AN: I need to mention something that was brought to my attention two chaps ago. Keeping with a kosher diet Richie would not be able to eat Lucky Charms as there is something in the marshmallows which makes it non kosher. (Stefanie told me what it was but I am blanking, I think it was some sort of gelatin.) So for the sake of being lazy we will hereby pretend that he had a nice bowl of corn flaks.

Also to the reviewer Lamarquise. I'm sorry if the events of the last chapter offended you as it was never intended as any sort of religious commentary. Yes, Richie is Jewish. Yes, he is kosher. And yes, he does go to Temple (though I don't think it has been or will be actually written in this particular fic). But he is still Richie. The same Richie who in season two (title ep escapes me) dated a married woman who was a friend of Tessa's and was convinced that she would leave her husband for him. As this story is canon up until The Darkness, that particular ep does need to be taken into account. Again, I apologize for any offence I may have cause and hope that Richie's lack of discretion does not deter you from reading and reviewing the rest of the fic.

. . . . . .

After a few seconds Heather pulled away. Before Richie could say anything, she slapped him.

His hand went up to touch the stinging cheek. "What was that for?"

"You kissed me!"

"I thought you wanted me to," he sputtered. "You sure seemed okay with it a second ago."

"I'm a married woman!"

"You didn't seem so concerned about that this morning."

"Richie...I'm married. You can't go around kissing married women."

"What happens when they encourage it?"

"I did not encourage this!"

"You did, too!"

"Richie, I am married and I am in love with my husband. Not you."

"That's not what you said this morning."

"I changed my mind."

"How was I supposed to know?"

"Richie, this is wrong."

"You could have said that before I kissed you."

"I didn't know you were going to."

"You wanted to this morning."

"That was different."

"How?"

"Richie... I can't do this. I have to choose. I choose David."

"You couldn't have said something?"

"Richie, I'm sorry."

"You made me feel like idiot."

"Richie..."

"A complete and total looser."

"I..."

"This is ridiculous. How can you be so enamored with me one second and slapping me the next?"

"Because I didn't know what I wanted then... I do now. I want David."

"And you had to use me to figure that out?"

"Richie, I'm sorry. I handled this the wrong way. I should have never even thought about this. I was happily married until I came here, then..."

"Don't blame this on me."

"I'm not. I'm just saying... I don't know what I was thinking before. But it was wrong. We can't do this any more."

"Well, what do we do now?" Richie demanded. "It was okay when we just talked about it... What are we gonna do?"

"Richie..."

Richie didn't want to get into an argument in public. He glanced at his watch. "We better go get everybody." He started off to the car and didn't wait to see if she was following.

. . . . . .

Duncan could tell that something was wrong. Richie was acting odd. It wasn't an obvious odd, but an odd you would notice if you had known him as long as he had. They were back in the car driving out of the park on their way to an all night drive thru to get the boys something to eat. They were all in the same seats as before and the boys were chattering excitedly about how close they had gotten to the lava and what the experience was like, Heather was paying special attention to what they said since she had skipped out on the hike. David was nearly as excited as the boys and even showed off the few lava rocks he had smuggled down the volcano in Richie's backpack. Duncan had been impressed himself because, though he would never admit it, it was something he had never done before. If he mentioned that to Richie, though, he would never let him live it down.

Richie, for his part was half heartedly listening and only responding when something was directed directly at him. He hadn't turned the radio on, either. He was being quiet and reflective. That was never a good sign. He nearly ordered himself a cheeseburger in the drive thru, and even though everyone was eating and the car smelt of fast food his chicken nuggets remained untouched in the bag sitting between him and Duncan.

"What's wrong?" Duncan asked knowingly as they got ready for bed forty five minutes later.

"Nothin'," Richie answered sliding an old beat-up soccer jersey over his head.

"You're lying."

"Mac, leave me alone."

"Something happened with you and Heather, didn't it?" Duncan asked sitting on his bed.

"Why do you say that?"

"Because you were fine until the ride home."

Richie took a deep breath. "It's nothing."

"You'll feel better if you just tell someone."

"I'm not in the mood for the lecture the truth is gonna get me."

"What did you do?" Duncan's curiosity was killing him.

Richie took another deep breath and looked Duncan in the eye. "Promise not to yell and lecture?"

"Sure."

"I kissed Heather."

Duncan took a second to collect himself before he responded. "What made you do that?"

"I dunno," he admitted. "It just kinda happened."

"Richie, that's not good."

"I know."

"What does Heather think?"

"She slapped me."

"You deserved it."

"Mac! I'm not looking for a lecture here! You asked; I told you!" Richie snapped. "Besides, weren't there two people involved? It was pretty obvious what I was thinking and she sure didn't say no!"

Duncan took a deep breath, not wanting to point fingers. "What does David think?"

"You don't think she's gonna tell him, do you?"

"Someone should."

"Oh, that'll go over well."

"Richie, I'm not going to tell you what to do," Duncan started. "But I think it would be a good idea if you came clean with him."

Richie sighed. "I dunno..."

"Just my opinion."

"I think I'm gonna make some tea and sit out back. I'll see you later."

"Good night."

"Night."

Richie went out into the kitchen where David was sitting at the table looking out into the back yard.

"Um... hey," Richie mumbled.

