Methos woke to full darkness. He cleaned up – including a thorough teeth brushing- and dressed in fresh clothes. A young man, hardly more than a boy, was sitting in the hallway. His height was hard to judge as he was sitting cross legged and had fallen asleep slumped in a heap. Methos smirked and tapped the boy's outstretched foot with his own.
The boy sat up abruptly and glanced around. Gaze settling on Methos he smiled broadly and got to his feet with the help of Methos' outstretched hand. The boy had a solid grip, calloused but strong hands, and dry palms.
"You must be Ben Johnson. Dr. Magnus asked me to wait for you." He said with a cheerful grin.
"Who are you?" Methos asked.
"Will Zimmerman I work with Dr. Magnus." Methos nodded studying the boy – no man, he looked young but there was a shadow in his eyes, he had seen too much to be called a boy.
"I see, where is Helen?"
"I'll take you to her, would you like any refreshment?"
"I'm fine." Methos said with a grin. Will returned the grin. Methos found himself warming to him. He had the look of an academic but his calloused hands hinted at a more physical lifestyle. Methos really wasn't hungry, in spite of his ordeal. He felt pleasantly empty, light, quick on his feet. He wanted to keep that feeling, keep that edge while he was in the home of his ... friends? Enemies? Employers? What were they to him?
"How'd you end up here Will?" Methos asked as Will led him further into the building.
"I used to work as a forensic psychologist with the police. I ran into some trouble with the brass and Dr. Magnus offered me a job. I was unhappy and looking at getting fired anyway so I figured why not. We've got a lot to see if you're up for it. " Will offered. Methos nodded and followed his tour guide.
Will showed Methos everything he was cleared to see and Methos naturally assumed there were more features and such that security forbade his knowledge of. He didn't mind, the less he knew the better for all concerned.
"You're not surprised Abnormals exist?" Will asked after concluding the tour.
"No, not especially, the number and variety are impressive but their existence isn't." Methos said with a small smile. They were settled into a comfortable sitting room waiting for John and Helen. Methos was beginning to suspect that young Will was feeling him out, preparing him or vetting him for something.
"Were you surprised?" Methos asked Will. Methos was sprawled on a couch Will sitting across from him, a low table between them. The decor was not at odds with the architecture although it was decided more modern.
"Very, although I shouldn't have been. My mother was murdered by an abnormal when I was a boy."
"I'm sorry to hear that Will." Methos sighed. No wonder the boy had such a way of seeing the reality of a person. Growing up alone, suspicious of everyone and with no real safety. He had managed to turn a survival skill into a purpose and an uncanny talent.
"It was a long time ago." Will said all but literally shrugging off the sentiment.
"Doesn't mean it hurts less. Have you found the perpetrator?" Methos continued.
"No. I mean maybe, but the memory is so garbled..." Will trailed off.
"I see." Methos said. He heard steps in the hall outside. Too light to be John's but likely too heavy for Helen.
She moved like a dancer, graceful and gentle. She ran a hand along his jaw and across his chest before kneeling at his side. The fire popped and hissed as it settled. She leaned into him, her hand reaching behind and beyond him to lay more wood on the coals. Her lips inches from his own. Ben leaned down and kissed her, a chaste brotherly kiss at first until her lips parted under his and her free hand settled on his chest.
"Helen what about John-" Ben asked breaking the kiss with a laugh.
"What about me?" John asked with a smirk. He was still sprawled on the bed, naked now, the sheet he'd worn now wrapped around Helen as she knelt in Methos' arms.
"...heals all wounds."
"Sorry Will I didn't catch that." Methos said smiling to himself at the warm memory.
"They say time heals all wounds." Will repeated.
"A dangerous misconception Mr. Zimmerman. Time can allow wounds to fester as easily as heal them." Methos warned. As he finished speaking another man entered the room, slightly scruffy in appearance, dressed very casually and almost shy in demeanor.
"Henry it's good to see you." Will said warmly. The man grinned.
"I've been helping Magnus calibrate some of the new gear." Henry said and darted a glance at Methos. Methos stood smoothly, his feline grace inadvertently hinting at his strength. The newcomer seemed to shrink slightly, making himself less noticeable.
"I'm Ben Johnson, call me Ben." Methos said, surprised as the dusty name, the old wounded identity of Ben leapt to his lips.
