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 27
Jeff looked at his phone and was surprised to see Emmy's number on the caller ID. She had called less since finding out he was a Watcher. He could not blame her. It was a hard thing to take in; to find out that someone you thought was your friend was actually part of a group that had been secretly stalking you for centuries.
"Well hello, gorgeous! What a nice surprise to see your number on my caller ID," Jeff said sweetly into the phone. He knew flattery never hurt when dealing with girls.
Emmy laughed unenthusiastically into the phone. "What are you up to right now?"
He flinched a little at her tone. "About to get into my car and drive home from Miami, why? Did you need something?" It was hard, but he stopped himself from babbling on.
"No, I wanted you to come with us to dinner. Wait, what are you doing in Miami?"
Jeff sighed. "Rick needed me to check some stuff out. It's kind of tough to do some of the research on Immortals away from the actual Watcher centers. I had to come down here to do a thorough search of the archival content."
Emmy hummed into the phone. "So that means you won't be home until nine or ten, huh?"
"Yeah, around then. Sorry, no dinner date with the two most beautiful Immortals in the world! Oh, and Rick, of course."
Emmy laughed warmly this time. "Always the joker. Do you take anything seriously?"
"Not unless I have to," he replied. "Now Em, as much I would love to just sit here and listen to your lovely voice, I need to get home. And I refuse to drive and talk on the phone at the same time. I'm spacey enough as it is."
"Alright Jeff, have a safe trip home. We'll miss you tonight."
"Oh, I'm counting on it. Next time you decide to throw a dinner date, you'll absolutely have to have me there for it. Night, Em. Talk to you later."
"Bye."
Jeff ended the call and started his car. It really was time to get home.
Rick was more nervous about dinner this evening than he had been about seeing Amanda again the night before. This time, there was no Jeff in his corner to back him up. He had not realized until now how vital to his life their friendship had become. All this time he had thought that by cutting himself off he would be safe from being hurt again when, instead, he had just made himself dependent on one person instead of several. He sighed heavily and walked into the restaurant. He had no idea how he was going to converse with Amanda and Emerald by himself. Those two were each forces of nature alone; together they seemed to be an unstoppable hurricane destroying everything in its path.
He smiled as he saw them waiting in Nino's small foyer. "Hello ladies! Sorry I'm late."
"No you're not," Emmy replied with a warm smile, "you were steeling yourself for this evening, knowing you wouldn't have Jeff for support."
Rick laughed. "Yes, well. Considering my company, two very beautiful, very cunning women, can you blame me for being a little nervous?"
Amanda stood up and hugged him. "No, we can't. That's why we're not bothered you're late. Now, the very nice hostess has been holding a table for us, so why don't we go sit down." With that, she began to drag Rick into the dining room. Emmy flanked him. Their table was just on the other side of the wall that blocked the inside of the building from sight of the entryway. Rick let himself be pulled along. After all, it was never a good idea to fight Mother Nature.
As they sat down for dinner, Amanda began to speak. "So I've been thinking about this all day, and I really think that the best approach is the direct approach."
"What do you mean?" Rick asked, picking up his menu and considering the contents. He had been to Nino's a number of times, and their food was so good that he had taken to trying something new each time he ate here.
"I mean, just go up to him and say 'Hi I'm alive.'"
"You don't think he'll try killing me?" Rick asked her. There was a hollow look in his eyes.
Amanda met his gaze with a greater steadiness than he could remember her having. "Richie, Duncan's been walking around with the weight of your death for almost fifteen years now. I don't think he's going to want to double that. I think he'll be so happy you're alive that he'll forgive you. I mean, he knows better than anyone what he put you through."
Rick nodded and said quietly, "I guess so. It's just that it's so complicated."
Amanda nodded back. "I understand that."
He focused his gaze on the menu, but could not prevent the slight quaver in his voice as he spoke. "I don't think you do, Amanda. You see, something Joe and I never told anyone is that... the guy Mac killed, he really did look like me when Mac killed him, and even after he killed him. Joe told me afterwards that he never could find out who the poor stiff really was."
Emmy was staring at him. "You mean to say you watched Duncan actually take your head? Er, so to speak."
Rick met their stares briefly and nodded, "Yup. It was the weirdest experience of my life."
Amanda just sat there for a moment. "Duncan never really talks about that part of his life. He kind of shut me out during it."
Rick looked at her and asked, "Can you blame him?"
She shook her head. "No, but it still hurts."
"Yeah, but you're probably better off not knowing."
"So," Emmy interjected softly, "what do you think, Rick? You want to head to Paris?"
"I'd love to, but I can't."
"Don't tell me you're stuck taking care of that bike shop and can't leave it," Amanda said, rolling her eyes.
"No, it's not the shop. I trust Mike and Manuel to run it just fine. Actually, there are a couple of unwanted Immortals in town, and I want to make sure they're gone, one way or another, before I take a leave of absence."
"A couple, now?" Emmy asked with some interest. "There was only the question of one, last I heard."
Rick held out his left hand, palm up. "One is our mystery serial killer the cops are trying to catch. We got a tip on who he was and found out a lot about him."
"And the other?"
"A guy calls himself Damien, with a grudge against Marcus. He's still a mystery that Jeff's trying to solve tonight. That's why he went to Miami today, to check old records."
"So what's your plan? Take them both and leave town for a while?" Amanda asked, yawning sleepily. "Excuse me, I think my jet lag hasn't entirely left yet."
"No problem, Amanda. Actually, the plan is to just make sure my friend Marcus, who lives nearby and seems to have a beef with both, doesn't lose his head. And if he does, to kill the other one or two jokers myself."
"Good. Well then, while you're doing that, Emmy and I will work on our tans," Amanda said cheerfully. "Oh, look, the food is here."
Emmy looked both amused and exasperated. She rolled her eyes at Amanda and gave Rick a half-hearted glare. He shrugged his shoulders helplessly back at her.
