"Richie, I'm. BEEP! Richie, it's. BEEP! Hi, Richie, I know. BEEP!
Please call. BEEP! I'm sorr.. BEEP! Where are. BEEP!" Richie just
kept hitting the erase button every time Greg's voice spoke from his
answering machine. "Rich. BEEP! Hey, babe." It was Heather; Richie let
the message play. "Call me when you get home. I hope everything went
well. BEEP! Where the hell. BEEP!" Once again Greg was talking.
"Richie. BEEP! Richard Ryan," It was Greg but Richie let it play. "Where
are you? Call me back or I will come to you! BEEP!" Richie erased it
with satisfaction. "Richie, I'm sorry. BEEP! No new messages."
"About time," Richie grumbled dropping onto his bed. There had been thirty messages waiting for him when he got home from Washington, most of which were from Greg apologizing and either begging or demanding he call him back. Richie called Heather, assured her everything was fine and they talked for an hour.
Then Richie went to practice early so he could apologize to Coach Roberts for leaving suddenly. Coach Roberts was very understanding and had admitted that he had been waiting for something like that to happen. The team welcomed Richie back, who explained that the uncle who had been sick had died suddenly when they thought he was getting better. The team gave him their condolences and then they got to work.
Richie didn't call Greg for another two days. They made arrangements to meet after the game on Saturday. Richie went through his week trying to hide his apprehension about the meeting. He was as cheerful as ever with his tables at The Stadium and earned some of the best tips he had gotten in the almost three years he had been working there. He ran hard practices, but the team didn't complain, they had become intent on winning the Final Four.
They won their game against Michigan State 128 to 117. The news of Roberts' immanent retirement had spread to the media so reporters stood impatiently outside the locker room waiting for the Missouri players to come out. They left in large groups, the upper classmen distracting the reporters so the younger players could sneak away. As the captain Richie took the last group out and took over answering questions so the rest of the team could leave. He told the reports how sorry the team was to see Coach Roberts leave. He told them how intent the team was on wining the Final Four for Coach's last year. And he explained for the twelve billionth time about his "uncle." Finally, he appeased the reporters enough to sneak away.
He got in his car and drove over to Greg's house. When he got to the house, he thought about using his key to let himself in, but decided to ring the bell instead. He didn't call out any greeting, but waited for Greg to see who it was.
"Hi, Richie," Greg said with a smile opening the door.
"Hey," Richie answered. Despite the nice weather he was wearing his jacket and had his sword tucked inside.
"Come in." Greg stepped aside. Richie walked past him. "I saw the game, you were pretty good."
"Thanks."
"Do you want some dinner?"
"Sure."
Richie sat at the table and Greg served up grilled chicken and mashed potatoes. They ate in silence. At the end of the meal, Greg brought over a bowl of gummy worms for Richie. Richie tried to not eat them, but his will power failed him and he began chewing on the candy.
"Did you get my messages?" Greg asked.
"Yup," Richie answered. "Didn't really listen to them though. What's up?"
"I'm sorry," Greg said. "I was wrong to get so angry at you. You're an adult, you're about to graduate college, and I have no business bossing you around." He paused.
"If you're waiting for me to correct you, it's not gonna happen," Richie said.
"I know. I've been a horrible father these past couple of years." Richie fought the urge to claim it had been fine. "I've treated you like a little kid. I want to make it up to you."
"I'm listening."
"You know how I promised to take you somewhere spring break?" Richie nodded. "Well, those plans got canceled. I have a business trip and I can't get out of it."
"And this is supposed to make it up to me how?"
"I want you to come with me."
"No offense. but I doubt it would be very much fun. I'm sure I can go."
"Give me a chance," Greg interrupted, fully aware Richie was going to go running home to Duncan when he got the chance. "I just thought it would be an educational experience for you."
"Educational? Sounds like a lot of fun now."
"Well, you've been taking Japanese for the past couple years and I figured you'd like a chance to try it out."
