Chapter XXI

Methos placed his hand over the hand Kelly had laying on her abdomen "Why don't you try and get some rest?" He said in his best bedside manner voice.

"Doctor?" Kelly asked as Methos stood up.

"Yes?" Methos stopped and looked at her.

"Why does my head hurt so bad?" She asked and a tear ran down her cheek.

Methos felt a tug at his heart. All he could say was, "I'm not sure." With that he turned and headed downstairs. He walked out the front door and stood on the porch staring up at the stars. For the first time in centuries tears ran down Methos' cheeks.

Duncan started to get up from the bed to leave her alone so she could get some sleep, but Kelly reached out and put her hand on his arm to stop him. Surprised he looked down at her.

"Please," she whispered. "Don't go. Stay. I...," she hesitated, "don't want to be alone."

Duncan felt a lump growing in his throat. He couldn't remember ever seeing Caitlin look so frail, so vulnerable in the century he had known her. He sat back down on the bed.

"Tell me about her,' Kelly whispered and started to close her eyes.

"Who?" Duncan asked a little taken aback by her request.

"Your wife," Kelly said sleepily. "Caitlin."

Duncan wasn't sure how that made him feel. He stared at her dumbfounded for a couple of moments then he took her hand off of his arm and laid it across her other one and pulled the afghan up under her chin. He scooted up further on the bed and braced himself on one arm and closed his eyes. When he started speaking he spoke in a soft gentle voice.

"She's mostly an Irish imp...full of mischief, practical jokes...something that never failed to make you laugh no matter how solemn the situation or how depressed you may feel," the memory of her as he talked made him smile and brought tears to his eyes as well. "But that's just one side of the person she is. People could always count on Caitlin. She was always the first to volunteer to help someone, no matter how big the problem might be or how dangerous. If she told you she'd be there at a certain time or have something done by a certain day, it was...she was.

"She was honest to a fault. Never ask her something you may not want to hear the answer to because she'd tell you," Duncan paused thinking about the woman he was describing. Then he began again.

"She may have looked like a ditsy re head, even acted like one from time to time to throw people off. But she was very much the opposite. She always tried to learn new things. I haven't met too many Immortals that truly utilized their extra years of life as a chance to learn something. She loved it when someone or something challenged her brain. She hated stagnation of any sort. She was a great person to just talk to and she listened," Duncan stopped and looked at the girl on the bed.

Kelly opened her eyes and looked at hi. The love he was feeling for the woman he was talking about was evident. "Go on," she whispered. "Tell me more."

Duncan smiled at her. "I thought you were asleep,' he said. He took a deep breath and began again.

"Caitlin has such a lust for life," he said. "She came into my life at a time when I couldn't see anything good. My world had become a very dark place." He felt tears burning behind his closed eyelids. "I had lost so many people I loved...had seen so much pain and suffering...had caused so much pain and suffering. And there she was." He wiped the tears from his eyes. He didn't realize she was still watching him.

Kelly watched him wipe away his tears and felt a strange tug at her heart. She quickly closed her eyes so he wouldn't know she had seen him.

Duncan continued on. "She had so much love inside. She opened up a whole new world for me. She taught me what love was and she taught me to look at life and the world we as Immortals live in in a more positive way. I guess...in a way she saved my life." Duncan stopped and looked at the girl he was positive was his wife. Her breathing had slowed and her face had relaxed. He waited silently for a few minutes. When she didn't open her eyes to see why he had stopped talking he decided that she had finally fallen asleep. He sat watching her for several more minutes. As he was about to get up, Kelly turned over and moaned one single word in her sleep. That word was "Duncan."

Robert Woods and Mr. Conroy spent the first few days in Seattle sight seeing. On the day before the King County Fair's rodeo was to start they spent the better part in a meeting with the extraction team. The team consisted of an ex-CIA agent, a physician and a "cleaner". Woods hoped the last member of the team wasn't going to be needed but he was prepared to give the order should worse come to worse. In their meeting their strategy was discussed and eventually laid out. Their goal was simple.

"Remember," Woods said and looked around the suite at the faces of each person in the room. "Our only objective is to apprehend Mrs. McKinney and get her off the streets. Preservation preferred, however, should that not become an option then we eliminate the problem. Agreed?" Everyone muttered their agreement.

On the first day of the rodeo, Robert Woods and Mr. Conroy bought their tickets into the fairgrounds and split up as soon as they walked through the gates. Mr. Conroy headed for the grandstands of the rodeo arena and Woods strolled casually to the rodeo staging area.

Woods approached the long table near the rider's gate. There were three people sitting at the table and several cowboys were milling around.

"Excuse me," he said to the older lady sitting in the middle of the three people at the table. "I wonder if you could help me. My sister told me to meet her here before the rodeo. She's in it. But O don't see her. Has she drawn her number yet?"

The older lady smiled politely and reached for a clipboard. "What's your sister's name?" She asked.

"Kelly McKinney. She's your queen," Woods said proudly.

The lady's face brightened as she said, "Oh Kelly. Yes. Sweet girl. She's very popular around here." She checked the clipboard then turned, puzzled to the older gentleman on her left and asked, "Ted, has Kelly checked in yet?"

"Haven't seen her," the man answered.

"That's strange," the lady said. "She's usually early. Have you seen Kevin or Toni?"

"Kevin's right over there," the man said and pointed to a cowboy standing a few yards away. "Hey Kevin," he hollered. "Come 'ere." The cowboy the man had hollered to came over to the table.

"What's up, Ted?" He asked the man behind the table.

The lady spoke up. "Have you seen Kelly? She hasn't checked in yet," She said.

"Really?" Kevin said looking rather surprised. "No. No I haven't seen her since before we left Seacouver."

"You mean she didn't ride in with you and Toni?" Ted asked.

"No," Kevin shook his head. "She was going to rent a car and leave early so she could do a little sight seeing and take some R & R. I took her to the car rental place and dropped her. So she basically left three days before the rest of us." everyone looked at Woods who was staring at Kevin.

"Excuse me," Woods spoke up. "Do you remember which car rental agency she used?"

"Kevin...this is Kelly's brother. She told him to meet her here," the older lady explained to Kevin.

"Yeah. Sure. It was Budget," Kevin answered shaking Woods' hand.

Robert Woods turned around and politely smiled at the older lady and man and thanked them, thanked Kevin and strode off. Once out of sight of the staging area Woods hurried into the grandstands, located Conroy and informed him of the development and the two men hurried out of the fairgrounds and to their car. In the car Woods got on his cell phone and called the extraction team to tell them to stand down, their target had disappeared again. Woods and Conroy headed for Seacouver.

On the day before the rodeo was supposed to start, in a meadow and a house she didn't know, Kelly died when a massive anyrism (a bubble that forms on the wall of an artery) ruptures in her brain. She died after three days of non-stop pain throbbing in her head. She died confused about who she was and who she had been. She died among people who loved her, even though she had no idea who they were. She died in Duncan's arms.

TO BE CONTINUED