========================================================================= Date: Wed, 13 Mar 1996 18:28:00 PST Reply-To: Mike Goldman Sender: Highlander TV show stories From: Mike Goldman Subject: "Scavenger Hunt" (11/11)--HL Story OK, last installment! Hope y'all enjoyed it....praise, comments, flames to Lori at: mgoldman@cts.com Back at Joe's, the rest of the participants had long since returned, some with several items and some with none at all. Amanda and Richie seemed to hold the lead at the moment with five items. Joe and Anne were somewhere in the middle with three. "You don't think..." Anne whispered to Joe, jugging baby Mary in her arms. "No." Joe shook his head firmly, "I would have gotten some kind of notice by now if they'd been killed." ! Suddenly the front doors slammed open and Rory and Mac stumbled in, hanging on to each other and the doors in an effort to keep themselves upright. "Where have you guys *been*?" Richie asked, "You're over an hour late." Rory and Duncan looked at each other and burst out laughing. "On a shaven...shaven..." Mac tried to pronounce. "Where you all were." Rory finished for him. "With the greatest partner a guy could ever have!" Duncan slurred, pulling Rory to him and smiling goofily. "You're not so bad yourself," she retorted, punching him playfully on the chin and extricating herself from his grip. Several of the party guests--Joe, Amanda, Richie and Anne in particular--looked at the two of them and each other in amazement. What was going on? Amanda stepped up to Duncan. "Well, you're back now--" she started to purr, then quickly stepped back as the first fumes hit her. "And you stink!" Other guests now began backing away as the fumes became stronger. "Skunk." Rory informed them solemnly, weaving only a tiny bit. The group backed up even farther. Joe sniffed the air cautiously. "What smells like rotten hamburgers?" he asked, not sure he really wanted to know the answer. "That would be her." Duncan said, unsteadily pointing a finger a Rory. "Me." she echoed, trying to point to herself and not quite succeeding. "How did you guys get this way?" a dumbfounded Richie asked. "Sssh!" Rory whispered, "it's a secret!" "But enough about us--we win!" Mac announced. "Hang on a minute, Macleod." Amanda said, pushing her way to the front again, "Let's see what you've got first." Rory and Duncan made their way to a table and people readily cleared the way for them. Depositing their hand basket in a chair, Rory brought out their first item. "A flyswatter!" she announced, holding said object aloft. "Big deal." Amanda groused. "Bring out the next item!" Rory shouted, knighting Mac with the flyswatter before she set it down. He reached into the bag. "Pink toilet paper." he announced in tones usually reserved to let someone know the Pope was in town. Flinging it into the air, he and Rory watched closely as it landed on Richie's head. He snatched it off and threw it on the table, his face burning. Turning to Rory, Duncan bowed, catching himself on the table. "Your turn, madam." She dug in and pulled out the boa, blowing away a stray feather. "No one got that." Anne commented. "Yeah," Joe agreed, "how did you find that?" He could swear Rory was blushing! Now he was *really* curious as she hardly *ever* did that. "Somewhere." was all she would say. Turning, she elbowed Mac. "Your turn." "Gotcha." He pulled out their next two items. "The dog collar and Big Mac box." Joe laughed delightedly. "Looks like they're going to beat you and Richie, Amanda." "They've only got five out of six." Amanda retorted, "they've gotta have all six." Rory slammed an empty Scotch bottle on the table as Mac shouted "Ta da!" Amanda just looked at them. "It needs to be a *full* bottle." The drunk Immortals looked at each other. "I'm sure we brought it back with us." said Rory. They both bent over the chair and began piling up the empty Scotch bottles on the table. Now everyone had a much better idea of at least *part* of what had occurred throught the evening. "Here it is!" Mac said in triumph as Rory gently deposited the bottle in Amanda's hands. "You win!" Anne announced as Joe came forward to hug Rory before he thought better of it. "What do we win?" "A trip to the showers!" Amanda interjected. "Hey partner, " said Rory, "I think she's saying we smell." Mac sniffed his sleeve again. "She might be right." "Excuse me," Amanda said to Joe, taking his cane out of his hands. "Move, you two!" Using the cane to keep a safe distance, she herded them out the back of the bar to the loading dock and turned the hose on them while the partygoers watched in delight. Yelling as the frigid water hit them, they were much more sober--albeit wet--after Amanda had finished. Richie had been to the laundromat that day and had not yet taken his clothes out of the car, so he went outside and pulled out two pairs of jeans and two T-shirts. Rory's fit her reasonably well while Mac looked as if he was wearing pedal pushers and the T-shirt threatened to rip every time he moved. Joe watched Rory and Mac interact the rest of the evening and, while they still baited each other, much of the animosity had disappeared. He definitely needed to find out what happened tonight. The party finally broke up around 3 a.m. and everyone prepared to leave, Mac pulling Joe aside for a few moments while Rory tried to keep her mind on a conversation with Anne and watch the other conversation across the room. Upon arriving home, Joe and Rory tiredly made their way upstairs and collapsed on the bed together. After a moment, Joe started to chuckle. "What's so funny?" she asked. "I didn't know you knew 'The Star Spangled Banner'." he replied. She struggled up from her prone position. "That's it. He's dead." Joe laughed and pulled her back down next to him. "Would you feel better if I mentioned he told me about the *entire* evening?" "Marginally." she said, but stayed where she was. "Thanks for the birthday party." he said, stroking her hair. "You're welcome." she said, nearly asleep. "However," Joe said, pulling himself up slightly and jolting Rory awake. "I do know that there is another scavenger hunt planned." "Please, no." Rory groaned, rolling over to face him. "Oh, I think you'll like this one." he said, "*I* wrote the rules to *this* game." He kissed her passionately. When she came up for air, Rory allowed as to how this scavenger game could be rather fun. "How much time do I have?" she asked. He kissed her again. "It could take all night." She ran a hand down his chest, unbuttoning his shirt as she went. "Do you think that'll be enough time?" He smiled as he pulled her to him. "We'll just have to find out, won't we?" Rory sighed happily and reached up to turn out the lights. As she turned back into Joe's arms, she had time for one final statement before he began showing her the rules of this particular game. "Happy birthday, Joseph."