{"id":1741,"date":"2012-09-09T10:59:37","date_gmt":"2012-09-09T10:59:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/azar.ink-and-quill.com\/?p=1741"},"modified":"2012-09-09T10:59:37","modified_gmt":"2012-09-09T10:59:37","slug":"fic-life-worth-living-part-66-hl-richieoc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/azar.ink-and-quill.com\/?p=1741","title":{"rendered":"Fic: Life Worth Living part 6\/6 (HL, Richie\/OC)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Do you believe in life after love?
\nI can feel something inside me say
\nI really don’t think you’re strong enough
\n–Cher, “Believe”<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

“May the Lord keep watch between you and me when we are away from each other.”
\n–Genesis 31:49<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Chaya’s house
\nLater that day… <\/strong><\/p>\n

Someday she would forgive herself for arriving too late, Chaya knew, but it was going to take a long time. She’d left the restaurant after breakfast yesterday; whatever sixth sense it was that supplied the channel for her visions had kicked into overdrive. When a news break on the radio announced that the headless remains fished out of the bay had been identified by a friend of the deceased, she’d sped home with a silent prayer. She’d arrived to find the glass in the front door shattered, the guest room trashed, and Haresh Clay leaning out the broken window screaming curses in Arabic.<\/p>\n

Chaya stood abruptly and began to pace the kitchen, wandering from the table where she and Richie had first begun to bond to the refrigerator she’d once jokingly called his “new best friend” when she caught him midnight-snacking. Clay hadn’t come back again to gloat, so there was a good chance that the young man was still alive, but that didn’t ease her discomfort. She’d been woken up by nightmares at least twenty times last night.<\/p>\n

As she crossed the room, back and forth, she struggled again to decipher the dreams. One was the same vision she’d told the young man about the morning after they met–Richie’s sword, which now lay broken on the table in front of her, and the katana. But the other…the images didn’t make sense, but somehow she knew what it meant.<\/p>\n

And one thing it meant was that he had to live. Please, Adonai, don’t let it be too late. <\/em><\/p>\n

She’d always believed her God had a sense of humor, and He demonstrated it now for the prayer had no sooner passed through her mind than she felt the warning buzz. Chaya stiffened, her fingers clasping her sword where it lay beside Richie’s broken one on the table.<\/p>\n

She heard a soft curse muttered in a familiar voice and the next moment brought a knock on what was left of her front door.<\/p>\n

“Richie?” she called out, hurrying into the front room.<\/p>\n

The young Immortal looked up at her sheepishly through the broken glass in the door. “Hiya, Chaya.”<\/p>\n

A huge, relieved smile broke over her face and she began to laugh as she reached to open the door.<\/p>\n

“I didn’t think it was\u00a0that<\/em> funny…” Richie teased, a smirk dancing in his own eyes.<\/p>\n

Ignoring the smart remark, Chaya dropped her sword and pulled the young man into a fervent embrace. “I’m so glad you’re all right,” she whispered.<\/p>\n

His arms tightened around her waist and he let out a long breath. “Yeah, me too.”<\/p>\n

“Why didn’t you come back?”<\/p>\n

“I was afraid to,” Richie admitted, releasing her. “I’ve already dragged you into this enough. I didn’t want the place torn up by a Quickening too.” He shivered. “Especially mine.”<\/p>\n

She shuddered as well. “Your sword–”<\/p>\n

“He broke it with the first blow. But it’s okay–I got a new one.”<\/p>\n

Reaching into his coat, he withdrew the silvery blade that MacLeod had given him.<\/p>\n

Chaya nodded again, even more relieved. She reached one hand out to touch the sword and he handed it to her. After a short inspection, she handed it back to him. “It’s nice.”<\/p>\n

Richie cracked a weak smile.<\/p>\n

“Where did you get it?” Chaya asked. “And where did you go when you left here?”<\/p>\n

The young man stared uncomfortably at his shoes for a moment before answering. “Mac gave it to me.”<\/p>\n

A cold fear gripped the older Immortal’s stomach. “Trying to get back in your good graces?” she asked coolly.<\/p>\n

He looked surprised at the tone of her voice. “I just thought he wanted to help me out.”<\/p>\n

Her expression remained troubled, to the point that she looked almost ill. “Is it worth risking your life to ease his conscience?” she finally asked.<\/p>\n

Richie shook his head. “He’d taken a Dark Quickening. He wasn’t himself. Mac would never hurt me–”<\/p>\n

“Your history seems to suggest otherwise,” she snapped in return.<\/p>\n

“Chaya–” Richie began, his voice tinged with amazement at the venom in hers.<\/p>\n

“There’s something I never told you about my dream, Richie,” Chaya interrupted again, biting her lip and fighting the instinct to turn away from him. “I said I saw him attack you twice…but I didn’t tell you about the third time. I didn’t want you to feel any more betrayed than you already did.”<\/p>\n

“Third time?”<\/p>\n

“He will try again, Richie,” she told him softly. “I’m sorry.”<\/p>\n

“But obviously he won’t succeed, right?”<\/p>\n

“I don’t know. But if you stay away from him, you’ll never have to find out.”<\/p>\n

