The end, at last : )
Thanks to everyone who sent feedback asking for more. Watch this space for a sequal.
Chapter Seven:
It was mid-afternoon when Richie finally awoke, wondering for a moment exactly whose sofa he was crashing on. Oh, right, he remembered, Doyle. And Angel. Pretty heavy night. He grinned. In hindsight, he felt quite psyched to have been able to be the one to tell a new Immortal all about Immortals and the Game. It made him realise that he was no longer the newest, wettest-behind-the-ears Immie around. Despite the number of Quickenings he had taken, Mac still had a habit of sometimes treating him like the seventeen year-old he'd been when he had first encountered Mac and Tessa. Now there was a new kid on the block. And, by the looks of things, he could be a friend. Not just one of Mac's old friends, alive for hundreds of years. Doyle was someone he could actually relate to, someone nearer his own age.
As if summoned, the Irishman chose that moment to wander into the living room.
"Morning. Want some coffee?"
"Sure. Um, how you doing this morning, er, afternoon?"
"Oh, you mean the whole I-should-really-be-dead-but-I'm-not-thing? That? Ah, I'd totally forgotten about that."
"Yeah, right!" Richie grinned. "So, you know I still wanna see LA…You, er, know any cute actresses, man?"
"Besides Cordy?" Doyle raised an eyebrow.
"Hey, I swear I didn't know you and her…"
"We're not. It's cool. I can show you around later", Doyle responded, as he wandered through to the kitchen to make the kitchen. The reality of seeing Richie still in his living room this morning (afternoon?) was having a two-fold effect on Doyle. One, of course, was the fact that he couldn't write off the previous night's events as a figment of his imagination. It all still seemed like a strange, surreal dream. He understood it all, but it felt like it had happened to someone else. Although, he supposed, with a grin, he should be pleased it had happened to him otherwise he wouldn't be here to still be getting freaked out by it. The other effect was that he now had a friend, someone who may actually be willing to go out of a couple of beers with him, without brooding the whole time.
"So, have you thought anymore about coming to Seacouver?" Richie's question interrupted Doyle's revere, and reminded him that there were bad points as well as good to his new lifestyle.
He thought for a moment.
"No. I really think I shouldn't. I mean, there's the visions, and Angel, and Cordy." He shrugged.
"Well, it's your choice. But, man, I don't know. You could be sword-food within, like, a week…"
"Yeah…"
The two new friends let the similar depressing thoughts occupy them for a few minutes.
"So much for breakfast. Can't say I've got an appetite now. Got anything else to tell me about this Immortality while I'm in the right frame of mind?"
"Nah. Think I've covered the basics. It is a lot to take in. I was in complete denial when I first realised."
"So is it like hereditary, cos I think I may have noticed if my folks couldn't get ill an' that."
"No, er, that is the one other big thing. I wasn't gonna go into this now, but… Immortals are foundlings. No-one knows where we come from, who we are, no family, and we can't have kids…"
"Oh."
"Sorry man."
"Hey, not your fault. Can't say I was very close to my family anyway. There did always seem a strong resemblance though, what with the half-demon side an' all."
Richie spluttered, his mouthful of coffee landing on the carpet.
"Demon?! Like Angel, with the teeth and forehead?"
"No, more like a blue spikes all over my face type thing."
"Gee, is no-one in this town normal?" Vampires, demons, immortals. Hell, by now Richie was about ready to believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.
Doyle shrugged. "Cordy? Though of course she did grow up in Sunnydale. Hell-mouth central."
"Anything else you feel like sharing? Any other dark secrets?"
"Only if you count being a grade-school teacher."
"You? You taught grade-school? Ok, now that I do not believe."
"Funny, Richie. Funny. Anyone ever teach ya not to insult your host?"
"Come on, teach, let's go check on Cordelia. You gonna tell her what's going on?"
"Guess I should. Not looking forward to that one."
Shaking his head, but laughing, Doyle gathered his jacket and keys and led Richie out of the apartment and back to Angel Investigations HQ.
"At last! Doyle! You're ok…What the Hell happened last night?"
"Good to see you too, Cordy".
