A/N: Apologies this chapter's taken so long - it's being a bit difficult to write at the moment! I've decided that this story is likely to end up with a sequel and this part will be mainly Duo x Methos, with Duncan coming in on part 2. :) I'm not entirely happy with this chapter, and entirely unhappy some of it, and once I've finished the fic, I'll be going through the whole thing & tidying it up! It's also shorter than normal... :/ I'm really not sure how the ending of this chapter happened - let me know if you think it works or not!

Editted out a mistake: Thanks Mist Shadow.

Also: Really not sure on the end of the chapter. Might take the last line out... Opinions?

Chapter 19

Gingerly collapsing into his chair, Duo winced as his muscles complained for the thousandth time that morning. Granted, not all of his muscles - it had been far worse when he'd first been learning to fight, but Adam had managed to get him to use muscles that were either long forgotten, or that hadn't been used in several years. Apparently the Immortal was determined that he'd learn to fight properly and correct the so-called bad form that he was using, and add to that the extra weight of the damn short swords on his shoulders, his whole body was aching. And he'd only had one lesson. To judge his skill. Fuck.

"You didn't kill each other then?" The Scottish lilt was faintly amused as it followed the sculptured face of his partner round the monitor.

"I think he was trying to. But not in any permanent way," he added at the look in the chocolate eyes. "Is he always that intense?"

Duncan shook his head, "He is when he's sparring, but I wouldn't know what he's like when he's teaching. I've only ever known one of his other students and we weren't friends."

Switching his computer on, he pushed his coat with the swords bundled up inside further under the desk as he collected his thoughts. The Immortal was the only source of information on his new 'teacher', that word still grated, and he already knew that the Scot wasn't telling him everything. It was just a matter of figuring out what was missing. Mac was going through the bank records of 'Benjim Keturi' and various other aliases of the man, and he'd been working on the same via other avenues, but even with the knowledge of the style of Adam's former names they'd been unable to track any connection to any organisation other than a few charitable ones which seemed perfectly benign. They were also limited to only twenty or so years of records and a whole five aliases - both of them were well aware that it would look odd to research a 30-odd year old man's affiliations below his tenth birthday.

He'd attempted to go further back on his home computer, both on Adam and Duncan, the interest in both men overwhelming any interest in other past times. He'd even managed to obtain a copy of the face-matching software Preventer used and, with a few modifications, had sent it searching over the entirety of the Internet for any pictures of Adam, the photograph of 'Pierson' from his old OZ records still available if you knew where to look, the man seemingly having been unable to avoid that shot. It had promptly clogging up the powerful processor for the whole weekend and forced him to tidy the flat out of boredom. He'd promptly made a note to buy a second computer once he had the funds.

He'd had far more success on Duncan MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod. Adam had been right that the man opposite had kept the same name for centuries, even after the advent of modern technology. He'd tracked down several birth certificates for the man, and the Scot had quietly confirmed when asked that the Mary and Ian MacLeod mentioned on many were his adoptive parents, however not, as the paperwork professed, in 169AC, or in 2543AD, or 2176AD or any of the other dates that were on them. There were also death certificates that matched some of the birth certificates, although Mac had admitted that most were forged. Once he had the names of the Immortal's adoptive parents, he'd started trawling through the ancient Scottish records, the Highlander showing only faint amusement in his determination to dig out his history without asking.

To be honest, he was still kind of surprised at the sheer amount of information out there on the man, while there wasn't much in the official channels, there were legends and myths containing a Duncan MacLeod across the world. There were no illustrations that remotely resembled the man sitting opposite him though, except for mention that there was one or two portraits in a private collection, and he suspected those belonged to his partner anyway. He'd even set foot in the old Brussels library before he'd met up with Adam to look at some of the older texts. That had been an experience.

