Author's note: Once again, I would like to apologize for the delay in getting the latest chapter finished, but in the past week and a half I've found the latest bout of flu going around to be a pain in just about everything imaginable. So for your viewing pleasure here is the 4th chapter and hopefully the 5th will accompany it soon.
"Richie, why do you think it's weird to trust me?"
"What?"
Richie's fever had gone up and he now seemed to be entering the delirious stage. Connor had found Richie covered up and curled in a ball, and much to Richie's protests he took away the comforter, opened the window, and now laid Richie flat on his back and was preparing a cold wet cloth for his forehead.
"You act like you're uncomfortable being here, having to trust in me."
"Well it's not something I'm used to," Richie replied.
"Well do you know that if Duncan hadn't taken you in, you would've gone to New York with me anyway?" Connor asked him.
"Really?"
"Yes, I told Duncan that you needed watching, and he agreed, and he said that he'd take care of you—if he hadn't been able to, however, I would've taken you in at my home in New York. Of course I don't know how well we would've gotten along, but that's not to say we couldn't have."
"Yeah."
"So I think that's good enough to consider me part of the family, don't you think?"
"Yes."
"So there's no reason to be uncomfortable during your stay here, if it can be avoided, understand?"
Richie nodded.
"Good, now just rest and I'll be back in a little while, okay?"
Richie nodded and closed his eyes. He tried to act like he was allright, but Connor knew he was scared because he was sick.
"Everything will be allright, I promise," he told the boy before he left.
"How is he?" Tessa asked.
Connor shook his head, "Fever's gone up."
"The medicine didn't work, then."
"No it didn't," Connor replied, "Now I'm trying to break it the natural way, I've got him in there cooling off."
"And if that doesn't work?" Tessa asked.
"If it gets much higher, he'll need a cold bath."
"Good luck trying to get him to go along with that," Tessa said.
"If it still doesn't go down after that, then we'll have to resort to sweating it out."
"And if that doesn't work?" Tessa asked.
"I'm in a family of pessimists here, aren't I?" Connor asked, "Well—in short, if that doesn't work, then the hospital."
"What will they do?" Tessa asked.
"I don't know," Connor replied, "The only person who I've had to worry in the more recent years of getting to the hospital incase of illness was Rachel, and she never got too high a fever that I couldn't break at home."
"I'm sure it won't come to that," Tessa said, "He's going to be allright—isn't he?"
"Of course he will, he hasn't made it this far for nothing," Connor said, "Besides, people get fevers for anything, sunburn, windburn, blisters, appendicitis—" and Connor was sorry he opened his mouth.
"If he had that, we'd know," Tessa replied, thankfully.
"Yeah—after everything he ate today, there is no way he could have that."
"So how long have you been in town?" Tessa asked.
"A few weeks, I've been fixing up the house, how do you like it?"
"It's missing a few things."
Critic. "Yeah, I'm still finishing up here."
"And Duncan doesn't know you're here?"
"No, because if I had told him, I would have spent the last three weeks yakking my head off with him, instead of painting, plastering, plumbing, getting the electricity turned on, getting the floors carpeted, getting the roof hot tarred, and getting the grass low enough to walk through, not climb over, without setting it on fire. Whoever owned this place before really let it go."
"Why was it closed?" Tessa asked.
"Needed too many repairs, and nobody had the money, or the want to fix it up."
"Well," Tessa gave her room another look-over, "You seem to have made nice work of it."
"Yeah, and short work too, thankfully, it looks like Richie will be staying with me for a while."
"That it does," Tessa said, "I just can't figure out what's wrong with Duncan, why is he mad at Richie?"
"He's not mad, he's upset." Connor could've sworn he said that already, "Why though, I can't figure out. Although, maybe I would've had better luck if I'd stayed there and tried picking at his brain, instead of knocking him in the jaw."
"I really don't get it, Connor," Tessa said, "Is it such a mistake what Richie did? So horrible, so—"
"I think the word you're looking for is 'stupid'," Connor interjected, "And no it's not, I tried explaining to Richie that such an event has been happening with Immortals for thousands of years."
"So why does it bother Duncan so much?"
"I don't know, if anything you'd think he wouldn't want the head of a crazy woman like what Richie described."
"That's something else I can't understand," Tessa said, "Why doesn't Richie want to come home? What is he so afraid of?"
"Rejection, he's had it enough his whole life that he can't stand if it comes from you two, and he's afraid it will. You know, I never thought I'd see the day, but I really think Richie is more afraid of facing you and Duncan and having you hate him, than he would be afraid of running into that Felicia woman again."
