Paul: Big mistake admitting to me of all people you're not a big Richie
fan; you nearly sent me into hysterics. But that's okay, I'm always
willing to be the one to convert people. And you wouldn't be the first I
successfully brainwashed into liking the guy.
Also, a little shameless self-promotion. I know some of you read my AU about Richie. (The Dangers of Holy Ground and the others). I got a request to do a story about Rylan and Duncan so I did one. It's called "The Grounding" and I would love for y'all to check it out if you get the notion. And as always please leave a review!
Richie paid the taxi driver and thanked him before taking a deep breath and boarding the barge. He stopped at the top of the stairs and stared down and the door. Nobody was there. How strange. He wondered where everyone was; the only thing he could come up with was some new immortal came looking for Duncan's head, which made him worry. He hated being out of the loop. Sighing, he jogged down the stairs, fumbled with his keys and let himself in. He put his bag in his room, which had been dusted, and went to explore Duncan's leftovers.
Twenty minutes later a buzz hit Richie. He didn't move from him relaxed position; sprawled on the couch with a plate half propped up on his chest, as he heard somebody hurriedly fit a key in the door, turn the lock and try to open the door. Richie laughed to himself, he had forgotten to lock the door and whoever was outside had done it for him. The lock shifted again and the door opened. Trying to stay nonchalant about the whole thing Richie didn't look up.
"Hey," he greeted casually.
"I smell food, it must be Richie," Duncan's voice said to the room. Richie could hear his smile.
"I was hungry. And being the nice guy I am I figured I should save you from having to deal with this crap later," Richie explained with a shrug sitting up and making room for Duncan on the couch next to him.
Duncan sat. "How very kind of you," he said dryly. "Nice weather isn't it?"
Richie looked thoughtfully out one of the portholes, adopted his best poker face and joined Duncan in their game. "Yes, yes I believe it is," he said determined for Duncan to loose.
"It's been like this all week, I hope it keeps up."
"That would be nice." Duncan didn't answer. Richie looked at him trying his best to keep the smile from his face. He could tell Duncan was about to crack, the game was about to be over.
"How's the weather in Missouri?" Duncan recovered.
"It's cold. But it is winter, so what do you expect?" Again they lapsed into silence. Richie bit his lip to keep from saying anything.
Finally, Duncan sighed. "You win, Rich. I can't do this anymore." He pulled Richie into a strong bear hug that Richie gladly returned.
"It's about time, Mac. I was beginning to think you didn't miss me," he complained with a grin over Duncan's shoulder.
"Not a chance, kid." They let go and stared at each other. "You look great," Duncan said ruffling Richie's hair. "A little on the scrawny side, though."
"What?" Richie looked down at himself. "I'm not scrawny. Look at this." He pushed up the sleeve of his T-shirt and flexed his bicept. "This is not scrawny. Granted I'm no Stalone, but scrawny is not a word you can use to describe me."
"How about bottomless pit?" Duncan asked gesturing towards the plate that sat on the coffee table in front of them.
Richie thought for a minute. "That one would probably work."
"How have you been?"
"Busy as hell, but I like it."
"That's good. I was half expecting you to complain the entire time you were here. You never seemed like much of the school type to me."
"You'd be surprised," Richie returned with a smile.
Duncan got a wide grin on his face. "Speaking of surprises. . ."
Richie set his face in a scowl. "Mac, whatever it is, don't even bother. No."
"You don't want dinner?" Duncan asked in shock.
"That was the surprise? Dinner?"
"What were you expecting?"
"Knowing you something big and expensive."
"Well, Le Cygne D'or is a little expensive, but it's your favorite and I figured you were sick of burgers by now," Duncan said. "But if you don't want to go, I can call and canc-"
"I take it back!" Richie interrupted quickly. "I wanna go!"
"Good, because we're supposed to meet everyone there in an hour."
Richie grinned. "Give me a sec." He got up and hurried to his room.
Duncan shook his head. "Some things never change."
. . . . . .
An hour later Duncan and Richie joined Amanda, Joe and Adam at Le Cygne D'or.
"So, Richard, how is school?" Amanda asked with a grin after they placed their orders.
"You mean how's Heather, don't you?" Duncan corrected.
