"Okay, we're alone. And I've hiked halfway across Paris with you, in January, so you could introduce me to your fave restaurant. Neat restaurant. Now, what do you really want to talk to me about?"

Nick Wolfe gulped. He hadn't thought he was that transparent.

x

x

x

Nick had of course known before he arrived in Paris that tragedy had been averted. Monica had phoned him as soon as she'd learned the amazing outcome of Richie's "battle with Ahriman." Nick had gone weak with relief - been surprised his hair hadn't turned white.

He'd known, from Joe Dawson, that Duncan MacLeod was still refusing to take heads. Emulating him. (That thought always made him uncomfortable. It was one thing to make that decision for himself, quite another to feel responsible for the safety of the man he regarded as the best of all Immortals. The only one who could, if necessary, become the last survivor without endangering the world.)

MacLeod had told Joe he sometimes wondered whether his defeat of Ahriman might have been undone if he hadn't sworn off unnecessary killing again before the turn of the millennium.

But if Mac didn't recognize Richie in the darkness, he might have decided he couldn't endanger the world by letting this apparently crazy opponent take his Quickening...

Nick had envisioned at least a half-dozen scenarios. Too damn many of them had wound up with either Duncan MacLeod or Richie Ryan permanently dead, the other a shattered ruin.

And either way, Monica would have been a shattered ruin too.

But that crisis, at least, was over. Nick had spent hours celebrating with Mac and Richie on the barge. Joe Dawson had joined them; even the legendary Methos had put in an appearance.

Dawson had shared the amazing news that everyone who'd been killed by or because of Ahriman - even those who'd been driven to kill themselves - had been restored to life. They and the people who interacted with them had false memories covering the time periods in question.

Nick had thought Could even Richie have been dead, with Monica's and my memories of him being false? And...everything that happened between him and Monica...being real, just as if they'd actually been together?

Mac doesn't have false memories about anyone else. And he remembers Richie having come to challenge him - thinking he was Ahriman - before the turn of the millennium.

The turn of the millennium in Paris...

If Richie'd been dead, the dead - presumably all of them - must have been restored to life before then. Midnight on the International Date Line? That's so artificial - hard to believe, when the whole battle with Ahriman had played out in Paris.

If Richie never mentions that creepy possibility - and Mac doesn't - I'll sure as hell leave well enough alone.

He'd noticed Joe's having seemed about to say something, then stopped, as if he'd changed his mind. A look had passed between Joe and Methos. And Nick had suspected they were deciding to "leave well enough alone," too.

Nick had explained that while he'd been sure the man he'd been stalking in Africa was the one Watchers had thought resembled Richie, and could be sensed as an Immortal, he hadn't been able to conclude any more than that.

"I really couldn't be sure he was 'either Richie or Ahriman,' because he could just have been a previously unknown Immortal. Being Immortal myself kept me from getting close enough to see how strong that resemblance to Richie was. Even his skill at dodging me didn't prove anything, because he could sense me. Didn't prove, for example, that he knew about the Watchers."

He hadn't followed Richie to Brazil; Richie had succeeded in shaking him. He really had gone there to check on Monica, because there'd been something strange about the tenor of her recent e-mails and phone chats. And he'd found her totally distraught.

An exuberant Richie had phoned Monica from the barge, and all five men had talked to her. Nick last.

He'd heard an anguished whisper. "Nick! Don't do it!"

Keeping his voice casual, he'd asked, "Why not?"

"Because I have a better idea. Listen..."

He'd heard her out, then said firmly, "No. I won't let that happen." And hung up.

Feeling four pairs of curious eyes on him, he'd quipped, "Sisters, y'know? Worrywarts. Now that mine knows I'm Immortal - and still new at it - she thinks there's someone lurking around every corner, just waiting to take my head."

Joe Dawson had replied with a laugh, "You and I are the only guys here who've ever had a sister. Mine is long dead, God bless her. But you're right about them. My sister was sure I'd be the first to go, killed by an Immortal who'd caught me Watching him. Hey, let's drink a toast to worrywart sisters!" They'd all complied.

When the impromptu party was winding down, Nick had managed to get MacLeod alone. Said in a low voice, "Hey, Mac. Will it be okay with you if I steal Richie for a bit? No offense, but...after all the poor guy's been through, I think it might be good for him to spend some time with someone in, uh, his own age bracket. Might help him get back to feeling as young as he really is."

