Everything Gets Complicated - A Highlander The Raven fic 1/4
Highlander: The Raven fic. While this fic stands on its own, it is a follow on from Not as Bad as I Thought.
Thanks to aeron_lanart for the beta
Disclaimer: Highlander the Raven isn’t mine, nor are the characters you recognise, they belong to Davis-Panzer, I’m just playing with them.
Everything Gets Complicated
In the apartment above Sanctuary, Nick sat at the window, staring out at the bright night of Paris, lost in thought. He’d been back a little over a month now, and had begun training in earnest, but so much was still unresolved.
He’d been so happy to see Amanda, so glad to be back, that he’d left all the arguments and recriminations in Liam’s church. Nick looked across at her sleeping form on the bed and smiled. He couldn’t be angry with her, not any more, Liam had been right. There was no point wasting decades or centuries being mad at her.
“Centuries,” Nick muttered with a shake of his head. Immortality was still a huge kick in the head. He needed to talk to someone, and Amanda wasn’t the one to go to; he needed a priest.
Nick walked around for a while, trying to sort his thoughts and feelings so he’d at least be able to express them to Liam, but he was unsuccessful. Finally, as the first rays of light dawned, he gave up trying and headed to Liam’s church.
When he arrived at the church, Nick followed the Buzz to the office where Liam was laying out his vestments for morning Mass. He smiled when Nick poked his head around the door.
“Morning, Nick. I wondered who could be calling on me so early,” Liam greeted him warmly. Nick raised his hand in reply.
“You’re busy, I should come back later.”
“Not at all. Mass isn’t for another hour yet,” Liam replied, setting aside his cassock and giving Nick his full attention. “What can I do for you?” he added, leading Nick through to his office and indicating for him to sit down. Nick did so and sat in awkward silence as Liam sat in his chair, trying to find the words to start.
“It’s just…” Nick began, but then faltered. He grunted in frustration. “I don’t know Liam, it’s all so… I mean, Immortality…”
Liam nodded sympathetically.
“Wrapping your head around the idea of Immortality probably seemed a lot easier when it was happening to other people. Am I right?” he said with a wry smile. Nick nodded.
“It was still a shock, but it wasn’t me that would live forever. I thought I was going to have a normal life. Maybe get married again one day, have some kids…” Nick tailed off again and shrugged. “But now nothing makes any sense. I’ve been living on autopilot for the last ten years, hoping that one day I’d figure it all out. That I’d wake up and realise how to be Immortal.”
Liam chuckled at that, so Nick glared at him.
“Oh, I’m sorry, Nick, I don’t mean to laugh. But none of us have figured out how to be Immortal, just like nobody knows how to be mortal. We just are. Like I told you a few weeks back, we aren’t that different from mortals. We’re lucky enough to get the chance to correct our mistakes, to take the time to learn from them, but we’re all just living life for as long as we have it,” Liam explained.
“Eat, drink and be merry; for tomorrow we die. Is that it?” Nick demanded, his tone sounding angry.
“I wouldn’t put it quite like that, but in essence. Enjoy the wonders of Immortality, Nick. Enjoy life. Prepare for the Game, but try to avoid it.”
Nick stood up and began pacing the office.
“What if I don’t want to? I should have died that day, maybe I should just let the next Immortal take my head,” he said. Liam didn’t reply, he just sat in his chair, watching Nick walk up and down. After a moment, Nick stopped in his tracks, suddenly struck by a thought. “All those conversations we had. You were trying to prepare me, weren’t you?”
Liam grinned sheepishly and nodded.
“I very rarely talk in the abstract, Nick. But sometimes it takes a while to see my point,” he replied. Nick raised an eyebrow.
“Well, thank you, but it didn’t work. Or, I don’t know, maybe if the circumstances of my first death had been different…” Nick said and shook his head as if that would make his thoughts fall into place. Liam stood up and walked over to him, placing his hands on Nick’s shoulders and looking him in the eye.
“You were better prepared for all this than most. And you’re a good man, Nick Wolfe; you will do good things with your Immortality. That much I’m certain of,” he said before dropping his hands and taking a step back. “Maybe restart what you were doing with Amanda before, helping people. It’s what you know best,” Liam suggested as he walked back to his seat.
