THE ELIZABETH SERIES
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
FROZEN
by JoLayne
EnyaJo@aol.com
RATING: PG-15
CHARACTERS: M, DM, A, OCs Elizabeth, Jason, Tom
SUMMARY: Elizabeth starts to remember as Jason has zeroed in on
where they are.
~~~~~
APRIL 21, 2004
CABIN
Jason stepped over the debris and pulled the short haired man's body up
from the floor. Under him, he found Angel, dead from a gunshot in the
back. Good, she wouldn't back talk him until they were well on the way
out of there. She had to be furious that she was taken from him and James,
and brought out there to the sticks. He dropped the man back on the floor
and wrapped a blanket from the couch around Angel and lifted her up. A
small child was crying, but he ignored it. He didn't plan on taking any
heads either, he just wanted to get Angel out of there and both of them get
away from James. Above everything else, he loved her and was pleased
James trusted him to get her. The old fool. As he had made his way to
Montana, he dreamed of taking Angel's money and going away with her.
They'd work on their own.
He carried her out to the Sno-cat he had rented, and it was tough going.
The wind would come in waves, so there were times he could make out
things, and some times he couldn't even see Angel in his arms. The Sno-
cat was heated, and he couldn't wait to get back into it. The trip from town
to the cabin, the destination garnered from a phone call to Joe, was a long
and involved one. When he found the Sno-cat in the yard, which wasn't an
easy task in the blizzard, he deposited Angel on the seat beside him and
drove, blindly. It didn't matter if they were on a road or not because the
vehicle had tracks instead of wheels. The only thing he had to worry about
was hitting a tree or building. He knew where the driveway was in relation
to how the cat was parked and turned it around to find it again. The light
pole, he remembered was alongside the turn off for the cabin, could be
seen through the snow and he knew he had to get past it to the main road.
Jason thought about Immortality. He wished he was one. He'd seen Angel,
James, and other immortals die around him, was amazed every time they
came back to life. James warned him that he'd die a grizzly death if he told
anyone. Who was Jason to quibble? He found the tracks he made on his
way there and followed them. Suddenly gleeful that he had found her he
began fantasizing about being on a nice warm beach with a pina colada in
his hand, Angel at his side, and Angel's money financing it.
In the cabin, Duncan, then Amanda, then Methos revived. Snow was
blowing in from the broken window and there was a white blanket over
everything. Methos bolted up and looked all over for Elizabeth, yelling out
her name over the sound of wind. She was gone and Claire was screaming.
That was a good sign, she was alive, not hurt, hopefully. They were
panicked, Methos grabbed Claire, who was blue from the cold, and
checked her over. He didn't see anything but transferred blood on her bare,
pudding stained chest. He brought her into the bedroom and wrapped her
in the bedding and held her until she calmed down.
Duncan rummaged through the basement, found a tool chest and unhinged
some doors down there, grabbed a hammer and nails and went back up
with them to board up the window. When Claire quieted, Methos gave her
to Amanda and joined Duncan, helping with the patch job. There was still
cold air seeping in, so Amanda stuffed towels in the cracks.
"I lost her again. How did they get here? How did James find us!?"
Methos went to Claire and bundled her up then they put on coats. When he
charged to the door, Duncan held him back. Methos brushed him off,
shouting, "We have to go after her!"
"There's a blizzard outside!"
"James got here, we can get to him!"
"There's no visibility!" Duncan grabbed Claire and kicked Methos back.
"He made his way here! I'll find him!"
Claire started crying again at the commotion and Methos opening the door
letting in more snow and wind. "If we were looking for a town, a fixed
point," Duncan yelled as he kicked the door closed again. "We may be
able to accomplish it, but we won't be able to find a moving target in a
blizzard! They aren't going to get far! We'll look as soon as it's over."
Methos knew he was right, but really wanted to punch someone. "I want to
find her too, Methos!"
Methos stepped back and took Claire, kicking the chair on his way back to
the living room, "Why did you have to buy a cabin in Montana?! Wouldn't
a nice little hut on the Jamaican coast have sufficed for a little place to get
away from it all?"
Amanda patted Claire's head as she once again quieted, holding on tight to
Methos, "All right, both of you, settle down. Let's think this through. We
just have to wait out the storm. She would probably be brought back to
Chicago, or London, or California, or where else does James have a
place?"
"We'll get him before then," Duncan said. "Tom down the road has a Sno-
cat." They had to get themselves to an airport before they could go
anywhere. "We have to wait until after the storm and then we'll go after
him, if they even make it to the airport themselves. They're not Supermen,
they can't get far in this weather either."