"What do my classes have to do. you're going to Japan?"
Greg smiled. "I thought you'd like to come."
A broad smile spread across Richie's face. "You wanna take me to Japan?" he asked just to make sure he hadn't misinterpreted anything.
"Yes. Heather, too, if she'd like. All expenses paid, of course, all you need to get is a passport."
"Yeah?" Richie asked excitedly. Then his grin faded. "What about basketball? We have a game one of those weeks, and Coach is big on practices right now."
"I already checked; you'll be home in time for the game."
"What about the practices before?"
"You'll be home four days before the game. And I'm sure Roberts will give the team at least a week off. Plus you can miss a practice."
"Not really, I've missed a lot."
"Just a couple," Greg said.
"I'm the captain, Dad, I can't slack off."
"Good point, why don't I have a little talk with Coach Roberts and get this all worked out," he offered.
"No, I can handle it. I'll talk to him and if I'm sure I can go; I'll talk to Heather."
"Okay. I'm sure you two will have a lot of fun. Will she want her own room?" Greg asked.
"Probably not. We share her room all the time when I stay at her parent's house. And we don't know if we can go, yet."
"I'm sure you will."
. . . . . .
Two weeks later Richie took some of his stuff back to Greg's. While he didn't keep as much as he used to over there, he decided it was best to let Greg know he wasn't completely angry with him anymore. He continued on his usual schedule, school, work, practice, school, practice, work, practice, practice, work, school. One day he over heard some of Heather's sorority sisters talking while he was waiting for her to come down. Apparently the school had hired a replacement for Professor Miller.
"He's so cute," one of the girls said. "He had this great accent and he makes it sound like he was actually there."
"Really?" the other girl asked.
"What does he look like?" asked a third. 'Freshman,' Richie thought rolling his eyes. 'Fresh from High School.'
"He's tall and lean and he has the cutest nose." the first described.
That was when Heather came down and the new professor was quickly pushed to the back of his mind. They went out to dinner and decided to walk around campus since the weather was so nice.
"So are you going camping again this Christmas?" Heather asked him.
"I don't know," Richie said. "I don't know if I want to be trapped with Dad as my only company for the entire time. I might go home this year."
"I'm sure Duncan would like that."
"Probably," Richie agreed. They walked some more. Suddenly Richie stopped. He grabbed Heather's hand and pulled her to a stop as well. There was an immortal near by.
"What's wrong?"
Richie fished in his pockets for his keys, feeling the reassuring weight of his saber tucked in his coat. "Here," he handed her his keys. "I know this is going to sound stupid, but someone is following us. So I want you to stay close, but if I tell you to run, go straight to my car and go back to the sorority house. I'll meet you there later. Okay?" he rambled urgently.
"What?"
"Heather! Just promise, okay?"
"Do you think it's another kidnapper?" she asked worriedly.
Richie paused a second. "Maybe. okay. I don't want him to get you, too. So when it's safe, I'll tell you to run, got it?"
"Okay," she nodded.
"Hey," he smiled. "Don't be scared; I'll take care of you, promise." Richie stiffened as the immortal stepped around the corner of the history building. "Figures."
"What?"
"Shh. Who's there?"
"I would never hurt a lady," the stranger replied.
Richie instantly relaxed; he knew that sarcastic tone. "What are you doing here?" he asked walking to him. He gave Heather a little tug so she would follow him. "Heather, you remember Adam. the ass," Richie said with a slight grin.
"Nice to see you again, Heather," Adam said pleasantly.
"You really scared us," Heather said with a smile.
"Likewise."
"So what are you doing here?" Richie asked.
"A man has to make a living," Adam shrugged.
"You're the new history prof?"
"Yes."
"Did Mac put you up to this?"
"Why would you say that?"
"Sounds like something he would do," Richie told him.
"Well, relax, I'm no wet nurse. I'm not here to baby sit. I'm here to make some money. MacLeod doesn't even know I'm here."
