Return-Path: owner-fkfic-l@LISTS.PSU.EDU Date: Mon, 19 Jan 1998 12:47:28 -0600 Reply-To: Jill Kirby Sender: Forever Knight TV show stories From: Jill Kirby Subject: ADULT: Passages (00/14) To: FKFIC-L@LISTS.PSU.EDU Adult: Passages (00/14) a Forever Knight/Highlander Story by Jill Kirby This is a sequel to my crossover story "Rituals." It's also my own way of dealing with the end of season three. If you haven't read "Rituals," do so first-- it's available on the FK fiction Web site or on my Web page (URL in my .sig). I believe it's also on the FTP site, though I'm having trouble getting in to double check. I can also send it to you. This story won't make much sense without reading the first one. In the "Forever Knight" timeline, this falls just after "The Human Factor." In the "Highlander" timeline, it's just after "One Minute to Midnight." I stretching time frames quite a bit to match up the two shows. Such is the joy of fanfic. :) This story is based on characters and premises created by James Parriott and Barney Cohen and owned by Sony/TriStar, or characters and premises owned by Rysher Entertainment. It is for entertainment purposes only, and no infringement is intended. Please do not reproduce in print without my permission. Archiving is permitted if the story is archived with all parts and disclaimers intact. The story is classified "adult" due to sexual situations and some strong language. There is no violence to speak of. As always, gratitude to my beta readers, without whom this would be an indecipherable nightmare. Kelly, Sharon, and Maureen deserve credit for the good stuff and none of the blame for the not-so-good stuff in here. And many thanks to the other Three of the Four, who have been hearing about this story for a long time, and have put up with it so patiently. :) I love you guys. I will be posting the individual parts to my Web site after they are posted to the list, so if you're missing a part you can check there or write me directly. Constructive criticism, praise, flames or extravagant gifts to jtkirby@mcs.com. *** Return-Path: owner-fkfic-l@LISTS.PSU.EDU Date: Mon, 19 Jan 1998 12:50:36 -0600 Reply-To: Jill Kirby Sender: Forever Knight TV show stories From: Jill Kirby Subject: ADULT: Passages (01/14) To: FKFIC-L@LISTS.PSU.EDU Adult: Passages (01/14) a Forever Knight/Highlander Story by Jill Kirby "Focus, focus, " Natalie muttered under her breath, jiggling the slide with a little more force than was really necessary. She was never going to get a decent look at this poor woman's liver if the microscope didn't start cooperating. She paused for a moment, rubbing the bridge of her nose with the back of one hand-- it had been a long evening at the morgue, and that probably had more to do with the lack of focus than the equipment quality did. Sighing, Natalie put her eyes to the microscope again. "I suppose you'd like to put under that?" Startled, Natalie's head flew up, and she had to grab at the microscope to keep it from toppling over. Turning, the annoyed look on her face became a smile as she saw who was walking toward her. "Adam!" Delighted, Natalie grabbed his outstretched hands and squeezed them tightly. He was beaming at her. His hair was tousled around his narrow face, and he wore a loose trenchcoat that made him look comfortable and dashing all at once. "It's so good to see you again! How are you?" Though she kept smiling, she automatically assessed her former patient and realized, with shock, that he looked exhausted. Did Immortals tired? He squeezed her hands one last time, then let go. "I'm well. You?" "Fine-- in a much better mood, now." They grinned at each other for a moment, then Natalie leaned to one side and looked around him, suddenly noticing his lack of an escort. "How did you get in here without anyone stopping you?" Adam stuck his hands in his coat pockets, looking sheepish. "I'm pretty good at getting into places unnoticed." "I bet." He gestured back toward the door, his hand still in his coat pocket. "Actually, Grace intercepted me. I introduced myself, and after I won her over with my irresistible charm she showed me the way in." Natalie groaned silently. Great. Just what Grace needed-- more fodder for her ever-busy Get Natalie Dating, Preferably Married Machine. Grace had finally given up on Nick, and was busily looking for other possibilities-- everyone from her own relatives to the linen delivery guy. A man actually about Natalie didn't stand a chance. "I'm sorry-- what a terrible hostess I am. Have a seat." Natalie gestured at a chair in front of her desk, flushing when she realized it was stacked high with folders. She hurried over to the chair and cleared it off. "There." "Thanks." Adam sat down-- well, into the chair would be a better word. He made an uncomfortable plastic chair look as comfortable as an armchair. "Nice ambiance here." "Only the finest decorators work on the morgue." Natalie perched on the desk in front of him. "So. What brings you back to Toronto? Didn't you have enough fun last time?" "Ah, the sights of Toronto-- the CN Tower, Nick's loft, and flaming warehouses." His mouth quirked into a half-smile. "There must be more to your city than that." "That's what they tell me. So you're back... to explore?" Natalie regarded him closely, watching the play of emotions over his face. He had a wonderfully expressive face. He looked uncomfortable, and the weariness that Natalie had noticed when he first came into the morgue became more prominent. "No particular reason, I imagine." Natalie stretched out one leg and kicked him lightly. "Hey. I've seen you without an arm, turned into the Immortal version of Crispy Critters. You can't put anything past me." "You put it so elegantly," he smiled, ducking his head to avoid-- what? Her eyes? Her questions? "Something's wrong," Nat stated firmly. "Another renegade Immortal?" Adam shook his head quickly. "No, fortunately. Toronto isn't the current hot spot. There's just been a good deal going on in my life." Natalie regarded him for a moment before replying. "Apparently." They were silent for several heartbeats-- perhaps surprised at the rapid familiarity after so long apart-- then Natalie shook her head briskly and glanced at her watch. "Have you eaten dinner?" "Airplane peanuts and beer. And some stale mints from the hotel lobby." He patted his stomach. "Sounds nutritious. Do you have time to grab a bite to eat? If I sneak out, I can probably spare an hour." "Of course." Adam pulled up his collar as he rose from the chair. He looked around, shifty-eyed, in an uncanny parody of a secret agent. "I'll cover you. Run for it!" Laughing, Natalie grabbed her coat and they headed out. *** "So, what's been happening in your life?" asked Natalie, unfolding her napkin into her lap. "Really happening." Adam toyed with the stem of his wine glass, his face solemn. It was at least a minute before he spoke. "I guess I'm undergoing... well, a crisis of conscience." Natalie sat quietly, waiting. He obviously needed to talk. Something had dramatically changed since she'd seen him last. "It was a... difficult year. I lost someone that I really cared about. I found that the way I've spent the last few years of my life has been a sham. People I called my friends are dead, or traitors..." his voice trailed off, and his hand left the glass and went still on the table. Natalie reached out and covered it with hers, and he looked up gratefully. "I'm just trying to decide what's next." "We certainly have that in common." Natalie glanced away, then back at Adam. "I don't think it matters how old you are, or how many years you've been on this earth-- everyone questions their direction." She quirked an eyebrow. "Of course, in my 80-year lifespan, the questions are probably a little less " Adam laughed. "Probably. Although that doesn't make the questions any less important." They were quiet for a moment, comfortable with each other and the quiet darkness of the restaurant. Natalie stole glances at his face as he picked up the wine bottle and refilled his glass. If Immortals could be depressed and fatigued, Adam was certainly an example. When Adam spoke, he startled her. "So, Doctor, what is it that questioning?" His eyes were concerned, and Natalie suddenly felt on the verge of tears. She shrugged, trying to make light of the situation. "A lot of things, I guess." "Nick?" He was too perceptive for her own good. "Yes. Not just him, of course." Natalie didn't even know how to begin articulating the concerns she was feeling. "But my... relationship with Nick is the center of it." "He cares about you." "I know." Natalie knew she should feel awkward discussing this with Adam, but somehow, she didn't. It was actually a relief. If he wasn't mortal-- well, he was closer to mortal than Sidney, who she usually ended up discussing Nick with. Who else could she talk to about her relationship with a vampire, after all? The waiter arrived with their dinners, depositing them on the table with a flourish. Natalie had chosen a small, informal Italian restaurant not too far from the office that made its own pasta, and had red sauce worth traveling for. Both she and Adam dug into the food with gusto. "This is great." Adam smiled at Natalie, unaware that he had a blob of red sauce on his chin. Natalie giggled. "Wipe your chin." He hastily grabbed his napkin. "Given how wide and your travels have been, I'm glad the food is up to your standards." "I've never been a gourmet, actually. And I don't cook very often." "I don't cook at Well, hardly. I can only make three things." Natalie dipped her bread in the pasta sauce, not caring if it was gauche. "What do you cook, when you cook?" Adam put down his fork and spoon and ticked the items off on his fingers. "Well, besides several ancient dishes that I haven't figured out how to adapt to modern markets, I make a mean plum pudding, shrimp Creole, memorable scrambled eggs, and lasagna." Natalie tried to make sense of that combination, and failed miserably. Adam looked embarrassed. "You'd think over the years I would have picked up more than that." "You've probably had more important things to do than learn to cook." A picture of Adam as she'd seen him a year ago, burned beyond recognition, flashed through her head. Imagine living like that, living the kind of existence where you could be killed at any time... She realized that Adam was talking to her. "I'm sorry. What?" "What are the three things you cook?" He dipped his own bread into the sauce. "Chocolate chip cookies, popcorn, and pot roast." "Between the two of us, we'd be completely malnourished." "With high cholesterol. For me, anyway." Adam picked up his wine glass and clinked it against her water. "Here's to high cholesterol." *** Jill Kirby ~~ jtkirby@mcs.com ~~ www.geocities.com/SoHo/Lofts/4107 NatPack ~~ ABotCoS ~~ NP4 ~~ Dreamer/Minstrel ~~ Wingman I figure you're all a sort of huge amalgamated Gestalt Mommy. That would be Methos. But, then, everything's Methos. Date: Mon, 19 Jan 1998 14:48:09 -0600 Reply-To: Jill Kirby Sender: Forever Knight TV show stories From: Jill Kirby Subject: ADULT: XOVER: Passages (02/14) To: FKFIC-L@lists.psu.edu X-Status: I've added the Xover topic-- sorry about the omission. *** Adult: Xover: Passages (02/14) a Forever Knight/Highlander Story by Jill Kirby Adam deposited Natalie back at her office-- with a promise that they'd get together for lunch in a day or two-- and headed out for a walk. Over the centuries, two things had been constant: beer, and long walks to help him think. Toronto wasn't a city he had ever spent a lot of time in, and he still wasn't sure why he'd come back here. After the bloody mess that the Watchers had become, after watching friends murdered and murdering, he'd left without really knowing where he could go. He'd just gotten on a plane, trying not to think about all the loss. Somehow, the plane had been heading here, and it had seemed a good idea. Stopping by to see Natalie had been a natural thing to do once he was here. Wasn't it? Adam was so preoccupied that he was startled to look up and find himself in front of the police precinct where Nick worked. Unconsciously, his steps had taken him here. What was next-- a chatty visit to Lucien? He was getting quite sentimental in his old age. He should go somewhere he didn't know people-- Greenland, maybe. Or Tibet. What the hell. Shaking his head, Adam climbed the steps and pulled open the door to the precinct, holding it for a heavily painted individual who might have been either a man a woman. He chuckled-- some things never changed. Once inside the busy, noisy building, Adam slipped easily by the desk officer. There was so much going on that one diffident man in a trenchcoat didn't raise an eyebrow. He hadn't survived 5,000 years by being high-profile, after all. As Adam approached Nick's desk, he was momentarily confused when he spotted a young blonde woman at the desk opposite Nick's. Wasn't Nick's partner a man? "Hello." Adam paused by the desks, smiling at the blonde as she looked up at him. She was pretty, but her eyes were guarded as they met his. "Can I help you?" "I'm looking for Nick Knight." Her eyes darted right, then back to him. "Can I help you with something? I'm his partner. Detective Vetter." Adam extended his hand. "Adam Pierson." She had a good handshake, solid and cool. "Have you been his partner for long? I thought..." "Detective Schanke... died several months ago." Her head ducked; Adam realized with a start that Detective Vetter was much younger than she'd looked at first. Mentioning Schanke's death had cracked the shell she had carefully wrapped around her. "I'm sorry. I didn't know." "Of course not." Her face brightened as she looked at someone behind Adam. "Nick, Mr. Pierson is here to see you." Adam turned around. Nick was walking toward them, and Adam saw his face darken with recognition. "Adam." Tracy didn't seem to notice how cool Nick's voice was. "I'm going to get a cup of coffee. Can I get you one, Mr. Pierson?" "Adam, please." He smiled. "That would be great, thanks. Black." Nick and Adam watched as the slight blonde headed for the coffee machine. "What are you doing here?" Nick asked, his voice low and rough; no one but Adam would hear it. "I'm well, thank you. And you?" Adam kept his tone light, but knew that this had been a mistake. What had led him to stop here, to say hello to this vampire that wasn't especially fond of