The Internet had been far less forthcoming however, and it was harder to track a man when any search pulled up thousands of records on the name, especially once Mac had commented that he had been around at the birth of the Internet and had quickly picked up on the potential for people not only discovering Immortality, but the possibility of other Immortals tracking him. While the Watchers apparently had an entire division dedicated to clearing up traces of known Immortals online, and searching for hints of new ones, it appeared that the Highlander had also taken pains to avoid much activity on there. He'd found a couple of very old websites with his portrait and name listed as part of businesses, and the hint that the Duncan MacLeod opposite him had sponsored the entirety of the Scottish colony at L4, but generally it was as if he hardly existed. He was planning on running the recognition software on his partner's photo as well once his computer had started responding again, but given the Scot's knack of keeping out of the public eye, he suspected that it wouldn't bring up much. Not that he expected it to bring up much on Adam either. The man seemed far too secretive to allow much to be seen of him on such a public medium.

"Who taught you?" He resisted glancing up at the security cameras, and angled his head so that his lips would be unreadable. The security cameras weren't monitored, and only there in case of a security breach, however he wasn't about to risk revealing anything accidentally. Running his eyes down the list of emails he'd received over the weekend he muttered to himself as he deleted the spam. Bloody stuff - he'd only been with Preventer a short time, hadn't even used the address for anything outside work, and he still got messages about improving the length of his erection. Which was quite long enough, thank you very much.

"Connor,"

"Your relation?"

There was a pause before Duncan sighed, "Adam told you about Connor?" A tinge of sadness echoed in the sudden brogue.

"Um," he replied, trying to figure out whether this was a safe topic of conversation, then shrugging, "Yeah, but if he taught you then he must be Immortal too, and I didn't think it was hereditary..." The pilot tailed off, suddenly realising that opening his big mouth might not have been the best idea as pained dark eyes met his own over the desk.

"The MacLeods were blessed with two changling children, eighty five years apart," the Immortal's lip twisted wryly, "Connor found me on a battlefield and taught me the skills I needed to survive."

As he watched Mac's lips press together for a moment, the man's eyes slipping closed for a moment, he cursed himself for forgetting the Game that surrounded every Immortal's life as he realised the truth. "I'm sorry."

"It was a long time ago," came the quiet reply, and for a moment he thought his partner would continue, but only the sound of the keyboard tapping met his ears.

The expected request to help train Preventer staff in infiltration and computer security was the next email on the list, and he groaned, distracting himself with another question, "Any idea who trained Adam?"

Another pause before a much more matter of fact reply. "No."

Duo blinked, "But if he knew about Connor..."

"Adam's a private person. He doesn't talk about his past much."

The words had an air of finality to them and he almost winced as he felt his curiosity ramp up to full force. The guy just had to go and shut the conversation down. Anyone who knew him could've, and probably should've by now to be honest, warned the Immortal that the one way to ensure that Duo Maxwell would never let go of something, regardless of consequences, was to flat out block him from getting it.

The braided man was already planning on his next assault for information as he typed a quick reply to the training department saying that he was available to help train staff during working hours only and a brief list of what he was able to teach, missing out a few of the... less legal talents.

The rest of the morning passed relatively quickly, Duncan was still working on the links around 'Benjim Keturi' and Adam's other aliases, but they'd decided that there was no point in both of them focusing on Adam and that Duo should try a different tack and start contacting charities and societies with an interest in the protection of Earth to see if he could discover any links with one of Adam's aliases, or the organisation, that way.

It was worth a shot anyway, given that when Une had said they had hardly any useful information she hadn't been joking. Even after the attempted assassination, the phone call to take credit for the attempt hadn't mentioned a name, just that they wanted the Earth free from influence from the colonies. He had to admit that they were going about things the right way for a organisation that wanted to stay secret. Intelligence had only picked up on the organisation existing after the failed assassination and he wasn't sure how they'd eventually managed to get the little information that they'd passed to him and Mac, let alone connect the disparate items to the one organisation, but, hey, that was why they were the Intelligence department and they were just chasing up the information.

After sending off yet another email, this time to the European Forestry Society, he sat up and stretched, his muscles complaining again from being hunched over his keyboard for hours. Glancing at the clock, he brought his arms down with a grin as his stomach rumbled right on cue. "Hey, Mac, lunch time."

The tapping opposite stopped. "Already?"

"Yeah, want to see what the cafe has in store for us today?" he asked, bending down to grab his coat before pausing at the sight of the, well, his, swords poking out of the jacket. "I suppose I should leave the swords here, huh?"

