Work Text:
Title: Beyond Chivalry
Author: Aeron Lanart
Rating: PG
Spoilers/Warnings: Scene additions to 'Chivalry' Contains the odd use of colourful language.
Disclaimer: All characters and concepts from the Highlander universe are used without permission, except for Siannon O'Niall who is mine.
~*~
Beyond Chivalry
*
"Maybe he hasn't got out of bed yet..." Duncan whirled round to glare at his friend.
"What's that supposed to mean?" He said. Methos smiled, a sardonic twitch of his mouth.
"Exactly what it sounded like. You know Kristen." Duncan's shoulders slumped. Unfortunately, he did know Kristen, only too well. They faced each other across the expanse of the loft, both of them stiffening when they felt the buzz, concluding it was not Richie when there was a knock at the door.
"Expecting someone?" Methos asked in his ever-so-casual manner. Duncan shook his head.
"No, but I wasn't expecting *you* either," he said as he moved to answer the door, sword in hand.
"True enough." Methos grinned at Duncan's back.
"Give us a hug, you overstuffed haggis." Said a low but distinctly female voice. Duncan's reply was muffled. The smile fell off Methos' face as he realised he knew the voice. Duncan was still talking, much more audibly now.
"Come on in, let me introduce you to..." He drew his visitor further into the loft. Methos sat stock still, almost holding his breath.
"You! You dirty, conniving, slimy little warthog!" Oh yes, he remembered that voice, and that face. Her hair was shorter than he remembered, cut in a jaw length bob and consequently much curlier than when it was long, but the green eyes flashed with the same fire, making him wish he was anywhere else but here. They hadn't parted on the best of terms last time.
"Hi Siannon," was all he said, and somewhat sheepishly at that. Duncan stood helplessly staring at his two friends, obviously stunned at the revelation, caught between open mouthed astonishment and outright laughter. He eventually found his voice, forcing the words out through a wide grin.
"I take it you two have met before?"
"Met? I'll say we've met." Siannon was almost bristling with indignation. She nodded towards Methos. "That man is a liar and a cheat *and* he never pays for his own beer." She then relaxed, letting the tension flow out of her, and grinned at them both. "But it has been a long time, hasn't it M..." She paused and looked pointedly at him. "Just what are you calling yourself at the moment anyway?"
"Adam Pierson."
She burst out laughing.
"Adam?! How bloody typical. Well I shouldn't have too much trouble remembering that one, should I?" She said. Methos grinned.
"It doesn't matter," he indicated Duncan with a jerk of his head, "He knows." Siannon's gaze passed from Methos to Duncan, who shrugged under her scrutiny, and back again.
"Oh really? When did this happen?"
"Last year."
"Ah." Siannon pulled off her jacket, hanging it up as she entered the loft. She gave Duncan a crooked smile. "Any chance of a coffee, Duncan?"
"Sure." He wandered back into the kitchen. She fixed Methos with a baleful stare, spoiling the effect by being unable to take the smile off her face.
"So what brings you over here then, apart from a sudden yearning to see beautiful Seacouver, of course?" Methos relaxed back into his chair, trying to look innocent.
"Nothing much."
Siannon frowned slightly.
"Come on Methos, don't give me that. You *always* have a reason for doing things, even if it's incomprehensible to the rest of us."
"Kristen's in town."
She shrugged. "So? She's a manipulative bitch, but she's never done me any harm."
Methos' expression hardened. "She's a *dangerous* manipulative bitch, and I can't believe you don't realise that, Siannon." Duncan, sensing a possible re-commencement of hostilities, chose that moment to intervene.
"Coffee."
"Thanks hen, you're a star." She took a grateful sip of the hot drink, leaning against the counter. "What's all of this with Kristen anyway?" Methos tilted his head back in the chair to look at her more easily, pinning her with a stare of his own.
"You've probably never had a problem with her for one obvious reason."
"And what's that?"
