"Can you do that?" Brandon asked Anthony as they watched Duncan and Richie spar.

"I'm not that good," he admitted.

"Good, neither am I."

Duncan panted as Richie pushed him across the floor in a steady, controlled series of attacks.

"Getting winded?" Richie asked with a cocky grin.

"You wish, laddie." Duncan countered and started to force Richie into the offensive.

. . . . . .

"It's beautiful," Heather breathed as she and David stopped by the waterfall overlook.

"It is," he agreed, putting his arms around her. "I want to apologize for my behavior earlier today," he said.

"What do you mean?"

"For being so suspicious of you and Richie. You're old friends. You're close. I shouldn't be jealous of that."

"You're jealous?"

"I was. But I'm not any more. It's childish for me to be," he admitted.

"Just because he's an old boyfriend..."

"And he's still as good looking as when you dumped him," David added. "What? I heard you say that the other day. I'm secure enough in my manliness to say it myself. He's obviously physically fit, he's athletic, he's rich..."

"Rich?"

"You saw the way he didn't even blink at a hundred dollar dinner bill. Fifty dollars for pizza? The kid is loaded."

"He's a man. He's older than we are."

"He's got money and looks, that's reason enough to be worried he may try to seduce my wife."

"He's not trying to seduce me," Heather insisted.

"And that is why I'm going to keep my mouth shut. I trust you and if you trust him, so do I."

. . . . . .

"They've been at it for ever," Anthony sighed. "I wish one of them would just throw the match already."

"It's not so cool to watch any more," Brandon agreed.

"I'm bored."

"Me, too."

"Let's go." The two got up and circumnavigated the battle raging between the older immortals.

"Sit," Duncan ordered seeing the two try to sneak away out of the corner of his eye.

"You too, Brandon. We're almost done," Richie added, deflecting a blow for his knees.

"We really should stop, Rich," Duncan agreed.

"We've bored our audience."

"Well, if you want to stop that's fine with me."

"Okay. I'm done." Duncan stopped an attack and let his sword down.

Richie swung his rapier up and stopped it just at Duncan's neck. "You forfeit, I win."

"Not if that's how you're going to play this." Duncan pushed Richie away and they started all over again.

. . . . . .

"I wish we could live here," Heather sighed looking out over the ocean. "I don't want to leave."

"It wouldn't be as special if we lived here. We'd be jaded to it all in a matter of weeks."

"Probably."

"Where do you want to go next? We have two hours until we need to meet everyone."

"Let's get something to eat."

"We could go back to the house and I could make something," David suggested.

"I want to eat out."

"Fine," David agreed, taking her hand. "Then let's get back up to the car and drive until we find a place that looks good."

"Sounds perfect."

They started up the steep stone steps through the rainforest and up to the parking lot where Richie's jeep waited for them. Heather felt a slight chill run up her spine as he gently helped her into her seat and pecked her cheek before closing her door.

"Where to, madam?" he asked in a horrible English accent.

Heather smiled and giggled. "You're an idiot."

David shrugged. "What are you going to do about it?"

"I'm not sure I want to."

. . . . . .

"Finally," Brandon groaned as Richie hit his knees.

"About bloody time," Anthony agreed.

"Lucky shot," Richie panted, falling into a sitting position.

"Pretty much," Duncan agreed patting him on the back. "You have some great moves."

"I learned from the best."

"You didn't learn that attack combination from me," he insisted giving Richie a hand up.

"Who said anything about you?" Richie asked with a grin.

Brandon and Anthony tried to stifle their laughter. Anthony quickly quieted with one glance from Duncan. A slap in the ribs from Anthony quieted Brandon.

"Your turn," Duncan said heaving both boys to their feet. "Do you still take karate?" he asked Brandon.

"Yeah. Black belt; I teach...taught."

"Good, you two are going to face off," Duncan continued, not missing Richie's beaming face.

"Me and Anthony?" Brandon asked.

"Yes." He gestured the teens to the middle of the floor. "First to five?" he asked Richie.

"Five works," Richie nodded.

"Okay." Duncan turned to the teens. "Ready... set... fight!"

Duncan and Richie stepped back to watch the match.