"Oh you're the uh the guy who can't deal with teleporting right? Can't blame you." Henry said with a stammered laugh, he offered his hand to Methos. Methos shook it firmly. The man's grip was strong but skittish, strange.
"Henry is our resident technical genius." Will explained. Methos smiled.
"Every secret lair needs a technical genius, it's in the script." Methos said solemnly, he grinned at Henry and the other man's nervousness faded a hair.
"Dr Magnus mentioned that you were old friends. She implied that you might be older than you seemed." Zimmerman ventured.
"I appreciate your honest curiosity Mr. Zimmerman but I don't think my age is relevant at the moment." Methos said gently. He was annoyed that Zimmerman was stripping away so many of his defenses. This place, the décor, and the memories given new life, were making Ben Johnson more alive than Methos or Adam Pierson. He didn't want Ben Johnson to come back to life, he didn't want to deal with that fool right now.
"Oh do put away your paranoia Ben." Helen said. He had not heard her arrive. He'd been too distracted by Will and Henry. His eyes lit up at her. Just as John was now sporting a bald pate, Helen too had changed. Her hair had darkened to nearly black. Her expression was grave, she looked tired.
"Helen." He said warmly with a grin. She returned the smile, he rose and embraced her.
"Oh you've changed, just as beautiful, but so stern." He laughed and ran a thumb along her jaw while looking down into her intelligent eyes.
"You haven't Ben." She smiled and took his hand. Will was watching them entirely too closely. Methos wondered at her comment, of course he'd changed, hadn't he? Gods help him if Ben were all she saw in him.
"My name isn't Ben Helen, surely you've figured that out by now." He said quietly. She released his hand and walked to a desk occupying a corner of the sitting room.
"Of course I have, but I know you as Ben, unless you'd like me to use a different name?" She asked seriously. Methos looked at the others in the room. Gauged the enormity of the secrets they already guarded, considered the enemies they must have, and what information could be leaked.
"No, Ben Johnson is as good a name as any." He admitted. He should have given her one of his other numerous pseudonyms but having two names was already confusing. So, it would be Ben.
"I thought so." Helen said with a triumphant smile.
"I suppose we're waiting on Druitt?" Methos asked regaining his seat.
"Yes. Will stop staring." Helen admonished. The boy was still staring at Methos as though he were a word search.
"Dr. Magnus -"
"Ben is quite an enigma Will, but he's a friend. Now, please allow him to relax. He is a guest in our home." Her tone brooked no argument but was not a rebuke, not really, more a warning. Hold off for now Will, study him later Will. Methos' lip twitched in a near frown and anger flooded him for a moment.
"Oh hell Magnus, let him stare, tell me Will what have you observed about me so far? It's what you do isn't it? Observe, empathize, figure people out?" Methos demanded the seeping anger creeping into his tone. Will glanced at Helen and Methos registered her slight permissive gesture toward Zimmerman.
"You act like you're younger than you are, as young as you look, but you're older. You have an extremely bad reaction to teleportation, worse than anyone I know of which makes me think you're different from anyone I've met and seen teleport, maybe even an abnormal. Your clothing is casual and somewhat worn out but it is well made from high quality cloth. You are stronger and faster than you look, you hide your physique with baggy clothes, your hands are calloused, either you're a woodsman or a swordsman. Your speech patterns and body language are all over the place like someone playing different roles in a vaudeville show but much much subtler.."
"Shall he continue Ben?" Helen asked with a smile.
"Bloody hell, you've finally found a man with X-ray eyes Helen." Methos laughed. His anger was still there, lurking, waiting, but collared for the moment. Masked and superceded by frenetic joviality.
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to-"
"It's all right Will. I think Ben was trying to test you." Helen said a wicked glint in her eyes.
"Is this because of that time in Vienna? It was almost a hundred years ago Helen you can't possibly hold a grudge that long, it's not in your nature." Methos pouted theatrically. He allowed Ben to the forefront, let Adam, Methos, the Horseman, all of it drop away.
"You're immortal like Dr. Magnus?" Will asked eyes wide.
"Yes and no, yes immortal no not like Helen." Ben said cheerfully.
"What do you mean?" Will asked.
"Should I tell him?" He asked Helen. Helen frowned unsettled by his apparent attitude change.
