Disclaimer: Highlander belongs to Davis/Panzer. They are being borrowed and returned hopefully in about the same shape they were taken in. Jeff, Emmy, and just about everyone else, belong to me. You can use them if you like, just return them please.
Chapter 17
Emmy rang the doorbell, and wondered afterwards if ringing the doorbell was too formal. Rick opened the door only a few seconds later, a slightly nervous smile on his face. "Hi."
"Hi," Emmy said, and he motioned her in.
"So, ready for some crazy Papa Rellena and salad?"
"Papa Rellena. I've never heard of that, what is it? Though I know it has potatoes in it."
He grinned at her over his shoulder. "It does indeed. It's actually a Peruvian Dish." He led the way to the kitchen. "I learned how to make it while I was in Lima, about eleven years ago."
"You've lived in South America?" she asked. She was smiling now. This is what she wanted. Rick was finally starting to open up.
"I did, for about three and a half years. I spent most of my time making money, in a not so luxurious or legal way."
"You sold drugs?" Emmy asked, raising her eyebrow.
Rick laughed. "No, I ran the underground bike syndicate."
"Oh, I see. Not quite as bad as I thought it would be," said Emmy.
"Well, my lady, dinner is getting cold, so you take a seat and I will bring the food to you."
Emmy did as she was bid, enjoying this new, softer side of Rick. He was all charm tonight. He came to the table with salad, bread, and of course the Papa Rellena. She took a deep breath and smiled. "It smells fantastic."
"Wait until you actually try it before you decide," Rick said, but he was grinning, giving Emmy the impression that he was sure—whatever he said—that it was good.
She took a few seconds to collect food onto her plate and then began to eat. The Papa Rellena was delicious. It was a potato dish stuffed with spiced ground beef, and it tasted amazing, especially when eaten with bread and salad. For several minutes, she did not say anything; she was just enjoying the food. Finally, she grinned at him. "I don't care what anyone says. The best food you can find is the food that comes out of the kitchen of people who really like to cook."
"So," Rick said, setting down his fork, "does that mean you like it?"
Emmy nodded, and watched as a happy smile formed on his face. "It's delicious. I love it."
"Thank you. You're not just saying that, are you?" he asked, giving her a searching look.
She laughed. "No, it really is good. I really do love it."
He nodded. "Good, I'm glad."
"Okay, now that you know I like your food; it's time to share what's been on your mind since earlier today."
It was his turn to laugh. "Has it been driving you crazy all afternoon?"
Emmy smiled and held up her thumb and index finger. "Just a little."
The smile slipped from his face. "I'm warning you now; this is not a short story... nor is it a completely fun one either."
She nodded, "I've had a few like that myself over the years."
Rick sighed. "I was taught by a good friend of yours. Duncan MacLeod."
Emmy blinked and straightened up. "Wait, that doesn't make any sense! I asked Duncan and Amanda if they knew you and neither one of them recognized your name!" She was extremely confused.
His lips twitched slightly. "They wouldn't. I wasn't born Rick Cloud. I've used this name for almost as long as my original name, though. In 1996 I changed it, to try and make a clean break from my life. In fact, Duncan and Amanda still think I'm dead." He leaned back in his chair.
"Why? Duncan is one of the greatest men I know. Why would you want to hide from him?" Emmy asked, surprised.
"That's where things get complicated. When we first met, I asked you why we should be friends when our only purpose was to try and kill each other. I've had that mindset for a long time because of Duncan." He stood up from the table, his food forgotten, and began to pace back and forth behind his chair. "You see, because Duncan is such a great man—as you say—trouble has a tendency to follow him. And because it followed him, it followed me. Very early in my time as an Immortal Duncan, was being—" he paused mid-step, twirling his hand, brow furled as he sought words, "—I don't know. Telepathically brainwashed by another Immortal. He was out of his head and fighting invisible monsters, and almost killed me. That was the first time. Then a year later, he took a Dark Quickening—"
Emmy interrupted, shocked, "Dark Quickenings are just a myth, aren't they?"
Rick stopped pacing and shook his head, giving her a haunted grimace. "No, they're not. I really don't know how it was that he came back from it. Duncan never said, but I think Methos had something to do with it."
"Methos is real too?" Emmy gaped at him.
"Yeah, the old man has a soft spot for me, but more about that later. The point is, if you were to call Duncan up right now and ask him about it, he would tell you that it's true. After that, it took Duncan a long time to bring me back. I thought then that the main thing we needed to learn as Immortals was that there can be only one. Mac pulled me back, he asked me to forgive him. And I did," he finished in a shaky voice.
Emmy blinked, absorbing it all. "So, why does he think you're dead?"
"Because that isn't the last time he almost killed me."
She stared at him. "MacLeod almost took your head three times?"
"Yes. The last time it wasn't that he tried, it's that he thought he had. Mac was facing Ahriman, a demon that comes to try and take over the world every thousand years."
"Okay, this sounds like something out of a bad fantasy story." She felt as though her head were swirling. Telepathic Immortals, Dark Quickenings, Methos, and a thousand-year demon? She really should talk to Amanda about Duncan MacLeod.