Methos muttered, "They got here."
"We just have to wait it out."
Duncan tried the cell phone to call Joe to start a track on them, forgetting
there wasn't any tower. He tried the cabin phone since James had already
found them, but it was dead. Duncan said, "We just have to wait."
"I can't do that!" Methos said, "I just got her back."
"We know she's alive," Duncan said. "None of us are going to rest until
we find her. We will find her, Methos."
"What if he kills her? For good?"
"He would have, here, to let us find her, he didn't," Duncan said. "He
could have killed all of us, but he didn't. He's playing with us again. Liz is
alive and we'll find her."
~~~~~
SNO CAT
Elizabeth revived but had no idea where she was or what had happened.
The blanket wrapped around her was bloody, so what ever happened it
must not have been good. She looked at the white outside the window,
then noticed that the driver was Jason. "Welcome back," he smiled,
thinking she'd be happy.
There wasn't anyone in the back, she didn't know what kind of contraption
she was in. She demanded, "Take me back."
"I just rescued you," Jason incredulously remarked, didn't she see that?
When Elizabeth defiantly opened her door, he reached over and slammed
it shut. Then for good measure, an old habit emerged when she didn't
behave, he belted her across the face. "Do you realize my orders were to
kill you? Kill them? I'm the good guy here."
"No, you're a monster," she said as she tried to wriggle out of his grip.
That didn't work, so she reached over and grabbed his crotch and twisted.
He squealed in pain, loosened his hold on her. She opened the door again,
flung herself out, rolled down the ditch.
Jason shut off the cat and massaged his crotch, it was on fire. He angrily
shoved open the door, fully planning to kill the ungrateful bitch like he
was supposed to do in the first place. There'd
be big bucks in it for him if he brought back her head and it wasn't too
late. He jumped toward
a smudge of blue, against the field of white, he knew was the sweatshirt
she had been wearing.
All Elizabeth saw was white, she was immediately cold from the snow and
wind, since she was wearing no coat or even shoes. She tried to claw her
way up the side of the steep ditch just as Jason pounced on top of her. She
turned to see he was wearing a seriously warm coat that she wanted more
than life itself. He hollered over the loud hard wind, "I'm sorry... I didn't
kill you... on sight! That's what... Mr. James wanted! I'm risking... my life
to get you... away from them! All of them!"
She kicked him, stepped on him, up, and out of the ditch. Then ran,
blindly, only thinking about one step at a time. There were areas of hip
high drifts and she was barefoot. She didn't want anything to do with
Jason, James, or what she was. The time spent with those people at the
cabin who cared for her, cared about her welfare, was like a dream to her.
As she was plowing through the high snow, she wanted nothing more than
to get back to them. How did she get out there? Where was that damn
cabin? Was she in another county? It was cold, so cold, her face burned
from the wind and snow that pelted her. It was hard to move, but knew she
had to.
All she saw was white, she ran into a tree, fell back. She was near the
woods. She got up and gingerly walked into them. The trees sheltered her
a bit from the storm, she could see more than just her outstretched hand.
Having no idea where she was or where she was heading, she just moved
so she wouldn't freeze to the spot. She had to get home! Jason caught up
with her, grabbed her, screamed over the wind, "You were kidnaped,
weren't you?"
She struggled out of his grip, but fell from the cold. He fell on top of her,
held her hands down. They were full of snow, his mustache had crystalized
on his face. Looking at him she remembered that every time they would
flash a picture of David or say his name, and she reacted, she was
electrocuted. Why couldn't she remember her husband, if he was really
telling her the truth and was her husband? Why did James take her in the
first place? She didn't belong with him. She only knew that for some
reason James had saved her life, but she couldn't remember how. As
Elizabeth laid under Jason, who also didn't have the strength to even
stand, they slowly froze to death while she tried to figure it out.
~~~~~
APRIL 22, 2004
CABIN
The storm was over, the sun was shining, but the temperature was still
bitterly cold. Methos didn't like the winters of Montana, didn't care to
ever live through one again. How could people live there? Then again,
most people would live their entire lives without anyone blasting through a
window with an automatic weapon.
Amanda couldn't take the cabin fever anymore and now that the storm was
over, she declared, "I just can't sit around here! I'm going to go talk to
James."
Methos whipped his head around at Amanda's suggestion, "Are you
insane?" Duncan and Methos were getting heavy layers of clothes on,
Duncan had made arrangements to borrow Tom's Sno-cat when he came
by to plow the driveway.