"No offense taken," Mac had assured him. "Great idea! But...you aren't going to give him grief about being with Monica, are you? Believe me, it isn't just a fling with him. He's really serious about her."

"I understand that. I know a mortal and an Immortal being in love is risky, for both of them. But I'd never try to stand in their way. And if I did, I'd get nowhere! Monica's always had a mind of her own...that's one of the things I love about her."

He'd used a different approach with Richie. "Would you be willing to come off with me for a couple hours - to a great restaurant I know? I'd love to share some stories with you, about Monica and me growing up together."

Evidently, Richie had sensed from the start that he'd really had something more important on his mind.

Of course, if he didn't, my heading for this out-of-the-way corner booth may have given him a clue.

x

x

x

He fiddled with his wineglass. Spent a long minute gazing into its depths. Wish I knew how much he knows! It could save me a lot of time. But I can't risk assuming anything.

So at last he said, "Okay, I'll level with you. You're right, I didn't just want to chat about Monica's and my past.

"The truth is, I've learned something...extremely important. That I'm sure very few people know. It's about Immortals - affects all of us! But it's so shocking that I haven't dared tell even Mac. I sort of want to try it out first by telling someone young, a new Immortal like myself. Someone who hasn't been clinging to a set of beliefs for centuries. And I feel like you're almost my brother-in-law, whether or not you and Monica ever actually marry. So...can I tell you this thing, in strict confidence?"

"Uh...of course!" Richie's expression was somewhere between flattered and simply stunned.

"Before I became Immortal," Nick began, "I'd had a police background, then worked in private security. And I'd been hanging out with Amanda - no, there was never any rivalry between Mac and me, over her! But I'd learned about Immortals from her.

"I found myself investigating an Immortal named Julian Heller - a really bad guy, at least at that point in his life. He was a doctor, had been one for centuries. In our time, he was a renowned transplant surgeon. But he secretly headed a ring of criminals who were killing vulnerable people and stealing their organs, for profit."

"Ugh."

" 'Ugh' is right. I knew how an Immortal can be killed permanently. And after a lot of provocation, I...well, I did it! I beheaded the guy."

Richie's jaw dropped. "Oh my God! You didn't even know you were a pre-Immortal?"

"Nope."

"Incredible. I don't think I would have had the guts to do it. And you got away with it?"

"Yes. There was a Quickening - Amanda was so near us that it went into her. But even so, it started a fire. The authorities were glad to see Heller dead. So they pounced on the excuse that gave them, and said he'd died in the fire.

"Mac knows all that. Here's the part he doesn't know. After Heller's death, his lawyers informed me about a will he'd written long before. Leaving everything to me, Nicholas Wolfe."

"Wh-what?"

"And they also gave me a letter he'd written long before...to me, to be delivered in the event of his death. In it, he informed me that he was my father! He knew that for a fact, Richie! There are passages in the letter that prove he knew I was destined to become an Immortal - might or might not understand those passages at the time I'd be reading them. And he included details about the circumstances of where I was found and how I came to be adopted by the Wolfe family, that he couldn't have known if his story wasn't true."

No need to admit I'd already known Immortals can father children, from hacking into Dawson's files. Or that I'd known Heller was my father, because I'd done research in the hope it was Mac! At least I haven't told any outright lies.

Yet.

Richie was staring at him, open-mouthed. Then he said, "Ye gods...you killed your own father..."

"Yes."

"Would...would he have killed you?"

"No." Nick couldn't suppress a shudder. "At least, not in the permanent sense. I'm sure that if I hadn't gotten the drop on him and beheaded him, he wouldn't have taken my head. He probably would have given me my 'first death,' then lit out before I revived."

After a long silence, Richie said, "Nick...I think I can tell you this, because you're such a close friend of Mac's. I came within a hair's breadth of killing my father!

"This seems crazy, but just last night, Mac and I learned from someone else that Immortals can father children. And by this morning, Mac had found proof he's my father."

Nick took a deep breath. Good thing I acquired some acting skills, when I was working undercover as a cop...

"Th-that's amazing!" He did his best to sound amazed. "That it's a fact, and that you've just learned about Immortals being able to father children now, when I was about to tell you!"

He knew it must have been Methos who'd told them. He'd thought all along that Methos might have told them - there was no longer a reason not to.

But I guess he still didn't want them to know he's Mac's father. If he was telling them that, he would have told them the other half of the secret as well, not left Mac to figure it out for himself.

