Date:         Fri, 4 Feb 1994 16:40:32 -0600
 
 
 
This scene was orignally the start of a longer story, but after
Tessa's death, I reworked the story without her.  Still, I see no
reason to let a perfectly good scene just sit on a disk gathering
dust.  So, here is a brief encounter between two major supporting
characters.  Thanks to whoever it was that pointed out that Nick's
and Duncan's birthdays would have to be pretty close together for
finally convincing me to finish this.  :-)
 
 
 
 
"A Chance Encounter"
 
 
A Forever Knight/Highlander Crossover
 
 
        by Janet Dornhoff
 
 
 
 
        Natalie juggled her shopping basket furthur into the crook of
her left arm as she reached for another card with her right.  It was
bad enough trying to find just the right card for a co-worker, but to
find one that was right for Nick was almost impossible!  Especially
since she'd probably be giving it to him at work.  Otherwise, she'd
have raided the leftover Halloween cards.
        Another woman brushed past Natalie, nearly upsetting the
precariously balanced basket.  Natalie made a grab for it, the card
falling to the floor.  The other woman turned at Natalie's gasp, and
together they managed to save the basket from toppling over.
 
        "Excuse me," the other woman said, smiling apologetically.
There was a definite accent to her voice.  She was tall, and elegant,
and very beautiful.  Natalie was suddenly aware of how baggy and
rumpled her sweater and sweatpants were after a long day at the
office.  She was sure she must still smell of formaldehyde, and not
the classy perfume carried her way by the store's ventilation system.
        "Hey," Natalie smiled back, "Serves me right for taking up
the whole aisle."  The other woman retireved the card, which Natalie
returned to the rack immediately.  The cartoon was cute, but it
wasn't Nick.
        "No, I should have been watching where I was going," the
other woman said, searching through her stylishly tiny purse. "Pardon
me, but do you have a pen I could borrow for a moment?"  She held up
her own card, one definitely not designed for a co-worker.  Natalie
sighed inwardly, wondering if she'd ever have anyone to buy cards
like that for.  *Maybe when I start looking like that,* she thought.
She handed her basket to the woman while she fished around in her
monster of a purse.  *Notebook, gloves, lipstick I never use, bottle
of...what _is_ that?  Ah-ha, a pen!*  Natalie traded the pen for her
basket and turned back to the card rack.  She finally settled on a
card with a generic, non-threatening birthday greeting, which
happened to have a bouquet of daisies in the picture.  Nick would get
it, but the rest of the office wouldn't.  Natalie started towards the
checkout before remembering her pen.
        The woman had added a note to the bottom of the card, in an
elegant, graceful cursive.  *Tessa,* Natalie thought, *Even her name
has class.*  Tessa had also added a "1" after the giant "40" on the
cover of the card.
        "Thank you," Tessa smiled, handing the pen back to Natalie.
        "No problem.  Hey, you forgot to cross out the '0' when you
added the '1'!"  Natalie offered the pen back again.
        "So I did," Tessa replied, an odd little smile on her face.
She made no attempt to take the pen back.  Natalie watched the woman
heading towards the check-out counter.
        *Forty-one?  Four-hundred-and-one?* she thought.  She almost
followed the woman, to ask her about this, then thought again.  *Just
an honest mistake, surely.*  She glanced back at the rack, wondering
briefly whether she could find an eight or eighty card to give Nick
later, in private.  Sighing, she stuck her card into the basket and
began searching for her checkbook and car keys as she headed for the
registers.  The other woman, Tessa, was already in the other line.
        Natalie looked at her sideways as they waited.  *The accent
was French, real French, Paris, maybe.  Isn't that where Nick said he
was...brought across?*  She snorted at her own silliness.  *Yeah,
right, Lambert.  You just happen to bump into a vampire's girlfriend
grocery shopping.*
 
        Thanks to knowing which of the check-out girls was fastest,
Natalie wound up leaving the store only a few steps behind Tessa.  As
she blinked in the bright sunlight, her eyes slow to adjust after
working so many night shifts, a convertable pulled up in front of the
store.  The driver, a gorgeous man with a long leather jacket and
black hair tied up in a pony tail, swung the door open for Tessa.
Tessa handed him the card as she got in, and he laughed, a hearty,
delighted, surprised laugh, as he read it.  They kissed, with the
ease and familiarity of long-time lovers.
 
        Natalie blushed at her own overactive imagination.  *Some
vampire,* she thought, as he slid on a pair of designer sunglasses
and turned to check behind him before pulling out.  Her stare must
have caught his attention, because suddenly he was looking right at
her.  Natalie flushed and turned away quickly.  *Forty-one,* she
thought, as she turned the corner back to her apartment and an
impatiently waiting Sydney.  *A very attractive forty-one.*
        Tessa followed Duncan's distracted gaze, recognizing the
woman from the store walking the other direction.
 
        "Duncan?  Do you know her?"
 
        "I don't think so.  It's just..."  He trailed off.  There had
been something about her expression, something familiar.  He
wondered, briefly, what it was.  Then he shrugged.  He kissed Tessa
again lightly, pulling away from the curb.  Whatever it was, it
didn't matter.  They would only be in town a couple of days, and
Duncan planned on seeing how much of Toronto had changed since his
last visit.