Duncan was already standing up and stretching himself, causing Duo's heart to miss a beat as the Scot pushed his hair off his face. He's fucking gorgeous... The thought slipped through his head unbidden and he shook his head, leaning down to untangle the straps from his jacket as he tried to prevent his blood from flowing in a distinctly southerly direction. Down boy!

"I'd assume we were safe here," Mac's amused voice replied somewhere above him, and he held back a groan as the accented words slipped through his ears and straight downwards.

By the time he'd separated the weapon harness from his coat and tucked the swords into the depths under his desk, the problem had, thankfully, gone away and he grabbed his wallet as he led the way out of the office and up to the cafeteria.

He was regretting his decision minutes later as he stared at the grey-brown meatloaf dumped onto his tray with a few limp vegetables that looked like 'Scythe had trampled on them. Repeatedly. Looking up, he saw his partner regarding the thin and damp ham and cheese toasted sandwich on his own tray with equal trepidation. Obviously today was not one of the good days for Preventer catering.

Poking the rubbery lump with his fork for a few moments, he grimaced before sighing and putting the implement back down. "Do you think Heero would keep quiet if I hacked the recipe database?"

"The commander would probably give you a medal," 'Fei's quiet voice answered to his surprise, and the braided pilot looked up to see the Chinese man slide into a seat next to Duncan. "I'm glad I brought a packed lunch."

Before he could make a sarcastic comment on the mess of noodles and various vegetables in the plastic box that his friend opened up, the Shenlong pilot had turned to his partner. "You've both been absent from the gym recently."

Mac nodded, abandoning his own food for a drink of water. "I've been busy recently, and I've got a date with Dree tonight. Duo..."

"Duo has also been busy and should be in the gym tomorrow," he interrupted, trying to ignore the whole Mac on a date thing that was making his stomach turn. Looking down at his plate, he abruptly decided that his appetite had well and truly disappeared with that thought. "Duo is, however, now going to the chip shop to get something palatable. Did you want anything?"

"Fish and chips would be good," the Scot replied with a dazzling smile, pushing his own plate away with relief.

"'Fei?"

"No, thank you, Maxwell."

Nodding, he took the proffered note from the Immortal and headed down and out to the city as the pair behind him began to pack the uneaten meals into the bin.

When he returned half an hour later, the cafe was almost empty with no sign of either Mac or 'Fei. Moving down to their office, he pushed the door open with his foot to find the Asian man perched on the edge of his desk studying a piece of paper as Duncan spoke in fluid Chinese which cut off as he slipped into the room.

Dumping his armful of packages onto the desk, he looked over in puzzlement to where Chang was rolling up the paper and shoving it into a pocket. "What's going on?"

"I'll see you later, Duncan," the Chinese pilot said, ignoring the question and formally nodding his head, "Thank you again. Maxwell." With a nod of his head, the other man disappeared round the door.

"And I don't suppose you're going to tell me what that was about?" Duo asked, a hint of sarcasm slipping into his voice as he tossed a warm packet containing the Scot's order towards him.

"I don't plan to, no," Mac said, catching it easily and unwrapping it carefully, obviously trying to shut the conversation closed. "Dragon requested my assistance with something and I offered to help."

Frowning, the braided man sat down at his own desk, grabbing his own food and pulling the wrapping off to reveal the hot crispy battered fish. Unlocking his computer as he nibbled on a chip and typed a quick response to an email wanting him to clarify the information required. "Anything I can help with?" he ventured as he flipped open the next email, this time a response from a request for information to a Earth-orientated charity.

The man didn't even move from behind his monitor. "It's nothing you need to worry about."

"So, why the fricking secrecy? Aren't I your partner? Don't I get to be involved? Last I looked Chang was partnered with Water, not Cloud." His own irritation was starting to rise again. He'd started to view his partner as a friend rather than just a colleague, hell, he'd hoped for more than a friend, but this sudden spate of shutting conversations down was really starting to get on his nerves.

"It's nothing to do with work. Just drop it." The irritation in the Immortal's voice was clear and his hand was visible above the opposite monitor as it ran through his hair.