Richie grinned. "School's fine. I'm pretty sure I kept a four point this semester. And Heather is. . . great."
"I want to meet her young man," Amanda ordered.
"Or at least know what she looks like," Joe added. He had already gotten a complete description of Richie's girlfriend from Mike, but wanted to hear Richie's take.
Richie blushed and ran his fingers through his hair. "Well, she's just a little shorter than me, dark hair. . . it's not black; it looks like it, but up close you can see it's brown." Adam rolled his eyes and groaned; Amanda kicked him under the table.
"Keep going."
"Um, green eyes, kinda an emerald green. And she's got light freckles across the bridge of her nose, and she's really cute, not like supermodel gorgeous, but just this you can't help but think she's cute cute." He paused for a second. "She's. . . I donno, just. . . there's something about her. She's so. . . innocent in the way she does everything, but you can, like, tell that she's been around, you know? And," he sighed contentedly. "She's got this laugh, this giggle thing; it sounds like something out of a cartoon. Once she starts up, you can't help but laugh with her. And she's genuinely nice. She's not mean to anyone; I don't think she can say a bad thing about a pile dog crap. She's the eternal optimist, always willing to try," he stopped again and shook his head slightly. "I'm almost scared I'm going to corrupt her."
"Does she know about your um, 'sorted' past?" Joe asked.
"That's the thing. Once we started to get serious I told her." He quickly glanced at Duncan. "Not everything, but everything else," he assured him. "She doesn't care. She's okay with it. She's really into me. And for once her folks like me, too."
"You've already met her parents?" Amanda asked excitedly.
Richie blushed again. "Yeah. They live about an hour and a half away from campus. Once a month she and her brother go to have dinner with them. This time they invited me, too."
"Why didn't you tell us you were going?"
"Cause I just found out about it. It was two days ago."
"So what did you think? Do you like them?"
"Yeah, they're real nice. It's kinda weird though. Heather's the one person with a more confusing childhood than me."
"What do you mean?" Adam asked having unwillingly gotten sucked into the hub-bub over Richie's new relationship.
"She lives with her dad and step-mom and three half siblings."
"What's so weird about that?" Duncan asked.
"O'Neal. . . uh, Alex, they're all O'Neals. Alex and Courtney and Brandon are all full blood siblings. Alex is the oldest, then Courtney, then Brandon. Heather fits in between Alex and Courtney."
"How does that work?" Joe asked trying to put it all together in his head.
"When Alex was three his parents had a trial separation. During that his Dad, Steve, met this lady, they got serious, and then he decided to go back to Melinda, Alex's mom. But not before he got Heather's mom pregnant. Ten years ago Heather's mom died, so she moved in her dad. Courtney was four then, a couple years ago they had Brandon. He's three now."
"That is complicated, and confusing," Duncan admitted still not quite understanding it all. "How did the dinner go?"
"Well, Melinda is a great cook. She made fried chicken. I didn't know you could do that at home, but it was better than any KFC I've ever had. Steve likes to tell stories; he's got a wilder imagination than me. Courtney thinks I'm cute and is waiting to pounce the second Heather and I break up. And Brandon. . . Brandon is quite the character," he laughed.
"What did O'Ne- - Alex think of having you at his house?" Joe asked.
"He wasn't very happy and had no problem letting everyone know. He refused to show. First I took over his team, then I started dating his sister, and now I've worked my way into his home. I think he's going to try to kill me when I get back."
"Good thing he can't," Adam commented. "Have you run into anyone who can?"
Richie thought for a minute. "Yeah, this one guy, Simon Miller. He's a history prof."
Duncan sat up a little straighter in his chair. "When did you meet him?"
"A couple weeks into the semester," Richie shrugged.
"Why didn't you tell me about him?" he demanded.
"I didn't know I was supposed to call you every time I met an immortal."
"I just want to know that there's no threat down there with you."
"There isn't, Mac. Just chill, all right? I got Mike to check up on him for me."
Joe chuckled. "Like father, like son," he whispered to Amanda, who smiled at him.
. . . . . .
Richie sat on the couch as Duncan paced in front of him. "I'm telling you Mac, Miller's one of the good guys. You have nothing to worry about."
"And what if he hadn't been, Richie?"
"Then I supposed the class would have been canceled do to his unexpected disappearance. Don't you trust me to handle myself?"