"Don't give me that, Doyle. This helpful thing here won't tell me a thing. Now you've finally decided to grace us with your presence will you please tell me exactly what happened last night?"
"Sure, Princess. Oh, you remember Richie?"
"Yeah. Hi Richie."
"I didn't think it was my place to tell her, Doyle."
"It's ok, Angel. Take it you sorted that vamp nest out?"
"Yeah, no problem."
"Ok, enough. Answers, now!"
"Geez, is she always this commanding?"
"This? You should see her on a bad day, Richie."
Richie laughed and sat down to await the show that was sure to take place when Doyle told Cordelia what had happened to him. After a minute, and another exchanged glance with Doyle, Angel joined him, reassured that the Irishman could handle this on this own.
"He cares about her a lot, doesn't he? I mean, to just tell her like this. It's not something we do lightly."
"I can relate to that."
Richie nodded, solemnly.
"How do you reckon she'll take it?" he whispered.
"Hard to say. Knowing me, and coming from Sunnydale, she knows there are more things in the world than most people like to acknowledge. She does have this thing about honesty though. And there are already secrets Doyle's keeping from her. The fact that she saw what happened last night would make it harder to keep her in the dark."
"Secrets? Like a half-demon side?"
"He told you?"
Richie shrugged. "Yeah. Immortals can't have kids, so he thought it was kinda strange about the half-demon side…"
"You believed all Immortals to be human?"
"Well I'm certainly no expert. Who knows what we are. As far as I knew, and Mac and all the other Immortals I've been in contact with, we are human, apart from the obvious. But, we could be aliens, from alternative realities, genetic mutants created by a mad scientist or the government. It's as big a mystery as what the Prize is."
"I take it you watch a lot of science-fiction shows?"
"Guilty. When your life sounds like one of them, they kind of take on a whole new meaning…"
Their muted conversation was interrupted by Cordelia's small scream.
"Doyle! Stop!"
"I told you, I'm Immortal. I died last night. But I get a second chance! Cordy, just watch…"
Richie grimaced to himself as he saw Doyle run a knife along his palm and show Cordelia how it healed.
Cordelia's gasp was loud but to give her credit, she recovered well.
"Wow! And because of this you're alright, after last night I mean?"
"Yep. Good as new."
"Oh, God…"
"Shh. It's alright, Princess. It's still me."
"I know that. I'm just so…so relived. I didn't know what to think, what was real. Oh Doyle. When I thought you…I saw your…"
"Shh, it's ok now."
"No, I-I have to say this. I don't care how it happened, but you're still here, with us. With me. When I thought I'd lost you…"
"Cordy, for the last time, just shhh," Doyle murmured, capturing Cordelia's mouth in a kiss, that did in fact succeed in shh-ing her.
"Wow. He did it."
"She took that…surprisingly well", Angel nodded.
"Or not", Richie replied, as Cordelia broke the kiss and slapped Doyle on the face.
"Ow! What was that for?!"
"That's for making me worry, Doyle! I thought you were dead!"
"Princess, I was dead. I didn't know about being Immortal. How can you expect me to tell you stuff I don't know?"
"Doyle…Shut up and kiss me again."
Richie laughed, shaking his head at the shocked but delighted look on Doyle's face. Sharing a grin with Angel, he commented, "Are they, you know, gonna be alright?"
"I think so. I can't think of two people better suited, in LA at least," the vampire replied, a slight look of pain passing over his face. It was a look Richie recognised all too well.
"Oh, I'm sorry man."
"It's alright. It's…in the past. It's the future I'm worried about. You know Doyle can't go to Seacouver with you."
"Yeah. He needs a teacher though. He doesn't know the first thing about swords and won't last five minutes. Not all Immortals are gonna be friends…Geez, listen to me, I sound just like Mac."
"Well, I have had some experience with swords. And as for living a long time…"
"I don't know. It's not quite the same. There's like a code between Immortals, and you gotta train everyday. Painful but at least it heals quickly."
"Is there any chance MacLeod will come to LA?"
"Doubt it. He's got his dojo and teaching at the university. I mean he might not even want another student."
