it needed something more than just the Methos files… like Homer's the Iliad or other epic stories it should have a good title. She was the one who coined the phrase. She said if she was going to work on them she'd have to call them something elegant."

Joe smiled at the thought of the romantic flights of fancy that kept Adrian's head in the clouds. Methos turned to Duncan and addressed him, "Since this doesn't come as a complete surprise to you I'll assume Joe told you most of it. Did he happen to mention when Adrian and I were first introduced?" Duncan shook his head and Methos continued. "I had just arrived in this country when I made my presence known as the Methos Watcher and was assigned to Joe here as a liaison between the 'bands of brothers', so to speak. I was told where to find Joe at the book store of his when I happened to find this sweet little mouse of a girl with her nose buried in a pile of books, literally. She had been trying to reach a book off the top self that was wedged between two larger tomes when I first saw her. She was over stretching the ladder by about two inches. I didn't react fast enough to keep her from falling but I managed to pull her out from under the rows of books that toppled down on top of her. We managed to put all the books back before Joe came back to the shop; she was frightened he would be mad so we kept it our little secret." Methos shared.

Joe couldn't help but laugh at the image that Methos had brought to life, He knew Adrian well enough to see the whole thing happen as though he had witnessed it himself. Duncan looked from Joe to Methos and back again feeling left out of a private joke. Seeing Duncan's expression Joe explained. "Adrian has or rather had a tendency to get over zealous about something without taking the time to think it out. She was so intent on getting the book it didn't occur to her to get the bigger ladder." Methos nodded his head, and continued his story.

"Joe and I introduced ourselves and I kept in touch while I was here off and on until Adrian decided to become a Watcher like us. To keep her safe and off the streets Joe and I agreed to let her help me with the Methos Chronicles. She liked books and loved translating some of the earlier files in Latin, Greek, and French. She was happy and I enjoy her company. I suppose I was a little blind when it came to the way I treated her. I felt protective of her and treated her like a little sister, all the time Adrianna was developing a crush on me. I had never even guessed until Alexa told me about it the night she died. By the time I got back and planned to make things right with Adrian I found out that she had left the country the night they shot me." Methos explained.

"That was when you were searching for the Methuselah Stone?" Duncan asked remembering Methos' attitude that night. Methos nodded and continued his story.

"Yes, Amanda and I were breaking into the library to steal the stone, Adrian was still there she often worked late at night when she was onto something. She was a bull dog at times never letting go of something until she'd found what she was searching for. Adrian heard Amanda and I arguing and she startled me because I didn't know she was there. Adrian was too interested in her discovery to ask what I happened to be doing there." Methos explained.

"What was her discovery?" Duncan asked pouring Methos another glass of whisky. Methos nodded his thanks to Duncan but toyed with the glass instead of drinking the amber liquid inside.

"A sixteenth century dagger I'd thought I had lost a long time ago. I don't even know where she'd found it, but she was sure it was mine." Methos said wearily, the alcohol was starting to go to his head at last. Alcohol never had much effect on him anymore, not even the strong stuff, but he was weary from travel and he hadn't eaten anything in days.

"How did she know it was yours?" Duncan asked.

"When I got back, after Alexa…" Methos began unable to finish. He closed his eyes swallowed the pain that still plagued him over Alexa and continued on. "I found some of the texts Adrianna had been working on that night; one of them was a journal I thought I'd lost ages ago. Now that I think of it, it was the book she was trying to reach when the other books toppled over on her that first time we met. I made the same inscription in that journal that I had made on the dagger." Methos revealed. A stupid mistake on his part, a mistake he hadn't made since.

"What does any of this have to do with Adrianna and this?" Joe asked picking up the piece of paper Methos had handed them earlier.

"I found it in the journal I'd lost. It's Adrian's handwriting, Joe. She mapped out all the places I'd been, all the places I'd written about in my journal." Methos said agonizingly. His friends saw his pain and waited for him to continue.

"What's wrong with that?" Duncan asked after Methos' continued silence.

"The places on that map, the journal, were all experiences I'd kept out of the Methos Chronicles. Don't worry, there's nothing in there that would hurt her, besides the places and people have changed since the sixteenth century." He quickly added at the aghast look on Joe's face. "It was after I left the Horsemen, I was pretty tame by then. I traveled as a scholar mainly, a itinerant doctor some of the time, but there were things I didn't want the Watchers to know." Methos confessed. He had the feeling of two pair of eyes staring at him. He looked up and laughed at the shock on the faces of his friends.

"I did have a life of my own." He declared. "I loved, lost, married, dreamed, wrote poetry…" Methos began but Duncan choked on his beer causing Methos to jump into action smacking his dying friend on the back until he recovered.

