by heidi

He had long since ceased to be surprised by much of anything.  Even when his long lost brother suddenly reappeared, he hadn't been particularly surprised, just unprepared.  But now he'd gone straight past surprised into stunned.

Carefully placing his coffee cup down upon the table, Methos settled back into his chair.  His previous sprawl had disappeared, but he still appeared to be relaxed and in command of his situation.  

He knew that Angel was not like himself, an Immortal, yet he was obviously an immortal of some sort.  

Shoving that thought aside, Methos studied the younger man.  It was hard to believe that this was his young friend, Liam.  But looking into the other man's eyes, it was more than clear that this really was him.  The boy he knew grew into a handsome young man.  His eyes showed through to his very soul.  The years had been hard on young Liam.  He had obviously seen much pain and felt much sorrow.  Looking closer, Methos realized that this was someone who probably had not witnessed much joy in his life, and that saddened him tremendously.  

Studying the eyes further, Methos could see the boy's father.  Liam's father was a hard man who believed things should be done a certain way, and if you failed to follow the rules as he saw fit, you fell in his esteem.  

Methos allowed his gaze to wander over the planes of Angel's face, and smiled to himself.  Fortunately for Liam, he also acquired many traits from his mother.  Liam's mother was proud, robust woman, full of life and color.  But now, Angel's skin was so pale.  Why hadn't he noticed that last night.

Images rushed him from the night before... pale skin like ivory ... a cool touch that burned ... a bedroom with no windows or mirrors ... 3 friends, standing prepared with stakes, crosses, and bottles, filled with what he now guessed to be holy water.  When added together meant one thing... when Liam was in his mid twenties, he had been turned into a vampire.

Sighing, Methos looked back into Angel's eyes.  The other man still held the look of shock and confusion.  Better to break this quick.

"I've never met a vampire quite like you before."

The choking across the table reminded Methos that he and Angel were not alone during this drama.

"How did you..."  Figures, Wesley was the first to respond.  The man looked like the inquisitive type.  Probably good at research too.

"It was actually quite obvious when I realized I should be looking for clues."

"Clues?"  Methos smiled as Cordelia joined in the conversation.

"Yes, clues.  I knew Liam when he was a small boy, last seeing him on his eleventh birthday, and yet here he sits, 265 years later.  This told me he was some sort of immortal.  Then I remembered a few things that drifted through my head from last night."  Looking back to Angel, who seemed to be pulling himself out of his shock, "Such as the color of your skin.  It's quite beautiful, as if it was carved from marble.  Your touch was also cool.  A few other things, added with you," returning his gaze to the two others sitting at the table, "holding weapons that are known for fighting vampires, the logical conclusion is ... Angel is a vampire."

"But you are not."

"No, Wesley.  He has a heartbeat, and his body is quite warm."

"Ah.  Interesting.  So Adam Pierson.  What exactly are you?"

Methos looked between Angel and his two companions, contemplating how much he should say.  As if reading his mind, the vampire spoke, "Don't worry.  They can be trusted."

This got a bright smile from Cordelia, and a friendly nod from Wesley.

"I am what is called an Immortal, with a capital I.  Everything about us is human, except we don't die.  Well, we do, but we tend to come back to life."  Methos paused for a moment, seeing pain flicker across Angel's eyes.  "I'm sorry Liam.  I had no intention of leaving you so soon, but when you saw me being killed, there was little else I could do."

Galway, Ireland, 1738

It was Liam's eleventh birthday, and his father had told him over breakfast that as his special gift, Liam would be heading into the country with Doctor Adams while the good doctor made a few rounds to his patients that were unable to come into town.

While that was always fun, this time was to be different.  Unca Benjiman was going to be riding his horse, Gulltopp, a Thoroughbred/Irish Draught cross, for the day.  And Liam was to ride on the horse with him.  

His da constantly referred to the horse as being the finest piece of horseflesh he'd ever seen.  Liam often begged to be allowed to ride the proud looking horse, but his father always told him that the horse was too much for a mere boy, but once he became a man, then they would discuss it.

And today he rode Gulltopp.

It was the best day of his life...

... And the worst.

It had been a good day.  All of Unca Benjiman's patients were in good health.  On the ride home, they took a more scenic route in order to stretch the trip out a little longer.

Liam sat in front and had been given control of the reigns.  To his surprise, Gulltopp followed all of his commands.

When there were only few miles from home, Benjiman had become nervous, taking the reigns from the boy's hand.

"Liam.  Listen to me carefully.  We've got company, and I have a funny feeling about them.  When we reach the turn ahead, I'm going to get off.  I want you to ride Gull as hard as you can and go to your father.  Tell him where I am, and bring help."  Liam had been terrified by the fact Benjiman was nervous.  The older man was never nervous.  

"Do you understand me, Liam?"

The voice was a little harsh in his ear.  "Yes, Unca Benjiman."

