THE ELIZABETH SERIES

CHAPTER SEVENTY-FIVE

THE MERCHANDISE

by JoLayne

RATING: PG

CHARACTERS: Methos, Amanda, Duncan, Joe, Amy, Warren, Cassandra, Robert and Gina DeValicourt, Stephen Keane, Claudia Jardine, OCs Elizabeth, Claire, Freelow, Benji, Guy, Terry, James, Thomas, Liam, Brynn, and the Crusaders

SUMMARY: The Crusaders have begun their scavenger hunt and know precisely where the rest of the Immortals and Watchers are to complete their own little Gathering.

DISCLAIMER: All characters and concepts you recognize from Highlander: The Series are owned by Panzer/Davis, and maybe Greg Widen. Just using them for fun, no profit is expected or pursued.

~~~~~

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2013
NEW YORK CITY

Joe woke up that morning filled with intense worry. Not only had Guy not come to pick him up at the airport, but he hadn't come back to the hotel last night. Joey hadn't wanted to display it too overtly, but Joe could tell his grandson was worried. Katie kept asking where her mommy was, and all Joe had told her was that she was away, missed her very much, and will be home soon. When Joey had started to argue that with Joe, Benji had taken the boy into the bedroom. Joe didn't see either young man the rest of the night. He had put Katie down in her playpen for the night, and realized after she was asleep that he hadn't changed her into whatever pajamas she might have. Joe didn't want to wake her up, he then spent the rest of the night on the couch by the phone.

He hadn't slept well. There had been no sign of Guy or Amy or word from Duncan, Methos, Amanda, or Elizabeth. He had been under the impression that Duncan would meet him at the airport, and tried his cell phone to see where he was now. Duncan didn't answer, which only made Joe more worried. No matter where Duncan was or what he was doing-save having sex-the man always answered his cell phone. Joe called the St. Regis, because that's were he was told they were all staying. On the one hand Joe hoped that Duncan and Amanda were busy and that's why he hadn't answered his cell, on the other hand, he was quite pissed that they might be having intimate relations while his daughter and son-in-law were missing. Joe asked the clerk for Duncan MacLeod's room, and the phone rang seven times before she came back on line. "Mr. MacLeod must be out of his room; he didn't put a block on phone calls. Would you like to leave a message, sir?"

"He hasn't checked out, right?"

"No, sir. He could be down at breakfast. I noticed him walk through the lobby just awhile ago. Would you like to leave him a message?"

Joe smirked. Sure. MacLeod usually did attract a woman's eye. "No, I wouldn't know what to say. How about Amanda Montrose? Is she there?"

"One moment, sir."

Joe heard the phone ring for her room and sighed as he paced slowly with his cane, not expecting an answer and if Duncan was with her, the last thing she'd want to do is answer the phone. "Hello?" he heard Amanda's voice quite guarded.

"Amanda?" Joe asked, taken aback. "Where is everyone?"

"Joe?" Amanda sounded surprised. She didn't know he was coming? What was wrong with everyone? "At the hospital, more than likely."

"Hospital?! What the hell?"

Joe thought he was listening to the plot of a movie Amanda had seen rather than the plight and trauma that had happened to Methos' daughter. Even though his heart went out to Claire's parents, there was a glimmer of hope for his own family emergency. "Did you see Guy up there? Maybe he found out and-"

"No, I haven't seen him since he left to go to the airport. He had to have known that Liz went to the hospital and could, with a little checking, figure out that Claire was checked in. What kind of friend is he?"

"Missing."

"What?"

Joe was at least comforted that Amanda sounded alarmed. "I'm guessing the Watchers."

"Why?"

"They suddenly decided friends shouldn't watch friends? I've had a sinking feeling this might blow up in Amy and Guy's faces. Is everyone at the hospital?"

"As far as I know."

"Why aren't you up there?"

"Joe, they blame me for Claire's injuries. I know where I'm not wanted. I called and some nurse told me she couldn't release patient information to anyone but family members, and I guess a godmother doesn't mean anything to that heathen."

"When was Claire baptized?"

"You know what I mean. I'm like a second mother to her after Liz..." There was a pause, then Amanda said forcefully, "I'm packing to go to Miami to visit a friend. I just had another argument with Mac."

"Oh, Amanda. What now?"

"They don't want me around. Because of me, Claire is in the hospital. God, Joe. I thought Daniel would take my head."

"It's the father in him. Give him time, he'll come around."

"This is Daniel Gordon you're talking about, right?"

Joe chuckled. "Yes. I am. I know him, even though he won't admit it. I'm going to the hospital, want to meet me there? The more people there is to talk over this business with Amy and Guy, the better."

"Sorry, Joe. I don't have any answers, and I'm sure that Daniel will go for my head if I hang around there. And you know what? I may want to take his! Imagine!"

Joe could imagine Amanda was pacing and her ears were beet red as he could hear her frustration over the phone line. She huffily continued, "All the years we've been friends, even lovers, and he treats me like I've got the plague or am the embodiment of bad luck, or just scatterbrained; I don't know which extremely wrong idea of his is worse! Mac, too! You'd think we hadn't spent so many beautiful years together the way he's been treating me lately!"

Joe knew she had flown off the handle and didn't know if she could be brought back to earth, but he tried not to sound too commanding as he told her, "Amanda. Stay put. With Amy and Guy missing, I need all the help I can get."

"I'm so very sorry about Amy, Joe. You know that, but I don't want to mess anything else up. Get Mac and Dan to help you. Together, you'll work it out. My fingers are crossed you find her soon. I just can't seem to do anything right lately. I'd only be in the way."

"Amanda!" Joe yelled into the phone, but she had already hung up. It took a lot for Amanda to be resigned to anything, and Joe wondered just how hard Methos had been on her. More than that, why in the world was she leaving Duncan behind? He had to get to the hospital fast to find out just what these emotional immortals had been up to while his daughter and her husband had been taken away from him.

Joe ordered more than asked Benji to stay with the kids saying, "I'll be back in about an hour. Call me on my cell if you need anything." Before he walked out the door though, he took a look at Katie smiling at him, she just rose to a sitting position with a great yawn. "See you later, Pumpkin. Granddad will see you later." He cast a glare at Benji. He hoped it wasn't as harsh or worrisome as he felt, but he told him, "Don't let those kids out of your site. In fact, don't leave this room until I get back, no matter what happens."

Joe walked out of the hotel, when the doorman couldn't flag down a cab for him. "To hell with it, I'll just walk!" he trumpeted as he stalked down the sidewalk spitting nails as thoughts raced through his head: There wasn't one person in this whole damn world that would help him! Wasn't anyone else as concerned with Amy's and now Guy's whereabouts? Sure, he told himself as he took the corner on his way to Roosevelt Hospital, I feel as badly about Claire as anyone else, but what can you do for her? She's in good hands. Amy could be in the hands of... God only knows. I'd move heaven and earth to save Claire, why can't they lift a finger for me?

A tightness gripped his chest now that he had allowed himself to worry full-out about the whereabouts of his daughter, and whether or not she was still alive at all. He hadn't gotten five steps down the next street before he felt someone grab his arm from behind and shove him into the alleyway.

Joe fell like a sack of cement, but turned to see who his attacker was. This was all he needed, to be mugged when he was in such a homicidal mood. As he felt for the gun in his pocket, thinking he'd use a little scare tactic to make the hoodlum run off, the assaulter with a shock of red hair came at him fast. Joe wailed, "What the hell do you want?!" as he gave up trying to get the gun in the pocket under him and waved his cane, his only weapon at hand. When he saw a large hulking boob of a skinhead stalked behind red head, Joe dropped his cane and rolled over to get his gun. Just as he felt his fingers brush against the cold steel of his automatic, he felt a searing pain in his neck. He reached up involuntarily to swipe the red head's hand away and pulled a syringe out. The chamber was empty, and he immediately felt groggy. Joe was unconscious by the time his head hit the concrete.

~~~~~

George turned his collar up and faced away from the wind wondering how long he was going to have to "stay put," as the Dragon Lady had commanded him to do over two hours ago. When he had seen Duncan MacLeod leave the hospital the night before, he had called Tina Fallon to give her the update, since she was the only contact the Crusaders were allowed to talk to lately. George didn't know what was so high-powered important that Cartwright wouldn't talk to any of them personally anymore, his only guess was that the Crusade was coming to a head and they had to be careful about communications.

