SouthernChickie: Cider and black = cider and blackcurrent. Very nice. You should try it. And be lady like. Drink pints. As for a longer still chapter four.. As both you and Richiefic request it, I shall do it : )

Chapter four:

Richie woke up again a few hours later, seeming more alert. He hadn't tried to make a run for it this time anyway. That was progress Duncan thought.

The Doctor had arrived a few moments later and was happy to see the IV still in place on his waking patient this time. He'd checked the monitors and scribbled something on his chart before turning his attention to Richie.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Like someone stabbed me," Richie answered with more than a little sarcasm in his voice. Duncan fought the urge to smile at the comment.

The doctor however ignored Richie's tone completely. "And how's the pain?"

"Not too bad," Richie said. "Better than before anyway."

"That's good," the doctor said smiling. "You're doing well. I'll be back to check on you later."

Richie's eyes followed the doctors retreating back out of the room.

"Are you really feeling ok?" Duncan asked once the door had swung shut.

"No. But I'm really not in that much pain," Richie said.

The oxygen mask he'd had to wear earlier had been removed and replaced by smaller nose tubes and Richie did sound more like himself, if a bit more tired than normal. Duncan found himself relax a little at the realisation.

"Where's Tessa?" Richie asked.

"France, remember?" Duncan said.

Richie shook his head.

"I took her to the airport yesterday. It's her cousins birthday in a couple of days. I've phoned her though and she's trying to get a flight back."

"She hasn't gotta come back," Richie said quietly.

"Try and stop her," Duncan said smiling. "She wants to be here Rich."

Duncan half expected Richie to protest some more, but he didn't. He must really want Tessa there.

Duncan noticed Richie was focusing on something behind him. He turned slightly to see what he was looking at.

"Oh," he said. "Richie, you remember Connor?"

"Dead guy you pulled from the river. Hell of a first impression," Richie said, earning him a grin from Connor.

"You make a pretty lasting one yourself," Connor told him.

"Maybe." Richie said, then frowned as if concentrating on something.

"I wish I'd come at a better time," Connor said ignoring the expression on Richie's face.

Richie's frown deepened.

"Richie, are you all right?" Duncan asked starting to worry while Connor shifted uncomfortably under the gaze, which under any other circumstances Duncan would have found amusing.

"You were there," he said, looking into Connor's pale eyes and ignoring Duncan completely.

"I was where?" Connor asked carefully.

"In the warehouse," Richie said. "You were with me." Richie looked uncertain for a minute before adding, "weren't you?"

Connor looked briefly at Duncan before answering. "Yes, I was."

"Connor found you," Duncan added, not sure how to interpret the confused look in Richie's face.

"You were unconcious though when I arrived," Connor said. "How did you know I was there?"

"I heard you. You were talking to me." Richie said softly.

"You heard me, huh?" Connor chuckled. "If I'd known I would have said something more interesting.

Richie smiled ever so slightly. "You did ok," he said.

Duncan made a mental note to ask Connor at a later date just what he had said to Richie.

"So when can I get out of here?" Richie asked returning his attention to Duncan.

"Not for a while yet tough guy." Duncan said softly.

"I don't like hospitals Mac" Richie said making a face. "They keep poking and prodding you."

"You need to be poked and prodded for a few days yet Richie," Duncan said.

"So three days?" Richie asked hopefully.

He was definitely feeling better..

"I doubt it Rich. That knife did quite a bit of damage."

When Richie paled even more Duncan decided that was possibly not the best thing to say.

"I had kinda noticed," Richie said coldly, looking at the bandage on his chest. "I have a stab wound not amnesia."

"I'm sorry," Duncan said, biting his tongue to stop himself from asking what had gone on before the stabbing. Richie would tell him when he was ready..

"Will you ask the doctor when I can go?" Richie asked ignoring the apology.

"I'll ask," Duncan promised, knowing it would be a week at the very least before they would even consider discharging Richie.

*****

Three days passed and Richie was taken off oxygen completely. He was still on some pretty strong painkillers that knocked him out at night, but the doctors were all impressed with his progress. Which just made Richie all the more desperate to go home.