"Do as you like, I think I'll see what's keeping John." She said distractedly and left after a troubled glance at Methos that caught Will's attention. Henry moved as though to follow her but Helen gestured for him to stay. He sighed and obeyed.
An awkward silence fell between the three men. Henry had made himself invisible while still staring at Methos.
"Henry relax I'm not going to hurt you." Ben laughed. Henry shrugged slightly embarrassed.
"Uh what are you?" Will asked carefully but tactlessly.
"Here I'll show you." Ben offered, he lifted the cuff of his pant's leg and retrieved a small fighting knife from his boot.
"Now, if I were to cut either of you it would take days or weeks to heal, in my case an injury usually takes seconds or hours to heal, sometimes days." As the last syllable left his mouth he plunged the knife through his palm. Henry and Will both winced and drew away in shock and disgust.
"What the hell dude! I don't need to see that!" Henry complained, color fading from his face.
"Will, hand me that bowl of potpourri please, I don't want to get blood everywhere. Now, if I removed this knife the wound will heal within seconds, please Will be good enough to examine the injury with the blade in place, satisfy yourself that it is real." Will studied Methos' face for a moment and then gently took the immortal's left hand and examined the knife and the wound. Methos held the bowl of dried flowers in his right hand under the wound.
"It's real." He said softly.
"Henry?"
"No thanks man I'm fine." He grumbled looking a bit sick.
"Thank you Will." Methos' voice was strained.
"Please pull it out and heal, I can see it hurts." Will insisted.
"It always hurts." Methos muttered low enough that he may've been talking only to himself. He set his jaw and pulled the knife free. Instantly pale blue sparks and streaks of what looked like tiny lightning bolts crawled over the injury and a few seconds later bloody but unmarred flesh had replaced the wound.
"Wow." Will said softly.
"Yes, well now that you know I am at least as freaky as Magnus I need your oath that you will not reveal what I am to anyone ever without my permission. What I am is a threat to others, or an opportunity. I don't want to be dissected or tortured because you let slip something you shouldn't really know to begin with." Methos demanded looking at both men.
"You got it man I swear it." Henry said immediately. Will after a moment's thought agreed as well.
Methos -no Ben, Methos was on vacation for awhile. Ben, bitter, eager, resentful, high strung, and dramatic was leading the band now; scrubbed his bloody palm against his jeans and relaxed. Steps in the hall heralded John and Helen's return. He stayed sprawled and relaxed as the duo entered. John was dressed as he had been earlier in the day, or perhaps the day before. Helen wore a black dress reminiscent of the garb she had grown to adulthood in but modernized. She nodded at the gathered men and took her seat at the desk. John stood at her elbow.
"Ahh de ja vu." Ben smirked.
"You look better." John said with a grin.
"I've always looked better than you." Ben laughed.
Helen glanced at Henry and Will, noting Ben's blood smeared jeans.
"Ben we need your help." Helen said softly.
"Ahh it's like that is it?" Ben asked with a lurid smirk. Henry shifted uncomfortably and Will blushed slightly. John's face darkened with anger. Helen simply sighed.
"Will, Henry, if you could excuse us, I think we'd better meet tomorrow for breakfast instead." She requested. The two men happily vacated the sitting room. Will exchanged a cryptic look with Helen as he left.
Ben stood languidly and stretched. He slunk toward Helen and John and sat on Helen's desk.
"Did I embarrass you in front of the help?" He asked.
"I didn't bring you here so that we could play games with a whorish fop." Helen snapped. Ben sneered at her.
"Yes well unfortunately that's who you've got, what would you like me to do for you? Or to you?" Ben asked eyes gliding from one to the other of his hosts, the same hungry gleam apparent for both. John took one step forward and wrapped his surprisingly strong hand around Ben's throat, clearing off Helen's desk and lifting the immortal off the ground.
"Why...didn't..you say...you liked...rough...sex?" Ben gasped around John's increasing grip. John released him and Ben dropped to his knees coughing and hacking.
"What is wrong with him?" John growled at Helen.
"I'm not sure, I think he's hiding behind his persona."
"We need Methos not this dandy." John said with contemptuous glare at Ben.
Ben caught his breath and got to his feet. Pain rocketed through him, John's contempt searing old injuries and ripping at half scabbed wounds.
"You needed the whore just as badly once John, we all did." Ben snarled hatefully.
