Disclaimer: Methos, Joe, Richie, and Duncan Macleod are the property of Davis-Panzer Productions. Gwen MacQueen is mine.

I want to thank my beta reader R.J. Bingham whose help has been invaluable.

Chapter 10

METHOS' TRUE CONFESSIONS

Or a trip down memory lane and the watchers explained

Methos and Gwennie heard the doorbell ring, so Gwennie jumped out of bed, slipped on her robe and ran down to pay the pizza delivery man. "One garbage pizza coming up, Methos, do you want Coke or beer?"

"Beer, Gwennie, I know it's been a long time, but surely you couldn't forget my addiction to alcohol. Joe might not like us messing up his house and eating pizza in his guest bedroom. Shouldn't we go down to the kitchen?" Methos laughed.

"OK, but then we can't play go fish for the pepperoni in the kitchen!" Gwennie answered in a coy sexy voice.

"Gwennie, in that case bring up two six packs. We can stay up here until the beer runs out. Hurry up, I miss you already."

Later after they had finished the beer and pizza, Gwennie looked into Methos's eyes and said. "Well this must be true confession time, your getting dressed and the beer and pizza's all gone. Methos; I've been thinking" Gwen started to say.

"Oh Dammit! Throughout all of time any man knows he is in trouble when the woman he is with starts a sentence with the words -I've been thinking." he said as he gave her a sweet kiss on the cheek. "Gwen, please try to remember that I don't use the name Methos anymore, try calling me Adam for a change."

"No, I hated that name ever since Moses first told me about his stories when he wondering around the desert, leading his people out of Egypt." Gwennie shot back.

"Liar, like you knew Moses," Methos shot back at her.

"Yea, I met him when I was looking for you and your crazy horsemen. He was in the desert, you were in the desert, and did I tell you I hate the desert!" Gwennie said laughing at him.

"Oh yes you have told me a thousand time how much you hate the desert. However Moses was before your time. You are really talking about the time you were visiting me at the horseman camp acted like you were moving in and making all nice, nice with every body. Then when everyone least expected it you had that argument with Kronos. I will never know what was going on between you two? Because you were the only immortal who wasn't afraid of him. Worst of all he would never come after your head himself, now what was that all about? Anyway this time he was really angry at you and he sent Caspian to take your head. I had to quickly kill you with one of your own knifes just so I could grabbed you and tossed you up on my horse so we both could get out of camp alive, yep the good old days." Methos smirked.

"Someone should have taken that man's head he was pure evil" Gwennie replied.

"Gwennie there you go again, if he was evil so was I. You just can't ever compromise on that overburdening sense of right and wrong you possess. I don't understand how you see life as black and white. The majority of people spend most of their time living in the grey areas of life. How can you excuse me of raping murdering and plundering, but condemn the rest of the horsemen?" Methos rolled his eyes as he answered. "Like you were so different Gwennie, you hated the mortals too and pretended you were a Goddess! My horsemen were going to level that little town you possessed. What was its name now, Nagraga? Anyway if you had not bought and paid for that small army of immortals to protect your town, we would have ground it into dirt, but of course we couldn't? Did you pay those immortal men money or did you just hex them with your magic? Or were you just sleeping with all of them? Just another one of the many mysteries I can never figure out?" Methos gave Gwennie a dirty look.

Gwennie just shook her head in disbelief and reminded Methos "Back then times were different, the world was different then, and we were different then too" Gwennie smiled "It's not like fifty years later we didn't meet at the Aegean sea and greet each other in the usual way, and stay beside each other side for at least five years after that. Have things changed so much now?"

"Yes Gwennie things have changed so much. Back then we both have had our adventures, but everyone needs to takes time off from the game. Maybe after thousands of years I am just tired of all the fighting and killing. As Adam Pierson, a watcher, I can keep track of the other Immortals and avoid them." Methos reached out and held her hand. "You were out of the game for two thousand years"

"That was a very different situation, and you know it; I'm trying to understand what you're saying. Please let's get back on track here, all these memories are just confusing the issues. Joe said you would explain exactly what watchers do and who they are. That's what I was going to ask you before you took us on this trip down memory lane," Gwen said.

"Who took who on this trip down memory lane wasn't me?" Methos sighed still arguing with Gwennie. "But right then let's get to it, the watchers are a secret organization that has strict rules that they must follow. They observe, record, but never interfere with immortals battle for the prize. These mortals have been keeping records on us for four thousands years. This way, humans will have a record of our race and perhaps make some sense of why and who we are." Methos looked nervously at Gwen waiting for a response.