Rick gave her a toothy grin that did not reach his eyes. "I know. I think back on it and the whole thing seems unreal to me, but it really did happen that way. I know it's hard to believe. I wouldn't believe it at all if I hadn't lived through part of it myself. But I did, and I can tell you, it really was terrifying."
"Okay, but none of this explains why Duncan thinks you're dead," Emmy replied, staring at him in confusion.
"One night during the whole mess with Ahriman, I thought I saw our friend Joe, Duncan's Watcher, being kidnapped by an old enemy. I followed them to an abandoned warehouse. When I went inside I found Duncan. I don't know what was going on, but he was standing in a big empty area. I was going to help him, determined to fight this demon with him. I saw him swaying in a circle, waving his sword in the air at nothing. Suddenly, this other Immortal showed up. I don't know if he was sent by Ahriman or someone else, but Duncan just took his head. Only for some reason, he thought it was me. As the Quickening started, I headed outside. Just as I left the building, Joe and Methos pulled up. This made me realize that the Joe I'd seen had been an illusion.
"I told them about the other Immortal, and asked them to pretend he was me. Then, with Methos' help, I disappeared. Something broke inside of me that night. I don't know if I was just afraid, or if I just felt it was time for me to go. I met up with Methos later that night. The next day, I got the hell out of there.
"The next thing I knew I was on a plane to Bogota, Columbia. Methos hooked me up with money and a place to stay. I paid him back with interest in like three months, and that was before I could speak Spanish. Things just fell into place down there. Anyway, Joe and Methos edited the chronicles—that's what the Watchers call their histories of us—and made it look like I was dead. Then, once I was down there, Methos helped me create a whole new identity. And now here I am, Rick Cloud. It was a lot easier to forget it all in South America. So the person I was is now gone, buried, and for a really long time I thought he'd stay buried forever. Then, three weeks ago I met this girl named Emerald Wallace who needed her bike fixed." He stopped speaking and smiled somewhat sadly at Emmy.
Realizing he was waiting for her reaction, she nodded. She phrased her question carefully. "So, what was the exact reason that you wanted Duncan to think he really had killed you?"
"I think because I wanted to make a totally clean break," Rick said. "I spent my first five years as an Immortal living in his shadow. After witnessing him think he killed me—knowing that if I had only been ten feet closer, it would have been me—I was just done. All I knew then was that being around Duncan was dangerous for me, and I had to get away."
"Why didn't you tell him the truth later, when it was all over?" she asked, frowning.
Rick sighed and began pacing again, and then he stopped and answered without looking at her. "At first it was because I was angry. I was mad at Duncan for everything he'd put me through. I was mad at myself for being a coward and running. I was mad at the world because I couldn't admit I was mad about the first two things. That's why I hardly ever talk about my time in South America. It was dark; probably the darkest time of my life. I did a lot of things I'm not very proud of, but I also grew the most. I learned who I wanted to be, and who I didn't. And it was while I was down there that I lost all trust for Immortals." He looked at her with a wan smile. "Thank you for giving me that back, at least partly."
Emmy gave him a warm smile in return. "You're welcome, but please continue."
Rick nodded, and began again, "After I left South America, I went to college. While I was there I was just too busy. It was six years of intense study, and believe me, with my childhood that was difficult for me. So, during that time period," Rick shrugged, "I really didn't think about it. Then I moved down here and, well, I got so involved in my life, with Jeff as my trusty sidekick, and a slew of girlfriends who just didn't last... It was just easier to forget about it and think about who I was now."
It was Emmy's turn to nod, "And then you met me and I turned your world upside down."
Rick shook his head. "On the contrary, I think you just put my world back into place. Though I am my own person now, the truth is I never would have become that person, nor had this life, if it hadn't been for Duncan MacLeod. I grew up in and out of foster care. I was a petty thief and a punk kid. If Mac hadn't taken me in, changed my world, I would have become some deadbeat who probably wouldn't have lasted as an Immortal for more than a couple of years."
He sat back down, and started eating again. For some reason this really amused Emmy, and she laughed. This startled him and he asked, "What? Why are you laughing?"
"Exposition gives you an appetite I take it," she replied, trying to stop laughing.
Rick nodded sheepishly, "A guy's got to have his meat and potatoes, ya know."
She shook her head, then she looked at him more intently, "So what exactly is the plan for you, then?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean are you planning to tell Duncan now?"
Rick nodded slowly, but he looked worried. "I just don't know how. It's been fourteen years, Emmy. That's a long time to wait to tell someone the truth. And Mac's not one to let go or forgive himself for killing his own student. It's going to be a shock and a bit of a betrayal, as well."
Emmy sighed, and this time she took her turn to stand from the table. "You're right about that. In fact, I really don't know how Duncan is going to deal with this."
He grinned evilly. "So let's tell Amanda first."
Emmy laughed. "Oh, you would say that."
"Look, rumor has it Amanda is extremely worried about your safety and is planning on coming to visit you. So let's give her a visit she can remember. Then we can get her help in finding a way to tell Mac. You could even invite her down."