"He knows me."
"You know too much about him! He'll kill you at the first opportunity."
Duncan told her, "We'll get to Chicago and work from there. All of us
together. Don't get any ideas of going off on your own, Amanda."
"Yes," Methos said. Amanda was glad he was worried about her, but then
he ruined it by saying, "You have to make sure Claire stays safe, that's the
most important thing and I'm counting on you."
Duncan went with Tom to get the Sno-cat while Methos tried the phone
again. Still dead. He tried the cell and after the storm, he could call out.
The signal was faint, but he got a hold of Joe and told him as much as he
could before the call was cut off. Methos got the gist of the conversation,
Joe would be on it. Duncan drove up in the Sno-cat as Methos and
Amanda carried Claire and their things out to go to the airport. They were
going to Chicago and would work from there.
Down the road, just past Tom's place, they saw a Sno-cat with drifted
snow around it, both doors open. Since it had obviously been there for a
while, there were no tire or foot tracks near it as the storm had covered
them, Methos got out and screamed, "Liz!"
Duncan inspected the inside of it and it was empty. He didn't know if that
was a good or bad thing. They told Amanda to stay in the Sno-cat with the
heater and Claire as they took off in different directions, screaming her
name.
Elizabeth revived once again, and shivered from the cold. The last time
she revived, the storm was still raging and it was dark. This time, she
could see Jason still on top of her, his death eyes open, staring at her.
Before she could die again, she knew she had to get moving. It took all her
strength to roll him and the snow drift off her, then she tried to take his
coat off. Jason was frozen solid and getting the coat off of him was
expending too much of her strength. When she stood, she fell, her legs
were numb. Her feet and hands were dark in color and numb. She started
moving away from Jason's body. Each step took a lot of work, the snow
was piled up so high around them and she had to pause against a tree to
collect her breath. Her fingers were deep purple and stiff. She wrapped
them in the bottom of her wet, cold sweatshirt. There wasn't anything she
could do but walk, hobble really, but she knew that if she didn't move,
she'd never be found until spring thaw.
~~~~~
CHICAGO
James was pissed because he hadn't heard from Jason since he gave him
the sword, his watch and traveling money. He had the sneaking suspicion
that he could have found Angel and taken off with her, there had been no
phone calls from him on his progress in the last 24 hours. All his grunts
knew that checking in during a mission was mandatory. James started to
think that all the calls from Jason had been ruses, he could be anywhere in
the world with Angel and his money. He called the bank to see if any of
Angel's funds had been withdrawn lately, and the woman said there hadn't
been any activity since before she was taken from Chicago.
He hung up happy with the thought that she hadn't cleared out, so she
might still be out there, without Jason. James decided to put more men on
finding her, and Gage was the man to do it. He called him into his office
and told him all he knew that Jason had reported. "You find them!" James
spouted, annoyed. "But don't approach her when you do. Just find out
where she is and report to me."
"Yes, sir," the loyal, bald man replied.
~~~~~
MONTANA
Elizabeth walked out of the woods by reflex knowing she had to keep
moving. Hallucinations were taking over her mind, the trees looked like
people to her. Their branches, were arms which seemed to reach out for
her, reminding her of the men who had either just stood around while her
mind was going through hell, or would use her in any way they wished.
Elizabeth didn't want to be touched anymore! The noises of the awaking
forest echoed in her mind. She couldn't walk any further in the thigh high
snow and bone chilling cold. Stopped, fell, died. Her right arm snapped
when she fell on it.
The men got back to the Sno-cat, having found nothing and decided to get
Amanda and Claire back to the cabin so they could search some more. The
hope that the abandoned Sno-cat meant that they hadn't gotten far was the
only saving grace to the whole situation. Elizabeth was probably dead out
there somewhere, but so would anyone else be who was with her. When
Methos found them, he would tear them limb from limb for what they'd
done, the worst thing being almost killing Claire. Elizabeth's and his body
protecting her from the gun blasts were the only reasons she wasn't
permanently two years old. It warmed him that Elizabeth's first instinct,
when the shots rang out, was to use her own body to protect Claire. She
would be fine, would remember, if they could only find her.
As they drove past Tom's to get back to the cabin, his dog Toby, jumped
into the back. They decided to keep him with them, he could sniff out a
trail if there was one to be found.
Elizabeth revived again, couldn't focus, but heard animals, farm animals,
not wild. Their sound was welcoming, she moved toward them, slowly in
the high snow, having to hold her arm because it swung wildly from being
broken and hadn't healed. She bit back the pain and just walked. Don't do
anything but walk!