"I trust you; it's the others I don't trust."
"Look, Mac, I'm fine, I'm here, there's nothing wrong with me. There's no need to freak."
Duncan looked at Richie and his expression softened. "You're right. There's no need for me to get so overprotective. You've proven yourself before, you can do this."
Richie quirked a lop sided grin. "Can you repeat that?"
"You can do this?"
"No, the first part. The 'You're right' part. I like that part."
"Don't get used to that part, it rare that I'll ever be able to say it."
Richie's jaw dropped. "You are so mean. I can't believe you just said that!"
"What? It's true, and you know it."
"Well, yeah, but. . . it's the principle of the mater. You're supposed to be my best friend; you're not supposed to say stuff like that!"
"Watch me," Duncan grinned.
. . . . . .
Christmas night everyone gathered at the barge for dinner. Duncan had Richie running all over the city all day to pick up little things that had been forgotten. But, everything came together in the end.
"That was wonderful, Duncan," Amanda said as they all settled in the living room after dinner. "You should cook more often."
"There's nobody around to cook for anymore," Duncan shrugged. "Since somebody had to go off and be Mr. Big-Shot-Basketball-Star."
Richie grinned. "Don't start that again. It's all your fault I finally caved, you know."
"Everything's my fault as far as you're concerned."
"True," Richie admitted.
Joe laughed. "You really need to find time to visit an old man before you leave. I haven't had a chance to have you by myself. Mac's been hogging you all week."
"How does tomorrow sound?"
"Very good."
"So tell us more about this Miller guy," Adam said. "How good is he?"
"I donno," Richie shrugged. "It's not like I've tried to kill him or anything."
"You haven't spared with him?"
"Nah, I've been real busy. I haven't had much time to- -" Richie stopped. He'd already said too much.
Duncan glared across the room to where Richie sat on the floor in front of Amanda who had coaxed him over for a massage. "You haven't had much time to what?"
"To spar with anybody," Richie answered.
"Have you even touched your sword since you left?" Richie didn't immediately answer. "You haven't been practicing."
"Well, it's not exactly a common hobby you know."
"So?"
"So, I'm trying not to stick out too much. I've been doing everything else, I swear, it's just. . . pulling out a sword would be a little much."
"Trying not to stick out?" Duncan repeated. "That's why you keep showing off on national television? So you won't stick out?"
"Duncan leave him alone," Amanda said. "He knows what he's doing."
"Mac, would ya chill? I just don't think taking a half a million dollar sword down to the campus gym is such a good idea. I've already attracted a lot of attention as it is."
"Doing what?" Duncan demanded.
"Boxing, karate, tai chi, yoga, picking up any weapon someone has laying around and knowing how to use it. I can write all that off as 'I worked at a dojo' fencing is going to be a little much."
"He has a point, MacLeod," Adam put in. "But Rich, you really should find some time to spar with this Miller guy. You can even learn a few things from each other. No matter how good you are, not practicing can get you into a lot of trouble."
"What if somebody challenged you?" Duncan asked his worry evident in his voice.
"But there's nobody down there," Richie protested. "I'm the first immortal Miller's run into in six years."
"That's not an excuse, Richie," Joe put in. "I've seen and heard about immortals more experienced going down because they thought that since nobody was there now, there wouldn't be later."
Richie stood up. "Does anyone have anything else to say? Anything they want to put in on how I should run my life?" he asked glancing around the room. Nobody said anything. "You sure? Cause I'm leaving." Again nobody responded. "Okay, see you guys later." He turned and went to the door.
"Richie, where are you going?" Duncan asked.
"Chill, Mac. I'll take my sword," Richie said icily disappearing into his room for a second and emerging with his jacket and sword. "I'll be back later." And with that he left.
"Well," Adam said breaking the silence. "That went well."
Duncan glanced around at everybody. "I'm right aren't I?" Everyone agreed. "Then what is his problem?"
"You did gang up on him," Amanda pointed out. "All he wants is to be an equal and you guys keep telling him what to do. He doesn't think he's a kid anymore. By our standards his is; he's inexperienced, young, doesn't know what he's doing. But by his standards, he's twenty and that enough to make him a man."