He looked to the coffee shop down the street with longing; the cold had a bite that went straight through him, and his hands fumbled with the filled syringe in his pocket. Tiko, Helen, and Riley were all in the vicinity, George knew, as the 'big four' the immortals Duncan and Amanda MacLeod and Daniel and Elizabeth Gordon had all converged on Roosevelt Hospital. Helen, who had been following Amanda MacLeod the past week, had witnessed the challenge that had resulted in injury to the Gordon brat, but only after eavesdropping and asking the right questions to the right people did they find out that the kid was in surgery. For what was anyone's guess; they couldn't glean that information from any hospital employees, but it indicated that the four immortals were planted for a while anyway.

Damn it," George wailed as he turned away from an especially strong gust of wind that made his already cold cheeks flare with pain. "Let's go already!" George knew that the room was done, the plans had been set, all the other 'merchandise' on the list had been taken first so the 'big four' wouldn't have gotten wind of the Crusade. He didn't know what was taking the Dragon Lady so long to give the order letting them finally do their jobs. He spotted Tiko down the street with a cup of coffee in his hand, and it looked more enthralling than gold to George at the moment. Helen was staked out at the hotel as Mrs. MacLeod had gone back there the previous night, and she was just waiting for the go ahead as well. There was one Crusader assigned to each major immortal, and Malone and Fred were taking one of the rat Watchers while he stood there trying to fend himself against the wind. Then they'd be free to come help them claim their prizes within a half hour if all went well on that end and they finally got the blessed call.

No Watcher was assigned to either Daniel or Elizabeth Gordon for the past couple of days, and Tina Fallon hadn't ordered any of the Crusaders to chronicle what they had seen. George would have played it differently. None of them were to tamper with any of the chronicles, per her orders, which by extension, were Cartwright's. George would have had the Crusaders chronicle what they had seen in order to make sure their real Watchers didn't put anything in there that could signal what was truly going on behind the scenes. But, to each his own. He knew he was just following orders, and one day he might get Fallon out of the way and be Cartwright's right hand man. Maybe one day, Cartwright would be history too. When the Watchers find out what they were up to, George wondered what kind of parade would be given in their honor.

Deep in thoughts of glory, George didn't realize that his cell phone was ringing. Damn those newfangled ringing tones. He forgot that he had changed his about fifty times over the past eight hours from sheer boredom. As the Minute Waltz played for almost that long, he finally pushed the button and held the phone to his ear. "Hello?" he said, following orders, noone was to answer with their last name, per Watcher instruction.

"Take them," were the only words he heard Tina Fallon speak. He almost laughed. Because he had been waiting for that call for so long, he thought hearing the words verbalized would have been much more meaningful or memorable.

When he gathered his composure, he asked, "What about the kid?"

"Leave her. She might die anyway." Tina Fallon never was one to let her heart bleed over sick kids or wounded puppies. She continued, "I checked, and she sustained a massive head injury, so... Besides, you want to babysit? It's her rat parents and their friends that we're going to exterminate."

With that, the line went dead. George felt warmth overtake him from the inside knowing that he now had his orders. He caught Tiko's attention down the street and gave him a thumbs-up. "Yes, ma'am," George said beaming at the hospital. "It's about freakin' time!"

~~~~~

It seemed like a lifetime ago, but it was barely two days since Elizabeth's birthday, and they were all having fun at the jazz club's brunch. She had gotten a locket, an urn, a health spa certificate, and most importantly, her soulcatcher, which she really could have used during the interminably long night she had just lived through. What had saved her sanity was that Methos was there, and he had needed to be comforted as much as she had. They had sat together commiserating on their grief, fear, and inability to do anything for their daughter for the time being, until the needle-nosed nurse told them they could see Claire again for just a few minutes. As aggravating as it was to only have five minutes every couple of hours with their daughter, it was better than nothing.

Methos stood up from the chair he had been planted in for the past half hour and said, "I'm going stir crazy. Why aren't they telling us anything? The doctor said it would be five minutes before he told us what's going on. Doctors. Their egos are worse than lawyers; wouldn't he guess we're on pins and needles here?"

"I'm with ya," Elizabeth said as he shot her a hard look. She was going to quantify that it wasn't her fault that the doctor was lacking bedside manner with Claire's parents, but didn't have to.

The door to the waiting room burst open, and Dr. Freelow waltzed in looking like he had a massive agenda for the day and this meeting had to be gotten out of the way quickly. His entire body language screamed self-importance. As long as he healed Claire, Elizabeth would give him any leeway he demanded. As she rose to be level with the men, she hoped and prayed that her little girl was all right and there was only good news for them.

"Well, after the night," Dr. Freelow said after closing the door for privacy and scanning a clipboard in his hands. Elizabeth and Methos were both taken aback. Why would he need to have privacy to tell them that Claire was all right was beyond her, but she waited patiently as the doctor read Claire's chart, only because that was what Methos was doing.

When Freelow didn't say anything more, just flipped through pages clipped to a board with the hospital's logo on it, Methos bit, "Well? After the night... what?"

"Claire's blood pressure is a too high, and she's experiencing a bit of discomfort now that she's more alert this morning."

"She has?" Methos challenged. "Why haven't we been able to see her?"

"We've been running tests, Mr. Gordon."

"If she's 'uncomfortable,' we should be with her," Elizabeth meekly suggested.

Freelow shook his head and mumbled, "Parents always seem to know best. You can see her in a few minutes, but please, only for a few minutes. She shouldn't move because of her arm and we'd like to keep her head stabilized for a while longer. The brain scan looks fine, but since her blood pressure is still high, we'd like to keep her for another day. She should be able to go home tomorrow if everything keeps going uphill."

"That's wonderful," Elizabeth was elated, and looked to Methos, who's stern stare at the doctor indicated that he wasn't as pleased as she was. Had she missed something?

"Yes," Methos sneered. "Parents may know best. I know the girl in that bed better than you or anyone in this hospital does. If she's been uncomfortable, her mother is right. We should have been there with her to see her through this. By the way, by discomfort, do you mean pain or fright or loneliness?"

"Claire is, and will for some time, experience pain. She suffered a broken arm and will have a headache for a few more days. She's been surrounded by caring nursing staff."

"If a certain member of the staff is any indication..." Methos said, and Elizabeth knew he was talking about the head nurse they had butted heads with earlier.

"And we have been running essential tests. Mr. Gordon, we've done all we can for Claire, she is not scared or lonely. In fact, she told one nurse to leave her be for a while."

"That could be an indication that she needs me."

"Or that she wanted some sleep undisturbed. You may know your daughter, but I know my patients."

"And you've been trying mine!"

Since this manly slinging of jabs back and forth wasn't getting them anywhere, Elizabeth interrupted the testosterone level in the room to ask, "May I see Claire?"

Freelow took his eyes off Methos to smile at her. "Yes. That was what I was going to close with. Again, I'd like Claire to stay one more night, but she can go home after an early morning X-ray to see how her arm is starting to fuse. I'm sure it might be too early to tell, but never hurts to check, does it?" he asked as he fully faced Methos.

Methos paused, then tilted his head in agreement but didn't say a word. The battle between them was over, and for that, Elizabeth was glad. They needed the doctor on their side. Freelow said, "Give us about an hour to finish up some things and then you can spend the rest of the day with her, if you like."

"I'd like that very much," Elizabeth said with a radiant smile.

After Freelow left, Methos immediately looked at his watch. "I'm starving, how about you?"

"Totally," she agreed, happy with the news, and also that Methos was talking to her, and the smile on his face didn't hurt matters at all.

"An hour. That's plenty of time to eat, and I need some air."

"Shouldn't we just eat at the hospital? In case something happens?"

"I was thinking that too." Methos ushered her out of the cramped waiting room they had spent a very uncomfortable night in and walked down the hallway. They both stretched as all their muscles seemed to have constricted over the course of the night. As they reached a phone available for family of patients, he said, "I, ah, may have been a bit harsh with Amanda last night. I'm going to call and see if she wants to meet us at the cafeteria."

"Great idea. Mac, too."

"Oh, yes. Of course. How could I forget him?" he said snarkily as he made the call.

He had been so hard to read over the past months, still Elizabeth had the sneaking suspicion that he was jealous. She was going to tease him about it, but his face was set in a frown after talking to the desk clerk. He hung up and dialed again. "What?" she asked.

"Amanda isn't answering her phone," he told Elizabeth, then he jerked his head around to speak into the phone again, "She hasn't checked out, has she?"

Elizabeth swatted his arm. "What did you do that for?" he grumbled at her.

"If you hadn't been so mean to her yesterday, she'd still be here at the hospital. Can you imagine how she must feel about now?"

"You weren't pissed at her?"

"I was pissed at the situation. What happened could very well have happened on my watch." She stopped him before Methos could flip out a remark. "Don't say a word! Or yours. It was an accident. Yes, I was angry, but I held my tongue to her."

"Yes, you directed it at me." Methos slammed the phone down and said, "I need air. I'm going to walk over and get her. You call Mac and we'll meet at the cafeteria in a half hour. Have Mac try her, too."

"You don't think they're busy and that's why they're not answering, do you?" Elizabeth offered hopefully.

"What's that look supposed to mean? You want them to get back together?"

"Of course?"

"When did this start?"

"I always have."

"Maybe you shouldn't have slept with him then."

"Oh, like you didn't sleep with her."

"But if you hadn't slept with MacLeod, neither of you would have known that, would you?"

"And that would make it all right?"

Methos sighed. "I'm going. Call me on the cell if there's any news about Claire."

"Why don't we just call Mac and see if he's answering?"

"I need air!" Methos growled as he stalked down the hallway and nearly punched a hole in the wall to push the down button. Elizabeth decided it was best to think that Methos was jealous that she and Duncan had slept together, just as she was that he slept with Amanda. She didn't want to ponder the possibility that he could have renewed his hatred for her.

She dialed the St. Regis to see if Duncan would answer his room phone as she watched Methos walk into the elevator, almost knocking over an old man with a walker. Elizabeth cringed as she saw Methos apologize and make sure he was all right, even while the old man wailed, "Can't you young folk have any respect for your elders!?"

That made Elizabeth laugh as the old guy was nothing in age compared to the man who had almost knock him down. The wink and shake of Methos' head told her that he was thinking the same thing. He told the man, "So sorry, but I'm in a hurry."

"Always in a rush!" the old man continued to holler, his thinning hair was startling white over his head, now beet red from anger and he shook his fist at the closed elevator door. Elizabeth turned away to avoid his attention.

