“When Did Forever Die?” by: Denise Underwood c. 2001 Part Two "And this is from Connor," Sarah said, laughing as she held up a tiny kilted skirt in Ancient Dress MacLeod tartan from where she sat on the thickly carpeted floor. Triona joined in the laughter as she leaned down to take the baby-sized garment from her sister. The two women were spending a quiet afternoon in the Keep’s cozy downstairs sitting room, catching up on each other’s lives. Somewhere along the way it had turned into an impromptu baby shower. "And where is your favorite Immortal anyway?" "He's fishing with the Betazed Ambassador. In Scotland no less!" Sarah shook her head in amused disgust. "The diplomatic life must agree with him." Sarah, her hip length brunette hair in a braid down her back, sat on the floor, her long blue jean clad legs tucked underneath her. As the current Imladrin ambassador to the Federation, she rarely had the time to take an afternoon off. The impending birth of her niece, and Triona's current residency on Earth, gave her the opportunity she'd been waiting for. "No, fishing agrees with him -- otherwise he's just along for the ride," Sarah said, sounding a little annoyed. "Everything okay?" Triona asked, concerned. Connor, once Sarah’s teacher after she had become Immortal, shared an on again, off again relationship with Sarah. The last year, it had been very much *on*. "What? Oh, yeah, we're fine. Work has been a bitch and Connor can really get on my nerves -- I tend to forget that during our time apart." She grinned. "You know how it is, you go a decade or two away from each other, and then you're a part of each other's lives again." She lay back on the floor, her legs and arms stretched out. "It just takes some adjusting." "Actually, I don't -- but I guess I may find out just what it's like. Always supposing the being back together part happens," she added half under her breath. Sarah looked up at her friend consideringly. "Trie, when was the last time you spoke with Methos?" "You mean when was the last time we yelled at each other," Triona said, only half in jest. Sighing, she answered, "Almost a year ago I guess." "A year? And in all that time, have you ever tried to contact him?" "He left the system and didn't leave a forwarding address," she replied in a voice that clearly said she didn't want to talk about it. Sarah ignored the unspoken warning though and pressed the issue. "So? Did you even make an attempt to find him?" "No, I didn't! He made his feelings abundantly clear!" Jumping out of her chair, she stormed out of the room. "Damn, Connor was right -- I should have kept out of it," Sarah swore to herself, leaping to her feet and following Triona out of the room. "Nothing for it now." Running down the hall, Sarah caught up with Triona on the stairs. "I don't want to talk about this, Sarah!" Triona said heatedly as she reached the landing of the first floor. Wondering if she was going to regret this, Sarah grabbed her friend's arm. After all these centuries, Sarah thought she should know better than to involve herself in one of Methos and Triona’s battles, but somehow, she couldn’t help but butt in and try and at least get the stubborn fools to listen to a little reason. "Stop and listen to me, Trie." "Let go of me, Sarah. I mean it," she told her in a voice cold enough to crack steel. "Or what? You're going to challenge me? Because that's what you'll have to do to stop me from saying my piece," Sarah said calmly, letting go of Triona's arm. "Say what you have to say, Sarah. I can't stop you." "Trie, please, I'm not trying to accuse you of anything. Honestly I'm not. It's just…." She sat down in the window seat across from the landing. "Look, I know it's none of my business -- except I love you, I love Methos, and I hate to see the both of you so unhappy." "And you're going to butt in anyway, aren't you?" Triona asked, her arms wrapped tight around her chest. Sarah nodded. "Do you have any idea how torn up by this he is? How afraid he is for you?" "How could I? He wouldn't discuss any of it with me!" "Did you really give him a chance to deal with it before you decided to just leave Imladris with Picard? You didn’t even give him a chance to absorb the decision you’d made to try and have a child." Triona looked at Sarah in disbelief. "What were you saying about not accusing? That sounded very much like an accusation to me, Sarah!" she said angrily. "Okay, so maybe it is. But it's a valid question. You know how Methos is -- better than anyone. How hard it is for him to be vulnerable. And you make him more vulnerable than anyone," Sarah said softly. "And the both of you are so stubborn." Triona's shoulders slumped, her anger suddenly dissipating. "God, Sarah, I love him so much. But we manage to hurt each other so badly that sometimes I'm not sure we can ever come back from it." "Of course you can; if you really want to. Is this relationship with Picard -- a mortal -- really worth losing Methos from your life? With all you've meant to each other and with all you’ve suffered together?" Triona laughed with no humor as she sank onto the seat next to the other woman. "There is no relationship, Sarah. There never was. I'm not saying I wasn't tempted; but I never gave into that temptation. I think Methos found it easier to blame our problems on an affair than to deal with the reality." "And so did you," Sarah offered tentatively, not wanting Triona to run off again. Again, the same laugh. "And so did I," she agreed sadly. "You never slept with Picard?" Sarah asked, not a little surprised. "No, I didn't. I'm the boring, conventional