"Once he finds out, he's gonna want you to spy on me."
"And what makes you think I will?"
Richie grinned. "I forgot; this is you we're talking about. Thanks, man."
"Someone has to give you some dignity."
Richie chuckled a little. "Thanks. See you around."
"Bye, Adam," Heather said.
"You can do better," he reminded her as the pair walked away.
. . . . . .
Christmas came and Richie went to Paris. He celebrated his first Christmas since returning to the Jewish faith. He helped Duncan get ready for Christmas as usual, but held his own, little, private Hanukkah celebration in his room. He set up a menorah on his bookshelf. Every night he said the blessings as he lit the candles, prayed for a little while, then blew them out. He had never left candles lit for too long on the barge because he was always scared they would fall over and start a fire. Duncan had warned him a thousand times that just because he was used to the motion of the boat and no longer noticed it, didn't mean it wasn't there. He had meant to keep Richie from leaving half-drunk glasses of juice around the barge and ended up making him paranoid half the time.
On the sixth night, he left his room and went out to read on the couch like he always did. But instead of teasing him as usual, Duncan sat on the coffee table and stared at him.
"What?" Richie asked.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Um.you see, Mac, I," Richie started to explain automatically, then stopped. "Tell you what?" In answer Duncan reached up and took Richie's yarmulke off his head. "Oh." Richie's hand automatically went to where the cap had been. "That. I wasn't ready to yet?"
"What's with you and secrets?"
"Mac, this isn't a secret. I just wanted to figure out how I felt about it first. It's still new to me."
"When did you decide?"
"Earlier this year."
"Why Judaism?" Duncan asked.
Richie shrugged. "'Cause I'm Jewish."
"Since when?"
He shrugged again. "Always, I guess." Duncan raised his eyebrows. "Explanation time, right?"
"You bet." Richie took a deep breath before giving him his story from Emily to Steven.
Duncan took a second to take it all in. "So, you didn't have your first real Christmas with Tessa and me, you had your first Christmas, period?"
"Yeah."
"And you didn't say anything because of what happened at Mamma Nikki's."
"Right."
"I don't know weather to feel sorry for you or mad that you didn't trust us. We would have never kicked you out. And for that matter I never will."
"Mac, com'on, I know that now. I didn't then. It's just always been my experience that when people find out you're different, it only causes trouble."
"Richie, that's not true," Duncan told him. "Being different is good."
"That's why you waited how long to tell Tessa you were immortal?"
"Okay," he allowed. "Immortality doesn't count. Religions don't matter."
"Tell that to the Nazis and the people who almost burned down Mamma Nikki's house, and .."
"Okay. It doesn't matter to people who care about you," Duncan corrected.
"I know, Mac."
"Then how come you're hiding who you are?"
"'Cause I don't know if this is me," Richie told him. "It was. a long time ago. but I've changed since then. I might not stick with this and I didn't see any reason to tell anyone if it's just a phase."
"Rich, I think this is more than a phase. If you're having closet Hanukkah celebrations, you must be serious about this."
"Maybe. I just didn't want to."
"Rich," Duncan interrupted. "Listen to me, okay?" He pulled the boy close by grabbing the chain of the necklace he had given him years ago. "I know you still care about me because you still wear this."
"Mac."
"Shh. And since you don't have any heirlooms to give me, you just have to trust that I care about you. Religion doesn't matter to me."
"Mac, how come everything always boils down to abandonment issues with you?"
"Because that's usually what it is."
"Well, this time it's not. It strictly a, 'I'm not sure yet' thing. All right? I out grew that abandonment thing a long time ago."
Duncan just smiled. "If you say so."
Richie spent the rest of vacation catching up with everyone. He helped Joe out at the bar serving drinks and unloading trucks. He played chess with Darius a few times. He visited Tessa and spent the whole day talking to her and telling her how much she would have loved Heather.
