The evening air was cool and refreshing on her sweat drenched body as Katherine Ann Dixon struggled to keep putting one foot in front of the other. When her money had run out she had been forced to rely on hitchhiking and walking for the last three days in her flight to what she hoped would be a place of refuge. In her exhaustion, a sign saying that SIMsCity was only a half of a mile away was barely noticed. Ignoring the constant gnaw of hunger in her belly she forced herself onward. Rounding a bend in the road, she glanced up to see the lights of the city in the valley below. Stepping to the side of the road she paused to look over her new home, a surge of hope stirring in her breast. She was so close! Reaching out with her mind she could feel the distant presence of many immortals down the hill from where she was standing. How curious, she thought. She had not been aware there were others of her kind in SIMsCity other than her old friend Doc Adams. So engrossed as she was in exploring the feel of the city she almost missed the warning buzz of the approaching immortal behind her.

Whirling around she caught a glimpse of the immortal who had been stalking her for months now, with an arrow draw in a hunting bow aimed in her direction. Her survival instincts kicked into overdrive and she took her only avenue of escape by turning to dive down the hillside towards the city just as the arrow buried itself deep in her side. She rolled and tumbled down the hill towards the city fighting to stay conscious as waves of agony exploded inside her. Coming to an abrupt and painful stop against a tree, she glanced up to see her assailant let loose another arrow just in time to roll away as it buried itself in the ground where she had been. She could feel his frustration and anger of her escaping his grasp again as she dove the last few yard to the edge of the city and the relative safety of having other people around.

Weakening rapidly from the loss of blood and shock she stumbled along the street, going strictly on auto-pilot as she tried to get as much distance between her and the other immortal as possible. Her eyes barely focusing, her mind did not register the approach of two men running down the street towards her when Katherine’s last vestige of strength left her as her legs collapsed underneath her and she slumped forward to the ground. The next thing she knew, two strong pairs of hand were lifting her up. Her vision was blurry as she tried to focus on their faces thinking that there was something so familiar about them. She could vaguely hear their concerned voices asking her if she was ok. Then the face of the one wearing a business suit sharpened into focus and she gasped out loud. She struggling to say something as one of her hands reached up to touch his face.

"Connn…..ner??" she finally gasped, as the strangely comforting darkness of death overcame her.

Benjamin Adams was leaning over the counter at the SIMsCity Hospital flirting with a nurse. He was just beginning to feel he might be getting somewhere when the doors flew open and Paul Racine and Dani Selvigo rushed in. There was a dark smear of blood on Paul’s cheek and Dani was carrying someone in his arms, a distressed look on both of their faces.

"What the…..", Doc Adams exclaimed as he rushed over to them. "She just collapsed in the street Doc!" Paul explained as they were directed to bring her into an examining room. Dani gently laid her limp body on the table and stepped back to allow the doctor to move in. Doc Adams felt for a pulse then shook his head.

"She’s dead, isn’t she Doc?" Dani asked as he and Paul stood watching from the back of the room.

"I’m afraid so, Dani" he said softly as he reached up to push back the hair out of the girl’s face "But it is going to be all right, she will be waking up soon." A brief look of confusion followed quickly by one of relief crossed the faces of both Paul and Dani as they realized she was an immortal like Doc.

"Do you have any idea who she is?" Paul asked as he watched Benjamin tenderly caress her face.

"Katherine. Her name is Katherine Ann Dixon. And she and I are old friends." Benjamin smiled as he began to examine her still body. "I don’t supposed she said who did this do her?" he asked.

"She only called me Connor, Doc. I think she mistook me for him" Doc Adams just laughed.

"That’s understandable. You do look like him. Hang around guys. I want her to meet you when she wakes up." This was followed by a mumbled curse as he found the end of the arrow sticking out from her side.

Glancing up at his observers he said "If either one of you has a weak stomach I suggest you leave now". He then ignored them as he cut off her bloody shirt with a pair of scissors and then proceed to slowly work the broken arrow out from her body. He tossed it aside and then started to clean her up a little, noting in passing that faint sparks had started to appear from the wound and that it was begging to heal. He then covered her up with a sheet and patted her gently on the shoulder.

"Won’t be long now, guys", he said as he crossed over to the sink to wash her blood from his hands. The three of them then stood by the table where she lay and making small talk until Doc felt the faint trace of the familiar warning buzz starting to return. Grinning, he informed Paul and Dani they had better step back. He should of taken his own advice though because as Katherine returned to the land of the living with a painful gasp she reacted instinctively and immediately to the presence of another immortal. Rolling off the table she drove her shoulder hard into his belly and knocked him flat on his back. Scrambling to her feet she bolted towards the door only to be tackled by the two mortals and wrestled to the floor. As they struggled to hang on to the little wildcat in their arms, Doc Adams stepped up and took her face in his hands, almost losing a kneecap to a vicious kick in the process.

