Author: Nelle Donaghue

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Newfound Life
by Nelle Donaghue

I was sitting at the bar of the wine bar of The Portabella cursing the fates. I had a hot date tonight, and it was now a half hour after we were supposed to meet and he still hadn't showed up. Friday night and once again I wasn't doing anything but sitting in the bar of one of the most expensive restaurants in town drinking a glass of overpriced wine. I knew that I looked good; I was wearing a green silk sleeveless blouse and clingy black pants with my black Doc Martins. I sipped my wine and checked my watch yet again when two men walked in. Both men were devastatingly handsome. One was about 6'2" had golden skin, long dark hair and was brawny. The other man really caught my eye. He stood a little shorter than the golden skinned man; he had pale skin and a prominent nose. He moved with the grace of a cat. I sighed and went back to studying the bartop. A few minutes later I heard an accented voice ask me if I would like another glass of wine. I looked up and saw the pale man who had walked in. I was speechless for a moment before I managed to say yes. He smiled and waved the waiter over and ordered me another glass of wine. "Thank you." I told him.

He smiled a smile that made me want to change my religion. "I'm Adam Pierson." He said in that gorgeous English accent that he had as he offered his hand to me, I shook it and noted the long fingers and callouses.

"I'm Nelle Donaghue." I told him.

"So, do you come here often?" He asked as he sat down next to me with a silly grin on his face. When I didn't answer or he put his forehead in his palm and turned towards me. "It was a joke."

"Sorry, it hasn't been a great day." I apologized to him.

He grinned again, "Apology accepted. Now if you don't mind my asking, what happened today?"

"I had a bad day at work, and I got stood up tonight."

"What fool would stand you up?"

"The kind that did."

He looked thoughtful for a moment before speaking again. "Would you like to join my companion and I for dinner?"

"I couldn't intrude on your date and you like that."

He laughed, "He isn't my date."

I just blushed.

"Don't worry about it Nelle. A lovely lady like you deserves to be treated well." He stood up and offered me his hand. After a moment of hesitation I took his hand, and he helped me up. He took me over to the table that the golden skinned man was sitting at. "Duncan MacLeod, this is Nelle Donaghue." He introduced us. Mr. MacLeod stood up, bowed and kissed my right hand. I blushed some more.

"Enchante." With his left hand he pulled a chair out for me, he was still holding my right hand when I sat down. He let go and pushed the chair in. "So what do you do?" Mr. MacLeod asked me.

"Right now I'm taking a semester off from college, so I'm just working. So what do you and Mr. Pierson do?"

Mr. MacLeod laughed, "You don't have to call me Mr. MacLeod; you can just call me Mac. What do I do? I teach at Seacouver University out in Washington state."

"You can just call me Adam; I teach at Seacouver U as well."

"So what brings you two out here?"

"We're attending the antiques show at the Monona Terrace." Adam answered.

"So you've noticed the awful carpeting that they have there?"

"What, the orange and red geometric shape crap?" Adam replied laughing.

"Yes that is the stuff. They spend all this money to build the damn thing, and then they put ugly carpeting in."

"Interior designers for the most part should be drawn and quartered. So, where did you go to college?" Adam asked me.

"I went to the University of Wisconsin last semester, the two years before that I went to Edgewood College here in town." The hostess called Adam and Duncan's reservations then. They stood up, and Adam offered me a hand. Once standing, we interlaced arms and followed the hostess. We had to break for the door and stairs. We turned a few heads along the way. Once upstairs I saw a group of people who I went to high school with in Minnesota. They stared at us with wide eyes and more than a hint of jealousy. I just smile back at them. I sat across from Adam and next to Duncan. Adam and Mac were delightful company, both were very smart and very charming. I caught a few looks of jealousy from both sexes.

Adam took a sip from his water glass and captured an ice cube. He deftly played with it in his mouth in a way that made me start to feel hot. He seemed to notice and played with another ice cube in the same way. Tease!

Dinner came, I had ordered sun dried tomato ravioli with alfredo sauce. Duncan had ordered angel hair pasta with marinara sauce, and Adam had ordered fettachini alfredo with grilled chicken.

"It's refreshing to meet a lady who isn't afraid to enjoy good food." Adam had complimented me when I had ordered.

When the waiter came to ask us if we wanted desert, we declined. Instead, Duncan ordered a bottle of Don Perignon. I was about to protest when he interrupted me, "Nelle, this is my way of thanking you for the wonderful evening."

I blushed an even deeper shade of red than before. Adam made a toast, "To good food, good friends and long life."

"Hear, hear!" I said. We clinked glasses. We were sipping champaign when my date, John Edwards, walked in the room and stormed over to my table.

"You little slut! I'm a little late, and you do this to me?" He grabbed my wrist and jerked me up.

Adam got a calm look on his face, far too calm for the situation. In an even tone he said: "Let her go."

John got a cheeky look on his face, "What are you going to do, give me a paper cut you little weakling."

"Let her go." Adam told John again.

John laughed, and then it got really scary. His eye's changed, they became red and his eye teeth elongated. I started to hyperventilate; I was face to face with a real vampire.

Adam's eyes narrowed, Adam reached into the left-hand side of his coat and pulled out a sword? Keeping his back to the room, he told John, "Let her go."