"Don't tell anyone," he told her. "But I'm gonna propose. Next year. I have it all planned. Too bad you couldn't help me."
He flew home a week before classes started for basketball practices. Coach was getting worse and the team was more determined than ever to win.
AN: Sorry it took so long to update! I promise they will be more frequent. I'm going to concentrate on this an FT only for a while. But the sequel to ABANDONMENT is in the works!
"About time," Richie grumbled dropping onto his bed. There had been thirty messages waiting for him when he got home from Washington, most of which were from Greg apologizing and either begging or demanding he call him back. Richie called Heather, assured her everything was fine and they talked for an hour.
Then Richie went to practice early so he could apologize to Coach Roberts for leaving suddenly. Coach Roberts was very understanding and had admitted that he had been waiting for something like that to happen. The team welcomed Richie back, who explained that the uncle who had been sick had died suddenly when they thought he was getting better. The team gave him their condolences and then they got to work.
Richie didn't call Greg for another two days. They made arrangements to meet after the game on Saturday. Richie went through his week trying to hide his apprehension about the meeting. He was as cheerful as ever with his tables at The Stadium and earned some of the best tips he had gotten in the almost three years he had been working there. He ran hard practices, but the team didn't complain, they had become intent on winning the Final Four.
They won their game against Michigan State 128 to 117. The news of Roberts' immanent retirement had spread to the media so reporters stood impatiently outside the locker room waiting for the Missouri players to come out. They left in large groups, the upper classmen distracting the reporters so the younger players could sneak away. As the captain Richie took the last group out and took over answering questions so the rest of the team could leave. He told the reports how sorry the team was to see Coach Roberts leave. He told them how intent the team was on wining the Final Four for Coach's last year. And he explained for the twelve billionth time about his "uncle." Finally, he appeased the reporters enough to sneak away.
He got in his car and drove over to Greg's house. When he got to the house, he thought about using his key to let himself in, but decided to ring the bell instead. He didn't call out any greeting, but waited for Greg to see who it was.
"Hi, Richie," Greg said with a smile opening the door.
"Hey," Richie answered. Despite the nice weather he was wearing his jacket and had his sword tucked inside.
"Come in." Greg stepped aside. Richie walked past him. "I saw the game, you were pretty good."
"Thanks."
"Do you want some dinner?"
"Sure."
Richie sat at the table and Greg served up grilled chicken and mashed potatoes. They ate in silence. At the end of the meal, Greg brought over a bowl of gummy worms for Richie. Richie tried to not eat them, but his will power failed him and he began chewing on the candy.
"Did you get my messages?" Greg asked.
"Yup," Richie answered. "Didn't really listen to them though. What's up?"
"I'm sorry," Greg said. "I was wrong to get so angry at you. You're an adult, you're about to graduate college, and I have no business bossing you around." He paused.
"If you're waiting for me to correct you, it's not gonna happen," Richie said.
"I know. I've been a horrible father these past couple of years." Richie fought the urge to claim it had been fine. "I've treated you like a little kid. I want to make it up to you."
"I'm listening."
"You know how I promised to take you somewhere spring break?" Richie nodded. "Well, those plans got canceled. I have a business trip and I can't get out of it."
"And this is supposed to make it up to me how?"
"I want you to come with me."
"No offense. but I doubt it would be very much fun. I'm sure I can go."
"Give me a chance," Greg interrupted, fully aware Richie was going to go running home to Duncan when he got the chance. "I just thought it would be an educational experience for you."
"Educational? Sounds like a lot of fun now."
"Well, you've been taking Japanese for the past couple years and I figured you'd like a chance to try it out."
"What do my classes have to do. you're going to Japan?"
Greg smiled. "I thought you'd like to come."
A broad smile spread across Richie's face. "You wanna take me to Japan?" he asked just to make sure he hadn't misinterpreted anything.
"Yes. Heather, too, if she'd like. All expenses paid, of course, all you need to get is a passport."