Duncan drove Methos and himself, along with Toby the dog, back down
the main road and slowed, then came to a stop, pointing into the woods.
Just past a couple of trees, against the stark white, was a red lump. They
jumped out to take a look. The red was a frozen man's coat. There were
footprints leading away from him, leading further into the woods. They
couldn't get the Sno-cat between the trees, so they would hike, following
the footprints. Methos kicked the man furiously and Duncan solemnly
pointed out that he was already dead. Methos screamed, "I hope he burns
in hell!", then took off into the woods.
Duncan let him get out his frustrations, then asked, "What was she
wearing? I don't remember."
Methos said, "Sweatshirt and jeans."
"Would he have put a coat on her?"
"Probably not."
"She's probably dead."
"She's probably died a couple of times."
Methos headed into the woods, but Duncan said, "There's a road that goes
back into them, let's take the Sno-cat or we're going to freeze out here."
Elizabeth could hardly move her knees. Her feet were numb. She had a
hell of a time getting through the high snow. Her lungs were on fire, the
healing wasn't able to work when her body temperature was still deathly
low. She saw a long mound. It had to be a plowed road. She tried to climb
it, then slipped down the deep ditch, snow fell on top of her. She died once
again.
When the men got back to the Sno-cat, Duncan saw it was almost out of
gas. Methos was pissed, nothing was going right, he punched the dash.
"Hey," Duncan yelled. "We can fill up at Tom's. He's got a tank. Just hold
on, she's probably laying somewhere, dead, and we'll get to her."
Elizabeth came to, but was so weak, she couldn't even open her eyes.
Taking a deep breath, she got fresh air, but also a nose full of the snow that
surrounded her. In her mind, she was with a young bloodied man in a
crashed car. Elizabeth stroked his cheek, pleading with him, "Don't worry,
honey. Help will be here soon. Just hold on!" Victor was so still after the
car accident that she had caused, swerving to miss the fox that darted in
front of the car. "I'm so sorry," she whispered to him, and knew he was
dead.
Elizabeth whimpered the man's death was horrible for her, but she had no
idea who he was, but hoped she would remember. Was it David? No. This
man had brown hair with a touch of silver at the temples. She couldn't
move in the impacted snow around her and thought she was going crazy as
the visions of different times and places flew through her mind. All of a
sudden, she was kneeling in the snow, holding the hand of a wounded
solider wearing World War II fatigues.
"Just hold on," Elizabeth told him. "What's your name?"
"Leonard Trimble," he whispered with the last of his strength.
"Leonard, it's all right. You're going to be fine," she said as she slit his
arm and fumbled for the bullet next to the bone just as the doctor arrived at
her side and took over the surgery. The soldier cried out and she grabbed
his hand, so sorry that they didn't have anesthesia to put him out, but he
would have lost the arm if she hadn't tried to fix it. The soldier pulled at
her nurse's uniform. She leaned down and asked, "Where are you from?"
Trying to get him talking so he wouldn't think of the pain. She saw that
the doctor was stitching him up, and would be finished shortly.
"Plains, Georgia," the soldier said, biting back the pain from the needle
and thread going in and out of his skin. The snow and wind whistled
around them as they lay on the battlefield. She wanted to stay with
Leonard, but there were so many who needed attention, she crawled over
to the next one to survey the damage left on his body.
As she laid in the snow alongside the steep slope, she heard a motor run
and shut down her memories getting back to the present to holler for help.
The motor sound came nearer. She whined, but couldn't move from the
weight of snow covering her which didn't loosen, even though the ground
rumbled. She couldn't breath... the air was closing off. It hurt to try to fill
her lungs. It was a futile exercise, her body shut down again.
Duncan drove the Sno-cat down Tom's driveway. The dog jumped out of
the back and made a beeline back to something in the ditch up the drive.
He barked and clawed at the snow, sniffing at it. Methos looked back and
told Duncan to stop the vehicle and jumped out. The dog clearly had
something under that snow.
When Methos got to the dog to pull him back, he saw a bare foot, black
from frostbite. He started pulling the snow away, saw jeans. He yelled,
"Mac, help me!"
Duncan moved the dog back and helped shovel the snow off of Elizabeth,
who was frozen stiff and dead, lying face down. Duncan kept roughly
rubbing snow away. Methos grabbed his hand, "Stop! Don't rub the skin,
just to be on the safe side. Don't break anything off her, it won't heal if it's
cut off."