"No bad at all," Duncan commented as Brandon blocked a side kick. "He has good moves."

Richie nodded as he watched the two teens. "He's going to be easy to teach...speaking of..."

"We'll figure something out, Rich. In the mean time, we both need to get him ready."

. . . . . .

Heather snuggled into David's arm as they rode the boat from the submarine they had just ridden. It was breezy out and a little cool, his warm chest felt good. He buried his nose in her hair and she giggled.

"Wonder what Richie has planned for us tonight?" he asked.

"I'm not sure. I guess we'll find out when we all meet back at the house."

"Do we have to? Why don't we call and leave a message saying we'll be back tomorrow night. We passed a nice looking bed and breakfast on the way into town..."

Heather smiled and turned so she could see him. "Tempting..."

He kissed her nose. "Tempting enough for you to agree to it?"

Heather thought for a minute. "Tempting enough to keep it in mind for another night. But I want to see how Brandon's training went."

. . . . . .

"You know something, kid?" Richie asked, throwing a sweaty arm around Brandon's shoulders. "I don't think you're going to be a half bad swordsman."

"I got my butt kicked."

"Ah, but not as bad as it might have been. I, for one, did better..."

"Sure you did," Duncan teased, swatting Richie upside the head. "He was horrible."

"I was going to say...not by much."

"Sure you were."

"Can I finish?"

"Oh, by all means."

"You'll do fine. You don't have anything to worry about."

"It's nice to have someone my own age to spar with, too," Anthony cut in. "Finally someone who's not a foot taller and a thousand years older."

Brandon laughed. "Glad to help."

"Okay, guys, in the car. We're not done for the day."

"No... you're as bad as MacLeod," Anthony whined getting into the backseat.

Richie smiled as he started the car. "I can see why you'd say that, but we're going to do something only a handful of people have ever done."

"What's that?"

"Hike up Kilauea."

"What's Kilauea?" Brandon asked.

"A volcano," Anthony told him.

"Yeah. An active volcano. It's still erupting."

"Really?"

"Yeah. That's why it's better to hike up late afternoon, by the time you're done the sun is down and you can see the lava glowing."

"That sounds cool," both boys agreed.

. . . . . .

After packing a picnic basket and changing into volcano hiking appropriate clothes they all piled into the station wagon and headed up the winding road toward Kilauea.

"It sure gets cold here," Heather commented snuggling into David in the back seat.

"Wait till the sun goes down," Richie warned. "It's not all sunshine and bikinis around here."

"But what about the brochures and travel guides?"

"They just leave the 'Oh, yeah, it gets cold here, too' stuff out."

They drove a few more miles with only the quiet banter of the boys in the third row seat to keep the silence at bay. Out of reflex, Richie reached over and turned on the radio. He flipped around for a while before landing on the oldies station. In a matter of minutes, everyone was singing along under their breath.

"Don't take money, don't take fame. Don't need no credit card to ride this train," they sang along with Huey Lewis and the News.

Duncan looked in the back seat at Heather and David. They looked very comfortable and content cuddled together in the back seat. They fit together well. And though David and been a jealous, petty husband that morning, he seemed like a right enough sort of fellow. He had a lot to face right now. Not only did his nephew recently die, he was now face to face with the man who had proposed to his wife after dating her for four years. A man who was still young and vibrant, exuberant and energetic despite being older than both David and Heather. A man who had money to spare, lived in paradise, was solving all their problems and still had time to be cute and charming. Sure, he had been rather childish that morning, but Duncan was pretty sure Richie's nineteen year old hormones had started it anyway.

Once they entered the park, singing Surfin' USA, they pulled over for a snack before they went off for the hike.

"This is it?" Brandon asked. "Looks like a big hill."

"Wait until the sun goes down and you're thirty feet away from hot lava," Richie told him with a grin.

"You can really get that close?" Anthony asked.

"There's no path to follow. You just start walking up. But you have to be really careful, cause people get seriously hurt."

"Is this dangerous?" Heather asked.

"Not if you follow the rules. Wear jeans and sneakers," he gestured to everyone's proper attire. "Carry plenty of water, flashlights, and batteries" then to the bag in the trunk. "We'll be fine." She still didn't look convinced. "I've been up and down Kilauea more times than I can count, nothing has ever happened to me."

