A/N: My but it's been a while. The muses are running around with ADD over here. But I promise to wrangle them for quicker updates.

Joe watched Methos head down to Helen's study to talk to his old friends. He had a feeling that the old man had the easier job of them. At least in his case both groups were expecting the secrets. They might not know what was coming but they knew something was coming. In Joe's case, they had no idea what they were in for. With a sigh he began to limp down the hallway. He tried to formulate what he would say to his old friends but the words refused to come. He would simply have to go in there and see what happened.

"Hey Joe," Duncan greeted as he walked in. "Plan to tell us where Methos is?"

"Methos is talking to Helen, John and Nikola," Gregory said. "And he'll come down here in a bit. But there are other matters we need to discuss."

"I'm not sure I've ever heard you use such fancy language before Joe," Amanda teased. "What do we need to discuss?"

"As a matter of fact," he said, slipping into his English accent. "It is me."

Richie looked at him. "You changed your voice," he noted. "That's a British accent."

"Actually, Richie this is my natural speaking voice," Gregory informed him. "The accent is when I speak at the bar."

"But you didn't grow up in England did you?" Amanda asked.

"I did," Gregory confirmed. "I lived some of the best years of my life there, really. But that is not the only secret I have kept from you."

"Secrets, Joe?" Duncan asked.

"Quite a few," Gregory agreed. "For starters, I'm much older than I look."

"How old?" Amanda wondered.

"I was born in 1829 and my real name is Gregory Magnus," he began. "I married Patricia Heathering in 1850 and in 1851 she gave birth to our first and only child. It was a girl who we named Helen Victoria Magnus."

"I don't suppose she's related to the Helen Magnus that's in the other room," Richie commented.

"They're the same woman," Gregory told him. "Helen is my daughter, Ashley my granddaughter. I was many things back then but mostly I was a medical researcher. I had a laboratory beneath our house in London where I kept my patients. When Helen was old enough I began to teach her about Abnormals."

"If you were born in 1829, doesn't that make you over a hundred years old?" Richie asked.

"Closer to two hundred," Gregory agreed.

"If you know Helen Magnus then you and Methos have met before," Duncan surmised. Gregory nodded.

"It was Helen who first introduced us," the other man said. "He was studying with her at Oxford. The Five needed a place where they could talk and I had no problem encouraging young minds such as theirs. They used to have weekly visits at my house. I was actually rather fond of James. He was much like the son I never had."

"When you sent me to find him," Duncan said, "did you know who he was?"

"Not at all," Gregory told him. "Adam Pierson and James Watson couldn't have looked more different. What small similarities there were, I attributed to James being his ancestor. I didn't realize who he was until I went to his apartment one day for some Watcher things. He left out something from his days in The Five. I confronted him and he told me the truth."

"But you didn't tell us," Amanda stated.

"Well, how exactly does one state that he is not completely mortal but neither is he an Immortal at the same time?" Gregory pointed out. "The two of us figured it was best if we just stayed silent about the whole affair. It was far too complicated for us to try and explain everything."

"What about those two weeks when Methos was covering for you?" Duncan asked. "Did that have something to do with all of this?"

"It did," Gregory agreed.

"How so?" Amanda wondered.

"James and I….were cocky," Gregory sighed. "We thought that since we had survived so long we were invincible. We were quite wrong of course." He settled himself better on his chair. "We went to England for a time and I helped with the Sanctuary. James sent me out to scout some new talent one day, something I was used to doing. I was captured by the Cabal."

"The same Cabal we just took down?" Duncan asked.

"The very same," Gregory agreed. "They used an Abnormal to control me and took my notes. They began creating a creature I had engineered over a century ago to use in their…cleansing." He spat out the last word in near fury. "They began having fights to see if they could create an army. Lucky for me I was found by Helen and her team. She managed to fix me. I wanted to stay very badly but it wasn't possible. There was too much risk to everyone involved."

"And that's when you came back," Amanda provided.