This time, Nick sat in the chair opposite and the pair stayed in thoughtful silence for a few minutes; Nick mulling over what Liam had said, and Liam waiting for Nick to speak.
“Do you think we can?” Nick said eventually. “Go back to what we had before, I mean. And I’m not talking about the Game; that was part of our lives since I’ve known her. But everything between us has changed. I’m her student now, we’re lovers, and my Immortality…the dynamic between us has changed.”
“So find a new one.”
Nick began to retort, but stopped and thought about Liam’s words. He began to answer, but they both felt the approach of another Immortal. They stood up and headed into the church.
“Probably Amanda,” Nick said.
“Oh, aye, just come by for confessional, I expect,” Liam replied with amusement.
They rounded the corner to see that it wasn’t Amanda; it was a man who looked to be in his mid-thirties, though of course that meant nothing. Liam smiled in greeting and stepped forward to meet the man, but Nick stopped dead in his tracks, too stunned to move.
“Eric! To what do I owe the pleasure?” Liam said warmly.
“Just passing through, thought I’d come and…” Eric began cheerfully, but tailed off when he saw Nick. “You!” he said and started toward Nick.
“You’re Immortal?!” they both declared.
Liam looked at the two in a mixture of amusement and bewilderment.
“You two know each other?” he asked.
“He should do,” replied Eric. “He killed me.”
*-*
Chicago 1996
Nick took another drink of coffee and then rubbed the bridge of his nose. He really hated late night stakeouts. He and Claudia had several stupid games to while away the hours, but she was on maternity leave and the jackass he’d been saddled with as a temporary partner had no sense of humour.
Eric Thompson was wanted for questioning in relation to a string of robberies that had happened in jewellery stores across the city in the last year. He and Claudia had been on the case for weeks, and she desperately wanted to postpone her leave until they caught the bastard, but it had dragged on and on, until she had no choice.
So here he was, night three and hour seven of what was becoming an epic stakeout. He felt his eyelids begin to droop and slapped his cheeks to wake himself up. As he looked up, he spotted a figure in the shadows across the street, moving toward the suspect’s house in a way probably intended to be stealthy, but which only drew attention.
Nick poked the sleeping Phillips beside him until he woke and pointed to the shadowy figure.
“I think our guy’s arrived,” he said. Phillips sat up straight in the chair.
“About damn time,” he answered.
Nick nodded and quietly got out of the car and Phillips did the same. They both discreetly crossed the street, moving to intercept the suspect, one in front and one behind. As he drew nearer, Nick could see that it was indeed Eric Thompson. Thompson spotted Nick approaching and got nervous, looking around he spotted Phillips behind him and reached into his coat, drawing out a semi-automatic pistol.
“Gun!” Nick cried, pulling his own weapon and dropping into a firing stance. From the corner of his eye, he was aware of Phillips doing the same thing. “Eric Thompson, you’re under arrest for armed robbery, you have the right…”
Before Nick could continue to read Thompson his MIRANDA rights Thompson opened fire, his shot going wild and hitting the lamppost three feet away. On instinct, Nick returned fire, plugging Thompson three times. Thompson dropped to the floor like a sack of potatoes and Phillips ran up to him while Nick covered him with his gun. Phillips kicked away Thompson’s gun before checking for a pulse. He looked up at Nick and shook his head, so Nick lowered his gun.
“Dammit,” he said and sighed. It needn’t have gone down like this, they only wanted to question the guy. He looked down at the body and sighed again. Claudia hated it when he screwed up.
*-*
“It was a clean shoot. You can’t hold that against me,” Nick said in surprise. He wasn’t happy about becoming Immortal, but he couldn’t believe anyone would want to take his head for killing them.
“Like hell I can’t, you took my life! My job, my wife, my money…”
“It wasn’t your money,” Nick replied.
“You’re just lucky this is Holy Ground,” Eric said.
“Eric! Please,” Liam interjected and ushered Eric toward his office before returning to Nick.
“I’ll talk to him; try to make him see sense. Please, Nick, for my sake, don’t…”
“Hey, I’m not the one holding a grudge. If he stays away from me, I’ll stay away from him. But if he challenges me, Liam, I will defend myself,” Nick replied. Liam nodded his understanding.
“I hope it doesn’t come to that,” he said and headed after Eric. Nick watched him leave before heading up the aisle to the main door.
