AN - Dear All, thanks for the reviews. Don't worry SC it will still be a nice Mac/Richie kinda fic, grins. Lori, you know he will make it up to him – eventually – but you know I'm gonna make you wait for it!! MorganaPendragon, well a few chapters worth with this story at least, then I have a few other ideas. Yellowvalley – if you feel sorry for him now .. evil cackle! Beth, yeah no real plot twists – well maybe a twizzle or two and Dani consider this a virtual cookie. I like choc chip myself.

And just for once .. no cliffie (don't get used to it!)

!!!

"So," Duncan began, the next morning, passing the artefact he had just un-crated to Richie to tick off on the inventory. "You're pretty good at this racing stuff, huh?"

"I .." It was on the tip of Richie's tongue to actually tell him. Mac seemed like a pretty cool guy. Maybe, he would understand. That when he raced he felt free. His mind, his body, his skill, fused with the power of the machine, until they were one together, speeding down the highway and leaving his crummy past behind. But that was a little too close to the bone. So, instead, he took refuge in his patented cocky grin

"I reckon, I can fake it."

"Right," Duncan sighed. Something flickered in his eyes, but Richie didn't know the Immortal well enough to know exactly what. Still, he felt awkward about the brash comment and wished he had been more honest. They worked in silence for a few minutes. Finally, it was Duncan who broke it. "Must be hard though, without a bike of your own?"

"I'll have one .. someday," Richie spoke without thinking.

"Been saving up your allowance?" Duncan sounded amused.

"Um," Richie blushed a sudden red. Maybe honesty wasn't the best policy after all. "Not exactly."

Duncan shot him a sideways look, his curiosity piqued by the teen's sudden reticence. "Oh?"

"Parts," Richie admitted so quietly, Duncan almost didn't hear him. "I've been saving parts."

"You mean, you've been stealing them." Duncan corrected tolerantly.

"I bought some." Richie protested.

"Uh huh, and do you have a receipt?" Duncan sounded amused.

"OK, so I didn't buy 'em at a Store. But I paid big bucks for 'em."

"And how did you get these big bucks?" Duncan raised a quizzical brow.

"I ..," Richie looked up at the Immortal and saw the smirk. He threw his hands up in defeat. "Oh, alright, so I stole other stuff to get the money. Geez, are you ever wrong?"

"In 400 years," Duncan tipped his head on one side. "I have been."

"Well, good." Richie was relieved about that, at least.

"But not much any more."

"Maaac!"

The Immortal flashed him an insufferably smug grin. Not for the first time, Richie began to think that he might have finally met his match in Duncan Macleod, of the Clan Macleod. The thought was .. oddly comforting. It was kinda nice to have someone around he could really respect.

"How many do you have?" The question took him by surprise. He scanned down the inventory list, suddenly realising that he had completely lost track of what he was supposed to be doing. "Um. Just a sec .. I have it right here .."

"I meant the parts, Rich."

"Oh," Richie blushed. Yeah. This guy was definitely one step ahead. OK, so who was he kidding. The guy was whole centuries ahead. "Not enough, but its cool. Gary lets me ride his bike when he's not working."

"Still, that's gotta be hard. You said the competition was tough?"

"Yeah, it's a pretty high class field," Richie agreed. "But I figure, if I'm good enough to make the final, then I've as good a chance as any of them of taking the title."

"That's a good attitude, Tough Guy."

"Thanks." Richie was warmed by the praise.

"Still, wouldn't hurt to get in some extra practice before the big day."

"It wouldn't?" Richie blinked.

!!!

He sat in the passenger seat of the T-Bird. Not exactly awkwardly, he had been out with Mac during the working day before. Mostly on appraisals as Duncan called 'em, Richie called it poking around someone's house to see what kinda expensive stuff they had. The first time Mac had taken him out he'd joked that it was kinda like casing the joint, a little too loudly, judging by the angry sputtering of their would be client about worthless little thieves and the dark frown that settled on his employer's face.

"Richie, go and wait in the car, will you?"

"Mac." Richie had protested.

"Now, Richie." Duncan had ordered, in a tone that brooked absolutely no argument. A sadistic smirk spread across the householder's face as he watched Richie head sullenly out towards the T-Bird.