"You're a woman."
"Oh so you *had* noticed. I'm so glad," she said pithily. Duncan put a warning hand on her arm.
"Siannon..." She looked at his hand, then into his eyes, before turning to Methos.
"Will someone *please* explain?" She asked, almost plaintively.
"Kristen has a nasty tendency to play with men, with fatal consequences occasionally." Methos indicated Duncan. "Which *he* knows all about."
"And..?" The two men regarded each other for long seconds. When they spoke, it was in unison;
"Richie..." They both headed for the door, picking up their coats on the way.
"Make yourself at home Siannon, I hope I won't be long," Duncan threw back over his shoulder as he left.
Siannon plunked herself down on the couch with an exasperated sigh, putting her feet on the table. The day was not turning out well at all. First of all she had the shock of seeing Methos again, only to find out he was obviously a good friend of Duncan's; now they'd abandoned her with nothing more than cryptic references as to what was going on, making her worry all the more.
Richie... Just what had her friend got himself into *this* time?
*
Siannon sat in Joe's morosely staring into her Guinness. She sighed, and finally raised her eyes to her two table mates.
"Can't you just let him make his own mistakes for a change?" Duncan and Methos had tried to explain about Kristen and Richie, but she was having trouble believing them.
"No I can't, not when it might get him killed." Duncan spoke with quiet conviction.
"Look Duncan, Richie's grown up a hell of a lot in the last year. I can't honestly see him making the same mistakes as you did."
"Can't you?" Methos stared at her aggressively, leaning on his elbows. "Well I'm afraid *I* can. Maybe if he was thinking with his brains and not his body, we'd all be a lot better off. And when did you get so cosy with Richie Ryan anyway?"
"Methos..."
"No Duncan, it's okay." She drew a deep breath and met Methos' gold-green gaze with her own. "If you really want to know, it was last year. I lost someone I loved very much and if it hadn't been for Richie, I probably wouldn't be alive now. So give credit where credit's due; there's a lot more to Richie than meets the eye."
"I'm sure there is, but Kristen's got him right where she wants him, and that's not good, believe me."
'Love me, love me,
Say that you love me.
Fool me, fool me,
Go on and fool me.
Love me, love me,
Pretend that you love me.
Leave me, leave me,
Just say that you need me.'
~ Lovefool by the Cardigans ~
*
Richie walked away from the dojo, head down, hands in pockets, thinking, or trying not to think, (he was not terribly clear which it was) of Kristen. It was a train of thought that got him nowhere fast. He kicked viciously at an unoffending stone in his path wishing he had never heard of Kristen or Adam Pierson or even, for a minute, Duncan MacLeod. He hated people trying to run his life for him, hated it even more if they were proved right and right now he had had enough of both. He felt the buzz of another immortal and heard footsteps running to catch him up. He shoved his hands further into his pockets and resolutely ignored whoever it was. The person caught up with him and began to walk alongside. The presence was a familiar one, and far more welcome to him in his present state of mind than anyone else's would have been.
"Going somewhere?" Siannon asked, in an almost offhand fashion.
"Away from here," he replied curtly, not raising his head to look at her. He knew it was rude, but he just did not care. She carried on walking close beside him.
"Want some company?" He turned to face her with a wry shadow of a smile at that particular comment.
"I'm not really good company at the moment, Siannon. If you want company, go to Joe's or back to Mac's place."
"I can see them any time. Want to talk about it?"
"No."
"Fair enough." They carried on walking. Richie realised he was calming down slightly, the lack of pressure from Siannon's company kind of soothing. He straightened up a bit more, finally meeting her eyes, tried another smile out. This one came out less twisted.
"Thanks," he said and then noticed that Siannon had been guiding their footsteps toward the park. He frowned.
"Oh come on, I want to feed the ducks. Then you can go throw stones in the water or something, I'm not bothered."
Richie gave her a puzzled glance.
