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AO3 Link | Closing Up Shop: Seacouver (1335 words) by Merfilly
Chapters: 2/2
Fandom: Highlander Movieverse, Highlander The Series
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Rachel Ellenstein [Highlander Movieverse], Joe Dawson [Highlander the Series]
Additional Tags: First Meetings, Post-The Gathering (Highlander)
Summary:

And then a few years passed...

Closing Up Shop: Seacouver

While Connor and Duncan were being themselves, Rachel was a little out of sorts. Tessa was a nice lady, one so recently brought into knowing what they were. However, Tessa was an artist, and driven currently by a piece that Rachel could already see would be lovely. The boy Richie was a little rash and Rachel didn't fully feel a connection to him yet, but she would work on that, after Connor explained why Duncan and Tessa were watching over him.

No, she just needed to be mindful of her own wishes and need to stretch her legs currently. Dinner could be for socializing. Right now, she had sights to see, stores to discover, and a need to be away from the casual masculinity contests the pair of cousins indulged themselves in during these infrequent reunions.

That in mind, Rachel turned her steps to a brisk walk in the same district the couple lived and worked in, ducking into shops as they caught her idea, pausing to sample the food about midmorning, and slowly circling back around.

A bookstore caught her eye, and she slipped within to browse, hopeful of something to keep her entertained until Connor decided they had played the game of risk long enough in this reunion.

She glanced over to the only other person present —

— and was thrown back to a lovely day spent with a kind young man.

She had not survived for so long as Connor's daughter and self-appointed protector from the world at large to give away her suspicion of the man's convenient location so near to Duncan when he had appeared in her life so close to the changing tides in Connor's own life. For half a moment, she almost wished Brenda had not decided Connor was too overwhelming, that it had been his wife on this trip instead of herself.

But she had never been a coward, and understood perfectly well why Connor and Brenda were separated now. She could — would — handle this meeting now upon her.

"Stepped away from your photography in favor of book collections, Mister Dawson?" she asked in a charming voice, letting her smile reflect the surprise of seeing a man of her past so far from where they had met.

"Miss Ellenstein, what a surprise." He stood, using the cane to do so, and Rachel added more details to the picture she was building. He was noticeably older, as she herself was, the reliance on the cane a bit more pronounced, but his smile was still making his face light up with disarming sincerity.

Who was Joe Dawson, that he was mortal and yet so close to the lives of those like her Connor?

"Also, the books are less finicky about lighting and framing," he added as he walked over to her. "Looking for anything of particular interest?"

"Browsing, actually, passing the time. It's an eclectic neighborhood, it seems."

"You could say that," Joe agreed. "If anything catches your eye, I am always up to negotiate with an astute antiquities dealer such as yourself."

That he was firmly the center of her attention was not something she betrayed, only smiling and moving on to browse.

"Perhaps we could find the dessert we had no room for in New York?" she offered as he was moving back to the table he'd been working from.

"I can think of nothing better for this evening."

Connor would tell her she was playing with fire, when there was something so far amiss. Rachel preferred to see it as gathering intelligence on potential flashpoints.

Rachel passed the first part of the meal with Joe in conversation about what she had seen, and he offered ideas of new places to visit while she was in town. As she played the tourist, she considered just how to go about learning why he was here, so close to Connor's cousin after she'd met him in the aftermath of Connor's endgame against the Kurgan.

As the dessert course was delivered, Rachel glanced over and caught Joe studying her. He gave the smile and bashful look for being caught, and she found herself responding to that on a level she deemed dangerous.

Not necessarily in a physical danger sense, but to Connor's safety, and that of Duncan and his chosen family, she decided firmly.

"I had the impression you were more easterly in your setting, when we first met," Rachel said, giving him the faintest smile.

"Better opportunities out this way for me." He took a bite, chased it with the wine, and then shifted his body language a little. Rachel wasn't quite sure what to make of it, but it put her more on guard. "What about you? No more restoration and purchasing of antiquities?"

"Here and there, but more by appointment with travel benefits." Rachel tried her own tiramisu, decided she could name three places that served better, and sipped her coffee to wash it down. "Retirement allows me more opportunities in many ways, to keep an eye on my interests."

"Most people choose to turn their attention to new things when they let go of their old lives," Joe mused. "I suppose there's exceptions to anything that could be normal about humans, though."

"I find it is a good life, to keep an eye on those people or events that stand out," she answered. "After all, even those of us that prefer to live life a day at a time might be caught up in extraordinary events."

Had that been a shading of his eyes, something in memory haunting him now? Did he have a person like Connor that had saved him, and that was how he was connected? It couldn't be Duncan; she'd mentioned stopping in the book shop and making this date in his hearing without a single spike of interest.

And Duncan, for all he was a veteran of his years, still had difficulty masking himself.

"To observe something is to change it, or be changed by it," Joe pointed out. "Getting caught up in the ways and lives of the unusual ones can be a difficult thing."

"I am certain that is so, but I learned as a child that just standing by doesn't keep you any safer, or those you care about," she said softly. "Which may be why I took to the antiquities so easily. Every object holds some story, if you can just trace the history of it. People can be much the same."

"Very true," Joe said, giving the faint smile and change of body posture to move the conversation away from this.

Who was the one for Joe? And was Joe scouting others to mark targets, or warn of danger? Rachel rather hoped it was the latter, as she asked his opinion of a local museum, letting the double-layered words drop for now.

"Have a good night?" Connor asked as he took her jacket from her.

"Waiting up for me?" Rachel retorted, before leaning in to kiss his cheek.

"Maybe."

"Yes."

He smiled, his eyes crinkling up as that little catching laugh came out, before he offered for her to precede him into the sitting room. She settled in a chair, listening, but it seemed Duncan and Tessa must be out from the quiet. She still wasn't certain if Richie actually lived here or was just in and out.

"I think he knows someone like you, but I also don't think he's a danger," Rachel said, meeting Connor's eyes.

"Then… I'll warn Duncan that he's been seen near us before, and hopefully my little cousin can be a sensible man about the risks he takes."

"Hmm, he's as much a MacLeod as you," she pointed out, getting a warm laugh in response.

"Hey, I can dream!" Connor rebutted. "We are still flying out tomorrow."

Rachel nodded. "For the best." She would also hope this did not cause Duncan new grief in the long run, but her duty was to Connor… even if Connor saw it the other way around.