"I'm happy for you," he said slowly, "that you have such a wonderful father.

"Your knowing that makes this a little easier for me. I thought I might have a hard time convincing you we're not sterile...might have to show you Heller's letter, as proof. I've kept it, of course. But it's in a safe deposit box, back in the States."

Now Richie looked puzzled, and slightly alarmed. "Wh-why did you think it was so important to convince me? I mean, to think about showing me proof..."

He must have read the answer in Nick's eyes.

"We're not sterile...oh my God! I haven't seen Monica in months...is she pregnant?"

Nick nodded. "Yes," he said quietly. "She's six months pregnant. She was a wreck when I saw her a few days ago! On top of fearing you were about to be killed by Ahriman, she was also afraid that if you survived and then saw her pregnant, you wouldn't believe the baby was yours. And believe me, she was most concerned about how hurt you would be."

Richie had gone pale. "I like to think I would have believed her. But Mac - who's my idol - told me he reacted badly when my mother tried to convince him! So, God help me, I can't swear what I would have done...

"Maybe everything happens for a reason. The timing, I mean. Maybe God is watching over us. Anyway -" A sudden smile lit up his face. "Right now, I'm the happiest Immortal who's ever lived!"

Oh, no. Nick almost wished he'd let Monica have her way. Methos didn't tell them the bad part. I'll have to do it. Richie may not even survive a horror like this! And Mac will never forgive me...

But it had to be done.

"Richie...I guess I'm thankful that you want to be a father..."

"Of course I do! I'm thrilled! And I'm sorry Monica's been so worried about it. I'm gonna call her right now -"

"No!"

Richie, who'd been reaching into his pocket for his cell phone, pulled his hand back. "Wh-what's wrong?"

"Remember my telling you my father had been a doctor, for centuries? That's how he'd come to learn...what I have to tell you now."

Okay, there's my first lie. He'd learned it from the hacked Watcher files, wasn't sure Heller had even known. Why do I still care about covering my own miserable ass, at this point?

"Richie...I'm assuming you know it's only male Immortals who are fertile, supposedly very infrequently, with mortal women. The babies can be either sex, but they're always pre-Immortal.

"This is the part you and Mac were apparently never told. The mothers always die."

After a moment's pause, Richie said uncertainly, "Well...they're mortal. Of course they die eventually, don't stick around for their children for centuries, like we might..."

His voice trailed off. Eyes widened.

"Oh God...Mac told me my mother died right after I was born. We thought that was some sort of fluke. Are you saying the mothers always die then? After having the baby?"

"Yes. I'm sorry!" Most inadequate thing I've ever said.

Why the hell did I decide to tell him this in a restaurant?

Oh, yeah. Telling or not telling Mac will have to be Richie's decision. And I couldn't think of any other place I could plausibly ask him to go with me.

Richie was shaking like a leaf. "Oh God, oh God...Monica! Does Monica know?"

Nick nodded. "Yes. Maybe it wasn't my place. But...I told her, and even though we're both Catholics, I urged her to have an abortion. It's illegal in Brazil - but illegal abortions are being performed, safely, all the time."

"Yes, you were right to tell her. Of course she should have an abortion! I consider myself a Catholic too, but I've never opposed abortion - definitely not in this case! H-has she had it yet? Did you just not want to tell me she'd had an abortion till you could explain why?"

"No," Nick said miserably. "I'm sorry, Richie. She refused to consider it!

"At first she said it was because she's so far along - six months, remember? So near the time the baby might be able to survive. She said that by now, she thinks of it as a 'person' - couldn't live with herself if she 'killed' it. She probably knows whether it's a boy or girl - I was so upset I didn't think to ask her.

"An hour later, she'd done some more thinking, and told me she wouldn't have agreed to an abortion even if she'd known much sooner. Couldn't choose her life - a century at most - over that of a child who might live for thousands of years."

"Damn, damn, damn!" Richie wasn't trying to hold back his tears. "Maybe I'll be able to reason with her. She'd encouraged me to believe in myself. But maybe she really believed Ahriman was going to kill me, and she wanted, at least, to have my child. Even if that wasn't it, maybe I can convince her that as the child's other parent - and the man who loves and needs her - I should have some say in the matter!"