~~~~~

Methos stalked outside the hospital and felt the cold wind on his face and body. He hadn't expected a strong wind and instinctively closed his long coat around himself as he walked down the sidewalk with his chin down, his right shoulder protecting his ear from the wind. He had wanted fresh air, but not a blast from the Arctic. Damn it, he thought as he walked, darting around people dawdling on the sidewalk; even in this weather people always seemed to linger when he was in a hurry. He had planned Claire's next two weeks and now it was all shot to hell. He certainly couldn't take her to Disney World with her arm in a cast... with pins in it... when he was a block away from the hospital, his fear for the welfare of his daughter almost made him go back. Amanda wanted to play 'poor me,' let her. He turned back to the hospital, but then felt he should make things right with Amanda after all. As he made his way to the St. Regis, he thought about having to go to the travel agency and change the fight reservations. He'd have to do that after they brought Claire home, or back to the hotel, which was their home for the time being. He had even planned to take Elizabeth, but after the horse remark and bringing up her sleeping with his best friend... well, he wasn't going to now.

Blast that woman! Why do I care? He thought to himself as he turned the corner, bumping into a large totem pole of a man. "Sorry!" he yelled as he made to keep walking. He suddenly felt a painful prick on his neck, and realized that the man had stuck something in him. He saw the man smile and hold up an empty syringe as Methos fell through no decision of his own.

~~~~~

Amanda had enough. A scarf, which had poked out from under the bed, was shoved into her suitcase and she zipped it shut. Since she hadn't heard from either Methos or Elizabeth at the hospital, as if she didn't care how Claire was, and had exchanged heated words with Duncan that morning, Amanda was more than ready to hit the airport and go somewhere she was welcome. Livy hadn't taken no for an answer when she had called again the previous night and again asked Amanda to come for a visit. Now that Amanda felt without allies in New York, she couldn't wait to leave her so-called friends and winter weather that threatened to stay for the foreseeable future for the sun, sand, and surf waiting for her at Livy's Miami beach house. She couldn't help herself though and had to call the hospital to check on Claire's condition, but after getting the run around and being transferred to three different people who couldn't give her a straight answer, she just decided to leave after hanging up with a snide, "Thanks, but no thanks for your 'help'!" She figured if Claire was really in bad shape she'd get a call. If she didn't, she guessed it wasn't any of her concern. It did go right to her heart thinking about Claire in a hospital bed, so she made one stop in the hotel lobby. She went to the gift shop and paid extra to make sure that a fluffy pink teddy bear was delivered with a hand-written note, "Hope you feel better soon, honey. Wish I could be there with you, Love Aunt Mandy."

She waltzed outside the hotel, and to her surprise the future had finally favored her in some small way, a cab came right to the curb almost before she held her hand out. The doorman helped her into the cab, carrying her suitcase to the back and stuffing it in the trunk, and she announced her destination to the cab driver, who seemed to be American, what luck! She wasn't in the mood to have to figure out the man's language and see if she could speak it to get to LaGuardia.

Settling into the back of the cab with her compact and lipstick to freshen up, Amanda realized that they weren't on the right street. "Hey," she called out to the driver. "I know all the routes to the airport, and this is not one of them. If you're trying to pad the fare, ain't going to work, buddy."

She didn't know if she was more annoyed by his not taking an appropriate turn to put them back on track or the wicked smile she spotted in the rear view mirror. Amanda protested his sense of direction to deaf ears. If there hadn't been a pane of glass between them, she would have throttled him. She was definitely not in the mood for such a pompous, overt, fare-padding cab driver. She knew that an English speaking cab driver was too good to be true.

She yelled, "Take the next right! I demand it!"

What she got in return was another flash of a sneering smile and they continued on the street they were on. It wasn't until they were almost in Harlem, with Amanda pounding on the pane of glass separating them and shouting at the top of her lungs to stop the cab and let her out, now!, that the cab finally came to a stop. It didn't comfort her in the least though. There was a black van parked in the vacant lot the cab pulled into and two large men had been leaning easily against it having a cigarette. An elaborate robbery wasn't in her plans, and she wondered how she could get her way out of this. As the cab stopped, the back door was opened by one of the burly men. Before she could slap his grubby paw off her, she was pulled from the back of the van and felt a prick on the back of her neck. She was vaguely aware of the back of the van being opened, and she could have sworn she saw Methos laying comatose inside. It couldn't be what she was seeing. He was at the hospital. Her body was feeling limp and she was aware of being carried. Just before she lost consciousness, she landed half on top of someone she knew for certain was the oldest immortal alive.

~~~~~

Not long after Methos had left to talk to Amanda, the nurse came to tell Elizabeth that they could see Claire for a few minutes. Elizabeth wondered if she could catch Methos, but the nurse was in a better mood this morning, and she didn't want to do anything to rile the woman. If she said she'd have to track down Claire's father, the nurse might change her mind and not allow even her access to her daughter. Knowing that Methos would appreciate eyewitness news about Claire, Elizabeth followed the nurse to Claire's room.

Claire immediately started looking at the door as best she could with the frame around her head and what had to be a massive headache and asked, "Where's dad?"

Elizabeth held her hand and said, "He'll see you later, sweetie. He just went to the hotel for a few minutes and will be back soon." She didn't want to tell Claire about the trauma of the previous day and that he was making amends with Amanda.

"What happened, mama?" Claire asked in a small voice. She hadn't called her mother 'mama' in a very long time, and it usually meant that she needed nurturing. "I don't remember anything."

Elizabeth thought that was good sign and hoped she never would, but told her, "It will come. You just fell down when you and Amanda were shopping."

"We were shopping?" Claire's eyes became a bit brighter. "Did I get anything?"

Elizabeth chuckled and kissed Claire. "I don't know. With all the commotion of bringing you here, it all might have been forgotten in the alley. We can go shopping after you get out of here, though. You know that."

The nurse walked in and gave her a look that indicated that their visit was going to be over soon. It wasn't fair; she was, after all, Claire's mother and Claire probably wanted her there. Elizabeth was going to ask if she could just sit in a corner and not make a sound, but the nurse vocalized what Elizabeth had assumed and didn't seem to be in the mood to have her authority questioned. Not wanting to make a scene in front of Claire, she kissed her on the forehead and said, "I'm going to meet your dad, Aunt Amanda, and Duncan for breakfast while you take a nap."

"I want some pancakes."

"As soon as the doctor lets you, you'll have as many pancakes as you can eat."

Before Elizabeth had finished her promise, Claire already seemed to be asleep. The nurse had known better after all. As Elizabeth left, she tried to think of how to form the words to describe how her visit alone with Claire had gone. It was a good thing that she didn't remember the immortal challenge and also that she wanted something to eat and remembered she loves pancakes. Claire may have lost some memory, but she had retained more important ones such as who she was and that she had parents who loved her.

The immortal sensation Elizabeth felt while leaving the ICU belonged to Duncan, who was in the waiting room and who smiled at her when she walked in. "You got to see Claire?" he asked, and looked around behind her. "Daniel?"