"Ducks?"
"Yeah, ducks. Don't tell me you never used to feed the ducks when you were a kid. Everyone likes feeding ducks." She gave him a bright smile.
"Actually I did, but never got to as much as I would have liked. Never stayed with one family long enough for it to get to be routine."
"Pity."
"Yeah." They walked in comfortable silence for a while longer. "Hey Siannon?"
"Mmm-hm."
"Why ducks?"
"It was my job to look after the family's when I was a little girl. I got rather attached to them, actually. And since then... well it's something I still like to do occasionally, even if they're someone else's. I suppose it reminds me of home, and that's a hell of a long way away." Richie smiled at the far away expression on her face, she did not talk very much about her early life in Ireland. Still smiling, he shook his head.
"I'm sure it does, but..ducks?... you're weird."
She grinned at him in reply.
"Have you only just noticed? I'm devastated."
"Yeah, right."
They reached the lakeside, Siannon producing a bag from an inside pocket. She waved it at Richie. The ducks also noticed and started to swim ashore.
"Breadcrumbs. Want some?"
"Why the hell not." Soon they were laughing like children over the antics of the ungainly birds as they squabbled with each other for the food. Eventually the crumbs were finished and the two friends moved off around the lake. They stopped at a place were the willows grew right to the waters edge and sat in the shade of one of the trees. Richie absent mindedly threw pebbles into the water, while Siannon regarded him thoughtfully, arms wrapped around her legs, carefully weighing up what she wanted to say. She knew he was feeling raw, not to mention used and abused, so the last thing she wanted to do was alienate him by appearing to want participate in the control of his life.
"I've got a suggestion to make," she offered tentatively. He looked over his shoulder.
"A suggestion?"
"That's right." She paused, looking out over the water for a minute. "How would you feel about getting away from here for a bit?"
"Away from all this? From Mac and Kristen and Adam? Hell, I'd love to, but what about the dojo and what about Mac?" He manoeuvred himself around to face her.
"I think Duncan can manage the dojo on his own for a change, he's perfectly capable of it and besides, when did you last have a break from it all? Leave Duncan to me. Interested?"
Richie's face began to light up with the smile that was slowly taking over his face.
"You bet I am," he said. Siannon scrambled to her feet. "Hey, where're you going now?"
"To speak to Duncan. Go home and pack, Rich, I'll pick you up in two hours."
"You mean we're going today? Just like that?" He made a gesture. She grinned at him, eyes dancing.
"Sure we are. Why not?" She offered Richie her hand, he pulled himself up, coming to stand in front of her. He stared at her, shaking his head. Then he laughed.
"Yeah, why not. See you in two hours, Siannon." He dashed off, much lighter in spirit than when he first entered the park. Siannon breathed a sigh of relief. .
All she had to do now was convince Duncan that she hadn't lost her mind. Still, she could always fall back on the old 'I'm going and you can't stop me' routine if he started to get obnoxious, and with Methos there it would probably be a lot easier, as he was a kindred spirit in spite of how much he annoyed her at times. Ah yes, freedom was a wonderful thing.
Two hours later she pulled up outside Richie's to find him already waiting, bag in hand. He leapt in, throwing his bag into the back of the car.
"So where are we going?" He asked.
"Anywhere we want. Have car, will travel. Anywhere you've always wanted to go, but never managed to? Preferably on this side of the Atlantic, if you don't mind."
"Anywhere?"
"Yes."
"Niagara Falls." Siannon smiled at him.
"Right then, Niagara Falls it is. Just so happens I've not been there either. Let's hit the road. Dig around in that box down there and chuck a CD in the player. You should find something you like, unless you're into Opera."
"Ugh, no thanks. I hear enough of that at Mac's." He rummaged around for a bit as Siannon negotiated the roads that would take them out of the city. "Hey, I really like this one," he said brightly, putting it in the player. They hit the city limits to the sounds of a group called Queen...