He couldn't help the slight snort of laughter that crept through the annoyance as he recalled Adam's words from the day before, "Your boy scout impulses strike again?" He'd done a bit of research on the term on his laptop when he'd returned home after the training session and had to admit that the long-dead organisation did seem to suit Mac's personality, and he'd bet that his partner was perfectly able to tie every one of the knots that was required for the merit badges that had been on offer.

"Who... Adam..." Duncan sighed in realisation, "If you want to call it that, then yes. And no, you really can't help."

"But,"

"Just leave it, Duo," the Scot cut him off again and for a moment Duo wondered if the Chinese pilot had requested his partner's help in something either illegal or illicit. He dismissed the thought almost instantly. Mac didn't seem to do illegal, except if it was something to do with his Immortality, which wouldn't involve 'Fei, and the Chinese man was definitely straight, so unless it was something to do with romancing Sally, it was unlikely to be illicit. Damn. Unless...

"'Fei isn't Immortal too is he?"

"No, Chang Wufei is not, and will not become, Immortal. I'd sense it if he was, and if you'd paid any attention, he's obviously aged over the last few years. Now, if you've quite finished, can we get back to work?"

At least there was a hint of a smile in the reply, even if it didn't tell him anything; he didn't particularly want Mac pissed off at him, it kind of interfered with seduction attempts. Fine, he decided with an inward growl, he'd leave it for now, but he'd figure it out eventually, he usually did. Bloody Scottish Immortals with too many damn secrets.

Opening the next few emails and dismissing their contents, he let his mind drift over possibilities for what on earth Chang needed Mac's help for. The Shenlong pilot was a highly competent man in his own right, all five of them were, and 'Fei was worse than Trowa at asking for help when he needed it, so it had to be something big. He was damned if he could figure out what it was though.

He was weighing up whether to just approach 'Fei and ask, although that felt kind of like cheating, when he opened and skimmed another email from a charity before blinking and re-reading it with a slow smile forming on his face as all thoughts of Chang Wufei flew out of his head. "Gotcha!" He looked up to meet Mac's curious eyes with an almost feral grin, still gnawing on a chip. "Benjim Keturi signed a cheque on behalf of the Global Alliance for the Earth Association to the Worldwide Fund for Nature last year. The secretary says that it cleared fine, but that they'd never heard of the Association and, get this, weren't able to find anything much out about it either."

The Highlander's face broke into an answering smile that almost dazzled him, and it took a few moments for the man's next words to register. "...like him to slip up, but it's least another lead."

Nodding, he managed to pull himself away from admiring Mac's face, hoping that his partner hadn't noticed the almost outright staring. "Well, that's my job sorted for the rest of the day - trying to track this Global Alliance down and see if it's the same Keturi. I assume you'll be tracing the cheque?"

At the Immortal's sound of agreement he forced himself to turn back to his computer, wrapping up the remains of his lunch before beginning to pull things up on the Global Alliance.

When a wet Duo knocked on Adam's door several hours later, his mood had deflated back to a morose scowl caused by his partner's comments on where he was taking Dree out for dinner to - a very posh restaurant - and that he had also managed to get tickets to a small exclusive play that was being put on. Not that he particularly liked the sound of the play, a tragedy by some old guy, Bill Shackspeed or something, but it was the principle of the thing.

"Scowling at the rain won't make it go away."

The now familiar voice made his head whip round to see his wiry teacher lounging against the doorframe with a can of beer dangling from his fingers and a relaxed expression to his face that hinted that the Immortal had been drinking somewhat.

"I'm not scowling at the rain, I'm just, well, scowling in general," he replied irritably and moved past Adam into the hallway, heading to the lounge from memory before revising his opinion of the other man's state of inebreation at the pile of cans and bottles on the table. The guy should've been passed out on the floor after drinking that lot. Shrugging his bag and coat onto the floor, he studied the labels on the containers, everything from absinthe to vodka to fine wines and cider. Yep, the fact the Immortal was even coherent was a miracle.

Adam brushed past him with a binbag, dumping an unopened bottle of whisky on the table as he swept the empties into the bag. "Yes, just make yourself at home, why don't you?"

"Don't mind if I do," the Deathsycthe pilot answered with a forced grin, "What's with all the alcohol? You must've been drinking since I left yesterday." Grabbing at the whisky, he glanced at the label, unsurprised to see it was an expensive brand of 40 year old Scottish liquor before taking a long swig of the amber liquid.