"Good boy."

"What about you?"

"Don't worry about me.  I'll hang back, and see what they want.  Hopefully it'll be nothing."

Liam noticed that Benjiman had increased the speed Gulltopp was going.

Reaching the curve, Benjiman slid off the horse.  "Now ride Liam.  Gull will take care of you."  Before he could respond, Benjiman slapped the horse's rump.  The horse bolted down the path, making Liam grab hold with anything his hands could touch.  Finally gaining control, he settled into his seat.  Reaching the next curve, Liam turned his head to see Unca Benjiman fighting off the four men who had been following them.  Benjiman was fighting hard, dodging their knives, striking out with his own.  Where he had gotten a knife of his own, Liam didn't know, but he was thankful that his friend had something with which to battle.

Unable to take his eyes from the fight, Liam was grateful that the horse seemed to know what was needed from him.  Gulltopp was quickly racing towards trees that would hide Liam from the sight of the highwaymen.  His last vision of the man he loved so much, was Benjiman being rushed from two different directions at once.

Reins clutched tightly in his hands, heart pounding with adrenaline and fear, Liam raced for home, praying that they would make it back in time to save Unca Benjiman.  By the time he returned with help to where he had last seen the doctor, all there was left was blood soaked dirt, but no Unca Benjiman.  They searched for him for days with no success.  Ultimately, the constable declared that the highway men who Liam had witnessed, killed Dr. Benjiman Adams, and most likely taken his body to bury where no one would lay blame at their feet.

Los Angeles, present day

Angel drew himself from his dark thoughts and smiled sadly at Adam.  "I thought you were dead."

"I know you did.  I am sorry."

"I understand."  His throat constricting with emotions.  Oddly enough, he really did understand.  Looking down at his hands momentarily, he couldn't believe that his Unca Benjiman was really alive.  

And that he had given him a hand job.  

Oh God.

"Soooooo, Adam.  Does this mean you and Angel committed incest last night?"

Leave it to Cordelia to blurt out what he himself had been thinking.

Adam simply laughed.  A deep, rich laugh that Angel had loved to hear as a child.  

"Hardly, Cordelia.  Liam and I aren't related.  I was simply a good friend of the family."

"Ah.  Okay."  Angel cringed when he realized her attention had returned to him.  He could practically hear the thoughts rushing through her head.  He just wished he knew where they were leading her.

"Angel?"  Well, guess he was going to find out sooner than expected.  "Why were you ... you this morning?"

"Cordelia, this isn't the time."

"No," great, Wesley was getting into it now, "I'd like to know, too."

Angel's eyes quickly looked at Adam, before returning to his too friends.  "This *really* isn't the time."

"Would this have something to do with the arsenal that greeted you earlier?"  Okay, now Adam was involved.  Looks like it was time to face the music.

"The reason is simple, Cordelia.  Think about it."  Giving her a meaningful glare.

It took her a moment, but then her eyes got big, and her mouth formed a perfect O.

"Apparently Cordelia and Wesley understand your secret code, but I do not."

"Angel can't get a happy," Cordelia readily offered with a cheerful smile.  "If he does, he gets all grrrrrrr."  Holding her hands up, and making a face, doing a decent imitation of a bear.

Confusion was clearly evident in Adam's expression, but he said nothing as he looked back to Angel.

Taking a deep unneeded breath, Angel began to tell the story of his unlife.  "When I was turned into a vampire, I wasn't very nice."

"He was the nastiest vampire around."

"Cordelia, hush.  Let Angel tell Adam his story in his own words."

Angel smiled nervously first to Wesley, then back at Adam.  "My sire and I roamed Europe for a hundred and fifty years doing whatever we liked, not caring what harm we may have caused.  Actually taking pride if we caused harm.  All that changed about a hundred years ago when I snacked on the wrong person.  My sire offered to me a young gypsy girl.  The result was that I was cursed by a clan of Roma."

"Cursed?"

"With a soul."

Angel had watched Adam closely, waiting for the look of judgment or disgust.  Adam listened and nodded. When he mentioned his curse, Adam looked stricken, as if he understood the pain having a soul would do to someone like Angel.  But still, he said nothing more, waiting for Angel to continue.

"For the last one hundred years, I have been alone."

Cordelia cleared her throat, making Angel smile.  He used to be alone, but not anymore.

"Well, essentially alone.  Six years ago, I met someone who provided me with a new direction.  That's when I met Cordelia."  He smiled at his friend, thankful that he could actually call her that.  "For the first time in what felt like forever, I was a part of something.  I met people that knew what I was, and for the most part, they accepted me."  Looking at Cordy again, he almost had to laugh, "except for maybe Xander."

"No maybe about him."  She chuckled back at him.

