Disclaimer: Methos and all Immortals are Davis/Panzer's.  Robin, Claire, and all the mortals are mine.  If you want to borrow them, you have but to ask.

Will You Still Love Me...?

©, HonorH

"Catch, 'Manda!"

Amanda snagged the chilled bottle of Nestea as it flew through the air.  "Thanks, Robin."

Robin Wecks Adamson smiled at her friend, then turned to her husband, who was sitting in a beach chair.  "Hope you didn't want another beer while I was at the cooler.  I forgot to ask."  She winked at Amanda.

Methos sighed.  "She keeps trying to cut down my beer consumption."

"Serves you right," declared Duncan.  "You were starting to get a beer gut."

Methos yanked the edge of his shirt out of his shorts and eyed his well-toned belly critically.  "Was not."

"It's every wife's perogative to do battle with the baser side of her husband's nature," Robin said daintily.  "Although--and I find this as strange as the rest of you--I have started to find beer breath sexy.  Pavlovian response, I guess."

"Okay, I didn't want to hear that," said Amanda.

Duncan, meanwhile, had been observing Methos contemplating his wife's nicely-upholstered thigh.  He flipped some sand at the ancient Immortal.

"What?" squawked Methos, mightily offended.

"You.  Looking at that poor woman like you were going to take a bite out of her."

"There's an idea."  Methos looked up to see his wife's blush.  She thwapped him mock-sternly, but anyone could see how much she enjoyed her husband's flirtation.

The jingle of a dog's tags drew the group's attention.  A five-month-old Bernese puppy lumbered up, followed closely by a blond-haired five-year-old girl in a bright pink bathing suit.  The dog suddenly turned and jumped up on the girl, trying to lick her face.

"Down, Gil," Claire Adamson chided (the puppy, on account of Methos' warped sense of humor, bore the unfortunate moniker of Gilgamesh).

Duncan leapt up.  "A princess being attacked by a fierce beast!  I'll save you, Princess!"

He scooped Claire off the ground, whirling her high into the air as the puppy went bonkers around his feet.  Claire shrieked in joy.

"I'll be very amused if she throws up her entire lunch on him," Methos said just loud enough for Duncan to hear him.

Duncan turned a baleful eye on him.  "I beg your pardon.  Her Royal Highness does not throw up."

"Yes I do!" Claire protested.  "I had the flu and threw up all over Daddy.  But that was when I was four."

"And you're so much older now," Duncan noted.

"Yeah.  I'm five today."

"I heard about that."  Duncan set her down and she immediately ran over to Amanda.

"'Manda, all the polish came off my nail.  See?" Claire extended her hands for Amanda's inspection.  The pink polish Amanda had applied the previous night had come off one nail entirely, but saltwater, sand, and an overenthusiastic puppy hadn't left the others in great shape, either.

"Ooh, well, I'll just have to paint your nails again tonight."

"Good!" Claire jumped up from where she'd (briefly) sat beside Amanda and grabbed Duncan's hand.  "Come help me with my sand castle, Uncle Mac!"

"Yes, Your Highness!" Duncan allowed himself to be dragged off.  The puppy followed, yapping.

Amanda watched him go with great affection.  "Mac's so good with children.  It's a pity . . ."  She trailed off.

"Yes.  It is," agreed Robin quietly.  She reached out a hand to her husband.  "I feel like a walk."

Methos kissed her hand as he rose.  "As Your Majesty wishes."

Robin giggled.  "When did I get the promotion?"

"Didn't you hear? Our daughter's a princess, so you must be the Queen, and I the foul-tempered tyrant you brought low with your beauty and gentleness."

"I think that's my cue to leave you two to your own devices."  Amanda stood, dusted off her tight-fitting shorts, and started making her way over to where Duncan and Claire were laboring over a sand castle.

Methos and Robin started walking down the beach.  It was a perfect Oregon fall day, with high clouds, a salty breeze (not too strong) blowing off the ocean, and just enough of a nip in the air to make one want to cuddle.  For a time, the two just walked, listening to the lonely cry of gulls and the timeless, patient sounds of waves washing in and out on the beach.

"Five years," Methos said suddenly.  "Claire's five years old today, which makes tomorrow the five-year anniversary of the day we met."

"Imagine," Robin murmured.  "It's been a heartbeat.  Just a heartbeat."

Methos wrapped an arm around her shoulders, drawing her closer.  They continued walking, each with their thoughts.  After a few minutes, Methos became aware that his wife was humming a vaguely familiar tune.

"What's that song?"

Robin pulled away, folding her arms around herself.  Methos stopped.  His wife looked at him, a little sad and vaguely abashed, then looked out toward the ocean and sang, very softly:

"Will you still love me, will you still need me, when I'm 64?"

Her shoulders sagged a little.  "I know it's silly, but . . .  I look at Duncan and Amanda, and they know they'll never change.  You'll never change.  I, on the other hand, found a gray hair yesterday."

Methos knew well the complications of loving a mortal.  In another five years, he and Robin would have to move.  A little doctoring of computer records would shave enough years off his age that he could pass for Robin's younger spouse.  She would have to cut off all contact with her family and friends, or see them sans spouse.  Another ten years after that and they'd have to leave the country and change their identities altogether.  Another ten years after that and they would be getting into the area of a) saying he was a younger relative of her husband, b) finding someplace isolated for just the two of them, or c) splitting up.  The last option was out already.

"It's worth it.  You're worth it," Methos said, speaking to those thoughts.  "I love you.  I still will when you're 64."

Robin walked into his embrace and they kissed softly.  A noise suddenly grabbed their attention.

They turned toward where Duncan and Amanda had been helping Claire with her sand castle.  Amanda had just shoved a handful of wet sand down Duncan's back, and he, in turn, had slung her over his shoulder and was carrying her toward the ocean.  She was putting up as much of a fuss as a 5'11", very athletic woman could.  Just as Duncan dumped her off his shoulder, her legs shot out, entangling his, and both went down.  Claire was shrieking with laughter.

Robin laughed, watching them, and felt her husband embrace her from behind.  He swept her hair back and kissed the side of her neck, enjoying the little shiver that ran through her.

"Theirs isn't a mortal love, Robin," he said, again speaking to her thoughts.  "Few Immortals can stay together forever, and it's not just that we're a contrary bunch.  You remind me to stay in the moment, my love.  You make my days new again."

Robin turned to face him.  "You make me beautiful."

They kissed again, then wandered back toward their daughter and where Duncan and Amanda were wading free of the ocean.  A piece of kelp clung to Duncan's head and was hanging ridiculously between his eyes.

"You call this setting an example for the younger ones?" Methos asked.

"We fell in," Duncan offered lamely.

At that moment, Gilgamesh blundered into the sand castle.  Claire was mightily distressed.  So was Duncan.

"Great!  We spend half the afternoon on that thing and it's all ruined on account of your dog's a klutz," the Highlander muttered in disgust.

Robin went to sooth her indignant daughter.  "Calm down, sweetie.  We'll all help you build it again, and it'll be even bigger than before.  Okay?"

"Okay," Claire agreed.  She hugged Gilgamesh to make sure he knew she still loved him, and then all of them got to work.

--end--

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