PICKING UP SARAH JO

Connor MacLeod was still snoring lightly in the back of the plane when it touched down in the small central Washington town of Yakima, despite the moderate turbulence associated with a strong jet stream and a frontal system moving through the area. Wing Commander Ian Tulley taxied to his assigned parking spot and shut down the plane. He then gathered up his things and went back to awaken his passenger.

"MacLeod! Wake up! We’re here", he yelled as he shook the slumbering highlander.

Connor reluctantly opened his eyes and grumbled something unkind to the pilot who just shrugged and shook him again, this time getting a mumbled "Go away!" as a response.

"Get up! Miss McCants is expecting us to pick her up and I can use your help loading that floor loom of hers."

"All right, all right! I’m awake. No need to shout", Connor complained as he yawned and stretched.

"What in the world were you up to last night that has made you so tired?" Ian asked as he watched the immortal gathered up his trench coat and put it on, checking to make sure the ancient katana was secure and readily available for use. The pilot raised his eyebrows at the sight of it. Surely there wasn’t more than one immortal in this little town in the middle of the high desert region of central Washington.

"Hmmmmm. Katherine gave me a private going away party last night. A very exhausting one", Connor said with a lop-sided grin on his face. "I have no idea where that little gal gets all her energy from."

"Do you think you might have to use that?" Ian asked as he nodded towards the sword, with just a tinge of nervousness in his voice.

"Hope not. But you never know", the immortal answered. He hadn’t survived almost 500 years without being ready of any possibility.

"You missed a great view of Mt St Helens and Mt Ranier as we flew in", Ian said as they deplaned to help the freight handlers wrestle the huge crate containing the floor loom into the cargo compartment of his plane.

"Don’t need to see them. Climbed them both", Connor said with an irritating grin as he help shove the crate in and then to strap it securely down in the cargo hold. Once done, WC Tulley locked up the plane and they walked over to the small "international" terminal to pick up their rental car. Inside the terminal were the airline check-in counter, a travel agent service and a restaurant on the second floor. There was only one car rental counter in it, but they had no problems confirming their reservations for a Pontiac Grand Am. Connor quizzed the receptionist on how exactly to get to the retreat house in Cowiche and received written directions, which he tossed in the general direction of the pilot. "I’ll pilot this leg. You navigate" he said with a chuckle.

Connor threw his trench coat in the back seat as Tulley put his and MacLeod’s small travel bags in the trunk of the bright red rental car. Then the two of the folded themselves into the front seats and Connor started it up. Tulley noted the handle of the katana was sticking out and could be easily grabbed. Apparently the immortal was going to take no chances, no matter how sleepy of a town this appeared to be. "Where to?" MacLeod asked as he pulled out of the parking lot.

"Turn left on the road in front of the airport. That’s Washington Boulevard. Then follow it till you get to 40th St and then turn right. Then left on Summitview and follow it out of town until you arrive on the outskirts of the town of Cowiche. The retreat house is on the left just before you get into the town." Ian read off the sheet of paper.

"Sounds easy enough. Gotta love these small towns! A lot easier to get around than New York ever was" Connor said as he pulled out into traffic. Traffic was light and the directions clear. Once on Summitview they passed several small shopping centers before entering a primarily residential area. That faded into a rural area of small hobby farms and apple orchards. About 15 miles down the road, they topped a small ridge and descended into a pretty little valley with a lot of irrigated hay fields. They passed a huge log cabin style vet clinic that caused Ian to comment that Tom Kirby would get a kick out having a place like that for his practice. After that the orchards and old-fashioned farmhouses started to appear again and they found the retreat center just before the town as they had been told.

Connor pulled into the parking lot of the Spanish looking church and retreat center and Sarah Jo’s two escorts got out of the car. The immortal immediately snapped to attention as the warning buzz of another of his kind caught his attention. Then he said a bad word and reached into the car to pull out his coat and sword.

"What’s wrong, MacLeod?" The wing commander did not like the intense look on the immortal’s face at all.

"There is someone over there", Connor MacLeod said as he looked across the road at an orchard, studying it to see what would be the best way to enter it.

"Ms McCants maybe?" Ian asked hopefully but MacLeod just shook his head.

"I can feel her over in the chapel", he said, nodding his head in the direction of it. "Stay here while I go check it out." The highlander started to cross the road but he paused and looked back at the pilot. "If something goes wrong, just get Sarah Jo out of town as quick as you can. And have Rayden and John Clayton there for Katherine when she finds out."

A shudder ran through Ian Tulley at the mere thought of having to bring that kind of bad news back to SIMsCity. "Be careful, MacLeod. Don’t lose your head!" he called out, but the highlander had already crossed the street and was entering the orchard, his katana drawn and ready.

The wing commander lost track of how much time he spent standing by the car, waiting with his eyes fixed on the orchard and his ears pealed for any sounds. There was times his now over-active imagination convinced him he was hearing the distant sound of swords clashing. Finally his nerve-wracking wait was over.

All around him the winds were picking up and dark clouds raced in. As he watched, the back side of the orchard glowed as the sky lit up with an astonishing lightning show, with all the strikes concentrating their power on that one small area. "My God!" he whispered as he watched in both awe and terror the distant quickening, not knowing who the victor was. After what seemed to be an eternity, he saw a figure moving through the trees and he breathed a huge sigh of relief when he saw it was Connor.