Richie had spent the next twenty minutes waiting in the car wondering what was going to happen next. When the Immortal came out, he was empty handed. Richie sank even lower in his seat. Clearly, he'd just royally screwed up whatever deal Mac had going down here. The Immortal got into the car with a face as dark as thunder, put the key in the ignition and pulled away without so much as a word or a glance in Richie's direction. They had travelled for fifteen minutes in total silence before Richie could stand it no longer.

"Mac .." He coughed over his dry throat and tried again. "Look, I'm really sorry."

The Immortal blinked, and glanced over to the passenger seat, as if he had only just remembered Richie's existence. "What?"

"About what I said before .. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said it," He rushed on. " I didn't mean anything by it. Who knew, Attila the Hun in there would have bat ears .." he trailed off as he realised that was exactly the kind of mouthing off that had got him into this in the first place. "Sorry .." he muttered miserably.

"Richie, you have nothing to apologise for. Do ye hear me?" Duncan's vehemence surprised him.

"But …" Richie opened his mouth. Closed it. And for once in his life, wisely shut up.

"Rich," Duncan indicated and pulled over, so he could turn to face the teenager before continuing. "You made a joke. That's all you did. So, maybe you could have kept your voice down, or waited until we were alone but that's hardly criminal."

Duncan winced at the unintended pun as he saw the teen flinch.

"Hey," He reached out and cupped his hand under Richie's chin. "It was just a joke."

"But .." Richie bit his lip. But the reassurance he saw in the Immortal's eyes encouraged him to continue. "Its not like it isn't true. That's what I am. That's all I've ever been."

"Its what you did," Duncan corrected sharply. "Not who you are. You get to decide who you are. And you're not that person anymore are you?"

"I guess, I never thought of it like that." Richie smiled, shyly. "But, … you were so angry."

"At him, Richie. I was angry at him. How you look or speak doesn't give a complete stranger the right to judge you. That's the worst kind of prejudice."

After that, he wouldn't have blamed the Immortal if he had never taken him out ever again. But if anything, Mac had made even more of an effort to include him, taking him to Auctions and the like, stopping off on the way home for a walk though the park, or a stroll along the beach, where Mac would spring for Hotdogs or Ice-cream and they'd talk about life and stuff.

But that was work. Well, mostly.

This was. Well, Richie wasn't at all sure what this was.

!!!

"Um. Mac," Sometime later Richie sat up a little straighter. "We just passed the city limits."

"I know."

"So, we're not lost?" Richie needed to know.

"Well, I'm not." Duncan smirked.

"Funny, Mac. So, where are we going?"

"I told you."

"No, you didn't. You said it was a surprise."

"Exactly," Duncan agreed. "Anyway, we're almost there."

True to his word, the Immortal pulled the T-Bird off the highway onto a dirt track leading off into the woods. Richie turned his head as his ears caught the sound of throttles changing down, caught his ear, just before he saw the sign.

"Trail biking?" Richie felt his heart leap. He had always wanted to try this, but it was way outta his price range. Not to mention, he'd never actually been outta the city limits before. Not that he was ever gonna admit that to the Immortal. "We're going trail biking?"

"Or we could go back home and finish unpacking those other crates." Duncan teased.

Richie's face fell.

"Maybe, we should. I mean, we left Tessa looking after the Store. She's not gonna be happy when she finds out why."

That something flickered through Duncan's eyes again, before he mustered up a reassuring smile.

"Will you relax? She already knows. Besides, she spent all last Monday afternoon out shopping with her girlfriends, she can hardly begrudge us a bit of male bonding time."

He got out of the car then, to go and meet the attendant, who was coming over to check their booking, so he didn't see the look of surprise on Richie's face. Sure, he had been out with the couple socially once or twice, since he had moved in with them, restaurants, movies, stuff like that. But that had always been the three of them. They had been nice, making sure he didn't feel like a third wheel. Still, Richie could never quite shake the feeling that the couple would have had more fun if it was just them. Without some noisy teen getting in the way.

But here was Mac, taking time off work, just so they could do something together and not something stuffy, but something way cool. Something he liked.

