Setting Things Right-- Chapter 7 & 8
7~
Amanda’s club in Paris
As Methos opened the door to the club he felt the tingle in the back of brain, but knowing it came from Amanda, he proceeded in. He was about 15 feet ahead of the others, mostly because he didn’t want her to call him ‘Methos’ in front of Pete. He walked into the center of a large room and looked around for Amanda, frustrated that he couldn’t find her quickly.
“Lucy, could you sign for the liquor shipment? I’ll be busy most of the afternoon.” He heard Amanda say form the back of the room. He also heard the door open and saw the others walking towards him.
He turned to the direction Amanda’s voice had come from and saw her emerge from around a corner. Her eyes light up at the sight of her friend and she walked quickly towards him.
“Meth…” She trailed of when she saw Methos’ urgent expression and then glanced towards the door to see Joe and four strangers. “Adam!” she corrected.
Methos smiled as Amanda hugged him, “You always were quick” He whispered.
“You could have given me more warning, I thought it was just you coming.” She whispered fiercely.
“You didn’t tell me Joe was coming!” She said in a normal volume.
She smiled at the grizzled watcher and went to him and hugged him. “Hey there hot stuff.”
Lucy walked up to the group, having heard the commotion.
Joe hugged Amanda back and said, “You’re not looking so bad yourself. I like the club.”
Amanda looked around proudly, “Thanks.”
“Lucy!” Methos exclaimed as he picked up and spun around a very startled and shrieking Lucy.
“Tell me you’ve come to your senses and you are going to run away with me.” He said dramatically.
Lucy rolled her eyes, “What are we going to do with you?”
“So Adam, what is all this about, and who are these people?” Amanda asked pointing to the strangers.
“Well this is Pete, he’s a colleague of Joe’s”
Amanda rolled her eyes; watchers still made her antsy.
“Luke and Laura Spencer,” He said pointing to the pair that was still glaring at each other. “And this is V Ardanowski. Everyone this is Amanda and her ever faithful friend Lucy.”
Everyone murmured their hellos and Amanda looked at Methos skeptically.
“So what do all these people have to do with this ‘job’ you have for me.”
Methos quickly pulled out the plans for the security system and laid them out on a nearby table. He was hoping maybe the shear challenge would be enough to real her in.
“Whoa, infared beams, motion detectors, pressures and heat sensors, multiple key codes, remote activated doors, this is more security than Langley! What is this?” Amanda said trying to look skeptical; there was an unmistakable gleam of excitement in her eyes.
Methos smiled knowing that she was interested. “It’s a private compound.”
“Private? Art collector, diamond dealer, what? What’s in there?” Amanda didn’t even bother to hide her excitement anymore.
“It’s not a what, it’s a who.” Methos said slowly.
“What?” Amanda shook her head. “I steal jewels, I steal art, I’ll even steal cash, but I don’t steal people!”
Amanda walked away form the group. Methos walked up behind her and turned her towards him.
“This is Lucky Spencer.” He said holding a picture that he got form Laura earlier. It was a picture of Lucky and his little sister laughing. “He is 17 years old, and he was kidnapped. And for the last few weeks his family and friends have thought he died in a fire. Those are his parents.” He said pointing to Luke and Laura. Then he pointed to the plans. “And he is behind those doors.”
Amanda took the picture and looked at it with a sympathetic look on her face. She walked over to Laura and put her hands on her shoulders.
“I’m going to get your son out of there.” Amanda pulled Laura to her and hugged her as a few tears escaped her eyes.
Methos looked on and smiled.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Later
Amanda was pouring over the plans with Pete, Luke, and V. Joe and Methos were talking to Laura and Lucy.
Methos glanced over at V and smiled. V had just pointed out something that Amanda had missed, much to Amanda’s surprise. V pushed some hair behind her ear and rubbed at her collarbone nervously. Her brow was furrowed in complete concentration, she looked gorgeous.
“You sure you can get through all the booby traps?” Luke asked skeptically.
“Have a little faith.” Amanda said. “Adam wouldn’t come to me if I wasn’t the best.”
