Setting Things Right--Chapters 5 & 6
5~
The next day
Close to Noon
Methos parked his car outside of ‘Luke’s’ and got out. He saw Joe near the entrance and he hurried to catch up with him.
“Joe.” He called as he approached the watcher. “Where’s your friend Pete?”
“He’s inside already. So how was your date?” Joe snickered.
Methos rolled his eyes. “Wonderful, thank you very much.”
Joe turned serious. “You haven’t dated much since Alexa. You all right?”
Methos smiled kindly at him. “Thank you for worrying, but I’m fine.”
Joe nodded and reached for the door of the club, “So who is this ex-cop that’s coming?”
“V” Methos said nonchalantly.
“Oh no, we’re not taking your new girlfriend along just to satisfy your hormones!” Joe said angrily.
Methos only smiled at a very annoyed Joe and said, “This has nothing to do with my hormones and she happens to have some experience in the adventure department. Besides, it wouldn’t hurt to have someone as backup.”
Joe groaned, rolled his eyes, and walked into the club.
“Whoa” Joe said looking around, his mouth wide open. “Colorful”
“Isn’t it though. Maybe we should redecorate your club like this.” Methos sounded serious, but there was merriment dancing his eyes. Merriment that only came when he was teasing Joe.
“Bite your tongue.” Joe said gruffly.
Joe walked over to Pete, who was at the bar. Just then Luke walked out of the back, handing something to Claude and then strode over to the bar.
He looked suspiciously at the threesome. “Pierson?”
“Oh Luke, I’m glad you’re here. Can we talk to you in private?”
“Why?” Luke said skeptically.
“We have some information you might want.” Joe said cryptically.
“And who are you?” Luke shot.
“Luke these are associates of mine, Joe Dawson and Pete Walker.” Methos introduced.
“Is that supposed to mean something to me?” Luke said caustically.
“He’s just as paranoid as you are.” Joe said to Methos. Luke glared at Joe and Methos rolled his eyes.
“You’ll want to hear what we have to say Luke.” Methos said with seriousness in his eyes and voice.
This attitude, along with the weird feeling Luke got from him the other day, was what made Luke start walking to his office. Pierson had said something about Lucky being too smart to leave candles burning and since then Luke hadn’t been able to shake the feeling.
Methos was just about to follow Luke, Joe and Pete into the back of the club, when he caught sight of V at the entrance.
He waved her over and she joined him quickly.
“Adam what is this about and why do I need to help you?” She demanded. She had been rolling those questions, along with 50 others like them, around in her head since last night.
“Come with me and you’ll find out.” He said quickly, ushering her towards Luke’s office and ignoring her many protests.
They got into the office and Joe rolled his eyes. Luke looked very confused.
“Why is she here?” Luke asked pointing to V. He was standing next to his desk.
“Your guess is as good as mine.” V said crossing her arms in front of her.
“Give me a minute and I’ll explain that. Luke you better sit down.” Methos said.
Something in his voice made Luke sit.
Just then there was a knock on the door and it open slightly to reveal Laura Spencer.
Laura looked around the room, obviously very surprised to see this many people in Luke’s office, not to mention this many strangers.
“I’m sorry if I’m interrupting…”
“No honey, is anything wrong? Is LuLu all right?” Luke asked slightly worried. Laura never came to see him anymore, unless it was bad news.
“No she’s fine, I just stopped by to talk about schedules.” Laura looked skeptically around the room.
“Well, I am a little busy right now, but I can call you tonight.” Luke said. His heart broke at Laura’s appearance. She looked like the life had been drained out of her, he imagined he didn’t look much different.
“That’s fine. I’ll talk to you tonight.” Laura walked out of the office and shut the door behind her. She stood outside his office for a moment looking very puzzled. She recognized V. Ardanowski from when she had seen her at Kelly’s a few times with Jax and Ned. She also recognized Adam Pierson from the park yesterday, she had gotten a weird feeling form him, like he knew something she didn’t. The two men that she didn’t know gave her the same weird feeling. Something was going on, and she was going to find out what.
