Chapter Thirteen

Louise started to come round when the gentle buzzing of an immortal presence invaded her unconscious mind, it didn't take her long to realise that there was actually more than one immortal presence with her. She knew then that Kenver must have taken her back to the cabin.

"Kenver?" her voice sounded croakier then she thought it would with her dry throat.

"I'm here Louise… you're safe"

"Water"

Kenver looked over to Adam, who quickly nodded his head and turned around and headed into the kitchen. He quickly returned with a bottle of water and he handed it over to Kenver, who opened it and put the bottle to Louise's mouth to let her take a drink.

"How are you feeling?"

"Like I've just been hit by a ten ton truck… How do you think I feel?…"

"Well I'm glad you're feeling better than last time this happened… if my memory serves me right it was a twenty ton truck last time…"

"I'll take your word for it but it still feels just as bad…" Louise managed a smile then as she was starting to feel better.

"Louise I believe your friends are waiting for a few answers…"

"I know… Ok let get this over with…" She swung her feet over the side of the sofa so she was now sitting up and looking at the other two immortals and one watcher. Adam was the only one in the group who didn't look puzzled, in fact he almost looked like he knew what was going on.

Louise looked over at Kenver and lowered her voice to a whisper so only he could hear her when she spoke next, "are you sure you haven't said anything because Adam doesn't look all that shocked with what's going on."

Kenver lowered his voice so his voice was about the same level as hers, "I haven't mentioned anything about your situation… although I'm also getting the impression that he seems to know what's happening."

She nodded her understanding then looked back to the three men, taking a deep breath she started, "Ok… who wants to ask the first question?…"

"Louise will you please tell me what happened out there?" Joe was the first one to ask although she could tell Richie was contemplating asking the first question.

"Well I was challenged… by Malcolm Meadow…"

"Malcolm Meadows… isn't he another one of your students Kenver?"

"Indeed he was… although I did not foresee this side of his personality…"

"So why did he have the big problem with Louise?" Richie couldn't help but ask as his curiosity got the better of him.

"Malcolm wasn't happy with me as I kept the fact that I was immortal from him… you see Malcolm came back to visit Kenver about six months after I took my first head and we hit it off straight away… we were seeing each other for quite some time… but we were both busy so we really never had much time for much of a private life… We managed to grab a few minutes here and there but not enough time to… well not enough time to get intimate with each other… It was finally about three months in when we finally got round to having a quiet night in… at the time he believed me to be Pre immortal as well… but when… when things started to go to the next step I lost my concentration and I slipped… I let him see what I really was… well putting it one way… he thought I was trying to trick him so I could take his head… he decided to go for mine instead… I barely got away from him that night… and I went running to Kenver for help as he was the only one that knew what I was… other than Malcolm."

"That's another thing… how are you able to hide the fact that you're immortal?"

Louise smiled at that as this was where the fun would start, "that is where Kenver came in… Ok… well I'd just taken my first head with Kenver watching over and like today I blacked out… from what Kenver says… I had an adverse reaction to the energy of the quickerning and it causes my body to shut down to the basic leaves of survival… as you can guess that would not be a good thing to happen if I was on my own when I was challenged… So Kenver taught me a technique which is kind of like meditation and a mental block which dampens my buzz… in other words… if I concentrate I can make it feel like I'm only pre immortal… which helps me avoid been challenged."

"So you're telling me you can… that's impossible" Richie said getting up from his seat and turning to look at Adam, "Adam you must have heard of something like this before… is it true?"

"Yeah it's true… I knew someone a couple of centuries back who could do it… but she said her teacher only taught it to those that he thought wouldn't betray its use…"

"That is correct… I only teach this technique to a very few of my students… but I've never had to teach it to a student as a means of their survival… before Louise that is."

"Errr… Ok…"

The room descended in to silence as Richie, Joe and Adam all processed various amounts of information. Louise looked at Kenver in the hope of finding support, which Kenver was willing to give no matter what.

"I think it would be best if you went to bed Louise… to help you get back some of your strength… it will also give everyone time to think…"

"Thank you Kenver" with that Louise rose from the sofa and quietly headed to her bedroom, she had to admit that she was still feeling very tired.