"I don't think I'm really comfortable with this..." Heather hedged.

"If you're not...If anyone's not. I just thought it would be fun. We don't have to do this."

"No, this is cool!" Anthony protested, quieting as soon as Duncan gave him a stern look. Brandon saw the look and didn't say anything.

"Why don't you take the boys up and I'll stay down here with Heather," David offered.

"If that's okay with you guys," Richie shrugged. "Or if you want to go, I'll stay with Heather. It's not a real tour guide expedition, you just start up and pay attention to where you step."

"It does sound interesting..."

"I've done it a thousand times; I don't mind staying on the ground. There's all sorts of stuff, the visitors center has some cool movies they play, the petroglyphics in the rock... all sorts of cool stuff that the boys would care less about."

"If you want to go, David, go. I just don't like the idea of putting my safety on the line to bake like a human potato."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm positive. I'll let Richie bore me and pretend to be interested."

David smiled. "Okay. I guess we're taking you up on your offer," he told Richie.

"Cool, plus this way we can drop you off at the foot of the path and pick you up there when you get down," Richie added. "It would be a hike to start the hike otherwise."

"Perfect."

They all piled back into the car and drove through the park to where the road turned into a sidewalk.

"Just go up that walk until you see a park ranger by a picnic table and that's where you go up," Richie instructed as the men got out of the car. "Don't forget to drink plenty of water," he added for the sake of the boys. "And watch where you step. I had a friend take home a nasty scar on his elbow because he was a big fat idiot."

Anthony and Brandon rolled their eyes and started off down the path with Duncan and David calling after them to slow down and wait for them.

Richie turned the wagon around and headed back toward the visitors center. "I dunno, I like this stuff," he semi-apologized as they went in. "But I am a confessed nerd."

"I'm sure it's all interesting."

"You're humoring me, aren't you?"

"Let me give it a try first."

Suddenly Heather found herself swept back into the time warp where she was a young girl again with her whole life ahead of her instead of a woman with a large chunk of her life behind her and even less to look forward to. She got a chance to see what could have been, had she not run the second he confided a huge secret in her.

The moment she had heard those words "There's something very important I have to tell you..." she had thought something was wrong, but fixable. But when he told her "I'm immortal. I can't die. I've been like this since I was 19...and I can't let you say yes unless you know what you're getting yourself into..." she had run away scared.

"Let's go for a walk," she suggested. "Take in the scenery."

"Sure."

They went to a foot path over the dried lava flows.

"Oh, see?" Richie pointed at an area of smooth black rock. "That's a petroglyph. See that funny picture?"

"What does it mean?"

"I have no clue at all. They kinda remind me of my kindergarten drawings, though."

Heather smiled. "It looks like a man...dancing, maybe?"

"Hula." Richie swayed his hips and hummed a little tune. "I would draw a man dancing in still cooling lava if I were an ancient Polynesian."

"But why?"

"Because dancing men are sexy." He continued swaying and added his hands to his dance. "Women love us. We are irresistible!"

"You're strange, that's what you are," she giggled.

"You didn't say that at your cousin's wedding..." he teased. "I do believe you were quite impressed."

"Did I say that?" she asked mimicking his movements.

"Yes. I remember it quite clearly." He took her in his arms. "We were dancing like this..." He started them in a slow waltz. "And your great aunt nosey lady had just interrogated me for the twelve billionth time about my intentions with her great niece. And you said that you were very impressed. You never thought a basketball player would be able to dance."

"Did I?" she asked looking up at him.

"You did." He made the mistake of looking her in the eye. She had beautiful green eyes. He felt it coming, that rush of teenagerness in his blood stream.

"I remember now... I compared you to James Bond. You imitated Sean Connery for three songs after that."

"Uh-huh." he answered absentmindedly.

"Richie?" They had stopped dancing, but he hadn't let her go.

"Yeah?"

"What are you thinking?"

"That I should let you go."

"You should."

"Yeah, I really should."

They stood in silence looking at each other then Richie slowly leaned in and they kissed.