Chapter 10 of 12

(historygirl)

Kendall Crane strode out of Le Blues Bar, thoughts churning. He had offered to follow his former teacher, but he was also aware that Benjamin was very capable of discovering his tail, and making his life very uncomfortable. Glancing down at his feet, he tried to decide what, exactly, he was going to do.

A great surge of immortal presence coincided with a sudden whistle to get his attention. Looking up, Kendall saw Benjamin … Adam, he mentally corrected himself … gesturing to him from across the street. Sighing, Kendall checked for traffic and trudged over to his friend.

"Figured you'd try to follow me," Adam stated sardonically, "thought I'd save you some trouble and wait."

Kendall wondered when he had become so transparent, or if perhaps he had always been so to his teacher. "Look, Adam, I just want to help. I feel –"

"Responsible. Yeah, I know." Adam cut him off easily. "Thought I'd trained that guilt out of you long ago." Shaking his head, Adam tsked under his breath.

Kendall felt some of the tension leech out of his posture as he realized his teacher was retaining a sense of humor about the situation. "Well, I guess some habits are harder to break than others."

Adam grinned wryly as he caught Kendall's subtle reference to the time the two of them had spent on holy ground while Kendall learned how to deal with his sudden immortality. Posing as priests, they had tired quickly of the celibate life and tried to talk a number of nuns at the nearby convent into 'changing their habits'.

Laughing openly now, Adam threw an arm around Kendall's shoulders. "C'mon old friend, we need to talk."

Trying to ease his suddenly returned tension, Kendall let Adam lead him to a nearby park.

**********

Kendall sat on the bench, gazing imploringly up at Adam. They had been covering the same ground for the last fifteen minutes, but he refused to let it go.

"Why won't you let me help you?" He winced inwardly at the plaintive sound of his voice. "It's my fault this guy found you. It's my fault he knows where you are. If I hadn't tried to disappear from Venice, he never would have thought I had anything to hide, never would have tried to follow me …"

"Enough!" Adam's tone was forceful enough to startle the pigeons roosting on a nearby statue. They rose into the air, the flapping of their wings evidence of their disdain for the effrontery of the human intruders to their park. Kendall jumped, telling himself it was a result of the pigeons and not the fierceness of Adam's expression.

"I will say this one last time," Adam's words cut the air like a sword, "you are in no way responsible for the difficulties between Meinhoff and myself." Shoving his hands in the pockets of his coat, he strode back and forth in front of the bench for a few moments, obviously seeking control.

"Meinhoff is my problem, Kendall, mine. And he is a problem I should have addressed long before now." The last words were muttered, almost below audible range. "You cannot fight my battles for me, I won't let you."

Kendall noted the finality of Adam's statement, and also the sense that these words had been spoken before. He wondered briefly about the events of his teacher's life since they had last met, hoping they would still have a chance to catch up.

"Benjamin … Adam," he implored one more time, "please, I can help."

"What you can do, Kendall, is walk yourself back to that bar, order yourself a drink, and keep MacLeod company until this is over." A strong note of command had joined the note of finality in Adam's tone. This was Adam's 'I am your teacher, and if you listen to me you just might get to stay alive' voice.

Kendall found himself standing almost against his will. His mulish expression indicated his opinion of the situation more clearly than words could ever say. Pulling his coat closely around him, he set his shoulders and turned back toward Le Blues Bar. Stalking away, he heard Adam's voice call out to him once more.

"And don't drink all my beer."