As John watched Ben slid his hands along Helen's bare arms, to her right fist, clutching the sheet. He kissed and sucked at her knuckles while gazing into her luminous eyes. John made a small sound and Ben glanced toward him. His face was filled with lust and jealousy- no not jealousy, envy. Ben smiled coldly at him and returned his attentions to Helen. Firmly but gently he pried her fingers apart and let the sheet fall. Her magnificent body shone gold in the firelight, her blonde curls catching the red of the flames.
The fresh log shifted and settled with a hiss of complaint. Ben snaked one arm along her back pulling her even closer to him, the other gripped her fist firmly and pressed it between their chests as he kissed her hard. She froze for a moment, rigid against his body, jaws clenched, lips taught, free hand digging nails into his chest. Then she melted into him. Fist relaxing, pressing to his chest, gripping him. She leaned up and forward still kneeling but pressing into him, mouth hungrily seeking his. He sighed into her kisses and looked toward John.
Druitt left the warmth of the bed and knelt behind Helen. His strong hands lifting her hair from her neck he leaned close, breath tickling her cheek he tenderly kissed her neck and jaw. Still locked in a kiss with Ben she slowly broke the kiss and twisted into John's attentions.
"I know what I am to you. I was a whore then a nice diversion, something to spice things up in bed now you want to use me again, you need me so you invade my life and bring me here. To use and discard." It was Methos speaking through Ben's pain now. John snarled and strode toward Methos as he knelt on the floral carpet.
"What is so important that you needed your whore again?" Methos snarled pain and resentment filling his words.
Helen was frozen, staring at the two men about to come to blows.
"You were no whore Ben but an eager player-" John scoffed.
"Maybe at first but you knew what you were doing to me, you both did!"
Dawn broke filling the room with pale light and bird song. Ben was asleep, no drunken pause between bouts but a full restful sleep. He was sprawled on the floor, head resting on John's chest, one arm casually tossed across the other man's waist. On the opposite side of John, Helen was curled against John's ribs, John's face buried in her curls both arms holding her close in sleep, protecting her.
John stared at Methos his expression uncomprehending. His fists were clenched ready to strike the other man.
"John stop!" Helen ordered. John looked at her and held his hand.
"I loved you both." Methos hissed. Helen's pained face told him all he needed to know.
"Christ, you knew it Helen, you knew and you said nothing, you let it go on. I was a fool I ..." Suddenly ashamed and raw he turned away from them. Using the low table for support Methos got to his feet.
"Ben I'm so sorry I did not realize until it was far too late." Helen said rounding the desk and reaching for him. Methos glared at her and she froze at John's side.
"You loved us?" John asked disbelieving.
"Yes I loved you, both of you. Gods I should've known better." He laughed bitterly. Helen shook off his glare and walked to him.
"Ben I loved you too in my way but my heart was John's you knew that when we met." She said stopping within arm's reach of him.
"You of all people Helen Magnus should realize that logic cannot rule the heart." He hissed. John looked startled and then sad at Methos' words. He glanced at Helen and saw pain in her eyes. Shame and regret filled him, remembering his own crimes. Slowly he lowered his fists. Magnus loved Druitt, even knowing what he was the Ripper, she had removed him from her life but her heart ached for him, loved him still.
"I am sorry old friend." Druitt murmured.
"Don't, don't call me that." Methos snapped at John rage in his eyes. He looked at them both and burst into laughter.
"I am older than both of you and here I stand blaming you for acting like children, blaming you for my mistake." He said sourly his rage fading like a crested wave.
"I have loved before, will again, but you two... you've lived longer than..." he broke off and shook his head. Helen glanced at John, John nodded once and was gone, shimmering air the only sign of his passage.
"You've never loved another of your kind? Someone who could live as long as you?" Helen asked stepping close to him.
He thought of Kronos, of bronze and blood, of a war bride and regret. His face twisted in pain.
"Did the one you love die?" She asked gently, trying to understand.
Again he saw Kronos, saw the rage on his face as Methos' final betrayal grew clear, he saw Cassandra fleeing across a desert. Saw her face twisted with loathing and disgust centuries later.
"What do you know about me?" He demanded rage rising once again. Magnus might be nearly 160 years old but she did not have to live life knowing she might have to behead a friend or lover just to keep living. She had not outlived 68 wives and more children than he had ever had the heart to count.