Tessa called daily from Paris to speak with him, There was a strike on at the airport and so Tessa couldn't get a flight out for at least another couple of days.

Mac and Connor were taking it in turns to stay with him during visiting hours. Richie was pleasantly surprised at how easy Connor was to get on with. He was easy to talk to and funny. Plus Richie knew Connor wasn't about to ask him about the stabbing.

Mac on the other hand was another story. Mac came by every day for a few hours, usually having a nurse chase him out for staying past visiting hours. Their conversations were strained and Richie knew it was him making them that way.

Mac had of course explained why he hadn't been there for Richie. After all how was he supposed to know an Immortal was about to drop in and kidnap Richie? And how was he supposed to know that while he was sipping coffee in a café by the airport Richie was begging futilely for his life?

Of course the fact that it was something so small and simple that had kept Mac away somehow made the whole thing worse.

Richie knew that it wasn't really Mac's fault. He didn't blame Mac for him getting stabbed. And Richie had known what he was getting into when he moved into the store. It was true he never imagined getting kidnapped and used as bait by some sick and twisted Immortal, but still, he had known life would never be the same again. He'd had the life Duncan lead explained to him in great detail.

No, the thing he blamed Mac for, maybe unfairly, was for not being there. He hadn't even been the one to find him. Connor had found him. Connor had sat with him, talking nonsense while they waited for an ambulance. Connor had saved him.

Mac had noticed how distant Richie was being. He was leaving it alone for the moment, but Richie knew he would want to talk about it eventually. He always wanted to talk about everything. Like the stabbing. Sure, he wanted information about whoever had kidnapped him so he could find him. But the truth was Richie couldn't tell Mac much. The only one he'd laid eyes on was the one with the hazel eyes, and Richie didn't think he was Immortal. There was someone else involved in the whole thing and that, Richie thought was probably the Immortal behind it all. That much he had told Mac, but he wasn't going to discuss anything else. It had been bad enough reliving it for the police who only wanted facts, not feelings. Mac would want feelings, not facts.

Richie hadn't told the police that he'd pleaded with the man. He didn't know why but he didn't want anyone to know. Knowing what Mac was like once he got Richie talking about the incident everything would come out.

"Do you want me to bring you anything else?" Mac asked, passing Richie the magazines he'd bought in for him.

"Nah, I'm good." Richie said.

"Sure?"

Richie nodded, leafing idly through one of the magazines Mac had bought him.

"The doctors say you're doing well," Mac said, still trying to engage Richie in conversation.

Richie looked up. "Did they say when I can go?"

"Maybe the end of the week, as long as there are no complications."

Richie groaned. "That's ages. And knowing my luck I'll get gangrene and never get outta here."

"It's four or five days, it's not that long, and you're not going to get gangrene." Mac said patiently.

"You try being stuck here for days with nothing to do but think and then tell me it's not that long." Richie said.

His movement was currently restricted to sitting up and reaching for a glass of water. Anything more and he needed help. He just didn't have the strength to do anything it seemed. So, intellectually he knew he wasn't ready to go home, but that didn't mean he was ok with staying.

"What do you think about?" Mac asked casually.

"The weather," Richie replied, not fooled for a minute by Mac's tone.

Mac raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yep."

"All day?"

"Told you I was bored."

Mac sighed. "Richie," he began.

"I don't feel like a deep and meaningful right now ok?" Richie said interrupting.

Mac's eyes seemed to bore into Richie's head for a moment longer. "Ok." He said with obvious reluctance. "But I'm here if you want to talk."

Yeah. Sure. You're here now. If you'd been there three days ago we wouldn't need to talk, Richie thought bitterly. But aloud he said, "yeah, I know."

*****

"He's keeping something from me," Duncan said. He'd been pacing back and forth since arriving home at the end of visiting hours.

"Such as?" Connor asked putting the kettle on to boil.

"I don't know," Duncan said, frustration evident in his voice. "But there is something."

"He did nearly die a few days ago. Of course there's something wrong with him." Connor said calmly.

"It's not that. Or at least that's not all of it. I really think he's holding me responsible." Duncan said in a pained voice.

