A More Permanent Hell

Shattered ~ Part One in the Old Holly Ridge Farm Cycle
c. 2006

Part Seven


"When I finally woke up, the last thing I remembered was walking out of the police station. Lucien told me I'd been in an accident, that my car had skidded on the ice and overturned into a ditch. He said I'd been in a coma and while I was unconscious, had contracted pneumonia from being exposed to the elements for so many hours till I had been found. It fit all my symptoms, the memory loss, and the weakness. And it all fit with my last memories, being so angry with Nicholas and LaCroix. I assumed that my emotional upset had led to me not paying attention when I drove home, leading to the accident. Lucien even insisted my next vehicle be a four wheel drive, so I'd be safer driving in the winter." Triona shook her head. "He thought of everything."

"He's always been thorough," Methos agreed with grudging admiration.

"That he is," she said absently. Standing up, Triona walked a little way so she could see out the window, but not be in direct path of the light that came through it. She stared into space, her thoughts far away.
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Shattered ~ Part One in the Old Holly Ridge Farm Cycle
c. 2006

Part Seven


"When I finally woke up, the last thing I remembered was walking out of the police station. Lucien told me I'd been in an accident, that my car had skidded on the ice and overturned into a ditch. He said I'd been in a coma and while I was unconscious, had contracted pneumonia from being exposed to the elements for so many hours till I had been found. It fit all my symptoms, the memory loss, and the weakness. And it all fit with my last memories, being so angry with Nicholas and LaCroix. I assumed that my emotional upset had led to me not paying attention when I drove home, leading to the accident. Lucien even insisted my next vehicle be a four wheel drive, so I'd be safer driving in the winter." Triona shook her head. "He thought of everything."

"He's always been thorough," Methos agreed with grudging admiration.

"That he is," she said absently. Standing up, Triona walked a little way so she could see out the window, but not be in direct path of the light that came through it. She stared into space, her thoughts far away.
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Shattered ~ Part One in the Old Holly Ridge Farm Cycle

c. 2006

Part Six

"Should I call your lawyer?" Triona asked LaCroix quietly. He was in a holding cell, the other occupants huddled in the opposite corner in obvious fear.

"I don't think that will be necessary," he replied. He quelled her protest with a sharp look. "I appreciate your concern, my dear, but it is misplaced. I have been held by the Inquisition, and this," he waved one hand negligently at the bars of the cell, "is nothing to concern you."
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Shattered ~ Part One in the Old Holly Ridge Farm Cycle
c. 2006

Part Five

The sound of sleet once again could be heard on the stable roof, and Triona shivered. Not from the cold so much as the onslaught of emotion that Methos' revelations had brought. Added to the newly reopened psychic wounds that her memories of what Divia had done to her had left, she found she couldn't stop shaking.

"You're cold." Methos pulled off his own coat, putting it around her shoulders and drawing her closer. She didn't correct him, just leaned tiredly into the soothing warmth of his body.

"And now I know where your aversion to vampires comes from," she said quietly.

He didn't deny it. It had been a frequent bone of contention between him and Lucien over Triona's eventual fate. Methos had tried in the beginning to free her from what he saw as an existence of darkness. When that had failed, he'd had to choose whether or not he walked away or accepted her as she was. "As far as I knew, you had no memories of Divia, and therefore, I couldn't explain it to you, not really."
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Shattered ~ Part One in the Old Holly Ridge Farm Cycle
c. 2006

Part Five

The sound of sleet once again could be heard on the stable roof, and Triona shivered. Not from the cold so much as the onslaught of emotion that Methos' revelations had brought. Added to the newly reopened psychic wounds that her memories of what Divia had done to her had left, she found she couldn't stop shaking.

"You're cold." Methos pulled off his own coat, putting it around her shoulders and drawing her closer. She didn't correct him, just leaned tiredly into the soothing warmth of his body.

"And now I know where your aversion to vampires comes from," she said quietly.

He didn't deny it. It had been a frequent bone of contention between him and Lucien over Triona's eventual fate. Methos had tried in the beginning to free her from what he saw as an existence of darkness. When that had failed, he'd had to choose whether or not he walked away or accepted her as she was. "As far as I knew, you had no memories of Divia, and therefore, I couldn't explain it to you, not really."
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Shattered ~ Part One in the Old Holly Ridge Farm Cycle

c. 2006

Part Four

Later that evening after cleaning up from supper, Triona and Methos sat in the double rocking chair in front of the kitchen hearth, finishing their wine. In the distance, the sound of a piano could be heard.

"We should have had him play while we were eating," Methos said, grinning. The south wing contained a music room with a piano. Since neither Triona nor Methos played, it was usually covered over. Nick had come across it after exploring that morning and had spent most of the day airing out and cleaning the room. After supper, he'd excused himself and had been playing ever since. "A little dinner music, some candlelight, very romantic."