"She certainly scared the hell out of me," Tessa said, "How could she be so crazy?"
"Some of the oldest people alive are," Connor replied, "Time does not wear well with them. I know, I've seen enough of it in my time to last me to my dying day."
"What could have happened then, to make her like that?" Tessa asked.
"Who knows? Who cares is a better question. She is gone, she is out of your lives, she is history."
"Not until she dies, until then she's just gone," Tessa replied.
"My point is, she has left, she is not coming back, she is nothing to worry about anymore," Connor said.
They heard a car drive up, the door slam, and Connor felt the person approaching. "But that is."
With that, he grabbed his sword and was rushing for the stairs, Tessa followed though not too close with her bad foot, and she stood on the stairs when Connor opened the door.
"What are you doing here?" he demanded to know.
"Richie, where is he?" Duncan asked as he entered cautiously.
"That's none of your concern for the time being," Connor said, "Now what the hell are you doing here? I know you couldn't have followed both of us and nobody knew."
"Tessa!" Duncan saw the cuts and bruises that marked the love of his life and he dashed to the stairs to get a better look. "Tessa, what happened?"
"I had a little accident," she bluntly replied, "Now what are you doing here?"
Duncan looked back at Connor, then back at Tessa. "Just what have I done that I've become public enemy #1 around here?"
"I'll give you a hint," Connor said as he held the door open, "He's 18, has red hair, blue eyes, and has spent a better part of last night putting my flood insurance to good use, who now I might add has made himself so sick that he's running a 101 degree fever."
"He WHAT?" Duncan jumped at Connor and grabbed him by his jacket, "Where is he, Connor?"
"Will you shut up? I just got him to sleep and now you're going to wake him up, and you still haven't answered my question of just why the hell you're here."
"I—" Duncan turned back and started up the stairs to Tessa again, "Felicia called, she told me if I didn't meet her here on the hour, you and Richie would both be dead."
"What?" Tessa couldn't believe her ears, but it did make sense why she saw Felicia around earlier.
"Tessa, Richie, where is he?" Duncan asked.
As if the answer, Richie picked that exact time to start screaming.
"There's your answer right there," Connor said, and the three of them rushed up the stairs to his room. Connor got in first and was already at the bedside, Tessa pulled Duncan back despite his bodily protests, so Richie wouldn't see him.
"Come on, Richie, wake up, what is it?"
"Connor! Oh God, Connor—Mac—he—he—"
"Shhhhhh, it's allright, it's over," Connor took the now dry cloth and soaked it in the pitcher on the nightstand and wrung it out, then placed it back on Richie's forehead, "It was only a nightmare." Richie closed his eyes again and Connor's eyes now looked over to Duncan even though he was still speaking to the boy. "We wouldn't let anyone or anything hurt you, you know that, Richie, don't you?"
"Yes," he replied in a low, tired voice.
"Good, now try and go back to sleep, we'll be just across the hall if you need us, okay?"
"Yes, Connor."
Richie tried to pull the covers back up, but Connor wouldn't allow it, only the first sheet and nothing else.
"But I'm cold," Richie tiredly replied.
"I know, Richie, but you have a fever and we have to bring it down before we can let you warm up again."
"Connor—what's wrong with me?"
"Nothing, Richie, nothing at all, these things happen all the time." That was a difference in Connor and Duncan, Duncan was one of the worst liars who ever existed, whereas Connor spoke with a voice that as soon as he spoke he could be believed, most of the time anyway. "Everything's going to be allright, just try to rest."
"Okay."
Connor made his way over to the door and under his breath demanded that Duncan and Tessa, who had watched his little performance, go to his room so they could talk in a more private setting.
"So Felicia's still around, so what?" Connor asked, "I don't know why she got you out here, but I'm already here and as long as I am, nothing's going to happen to either of these two."
"You can't guarantee that, Connor," Duncan said.
"Maybe not, but you're not really in much position to be playing the white knight riding to the rescue," Connor reminded him, "Both people whom you feel the need to protect, consider you the last person they want to see right now. Besides, I doubt very much if you went up against that woman, right now, that you'd even be able to win."
"How can you say that?"
"Because you're the biggest wreck right now that you've ever been in your whole life," Connor told him, "And you know it. That's it, Duncan, that is it, she can't get to you directly through Tessa and Richie, so she's making you think she can, so you come here, ready to hit the ceiling, to just drive you crazy, so that you are absolutely out of your mind by the time she finally does decide to show her face."