"Have you asked him?"

"I've tried. He won't talk to me Connor. I can get small talk out of him and that's about it." Duncan paused in his pacing. "Does he talk to you?"

"About girls? Yes. About motorcycles? Yes. About inconsequential things? Yes. About anything even remotely connected to you or his stabbing? Not a word."

Duncan didn't know whether he was glad Richie wasn't talking to anyone else or more worried. He needed to deal with what happened, which he couldn't do until he accepted it. But if he wasn't talking to anyone else there was a chance he didn't blame Duncan. But Richie wasn't really talking to Duncan at all. Connor was at least getting conversations about girls and motorcycles. Duncan was getting conversations about the weather and when Richie could come home.

And then there was the small problem of finding the Immortal responsible for all of this. From the very little he had managed to get out of Richie about the event he didn't think the Immortal himself had gone near him at all. And from the sounds of it this wasn't going to be the end of it. Whoever it was seemed to now think Duncan hadn't taken them seriously. They had tried to kill Richie to make a point. So that next time Duncan would take them seriously.

Well, in that they had succeeded. Duncan MaCloed would not rest until he had taken the head of that Immortal.

*****

"I could sleep for a week," Richie sighed as the nurse helped him back into bed.

"That was very good," she said pulling the sheets back over him. "Rate you're going you'll be out of here before you know it."

"I hope so," Richie said. "Today the end of the corridor, tomorrow out the front door."

The nurse smiled indulgently. "You never know." She said before giving him a wink and heading for the door, meeting Connor on the way.

"How's the patient?" He asked.

"Perfectly capable of telling you himself," Richie said.

"He's doing much better," the nurse said. "He walked to the end of the corridor today. If he keeps this up he'll be discharged soon."

Connor was still grinning when he sat in the chair next to Richie's. "well that's good news."

"Yeah, who'd have thought walking twenty feet would be a huge accomplishment?" Richie said shrugging.

"It's more than twenty feet," Connor said. "And it means you're closer to getting home."

"Yeah," Richie smiled softly. "I can't wait to be back in my own bed." Richie paused and frowned. "Isn't it Mac's turn to visit?" He asked.

"Yes. But he had an errand to run. So I came instead."

"What kind of errand?" Richie asked suspiciously.

"Nothing for you to worry about." Connor said firmly.

"So that means it is something to worry about? Why? Where's he gone?"

"Richie, he's fine. He just has some things to do." Connor said in a calm voice.

Some things to do? At seven o clock at night. Yeah right. "Things more important than visiting me?"

Hit the nail on the head, Richie thought when he saw a troubled expression on Connor's face.

"Not more important, no." he said.

"So he just decided he was bored of coming or something? It's ok. You tell me if that's it."

"That's not it."

"Sure. He just happens to have an errand to run, that he can only do at hospital visiting hours. Yeah. I believe you."

"Richie."

"Forget it," Richie said. "At least I know where I come in his list of priorities."

"I don't think you do," Connor said shaking his head. "You and Tessa are the most important people in his life. How can you doubt that?"

Richie shrugged.

"You've been through a terrible experience Richie. Noone will claim otherwise. But doubting Duncan is not the way to deal with it."

"So where is he?" Richie asked.

Connor sighed. "I promised I wouldn't say."

"So I'm supposed to trust him still when he's keeping stuff from me?" Richie asked.

"Yes," Connor replied simply.

"Well maybe I can't do that." Richie said looking away from Connor.

A long minute of silence followed before Connor exclaimed, "Fine! You win. He's gone looking for the Immortal that had you kidnapped. He thinks he knows who it was."

Richie's eyes snapped back to Connor's. "But how? I don't even know what he looked like? How could he know who it was?"

"Educated guess," Connor said. "He's been obsessing about it for hours today. He finally came up with something. He wanted to go straight away and find out if he was right, before anything else could happen to someone he loves."

"He thinks it was someone he knew?" Richie asked quietly.

"He didn't say."

But it probably was. Now Richie was torn. He didn't know whether to be angrier that it was an Immortal friend of Mac's who'd done this to him, or worried because Mac had gone hunting.

He settled on total indecision and fear.