"But this isn't just some little mistake he's making, though," Duncan argued. "This could get him killed."
"So tell him," she shrugged.
"We just did."
"Then show him."
Also, a little shameless self-promotion. I know some of you read my AU about Richie. (The Dangers of Holy Ground and the others). I got a request to do a story about Rylan and Duncan so I did one. It's called "The Grounding" and I would love for y'all to check it out if you get the notion. And as always please leave a review!
Richie paid the taxi driver and thanked him before taking a deep breath and boarding the barge. He stopped at the top of the stairs and stared down and the door. Nobody was there. How strange. He wondered where everyone was; the only thing he could come up with was some new immortal came looking for Duncan's head, which made him worry. He hated being out of the loop. Sighing, he jogged down the stairs, fumbled with his keys and let himself in. He put his bag in his room, which had been dusted, and went to explore Duncan's leftovers.
Twenty minutes later a buzz hit Richie. He didn't move from him relaxed position; sprawled on the couch with a plate half propped up on his chest, as he heard somebody hurriedly fit a key in the door, turn the lock and try to open the door. Richie laughed to himself, he had forgotten to lock the door and whoever was outside had done it for him. The lock shifted again and the door opened. Trying to stay nonchalant about the whole thing Richie didn't look up.
"Hey," he greeted casually.
"I smell food, it must be Richie," Duncan's voice said to the room. Richie could hear his smile.
"I was hungry. And being the nice guy I am I figured I should save you from having to deal with this crap later," Richie explained with a shrug sitting up and making room for Duncan on the couch next to him.
Duncan sat. "How very kind of you," he said dryly. "Nice weather isn't it?"
Richie looked thoughtfully out one of the portholes, adopted his best poker face and joined Duncan in their game. "Yes, yes I believe it is," he said determined for Duncan to loose.
"It's been like this all week, I hope it keeps up."
"That would be nice." Duncan didn't answer. Richie looked at him trying his best to keep the smile from his face. He could tell Duncan was about to crack, the game was about to be over.
"How's the weather in Missouri?" Duncan recovered.
"It's cold. But it is winter, so what do you expect?" Again they lapsed into silence. Richie bit his lip to keep from saying anything.
Finally, Duncan sighed. "You win, Rich. I can't do this anymore." He pulled Richie into a strong bear hug that Richie gladly returned.
"It's about time, Mac. I was beginning to think you didn't miss me," he complained with a grin over Duncan's shoulder.
"Not a chance, kid." They let go and stared at each other. "You look great," Duncan said ruffling Richie's hair. "A little on the scrawny side, though."
"What?" Richie looked down at himself. "I'm not scrawny. Look at this." He pushed up the sleeve of his T-shirt and flexed his bicept. "This is not scrawny. Granted I'm no Stalone, but scrawny is not a word you can use to describe me."
"How about bottomless pit?" Duncan asked gesturing towards the plate that sat on the coffee table in front of them.
Richie thought for a minute. "That one would probably work."
"How have you been?"
"Busy as hell, but I like it."
"That's good. I was half expecting you to complain the entire time you were here. You never seemed like much of the school type to me."
"You'd be surprised," Richie returned with a smile.
Duncan got a wide grin on his face. "Speaking of surprises. . ."
Richie set his face in a scowl. "Mac, whatever it is, don't even bother. No."
"You don't want dinner?" Duncan asked in shock.
"That was the surprise? Dinner?"
"What were you expecting?"
"Knowing you something big and expensive."
"Well, Le Cygne D'or is a little expensive, but it's your favorite and I figured you were sick of burgers by now," Duncan said. "But if you don't want to go, I can call and canc-"
"I take it back!" Richie interrupted quickly. "I wanna go!"
"Good, because we're supposed to meet everyone there in an hour."
Richie grinned. "Give me a sec." He got up and hurried to his room.
Duncan shook his head. "Some things never change."
. . . . . .
An hour later Duncan and Richie joined Amanda, Joe and Adam at Le Cygne D'or.
"So, Richard, how is school?" Amanda asked with a grin after they placed their orders.
"You mean how's Heather, don't you?" Duncan corrected.
Richie grinned. "School's fine. I'm pretty sure I kept a four point this semester. And Heather is. . . great."
"I want to meet her young man," Amanda ordered.