They gently turned Elizabeth over. Her body crunched in the process.
Methos took an intake of air, hoping he wasn't breaking every bone in her
body. Frostbite was enough pain to suffer during the healing, she didn't
need more broken bones than she might already have to endure healing.
Methos figured that crunch was a rib or two, and saw that she had already
broken her arm. Duncan put his hand on her blackened forehead.
They picked her up from the snow bank and carried her to the back of the
Sno-cat. When Elizabeth was laid down, she rocked, her body was almost
frozen solid. Duncan hopped into the driver's seat and Methos stayed in
the back with her.
As soon as Duncan parked at the cabin, Amanda had already rushed
outside. Methos ordered, "Fill the bathtub with hot but tolerable water. Get
out towels, lots of them, get them soaked with the water. We have to wrap
her hands and feet, they're pretty far gone."
Amanda ran back inside as Duncan and Methos gently lifted Elizabeth's
body up and carried her into the house. By the time they got her inside,
maneuvering through doors and around furniture, the tub was full, a meat
thermometer floated in the water. Hand and bath towels were soaking in
the tub. Duncan and Methos laid Elizabeth on the floor of the bathroom
and her body wobbled. While Methos wrapped her arms and legs with the
hot, wet towels from the tub, splashing water on the floor as he hadn't
wrung them out, Duncan told him, "She's immortal, Methos. She'll heal."
"I'm trying to make it go faster. The worse it is, the more pain she'll have
to endure."
Once the towels were wrapped around her, Methos picked her up but
needed help to get her into the tub. Duncan lifted her shoulders and they
put her in. She was straight as a board and didn't fit, so they held her so
her head and chest were in the water. Slowly, her body bent and they were
able to set her in the hot water. Methos kept her head under water, figuring
it was most important to get her brain thawed as soon as possible, even
though it had been almost a blank slate.
Duncan stepped back as Methos mumbled, "Come on," urging her
immortal instincts on, staring at her for any indication that she was going
to revive. Her body was thawing, her shoulder fell deeper into the tub. Her
head fell to the bottom. When her eyes flickered, she took a deep breath
before Methos got her out of the water. She screamed through the hacking
coughs that seared her lungs. Methos said, "Sh, it's okay. It's okay, don't
fight the pain."
Elizabeth shook and coughed while the healing took place all over her
body. Bones crunched and she flopped in the water, splashing everyone
who was in the room. Methos turned on the water to refill the tub, keeping
a hand on her, to hold her in the water. Elizabeth remembered being
programmed; she was in water and a hand would reach for her at any
point. James had thrown her in water. Safety! Take the hand! She saw
Methos' and grabbed it, moaned as the black skin that covered her fingers
crackled with lights. She was in intense pain, the tissue damage to her
body was extensive and her whole body was on fire.
Duncan had slipped out and met Amanda, frantic from the noise, in the
hallway. Once again she had a reality check, all of this was because of
James, whom she always thought was a harmless pussycat, or she never
would have dragged Liz along to LA for those damn coins. She was
feeling deep guilt about her friend's predicament. Claire wasn't taking the
sounds of pain very well either, so she carried her downstairs.
Methos held Elizabeth tightly even though he was getting shocks from the
healing sparks mixed with the water. He used a sponge to pour water on
her infected forehead and cheeks. The healing took the black away from
her face and fingers and feet. The pain was excruciating and left her
exhausted, shivering. She was still so cold.
Methos kept telling her she was okay. When her eyes finally followed the
voice and looked at him, he kissed her, so happy she was back with him.
The fact that her eyes shut was the only indication that she even felt it.
Methos pulled the towels off her body and saw the renewed skin. She
looked at her hands and feet, they were a healthy pink, but seemed to
belong to someone else. She was no longer in pain, but was wiped out, still
so cold. Elizabeth tried to get a grasp on what happened to her, all she
remembered was the cold harsh wind on her body and the eyes of a man
who held her down in the snow wearing a red coat that looked warm.
"I'm going to give her a shower and put her to bed," Methos told Duncan
at the door. "Ask Amanda to get something warm for her to wear, and
socks."
"I'll turn up the heat," Duncan squeezed Methos' shoulder. "We'll be right
outside, Doc."
Methos drained the tub and asked Elizabeth to sit up. She couldn't, was a
freezing blob in the tub. He pulled her up to a sitting position then grabbed
some towels from the closet. He laid out a couple on the floor, then turned
back to her. She was just sitting in the water, looking at her hands. He put
his arm around her. "Get up," he softly urged.
