Disclaimer: I do not own Highlander Davis/Panzer does, this story is only written for fun and enjoyment not for profit. Rated M for language and mature situations.

I want to thank my Beta reader R.J. Bingham. Please go and read R.J. Bingham's Fan-fictions, they are all well written and very enjoyable.

Chapter 10

Methos -The master schemer

Talk about a conflict of interest! Wow her new watcher was Amy Joe's daughter, now how in heavens name was that going to work? The watcher organization must not know they were related, until tonight she had never met Amy. But Amy wasn't the only surprise tonight when she entered the Seahorse Inn Joe was far from alone, he was sitting in a quiet corner with a pitcher of beer and his favorite drinking buddy Methos. They were enjoying the jazz music as if Gwen was at home in bed instead of fighting an immortal for her head.

"Joe, I am glad to see you were so worried about me, and Methos what the hell are you doing here." Gwen said in a pissed off tone of voice.

"Oh that is my cue to leave, thanks for the beer Joe." Methos tried to get up but was blocked by the angry red head.

"Oh not this time Methos, sit back down, now!" Methos looked at Joe and gave him that look like a kid that just got his hand caught in the cookie jar, then took a deep breath, looked up at Gwennie with his most appealing brown eyes he could muster. "And you Mr. Dawson I could have been killed and you are here with your old, and I mean old drinking buddy not even worrying about me!"

"That's not true Gwennie, Joe has been a wreck, I was just keeping him company and trying to comfort him, telling him you would be fine and see here you are, without a scratch on you." Methos explained smiling, and more than a little drunk.

"Gwen its true I hate it when you go to a challenge and Methos just was keeping my nerves calm, but honey you don't have a scratch on you what happened?" Joe joined in also a tad bit drunk.

"Move over boys and give me a glass of beer too, you both are drunk, I hate drunken men, and if someone comes for your head Methos you're on your own tonight. I refuse to ever fight a fight for you just because you're drunk again like I did when I was your student." Gwen said as Methos looked sheepishly at the floor for a moment. "So this is how it's going to be, me and Joe with you Methos, as our third wheel?" Gwen tried to smile.

"Well, I promise to be good and respect your marriage; I will even try calling you Gwen, though that kills me to do so. Oh Gwennie you can't expect me to give up Joe, he amuses me way too much to ever stop seeing him. Can't we compromise a little bit for Joe's sake? Don't you still like me even a little?" Methos said as he held his fingers on his right hand out in front of himself to demonstrate how small a little had to be.

Gwen shook her head at Methos but had to laugh, "Well only for Joe's sake and remember to mind your P's and Q's because I will be Joe's wife soon. If you even hint at any hanky-panky and there will be a knife in you back so fast you will not be able to say Et tu, Brutes," Gwen said as she gave Methos a glaring look.

"It's good to know where I stand with you Gwennie, so did Joe tell you I would like to give you away at the wedding?" Methos snapped back at her.

"NO, you are not even coming to my wedding, and isn't anyone going to ask what happened with Mr. McConnell? Honestly why even bother getting married; you men don't even seem to care, Joe!"

"I warned you Joe marriage isn't easy, maybe I should really go." Methos said.

"You're not going anywhere until you explain to Gwen that her house is built on Holy ground, and yes honey I do want to know all about what happened. I hate you going on challenges, but I see something went different this time." Joe asked.

But Gwen was still thinking about what Joe said first, "My house is built on holy Ground? Methos, you hired the builder and set out that foundation, Ok explain to me; I'll use simple words, like why didn't you tell me you scheming, conniving, deceitful, calculating, double-dealing, sly son of a bitch"

"Oh I think she missed a few like, Machiavellian, contriving, crafty, cunning, designing, devious, manipulative, and wily" Joe tossed in with a laugh.

"Have you two finished insulting me?" Methos asked "and Joe I met Machiavelli and I don't think we are a bit alike, But YES, your house is built on holy ground. When you go home, tomorrow in the daylight, there are ruins of an old church just to the right side of the house. Well those are just the tip of the iceberg, the church really was almost on the same site as the house, but all that is left is a small part of the rectory that's to the right of the house. To the left of the house next to the garage is the McDermott family plot. The stones are just stumps now and you can't read the writing but there is a fence around it." Methos Yawned. "Oh don't be angry, at me I just wanted you to be safe when you went to bed at night, and what better place than Holy ground." Methos gave Gwennie his most sincere look.

"Ok Methos, I get it, but I am a big girl and can look after myself. As to giving me away, Cassandra is at my house right now, and you two are like oil and water, and I don't blame her either for not forgiving you. So even if the wedding is on holy ground I don't think I want the two of you in the same room, I don't need a war at my wedding."

"But Gwennie life is about change and until she decides to change and put her past behind her, she still will be carrying around all that old baggage, and that baggage could still get her killed some day. Gwennie if anyone knows this it would be you. See now that you have finally let go of your own damn baggage. You finally have stopped blaming yourself for things you had nothing to do with, and stopped hating yourself for things you had no control over, and voila, look you are finally happy. Maybe you can help Cassandra do the same." Methos said in his most old and wise way.

"Maybe Methos, your right for once in your life, life is about change, but right now my future husband is falling asleep on the table. I better take him home. Perhaps we can be friends; it's something we never really tried very hard at before being just friends. We always rushed in to being lovers at breakneck speed. I am willing to give it a go if you are, for Joe's sake of course." Gwen smiled and gave him her hand to shake. He shook her hand back and smiled.

