OUTSIDE THE DOJO

He sat there, waiting outside the dojo. Looking around the corner of the next apartment building, he could see no-one coming or going. With any luck, the next person out would be Dr. Andrew Morris. Kingsboro chuckled and held up his cell phone to his ear. "Harrison? Got the room ready?"

"Yeah. With the vents like you wanted it."

"Fine, fine." He ended the call and dialled in another number. After waiting a few seconds, he punched in a few numbers, then repeated the process with a second number. "After all," he chuckled. "Two hostages are better than one." He signalled to some men lounging on the apartment stairs across the street reading a newspaper. They nodded in agreement.

Kingsboro walked over to a black Rolls-Royce and slid into the driver's seat. He flicked on a station of blues music and sat back.....waiting.

DUNCAN'S APARTMENT

Anne followed Duncan into the apartment and watched as he set the duffel bag on the bed and the katana next to it. He turned to face her. "Now, how did you get yourself involved in this mess?"

"This mess, as you so put it, involves a dear friend of mine, who helped comfort me when you went sky diving off the balcony of the theater , when I found out I was pregnant with Mary, and when I left you in Paris. Andrew means a lot to me, he's like the brother I never had."

"I figured that you wouldn't have anything to do with us anymore after what happened to Mary."

Anne sighed. "What happened with Mary could have been prevented, true, but it could have happened with any psycho Immortal or not. You automatically assume that it's because you're Immortal. Well it's not. I handled that, and I left, and I didn't want you in my life for a while, I didn't want to have to look into Mary's eyes every time you went out and having to face the question 'Mommy, is Daddy going to come home?' But this, this isn't us, it's about Andrew, and he's my friend and I have to give him the chance I gave you."'

"Anne, this is none of your concern."

"It became my concern the day I met you, Duncan MacLeod. And you're treating me like a baby. I'm sick and tired of being treated as if I had the mentality of a six year old. I can take care of myself."

"Anne," Duncan walked over to her and placed his hands on her shoulders. "I..... I don't want anything to happen to you. Or Mary."

Anne's expression softened. "Duncan, I know you still feel guilty over Tessa's death. But her death was an accident. it didn't happen because of your immortality. It could had happened at anywhere at anytime. The same as with Mary's kidnapping. Now, I still want to be friends with you and Richie and Joe and Andrew. But I can't if you don't think I am strong enough to handle it. I've done a lot of growing up in the past two years. More than I ever thought possible."

Anne's beeper sounded off and she looked down at it. "The hospital's paging me, I've got to go."

Duncan nodded and she walked to the elevator. Duncan opened a small box on the table and withdrew a small key. He tossed it to her. Anne caught it and smiled. It was a gesture of friendship. A stronger friendship. She waved and left.

OUTSIDE THE DOJO

"I got beeped at the same time you did." Andrew, now wearing a magenta silk blouse and tan slacks held the door to the dojo open for Anne and walked out behind her. "Probably a car accident or something."

"I hope it's not that serious," Anne said. "I'll call as soon as I get in my ca...." her voice was muffled as she was grabbed from behind by a man wearing black jeans and a black turtleneck.

"Anne!" Andrew whirled around and slugged the second man who had leapt up behind them. A sudden rush of awareness hit and Andrew whirled around to find himself being shot with a stun gun.

As he crumpled to the ground at his feet, Bruce Kingsboro smiled. "Modern technology. Gotta love it," he chuckled.

JOE'S PLACE

"Joe's. Yeah, this is him. What?!?!? Why didn't you call sooner? Damn it!" Joe slammed down the phone. From the bar, Duncan and Methos glanced up at him. Joe glared back at them. "Kingsboro has Anne and Andrew."

Duncan cursed while Methos, who was more apt to think before he moved, pondered. "I knew he'd come after him, but I didn't think he'd go after her too."

"I need to go get her," Duncan got up.

Methos grabbed him by the arm. "MacLeod, you can't just waltz up to Kingsboro and do your Sir Lancelot act. I'm afraid he won't buy it."

"He's got Anne, Methos."

"I know that. And he's also got Andrew which means that you'd be interfering. Then again, nothing has ever stopped you from doing that before."

Duncan growled and came towards Methos. "Hey. take it easy!" Joe cried. "Not right before opening. Besides, we have another problem."

Duncan and Methos looked at him.

"Mary."

"Oh no, the baby," Duncan moaned. "Call Richie and ask him to pick her up from the day care. He'll take care of her."

"This I'd like to see," Methos chuckled.

"Richie is very good with little Mary," Duncan said. "Her godmother, Marie, lives nearby he can take her over there." He grabbed his jacket and walked toward the door. "Coming?"

"Yeah, yeah." Methos grabbed his coat.

"You're going to the warehouse of Fifth Street. Near the docks," Joe called after them. "It's the one that's condemned."

"Figures," Methos muttered. "The enemy seems to always be in abandoned, condemned warehouses."