When she didn't move, he lifted Elizabeth to a standing position. She only
seemed intent on coughing, so he pulled her out of the water. Water
dripped as he laid her on the floor. She was awake, blinked, stared,
shivered, in her own world as visions and memories were flying at her, but
she couldn't make any sense of them.
When James saved her from the pool and she had been laid on the
concrete, she knew she had to wait for him to tell her it was all right to
breath, let alone get up, walk, talk. She waited. James didn't come to her.
He didn't talk to her. His absence scared her. Someone was poking her,
prodding her, moving her, working on her. She didn't like it, but was used
to it, knew there was no use in fighting it.
As Methos worked on getting the dirty, wet clothes off her, he wondered if
something had snapped in her head, she was so tranquil. He was glad she
was no longer in pain, but there wasn't any indication of a person in the
shell of her body. Methos drained the tub and shut the shower curtain,
started the shower and went back to Elizabeth. She hadn't moved. She
stared straight up at the ceiling. He leaned down close to her face and
whispered, "Come on, Lizzie, you're healed. Can you hear me?" There
was no evidence that she did, she only stared and shivered, wondering
who's voice the words belonged to and worried about what he was going
to do to her next. Whatever it would be, she didn't have the strength to
fight it.
When he pulled her to a sitting position, his leg kicked a space heater in
the corner, so he turned it on full blast. He took of his shirt and kicked off
his shoes, then lifted her up and walked into the shower with her. He stood
her up and braced her against the wall as he directed the shower head on
her. Methos rubbed, then soaped and scrubbed the dirt and blood off her,
massaged her shoulders, arms, legs, to make sure circulation was pumping.
She had goose bumps even thought the water was on the verge of being
scalding.
Once she was standing on her own, Methos did a more thorough job of
cleaning her off. He stood her directly under the shower spray and soaked
her hair, washed it for her, conditioned it. Wishing it was her old hair.
Then, he heard her crying. It wasn't until he turned her around and he was
able to see through the steam in the shower that he realized she was crying
from confusion, having no idea where she was.
He moved her face to make sure she could see him and said, "You're safe,
Lizzie. Nothing's going to happen to you again. I will not allow it."
She didn't know if she heard that or had fantasized it. That was new. No
one had ever said that to her, and meant it. It seemed like that voice did
mean it, but it was so far away, like on a cell phone with a bad connection.
Methos turned off the water and squeezed her hair. She just stared straight
ahead, no matter where her head faced. He stepped out of the shower stall
and she stood on her own, still shaking terribly. He grabbed a towel from
the closet and wrapped it around her, rubbing some water off, then lifted
her over the edge of the tub when she didn't move. He flipped the toilet
seat down with his knee and sat her on it, rubbed another towel over her
arms. The water dripped onto the floor from the both of them.
When he was satisfied that she wouldn't tip over, he told her, "I'll be right
back." He opened the door, slipped out, closed it so Duncan and Amanda
couldn't see her from the hall. Duncan had lifted her dress and sliced her
open, twice by the sound of it, but this was different. She was conscious
and he wanted her to be as comfortable as possible.
Amanda, holding a nightgown, underwear and socks, went for the door.
Methos said, "Don't go in there. She's only wearing a towel."
"She doesn't have anything I don't have," Amanda declared as she went in
and shut the door behind her.
Methos went into the bedroom and changed quickly out of his soaked
pants into fresh clothes. Duncan hovered at the door. "Is she remembering
anything?"
"I don't know if she's even thinking," Methos yanked a cable knit sweater
over his head and pulled it down. He could swim in it. Duncan was going
to mention it was his, but it didn't matter in the long run.
Amanda knelt down next to Elizabeth and held her hand. "Liz, I'm so
sorry to have gotten you involved with James."
Only when she heard his name did she turn and look at Amanda,
"Where..." Elizabeth couldn't finish, but thought Amanda would know
how to get back to him. Wondered where he was. Wondered how she
knew him. She had to get back to James.
Then Elizabeth closed her eyes and got a flash of a woman with Amanda's
build jumping over a high fence at night dressed in black. Methos came
back into the bathroom, wiping the memory from her mind. Methos said,
"I'll take over again. Thanks."
Amanda stood, "She's even worse than before. They didn't give her
anything again, did they?"
"I don't know." He dropped the clothes for Elizabeth on the floor and
moved to make room for Amanda to leave them in private. In Elizabeth's
mind, she was sitting in the corner of that bare room again, naked. She
didn't know how she got back in that room or why she was there, but she
knew someone was watching her.