"Yes, and he went to the hotel to talk to Amanda."

"About what? About being a first-class jerk to her yesterday?"

"Yeah. Something like that, I guess."

"How is she?"

"Amanda?"

"No, I know how she is," Duncan stated with what seemed to be a heavy heart. Something told Elizabeth their night hadn't gone well. He only shrugged and said, "Claire."

"She's in pain, I could tell, but she's stubborn like her father and won't show it. Why would she do that? She wanted her dad and asked for pancakes when I told her we were all going to have breakfast together in the cafeteria."

"Sounds like a plan."

"Great. Daniel was going to get Amanda, and we're to meet in the cafeteria in," she said as she looked at her watch. "About ten minutes."

Duncan brushed her arm tenderly up and down with his hand, then motioned for her to sit and sat next to her on the couch. "We have time then. How are you?"

"I'm fine, as long as Daniel and I don't argue and Claire gets better fast."

She set her purse on the floor and saw her medication bottles including the Paxil that Methos had returned to her. She picked them out of her purse and said she hadn't taken them yet that morning. "I suppose I should, even though I took them last night. Could start the schedule, Bradford said I should take them in the morning."

"I'll get you some water," he said and soon he was out of his chair getting a glass from the water cooler in the corner of the waiting room.

When he handed her the glass, she commented, "You really want me to take these, don't you?"

"I want you to feel better." He sat down next to her again and brushed his hands together excitedly. "Besides, I can't wait to see if they work."

"I'm the guinea pig, huh? Ok, fine." She popped a Librium in her mouth and drank a sip of water to help it go down. She opened the Paxil liquid bottle and hoped she had better luck with the syringe than she did the previous night, she had spilled some in the sink when she took it. She drank the rest of the water down and held the Paxil bottle, thinking she would syringe the milligrams into the cup in order to drink it. Good intentions aside, she was surprised when Duncan jerked up a bit and wiped at his pants.

"God! I'm sorry," she moaned as she saw that more liquid was on Duncan's pants than in the cup. She jumped up to get some napkins or something, but Duncan already had his pocket kerchief out and was taking care of it. The Paxil didn't at all match his khaki colored pants, that Elizabeth hoped weren't as expensive as they looked at first glance.

"No problem," he muttered, but she could tell he wasn't pleased.

"Yell at me or something. That was a completely stupid thing to do. I'm so sorry."

"I know, Liz. Don't worry about it."

They both looked at the stain on his pants, that spread out more after Duncan tried to wipe it off. Elizabeth tried to joke, "Well, at least your pants won't have nightmares or panic attacks." She at least got a half-hearted smile out of him, but he just stood up and said, "Listen, go to the cafeteria and order me some scrambled eggs and toast while I go back and change. No problem," as he patted her shoulder.

As Duncan hurried down the hall to catch the elevator before the doors closed, Elizabeth looked at the almost empty Paxil bottle. She'd have to call Bradford to ask if there was some pill she could take instead of that confounded liquid.

~~~~~

"I can't take the waiting anymore," George told Tiko on the cell. He was still trying to fend off the cold wind near the front door of the hospital, and was losing the battle. "I'm going in, you coming?"

"We're going to take them in the hospital? Are you nuts?" Tiko's usually tinny voice replied.

"We got two of them. The other two are inside, and I'm not standing out here like a lap dog waiting for them to come out. Come on," he ordered Tiko. "Let Helen know our plans and to watch the exit in case either of them come out."

"I heard Mrs. MacLeod put up a fuss, but since Helen had her room phone tapped, she knew just where Amanda was going."

"Don't use names, idiot!" George barked, tired of waiting, excited about the plan coming together, and making sure they all heeded Dragon Lady's warnings. If things went wrong, it wasn't going to be his head. "Get over here. I'm going in."

A few minutes later, Tiko shut off his cell and ran down the street to meet up with George. "Helen said they're on the fifth floor."

"That's where we're going then." George walked into the warm embrace of a heated building.

Tiko grabbed his arm. "We're just going to waltz up there and take them in front of everyone?"

"They don't know what we look like, or even what we're doing. We could sit and have a conversation with them if I have the stomach for it." He cringed at just the thought of wasting time talking to such rubbish. "We'll watch and wait for an opportunity."

After they entered one elevator to go up and the doors closed, the adjacent elevator doors opened to reveal Duncan MacLeod, still self-consciously brushing the wet stain on his pants. He quietly fumed that Elizabeth had probably ruined his new pair of pants, but at least she was taking her medication.

Duncan walked out into the cold again, sooner than he had expected, to make the trek to the hotel. He hoped he wouldn't run into Amanda before all four of them were sitting in a public cafeteria so the urge to pick another fight wouldn't completely ruin his day. He longed for the day when things might go back to an improved normal, with Claire well, Methos and Elizabeth making an effort to repair their marriage, and he and Amanda going off to someplace warm to really hash it all out.

He looked up to see a helicopter hovering over the street. It wasn't an every day sight for him in New York, but then he realized that it was going to land on the roof of the hospital. The act of stretching his neck to watch for a moment had allowed the cold air to seep into his coat. The biting wind would be the death of him, he thought as he lowered his head to his chest and started toward the hotel. He only took his hands out of his pockets to lift his ponytail out of the back of his coat because the little pucker it caused was also allowing in the cold. He felt the weather was worse now than it had been just a half hour ago when he walked to the hospital. Flagging down a cab seemed like a good idea, but with a quick look at the street, he didn't want to stop for one. It was also the idea that only a weakling would conjure. According to Methos and Amanda, he was a "boy scout," a thought which made him fume.

The sidewalk was almost empty on this cold day and the wind swirling between the buildings made it almost unbearable. His cheeks started to numb. As he got to the corner to see how far it was to the hotel, he paused for a moment, catching his breath against the solid wall of air that hit him full force. What made it worse was that he felt a pain on the back of his head and was startled for a moment. Duncan whirled around to see a blond man holding a tire iron in his hand as Duncan fell to his knees. He didn't have time to protest or tell the would-be mugger that he didn't have to inflict bodily injury, or ask if they couldn't have done this inside someplace warm. With another whack to the head that Duncan wasn't prepared for, he fell flat on the sidewalk any dizziness he experienced soon eased because he felt and saw nothing.

~~~~~

Elizabeth waited at the door of the cafeteria and checked her watch for about the thousandth time since the time they were all supposed to meet for breakfast had passed. She thought that maybe the three of them had changed their plans and were eating at the hotel or something, the change in plans made Elizabeth nervous. She should have been more careful and would have to buy Duncan a new pair of pants. A pair of pants was the least she could do for him. Maybe buy him a new car, or give him a resort vacation package so he could go away with Amanda, he had been so nice, giving, and loving to her when she needed it the most. Could they have conspired against her and met for breakfast at the hotel? She couldn't get her mind off it, she felt like an outcast from the group, and had expected it ever since she raised a sword over Methos' head.

The remembrance of that action, that house, and that time made her feet move; she needed to get away from it all. She was walking down the hallway to see if they were waiting in the lobby for her, more and more convinced that they had turned their back on her with each step she took. She was able to find some light in the situation when she remembered Duncan hadn't been angry with her when she ruined his pants. They probably just got held up. She looked out the windows of the lobby to see sheets of newspaper and plastic delis bags flying through the air, people were huddled in their coats and walking fast or running, and a smattering of snow flakes were flying horizontally. Comforted that their lateness was only due to the weather, she took out her cell phone with new found confidence and started to call Duncan's cell to ask how long it would be before they arrived.

A nurse stopped her and pointed at the very large sign posted by the doors, "No Cell Phones Allowed In Hospital," then walk away shaking her head.

"Sorry," Elizabeth said in her wake and shut it off but couldn't get the idea out of her mind that they were supposed to meet almost an hour ago and now she may be missing another chance to see Claire.

Cold wind and the start of a storm be damned, she was going to get to the bottom of this. Elizabeth stalked outside, and huddled in the long vestibule for protection from the wind and dialed her cell once again, defiantly looking for any surly nurse who wanted to make a fuss. When all she heard was crackling, she decided to bite the bullet and walk outside hoping for better reception. She'd have used a phone inside, but didn't know anyone's phone numbers off hand. They were all programmed into her cell phone. Modern conveniences sure made one lax, she realized as she walked into the cold air and felt the prickles of snow hitting her head. There was a time when not only people's phone numbers but addresses that weren't connected to the internet had to be memorized and it wasn't a problem. Now when everything was entered into phones, computers, and PDA's, no one had to remember anything. Just a click of a button would get you who you wanted. She spotted a teenager running past her and she wondered why he wasn't in school, and then if he could even add and subtract without the use of a calculator.

