Author: Cadey

Characters: M, J, A, N, Amy Thomas

Disclaimer: Not mine (Panzer/Davis owns em. I just play with em.). No money (is being made. Not that I couldn't *USE* it). Don't sue (please?).

Rating: PG-13 to R

Author's Notes: Don't blame me. Blame my muse. She bashes, I write. :) This will evolve into a series. I hope. Constructive criticism, beta offers, marriage offers, fireworks, and generous praise are accepted at highlandspacecadet@yahoo.com. Flames will be used to light firecrackers, bombs, and other explosives. :)

Methos, the oldest living Immortal, wasn't in the mood for a fight. Which was probably why some idiot challenged him. He'd had a hell of a bad day trying to teach young, stuck-up Parisians history, and then his car had broken down. He'd considered asking one of his Watchers to give him a lift back to his apartment, but vetoed the idea. He'd simply taken the Metro and walked the remaining three blocks to his nice, warm, cozy apartment. Unfortunately, within those three blocks, there was an Immortal on a killing spree. He stabbed his Ivanhoe sword right through his opponent's stomach and quickly beheaded him. His eyes cause a flash of dark green about ten feet away from him. He cursed, but didn't have time to move before the first bolts of the Quickening ripped through his body.

Amy Thomas pressed herself up against the wall and hunched over to provide a lower profile. The brick behind her back was damp and was starting to seep in through her clothes. 'Dumb Amy, very dumb,' she chided herself as she threw up an arm to protect her head and neck from flying debris. She knew that she was too close, but the lure of getting better footage had overcome her common sense about staying away. Since she had her head covered and pressed into her knees, she didn't see the stray Quickening bolt coming at her.

Methos dropped to his knees and used his sword for balance for a good minute after the Quickening ended. Kevin Harris wasn't old, but he had taken a good number of heads, making for a very powerful Quickening. Once he felt that he could stand up without being sick, he looked around, looking for his Watcher that had gotten too close. His sharp eyes quickly found his Watcher, apparently unconscious, lying on the ground, arm still thrown over their head.

"Dammit." He didn't see another Watcher around, so he shook his head and went over after tucking his sword back in his coat. "Didn't they teach you not to get too close to a fight at the Academy," he muttered at the Watcher. His hand reached out to check for a pulse. The bolt of blue lightning that went from him to his Watcher and back made him scramble back. He looked between his hand and his Watcher several times, who seemed no worse for the wear from the minor shocking. Methos frowned and leaned in to see if he knew his Watcher.

"Bloody hell." Of all the people in the world, why did it have to be Amy Thomas who was following him? His hand hovered over her body, half-expecting the same reaction to happen again, and almost disappointed when it didn't. He grabbed her wrist and looked for a pulse. When he found it, he briefly thanked any deity that might be watching and gently shook her shoulder. "Come on, Amy, time to wake up." When he didn't get a reaction, his hands quickly skimmed down the back of her neck to check for broken bones, or any other hindrances to moving her. When he found none, he breathed a sigh of relief. Calling an ambulance would have been awkward, to say the least. They would start asking questions about how she got in this state, what his role in it was, and most definitely who the dead body was. He should, by all rights, leave her here and let the Watchers take care of her, but Joe wouldn't be happy with him for leaving his daughter in a cold, dark alley. Since he had come back to Paris permanently after MacLeod had left for parts unknown, he and Joe had become even closer friends. Amanda had blasted back into Paris, dragging along Nick Wolfe, who had promptly become a friend of Joe's when he discovered the younger man's love of blues.

Methos gently picked Amy up and carried her up to his front door, where he had to set her down, but kept her leaning against him while he dug out his keys. Once he had laid her down on his couch, he grabbed a penlight and opened each eye and flashed it with light to check her pupil dilation. She seemed to be responding normally, so he took off her jacket and her shoes and covered her with a blanket. He picked up his cordless phone and dialed Joe's number at the bar while he waited for his computer to boot up.

"Le Blues Bar." The noise was loud enough that Joe had to shout to be heard over it.

"Joe, it's Adam."

"Where the hell are you man? I expected you to be here about fifteen minutes ago."

"Something came up. I'll be there in a little while. But that's not the reason I'm calling. Amy, your daughter and my Watcher, got a little too close to the Quickening and it knocked her out."

Joe sucked in a quick breath. "Is she okay?"

"Yeah, like I said, it just knocked her out. I checked her out and I say at most, she has a mild concussion. I thought you should know before we get to the bar."

"Thanks Adam. Bring her by when she wakes up, will you?"

"But of course. She does have to make her report. Oh and Joe, you might want to get a cleanup crew over to the alleyway on Rue Dermot, about a block from my apartment."

