Q me?

Chapter 7: Everyone comes to Joe's

                I didn't even look up when the door opened a few hours later "We're not open for another half hour."

"Tough day Joe?"

"Guinan?" I glanced up in disbelief "Why didn't you tell me you were coming to Paris?"

"I'm a little surprised to be here myself."

I poured her a double "Sorry 'bout that if I'd have known the best blues singer this side of the Atlantic was about to walk through my door I'd have been more respectful."

"Are you trying to get me up on stage?"

"Darling, I'd love to have you on my stage every night."

"Flatterer" she accused.

"Is it working?"

"Maybe.  I'll let you know later."

"So what brings you to Paris?"

"I'm looking for a friend.  He's supposed to meet me here in a few minutes."

"I haven't seen you in years, I didn't even know you knew about Le Blues Bar."

"I didn't.  Michael suggested it."

"Michael?" I made it a question but I already knew the answer.

"Montrose.  You could have knocked me over with a feather when he said he was in Paris."

I started to reply but stopped when Guinan straightened and smiled.

Oh God, I never even suspected and damn it Methos you could have told me.

Calm, contained Guinan vaulted off the stool and all but tackled the slender form in the doorway.

Ari-El laughed in delight and caught her easily despite the fact that she had to outweigh him by at least twenty pounds.  He swung her in a quick circle and pecked her cheek before setting her back on her feet.

"Well met, child."

She shot me a quick glance.

"Mr. Dawson is aware that I am older than I look.  Like most people Mr. Dawson is not quite what he appears to be."

"Joe" I corrected while Guinan gave me an appraising looking before turning her attention back to Ari-El.

"Ah, ah, ah" he chided "His secrets are not mine to tell you any more than yours are mine to reveal to him."

"Beer?" I offered.

Ari curled a lip. God he even sneers prettily.

"Ad-am may be inordinately fond of that foul brew he discovered but I certainly do not share his penchant for it."

"Adam?" Guinan queried.

I nearly missed Ari-El's reply as it dawned on me that Methos invented beer.

"Apparently Mr. Dawson…"

"Joe" I interjected.

Ari arched a brow at me and continued "and I share more than one mutual acquaintance."

"How is Nick doing?" I asked as I poured myself a double.  I let the bottle hover over a second glass but Ari-El declined.  I glanced up to find a pair of sapphire blue eyes studying me intently.

"Mr. Dawson"

"Joe" I insisted again Ari-El didn't even miss a beat this time.

"Do you wish to see the sixty-first anniversary of your birth?"

"Are you threatening me?"

"Not yet" he rebutted calmly "But if you continue to drink in manner that you are you will die of cirrhosis of the liver in eight months, two weeks, and four days and your death will be neither quick nor painless."

His voice was utterly neutral but I found myself growing defensive "Hey, I run a bar."

"I am accusing you of nothing Joseph Dawson.  I am telling you that you have already done serious, potentially fatal damage to your liver and kidneys.  If you do not alter your behavior and receive medical attention now you will not live long enough to see your granddaughter."

I damn near spewed the drink I'd taken in defiance all over the Immortal across from me.  Only the thought that pissing off the man that could make Mac look like a rank amateur might not be wise stopped me.  I swallowed wrong and the whiskey burned all the way down as I reached for the phone to call Amy.  Ari's eyes lit with amusement.

"I would not."

"The hell!  Why didn't she tell me?" Lord knows she told me more than any father ever wanted to know about what goes on inside a fertility clinic.

"Because she does not know yet."  He fished and almond out of the bowl of party mix Guinan had parked at his elbow "Actually conception will not occur for another … three minutes.  Be a shame to ruin the mood."  He sounded so much like Methos it was eerie.

"Not funny" I growled "Do you know how long they've been trying to have a child?"

"Six years, three months, four days" those eyes were laughing at me again "I am a firm believer in thorough research.  Would you like to know her birth date and vital statistics?"

"And how do you know all this?"

This time he did smile "Foresight has its privileges."

"And its drawbacks" Guinan countered.

Ari shot her a bemused glance but she'd spotted Dave coming in to set up.

"I'll be right back."

Ari-El pulled three small jars out of his sapphire blue jacket and set them on the bar.

"What are those?"

"A choice.  Do you want to see your granddaughter start kindergarten or graduate from college?"

"What kind of question is that?"

"Answer it."

"College."

"Modern human medicine does a poor job of healing the body, Mr. Dawson."

"Joe."

He smiled again.  God, it was eerie seeing Methos' smile on that utterly different face.