After a number of rings, she was ready to hang up before a man's voice asked, "Who is this?"

"Duncan?" she asked, but knew that voice didn't belong to him. "Who is this?" She concentrated wanting to fix the voice when it responded, but no response ever came from the phone. Suddenly, she felt a prick on her neck and turned to see a large Oriental man smiling at her as he held an empty syringe in his hand.

~~~~~

After they had split up in the hospital looking for MacLeod, and a lot of searching on George's part, he met Tiko at the paneled van that had been outfitted to hold two in the front seat and a lot of room to gather immortals in the back. Tiko was looking pleased with himself around the corner from the hospital, so George immediately checked the back to see if he had found MacLeod. There was only the Gordon woman back there. Tiko looked proud to have singlehandedly captured the latest one, but George didn't know what he was so trumped up about. The woman couldn't weigh more than a hundred pounds soaking wet. He wanted to side-step the issue that he hadn't found Duncan MacLeod in the hospital, but he had to ask, "See MacLeod leave?"

"No," Tiko responded, but had a shit eating grin on his face. George felt like socking him as it was the bigger picture that was more important, not the individual acquisition. "He's got to be in there somewhere, maybe you should have looked more thoroughly."

George really wanted to hit him, but the air was too cold for man or beast, and George couldn't figure out which was which when dealing with the abnormally tall and stocky Oriental. He had to be a half-breed. In the old days, George would have been offended by the interbreeding of nationalities, but since there were rat Immortals in the world, he had to just focus on one outcast species at a time.

The other black van pulled up and the driver's dark window lowered to reveal Riley behind the wheel. "We have two of them," he said loudly over the wind. "How many do you have?"

Tiko was quick to respond, "Only one. Georgie boy hasn't found MacLeod yet."

George immediately took control of the situation and ordered, "Put her in with them and get to the warehouse." He pointed at Elizabeth in Tiko's van. "Leave a van with me, and I'll get him before too long. MacLeod's not leaving the area. He's worried about the brat in the hospital if nothing else."

Helen had come out of the front van and watched Tiko and Riley take hold of Elizabeth and almost throw her on top of Daniel Gordon and Amanda Montrose, who were still out cold. George didn't know what was in that serum Cartwright had manufactured, and hoped that it would make the immortals dead weight until they were shackled properly. There was no telling how they would react to being taken, and in fact, George couldn't wait to find out. He was pleased that at least one person had her head on her shoulders when Helen reached into the van they had taken Elizabeth out of to grab her purse and throw it into the other before Tiko slammed the back door shut.

George got into the driver's seat of the van uneasily as he watched the other van take off with three pieces of merchandise. He knew that Tiko for one wouldn't hesitate to tell the boss that he had failed to bring in MacLeod, but then he thought about how happy Cartwright would be when he did appear with an out-cold MacLeod in his coffers. The Dragon Lady might even crack and smile. He would liked to have been able to go back to fend off any talk of ineptitude, but capturing the Big Kahuna, as Tiko called Duncan MacLeod, would mean a hefty promotion and probably a bonus that he didn't want to split with anyone.

~~~~~

Al Cartwright had lived for this day. His body was slowly but surely giving out on him, but he was determined to see the Quickening that his planning would create. He could no longer take the oxygen tube away or he would gasp for air in a matter of minutes. He wanted to still appear strong to his minions, not shock them into what could be a mutiny if he showed too much weakness. Tina had almost talked him out of going to the warehouse, saying that she would be his eyes, ears, and mouthpiece, but he couldn't stay away. There were a few odd looks as he walked into the warehouse with his oxygen tank, but only a few. He assumed most of his men and women had been able to cover their surprise at his condition.

As he stood behind the two way mirror in the control room that was raised above the room that held his attention on the other side of the glass, Cartwright felt like a king looking down on his realm. The room outfitted to hold the immortals had turned out better than he had hoped, and so quickly. He knew what unlimited funds could do to a workman, and was pleased that tens of men had worked round the clock to make this room possible. His throat caught as he was going to speak, making him cough and hold onto the control panel before him to ease his way through the painful attack. He felt Tina pat his back hard, as if that would help. He nudged her away as the coughing ceased and then didn't make eye contact with Darrell, who was sitting at the control panel and looking up at him. He didn't want to show that his chest was on fire from within. He wanted to portray strength, courage, and determination that this would all happen just as he had planned. He thanked God above that he had the strength to see the fruition of his project.

Tina had told him that all the immortals had been rounded up, to his chagrin he found one chair empty. After a quick glance around all the awakened and agitated Immortals and Watchers, as well as the still comatose ones, he didn't see the prize. Duncan MacLeod was not in residence.

Probably because she could read his mind like no other, and that's why Cartwright trusted Tina with not only his life but his Crusade, she told him, "George is on it, Sir. We'll have Duncan MacLeod in the chair of honor in no time."

"George alone?" he asked irritated. George was one of his best soldiers, but maybe taking Duncan MacLeod was too much for one man. "Send Harold, Riley, and Tiko back to New York to get him!"

"They've already gone, Sir," Tina said.

"Good, good. Why don't we have him yet?"

"They wanted to get the Gordons and Montrose restrained before they woke up."