“So out with it Pierson.” Luke said obviously agitated.
“I suppose it’s just better to spit it out,” Methos paused, partly for effect and partly to gather his thoughts. He always liked great drama. “Luke your son is alive.”
Luke looked at him like he had two heads, but in his mind he was starting to believe him.
V was staring at Methos with her mouth slightly open and her eyes wide with surprise.
“Do you have any proof?” Luke asked quietly.
“Someone kidnapped him…,” Methos said, trying to get though the story before answering Luke’s many questions.
“Who!?”
Pete took a deep breath, “Caesar Faison.”
“What!?” Luke shouted, “He’s dead!”
“He survived the explosion.” Pete said, and then continued slightly nervous. “We don’t know exactly how. You know him and you’ve seen him. He’s been going by the name of ‘Krieg’.” Pete paused when he saw the color drain out of Luke’s face
“He never told any of his employees how he survived, just that it was his finest hour.” Which wasn’t a lie, because that was exactly what Faison had told Pete when he came to work for the monster. The fact that Pete knew otherwise was beside the point.
“How do you know he has my son?” Luke said directing his question at Pete.
Methos quickly answered, “Well, Pete works for him. He’s worked for him for five years, but when he learned what Faison had done to an innocent young man he felt the need to intervene.” Methos explained smoothly.
Luke narrowed his eyes at Pete, “If you work for him how can I trust you?”
Pete and Joe exchanged a helpless look. They couldn’t give Luke any proof as to why he should trust them.
Methos walked closer to Luke and looked straight into his eyes, “We can’t give you any reason to trust us. But I ask you this: Can you afford not to take that chance?”
Methos saw first indecision and then acceptance in Luke’s eyes.
Luke put his head in his hands and leaned his elbows on the table. His son was alive. Why hadn’t he known? In truth he had known, but why hadn’t he acted on it? And Krieg, this whole time had been plotting against him. Of course now that he knew that Krieg was really Faison and that he had his son, Luke wanted to kill him.
Unseen by everyone in the office Laura used her key to open the back entrance of Luke’s office. She saw Luke. He looked like he had just received some very big news. She crept to a safe hiding spot and settled in to listen, but she was not prepared for what she heard.
Luke slowly raised his head and took a deep calming breath.
“You sure he’s alive?” He asked with vulnerability that he would cringe at later.
Pete nodded, “Seen him with my own eyes. The last time I saw him, Lucky was fine. Trying like hell to escape, but fine.”
Laura put her hand to her mouth to keep from making any noise; her eyes were wide with shock. Her baby was alive.
“When was that?” Luke asked.
“Two days ago.”
Luke nodded, “Where is he?”
“Outside of Paris.” Methos answered.
“Well thanks for the info, but I can take it from here.” Luke said stiffly.
“Oh no you don’t.” Joe said caustically. “You need Pete to show you where the place is and how to get in. You need Adam to get you in. You need V as back up. And I don’t miss the good stuff!”
Methos barely suppressed his laughter at Joe’s last comment. It was true Joe rarely let himself be left out of an adventure if he could help it, even if his lack of legs made him vulnerable.
“You can’t do this without us Luke, I assure you.” Methos said reinforcing Joe’s statement.
V still didn’t know exactly why she was needed, but now that she knew what was going on there was no way anyone could stop her from helping.
“I don’t mean to point out the obvious, but shouldn’t we tell Laura?” V said tentatively.
Luke shook his head, “No, she took Lucky’s death really hard and if we can’t…” Luke’s voice broke at the possibility. “I don’t want to put her through that again.”
A number of emotions washed over Laura at that moment. Anger at the possibility of being kept in the dark. Happiness at Luke’s desire to protect her. Sadness that he felt he had to. But joy and determination dominated. Joy that her son was alive, and determination that she was going to help in his rescue.
“Pete give me those schematics to the security system.” Methos said, taking the papers and walking behind Luke and laying the papers on the desk so that both he and Luke could look at them.
“Whoa.” Luke and Methos both said.
