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This
is the non ADULT version of part 21
For the ADULT Part 21 go here
Part
21
The shower lasted a long time
as the pair did some interesting experimenting, but eventually
they ran out of hot water. As the temperature turned tepid, they
decided that they'd better turn it off. Two fluffy towels, some
mad giggling and a room later, found them sprawled on the bed,
mostly dry, and clad only as nature had intended.
"It's a shame to waist good
bubbly," Beren said as he eyes fell on the bucket, and she
made a dive for the bedside table before Richie could catch her.
The cork hit the ceiling with
a very satisfying pop, and Beren showed her expertise by not even
spilling a drop of the amber liquid as she poured it into the
glasses. Richie took the opportunity to throw the towels off the
bed and arrange the pillows into a comfortable arrangement. The
couple snuggled into them as the young woman passed her husband
his alcohol.
"What shall we drink to?"
she asked.
"To love," Richie replied
calmly, "and friendship, and joy."
His sentiments were quite sincere
now and she just reached out and took his hand.
"Love, friendship and joy,"
she said quietly, "forever."
The glasses tinkled as they met,
and the happy couple drank slowly. Beren snuggled close to her
new husband, glass still in hand, for now they were content just
to be close.
They drank the champagne, they
talked, they laughed, and they enjoyed themselves. It was well
past midnight when the strangest thing happened, the jewel around
Beren's neck began to glow.
Both young people's eyes opened
in shock as they felt more than just the earth move. For Richie
there was the sense of something familiar, for Beren, the sensation
that ran up her spine was like nothing she had felt before. Her
next action was totally from instinct and she flattened herself
against her lover with the crystal between them both. When the
item touched her skin it burned, but she could not pull away.
Richie had just about enough
time to register surprise before his mind just switched off. There
was no warning, no sensation, not even a vague indication, one
moment he was lucid, the next he was out cold. Beren felt him
relax beneath her and whimpered as the burning sensation began
to spread. It filled every nerve and every cell with pure agony,
but she could not cry out. Silent tears ran down her face, and
then her world exploded. Her conscious brain lasted about five
seconds and then she fell on top of her husband, senseless.
Chris and Karina had disappeared
upstairs shortly after Richie had kindly warned his brother that
life was going to be somewhat awkward. The pair had enjoyed themselves
almost as much as the wedded couple, but they hadn't had their
minds on staying power. By the time anything peculiar happened,
Kari was drifting off to sleep in her lovers arms and he was just
trying to ignore his twin. When Chris passed out, his partner
just assumed he'd gone to sleep.
The party was dying down, but
Craven had put no time limit on the celebrations and people were
still enjoying themselves. Duncan had just asked Madelaine to
dance, which left Methos and Amanda sitting next to each other
on the back veranda.
"I don't care what Immortality
is supposed to cure," the woman said as she kicked off her
shoes, "nothing can repair my feet. There's only so much
dancing I can take."
Her companion just snorted in
his beer. The watched their respective partners twirl in a gentle
waltz and both fought down the irrational jealousy they experienced.
"So," Methos said to
divert his mind, "what was that gift you gave Beren? I kept
thinking I should recognise it ... it wasn't the Star of Africa
was it?"
They were slightly merry, the
alcohol had been flowing all night. The comment actually drew
a laugh from the ex-thief.
"No," she replied lightly,
"for a change it really was mine to give. I had to steal
it back off the Watchers since they'd been looking after it, but
I knew I was supposed to do it."
"Watchers?" she definitely
had her companion's attention.
She smiled at him and took another
sip of wine.
"They had most of it in
the Paris headquarters," she told him, "they took it
from where I hid it. Y'know when I put the last piece in it actually
changed. It was all knobbly and it turned into this round crystal."
Her mind was wandering.
"Amanda, what was it?"
Methos' voice was very firm.
"The Methuselah stone,"
the female Immortal replied and slumped back against the wall.
"It's supposed to make mortals Immortal you know."
The ancient man next to her just
looked stunned. He opened his mouth to say something, lost that
train of thought as another one barrelled into it and then just
sat back next to her.
"Nice present," he
said finally and Amanda's head slowly made contact with his shoulder.
She'd fallen asleep: Methos went
back to his beer.
His arm coming back to life woke
Richie and he opened his eyes to find Beren asleep on his chest.
There was no way to get out of their current position without
disturbing her and so as gently as he could he rolled her onto
the pillows beside them. It was as she began to stir and he caught
sight of the now empty chain around her neck that how they came
to be in that position came flooding back. The crystal was totally
gone and on Beren's chest, just below her right breast there was
a round white mark.
The panic that was running through
him dimmed somewhat when she smiled at him sleepily.
"Good morning, my love,"
she said dreamily, "sleep well?"
"Ah, yes," he returned
slowly. "Um, Beren, do you remember what happened last night."
"Definitely," she said
with a grin on her face, "every last blissful sec ..."
Her mind caught up and suddenly
her hand went to her chest. She looked at the empty chain with
wide opened, slightly frightened eyes.
"Where did it go?"
she asked quietly.
Her husband shrugged.
"I don't care when we're
supposed to be at the airport," he said firmly, "we're
going to find out what Amanda gave you before we leave."
There was no argument from Beren.
It didn't take long to get ready
and Richie headed downstairs a few minutes before his wife. He
headed outside to check the garage whilst she finished putting
her clothes on, and it was as he came back in the house that they
were both in for a shock. Beren was just coming down the stairs
and the tingling sensation was unmistakable. They stared at each
other in stunned silence.
His wife did not feel like a
normal Immortal, in fact the feeling coming from her was particularly
alien, but Richie could sense her and she could sense him. A drunken
evening at Mac's place came flooding back to the blond Immortal:
Amanda had been persuaded to explain why she carried a crystal
around her neck. They had all laughed about the Methuselah stone
that night, Richie didn't think it was so outrageous now.
"I felt you," she said
from her position half way up the stairs, "I felt you come
in."
They'd been too busy getting
up to notice before, but now as the initial contact faded, the
quite warning that their companion was not normal remained with
each individual.
"I know," Richie replied
slowly.
He was caught between the seemingly
impossible hope that rose in him, the logical part of his character
which said this was a mistake and the part of him that felt suddenly
afraid. He walked up the stairs and took her hand.
"Let's go to the kitchen,"
he said and led her down and round the corner.
By silent consent he pulled a
knife out of the first drawer and drew a cut across his own hand.
It sparked and healed in it's usual fashion. Beren offered her
limb as soon as he wiped the blood off his. The tip of the blade
was sharp and it cut easily as Richie touched the end of her middle
finger. The wound bled for a second and then it glowed red before
closing rapidly. The sound that came out of Beren's mouth was
half amazed, half disbelieving.
"It healed," she said
as if saying it might make it not true.
"The Methuselah stone,"
her husband said quietly, "the legend says it can make a
mortal Immortal. Amanda gave you the Methuselah stone."
End
of Part 21
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