him? "Don't worry. I'm just in town visiting." "Good." Nick was quiet as a uniformed officer walked by. When his eyes met Adam's, they were calm and, fortunately, not the least bit gold-red. "I was just surprised to see you." "I wanted to let you know I was in town," Adam said with a shrug. "I'd suggest getting together for a drink, but..." A quick smile flashed across Nick's face. "Probably not the best idea." He relaxed almost visibly. "I think our tastes in beverages differ." Adam was relieved that Nick seemed calmer. They'd gotten along fairly well when Adam had last been in town. In fact, he'd rather liked Nick. A decent sort, for one of the blood-sucking undead. He was completely unlike his vampire sire, although that wasn't entirely a good thing. Detective Vetter returned with the coffees, handing one to Adam and slipping away with a smile. Adam sipped it, suppressing a grimace. Institutional coffee was always terrible. "I'm sorry to hear about your partner, Nick." Nick tried to stop the pain from showing on his face, but failed. "Thanks." "It's hard to watch them go, isn't it?" The noise of the police station almost drowned out his voice, but Adam knew Nick heard him. "Yes. And it only gets harder." The two immortals were silent in the middle of the bustling, noisy police station, each understanding too well what it was like to be alone amidst crowds of people. *** "I heard you were back in town." Adam didn't look up from the book he was reading. "Hello, Lucien." Deliberately, he finished the page, then slipped a marker in the book as the vampire settled into the chair opposite him. "As always, good to see you." The two ancient acquaintances watched each other without speaking for some time. They'd always had an unusual relationship, thought Adam. Not friends, but certainly not enemies. Confidants, occasionally. Conspirators, more than once. "So Nick told you I was in town?" "No. I have other sources. You look tired, Methos." LaCroix slipped into an old tongue that no one else in the busy restaurant would understand. "You look pale. Get some sun." It was their standard opening banter, and they both smiled faintly at the familiarity of it. "Actually, you look tired." LaCroix let that statement stand. Adam drummed his fingers on the closed book. "It has not been one of my better years." "And that leads you back to Toronto?" Adam shrugged. "Change of scenery. You know how it gets after a while. Where else is there to go? What else is left to see?" LaCroix's forehead furrowed slightly, and he leaned forward in his chair. "Are you having a mid-life crisis, Methos?" he asked, the lightness of his voice belying something in his face. "Why, Lucien, I'm touched. You're worried about me." Adam smiled, then was quiet for a moment as a couple holding hands passed by, brushing against his chair. "Perhaps. I'm entitled, don't you think?" "Of course." LaCroix waved away a waiter attempting to take his order. "Have you left the Watchers?" "Yes, I have." Adam's eyes were dark. Wisely, LaCroix didn't press further. They sat silently for a long time. They had known each other for so long that silence was no threat, but only a pause in a relationship that spanned the centuries. When LaCroix spoke again, his tone was carefully neutral. "I am surprised that you would choose Toronto. You left somewhat quickly the last time you were here." "There are no longer any immediate threats here-- that I know about, anyway." Adam looked at LaCroix, his face solemn. "I imagine I wanted to see some friendly faces. And no, Lucien, I'm not counting yours among them." LaCroix's only response was an ironic lift of his eyebrows. *** Jill Kirby ~~ jtkirby@mcs.com ~~ www.geocities.com/SoHo/Lofts/4107 NatPack ~~ ABotCoS ~~ NP4 ~~ Dreamer/Minstrel ~~ Wingman I figure you're all a sort of huge amalgamated Gestalt Mommy. That would be Methos. But, then, everything's Methos. Date: Tue, 20 Jan 1998 21:34:36 -0600 Reply-To: Jill Kirby Sender: Forever Knight TV show stories From: Jill Kirby Subject: ADULT: XOVER: Passages (03/14) To: FKFIC-L@LISTS.PSU.EDU Adult: Xover: Passages (03/14) a Forever Knight/Highlander Story by Jill Kirby Natalie was relieved that no one was in the morgue to see her. Her hair was straight up on top of her head in a scrunchy, her feet were up on her desk, and she was leaning back in her chair in a most unladylike fashion, given that she was wearing a skirt underneath her lab coat. If anyone been there, they'd have gotten a great view of her underwear. Nick, fortunately, was on the other end of a phone line; vampire powers didn't extend to being able to see across telephone lines. As far as she knew, anyway. "I wish that I had more to tell you, Nick." Natalie stared at the preliminary report she was working on-- a bunch of scribbles, really-- and wrinkled her forehead in frustration. "No fibers. No DNA. Standard 22-caliber at close range is what got him." "Nothing unusual?" Nick asked. He sounded tired, Nat thought distractedly. "Only one thing. There are these odd marks on his back, like someone slammed him up against something. But it's not anything I recognize, and there isn't anything embedded in the marks or his clothing that gives me a clue about what they are." "What do the marks look like?" "I've got pictures. It's hard to describe." "Try?" "Umm..." Nat frowned, picturing the marks in her head. "His skin wasn't punctured. It was seriously bruised just before he died. They're little round spots, and they run down the length of his back and onto his buttocks in kind of a wide half-circle." They were both silent, and Natalie could just see Nick at the other end-- thinking hard, running over the hundreds of years of history in his head that might help explain the mystery. He sighed in frustration. "I can't think of anything that would do that, either. Could they have been done by hand, one by one?" "I don't think so. They're too evenly spaced. Also, the ones in the middle are more seriously bruised than the ones on the edges, so I think he hit something hardest with the center of his back, like someone threw him. Besides, why would anyone go to the trouble to make the marks by hand? They blew his head into Calgary a few minutes later." Natalie closed the top of the manila folder, and added it to the pile of folders that needed to be organized and entered into the system so that someone besides her could understand them. "Hmm." Nick was quiet for a moment, thinking. "You've never seen anything like this before?" "Nope." She heard him say something to Tracy, then turn back to the phone. "Are you off tomorrow night?" "Mmm hmm." Natalie, distracted, was trying to catch a folder that had decided to fly off the pile. "Do you want to rent movies or something?" Natalie paused, her stomach sinking. When was the last time Nick had invited her over for movies? She couldn't remember. Certainly it had been long before Janette's reappearance. This was probably his attempt at an olive branch; at returning their relationship to "normal." Whatever that was. Could their relationship ever be normal again? After she'd patched up Janette, after they'd heard her story of how she returned to mortality, Natalie had told him that she "understood," that everything would be fine. She'd tried to reassure him that nothing had changed. She'd tried to reassure that nothing had changed. But she would wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, understanding what she'd seen in Nick's eyes. Understanding what she knew, deep down inside, like a cold slim knife through her heart. Lies, lies, lies. Everything had changed. Everything. She had to shut her eyes and take a deep breath before she answered. "Thanks, Nick, but I have plans already." "Oh. Really." She couldn't help but smile. He sounded completely taken aback, and she smiled wickedly, suddenly overcome by the urge to be a complete and total bitch. "Yep. A date." As he was digesting this, Grace came in, preceding an aide pushing yet another gurney with yet another "patient." Grace waved the paperwork at her, deposited it on top of the body bag, and left Natalie alone. "Sorry, Nick, I need to go. They're stacking up in here tonight." "Oh." He'd become Mr. One Syllable Word all of a sudden, hadn't he? Well, two could play at that game. "Thanks for the invite, though. Bye!" Natalie said, her voice reflecting a cheer she didn't necessarily feel. She clicked the phone down, feeling guilty and victorious all at the same time. God, she was mean. Mea culpa, to whomever. As she got up to start working on the latest visitor to her lab, she thought about what was going on in her life. Natalie had a date with Adam tomorrow, and she didn't think Nick would appreciate that fact. He probably also wouldn't like the fact that Adam had been in town for two weeks, and she'd seen him at least half of those days. Actually, if she really wanted to be honest and statistically accurate, she'd seen him at least 85% of those days. And evenings. Even a morning or two, when they'd met for breakfast at the end of her shift. Nick wouldn't appreciate that at Actually, Natalie wasn't sure she appreciated it either. Couldn't she spend time with a man who wasn't some species of immortal? First a vampire, now an Immortal. What was next, a werewolf? An alien? She smiled. Adam was funny, and smart, and attractive. Not as attractive as Nick, really, but looks weren't usually what did her in anyway; she'd often been attracted to men with less obvious appeal. He clearly liked her company. She was aware that the attention was balm to her ego. But she was also attracted to him. attracted to him. It was kind of a change to want someone that she might, theoretically, actually be able to have. Wanting Nick, though a fierce and painful constant in her life for several years, was always tempered with the knowledge that satisfying that need would probably end up in her demise. Death took a lot of the thrill out of sex, at least for her. That was certainly one thing Adam had going for him-- sleeping with him probably wouldn't equal death, unless Immortals had some kind of weird sex ritual she wasn't aware of. She wouldn't catch any nasty diseases from Adam. Immortals: the perfect solution for the woman of the 90's. No AIDS. No other nasty creepy fungi. On the negative side, he'd live forever. He'd remain the same age while she got older, and older, and older. And he'd probably be gone from Toronto in a fairly short time; anyone who lived for more than a normal life span had to move around a fair amount. She'd seen that with Nick. But while he was here... Natalie shook her head. She probably needed therapy. Wanting completely inaccessible men was becoming a dangerous habit. And not just normal-inaccessible, like how Grace's sister was always attracted to married men. When Natalie Lambert picked inaccessible, she picked the ones who'd be young forever and quite possibly get her killed in whatever battles they waged with their own, strange race. But Adam wasn't inaccessible. He was a lot more accessible than Nick, in at least one very important way. Of course, what's ten times nothing? Hey, Nat, she reminded herself, he hasn't even kissed you yet. She paused in her unwrapping of a sterile scalpel, staring at it without really seeing it. You might be making a mountain out of something much less... but she didn't think she'd imagined that look in Adam's eyes. The door flew open, pushed by yet another gurney, and Natalie pushed the thoughts aside. To work. She could think about all of this later. "I'm turning into Scarlett O'Hara," she muttered, not caring if the aide heard her talking to herself. "Tomorrow is another day." *** Jill Kirby ~~ jtkirby@mcs.com ~~ www.geocities.com/SoHo/Lofts/4107 NatPack ~~ ABotCoS ~~ NP4 ~~ Dreamer/Minstrel That would be Methos. But, then, everything's Methos. There's been entirely too much externalizing of emotions lately. ---Madeleine, LFN Date: Tue, 20 Jan 1998 21:45:49 -0600 Reply-To: Jill Kirby Sender: Forever Knight TV show stories From: Jill Kirby Subject: ADULT: XOVER: Passages (04/14) To: FKFIC-L@lists.psu.edu Adult: Passages (04/14) a Forever Knight/Highlander Story by Jill Kirby Adam thought that one of the greatest developments of the late 20th century were these hotels where rooms were set up as suites. They weren't truly home, but it was a welcome return to the large, gracious hotel rooms of the past-- rather than the tiny, boxy rooms of more recent years. When one traveled as much as he did, one appreciated the space and amenities of these suite hotels. Not to mention that they were relatively inexpensive; no sense in squandering money even if his Adam Pierson identity was essentially done with. This one even gave him microwave popcorn. Setting the timer on the microwave, Adam pressed "start" and wandered over to the refrigerator to grab a beer. He was on his own tonight; he'd asked Natalie to dinner but she'd begged off. Too many bodies, too little time-- they'd see each other tomorrow, anyway, and were going to a fair the night after that. So he'd exercised in the hotel's small workout facility and come back up to his room to see what he could forage for dinner. It lucky he was Immortal-- beer and popcorn were not exactly the healthiest of meals. Natalie. He missed having dinner with her, as he'd done so many nights since he'd been in town. He missed her sense of humour, her wry outlook on life. He missed her smile. She was the first woman he'd been even remotely interested in since Alexa died. He hadn't even kissed her yet. Not that he didn't to, mind you. He was attracted to her-- had been, ever since the first moment he met her in Nick's loft last year. Then later, when she was patching him up after the fight with Maxwell, he'd had to behave himself. After all, he had been recuperating at Nick's. Nick, who Natalie had been hopelessly in love with at the time. Nick, who was supposedly in love with Natalie. Nick, the vampire. Adam sighed and threw himself down on the sofa, staring at the ceiling. Natalie had shared with him, haltingly, what had happened when that woman-- Janette, another of LaCroix's vampire children-- had come back into town. He'd seen the pain in her eyes as she recounted the events of those few days; it had been obvious even with Natalie's carefully chosen words that the entire situation had been devastating to her. The realization that Nick felt something for Janette that he'd