Date: Tue, 23 Jan 1996 05:06:27 -0600 Reply-To: Ninianne Sender: Highlander TV show stories From: Ninianne Subject: Daddy's Little Girl part 18 Daddy's Little Girl Samantha Copeland copelasa@vuse.vanderbilt.edu Past parts can be found at http://www.vuse.vanderbilt.edu/~copelasa/ ******Part 18****** Sometime the next morning Chris woke up. She was anxious over all that had happened, it was just happening too fast for her to take in at once. She stared at the ceiling for a while, trying to get back to sleep, but when she couldn't, she decided to go outside and watch the sun come up. She pulled on an extra sweater so it wouldn't feel so cold, and left the cabin. As she closed the door, it swung too fast, making a loud 'thump' as it bounced in the frame. She froze, checking to see if it woke anyone, seeing that it didn't, she closed the door. Shortly after she closed the door, Richie stirred. The noise had jarred since he was the closest to the door. He opened his eyes and looked around. He saw that Chris was gone, he grew concerned, if she had sleep walked out, she could get lost, or worse. He pulled on his coat and went out looking for her. He didn't have to go far however, he saw her seated near the shore. She was on her back, knees bent, looking up at the sky. He went down to the beach and sat next to her. "Isn't this just a bit early?" he addressed her. She was startled by his voice, she'd been so involved in her own thoughts she'd barely noticed his presence until he spoke. She turned around and looked at him. He was obviously cold, his hands were under his arms for added warmth, she almost felt sorry for him. "Yeah, I know. I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep." "What're you doing out here?" "Waiting for the sun to come up... But thinking mostly." "'Bout what?" "Lots of stuff. Until now I haven't really had the chance to really think. Everything has just been happening so fast. It makes me think of my senior band trip to Carnagie Hall. We went to a lot of places, but because of the tight schedule I barely remember any of the places we went." "I can understand about things going too fast. A while back Mac cut me loose for a while. I did a lot of traveling, I can barely remember some of the places I went." Richie's expression began to take on a look that made him appear to be looking past Chris, and back into the past. "Everything that led up to it is kind of blurred, almost like it wasn't me. I know what I did, I remember Mac warning me, but I just never listened. All I know is that at the moment it seemed the right thing to do, now I'm not too sure about that. But like Mac said, it's done." "What did you do?" "I'd rather not talk about it." "I know what you mean. There are just some things that you just can't talk about with other people." "Are you sure you're only eighteen?" Richie looked quizicly at her. "Yeah... Why?" "You understand people better than most of the people I knew when I was eighteen, excepting Mac of course." She shrugged, "I always hung out with older people so I guess it rubbed off." "Yeah, I guess it did... Look, the sun's coming up." They stopped their conversation and watched as the sun's rosy glow began to reveal the wooded landscape that surrounded them. When they finished watching the sun come up, they returned to the cabin. There no one had yet begun to stir, not even MacLeod, who normally would have already been up. The two of them decided to warm themselves by putting some logs onto the remaining embers of last night's fire. After the fire got rebuilt, the others began to stir. Whether it was because the room grew warm or because they were ready to get up, they didn't know. When Mac got up he fixed some breakfast and they ate. Shortly after breakfast Mac and Chris went out for training. The others stayed behind to permit them the concentration that they would need. They returned at noon to find that as a return for the hospitality, the others had prepared lunch. They ate and talked, Andrew and Mac talked amongst themselves catching up on lost time. Richie, Grace, and Chris ended up talking amongst themselves and found they were becoming fast friends. As their conversations began to die, Mac volunteered Richie to go off with Chris for practice. "Aw, Mac, really! I thought you were teaching her?" "Yes I am, but I'm also teaching you too. It'll be good for the both of you. You hardly ever spar with anyone other than me, you'll get to comfortable one of these days. Besides, It would be good for her to get a little variety in her training." Richie saw the wisdom in Mac's words and then quite cheerfully cooperated. He and Chris left the cabin, returning to the that same clearing where each of them had trained before. At first neither was really sure about what to do, each so used to having someone older or more experienced looking over their shoulder, telling them, testing them. Chris got into the swing of things a little faster that did Richie due to her experience of recreational fencing. At fencing practice you just went up to someone and asked them to fence, end of story. Richie's only experience with a sword came out of necessity, he was taught to fight for real, not for fun. After a good while they had to break off. Chris had been at it for several days in a row, and just wasn't up to it, her muscles were beginning to get sore. Richie was also getting fatigued, he hadn't drilled this much since the day Duncan had brought him out here for his first lesson. They sat down for a rest break. Richie sat and thought about the whole situation, An Immortal family, it seemed downright funny to him. On a more serious note however he thought that it simplified things that there would be at least one person that you knew who you could always count on, because family is family, after all. He'd seen that much when he lingered at the antique store and watched Connor and Duncan quibble over who was going to challenge Slan. Then later when Connor went off to fight Slan, Duncan came in as re-enforcement. They were family, or more specifically, kinsmen. Chris was zoning, trying not to think about what might happen to her in the next few days because Alexander was definitely mad at her. He would either get her father or her or both, she didn't really like any of those options. She wanted to kick his ass and make him pay for disturbing her life, but _killing_ she wasn't too sure about that, but there was no other way short of letting him kill her to keep him from coming back. She shuddered briefly at that last thought. Trying to forget it for the moment, she stared up at the sky, seeing that the sky was the typical overcast grey of November, as though it might rain any minute. After their rest and quiet moment of