“So do I, Liam. So do I.”
Continues in Part Two
Thanks to aeron_lanart for the beta
Disclaimer: Highlander the Raven isn’t mine, nor are the characters you recognise, they belong to Davis-Panzer, I’m just playing with them.
Everything Gets Complicated
In the apartment above Sanctuary, Nick sat at the window, staring out at the bright night of Paris, lost in thought. He’d been back a little over a month now, and had begun training in earnest, but so much was still unresolved.
He’d been so happy to see Amanda, so glad to be back, that he’d left all the arguments and recriminations in Liam’s church. Nick looked across at her sleeping form on the bed and smiled. He couldn’t be angry with her, not any more, Liam had been right. There was no point wasting decades or centuries being mad at her.
“Centuries,” Nick muttered with a shake of his head. Immortality was still a huge kick in the head. He needed to talk to someone, and Amanda wasn’t the one to go to; he needed a priest.
Nick walked around for a while, trying to sort his thoughts and feelings so he’d at least be able to express them to Liam, but he was unsuccessful. Finally, as the first rays of light dawned, he gave up trying and headed to Liam’s church.
When he arrived at the church, Nick followed the Buzz to the office where Liam was laying out his vestments for morning Mass. He smiled when Nick poked his head around the door.
“Morning, Nick. I wondered who could be calling on me so early,” Liam greeted him warmly. Nick raised his hand in reply.
“You’re busy, I should come back later.”
“Not at all. Mass isn’t for another hour yet,” Liam replied, setting aside his cassock and giving Nick his full attention. “What can I do for you?” he added, leading Nick through to his office and indicating for him to sit down. Nick did so and sat in awkward silence as Liam sat in his chair, trying to find the words to start.
“It’s just…” Nick began, but then faltered. He grunted in frustration. “I don’t know Liam, it’s all so… I mean, Immortality…”
Liam nodded sympathetically.
“Wrapping your head around the idea of Immortality probably seemed a lot easier when it was happening to other people. Am I right?” he said with a wry smile. Nick nodded.
“It was still a shock, but it wasn’t me that would live forever. I thought I was going to have a normal life. Maybe get married again one day, have some kids…” Nick tailed off again and shrugged. “But now nothing makes any sense. I’ve been living on autopilot for the last ten years, hoping that one day I’d figure it all out. That I’d wake up and realise how to be Immortal.”
Liam chuckled at that, so Nick glared at him.
“Oh, I’m sorry, Nick, I don’t mean to laugh. But none of us have figured out how to be Immortal, just like nobody knows how to be mortal. We just are. Like I told you a few weeks back, we aren’t that different from mortals. We’re lucky enough to get the chance to correct our mistakes, to take the time to learn from them, but we’re all just living life for as long as we have it,” Liam explained.
“Eat, drink and be merry; for tomorrow we die. Is that it?” Nick demanded, his tone sounding angry.
“I wouldn’t put it quite like that, but in essence. Enjoy the wonders of Immortality, Nick. Enjoy life. Prepare for the Game, but try to avoid it.”
Nick stood up and began pacing the office.
“What if I don’t want to? I should have died that day, maybe I should just let the next Immortal take my head,” he said. Liam didn’t reply, he just sat in his chair, watching Nick walk up and down. After a moment, Nick stopped in his tracks, suddenly struck by a thought. “All those conversations we had. You were trying to prepare me, weren’t you?”
Liam grinned sheepishly and nodded.
“I very rarely talk in the abstract, Nick. But sometimes it takes a while to see my point,” he replied. Nick raised an eyebrow.
“Well, thank you, but it didn’t work. Or, I don’t know, maybe if the circumstances of my first death had been different…” Nick said and shook his head as if that would make his thoughts fall into place. Liam stood up and walked over to him, placing his hands on Nick’s shoulders and looking him in the eye.
“You were better prepared for all this than most. And you’re a good man, Nick Wolfe; you will do good things with your Immortality. That much I’m certain of,” he said before dropping his hands and taking a step back. “Maybe restart what you were doing with Amanda before, helping people. It’s what you know best,” Liam suggested as he walked back to his seat.
This time, Nick sat in the chair opposite and the pair stayed in thoughtful silence for a few minutes; Nick mulling over what Liam had said, and Liam waiting for Nick to speak.