probably never felt for Natalie-- and never would-- had changed everything for her. Adam sensed that it was an enormous relief for Nat to be able to talk about this. He knew, only too well, how hard it was to keep secrets like that locked up inside. That was probably part of the reason he'd been spending so much time with Nat-- few people, mortal or Immortal, knew what he was. He was slow to trust. Often by the time he trusted someone, it was time for him to move on-- or the person was dead. Nat knew what he was and accepted it, despite an ever-present curiosity that Adam supposed was partly just her inquisitive scientist's personality, and partly linked to her search for Nick's cure. That was another thing they had in common; they both understood that there was more in heaven and earth than was known by most of the mortal population. But despite his attraction to her, Adam hesitated to do anything more than keep their relationship on a friendly level. On his part, he still thought about Alexa more often than he should. He hadn't truly recovered from her death; he knew that. He wasn't exactly fast at healing after a relationship ended. He remembered once when he'd barely looked at women for over a hundred years. That was after... what? His twenty-first wife. On Natalie's side, she'd been completely in love with a vampire for how long-- three, four years? That was a long time in a mortal lifespan. She'd wrapped herself up in finding him a cure, making him mortal again-- and shut herself off from other possibilities; shut off the warm, impulsive side of her that Adam had seen shine through. She was too bright, too passionate a woman to stay locked away like some icon in a cabinet. Adam just had to be sure that, if he did pursue any kind of a relationship with Nat, he wasn't encroaching on someone else's emotions. If Natalie still loved Nick, he didn't want to make things difficult for her. If Nick still loved Natalie... Well, Nick hadn't done anything to let Natalie know how he felt. Quite the opposite, in fact. And this was Natalie's decision, not Nick's. The timer on the microwave chimed. Time for dinner, and the thousandth re-reading of "Hamlet." Something about that mad Dane had always appealed to him. *** A corner of the normally peaceful park had been transformed into a noisy, bright fairground packed with people. Nick and Tracy were lucky to snag a parking spot near the entrance; rather than sit in the car Nick got out and walked with Tracy towards the lights and crowds. They paused close to the entrance. "I'll be right back." Tracy turned as if to leave, then glanced over her shoulder at Nick. "At least to look like you're having fun, Nick." With a grin to take the sting out of her words, Tracy bounded off into the crowds. Nick glowered after her. He'd never been a fan of carnivals, but Tracy had dragged him here. "Two reasons," she'd said. "One, I need cotton candy. Two, I promised my cousin Judy I'd get her tickets ahead of time." She'd looked a little uncomfortable at asking to do a personal errand on duty, but Nick had just shrugged. It was a crisp evening, and the carnival was packed with people looking for excitement. He could hear a hundred conversations, smell the blood and the popcorn and the sweat of the crowds. "I want to ride the ferris wheel!" "Make her Daddy!" "Get your eyes off of her chest, Bob." Suddenly, one voice stood out of the din. "Stop it! Don't!" Nick drew in a sharp breath, and in a moment was halfway across the fairgrounds, a dark blur among the lights and color. That was Natalie's voice. *** Balancing the huge bag of cotton candy, Tracy looked around the area where she'd left Nick. No sight of him. Great, Tracy. You leave him alone for five minutes, and he disappears. Sighing, she leaned against a nearby tree to wait and pulled open the bag of cotton candy. He'd come back eventually. He always did. She stuck a huge gob of the unnaturally pink stuff into her mouth. *** He was right-- it had been Nat's voice. He'd only heard the words. What he hadn't heard was the laughter. She was half-crouched off to one side of the midway, her hands over her head in a protective gesture, laughing, as a man-- his back to Nick-- threw garishly coloured stuffed animals at her. "Cut it !" Instinctively, Nick backed into the shadows before Natalie could see him. His supply of animals exhausted, the man put his hands on his hips. Natalie straightened and made a mock-angry face at him, the effect of which was ruined by the sparkle in her eyes and the fact that she was still out of breath from laughter. She ran one hand through her hair, pushing it back from her face. "I'm going to report you to for cruelty to poor, defenseless stuffed animals." "The cruelty was that they were made at all," retorted the man. "Who ever heard of a lime-green rabbit? It's a crime against nature. I'm compelled to win them from the vendors so that I can set them free." Whatever Natalie said next was completely blocked out by the shock Nick felt at the sound of that voice. The man with Natalie was Adam Pierson. Methos. He watched as they gathered the animals from the ground. There was an ease to their body language, something in both their faces that set Nick's teeth on edge. They were obviously very comfortable with one another. Nick watched as Natalie swatted Adam on the arm with something pink that looked like a snake. This wasn't a closeness that had developed last year when Adam was recuperating at Nick's loft. This was more recent, and certainly more visible. Logically, Nick knew that Adam had every right to look Natalie up when he was in town. They'd gotten along well last time Adam was here; Natalie had treated Adam after the fire and they'd spent hours talking, arguing, laughing. But he didn't care. Illogically, Nick was furious. And jealous. What was Natalie doing with Adam? This was her time off, and she was pending it with Adam. Adam, the Immortal. The animals collected, Nick watched as Adam and Natalie walked away from him, continuing down the midway. After a moment, Adam slung one arm around Natalie's waist. She didn't appear to object. *** Jill Kirby ~~ jtkirby@mcs.com ~~ www.geocities.com/SoHo/Lofts/4107 NatPack ~~ ABotCoS ~~ NP4 ~~ Dreamer/Minstrel That would be Methos. But, then, everything's Methos. There's been entirely too much externalizing of emotions lately. ---Madeleine, LFN Date: Wed, 21 Jan 1998 22:52:10 -0600 Reply-To: Jill Kirby Sender: Forever Knight TV show stories From: Jill Kirby Subject: ADULT: XOVER: Passages (05/14) To: FKFIC-L@LISTS.PSU.EDU Adult: Xover: Passages (05/14) a Forever Knight/Highlander Story by Jill Kirby The evening at the carnival had turned into a late dinner, then dancing... And now Natalie was extremely aware of the fact that she was sloshed. Bombed. Drunk out of her mind. Of course, so was Adam. "Watch out for that lamp post," Adam warned as Natalie nearly smacked into one, veering away just in time. "They're sneaky little devils, especially when you've had a cocktail or five." "I never drink this much. Almost never." A vague memory surfaced of being at the Raven, eyeing Spark across the crowded dance floor, and she shook it off. "And you don't look completely sober yourself, Mister. Can you indestructible guys get drunk?" "Ohhhh yesss," Adam proclaimed, overemphasizing the consonants. He was walking very carefully and avoiding stepping on any cracks, his arms outstretched. Natalie suppressed a giggle. "The up side is that we don't get hangovers." They finally reached the front door of her building, and Natalie fumbled with her keys. "I think you had better come upstairs," she said, finally getting the door open. "I don't want you driving to your hotel in this condition. I've patched you up once already. I'll make some coffee." "Coffee?" he mumbled, tripping over the doorframe and barely catching himself. "I don't need no stinkin' coffee." Like a bad Three Stooges movie, they managed to reach Natalie's apartment relatively unscathed-- though at least one of her neighbors was going to be completely scandalized at how drunk that nice Doctor Lambert had been. And taking a strange man home with her! Natalie closed the door behind her with a grateful sigh, kicking off her shoes. Adam made a beeline for the couch and collapsed, face-first. Natalie dumped coffee into the coffeemaker (through some minor miracle, she didn't spill the coffee grounds all over the floor). Along the way, her jacket and pants ended up on different pieces of furniture. Clothing was just so Forgetting about the coffee-- in fact, forgetting to even turn the coffeemaker on-- Nat headed back out into the living room. Sidney was nowhere to be seen. Adam was snoring, the noise muffled by the fact that his face was buried in the sofa cushions. Natalie regarded him for a moment-- she should really move his feet; his boots were going to get the sofa dirty-- then turned away unsteadily. With great concentration, Natalie yanked off her knee-high stockings, hung them carefully on the ficus, then curled up in the armchair and went to sleep. *** When Natalie woke, she could smell coffee brewing. Someone was whistling softly in the kitchen, and she cracked one eye open carefully as the whistling moved toward her. Adam was standing in front of her chair, arms crossed. She looked at him blearily. He was actually the bum, although it was in the same outfit he'd been in last night. His shirt was untucked, and he was barefoot, but somehow he managed to look much more together than she would probably look all day. "Hair of the dog?" Adam asked cheerfully. "Oh, God, " moaned Natalie. She made a shooing motion at him. "You're too happy. At least you could to be hung over." He smiled. "Not if it means looking like you. What happened to your clothes?" Startled, Natalie looked down at herself and found she was wearing... Well, not much. Her jacket and pants were both gone, and she was dressed only in her shirt. Thank goodness it had long tails... Flushing, she stood, hoping the shirt covered at least a reasonable amount of her lower body. "I think I'll hop in the shower." "Hop? In your condition?" Adam called after her as she headed for the bathroom as quickly as her wobbly legs would carry her. Her reply was lost as she went into the bathroom, which was probably for the best. Emerging twenty minutes later, her hair loose and damp and wearing her favorite robe, she found her dining room table cleared and set for two. Adam poked his head out of the kitchen. "You look much better." "I feel almost human." Natalie waved at the table. "What's this?" Adam had disappeared again. "Since you don't want the hair of the dog," he called, "You probably need sustenance. I'm whipping up one of my specialties." "If you say plum pudding, I'm gonna throw up," Natalie mumbled. "I heard that!" She heard something metal smacking against a counter. "Sit down. Let me serve you." "No argument from me." Natalie sat down carefully, and realized that she really did feel nearly normal again. She was still pretty resilient, even at her advancing age, and a hot shower did wonders. She smiled at Adam as he came in balancing a mug of coffee, a glass of juice, and a glass of water. "Drink the water first, then the juice, then the coffee." "Is that some ancient Immortal remedy?" Natalie picked up the water and drank it thirstily. "Common sense." Adam ducked back into the kitchen and emerged with a large platter of eggs, surrounded by toast. Natalie's eyes narrowed, and he hastened to reassure her. "I left out the spices. I figured bland was good." He dished up a small portion, augmented with several pieces of toast, and Natalie took an experimental bite. Amazingly, her stomach didn't protest. "They're delicious." Her plate was clear in no time, and Adam scooped some more out and then sat down opposite her. "These are " Natalie said enthusiastically. "You've got to teach me how to make these." "They're just eggs," Adam demurred modestly. Those "just eggs" disappeared in a few minutes. They left the dishes in the sink and headed for the living room, both collapsing on the couch. Adam let out a deep, loud sigh. "I thought you said you weren't hung over," Natalie commented, her eyes shut. "I'm not. That was just a sigh." "Sure it was." "It was a " Adam's voice was indignant. Keeping her eyes shut, Natalie nudged his leg lightly with her foot, then rested her foot on top of his leg. "A sigh. Sure. Can I get you some aspirin?" "The only time I need painkillers is when someone severs my arm," Adam commented wryly. Natalie started to laugh, opening her eyes to look at him. "Little things like that, hmm?" He turned his face to hers, smiling. "Little things like that." Their eyes locked, and neither one of them breathed for a long, still moment. And then he was kissing her, hard, his hands suddenly on her shoulders. After an initial instant of surprise, she returned the kiss with equal fervor, slipping her arms around his neck. Kissing him felt... good. Somehow, it felt familiar. Though Natalie had no desire to stop, she pulled away from Adam's mouth, then leaned forward again and kissed him on his nose, her eyes sparkling. "What was that for?" Adam grinned at her, surprised. "I've been wanting to do that for days." Natalie touched the tip of his nose with one gentle finger. "Don't ask me why, but I like your nose." The corners of Adam's eyes wrinkled for a moment, then he shrugged. "I've never been especially fond of it, myself, but if you like it..." His hand moved to Natalie's hair, and he smoothed a piece back from her face. "I suppose I'll keep it." His mouth returned to hers, and she welcomed it enthusiastically. After a moment, Adam's kisses moved to her neck, and she arched her head back, enjoying the feel of his lips on her skin. It was so to be touched, and not to have to fear where the touching was going to lead. In the back of her mind, a small voice asked her exactly where this going to lead? Shut up, she said to the voice. At this point, I hope I know where it's going to lead. Adam had moved down as far as he could without kissing her robe, and he paused, looking up at Natalie questioningly. He wasn't going to take this any farther than she wanted it to go, Natalie realized gratefully. The next move was hers. Deliberately, she leaned over and began unbuttoning his shirt. Adam watched as she worked her way down, her hands brushing his chest lightly, then