by Carol Roi
"Major Crimes, Detective Jorgenson."
"I'd like to speak with Inspector Connor."
"She's not in today, sir. Can I take a message or help you in some way?"
"No thanks, it's personal business." He hung up before the detective could ask any more questions. Christmas morning. If everything had gone according to plan, if Eolia hadn't died, or the security check at QuestScape had gone smoothly, he and his boss would've been back home this morning. Azir and Lee had always had a huge 'family' get together for their single employees on major holidays. While neither one of them were practicing Christians, Christmas was always very special to them and they shared that special time with their adopted family, the WindHawk Security teams.
Pushing away the thoughts of Christmases past, Jan made his choice. He'd shower, get ready to leave town, then hand over the disc drive to Connor or Ellison. Heck, maybe he'd even ask Pallas if she knew of any Immortals in the country that would be willing to take on a new student. After all, his teacher was dead and he really needed the help.
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Adam Pierson nodded towards Duncan MacLeod as Joe let the other Immortal into his home. Adam waited for his call to Cascade, Washington to go through. The line finally cleared, and the ringing started on the other end. After three rings, the line was picked up.
"Hello?"
"Diandra, Methos. I just heard about Eolia. Are you okay?" He tried to block out the whispered conversation going on behind his back, as Joe Dawson updated Duncan on the day's news.
"I'm fine, Adam. Why did you call?"
He closed his eyes, trying to hold back images from happier times. "Dee, she was my wife. For a while, anyway. She was also one of my students. She deserves a proper funeral, on Holy Ground, and I'd like to take her back to her tribal homeland."
"Oh, Goddess! I didn't know that you had been her Teacher. Adam, I'm so sorry. As for the funeral, I haven't even thought about that." Adam thought he detected a hint of shocked sadness and grief in the Immortal Amazon's voice.
"Let me help, please, for Eolia's sake." He knew some of the Celtoi's funeral rites, but not all of them. The silence on the other end of the phone disturbed him for a moment, until Diandra finally spoke up again.
"Adam, I'm not even sure I know a place where we could hold the rites. Eolia died a warrior's death, saving myself and others, and while she ultimately lost the fight, she deserves to have the Amazon within her honored."
Looking over at MacLeod, Adam started to get an idea. "Amazon, eh? Funeral pyre, the whole nine yards?"
"Yes."
"See what you can do to get her body released to you. I'll see what I can do on this end. If I can arrange it, I'll call you back in a few hours."
"Okay. Adam?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks. Seems like we both lost someone we cared about last night."
He couldn't help but notice Diandra didn't say good-bye, or wish him happy holidays, just hung up on him. Slowly placing the handset back in the cradle, he looked up to find the dark haired Scot staring at him across the living room. "What?"
Duncan quirked a sad smile at his oldest friend. "Dee's okay?" Adam didn't answer, just nodded. "And the woman that lost her head, Lee Eolia? She was one of your Students, as well as one of your wives?"
"Yes, she was. Duncan, I hate to ask... " He halted as the Highlander held up his hand.
"Methos, if you and Diandra need to use the island to honor your friend, you don't have to ask. Just let me know when, and I'll arrange things with the local authorities."
"Thank you, MacLeod." Adam Pierson stood up, crossed the floor and clasped the Scotsman's shoulder in a friendly grip.
"Think nothing of it, Old Man. Now, unless we get our butts out to the dining room, Joe's going to start without us and we'll have nothing but bones to pick over." Duncan led his fellow Immortal out of the living room.
"Can you arrange for us to use the island on Saturday?" Adam asked as they crossed into the dining room. The wonderful smell of a smoked turkey wafted toward them from the adjoining kitchen.
"I believe so," he answered as he moved to assist Joe with the traditional Christmas dinner. Calling out over his shoulder before disappearing into the kitchen, Duncan managed to surprise Methos. "By the way, I left your present on the table. Open it. Let me know what you think."
Looking over the table, he found the long box in the middle of the expanse. Picking it up, it proved to be heavier than it looked. Carefully opening the lid, he found a brass-hilted dirk, sheathed in black leather. Pulling the blade free of the scabbard, he found the steel to be quite strong, but sharp as well. "A dirk? A Scottish dirk?" Smiling, Adam caressed the long knife, testing its sharpness and feeling the balance of the weapon. Glancing up, he saw Duncan and Joe entering the room, arms laden with several dishes. "Thank you, Duncan. It's quite nice." Slipping his hand into his pocket, he pulled forth a small, gilt wrapped gift and handed it to the highlander. "I already gave Joe his gift, so here's yours."
Warily opening the gift, Duncan found an extremely old Chinese pillow book. "You have a very strange sense of humor, Methos."
Grinning, Adam started to pour the wine he'd brought from his private stash. "Oh, there's more to it than that. Check out the pictures." He chuckled as Duncan and Joe, who was looking over the Scotsman's shoulder, gasped in unison. "Never knew you visited Cathay, Duncan. Let alone inspired some artist to draw you into a pillow book."