"Then, do I have some mortal peeping tom keeping notes on me? Frankly, I thought watchers were something like that, but it still gives me the creeps. What happens when one of these watchers breaks the rules? One thing I know about mortals is that they all eventually break the rules. How many of us are killed because they slip up and leak information to one of our enemies. These Watchers killed Darius and John Mortone, I know because I was there the night mortals with the same tattoo chopped John's head off right in front of my eyes."

"Well Gwennie, after I joined the watchers I began to noticed that there was a secret organization within a secret organization where some of the Watchers started killing Immortals. The first time I heard of it is when your friend John Mortone was killed; I know they killed Darius too. We call then Hunters and they are a renegade splinter group of the watchers who believe Immortals are an abomination on earth. They believe their sole duty is to rid the world of all of us. John Horton was their leader, he is dead now but there are still others even today within the watcher organization. HQ is trying to find and stop the rest of the renegade hunters."

"Fine, but Methos, pretending you are one of these watchers; I still think it's a coward's way out." Gwen said sorrowfully.

"It's not cowardly to stay alive. You haven't lived the last 2,000 years in the real world. Today with photo ID, electronic surveillance, computer records, data bases, and the World Wide Web, changing identity isn't easy any more. Staying alive would not be easy for me, if the other Immortals knew I was Methos! They all would be lining up to come after my head. But there is more, the second part of my plan was to keep Methos from ever being in the Watcher's modern chronicles. It's a lot easier for Methos to be a myth. No one hunts for a myth but they would if Methos was flesh and blood." he said in a somber voice.

"Who's my watcher?" Gwen demand

"As of last Tuesday it's me," Methos smiled back at her with one of those confident know it all look on his face. "That's how I found out you were alive. The head of the Watcher organization appointed me to take over your assignment." Then Methos demeanor changed he looked down and his smile evaporated. "Don't say anything Gwennie, there is more and I don't think you are going to like it."

"THERE'S MORE, Methos! You have got to be kidding!" Gwennie yelled at him.

"No, I wish there wasn't. Gwennie your former watcher has identified you as Gwenaversha of Brittany and since Methos is only a legend you are the oldest living Immortal they have on file. But that's not the worst of it."

Gwen interrupted "Don't tell me, I already know, somebody leaked information on me out to other Immortals. I already have fought eleven Immortals this month who knew I was over 4,000 years old and ten last month. Only one of them, Quentin Smith, is still alive." Gwen sighed and looked at Methos who had an amazed look upon his face.

"Leaking information about you? Are you sure, well that would put a new spin on the circumstance?" Methos asked as Gwennie nodded, and then he started too continued with what he was going to say before Gwennie had so uncouthly interrupted. him. "What I was going to say was the watchers are sure that you will lead them straight to Methos. That means they are expecting you to out me to the watchers organization and to other immortals too. I guess they figure you are so irresistible that I will be drawn to you, or should I say Methos will be. Also I will be so stupid that we will start carrying on in public so that the watchers can get someone to identify both of us. Then we both have our own watcher and become part of the modern chronicles. So you can see why this situation is so complicated. I have done everything I can to prevent Methos from being in the modern chronicles. Gwennie, I am beside myself. You know how much I care for you but I can't figure out how under these circumstances how we could possibly to be together at this time."

"OK Methos I see you still have the same issues, with secrecy and commitment going on as you did back since the first time I met you. I will never know why you are like this and feel you can't trust anyone even me. But getting back to the watcher thing just tell me, who my watcher was before you took over Tuesday?" Gwen changing the subject demanded, "Methos tell me!"

"You know her, she's marring the Vice President of your company, and Gwennie I do trust you." Then looking in to her eyes and smiling at her again Methos said. "Perhaps I trusted you more than any person I have ever known, and I do not have issues with secrecy and commitment, I have always loved you." Methos whispered back to her.

"It's Carol?" Gwen said staring out of the window with a blank expression on her face, not hearing a thing Methos had just said to her. "Did Joe know about this?"