slipped the shirt off his shoulders. He helped, wiggling his arms out of the sleeves, and the shirt slid to the floor unnoticed. Moving even closer to him, she brought her leg up from where it was resting on his calf and moved nearly onto his lap. She ran the tips of her fingers down his bare back and rejoiced at his shivers of pleasure, at the feel of his skin on hers. His back was solid and warm. Adam's eyes met hers one more time, the question still there. "Are you sure?" Natalie brought one hand around from his back, sliding it up his chest, then ran one index finger along the line of his jaw. "I'm sure." She brushed his lips gently, smiling as he kissed her fingers. She couldn't seem to get enough of touching him. "I do have to ask the inevitable question of the 90's..." Adam half-smiled, his mouth twisting, and Natalie felt something inside her tighten almost painfully at the sight-- and at the slightly lost look in his eyes. "I can't get you pregnant, and I don't carry any diseases. But if it makes you more comfortable..." Natalie had suspected this; she'd done a pretty extensive history on him when he'd been her patient. Nick had also given her a lot of information on Immortals, though he certainly hadn't intended to help her out in this particular direction. But she was too practical not to ask-- even when she was already weak with wanting him; even when the touch of his hand on her leg was making her mind focus on little else. "No." "I can..." Natalie silenced him for good by kissing him again, as deeply as he'd kissed her before. His hands lifted to cup her face, holding her gently as they explored just how intensely sensual a kiss could be. Unconsciously, Natalie moved even closer to Adam, bringing her other leg up and moving fully onto his lap, feeling him even through her robe and the pants he was wearing. She pressed against him more urgently, twisting one hand into his hair. Their kiss was increasingly unrestrained, and there was no longer any question where this was going. Where they both wanted it to go. Adam ran his hands along Natalie's neck, down to her shoulders, and pushed the robe off them. Natalie was startled for a moment as the cool air hit her bare shoulders, but the surprise disappeared as Adam's mouth left hers and moved downward, kissing her fair skin, his hands stroking her back with practiced effect. Every kiss, every teasing bite reminded Natalie of sensations she'd long ago tried to forget, tried to push away. Why? Why forget ? Natalie could feel her breath coming more quickly, even though the more hot spots hadn't even been hit. It been a long time, that voice in the back of her mind reminded her... and shut up immediately as Adam deftly untied the sash of her robe and pushed it open. Before he could even move to help her, Natalie had shaken the sleeves off her arms. She bare skin; she wanted every inch of her available to him. With one hand, she pushed the robe off the couch, out of the way. As the robe tumbled off the couch, as her arms went around him again, Natalie realized that they weren't going to make it to the bedroom. Not a chance in hell. *** Jill Kirby ~~ jtkirby@mcs.com ~~ www.geocities.com/SoHo/Lofts/4107 NatPack ~~ ABotCoS ~~ NP4 ~~ Dreamer/Minstrel That would be Methos. But, then, everything's Methos. There's been entirely too much externalizing of emotions lately. ---Madeleine, LFN Date: Thu, 22 Jan 1998 21:53:31 -0600 Reply-To: Jill Kirby Sender: Forever Knight TV show stories From: Jill Kirby Subject: ADULT: XOVER: Passages (06/14) To: FKFIC-L@LISTS.PSU.EDU X-Status: Adult: Passages (06/14) a Forever Knight/Highlander Story by Jill Kirby Natalie's eyes flew open, and she stared at the man in her bed. Adam. He was still sound asleep-- flat on his back, mouth open slightly. He wasn't snoring, fortunately, but breathing deeply and evenly. Asleep, he looked like a child; ironic given his probable age... Oh, my goodness. Natalie's face flamed red, and she put one hand to her mouth to muffle her gasp. She'd gone out, gotten drunk, passed out, and woken to sleep with-- have sex with-- a man she barely knew. An she barely knew! In the middle of the day! On the couch! That's not true, Natalie, a stern voice said in the back of her mind. You do too know him. He's a former patient. You eventually made it to the bedroom. And they hadn't just had sex. They'd had sex. Mind-blowing, amazing, toe-curling sex. Oh, a former patient. certainly justifies everything. This was not like her at all. Natalie Lambert, Coroner Slut. She should feel horrible and guilty and regretful. Why did she only feel ? She'd basically broken every rule anyone had ever told her about how "good girls" behave, and all she could do was feel absolutely wonderful. Adam rolled over, face down and making an incomprehensible grumbling noise, and flung one arm over her chest. Natalie stared at the arm as if it were an extraterrestrial. It was his left arm. The arm she'd watch reattach. The arm that had been chopped off and carried in a plastic bag, burned as badly as the rest of him. That give her the willies. His skin was so warm and normal that it was hard to believe that he was a kind of Immortal. He was yet another species, like Nick, that could essentially go on forever under the right conditions. And he didn't have all the limitations of Nick. Natalie was so busy staring at the arm across her that she was startled when the owner of that arm spoke. "You're awake." "So are you." Natalie turned to face Adam, and his arm curved around her, stroking her back. He stifled a yawn, and Natalie laughed. "Sorry if I'm boring you." "Those aren't... exactly the words to describe how you affect me." He glanced at his arm, apparently looking for something. "What time is it? Where's my watch? What happened to the hideous stuffed animals?" "I don't know the time; between this morning and last night, your watch could be anywhere; and I think we left the animals in the last bar we were at," Natalie said dryly. She lifted her head and looked across him at the bedside clock. "It's almost two." "In the afternoon?" "Do you need to be somewhere?" "I believe that I need to be... right here." He leaned over and kissed her throat, his lips soft on her bare skin. Natalie shivered pleasurably as his mouth explored her neck and shoulder, rediscovering familiar territory. "I just hate it when you do that." Her voice was husky, and she moved closer, twining her legs with his. She could feel his almost immediate response to her nearness. Immortals really did seem to have amazingly quick powers of recovery. Lucky for her. Adam laughed, his breath warm on her. "I can tell." His mouth moved to her breast, and despite her involuntary response she pushed his head away. "You did all the work last time." She grinned at the surprise on his face, then untangled her legs from his and sat up, grasping his hands in hers and squeezing them. "My turn." "I hope you don't expect me to argue with you," Adam chuckled. In one quick movement, Natalie had straddled Adam and was leaning over him, pinning his arms over his head. "You're not allowed to argue." His eyes widened in surprise, but he played along. "Well, it wasn't exactly ..." Hazel eyes met brown for a long moment before Nat leant down and kissed him so gently that it was like the touch of a feather, then covered his face with kisses, still holding his hands captive. "You have... to promise... to be still..." She interspersed her words with kisses, moving slowly to his neck. Her hair fell around their faces like a soft curtain, brushing his skin as she moved lower. "I can't speak for all of me." Adam's voice was rougher than it had been only moments earlier. Natalie kissed first one of his nipples, then the other, teasing them to hardness with her mouth. "Do your best, Adam," she whispered as she trailed kisses down the fine line of hair along his soft, smooth stomach, aware that his breath was coming harder and faster. "Just do your best." *** Natalie pulled down the mirror on her visor and took one last look at herself before going into work. She shook her head slightly at the sight-- the generous use of concealer and a mock turtleneck didn't entirely hide a faint bruise on her neck, and she couldn't blame the fullness of her lips on collagen injections. Fortunately, no one would see any parts of her body. She and Adam had spent a... day together. Grace was going to take one look at her and follow her all night until Nat gave her the scoop. Taking a deep breath, she gathered her things together and slipped out of the car, locking the door carefully behind her. "Natalie!" Nat turned and saw Nick getting out of the Caddy, several spaces down from her car. He waved at her, smiling. Oh, shit. "I wanted to talk to you about the Chamberlain case. Do you have time?" Natalie could feel herself shrinking back into her coat, almost as if she could make herself disappear into its fabric. "I haven't seen my desk yet, but I think so." She turned and started walking rapidly towards the morgue. Her mind raced. How dark could she legitimately keep her office? Like it mattered-- Nick didn't need light to see what was written all over her. Nick's hand was on her shoulder. "Nat? What's wrong?" "Nothing. Ow!" Inadvertently, his fingers had hit a tender spot. His hand lifted immediately. "Sorry. What..." His hands touched her neck, and she flinched as they gently probed the bruised areas. "Are you all right? What happened?" His eyes were concerned as they tried to meet hers, but she evaded his gaze. "I'm fine, Nick. Really." "Someone hurt you." Natalie could hear the anger in his voice, and she thought she saw a glint of gold out of the corner of her eye. She stared at his chest doggedly. "No one hurt me, Nick." He grabbed her face and turned it to his, forcing Nat to look at him. When her eyes met his, Natalie could see the almost immediate realization on his face, followed quickly by hurt and anger. "Adam." The word was almost a growl. "It's none of your business." It wasn't, and why the was she feeling guilty? Not to mention, how did he know it was Adam? "You're my business, Natalie, whether you like it or not." Nick was furious. He was actually almost For a split second, Natalie considered explaining to Nick just why she was involved with Adam. But as soon as the idea crossed her mind, she dismissed it. If Nick didn't understand-- well, she wasn't about to enlighten him about the finer points of her and Adam's relationship. "I'm a grown-up, Nick, and I can take care of myself. If I to be spend time with Adam, that's my choice, and my right. If I to sleep with Adam..." Natalie noticed Nick's almost imperceptible recoil, and her stomach tightened despite her best resolutions. "Well, that's my business, too." He looked angry and horrified and shocked, all at the same time. Was playing Mister Puritan now? Natalie was torn between laughter and anger. So. His precious Natalie was involved with someone, obviously having a good time, and Saint Nicholas was getting all judgmental about it. She remembered how he'd looked when he'd seen her with Roger, so many years ago... To hell with being "good." "I guess what it comes down to, Nick, is that it's not your concern." Natalie shrugged, and was amazed that she actually meant it. "My mother used to say 'put up or shut up.' " Natalie let the sentence trail off, watched his lips tighten at the implication, then turned and left without looking back. What she had said, she had said it, was cruel. It wasn't like her to be deliberately cruel to Nick, or to anyone. She'd deal with it later. She was late for work. *** Jill Kirby ~~ jtkirby@mcs.com ~~ www.geocities.com/SoHo/Lofts/4107 NatPack ~~ ABotCoS ~~ NP4 ~~ Dreamer/Minstrel That would be Methos. But, then, everything's Methos. There's been entirely too much externalizing of emotions lately. ---Madeleine, LFN Date: Thu, 22 Jan 1998 22:10:23 -0600 Reply-To: Jill Kirby Sender: Forever Knight TV show stories From: Jill Kirby Subject: ADULT: XOVER: Passages (07/14) To: FKFIC-L@lists.psu.edu X-Status: Adult: Xover: Passages (07/14) a Forever Knight/Highlander Story by Jill Kirby "Adam?" Her apartment was dark and quiet, and Natalie stepped in slowly, feeling for the light switch. She yelped as arms encircled her waist and twirled her away from the door. "No lights." Adam's voice was a loud mock-whisper, and he kissed her quickly, pulling her bags out of her hand and depositing them on the floor. "No lights?" She could barely see him-- he was an outline, really; she couldn't make out his face or his expression. "We can always turn them on..." "Or not," Natalie giggled. "Or not." "Do you Immortals just run around the world seducing women?" Natalie pushed Adam back and shook her coat off her shoulders, ignoring the voice in the back of her head that told her sternly to hang up the coat before it got wrinkled. "Only if they want to be seduced." Even in the dark, Natalie could hear the grin in his voice. She leaned forward and slipped her hands under Adam's loose sweater, pulling it up over his head as he lifted his arms to help her. "Oh, I don't want to be seduced at " She tossed his sweater aside, then pulled her turtleneck over her head and quickly unhooked her bra. