Adam leaned against the hood of his car, which was parked outside the cottage. He'd been standing there for a few minutes not sure what he was going to say to Richie.
If he was truly honest with himself the main reason he was hesitating wasn't the fact that he didn't know what he was going to say, that was pretty easy after all. It was the fact that he didn't know how Richie was going to react that un-nerved him.
Although he had been truthful before when he was talking to Jack and Sam about knowing Richie since about two years after his first death, the problem was he didn't actually 'know' him. Yeah, he'd seen him hang around with MacLeod but when had he really had the time to hang out with him and get to truly 'know' him.
Truth was he was afraid that Richie would think it was some kind of trick or something and would call MacLeod. Mac would more than likely jump to the conclusion that he was up to something as well. He had been Death after all, so it wasn't much of a stretch to think he was messing with the head of a young immortal.
Richie had been rejected most of his life up until meeting MacLeod and Tessa. Hell, he'd considered them family according to one of the times he'd talk to MacLeod about him and MacLeod was quick to state that he felt exactly the same.
No matter how many disagreements they have had, MacLeod and Richie were family, family had their disagreements after all but they were always there to watch out for one another.
Adam knew that if he did anything to harm Richie, whether it was mentally or physically, he would have MacLeod there waiting for him just to make sure that he'd pay for harming his family.
Adam envied MacLeod because of that, having someone you could trust with your life, someone always there to look out for you. To know that there was someone out there to back you up if you really needed the help.
Hell, no matter how many times he'd been married in the past, Adam had to admit to himself that there wasn't really one time that he felt completely at ease. He never felt completely safe, always looking over his shoulder for the next person who was coming after his head.
It wasn't until he got to know Sam that he finally could relax, if only slightly. He'd had a hard time trying to let down all the barriers he had built up over the millenniums. No matter how much he tried though there was still that little voice of doubt in the back of his mind telling him he still wasn't one hundred percent safe.
He knew that what he had to realise was that no matter how much anyone tried they could never get one hundred percent safe. Hell, they were luck with just fifty percent safe. But he'd been alive for a long time and he didn't want it too end. He'd grown to the point that hardly anything took him by surprise anymore, and death was one big surprise he was in no hurry to finding the secrets of.
It wasn't that he was afraid to die, hell no. In fact, it might give him some well earned rest after all the years of roaming the planet. It was just a case of 'he'd lived that long he didn't like the idea of not living anymore.'
Religions has risen and fallen during his sojourn on this planet. He truly didn't know if he believed in an afterlife or a God almighty. How could there be one entity that controls everything after all?
The Egyptians had believed in Ra, Apophis, Osiris and countless other gods which turned out to be alien parasites that took over a host body.
The Norse gods turned out to be the Asgard.
Were there any other aliens out there that had come to take advantage of the primitive minds that used to dwell on Earth?
Hell, he was sure he'd overheard Sam and Janet discussing some aliens that took the names of Native American Spirits.
He had never really believed in God with much desire, but having any hint of God tainted by aliens was just too much. It made him think long and hard about other things he had thought of as miracles over the years. Looking back over them now with the knowledge he had now he wasn't half as impressed as when they had happened at the time.
Hell, he realised then that he had gone way off track. How did he manage to get from thinking about Richie's reaction about him being his biological father to whether or not there truly was a God or Gods?
Shaking his head in an attempt to clear his mind of all the nagging doubts that he'd been thinking over; he pushed off the car and walked determinedly towards the cottage.
A sharp knock sounded on the back door disturbing the conversation between the three immortals. Richie got up from his seat quickly volunteering to get the door, while Louise and Kenver continued to talk about old times.
As went back to the back of the cottage, he picked up his sword, which Louise had left leaning up against the doorframe, to return it to his jacket. As he neared the door it was easy to tell that another immortal was behind it so he held onto it, just in case. Casually opening the door Richie was surprised to see a slightly wary looking older immortal standing on the other side.
"Hey, Adam, you got news back from Thor already?"
Adam hesitated slightly, "Yeah. Can I come in Richie?"
"Yeah, sure. Kenver's here so you may as well join the party." Richie replied with a raised eyebrow.
"Kenver? I didn't realise he was still in town."
"Neither did Louise and I until he turned up at our door about an hour ago."
"Oh!"
"Don't worry Adam, I think he's near enough ready to get going anyway." Richie tried to reassure Adam thinking the hesitation was because he didn't want to be around an immortal he knew very little about. "I think he said something about an early flight tomorrow morning or something. Once he's gone we'll discuss what Thor found out. Do you want a beer?"
