Chapter 18

Duncan stood at the door and listened till he was sure everyone was gone. Joe called out to him, "You can come out now. They are all gone. Methos walked them down and will be back soon."

Duncan asked, "What are they going to do with Lawrence?"

"They are going to take him to a sanitarium and have a doctor examine him. Then they will give him therapy and hopefully in a few years they can release him. If not, he will be there permanent guest," answered Joe.

As Joe finished speaking, Duncan turned his head towards the door and then took up the stance of protection in front of Joe. Methos walked in and Duncan really was puzzled then. "Methos, your buzz is off. It was you, but it wasn't you. I've never felt anything like it."

Methos frowned, "That's weird. I didn't do anything to my quickening to make it seem different. Oh well, we'll figure it out later. Right now I want to greet Joe properly if you don't mind."

Duncan realized that he was being dismissed. So when he opened the door, he turned and said, "Bye for now guys. See you at the bar tomorrow if you guys have come up for air by then. If not, call me when you will be there."


As Duncan walked to the car, he thought about how happy Joe looked. The last time he saw him this happy was when he was seeing Lauren. He didn't look that happy when he thought Becky, his sweetheart from high school, still loved him and wanted them to be together. He was really glad for Joe because he knew Methos would do anything for him. He would wait and maybe after Joe was gone, then he'd have a chance with Methos. When he thought that, he almost cried. He just couldn't face the idea of Joe not being there. He knew he would lose Joe as a friend eventually, but the thought really tore him up. He decided to head home and try to get some rest after the mess of the last few days. 

When he got there, Amanda was there. And like always, she was able to take his mind off of his troubles for a while. 

About a week later Duncan invited everyone over to the barge for a celebration. When Joe and Methos arrived, Duncan noticed there was even more of a change in Methos quickening. He looked at Amanda and she seemed to notice something different also.

"Methos, your quickening is changing. Even Amanda is noticing it. What is going on?" asked Duncan.

"I don't know. That is really odd because all I can do is mute my quickening, not change it. I don't think any of us can do that and only a few of us can mute it," answered a very puzzled Methos.

They were all drinking champagne and Methos decided to ask Duncan after he let everyone know what he thought and felt, "Why did you just bow down to let that scum take your head?"

Duncan answered, "He threatened to kill Amanda and Joe and I just couldn't let them die because of me."

Angrily Methos asked, "Do you know what it would have done to Joe? He was standing there watching and was probably almost having a stroke. It would have destroyed him."

"But O'Rourke's men had a gun to his head and one of them had already shot Amanda. One of them was going to behead her. I couldn't let them do that." Duncan replied with his head down. "I just couldn't. I couldn't face anymore death."

With that Duncan walked out of the barge and they all watched him go. 

"Where's he going? What's going to become of him?" asked Joe.

"He'll probably go to holy ground for a few years and hide out. Don't forget, he's got that island that he goes too when he needs time alone. That's where he usually goes when life get's too much for him. We all have our hiding places," answered Amanda. "He'll go into hiding for a few years, but he will be okay. Well, got a plane to catch, so bye bye all."


"He's had it pretty rough ever since Darius was killed. I don't think he ever properly mourned him. It was really bad because Darius was like a father to him and then to lose Tessa right after that. It seems like the last few years it's been one friend after another and then to lose Richie. That one almost destroyed him. I'll keep an eye on him for you Joe," stated Methos.

"Yeah, but what about the training he needs with his shape shifting, Methos?" asked Joe.

Methos answered, "With him being on holy ground, he'll be safe until he's ready to come back to learn how to control it."

"Come on Joe, I'll take you back to the bar and help you close up. Then we have some talking to do. I never did tell you what I found out about my quickening going to you then back again."

Methos locked up the barge for the night. He would wait and see if Duncan came back or not on whether to put it in dry dock or not. Of course, he could ask Mac if he could rent it and just refurnish to suit himself.

To Chapter 19