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her bare skin to his, smiling at his intake of breath. "I just being seduced." Adam ran his fingers up her neck, twining them in her hair and rubbing the back of her head gently. "I can tell." He kissed the hollow of her throat. "Do you think we'll make it to the bedroom this time?" he whispered against her skin, his warm breath giving her goosebumps. "Do we to make it to the bedroom?" Natalie reached down between them and deliberately ran one hand over the firmness straining at the denim of Adam's jeans, feeling his body jerk in response. "Not if you keep doing that," Adam gasped. Natalie moved back from him, though some part of her objected loudly to losing contact with Adam. "To the bedroom," she said resolutely. "We should probably be conventional every so often." Adam's arms whipped around her waist and pulled her close again. "To hell with convention," he muttered. "Convention is boring." "God forbid we should be boring," Natalie whispered as they dropped to the floor, Adam's hands already sliding down to pull up her skirt. Natalie's last coherent thought for quite a while was that she was glad Adam didn't wear button-fly jeans. Zippers were quicker. *** Somehow, Nick always seemed to end up at the Raven when he was confused and depressed. Before, Janette had been there-- to answer his questions, to listen to him, to soothe him. He could lose himself in her, in the music, in the crowds. Now, there was LaCroix. Not exactly the same, but sometimes, better than no one at all. "Nicholas. So good to see you." LaCroix motioned to the bartender, who brought him a glass full of unmistakable ruby-red liquid. "Something to drink?" Nick waved his hand at LaCroix. "Whatever." LaCroix raised one eyebrow slightly, then pushed his own glass toward Nick. "Your manners, Nicholas. At least your taste in beverages has improved. I was tired of keeping bovine stock just for you." Nick drained half the glass without speaking, aware that LaCroix was watching him closely. "Something is wrong," LaCroix stated calmly. "Have you heard from Janette?" Nick laughed harshly. "No. I don't expect to." "At least not any time soon." LaCroix was lost for a moment in his own thoughts, then came out of them with almost a visible effort. "Is something happening in your little mortal parody of a life?" For some reason, Nick didn't feel like arguing semantics with LaCroix tonight. "Natalie is... seeing Adam Pierson. Your Methos." LaCroix was very still for a moment, then a smile crossed his face. It wasn't exactly his usual, unpleasant smile-- it was almost... affectionate? "Is she. How interesting." "Will he hurt her?" Nick demanded, his voice raw. "You've known him for years." "Centuries, actually. He's quite an annoying Immortal, but I've never known him to be casual with his relationships-- friends lovers." LaCroix regarded Nick for several moments, taking in Nick's wince at his words. "I think that you could hurt the good Doctor far more than Adam ever would." Nick half-turned away from LaCroix in a feeble attempt to ignore what he was saying. "She knows what he is. How can she get involved with him?" "She knew what were, Nicholas." The implication was unmistakable, but LaCroix did not linger on it. "I think many things of Doctor Lambert, but I do not think that she is a fool." LaCroix ran his hand along the smooth surface of the bar, as if testing it somehow. "You took Janette to her when Janette was wounded. She saw you together." Nick was quiet, thinking back. "I have come to believe that you are not truly in love with the doctor. But I do not think she has fully believed that herself-- until recently. Perhaps she has had an epiphany." Nick opened his mouth to deny LaCroix's assertion, then closed it again and looked away. Did he love Natalie? He counted on her opinion. He trusted her absolutely. He enjoyed her company. He was violently jealous of her and Adam. Nick remembered, with a pang, the look in Natalie's eyes when she'd seen him with Janette. Her eyes, as Janette had told them of the "cure." LaCroix was right. Natalie wasn't stupid. Maybe his 800 years of history with Janette had just gotten to be too much for her to live with. Could he blame her? "Nicholas, you care for Doctor Lambert. You may have loved her, once. But your foolish quest for mortality has become your..." LaCroix paused, searching for the right word, the right phrase. "Your holy grail, as it were. I do not believe you expect to reach it. The quest has become more important than the goal, my son, and you have left whatever you once felt for Natalie Lambert behind you in this. She will only accept the goal-- and she has seen that you will not." Nick let the pounding music wash over him, trying to avoid the thoughts running through his head. He tended to write off everything that LaCroix said as manipulation, as complex maneuvering to make Nick return to the vampire world. But what LaCroix was saying to him now was hitting far too close to home. LaCroix touched his arm in a demonstration of concern that, at any other time, would have surprised Nick. "He is not without his complications, Nicholas, but Methos will not harm Natalie. He will leave her rather than harm her in any way." Nick didn't respond, but stared down into his glass. LaCroix watched him for a moment longer, then sighed, the weight of a thousand years in that simple sound. "You have always had trouble facing the inevitable, Nicholas. If Natalie has moved on, you must let her do so." He picked up his wine glass, twirling the stem between his fingertips. "I believe she deserves that much." He turned smoothly and left Nick alone with his glass, silent in the midst of noise and laughter and sweat and blood. *** Date: Thu, 22 Jan 1998 22:23:37 -0600 Reply-To: Jill Kirby Sender: Forever Knight TV show stories From: Jill Kirby Subject: ADULT: XOVER: Passages (08/14) To: FKFIC-L@lists.psu.edu X-Status: Adult: Passages (08/14) a Forever Knight/Highlander Story by Jill Kirby Natalie glanced over with a smile as Adam poked his head through the door of the morgue. "Hi there." "Am I interrupting anything?" he inquired, nodding at the still form on the table that Natalie was covering with a sheet. "Deep conversation? Intense philosophical discussions?" "Not exactly," she laughed. "Finishing up an autopsy, as usual." "Just in time for dinner?" Adam asked hopefully. "I'm starving." "Well," Natalie said practically, "Considering that I've been rooting around in this guy's chest cavity all night, I shouldn't be hungry. But I am." As Adam rolled his eyes in theatrical disgust, Grace pushed the door open. She smiled when she spotted Adam. "Natalie, here's that utilization report that Marcus asked you to look through in all your spare time. Hello, Adam. Good to see you again." "You too, Grace." He cocked his head while Grace handed a sheaf of papers to Natalie. "You look very nice tonight. New scarf?" "My nephew gave it to me." "Good taste obviously runs in the family." Grace shot him an I-know-you're-buttering-me-up-but-don't-stop look, then shook her head at Natalie. "You two have a good dinner." "Thanks, Grace," Natalie called as Grace left. "You're Adam!" Adam watched as Natalie pulled off her lab coat and gloves. "Me? Why?" he asked innocently. "You'd flirt with a lamp post," Natalie said good-naturedly. He helped her on with her coat, putting one arm around her shoulders as they walked out. "Actually, lamp posts aren't my type," Adam said seriously. "I much prefer mailboxes." *** As they sat drinking coffee, Adam realized Natalie wasn't really with him any more. "Nat?" She was staring, transfixed, at her saucer. One hand drifted up to her mouth, and she bit at her cuticles thoughtfully. "The bruises." Adam looked at the saucer, then back at her. "Yes? What bruises?" "Chamberlain." Her hand left her mouth, tracing a circle in the air over her saucer. "The bruises were in a half-circle, like that." He shook his head, still looking at her blankly. "This must have something to do with work." "I think it might." She turned and began rummaging through her purse, yanking things out of it with abandon and flinging them onto the table. "Where's my cell phone?" She found it and flipped it open, dialing furiously. Adam caught a pen as it was about to roll off the table and held onto it, watching her. "Grace? I'm going to be late. I have to stop somewhere on the way back..." *** Ironically, when Nick picked up his phone and heard Natalie's voice, he'd just happened to be sitting there thinking about her. Ever since seeing her that night, he'd avoided contact with her to the point where it was obvious to everyone, but that didn't mean he'd stopped thinking about her. The conversation with LaCroix had made him think about Nat even more. "Knight." "The carnival." "What?" He could hear voices and music and noise in the background. Natalie wasn't at work. "I'm at the carnival at Kew Park. The marks on Chamberlain's back. I think they were made here." "How?" "On the midway-- there are booths where you win prizes. You know, toss baseballs at milk bottles, or shoot at targets. You know what I mean?" "Yes." Nick scowled at the pile of paper on his desk, trying to forget how he'd seen Natalie with Adam Pierson on that same midway. "I know what you mean." "Well, there's one booth..." Nat paused, and Nick knew exactly what she was doing. She was trying to think of a word, of how to describe something. "It has this " He heard her put her hand over the mouthpiece of the telephone-- which, of course, didn't stop him from hearing what she said. "Over there-- that booth with the big round thing with the pegs on it? The thing they spin?" "It's called a wheel," Nick heard Adam say dryly. "You're looking right at it." Nick heard something that sounded distinctly like Adam being smacked. "Smart aleck." She spoke into the phone again. "A wheel. It's probably fixed, but the guy spins it and wherever it stops determines your prize. Nick, it has pegs around the outside perimeter. Evenly spaced pegs that would make those same marks if someone was thrown violently against it." Nick was nodding, picturing the brightly lit booth on the midway. "You're right. Tracy and I are on our way. Thanks, Nat." "Any time. See you in a few minutes." Nick kept the phone pressed to his ear for another moment, somehow loath to break the connection. He listened as Natalie hung up on her end. "Cotton candy?" he heard Adam ask. "I'm not moving," Nat answered firmly. "I'm keeping my eye on that guy..." The connection was broken. Nick hung up the phone, staring at it for a long moment before looking around for his partner. *** It wasn't hard to look busy while hanging out on a carnival midway. Adam won three more ugly stuffed animals while Natalie kept one watchful eye on the booth that she suspected had something to do with Chamberlain's death. "Here." Adam handed her an orange thing that might have been a teddy bear. He had an enormous grin on his face. "I'm really quite good at these games." "Practice, practice, practice," Natalie commented absently, still watching. She glanced left and spotted Nick and Tracy, still some distance down the midway. "Come on." Natalie tucked one hand under Adam's arm, and they headed towards Nick and Tracy. Nick's face tightened when he saw them together. After a moment's confusion Tracy smiled, greeting Adam briefly before getting down to business. "There. On the left." They were off to one side of the main pathway, and Natalie was able to point out the booth without anyone noticing. "The guy running it is huge-- he wouldn't have had any trouble throwing someone Chamberlain's size against the wheel. And the entry angle for the bullet would be pretty close to perfect, too." Nick nodded, still not looking at Adam. "Thanks. Tracy?" "Let's go." Tracy nodded quickly at Adam as Nick strode off without a word. "Nice to see you again, Adam." Adam and Nat watched the two detectives leave. Adam glanced down as Natalie smiled in satisfaction. "Good job, Doctor Lambert." "I hope so." They turned back towards the parking lot. "My piece of it is done, anyway. Who'd have thought that visiting a carnival could lead to catching a murderer? Well, maybe." "You never know what carnivals will lead to," Adam noted, his voice light. Natalie squeezed his arm against her. "That's for sure." *** Jill Kirby ~~ jtkirby@mcs.com ~~ www.geocities.com/SoHo/Lofts/4107 NatPack ~~ ABotCoS ~~ NP4 ~~ Dreamer/Minstrel That would be Methos. But, then, everything's Methos. There's been entirely too much externalizing of emotions lately. ---Madeleine, LFN Date: Sat, 24 Jan 1998 13:00:31 -0600 Reply-To: Jill Kirby Sender: Forever Knight TV show stories From: Jill Kirby Subject: ADULT: XOVER: Passages (09/14) To: FKFIC-L@lists.psu.edu Adult: Passages (09/14) a Forever Knight/Highlander Story by Jill Kirby Just relaxing with Adam was more fun than she'd had in ages. And the man actually giving foot massages; with the amount of time she spent on her feet that was the best part of having Adam around. "How old are you, exactly?" Natalie asked slyly, wiggling her toes. He'd danced around this question many times. He was astonishingly open about some topics, and completely closed off on others. Just like you, Natalie. "Old." Adam moved his hands to her heel, continuing to rub. He seemed to think for a moment, then looked up at Natalie, a faint grin dancing across his face. "I suppose you've been trying to figure it out on your own." She loved his accent, the way it made perfectly ordinary words sound special. "Of course." She grimaced as his hands hit a sore spot. "Mmm. Well, LaCroix said you were older than him." "True." "From what little information I've been able to get from Nick, LaCroix is at least a couple of thousand years old." Adam shrugged. "Give or take a century or two." He put down her right foot. "Ready for the other one?" Natalie raised her left foot quickly. "Yup. So you're at least two thousand years old, probably more." "Definitely more." He watched her as she nodded, considering the information. "It has to be difficult for you, sometimes. Being around for so many years, watching everything change." "Difficult sometimes. Interesting most of the time." Natalie saw shadows in his eyes that hadn't been there a moment earlier. "The hardest part is watching you." "Me?" Natalie asked in surprise. Adam shook his head, smiling, though the shadows were still there. "Not Mortals. Losing people you care about over the years." Natalie shut her eyes for a moment as Adam rubbed an especially unhappy muscle. "Can't you count on other Immortals? As friends, I mean?" "There aren't many you can trust-- I don't make a habit of it. A lot of them are wrapped up in the Game, and given how old I am they just want to chop off my head." His hands moved absently up to her calf. "Then there are the Immortals you care for who end up dying." "Just like us mortals." He grinned crookedly. "I guess everyone goes eventually. Even me." One hand continued inching up her leg, and Natalie yelped in surprise as it ended up somewhere that had nothing to do with her foot. "Adam!" She sat up, flushing, and he slid over on the couch, pulling her into his arms. "I can't help myself." He kissed her, and she twined her arms around his neck, taking in the feel of his lips and the faint musky scent of his skin. "It must be the couch," he murmured against her lips, his hands moving to the buttons on her shirt. "Oh, blame it all on the poor couch, will you?" *** Reese beamed at Natalie. "Good job, Doctor Lambert. We'd just about given up on