***Mutual Understandings---Present Day***

The tears Richie had been desperately attempting to hold back were flowing steadily now. Terrified he had misunderstood the Immortal, he responded in barely a whisper. "Your kid?"

The smile that crossed the Immortal's lips was the first genuine one Richie had seen from him that day. "Yeah, my kid." The Immortal replied in an almost joking tone. But that tone quickly shifted to serious as the man continued. "Do you really think I feed you, cloth you and let you live in my house because you charm me into it? I wasn't exactly born yesterday, Rich.

"No, I know you're not a pushover." Richie's voice was still shaky.

But Duncan's continued to get deeper with each passing second. "Of course I am."

"Huh?" Richie blinked up at him in confusion.

This brought yet another smile to Duncan's lips. "Where you're concerned, I'm as vulnerable as a turkey in November." Duncan got up then, and went to retrieve the box of Kleenex off of Richie's television. Sitting back down on the bed, he edged as close to the boy as he dared without risking further injury and settled one hand on the other side of him before continuing.

"Rich, I've lived the lifetimes of ten men. You can't even begin to comprehend how many people I've come to care about and then lost in that time. I always prided myself for being strong." Duncan paused as he looked down at the injured teen.

Which caused the boy to feel the need to interject. "You're the strongest guy I've ever met, Mac."

"Thanks, Rich." Duncan smiled at the boy's hero-worship of him. "But that's not exactly what I meant. After all the people I've lost and all the things I've seen, I thought I could handle my emotions well. But where you're concerned, that just isn't the case."

"Sorry." The teen looked down and began picking at his bandage again.

Duncan frowned fiercely, realizing how Richie had misinterpreted his statement. Grasping the boy's fidgety hand and pulling it away from the bandage, Duncan clarified his meaning. "I didn't mean you upset me, Rich. At least not in the way you're thinking. Yes, I get upset when you put yourself in danger or when you don't come to me. But not because I'm mad at you or don't want you around. I just want you to be safe and to know that you can count on me."

"Okay." Richie said quietly, as he began to pull his hand out of Duncan's and turned away from him in a futile attempt to keep the man from realizing he had started crying again.

"Okay, huh?" Duncan repeated, keeping his grip on the retreating hand. "Just like that?" He let out a low chuckle.

"What's so funny?" Richie asked, turning back to face him once more.

Duncan patted his arm. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't laugh. It's just nice to hear you say things like that. I like it when you act your age."

"Gee, thanks." The teen replied sarcastically.

The ancient was quick to try and smooth over the ruffled feathers. "There's nothing wrong with being a teenager, Richie. You work so hard at proving how tough and independent you are all the time, it's just nice to see you act like a kid sometimes. Especially when you don't nearly get yourself killed doing it."

"And I'm the one who always get accused of being overly dramatic." Richie rolled his eyes. "Almost killed."

"Yeah, almost killed. You seem to think you're invincible." Duncan replied, exasperated.

But Richie was still on the defensive and not hearing him. "Don't all kids think that? I thought you liked it when I acted my age."

"All right, I'll buy that argument." Duncan relented; deciding a change of tactics was in order.

Luckily, it worked. Momentarily stunned, it took Richie longer than the teen would have liked to regain his composure. "You will?" He was very leery of where Duncan was leading the conversation.

And he had the right to be. The boy had played right into the man's hand perfectly. "If you want to openly admit that you're an impulsive kid who isn't responsible enough to look out for your own welfare, who am I to contradict you? Personally, I wouldn't have put it so bluntly, but I guess when you get right down to it, you're right."

"That isn't what I said." Richie stared at him defiantly.

"You agree you're a teenager?" Duncan questioned.

Resulting in a stupefied look from the teen. "Mac, you know how old I am."

"So you admit to being a teenager?" The Immortal persisted.

"Well, yeah."

"Good." The ancient provided a huge smile at that. "And you didn't worry about the danger you were putting yourself in by resisting and then by not calling?"

"I just wanted to get home." Richie admitted quietly.

"Then we agree. You're a kid who isn't responsible enough to look out for his own welfare." Duncan once again concluded for the boy. He knew it sounded harsh. He also knew it was accurate. It was well past time for him to let Richie knew where he stood.

"This is one argument I'm just not going to win, isn't it?" Richie sighed, preparing to accept defeat.

The Immortal indulged in squeezing the hand he still held before responding. "What do you think?"

"I think I'm just going to throw myself on the mercy of the court." The teen looked away.

This response thoroughly confused Duncan. "What?"