"All right." He hung up the phone and wandered into his kitchen. He opened the refrigerator and considered his options for dinner. He yawned as he pulled out leftover chili. Once the microwave was working its magic on the food, he pulled the door to the refrigerator open again and snagged a bottle of beer. Tossing the bottle cap into the trash can as he went past it back into the living room, he sprawled out into his favorite chair. He studied Amy as he sipped his beer and waited for the chili to reheat. Her hair was a bit longer since he last saw her. She was also a bit paler. He frowned and checked her pulse and pupil dilation again. Both appeared to be normal. The microwave beeped, telling him that his chili was done. He pulled two bowls out of the cupboard and scooped chili into both of them, then took them both out to the living room and set them down on the coffee table. He knelt down by Amy and gently shook her shoulder.

"Amy? Come on Amy, time to wake up."

Amy slowly came back to consciousness hearing a soft voice in her ear. Her eyes flew open as she recognized the voice. Sure enough, Methos' pale, angled face came into view. When she tried to sit up, he pushed her back into the couch. Her face lost some of its color and she swallowed heavily.

"Relax, Amy. You were knocked unconscious. Do you have a headache? Feel nauseous?" She shook her head. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Three." He nodded.

"What's today's date?"

"The fourth of March."

"Good." He turned and picked up a bowl. "Have some chili. I don't know if you wanted anything in it, but help yourself to cheese or sour cream in the refrigerator."

"Thank you, but I've got to go." She started to stand up.

"No you don't. Joe knows you're here." Her eyes closed and a look of resignation settled onto her face as she sat back down. "Amy. You're not the first Watcher to get too close to a Quickening. Joe isn't going to pull you because of that. He might want to, but he's not going to."

Amy sighed. "He should. I screwed up with Walker, and now this. I wouldn't be surprised if I get assigned to start doing cleanup." She looked at the blue tattoo on her wrist and ran a finger over it.

"Amy, listen to me. Joe won't be passing this on. Besides, you'll need to be my Watcher after you hear what I'm about to tell you." He took a sip of his beer and stood up. She was silently watching him. "Amy, when the Quickening ended and I found you, you were unconscious. When I reached out to wake you up, the strangest thing happened."

"What happened?"

Methos shook his head. "I still don't half-believe it myself, and I saw it happen. Some of the Quickening, my Quickening, leapt from *you* and went to me and back to you."

"I don't believe it. There's no way that I could even take part of a Quickening. This is impossible."

"I saw it happen."

"So what are you saying? That I'm Immortal?"

"I don't believe so. For one, I can't feel a Buzz coming from you. I can prove it to you, if you want."

"What exactly does that entail?"

"Just a little cut. Not a sword through the heart or anything."

"All right." She held out her hand as he went back into the kitchen to get a sharp knife.

"Have a seat." Once she sat back down, he set the knife against her palm and pressed down gently as he cut her skin about an inch. Her breath hissed out at the pain. They were both relieved when the cut didn't heal by Quickening energy. He set down the knife and reached out to take her hand to take her to the kitchen to clean the wound.

Blue bolts of Quickening energy leapt from the tips of his fingers to the cut in her palm and stitched it together before their amazed eyes. "Oh my God," Amy muttered. Both of them gently probed the newly healed cut, to make sure with their very eyes that what they saw was real.

"No," she said.

"What?" His brow furrowed as he looked at her.

"I was answering your question."

"Amy, I didn't ask a question."

"Yes you did. You said, and I quote, 'Any pain?'"

"And I repeat, I didn't ask the question. I was just about to say it."

"So I can read your mind?"

Methos shrugged. "This is going way beyond anything that I've ever heard of. This is all new to me, and it isn't everyday when I see something that I haven't seen before. So you tell me if you can read my mind." //Although why anyone would want to, I'm not quite sure of.//

//Oh boy. How the hell am I going to explain *this*?//

"Amy?"

"Yes?"

"Please tell me that you just spoke aloud." Her wide blue eyes lifted up to meet his hazel ones. He groaned. "That's what I thought."

"How the hell are we doing this?"

"I'm not quite sure." He picked up the knife. "May I?"

Amy shrugged and held out the same hand. Once again he cut her palm. "Concentrate. Find a piece that isn't you in your mind." He could tell exactly when she found it, because the wound started knitting together. Once it was completely healed, he sprawled back into the chair.

"I have a theory. Granted, it's only that, but it would explain some things."

"What is it?"

"When we take a Quickening, some of our own Quickening gets sent out to mix with the Quickening that we're taking, sort of like we're diluting it. You must have been hit with part of my Quickening. And it's still inside you. I don't believe that it will make you Immortal, but my Quickening can heal you, and you can hear my thoughts, as well as I can hear yours. Just don't go taking unnecessary chances. I don't know if it can bring you back to life, and I don't want to find out."

Amy smiled a bit. "Feel like keeping me around?"

"Yes I do. I don't like feeling that some anonymous person is cataloguing my every move. If I'm going to be watched, I'd rather have someone who I already know watching me. Besides, I know a lot of Watchers would have already bolted once they woke up."

Amy shrugged. "Like Joe says, 'sometimes you have to do more than just watch.'"

"Brava. Well, let's get to the bar. I need beer and you need to make a report."

Amy sipped from a mug of coffee as she stared at the computer screen in front of her. She had already typed in most of 'Adam Pierson’s' day, but she wasn't quite sure what to put about the fight and the subsequent Quickening.