"Or at least know what she looks like," Joe added. He had already gotten a complete description of Richie's girlfriend from Mike, but wanted to hear Richie's take.
Richie blushed and ran his fingers through his hair. "Well, she's just a little shorter than me, dark hair. . . it's not black; it looks like it, but up close you can see it's brown." Adam rolled his eyes and groaned; Amanda kicked him under the table.
"Keep going."
"Um, green eyes, kinda an emerald green. And she's got light freckles across the bridge of her nose, and she's really cute, not like supermodel gorgeous, but just this you can't help but think she's cute cute." He paused for a second. "She's. . . I donno, just. . . there's something about her. She's so. . . innocent in the way she does everything, but you can, like, tell that she's been around, you know? And," he sighed contentedly. "She's got this laugh, this giggle thing; it sounds like something out of a cartoon. Once she starts up, you can't help but laugh with her. And she's genuinely nice. She's not mean to anyone; I don't think she can say a bad thing about a pile dog crap. She's the eternal optimist, always willing to try," he stopped again and shook his head slightly. "I'm almost scared I'm going to corrupt her."
"Does she know about your um, 'sorted' past?" Joe asked.
"That's the thing. Once we started to get serious I told her." He quickly glanced at Duncan. "Not everything, but everything else," he assured him. "She doesn't care. She's okay with it. She's really into me. And for once her folks like me, too."
"You've already met her parents?" Amanda asked excitedly.
Richie blushed again. "Yeah. They live about an hour and a half away from campus. Once a month she and her brother go to have dinner with them. This time they invited me, too."
"Why didn't you tell us you were going?"
"Cause I just found out about it. It was two days ago."
"So what did you think? Do you like them?"
"Yeah, they're real nice. It's kinda weird though. Heather's the one person with a more confusing childhood than me."
"What do you mean?" Adam asked having unwillingly gotten sucked into the hub-bub over Richie's new relationship.
"She lives with her dad and step-mom and three half siblings."
"What's so weird about that?" Duncan asked.
"O'Neal. . . uh, Alex, they're all O'Neals. Alex and Courtney and Brandon are all full blood siblings. Alex is the oldest, then Courtney, then Brandon. Heather fits in between Alex and Courtney."
"How does that work?" Joe asked trying to put it all together in his head.
"When Alex was three his parents had a trial separation. During that his Dad, Steve, met this lady, they got serious, and then he decided to go back to Melinda, Alex's mom. But not before he got Heather's mom pregnant. Ten years ago Heather's mom died, so she moved in her dad. Courtney was four then, a couple years ago they had Brandon. He's three now."
"That is complicated, and confusing," Duncan admitted still not quite understanding it all. "How did the dinner go?"
"Well, Melinda is a great cook. She made fried chicken. I didn't know you could do that at home, but it was better than any KFC I've ever had. Steve likes to tell stories; he's got a wilder imagination than me. Courtney thinks I'm cute and is waiting to pounce the second Heather and I break up. And Brandon. . . Brandon is quite the character," he laughed.
"What did O'Ne- - Alex think of having you at his house?" Joe asked.
"He wasn't very happy and had no problem letting everyone know. He refused to show. First I took over his team, then I started dating his sister, and now I've worked my way into his home. I think he's going to try to kill me when I get back."
"Good thing he can't," Adam commented. "Have you run into anyone who can?"
Richie thought for a minute. "Yeah, this one guy, Simon Miller. He's a history prof."
Duncan sat up a little straighter in his chair. "When did you meet him?"
"A couple weeks into the semester," Richie shrugged.
"Why didn't you tell me about him?" he demanded.
"I didn't know I was supposed to call you every time I met an immortal."
"I just want to know that there's no threat down there with you."
"There isn't, Mac. Just chill, all right? I got Mike to check up on him for me."
Joe chuckled. "Like father, like son," he whispered to Amanda, who smiled at him.
. . . . . .
Richie sat on the couch as Duncan paced in front of him. "I'm telling you Mac, Miller's one of the good guys. You have nothing to worry about."
"And what if he hadn't been, Richie?"
"Then I supposed the class would have been canceled do to his unexpected disappearance. Don't you trust me to handle myself?"
"I trust you; it's the others I don't trust."