"You can try. But..." Nick hesitated, then said, "I've been thinking more about it, since I left her. Six months is pretty far into a pregnancy. Maybe...maybe the damage to Monica has been done already, and she'll die even if the baby's taken out of her now! If we were sure of that, the best course might be to try to save the baby -"

"God!" Richie buried his face in his hands. But he looked up after only a few seconds, and said grimly, "We can't be sure. But if you've thought of that possibility, Monica's thought of it by now, too. That'll make it even harder to get her to change her mind."

Nick shook his head. "I don't think there's ever been a chance of Monica's changing her mind, Richie. In fact...when I spoke to her on the phone back on the barge, she asked me not to tell you! She said she'd break up with you via a 'Dear John' letter, and you'd never have to know about either her pregnancy or her death - she and I could make some arrangements for the baby. You'd be hurt, but now that we knew Duncan MacLeod was alive, she was sure you'd be able to cope."

"Good Lord. Thank you for not agreeing to that! You did tell her you still meant to tell me?"

"Yes. I tried to imagine myself in your place. Hard to do...but I was sure that if it was me, and I really loved the woman, I wouldn't want anyone 'sparing' me. I'd want the truth."

They sat in wretched silence for five minutes.

Then Richie said decisively, "Okay. The first thing I'm going to do is call Monica. Tell her how much I love her - and that I'm going to fly down to Brazil and be with her, through all of this.

"The next thing I'm going to do is go back to the barge and tell Mac. And I'll also tell Joe, because he's a good friend. But especially, Methos."

Nick frowned. "Why 'especially Methos'?"

"You said Julian Heller knew the things he did because he was an Immortal who'd been a doctor for centuries. Methos has been one too, on and off, probably longer than Heller. He may not know a medical way out of this - but I'm sure as hell not gonna give up without asking him!"

x

x

x

Methos was crushed.

He'd been enjoying the happiest hours of his life, knowing Duncan MacLeod and Richie Ryan were both alive and well, joyously reunited.

Now a new disaster was unfolding. One for which he knew he was to blame.

Why didn't I warn them years ago? Even if I didn't want to get into the family thing, I could've told them there was a chance they could make mortal women pregnant. And kill them!

Yes, Darius had told him it happened very infrequently. But still, he'd taken precautions in his own sex life, ever since Margaret MacLeod died in his arms. He couldn't have endured a repetition of that.

He'd forced himself to recognize that he might have fathered children older than Duncan. Children he'd never known, might even have killed. But there was none younger than Duncan...and never would be.

I'm sure that if I'd run into him and become his friend while he was with Tessa - if I'd seen, close up, the depth of that love - I would have warned him. He and Tessa lucked out, at least in that sense. A dozen or so years, no pregnancy.

How in blazes did it happen to Richie and his lover so quickly? Do Immortals have some kind of hive mind, that individuals aren't aware of? It got some of them all revved up about the millennium being the "Time of the Gathering," so there was way more headhunting than usual. That thinned the herd. Is fertility increasing now, to replenish the species?

Foolish speculation, he realized. The "why" of it didn't matter; all that mattered was the impending death of a much-loved woman.

His misery was compounded by the fact that Duncan, Richie, Nick and Joe were all gazing piteously at him, as if they expected him to come up with some magic solution.

He opened his mouth. Meaning to say, "I'm sorry. I feel worse about this than you'll ever know, but I'm just as helpless as the rest of you."

Then a sudden thought struck him. And very different words came tumbling out.

"I have an idea! Looking at things a different way than I have been... Richie, do you know your blood type? And Monica's?"

Immortals had long been aware that for whatever reason, standard tests showed no difference between their blood and anyone else's. They could even be blood donors, without the recipients being either harmed or made Immortal.

"Uh, yes," Richie replied. "We're both A-positive."

"That's good. Here's what I'm thinking. I have known new mothers died in these situations - thought to be rare. I've always assumed they died because carrying a pre-Immortal fetus is somehow toxic. But nothing seems to go wrong till after the delivery..." At least, that's the way it was with Margaret. "Richie, Nick - does either of you know whether Monica's been having any problems?"

Both of them said she'd told them the pregnancy was going well, with no complications. Nick, who'd actually seen her recently, added that despite being upset, she'd looked wonderful. The picture of health.

"Okay. We all know pre-Immortals and full Immortals are different from everyone else. Even when certain types of tests don't show it. Our blood is different, somehow. When we have small cuts that heal right away, we don't have to wipe the blood off our skin - it disintegrates.

"I'm thinking now that when a woman is carrying a pre-Immortal fetus, her body may gradually adjust to having that 'different-ness' inside her. And when the baby's expelled from her womb, the shock at having the 'different-ness' so suddenly gone may be what kills her! By causing fatal hemorrhaging.