"Katherine!!! Stop it! It’s me, Benjamin!" he yelled. Gradually her desperate struggles ceased and the mad desperate look faded to one of confusion. Breathing hard her small body began to relax in the tight grip of Paul and Dani. Tenderly stoking her face, Doc Adams concentrated on trying to project feelings of concern and affection towards her, knowing that with her emphatic abilities she would pick up on those emotions and react to them.

As the adrenaline rush subsided her breathing slowly returned to normal, and she raised her head and looked into his eyes. A bright smile spread across her face as she became fully cognizant of her surroundings. Doc Adams could not help but smile in return as he leaned and kissed her on the forehead. He then took her into his arms and embraced her tenderly

"I bid you welcome to SIMsCity, Katherine Ann Dixon. May your stay here be a long and happy one."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The first thing Crystal MacLeod did upon entered the SIMsCity Hospital was to locate Doc Adams. She found him in his office scowling over a pile of paperwork and she walked up to him and playfully ruffled his hair, kissing his cheek lightly.

"Hiya Ben, heard you've been busy! Certainly, *looks* like it." His only response was to bat her hand away and mumble for her to go away.

"Awww, Doc is that any way to treat a lady? What would people think about the good Dr. Adams if they saw you now?" she teased, ignoring the sarcastic snort that followed. "Anyway Doc, I've come to collect our new visitor. I invited her to stay with me for awhile" she informed him.

"Is that so?" he grumbled, leaning back in his chair and looking her over. "Well, maybe I'm not ready to release her yet."

"Surely she has healed enough by now, Benjamin! Or have you taken a liking to her already?" she retorted sarcastically, "Didn't she tell you that being sick to her stomach is a normal reaction for her after being *killed*?"

"Yes she did, and for her it is. But having dry heaves to the point of complete exhaustion for over 3 hours straight is not normal, even for Katherine. That only stopped when I gave her some pretty heavy duty anti-nausea medication. Right now I have her on IV fluids for severe dehydration and a sedative to help her rest."

"I want to see her Doc, right now! " she demanded. He just shrugged and pushed his lanky body back from his desk. He led her down the halls until he reached the room Katherine Dixon was in. The younger immortal lay curled up on her side, her face relaxed in sleep, an iv drip line going into her arm.

"Gwena brought her some clothes not very long ago", he said pointing to a neat pile on a chair in the room. "The sedative will be wearing off soon and if she is still keeping stuff down, you can take her home with you. Just bring her back if she doesn't improve by tomorrow."

Crystal did not answer him. She had walked over to the side of the bed and had pushed the ragged blond hair back from the girls face and was studying her intently. She then looked up in surprise at Benjamin. "I think I know her, Doc! If this is who I think it is, I ran into her near Glenfinnan just after she became an immortal. She helped me deliver a baby." Crystal smiled at the memory of the spirited young girl and how impressed she had been with her. "I wanted to stay and be her teacher, but some unfortunate circumstances made that impossible. She never even knew I was immortal." Crystal shook her head ruefully.

Benjamin just shrugged again. "It might have made life a little easier for her if you had", reaching out stroking Katherine's cheek with the back of his hand. "This little lady has had one hellish experience after another during her life." Crystal look up at him, a little surprised at the amount of tenderness and concern he was feeling towards her future guest. Before she could query him about it though, the slender girl on the bed stirred and opened her eyes. Focusing first on the Doc, she gave him a sweet smile as he supported her in her unsteady attempt to sit up.

"The medication I gave you is probably making you feel a little woozy, Katherine" he told her as she sat pale faced on the side of the bed. "Just take it slow till it wears off completely."

Crystal knelt beside her and took her hand in hers. "Hello, Lady Katherine. I'm Crystal MacLeod. Once your feeling up to it Doc said I could take you home." The girl just nodded her head and smiled weakly as she struggled to control another wave of nausea.

"Are you feeling sick to your stomach again, Katherine?" Doc Adams asked, bringing an emisis bowl to her just in case.

"I'll be ok, Ben. Just leave me alone!" she growled at him. He just shrugged again and started to remove the iv line from her thin arm. Crystal chuckled softly, remembering the feistiness of the slim girl on the bed.

"Need any help getting her dressed Crystal?" he asked.

"No thanks Doc. We can manage. Dressing someone *isn't* too hard", she replied.

Doc Adam caressed Katherine's face one more time, a sad expression of his face. "If you need anything at all, Katherine, don't hesitate to call me. I mean that with all my heart." The girl lifted her head and smiled at him again.

"I know you do Doc. And I can't thank you enough for what you have done for me." He leaned down and gently kissed her. "Take care of yourself then, sweetheart. Don't be a stranger." Katherine reached up and placed her arms around his neck and kissed him back.

"I won't be. I promise"