By Donna and ABs

A loud cheer came from all the soldiers at the fort as Connor MacLeod's boat was rolled into the water. It had already been christened "Dòchas", the Gaelic word for hope. Grinning broadly, Connor let it drift to the dock that had been built, where it would be loaded with supplies for it's maiden run down the river.

Methos had heard about the ship, of course, and that it was being launched. Saddling up Sangria, he rubbed his hand across the muzzle of the other horse, Demo Amante - or Demon Lover. The black filly looked heartbroken to be left behind, but she was still too young to be ridden. Then he led Sangria out, mounted him, and rode out to the dock.

The men in Edan had been busy building too, getting the dock ready for the ship. Everyone was excited about the prospect. The ship would be the first form of transportation other than horses on this new world. Gideon was sitting on top of a tree limb, looking up the river. "I see it!" he yelled. Off in the distance, they could see the sails of the small vessel as it made its way towards Edan.

It wasn't that far away. In fact, Edan, being slightly off of the river, was barely a mile upstream, but a few miles in. Fortunately they had gotten a lot of men for the army, and most of them had helped put the boat back together.

Jumping down from the tree, Gideon came up to Methos and took the reins of the blood bay horse from him. Looking at the sailboat curiously, his eyes seemed to unfocus for a moment. "There is someone on it just like me, but different. But he is also like you too," Gideon said with child like glee.

"Someone like you, but someone like me?" Methos dismounted. "I only know of one person who fits that bill," he said thoughtfully. Hell, stranger things had happened. Kronos and a host of others who should have been dead were not.

The crowd gathered on the dock cheered loudly as the boat sailed closer. A loud voice ordered the sails lowered, and the crew of the little ship jumped quickly to the Captain's command. Methos recognized the voice, knowing who it possibly was before the buzz of another immortal washed over him.

Smiling broadly, despite wondering what the hell he was going to say about Kat's "situation", he stepped up to greet his old friend.

"Methos!" Connor called out as he threw the docking rope to him. "You're here too? How the hell have you been? Long time no see!"

"Longer than you think," Methos grinned as he took the rope. "And it is nicer to see you than it can possibly be to see me." When Connor came ashore, Methos hugged him a bit longer than maybe was decent.

Connor raised an eyebrow and then clouted Methos on the shoulder. "Down boy," he chuckled with that wicked laugh of his. Suddenly he froze. "What the hell...," he said, looking at the grinning Gideon.

"Don't tell me you haven't seen more than one guy with the same face," Methos teased. "How long have you been here, and where? Down at the fort?"

"I heard there were look-a-likes here, but this is the first time I'm seen another me," Connor said with another chuckle. "I've been at the fort for over a month now. Been keeping busy working on fixing up the hull we found. It would have taken longer, but someone up river arranged to have some logs floated down river to our mill. Came in very handy. Anyone else I know here?"

Methos grinned. "I did the arranging. Though I didn't know who was doing the repair work. I might've known. And yes, I believe we have some of your family around, though he is out of town just now, on. . . an errand."

"Duncan?" Connor said with a bright grin. "Wonderful! I haven't seen him since I visited him and Tessa in Seacouver."

"You'll be more interested in the errand, I'm afraid. Care to talk alone?"

Instantly alert to the change in Methos' manner, Connor agreed. Barking an order to his crew, he put his hand on Methos' shoulder and steered him off the dock. "Is this about the men on the other side of the river? I saw some of them when that girl got rescued. Some of them I know that Duncan beheaded. Hell, I even saw one that I had the pleasure of doing myself! Can you explain that?"

Methos bit his lip, then finally turned to face his friend. "Connor, people come here from different . . . points in their lives. Hell, I myself saw myself as I was in the Bronze Age!"

"Shite," Connor said softly, sitting down on a rock. "Why do I get the feeling that you aren't telling me something all of a sudden. What year was it when you were last on our old world?"

"Two thousand and one."

"Shite and double shite. It was '92 for me. Okay, spill it. What happened?" He knew from the way Methos was not meeting his intense gaze something was very wrong. "Who died?"