“This has more security than Fort Knox!” Methos exclaimed.
“Even with the help of these plans, there’s no way we’re getting in there!” Luke complained.
“We’ll need professional help.” Methos said.
Luke scratched the back of his head, “Well I still have some contacts in the WSB, I’m sure they would have someone who could help.”
Methos shook his head. “No I think we need unofficial, professional help.”
Methos and Joe shared a look and Joe nodded and handed Methos his cell phone.
“You can use my phone.” Luke said pointing to the phone on the desk.
“It’s an oversees call, and besides the company Joe works for is paying for it.” Methos said grinning evilly. The same grin was on Joe and Pete’s face. V and Luke assumed it was some sort of inside joke.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Paris
Amanda was lounging on her sofa reading a magazine when her phone rang.
“Lucy, could you get that? I’m busy.” She called.
The phone rang again.
“Lucy?” She called again.
And again, the phone rang.
She let out an exasperated sigh, and went to the phone mumbling, “Do I have to do everything myself?”
“Hello” she said sweetly into the phone.
“Hello Brat, it’s me.” Methos said smoothly.
“Methos!” She exclaimed.
“Where’s Lucy, she usually answers the phone?”
“I answer the phone too! She doesn’t do everything you know!”
Methos laughed, “Yes she does.”
Amanda started laughing with him. “You’re right she does. She’s a doll. But I don’t know where she is.”
“So, how’s ‘Scruffy’?” Methos asked innocently.
“His name is Nick, thank you very much and I don’t know where he is either. He’s mad at me.” She pouted.
“What did you do?” Methos said rolling his eyes at her, even though she couldn’t see him.
“Don’t roll your eyes at me! How do you know it was my fault?” Amanda said indignantly.
“Because I know you.”
“I shot him.” She admitted quietly.
“You what?!” Methos couldn’t help laughing out loud.
“Don’t laugh! He wasn’t very happy about it.” But she couldn’t help laughing a little.
Joe shot Methos an annoyed look and Methos decided that maybe he should get down to business.
“Well back to the reason I called…” Methos said quickly. “I may have a job for you.”
“Methos! I’m appalled! You know I’m retired.” She said feigning insult.
“Don’t insult me precious. That snow job may work on MacLeod and ‘Scruffy’, but it won’t work on me. I know better.” Methos said in a scolding voice. “You’d do it if the prize was high enough.”
Amanda laughed throatily, “You know me too well. So, what exactly is it?”
“I’ll give you the details when I get there tomorrow. But I assure you it’s priceless.” He said grinning.
“Well we’ll see when you get here.” She said skeptically. “Au revoir.”
“A bientot.” And with that Methos ended the call.
“So who was that?” Luke said maintaining his normal aura of paranoia.
“Amanda, she’s… well she’s a thief. Actually she’s retired… I think.” Methos said looking momentarily puzzled. “Well anyway she’s very good, lots of experience. This will be a piece of cake for her.”
“Do you think she’ll help?” Joe asked.
“Oh I’m sure of it. She has more maternal instincts than most mothers. As soon as she hears what kind of trouble young Spencer is in we won’t be able to hold her back.” Methos said and then turned his attention to V.
“V? Are you all right? You haven’t said much.”
“I’m going to Paris with a bunch of people I hardly know, to meet ‘Super Thief’ and rescue someone who didn’t die in a fire from someone who didn’t die in an explosion. Yeah I’m fine.” She said sarcastically.
“Oh good, just checking.” He said smiling. “The only thing left is to arrange for transportation…”
“Already done.” Joe interrupted. “There is a jet waiting in hanger 12A at the Port Charles airport. Let’s go pack and meet there at 3 PM.”
They all nodded and left the office. Laura escaped unnoticed.
Methos stopped V in the hallway.
“So are you in?” Methos said grinning. He knew perfectly well what her answer was.
V nodded, “Yes, I’m in. And thank you.”
Methos shrugged. “I felt I had to. You haven’t had a good adventure in days.”
V smiled and left to get ready for the trip.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
6~
Airport
“I can not believe you stole the Watcher Jet!” Methos said holding his sides because he was laughing so hard.