Joe Dawson's expression showed his surprise at the images, explicit pictures which clearly showed the face and form of one of his Immortal friends. Stuttering slightly, he asked, "What the heck is a 'pillow book', Adam?"
"An instructional book for newlyweds." Adam started to chuckle a little more, as the blush that had crept up on Duncan's face deepened to a bright crimson. Yes, Eolia was gone, but life and friendships would continue.
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The tingle that seemed to come from within and without at the same time warned LaFollet there was a fellow Immortal nearby. That's what he had been hoping for. Climbing the last few stairs to the third level of the building, he approached the door to Diandra Pallas' apartment, unsure of the greeting he'd get. He'd already made the one stop he really hadn't wanted to make. The trip to the county morgue to confirm Lee's identity had fairly used up the last of his emotional reserves. He raised his hand to knock, but met no resistance as the door was pulled open, not by Diandra, but by Inspector Connor.
"Where in the hell did you run off to last night?!"
"Taking care of business, Inspector. Business you might be interested in." Holding up the plastic shopping bag he'd placed the 'stolen' DVD-RAM drive in, he waited for the woman's response.
Megan slowly reached for the bag, then looked inside. "What in the hell?"
"I found that in a hovel of a hotel after I left last night."
Reaching out, she pulled on his arm and tugged the newly born Immortal into the loft. "Damn. Dee! J-M's here."
Jan-Michel LaFollet allowed the Australian to pull him into the apartment, but stopped a few steps inside the door, not wishing to offend the Immortal who lived there.
"Thanks, seems like we both lost someone we cared about last night." Diandra hung up the phone and turned to face the Immortal Watcher. "Jan. Come on in. I won't bite you."
"Diandra, I'm sorry. I didn't realize what Lee was up to... " He stopped when the woman held up her hand.
Sighing as she dropped into the chair near the phone, Diandra shook her head. "She'd changed from the woman I once knew. She lied to all of us, just some of us more than others. We believed her lies, and so were unprepared for last night." She waved Jan-Michel over to the couch, then noticed the bag Megan was holding. "Megan? What is that?"
"The missing DVD drive."
Diandra turned to face LaFollet. "You found his hiding place?"
"Yes.
Living well below what he was accustomed to, I'm sure. The drive was sealed in layers of plastic and hidden in the tank of the room's toilet."
Megan sat on the arm of the chair, close to Dee, and looked at the Watcher. "So Brad was the thief at QuestScape, and he had the drive all along?"
"Yes. Diandra gave me his personal belongings after I met up with her inside the park. A little bit of research and a lot of luck led me first to his car and then to the Ranch-O-Hotel where Bradley Ventriss had decided to hole up." Jan shook his head, trying to clear his mind of the image of Lee Eolia, lying on a slab in the county morgue. Feeling two sets of eyes on him, he looked up to see both women watching him, concern coloring their expressions. "Sorry. Had to go confirm Lee's identity before I came over here."
Megan asked, "Did the Medical Examiner tell you anything? If she was dead before, well, you know?" She made a throat cutting motion with her hand.
"Yeah, he did."
"She died of the gunshot wound, didn't she?" The WindHawk Security man nodded, confirming Diandra's suspicions. Sighing, she said, "Then she didn't feel anything when that asshole took her head."
"I just wanted to bring that drive to you before I go make arrangements to take Lee home to New York." LaFollet moved to stand up, getting ready to make his escape, only to be halted by Diandra's soft voice.
"Jan? Would you mind if we honored her here on Saturday? Please? I'd like to give her a proper warrior's ceremony. A funeral pyre and the appropriate prayers for crossing over."
He sank back into the thick cushions, his body suddenly as numb as his mind. "I.. I don't know. I think that I should take her home, to her WindHawk family, but at the same time I don't want to face them. I failed to protect her, to keep her alive... "
His face buried in his hands, Jan felt a gentle touch on his shoulder as Dee said, "Jan, even if you had been there when Lee challenged Brad Ventriss, you couldn't have interfered, either as a Watcher or as an Immortal. Once the fight was engaged, it was between the two of them alone."
"I know, but it doesn't make it any easier. I have to go back to New York, face the members of the WindHawk family and tell them that she's gone, taken from us in the same manner that Azir was." He clasped her hand in his, giving it a gentle squeeze, then stood up. "I really appreciate your idea for Eolia, and I'll think on it. I have to go back tomorrow and make some sort of arrangement to get Lee out of the morgue." Stepping towards the door, he glanced over at Megan. "Inspector, I don't care what you do with that damn DVD drive, but if you decide to hand it over to the Department of Defense, I have a few contacts who could help." With that, LaFollet let himself out of the apartment.
He had one more stop to make that evening and while he wasn't actually dreading it, he wasn't too sure how Brianna Stertz was going to react either. In the last three months, as a Watcher, he'd done the unthinkable -- lost not one, but both of the Immortals he was assigned to observe. Climbing into the Lexus, Jan-Michel tried to ignore the scent that seemed to permeate the vehicle as he cranked the engine over. No use. Somehow he had the impression that he'd never be able to smell either heather or lavender again without thinking of Lee Eolia.