The next time Louise woke it was to a gentle knocking on her bedroom door. She opened her eyes sleepily and looked towards the closed door. Her sleep-clogged mind wondered why the door was making that noise.

Finally her mind cleared and she quietly shouted for the person knocking to enter.

"Louise?"

"Kenver… what's the matter?"

"Nothing's the matter Louise… I just came to see how you're doing… and I think we still need to discuss something as we were interrupted by the lake…"

"Sure come in… take a seat," Louise said pulling herself into a sitting position.

"So are you feeling any better?…"

"Yeah actually… I'm feeling a hell of a lot better..."

"Good… Louise what do you plan on doing about the situation with Richie now that he knows about you being immortal… I believe you should give him a chance… he seems like a good young man… plus I have heard good things about his teacher… MacLeod…"

"I'm still not sure Kenver… he seemed more shell shocked before when I told them all about my immortality… but as to how he feels is a whole different matter… It was just a kiss after all… for all I know he didn't even want the kiss… he hasn't mentioned anything since and it doesn't seem to have even bothered him at all…"

"That is true… but you are saying all this on the assumption of that… I think the two of you need to talk…"

"I don't know… I…"

"No Louise I am not your father and I am unable to run your life like I said before… but I will not stand by and watch you distance yourself from someone just because of a kiss… You need to sort it out… and if it was just a mistake then at least it's out in the open and they'll be no feelings of guilt from either of you… But on the other hand if he too has feelings for you then don't waste your life… I know you have a longer life span than others… but it's just a longer time to feel regretful for not doing something while you had the chance… I'm going to send him in and you will talk…" With that Kenver turned and left the room without giving Louise a chance to protest.

Louise sighed and closed her eyes knowing deep down that Kenver was right but not sure how to confront the problem.

"Louise?" Richie's voice drifted to her from the doorway where he was popping his head around the door.

"Richie… come in… errr can you close the door as well…"

Now Richie was puzzled, first he gets sent in to talk to her by Kenver and now she asked him to close the door, something was going on. "Errr sure."

The door closed and Richie stood in front of it stiffly.

"You can come further in to the room you know… I won't bite…" Louise smiled, trying to relieve some of the tension in the room. Richie moved further into the room but still look uncomfortable and slightly wary.

"We need to talk about what happened yesterday…"

"Ok… but I just want to say sorry… I shouldn't have kissed you… I'm sorry…"

"No it's alright… it's me who should be saying sorry…"

"No it's not… I should have known that you weren't interested… I should never have kissed you when you didn't want to be kissed…"

"It's not that I didn't want to be kissed… it's just as you've guessed I've had a bad experience with Malcolm… it's not the fact that I don't like you or anything like that… I was just afraid that once you found out about me being immortal I thought you'd have reacted the same way he did… that you would think I was trying to trick you when I wasn't."

"So what are you saying?"

"What I'm saying is that… well… I don't know… maybe it wasn't such a good idea pulling away from you when we kissed." The room went silent, as Richie was shocked at what had been admitted.


A/N: - Hey people thanks for the reviews again... Did i mention that i love review :D... Anyway you'll be glad to hear that i've started Secrets 3 today so hopfully that should be finished in say... a month or two depending on how hard i work my muse... :D.

Lauren: - Glad your really liking the story and as you've noticed i like to throw in the odd plot twist or two, three... who knows how many theres that many i lose count.

BitteBrigitte: - Sam/Jack/Asgard DNA immortal (known as Louise) is interesting in herself and complicating... (god knows how i manage to write someone like that)... glad your liking it though... as i enjoy writting them :D

ccgig: - Like i wrote in Laurens comment i like making things complicated it keeps you reading my stories (although i haven't wrote all that many)... Glad your liking it and i'll keep writting complicated :D

Village Mystic: - Thanks for continuing to read... As for the immortal sensing pre-immortal i've always got the imprestion from Highlander the series that all immortals can sence pre-immortals... (although at the moment i'm only up to season 4, even if i know what happens in season 5&6 with out even watching them)... So if i'm wrong i appologise, (i know for certain that Mac can sence pre-immortal because he states so in ep 3.05 Rite of Passage).