Immortal's Holocaust: Part 5:
Paris- the Barge
Inside Duncan's barge, Methos got the buzz and panicked. He knew Duncan had been killed, but he had more important things to worry about than fighting Duncan's battles. He had his own personal battles to fight. He knew there was no way it could be for him, because no one knew where he was. The person knocked again and Methos drew his sword and looked out the window.
Cats' face stared right back at him, startling both of them. "Cat?" the same time she said "Meaty?" he unlocked the door and let her in.
"I thought you were Duncan." Cat said as water started to fill her eyes. "I came here to see for myself if it was true. To see if he was really gone."
Methos saw the pain in her eyes, and hugged her. He knew Cat and Duncan had been close and that their relationship had been special. "I'm really sorry about Mac."
Cat said nothing, just cried on his shoulder. He knew she needed to get it out. Just then his cellular phone rang and he struggled to get it without disturbing Cat too much. "Hello? Joe? How are you?... Cat?" he looked down at Cat and knew for whatever reason she came, she was not ready to be found. "No, I haven't seen her... Ok, I will. Bye."
Cat pulled away from Methos and wiped her eyes. "Thank you. I'm not ready to talk to him yet."
Methos walked to the fridge and removed two beers. He handed one to Cat and sat down on the couch. "Want to talk about it?"
She opened her beer and took a long sip and then plopped down next to him on the sofa. "I have to get out. Out of the Game and out of this hell!"
Methos stared at Cat and nodded. Many times he felt the same way, and a couple of those times, he did leave the Game. But now with the war going on, there was no way of escaping it. He tried. "You're welcome to stay here for as long as you need to. Duncan once asked me if anything were to happen to him, to watch after the barge until Mary was ready moved out on her own."
"Mary! Oh my God, she's probably worried about me. Meg most likely told her she lost me."
"They're all worried about you. Call Joe, let him know you're safe."
"I'm not ready yet. If he finds out where I am, he'll send Meg, and I just want to be left alone for awhile and try to live a normal life."
The two sat quietly for a moment. Cat finally stood up and walked over to the bookcase and stared at the pictures. "You know," she said taking down a picture of Richie. "This is the picture that caused me to have my first crush." She paused. "Why can't things stay the way they use to?"
"Time changes." He said as he finished his beer. "War is hell, yes but it's a part of human nature."
"But why does it have to be us against them? We never did anything wrong to them."
"We out live them and mortals are scared because they don't understand what or who we are."
"Does it ever get any easier for us or them?"
"No, imagine what it would be like if you were a mortal."
"It wasn't that long ago that I was mortal."
"You're what now 40? But you're in a body of a teenager. How are you going to explain to the man you intend to spend the rest of his life with, that when he's 70, you could pass as his granddaughter, even though you may be as old as I am. How do you think Joe felt when people started to think Chris was his daughter? Mortals don't understand that we have feelings to and the only difference between us and them, is we've been around longer."
Cat thought about what Methos said, and in a strange way, it made sense to her. "But with Joe and Chris, it was different. Joe knew what Chris was, but he chose to be with her anyway."
"But do you think that made it any easier for him? Maybe it did, but not a day goes by where I don't bet he doesn't ask himself 'what if?' He called me after he found out about Chris, and he figures that maybe if he hadn't let her go, she'd still be here. He blames himself and it tears him up that you think it's your fault when it's really nobody's fault but those that killed her. Joe loved Chris because of who she was, not what she was."
"Now if we could just get every mortal to take lessons from Joe, this war could come to an end and the killing would stop."
"Maybe. So are you going to call Joe and at least let him and Mary know your safe?" he said as he handed her his phone.
Cat looked at the phone for a second and then took it. She paused and then dialed Joe's number. "Joe? It's Cat..."