"That's what you want, isn't it? For me to admit I screwed up and beg your forgiveness? Fine, I screwed up. I'm sorry." He began fidgeting with the blanket.

"How many times do I have to say it, Rich? I just want to know you're safe. How many times do I have to tell you that I was worried about you and hurt that you didn't trust me?" Duncan made sure to slow down and clearly get his point across. "I'm not mad at you, Richie. I don't want an apology, I just want a little reassurance that you won't continue to put yourself at risk like this and that you'll come to me, no matter what the circumstances, when you need help."

"I'd say okay, but you'd just laugh." Richie replied quietly, sniffing slightly.

But his reply still brought a smile to Duncan's lips. At least the man was more successful at suppressing a chuckle, though. "I didn't mean to laugh at you, Rich. But when you tell me that you'll stop acting on instinct just because I ask you to, I can't help but feel you're being a bit naïve."

"So, basically, you're telling me that you want assured that I'll 'shape up' but there's no way you're going to believe me when I tell you that I will?" Now the teen was not only depressed, he was down right confused.

As Richie stared up at him, Duncan realized that was exactly what he was saying. He did want the teen to promise that he would take care of himself and start using his head. But on the other hand, he didn't trust him to do either. As he looked down at the red-eyed teen, gazing up at him innocently, he realized what it was he really wanted.

"I'm not exactly being fair, am I?" The Immortal questioned.

The teen smiled slightly at that. "You can say that again."

"Don't push your luck." The Scotsman's grin widened as he watched the cocky look that had just begun to form quickly slip off Richie's face.

The boy replied quickly, anxious to smooth over any newly created ruffles in Duncan's feathers. He had no desire to upset the man anymore than he already knew he had. "I'm just trying to keep you from worrying, Mac." As the ancient looked down at skeptically, Richie hastily continued. "After all, wouldn't it freak you out more if I let a comment like that one slide?"

"I suppose so." Duncan gently cuffed the side of his head, then quickly changed his tone once again back to serious. They still needed to clarify a few things and he wanted to do it immediately. "We ought to get some things cleared up, don't you think?"

"Like what?" Blinking, Richie couldn't help but feel the knot in the pit of his stomach tighten once more. The relaxation he had begun to feel when Duncan had admitted he wasn't being fair disappeared immediately.

"Like what we expect from each other. Obviously, we aren't exactly seeing eye to eye on how this relationship is supposed to work." The Immortal explained.

Richie's heart dropped into his stomach. He tried to keep cool. Duncan wouldn't kick him out. That wasn't where this was headed. He had called him his kid. He kept saying he wasn't mad. Those weren't the things someone said before throwing you out. He'd gotten that speech before and those never factored in. But then again, MacLeod was like no one he had ever met before. He tried to shake it off. Mac wasn't kicking him out. Or was he?

"Relationship?" He could barely get the word out, let alone in the casual tone he had hoped for.

Duncan wasn't fooled for a second. Richie was suddenly terrified. As the Immortal replayed the last few topics of their conversation, it dawned on him what Richie had misunderstood. Now he just had to figure out a way to ease the boy's anxiety without directly stating that he wasn't kicking him out. Duncan had decided long ago that to acknowledge Richie's fear of being tossed out would only confirm that Duncan considered it a viable option and might one day do so. He absolutely refused to validate that fear.

"We've established that my expectations of you are contradictory." Duncan began.

"Yeah." Richie agreed warily.

"And that you're terrified of letting me down." Duncan continued

Richie frowned at that. "When did we establish that?"

"I think it was around the time you told me you didn't want me think I couldn't count on you." Duncan countered, smiling slightly.

The teen was now more concerned than ever about where this was leading. "All right. So?"

"So? So do really think my having impossible expectations of you and you being afraid of letting me down is healthy?" Duncan was amazed at his own patience in the conversation. Usually he would be completely frustrated at how slowly he was getting his point across.

Richie was a smart kid. He caught on to things quickly. But somehow, when it came to relationships, he just seemed unable to process where he stood. He stared suspiciously at Duncan. "So where do we go from here?"

"Back to the basics." The Immortal replied flatly.

Once again, he threw Richie for a loop. "The basics?"

"Yeah, the basics. First things first, let's get my expectations of you straight. You need help, I want to know it. Immediately." Duncan explained.

Richie nodded solemnly at him. "Understood."

"Just so we're perfectly clear, that means all cases that require a decision being made about your welfare." Duncan continued.

But Richie's puzzled look stopped the Immortal momentarily. "Care to repeat that? Preferably in English."

