Duncan paced the floor of his hotel room. He had to get in to see Richie. All he wanted to know was what had happened. Just give the boy a good once over then. leave. He had to remind himself that this wasn't a permanent situation. Richie was safer away from him. This attack didn't have anything to do with immortals. Richie would be fine. Conner could handle him. Conner was his best bet. Darius wasn't that bad of a choice, but Richie wouldn't stay for more than a few hours before heading out on his own. At least he was willing to stay put with Conner. Yeah, leaving Richie with Conner was the best idea. But, he still had to see Richie before he left town again.

Duncan was still pacing an hour later when there was a knock on his room door. He looked through the peephole and threw the door open.

"Tessa!" He pulled her into a strong hug before she could respond. "I missed you so much!"

"I missed you, too. How is he?" she asked as they pulled away. Duncan didn't respond, but opted to tip the bellboy instead. "Duncan, what's wrong? Is he hurt badly?"

"I don't know," Duncan admitted. "Conner won't let us see him."

"What!?" Tessa was outraged. "Why in the world not?"

"He doesn't want to get Richie's hopes up."

"Duncan, that's not fair! We have every right to see him!"

"There's nothing I can do, Tess. When Conner sets his mind to something, he does it. He even went so far to have Richie listed as a minor. He's his guardian; he doesn't have to let anyone in."

"We'll just see about that. Which hospital?" She gathered up her purse once more.

"St. Mary's. Tessa, you're not going to convince him."

"Yes, I will."

. . . . . .

"Conner MacLeod!" Tessa yelled as soon as Conner opened the apartment door. "How dare you tell me I cannot see Richie?!" She stormed in without waiting for an invitation. There was an older woman sitting on the couch in the sunken living room. "You must be Rachel," Tessa said pleasantly. "I'm Tessa Noel." They shook hands and smiled.

"Tessa, I can explain," Conner said coming into the living room behind her.

Tessa's pleasant expression faded as she turned back to Conner. "You'd better! I will not have one more MacLeod telling me I have to leave that boy! Especially now that he is hurt!"

"Tessa," he said calmly. "I never said you couldn't see Richie. As a matter of fact, you are on the allowed visitors list as his sister."

"I have every right to. His sister?" Tessa stopped mid-yell when what Conner had said sunk in.

"Yes, Rachel is his Aunt, and I am his Uncle. He's also seventeen."

"Does Richie know you changed his age?"

"He wasn't very happy at first," Rachel smiled. "But once we explained it meant Conner got to control who got in, he was okay with it." Tessa smiled as well. "He really is a very nice boy. a little on the unique side, but very sweet."

"What do you mean unique?" Tessa asked. "He seemed pretty normal to me."

"The hair, the make-up, the earrings, the tattoos. it all seems so out of place on him," Rachel explained.

"Conner." Tessa turned to face him once again. "What is she talking about?"

"It'd be easier to show you," Conner admitted. "Richie should be asleep right now, but it's better if he doesn't see your reaction."

. . . . . .

After going through a quick check point to identify themselves, Conner lead Tessa to Richie's private room. Richie was asleep with his back to the door, lying on his left side.

"What happened?" Tessa whispered, taking a seat next to Richie's bed. His face looked more pale than usual against the dark hair.

"He was whipped," Conner explained. "Someone cuffed him and whipped him, then called the police. He has a broken arm and around six hundred stitches. The doctors are sure he'll be fine."

"Just scarred," Tessa added. "He'll never take his shirt off. He's so self-conscious as it is. he'll think he's a freak."

"Don't worry about it, Tessa," Rachel said putting a comforting arm around her. "All it takes is a few hours of surgery and no one will be able to tell this happened."

"What about this?" she asked gently fingering the white bandage around Richie's left wrist.

"A minor cut and some bruises. He fought whoever did this," Conner told her. "He'll be fine. I'll make sure of that. He'll get the best care money can buy until all the physical and emotional damage is minimal."

"Emotional?"

"He didn't think I was going to take care of him. He cries when he is alone. He has nightmares if they don't drug him. He won't talk about what happened. He's still depressed about being here despite his best efforts not to be," Conner listed off. "He's one troubled kid. But I'll take care of him until it's all over. I have the time, I have the money, and I have the patience."

"I'll take care of him," Tessa corrected holding back tears. "I'm not leaving him ever again." She reached out and took Richie's good hand in her own. "I'll never leave you, Richie, I promise."

An hour later, Conner and Rachel left and Tessa stayed at Richie's side, holding his hand, and talking to him. After another hour she let go of Richie's hand and picked up the phone. She dialed the number to Duncan's hotel room from the paper she had in her pocket.

"Conner?" Duncan's anxious voice answered.

"It's me."

"Tess? How'd it go?"

Tears she had been holding back rushed forward. "He's horrible!" she sobbed.

"I'll take care of Conner, he won't get away with keeping you from Richie," Duncan promised.

"No, Richie's horrible. I'm in his room right now."

"How'd you get in?"

"I'm on the list. Duncan, he's so pale."

"What's wrong with him?"

Tessa listed off all of Richie's injuries. "Over six hundred stitches, Duncan, six hundred!"

"Surgery?" Duncan repeated.

"To fix the scars. I'm waiting for him to wake up. The nurse says it should be any minute now."

"He must look horrible."

"He must be so scared. Conner says he cries when he's alone. We did that to him!"

"No, Tessa, don't blame yourself. I did that to him. I made you leave. When Richie wakes up tell him I'll see him soon."