one, remember? In the end, I couldn't do it. He deserves so much more than I can give him." She turned to look at Sarah. "But you don't know what it was like, Sarah. That probe; it was like living a whole other life! I came out of it loving Lucien even more -- if that were possible -- but it also changed the innocent flirtation I'd enjoyed with Jean-Luc into something more; something so much deeper. It wasn't like a dream, it was *real* to me -- real to him. No amount of rationalization could wish it away. And believe me, I tried." Sarah put her arm around her friend, squeezing her shoulders sympathetically. "I'm so sorry, Trie. I can't imagine what it must have been like." "And my last memory of that other women -- of me -- was losing the baby. I became consumed with wanting a child. I felt so empty and nothing Methos or anyone else could do could change that." Tears ran unnoticed down her cheeks. "When our scientists told me that they could give me that child, I was overwhelmed with emotion. Lucien understood and I thought Methos would to." "But he didn't." Triona shook her head violently. "I felt betrayed. I felt like he didn't care or understand how desperately unhappy I'd been. That he was jealous of the fact that I'd found some measure of comfort from someone other than him." "Oh, Trie…." Sarah was at a loss for words. "That last time saw him, I was going to try. Honest to god, Sarah, I was. But instead, we ended up fighting. Horrible, hurtful things were said. It was like that time he left with Dominique. I felt like it was happening all over again and I was afraid. It made me remember everything that happened after that; Hakeem and…." Triona shuddered. Even after almost five hundred years, Triona’s experience as a prisoner of the vampire Hakeem, an Ancient, had the power to wreak havoc in her present. "Shhh, don't think about that. Please don't." Sarah held the now sobbing Triona in her arms. "Goddess, I'm sorry. I should never have brought this up. But I want you to be happy. And I think Methos makes you happy -- when you aren't tearing each other to pieces, that is," she added in exasperation. "The three of you: you, LaCroix and Methos, have a relationship that I can't get a handle on, even though I've been there from the beginning. But it works for you, for all of you. I can't imagine any of you without the other, I really can't." "Maybe so, but forever is a long time to be together." Triona pulled from her friend's embrace. "It could have run its course, don't you think?" "Maybe. But I don't buy it." Sarah made a frustrated noise. "Remember your birthday, the year before last?" Triona nodded. "It coincided with all four moons being full at once and the night sky was like an open jewel box." "Methos gave me a horse, a Paso Fino, from the genetic bank breeding program." Triona looked down at a white gold ring on her left hand, twisting it absently. "Uh huh, and you, LaCroix, and Methos went riding that night, after your party," Sarah reminded her. "We went to the meadow above the ford in the river. It was so warm and the night sky was intoxicating. It was perfect," she said softly, remembering. "I wasn't there, but from the way the three of you acted when you came home in the morning, you weren't playing charades," Sarah said almost primly. Triona nearly choked in surprise. Finding her voice, she replied, a little embarrassed, "We kept ourselves… amused." Sarah snorted. "That's one way to put it! But, Trie, I saw your face; you were glowing. You were content, you were happy and you were in love. As much in love as that first day you met Methos over four hundred years ago. “Adam, not Methos! And anyway, so what?" Triona asked stonily, pushing aside the emotions that were tearing her up. "Even if I wanted to go to him, I can't. I don't know where he is and I can't be trotting around the galaxy looking for him when the baby's birth is imminent." "So -- Duncan is hopefully having the same conversation with Methos right now. So -- Methos is at the embassy, where he has been the last several weeks. So -- what excuse do you have now?" Sarah asked smugly. Triona stood up then sat down again, trying to catch up with what Sarah had just told her. "He's on Earth? Not only on Earth, but in our own embassy?" Angry all over again, she snapped, "So I'm supposed to be the one to go to him? Is that what he thinks? You make me feel guilty and I'll go running to him, begging him to take me back?" "No!" Sarah said forcefully. "He doesn't even know I'm doing this. I'd promised him I wouldn't tell you where he was." Triona looked at her sister with one expressively arched brow. "Yes, I know," she admitted ruefully. "But Duncan is a hopeless romantic and I'm just plain ornery. And besides, Methos is driving me insane! He's morose and grumpy and just plain obnoxious." Sarah looked like she'd be happy to separate the oldest Immortal's head from his neck. "And this is different how?" Triona asked, laughing despite herself. "Go to him, Trie, please," she pleaded, once more deadly serious. "You know you want to. Only your pride is keeping you back." Triona stood up and nodded. "I'll think about it Sarah, I promise." Giving the other woman a quick hug, she slowly walked down the hall, deep in thought. -=- Denise = ithildin@ondragonswing.com = http://ondragonswing.com -=- Vampires, Floth demons.... Do you know what is -=- really, really evil? Tequila. ~ Cordelia ~ 'Angel' -=- Dragon's Hoard Fic Archive http://www.ondragonswing.com/vortex -=- Star Trek:The First Generation http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ST_FirstGen