“All right, so what’s the plan.” Luke said impatiently.
“You need to learn some patience sweetie.” Amanda said sweetly patting Luke’s cheek lightly with her hand.
Luke rolled his eyes.
“Well I think we should go tonight and check things out. And then if everything looks good we can do the rescue thing tomorrow night.” Amanda said getting into business mode.
“Why can’t we do the ‘rescue thing’ tonight?” Luke asked. He wanted to get his son away from Faison as soon as possible.
“No Luke, we should listen to her. She’s the expert.” Laura said trying to calm Luke down. She knew he was worried, it was almost enough to stop her anger at him.
“You know I’ve done a few adventures and rescues in my time.”
Amanda crossed her arms in front of her chest and looked offended. “Well you don’t exactly look like the high-tech type.” Amanda shot.
Luke shook his head and walked over to stand in front of Laura. “Come on Laura. We can do this ourselves; we don’t need her or any of these people.
Rage washed over Amanda’s face and one thought ran through Methos’ mind “Uh-oh”
Methos jumped in to do damage control before Amanda or Luke walked out of this thing all together.
“Luke you know as well as I do that that is some pretty heavy security and Amanda has the equipment and the experience to get in and get your son out fast. If you were to do this on your own it would take you at least a week to get all the equipment together. Amanda has this stuff in her closet.” Methos said smiling.
After a minute Luke slowly nodded his head and looked at Amanda. “Sorry, I’m a little on edge.”
“I understand. Why don’t you guys go to your hotel and rest for a few hours. After dark Adam, Luke, Pete, V, and I can go check this place out.” Amanda suggested.
The rest of them nodded and Methos said that he would meet them at the hotel. He wanted to talk to Amanda alone.
“So what’s the real deal on this kidnapper guy?” Amanda said once everyone else had left.
“He’s immortal.” Methos said taking a sip of the beer he had.
“So why are you involved?”
“My first day in Port Charles, I just happen to meet Liz Webber, Lucky’s heart broken girlfriend.”
“I know you there has to be something else.” Amanda declared.
Methos shook his head. “Nope”
A few moments of silence went by.
“I like her.” Amanda said quietly.
“What are you talking about?” Methos said knowing perfectly well what she was talking about.
“V, I like her. She’s smart and she seems like she has a good heart. Of course I never think anyone is good enough for you, but she comes pretty close.” Amanda smiled impishly.
“I still don’t…”
“Just admit it Methos.”
Methos took a deep breath. “She’s amazing Amanda.”
Amanda’s face lit up in a smile.
“What is it about her?” Amanda was acting like a little girl at a slumber party.”
“Her energy.” Methos said smiling. “When she gets excited about something she just lights up. I’m just drawn to her.”
“You’d do just about anything for her right about now wouldn’t you?”
“Oh I don’t know about that.” Methos protested.
“You might not want to admit it, but you’re falling in love with her. And I know what lengths you’ll go to save the woman you love.” Amanda finished with a sympathetic tone in her voice.
Methos put his head down.
“How did you know?” Methos said lifting his head.
“I don’t know. You get this glint in your eye when you talk about her.” Amanda looked at him thoughtfully. “You all right?”
“I’m fine why wouldn’t I be?” Methos asked confused.
“I know how much Alexa’s death effected you.”
~~~~Flashback~~~~
March 1996
Methos roughly pulled Amanda up by her shoulders and turned her towards him. It was then that Amanda saw the pain and desperation in his eyes. He spoke with urgency in his voice, his anger increasing with every word.
“You understand nothing. Three weeks ago we were standing on a beach in Sentarani watching the sun rise on the Mediterranean, now she is lying in a hospital in Switzerland breathing through a tube!”
Methos pushed her away from him. It was as if he were doing a balancing act of emotions, trying to decide whether to tear her head off or break down into tears. Walk away or stay and let his emotions come out in an explosion.
“You think it takes courage to do what we do. Face another immortal with a sword knowing only one of you will live. YOU TRY BEING HER!!”
