AN- Thanks for the reviews and your opinions – for reasons which will become apparent (grins) I think this had better be cannon – but due to popular interest I do have an actual sequel to I never liked Art in mind.
***
"Aw c'mon Mac." Richie trailed up the stairs into the kitchen after the Immortal. "You can tell me."
"Take off your sneakers." Duncan told him.
"Oh …" Richie swore. "Sorry. Mac."
"For the swearing? Or this water across my clean floor?" Tessa's voice asked icily.
"Um. Both?" Richie offered hopefully.
"You should not be sorry!" Tessa scolded, lapsing into a tirade of French.
"She doesn't want me to be sorry?" Richie looked helplessly at Mac.
"She wants you to take off your sneakers, go and have a hot shower and she'll be along in few minutes with a cup of hot chocolate and a large piece of cake to apologise for snapping at you." Duncan told him.
Richie eyed the angry Frenchwoman warily.
"Mac. Even I know that isn't what she said."
"I know." Duncan agreed. "But it is what she wants. Go."
"Are you two gonna have a fight?"
"Richie. Just go will you?"
"Cos. I mean. You don't have to. Not on account of me." Richie assured him.
"Tessa is just upset because she misses her family. That doesn't mean that she has the right to take it out on you. When she realises, she will be sorry that she yelled at you."
"OK." Richie smiled. "I guess I can be magnanimous." He grinned.
"You can huh?" Duncan tousled his hair. "But can you spell it?"
"I can spell Smart Alec." Richie muttered.
***
"If this is the way you apologise." Richie picked up the last crumbs of cake with his fingers. "You have my permission to yell at me more often."
Tessa smiled.
"When I was little my mother would always give me chocolate cake if something bad happened. She said it had magic ingredients to make everything right again."
"Works for me." Richie grinned at her.
"It is important n'est pas? To realise that people who love you can be angry with you because they love you and not because they are angry?"
Richie tipped his head on one side. "You want to try that in French? I might understand it a bit better."
"You know." Tessa smiled at him. "I think I should teach you to speak French."
"Me? French?" Richie shook his head.
"Why not?" Tessa demanded. "You already speak many other languages."
"Tess. I can swear in many other languages. Its not quite the same thing."
"If you had a mother such as mine to wash your mouth out with soap you would not have such a vocabulary." Tessa teased.
"People don't actually do that." Richie scoffed.
"She will." Tessa smiled. "You will just have to watch your language."
"Thanks for the heads up." Richie acknowledged. "So when are you gonna invite her?"
"I have tried." Tessa shook her head. "She will not fly so far without Papa and Papa .."
"Hates Mac's guts?" Richie offered.
"Exactament." Tessa threw up her hands. "They are both as bad as each other. Stubborn men and their foolish pride. There is no talking to them."
"You could go to Paris." Richie offered. "I promise not to play with the swords while you are gone."
"Duncan has already promised not to hide all your sodas." Tessa told him.
"But you don't wanna go by yourself." Richie realised.
"I should not have to act as if I am the single woman. As if my family here does not exist. They should not expect me to do this." Tessa complained.
"You think you can get them to work this out?" Richie asked.
"Perhaps." Tessa shrugged.
Richie raised a brow.
"Perhaps not." Tessa amended.
***
Richie found Duncan in the Storeroom, muttering to himself as he struggled to check a new consignment off against a fistful of inventory cards.
He slid in silently and waited for the Immortal to notice him.
It took all of two seconds.
"You could help you know." Duncan spoke without looking out.
"I didn't want to spoil your fun." Richie grinned.
It took them almost two hours. But at last they had a mosaic of tea cups set out across the floor. Each set on its own record.
"Why would anybody want so many tea cups?" Richie sat with his back against the wall. "They don't even match."
"It's a collection." Duncan flopped down beside him. "Its designed to show differences in style and form."
"If you ask me." Richie tipped back his head, closing his eyes. "A cup's a cup. I'm more interested in what's inside it." He hinted.
"You thirsty huh?"
Duncan's enquiry was followed by his hand on Richie's forehead.
"Maac." Richie opened his eyes, but Duncan noticed he didn't shrug off the comforting touch.
