Date: Sat, 24 Sep 1994 19:15:57 -0500 Reply-To: Highlander TV show stories Sender: Highlander TV show stories From: Jennifer Lynn Hedberg Subject: Only the Good Die Young In-Reply-To: from "Jacquie Groom" at Sep 24, 94 01:56:58 pm ONLY THE GOOD DIE YOUNG BY GWEN VOHS (AKA JENNIFER LYNN HEDBERG) TEXT NOTES; // = ITALICS "It sucked" does not = constructive critisism happy reading Only the Good Die Young The waiter coughed discreetely into a balled fist. Once he was sure he had Duncan's attention, he whispered, "Pardonnez- moi M. MacLeod mais il y a une jeune fille dehors qui voudrait vous parlez. Elle dit que vous ne la connissez pas mais elle /vous/ connait tres bien." After a moment of wondering whether he should translate /jeune fille/ literally (young girl) or colloquially (young prostitute) and not being able to come up with an answer, Duncan slowly rose from the table. In any event he feltit would be prudent to find out what /la jeune fille/ wanted with him. Taking due note of Tessa's disapproving scowl, he excused himself for a moment.. Tessa knew as well as he did that any immortal could bribe a street- child to lure him into the alley unarmed but she also knew that any warnings or objections on her part would be a waste of breath. He stepped out into the alley, filled as it was with restaurant refuse and menacing shadows. He felt the Pulse immediately. Instinctively he stepped back into the light of the restaurant sign and reached for his absent katana. Cursing himself, he stood ready and waited for his invisible enemy to present arms. What he saw nearly knocked him over with surprise. The figure which politely followed him halfway into the light was far from dangerous. The way she held her ungainly frame, Duncan calculated he couldsnap her neck a thousand times over before she could manage a single word of protest. But she had no wish to herm him, even if she could. She had the hardness of a long fast about her but he couldn't sense any malice. Eventually he took a half-step forward to assure himself /she/ was the source of the pulse. She broke the slience acidly. "What are we?" "I wish I knew. Who are you?" /A clanswoman?/ he thought sarcastically. She shook her greasy red mop as if to say, "It doesn't matter." "Who ARE you?" this time it was /not/ a request. "Natalie Ross." /Not a name I've ever heard. Must be a new one. But .../ Something in her voice suddenly struck Duncan as unnatural. Touching her for the first time he grabbed her shoulder and dragged her into the light to get a better look at her. What he saw nearly made him wretch. /Impossible. This hasn't happened in over five hundred years. And not to a female in over a thousand ...../ The face staring back at him, now twisted with impotent rage and terror, held Duncan's worst nighmare. /She couldn't be ... couldn't have been ... more than 14!!? "When?" this time she knew better than to make him repeat himself. "Six months ago. A car wreck. My dad went too only he never made it back." /One thing at a time, chere/"Sorry. And then?" "What do YOU think?" /Okay, stupid question./ Duncan knew the story so well he could rattle it off like a careless peinitent saying his Our Fathers. "So how did you know tocome to me?" "My dad talked alot about you with his 'friends'" she touched her wrist in a meaningful way."You're the only one close enough to help me unless you count the redhead you acquired last year. And I figure I'm of much more use to you than to him. At least at present." /So the Watchers have their suspicions about Ritchie already. Well, I knew I couldn't keep it in the family much longer although I had hoped to keep asecret until his first death./ "So what exactly do you want? Training? Protec-tion?" "Take my Quickening. That is what we call it, isn't it?" For the second time the abomination took his breath away. /Get it together. Don't give her the upper hand!/ Desperately he kept his voice level."Why would you /want/ me to do that?" "Because I won't learn to kill, and I won't wait for it." Her voice Trailed off in a familiar bitterness. "And I WON'T be trapped in this body for the decades it might take for some other freak to decide my head's finally worthtaking." "I'm training Ritchie; I can train you." "TO KILL!" shrill. /Keep it down! You want a crowd?/ "To /defend/ yourself" She laughed. "Il faut etre un seul... Tiene que ser solamente uno. Do you honestly think I have a shred of a chance at being the ONE?" /If she wants brutal/ "No." "Then why give my Quickening to some bastard? Why not a man of honor?" /Exhausting!/"Would I be a man of honor if I did this?" "Is it more honorable to let me starve in the streets selling myself?" "I've offered you a home!" "a place on the shelf with your other dolls? A place in shadow of the Clan MacLeod? Thank you, no." She shrugged and started back into the shadows. "I guess I'll have to hitchhike to Montreal to see Faber. Or maybe to Chicago to Knox. Then there's Juarez in San Antonio and Sung in Boston. If you won't help me I'll see them all until I find someone that will." /Enough! You've made your point./"Don't go." "You'll do it?" "Meet me at Warf 7 tommorow night. I'll bring you something for the pain." She smiled. "Make it quick and there won't be any." When Duncan returned to the table, Tessa greeted him with a warm welcomekiss. "Well?" "Just a beggar girl.." She clucked her tounge in sympathy for the waif her imagination created for her. "Did you give her enough for a decent room and a hot meal?" /As a matter of fact, yes/ "Umm hmmm" /I'll never understand Duncan. He does a good deed and he looks like hejust drowned a sack of kittens. I'll just have to cheer him up a bit./ "Do we really have to stay for dessert?" fin ps this is first draft of first effort - comments for improvement NEEDED!thanx =========================================================================