He yelled the last sentence and tears pooled in Amanda’s eyes. She knew a little about Alexa, but she didn’t know that it had effected Methos this much. She had seen him love before, she had seen him lose that love to death, but it was never like this. So desperate. It was as if all the times he’d lost someone were just building to this moment when he couldn’t hold it in any longer. He was shaking with anger, but Amanda knew he wasn’t angry with her. He was angry at the injustice of it all, he was angry at the world.
“You try living one year, knowing your time is running out. Knowing that when it comes to the final fight, however much you train, whatever tricks you have, you still lose!”
“That’s the way it is for them” Methos closed his eyes to stop the tears. “So little time… for them to… see anything or… do anything.”
For a moment it seemed that if he could just convince Amanda of the unfairness of the situation that some how, magically Alexa wouldn’t be dying. But Methos knew that was impossible so he turned, picked up his sword, and started to walk away.
“Methos.” Amanda said quickly to stop him from leaving.
“What?!” He screamed as he spun around, his sword pointed straight at her, ready for a fight.
“I’m sorry” she whispered, walking towards him.
It was then that the dam broke. Methos dropped his sword, and his body shook with sobs. Amanda put her arm around him. He hugged her back fiercely and buried his head in her shoulder. He let of a scream of anger, frustration, and pain, muffled by Amanda’s body.
~~~~End Flashback~~~~
“Really Amanda, I’m fine.”
“OK, I’ll leave it alone for now.”
Methos shook his head in amusement.
“I’m going to rest. I’ll meet you back here with the others at around 7 alright?” Methos said getting up to leave.
Amanda nodded and watched her oldest friend walk out the door, hoping V could make him happy.
Note: The flashback was from an episode of Highlander: The Series called “Methuselah’s Gift.” No copyright infringement intended
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
8~
Laura was sitting in her hotel room. This was the first time since this all started that she had a chance to sit and think about all of this. Lucky was alive. There were so many things she didn’t know. Why this guy had taken Lucky? She knew it had to be something to do with Luke, but what?
Faison. She had heard a lot about this guy when Luke had found out that Robert and his wife were killed. She couldn’t believe that that monster had her little boy. She couldn’t help but think about what that horrible man was doing to Lucky.
She was so happy just to know that Lucky was alive and would soon be back with everyone who loved him. Elizabeth would be so happy and Nikolas. Then suddenly she realized that she hadn’t told Nikolas she was leaving let alone Stefan. She had left LuLu with her mother and Amy but she hadn’t told them where she was going. Not that her mother would have told Stefan anything even if she had known. Stefan had been very helpful lately, but she didn’t want to be cared for. She had to admit to herself that she was just using him to lean on. He was kind to her and he loved her, but every time she thought about the possibility of loving him she always came up with the same argument. He’s not Luke.
Then the little voice in the back of her brain said, “Luke doesn’t want you anymore.” But this had also been the same voice that, over the last six months, had been pushing her towards Stefan.
But right now she felt more alive than she had in a long time. The feeling was familiar and new all at the same time. Her and Luke on an adventure again, but this time it wasn’t the Cassadines they were fighting. They were saving their son. Something about it just felt right.
She decided to check her messages to see if Nikolas had called looking for her.
“You have eight messages” the computer voice of her answering machine told her.
“Mother, it’s Nikolas. I talked to Grandmother Leslie and she said you had gone out of town suddenly. Please call me when you get this message.”
“Laura, it’s Liz. I just wanted to talk, so call me back whenever you can. It’s not urgent.”
Laura smiled, Elizabeth would be so happy when they got home with Lucky.
“Laura, I just wanted to know if you were all right. I haven’t heard from you yet today and I was worried. Please call me.”
Laura winced, he sounded really worried. But Laura’s guilt at not calling Stefan diminished when she heard that the other five messages were from him too, all with increasing degrees of worry.
Laura sighed angrily and picked up the phone to call Nikolas.
“Hello”
“Hi Nikolas.”
“Mother. I was worried, you didn’t say where you were going.” The relief was evident in his voice.