that case." "Thank you, Captain." Natalie leaned back against Nick's desk, looking very pleased with herself. "Just a fluke, really." "Well, that fluke caught a murderer," Tracy said briskly. "We'd never have known Chamberlain had any connection to that carnival if you hadn't figured those marks out. The case would have gone to the unsolved pile." Reese laid one hand on Natalie's shoulder. "You ever want a second career..." Natalie laughed. "Thanks. I'll take a pass-- I hear the captain around here is pretty tough to work for." Reese shook his head, then went back to his office. Natalie turned to face Nick and Tracy, though her eyes avoided Nick. "I should get back to my office-- it's late, and the customers are probably lining up. Good night Trace-- Nick." She nodded briefly at him, then left. Nick shuffled some papers on his desk for a moment, but felt Tracy's eyes on him. He looked up at her, trying to keep his expression neutral. "Yes?" Tracy tapped a pencil on her desk, obviously considering what she wanted to say. She took a deep breath. "Do you want to tell me what's going on? If it's none of my business, that's fine. But I'm here, if you want to talk about it." "About what?" Every now and then, Tracy was so perceptive that it reminded Nick not to take her for granted, or write her off. Tracy threw the pencil down. "You barely look at Natalie. You hardly even speak to her. All of a sudden, I'm the designated morgue messenger, and you only go over there when you absolutely have to. You used to go over there every chance you got." "You're right. It really isn't any of your business." Nick smiled slightly, not wanting to offend Tracy too much. However much the questioning made him think about things he'd rather avoid, she just trying to be helpful. She shrugged, her hair catching the light. "You're my partner. Nat's my friend. I just want to help." "Thanks. But I don't need any help." Tracy picked up her coffee mug and stood. "It probably any of my business. But I think you're jealous, Nick. And it doesn't become you." With that, she turned and headed for the coffee machine. *** Nick pulled his car up in front of the Coroner's office and got out, slamming the door carelessly behind him. Tracy was right. He didn't want to be here. He hadn't been able to look straight at Natalie ever since that night in the parking lot. Since then, how she looked had haunted his dreams, reminded him of how much she'd changed in the time he knew her. She looked relaxed. Happy. There was a sparkle in her eyes and a lilt in her voice, and he hadn't heard that lilt since... Well, not in the last couple of years. The sex must be good, he thought bitterly-- then stopped himself. He knew Natalie well enough to know it was more than sex. It was the companionship; someone who was attentive and caring and at least somewhat emotionally available. Nick hadn't been any of these things for some time. And, though he hated the idea of Natalie involved with anyone who was an Immortal, Nick had to admit that Adam seemed like a pretty decent individual. She moving on, and whatever that did to him, perhaps it was best for her. Nick had hoped to drop the files off with Grace, but one of the techs waved him towards Nat's room. "She's off sick tonight-- you'd better leave those with Doctor Lambert." "Thanks." Great. Bracing himself, he pushed open the swinging doors. Natalie was in full coroner's attire, bent over a body and speaking quickly into her recorder. "Liver shows evidence of mid-stage cirrhosis..." She clicked the recorder off, and looked over her shoulder. "Hello, Nick." Her face was wary. Nick watched as she walked to her desk, setting the recorder down and slowly pulling off her gloves. "I brought back the Chamberlain files. They can go into storage until closer to the trial." "And the samples?" "Yes." He deposited the pile of information on her desk. Natalie did a visual inventory, then flashed him a quick, nervous smile. "Thanks." "No problem." He leaned against her desk. "So, how have you been?" Nick watched as her face grew tense, and reached out and put one hand on her arm. "I mean it. I just want to make sure you're all right. I'm not... trying to pry." "I know." "Nice job on the Chamberlain murder." Her face cleared slightly. "Thanks." They both looked everywhere but at each other. When they finally spoke, they both started at the same time. "Natalie..." "Nick..." They both cut off their words, then smiled, acknowledging both the awkwardness of the situation and the return of at least some small bit of their old camaraderie. Nat pushed a file away from her. "You first." "I just wanted to apologize-- for that night in the parking lot. And for being rude to Adam at the carnival." Nick knew he sounded as clumsy as he felt. Natalie didn't stop him; she just watched him silently, her blue-grey eyes solemn. "If you're happy, that's all that matters." Natalie was quiet for what seemed like hours, her eyes tracing his face in a way that made Nick feel like she'd never really looked at him before, which was ridiculous. When she smiled, it was a slow, warm smile that lit up her face and made Nick breathe an unconscious sigh of relief. "Thanks. It's good to hear you say that." "I mean it." Mostly, Nick thought, wisely keeping the last word to himself. *** Jill Kirby ~~ jtkirby@mcs.com ~~ www.geocities.com/SoHo/Lofts/4107 NatPack ~~ ABotCoS ~~ NP4 ~~ Dreamer/Minstrel That would be Methos. But, then, everything's Methos. Date: Sat, 24 Jan 1998 13:13:23 -0600 Reply-To: Jill Kirby Sender: Forever Knight TV show stories From: Jill Kirby Subject: ADULT: XOVER: Passages (10/14) To: FKFIC-L@LISTS.PSU.EDU Adult: Passages (10/14) a Forever Knight/Highlander Story by Jill Kirby "Good movie," Natalie murmured, yawning. "Mmm." Adam reached over her-- they were tangled on the couch in front of the television-- and aimed the remote control at the VCR, rewinding the tape. "Not entirely historically accurate." "Picky, picky. There's a little something called suspension of disbelief." Adam laughed. "Oh, come on. You've been hanging around with a vampire for the last few years-- I'm sure Nick has commented on movies you've watched together." Natalie sighed deeply. "Nick doesn't always like to talk about the past. He just thinks about it-- a lot." They were quiet for a long moment, with just the whir of the VCR disturbing the silence. Adam's hand moved to stroke her hair, so gently. "He hurt you, badly, with this whole Johnette thing." Natalie smiled. "Janette." He knew perfectly well what her name was, but he always tried to find a way to make her smile. "Sorry. Janette. Natalie, you wouldn't be human if you weren't hurt and angry. And you're very human. Fortunately." He ran one hand down her arm reassuringly. "You're searching, Nat, just like the rest of us are." She twisted to rest her chin on his chest, looking up at him, one hand idly stroking his chest. "Do you ever get tired of it all, Adam?" she asked curiously. "Does it ever get old-- forgive the pun?" "I won't lie and say no." He was quiet for a long time. "Some of the things I've done... I haven't exactly been a saint." There was real sorrow and regret in his voice, and Natalie reached up to rest her hand on his cheek. "You'd be boring as hell if you'd been a saint all these years," she stated firmly. "What matters is who you've become. What you've learned from everything you've gone through, from people you've known." "You sound like a friend of mine." Adam pushed himself up into a sitting position, dislodging Natalie carefully. She sat up, facing him. His eyes were serious, and he chose his next words carefully. "Is that what upsets you about Nick?" Nat shook her head slightly to indicate she didn't understand what he meant. "You don't think he learns from his past, do you? You think he's condemned to repeat his mistakes." "No," Natalie said sharply. "The only person who condemns him to repetition is himself." She took a deep breath to soften her tone. "And I... enabled that behavior. I supported him. I stopped calling him out when he did something wrong-- that I thought was wrong, anyway." "Is it really job to call him out?" Adam's hair was tousled, and Natalie resisted the impulse to reach out and run her fingers through it. "It's hard to be someone else's conscience. You shouldn't have to be-- even if you're in love with him." Adam rested one hand lightly on her hip. Natalie laughed, shortly. "I know. He's a big boy. But I was crazy in love with him. Blindly so, I think. I just wanted so much for everything to be perfect. I wanted to be perfect." "I can understand that." They were both quiet for a while, lost in their own thoughts. When Adam spoke again, Natalie started slightly. "Now?" "Now, what?" Adam ran a finger across her chin. "Crazy and blind?" Nat laughed, her face softening. "Crazy, probably. Blind? Not any more." She was quiet as his finger trailed down her neck. "I think that was starting to change even before you came back to town," she said, and her voice was so soft that she might have been speaking only to herself. Adam watched her face for a moment more, then leaned forward and kissed her, first gently and then more urgently. Natalie smiled against his lips, startled out of her reverie, and slid her arms around his chest. "Again, Mister Pierson?" "Too tired, Doctor Lambert?" "Not at all, sir." She kissed him deeply, pressing her body against his, luxuriating in the solid warmth of his body against hers. "Not at all." *** Tracy had dropped off the reports that Natalie had been asking for, but Natalie knew she had something else on her mind. Tracy was not the type to linger without a purpose. "So. How goes it with Adam?" Aha. Natalie looked at Tracy thoughtfully for a long moment. She knew Tracy wouldn't go back and talk with Nick, but confiding anything in still felt awkward, strange. She'd lived with secrecy for too long. "How did you know?" Natalie asked, finally. Tracy and she were friends, certainly, but the kind of casual on-the-job friends who grabbed a hamburger once in a while; not close confidant type of friends. "Well..." Tracy seemed to consider exactly what she should say in response. "I did see the two of you together at the carnival the other night. Plus, you're looking happier than I've seen you in a while, and Nick has become impossible." She flushed. "Sorry to be so blunt." "Don't worry," Natalie reassured her. "I asked, and you're just being honest." She glanced around the morgue for a moment, her eyes lingering on all the things that were so familiar, so constant in her life; then back at Tracy, perched expectantly on the edge of her desk. "It's going well," Natalie said finally. "How did you meet him?" "I met him a while ago, and we hooked up when he came back into town." Tracy smiled, her eyes shining. Natalie realized with a pang how young Tracy was. "What's he like?" Natalie flushed slightly, and she smoothed the sheet that draped a corpse on the examining table. "He's nice." Tracy shuddered theatrically. "Nice? Brrr." "No. Really, he is. He's got a great sense of humour and a wonderful smile..." "He cute. Is it serious?" "Yes and no." Natalie made a face. "We get along really well, and have a lot of fun together, but we have very different lives. He's still getting over someone else, and I..." Her voice trailed off. Tracy made a sympathetic noise, and Natalie knew she didn't have to explain any further. "There's nothing wrong with transitional relationships, you know." "No." Natalie laughed. "Nothing at all." Tracy leaned over and touched Nat's hand lightly, hesitantly. "I'm glad for you." She paused and bent her head, her hair falling over her face and hiding it for a moment. "When you say very different lives, what do you mean? If you don't mind me asking," she added quickly. Natalie's heart skipped a beat, and she realized that Tracy was asking because of Vachon. Oh, God. Natalie knew they were friends, but not until now-- Tracy's face hidden, her voice tense-- did she realize that Tracy was in love with Vachon. As much in love with him as Natalie herself was-- had been-- with Nick. Natalie took a deep breath. "I don't mind you asking." How in the world could she respond to this? She couldn't exactly say "Tracy, there are only two possible outcomes if you're in love with a vampire-- a dirt nap, or joining the fraternity. No sex in the short term, either, if you want to stay mortal, unless Vachon wants to try coming back across." She looked at Tracy, so confused, so lonely-- and wished she could tell her everything. Wished she could tell her what it was like to want what you couldn't have; to want it for so long and so hopelessly that it ate away at your insides and changed you. But she couldn't say anything. She couldn't expose Nick. And it wouldn't make much of a difference, probably; those were the kinds of truths Tracy would have to discover for herself. She could try, however obliquely. "Adam's got a very different lifestyle from me." Yeah, he chops off people's heads. It was a change from draining people dry, but still not something that your average Joe-- or Jane-- would spend much time doing. "He travels a lot, and isn't the type to settle down and have a bunch of kids." Tracy raised her head, and lost look was in her eyes again, like Nat had seen so many times before, looking back at her in the mirror. "You want children?" "Yes." Natalie was surprised at how emphatically the word came out. "Yes, I do." She hadn't even realized how much until just now. "So-- there's no way to reconcile the differences?" Natalie shook her head. "Unfortunately, I don't think so. I think we're just enjoying each other's company for the time being." "It's hard to care about someone and know it won't work out." That wasn't a question, or even a reference to Natalie's situation, and Nat felt a rush of sympathy for Tracy. "I've had a lot of experience with this, Trace. It's never easy." Tracy had no idea-- though she might, if this kept on. Natalie hoped suddenly that Tracy wouldn't make the same mistakes she had, and she reached out and touched Tracy's hand gently. "The worst part is figuring out that it work-- before you waste years of your life-- and then making tough choices." Choices that broke your heart, but had to be made. *** Jill Kirby ~~ jtkirby@mcs.com ~~ www.geocities.com/SoHo/Lofts/4107 NatPack ~~ ABotCoS ~~ NP4 ~~ Dreamer/Minstrel That would be