"Dawson you can go to the doctor, spend the next few weeks on dialysis, and live another six years uncomfortably or you can restrict yourself to no more than one glass of wine a day, take what is in those jars and enjoy better health than you have for the last two decades."

I picked up the alabaster and lapis bottle and rolled it in my hands.  The damn thing could have been a museum display centerpiece.  The stylized lapis phoenix was an exact match to the one intaglioed into the lapis and gold ring on the middle finger of his left hand.

"You're a doctor?"

"When I died Mr. Dawson I refused to stop being my mother's child."

I nearly ground my teeth "And your mother was?"

"A healer, Mr. Dawson, and there is far more to healing than health.  I am by choice the greatest healer the human race has ever produced.  But I am by nature, whether I will or no my father's child."  His voice chilled and his eyes were suddenly bottomless pools "3854 years ago I made a covenant with the original Watchers which you are in grave danger of breaking and I will not put a bullet in your brain."

I let the jar drop onto the bar, planted my hands on the bar, and lent into his face "No, you'll just filet me like you did Rita."

"If you force me to."

"I don't see a sword at your throat." I snarled back.

Ari-El's reply was adamant "Words have Power, as I have sworn so I am bound.  It was only with great difficulty that I disregarded your involvement in Coltec, Caspian, and Kronos' deaths.  I will not be able to overlook another.  Weigh carefully who you give to your Highlander, Joseph Dawson, for it is not only your own life you risk."

"What are you saying?"

"The Tribunal is fully aware of your indiscretions with Duncan MacLeod.  You have been fortunate in that the only two Students of mine that you have provided information about would have destroyed themselves if they had known their fates.  But that will not save you next time nor will it save the Tribunal's children."  I was taken aback by the pleading in his eyes. "Please do not make me destroy all that those bloodlines could accomplish.  Consider carefully the price before giving Duncan MacLeod Watcher information."

"So that's it.  After all we've been through I close the door and turn him away."

Ari-El cocked his head to the left with a quizzical look "The purpose of the Watcher organization is to record the life stories of the Quickened.  How much do you think you miss because the Chronicles incorporate no first person accounts?  On the contrary let friendship thrive so long as you do not serve as an information service for Hunting!"

"Mac's no headhunter!" I protested.

Ari arched a brow skeptically and held my gaze but I glared back.

"Just because you agree with his murders, just because he acts when your Oath restrains you does not mean that he is not using the Watcher network to HUNT.  You presumed to judge your brother-in-law for becoming a Hunter but what you have done is no better."

I felt like I'd been kicked by a mule.  Ari plowed on as I tried to form a rebuttal.

"Did you really think that using a Quickened as your instrument of justice is any cleaner than doing your own killing?  You hypocrite" he hissed eyes blazing "how dare you.  If the Tribunal will not stop you I will."

I was so furious I couldn't speak. 

"Am I interrupting something?

Guinan nearly gave me a heart attack.  Ari's demeanor changed instantly to a polite coolness.

"Mr. Dawson and I have a somewhat different opinion regarding another mutual acquaintance. 

Shall we toast to his good fortune?"

That was far too fast a gear change for me even after dealing with Immortals on a regular basis for years.  How the hell do you go from threatening someone's life to toasting his health in less than a second?

"No?" he sighed "As you like Mr. Dawson."  He caught my eye again "Be wise, Joe.  Live long and prosper."  As he turned to go it was my turn to sigh.  He meant it.  The bastard truly meant both.  He wanted me to live long but he would torture both the Tribunal and I if didn't keep my Oath.

"Will you be by tomorrow?"  I called to his retreating back.

He turned and appraised Guinan and I "May I bring a consort?"

I shrugged "The more the merrier."

"Guinan would you like to join a small private party tomorrow in celebration of the sixtieth anniversary of Mr. Dawson's birth?"

Guinan gave him a teasing grin "Consort?  Are you about to make my wildest dreams come true?"

"Child" he bantered back in mock horror "Your father's fear were well grounded, I have utterly corrupted you."

Guinan batted her eyes back "Not nearly enough."

Ari's tone was still teasing but more serious "Your father would have my head."

Guinan's reply was an unladylike snort.

"Perhaps not" Ari conceded "but there is no need to bait him."

Guinan sighed in mock despair as Ari slipped out.  She chuckled a moment later "I had the worst crush on him as a kid."

"Never would have guessed, how long have you known him?"  

"Awhile, he delivered me.  He's been a dear family friend for generations."