“I know I’m sorry. It came up pretty suddenly. I’ll be gone for a few more days.”
“All right. Father called a few times, he was worried too.”
Laura gave an exasperated sigh. “Yes I know. He left messages. Tell him the same thing I told you. And tell Liz too please.”
“Where are you?”
“Out of the country.” She hedged, “I’ll be back in a few days and hopefully with good news.”
“Good news? Mother what are you talking about?”
“I’ll talk to you when I get home Nikolas. Bye.”
Laura breathed a sigh relief when she hung up the phone. She hated lying to Nikolas, but it was just too dangerous. If he knew, he would want to help and she just couldn’t take that risk.
She couldn’t wait to see the looks on everyone’s faces when they brought Lucky home.
V put down the phone receiver with force. She had just finished checking her messages and she wasn’t too surprised to find 14 messages from Jax and two from Ned. Apparently she had forgotten to call Jax yesterday morning and now he was starting an all out search. The messages from Ned were politely asking her to call Jax cause he was annoying Ned to death.
She felt a little guilty for not calling Jax but there just hadn’t been much time. This was the first time she had been able to stop and think about what was going on. People coming back from the dead, a professional thief, and her following a man she hardly knew halfway across the world; it was just too much to swallow.
She shook her head to clear all those dizzying thoughts from her mind and decided she should call Jax.
“Hello?”
“Jax hi.” She said timidly, knowing she was about to get reamed by her best friend.
“V!! Are you OK? Where are you? Do you know how much you scared me!?” Jax yelled.
“I’m fine; I’m in France, and I’m sorry.”
“France! What are you doing in France?” Jax asked puzzled, his anger was diminishing.
“Something important.” V winced ‘Oh great cover story V. You should have thought about that before you called him!’ she scolded herself.
“Could I have something a little more specific?” Jax said sarcastically.
Just then there was a knock on V’s door.
“V it’s Adam.”
“Come in” she called
“What was that?” Jax asked.
“Just someone at the door.” V said looking helplessly at Methos as he walked through the door.
“Well don’t let them in!” Jax yelled.
Methos walked over to V and took the phone from her and gave her a devilish smile.
“Hello Jax.” Methos said
“Who is this?”
“It’s Adam.”
“What are you doing there?” Jax asked worriedly.
“Well V came with me.” Methos said, his eyes were almost sparkling with amusement.
V put a hand on her forehead and shook her head. Jax was going to kill her when she got home. But she couldn’t help smiling.
“Where’s V? I want to talk to her. Put her back on the phone.”
“Sorry V’s a little… tied up at the moment.” Methos said politely. He chuckled quietly at the look of horror on V’s face.
“What!?” Jax screamed.
Methos winced and took the phone away from his ear. V took this opportunity to snatch the phone away from him.
“Jax, it’s me. Sorry about that he was just joking.” She said quickly.
“Are you all right? Just tell me where you are and I’ll come get you.”
“No I’m fine, I’ll call you when I get back to Port Charles.” She said wanting the conversation to be over.
“When are you getting back?”
“I don’t really know, probably a couple of days.”
“What are you doing over there anyway, how did he convince you to go with him?” Jax said not wanting to let this go.
“I didn’t need any convincing, and I can’t tell you why I’m here. You’ll understand when I get back, I promise.”
“All right, call me.” Jax knew that V always kept her promises and that if she felt that something was important, then it was.
“I will, Thank you.” And with that she hung up.
“He seems a little uptight.” Methos said quietly, still smiling.
“He just worries about me. And that was mean, you scared him.” V said trying to be stern, but a smile crept across her lips.
“I was just having fun.” He said looking as innocent as a five year old.
V shook her head, trying to stop smiling.
“Well we’re meeting Amanda at the club at seven. We’ll head out to the compound and if all goes well we’ll have young Mr. Spencer safe and sound by tomorrow night.”
V took a deep breath and nodded.
“Are you all right?” Methos asked carefully.
