.... So much more....

Sarah Jo swallowed hard, her emotions and the awaking responses of her body warring with her practical nurse's training and the religious vocation she still hadn't let go of completely. She sighed deeply, placing her hand on Duncan's muscled chest. "Simple math," she said softly. "As much as I am sorely tempted to sample the more of which you speak, around here one plus one can equal three, even for immortals such as ourselves. Forgive me? I shouldn't have put us both in this position of temptation." She bit her lip, hoping Duncan wouldn't be mad at her.

"You said you wanted to go to the monastery to think about it. I can't force you to decide before you've had time on Holy Ground."

"Thank you," she said softly." You made my first kiss something to truly remember." With obvious reluctance, they parted, and Duncan held her little horse for her while she mounted. Duncan mounted up as well, and together they rode on until they reached a nice little stream where they dismounted again to eat the lunch Lupe had packed for them and to rest the horses. "How much further?" she asked.

"Shouldn't be too long now," he said, and realized that he regretted it.

As they ate, he reached over and took her hand in his, squeezing it reassuringly. Sarah Jo looked up at him and smiled, her freckled nose wrinkling just slightly. She had a bit of her lunch at the corner of her mouth, so he reached up and brushed it away. Simple actions, true, but meaningful ones to a girl who had never had a man show her any attention before.

Finally they resumed their travels. Duncan wondered if he should get them lost, but then decided the honorable thing was to take her directly there. The sooner she had time alone, the sooner she would decide. Till then, he treated her like a lady, knowing full well the responses he was arousing in her.

The monastery loomed ahead of them all too soon, and both Sarah Jo and Duncan paused as they felt the presence of another immortal. "Can you tell who it is?" Sarah Jo asked the more experienced Highlander. "Is it Faia? Or Kat?"

"There's no way to tell," he said. "A buzz is a buzz. Methos feels the same as you do to me." Then he blushed.

She looked confused, then blushed crimson herself. As they waited at the gate to be let in, she stole a glance over at Duncan, sighing softly. What would have happened if she had said yes? Enough of this, she said sternly, telling herself that if she kept this up, she would have all sorts of things to confess the next time she saw her priest.

The door was opened by Brother Cadfael. He smiled at them both, asking, "May I help you, Wanderers?"

"I come seeking a place of retreat," Sarah Jo said softly. "Father Alec of the Mission Church in Edan sent me here."

"I have not been to town to meet the good father," said the monk, "but I am sure, if he sent you here, he did so with love in his heart. Come in, child, and make yourself at home."

"And I come seeking a woman named Katherine who has disappeared," Duncan said, hoping against all hope that she was here, safe and sound.

Cadfael looked pensive. "There is a woman here. But she does not go by that name."

Seeing the crestfallen look on Duncan's face, Sarah Jo placed her hand on top of his lightly. "Try not to worry, Duncan. You will find her, I'm sure. Perhaps Faia will have an idea where to look next." The two of them entered the monastery, where their horses were taken from them.

"I assume you would like to speak to our other guest?" Cadfael asked. "She slept the first few days she came to us, but has regained her strength and has been somewhat restless these past few afternoons. But she still feels the need to hide here, even with this restlessness, and I think your company will benefit her."

"I would love to see her," Sarah Jo said with a smile. "Afterwards, I would like to spend some time in the chapel. I have some very important decisions to make as to the direction of my life."

Cadfael nodded and led them to the courtyard, where Phoenix was lounging. She didn't seem to be doing much, just looking at the birds flitting around. Both Duncan and Sarah Jo gasped, though, because of the way she was dressed. She looked like she had just stepped out of King Tut's tomb! She was the very image of an Egyptian Princess, which was what she was.

Sarah Jo glanced at Duncan, taking in the way he looked at Phoenix. Surely he didn't want her to dress that way too? She had never seen such a revealing outfit on a woman in her entire life. Pushing those thoughts aside, she ran up to greet the woman who had been her first friend upon her arrival on Edan.

