And here's the last chapter. I hope everyone has enjoyed reading this. It was really interesting to write. Also, this chapter guest stars Methos. I couldn't help but throw him in here somewhere. Enjoy! - scgirl_317
The smell of coffee tickled Matt's nose, slowly luring him out of sleep. He cracked an eye open, and made out the shape of a steaming pot and two cups on a side table a few feet from the bed. Opening his eyes further, he noticed that neither of them had moved much during the night.
The room was still dark, the heavy velvet drapes blocking all but a sliver of light where they didn't quite meet. The fire had died hours before, making Matt glad that he had had central heating installed years ago; the abbey wasn't exactly known for retaining heat very well, and the temperature in the room had dropped several degrees.
Alesha shifted, trying to burrow even farther into Matt's side. He smiled and tightened his hold on her, placing a kiss on her hair. She sighed, drifting closer to consciousness.
"Morning, love," Matt smiled when her eyelids fluttered open.
She smiled and stretched, "Mmm, good morning."
"How about some coffee?" he asked
"Not just yet. I'm too comfortable," she replied, wrapping her arm around Matt's middle.
He laughed at that and leaned down to kiss her properly. Suddenly, Alesha was wide awake and pulling him closer. His hands had begun traveling down her body when a knock resounded on the large wooden door.
"Forgive me, Mr. Kennedy, but Mr. Brooks is wanting to know when you and Miss Philips will be up and about," Gerald interrupted.
"Tell him we'll be out shortly," Matt called back. He looked back at Alesha, "Well, looks like we have to get up, now."
"I would have just told him to bugger off," Alesha muttered.
"He would have just sent Rose, next time, and she won't bother knocking. Didn't think you'd like her just walking in."
"Okay, you have a point," she conceded, and then sniffed the air. "That coffee does smell good."
Matt chuckled, rolling over and out of the bed. He walked over to the side table and filled both cups. He handed one to Alesha, taking a sip of his own, then looked around the bed. Clothes were scattered across the floor leading a trail from the door to the bed. He saw Alesha's shirt crumpled by the bed, wrinkled beyond redemption.
"Looks like you might need a fresh shirt," he said.
"You saw to it that I'd need a fresh everything," she replied, smirking into her coffee cup.
Matt sat his cup back on the side table and crawled across the bed until he was almost on top of her.
"If I recall, you were begging for it," he said in a low voice, his mouth inches from her ear. His grin spread, and he pulled back to look her in the eyes. "You never got to see the bathroom last night. The shower is huge."
"What happened to Rose walking straight in?" Alesha asked, voice wavering slightly at the look in his eyes.
"Let her."
Ronnie stood in the library, scanning some of the titles on the shelves after one of the best breakfasts he'd had in a long time. He had asked Gerald about Matt and Alesha, and the butler replied that they would be down shortly. That had been an hour ago.
He looked up from the shelf of first edition Dickens books when he heard voices in the hallway. He looked out into the passage to see Matt and Alesha coming from the direction of the stairs. Matt was dressed casually in jeans and a knit shirt, while Alesha wore her slacks from yesterday and one of Matt's button-up shirts—something that caught Ronnie's eye.
"Long night?" he asked, interrupting them from their conversation.
Alesha blushed, but Matt simply raised an eyebrow, telling his partner that any discussion on the topic would get nowhere.
"I heard you sleeping soundly, last night," he countered.
"Hey, it's not my fault your beds are extremely comfortable," Ronnie replied, grin firmly in place.
"Good morning, Mr. Kennedy," Rose said, entering the room and prohibiting any further discussion. "I have breakfast waiting for you and Miss Philips. If you would like, I can bring it to you in here."
"That'd be great, Rose, thanks," Matt replied, and Rose turned and headed back to the kitchen.
"I have to admit, Matt, I never pictured you having servants," Alesha said, slight frown on her face.
"A hundred years ago, they were a necessity," he said. "Any more, this house is just as much theirs as it is mine. I'm only here a few weeks out of the year. Gerald and Rose run things the rest of the time. None of the staff has to pay rent or utilities, they are well paid, and the gardens, orchards, and livestock keep the kitchen fairly well stocked. I'm no slave master; I make sure my employees are well taken care of."
Ronnie started at how defensive Matt had become. Apparently, the Immortal realized it, and he looked appropriately apologetic.
"Sorry. My head's still a little scrambled. Tends to happen after I revive."
"So you left until you could get your head screwed back on straight," Ronnie assumed, and Matt nodded. "But in the past, that usually meant you had to leave behind the life you'd built, right? Leave behind your friends, loved ones. Either you had to leave, or they would. Here's the thing, Matt: we're not leaving, and you don't have to. Matt Devlin is my best friend, and you're still Matt Devlin."
Matt nodded, unable to speak through the tightness in his throat. Thankfully, he was spared from having to answer by a pounding on the front door. Matt went on alert when he felt the buzz of the newly arrived Immortal.
"Stay here," he directed the other two, and pulled his cutlass from it's hiding place in an umbrella stand by the library door.