Methos. But, then, everything's Methos. Date: Sun, 25 Jan 1998 16:12:53 -0600 Reply-To: Jill Kirby Sender: Forever Knight TV show stories From: Jill Kirby Subject: ADULT: XOVER: Passages (11/14) To: FKFIC-L@LISTS.PSU.EDU X-Status: Reminder: if you're missing a part or parts of the story, they're at my Web site (URL in my .sig) or I can send them to you. *** Adult: Xover: Passages (11/14) a Forever Knight/Highlander Story by Jill Kirby "This is what I needed. You're a genius." Natalie poked one foot out of the scented bubbles and regarded her toes critically. She really should get a pedicure one of these days. But who had time? "You work too hard," Adam declared. He was stretched out on the floor of the bathroom, Sidney curled up on his stomach. "This from a man with no visible employment?" Natalie heard him laugh. "I had a steady job for many years, thank you very much. And I've held a number of jobs in my lifetime." "You probably have a pretty long resume." They were quiet for a while in the steamy bathroom; the only noise came from Sidney's contented purrs. Natalie yawned loudly. The warm water and dim lights made her want to sleep for days. She could almost visualize the knotted muscles in her back loosening, and she let out a deep sigh of relief. "That sounds relaxed." "Mmm." Saying anything more seemed like too much trouble, and Nat realized she was dozing off. As if from an enormous distance, she heard Adam getting up from the floor, dislodging a loudly unhappy Sidney. "Falling asleep in the bath isn't a very good idea," he commented from what seemed like a great height. Natalie ignored him-- mostly because she almost asleep, and it seemed like a damn good idea to her. She heard a rustling noise, then Adam's hands were under her arms and he was lifting her out of the tub. Nat protested sleepily, wordlessly, as he wrapped a towel around her. "Hush." Gently, thoroughly, he dried her off. Natalie opened her eyes slightly as he slipped her nightgown over her head, buttoning it securely. "You... dressing me?" she asked sleepily as he put one hand firmly around her waist. "Yes, I am. I know it's a change, but don't argue." He led her into the bedroom and, reaching behind her to flip back the covers, lightly pushed her into a sitting position on the bed. Gently, almost reverently, he undid her hair from the ribbon that had been holding it above the bathwater, smoothing the falling hair back from around her face with long, warm strokes of his hand. When her hair was loose, he carefully guided her head down onto the pillow. Natalie's eyes shut again as she felt the blankets being tucked around her. "Sweet dreams," Adam whispered, kissing her forehead. She was asleep almost instantly, but Adam sat by her for a long, long while. *** "That's Cassiopeia." Adam's finger traced the delicate outline of the stars in the sky, forming the shape of a woman. Natalie moved slightly, enjoying the feel of the ground against her neck even as it tickled her. "That's the Big Dipper over there, right?" "Yes, ye of Great Astronomical Knowledge." Natalie kicked him. "I don't have the advantage of having had to navigate by the stars in medieval times, so give me a break." After dinner, Adam and Natalie had set out for a walk, enjoying the crisp, clear air. It was an unusually mild evening for late winter, with no snow on the ground, and what had started as a brief stroll to work off a shared chocolate dessert had turned into a long ramble around the city. They'd spotted this gentle slope by a tiny church. Somehow, they'd ended up lying on their backs, looking up at the stars and holding hands. Every so often they talked; sometimes they just looked up at the sparkling sky. Though it was chilly, neither seemed to mind the cold. It was just a good night to be outside, with the stars and the sky and each other. "What's that?" Natalie asked, indicating a bright grouping. "Orion." "Tell me the story," Natalie murmured, somehow aware that he would know it, and tell it well. "Orion is the hunter." Adam pointed, his hand a silhouette against the sky as he spoke. "Those are Canis Major and Canis Minor, his dogs. They'll hunt forever, up there in the sky. Together." He was quiet for a long time, and Natalie thought he might have dozed off. But he squeezed her hand warmly, then continued. "Orion was in love with a woman called Merope-- he loved her beyond reason. She was one of the Seven Sisters who form the Pleiades. She wanted absolutely nothing to do with him." "Silly woman," Natalie laughed. "About all he had to make him happy was his hunting." Adam sighed deeply. "Depressing sort. Hunted all the time, brooding about Merope. Tromped around the forests in a lousy mood. He ended up stepping on a scorpion. Scorpius. It killed him." "Merope?" "Never let him near her. She was a bit of a snob. When he died, the gods pitied him, so they put him and his dogs in the sky as constellations. All the animals he hunted are there, too. But they put the scorpion on the opposite side of the sky so that Orion would be safe from him. And now he's there, forever, with the animals he loved. He can't be hurt again." "It must be nice to be safe from being hurt," Natalie mused, her voice soft and far away. Adam was silent; his thumb rubbed the side of her hand reflectively. His face was only a silhouette in the starlight. Natalie spoke almost without realizing what she was going to say. "Tell me about Alexa." He went perfectly still. Natalie lay quietly, waiting until he was ready to talk, keeping her hand gently clasped in his. In the distance, she could hear noises from the city-- cars, sirens, a dog barking. But the noise seemed very far away; here there was only the wind rustling through the tree branches and the faint hum of the street lamps. His voice seemed a shade deeper when he finally spoke. "She had a brain tumor. By the time I met her, she had a year to live. Less, it turned out." "What was she like? He laughed softly. "Hard to describe. Very vulnerable and sweet, but at the same time she was incredibly brave. She had such a will to live. To really , and enjoy every moment she had." He squeezed Natalie's hand. "Sometimes, you remind me of her." "How?" Adam rolled over on his side, propping his head in his hand. Though he was looking at her, Natalie could tell he was many miles from Toronto. "The way you look at something with those eyes of yours before deciding what you think about it. She used to do the same thing. You're both very careful women in some ways." Natalie filed those pieces of information away to think about later. "You traveled with her when she was sick?" "Yes." "Where did you go?" "We went to Egypt for a long while." For a moment, the lost look was completely gone from his eyes. "Her face when she saw the Sphinx was something I'll never forget. We spent some time in Greece, too, among other places. We were on our way to Vienna when she got really sick." "And she went into the hospital?" "Yes. In Switzerland. She was never the same after that." "Did she know? About you, what you are?" He shook his head. "No. With what she was going through, I thought it would be cruel. Besides..." He smiled crookedly at Natalie. "It's not something I tell most mortals. You learned by default." "That I did." Adam was silent for a long moment. "I did everything I could for her. Everything, even things that probably wouldn't have worked. But nothing was enough." "It never is," Natalie said softly, and the sadness in her voice was palpable. She reached up one hand and brushed his cheek gently. How many people had he lost, over the centuries? Mortal and Immortal, friends, lovers, enemies, colleagues, partners. She'd lost people-- losses that still ripped her insides apart, sometimes-- but this man, this Immortal, had lost people over hundreds of lifetimes. And still he hurt. When Natalie spoke, her voice was soft and inquiring. "You must have lost many people over the years." "More than I can count." The angles of his face reflected in the dim glow from the stars and the streetlights; he suddenly old, like someone thrown out of his natural time. Natalie thought of Nick; how every now and then she'd see 800 years of life in his face and get a glimpse, however small, of what it must be like to live with that weight on your shoulders. On your soul. "It never gets any easier," he said hollowly. "It never does, unless you stop caring altogether." One hand brushed the ground beside him, as if looking for purchase. "I haven't quite been able to manage that, despite my cool exterior." He wouldn't lose that, Natalie realized suddenly. No matter how hard he would try not to care, this man always would; even if he didn't tell anyone. Even if he didn't admit it to himself. "Alexa was so sick at the end..." Adam's face was pale and drawn at the memory. Natalie rolled over onto her stomach, looking at him. "But you were there for her. Adam, you were " "It wasn't enough. I couldn't save her." His voice was desolate. "Adam, you have saved her. Being there was the greatest gift you could give her." Natalie put all her conviction into her voice. "It was. Believe that. Some people..." Natalie's voice trailed off for a moment as she was lost in her own memories. "Some people don't have anyone there at all." Adam's eyes grew cloudy, and he sat up as if trying to shake off the emotion. "Watching her suffer like that was unbearable." He put his face in his hands. Natalie could see him struggling for control, his shoulders shaking. Instinctively, she sat up and put both arms around him, holding him tight as he let go, his sobs wracking his body. Her cheek against his hair, she rocked and murmured to him in the nearly wordless language of comfort and compassion. *** Jill Kirby ~~ jtkirby@mcs.com ~~ www.geocities.com/SoHo/Lofts/4107 NatPack ~~ ABotCoS ~~ NP4 ~~ Dreamer/Minstrel That would be Methos. But, then, everything's Methos. Date: Mon, 26 Jan 1998 14:27:43 -0600 Reply-To: Jill Kirby Sender: Forever Knight TV show stories From: Jill Kirby Subject: ADULT: XOVER: Passages (12/14) To: FKFIC-L@lists.psu.edu Adult: Passages (12/14) a Forever Knight/Highlander Story by Jill Kirby "Sea anemones, we don't got. But I asked Grace, and she thinks we can adapt it with shrimp." Natalie pointed at the recipe with her little finger, careful not to get any liquid on the paper. "And I've never heard of this..." Adam thought for a moment. "I think it's salty. Perhaps we could just add more salt?" "That works," Natalie agreed, then laughed. "This is truly the blind leading the blind, isn't it?" "Should be interesting." They worked in silence for several minutes, Natalie chopping vegetables, Adam opening a bottle of wine and pouring it out. He set one glass by Natalie, who smiled her thanks, then took a deep drink out of the other. "I've been thinking about going to Tibet. Want to join me?" Natalie paused mid-chop and looked over at Adam. "Tibet?" Adam set his glass down. "It's a great place, actually. Beautiful this time of year." He stuck his hands in his jeans pockets and leaned against the counter, his eyes not leaving her. Natalie stirred the freshly cut vegetables into the soup, then carefully put the spoon on a folded napkin. "Tibet. I'd never really thought about going there." He looked a little nervous, she realized-- then wondered if he was nervous about her answering no-- or answering yes? Sidney padded by, deliberately running his back along Adam's leg, and Natalie laughed. "He loves you." "He loves anyone who gives him the occasional bit of table food," smiled Adam. Natalie looked at his face for a moment, her eyes tracing the sharp lines that she'd grown to know so well. This moment had been inevitable, but that didn't make it any easier. "I can't go to Tibet, Adam. But you know that." He shrugged, sheepishly. "It never hurts to ask." "No. But this is my home, and my life. I need to stay here." Natalie put her arms around his waist and rested her head against his chest, listening to his steady heartbeat. He rested his chin on top of her head. "I have to figure out how to live my life I can't run away, no matter how tempting it might be." "Is it? Tempting, I mean?" "More than you know." She thought of the way his eyes crinkled when he smiled, of how his mouth lingered warmly on the hollow of her throat, of the way he looked so intense and serious when he was selecting beer to purchase-- like he was deciding foreign policy. Silly things, all, but something inside her clenched, and she took a deep breath. "But I know you need to keep moving. And I can't, really." "Is it Nick?" Natalie smiled into his sweater. "Three months ago, I'd have said yes." "Tonight?" "No. Things have changed-- not just because of you, either. I think I've figured out what I need, what I want. And Nick can't give that to me." Neither could Adam, she thought, but that remained unsaid. Adam was very still for several moments, then Natalie felt him sigh deeply. So deeply that she wondered just where the sigh was really coming from, and she leaned her head back to look up at him. "Natalie Lambert, I don't think you know what a truly unique woman you are." "Me? Unique? I don't think so." She shook her head, one long curl working loose from the scrunchy. " the unique one, Mister Old Guy." "It takes as much, or courage to live your life span as it does mine," Adam said soberly. "All I have to worry about is someone chopping of my head..." "Or your arm," Natalie interjected with a grin. "Or my arm," he agreed. "But if I screw up my life, I can leave and start another one, and another one, and another one." His voice was wistful. "You sound like you've had experience with that." "Believe me, I have." He reached out and tucked the errant curl back behind her ear. Nat leaned her head against his hand, and they stood that way for an interminable minute. The noise of the soup bubbling made both their heads turn. "I suppose," Natalie said practically, "We should be paying more attention to the food." He ran his hand back over her hair, lightly. "You're OK?" His eyes were anxious, and Natalie instinctively cupped his face in her hands. "Yes. Yes, I am." She looked closely at his face, so familiar to her. "I'm going to miss you. You're a very big part of my life, all of a sudden." He was; there'd be a hole the size of Vancouver that would take her some time to work with. "But I've always known it was temporary, Adam. You've never said otherwise, and