The young man’s face turned grave, his eyes pensive. “When we were sparring the first time…when I lost it…you gave me another chance because you said you trusted me. You forgave me. This isn’t any more normal for MacLeod than that was for me. Don’t I owe him the same mercy you showed me?”<\/p>\n

Chaya shook her head, frowning. “This isn’t about mercy, Richie. It isn’t about forgiveness. Forgive him if you want, but he\u00a0will<\/em> try to take your head again! If you want to live…please…keep away from him.”<\/p>\n

“When you told me about your dream, you said you recognized it as me because of my sword,” he argued. He held up the sword in his hands. “I’m not carrying that one any longer. How do you know what you saw hasn’t been changed?”<\/p>\n

“I don’t,” she admitted. “But I’m afraid to assume that and be wrong.”<\/p>\n

“Well…I’m not.”<\/p>\n

“I don’t want to see you die.” I can’t. <\/em><\/p>\n

He grinned. “Believe me, neither do I. I’ll be on my guard, I promise.”<\/p>\n

Chaya closed her eyes. You don’t understand. <\/em><\/p>\n

“By the way…”<\/p>\n

She sighed. “Yeah?”<\/p>\n

“What did you tell Clay? He said he didn’t care who you thought I was–who do you think I am?”<\/p>\n

Chaya dropped her eyes to her lap, a touch of color stealing into her face. “I told him he couldn’t kill you…because you were supposed to be the One.”<\/p>\n

The younger Immortal just stared. “You’re kidding.”<\/p>\n

“Well…sort of.” She sighed. “I do know, Richie, that there is something Adonai wants you to do, something very important that will change all of our lives. But I don’t know what, or how.”<\/p>\n

“You really believe that?” he asked with a touch of disbelief.<\/p>\n

“I saw it.”<\/p>\n

“Chaya, I’m not exactly a legendary swordsman, or whatever. I hardly think I’m qualified for any special role in the history of Immortals.”<\/p>\n

“Adonai always chooses the unqualified,” she replied with a smile.<\/p>\n

“So…if Clay couldn’t kill me, why are you so sure that Mac will?”<\/p>\n

“Because you trust him. You’re more vulnerable to him.”<\/p>\n

Richie shook his head. “If you can trust me after what I did–”<\/p>\n

“That’s different.”<\/p>\n

“It sounds like a double standard to me. You don’t know MacLeod.”<\/p>\n

“Maybe it is. And you’re right, I don’t. All I know is what I see. George…please…”<\/p>\n

The young man closed his eyes, letting out a slow breath. “All right,” he relented. “I’ll think about it…after I deal with Clay.”<\/p>\n

******<\/p>\n

Later that night <\/strong><\/p>\n

Stop that!<\/em> Chaya scolded herself sharply, reaching up to smudge a threatening tear out of her left eye before it could fall. You’re behaving like a silly schoolgirl, and schoolgirls didn’t even exist when you were young enough to be one! <\/em><\/p>\n

She’d finally coaxed Richie to stay, on the assurance that he could leave first thing in the morning to seek out Clay before the other Immortal could come looking for him again. And he’d promised to consider her words about MacLeod…but a deep instinct that she’d learned to trust wouldn’t let her take comfort in the promise.<\/p>\n

He wasn’t lying. He would think about what she’d said. But she knew, even if he didn’t yet, what the decision would be.<\/p>\n

Loyal to a fault.<\/em><\/p>\n

She had been asked to protect him, and she had failed because he listened too well to some of her words, and not at all to others.<\/p>\n

She rolled over in her bed and buried her head deeper in the pillows, trying not to think about the young man in the guest room. Trying not to sleep because she was afraid of the content of her dreams.<\/p>\n

I can’t watch him die. <\/em><\/p>\n

“I’ll stop you, one way or another.”<\/em><\/p>\n

I thought this was the way!<\/em> she cried out silently.<\/p>\n

If it came down to a fight between the two, she couldn’t interfere. It was the rules of the Game. But she couldn’t stand by and watch, either. Better to be as far away as possible. That she could arrange for in the morning.<\/p>\n

She had definitely become much too attached.<\/p>\n

******<\/p>\n

St. John’s By the Sea Cemetery
\nThe next morning <\/strong><\/p>\n

“I’m not telling you to do this for me. I’m asking you.”<\/p>\n

Richie considered for a long moment, turning over in his mind the story that Duncan had just related. Was that really worth fighting over? A three-hundred-year-old embarrassment?<\/p>\n

Chaya would say no. But this wasn’t Chaya, this was Mac, and Mac valued his honor, his reputation, over just about anything else. And in spite of everything…Mac was still the closest thing he had to a father.<\/p>\n

Besides, it wasn’t just the embarrassment. It was also the senseless death of a friend. The same reason Clay had come after him.<\/p>\n

“Okay,” he relented.<\/p>\n

“Thanks.” There was a pause as MacLeod seemed to be trying to think of something to say. “This is holy ground, you’ll be safe here.”<\/p>\n

The younger man resisted the temptation to smirk. Oh yeah, you learned your lesson from Ashe, all right. <\/em><\/p>\n