"Did you tell Tessa you weren't feeling well?"
"She didn't ask." Richie quipped without thinking.
"Gotcha." Duncan said smugly.
"Its nothing Mac." Richie waved a hand. "Its just a head cold or something."
"You're temperature does seem a little better." Duncan mused. "Maybe the shower helped."
And the two aspirin that he had taken in the bathroom.
But Richie wasn't about to admit to that.
"C'mon Tough Guy." Duncan gave him a hand up. "Let's go out for lunch. I'll shout you a chilli dog or something."
"Gee thanks Mac." The Immortal springing for junk food was indeed a treat.
It was probably as well to make the most of the opportunity.
"With fries?"
Duncan made a face. "How about salad?"
"How about not?"
***
Richie looked across at Duncan, noting the tense set to his jaw.
"Are you sure?" he asked carefully.
"Pretty sure." Duncan nodded.
"I dunno Mac." Richie picked at his fries. "I mean .. four hundred years. The edges gotta get a little blurred."
"It had my Clan Crest on it." Duncan told him.
"Yeah. But you told me that a Clan is made up of lotsa different families." Richie reminded him.
"When I was about ten." Duncan told him. "I was practising with my father's sword. He had strictly forbidden it, of course, and with good reason. An edge designed to cut through a man's thigh bone has no business in the hands of a child."
"So, what happened?" Richie asked.
"The blade got away from me." Duncan shrugged. "It sliced through the corner of my mother's jewellery casket. Left a thin gouge the breadth of a sword in moulding."
"OK. So I'm guessing the odds of that exact same thing happening, in the exact same place, more than once, aren't that great?" Richie realised.
"Its my mother's casket. I'm sure of it." Duncan sighed.
"So go and talk to him Mac."
"And say what exactly?" Duncan ran a hand through his hair. "Its not like I can tell him the truth."
"Why not? Just tell him it's a family heirloom and gloss over the whole four hundred years bit."
"He won't sell."
"C'mon Mac." Richie waggled his eyebrows. "Everything's for sale .. at the right price."
"He brought it 43 years ago as a wedding present for his late wife. He's not gonna sell."
"You know. You could tell me this stuff all at once." Richie pointed out. "I'm just trying to help here."
"I know." Duncan patted his leg. "I'm sorry. Its just .." he trailed off.
"This means a lot to you huh?"
"No." Duncan shook his head. "I'm being an idiot. He has a right to his memories. It's not like I can't afford to wait. You haven't eaten much."
"Um." Richie was thrown by the abrupt change in subject. "I was talking." He pointed out.
"That doesn't usually stop you."
"Tessa has been teaching me manners." Richie informed him loftily.
***
"Hold it." Duncan's voice stopped Richie in his tracks. "Where are you sneaking off to?"
"I wasn't sneaking." Richie protested.
"No? You're looking awfully furtive for someone who wasn't sneaking." Duncan raised a brow. "Don't you think Tess?"
"Duncan. Stop teasing him." Tessa admonished.
"Yeah Mac. Stop teasing me." Richie grinned.
"Ah. Now he's changing the subject." Duncan noted.
"Am not." Richie protested. "You started it."
"Richie. You are joining us for dinner. Yes?" Tessa cut in.
"Um. Thanks Tess. But I'm going out." Richie told her.
"Out where?" Duncan frowned slightly.
"Out side." Richie clarified with a smirk.
"Thanks. I got that." Duncan said dryly.
"Duncan. It is Saturday night." Tessa shook her head. "It is only natural that such a handsome young man should have a date."
"Handsome huh? I can live with that." Richie preened.
"A date?" Duncan stepped over to stand beside Richie. "Are you sure?"
"You don't think I can get a date?"
"I meant." Duncan rolled his eyes. "Are you sure you feel up to going out tonight? You still look kinda pale."
"Its my natural complexion." Richie insisted.
Duncan tried to check Richie's forehead, only to have the teen duck out from under his touch.
"Maac! Look. I gotta go. I'll be late. Bye Tess."
"Have a good time." She smiled.
Duncan stared after him with a thoughtful look on his face.
"What's wrong?" Tessa asked.
"Probably nothing." Duncan shrugged. "Its just. He never said what her name was."