thought, they went back to their practicing. It was at this time that Mac and Andrew decided to put in an appearance. Chris and Richie stopped briefly to see who it was, and then resumed. They each began to show off a little, Richie wanting to impress Mac, Chris wanting to impress them both. They each held their own, neither one gaining any real advantage. Chris had an instinct, that combined with a little training, made a somewhat formidable opponent. Richie had been training for a year, but most of his ability came from practice, he had not yet really developed an instinct for gauging an opponent, at least not to the degree that Chris had. However he had had swordwork drilled into him for the last year, counters to her moves came readily to him. "Andrew, are you sure that she's only been at this for a couple of months? She acts like she's been at it for a while." Mac grinned as he said it, he knew better, but it was a compliment to Chris's abilities. "Yeah, I'm sure." Andrew turned to his old friend, "Sometimes though she gets really involved and intense about something. The results can be quite astonishing when she really sets her mind to something. Sometimes though, she can't keep her mind on things, and results are disastrous, but when she gets determined about something she goes for it, and usually comes through." "I thought it might be something like that. I hope that the next time that Alexander shows up, she can keep her cool. That's the only way she'll be able to beat him." "Not if I get to him first." Andrew said under his breath. "What's that?" "Nothing. I was just talking to myself." Mac knew that he had said something, and important too, but because of Andrew's unwillingness to share his thoughts, the conversation came to a end. They each turned their full attention to the two fighting in the clearing in front of them. The two of them were fairly evenly matched, only Chris was so used to normal fencing, that she didn't think about the fact that just about anything goes. She made a cut at Richie, he countered it, closing distance. His immediate response was to ram his shoulder into her, knocking her back a few steps. With that action 'knocked a little sense' into her, reminding her that it was a free for all, and so returned the favor. However this time Richie ended up on his rear since she had a greater momentum. She helped him up. They had each had enough and called it quits. They walked over to where the two older Immortals were watching from. "Hi guys. What'd you think Dad?" "I think that you have been spending too much time at fencing practice... That's not a bad thing though." "You just keep thinking that," she grinned at him, with a hint of mischevieousness. Andrew replied with a raised eyebrow, looking quizzically at her, trying to figure out if maybe she had really been spending too much time at fencing. * I'll bet it did take over, just like all of her hobbies do. * "Are you happy Mac? I just know you enjoyed that, seeing me get knocked around by a girl." Richie said since he hadn't really expected some of that from Chris. Chris was begining to get an expression of exasparation, mostly at Richie's underestimation of her abilities because she was a girl. "Did you learn something?" "Yeah, don't ever get in a fight with someone bigger than I am and never underestimate a girl." "Then I'm happy," Mac replied with a slight smile. "Hey, I'm sorry Richie. I just repaid the favor," Chris said with a smile, and a little bit of a laugh. "It's O.K., I just didn't expect it," he shrugged it off. "Come on, let's get back. I think the two of you have had enough for today." Mac said eager to change the subject so the two of them didn't try to start a real fight. Nothing could happen just then as this was Holy Ground, but grudges could begin, and that wouldn't be good for any of them. "I'm not quite ready to head back Duncan," Andrew said, "Why don't you and Richie head back... I'd need to talk to Chris out here for a while," his tone began to take on a bit of uncertainty. Mac nodded to him, understanding, and signaled for Richie to follow him. While he watched them leave he tried to think of the best way to broach the subject that was on his mind. Chris just stood there, sword down in her right hand, with her left hand on her hip, waiting for him to start. Seeing Mac and Richie vanish into the woods, he tuned back to Chris. "Are you mad at me Christina?" He asked, using her full name, something he only did when she was either in trouble or when he needed to discuss something serious with her. "Only if you keep calling me Christina. You know I hate that." "Sorry... Chris are you mad at me for not letting you in on my being an Immortal sooner? "Not any more. I was at first, but it's not like we knew I was going to be an Immortal." "I'm glad you understand... But there's something that you should know," he paused to think of the best way to tell her, "That's just it, I knew." "You _what_!?!?" "I knew from the day your mother brought you home. I'm sorry I didn't tell you something, but you have to understand this, it wouldn't have been right for you to know about it beforehand. I know, I probably should have told you about me sooner, but it just never seemed the right time, besides I knew eventually you would find out." "I see." was all she said. She wondered how he knew, but decided that it must have something to do with how she knew when an Immortal was around. She wasn't mad anymore, he did have a point, if she'd known that she couldn't die like most people, this whole mess could have happened a lot sooner, and in her recklessness she could have gotten other people hurt. "Do you? I'm sorry I never told you anything. I know that it doesn't really matter now, since it's in the past, but I don't want to think that I' alienated you over this. I'd have told you eventually, I just kept putting it off since I never thought it would happen so soon." "Yes Dad, I understand. It would have been wrong to have the foreknowledge and I understand why you were going to wait, this just rushed it. Don't keep giving yourself such a guilt trip over it" "Forgive me then?" "Yeah I forgive you," she said sympathetically, trying to help release the tension that they had between them. "Thanks." With their conversation out of the way, they headed back to the cabin in lighter spirits. copelasa@vuse.vanderbilt.edu & COPELASA@CTRVAX.Vanderbilt.Edu http://www.vuse.vanderbilt.edu/~copelasa/ | "This isn't an Olympic event, there's no medal /~\ for coming in second." --- Duncan MacLeod Oxxxxx| (|=========================- \____/\_/ "I don't tan, I don't burn, I implode." | --- Nicholas de Brabant =========================================================================