Turning the car southward, he set his sights for Seattle and his meeting with his Watcher 'boss' -- while trying to think of the right way to tell the woman that he was, technically, out of a job, at least until a new Immortal came along who needed to be watched.
Yawning and stretching, Blair opened his eyes. Watery sunlight filtered through the curtains over his bed. Man, how late was it? Rolling over on the small mattress, he caught a whiff of Dee's unique scent, a mixture of pheromones and the flowering herb bath gel she used. Dee had been here...memories of the night before trickled back slowly. Oh, god, Lee! And Jim! God only knew how he had taken the news of her death.
Tossing the blankets back, Blair sat up, then blinked in surprise as he realized his ribs didn't hurt. Dee...a smile crossed his face, then quickly faded. Two people had died last night. He shouldn't be happy. He ran his hands through his tangled mass of hair. But he was happy, god help him, he was. Dee was alive, Jim was alive--wait, no, Jim had been hurt! That's why they'd been at the hospital last night. The Quickening! Jim had touched him during the Quickening!
A noise from the other room shot Blair to his feet. "Oh, whoa, big mistake. Head rush..." He closed his eyes to stop the room from spinning. Feeling himself sway, he reached out for something to steady him, and felt a hand close around his arm.
"Take it easy there, Chief. Why don't you sit down for a minute, and then we can try standing again?"
"Okay." Blair promptly sat back down on the futon. The mattress shifted as Jim took a seat next to him. Blair opened his eyes and examined his partner. "You okay? You look like shit."
Jim snorted. "You should see yourself, Darwin. Interesting colors you've got going on there." His finger traced lightly along Blair's jaw as Blair flinched, more in reflex than in actual pain. "How are the ribs?"
Blair felt a smile flirting with his lips again. "Fixed, I think, or those drugs are *really* good." Jim's fingers probed along his side. "Hey, man! That tickles!" he exclaimed, squirming out of the sentinel's reach. "I'm fine. The more important question is: how are you?"
Jim looked away for a moment, closing his eyes. All Blair could see was the other man's stoic profile, but the fine lines around his eyes and the firm set of his jaw gave away some of what Jim must be feeling.
"Did Dee tell you about Lee?" Jim's chin lowered fractionally. "I'm so sorry, Jim. I know you thought that maybe she might turn out to be someone special. You want to talk about it?"
Shaking his head, Jim ran a hand over his face and opened his eyes. "Not right now, Sandburg. I've still got a headache, though not nearly as bad as last night. I'm wiped out physically, and emotionally, I'm just numb at the moment. If I feel the need to talk, I know where to find you." He slapped Blair's knee lightly and got to his feet. "I was going to make something to eat, you interested?"
"Yeah, after I take a shower. What time is it anyway?" He extended a hand, and Jim hauled him to his feet.
"About 2:30. I woke up about an hour ago. Dee was across the hall with Megan last time I checked. Want to invite them over to eat?"
Blair shuffled over to his dresser, rooting through the drawers for clean clothes. "I will after I get cleaned up." He pushed the drawer shut and turned to face Jim. "Some sucky holiday this has turned out to be, huh?"
Sighing, Jim replied, "Yeah," before heading for the kitchen. Blair made his way down the hall to the bathroom, trying not to dwell on the events of last night.
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Blair finally emerged from the bathroom to find Megan seated at the kitchen table with Jim. Something that looked like a part from a computer was sitting on a stack of papers and folders in the middle of the table. "Hey, what's that?" he asked, vigorously scrubbing at his wet hair with a towel.
Megan looked at him, her gaze running slowly from his head to his toes and back up again. One eyebrow arched and a grin spread across her face. Blair realized he was standing in the hallway in nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist. "Um, I'll be right back." Darting into his room, he shut the door behind him and quickly dressed. When he returned, Jim and Megan were talking about the Department of Defense.
"I know LaFollet turned it in to me, Jim, but I hate the thought of giving the thing to the PD. It'll only end back up in Ventriss' hands, and he'll be free to destroy it."
Getting a cup of coffee from the kitchen, Blair walked over to the table. "Is that the DVD ram that started all this?"
Jim nodded. "I guess Jan-Michel found it last night, at wherever Brad was hiding out. He brought it over and gave it to Connor."
"So, you're trying to decide what to do with it?" At both cops' nods, Blair continued. "Technically, it really doesn't belong to Ventriss, or QuestScape. They were contracted by the DOD to create the program on there. It's actually DOD
property. I don't see any reason we can't call them and arrange to give it back. I mean, we would be doing QuestScape a favor, making sure that information gets to its rightful owners." Giving them both a grin, he took a big swallow of coffee.
"Well, when you put it that way...I'll make some phone calls, Chief. I know a couple people who would be very interested in what's on that DVD." Getting up from the table, Jim snagged the portable phone and headed upstairs to where Blair knew he kept his list of phone contacts.
"Would you like some coffee, Megan?" At her head shake, Blair pulled out a chair and sat down. "You just come over this morning, uh, this afternoon?"