"I thought you said you weren't that creative?" Duncan asked. Methos grinned.

"I never said it was in English. I was no Byron but who do you think started the fad in the first place?" Methos laughed.

"I still don't understand what this has to do with Adrianna." Joe said trying to bring the subject back on track.

"I went after her, hoping I could bring her home. Every where I looked she'd already moved on. You'd be proud of her Joe, she really made a difference. Everyone I talked to, every where I went they all spoke very highly of her. It seems she worked most of her way through her travels, she'd stay long enough to really see places for what they were, not as how tourists had seen them but…" Methos paused in awe of Adrianna's accomplishments himself. "She got down on the native level interacted with the day to day lives of the people she met. Most of them told me they were sad to see her go. In every town she stopped in she'd visit the local scholar and learn about the past and the local history then she'd work with others living in the present. She studied botany, animal husbandry, chemistry, history, art, music, science, astronomy, and even medicine. From what I gathered she'd have had a master's degree in life if a college or university offered one. She was an excellent student but there were also many folks she taught along the way. I lost her in Romania where she was studying herbology from a local healer, a Christian woman who used what she'd learned from her great grandmother, a gypsy by birth. I tried to locate her trail but it led to a dead end in a local bookshop. She bought a book from the man but he couldn't remember what the book was about, only that a young woman had sold it to him twenty-nine years ago." Methos said contemplatively. Joe pondered what Methos had said and remembered something Adrian's mother had said along time ago.

"Did Adrian's itinerary follow your movements exactly?" Joe asked. Methos looked up at Joe surprised by the question.

"Not exactly no, why do you ask?" Methos returned. Joe stood up and walked stiffly to the back room behind the bar. When he returned he was carrying a small leather bound book that looked well worn but lovingly cared for.

"After Margaret died I found this among her possessions in a safety deposit box she'd left in my name. Before Adrianna was born Maggy left New York and went to Europe. She wrote about her travels in this. I had planned on giving this to Adrianna on her birthday but it slipped my mind and I didn't find it again until after she'd left." Joe said absently flipping through the pages of the journal until he'd found what he was looking for.

"I was loath to sell it…" Joe began reading the entry in Maggie's journal. "The funny little man in the book shop said he'd keep it for me in case I changed my mind, but I needed the money to go home. I told him I'd return someday, hopefully. He just smiled and nodded his head before putting it on a self. He didn't even look inside, had he flipped through the pages he would have thrown it back in my face I'm sure, but he seemed like a kind man despite his loneliness. My heart is written on those pages, a tribute to the man I left yet love even now. Oh my love would that you were here, but alas I must not look back; for your own good as well as mine. I fear you would never understand the sacrifice I've made. The dream I wished would come true finally has. I hope someday you'll understand." Joe continued, the three men shifted uneasily as the words floated on the air, knowing the words were private. "I uh…" Joe said scanning through the rest of the entry to find what he was looking for uncomfortable invading any more of Maggie's privacy though she had been long dead. Methos and Duncan waited until he found it.

"Here it is." Joe said finding the section he'd been looking for. "At last I'm home and Joe is here to greet me. I'm tired but it was well worth the trip. I'm beginning to show even though it's been only few months since I made the wish. I knew the instant she came to life. My own little miracle, I can't wait to meet her. How am I ever going to explain this to Joe? I've only been in Romania for two weeks yet I'm four months pregnant." Joe stopped, wondering what the others would think. "Is this the same area of Romania the book shop is located?" Joe asked handing Methos the book, a small map was scribbled beside the entry as if to remind Maggy where she had left her treasure.

"Yes, but how…" Methos asked.

"I'm not sure, I know Adrianna didn't see the journal but somehow she managed to find the bookshop. I wanted to tell you but you left before I could," Joe explained.

"I've never been here…" Methos said before he had time to continue the thought he felt the burning behind his eyes, the buzz of another immortal not already present.

"I have." A Scotsman said from the shadows hiding the door.

"Connor!" Duncan said jumping up to greet his old friend and mentor. Connor MacLeod enthusiastically greeted his clan brother. The two men returned to the table and sat down next to each other. Conner gratefully accepted the drink Methos offered and downed it without as much as a second thought. He looked up at the others; he noticed that they were waiting for an explanation.

"Before I was Russell Nash I was Christopher Russell. Adrian's mother, Margaret Russell was my wife." Conner explained. Joe was shocked; he had known Maggie for a long time, had known she was married but had never before met her husband. "I didn't know she… Maggie left without explanation without a reason why. She just left a note saying she loved me – that she would always love me, but there was something more important that she had to do and couldn't stay with me." Conner went on after downing another scotch.

"She came here to work in the bookstore with me." Joe explained. Conner looked at the man with a gray hair and beard.

