Joe heard his car trundle to a stop in the parking lot. He heard the creak of his tennis shoes as he strode from the car, up the steps and onto the landing. The door creaked open, and Joe's nose was assaulted with a number of scents. There was the faint scent of beer and a hint of dust and blood, mixed with the more pleasant sensation of apples. Joe never could figure out why he smelled apples when the old man came near him.

"Hey, Joe," said Methos as he seated himself at the bar. Joe grunted, but otherwise didn't acknowledge the old Immortal. He continued to strum on his guitar, letting the musical notes float around him, filling the empty room. An ordinary man's ears would have been overcome by the music, but not Joe's ears.

He could hear people walking outside. He heard cars stopping at lights and zooming around tight corners. He heard doors open and slam. He heard a barge blow its whistle out in the harbor. He heard a bird singing, and a few blocks away, a lady hummed a pop song quietly to herself.

He never listened too long on any particular sound. He drifted from one noise to another, sometimes extending his hearing even farther than a few blocks, sometimes confining it to the interior of the bar.

He heard Methos reach under the bar and pull out a bottle, and the smell of beer hit Joe with sudden intensity. He heard the strings of his guitar 'twang' as each note poured out of it.

When he was eleven years old, Joe went with his parents and older brothers on a trip to Peru. It was his mother's idea. She was the adventuresome type, and had a desire to visit as many countries as she could before cancer claimed her. It wasn't until they returned to the States that Joe realized something was different. His sense of smell, which had always been weak owing to all the stuffed-up noses he had as a child, and his sense of hearing had increased a hundred fold. He never told anyone about his super senses, as he liked to call them. It took him a while to adjust to them, but he did, and he had fun with them, too.

Years later, after he'd settled into the role of a Watcher, he'd done a little research. He couldn't have been the only one to have developed supersenses, and he was right. After a long search, he got his hands on a book on Sentinels, people who acquired acute senses because of conditions found in jungle areas. He found out how lucky he was, too; he'd never been so overcome by one of his senses that he needed a 'guide' to bring him back to reality.

Most of the time, Joe kept his sense of hearing and smell on the most 'normal' settings possible. He had no desire to attract unwanted attention, and some of the things he heard while his senses were on full blast were things he had no business hearing. When he played his guitar, though, he would often become lost in the music, and his control on his senses would loosen.

There was a popping sound as a bottle cap went flying. Joe heard it clang on the floor, followed by silence.

"Pick that up, Adam," Joe said without opening his eyes.

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