"If I'm right, we may be able to save Monica if we start soon to give her small transfusions of Richie's blood, even though she doesn't need it. To get her body used to it. Then we should be ready, when postpartum hemorrhaging begins, to give her huge transfusions of his blood - as much as needed. If she survives, we should keep giving her small transfusions, and wean her off the Immortal blood gradually. Any Immortal blood that's compatible with her blood type might do, but I'll feel safer if we can use blood from the baby's father..."

"Of course!" Richie had a dazed smile on his face. "Take all you need from me!"

"I won't plan on taking it all at once," Methos assured him, "with the baby not due for three more months. But even if you bleed to death a couple times, we all know you'll pop right back.

"I want to make clear that I'm not sure this will work! It's not based on some ancient wisdom, or on my being Superdoctor because I've been around for a while. We couldn't have done it in an earlier era." I couldn't have saved Margaret. "But if no one has a better idea" - no one spoke up - "trying this beats doing nothing."

"Of course," Richie pointed out, "there's one more person who'll have to agree. But I can't see her objecting. Can it be done in Brazil?"

For the first time in hours, Methos managed a smile of his own. "One of my aliases is licensed to practice medicine there - and owns his own clinic! So I'd say Brazil will be just about perfect."

x

x

x

High noon in Rio de Janeiro, early April.

Methos hadn't known an anxiety-free moment in the last three months. He kept telling himself the ordeal was worse for MacLeod, Nick Wolfe, and above all, Richie and Monica.

But I'm the one who may have given them false hope.

Once he'd thought of his new diagnosis, he'd never doubted it. He was sure the deaths of all those mortal mothers had been caused, not by their having carried pre-Immortal infants in their wombs, but by the necessarily abrupt removal of the infants.

But just about every other day, his proposed "treatment" had struck him as ridiculous. How could "Immortal blood" solve the problem, when in other medical uses, it functioned exactly like anyone else's blood? He'd even considered replacing one of Monica's perfectly healthy kidneys with one of Richie's, so Immortal tissue would be left in her body permanently. Both young people had been game. But he'd finally decided the risk would be too great. To his knowledge, no one had ever transplanted an Immortal's organ into a mortal; it could prove fatal. (Not to mention the fact that he wasn't capable of performing transplant surgery - and even in his own clinic, he'd have a hard time persuading a surgeon to do something that irregular.)

He'd insisted all the interested Immortals come to Rio separately, by circuitous routes, to elude possible enemies. That degree of - paranoia? - had had a decidedly sobering effect on Richie and Monica. But if they hope to stay together and raise this child, they have to know what they'll be letting themselves in for.

He and MacLeod had loved Monica from the moment they laid eyes on her. If we lose her, we won't be grieving only for Richie's sake! This young woman is a treasure.

Now Monica Ryan - a proud new bride - was in labor, and he was prepared to deliver the baby. As they now knew, a boy.

"Methos?" she gasped. "You know I trust you. But...if this doesn't work...will I live long enough to see the baby? To hold him?"

"Yes." I'm glad that's the truth.

"Good. I want that so much! And...I have to tell you something...I just told Richie this morning.

"If I'd known all along...he could make me pregnant...and it would kill me...I would have wanted it to happen!

"I would have...told him I was on the pill...and stopped taking them.

"I want to have a child of ours...his and mine...who can live forever!"

Methos felt tears welling up in his eyes. There are no guarantees, Monica. Richie - and the child - might wind up dying before you do. But to keep the tone light, he said, "I don't think Richie would have relied on those pills. I can picture you poking holes in his condoms!"

She laughed - then screeched.

And with one final push, the baby came into the world.

x

x

x

A month later, both loving parents were ready to take little Darius Ryan away with them.

Far away.

This change in their lives was bittersweet. They'd acknowledged that if they wanted to try living as a family - a mortal-and-Immortal couple, raising a pre-Immortal child - they couldn't risk staying close to their other loved ones. Richie would see his own newfound father only occasionally. Monica would not only see less of Nick, but cut all ties with her parents and brother Aaron.

Methos's heart ached for MacLeod.

And for himself.

But while MacLeod was bidding farewell to Richie, and Nick to Monica, he held baby Darius in his arms. Lifted him, briefly, over his head.

And then whispered into his ear, "Blood of my blood."

x

x

x

The End