"Yeah?" Richie asked excitedly. Then his grin faded. "What about basketball? We have a game one of those weeks, and Coach is big on practices right now."
"I already checked; you'll be home in time for the game."
"What about the practices before?"
"You'll be home four days before the game. And I'm sure Roberts will give the team at least a week off. Plus you can miss a practice."
"Not really, I've missed a lot."
"Just a couple," Greg said.
"I'm the captain, Dad, I can't slack off."
"Good point, why don't I have a little talk with Coach Roberts and get this all worked out," he offered.
"No, I can handle it. I'll talk to him and if I'm sure I can go; I'll talk to Heather."
"Okay. I'm sure you two will have a lot of fun. Will she want her own room?" Greg asked.
"Probably not. We share her room all the time when I stay at her parent's house. And we don't know if we can go, yet."
"I'm sure you will."
. . . . . .
Two weeks later Richie took some of his stuff back to Greg's. While he didn't keep as much as he used to over there, he decided it was best to let Greg know he wasn't completely angry with him anymore. He continued on his usual schedule, school, work, practice, school, practice, work, practice, practice, work, school. One day he over heard some of Heather's sorority sisters talking while he was waiting for her to come down. Apparently the school had hired a replacement for Professor Miller.
"He's so cute," one of the girls said. "He had this great accent and he makes it sound like he was actually there."
"Really?" the other girl asked.
"What does he look like?" asked a third. 'Freshman,' Richie thought rolling his eyes. 'Fresh from High School.'
"He's tall and lean and he has the cutest nose." the first described.
That was when Heather came down and the new professor was quickly pushed to the back of his mind. They went out to dinner and decided to walk around campus since the weather was so nice.
"So are you going camping again this Christmas?" Heather asked him.
"I don't know," Richie said. "I don't know if I want to be trapped with Dad as my only company for the entire time. I might go home this year."
"I'm sure Duncan would like that."
"Probably," Richie agreed. They walked some more. Suddenly Richie stopped. He grabbed Heather's hand and pulled her to a stop as well. There was an immortal near by.
"What's wrong?"
Richie fished in his pockets for his keys, feeling the reassuring weight of his saber tucked in his coat. "Here," he handed her his keys. "I know this is going to sound stupid, but someone is following us. So I want you to stay close, but if I tell you to run, go straight to my car and go back to the sorority house. I'll meet you there later. Okay?" he rambled urgently.
"What?"
"Heather! Just promise, okay?"
"Do you think it's another kidnapper?" she asked worriedly.
Richie paused a second. "Maybe. okay. I don't want him to get you, too. So when it's safe, I'll tell you to run, got it?"
"Okay," she nodded.
"Hey," he smiled. "Don't be scared; I'll take care of you, promise." Richie stiffened as the immortal stepped around the corner of the history building. "Figures."
"What?"
"Shh. Who's there?"
"I would never hurt a lady," the stranger replied.
Richie instantly relaxed; he knew that sarcastic tone. "What are you doing here?" he asked walking to him. He gave Heather a little tug so she would follow him. "Heather, you remember Adam. the ass," Richie said with a slight grin.
"Nice to see you again, Heather," Adam said pleasantly.
"You really scared us," Heather said with a smile.
"Likewise."
"So what are you doing here?" Richie asked.
"A man has to make a living," Adam shrugged.
"You're the new history prof?"
"Yes."
"Did Mac put you up to this?"
"Why would you say that?"
"Sounds like something he would do," Richie told him.
"Well, relax, I'm no wet nurse. I'm not here to baby sit. I'm here to make some money. MacLeod doesn't even know I'm here."
"Once he finds out, he's gonna want you to spy on me."
"And what makes you think I will?"
Richie grinned. "I forgot; this is you we're talking about. Thanks, man."
"Someone has to give you some dignity."
Richie chuckled a little. "Thanks. See you around."
"Bye, Adam," Heather said.
"You can do better," he reminded her as the pair walked away.