Duncan knew Connor was right, but he didn't want to think about it, Immortal or not, this whole mess was giving him a headache. "What about Richie? How did he get sick? What's wrong with him?"
"From what I can gather, right now it's just a fever, I'm trying to stop it from becoming anything else." Duncan started for the door. "Don't even think about going in there," Connor told him, "You'll scare him."
That stopped Duncan in his tracks. "What?" He still couldn't believe anything that he'd heard over the last couple of hours.
"You heard me," Connor said, "I don't know what you plan on doing, but I'd actually like to sleep tonight, and that's not going to happen if you terrify that kid and show yourself to him before he's ready to see you."
"I still don't understand what I did that was so horrible," Duncan said.
"Allright, then answer this," Connor said, "Last night after the fight, why didn't you take Richie home with you?" When Duncan had no answer, he pursued, "Why didn't you say anything to him? Why didn't you tell him 'I don't like this, but I'm not angry'? Why didn't you tell him 'I don't want you getting in the middle of another fight to stop it'? Dammit Duncan, why didn't you say something? Tell him something so that he could've known it was allright to go home? Don't you understand, Duncan? That boy looks up to you, maybe he doesn't act like it, maybe you don't even know that he listens when you talk, but he does. What you think of him, and how you tell it to him, is very important, even if he doesn't admit it because he can't fully accept that himself. When you don't say anything, that leaves the door open for him to assume the worst, and he has, that being that you have rejected having him in your home. He fears your rejection worse than he fears anything else in this life, but he'll never tell you that because he doesn't know what's wrong with him either."
"Then how do you know?" Duncan asked.
"Because I can tell, dammit, I haven't lived as long as I have for nothing. I've learned, I know how to watch people, I can tell when something bothers them and I can tell them what bothers them even if they don't know it themselves. I can tell when he talks about how much he's screwed up, he says that because he sees it as he had something good and it's gone now. Doesn't that tell you anything, Duncan?"
"Then why won't you let me see him so I can set it straight?" Duncan demanded to know.
"Because you won't do it right," Connor said, "Not in the current mood you're in. Both you and Richie have to calm down before I'm letting you anywhere near him."
"Connor you can't do this."
"The hell I can't, you haven't had to put up with the damage you've done that boy, I have, and I'll be damned if I let you cause any more when he's in the state he is. I don't know just what all he's had to go through in his life, but judging from the way he's behaved over the last 12 hours, my guess is he's damn close to the edge, and seeing you again anytime soon might just send him over it."
For the first time in several hundred years, Duncan was truly speechless because he knew he'd lost the battle, for now anyway. Now he felt like he'd been struck over the head, the room was spinning.
"I need to lie down," Duncan said.
"Fine," Connor opened the door and kicked Duncan in the rear sending him out, and he pointed over to the guestroom, "That's where you'll be staying for the time being, and do make sure you don't wake up the kid, he needs all the rest he can get."
When Connor had turned and gone back to his room, Duncan decided one last time to try and get in to see Richie, he got as far as reaching the door handle when Connor jerked him back and all but threw him into the room across the hall. "I warned you," Connor told him.
Duncan tried to remember the words to an old Gaelic curse as he shut the door and laid on the bed. Right now he felt like he was ready to drop dead and he probably would, one way or the other, if something wasn't done soon. First Richie never came home, then Tessa went out hunting for him, then Felicia and the threatening phone call, and for what? Here they were, safe and sound, and Connor, he knew Connor would never allow anyone to harm them if he could help it. None of it made any sense.
"Connor, do you have a thermometer here?" Tessa asked.
"No, why?"
Tessa felt Richie's forehead for the third time in the last minute and shook her head, "He's getting worse."
"What?" Connor checked for himself, and she was right, he was getting hotter.
"What did you say his temperature was last?" Tessa asked.
Connor regretted the answer before he could even say it, "101 degrees."
"What would you estimate it is now?"
"Near 103."
"How much longer can we afford to wait before he has to get to a hospital?" Tessa asked.
"That's what I'm not sure about," Connor admitted, "Maybe it would be wise to forgo the home remedies and get him there now."
"You think so?"
"There's a chance that we could bring it down naturally, but in the length of time it would take to do it, as that time passes, he could get worse, and the treatments might not have any effect on him. I don't think we have much choice, we have to get him to the hospital immediately, if the fever can be brought down near 100, then we might be able to bring him home and treat him from there."
"I'm right behind you."
Tessa followed him out of the room and down the stairs and they got halfway out the door when they made a horrible discovery.
"Oh no!" Tessa took in the sight of eight slashed tires on two cars and she was ready to scream, "What happened?"