"Mmm-hmm." She drew her legs up underneath her and snuggled closer to his side. "We had a heart to heart this morning."

"Oh?"
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Shattered ~ Part One in the Old Holly Ridge Farm Cycle
c. 2006

Part Three

Triona pulled the bedcovers up to her chin, snuggling into their softness, listening for her husband's footstep in the hall. She was eager for an explanation, but she had decided to be patient and not seek him out. Finally her forbearance was rewarded. A few moments later, he gently pushed open their bedroom door. "So what was all that about?" she asked before he'd even managed to walk through the door.

"What was what about?" he asked innocently, coming to sit on the edge of the bed, pressing his lips against her forehead. She shook her head and just looked at him expectantly. He knew exactly what she was talking about. "Fine. I knew that look. You'd already convinced yourself that Margaretta was lonely and wanted her family together, and were going to agree to Nick's request before you'd even given yourself a chance to think about the ramifications."

Triona pushed herself up to sit against the headboard. "Okay, maybe I was," she agreed, a little put out. Sometimes Methos could be so irritatingly right about what she was thinking and how she would react.

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Shattered ~ Part One in the Old Holly Ridge Farm Cycle
c. 2006

Part Two

Some hours later, Methos had finally served dinner in the sitting room, where they ate curled up on the couch in front of a roaring fire. Now Triona was sitting at her desk behind the couch, correcting Latin essays written by her fifth year students, the long sleeves of the green velvet top she now wore pushed up to her elbows. "One of those wouldn't be for me, would it?" she asked as he came back into the room holding two glasses of dessert wine, wearing what seemed to be an identical copy of his previous clothes, except that these were dust free.

"I think one just might be," he agreed as she gratefully accepted the glass of Moscato he offered her and took a sip. "Want some help with those?" He nodded towards the pile of essays.

"Really?" she asked delightedly. "If I can get them done tonight, my weekend will be free and clear."

"Really." Eyes laughing, he added, "I think you deserve some sort of reward for your stellar performance earlier."

She gasped in faux offense. "You're just lucky this is an excellent wine, or you'd be wearing it!"

Leaning over, Methos kissed her bottom lip, savouring the taste of the sweet wine on her mouth. "Then you'd just have to lick it off," he whispered, running one hand up across a velvet-clad thigh.

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Shattered ~ Part One in the Old Holly Ridge Farm Cycle
c. 2006

Part One

The soft light through the windows of Old Holly Ridge Farm greeted her as she made her way up the path towards the twelfth century farmhouse on the outskirts of York, the warm glow of 'home' filling her heart. As she pushed open the back door, the familiar Immortal burr of her husband completed the feeling of homecoming. So content was she at that moment in time, that she even imagined the scent of dinner wafting past her as she dropped her book bag and long green raincoat on the bench next to the door. Even though he had thrown himself into the role of 'house husband' since they had come to live here after their honeymoon seven months before, cooking was not one of his many talents, so it had to be her imagination.

The scent caught at her nose again, making her stomach growl. She wasn't imagining it! It actually smelled... edible. Delicious actually. Maybe she'd walked into the wrong house? That must be it. Laughing to herself, she made her way down the hall towards the kitchen, unbuttoning the dark-rose coloured jacket of her wool crepe suit, revealing a silk camisole top of the same colour beneath. But instead of a peaceful homecoming after a day of teaching Latin and physics, bangs, curses, and a cloud of dust greeted her.

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Notes & Disclaimers for Shattered:

This was originally a much longer story, which just kept growing. To make it more manageable, a sequel(s) will be posted that takes place directly after the end of this story. Since I'm flaky that way, I'm going with calling it a 'cycle' as opposed to a 'trilogy', seeing as the third part of my other trilogy languishes on my hard drive :)

This is an attempt to fill in some more blank spaces. Over the years, we’ve made allusions to what happened when Divia came back in 'Ashes to Ashes', but never really said what that was. I finally figured it was time. And also, to finally explain Methos’ aversion to vampires. Finally taking care of that too.

This takes place a year after "Misguided Angel". The incident mentioned with Hakeem takes place in "Sands of Eternity". But it's not necessary to read either story to read this one.

Thanks to Tammy and April for beta duty!

Other stories in the series can be found on my archive, "Tales From the Darkwood". There's a series overview I wrote for LJ here.

All Highlander (Methos) & Forever Knight (LaCroix, Nick, Janette, Divia, Vachon) characters belong to their respective PTBs. All original characters belong to their creators, myself amongst them.

And last, but most certainly not least: Thanks for reading!

I'd give this a rating of PG13

On to Part One