"But the list."

"Isn't going to stop me."

Twenty minutes later, Richie started to stir. He almost rolled onto his back, but the second one of his cuts hit the mattress, he stopped.

"Shh, be still," Tessa whispered. "You're okay." Richie pouted, still not quite awake, but settled back onto his side. "Come on, petit, open your eyes. Let me see." She patted his good hand and for the first time noticed the chipped black nail polish. She pushed it to the back of her mind. Apologies first, reprimands later.

"Mom?" Richie mumbled.

It took Tessa a second to respond. "Yes, it's me. Tessa. I'm here." She decided not to call attention to Richie's slip. He'd be too embarrassed if he remembered. "It's time to wake up."

"It hurts," he mumbled turning into his pillow.

"I'm sure it does. The nurse will give you something to make that go away. But first I want to see your eyes. Look at me." Slowly Richie's eyes opened and met her's. "That's a boy. I missed you."

"I love you," Richie answered.

"Mon petit, you're hurt." Once again Tessa chose to ignore Richie's drug induced affection.

"Yeah." He slowly began to wake up to a more coherent state.

"Are you hungry?"

"Yeah."

Tessa got on the phone to call the nurse's station to inform them Richie was awake and hungry. Not ten minutes later, an orderly arrived with a food tray and a nurse with a pad of some sort.

"You have to sit up, now," the nurse told him. She gently took hold of one of his arms and helped him position himself in the bed. "Don't lean back, yet." She situated the pad behind him. Tessa saw it was covered in a blue gel. The nurse untied the back of Richie's robe. "This will be cold," she warned pushing him back.

He hissed through his teeth as his cuts hit the gel. "What is this?"

"It will keep the cuts from becoming dry and itchy," she told him. "Plus it cleans out the wounds."

"Oh." Richie watched as the orderly put the try on the swivel table attached to his bed. "What's on the menu today?" he sighed.

"Salisbury steak, mash potatoes, peas, cantaloupe and Jell-O," the orderly told him. "And you have to eat everything, doctor's orders."

"I can't eat peas, I'm allergic," Richie told him.

"No, he's not," Tessa interrupted. "And he will eat them." When she spoke Richie turned to look at her as if he hadn't noticed her before.

"When'd you get here?" he asked in confusion.

"I'll tell you while you eat," she answered with a smile. It wasn't that uncommon for Richie to not remember what happened right before he went to sleep or after he woke up. sedation just made his memory worse.

The nurse and orderly left and Richie began to fumble with the food. Eating left-handed was not easy for him in general, but his wrist was a little swollen yet and very sore. After a few unproductive attempts, he relented and allowed Tessa to feed him after making her swear not to tell anyone about it. She helped him with what the hospital called steak promising him a rib eye when he got better. She mixed the peas with the potatoes so he wouldn't taste them as much. She spoon-fed him the Jell-O. But he insisted he could manage the cantaloupe just fine and proceeded to eat it with his fingers.

All the while, she told him what she had been doing in Paris, how much she missed him, and how upset she had been by their phone conversation. She chatted and he listened. After a while the nurse came in with a shot that she injected into Richie's IV. As she cleaned the excess gel off his back, his eyes began to droop. By the time he was re-positioned on his side he was asleep.

About 20 minutes later, Tessa heard familiar voices in the hall. She checked her watch and discovered that it was time for Rachel to come to replace her. After hearing how he reacted to being alone she refused to let him be awake without someone in the room with him.

As the door opened and Rachel came in, Tessa got up and hugged the woman. "He's been sleeping for about a half hour and probably will for another hour or so. He'll be cranky, but if you play a card game or watch TV with him to distract him, he doesn't feel the pain as badly."

Rachel nodded with a reassuring smile and gently shoved Tessa out the door. Tessa dragged her feet, wanting one last look at the boy, and then turned around only to run into Conner.

"Conner!" Tessa exclaimed. "It isn't your shift, is it?"

"Nope, I wanted to talk to you. I have a plan to knock some sense into Duncan. I need your help, though."

. . . . . .

Tessa put on her best poker face as she entered the hotel room. Conner stood in the doorway behind her as she moved to get her bags. Duncan had stopped his pacing as soon as he felt the buzz of another immortal. He relaxed a little when he saw it was just Conner.

"How is he?" he demanded, ignoring Tessa's obvious disapproving look she gave him after spotting the half empty Whiskey bottle on the dresser.

"He's fine," Conner told him.

"Tessa said he had over six hundred stitches, what happened to him?"

"He's fine," Conner repeated.

"Is that all you're going to tell me?"

"He's not your concern anymore. You sent him to me and I'm taking care of him."

"He is my concern!" Duncan insisted.

"He was," Conner corrected in the same tone Duncan used with Richie when patiently proving him wrong. "Are you ready, Tessa?"

For the first time, Duncan noticed what Tessa was doing. She was gathering her belongings. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to Conner's," she told him. "Richie will be home soon and he'll need looking after."

"You can't do this." Duncan shook his head. "You can't do this. You CAN'T do this! Conner, I have to see him! I have to see for myself that he's okay!"

"You're the one that wanted the clean break," Conner reminded him. "I'm not going to let him see you just to have to watch you walk away again."

"Tessa!" Duncan turned to her. "You can't agree with this! You know how much I love him!"

"He's right," Tessa said, also using her patiently dealing with Richie tone. "This is all for the best."

With that the two turned and walked down the hall to the elevator. Duncan glared at their backs before closing the door. He would see Richie one way or another.