Louise was cuddled up to Richie in bed when there was a knocking that interrupted her dreams making her drift further and further into consciousness. Forcing herself to wake up even more she listened for the noise, trying to determine where it was coming from. Finally realising it was the noise of someone knocking on the front door she nudged Richie in an effort to wake him up.
"Richie, go get the front door." She murmured.
"Err, jusssstt teeen moreee minutessss." Richie managed to say his speech slurred with sleep.
"Fine, I'll get it!" Louise pushed the covers off herself and Richie making sure they landed well out of his reach. She pulled on some sweat pants to match the T-shirt she had been using to sleep in and looked over at Richie who was sleepily searching for the covers with his hands.
Padding through the cottage in her bare feet Louise couldn't believe it was morning already. It felt only like minutes since she'd finally managed to shut her brain off and was over taken by sleep.
Finally reaching the door, Louise yanked the door open cutting off another knock that had just started.
"It's about time. We've been standing out here knocking for about half an hour." An annoyed sounding voice fluttered though her brain telling her to focus more and when she did she was shocked by what she saw.
"Mum? Dad? What are you doing here?" She almost squeaked.
"Well that's a good greeting isn't it? We fly all the way over here to see our only daughter and that's what we get. Aren't you at least going to invite us in?"
"Huh, yeah sure come in. One thing though, how did you know where I was staying?"
"We were worried about you. I contacted Joe he explained that you've been offered a job with a friend of his friend or something like that. When you didn't call to let us know where you were staying or even about your new job we contacted him again and he told us." Louise's dad explained as he followed his daughter and wife into the living room.
Louise was instantly glad when she entered the room and noticed that Richie had taken his sword into the bedroom with him when he'd gone to bed last night. She wasn't sure how her parents would have reacted to her having a sword around, especially with her father having been a Watcher.
"Err, I'm just going to go get changed." Louise pointed back towards the kitchen. "If you want a drink the kitchens just through there."
"Ok." They both replied at the same time.
Patty, Louise's mum sat down on one of the sofas while Edward her father went into the kitchen.
Louise entered the bedroom, closing the door quickly behind her. Richie was still asleep on the bed and had somehow managed to reclaim the covers.
"Richie! Get up, we've got a problem." Louise said as quietly as she could while shaking Richie shoulder.
"Huh? What? Louise what's wrong?" Richie managed to sit up rubbing the sleep from his eyes in an attempt to get them to focus on Louise.
"My mum and dad are here!"
"What?" Richie half asleep brain couldn't understand why that was such a big problem. "What do Jack and Sam want? It's your day off today isn't it?"
"Not Jack and Sam. Mum and Dad! Joe told them where I was and well they're here."
"You mean not Jack and Sam." The truth finally hit Richie and he suddenly looked wide-eyed at Louise.
"That's exactly what I mean. Look, Richie, they… well they don't know about you. I haven't had the chance to ring them since moving over here and well you see my dad used to be a Watcher."
"Oh great!" Richie mumbled. "So what do you want to do?"
"I want you to meet them, but I just want you to careful about what you say."
"Are you sure? I don't usually do meeting the parents very well and to tell you the truth I'm not really keen on Watchers." Richie admitted.
"You'll do ok." She reassured him. "Get dressed and I'll introduce you."
"Ok." Richie sighed as he pushed the covers off himself and walked over to the set of draws, pulled out some clothes then continued onto the bathroom with Louise quickly following his actions.
While Louise got a shower, Richie brushed his teeth and while Richie showered Louise brushed her teeth. They were both ready within record time and while Louise finished off tying up her still damp hair while Richie stood nervously by the bedroom door trying to over hear any conversation that was happening in the front room.
"It'll be ok." Louise smiled over to him. "They'll love you."
Richie snorted at that and hid behind Louise as she exited the bedroom and headed down the hallway to the living room.
"Louise darling, you really need to tidy this place up a bit it's full of dust…" Mrs Robinson turned when she heard her daughter coming back down the hallway then stopped mid sentence when she saw Richie standing behind her.
Mr Robinson looked around at Louise to see what had distracted his wife from continuing her lecture about cleanliness and scowled at what he saw.
"Louise?" Mr Robinson's voice was stern and a look in his eyes clearly told her he knew who and what Richie was.
"Mum, Dad I want you to meet Richie. We've been seeing each other for near enough the whole time I've been here."
"Louise why didn't…"
"Patty honey, could you please go finish off the coffee. I want to have a quick word with Louise." Edward cut in and shot Richie a look that made a shiver run down his spine.
"Edward?" Patty asked confused at her husband's behaviour.
"Please Patty!" He said.
"Ok." Defeated Patty walked into the kitchen while Edward walked closer to Louise and Richie.
"Louise, have you lost your mind. Have you any idea what you've getting yourself into by seeing him?"