I revised my opinion of Methos and idly wondered if she was one of Talia's descendants.

"Who's Adam?"

"A friend of Michael's.  He'll be here tomorrow."

Guinan shook her head, slipped off of her stool, and rejoined the band as Mac, Methos, and Amanda came though the door.  Talk about just missing each other, but, then that was undoubtedly Ari's intention.  Methos stopped dead in his tracks and stared at the jars I'd quite frankly forgotten about on the bar.

"He honors you Joe" he stepped forward and picked up the lapis jar "this was crafted by his own hand."  He closed his eyes in concentration "No wonder you've been so cantankerous lately" he scoffed but his eyes were worried. 

"What are you talking about?" Amanda started to snatch the jar but drew back with a gasp as if burned "What the Hell?!"

Mac gingerly took it from Methos his eyes widening as he made contact.  Methos glanced at me.  I shrugged and nodded.

"Joe has an advanced, fatal case of liver chriosis."

The other two Immortals were silent for several seconds "And you can tell that from the buzz off a jar?"

"No.  I can tell that he has cirrhosis because I'm a doctor.  I've been trying to get the stubborn fool to have himself checked for over three years." He paused "but I didn't realize it was this bad."

Amanda tentatively touched the jar again "Rivkah's jewels didn't feel like this."

"Oh, those jewels have Power, Amanda, subtler, softer but then they served a different purpose.  If you aligned that jar and handed to a man with every bone in his body crushed he'd be walking the next day."

"Do you mean I could walk through a cancer ward with this…"

"No." Methos cut me off "Alignment, Joe.  Everything Ari makes is crafted with defined purpose and this one is set for you."  He sighed "It can undoubtedly be reset but I don't know how."

"Then the Methuselah Stone…" Amanda left the thought unfinished.

"Was reset to whoever reassembled the pieces" Methos replied "Eveshka wasn't the only one to profit from it."

Mac reached out and picked up the jar "He could end all illness and death on Earth, couldn't he?"

"Undoubtedly."

I needed a drink.  Mac set the jar back on the bar "Why choose to save Joe then?"

"Thanks a heap, buddy.  Besides he threatened to give me the same treatment he gave Rita if I didn't stop breaking my Oath."

Mac instantly went all Highland Chieftain "I'll deal with him Joe."

Amanda gave a most unladylike snort, maybe it's contagious kinda like yawning, and snapped "How?"

"What did he say?" Methos asked.

"Just a sec" I pulled my recorder from its drawer.

"You bugged your own bar?" Mac sounded shocked and betrayed while Methos looked smug.

As the recording of the brief conversation played Mac looked progressively more murderous.

"It's NOT like that!"

"But I have done it Mac" was my reply.  I'd had a few minutes to digest the conversation and get past that first knee jerk (no pun intended) reaction.  I'd at least reached the point where I could think rationally and it was true, I'd done it.  Maybe not as often as Ari-El made it sound but there were times when I'd gone out of my way to point Mac like a gun at an Immortal I'd wanted dead.

"You're nothing like Horton."

"No but my Oath is very clear about providing Watcher information to Immortals Mac."

Mac was still clearly not a happy camper.

"I'm sorry Mac but it isn't just my life anymore."

"I understand Joe.  I won't ask."

I wasn't, frankly, sure if that wouldn't actually make it harder the next time Mac was after some Immortal who was in serious need of a permanent shave.

I raised my glass "To hell with the Chinese, here's to living in interesting times."

"You said it, PeePaw" Methos crowed.

"PeePaw!?"

"Oh, definitely" Methos grinned.  Damn it but he was as moody as Ari-El.  I think that's one of the reasons I like Mac demons notwithstanding the guy is bedrock and utterly predictable, unlike some other Immortals I know.  Methos on the other hand is always a surprise.  Now I'm going to spend the rest of my natural life being called PeePaw unless I kill him out of sheer annoyance.

"Joe did you get a chance to read the Hawke Chronicle?"

Speaking of semi-predicable Immortals, "Not yet."

Amanda frowned and glanced at Guinan "Read it, Joe."

"Care to give me the highlights?"

"No.  Read it and we'll talk" Thanks 'Manda just pique my curiosity and then leave me hanging when I had a set to play and a bar to tend.

"Is Guinan going to sing?"

"Think so."

"Could you ask her to join us when she's done?"

Now I was really curious.  Amanda and Guinan where instant oil and water – why did 'Manda want to chat?