"What for? I mean, Florida is pretty, but not call-and-have-Amanda-visit-from-Paris pretty."
"I was kind of hoping..." Rick stood up, walked around the table and took Emmy's face gently in his hands, "that it might be because you wanted to introduce her to your new boyfriend." Then he leaned in and kissed her on the lips.
Emmy, though slightly surprised by his sudden act, did not pull away. It was an interesting kiss. He was cautious for all his seemingly bold move, and brushed her lips gently with his. She leaned into the kiss, grabbing the back of his head with her right hand and curling her fingers into his hair. He felt warm and solid, and this touching had an intimacy she had missed for years. It was dizzying.
After a moment, he broke off the kiss and looked at her with a warm smile and slightly glazed eyes. He cleared his throat. "What do you think, Em?"
She nodded. "Okay." Her mind was racing; she did not how to feel. She had not been expecting this development. Rick was falling in love with her, just as she was with him. And now she did not know what to do.
He looked suddenly anxious. "Are you okay? Was that too fast?" He stepped back and took her hands in his, looking into her eyes.
"No, it's not you, it's all me, it's all in my head. I can't believe that this is happening."
"It is too fast, isn't it? Especially with your husband dying so recently. I'm sorry. Even at thirty-six, I'm still too impetuous."
Emmy pulled her hands from his and gripped his biceps firmly. "Rick, it's fine, it's really not you. And yes, you are still impetuous, but it's not a bad thing." She sighed. "Since it seems to be story night, it's time I told a little of mine. Come sit with me." She nodded her head towards the living room and the couch.
Rick nodded and put his arm around her waist, going with her into the living room. They sat down together. "What can I do?"
She smiled, softness in her eyes. "Just hear me out. The reason that I seem so... scared, isn't because you moved too quickly. It's because I can't believe this is actually happening."
Rick gave her a quizzical look. "What do you mean?"
"First, I mean I spent the last twenty or so years of my life in a loveless marriage to a mortal. That can really do things to your psyche. You see, when I married David, I promised myself that no matter what, I would see it through to the end. I wouldn't have an affair, and I would never propose divorce.
"I wasn't like most Immortals I knew. I'd never been married before. And I never had an Immortal love, either. Oh sure, I'd slept with my fair share of Immortals and mortals alike, but I never spent more than a couple of years with any of them. That was the way I liked it. At least, that's what I told myself. Then I met General David Stephen Wallace. At the time, he was a great man. He was kind, sensitive, and giving. He was funny, fun, and I could tell he really loved me. Then the years went past; he got older, and I didn't. Somewhere along the way he went from loving me to owning me. I was the pretty girl that draped his arm as he did things. I don't know if it was just his way of dealing with my immortality, or if he'd always been that way, and I only noticed it after I stopped loving him. Either way, by the eighties, I came to the conclusion that marriage was an error I would not make again; at least not with a mortal man.
"The only problem was, in all the time I'd been alive, I'd never fallen in love with another Immortal. Not the way that Amanda and Duncan are in love, or Robert and Gina." She shook her head. "No, I was always too picky for that. Yet I envied them their relationships. I wanted that so bad for myself—but no matter how many Immortals I befriended—not a single one of them ever seemed to light that spark in me."
She stood up, moving a few steps away from him and the couch. "After all that time with David, and watching as Immortal friends fell in love with each other one by one; I began to think I wasn't lovable. Then I met you, and I wanted so badly for you to even like me as a friend. This is unbelievable for me."
Rick smiled and stood, coming over to stand in front of her. "Don't let it be unbelievable. Let it be real." He put his arms around her and gently pulled her closer. "I want this, too. I want to have something special with you."
She stepped back a little so that she could look him in the eye. "But it's so fast."
His eyes were warm as they met hers, and a little sheepish. He shrugged. "Sometimes it just happens that way. No one understands emotions fully—not even therapists—and our emotions are even harder to pin down." He pulled her close again, running his hands lightly up and down her back.
She considered the sensation, and found it enticing rather than invasive. She chuckled. "Yes, and just being old doesn't make you wise. Fitz was the perfect example of that."
"I hate to say it, but Amanda is the perfect example of that," Rick countered with a fiendish grin.
"Amanda is a player and a con artist. It's what she's good at. But it has also kept her from becoming the wisest person." Emmy sighed. "I do miss her."
"So what do you think? You want to bring her down here to meet me?" Rick asked, lifting up Emmy's face to look into her eyes.
Emmy smiled. It was a free smile that made her look eighteen, and not weighed down by six hundred years of experience and recent loneliness. "I think we might be able to devise a scheme to outwit the schemer..."
"I take it you have practice," he grinned back at her.
"Oh yes, one of Amanda's and my favorite games was to steal things from each other, and we love to play mind games with one another." Emmy was smiling with nefarious intent, now.
"Fantastic. Let me know what happens, won't you?" Rick said.
"I think I can do that."
"Yeah?" He bent his head and brushed his lip across hers again.
"Yup," She replied, and tugged him closer for kisses as they maneuvered back towards the couch.