Methos started wiping her off with the towel. She groaned at the intrusion,
but let him. Be submissive, that was the one thing she could remember to
do that would ensure that she did not get electrocuted or killed. He put the
nightgown over her head and had to pull her arms through the sleeves. She
let him, let her arms flop down as soon as he let go of them. She wondered
who this man was. He wasn't Gage or Louis or Jason. They were the only
ones who acted like they owned her. Roberts? No. His touch had never
been that gentle.
Methos put the panties at her feet and had to lift her legs to slide them on.
She looked at him closely, he had soft, caring eyes. His touch was
sensitive, not exploratory. He was staring at her, but his stare wasn't
frightening or intimidating. David. That's who this was. She looked
around the bathroom and saw it was bright, small, not the long, dark, bare
room that was only furnished with a two way mirror and a metal bed with
straps.
Methos hiked the panties to her knees and grabbed her around the waist
and pulled them up as she leaned on him. He pulled the nightgown down
and set her back on the seat. He continued to hold her with his arms
around her waist and rubbed her back and arms because she still shivered.
Then he felt her arms go around his neck. Her shivers had turned to cries
as she held onto him tightly, knowing she should recognize this man. His
body against hers was so familiar.
He asked, "Can you even hear me?" He felt her head nod, her chin was
resting against his shoulder. His smell was in her nose and she knew he
was important, and so awfully familiar, but it was just too hazy. She didn't
even remember how she'd gotten frozen in the first place.
He pulled back and held her face in his hands, looked into her eyes. They
pleaded for answers. He used the towel to dry her hair, "Come on, talk to
me."
When she only sized him up, he kissed her again. She kissed him back,
and then pulled back. He told her, "Your hair was longer before. You were
always after me to grow mine out. Now it's your turn. But there's not so
much to dry now." He could be speaking Greek for all she let on. His
accent, his voice, where had she heard it before; then wondering when
James or one of his men would burst through the door to kill them. A
Black horse. A waterfall. A house with a leaky roof. A lot of pictures
flipped through her mind.
Methos hoped she didn't suffer a stroke or something she couldn't recover
from. It could be possible, there was a lot that he had seen during his 5000
years that confounded him. He just wished she'd snap out of it. As he put
the socks on her, she was so cold but not in temperature, from the loss of
her whole being. She was so grateful to him, but couldn't say a word, only
shivered. He helped her stand up.
When he opened the door, he saw Duncan going down the stairs. He
turned around when he heard the bathroom door open and came back up.
Methos waited for Elizabeth to walk, but she stumbled when she tried. She
was paralyzed by fear of what she had gone through and what may still be
to come. Methos wished she would just talk to him, tell him what her mind
was going through. But Elizabeth just wanted to push everyone away, shut
and lock the world out. Give her a minute, just a minute to figure it all out.
When she hadn't moved, Methos lifted her into his arms and walked by
with Duncan to the bedroom. Duncan pulled the covers down for her.
Methos got her into bed. She rolled onto her side, toward the wall, closed
her eyes, grabbed the blankets up to her neck. Duncan said, "Holler if you
need anything."
Methos nodded to Duncan, 'Thanks'. Duncan went to the door. Methos
said, "Oh, Mac. I do need something. Badly."
"What's that?"
"Cameron James' head."
That got Elizabeth's attention, she was grateful. The best news she'd heard
in years, or ever.
"Me first, buddy," Duncan said. "I'll make some calls." He shut the door
behind them as he backed into the hallway.
Methos knelt by the side of the bed, put his hands to his face to wipe away
the fatigue. Then he straighten the covers, tucking her in. He could see her
shaking and rubbed her arm and side for warmth, making her jump. She
sat up and spin around in a defensive posture that made him roll back on
his heels.
Elizabeth's stance softened and it surprised him when she said, "David,"
as a discovery of who he was, not a question. He leaned back onto the bed,
nodding. She was happy there weren't any shocks or punishments for
saying that name. She turned over and laid back down, facing him, wanted
to hold him, so she held the sheet and blankets up. He got under the covers
and held her after she situated her head on his shoulder.
David... that was his name. What was so awful that she remembered
David? The shock sensations caused by his name, in her mind, didn't
affect her. She was grateful for what he'd done for her. She felt so
comfortable, so safe in his arms. James would hate that. James took the
memory of David away from her so she could leave him. James needed her
to act on her own, to steal, kill...
As she rubbed Methos' chest, the spot where she shot him for no reason
other than fright in the elevator, the past couple of days flooded back to
her and she was embarrassed. "I'm sorry I shot you," she mumbled.