He found the bottle unceremoniously snatched back before he could take another draught and watched as Adam took his own long drink before answering. "Bloody Immortal healing - it heals pretty much anything other than your head being taken, including cleaning toxins from your blood, which includes alcohol." The Immortal grimaced, staring balefully at the bottle for a long moment before turning his slightly dilated eyes on the pilot. "Anyway, are you just going to drink my very expensive whisky, or are we actually going to try and teach you something? I assume you brought my sword?" he added, gesturing at the bag that Duo had dumped on the floor.

"Yeah, yeah, and that doesn't tell me why you were drinking," the Preventer agent muttered, grabbing his bag and coat and following his teacher through to the practice studio before bending down to unzip the case and pull out the longsword he'd, well, looted from Adam's body, passing it hilt first to the other man. "I brought your damn sword, don't worry."

"Finally," Adam looked almost relieved as he made a few passes through the air with the longsword, the weapon fitting his hand perfectly and the graceful deadly moves turning the unassuming scholar once again into a vision of death, his movements entirely unaffected by the alcohol.

Pulling his own dual swords out of the holster on his back and resting them on the side, Duo began to do a gentle warm up himself, trying to focus on stretching the sore muscles to prevent them seizing up from whatever his torture... teacher decided to throw at him. By the time he felt suitably warmed up, he looked up to see hazel eyes watching him with an almost evaluating gaze. "Something wrong?"

The Immortal shook his head as if dismissing some thoughts, reaching over to where the whisky bottle had been left and taking another long drink. "Nothing at all. Now, I thought we could start..."

Frowning at Adam's actions, Duo shook his own head, feeling his braid sway against his back. "Look, I'm not happy with being taught by someone who's drunk. Or trying to be drunk. You might not die permanently, but you slip and I'll have to watch my own head far earlier than I want to. Now, given you weren't trying to do this yesterday, I'm guessing that it's something to do with something that happened today, or," he paused, watching the man's face carefully, "something I said yesterday."

Catching a tell-tale twitch, he grinned triumphantly, "And I bet I can guess what it was too." He passed both his swords into one hand and reached out to grab at the whisky in Adam's hand, his face falling with a sigh as he met the green-gold gaze. "Duncan. Or," he paused, watching as the Immortal's face smoothed over to unreadable stillness, "Duncan going on that bloody date with Q's sister."

The Immortal's eyes sharpened for a moment, and he realised that his own irritation with Mac's dating situation had been clear in his voice. And Adam had read it like an open book. Damn. If he was right, and his teacher was interested in his partner in that way, things could get very... complicated. Especially if he pushed his own interest.

"As I said yesterday, MacLeod's love life is not something I wish to be involved in."

The temperature in the air seemed to freeze for a moment and he shrugged, trying to push away the sudden chill. "Fair enough." He realised then that his hand was still attached to the whisky bottle, a bare inch above Adam's own, and let go reluctantly as he decided to try and steer the topic onto safer ground. "Anyway, I'm still not sure you're at all capable of teaching swordwork while drunk. How about we skip for tonight?"

If anything, the air froze further and he took an unconscious step back at the anger flickering in the hazel eyes.

"Do not presume to tell me what I'm capable of, Maxwell." The hissed words came out low before the other man's face twisted into a half smile and almost laughter, "I'm older than MacLeod, I've been things, done things that you and him could not imagine." The Immortal advanced then, watching him unblinkingly until they were so close they were almost touching. "You, you are nothing but a child, an innocent infant compared to me who..." he trailed off abruptly, the mocking look fading from his face as they stared at each other, an almost anguished look replacing it.

Duo daren't breath, forcing himself to stand his ground when even Shinigami was telling him to run. At first he'd thought his teacher really was drunk, or mad, but there was no hint of either in the suddenly vunerable green eyes, the anger having faded away or at least suppressed. Now there was just a tired old man standing in front of him who looked as if he'd lost all hope of redemption.

For a long moment they stood, before Adam broke the silence with an agonised whisper. "Duncan..." Then leant forward and kissed him.