Phoenix turned and, seeing Sarah Jo, her pretty face was overcome with a large smile. "Sarah!" she said, coming toward her. She moved with a gracefulness that hadn't been there before. Duncan couldn't take his eyes off her.

The two women hugged, sincerely glad to see each other. "You didn't even say goodbye," Sarah Jo said, her eyes misty. "And now Katherine is gone too. I had to move into the hotel. The house was just too big and empty with just me there."

"I'm sorry," said Faia. "I had to get away for a while. This baby thing . . . I couldn't handle it. Why did Kat leave?"

"Same reason," Duncan said in a low voice.

Faia looked around sharply. So sharply, in fact, that her headdress, which was lovely, almost fell off.

"She's pregnant?" Sarah Jo nodded. "Who's the father?"

"She doesn't know," Sarah Jo said sadly. "She was with two men, and she isn't the type to put either one of them under obligation. So she left."

Faia looked at Duncan. "You're one of them, aren't you." Duncan looked away. "Is the other . . . Methos?"

"They are old friends," Sarah Jo told her. "She was lonely, and he was there for her. So was Duncan." The Highlander noticed that Sarah Jo did not say they were only with her one time each, and then left her alone again because neither one of them wanted to compete with Connor's ghost.

Faia shrugged. "I don't own him. Just funny if we're both . . ." She suddenly looked sad. "No, it isn't funny at all, is it? But I'm getting used to it."

"In a way, I'm glad Kat is pregnant," Sarah Jo said, choosing her words carefully. "Now she will have a reason to live. Father Alec told me that he was worried that she might be so depressed over Connor's loss that she would be suicidal, given the right circumstances. But there is no way that she would endanger the life of a child." Behind her, Duncan cringed, guilt washing over him. If he hadn't chased her out of his bed, maybe she would be there now. And he was hoping against hope that the child she was carrying was his.

"It's not easy to kill yourself when you're Immortal," Faia, said, and it sounded like she had experience to speak from.

"There are plenty on the other side of the river who would gladly take her head," Duncan interjected. "After they had their fill of using her body first. But she made a wide berth away from the ford. In fact, her tracks were heading the other way when I lost her trail."

"Well," Faia said, "that is good news any way." She looked at Duncan. "Are you going to continue on, or are you staying here?"

"I will be leaving," he said with a sigh. Faia did not miss the look that he gave Sarah Jo or the shy smile the little nurse gave in return. But she wasn't overly sad to see him go, either. She wanted to talk to her friend alone. "I'll be back for you as soon as I can,"

Duncan told Sarah Jo. "Don't try to make it by yourself. It's not safe." Then, tipping her chin up, he gave her the briefest of kisses before fleeing from Faia's astute gaze.

Faia shook his head. "He wants Kat's baby to be his, but he wouldn't mind starting one in your womb, either."

Sarah Jo blushed crimson. "I'm not ready for that," she said, ducking her head. "He kissed me because I asked him to. I was curious. But to tell you the truth, I almost bit off more than I could chew with that one!"

Faia indicated the seat beside her. Her outfit was lovely, made of real gold, not just golden thread, and it made her move slowly. She looked very regal, but also very sexy. "Come, sit and talk to me."

Sarah Jo sat down, her hands automatically folding into her lap in the mannerism taught to her by the discipline of the convent. But under the control was a wild and free spirit just aching to be released. Kissing Duncan had already unleashed it to a certain extent.

"So," Faia said, "I know why I'm here. Since you aren't dressed like a nun any more, and looking at Duncan like that, why are YOU here?"

"I gotta quit straddling the fence, Faia. I need to make up my mind which way I'm going to fall. Father Alec thought it would be good to come here for a retreat, and to talk to you. It’s been rough on me since Kat left."

"Looks to ME like you've already started sliding over the fence."

She blushed again. "I have to admit, I am leaning in that direction," she admitted. "He's an awful good kisser."

Faia looked a bit far off. "Kissing isn't everything."

"I know. One step at a time, right?" she with a grin. "Anyway, with Duncan leaving, I won't be tempted, right? Lord, isn’t that man enough to take your breath away?"