"Get him! Now!" The authoritative voice he used to indicate his displeasure once again caused him to collapse in a fit of coughing. He was proud of Tina for ordering the minions to get back to work as she ushered him out of the control room, past the torture chamber, through the private resting quarters of the minions, to the door where his New Yorker was waiting for him to take him back to his hotel suite. A nice nap would do a world of good before he got word that the immortal this was all planned around killing had been taken.

~~~~~

Methos opened his eyes, and his eyelids felt like they weighed a ton. He fought back the urge to go back to sleep in order to see where he was and what had happened. The last thing he knew, he was walking to the hotel to talk to Amanda and had felt something in his neck. He also felt like he had just slept for a hundred years. He tried to focus his mind on the here and now, not letting it lull back into unconsciousness.

He heard a voice echo as it called out, "One more's awake."

He had no idea who that voice belonged to, and when he opened his eyes forcefully to really see what was in front of him, he saw a very young looking blond man in a metal barber style chair across the large room from him. "Hm, huh, what?" he asked groggily. He felt immortals around him, but couldn't really do anything at the moment about it, either through internal weakness or outside forces. All he wanted to do was go back to sleep.

"Daniel," he heard another voice to his right, which he recognized as Joe's. "Welcome back, buddy."

His voice wasn't at all reassuring as it carried a bit of trepidation with it. Methos realized as he turned his head to the right, quite a trick when it felt like it weight three hundred pounds, that he was sitting in the same kind of contraption that blond kid was in. He studied it more, having to lift his head a little, the seat of the chair was leaning back a bit to make his head fit into a head cushion. It was just like a barber chair, only mostly made of metal. There were two inch thick metal bars with a narrow, deep slit across the curved part of each covering his lower arms, and he could feel that two of the same bands were holding his legs to the chair, but he couldn't stretch out enough to actually see anything below his knees.

It was then that he realized that he was in a large room containing quite a few people he knew, all in the same kind of chair, all facing each other in a large circle; in the center of the floor in the middle of the circle was a drainage grate. He couldn't imagine what that was for. To his right was a woman he vaguely remembered, thinking that she had been with that immortal who had thrown himself off the Staten Island Ferry years before. Methos didn't take time to congratulate himself on his good memory, he couldn't remember her name, but he did knew she was not immortal. On the other side of her was Joe. It made Methos' heart constrict when he saw that Joe was shackled by the arms, as well as his prosthetic legs. The sight of it would have made him laugh if he wasn't so riled by what had happened to them all. Next to Joe in the circle was an empty chair, then there was the immortal who had tossed himself off the ferry causing Elizabeth to dive in after him. He couldn't remember his name either, so Methos didn't spend a lot of time on him he wanted to take in all the people around him. Elizabeth was asleep, manufactured sleep, Methos guessed, and he wanted to call out to her to wake up, didn't she know this was extremely serious??

In a chair next to Elizabeth was Cassandra's husband, Liam Helm, then Amy. AMY! He called out, "Where the hell have you been?"

"Here, obviously," she spouted. It did look like she had been in that chair for a while. She looked pale, tired, and the usually very put together woman looked rumpled.

People started talking, and Methos quickly surveyed the rest of the room, drowning out their chatter as he tried to make out all who were there and what condition they were in. He could tell by the condition of their hair and clothes, as well as how they were sitting in the chairs, how long they had been captive. Next to Amy was Robert DeValicourt. Next to him, Amanda seemed to be rousing; then there was that blond kid he spotted right off, then Brynn Cochrane, Warren next to her. Their chairs were in front of a dark tinted glass about six feet up from the floor; it was at least six feet high and ten feet wide. He had the sneaking suspicion someone was watching him from the other side of that glass, but ignored it for the moment.

With each and every person's face he saw and recognized, a bit of his soul was hampered wondering if he could get out of this alive. Gina DeValicourt was on the other side of Warren, then Guy Barstow, whose chair was in front of Methos' angle to the room's only door, which was large, wide, and looked to be encased with rubber. Next was Cassandra, then Stephen Keane, and to Methos' immediate left was Claudia Jardine. He stared at her as she stared back at him, her head in the head cushion of her chair. She looked to have absolutely no strength. He had never seen that pompous young lady so indifferent. Was she insane? This situation didn't mortify her into demanding to be let free or at least have her bindings to be loosened?

Then realization struck. Some of the immortals and mortals in the room were at different stages of captivity. Claudia may have been there for a while. He saw the same weariness in that blond kid who kept looking at him, as well as the two who had been on the ferry. Amanda's eyes grew wide, as she roused taking in her surroundings, and Methos imagined that his reaction had been quite the same. His own eyes flitted five people over from Amanda to Elizabeth, who was still out cold.

"What the hell is going on?" he demanded as he tried to fight against the metal bands.

"Don't bother wasting your strength." Warren sounded defeated, and Methos wondered how long he had been there. Brynn didn't look fresh as a butterfly, either.

Joe said, "We've haven't been able to come to a conclusion about that."

"They haven't told us anything." He heard Cassandra say above the dim of everyone who was awake talking at once.

The blond kid said, "They only come in to let us go to the latrine," and indicated with a forward motion of his head the corner behind Liam and Elizabeth. Methos hadn't noticed during his first scan of the room that there was a bare toilet there, with no paper. "If you tell them you have to go, they put a gun to your head and follow you over there. If you do, don't try anything. That guy," he said moving his head to Liam Helm, "tried to overtake a guard and he got shot in the head for his trouble. Ever since, there've been two guards to watch us take a leak. Perverts."

"Absolutely no privacy. They haven't fed us either. Robert and I had to have been here for days," Gina commented with a pout.

"More like weeks, love," Robert added.

"Weeks?" Methos groused. He directed his question to Amy. "You've been here all this time you've been missing?"

"I'd be with my kids if I wasn't," she replied haughtily. "How are they?"

"I told you they're fine," Joe snipped at her. He seemed to have lost whatever decorum his love for his daughter dictated in the situation. "Benji's with them, so they're not alone." Amy didn't appear pacified by the news, though did indicate that she had been told that before.

"Meanwhile, my kid is in the hospital!" Methos yelled to whoever would listen.

"I'm sorry," Amanda said, almost sounding as if it were reflex.

He didn't want to hear sorries or excuses, he wanted to get the hell out of there and get to Claire. Not seeing her there was the one comforting thing about this entire situation, and he wondered if he had been dreaming. No, the smell of the room, that of a toilet that hadn't been flushed in a year, the coldness of the steel bindings on his arms, the look of despair, frustration, or yielding to the inevitable on all their faces, depending on the time they'd been held captive, all made Methos stare at the black ceiling and wonder who had put this all together and what they were up to. It couldn't be good news for them, since they were all immortals or Watchers. His mind raced as Amanda called out, "Thomas? What are you doing here?"

"What are any of us doing here?" the one who did a half gainer off the Staten Island Ferry asked.

Methos asked him, "What's your name?"

"James Payson," he replied without delay.

Methos looked at who Amanda was talking to, Thomas, and asked, "What do you have to do with anyone here?"

Thomas indicated Amanda with his head, smiling. How can the idiot smile at a time like this? Thomas said, "I know a couple of chicks in here."

"Thomas and I go way back."

Thomas good-naturedly laughed. "That we do, Mandy. Yep, grand reunion here. You... Liz..."

"You know my wife?"

"You could say that. In fact, last time I saw her in Paris, Liz was with her," indicating Amanda again with a tilt of his head, "husband. Until the lasses joined us here, I was wondering what was up."

"Oh, you've come to some conclusion about why we're here?" Methos bit into him as best he could being strapped down across the room from him. He didn't know which of his comments made him more angry, the one about going way back with Elizabeth or last seeing her with Amanda's husband.

"Yeah, I just did."

The room suddenly became quiet and all heads either bent or lifted in order to look at him. When Thomas didn't do anything but smile, Methos wanted to rip his blond head off his shoulders.

Joe asked, "Well?"

"After talking with you folks, and each new arrival as you came in since I was the first one taken and had to be here by myself for a while before the Paysons were kind enough to join me," Thomas said, so totally digressing Methos hated him more with each passing minute.

"Get on with it!" he demanded.

Thomas explained, "I know exactly why we're all here and why that chair is empty." Everyone tore their eyes from Thomas to look at the empty chair two seats over from Methos. "The one connection between us all is that we all know a certain immortal from the highlands of Scotland, either briefly or in a more intimate fashion. Wonder why the guest of honor isn't here."

Methos looked to the empty chair. It didn't look any different from the ones the rest of them were on, only that it seemed to have been placed in the middle of the wall, directly across from the two way glass. His heart sunk as he wondered if knowing the Mortality Cop of the Immortal world had finally resulted in him being bitten in the ass. After all they had gone through: Duncan's dark Quickening, the shared revelation of his own horsemen days, and finding out that he and slept with Elizabeth, Methos had felt after Duncan had been so helpful and supportive when Claire was hurt that they could once again rebuild their friendship and it would thrive, not be the reason for losing his 5,000 year old head!

"Duncan?" Cassandra asked as she seemed to think it over. "Of course. That does make sense."

"Duncan who?" Terry asked.

"Duncan MacLeod, you idiot," Guy erupted. Methos had wondered how long it would take before Barstow was unable to stay quiet.

"Don't call my wife an idiot!" Payson looked ready to actually get out of his chair to start a fight.

"What other Duncan is there?"

"I'm sure there are a lot of Duncan's in the world, Barstow. Point is, I don't know him. I only met up with him because he was with Elizabeth that day in Paris."

Methos wondered why everyone turned to look at him, but then realized that his throat hurt and most likely he had just audibly growled at the reminder that Elizabeth and Duncan had spent a day and more importantly a night together in the City of Lights. His city! How dare they!

"Same as me," Thomas said, but added, "Although I've heard all about him from his lovely wife."

"Anyone else here that Liz and Mac ran into on their wonderful day together?" Methos asked with more than a hint of jealousy, and he didn't quite care at the moment.

"We saw Liz at the airport," Brynn said. "She was leaving for Paris, wasn't she honey?"

Warren said, "Yeah. Liz was going to Paris to be with Mac? Man, I've been out of the loop."

"She better not have," Amanda said. "She went to see her daughter, who Daniel was raising."

As the conversation continued, Methos tuned it out. He didn't want to show the roar of jealousy that had overtaken him stronger than it ever had since it happened. He also felt the steep of anger and betrayal at her having raised a sword against him. He watched Elizabeth's face as everyone, including Cassandra to his chagrin, discussed the recent lives they led. She was waking up and seemed to be as disoriented as he had felt and Amanda had exhibited. Whatever that drug was that was shot into them was still swimming in Methos' weak body.

~~~~~

Elizabeth woke up to a massive headache and body aches in a dimly lit, cold room. She was groggy but immediately aware of being strapped with metal to a metal barber type chair contraption in which she was sitting back and it was hard to lift her head. She didn't know if it was from the position of the chair or because her head was filled with Librium and Paxil, she was wondering if she had taken the correct dosage. Then she couldn't remember if she had even taken the Paxil, most of the bottle had ended up on Duncan's leg.

She couldn't move her arms or legs, and assumed that her legs were shackled as well. She looked down at the thick metal bands, which didn't have key holes but rather narrow slits at the top of them. The room was dim, and she saw someone in the same kind of chair to her left. She looked at his profile. "James Payson?"

He turned to her. "Finally awake? Welcome to hell."

She tried to see the rest of the room, but couldn't. She looked to her right to see a man she hadn't seen in a very long time. Liam Helm? His blond hair was dirty and matted and longer than she had seen it before. Liam raised his eyebrows. "What do they have in store for us?"

She heard Amanda's voice to her far right, "God only knows."

Then she saw Amy on the other side of Liam. They were all in the same kind of chairs. "Who all is here?" she asked, and her voice seemed to echo in the cold, dark air.