"No, he had nothing to do with what Carol was doing. He only found out you were an Immortal this morning. Joe is a good friend and has kept my secret and I'm sure he would keep yours." Methos rubbed his eyes and nervously ran a hand through his hair as he thought. (As usual Gwennie you only hear the part of what I was saying that irritates you. Damn exasperating women! You never seem to believe the part where I profess my undying love. That is only because you can't believe anyone could ever love you. How many times have I let you break my heart?) "Now Gwennie calm down"

"I should have figured this all out myself. Carol has a good reason to hate me; she is a very jealous person. Barney, the man she is going to marry has always been very special to me. He knows my secrets and would protect me even if it put his own life in danger. Barney would never tell Carol about me. Oh by the goddess. I can't let Barney know Carol has been revealing information about me so some Immortal would take my head, Barney might just kill her to protect me." Gwennie was really beginning to get upset.

"If the groom killed the bride it would put a snag in the wedding plans." Methos chuckled seeing the irony in the situation. "Well, Gwennie, no one ever said love was easy."

"Methos don't laugh Barney is like family to me, and what am I going to do about Carol?"

They both shook there heads thinking about the information they had just exchanged. Methos could see the worry on Gwennie's face, he walked up to her looked her in the eyes, put his arms around her to comfort her and gave Gwennie a long hug and kissed her tenderly. The tension between them broke as they held each other in their arms and they sat on the bed. The pair would have started another round of lovemaking if not for the loud ring of a phone breaking their trance and bringing the couple back to the cold harsh reality of the day. Methos reached over to the night stand and picked up the receiver saying.

"Dawson residence, Adam Pierson speaking."

"Methos, its Duncan MacLeod, I just got your six messages off my machine. Hey old man, are you all right, you sounded a bit shaken up. You know you can't take a field assignment, the Immortal will feel your presence and blow your cover!"

"Mac, it's good to talk to you! Can we come down to the Dojo right now? There are some things I need to talk to you about that are kind of complicated and the situation is in bad need of spin control. I could really use your help right about now." Methos asked his friend on the other end of the phone.

"OK, but who is WE?" McLeod paused "you don't sound like yourself. Methos, are you in trouble? Richie says an Immortal woman attacked him in the park this morning. He said she almost took his head. Do you have any idea who this woman could be?"

"Please, just give me a second; I've got to ask my friend here if she has any idea who could have possibly done something like that!" Duncan heard Methos put the phone down and say in a satirical tone. "You forgot to tell me you fought someone in the park this morning! Gwennie! Can't you even go for a jog without getting into a challenge?" Duncan couldn't hear what the woman said but Methos returned to the line quickly. "It's OK, she left her sword at home and she said she never takes anyone's head on Thursdays." Dropping the phone Methos said, "Gwennie! I can't believe you had me say that. You are causing more trouble than you're worth. I should have taken Joe's advice and taken your head this morning when I had a chance to!" Methos returned to the phone and continued, "Mac, old friend, tell Richie that she is very sorry she stabbed him. Mac we really need to talk to you in person, RIGHT AWAY."

"Sure, come right down. Who is this woman with you, and why did she attack Richie?"

"She is just an old girlfriend, a very old, old, old, girlfriend. She is someone from my old neighborhood, whom I once was with, back in the good old days. Tell Richie I can keep her under control. Ouch! STOP IT! I will take you over my knee if you throw anything more at me again! Gwennie wait until I'm off the phone then you will be in real trouble! Sorry Mac, so we will be there in 15 minutes." Methos said hastily as he dropped the phone again and Mac heard two people speaking a strange dialect that sounded a bit like curse words in the back ground. After a moment Methos returned to the conversation.

"Methos, Richie says to do a strip search on your friend for hidden weapons. Should we have our swords drawn when you get here?" Duncan laughed.

"No, Gwennie will behave or I'll cut off her head myself! Tell Richie I already did a strip search and she only has her Rapier, GWENNIE! Don't do that! Take the stiletto out of your boot, un-strap that gun off your thigh and the dagger off you arm! You will embarrass me in front of my friends!"

"Too late Methos for that, we already think you have lost it. I can't wait to meet this immortal lady friend of yours, see you soon." Mac said as he hung up the phone chuckling.

End chapter 10

Next chapter 11 - Adam, what in God's name are you doing here talking to them?

Methos and Gwen go to Mac loft to meet Duncan and Richie but are interrupted by the watchers (Joe and Luke Denton) coming to find Adam Pierson about a serious new situation developing on pier 59 with Carol Wright!

Please send in a review, lots more excitement to come!

Bonnie