neither have I." "No." He half-smiled. "You're searching, I'm searching, and we were here for each other. We're lucky." She could have sworn she saw something else lurking in the back of his eyes before he broke eye contact. "Am I wrong?" Her voice cracked, just slightly, on the last word, and she swallowed hard. "You're a very wise woman." He leaned his head forward, resting his forehead against hers. "You can't live my Immortal lifestyle, and I can't stay here." Can't, or won't? asked that damn voice in the back of Nat's head. She shushed it. They stood embracing each other for a long time, the soup forgotten again. Though neither could have known it, they were both fighting the same internal battles. But neither could know the thoughts of the other. And sometimes, that's for the best. *** Jill Kirby ~~ jtkirby@mcs.com ~~ www.geocities.com/SoHo/Lofts/4107 NatPack ~~ ABotCoS ~~ NP4 ~~ Dreamer/Minstrel That would be Methos. But, then, everything's Methos. Date: Tue, 27 Jan 1998 13:50:16 -0600 Reply-To: Jill Kirby Sender: Forever Knight TV show stories From: Jill Kirby Subject: ADULT: XOVER: Passages (13/14) To: FKFIC-L@lists.psu.edu Adult: Xover: Passages (13/14) a Forever Knight/Highlander Story by Jill Kirby Adam had not come to say goodbye, exactly, to his old comrade. At this stage of their acquaintance, there weren't hellos and goodbyes, but just picking up and putting down the long strands of their relationship. LaCroix deserved to know when Adam left his vicinity; the vampire would have afforded him the same courtesy. "I am surprised you are leaving." LaCroix turned away from the window he'd been gazing out of, the lights of the city sparkling dimly behind him. "You and Doctor Lambert seemed well-suited." Adam didn't bother to ask when or how LaCroix had seen them together. "She deserves better than me." "You do not give yourself enough credit, Methos." Leaving the window, LaCroix sat in a chair opposite the Immortal. Adam's face creased into a smile at the unusually complimentary words from the ancient vampire, then grew serious again. "Even if I wanted to, I could never grow old with her, or give her children, or any one of a thousand things that she deserves." "You've married before." LaCroix watched Adam's face closely. "Yes, and I'll probably marry again." Adam shrugged. "But it has to be right, for both of us." LaCroix laughed in disbelief. "And it was right for you with Maria?" "You had to bring up?" Adam shuddered in mock horror. "Maria the mad. Everyone makes mistakes." "She did have lovely skin," commented LaCroix. "Filthy old vampire. You would notice that about one of my poor wives." " 'Poor?' She nearly cut your head off. Twice, if I recall correctly. And she wasn't even an Immortal." LaCroix made a graceful fencing motion with his hand. Adam winced. "Let's move on to more pleasant topics, shall we?" "I generally find beheading quite pleasant, if it's happening to someone else." LaCroix looked almost jovial for a moment. "So you're leaving the good Doctor." "Why do you have such an interest in Natalie Lambert?" asked Adam curiously. "You don't fancy her, that's obvious." LaCroix was silent, and Adam watched him for a moment until comprehension dawned. "I see. still fancies her." Adam shook his head and stood, slipping on his jacket. "That explains it. Lucien, haven't you learned your lesson?" LaCroix said nothing, and the chill in his gaze was palpable. Adam raised his hands in mock surrender. "Fine. Don't say I didn't warn you." Adam paused, and for a moment he was very far away. "I don't think she feels quite the same way about him now." LaCroix nodded once, slowly. "Be well, Lucien. Mind your neck." "Mind You can have only one, after all." Adam paused, his hand on the doorknob. "I'm quite aware of that." With a half-smile, he was gone. LaCroix sat silently in his dimly lit apartment, lost in thought. *** Things seemed to happen very quickly after that. Adam booked a flight out, though he didn't schedule himself onto the first available plane. He gave himself several days, telling himself he needed time to settle things in Toronto. Of course, he'd left untold numbers of places with barely an hour's notice, but he ignored that thought. Natalie wanted to drive him to the airport, but he objected-- "There are taxis, you know." He'd only won out because his flight was in the middle of the day, and she had to work the night before. "You need your rest," he'd admonished her. She glared at him mutinously, but gave in. On his last morning in Toronto, they cooked breakfast together. Adam had taught Natalie to make his perfect scrambled eggs-- with appropriate spices-- and she busied herself over the stove while he made toast and coffee and juice. They worked well together in the kitchen, each unconsciously careful to stay out of the other's way. They didn't talk of Adam's leaving as they ate, but of inconsequential things-- the movie they'd seen last week; the latest idiotic deed of the new morgue assistant; the weather. *** After cleaning up-- well, loading the dishwasher; neither of them had any patience with washing dishes-- Natalie sat on the couch, watching as Adam collected the few things that were still scattered around Natalie's apartment. He was going off to Tibet, and all he had was a backpack and a big duffel bag. Men traveled so lightly, and Immortals even more so; he'd indicated that he had "home bases" here and there, but generally traveled with very little. Her eyes followed Adam's lean figure around the room, wondering what to say. How did you handle the end of a relationship that needed to end, even if you didn't want it to? How did you say goodbye to a man that had been through goodbyes a thousand times? How did you let go of a tiny piece of your heart? Well, if you were Natalie Lambert, you put your foot in your mouth just to break the tension. "Have fun in Tibet," she said lamely, sounding as moronic as she felt. He glanced up from where he was stuffing a book into his backpack, and their eyes met. He lifted one eyebrow, and suddenly, they were both laughing hysterically. Natalie leaned back against the couch, holding on to her stomach because she was laughing so hard. Adam collapsed beside her. "That was profound," he gasped, wiping at his eyes. She'd sounded like an idiot, but at least the mood was broken. "Thank you," she giggled. "I'm a very profound person. At least I didn't tell you to have a nice day." "True. But you've to work on your goodbye speeches." Natalie kicked him in the leg, none too gently. "So what would you have said, oh ancient font of wisdom?" Adam turned his head toward her, grinning widely. "A penny saved is a penny earned." "True enough." "A stitch in time saves nine." "You should write that down." "Someone did. God, he had terrible breath." "Poor dental hygiene," Natalie intoned seriously. "Ah, the problems that have been solved by the invention of the toothbrush." They sat on the sofa, silent for a moment, then Adam reached over and took her hand. "Even at my age, life is too short to waste. That's one of the few things I've learned in my lifetime, Natalie." Her eyes smiled into his. "Maybe you're a smart, after all." They stood up, walking reluctantly towards the door, still holding hands tightly. Adam pulled her into a hug, resting his cheek on her hair. "Thank you." His voice was husky, low. "For what?" "For everything." Natalie leaned back and shook her head, still smiling. "You don't need to thank me for anything. It was great having you here." His eyes searched hers for one last moment, as if to ensure she meant what she was saying. "I'm going to miss you, Natalie Lambert." "I'll miss you, too." Natalie kissed him, hard, then brushed his cheek with the back of her hand. "Take care of yourself. Keep in touch." They gazed at one another for a moment, thousands of things unsaid, then Adam hefted his bags onto his shoulder and was out the door before Natalie could say another word. *** Natalie sat on her couch for a long time after Adam left, curled up with Sidney on her lap. The fingers of one hand rested on her mouth. While Sidney purred, safe and surrounded with her warmth, she was far away. Thinking, remembering, wondering. *** Adam stood motionless outside Natalie's apartment for several long minutes. He stretched out his hand and touched the cool wood of the door just once, just briefly, before he turned and strode away. *** Jill Kirby ~~ jtkirby@mcs.com ~~ www.geocities.com/SoHo/Lofts/4107 NatPack ~~ ABotCoS ~~ NP4 ~~ Dreamer/Minstrel And gravity throws all these rules in our way And sometimes the spirit refuses to play... --Beth Nielsen Chapman Date: Tue, 27 Jan 1998 13:53:51 -0600 Reply-To: Jill Kirby Sender: Forever Knight TV show stories From: Jill Kirby Subject: ADULT: XOVER: Passages (14/14) To: FKFIC-L@lists.psu.edu Adult: Xover:: Passages (14/14) a Forever Knight/Highlander Story by Jill Kirby Natalie didn't exactly announce to the world that Adam had left town. She told Grace, because Grace would notice that Adam wasn't showing up for dinner any more. She told Tracy, because Tracy asked her how things were. Both women seemed relieved that Natalie was taking Adam's departure so well, though Tracy perhaps understood it a bit better than Grace did. The fabric of her life knitted itself back together again, a little differently. Work continued to interest her. She made more of an effort to get out, to do things; Adam had reminded her what a city Toronto was. About three weeks after he'd left, a postcard arrived. The postmark was illegible, the picture a lake, artificially blue in the glossy photo. On the back, scrawled: "No words of wisdom here. Hope you are well." Natalie put the postcard up on her bulletin board at work. It was just a matter of time before Nick found out Adam was gone. When he poked his head through the morgue doors, for the first time in weeks, somehow Natalie wasn't surprised. She rested her arms lightly on the edge of the gurney and studied his face for a split second. He had that on his face, that little-boy-at-Christmas look he got sometimes. She felt a flash of irritation that she pushed aside-- did he think things were going to go back to how they'd been? Before Janette, before Adam, before everything? Well, why should he think otherwise? She'd always come around before. Nick had no reason to expect this time to be any different. "Hi, Nick." "Natalie." Nick slipped into the room, avoiding looking directly at the body on the gurney that Natalie was finishing closing up. "Done with one more customer?" "Yup. Mr. Davies gets to go have a proper burial, now that we know he died of nothing more than a ruptured appendix." Nick smiled quickly. "One less murder to investigate. Good." One last careful stitch and Mr. Davies was done. Nat let out a sigh-- it was always nice to finish a case, especially when it didn't turn out to be murder. As she looked up from the body, she realized Nick was studying her intently. "Yes?" Natalie asked, her mouth quirking at the corner. "I heard Adam left town." She didn't ask him how he'd found out. Some questions she didn't want to know the answers to-- they were few and far between, but this was one. "Yes, he has." "I'm sorry." "Don't be." Natalie shook her head. "He headed off to Tibet." "And you're OK?" "I'll miss him, and I'm sure we'll keep in touch." Natalie smiled at Nick, who was apparently taken aback by her demeanor. Did he want her to be beating her breast in anguish at the loss of Adam? Wailing and weeping and moaning? How she felt about Adam's leaving was her business. Sighing, she began to cover the body in preparation for getting it back into the cooler. Nick just stood there, watching her. "You've changed." It wasn't a question. Natalie paused. "I guess I have." Gently, she smoothed the cover down over the sides of the corpse. When she looked up at Nick, her eyes were clear. "I think Adam helped me remember who I am, Nick. Who I was before we met." His brow furrowed. "You regret... everything? The last few years?" Natalie shook her head firmly. "No. I don't regret meeting you, or falling in love with you." She watched his face as she said the words, and some part of her was still gratified that he responded. "But I regret what I let myself turn into, Nick." She rolled the body to the cooler door, then turned and pulled off her gloves. "I think I tried too hard to be your conscience. This is your fight, Nick, and I made it mine. And in the process, I lost myself." She walked briskly past Nick and tossed the used gloves into the biohazard hamper. When she turned around, he was only a few steps away, and she smiled at him. "I've found myself again." Brushing past him, she went to her desk and yanked a folder off the top of the towering pile of paperwork left undone, then sat down with a sigh. "So... where do we go from here?" Nick's voice was soft. He leaned against her desk, watching her. "I don't know, really." Janette's face flashed into her mind. "There's one cure that you're not willing to try..." Natalie held up her hand to stop Nick from speaking. "Nick, not willing to try it either. I care about you, but not enough to risk becoming what you are. Or dying." Nick grabbed her hand and held it between his. "I wouldn't let you die, Natalie." "I know you wouldn't. But it's still a risk I don't want to take." Nat squeezed his hands, trying to reassure him. "I think from here on out we just have to take it day by day. If you want my help in coming back across, you have it. If you don't..." Natalie paused, then shrugged slightly. "That's choice, Nick, and I'll still be your friend." "My friend," Nick said flatly. Natalie pulled her hand away. "Your very close, very good friend," she said firmly, her eyes not leaving Nick's-- though the sadness in them still hurt to see. "Always." A pager went off, and they both glanced at their belts. "Mine." Nick pushed a button. "It's Reese. May I use your phone?" He grabbed it without waiting for her answer, and Natalie turned her attention to the paperwork in front of her. Lots to do, and a life to live. "Even at my age, life is too short to waste," Adam had said. And he'd been right. Time to get on with it. The End *** Jill Kirby ~~ jtkirby@mcs.com ~~ www.geocities.com/SoHo/Lofts/4107 NatPack ~~ ABotCoS ~~ NP4 ~~ Dreamer/Minstrel And gravity throws all these rules in our way And sometimes the spirit refuses to play... --Beth Nielsen Chapman