It felt good.

"Hey, Rich," Duncan waved a helmet at him as he gestured towards the most perfect red trail bike Richie had ever seen. "You comin?"

"Oh man!" Richie leapt over the door of the T-Bird, missing Duncan's slight wince as he easily cleared the flawless black paintwork to land lightly on his feet.

"Your kid's quite the athlete." He heard the attendant standing next to Mac comment as he made his way over.

Richie looked away, so he wouldn't have to watch the Immortal disown him. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. He should be used to this by now. People had been doing it to him almost all his life. On the photo at the family fourth of July picnic. Thanksgiving gatherings. Christmas dinners. Oh, he's not our kid. It shouldn't matter anymore. In the eyes of the world he was eighteen. Mac was his employer. That's all.

"Wait till you see him on a bike." Duncan's quiet boast, brought Richie's head up. He looked sharply at the Immortal, but there was nothing in his expression to suggest that he thought he had said, or omitted to say, anything out of the ordinary.

"Pretty good, are you?" The attendant looked Richie up and down and the teen could almost here the thought skinny little runt drift through his head.

"I .." Richie paused, hearing the echoes of his conversation with Mac this morning, so it was the Immortal's eyes he caught and held when he answered. "Yeah, I've been riding on and off for about eight years now. I was the State Under Fifteen Champion."

"Really?" The attendant looked impressed. "So, how come I've never heard of you? What did you do, kid? Take early retirement?"

"I moved." Richie shrugged.

"Ah, outta state, huh?" The attendant sympathised. "Well, there's a few things I need to tell you folks before you can take of .."

As he ran through the safety briefing, Duncan murmured, sotto voice. "State Champion, huh?"

"Um. Yeah." Richie shifted his feet awkwardly. He was really gonna have to re-think this honestly stuff. He did not want the Immortal to discover the fairly well documented fact that he was only thirteen at the time. He was pretty sure he could do the Math and work out his real age. Then there was Walker. And Richie was not ready to talk about that. Not now. Not yet. Maybe, not ever. Stands to reason the Immortal would know there were laws against taking foster kids outta state.

Duncan sighed at the sudden, closed, body language. He wanted the lad to see him as a friend, not just an employer. He needed him to trust him, if he was ever to be an effective mentor. But every time he thought he had made some progress, they hit some closed off part of Richie's past, that left him tight lipped and pale.

The lad had rather too many of those in the Immortal's opinion.

"I knew you were good." He murmured.

"Yeah, right. When did you ever even see me on a bike?" Richie took refuge in sarcasm.

Duncan didn't rise to the bait.

"About two minutes from now," the Immortal grinned, as he tossed the startled teen a helmet. "You wouldn't want to make a liar out of me, now would you?"

"Hell no," Richie laughed. "You'd probably have to do some gross Scottish penance, like eating sheep's eyeballs."

"I'll have you know laddie, that sheep eyeballs are a real delicacy in certain parts of the world. Now, eating one of those double cheese flame grilled servings of cholesterol that you like – that would be real penance."

"With an extra large Cola and Fries?" Richie shot back as he kicked off his trainers and pulled on the boots provided.

"Don't push it!" Duncan laughed. "I don't know how you can drink that stuff. Its nothing but caffeine and sugar."

"Why do you think I like it?"

"You good to go?" Apparently, without conscious thought, Duncan reached out and checked that Richie's helmet was a good fit, The teen felt absurdly like a Knight, about to go into battle, having his armour looked over by his mentor.

"Yeah," He grinned happily. "Thanks for this, Mac."

"You're welcome. I didn't much want to unpack those crates, either." The Immortal swung his leg over his own machine and waited while Richie settled himself on the other bike, giving him a moment to get the feel of it.

"I'm guessing you've done this before?" Richie asked.

"Actually, no," Duncan surprised him.

"You're snowing me? Right?"

"I've ridden a road bike, but that's kinda like saying you can do cross country because you've tried dressage, the technique is completely different."

"If you say so." Richie had no idea what he was talking about. "So, you ready to hit the road?"

"After you." Duncan gestured.

Richie needed no further urging, gunning the red trail bike as they both took off into the woods.