Chapter 7

Richie found Duncan waiting for his garment bag at a luggage carousel. He already had his sword case over his shoulder.

"Hey, Mac. How was the trip?"

"Hey, Rich," Duncan greeted grabbing his bag off of the conveyor belt. "The trip was good. Got some really great pieces for the store."

"How's Connor?" Richie asked as they walked out of the airport and toward the car.

"Cynical as usual. I told him about the girls."

"What did he say?"

"He thinks we're both nuts for complicating an already complex situation."

"Aww, he's just jealous."

"I agree. So how are things here?"

Richie waited until they were in the car before answering. "Well, Prue and Phoebe stopped a mugging."

"Are they okay?"

"They're fine. I wonder if we should give Prue and Piper some self-defense lessons especially with Piper working late at the club."

"Not a bad idea," Duncan said pulling the car out of the parkade and into traffic.

"After the mugging attempt, I walked them to their car. I felt an immortal, a guy named Marcus Sinclair."

"And?"

"Prue thought I was being paranoid. Luckily they left before the guy came after me. I tried to lose him, but-"

"You did what you had to do."

"Mac, I felt an immortal after my workout with Phoebe. I think it was Sinclair. He seemed to like stalking me when I was with the girls."

"You were inside the gym when you felt the immortal the first time, but you think he was outside?"

"Yeah."

"Then I doubt it was Sinclair. Amanda told me about him once. He was relatively young. As you know, the more heads you take, the stronger your quickening and presence becomes. Only the presence of a very strong immortal can be felt through buildings. From Amanda's description, Sinclair wasn't that strong."

"So you're telling me I probably sensed a different immortal?"

"Probably."

"What if he had challenged me at the gym, and Phoebe walked in? Man, I hate this."

"So do I, but it's not like we have a lot of options."

"Sometimes I wonder if Connor's right. Just be a loner."

"Do you want to walk away from them?" Duncan asked softly.

Richie sat quietly watching the old San Francisco Victorian mansions fly by. He thought of his life as a street kid before meeting Duncan and Tessa who had given him his first real home. He remembered the emptiness in his heart when Tessa was killed and knew that Duncan felt infinitely worse.

"No," he whispered, "I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because they're like family."

"Exactly."

The men drove in silence for a few moments.

"When you're with the girls, do you ever feel like there's more to them than meets the eye?" Richie asked.

"Sometimes, but that can be said about almost any woman," Duncan replied drily. "Do you have something specific in mind?"

"When I felt Sinclair as we walked to the car, Phoebe was acting as though she could feel him too."

"That's not possible. Even if she were a pre-immortal, which she is not, she wouldn't be able to feel him. It was probably just the adrenalin from the mugging."

"I guess, but it seemed awfully coincidental."

After dropping Richie off at the young man's apartment, Duncan returned home. On the way, he thought about what his friend had said concerning the girls. He had to acknowledge that something was just a little unusual about the Halliwells, but he couldn't figure out what. Maybe Richie was right. Maybe the women had secrets of their own. He shook himself from his musings. So they had secrets. Everyone does, Duncan thought. In comparison to mine, how bad could theirs possibly be?

The End

Author's notes: Thank you to everyone who's marked this story as a favourite. I'll be posting the sequel, "The Trouble with Secrets", shortly.