"Err, yeah sure."
Richie gave Adam another puzzled look as he couldn't remember ever seeing Adam this distracted before, and it was slightly disconcerting that something could unsettle him that much.
"You sure you're ok? You look worried about something."
"What? Oh. No, I'm fine, honest." Adam said trying to take his mind off worrying for a little while but found it extremely hard.
"Ok, go on through to the front room, I'll just go get your beer."
"Sure."
With that Adam walked off into the front room while Richie watched him, still slightly un-nerved about the old timer's mood. Shaking his head figuring that it was probably nothing he'd have to worry about he walked off into the kitchen to retrieve Adam a beer.
"Adam, we didn't expect to see you tonight." Louise greeted him with a smile.
"Yeah, well, I got some news from a mutual 'friend'. I just thought I may as well bring it round in person."
"Oh. Well, we'll have to discuss that later then." Louise said brushing the fact that she was eager for the news because of Kenver's presence.
"Yeah, Richie told me you had a guest." Adam looked over to Kenver and nodded a greeting.
"A guest that knows when it's time to leave." Kenver stood up and moved over to Louise. "It's been nice talking to you again, Louise. Keep yourself safe."
"Kenver, you don't have to go." Louise said although they all knew she was only saying out of politeness.
"Yes, I do, Louise, remember I have an early flight to catch, plus it looks like there's something troubling Adam here. Something tells me he'll feel a lot better once he gets it off his chest."
"It can wait, Kenver. You don't have to leave on my account." Adam said half heartedly.
"It was nice to see you as well, Adam, no matter brief but I really do have to get going. We'll more than likely cross paths again sometime in the future." Kenver said shaking Adam's hand.
"Well, with Louise here in both our lives that looks like a high possibility."
Kenver nodded his head. Louise walked him to the door where they said their final goodbyes, uncertain when they would next meet.
Richie entered the living room, beer in hand and noticed there was only Adam there. "Where is everyone?" He asked.
"Kenver's leaving. Louise is walking him to the door to say goodbye." Adam replied taking the beer from Richie. Adam gulped down almost half the bottle of beer in one swallow as he walked over to the window.
"Take it easy old man, we don't have an endless supply of those!" Richie said.
"Oh, sorry! Guess I needed that more than I realised."
"Looks like you could've used something a lot stronger." Richie shot back still worried about how un-nerved the elder immortal looked. "Are you sure everything's alright?"
Adam seated himself on the sofa, but instead of relaxing like he would usually do, he sat stiffly on the end of the seat.
"So, what did you find out?" Louise asked as she re-entered the room.
Adam looked up at her and knew that the time had arrived when he would have to tell all. "Thor found some files in Loki's database. It looks like the little grey bastard has been experimenting for several millenniums, trying to find a cure for that Asgard cloning problem or something."
"So, it's confirmed then? The Asgard were responsible for creating Immortals?"
"The Asgard had no knowledge of what Loki was doing. It looks like he was doing the same as what he did with Louise. Finding two 'donors' as Thor called them and using their DNA and Asgard DNA to create an immortal."
"So what…?" Richie started but was cut off by Adam.
"Richie please! Just let me finish, ok?"
"Sure, just get to the point." Richie couldn't help getting slightly annoyed at been cut off.
"I would, if you'd let me." Adam couldn't help but bite, but immediately regretted it. "It seems Loki was really good at keeping records, he had a record of all immortals and possible immortals he'd created going back even before me. Thor confirmed from the timeline of experiments that I was the oldest living immortal still living. He continued on through the list and found Janet, then we found you Richie, but there was something different about you. Loki decided to try something different, rather than using two mortal human donors and then adding the Asgard DNA to the mix he used one mortal human's DNA and one immortal's DNA which he then added the Asgard DNA."
"Adam, are you saying that I have an immortal as one of my biological parents?" Richie's voice croaked.
"Yes!"
"Who?"
"Richie, it's…" he couldn't. The look on Richie's face was just too much. Was that horror he could see almost overflowing in his eyes?
How could he tell him when he was obviously horrified about the whole possibility of having an immortal for a parent?
"Adam?" Richie pleaded.
He couldn't, he just couldn't break the child's heart like that. Bolting to his feet Adam did the thing he was best at; he turned and ran, while Louise and Richie watched in confusion.
A/N: - Thanks for the reviews once again and please keep them coming. Hope you like this and sorry for the cliffe hanger but it had to be done.