* *

I poured two customers the wrong drink before I finally managed to stop Watching Mac, Methos, and 'Manada long enough to pay attention to my other job.  At least my set went well and I declared owner's privilege afterward and left the bar in David's semi-competent hands and arrived at the table a half step behind Guinan.

"What are you?"

So much for small talk 'Manda.  Mac looked at her in surprise.

Guinan frowned "I don't think that's any of your business."

"Ventrue, Toreador, Gangrel?"

Now Guinan looked surprised "I'm not Kindred.  And I still want my broach back."

"I hocked it in 1893" Amanda sneered.

"A thief and a liar.  How proud Rebecca would be."

Now that was below the belt and Amanda looked ready to chew nails and spit bullets.

"Rebecca never had a problem with me."

"Rebecca loved you in spite of your flaws not because of them.  And you will return what you stole from me."

"You haven't answered my question."

"I'm not going to buy back what's already mine."

"If you can't keep it, it isn't yours."

"Oh, it's mine, you haven't hocked it, and you will return it.  Goodnight Joe.  See you tomorrow."

Lovely, now it was going to be Guinan vs. Amanda as well as Mac vs. Ari-El with Methos and I somewhere in the middle.

Amanda glared at Guinan's back before turning to Mac "I told you she was the same woman."

In my personal opinion there are few things in life more annoying than being completely lost in the middle of an interesting conversation.

"I told you not to take it" Mac grumbled.

On the other hand knowing Amanda and all things sparkly summed up half the issue.  The theft itself was just details.

"Are you trying to tell me that Guinan is over a hundred years old?"

"At least a hundred and fifty."

"Is she Immortal?"

Mac and Amanda looked at me like I had moss for brains, Methos just kept concentrating on his beer.

"Hey radar isn't a standard option on this model.  So she's not a vampire" Man, I was still having trouble wrapping my brain around that one "What does that leave? Fairies?"

"Aliens"

My eyebrows were in serious danger of a permanent relocation north of my hairline. 

"Guinan? Do you have any idea what the odds are that if intelligent life evolved on another planet it would be even remotely similar much less indistinguishable from humanity?"          

"Do you?" Methos asked without looking up from his beer.

"Do I what?"

"Know the odds?"  He was still apparently trying to find the answers to all of life's problems in the bottom of his mug.  Well, he certainly wouldn't be the first.

"You know what I meant."

Methos didn't bother to respond he just started humming softly.  Saints preserve us, Celine Dione? Methos and Celine Dione do not belong in the same sentence.  About halfway through "I'm Everything I am Because You Love Me" he just put his head down on his arms and wept.  I glanced over at Mac and Amanda. 

"Just be glad you missed the Cher hour."

Peachy, just peachy.  "What are you going to say to him tomorrow?"

Methos choked on a sob before replying "What can I say, Joe?  Sorry doesn't even begin to cover what I've done."

"As long as you're both still alive then there's still hope for forgiveness."

"What I've done you couldn't forgive."

"I'm not Ari-El."

Methos nearly smiled "One of you is more then enough."  The smile died.  "Matter and anti-matter.  Please don't Challenge him again Duncan.  He won't let me save you a second time."  He rose abruptly "I need some air."

Mac snagged his sleeve "Don't do anything foolish."

This time Methos did smile "Isn't that my line?"

"Be safe."

"You said it."

"You think he's going to be OK?"

"I think that depends on Ari-El."

  "You still don't like him."

Mac shrugged "He clearly knew about Gonzales for months, maybe even years but waited to kill him in front of me.  Why?  Because he wanted me to Challenge him and then he chose time and a place when Methos could interrupt us.  He set me up and he used me and he treated those children like pawns.  No I don't like him."

Well I couldn't argue with that.  "So what are you going to do?"

"He's better than I am, Joe, and it isn't just my life on the line anymore if I loose.  I wait.  I grow stronger."  Mac sighed "And there's what's in the Chronicles.  A lot of very good people speak very highly of him.  Immortals older and wiser than me, who am I to say that Graham Ashe, Rebecca Horne, Ramirez, Hamza, Cerdwyn, Marcus Constantine, Peter Giacus, Sean Burns, and a dozen others are wrong and I'm right.  The least I owe Sean's memory is to give his beloved teacher the benefit of the doubt."  He finished his drink "It's late Joe, please, get some sleep."

I shook my head stubbornly "I've got a bar to close and other work to do."

"David and I can close" Amanda volunteered.

I nodded with apparent reluctance, if Amanda closed then I could get back into the Chronicles for a few hours before I collapsed.   I nodded my thanks to Amanda and made a beeline for my office….