Staring down the hall at Richie's closed bedroom door, both Duncan and Tessa were momentarily lost for words. Unfortunately for the Immortal, Tessa was the first to regain her composure. "Well, that went well. Thank you for getting things under control, Duncan."
"Tessa." Duncan began.
"No." The Frenchwoman interrupted. "You insist that you know the best way to handle him; you handle him."
"What exactly are you saying, Tess?" The Immortal replied.
Tessa was immediately prepared with an answer. "Since you seem to believe that you know what he needs, you need to get things straightened out with him. Now."
"You don't want to talk to him together?" Duncan questioned, in complete disbelief.
Turning from the hallway and looking at the man, she addressed him in her most serious tone. "Are we still on the same page about what we want to happen?"
"Of course." The Immortal replied quickly. Despite the challenges they'd had during their discussions with Richie, the Immortal was positive that they had the same goals. After all, they had spent the night before discussing their plans regarding the teen.
"Good." The woman replied with a short, definitive nod. Turning back to the hallway, she beckoned Duncan forward with a sweeping wave of the hand. "He's all yours."
Hesitantly, Duncan headed down the hallway. Even as he walked, he realized that he had no idea how he was going to get through to the
When his third knock went unanswered, Duncan simply eased the door open. He was not entirely surprised to see that Richie was simply sitting on the bed, staring in the direction of the wall.
"Hey, Rich." Slipping into the room, Duncan was shocked by what he saw.
The teen returned his greeting with a slight nod of acknowledgement and only one word. "Mac."
"Little early for spring cleaning, isn't it?" Duncan questioned.
Richie shrugged and, to the Immortal's surprise, actually turned to face him as he replied. "I left, remember?"
"Vividly." The Immortal replied as he pulled the now-visible desk chair out and straddled it.
After a few moments of tense silence, Duncan made an awkward attempt at jumpstarting the conversation. "Speaking of which."
When the comment was left hanging, he continued. "Care to explain why you left?"
"I already told you." Richie replied in a tone that came dangerously close to pouting. "It was time for me to move on."
Desperate, Duncan decided to switch tactics. "So that's all I deserve, huh?"
"What?" The teen looked up at him, genuine confusion on his face.
"Well, obviously you don't think that highly of me if all I've earned from you is a short note and vague, cryptic responses like 'the time had come'." The Scotsman replied.
"You know I respect you." Richie replied, not buying the idea that Duncan was hurt for a moment.
"Funny way of showing it." The Immortal replied shortly.
As Richie looked over at the man, it suddenly dawned on him that Duncan was truly upset he had left. For a brief moment, he let his guard down. "I'm sorry, okay? I just didn't know what else to do. It was too hard."
"What was too hard?" Duncan questioned gently, seeing an opening in the teen's defenses.
Unfortunately, Richie was quick to recover his guard. An uninviting shrug was the only response he received. Duncan, though, was not willing to let the subject drop. Desperate to get the boy to let down his defenses, he decided to try a tactic that he had no doubt would make the teen uncomfortable. Standing up from the desk chair, he crossed the space between himself and Richie and sat down next to him on the bed. Slipping an arm across the teen's shoulder, he squeezed Richie tightly to his side, despite feeling the boy immediately going rigid.
"It's alright." He said softly, continuing to keep a tight grip on the teen. "Please, tell me. What was too hard?"
When Richie remained silent, Duncan found himself pressing further. "What was too hard, Richie? I promise it'll be okay." Even as the words flew out of his mouth, Duncan feared that he would not be able to live up to them.
"How can you say that?" The teen asked.
For a second, he almost took it back. He was a breath away from admitting to the teen that he couldn't promise that everything would be all right. Life was hard. They both knew it. Things happened that were completely unexpected. He couldn't always keep those he loved safe, no matter how much he wanted to or how hard he tried. Who was he to promise that everything would be okay? Looking the teen in the eye, ready to take it back, Duncan realized what he was promising. He wasn't promising that life would be perfect. That wasn't what Richie needed to make things better. He needed someone to listen and care and try to help. That he could promise.
He calmly reassured the boy. "We'll work it out, Richie. Whatever it is that drove you away, we'll face it together."
As Richie looked down at his hands, Duncan placed his hand on the back of the boy's neck. "What was it, Richie? What was so hard that you had to leave?"
"Seeing." Richie finally replied, studying his knuckles as he spoke.
Despite the lack of insight the Immortal drew from the response, it gave him hope. Richie was defiantly coming around, even if getting information from him was a trying task. Duncan continued to gently press him. "Seeing what? Hum?"
"You and Tessa. What you guys have together." Richie replied quietly.
Duncan was completely thrown. Of all the responses that might have come out of Richie's mouth, that was probably the one he had least expected. "Rich, you'll have that to." He replied quickly. "You're still young, give it some time."
"No." Richie interrupted Duncan's pep talk, shaking his head in frustration. "I don't mean that."
"Then what?" Duncan asked, now more confused than ever.