"In all this time that you've been with me, haven't you learnt anything yet?" Duncan demanded.
"I'm sorry Mac," Richie faltered. "I know you're disappointed .."
"Oh, I'm disappointed alright." Duncan scowled at him.
"And angry," Richie amended hastily. "Really, really mad."
"How could you?" Duncan began pacing, his voice rising with each word. "After everything we've talked about?"
"Maybe, I should just pack my stuff." Richie looked at the floor.
"Oh, aye?" Duncan scoffed, as he came to a halt in front of the teen. "And where exactly were you thinking of going?"
"Well, I'm guessing Marc's place is out." Richie muttered.
This earnt him a dark look from the Immortal, which suggested he had better reconsider his answer. Fast.
"I have some money. I could get a flight back to the States." He offered tentatively.
"Over my dead body." Duncan vowed.
Richie looked up in surprise.
"Does this .." Duncan reached over and pushed up Richie's sleeve, revealing the small, black, scar. "mean nothing to you?"
"That's not fair," Richie protested. "It meant a lot. You know that."
"It meant a lot?" Duncan said dangerously.
Richie shifted awkwardly on the sofa.
"Things change. People change. That's just the way it is? Right?"
Duncan took a deep breath and wondered if he had ever been such a trial to his father. He seriously doubted that he had ever been this bad.
But then, he had known, without question, that he was loved.
"Richie, didn't it ever occur to you that there is a reason that this is an indelible mark?" he sighed.
"That depends," Richie asked cautiously. "What does indelible mean?"
"It means, that we are a family, and no matter what you do, we will always love you and stand by you." Tessa spoke up.
"And we will never refuse you any care or comfort that it is in our power to offer." Duncan assured him.
"What if I did something, really, really bad. Like kill someone?" Richie asked hesitantly.
Duncan closed his eyes against the knowledge, that one day this child would have to do just that. And he would be the one to teach him when to fight and when to walk away. Such decisions were not easy and he needed the lad to know that he would always be there for him. Even if he did not always agree with him.
"Then we'd write," he forced a smile. "And we'd come and visit you in jail."
"Would you bake me a cake with a file in it?" Richie looked up hopefully.
"If it was one of Tessa's cakes," Duncan said dryly. "We wouldn't need the file."
***
"C'mon Mac. We still hafta talk about this," Richie insisted, as he accepted the bowl of stew from the Immortal. "I know, you gotta be upset."
"Actually, I'm pretty proud of you." Duncan surprised him.
"OK, there's some whole other subtext going on here that I don't know about, isn't there?" Richie arched a brow.
"It can't have been easy for you to tell me any of that." Duncan spoke gently.
"I've been wanting to tell you," Richie admitted. "But its not exactly something you can just slip into the conversation."
"And you didn't know how I would react."
"That too."
"But you told me the truth anyway." Duncan gave him a level look.
"I gave you my word," Richie spoke quietly "No lies between us, after all you'd done for me, I wasn't about to disappoint you like that."
"That is a very mature attitude, Richie." Tessa praised.
"Aye," Duncan's brogue thickened. "You were a bloody idiot and no mistake, but there's hope for you yet, my lad."
"Man," Richie gave them a shy smile. "If I'd known telling the truth worked this well, I'd have tried it before."
"You were not honest with your foster parents?" Tessa asked.
"Me? Almost never." Richie shook his head.
"Trust is a two way street Rich," Duncan advised him. "If they couldn't trust what you said, how could you trust that they would stand by you when you needed them?"
"I'm getting that." Richie smiled at him.
They ate in companionable silence for a few minutes until Duncan spoke up.
"Subtext?"
"English Lit." Richie shrugged. "We're doing Shakespeare. You used to be an Actor, right?"
"Yeah," Duncan frowned. "When did I tell you about that?"
"You didn't," Richie grinned. "I just figured, what are the odds? In 400 years there can't be many things you haven't done."
Tessa giggled. "Your face!" she laughed at Duncan.
"You'll get yours laddie." Duncan waved a fork.
"Is it true that in Shakespeare's time ladies weren't allowed to act?" Richie asked innocently.
Duncan groaned. He could see all too tell where this was heading. He decided to head if off at the pass.
"I'll have you know that my Helena was the stuff of legends." He said, adopting a thespian air.
"That's cool Mac." Richie nodded.
Duncan breathed a sigh of relief at having averted that particular disaster and returned his attention to his meal.
"Soo," Richie looked up, with a wicked grin. "Is it true that the ladies way back then didn't wear any underwear?"
***
"I'm going out. I won't be long," Duncan shrugged into his coat, and crossed to the door in three short strides, hoping to escape any awkward questions.
It didn't work.
"Where are you going at this hour?" Tessa looked up from her book.
"Out?" Duncan offered without much hope.
"Uh oh, better watch out Tess, he's only been in Paris for a week and already he's having secret assignations." Richie teased.
Tessa ignored that.
"Is it an Immortal?" she asked, worry clear in her voice.
"Walker and I have some unfinished business." Duncan sighed.
"Oh hell," Richie blanched. "You don't think Walker will come after you now? You know, because I ..?"
"No," Duncan shook his head.
"Well, that's something." Richie sighed.
"I think he'll come after you."
"Me?" Richie squeaked. "But I haven't even got a sword!"
"In case you hadn't noticed," Duncan said dryly. "We try to keep the beheadings just been us. Its not exactly the most efficient way to kill someone."
"Unless, you count the invention of the guillotine." Richie murmured.
"What?" Duncan blinked.
Richie coloured slightly, as if he hadn't intended to say that out loud.
"Um. We did it in School," he shifted awkwardly. "It was like a production line, or something."
"You have been learning about French history?" Tessa looked pleased.
"Do you think we could stick to the point?" Duncan said in exasperation.
"I thought it was the point." Richie protested. "Its not everyday someone wants to kill me, you know."
"You surprise me." Duncan said dryly. "I want your word that you won't follow me this time."
"You're gonna use that against me from now on aren't you?" Richie groaned.
"Yep." Duncan said with satisfaction.
"Whatever."
"Is that a yes?" Duncan wasn't taking any chance.
"Yes, Oh Lord and Master." Richie grinned at him.
Duncan tousled his hair.
"It's a start." He said cryptically.
"Must you go now?" Tessa asked.
"Its always best not to let these things fester." Duncan assured her with a grimace.
***
In truth, Duncan had not expected to be quite this long. Still it wasn't as if Walker was going anywhere.
Not with the rapier still firmly embedded in his heart.
"I never said how I was going to take care of him." He reasoned to himself, as he made his way over to the far corner of the glasshouse, where he had carefully hidden Walker's corpse under a discarded tarpaulin.
He still couldn't quite believe that Richie had feared that they would throw him out like so much garbage, over the mistake of a lost and vulnerable child.
"And he called me melodramatic." Duncan scoffed fondly.
Still, Juvie had to have been hard on the lad. They would need to talk about that.
He stopped.
"Maybe, it as the other corner." He muttered.
Five minutes later there was no escaping the obvious. The tarpaulin was still there.
But the body was missing.