Disclaimer and notes: The Highlander universe, its concepts, and characters belong to Panzer/Davis. Josh and Kelly are my own creation. This fits into the Heart Series around the time of "What the Heart Wants". I've been playing with it off and on since I finished the series, and finally decided to post it.

Chances

by Raine Wynd

A moment out of time in the Heart Series

Chicago, 1997

"Want company?"

Caught by the faint Irish lilt in the feminine voice, Josh Eastbrooke turned from his appreciation of the blues band to focus on the woman who'd spoken. She leaned on the bar next to him, smiling invitingly. Her dark auburn hair-so dark a shade it looked black — framed a heart-shaped face set off by a slightly crooked nose and deep green eyes. A lavender-hued button-down long-sleeved T-shirt covered a modest swell of breasts, outlined the subtle ripple of her dancer's arms, and was tucked into a pair of well-worn jeans that clung like a second skin over slim hips. She wore no makeup, no jewelry, and the knee-high boots she wore were far from new. She looked young, but radiated a kind of world-weariness that aged her more. He decided it gave her character.

Silently, Josh admitted he liked what he saw. Clearly, she felt the same about him, judging from the pleased, flirtatious smile she was giving him. He resisted the urge to straighten his goldenrod-hued button-down shirt. Without conceit, he knew he was an attractive man, with a compact build and a five-foot-eleven-inch frame. He'd had enough experience in his two hundred and some years to know.

He gestured for her to sit. "What are you drinking?"

"Whiskey. "

The blunt answer startled him. "Not wine?" He knew better than to presume a woman would want that, but still, he had't expected something so different.

She chuckled. "Why?" she asked, as the bartender moved to attend to them.

Josh placed the order, then commented, "Not too many women I know drink hard liquor."

She shrugged. "To each their own." She paused as she settled herself more comfortably on the stool. "I'm Kelly," she introduced herself, extending a slender, slightly callused hand.

"Josh," he replied as he completed the handshake. "Like the blues?"

Her lips curved into a smile as she considered her answer. "Is that what this is?" She gestured to the band on stage. "Just seems a little more honest than some other stuff I've heard."

He nodded his agreement as the bartender returned with fresh drinks. "So are you from around here?"

She took a sip of whiskey before answering. "Just visiting. A friend of mine invited me here. You?"

"Well," he drawled, "according to my lease and the post office, I do, but I've been traveling so much lately I think a hotel room's more my home than not." At her interested look, he clarified, "I work as a computer consultant."

"I heard that's a good field to go into," she murmured noncommittally. She took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly. "You know," she began, setting her drink aside, "I'd rather forget the small talk and get right to the point." She leaned closer and cupped his fox-like face with her hands, staring into his sapphire blue eyes. Then she brought his lips to meet hers.

He stiffened at the unexpected contact. He felt her rueful smile against his lips seconds before she released him.

"Too fast for you?" She drank.

He chuckled sheepishly and took a sip of wine. "You might say that."

She shrugged almost imperceptibly. "What the hell. I don't like to waste my time any more than I have to, and I figure if I don't try, you'll never know."

"It's not that I'm not flattered," Josh reassured her.

"But you're involved with someone." He opened his mouth to speak, but she read the truth in his expression before he could form the words. She swore mildly, then sighed. Resigned, she lifted her shoulders upward again. "C'est la vie," she said philosophically, her voice flowing surprisingly well over the French. She finished the drink and slipped off the stool. "Thanks for the drink, Josh."

_____________
Seacouver, 2001
_____________

Kelly was watching him now with an amused expression. "You don't remember, do you?"

Josh shook his head. "I'm not very good with people's names and faces."

"You're Immortal, and you have a memory problem like that?" Disbelief was etched in her features. "I'd think that could prove dangerous."

"Sometimes," he admitted readily.

Kelly snorted.

"Not every Immortal is a hunter-magnet like Mac is," Josh reminded her gently. "Some of us actually live fairly mundane, normal lives."

The ex-mercenary looked skeptical, but she let the statement go for the moment. She sipped her whiskey and considered the way the light from the bar hit the glass. After a long silence, she finally said, "Duncan doesn't trust me."

Startled, Josh looked at her. "Kelly, you're crazy. He loves you. I don't understand why you'd think he doesn't."

The smile she gave him held bitter sadness. "He's in fucking God knows where right now, and I'm back in the rear, where it's supposedly fucking safe. Any enemy worth his salt would come for me and not Duncan. And I'm damned sure he told you to keep an eye out for me and defend me against any fucking other immortals, didn't he?"

Unable to lie, Josh could only look at her.

She snorted, her disgust clear on her face. "Thanks, Josh, you can go to hell too." She downed the rest of her drink and then slammed the glass on the bar, somehow managing not to shatter it. She pulled out a wad of bills from a jeans pocket and threw them beside the glass. "Don't fucking come looking for me," she warned Josh. "I'm going to get some fucking fresh air."

Then she walked out of the bar, leaving Josh to wonder if he should've stopped her, if he should've taken the chance she'd apparently offered all those years ago, and taught her to trust in what others gave her at face value. It wasn't an entirely comfortable line of thinking, and Josh sighed resignedly as he tried to push it out of his mind. Kelly was her own woman, and the best he could hope for was that she would be okay. Still, Josh found himself wondering just how a chance not taken could have changed anything.

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