"Sorry." Duncan smiled. He clearly had gotten ahead of himself. "You get hurt, I want to know. You feel sick, I want to know. You get lost, you call me. If you want to keep it real simple, you need to start equating discomfort with calling on me."

"Mac equals pain. Got it." Richie smiled broadly at him once more.

And, to his amazement, he received a wide grin in return. "Cute." He gave the teen a gentle slap to the side of the head. "Pretty close, though. How about pain equals Mac, hum? Think you can remember that?"

"I think I can manage." The boy was more solemn in his reply this time. He had enough intuition to realize that the Immortal needed his reassurance that he was being heard.

"Good." Duncan replied as he began to get up off the bed.

But Richie's questioning stopped him. "And?"

"And what?" The Immortal replied.

The teen wasn't buying his fiend innocence for a second. He knew full well that Duncan wasn't going to be satisfied with that reassurance. After all, he hadn't accepted it on the two earlier occasions Richie had promised it. Something had changed and the teen was determined to figure out what it was.

"First you say my assurance that I'll count on you isn't enough, then you say we need to change how we relate and now you are willing to just walk out when I promise to let you know when something's wrong. That doesn't add up, Mac. What's going on with you?" Richie stared defiantly at him.

Which made Duncan reevaluate his decision. If Richie wanted to know what had changed, maybe he should tell him. After all, part of his resolution was to be more open with the boy. "I was expecting you to act like an adult and take care of yourself, but then I was mad when you didn't come running to me for help. I realize now how unrealistic that is. I won't expect you to make perfect decisions anymore, all right? All I want you to do is remember to come to me. If you just promise to do that, I'll show you that you can depend on me. Always. No matter what. Regardless of the situation."

"I get it, Mac." Richie interrupted.

But his impute didn't divert the ancient's attention in the slightest. "You just remember to come to me and I'll take care of the rest."

"The rest? What rest?" Richie was beginning to suspect that the Scotsman's change in attitude had less to do with him than it did with some covert plan the Immortal had cooked up in the middle of the conversation.

And those suspicions were not unfounded. "I told you already, Rich. I've got to stop holding you to impossible expectations. From now on, I just want you to trust me to take care of you."

"Take care of me?" This was not going in a direction that Richie was comfortable with at all.

But Duncan's mind was made up. "Yeah, take care of you. I can't just tell you that you're my kid and expect you to accept that and trust me plus make all your own decisions. From here on out, I'm going to act like a parent."

"Whoa, hold on a just a minute there, Big Guy. Let's back up the bus." Richie replied.

Causing the Immortal to smile. Richie was used to independence. It was going to be a hard adjustment. But the Scotsman knew it would be well worth the effort. "The day you moved in, I told you that you were stuck with Tess and I to take care of you. I got sidetracked trying to take it slow and not push you away. I was trying so hard to earn your respect and be your friend that I lost sight of what you needed from me."

"Oh, yeah? And now you've got it all figured out, huh? Care to enlighten me?" The teen retorted.

Duncan's reply was simple. "Attention."

"Attention?" Richie repeated. "Like we don't spend almost every day and night together?"

"Parental attention." The ancient clarified.

Richie flinched in realization. "So you planning to monitor what I eat, nag at me about when I sleep, that sort of thing?"

"You got it, kid. Somebody's gotta take care of you and it isn't fair for me to expect you to do it yourself. That means you're stuck with me." Duncan replied.

The teen wasn't quite finished questioning the man, though. "I don't suppose I get any say in this?"

"What do you think?" Duncan redirected the question, raising his eyebrows.

Richie sighed to hide the smile that was involuntarily surfacing. "I didn't think so."

"I'm glad we understand one another." Duncan stood up at that and tightly secured the blankets covering the teen. "Now why don't you get some sleep?"

"Sleep? Mac, I just woke up." Richie immediately began arguing.

But Duncan wasn't going to back down. He had made a promise to parent this child, even when Richie didn't like it. "And it's getting late and you've had a long day. Go to sleep, Rich."

"Can't I just lay here quietly and watch TV? I'll be real calm." Richie sped up his argument as Duncan looked down at him, unconvinced. "Come on, please? Just for an hour or so? It'll help me fall asleep."

"Half an hour." The Immortal relented. "And I'm going to stick around to make sure you stay still. Half an hour and it goes off." Duncan warned.

"Of course." Richie replied with a smile.

Forty-five minutes later Duncan looked over at the boy sleeping soundly against his shoulder despite the gentle hum of the television. He couldn't help but smile. They hardly made a perfect father/son team. For one, he definitely needed to do some serious work at laying down the law. But as he gently squeezed the injured teen next to him, he reveled in that day's progress.