. . . . . .
Christmas came and Richie went to Paris. He celebrated his first Christmas since returning to the Jewish faith. He helped Duncan get ready for Christmas as usual, but held his own, little, private Hanukkah celebration in his room. He set up a menorah on his bookshelf. Every night he said the blessings as he lit the candles, prayed for a little while, then blew them out. He had never left candles lit for too long on the barge because he was always scared they would fall over and start a fire. Duncan had warned him a thousand times that just because he was used to the motion of the boat and no longer noticed it, didn't mean it wasn't there. He had meant to keep Richie from leaving half-drunk glasses of juice around the barge and ended up making him paranoid half the time.
On the sixth night, he left his room and went out to read on the couch like he always did. But instead of teasing him as usual, Duncan sat on the coffee table and stared at him.
"What?" Richie asked.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Um.you see, Mac, I," Richie started to explain automatically, then stopped. "Tell you what?" In answer Duncan reached up and took Richie's yarmulke off his head. "Oh." Richie's hand automatically went to where the cap had been. "That. I wasn't ready to yet?"
"What's with you and secrets?"
"Mac, this isn't a secret. I just wanted to figure out how I felt about it first. It's still new to me."
"When did you decide?"
"Earlier this year."
"Why Judaism?" Duncan asked.
Richie shrugged. "'Cause I'm Jewish."
"Since when?"
He shrugged again. "Always, I guess." Duncan raised his eyebrows. "Explanation time, right?"
"You bet." Richie took a deep breath before giving him his story from Emily to Steven.
Duncan took a second to take it all in. "So, you didn't have your first real Christmas with Tessa and me, you had your first Christmas, period?"
"Yeah."
"And you didn't say anything because of what happened at Mamma Nikki's."
"Right."
"I don't know weather to feel sorry for you or mad that you didn't trust us. We would have never kicked you out. And for that matter I never will."
"Mac, com'on, I know that now. I didn't then. It's just always been my experience that when people find out you're different, it only causes trouble."
"Richie, that's not true," Duncan told him. "Being different is good."
"That's why you waited how long to tell Tessa you were immortal?"
"Okay," he allowed. "Immortality doesn't count. Religions don't matter."
"Tell that to the Nazis and the people who almost burned down Mamma Nikki's house, and .."
"Okay. It doesn't matter to people who care about you," Duncan corrected.
"I know, Mac."
"Then how come you're hiding who you are?"
"'Cause I don't know if this is me," Richie told him. "It was. a long time ago. but I've changed since then. I might not stick with this and I didn't see any reason to tell anyone if it's just a phase."
"Rich, I think this is more than a phase. If you're having closet Hanukkah celebrations, you must be serious about this."
"Maybe. I just didn't want to."
"Rich," Duncan interrupted. "Listen to me, okay?" He pulled the boy close by grabbing the chain of the necklace he had given him years ago. "I know you still care about me because you still wear this."
"Mac."
"Shh. And since you don't have any heirlooms to give me, you just have to trust that I care about you. Religion doesn't matter to me."
"Mac, how come everything always boils down to abandonment issues with you?"
"Because that's usually what it is."
"Well, this time it's not. It strictly a, 'I'm not sure yet' thing. All right? I out grew that abandonment thing a long time ago."
Duncan just smiled. "If you say so."
Richie spent the rest of vacation catching up with everyone. He helped Joe out at the bar serving drinks and unloading trucks. He played chess with Darius a few times. He visited Tessa and spent the whole day talking to her and telling her how much she would have loved Heather.
"Don't tell anyone," he told her. "But I'm gonna propose. Next year. I have it all planned. Too bad you couldn't help me."
He flew home a week before classes started for basketball practices. Coach was getting worse and the team was more determined than ever to win.
AN: Sorry it took so long to update! I promise they will be more frequent. I'm going to concentrate on this an FT only for a while. But the sequel to ABANDONMENT is in the works!