Date: Tue, 6 Feb 1996 15:35:25 -0500 Reply-To: Beth Arritt Sender: Highlander TV show stories From: Beth Arritt Subject: Studies In Life - Part 09/10 ***** Duncan was driving as fast as he could, but it seemed to be taking forever to get back. He had no idea how much of a head start Kostas had, but he hoped it wasn't much. Desperately he tried to reach Richie and Maddie at the dojo. ***** The phone rang, distracting Richie for a moment, just long enough for Kostas to slice him across the stomach. Richie twisted and fell to his knees, his back to Kostas. Kostas raised his sword. ***** Duncan slammed the phone against the seat of the T-bird. No answer at the dojo either. Well, he'd find out what was happening soon enough. He was almost there. ***** Kostas sliced down with his sword, but was stopped in midair by a katana. He looked down to find Madison's hands on the hilt. Meanwhile, Richie had swung his sword above and behind his head # ready to block Kostas's attack. But Maddie shoved Kostas's sword to the side hard enough to turn him around towards her. She then began to attack, leaving Kostas little option but to ignore Richie and fight Maddie. Richie fell to the floor, unable to help until the wound in his stomach healed a little. Kostas advanced on Maddie and, despite her ability with a sword, disarmed her. She backed up all the way to the wall, with the tip of Kostas's sword pressed against her chest. "Well, dear, I hope you understand, it's nothing personal." "If you're going to kill me, just do it, Kostas!" Maddie yelled. "Well, if you're in that much of a hurry # " he shoved the sword into her chest. She looked surprised, then she slid down the wall to land on the floor. "NO!" Richie screamed, struggling to get up. "Time to take care of you," Kostas said, advancing on Richie, who was using the workout equipment to stand up. Kostas was halfway across the room when they both sensed another immortal. "Ah, the big fish is here!" Kostas changed direction, heading for the door. "I'll be back for you!" he called to Richie before he left. ***** Duncan slammed on the brakes and switched off the car. He had sensed the presence of at least one immortal when he pulled up. He jumped out of the car, sword in hand, and got almost to the stairs leading to the dojo when Kostas came out of the door and raced down the stairs. "You're too late, MacLeod!" Kostas shouted. "She won't be betraying me!" "You son of a bitch!" Duncan yelled, attacking with his sword. The fight was over quickly. Duncan fell to his knees to accept Kostas's quickening. He then got up as quickly as he could under the circumstances and headed up the stairs. ***** Richie struggled to Maddie's side. He cradled her in his arms, tears welling up in his eyes. She opened her eyes and winced as she swallowed. "Thanks, Richie," she said slowly, the words barely above a whisper. "Tell Duncan # " she began, then stopped, closing her eyes and holding her chest. "Tell Duncan I love him. And I'm sorry." With that she closed her eyes and went limp. Richie held her, crying. Just then Duncan raced in and stopped just inside the door, taking in the scene. Then he rushed across the room to Richie and Maddie. Kneeling down, he took Maddie's body from Richie and cradled it in his own arms. Richie sat back on his heels. "I'm sorry, Mac. I'm so, so sorry." He stood up and looked away. "I tried to get her out of here # I swear I did! He was just too quick." Duncan said nothing. He just sat there holding her tight. Richie paced the floor. "We tried # we went down the back stairs # " Richie broke off his sentence, sensing an immortal. "There's someone else # " he said looking at the door. Then from behind him Richie heard Madison's voice. "What the hell?" Richie spun around, ran back to where Duncan and Maddie sat on the floor and knelt down beside them. Maddie was looking up at Duncan. "If this is heaven, I like it," she managed to say. "But I didn't expect it to hurt so much," she added with a grimace, holding her side. "The pain will be gone soon," Duncan said softly, brushing her hair back away from her face. Maddie looked at Duncan for a moment, not understanding. Then she looked at Richie. Finally, noticing a strange sensation in her chest, she looked at her wound # or rather what used to be her wound. It was gone, but the blood remained, the only proof the wound really had existed. She looked up at Duncan, finally understanding. "Oh, God," she whispered. "I'm immortal." She closed her eyes. Duncan held her tighter. "Mac, how can that be? She has parents," Richie said, a bit overwhelmed by this turn of events. "Why don't we all go upstairs. We can talk about this there," Duncan said, scooping Maddie up in his arms as he stood and carried her to the elevator. "Duncan, I can walk," she protested. "Humor me," he said as they got into the elevator. Once they reached the loft, Duncan took Maddie into the bathroom and gently cleaned all the blood away from her wound. All of her protests met with responses like "humor me" and "indulge me." Finally, she gave up. He helped her put on a new sweatshirt, and they went back into the living area to sit on the sofa. Duncan would not let go of Maddie, although she did get him to let her walk to the sofa. Richie had poured each of them a glass of wine after cleaning himself up and replacing his torn t-shirt for a clean t-shirt of Duncan's. As soon as they were seated, with Maddie sitting practically on Duncan's lap and encircled in his arms, Richie asked again. "I didn't think immortals had parents," he said to Duncan. "I'm adopted," Maddie told him. "I've known for so long it's something I don't really think about anymore." "So, Mac, you knew about this?" Richie asked him. "Yeah," Duncan replied. He didn't say anything more, he just held on to Maddie. Deciding maybe the two of them wanted to be alone, Richie got up to leave. "Listen, I hate to leave, but I have to go take care of something. I'll see you guys later, okay?" Maddie got up, prying Duncan's arms off her. She hugged Richie tightly. "Thank you," she said. "The words aren't nearly enough, but thank you." "Anytime," he said as she pulled away. "I'm just really glad... well, you know." "Yeah. Thanks." Maddie sat back down next to Duncan, who pulled her into his arms again. "Thanks, Rich," Duncan said, reaching out to shake his hand. "You'll be back this afternoon, right?" "Yeah, I'll see you guys this afternoon." He took the elevator downstairs. For a few minutes they just sat there on the sofa. Finally, Maddie spoke. "Duncan, what's wrong?" When she didn't get an answer, she turned around to face him and continued. "If you knew about this you shouldn't have been worried. And I'm fine. So what's wrong?" Duncan was silent for a moment, then he spoke. "When I saw you lying there... dead," he began in a low voice, "a lot of things ran through my mind. I thought 'What if I was wrong?" Then you woke up, and after the relief passed, I thought about all the things you're going to have to face. So right now I just want to savor the moment, and I want to hold you to prove to myself you are really here and really okay." "I'm fine," Maddie said after a moment. She kissed him. "In fact," she said, kissing him again, "let me prove it to you." She pushed him back on the sofa, unbuttoning his shirt while kissing him again. "I'm a firm believer in proof," Duncan said with a smile. ******************************************************************************** ****** Questions and comments welcome - arrittb@ezraco.com =========================================================================