His grip tightened, he bent his head down, whispered, "It's in the past."
She shook her head no and apologized again, convincing him that all past
wrongs needed to be forgiven. Methos loved her and knew that whatever
she did, she did out of desperation, not spite and it wasn't her fault. "Why
did you? We only wanted to help."
"I didn't know that. You scared the hell out of me. I'm sorry."
Methos realized she wasn't speaking with the fake accent anymore.
Finally, Methos felt that his life was falling back into place. "I forgive
you."
"David?" When she said his name, the only side effect was to warm her a
little more. She liked saying his name.
He wished she'd say his real name, but he was there with her. "Yes?"
"Thank you for finding me," she said through the shivers that she couldn't
stop. "Both times."
"I had to," he told her, rubbing her arm and making sure she was
completely covered up.
She lifted her head and looked at him, "You must have been the reason
Cameron made sure I didn't remember. That's what he did, wasn't it? He
made sure I didn't remember you. Because if I knew I had you... I never
would have stayed away."
Her hand was still on his chest, so Methos put his left hand over hers and
squeezed, slightly nodded, pleased she was coming to her senses. She saw
his wedding ring and moved his hand closer so she could look at it. She
pulled at it to take it off but Methos stopped her. She said, "I just want to
see it. There's an inscription, isn't there?"
Methos happily let her take it off when she said that. She rolled the ring
between her fingers, looked for it, she somehow knew something would be
there. She only saw an M and an E that had faded from wear. "It must have
rubbed off."
"What did you think it said?"
She shrugged. "I don't know. I just knew there was something there."
"M and E are our initials."
"I get the E is Elizabeth, but what's the M?"
"That's what I want you to remember. Can I have my ring back now?"
She held it out to him, but he only held his hand out to her, fingers first.
She slipped it back on. Methos held her closer, exalted that she was
remembering, but progress was slow. She still called him David. He
wondered if he should just plow ahead and tell her of their life, but saw
that her eyes were closed. She had to be exhausted, and once again he was
warmed with the knowledge that they had time.
She suddenly snapped her eyes open and looked up at him and asked,
"You know me well, huh?" He nodded and smiled. She asked, "Was I
born in Northumberland?"
"No."
"When did I have my first death?"
"You are the ripe old age of 173 years," he smiled. "You're American."
"I don't know what's real, or what James told me," she cried. "What's the
truth?"
Methos hugged her tighter, said, "You just have to ask me. Do you trust
me enough for that?"
"Of course," she said, wiping her nose.
"The truth is," Methos said, kissing her forehead. "I'm your husband, I
love you, and I will tell you anything you want to know." He felt her arm
tighten around his chest, but her eyes were closed. Then he realized that
she was clamping them shut and seemed to be in pain. "What's wrong?"
"I'm not your wife," she said.
"Of course you are. What a thing to say."
"Whatever I once was, I'm not her anymore," she cried. "I've done...
things. Things I can't be forgiven for. Things you'd never understand."
Methos knew that she didn't know anything about him or his history and
in a small way, he was grateful, for the moment. "I can take it. What did
you do?"
Her mind drifted back to the alleyway in Chicago, to the deed she had
done that her comrades were so pleased with. The deed that confirmed that
she would burn in hell for having done it. She couldn't tell him. David
could never accept it and she needed him and his friends to get her life
back. Any life... it would be better than the one she had been living with
James.
Elizabeth rolled onto her back and the shivers took over her body again as
she held her hands over her face and cried about what she had done. She
had done so many things, but that instant in the alleyway was more than
she could take and she knew she could never be forgiven for it. Methos
took her hands and put them down so he could see her face. She was
devastated and turned away from him. "I can take it, Liz. Tell me what it
is. You can't have it bundled up inside. Tell me."
"You'll hate me, as you should."
"I'd never hate you."
"I can't tell you. Not yet. Please... leave it alone."
He laid his head next to hers on the pillow and covered her up again,
rubbed her arm to rid it of the goose bumps and nodded. "That's fine. It's
all right, Liz. Whatever you think about, whatever you've done, just tell
me. There's no secrets anymore."
She was crying uncontrollably now and he let her, he just held her head
and let her cry it out. He remembered the night he told her about his days
as a horseman and she couldn't have done anything so heinous. She had
been there for him after knowing the truth, he hoped that she would give
him the opportunity to be there for her when she finally revealed what she
couldn't talk about at the moment.
CONTINUED - in Chapter Twenty-Seven - Do Not Leave Her
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