Richie woke up with a stretch and a groan. Between the incident with Heather, the fight with David, then Duncan, swimming for three hours and then staying up until five thirty talking to Duncan, it had been a long night.

"Morning," Duncan greeted him, coming into the room and toweling off his hair.

"What time is it?" Richie asked not bothering to look at the clock himself.

"Nine fifteen."

"Really?"

"I thought you deserved to sleep in. I took the boys for a run and let you be."

"Oh, thanks." He sat up and stretched again. "Have you called Conner?"

"He'll be here for a late dinner tonight."

"That fast?"

Duncan shrugged. "I got a hold of him while he was in LA."

"Well, I guess we'd better get ready." Richie pushed the covers off himself. "Lemme take a shower real quick then I can put the sheets in the wash."

"After that we need to talk to Brandon," Duncan told him. "We have a lot of explaining to do."

Richie sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "Yeah. That should be fun."

He went into the bathroom and closed the door behind himself. He took a look in the mirror and studied his reflection. Something was missing. Scowling, he took a mental inventory. His hair was the same, he wasn't wearing his glasses...but that wasn't it, there were -obviously- no new cuts or bruises, there was nothing wrong. Shrugging, he opened the drawer to get his razor so he could shave. It wasn't there. Frowning, he began a search that ended in the back of his second drawer. He didn't find his razor but he did find a familiar white box.

"Oops," he mumbled to himself opening the box. Inside was the necklace Duncan had given him almost sixteen years before and Conner had given it to Duncan four hundred years before that. He hooked the chain around his neck and looked back in the mirror. Something still looked odd, but he still couldn't figure out what it was.

Finally he gave up and searched for his razor again, finding it on the counter next to the shaving gel. He shaved quickly, nicking himself a few times but ignoring it, and got in the shower. Twenty minutes later, he got out and went to find something to wear.

Duncan came into the room while Richie was tying his hair back. "Brandon's ready," he said.

"I have no idea what I'm doing," Richie mumbled to himself.

"What?"

"Nothin'. I'll be there in a minute."

Richie found Brandon sitting on the couch flipping through the channels on the TV.

"Hey, man," he greeted him.

"Hey."

"You mind if we talk for a minute?"

"Sure."

He sat down next to him on the couch. "Do you get what went on last night?"

"Yeah. I mean, it was obvious from the start."

Richie's throat went a little dry. "Really?"

"Well, they had to leave sometime, didn't they?"

"So... you're okay?"

"Yeah."

"No questions?"

"Nope."

"None at all?"

"Nope."

"Okay... well, if you come up with some, just ask me or Mac, okay?"

"Sure."

"Cool." Richie nodded and took a deep breath. "Well, did Mac tell you about Conner?"

"Who's that?"

"You're teacher. He's on his way now."

Brandon looked at the ugly pattern on the couch upholstery. "I'm not staying here?"

"No. Brandon, that was the deal. I thought you knew that." He didn't answer. "Look, I ah... I'm not ready yet. The whole plan was for me to take care of you until I found you a teacher. Mac was my first choice. But he has Anthony. So we called Conner... who is way cool... and just between you and me," he leaned in closer. "He's cooler than Mac."

Brandon cracked a smile. "Is he nice?"

"You'll like him. But, you can always call me. I'll set him straight."

"Oh, I'm so sure."

"Hey, I got some pull. I can throw my weight around."

"Uh-huh."

"You know something?" Richie grabbed Brandon and put him in a head lock. "You need to watch your back, because you are too much like me for your own good."

. . . . . .

"I'm going to go get Conner so I can fill him in," Duncan said stealing a carrot from the pile Richie had been chopping.

"Shouldn't I do that?" Richie asked.

"I think I should."

"Mac, this is kinda my thing here."

"Richie, I really want to be the first to talk to Conner. You'll have your turn."

"You're pulling rank on me."

"Yeah. I want to talk to Conner first."

Richie sighed. "Okay, fine. I'll watch the boys here. Put them to work or something."

"Thank you, Richie." They waited in silence for a minute. "Can I take your car?"

He handed him his keys. "Take your pick."

"Thanks, Rich. I really just want to catch up with Conner before we have to deal with the situation we have going on here. We'll be back in a couple hours."

"Yeah, fine."

Duncan sighed. "Richie..."

"What?" he asked.

"Don't do that."

"Do what?"

"Act like this."

"Like what?"

"Yeah, fine," Duncan imitated Richie's clipped tone. "You're mad."

Richie rolled his eyes. "Geeze."

"You can't get mad at me every time I decide something you don't like."

"Okay."

"So now you're just going to agree with everything I say?"

"Not everything." Duncan groaned. Richie sighed. "Okay, what do you want me to say?"

"I don't want to tell you what to say," Duncan insisted.

"Then don't get mad when I don't say what you want me to."

"I'm not mad."

"Then why are you getting on my case?"

"I'm not getting on your case."

"Yeah you are."

"How?" Duncan asked.

"The same way you always do."

"How's that?"

"You're getting all pouty." Richie waved the knife in the air, gesturing to noting in particular.

"Pouty?"

"Yeah. Pouty."

"Exactly how am I being pouty?"

"You get that tone of voice."

"What tone of voice?"

"And you repeat everything I say."

"I do not repeat everything you say."

"And you start to get frustrated and the next thing I know we'll be yelling for no reason."

"That does not happen."

"It happens every time, MacLeod."

"Since when?"

"Since always!" Richie snapped. "See? We're yelling now!"

"Okay," Duncan said calmly. "You were right. But I would still like to be the to go get Conner."

"Okay. I'll have dinner ready by the time you guys get back probably."

Duncan started to leave then turned back around. "You're still mad, aren't you?"

"Mac! God, man, just let it drop and go!"

With a somewhat cocky grin and a wave, Duncan left to pick up Conner.

AN: Sorry a bit of a fluff chap, but I'm stuck and figured something was better than nothing!