"Sure, Gwen we can be friends, of course only for Joe's sake. I'll help you get him to the car." Then he said to Joe. "Come on old buddy, wake up we need to walk to Gwen's car so you can go home." and Methos helped walk Joe who was still a little drunk and a little asleep to the car, put him in the passenger seat.

Methos then turned to Gwen and pushed her up against the car next to her in the parking lot a big SUV. He pulled his body as close to her as he could. Now this was familiar territory.

"Methos what are you doing? Joe and I are engaged, and he's one of your best friends?" Gwen said. "I haven't even forgiven you for the shit you put me through six years ago." Gwen looked deeply into Methos' eyes.

"You haven't properly greeted me in years Gwennie, and seeing that you are about to marry a mortal I feel this is my last chance to kiss the bride." Methos smirked.

"You never change do you?"

"I change all the time; you're the one stuck in the past." Methos said as he pulled her up so he could brush his lips lightly over hers and held her tightly aligned with his body, letting Gwen feel his rock hard cock against her leg.

"Methos, this is wrong."

"Never stopped you before," he said with something feral in his voice.

Gwen tried to turn her head away but he grabbed her neck with one of his hands and pushed his lips back to hers. Just for a moment their eyes locked, and their mouths opened. Their tongues touched, sucking in the deep aroma of a love they shared long ago. Just for a moment the two lovers were once again transported back to another day another time as they hungrily ate in each other's passions. Their mouths grouped each other with twisting tongues and bitting lips. Gwen rapped her legs around Methos waist and one of her hands at his hair as Methos took his other hand and pushed it under her bra gently touching her hard nipple. Then Joe moaned, half asleep but not aware of what was happening just beyond his grasp. Gwen broke free of her old lover arms and pushed him away. She took her arm and wiped her mouth with it then fixed her clothes. Then Gwen looked at Joe sleeping in her car.

"We can't do this Methos. I am going to marry Joe and that's it, the end."

"Good I was just testing you anyway." the old immortal smirked.

"Damn you" Gwen began swearing in a dead language.

"Such language! From such a beautiful mouth good night Gwennie." Methos smiled as he walked to his rental car and waved at Gwen as she drove off.

Then Methos lost in his own thoughts found his as he drove to his hotel for another restless night of sleep. He was happy that at least he had obtained the first step of his plan; he was back again in Gwennie's life. OK they were only as friends for now, but that was just the place were Methos wanted to start from. He wanted to lay down a whole new foundation for their relationship. This time he would base their relationship on trust and friendship just like he had started to do way back when. Unfortunately back when he first met Gwennie, he was only about 1500 years old and often still ruled by his passions instead of his head. Methos had rushed their relationship into the bedroom when he should have spent more time just being her teacher and friend. Oh he remembered what it was like to be so young and rash. He wanted something he took it, even if it wasn't the right thing to do, for him or the other person.

But over the centuries Methos learned one important lesson, he had time on his side if only he could wait and be patient. Because after nearly six thousand years Methos had finally learned that waiting for an opportunity to present itself and to make sure that it was the lucky break; that would be the best way to achieve the goal he had set for himself.

In 18 BC when he believed Gwennie had died, much of Methos world fell apart. It wasn't until then that he realized just how much she had meant to him. As time went on Methos came to accept her death as part of his life as an immortal. He was never happy about it but, Methos realized the more he fought in the game the greater chance he too might have a bad day and die also like she did. So he became an expert at keeping up with the changes in society and melting into the background of life. Oh that was not to say he hid all the time, occasionally he would find another immortal like Byron, or MacLeod, who worth coming out of his safety zone for.

But when Gwennie came back from the dead seven years ago she caught the ancient immortal completely off guard. All Methos could think was what damage control he needed to put in place. How to contain the impact this would have on the life he had built for himself. His mind was whirling with the idea that she was alive, and Methos continued to do what he had been doing for the past two thousand years thinking only of his own self-preservation. But when they were together, Methos mind drifted to other places he had not let himself go to in thousands of years. That special place of the pure joy of having someone by your side who you trusted, felt comfortable with had a history with and loved. As soon as he was alone again the panic of self-preservation set back in that he had honed for the last two thousand years. Methos had to figure a way to get Gwennie out of his life and so he did just that.

A year later when Gwennie reappeared again in Methos life a second time and he was caught off guard again and it brought back all the mistakes he made when he had first seen her again. When Methos and Gwennie were together his mind drifted back to that place he hardly had let himself ever go to; the thrill of having that one special woman, his one great love in his arms again. But Methos allowed Gwennie to surprise him again, as few things did anymore, and in the end he handled the whole incident poorly again, with many regrets.

Methos had tried to make amends with Gwennie after she moved to New Zealand, by visiting her yearly but this tactic seemed only to make things worse. This was because she knew him all too well and saw he had an agenda, but refused to let him play it out.

Now Methos had changed his agenda to one that was so calculating, designing, devious, and manipulative that even Gwennie wouldn't catch on to his plans. Methos had the rest of Joe's life time to make things good again between himself and Gweenie. Methos was never again going to let the longest relationship he had in his life slip through his fingers. This time Methos would let Gweenie know just how much he really loved her. He would not be caught off guard, or panic over silly rules he had made up for himself. Because when it is all said and done what was just surviving without the sheer bliss of having someone by your side that you love and trust, felt comfortable with had a history with and were in love with. The master schemer finally had a plan; now he had good friends, both mortals and immortals to keep him busy in the interim. Now all Methos had to do was keep his head and wait until everything could fall into place. Waiting was one of the things Methos did best. Besides he was happy and smiled to himself, that tonight he had obtained the first one of his objectives he was back again in Gwennie's life. This time it would be forever.

End chapter 10

Chapter 11

Cassandra's Life after the Horsemen