"Dad? What do you mean?"
"Louise don't play dumb with me." Edward hissed. "He's immortal and you know it. I know you knew what I used to be and I know you know about immortals. What on Earth possessed you into dating an immortal?"
"It's my choice dad. I can see whomever I want!" Louise said defiantly straightening her back bringing her to her full height.
Just then the front door burst open and Adam raced in, "Louise, Richie, why haven't the two of you been picking up…" he stopping dead in his tracks at the scene in front of him. One obviously angry man, one pissed off looking Louise and Richie's face as white as a sheet.
"What's going on?" Adam asked in concern.
"Adam Pierson?" Edward said as he looked over to see the intruder.
Adam looked Edward up and down suspiciously. "Who's asking?"
"Adam, this is my dad, Edward Robinson." Louise said trying to keep her voice calm.
"You used to be in research didn't you?" Edward said receiving a puzzled look from Adam.
"Adam, Dad used to be in the Watchers too." Louise explained.
"Oh! Anyway sorry to interrupt this family reunion but Hammond requires both of you on base." Adam explained the reason he'd burst in on them.
"Yeah, sure. I just need to get my, errr…" Richie just turned and headed back to the bedroom to retrieve his sword. He returned to the living room sword in hand just in time for Patty to see him as she came out of the kitchen.
Not stopping to say bye Richie walked back past Adam, Louise and her parents and out the front door. Patty looked on concerned at what she'd just seen but Adam had to note that there wasn't any shock on her face.
"Mum, I've got to go. There's something that needs doing at work, I'll try not to be too long."
"Ok dear." Patty voice clearly showed the concern that she felt but didn't want to show her daughter in case she worried her.
Louise nodded then curtly said bye to her dad before turning and followed Adam out of the house.
The silence followed Louise and Adam out of the house and as they got into the car. An annoyed Richie was already sitting in the back his sword already hidden within the folds of his coat, but his face betrayed him, clearly showing the dark mood he was in.
Once they started driving down the dirt road Adam felt the need to clear the air so he asked Louise what had just happened back at the cottage before he'd got there.
"Dad used to be a Watcher before he retired. He worked with Joe for a few years. I guess he must have seen Richie around MacLeod or something as I remember dad and Joe talking about the immortal he was the Watcher for… Fizz… Fitz… something like that. He could have spotted Richie around MacLeod and heard Joe talking about him being immortal. All we know for sure is he knew Richie was immortal the minute he saw him and he wasn't best pleased about the fact that I'm dating him."
"Well at least you can't say I didn't warn you about me always making a bad first impression!" Richie seemed to have lightened up slightly but there was still slight annoyance in his voice.
"Don't worry about it Richie." Louise said. "Dad's always been stuck up when it comes to interacting with immortals. He used to always have a go at Joe for getting too close to MacLeod. I guess I've just given him another reason not to talk to me for another couple of years that's all."
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cause you any problems." Richie shyly looked down at his hands regretting getting up that morning.
"You didn't Richie. If it wasn't you he would have found another reason not to talk to me, we've never been that close, always trying to find reasons not to talk to one another."
"I can't believe he recognised me though." Adam said as he concentrated on the road. "I hardly saw any of my Watcher colleagues. I can even remember a time when I was talking to another Watcher and didn't realise he was my boss until I was ever so slightly ignorant to him and he decided to point that fact out to me."
"You, being ignorant with someone, that's one thing I wouldn't picture you doing!" Richie's sarcastic reply caused Louise to giggle quietly in her seat. Adam was at least relieved that Richie was loosening up and hopefully by the time they got to the base he would be back to his usual self.
"Funny Richie. Anyway, back to the issue at hand. Thor's contacted us and asked to run some more tests on you Richie, if that's ok?" Adam flicked Richie a glance through the rear view mirror.
"Yeah, sure, that's fine." Richie sighed. "I guess it's better than being stuck back there with the Spanish Inquisition. No offence Louise."
"None taken. I'd rather get burned at the stake then spend another minute with dad when he's in that mood…" Louise turned slightly in her seat so she could smile reassuringly at Richie then looked back over at Adam. "So what do they want with me?"
"Nothing, when I walked into the cottage and saw the looks on all of your faces I thought it'd be a good idea to get both you out of there and make it look good." Adam mischievously smiled and his eyes glinted with mirth.
"Thank you. Thank you! THANK YOU!" Louise started playfully bowing to Adam, as she couldn't help the giggle that escaped, glad that she had friends that would help her out like that.
"Don't worry about it, just if I ever ask for a favour from you don't turn me down."
"Don't worry there's no chance of that happening." Louise smile, maybe everything was going to me all right after all.
A/N: - Hope your enjoying but where are all my reviews. Please review just to tell me what you think weather it's good or bad I don't mind as I just like to find out what people think.