“Do you think we can?” Nick said eventually. “Go back to what we had before, I mean. And I’m not talking about the Game; that was part of our lives since I’ve known her. But everything between us has changed. I’m her student now, we’re lovers, and my Immortality…the dynamic between us has changed.”
“So find a new one.”
Nick began to retort, but stopped and thought about Liam’s words. He began to answer, but they both felt the approach of another Immortal. They stood up and headed into the church.
“Probably Amanda,” Nick said.
“Oh, aye, just come by for confessional, I expect,” Liam replied with amusement.
They rounded the corner to see that it wasn’t Amanda; it was a man who looked to be in his mid-thirties, though of course that meant nothing. Liam smiled in greeting and stepped forward to meet the man, but Nick stopped dead in his tracks, too stunned to move.
“Eric! To what do I owe the pleasure?” Liam said warmly.
“Just passing through, thought I’d come and…” Eric began cheerfully, but tailed off when he saw Nick. “You!” he said and started toward Nick.
“You’re Immortal?!” they both declared.
Liam looked at the two in a mixture of amusement and bewilderment.
“You two know each other?” he asked.
“He should do,” replied Eric. “He killed me.”
*-*
Chicago 1996
Nick took another drink of coffee and then rubbed the bridge of his nose. He really hated late night stakeouts. He and Claudia had several stupid games to while away the hours, but she was on maternity leave and the jackass he’d been saddled with as a temporary partner had no sense of humour.
Eric Thompson was wanted for questioning in relation to a string of robberies that had happened in jewellery stores across the city in the last year. He and Claudia had been on the case for weeks, and she desperately wanted to postpone her leave until they caught the bastard, but it had dragged on and on, until she had no choice.
So here he was, night three and hour seven of what was becoming an epic stakeout. He felt his eyelids begin to droop and slapped his cheeks to wake himself up. As he looked up, he spotted a figure in the shadows across the street, moving toward the suspect’s house in a way probably intended to be stealthy, but which only drew attention.
Nick poked the sleeping Phillips beside him until he woke and pointed to the shadowy figure.
“I think our guy’s arrived,” he said. Phillips sat up straight in the chair.
“About damn time,” he answered.
Nick nodded and quietly got out of the car and Phillips did the same. They both discreetly crossed the street, moving to intercept the suspect, one in front and one behind. As he drew nearer, Nick could see that it was indeed Eric Thompson. Thompson spotted Nick approaching and got nervous, looking around he spotted Phillips behind him and reached into his coat, drawing out a semi-automatic pistol.
“Gun!” Nick cried, pulling his own weapon and dropping into a firing stance. From the corner of his eye, he was aware of Phillips doing the same thing. “Eric Thompson, you’re under arrest for armed robbery, you have the right…”
Before Nick could continue to read Thompson his MIRANDA rights Thompson opened fire, his shot going wild and hitting the lamppost three feet away. On instinct, Nick returned fire, plugging Thompson three times. Thompson dropped to the floor like a sack of potatoes and Phillips ran up to him while Nick covered him with his gun. Phillips kicked away Thompson’s gun before checking for a pulse. He looked up at Nick and shook his head, so Nick lowered his gun.
“Dammit,” he said and sighed. It needn’t have gone down like this, they only wanted to question the guy. He looked down at the body and sighed again. Claudia hated it when he screwed up.
*-*
“It was a clean shoot. You can’t hold that against me,” Nick said in surprise. He wasn’t happy about becoming Immortal, but he couldn’t believe anyone would want to take his head for killing them.
“Like hell I can’t, you took my life! My job, my wife, my money…”
“It wasn’t your money,” Nick replied.
“You’re just lucky this is Holy Ground,” Eric said.
“Eric! Please,” Liam interjected and ushered Eric toward his office before returning to Nick.
“I’ll talk to him; try to make him see sense. Please, Nick, for my sake, don’t…”
“Hey, I’m not the one holding a grudge. If he stays away from me, I’ll stay away from him. But if he challenges me, Liam, I will defend myself,” Nick replied. Liam nodded his understanding.
“I hope it doesn’t come to that,” he said and headed after Eric. Nick watched him leave before heading up the aisle to the main door.
“So do I, Liam. So do I.”
Continues in Part Two