Faia laughed and agreed. The two women sat and chatted in the courtyard for quite a while. It was good for both of them to have another woman to talk to again.

Over the next week, Sarah Jo alternated her time with Faia with quiet contemplation in the chapel or the neglected monastery gardens, quietly pruning the overgrowth. By the time the week was over, she was at peace with all the decisions she had made. Her time in the convent was now officially over, and she was ready to make a new life here on Edan.

"Great," said Phoenix when her friend told her of her plans. "Now, we just have to get you ready." They spent the next several days in a storeroom filled with all sorts of clothing. Faia had Sarah Jo try on all different types of outfits, from fancy ball gowns to revealing outfits that the nurse swore that only a harlot would ever wear.

"Do you want to attract a man or what?" asked Phoenix. "You've been a virgin for how long now?"

"Not long. I'm only twenty one," Sarah Jo said nervously as Faia laced her into a satin and lace bustier, which the older immortal claimed would be a traffic stopper combined with the jeans that she was wearing.

"I lost mine when I was thirteen," said Phoenix. "But maybe it was a different world then. I was sure as hell not going to wait until my father married me off at sixteen!"

While she was trying on different dresses, potential partners were discussed. It was obvious to Faia that the girl had crushes, not only on Duncan, but also Count Vronsky, Sir Patrise, and even Methos himself!

"You have to pick one to be first," she said. "I can't do it for you."

"It's so hard!" she giggled as Faia adjusted the bodice so her breasts were pushed up high and mounded very nicely. "Heck, it would be easier if my Prince Charming would just happen to walk in the door and swap howdies with me right now."

At that moment, they both froze as the buzz of another immortal washed over them. Phoenix looked at her friend and they both laughed. "Whoever he is, go for it. Even if you don't like him, you can still show those off to a man who hasn't taken a vow of celibacy!"

Still laughing, Faia coached the young woman into standing in a way that would attract any man’s attention, while she fluffed out Sarah Jo’s long golden-red hair over her shoulders. Sarah Jo expected the immortal to be Duncan MacLeod returning for her, but was completely taken aback to find yet another version of Methos had come to the monastery!

"Ladies," he said, bowing at the waist. He was dressed in 19th century clothes, with longer hair and side-burns. Phoenix liked the look, though she really wasn't in the mood for any Methos right now.

"Greetings, Faia, it's always a pleasure to see you again," he said with a smile. "It’s been much, much too long. And may I ask who this blushing beauty is?"

His eyes met Sarah Jo's, then lowered to admire the assets she was displaying. She had to fight the urge to cover her breasts with her hands.

"Her name is Sarah Jo. And she's spankin' new," Phoenix said, walking around him and looking him over. "You came a long way from the last time I saw you, Manetho."

He shrugged slightly. "As have you, Aphaia, daughter of Isis. Your young lady is dressed so oddly. And yet, so pleasantly." Faia made a face as he went on, "My name is Doctor Benjamin Adams, and it is wonderful to meet you, Sarah Jo."

"A Methos by any other name would still be a rat," said Phoenix softly. After waiting all those years, he was treating her like an old acquaintance, not a former lover.

Taking Sarah Jo's hand, he bowed again, kissing the back of it. "I am at a slight disadvantage, though, because much to my surprise one moment I was walking down the streets of New Orleans and the next, I found myself here."

Adams looked at her curiously. "My dear Faia, are you annoyed with me? Whatever is the matter?"

"How 'bout standing me up for a few thousand years. But don't worry about it, I've had this all out with your modern counterpart."

"Whatever is she babbling about?" Doc asked Sarah Jo.

Sarah Jo looked just as confused as Methos' earlier version did. "It's hard to explain, but you are in a brand new world," she said. "And there are several different variations of you here, all from different time periods."

When Doc turned to look at his one time lover, who looked exactly the same as she had the last time he'd seen her, thousands of years before, he asked, "Are you from that time, then?"

"No, I lived over two thousand years without you. This," she indicated her clothing, "was here, waiting for me. I think it was here for a reason."