The immortal looked exhausted but uninjured as he took the keys from Tulley and opened up the trunk of the car. He pulled a small cleaning kit out of his bag and proceeded to wipe the thin film of blood off of his sword, a fierce look of concentration of his face. The wing commander watched in silence till he was done and the sword returned to its place in the lining of MacLeod’s trench coat.

"You ok, MacLeod?" he finally got the nerve to ask, not really knowing what to say.

"Yeah, sure. I won. He lost. Breaks of the game" he replied evenly, but the look of his face said plainly that he did not want to talk about what had happened anymore. "Let's go inside and check on our Miss Sarah Jo", he said, firmly closing the door to any further discussion of the incident.

The two of them entered the small chapel and saw her up at the front of the church, kneeling in prayer. After a while, she stood up and crossed herself and then walked to the rear of the church where the two of them waited.

"Mr. MacLeod?" she asked as she paused in front of them, a questioning look on her face. The highlander smiled and chuckled. Katherine had not bothered to describe Sarah Jo’s physical appearance to him. The young immortal was a little taller than the tiny Katherine was, and about twenty pounds heavier. Her long strawberry blond hair hung down in waves over her back and across her shoulders and her blue/green eyes twinkled with amusement as she watched the immortal and the handsome man in uniform check her out. Her deep voice had a pleasant mix of mountain dialect and soft Irish undertones to it. A bright smile crossed her lightly freckled face as she looked them over as well, liking what she saw.

"Connor", he said firmly, knowing if she was anything like Katherine, asking her to call him by his first name would be a lost cause. "And this is SIMsCity’s resident pilot, Wing Commander Ian Tulley."

"Pleased to meet you, Miss McCants", the pilot said formally as the young woman turned her gaze upon him. Sarah Jo replied with another bright smile that seemed to fill the whole room with country sunshine. She didn’t have Katherine’s delicate china doll type beauty. Instead she was the perfect example of the "girl next door", a sweet wholesome looking country girl, pretty enough, but sturdily built and nicely rounded in all the right places. But there was something about that mischievous sparkle in her eyes and some of the stories Katherine had told him about their escapades together that made Connor determined to watch his back around her.

"Looks like we are going to have to wait out some bad weather, Sarah Jo", Connor said. "Any suggestions where we can stay?"

"Of course! I know of several nice places down in Yakima. And there is a wonderful little Irish pub and restaurant called McGuires if that sounds good", she said cheerfully as she reached for her small suitcase and a large art portfolio that was sitting on the back pew. WC Tulley beat her to it though, and picked them up for her.

"Allow me, Miss", he said in a very polite and gentlemanly manner.

"Why sure thing, sweetcakes", she replied with a soft honey-like southern drawl that made Connor chuckle. Most definetly not one to turn his back on, he thought to himself, not buying the sweet innocent country girl act for a second.

Sarah Jo insisted on driving and gave them a whirlwind tour of Yakima Valley and the town itself, which had a sign posted on the freeway identifying it as the "Palm Springs" of Washington. Several hours later, the three of them were enjoying themselves thoroughly at McGuires Irish Restaurant. Ian had ordered the Bubble and Squeak, Connor the Irish Mist Stew, and Sarah Jo the Cordon Blue. They were into their third plate of Irish soda bread and Sarah Jo was telling them an outrageous story about leprechauns that had the waitress and half of the folks in the bar adjoining the restaurant roaring in laughter as they gathered around to listen to her tell it. Her accent had switched to a very convincing Irish one during the telling of it.

Connor could not help but notice how Ian was hanging onto every word the outgoing girl was saying. Neither one of them were advertly flirting with each other, but there was very definite possibilities that their relationship might head that way in the near future. It was good to hear Ian laugh. He had been way too melancholy as of late.

They retired to their motel suite with several six packs of Killean’s Red beer and Ian and Sarah Jo spent the next several hours

reminiscing about the war effort and several mutual acquaintances they had back then. It had turned out that they had both done service in the same area, he in the RAF and she in the local hospital. Connor didn’t contribute much, just sat and listened. He was brooding a little himself, missing Katherine, and thinking about the immortal who had been foolish enough to challenge him instead of leaving while he had a chance. Once when Tulley had gone out of the room Sarah Jo had asked about what had happened. She had been fully aware that a quickening had taken place nearby. He glossed over what had happened, hoping not to frighten her unnecessarily, but knowing that the incident had already disturbed her deeply.

Early the next morning they packed up and returned to a now packed terminal full of nurses, doctors and other people she had known, all wanting to wish her a final farewell. It took awhile for the people to have their say but soon the three of them walked out to the airplane. The gentlemen carried her bags as well as their own and Sarah Jo had her arms full of several bouquets of flowers and a bag full of going away presents that had been given to her. A few moments later, the plane was rolling down the taxiway towards the runway and Ian lifted it off the ground.

Once they had achieved flight level, Tulley called for his "cargo" as he affectionately called her to come up and sit in the other seat. He showed her all the instruments and pointed out several beautiful mountains that they were flying by. He even let her have a feel of the controls at one point and told her she would be a very good pilot if she really wanted to learn.

Content that his charge was now safe from harm, Connor decided to take a nap, knowing that Katherine would probably want to welcome him home appropriately and he would need all the rest he could get. He drifted off to sleep with the sweet sound of the new nurse’s laughter echoing in his ears. He had a feeling the next couple of days in SIMsCity was going to be very interesting indeed.