"What about you?"
"What about me? I told you, I can't take on a student."
"Why not? You seem to know what you're doing. And I'm happy to help out with the sword training."
"I don't know. Mac probably needs me in the dojo…"
"Why don't you speak to him? Seriously, you seem to get on well with Doyle. I think you'd be a good teacher for him."
"Oh. Well, thanks."
"You know what, why don't we give Doyle and Cordy some space. You go phone your friends. Come round later and tell us what they said."
"Sure. Good idea. I was hoping Doyle would show me round LA but I can't blame him for having better things to do. Guess I can use a map."
"I would show you round, but sunlight and vampires aren't exactly compatible."
Later that evening the group met up again. Richie's telephone call to Seacouver had been met by gales of laughter from Joe when he heard about his meeting with Angel and surprisingly little surprise from Mac when informed about vampires, demons and Powers That Be. On second thoughts, Richie had decided, why should it be surprising; didn't Duncan know about everything. The even more surprising conclusion to this phone-conference had been that both Watcher and Immortal had agreed that Richie should stay in LA for a while and teach Doyle, that he was ready to take on a student of his own.
"So I guess you're be sticking around for a while?" asked Doyle, biting into his pizza. Richie considered the underlying request, for about the tenth time that day. Was he really, truly ready to take on a student? Even with Angel's help. He'd only been in the Game himself for a few years. But, he could hold his own, couldn't he? It would be a challenge, but he did like a challenge sometimes. And Mac thought he could do it….
"It won't be easy," he commented.
"It beats the alternative doesn't it?" remarked Angel.
"I don't think any of us remember the meaning of easy, since we started this work. Don't worry, I'll put the effort in. I'm not ready to die - again - just yet."
"Just don't spend all your time working," Cordelia pouted and kissed Doyle. Richie laughed, pleased that something good had come out of the previous evening's events.
"I guess you've got yourself a teacher", he agreed.
There would be a lot of hard ahead, for all of them, but for now Richie knew he could relax, with new friends around whom he could be himself. And there were definitely worse places to be than LA, he thought, grinning.
Thanks to everyone who sent feedback asking for more. Watch this space for a sequal.
Chapter Seven:
It was mid-afternoon when Richie finally awoke, wondering for a moment exactly whose sofa he was crashing on. Oh, right, he remembered, Doyle. And Angel. Pretty heavy night. He grinned. In hindsight, he felt quite psyched to have been able to be the one to tell a new Immortal all about Immortals and the Game. It made him realise that he was no longer the newest, wettest-behind-the-ears Immie around. Despite the number of Quickenings he had taken, Mac still had a habit of sometimes treating him like the seventeen year-old he'd been when he had first encountered Mac and Tessa. Now there was a new kid on the block. And, by the looks of things, he could be a friend. Not just one of Mac's old friends, alive for hundreds of years. Doyle was someone he could actually relate to, someone nearer his own age.
As if summoned, the Irishman chose that moment to wander into the living room.
"Morning. Want some coffee?"
"Sure. Um, how you doing this morning, er, afternoon?"
"Oh, you mean the whole I-should-really-be-dead-but-I'm-not-thing? That? Ah, I'd totally forgotten about that."
"Yeah, right!" Richie grinned. "So, you know I still wanna see LA…You, er, know any cute actresses, man?"
"Besides Cordy?" Doyle raised an eyebrow.
"Hey, I swear I didn't know you and her…"
"We're not. It's cool. I can show you around later", Doyle responded, as he wandered through to the kitchen to make the kitchen. The reality of seeing Richie still in his living room this morning (afternoon?) was having a two-fold effect on Doyle. One, of course, was the fact that he couldn't write off the previous night's events as a figment of his imagination. It all still seemed like a strange, surreal dream. He understood it all, but it felt like it had happened to someone else. Although, he supposed, with a grin, he should be pleased it had happened to him otherwise he wouldn't be here to still be getting freaked out by it. The other effect was that he now had a friend, someone who may actually be willing to go out of a couple of beers with him, without brooding the whole time.