"Hey."

"I was gonna make some tea... want some?"

"What kind?"

"I dunno... got all kinds."

"Sure why not?"

Richie put some water on to boil and pulled out the big mason jar full of various tea bags. "We're real fancy around here."

"So I've noticed."

David picked his way through the jar eventually deciding on jasmine. Richie dumped the contents onto the counter and found orange spice. They stood in silence after Richie got down a couple coffee mugs waiting for the kettle to whistle. When it did, Richie took it off the burner, poured the water and offered David a mug and spoon. They seeped and stirred their tea. Then Richie silently got down the sugar and honey from the cabinets and cream from the refrigerator. Once they both deemed their tea ready to drink, Richie got some cookies out of the pantry and put them on a plate. Then, still in silence, Richie led the way onto the back porch so they could sit at the patio table.

They sipped and munched in silence eventually being found by Skye and the neighbor's dog who both wanted a little attention.

"Are you feeling alright?" David asked quietly breaking their long silence.

"Yeah, why?"

"You just didn't eat much tonight."

"Got a lot on my mind... who am I gonna find to teach Brandon and all that."

"You were depending on Duncan?"

"Yeah. Didn't occur to me he'd have a student already."

"Do you have any other people in mind?"

"I'll think of someone."

Richie picked up a slightly deflated soccer ball and tossed it across the yard for the dogs to chase after.

"Do you know a lot of people like you?"

"Immortals, you mean?" he asked.

"Yeah."

Richie shrugged. "I know a few. Most just aren't the student type. I mean, Mac's the only person I thought of when I heard about Brandon. But don't worry. We'll take care of him." The neighbor's dog brought the ball back and he threw it again.

More silence. "So...I gather you and Heather were pretty serious back in college," David ventured.

"Yeah, we were."

"You were immortal then?"

"Since I was 18."

"Wow...I still can't believe it."

"Believe what?"

"You're older than I am... you look like you could be Brandon's twin."

"Mac's almost 450." He threw the ball again.

"I know. It's just strange. Hard to take in."

"I guess it is."

"Do you tell people a lot?"

"That's I'm immortal? Hell, no."

"How many people have you told?"

"Just Heather. And I guess you kinda count. So kinda two."

"That's it?"

"Nothing something we tend to spread around." He took the ball from the now energetic and bouncing pair of dogs. "You do know..."

"To keep my mouth shut? Yeah." He put his mug on the table. "I'm sorry... about this morning. It was childish of me..."

"Hey, you're talking to the king of immaturity, here. Don't worry about it," Richie assured him. "We all do stupid things when it comes to beautiful women." He teased the dogs by tossing the ball in the air and catching it before they could.

"But still. I was petty and jealous, and I just want to say I'm sorry."

"Thanks. Oops!"

The ball he was tossing was intercepted by an over-excited Skye who landed in Richie's lap. He reached to catch the ball as it came back down, but he and David's hands collided and the ball fell to the table, knocking the mugs and plate off. Richie shoved the dog off his lap and tried the catch the plate but only succeeded in catching a few shards of glass instead.

"Damn it!" he hissed pulling his hand back.

"Let me help," David said taking Richie's bleeding hand.

"I just need to get the glass out and I'll be fine," Richie said trying to pull his hand away.

"It's a pretty big shard."

"I'll heal."

"Just a sec...there." David pulled out a chunk of glass. "I think that's it."

"Nope, there's more. You'd know if there wasn't."

"I don't see any..."

"It'd be healing if there wasn't anything. There has to be something."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Hang on." He got up and stood under the porch light. He started squeezing the cut on his palm trying to get whatever was impeding the healing out. He squeezed until a little flash of his quickening showed up. "You wanna see?" he offered suddenly sticking his finger into the offending wound to stop the healing. "It's pretty cool."

David wondered over and Richie held out his hand so he could watch. The quickening flickered to and fro across his hand until the cut and blood were gone.

"Wow." David's fingers instinctively went to prod the now healed surface. "Oh, sorry." He quickly pulled his hand away form Richie's. "I bet you hate that."

Richie smirked. "Hey, when I first saw Mac heal, I just stuck my hand in."

"That lightning stuff?"

"Yeah. It shot me clear across the room and into a wall. I never tried to touch it after that." He chuckled. "Sometimes I just have to learn the hard way."

David smiled at him. "I've done that a few times, myself."

"Uh, David... there's something I have to tell you."

David's grinning face turned serious. "What?"

"You remember when you were a teenager?"

David cracked a smile. "Yeah."

"You did a lot of stupid things, right?"

He laughed. "I can think of a few."

"Me, too... especially when it came to girls."

"I think that's a given..."

"Well, you know how when an immortal dies their body stops aging?"

"Yeah..."

"Well, that includes hormones and stuff."

"What are you getting at Richie?"

Richie paused and gathered his courage. "I... well, that is, see... Mac always used to joke about how I always thought with the wrong head...when it came to certain situations..." He forced a smile that David did not return. "And I'll admit, he was right...he is right...David, I did something really stupid today."

"What did you do?"

"...I kissed Heather."

AN: Richie's first experience with a quickening (the being shot across the room thing) was taken with permission from Richiefic's "I Never Liked Art In High School" ch 7