1. Joe

The phone was ringing.

Without bothering to open his eyes, he pawed at the bedside table until he managed to fumble the phone into his hands and answer it with a gruff, "Dawson."

The pips informed him that it was an international call and he came instantly awake.

"Joe? Joe, it's Adam. Uh, Adam Pierson."

"Adam? Are you all right? What's happened?" Had Kalas found Duncan already? Had he found Adam? Joe cursed his decision not to follow Duncan to Paris.

"Joe, Duncan MacLeod came to my apartment today." Adam sounded really worried. "He knew who I was and what I'm working on. He was looking for Methos."

"Jesus Christ," said Joe, not as quietly as he was hoping for. Research guys – brilliant with cross-referencing centuries-old manuscripts, but they fell completely to pieces if faced with an Immortal in the flesh. And also, apparently, incapable of checking their answering machine messages. He rubbed at his temple with his free hand. "I take it you didn't go with him?"

"Go with him?" Adam repeated, with great incredulity.

"Adam, Kalas is looking for Methos and he knows about the Watchers. Duncan MacLeod won't hurt you. I can't say the same for Kalas."

"You really want me to go to an Immortal for protection? Joe, I can't do that, the Council will— Well, they'll take me off the Methos Chronicle, for starters."

"Or you could end up dead, like—" Joe bit the words off, grief seizing his chest again.

Adam was silent for a moment. "Like Don."

Joe took one deep, hitching breath, then another. "You're my friend, Adam. I want you to be safe."

"And you think I'd be safe with the Immortal Kalas is hunting for?"

"Forget about MacLeod!" Joe yelled. "For f— for heaven's sake, Adam! I just don't want you dead!"

Adam didn't reply, and Joe took the brief moment of respite to regain his composure.

"You're right about one thing, Joe – I can't stay here," said Adam at last, his tone a little lighter. "If MacLeod found it, Kalas can too."

Joe elected not to mention that MacLeod had found Adam because Joe had told him where to find him. If Adam didn't already know, it was no use borrowing any more trouble. "Look, there's a Watcher safehouse in Paris. I'll call Vemas, explain everything and get him to set it up for you."

Adam let out a sigh of relief. "Thanks Joe. I can't afford a hotel for more than a couple of nights, even a cheap one. Paris is expensive on a grad student's budget."

"Paris is expensive on anybody's budget," said Joe. "And, Adam, listen: Keep your head down. Don't give Kalas even the slightest chance of finding you. And don't try to be a hero."

Adam muttered something that Joe couldn't catch. "I will, Joe. Thanks."

---

2. Methos, a few days later.

It was a couple of days before the phone was connected at the safehouse Vemas had bundled him into. The first thing Methos did with it was call Joe.

"Adam? Thank god." Joe let out a huffing sigh of relief. "Duncan told me you'd cleared out."

So Joe really was in contact with his Immortal. Methos wasn't sure what to make of that. "I just didn't want him to be able to follow me. I've got to give evidence to the police, I can't leave the city. Kalas's arrest is only as good as my witness report."

"Yeah, about that – what the hell were you thinking, Adam? We don't interfere!"

"Because if Kalas won, he'd be coming for me next," said Methos, completely truthful. "Not just me, the entire Watchers organisation! I couldn't take that risk."

"Well, I don't know how in hell you're going to explain it to the Watcher's Council. A researcher, interfering in an Immortal battle? Vemas will have kittens."

"It was necessary! I couldn't see any other way to keep everyone safe."

Joe was silent for a long moment. "MacLeod also told me he'd found Methos."

Methos hung up and swore in six different languages, two of which were undocumented by historians. He double-checked the phone connection, swore in a few more languages, then called back. "Sorry, I had to make certain the connection was secure."

Joe snorted in disbelief. "Yeah. I bet you did."

"I'm guessing he told you where he found Methos then," said Methos.

"Jesus Christ, Adam."

Methos sighed. Kids these days. No loyalty to their own kind. "I should have known he wouldn't be able to keep his mouth shut." Maybe if he hadn't pulled that disappearing act... but it was too late now.

"Forgive me if I'm not very sympathetic," muttered Joe.

Silence fell between them, and Methos let it. He wanted to see what Joe would say next.

"So why did you do it?" asked Joe at last, frustration etched into his tone. "Why lie, why get Kalas arrested, why do any of it?"

Methos twirled the phone cord around his finger and shrugged at the blank wall. "You were right. MacLeod is a good man."

"Yeah, so what?"

"Good men don't last, Joe."

He lifted the phone away from his ear and hung up.