“If he takes me, he’ll take you too.”<\/p>\n

I wouldn’t be so sure of that, Mac,<\/em> Richie reflected with a thoughtful glance at the older man.<\/p>\n

Chaya’s voice echoed in his mind: “Duncan MacLeod has an overblown opinion of his own importance.”<\/em><\/p>\n

He smiled. Yeah, well, maybe he does. But it won’t hurt to let him keep it for a little while.<\/em><\/p>\n

“So don’t let him,” he stated calmly instead, and stepped back to watch while MacLeod crossed the grass to where Clay was waiting.<\/p>\n

******<\/p>\n

The Manna and Quail
\nA couple hours later… <\/strong><\/p>\n

Levy and Baddour looked up as Richie burst into the kitchen, exchanging a sad, knowing glance. The Arab chef crossed the room to pat the young man on the back. “Hello, Pup.”<\/p>\n

“Where’s Chaya?”<\/p>\n

The two men looked at each other and sighed. “She’s at home,” Levy finally said.<\/p>\n

Richie frowned at the unexpected revelation. “I thought she never left here before closing.”<\/p>\n

“She left early yesterday, and she never came in today,” Ismail explained sadly. “She called this morning, said she had decided to sell the restaurant, to us if we wanted it. That she was going home.”<\/p>\n

The young man turned white. “What?”<\/p>\n

Yitzhak nodded. “We told her we’d be happy to run it for her while she was gone, but that she shouldn’t sell unless she was sure she wanted to. She said she is sure, but okay.”<\/p>\n

“Oh, God,” Richie whispered.<\/p>\n

“You could never betray a friend. You don’t have it in you.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Wanna bet?<\/em> the young Immortal thought grimly.<\/p>\n

“We had a fight,” he tried to explain numbly. “I didn’t mean–”<\/p>\n

Levy interrupted him with a thump on the back and a smile. “I know. Why don’t you go talk to her, nu? I think you both need it.”<\/p>\n

******<\/p>\n

Chaya’s house <\/strong><\/p>\n

“I guess I was wrong about you.”<\/p>\n

Richie stopped in the entryway of the dining room. A pained expression crossed his face, but he said nothing. Chaya sat at the table, her back turned to him and her head bowed over a cup of tea. In front of her on the table was the broken sword that he’d left behind when he fled from Clay.<\/p>\n

She turned to face him, only a near-imperceptible trace of disappointment in her eyes breaking through the careful masking of her features. “You gave the fight to MacLeod.”<\/p>\n

He nodded. “He is my teacher. I owe him that much.”<\/p>\n

“Anything you owed him was more than paid the first day he turned on you.”<\/p>\n

“I owe him my life.”<\/p>\n

“And he has claimed that debt twice.”<\/p>\n

“Chaya–”<\/p>\n

The older Immortal shook her head. “I won’t fight with you about this. Not again. If you want to give MacLeod another chance, that’s your choice. But if that is your choice…then you don’t need me anymore.”<\/p>\n

“Why don’t you come with me? Once you get to know him–”<\/p>\n

She interrupted him with a shake of the head. Her voice was unusually subdued. “I’ve made arrangements to go home for a while. I haven’t been back since 1967, and I just need a rest.” A small, sad smile caught one corner of her mouth. “Who knows?” she asked softly. “I may even decide to stay.”<\/p>\n

“Chaya…I’m sorry.”<\/p>\n

Sorry for what? That I can’t stay around to watch you die? <\/em><\/p>\n

He reached out a hand towards her, but Chaya turned away. “I don’t blame you, I just…please go, George.”<\/p>\n

Richie hesitated, his face reflecting his emotional turmoil. If you had to choose…if you had to live without Chaya or Mac…which one would you be willing to give up? <\/em><\/p>\n

He had an inkling of the answer, but it didn’t matter. For the first time since he’d known her, Chaya had already made the choice for him.<\/p>\n

When he collected his belongings and left, she was still sitting there, not touching her tea. Once he was gone, her hands and eyes wandered to the sword on the table, the only thing he’d left behind.<\/p>\n

“I guess I was wrong about you.”<\/em><\/p>\n

She had to be wrong. As she’d observed to herself only days ago, she’d gotten much too attached to the cobalt-eyed youth. Maybe attached enough to convince herself that just an ordinary dream was one of her visions.<\/p>\n

Fingering the broken blade of the rapier, Chaya let her head sink to the table. The first tear of a kind she hadn’t cried in centuries slid down her face.<\/p>\n

Much too attached indeed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Do you believe in life after love? I can feel something inside me say I really don’t think you’re strong enough –Cher, “Believe” “May the Lord keep watch between you and me when we are away from each other.” –Genesis … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[158,200,593],"tags":[113,153,596,528,193,595,150,203,594,436,123,229,527],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/azar.ink-and-quill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1741"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/azar.ink-and-quill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/azar.ink-and-quill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/azar.ink-and-quill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/azar.ink-and-quill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1741"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/azar.ink-and-quill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1741\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1743,"href":"http:\/\/azar.ink-and-quill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1741\/revisions\/1743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/azar.ink-and-quill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/azar.ink-and-quill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/azar.ink-and-quill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}