"Adrian's your daughter then," Connor said as more of a statement that question. The look on the other man's face told him quite the contrary.

"I loved Margaret like a sister I would never …" Joe said fiercely defending her honor. Conner nodded and held up his hands.

"Sorry I misunderstood." Conner apologized.

"Anyone else hungry?" Methos asked distractingly. "How about pizza?" He inquired again innocently as though he hadn't noticed the tension in the air. Conner stood up and walked to the stage. "I'll take that as a no. I for one haven't eaten in days." Methos said going to the bar to place his order. "Yes I'd like your mighty meaty masterpiece with mushrooms and extra cheese." Methos ordered. Duncan and Joe exchange a glance and shook their heads before Duncan turned his attention back to Conner.

"You were in Romania?" Duncan asked. Conner glanced at Methos who was a still on the phone and sighed shaking his head.

"A long time ago," Conner said coming back to the table to set. "I traveled with a gypsy family for a few years before moving on."

"It's not a coincidence that Margaret went there, is it?" Methos asked returning to the table with a cold beer to wait for his order to be delivered. Despite the man's fancy taste in clothes his taste in food was often simplistic. Duncan shook his head at his friend and downed Methos' unnoticed glass of scotch.

"No, no coincidence." Conner said watching the odd rapport between Duncan and the ancient immortal. Similar to the close bond he shared with Duncan as clansman. "I told Maggy everything." Conner admitted. The other two immortal stared at him, it was not something done in their circles very often. The only mortal Methos had told was Alexa shortly before she died and he might never have told her if she lived.

"What does Margaret's diary have to do with Adrianna though?" Duncan asked feeling a bit of blind from both aspects.

"Maggy always wrote it in a journal. She kept one specifically for Adrian. She even started one when she came to work for me at the bookstore. I caught her writing about me one day and asked her about it. She told me she had written at least one for every year of her life." Joe offered. Methos got up and went to the door.

"Margaret's journal led Adrian to Romania then?" Duncan asked watching Methos go before turning to look back at Joe. Joe shook his head.

"It couldn't have, I never gave it to her." Joe replied. A knock at the door caused them to look up and they saw Methos pay the pizza delivery guy before bringing the pizza back to table.

"How did he…?" Connor asked Duncan shook his head.

"Don't ask," Joe and Duncan said at the same time.

"I haven't eaten since I boarded the plane." Methos said around a mouth full of Italian pie. He set the box down on the table and wiped his mouth on a napkin. "Who's to say she didn't read some or all of it before she left." He added before taking another bite of food.

"Adrian's never made a habit of going through other people's things without permission and besides I didn't find it again until after she left. It's been packed away since before I left the bookstore." Joe replied.

"It wasn't a coincidence that led Maggy to Romania, but it was a coincidence that Adrianna found the book shop." Duncan worked out. Joe shook his head, he just didn't know any more.

"If Methos lost her in Romania, then how did she wind up in Glenfinnan?" Duncan asked fingering the postcard she'd sent to Joe. Conner glanced from him to the postcard and back again.

"May I see that?" Conner asked. Duncan looked at Joe, who nodded his agreement, before handing the missive to his mentor.

"Home," Conner read aloud the short and sweet message on the back of the card. "It was dated yesterday. What does that mean?" Conner asked.

"It's either means she either plans on staying in Scotland or…" Methos started.

"She's already home." Joe said hopefully. Methos got a strange look on his face and jumped up grabbed his coat and practically ran out the door. Conner picked up a slice of the abandoned pizza and bit into it making a face.

"Not as good as New York." He quipped but polished it off and reached for another one. "He won't find her." He added around mouthfuls of crust and toppings. Duncan looked up at Joe before turning to stare at Conner.

"How do you mean?" Duncan asked when his clansman wasn't forthcoming. Conner shook his head and stole a glance at Joe.

"She's running from something, she isn't going to come to you until she feels safe." Conner explained. Joe nodded his head and explained the reason why Adrianna left in the first place and about the post card Conner waited for Joe to finish but shook his head. "I'm thinking a bit more recent than that, something scared her in Scotland." Conner replied.

"How do you know?" Joe asked.

"I went back to Glenfinnan for a visit. I thought I had spotted Maggy so I followed her. I found out that she worked at a bookstore near the train station. When I saw how young she was I knew it couldn't have been Maggy but just to be sure I waited until she left and asked the bookstore owner about her. I found out her name and how old she was that's when I figured out she had to be Maggy's daughter. She confirmed it later when we spoke, but she left before I had a chance to talk to her again." Conner explained.

"Maybe you scared her off." Duncan jested, but Conner shook his head again.

"Whoever it was Duncan, it might have been an immortal but it wasn't me." Conner replied looking a little uneasy himself.