Sarah Jo looked at Faia with interest. Why would clothing for an Egyptian princess be at a monastery? She could understand the nurse’s uniforms that she had found in the clinic. Her brow furrowed. Duncan had insinuated that her clothing was frumpy and plain, and that it did nothing to attract men. Whereas Faia’s see-through finery certainly caught the attention of men!

"And just why do you think it was here?" Adams asked.

"Because," the Egyptian woman answered, "I'd forgotten what I was. Where I came from." She touched her belly. "This child is royalty. Now that I know that, I am more at peace. I can stop being pissed off at you." Her tone had gone from dreamy and almost maudlin to scathing in a second, and it made him laugh.

"Child?" Adams called out as the words she had said hit him. "What child?"

Sarah Jo had him sit down on a nearby chest, and then explained to him about how, on Edan, immortals were capable of having children. "Faia is carrying a child fathered by your modern counterpart," she said gently.

He stood quickly. "Then it would be my child, too?" His world was wobbling. Children? Immortals can have children?

"You might say that," Sarah Jo said, putting her hand on his arm and giving it a squeeze. "Are you hungry? I can rustle you up some grub if you like."

He looked up at Phoenix, then down at Sarah Jo. "That would be very kind," he said softly. It was clear he was sorry for whatever his "modern counterpart" had done to alienate the other woman, but he had also been guilty of slighting her. He didn't think she'd give him another chance too quickly. He remembered her too well for that.

Slipping a flannel shirt over the revealing bustier she was wearing, Sarah Jo slipped out of the room, leaving the two others to work it out between them. She was waiting nervously in the dining room, a plate of food ready for him, when Adams finally appeared, almost an hour later. "Is Faia coming?" she asked, looking for her friend.

He shook his head. "I'm afraid I acted boorishly with her. You quite took my attention from her, and she is quite right to be angry with me. We were intimate once. That’s not the way to treat an old lover."

"I'm sorry," Sarah Jo said with another blush. As she walked over to pour him a glass of fruit juice, he couldn't help but admire the way her bottom looked encased in jeans. If this was the way modern girls dressed, he liked it.

"Here you go," she said. "Brother Cadfael says that the guest house in the gardens is available for your use, and that you are welcome to stay as long as you like."

"Perhaps I should not stay long. I am not exactly helping you ladies with your . . . meditations. Do you think they might need my services in the town?"

"I'm sure that the clinic can use your services," Sarah Jo said, choosing not to reveal her own connection with it just yet. If this new doctor found out she were the nurse, he would probably ignore her too, just like the others. "A friend is due back any day. He can escort us both back to Edan. The roads are not safe." She went on to explain about the marauders on the other side of the river in Sadaam.

"That would be fine," he said, though he suddenly sounded depressed. "I'm sure your friend will protect both of us."

He ate everything she had made for him, and then asked if she would mind showing him the guesthouse she’d previously mentioned. "Of course not," she said with a shy smile. As she leaned over to get his plate, her half open shirt reminded him of what he had been admiring earlier.

He wondered if she would be averse to a walk in the moonlight later, but the thoughts only saddened him more. She'd seen him at his worst - at least, in this guise. Could he have been more emasculated in her eyes? She would probably laugh at him, or, worse, look at him accusingly because he was such a heel.

She led him into the overgrown gardens. "This would be a beautiful place if it was tended to properly," she said, "but Brother Cadfael doesn't have time to do much with it other than cultivate the herb section for his healing medicines. The guesthouse is near my favorite section, though. It has a natural hot spring! I brought some rocks there, and now it has a little pool that an adventuresome soul could bathe in. The water is very hot! But nice!" She blushed again, thinking how she had snuck out there during the night and had sat in it for hours under the moonlight, with not a stitch of clothes on.

"That might be pleasant. And very therapeutic. This place is supposed to be for healing." He looked her over. "Though for the life of me I cannot see what you need healed."

"I just came here to get my head on straight about some things," she said, leading him the little house. It was small, but it had a comfortable looking bed, and a nice view of the gardens from the window. "There is a bathing room in the main building, or you can use the pool if you like," she said.