"Well who's going to look for a pioneer in a blues barman?" Gregory pointed out. "It was the best place to hide really."

"But that begs the question of how you got into the Watchers in the first place," Duncan said.

"That it does," Gregory agreed. "I've always been fascinated by Abnormals, as you can clearly see. When I learned about Immortals I found them even more fascinating. So I tried to find some way to study them with out being caught. I already knew that there were people out there that wanted to use my research for the wrong purposes. I met up with one of the leaders of the Watchers who told me he had been hearing interesting things about me. Some how I managed to convince him that I was a harmless old man who merely wanted to know more about the world around him. Thank god they believed me."

"But didn't you have another wife?" Amanda pointed out. "Beth or something?"

"I did," Gregory nodded.

"Going to explain that one?" Richie asked.

"Helen's mother died when she was eight," Gregory told them. "And that is a very long time for a man to be alone. When I met Beth, I truly thought I was in love. But she couldn't hand the secrets I kept from her. Not that I can blame her mind you. So she left and took our daughter with her. Helen has no idea she has a half sister. I had wanted to tell her when I was here but there was no time. The sooner I was away the better it was for everyone."

"So you randomly decide to open a blues bar?" Amanda asked.

"I've always loved music," he shrugged. "And it works well for all of you to gather so I see no problem with it."

Duncan regarded the man in front of him carefully. "If you were comfortable with what you had then why tell us now?" he wondered. "You could've stayed in hiding a good while longer."

"Earlier, before you all headed out, James and I decided we didn't want to lie anymore. It had become too exhausting. And besides what was the point? It hadn't saved us from our enemies, if anything it made us more vulnerable. So we agreed that we would explain everything to both groups and accept whatever came our way. It's long past due really."

Duncan sighed. "You could have told us," he pointed out. "We wouldn't have judged you, you know."

"I'm extremely old and set in my ways," Gregory explained. "I know that's no excuse but it very true. And there's a certain…comfort in being normal. I must admit it's not something I've had much experience with."

"I can imagine," Amanda agreed. "So when are you going to tell your daughter about all this?"

"After we're done here, I'm going to wait for James to finish with his old friends. Then I'll talk to Helen and the others."

"What about your granddaughter?" Richie wondered.

"Actually Ashley already knows," Gregory told them. "When all the children came home, she and I had a talk. She knows everything now."

"Must be a load off your shoulders," Duncan said.

"It is," Gregory agreed. "But I'd feel better if I knew how you all felt."

"We understand why you did it," Amanda assured him. "We do it all the time after all."

"We just wish you didn't feel the need to lie to us," Duncan added.

Gregory sighed. "It was nothing personal," he promised. "But as I have said, I was used to the secrecy. The most necessary changes can often be the hardest."

"Amen," Amanda agreed. The other two males nodded.

With a groan, Gregory heaved himself out of the seat. "I need to go meet up with Methos," he said. "And I have a daughter that deserves to know the truth. I'll send the old man back in here when we switched."

"Good luck," Richie told him.

Gregory just smiled as he made his way back up to the hall outside Helen's study. He could hear quiet voices inside and knew that James was not yet done speaking with the rest of the Five. He waited for a few minutes before the old man came out to join him. Gregory noted that while he looked tired, he also looked like a great burden had been lifted from his shoulders. He had been lamenting to Gregory of late that he was sorry he hadn't told his friends the truth. Apparently Helen and the boys had forgiven him his transgressions. "How'd they take it?" he asked anyway just to be sure.

"Surprisingly well," James told him. "And the Highlander?"

"I think he's too strained for value judgments," Gregory sighed. He looked to the room. He could only hope his dear daughter was in the same state. After all she didn't know she was housing her father at this moment. Methos she had been prepared for. She was not prepared for this. "Let's hope they take as well to me as they did to you."

"She's your daughter Gregory, she'll understand," James promised. When he gave Gregory that look the other man simply had to believe him. With a smile, the friends parted ways again.