Just then the lights were turned on, and she closed her eyes against the bright light on the ceiling and scones on the walls. "Hail, hail, the gang's all here," a man called happily from the doorway. "All back in the land of the living."

He was a short man with a thick head of red, curly hair. Elizabeth saw to her horror that she was with a whole bunch of people she knew. From Liam next to her was Amy. In the corner was a large steel contraption she didn't know what purpose it served. On the next wall next to the contraption was Robert deValicourt, then Amanda, then Stephen Keane, then Brynn Cochrane, next to the man still standing at the door. On the opposite wall from Elizabeth starting at the door was Warren Cochrane, then Gina deValicourt to his right, then Guy Barstow across from Elizabeth. To his right was Cassandra Helm, then in the corner was Thomas Davidson. To his right on the left wall from Elizabeth was a young, black woman Elizabeth couldn't place, then Methos, then Terry Payson, then Joe. On the other side of James to Elizabeth's left was another woman Elizabeth didn't know.

Above their heads on the wall that held Brynn, Stephen, Amanda, and Robert was a bank of reflective glass, which she instantly assumed was a two way mirror.

"The only problem," the red haired man said as he walked to the center of the room, "is that the man of the hour isn't here." He talked loudly as if lecturing to an auditorium of students.

Robert called out, "Just what the blazes do you want?" as he strained against the metal braces holding his wrists and legs to the chair.

Elizabeth noticed that the red haired man lost his commanding bravado when the door opened and a tall woman with short black hair and a man using a cane walked into the room. Immediately she knew that the red haired man wasn't the one in charge here by the way he deferred the new entrants.

"Very good, Fred," the woman told the red haired man. "Go see to the room we will be making use of shortly."

With that, the red haired man, Fred, left the room to follow orders. The black haired woman stood in the middle of the room surveying them all as the man with the cane, who looked extremely ill and older beyond his years, hobbled straight to Joe.

"Alyce," Joe sneered in greeting.

"Mister Cartwright to you, you traitor." The man's voice was weak and the confrontation thus far had seemed to take a lot out of him. Good, Elizabeth thought. Hope you all shrivel up and die.

Joe said. "Of course, you're behind this."

"You fooled Watcher tribunal once, twice..." The man Joe had called Cartwright shook his head with bitterness. "Countless times. The Watchers are under the control of Gen X'ers who have no idea what poison they're allowing to infect the world. I will enjoy watching you see us take the heads of your friends. Then we will kill your son-in-law. Then, we will kill your daughter."

"I smell a James Bond moment here." Elizabeth wondered how Joe could sound so strong, considering their situation. She felt like she would collapse into a shaking bowl of Jello at any moment. Even looking over at Methos didn't calm her at all, as his eyes were wide a signal that he was indeed quite nervous. Joe's voice echoed in the chamber they were in as everyone remained silent to watch and listen, "Better not tell us your plans. If you do, they will surely go wrong."

"After I kill your daughter," Cartwright said, and there was a hollowness to his voice as if he had lost the air in his lungs. "I will have your body cut into little pieces to feed my fish."

"Lose the melodrama. What do you want MacLeod for?"

"To kill him, of course."

Warren said, "Hunters! They do still exist."

"Noble intentions can never die." Cartwright seemed to gain strength as he nudged away from the woman who had come to his side in a nursing manner. "I have taken the great James Horton's notion and like a phoenix, the Hunters have been reborn into my Crusaders. I will cleanse the world of you rats!"

"A regular Saint Patrick, and I can say I knew you when. I knew Alyce Cartwright as a sniveling little pipsqueak with money who didn't even know which end of the gun to hang onto," Joe seemed to relish saying what he did. Why he wanted to egg on the man with the clear upper hand was beyond Elizabeth. There must be a long history between the men, and she and her friends and family were caught in the middle!

Just a look to the woman from Cartwright had her walking to Joe. She took a red, white, and blue striped keycard out of her jacket and slipped it through the two metal braces that held Joe's prosthetic legs to the chair. Because it only took a look for her to do whatever she was going to do, Elizabeth knew that they had planned the whole thing. Cartwright waved to the door, and soon an abnormally large Asian man walked straight to Joe and roughly pulled off Joe's legs. They all gasped as Joe flinched in pain. Everyone yelled and screamed that they were maniacs, and Elizabeth wondered if Joe would actually be executed before anyone could do anything to help them. Looking around the room quickly, she saw that all the captive men were straining against their metal bindings, trying to sit forward in their chairs, which was a trick because of the backward slant to them.

"Be careful, or both of your arms will be next, you sorry excuse for a man," Cartwright seethed at Joe.

"You're going to end up just like Horton did. Dead, from one of my bullets and MacLeod" Joe seemed to relish telling him. How he gathered the defiant strength as he sat legless was beyond Elizabeth, who had shivers over almost her entire body.

Words came to her from nowhere and seemed to speak only to her as no one else seemed to respond to them: "Calm down." She didn't know where the words had come from, but her first impression had been that it was Pyrius' voice. When she heard the words again, she realized that it was Duncan's voice. Panic took over for a moment and she wondered if he was already dead. But then, she heard the voice again, just as she had heard him tell her to calm down at Amy's house in Kent after Bethany Stone manor burned, and his voice and words calmed her again. In fact, they gave her almost the same bravado that Joe was still displaying to his captors.

He had said something, which had gotten a rise out of a few of the immortals, who smiled encouragement to Joe, but it obviously pissed Cartwright off. Cartwright pulled a gun out of his jacket pocket and clicked back the hammer, then held the gun at Joe's head right between his eyes. Again, there were gasps, yells, and a few screams, one of which had come from Elizabeth.

When there was once again silence, Joe challenged Cartwright. "Do it. Just try to do it."

Cartwright swung the gun away from Joe and fired a bullet. The black woman took the bullet right in the gut, and Elizabeth could tell she was instantly dead.

"Good job shooting an immortal. Did you plan that?" Guy snapped.

"Don't rile him up more, you idiot!" Robert told him.

Elizabeth could tell that Methos was almost to the point of losing it. He was sitting back in his chair staring at the ceiling and taking great gulps of air. Unbelievably, she was feeling more strength coming to her as she continued to hear Duncan's voice telling her to calm down, that it will be all right, that there's always a way to get out of any situation.

Cartwright held the gun at Joe again and said, "The only reason I don't kill you traitors now is that you have to see what bed you made. You will see all these pitiful excuses for life die, one by one. There is no escape. Are you hungry yet? Have to go to the bathroom? Thirsty? I hope so."

"You're not serious," Guy said.

"Shut up!" not just a few of the captives yelled at Guy.

He refused to be silent. "This can't work. If Amy, Terry, or I don't make reports or are reported missing, the true Watchers will find us."

"You will all die once Duncan MacLeod is here," the woman declared to all as Cartwright seemed to have lost his wind and started to retreat to the door. "A massive Quickening will be had. Then we will execute the Watchers who have treated their oaths as if they were just suggestions."

Guy yelled, "This will not work, Cartwright. You're going against the Watcher Creed. You cannot interfere with immortality! You've trashed your own oath!"

"Will you please shut your Goddamn trap!?" Liam Helm yelled and tried to kick out from the metal straps holding his legs.

Cartwright stopped at the door. "I will show you just how serious I am, Barstow." He took his time to scan the room, then said, "I will show you all." He looked to the large Asian man, who broke one of Joe's legs over his knee and threw the two pieces at Guy.

Cartwright looked at Brynn, who was situated closest to the door and paused. He tisked at her as he shook his head. "Have you enjoyed your life?"

"Yes," her voice squeaked, she was as wound up as the rest of them.

"That's fine. Because it will not last much longer." Cartwright, nodded to the large mirror and then with the woman, left from the room.

Warren yelled, "What are you going to do?!" as he tussled in his chair. "Brynn!"

Brynn looked accepting, and then relaxed in her chair. "I love you, Warren," she said in a totally accepting manner, then closed her eyes.

"What's happening?!" Amy screamed out.

Guy and Terry both yelled to the mirror, "Don't you dare! You can't!"

Elizabeth had no idea what was happening either, but then a rounded silver blade protruded out from behind Brynn's chair, neck high, then swept fast around, slicing cleanly through her neck.

"SHIT!" Thomas yelled as everyone hollered and screamed incoherently. Warren yelled out with anguish, "NO!"

Brynn's head bounced off her body to the floor, her long, blond hair spread out like a fan at her feet. Everyone reacted to the execution as the Asian man smiled and rushed to the steel and rubber door. After he rushed into the hallway, the door was slammed shut and then a hydraulic sound indicated that it was sealed. A blue foam mist emitted from Brynn's neck as Warren cried out in pain and everyone else braced themselves for what was about to happen.