He could feel the humor leaving him as he began to think of Buffy.  "There was a girl in particular.  Buffy.  I fell in love with her,"  his attention once again glued to Adam who nodded, encouraging him to continue, but showed little emotion at what he was hearing.  "One night things got a little out of control, and we slept together.  The next morning, I could feel my soul being ripped from me, and the demon regaining control."

Angel looked briefly over to Cordelia again, seeing how she was reacting to the story.  The girl was strong, but this had been a bad time for them all.  Unsurprising though, she seemed little effected by his words, just a little saddened by the memory.

"Those were not a good few months.  Angelus, which is how we refer to my non-souled counterpart, was not nice to those that I considered friends, taking perverse pleasure in taunting and hurting them.  That's when we found out there was a clause to my curse.  As Cordelia referred to it, if I get a 'happy' - I lose my soul.  So, as you can see, they were a little nervous when they saw you this morning."

"Ah, I see."

"You don't seem repulsed by what I told you."

Adam shrugged.  "What's there to be repulsed by?"

"Hello?  Didn't you hear what he said?  He was not a nice guy."

"He's a vampire."  Adam stated flatly, staring Cordelia down.  "What did you expect from him?  What's remarkable is what he's done with himself while having the soul.  Actually, if anything, I'm impressed."  Angel was slightly stunned by this.  Adam reached over, gently stroking a finger down the cool planes of Angel's face.  "You've handled your situation well.  Weaker men would have broke."  His voice quiet, emphasizing the point.

Angel didn't smile, still a little overwhelmed by the events of the morning, but he did nod a little.

The room was silent, each individual considering the various revelations.  Angel watched as Methos studied him, not surprised when he finally spoke.  "You're not the nasty vampire now.  What happened?"

Angle cleared his throat, momentarily postponing the answer.  "Uh, I was re-cursed."

Memories of those times flooded into Angel, remembering everything he had done, and how he had been punished.  Finally Methos pulled him out of his reverie.  "I fail to understand why you were all happy by this."

"Ah, well, you see," Wesley almost stuttered, "Angel was re-cursed, but at the worst possible moment."  Angel simply looked down into his mug, glad he had something to do with his hands.  "You see, Angelus was trying to open the portal between Earth and Hell, and quite frankly, he succeeded."

Much to Angel's surprise, Adam chuckled.  When they looked at him, he apologized, "I'm sorry, he just reminds me of someone else I use to know.  Please continue."

This time Wesley nodded and continued his story.  "Well, the only way to close the portal was to introduce Angelus' blood into it.  One of Buffy's friends, Willow, is an aspiring witch, and had found the curse.  She failed on the first attempt to curse Angelus, but succeeded in her second attempt.  Unfortunately, that was moments before Buffy plunged a sword into Angel, causing him to fall into the portal, and being drawn along with the other creatures, back into Hell."

"Bloody Hell," Angel stared into sympathetic eyes of his friend.  If he needed breath, he would have been holding it now, waiting to see what condemnation would fall from Adam's mouth.  "So you were in Hell after regaining your soul."  Angel nodded.  "How long were you there for?"

"From what I can figure, roughly 250 years."

"How did you return?"

"I don't really know.  One night I woke up in my old home."

"Loonier than a bird."

Angel was amazed at how quickly Adam's glare turned upon Cordelia.  "Of course he was.  What would you expect after having spent so much time in a place such as that?"

Reaching over, Angel placed a hand on Adam's arm, drawing the Immortal's attention back to him.  "I worked through it.  I'm okay now."

Angel reveled in the smile that Adam gave him.  It was warm and understanding.

"So," Adam looked around the table, a brow raised, "any more revelations?  Cordelia?  Wesley?"

"Nope.  Mere mortals here."

The Immortal laughed.  "Mortal, yes.  Mere?  I sincerely doubt that."

Cordelia beamed, preening from the compliment.

Angel settled back into his chair, staring at Adam.  For the first time, Angel found someone who was entirely accepting of him, and appeared not to judge him for his past and present faults.  That's why it hurt so much when Adam stood, and announced,  "Now the question is, who's going to take me back to my hotel.  Gunn brought me, but he seems to have disappeared."

"Your hotel?"  Had he misunderstood all the signals that Adam was sending?  Maybe the Immortal did find him unworthy after all.

"Yes.  It's time for me to go pack.  I'm assuming that Angel is out of the question.  So, that leaves either you or Wesley for the job."

"Are . . . are you leaving?"

"The hotel, yes.  Los Angeles, no."  Adam looked around the room before returning his eyes to Angel.  "I am assuming that I'm invited to stay here - at your hotel?"

A feeling that Angel had not experienced in so long, he never thought he'd experience again, crept up on him.  A certain warming began in his chest and slowly spread throughout his entire body.  He figured he probably was glowing from the warmth he felt for the man standing across from him.  "You're always welcome here, Adam."


The End?
 

back to angel fic page
back to highlander fic page
back to xover fic page