“I didn’t steal anything!” Joe said looking indignant.
“What do you call this?!” Methos said gesturing around them. The plane had taken off about ten minutes ago. Pete, V, and Luke were in the back of the plane looking at the security plans to try and find some way in.
Joe gave Methos a steely glare, but he cocked his eyebrow in evidence of humor. “I liberated it.”
Methos laughed so hard he couldn’t even speak, and a smile tugged at the corners of Joe’s mouth.
Pete walked over, sat next to Joe, and looked strangely at them. “What’s so funny?”
Methos just wordlessly pointed around him, to the plane and the many Watcher symbols that were for decoration. Pete chuckled a little.
“How DID you get permission to use it?” Pete asked. Methos just laughed harder.
“I didn’t, I bribed the pilot” Joe said flatly.
All three of them burst out in laughter. They stopped abruptly when the plane jerked a little due to turbulence. This was followed by a loud bang and a small shriek from the rear of the plane. The three of them looked at Luke and V, thinking that maybe that one of them caused the noise. But they were just as puzzled.
“What was that?” Luke asked no one in particular.
Luke got up to investigate followed by the others. There was another noise, softer this time, which came from the area that was usually designated for the small kitchen.
Luke quickly reached out and jerked the door open. He was awarded with the body of his estranged wife landing in his arms.
Laura landed on top of Luke and looked at him sheepishly. “Hi” she said softly.
Luke quickly scrambled to his feet and pulled Laura up.
“Laura what are you doing here?!” Luke asked accusingly.
“Well what are you doing here, without me?!” Laura’s eyes flashed with fire as she shouted at Luke. “He’s my son too and if he’s alive I am going to be there to help bring him home!”
V crossed her arms across her chest and muttered, “I told you we should have called her.”
Methos let out a loud chuckle at that comment, but he was immediately silenced by the ‘looks of death’ he received from Luke and Laura.
“How do you know about Lucky?” Luke asked narrowing his eyes.
“This afternoon after I left your office, I knew you were up to something, so I snuck in the back and listened.” Laura said, her anger slightly dissipating but not for long.
“Laura, I didn’t want you to know until Lucky was safe…”
“Yeah I know, you wanted to protect me. Well, dispite all evidence to the contrary I am not made of glass! You don’t have to shield me!” Laura angrily stalked off to the front of the plane. Luke, still hoping mad that she had snuck aboard the plane, started to follow her when V stopped him.
“Luke, why don’t you calm down a little, before you talk to her again.” She suggested hastily.
Luke was about to tell this little redhead exactly where she could put her ‘suggestion’ when he saw the logic in what she was saying, and sat down where he had been before. The rest of the group sat down and the remainder of the trip was passed in silence.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Elizabeth’s room
Fog covered the docks, but it wasn’t exactly the docks. Candles and flowers covered every available place. And she was dancing with her angel. His azure blue eyes held hers in a powerful gaze as they glided across the floor. The only emotion she could distinguish was complete happiness and the only things she felt were his arm around her waist and his hand in hers.
The dance ended and Lucky led her to a beautiful, romantic table for two. She turned away from him to touch the beautiful flowers, but when she turned back he was gone. Vanished. The fog started to close in on her as it always did at this point in her dream, but this time something was different. This time she heard a voice calling to her from a distance. His voice.
“Don’t give up on me Elizabeth.”
Elizabeth shot up in her bed desperately trying to breathe normally. Her hand flew to her heart; it almost ached. Tears sprang to her eyes as an indescribable pain washed over her. She grasped at Boris the bear and held him tightly to her chest as the pain left just as quickly as it had come. Slowly her breathing evened out and all she was left with was confusion.
Compound outside of Paris
Lucky sat on his bed grasping a picture in his hand. It was a picture of Elizabeth, but her face was masked in pain and her cheeks tearstained. Lucky’s body shook as the sobs overtook him and hopelessness entered his heart. As tears streaked down his face he whispered “Don’t give up on me Elizabeth.”
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