He kept the blade low, but he softly approached the door. Despite his words, Alesha and Ronnie followed to the library entrance, watching intently as Matt regarded the front door as he did the approach to a police sting. Rose had come forward from the kitchen, but Matt waved her back out of the foyer. Taking a deep breath, he adjusted his grip on the hilt and opened the front door.
"You bloody idiot!"
Even from their position behind him, Ronnie and Alesha could see Matt's surprise. This quickly turned to annoyance, and Matt lowered the sword and opened to door wider to allow the other Immortal in.
"I could say the same about you," he groused. "Doing what you just did is a good way to lose your head."
"Oh, and getting your face plastered all over every news outlet within a hundred miles for getting shot in front of the Old Bailey isn't?" the newcomer replied sarcastically.
Matt pushed the door closed and returned to the library, pushing the cutlass back into its scabbard and returning it to the umbrella stand.
"Ronnie Brooks, Alesha Philips, meet Adam Pierson, my teacher," he introduced, pouring another cup of coffee from the tray Rose had by now brought into the library.
"Will you be staying long, Mr. Pierson?" the housekeeper asked.
"As long as your boss doesn't cut my head off," Adam smirked, settling down on the sofa.
"You know good and well I can't kill you here, no matter how much I may want to," Matt groused, but the twinkle in his eyes betrayed that he was happy to see his teacher.
"Another cup would be great, Rose, thanks," Adam said.
Rose smiled at the exchange. She had known Adam for most of her life, and she was quite familiar with the banter between him and Matt.
"I'll be right back."
Adam turned back to Matt, "I still go back to my original statement of you bloody idiot. What have I told you about being a human shield?"
"To do it as often as necessary?" Matt asked with a smile.
"You know the reason we move on after we die," Adam said, serious. "All it takes is the wrong person asking the wrong questions, and we have a repeat of the Salem witch trials. It's not just you at stake. It's all of us."
"Look, it's not like I planned on getting shot," Matt replied evenly. "I just reacted. Alesha and Ronnie were right there when I revived. I didn't have much of a choice but to tell them. But the shooting had already been called in, so I had to come up with some reason why I wasn't wounded. So far, no one's questioned my claim to have been wearing a bullet-proof vest."
"Leaving always has been hard for you," Adam said softer, after a pause. "I'm all for it if you can get a few more years out of Matt Devlin. Just keep your head down."
"I'll be careful," Matt reassured him.
Adam sighed, knowing that was the best he was going to get from Matt, and decided to change the subject. He turned to the other two who were still standing near the door, wearing matching looks of unease at having witnessed the exchange between student and teacher. He focused his gaze on attractive, dark-skinned beauty.
"So you're Alesha Philips," he mused.
"Yes," she replied self-consciously, taking the coffee that Matt offered her so she would have something to divert her attention.
Adam sensed her unease, and smiled, "Matt's descriptions did you no justice. You're far more beautiful than he managed to convey. That being the case, I can only imagine what injustices he did your spirit and intellect."
This time, Matt blushed as well, the tips of his ears turning as red as the chucks he wore. He had rambled on about Alesha on several occasions, but he was hoping that Adam wouldn't mention it. He should have known better.
Rose returned with another cup for Adam, making Matt and Alesha almost sigh with relief as the housekeeper unintentionally managed to cut some of the tension. Matt poured Adam a coffee, and Alesha snatched a piece of toast off the tray. She was famished, but didn't want to appear undignified. Matt had no such qualms and layered bacon and eggs between two pieces of toast, devouring the sandwich in only a couple bites. Adam hid a smirk behind his cup.
"So, have you given them the full tour, yet?" he asked.
"I've been a little, ah, preoccupied," Matt stammered, his eyes flicking quickly to Alesha.
"I can see that," Adam replied, biting back a laugh.
"You're enjoying yourself, aren't you?" Matt asked, grimly.
"Oh, very! But it's not like you're making it very hard. You keep setting the targets out all nice and neat; I can't help but hit them."
"Okay, seriously, if you're just going to torment me, you can leave right now, thank you very much."
"He's just winding you up, Matty," Ronnie chuckled. "I have a feeling if Adam really wanted to cause trouble, he would."
"Very astute, Detective Brooks," Adam applauded. "I had a feeling I'd like you."
"You saved Matt's life, two hundred years ago, that makes you all right in my book."
Matt met Ronnie's gaze, and they traded a knowing look. Matt's revelation had changed things between them, but the essence remained the same. Ronnie knew there was still more that Matt had not told them, but it would come out eventually. There were things about his life that only experience could truly explain, though Ronnie could only guess at what that would entail.
Alesha's mind was taking a similar track. She knew that loving Matt was not going to be easy. She could see that there were things that haunted him, and that there were still things he had yet to tell her. But she did not know of any love worth having that was easy. She was determined that she would not be driven away, not as long as she had life to live.
One thing was for sure. Life with Matt Devlin was about to get a whole lot more interesting.
Fin.