"Thank you. I shall try to keep out of your way until it is time to leave. Do tell Faia I am sorry. This was just the first place I encountered." He tried to smile. "I would try to make it back on my own, but I've given up the sword for a scalpel."

She looked up at him in surprise. "I've never touched a sword," she said quietly.

"Which is why we both need your friend to protect us, umn?"

She nodded and then turned to go. But she stopped, and in a quiet voice she said, "If you like, maybe we can take a walk around the gardens." She blushed, hoping she wasn’t being too forward.

He was stunned. "I am surprised you'd think me worth the time."

From the way she was blushing, he had a pretty good idea that she did not have much experience with men, if she had any at all. "I'm sorry," she said, turning away. "You must think I'm horribly forward."

"No, but I haven't exactly been . . . worthy of your attentions since arriving here. First I was very rude to an old lover, and then I admitted I was less than a man when it came to defending you. Most women would not give me a second thought after that. As for being horrid, quite the opposite is true."

"If you ask my opinion," she said quietly, "it takes a much stronger man to try to put a man back together rather than to hack him to pieces with a sword. I have nothing but the highest respect for doctors."

"And my behavior with Faia?"

She shrugged. "People make mistakes. As someone once told me, if you make a mistake, it proves you are only human. And thank God for your humanness. Especially after all the years you have lived. If you were perfect, wouldn't that make you something more than the rest of us who haven't lived but a short span of time?"

"Well, thank you very much, Miss . . . may I call you by your Christian name?"

"McCants. Sarah Jo McCants. But I really would like it if you could handle my first name," she said shyly.

"I can certainly handle that," he said, smiling. "A walk in the moonlight, then?"

"That would be nice," she said, looking up at him with wide eyes.

He put out his arm gallantly. Nothing wrong with a harmless flirtation with a beautiful girl now, was there? He would try and talk to Faia again in the morning.

They strolled the gardens. It was a full moon, so they could see rather well. It was very romantic. It was a heady experience for Sarah Jo. Was this what it was like to be courted? His genteel manners and attentive way with her was definitely making her feel very good about herself.

As they walked, they talked. He was very good at getting her to talk about herself, though she still did not tell him about her nursing abilities. It was a light and easy conversation, and she never even knew he was maneuvering her into telling him about herself.

Finally, they stopped at a spot in the moonlight, and as she looked up to him he smiled down at her. She felt very comfortable with him, and hoped very much that he'd kiss her. She wanted to ask him, like she had Duncan, but while she was working up the nerve, Doc took things in his own hands, tipping her chin up so he could look at her sweet and innocent face. "May I kiss you, Miss Sarah Jo McCants?"

Her eyes shone in the darkness. "Ah would like that very much," she whispered.

He leaned down, barely brushing her lips with his. It was not that he did not want to kiss her, she realized; he was being a gentleman. It was thrilling!

She relaxed, her mouth opening just slightly. When Duncan had kissed her, there at the end, his tongue had played with hers inside her mouth and she couldn't help wondering if this gentleman's kiss would end up that way too.

With this bit of consent, Doc pressed his advantage, pulling her tight to him as his tongue snaked into her mouth. He had a hard suck, which was a bit frightening, but more exciting than anything she'd ever felt.

Sensing her inexperience, he was gentle, even though he pressed for more as the kiss progressed. His hands held her body to his, lightly caressing her back, and after a while, one of them drifted down to rest on her backside. Both of them were so engrossed in the kiss, that neither one of them noticed that they were being observed.

Phoenix saw them in the garden. It was innocent until he turned to kiss her. She could practically taste the kiss. True, she had never really met that version of him before, but she remembered that time, and how hard she had searched for him during those long years and centuries. If she'd found him, would he have wanted her? The answer was clear.

Turning away, her eyes blurred with tears, she ran toward the stables, still dressed in her Egyptian clothing. She grabbed the first horse she found and, hurling herself up on its back, she raced through the courtyard, toward the gate and freedom.