"So, have you thought anymore about coming to Seacouver?" Richie's question interrupted Doyle's revere, and reminded him that there were bad points as well as good to his new lifestyle.
He thought for a moment.
"No. I really think I shouldn't. I mean, there's the visions, and Angel, and Cordy." He shrugged.
"Well, it's your choice. But, man, I don't know. You could be sword-food within, like, a week…"
"Yeah…"
The two new friends let the similar depressing thoughts occupy them for a few minutes.
"So much for breakfast. Can't say I've got an appetite now. Got anything else to tell me about this Immortality while I'm in the right frame of mind?"
"Nah. Think I've covered the basics. It is a lot to take in. I was in complete denial when I first realised."
"So is it like hereditary, cos I think I may have noticed if my folks couldn't get ill an' that."
"No, er, that is the one other big thing. I wasn't gonna go into this now, but… Immortals are foundlings. No-one knows where we come from, who we are, no family, and we can't have kids…"
"Oh."
"Sorry man."
"Hey, not your fault. Can't say I was very close to my family anyway. There did always seem a strong resemblance though, what with the half-demon side an' all."
Richie spluttered, his mouthful of coffee landing on the carpet.
"Demon?! Like Angel, with the teeth and forehead?"
"No, more like a blue spikes all over my face type thing."
"Gee, is no-one in this town normal?" Vampires, demons, immortals. Hell, by now Richie was about ready to believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.
Doyle shrugged. "Cordy? Though of course she did grow up in Sunnydale. Hell-mouth central."
"Anything else you feel like sharing? Any other dark secrets?"
"Only if you count being a grade-school teacher."
"You? You taught grade-school? Ok, now that I do not believe."
"Funny, Richie. Funny. Anyone ever teach ya not to insult your host?"
"Come on, teach, let's go check on Cordelia. You gonna tell her what's going on?"
"Guess I should. Not looking forward to that one."
Shaking his head, but laughing, Doyle gathered his jacket and keys and led Richie out of the apartment and back to Angel Investigations HQ.
"At last! Doyle! You're ok…What the Hell happened last night?"
"Good to see you too, Cordy".
"Don't give me that, Doyle. This helpful thing here won't tell me a thing. Now you've finally decided to grace us with your presence will you please tell me exactly what happened last night?"
"Sure, Princess. Oh, you remember Richie?"
"Yeah. Hi Richie."
"I didn't think it was my place to tell her, Doyle."
"It's ok, Angel. Take it you sorted that vamp nest out?"
"Yeah, no problem."
"Ok, enough. Answers, now!"
"Geez, is she always this commanding?"
"This? You should see her on a bad day, Richie."
Richie laughed and sat down to await the show that was sure to take place when Doyle told Cordelia what had happened to him. After a minute, and another exchanged glance with Doyle, Angel joined him, reassured that the Irishman could handle this on this own.
"He cares about her a lot, doesn't he? I mean, to just tell her like this. It's not something we do lightly."
"I can relate to that."
Richie nodded, solemnly.
"How do you reckon she'll take it?" he whispered.
"Hard to say. Knowing me, and coming from Sunnydale, she knows there are more things in the world than most people like to acknowledge. She does have this thing about honesty though. And there are already secrets Doyle's keeping from her. The fact that she saw what happened last night would make it harder to keep her in the dark."
"Secrets? Like a half-demon side?"
"He told you?"
Richie shrugged. "Yeah. Immortals can't have kids, so he thought it was kinda strange about the half-demon side…"
"You believed all Immortals to be human?"
"Well I'm certainly no expert. Who knows what we are. As far as I knew, and Mac and all the other Immortals I've been in contact with, we are human, apart from the obvious. But, we could be aliens, from alternative realities, genetic mutants created by a mad scientist or the government. It's as big a mystery as what the Prize is."
"I take it you watch a lot of science-fiction shows?"
"Guilty. When your life sounds like one of them, they kind of take on a whole new meaning…"
Their muted conversation was interrupted by Cordelia's small scream.
"Doyle! Stop!"
"I told you, I'm Immortal. I died last night. But I get a second chance! Cordy, just watch…"
Richie grimaced to himself as he saw Doyle run a knife along his palm and show Cordelia how it healed.