"Look, Mac, I'm fine, I'm here, there's nothing wrong with me. There's no need to freak."
Duncan looked at Richie and his expression softened. "You're right. There's no need for me to get so overprotective. You've proven yourself before, you can do this."
Richie quirked a lop sided grin. "Can you repeat that?"
"You can do this?"
"No, the first part. The 'You're right' part. I like that part."
"Don't get used to that part, it rare that I'll ever be able to say it."
Richie's jaw dropped. "You are so mean. I can't believe you just said that!"
"What? It's true, and you know it."
"Well, yeah, but. . . it's the principle of the mater. You're supposed to be my best friend; you're not supposed to say stuff like that!"
"Watch me," Duncan grinned.
. . . . . .
Christmas night everyone gathered at the barge for dinner. Duncan had Richie running all over the city all day to pick up little things that had been forgotten. But, everything came together in the end.
"That was wonderful, Duncan," Amanda said as they all settled in the living room after dinner. "You should cook more often."
"There's nobody around to cook for anymore," Duncan shrugged. "Since somebody had to go off and be Mr. Big-Shot-Basketball-Star."
Richie grinned. "Don't start that again. It's all your fault I finally caved, you know."
"Everything's my fault as far as you're concerned."
"True," Richie admitted.
Joe laughed. "You really need to find time to visit an old man before you leave. I haven't had a chance to have you by myself. Mac's been hogging you all week."
"How does tomorrow sound?"
"Very good."
"So tell us more about this Miller guy," Adam said. "How good is he?"
"I donno," Richie shrugged. "It's not like I've tried to kill him or anything."
"You haven't spared with him?"
"Nah, I've been real busy. I haven't had much time to- -" Richie stopped. He'd already said too much.
Duncan glared across the room to where Richie sat on the floor in front of Amanda who had coaxed him over for a massage. "You haven't had much time to what?"
"To spar with anybody," Richie answered.
"Have you even touched your sword since you left?" Richie didn't immediately answer. "You haven't been practicing."
"Well, it's not exactly a common hobby you know."
"So?"
"So, I'm trying not to stick out too much. I've been doing everything else, I swear, it's just. . . pulling out a sword would be a little much."
"Trying not to stick out?" Duncan repeated. "That's why you keep showing off on national television? So you won't stick out?"
"Duncan leave him alone," Amanda said. "He knows what he's doing."
"Mac, would ya chill? I just don't think taking a half a million dollar sword down to the campus gym is such a good idea. I've already attracted a lot of attention as it is."
"Doing what?" Duncan demanded.
"Boxing, karate, tai chi, yoga, picking up any weapon someone has laying around and knowing how to use it. I can write all that off as 'I worked at a dojo' fencing is going to be a little much."
"He has a point, MacLeod," Adam put in. "But Rich, you really should find some time to spar with this Miller guy. You can even learn a few things from each other. No matter how good you are, not practicing can get you into a lot of trouble."
"What if somebody challenged you?" Duncan asked his worry evident in his voice.
"But there's nobody down there," Richie protested. "I'm the first immortal Miller's run into in six years."
"That's not an excuse, Richie," Joe put in. "I've seen and heard about immortals more experienced going down because they thought that since nobody was there now, there wouldn't be later."
Richie stood up. "Does anyone have anything else to say? Anything they want to put in on how I should run my life?" he asked glancing around the room. Nobody said anything. "You sure? Cause I'm leaving." Again nobody responded. "Okay, see you guys later." He turned and went to the door.
"Richie, where are you going?" Duncan asked.
"Chill, Mac. I'll take my sword," Richie said icily disappearing into his room for a second and emerging with his jacket and sword. "I'll be back later." And with that he left.
"Well," Adam said breaking the silence. "That went well."
Duncan glanced around at everybody. "I'm right aren't I?" Everyone agreed. "Then what is his problem?"
"You did gang up on him," Amanda pointed out. "All he wants is to be an equal and you guys keep telling him what to do. He doesn't think he's a kid anymore. By our standards his is; he's inexperienced, young, doesn't know what he's doing. But by his standards, he's twenty and that enough to make him a man."
"But this isn't just some little mistake he's making, though," Duncan argued. "This could get him killed."
"So tell him," she shrugged.
"We just did."
"Then show him."