"Did you find what you were looking for yet?" Paul idly wandered into the kitchen early the next morning and found Methos already sitting at the table, staring out at the mountains. He poured a cup of coffee and joined Methos.

"Possibly."

"Good." Paul took a swallow, staring out the large windows, not at Methos. "I don't think I ever thanked you for providing sanctuary when we needed it."

"I was thanked."

"But I did not give you my personal thanks, and that was rude. Thank you. I hope you were able to find our ranch a small piece of sanctuary for yourself?"

"I found it…calming."

Paul grinned across the table. "That is the same word my sister uses."

"I what?" Amy didn't exactly stagger into the kitchen, but her owlish blinking and shuffling steps almost set Methos to laughing. Nearly two hours after her usual time to rise, and she had just staggered down from her room, still in flannel pants and a t-shirt.

"You like it here." Methos snickered into his coffee.

"And, Mr. Smarty Pants?"

"You are not exactly the early bird at your home, it seems."

Paul snorted in his cup, the sound echoing at the table. Methos bit down on a laugh.

"Some of us don't have the advantage of instant healing and may take a day to recuperate." Amy snipped back while pouring milk into her coffee.

"Hey, Sis," Paul interjected before Methos had finished drawing in a breath to respond. "You had a few messages come in while you were out. Nothing so important you had to see it last night, but they're on your desk."

Amy grunted at her brother as she sat down and Methos hid another smile with a rather large swallow of coffee. Paul excused himself rather obviously and left the kitchen.

"I saw your bag by the door." She finally spoke after gulping nearly half her cup.

"Well, I hate to build fence and run…" Amy interrupted with a snort and rolled her eyes. "It seems like the time to go."

"Then it must be so," she said.

"Did the Earth tell you that?"

"Of course not. But just because you can't hear the singing doesn't mean you can't be spoken to. If it feels like it's time to move on, then it is."

They sat in silence for a good twenty minutes, Methos watching Amy from the corner of his eye occasionally. "You are calmer here." He broke the silence.

"I told you, this land is special. I imagine if you ever return, you'll find it easier and faster to calm your mind, too."

He dipped his head in assent and watched a bird flit past the windows.

Household sounds passed as they sat together, quiet and unmoving. On occasion one of the others passed through the kitchen and eventually even Peter came through, surgery over, patient healed, he on his way to collapse in bed. At last, Methos rose and put his cup in the sink. He had a lot of miles to put under his boots.

"Give me a second to get real clothes on and I'll walk you to the gate."

"What if I'm in too much of a hurry?"

"You have an appointment somewhere this morning? Just let me get some jeans on." Amy smiled and hurried up to her room.

Leaves and twigs crunched underfoot, percussion for the birds singing overhead as they walked side by side to the gate almost two miles away.

"Straight back to Paris?" Amy asked as she opened the padlock and unwrapped the chains.

"I don't know. I guess I'll decide while I walk. Maybe I'll find some other group of half-breeds creating a compound out in the middle of the mountains. I'll make sure you can find each other and increase the size of your little commune."

Amy laughed and pushed the gate open. "Good luck with that. Remember, sometimes an electrical storm really is just that."

"Maybe."

"Just be sure to duck when you cross one, huh?"

They stood in the opening for an awkward moment before Methos stepped forward, leaning down. Amy slipped away from his hand and forced a jaunty smile, her chin up, and shoved her hands into her pockets. "Will I see you in Paris?"

"Eventually. Paris."

An exchange of real smiles, and he stepped through the gate. Amy locked it behind him and watched until he disappeared through the trees.