Disclaimer: Highlander belongs to Davis/Panzer. They are being borrowed and returned hopefully in about the same shape they were taken in. Jeff, Emmy, and just about everyone else, belong to me. You can use them if you like, just return them please.

Chapter 29

Rick was relieved when he saw Jeff walk into the garage actually smiling. This was a hopeful sign that he was out of whatever funk he had been in the day before, and really for the last week, as he had been studying for the GRE. "You look like you're feeling better today."

Jeff nodded, a wide smile on his face. "I've decided not to take the GRE."

"Wow, why? You've been studying like a madman for days," Rick said, surprised by this turn of events.

"Because I quit the paper this morning," Jeff told him, hands in his pockets, looking like the Cheshire cat.

"You what?" Rick blinked and shook his head a little.

The grin slid off of Jeff's face and he looked completely sober. "I quit the paper. I figured it was time. I've made plenty from working as a detective with you this whole time, and well, I just put some of my work into a photography contest. I'm going to try and just become a photographer. I'm going to start out doing weddings and stuff like that, and just enjoy it. You know I get a kick out of it. No matter what type of pictures they are."

Rick was so stunned that he did not say anything for a minute. Then he asked seriously, "What brought this on?"

"A realization that I wasn't mad at you; I was tired of my job. I stopped enjoying it, and I realized I wasn't living up to my expectations anymore. I was living up to someone else's. You remember when I was just a freelance, selling my photos to whoever, and how much fun I had with that? Well, I want that fun again. The only time I ever seem to enjoy my job is when I've ended up getting a really good picture and I just have to share it. This also means I'm excited to go to Paris." Jeff was really animated now, showing the youthful vitality that attracted Rick to him. Jeff's emotions, whatever they were, were usually so strong as to be contagious.

Rick nodded, "You want to take some pictures of some of the famous sights, don't you?"

Jeff bobbed his head, "Yeah, and some of the not so famous sights. I just want to take pictures and see where it gets me. You know I can stop and snap off a hundred pictures in one sitting."

Rick could not contain his smile any longer. This was the Jeff he knew. No matter how bad things were, or why they were doing something, he always had to make it fun. And sometimes, that meant taking pictures. For example, during their first dinner while watching Mister Chase, he had snapped pictures under the tables of everyone's legs and shoes. He was that kind of crazy, and some of the pictures had actually been pretty cool. "So you're going for your dream, then?"

"Yup, I thought it was time I started making money doing something I love. You know, follow the footsteps of my best friend." He reached his arm out and shook Rick's shoulder.

"Yeah, my obsession seems to get the better of me, doesn't it?" Rick laughed.

"Yeah, but it's part of what makes you so special, and why everyone brings their bikes to you. Pulling a bike apart and putting it back together isn't just a job for you, it's an adventure. Sometimes, when you get a new make you've never had before, you get this giddy boyish grin on your face like you've just gone into the candy store."

"We all get those looks when we're doing something we love. You have the same after a good shoot."

"I do indeed." Jeff stretched raising his arms above his head and popped his shoulders. "Okay, enough about obsessions, it's time to talk Immortals."

"You got the information that I need?" Rick asked, excited.

Jeff shook his head, "Not all of it. I need your help figuring out which Damien it is from the list." He pulled out a flash drive and stuck it into the computer port. "There are ten plausible Immortals by the name of Damien, so I need you to do a mug shot test on them."

Rick snickered, "Okay, how hard can it be. I want to nail this guy to a plank, after all."
Rick started going through the pictures, and stopped on the fourth one. "This is the guy. This is the one who was following me the other day."

"Damien Leadholm. He's from Australia originally, but hasn't been back since he died the first time. Was part of the first British colonization of Australia. He fought in WWI and II, and spent a lot of time touring the U.S. My best guess is that he was on opposite sides in the World War as Marcus."

"Marcus fought for the English in both, didn't he?"

"Yup," Jeff replied, "and Damien the Germans. It's weird though, because he was technically a British citizen."

"Yeah, but he could have hated his country. Perhaps Marcus got him put in jail for a while, or something?" Rick questioned scrolling through the file.

Jeff took over using the mouse and began looking for something in Damien's more recent past that would clear up the mystery. He shook his head, "There just doesn't seem to be a connection between the two that I can see. Have you called Marcus and asked him about it?"

"Jeff, the man's in the middle of tracking a serial killer, you don't just interrupt that to tell him he has another Immortal after him as well."

"I think it's better that he's prepared to meet with the possibility of two Immortals, than to let him walk unknowingly into this mess. What if Damien finds him?" Jeff frowned.

Rick shrugged, "Then the two will fight it out, and one will win. That's what happens."

Now Jeff looked at him solemnly. "And you're just going to let it happen that way?"

Rick would not meet his eyes. "It's not my job to babysit Marcus. Besides, if I get my way, this guy isn't going to be alive long enough to get anywhere near him."

"Okay, fine, I'll see if his location has been updated in his current chronicle. Why do you have to be so darn stubborn?"

"Because I was trained by Duncan MacLeod."