"Maybe Duncan was onto something about that woman," Connor said.
"If she had been here, wouldn't you have known?" Tessa asked.
"I'd like to think so, but I can't think of anyone else who would do this, let alone anyone else who might be out here," Connor replied.
"Then we have to call for an ambulance," Tessa said.
"We can't," Connor reluctantly replied, "In all the work I've done to the house I never got the phones hooked up."
"What do we do then?" Tessa asked.
Connor tried to think for a minute, "Tessa, are you sure that you wouldn't be able to get your car to the hospital?"
"Are you kidding me?" Tessa asked, "It crashed into a tree."
"It might still work, Tessa it's our only chance right now, it's either that, or we make a 10 mile hike to the hospital."
Tessa realized they had no choice really, they had to find out. "Come on, I'll show you where it is. Wait, do you think Richie will be safe?"
"I think he'll be allright long enough for us to find out if we can get out of here," Connor said.
"But what about Duncan?" Tessa asked.
"I have an idea that even if he did go to see Richie right now, he wouldn't wake up. He didn't even move when we were both in there."
"Yeah but—"
"Come on, Tessa, the sooner we can find out if we can get out of here, and fast, the sooner we can help Richie."
"I suppose so—but I have a bad feeling about this."
Duncan awoke when he heard what sounded like Tessa screaming, but the noise had died as quickly as it surfaced. For a moment he thought he was hearing things, but then he heard the front door close, and he realized that he couldn't feel Connor's presence anymore. He jumped out of bed and on instinct he darted over to Richie's room and saw he was still asleep, but not peacefully. His face was flushed and he was perspiring a horrible lot, and he kept turning from one side to another in a futile attempt to find a cooler spot to lie on.
Right now he didn't give a damn about Connor's warning, he slowly approached the boy and rested his hand on Richie's forehead and he got a good idea of just how sick he truly was.
"Richie, I'm sorry, I didn't mean for it to get like this," he said, though Richie showed no signs of hearing him, in spite or because of that, Duncan continued, "I promise once this is over, you're going to come back with us. And no matter what," it was killing him to continue, the last few hours had been pure hell for him, he could only imagine how they had been on Richie, especially after the hellish description Connor gave him, "It doesn't matter what happens after this, this is not going to happen again, I won't let it get this bad between us."
Richie turned again and quietly moaned and whimpered in response to his pain. Duncan knew that this couldn't go on for much longer, he needed help and he needed it soon. That, added with the reminder that Connor was currently nowhere to be found in the house, and odds were Tessa was gone as well, was enough to send Duncan into a blind panic. On one hand, he couldn't go off as well and leave Richie alone to suffer, but then again, he had to find out just what had become of the two. He had to make sure that they didn't run into Felicia if she was out there waiting.
Taking in the fact that Richie was safer hidden away on the second floor than Tessa and Connor were out there in the open, didn't help Duncan to relax any, but it convinced him to finally move. He jumped down the stairs and headed out the door headed back up the way he'd come, reached the fork in the road and quickly caught up with Connor and Tessa.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Connor asked.
"Where are you going?" Duncan asked.
"We have to get Richie to the hospital, and both your car and Connor's have had the tires slashed, so we're going to see if mine can run long enough to get us to the hospital."
"What? You mean that Felicia—"
"Well she is the prime suspect at the moment," Connor said, "Although how that's possible I can't figure out because I would've known if she were around."
"So what else could it be?" Duncan asked.
"That's what we're trying to figure out," Tessa said.
"What about Richie?" Duncan asked.
"He was asleep the last time we checked on him," Connor replied.
"He's there alone, if Felicia gets to him, he can't defend himself."
"Well he wasn't alone until you decided to play follow the leader," Connor said, "Why don't you go back and make sure nothing happens?"
"Oh, now you're trusting me with him?" Duncan asked.
"Yes, because as sick as he is right now, it could be the 4th of July, there could be bottle rockets and cherry bombs and Roman candles going off and it wouldn't wake him up."
"There it is!" Tessa announced.
Looking ahead they saw her car and saw just how close it had come to being totaled. Upon a closer look they saw that the majority of the damage was a dent in the front and a smashed windshield. After getting a distance between it and the tree, they quickly came to the realization that it would run, how long was the current question, but any amount of ground they could cover quicker than walking, they would gladly take. Taking a gamble on the time they would have for it to actually run, they decided to get it up to the fork, and they would get Richie out that far and drive to the hospital. At least, that's what they had in mind. But somebody else had a different plan altogether for them.