"Not enough. I know I 've wronged you Ben, but I need you, John needs you." She said sadly tears in her eyes.
"Didn't he teach you how he likes to fuck?" Methos demanded lewdly, voice choking with spite. She slapped him, hard enough to draw blood, the injuries glittered with blue lightning and vanished seconds later. She gasped at the sight. He wiped away the trickles of blood and glared at her. She knew he could survive injury, had watched him revive from death itself but had not witnessed the process.
"I don't care what you want you had no right to force me here." He whispered moving away from her touch.
"It's for my daughter, our daughter, John's and I." She pleaded moving closer to him again.
Methos laughed then a desolate, ashen sound.
"As far as I know for most of the last hundred years John has been a homicidal maniac, was that a turn on for you?" He asked gripping her wrists in one hand, preventing her from touching him again.
"I found out I was pregnant shortly after his crimes were revealed. I had the embryo removed and frozen. I was lonely so I had her twenty odd years ago." She hissed and wrenched her wrists free.
"You know for sure she's John's?" He asked quietly.
"Yes." she said firmly though her tone quavered.
"My species are sterile Helen you need not worry about me." He growled dismissively. He turned away from the relief in her face, sickened by the urges he felt toward her. Fuck or fight, he thought bitterly.
"Why me?" He asked quietly, fists clenched at his sides.
"She is innocent of hurting you-"
"Tell me why you need me. Don't tell me about the girl, she doesn't interest me." He interrupted coldly. He was carefully packing Ben and his wounds away.
"She was captured by an organization called the Cabal, they somehow forced her to manifest John's gift and then brainwashed her into joining them. She stole the last vial of pure vampire blood and teleported to the Cabal." Helen said tightly.
"John can teleport, why me." He asked calmly. Methos faced Helen now, the pain and rage of Ben had been addressed and was now locked away. An expression flickered across Helen's face too fast for Methos to register properly. Doubt? Confusion? Surprise?
"Henry has managed to find the likeliest location for the vial and Ashley. Easter Island. But the security system literally kills anyone who attempts to access their facility."
"You want me to die getting through and revive on the other side?" Methos asked.
"Only long enough to disable the security system so that we can get in."
"You're asking me to die for you." He mused studying her face. She was desperate he could see that, she was also honest, had always been honest. Except maybe toward the end.
"She's my daughter Ben." A mother's plea. He closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them slowly, almost glaring at her.
"What is one more mortal to me Magnus? You all die." He said coldly.
"If we can get her out we can retrieve the blood as well. The Cabal have engineered a virus, it attacks abnormals drives them insane and then kills them -"
"That's why you retrieved the vial, to stop the virus? Who did they infect? Henry? John? Your precious protege? They played you Helen, captured your prized possessions, now you want me to die and likely kill to get them back for you? I don't owe you that much Helen." He sighed and ran a hand over his face. He was hungry, thirsty, exhausted.
"Ben-"
"What about Tesla? I'm sure he's lurking somewhere making moon eyes at you." Methos snapped, frustrated with her pleas.
"He has refused to help."
"How shocking of him, a man of his moral leanings abandoning a friend" he sneered, "and the rest of the Five?"
"James died after we retrieved the blood and Nigel's granddaughter is not suited for the job." Helen said stiffly.
"If I agree I want you to leave me alone Helen, forever." Methos said firmly. She looked stunned. He stepped close to her and held her hands in his.
"I truly loved you once, I know that was a foolish and unforgivably stupid thing to do, I knew better but there it was. I know that what John was... I know you loved him even while you condemned him. I know that you would have killed him if you could. I don't know what's cured his madness...He's changed, he's tired, full of pain and regret. Love him for me Helen since I cannot give either of you what you need give it to one another. Forgive him, trust him if you can. There's no place for me here. The place I thought I once had was a fantasy, the place I could have is a joke. If I do this, let me go. " He said softly. He did not tell her that he too had loved John in spite of his madness and cruelty, loved her as she locked herself away and vanished from him. Loved them both now as much as Ben ever had.
Her looming tears fell, coursing down her cheeks and splashing onto their clasped hands.
"You'll help us save Ashley?" She asked voice barely above a whisper.
"Yes I suppose I will." He sighed.
"Then I will leave you alone Ben, I'll never bother you again." The relief in her voice, teetering on joy, clawed at him.
A/N I whumped Methos. I am not sorry. _