Cordelia's gasp was loud but to give her credit, she recovered well.
"Wow! And because of this you're alright, after last night I mean?"
"Yep. Good as new."
"Oh, God…"
"Shh. It's alright, Princess. It's still me."
"I know that. I'm just so…so relived. I didn't know what to think, what was real. Oh Doyle. When I thought you…I saw your…"
"Shh, it's ok now."
"No, I-I have to say this. I don't care how it happened, but you're still here, with us. With me. When I thought I'd lost you…"
"Cordy, for the last time, just shhh," Doyle murmured, capturing Cordelia's mouth in a kiss, that did in fact succeed in shh-ing her.
"Wow. He did it."
"She took that…surprisingly well", Angel nodded.
"Or not", Richie replied, as Cordelia broke the kiss and slapped Doyle on the face.
"Ow! What was that for?!"
"That's for making me worry, Doyle! I thought you were dead!"
"Princess, I was dead. I didn't know about being Immortal. How can you expect me to tell you stuff I don't know?"
"Doyle…Shut up and kiss me again."
Richie laughed, shaking his head at the shocked but delighted look on Doyle's face. Sharing a grin with Angel, he commented, "Are they, you know, gonna be alright?"
"I think so. I can't think of two people better suited, in LA at least," the vampire replied, a slight look of pain passing over his face. It was a look Richie recognised all too well.
"Oh, I'm sorry man."
"It's alright. It's…in the past. It's the future I'm worried about. You know Doyle can't go to Seacouver with you."
"Yeah. He needs a teacher though. He doesn't know the first thing about swords and won't last five minutes. Not all Immortals are gonna be friends…Geez, listen to me, I sound just like Mac."
"Well, I have had some experience with swords. And as for living a long time…"
"I don't know. It's not quite the same. There's like a code between Immortals, and you gotta train everyday. Painful but at least it heals quickly."
"Is there any chance MacLeod will come to LA?"
"Doubt it. He's got his dojo and teaching at the university. I mean he might not even want another student."
"What about you?"
"What about me? I told you, I can't take on a student."
"Why not? You seem to know what you're doing. And I'm happy to help out with the sword training."
"I don't know. Mac probably needs me in the dojo…"
"Why don't you speak to him? Seriously, you seem to get on well with Doyle. I think you'd be a good teacher for him."
"Oh. Well, thanks."
"You know what, why don't we give Doyle and Cordy some space. You go phone your friends. Come round later and tell us what they said."
"Sure. Good idea. I was hoping Doyle would show me round LA but I can't blame him for having better things to do. Guess I can use a map."
"I would show you round, but sunlight and vampires aren't exactly compatible."
Later that evening the group met up again. Richie's telephone call to Seacouver had been met by gales of laughter from Joe when he heard about his meeting with Angel and surprisingly little surprise from Mac when informed about vampires, demons and Powers That Be. On second thoughts, Richie had decided, why should it be surprising; didn't Duncan know about everything. The even more surprising conclusion to this phone-conference had been that both Watcher and Immortal had agreed that Richie should stay in LA for a while and teach Doyle, that he was ready to take on a student of his own.
"So I guess you're be sticking around for a while?" asked Doyle, biting into his pizza. Richie considered the underlying request, for about the tenth time that day. Was he really, truly ready to take on a student? Even with Angel's help. He'd only been in the Game himself for a few years. But, he could hold his own, couldn't he? It would be a challenge, but he did like a challenge sometimes. And Mac thought he could do it….
"It won't be easy," he commented.
"It beats the alternative doesn't it?" remarked Angel.
"I don't think any of us remember the meaning of easy, since we started this work. Don't worry, I'll put the effort in. I'm not ready to die - again - just yet."
"Just don't spend all your time working," Cordelia pouted and kissed Doyle. Richie laughed, pleased that something good had come out of the previous evening's events.
"I guess you've got yourself a teacher", he agreed.
There would be a lot of hard ahead, for all of them, but for now Richie knew he could relax, with new friends around whom he could be himself. And there were definitely worse places to be than LA, he thought, grinning.