There was a long, tense pause. Finally Methos whispered, "You did, my friend. And it was by Duncan's hand, at your urging."

Connor was silent for a long time, as the information sank into him. "Well, if anyone was to take my head, I would have wanted it to be him," he said slowly, trying to act nonchalant about the news. "But there is something else too, right?" He fixed Methos with an unnerving stare. "Out with it. Might as well have all the bad news all at one time. Easier that way."

Methos sighed. "Kat's here."

Connor cringed. "How did she take my death then?" he asked, already knowing the answer.

Methos said nothing. They walked a little further and he said, "We didn't know you were here. Kat, Duncan and I seemed to be from the most modern point in the world, and we all knew of your death." He turned to look at his friend and said," Both Duncan and I . . . spent a night with her. You weren't here, and even if you were, it wasn't like we were strangers to it. But Connor . . ." He paused again, this time for effect. "We can have children here."

Connor closed his eyes, withdrawing into himself, getting control of his emotions. It was quite a while before he could trust himself to speak. "Where is she?" he said in a low voice. "I want to see her."

"When she found out she was pregnant she went off. Hey," Methos said, "it must be what they do. I don't honestly know if Kat's baby is mine or Duncan's, but the reason we know Immortals can have babies here is I do know I got someone else pregnant, and she's holed up on Holy Ground. Please tell me it's the shock of being able to have kids, and not because they may be mine."

It was supposed to be a joke, but it didn't seem as if Methos thought it was funny. It seemed very serious and painful to him.

"It would be a shock," Connor said quietly. It wasn’t funny to him either. "Especially if neither one of you were in it for the long haul with her. She would not want to make anyone feel they were under any sort of obligation to her."

"If there were a way of knowing which of us it is . . . but there aren't any DNA facilities here. Believe me, Connor, if I thought she'd accept me as a father, I would be there. But she's still grieving for you."

Connor went quiet on him again, lost in over 400 years of memories. "I have to find her Methos," he finally said.

"That's where Duncan's gone," the ancient one answered. "I know where Faia is. We don't know where Kat's gone. We won't let it rest till we're sure she's all right."

The Highlander nodded. "Might be harder than you think. Kat has developed the art of disappearing when another immortal is after her to almost an art form. Holy Ground would be an obvious place, so she wouldn't go there. And if she is pregnant, she would steer clear of the other side of the river. Knowing her, she headed to either one of two places."

"Which are?"

"If you made a list of places that she stayed for any length of time, it would be obvious. She either went to the mountains somewhere, or she gravitated towards the sea. The later was my fault usually. Seems she was always waiting for me to come back from my latest voyage."

Methos looked at the mountains behind the town. "I hope she didn't go up there," he sighed. "We haven't had time to explore this world well. For all we know there's another band like Kronos has up there." Then he looked at the river. "That has to go to the sea."

"Then that is where I will go," Connor said, drawing himself up straight. "I'll need to get provisioned first, and do a test run in the open water, but after that, I'll hug the coastline and look for any trace of her. Got anyone that would be good at mapping it out for us while I sail? Might as well kill two birds with one stone. Duncan can do it if he comes back in time, if not, you can send him up into the mountains to look there."

"That might be where he is," Methos said. He tried to think of who could go and map things out, but that only made him feel guiltier. "Faia wanted to go and explore. She ran off to Esperanza because she hated staying here in town."

"If Kat had felt someone really wanted and loved her," Connor said, looking off towards the high peaks of the mountains, "she would have stayed. She thrives on being needed. That’s why she usually became a teacher or a midwife where ever she settled. On second thought, I don't think she would go to the mountains if she was pregnant. It would be harder for her to survive there. She would never put a baby at risk."

"I honestly didn't feel anything differently for her than I ever did, and I did not get any impression she wanted more of me than what we had once had. But there was some drama between her and Duncan."

Connor shook his head and chuckled. "They are both stubborn Scots, just like myself. Over the years, she and I have had some pretty good arguments. But the making up is so much fun, as well you should know." He sighed and turned away, heading back to his ship. There was a lot to do to get the Dòchas seaworthy if he was going to be heading off in search of Katherine Dixon.