Brynn's quickening swept through the room of Immortals waiting instinctively to gather all her force. Their minds all fought against taking her quickening, yet their bodies were prepared to welcome her essence. Elizabeth felt only a tickle of Brynn's quickening, but braced herself for more that she knew would come. Lightening flashed through the room. The light bulbs broke in the ceiling fixture, the machinery in the corner was protected by a heavy steel casing, more than likely so none of the metal shackles wouldn't give, then the toilet in the corner erupted, projecting shards of porcelain, and a torrent of water shot straight up from the pipes and sprayed onto Liam and Elizabeth while the floor started to fill with water. The room filled so fast that water swept Brynn's head toward the grate.

As Brynn's quickening was gathering strength, Warren called to it as sparks from her quickening nipped at him, then at each person around the circle, as if taking inventory of the room. When the sparks hit Elizabeth, her wet condition made the intrusive electricity of the quickening burn her skin. Elizabeth only knew this because she could see smoke emitting from under the sleeves of her overcoat and the top of her blouse, not because she could feel it. Beads of water ran from the top of her wet hair down her face, and Elizabeth shook her head violently in order to see. It was like she was in a bad dream and hoped this whole mess was a nightmare and not the truth. Brynn's smiling face was in front of her in a hazy mist. She was reminded of being so jealous of her in Sintra because she was positive that Brynn and Methos had a shared past, not to mention that Brynn was one of the most beautiful women Elizabeth had ever seen.

The quickening gathered all its entrails from around the room at the ceiling in the center. Where it seemed to calm as if the quickening was going to disappear, which would have been weird since they all knew there was always a brunt force projection from the loser into the winner. There had been no 'winner' with Brynn's execution. A mortal had taken her. Elizabeth came to realize that Brynn's quickening was searching for who should rightfully receive her essence. Just as Elizabeth had reached that conclusion, the quickening rumbled upon itself, seemingly gathering its' force and power, making itself into a bright blue ball, that blasted full force into Methos.

Methos screamed as his body took her quickening, as if he didn't want it. Elizabeth no longer felt the tickles of electricity now that the quickening had found its path. Wishing she had use of her arms to wipe the water off her face, she continued to shake off water; she noticed her right hand neighbor Liam doing the same.

Warren screamed, "No! Come to me!" but the quickening seeped only into Methos. Even with all the possibilities, the quickening went across the room to Methos. Only Methos. She hoped it was because he was the oldest, but wondered if it could be that Brynn's essence bypassed her own husband to gift her favored lover.

The force in the room quieted until all that was heard was the steady flow of water, then as it was cut off from another room, trickles. Warren's audible cries fractured the silence, then he cursed Methos for having received her soul. Methos' head was leaning forward as he grunted. His body was integrating Brynn. Elizabeth wondered about all he had seen of her; all the quickenings she had taken were still so visual. And the smell. She could usually pick out a known smell about her challenger. What Brynn's scent would be was what Elizabeth concentrated on as she watched Methos slowly raise his head and snap at Warren, "It's not like I chose to take her on!"

"Why you?"

"Why not me?"

"Maybe he's the noblest," James mused, which got a snicker from Joe.

"Or the oldest," Thomas guessed.

"Or the nastiest," Cassandra offered.

Methos snapped at them all, "I didn't choose her; I didn't chose to even be here. Cassandra, if you-"

"I'm sorry," she said. "Force of habit. Of course, I take it back."

"Old habits die hard, so if you don't want me to revert to old habits, you'd better make sure I don't get out of this chair!" Methos roared back at her.

Elizabeth could tell that he was still dealing with the aftermath of Brynn joining him, and it seemed that all the immortals were yelling back and forth to each other. What got her attention was seeing the Watchers in the room, and how they had taken the force of a quickening while strapped to a metal chair. She could see burns on Amy's bare wrists, and assumed the rest had the same. Why they weren't showing pain was beyond her, she knew she would be. Her own arms and legs were covered, as she was still wearing her overcoat and was getting hot from it.

The door unsealed, and the red haired man that had been called Fred entered the room. "Whew!" he declared. "That was sweet!"

He was received with a litany of curses, denouncements, and good old fashioned mother bashing. Fred was followed into the room by the large Asian and the black haired woman. "Duncan MacLeod of the clan MacLeod," the woman announced. "I know that someone in this room knows where he is."

"Sipping a snifter of brandy in Cancun would be my guess," Robert said. "Right love?"

Gina replied, "Oh, no. He would be in-"

"Shut up!" the woman yelled. "We know for a fact one of you knows, and we're prepared to ask nicely. If we do not get the absolute truth, you will be very sorry."

"We don't know where he is," Joe told her.

"I'm not talking about you, though you probably do know, you legless coward."

Elizabeth saw Methos react hard to her words, and wondered if he had figured out a way out of there yet. From what she knew, either he or Amanda were the last one to see Duncan as he had been on his way to the hotel to change, which was where they were. It just dawned on her that they were all late for breakfast because they must have been kidnapped by these cretins. Then she remembered her daughter, back in the hospital, just waking up and wanting to see them, still in pain from the concussion and broken arm.

Fred turned to Elizabeth. "You."

"Me, what?"

"Where is he?"

"Who?"

He punched her in the stomach, making her double over. She heard the others shout in protest as the air was sucked from her body and her stomach spasmed in pain. He pulled her hair and lifted her head up as the woman walked closer to say quite sweetly, "The last thing you did as a free woman was talk to him on the phone. Where is he?"

Fred let go of her head, and Elizabeth coughed to get air. She heard Duncan's voice again call to her to calm down, what surprised her was that she did. She obviously had the upper hand, and it came to her that they were probably, mostly safe as long as Duncan was still alive and not there. She didn't want to do anything to make them mad again and give them an excuse to execute another innocent person, immortal or mortal, but she couldn't help herself. She took a deep breath and snidely remarked, "Dantooine. He's on Dantooine."

Methos and a few others chuckled, which made her smile with encouragement. There wasn't any way she was going to tell them anything, even though she didn't know Duncan's current whereabouts.

Without ceremony after a nod from the woman, Fred stuck a dagger that was in his belt loop into Elizabeth's stomach. To make matters worse, he pulled it up and twisted it. Elizabeth clutched at the red, white, and blue keycard on a chain that hung from his neck, and when her body fell limp, the chain broke, the keycard still clamped in her hand.

~~~~~

"Obviously, he's not a Star Wars fan," Thomas joked as everyone was tense and silent. It was just like him to make a joke during a time like this.

After Fred got the keycard out of Elizabeth's dead hand, he swiped the card across her four shackles, and Elizabeth's body fell to the floor. All Amanda could think was that she was next. She wondered if Elizabeth's quickening would be the next one to infiltrate the room and probably go into Methos as well. Why he got Brynn's quickening when Warren was her husband and was sitting closest to her was beyond Amanda.

All of the Immortals were struggling to free themselves from their shackles as the Asian man took hold of Elizabeth's long hair and pulled her dead body along the floor, across the still-draining water, past Brynn's head, which got caught up in Elizabeth's coat and dragged along with her. When they reached the door, Brynn's head remained and the woman announced, "You will all be compliant. If we don't get what we need from her, we'll take her head and start on the next one."

"Kiss my ass!" Guy roared.

To Amanda's mind, that wasn't a smart retort. The woman marched to him and held a pistol to his head. As she clicked back the hammer, she said, "I will tell you to kiss your ass goodbye."

"You're going to pay, lady," he groused and held his head high. Must be the Watcher Oath in him, Amanda thought. Or his machismo foolishness.

She saw the woman smile and put the gun down. "For that, you will pay, Barstow, but not with your life. You have to live with the fact that one of your 'peers'," and when she said peers it oozed with superiority, "will die before you for no other reason than you're an asshole."

Amanda scanned the room and took note of the Watchers in there. Guy, Joe, Amy, and probably that woman between Methos and Joe. Not Amy or Joe, Amanda prayed, and then felt guilty for having done so. Sure enough, the hooked blade flew out of that woman's chair and sliced her head clean off. Her head landed on the floor not far from Brynn's. The immortal who was her husband screamed and tried to break through his restraints. The only reaction from the woman was to say, "We can kill you imposter Watchers first. That won't ruin the Crusade we have worked so hard to plan and execute, you don't hold quickenings. Just remember that, Barstow. Your wife will be next."

After she left the room, James was still grunting with anger, and she locked eyes with Stephen's very wide ones. He had been awfully quiet during this whole ordeal. She hoped he was planning something, that anyone was planning something, for them to all get out of this mess with their heads attached.

Continued