The next morning Andrea got up and saw Charlie standing in the office. She grabbed a sword off the wall and walked into the office and cornered him.
Charlie was in shock when Andrea had the sword at his chest. The look in her eyes said that she wasn't happy and Charlie was the target.
"Andrea whoa can't we talk about this? There must be some mistake." said Charlie who was looking at a sword.
"You put an announcement in the paper and then you tell the entire town something that isn't even true! I thought I made myself clear that Richie and I are not engaged nor will we ever be!"
"Yeah I swear Andrea that I didn't do it."
"Andrea! Andrea what are you doing?" said Richie walking into the Dojo
"Richie, get her off of me! She's gone nuts!"
"Andrea what is going on? Give me that!" he said taking the sword from her
"Oh thank God."
"Have you lost your mind Charlie?! You put an ad in the paper that we are getting married? I have every single person I know calling me wanting to know when and I have my girlfriend on the verge of dumping me. You think that this is a good joke?!"
"Guys can't we talk about this?"
"Charlie you are going to fix this and right now!" said Andrea
"Alright I'll fix it."
"I believe that I have people to call now." said Andrea walking out with Richie on her heels.
Charlie just stood there and Mac walked in and seeing the sword was afraid to ask what had happened. He of course knew that Charlie could be dead and that he was lucky. Mac didn't want to get involved in this, but he knew that since this wasn't a real great idea to go spreading this around town with all the people that they knew Andrea and Richie would be in real trouble. The press for one would want this story because Andrea worked for the city and Richie being the famous racer. Mac had to say something to Charlie because to him this was not something realistic.
"Mac, hi."
"I see Andrea found you."
"Yeah she nearly killed me thank god Richie walked into the room and took the sword away."
"I don't blame her because I'm not really happy about this either."
"Mac, I swear if I knew what he heck was going on I'd be more understanding. Andrea said something about a wedding?"
"Charlie you can play dumb all you want, but last night I've never been more embarrassed to know you. I had the Huntington's over for dinner and they asked Richie and Andrea when their wedding was. They said that you told them about their engagement and that their children were planning their parties. I could have died because I had no idea what was going on. I think that you need to stop playing match maker. I need to go explain this to a few more people what's not going on."
Mac got the phone call from Joe that morning about the roamer that was going around about Richie and Andrea. He said that one of his watchers told him that everyone knew about it. Joe was thrilled at the news and confused as to what Mac had tried to explain to him over the phone. This was defiantly going to be a long day. He wondered though how many people really knew and if there was anyway of stopping the news from spreading. If Joe knew then it wouldn't be long before Methos was there too and possibly Amanda. When he pulled up the bar he found the place covered in news reporters. It took forever to get inside and the strange thing was the place was empty.
"Are they still out there?" said Joe
"Yeah what the heck is that?"
"They've been here all morning. They are waiting for the happy couple to show up. Charlie really screwed up this time. How are Andrea and Richie doing?"
"I'm not so sure, but I can say they aren't happy."
"I knew Charlie could do some really crazy things but this crosses the line."
"Something here isn't right though. I don't know if Charlie did this. If he did then he'd better fix it but this is something way to low for even Charlie."
"What are you thinking?"
"I'm not sure, but I'm thinking that this is just the beginning of something bad. Did you call Richie and tell him to stay low?"
"Yeah I think he said something about taking his girlfriend out for awhile somewhere. Oh by the way have you seen the papers this morning?"
"How bad is it?"
"They are eating this up and the fact that who ever is feeding them this one isn't making it easy on us. Just yesterday the famous couple of Andrea- Noel and Richard Ryan announced that the date for their wedding is in the spring."
"Great, just what we don't need I should go find Andrea and get her out of here."
"Yeah, good idea, but what about Richie?"
"I have an idea that he's having enough problems at the moment. I'll give him a call and let him know."
Meanwhile Andrea was busy with her secretary trying to get to the bottom of this story about her and the fact that she had the news standing at her door. Richie was out trying to find his girlfriend. They'd agreed not to be together in public which would be fairly easy to do. Andrea just hoped that Melissa understood that this was not true and that someone was messing with all of them.
"Andrea the foreign press is on the phone."
"Tell them that it's not true and that they shouldn't listen to everything they read."
"So is this some stalker?" said Amy
"No, it's just a huge misunderstanding that's gone too far. We know who is doing it and they are fixing it as we speak. Is there anything else we need to take care of?"
"Just that they want to do an interview to clear this mess up with both of you and Richie there."
"Isn't that bad to do it together?"
"Well they think that it's not going to work otherwise."
"Great that's not what I was thinking."
"Hello Andrea there is a man claiming to be your father at the door."
"Does he have a name?"
"Mr. Duncan MacLeod."
"Let him in please."
Duncan walked in the room and saw Andrea surrounded by everyone. He stood there for a few minutes just looking at her. Andrea looked up and saw him. She walked over to him and so did half of the mafia behind her.
"Hi we need to talk."
"What's going on did you talk to Joe?"
"Is there somewhere we can go and talk alone?'
"Oh yeah, guys give me ten."
"I'm guessing they all know?"
"Yeah and the foreign press and now they want Richie and I to do a press conference together."
"That's not a good idea. Did you see this morning's paper?'
"No I haven't."
"Here."
"What the heck? Where are they getting this?'
"I'm not sure, but I'm thinking that it's not Charlie."
"An immortal is doing this?"
"I think you need to get out of town for awhile."
"I'll go to the cabin it will give me a chance to relax. What about Richie?"
"Well that's up to him if he wants to go. I think that if he's going to be with Melissa that he should at least get her out of town just until we are sure."
"I guess I better get home and pack. I need to take care of something's here first so they don't panic and think that I've eloped."
"I'll see you at home in an hour."
"Bye."
"Andrea you never told me how cute your father was."
"Gross, listen I'm going to be out of town for awhile. This isn't just some prank. Don't worry just keep this as normal as possible and if anyone one asks I'm on business.'
"Alright, but is there some number I can reach you?'
"My cell phone is all you'll need."
Richie though had already explained the situation to Melissa and had taken her up to the cabin. When he got the call from Joe he hoped that they would be able to get this cleared up. Mac brought Andrea later that afternoon and they all sat down and talked over what they needed to do. Melissa would be at the cabin while Richie and Duncan went back to town to try and figure this out. Melissa didn't understand what exactly was going on so they decided to tell her together since they were going to have to eventually anyways. It didn't take much to make her see that this wasn't a joke. Melissa was floored by all of the things that they told her. Andrea knew that this would probably take awhile for her to understand and she was willing to make sure that there was no misunderstanding. Melissa had to know that she didn't have to stay.
"So you are immortal and you can't die unless someone takes your head with a sword?'
"Yeah I know it sounds like something out of a movie."
"Melissa it's important that you know that you life is never going to be the same now that you know."
"My life hasn't been the same since I met any of you."
"It's not going to get any easier for you. There are going to be immortals that are going to use you to get to Richie."
"I'm not leaving. I love Richie and I want to spend the rest of my life with him no matter what."
"Alright now that we have that settled what is the plan of action? How do you know where to start looking? What immortal would do something this stupid?"
"Well I'm not sure, but we should get back to town and start figuring it out. There's food and if you feel like it you can fish.'
"I think we can handle this just make sure that you guys take care of each other."
"I'll call you tonight," said Duncan
"Watch her for me." said Richie to Andrea
"I will just make sure you come back in one piece."
"Be careful Richie. I love you."