//Amy, stop worrying. Just put in that I got challenged on my way home from the Metro station, we fought, I took his head. I found that a lot when I was researching. It's been done before.//

//I know. I'm just worried if another Watcher saw what happened.//

//Well, I asked Joe if there was another Watcher around there, he looked up the dead body, and told me that Harris lost his Watcher about a week ago. So don't worry about it.//

//I hear and obey.//

//Brat.// She smiled and typed in exactly what he had suggested, only adding in the time and the description of the now dead Immortal. She sent the report into Headquarters, grabbed her mug of coffee, and went back into the bar proper. She slid into the stool next to Methos and slid the mug over to Joe, asking for a glass of wine instead. Her eyes flicked over to Methos, who was sprawled out into a barstool, practically defying the laws of gravity, drinking a beer. His coat was hanging off the back of his stool, which seemed to be placed high enough so that his sword wasn't drawing attention by standing straight up.

His head swerved to look at the door, his features tight. Amy felt unsettled and jumpy. She wondered if this was how the Buzz felt.

//No, it feels like someone just dragged their nails across a blackboard.// Amy winced. She *hated* that. She looked towards the doors as well, and relaxed right along with Methos when Amanda walked in with Nick. Amanda started making a beeline for them.

"Bon soir Adam."

"Good evening to you as well Amanda. Sanctuary get a little boring for you tonight?"

"No, we're not open tonight. I heard that Joe was going to grace the stage tonight, so both Nick and I wanted to be here."

"Well, you're just in time. Either of you want anything before I go up," Joe asked.

"Wine," both Amy and Amanda said.

"Beer," from Methos and Nick. Joe grinned and shook his head as he filled their orders. Amanda looked at Amy curiously.

Joe took pity on her. "Amanda, Nick, meet Amy Thomas, my daughter. Amy, the infamous Amanda, and Nick Wolfe." Amanda's mouth fell open and made Nick wish that he had a camera. Amy raised her left hand and waved slightly at both of them, flashing the blue tattoo at both of them. Since Joe introduced them, she figured that both of them knew about the Watchers.

Amanda lifted an eyebrow. "So who...?"

Amy smiled slightly and tilted her head at Methos. Amanda laughed. "You poor thing."

Methos frowned at her as Amy laughed. He grumbled into his beer as Joe went up on stage. Amy privately thought that Methos looked downright adorable when he was pouting.

//I am not pouting.//

//If you say so.// She winked at him, then refocused her attention back up on the stage, where Joe was playing a song that she hadn't heard before.

Joe had given last call five minutes ago and Amy was yawning. She knew that she was going to be in a world of hurt come morning, but she just couldn't drag herself away from the bar. She and Amanda had become fast friends over the night.

"You mean that I have a desktop theme for a computer?" Amanda blinked in surprise.

Amy laughed and nodded. "Well Amanda, you know what we do. Among other things, we have a *ton* of pictures and sounds. You seem to be pretty popular with the upper elechons. Now the secretarial pool's favorite wallpaper is this very nice shot of you and MacLeod on top of the Eiffel Tower dancing. I think that they like to imagine that they're in your position. It was taken a few years ago, I think."

"It was. It was right during that whole Kalas mess. We didn't know if the world was going to come crashing down around our ears the next day, so we walked up the tower. I climbed up on the ledge and managed to get him up there too. Then we started doing a tango right there, on the ledge of the Eiffel Tower. Not one of the smartest things we've ever done, but it was fun. So what's on your computer?"

A small flush started creeping up her neck as she pulled out her laptop she had retrieved from her car. She booted it up and turned it towards Amanda. "Look for yourself."

Amanda's eyes grew wide and her eyebrows shot up when the picture flashed on. It was a color picture of Methos, sprawled out over a couch, holding a bottle of beer between two long fingers, dressed in tight jeans and no shirt, staring apparently straight at the camera with a small satisfied smile tilting up the corners of his mouth. The whole effect was distinctly sexual and it seemed to have an immediate impact on Amanda. "Whoa."

Methos grabbed the laptop and turned it around so he could see it. He started to smile as he turned it so Nick could see as well.

"That one is a favorite around the offices of the Methos Chronicles."

Methos smiled. "So why do you have it?"

"You'll find a lot of Field Watchers have wallpapers of their particular Immortal on their computer. I know that Joe has a picture of MacLeod practicing in the dojo with his sword."

Joe walked up behind them. "Nice picture Old Man. Now, unless you are all planning to help clean up, go home. Does anyone need a taxi?"

Methos shook his head. "Thank the gods for having more than one car. I'll take Amy home, it's on my way." Once Amy shut off her laptop, they made their goodbyes.

"So why do you have that picture," Methos asked once they were outside.

"Maybe because I think it's a nice picture? That it reminds me of whom I'm supposed to be Watching?"

"Or maybe you just like to look."

"That's always a possibility," she murmured as she got into his car. He smiled as he slid into the driver's seat. Oh the possibilities...

End Joined Prologue