"No."

Adam grimly smiled and raised his sword to John's groin, "If you don't let her go, you become less of a man."

John weighed his options and let me go. He started to leave but found Adam stopped him. "Let's take this outside, shall we?" Adam told John.

John thought a moment, "On one condition, you leave your sword."

"Agreed."

They left, and I sat down shakily. "Don't worry about Adam, Nelle, he'll be fine." Duncan tried to comfort me.

"But he could die! And it would be my fault!"

"Adam's tougher than he looks." We then noticed the stares. "That man tried to force this lady here to go with here. Nothing happened." Duncan told the other restaurant patrons.

A few people looked skeptical, but looked away.

Five minutes later Adam came back, he looked a little mussed, but otherwise whole. I leaped up and gave him a big hug. "I was so worried about you." I was so in shock that I didn't ask him why he carried a sword.

"I'm fine." He reassured me. "So, what now?"

"We could go get coffee, and you could tell me why you are carrying a sword."

"A hobby. Don't worry, I wouldn't do anything to hurt you. Coffee sounds good. How about you MacLeod?"

Duncan yawned, "I'm going to go back to the hotel to catch some sleep. You two behave."

"Yes Dad." I told him as I rolled my eyes.

We parted ways with Duncan outside the Portabella, "So, where is there good coffee?"

I thought for a minute, "Michaelangelo's Coffeehouse."

"Where's that?"

"It's on the first block of State Street down from the Capital." We started walking up State Street towards the coffeehouse arm in arm. "So Adam what do you teach at Seacouver University?"

"I teach history and linguistics."

"I love history. What classes do you teach?"

"This semester I am teaching Ancient Civilizations, Greek and Roman Civilization and Beginning Modern European History."

"Wow, that's a broad range of topics."

"I have an eclectic taste in knowledge. So Nelle, what is your major?"

"Until this semester it was Nutritional Science in the Natural Sciences department. Now it's Biology with a minor in English, concentration on writing."

"Sounds interesting." We were outside Michaelangelo's Coffeehouse, and we went in. I ordered a Cafe Mocha, and he ordered plain coffee. We sat next to each other at one of the square tables dotting the coffehouse's floor. He was telling me about his travels in Europe when I felt his hand on my knee. I placed my hand above his hand and squeezed his hand. A few minutes later he was telling me about the time he spent living in Paris when I felt his hand moving higher up, then he stiffened. "I'll be right back." He whispered in my ear. I sighed when his hand moved from my thigh. I was lost in thought when I felt something hard and circular shoved into my back, I gasped.

"Right this way and you won't get hurt." I vicious male voice told me as he jerked me up. I nodded yes, and he walked me out of the coffeehouse and to the top of the State Street-Dayton Street parking ramp where I saw Adam sword fighting another man. "Put down the sword Adams and she won't get hurt." Adam hesitated and then set his sword down. "Now, get down on your knees." I was numb with shock.

In a flash, Adam's hand darted inside his coat and he pulled out a gun. He shot the man he had been fighting and the man behind me. I felt a hot, burning sensation in my back and then blacked out. I woke up to feel my lungs filling with air. I opened one eye and saw Adam hovering over me. I also had a massive headache, was odd in itself, I hardly ever get headaches.

"What happened?" I managed to croak out.

Adam took a deep sigh, "I'm sorry about this, I really am. You are now like me, immortal. Yes you were dead. The only way you can die now is to be beheaded. The headache you feel is caused when there is another immortal present." He went on to explain to me the Game and the Prize and all the fine points of immortality.

"So I have to learn how to fight by myself?" I asked when he was done talking.

"No you don't. I will teach you, as will MacLeod if you will have it."

"Duncan is immortal?"

"Yes he is."

I was silent for a few minutes. "So, how old are you and Duncan?"

"MacLeod was born in the Scottish Highlands in 1592."

I was speechless; I had just dined with a man who was over *400* years old! "Are you his student?"

"No, but most people think so."

"Why?"

"To most of the world that knows about immortals I am Adam Pierson, former Watcher turned immortal five years ago. Only a few living people know me as Methos."

Methos, what an odd and ancient sounding name. "Stupid question time, why do only a few people know you as Methos?"

Adam, no Methos, took a deep breath. "Because I am the oldest known living immortal."

My eyes widened with shock. "How old are you?" I asked him quietly.

"5000 years old."

I fainted again. I came to with Methos gently slapping my face. "Nelle, are you okay?" He asked me in a concerned tone.

I shook my head free from the cobwebs. "Yeah, I am. Sorry it was a bit of a shock."

He laughed, "I can imagine. Please don't tell anyone who doesn't already know my name my name."

"Why?"

"The older we get, it is thought the more powerful our quickening becomes. Since I'm the oldest, I must have the most powerful quickening."

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone." I was suddenly so tired that I yawned.

"So you're feeling how I feel?"

"And how would that be?"

"Exhausted. Dying and quickenings can do that to you."

I took his arm and pulled him over to me. He lay down and wrapped his body around mine. I was asleep in seconds contemplating my newfound life.

~~finis~~

Note: The Portabella is a real restaurant, good food. Michaelangelo's is a real coffeehouse, and the parking ramp does exist. And all in the same city!