“Yeah I’m fine, this is all just a little overwhelming. You know, people coming back from the dead. It’s a little unbelievable don’t you think.” V said
“Oh yeah, almost unthinkable.” Methos said quickly. ‘If she only knew’
“But thank you for bringing me. I’ve seen Liz Webber and she just looks like she lost her soul and Luke and Laura have been devastated. I’m glad I can be a small part of what ends that.” V said smiling.
“You have a good heart.” Methos said remembering Amanda’s words from earlier.
V smiled shyly and looked down. “ I just want to help.”
Methos smiled. “I’ll see you at the club.” And then he turned and left.
V looked after him. She never knew what to expect from him. And also she was doing unpredictable things since she met him. V shook her head.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jax’s Penthouse
Jerry walked into Jax’s penthouse, still puzzled by his brother’s strange summons.
“What do you need Jax?”
“I need you to run a back round check on someone named Adam Pierson. All I know about him is that he was in town giving a lecture at PCU. He’s a history professor.” Jax said
“Why?” Jax didn’t ask for back round checks to be done on just anyone.
“Right now he’s in France, with V.”
“She’s there of her own free will I suspect?” Jerry said smiling at Jax’s over protectiveness.
“Yes, but something about the guy strikes me as odd. I mean how many history professors do you know who can fly to France on a whim?” Jax asked pointedly.
“Well I don’t know any history professors, but I’ll look into it.”
“Thanks.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
‘Luke’s’
Nikolas walked into ‘Luke’s’ and instantly felt uncomfortable. He never really liked this place. The place hadn’t opened yet so it was practically deserted except for a few employees. His eyes drifted to the painting over the fireplace and he smirked. He couldn’t believe Luke still had that up. Then he remembered his purpose for coming here; well he had two reasons for coming here. He was trying to find Liz, he had tried her house and ‘Kelly’s’ but she wasn’t there. He figured he’d try here, he knew she had been spending a lot of time with Luke. Also he figured he should tell Luke that Laura was gone. He might want to spend some time with LuLu, he knew Lucky would have wanted him to do this.
“Hey Nikolas, what are you doing here?” Liz asked from behind him. Nikolas winced at the sound of her voice. It sounded flat and dead.
“I was looking for you actually. My mother called me and she said to let you know that she went out of the country.”
“That’s weird, did she go with your father?”
“No, he didn’t know anything about this.” Nikolas winced when he thought of how Stefan reacted to the news of Laura going out of town without informing him.
“I’m here to talk to Luke too. Maybe he knows where she went.”
“You’re voluntarily talking to Luke?” Liz said with a slight sad smile, thinking that Lucky would have gotten a kick out of that.
“Let’s just find him, OK?”
“Hi Claude, is Luke here?”
“Hi Liz, no honey he’s not here. Said he had to go out of the country on some personal business. He left yesterday.” Claude said wiping off the bar.
Nikolas and Liz turned to each other with puzzled looks on their faces, both thinking the same thing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Later
The compound outside Paris
Amanda looked through her night vision goggles at the heavily guarded building in front of her.
“It looks like we have about six minutes between each pass the guard makes on this side of the building. The real trouble won’t start until we get inside.” Amanda turned to confirm with her partners. She was all in black, which made her white blonde hair almost glow.
Everyone else nodded approval.
“Well if we’re done here then I’ll just be getting back to my place. I’ll see you all tomorrow.” She said quickly and then vanished.
“What is she up to?” Luke asked Methos skeptically.
Methos shrugged, “Maybe she has a hot date.”
Pete and V chuckled slightly.
Just then they all heard a noise behind them in the bushes.
Methos made a motion for them to be silent and stay put. He then disappeared into the shadows.
They heard a small scuffle and then Methos emerged barely holding onto a woman with long dark hair that was blocking view to her face.
“Let go of me!” she hissed in an English accent.
“Hold still we’re not going to hurt you.” Methos hissed back.
The woman raised her face defiantly, but she did stop her struggle.
Luke’s heart almost stopped, seeing the face he’d seen in so many pictures.
“Anna?”
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