THE DUEL

By Donna and Abby

"And how is my flower today?" he asked with a smile.

"A lot better," she replied, flexing her arm. "It stopped hurting a couple of hours after it started to heal. I'm sorry I was such a cry baby about it."

"Nonsense." Doc went over to look it over. "Good as new! No lasting effects at all," he joked. "Why you'll probably forget all about it."

Sarah Jo made a sour face and grumbled, "Easy for you to say, it wasn't your arm. I suppose you've survived a heck of lot worse than a couple of broken bones, but nothing like this has ever happened to me before."

He laughed. "I suppose dying was pleasant?"

She just shrugged. "Don't remember, just felt like a mule kicked me hard in the middle of my back and then nothing. Next thing I knew I was waking up in the Mamma Kat’s arms out in the middle of the woods gasping for breath."

"Ah. Well, you'll get worse than that before you're 5,000. Don't let it bother you." He turned to leave.

"Hey, Doc!" Sarah Jo called out. "Are you going to tell me what happened to that unmentionable piece of pig food after I rode off yesterday?"

"There's going to be a duel. You heard, didn't you?" He said it so casually you would think it happened every day.

"Come again?" she said in surprise. "A duel? Benjamin Adams, what in blue blazes are you talking about!"

He looked at her like she was a child. "Sarah Jo. You did not lose consciousness. You had to have heard the Count call Kronos out."

She managed to look offended. "I heard no such thing or I would have but a stop to it right then and there on the spot! Ain't no man gonna put his life on the line because of me!"

Doc grinned enigmatically. "I have no intention of letting the Count put his life on the line." He turned to walk out the door without elaborating.

Sarah Jo stood watching him go, her hands on her hips and her jaw set in a stubborn line that if he had seen it would have reminded him a lot of Katherine. As soon as he went into his office, Sarah Jo picked up the phone and made some phone calls, doing some arranging of her own.

By rights, the duel should have been at dawn on Wednesday, but Doc had complained that he'd had arrangements to make, and it was put off for 24 hours. He was just not in the mood to deal with it so close to the race.

Thursday morning dawned with just a touch of mist in the air, giving it an eerie feeling. The duel was set to occur on the beach. Kronos strolled confidently through the streets, a smug look on his face. As far as he was concerned, this was going to be no contest at all.

The Count was waiting next to Doc, who yawned because he'd only gotten off work at 11. "Look at him," Vronsky said. "He looks like he hasn't a care in the world."

"He's very good you know."

"They did not have pistols in the Bronze Age," said Vronsky airily.

"Haven't met Koren lately, have you?" Doc asked as Kronos sauntered up.

Kronos nodded at the two of them, a predatory smile on his face. This puffed up count was going to be easy prey for him. As the three men faced each other, a fourth figure walked towards them through the mists. The two immortals picked up Sarah Jo's buzz at the same time.

Doc grunted. "And just what are YOU doing here?"

Sarah Jo looked up at him and said quietly. "I've come to ask this be stopped. I don't want anyone's blood to be shed on my account." She was dressed in a long old fashioned dress, her hair hanging loose over her shoulders and back. "Please," she said in a soft, pleading voice to the Count.

Vronksy's mouth hung open. "I am doing it for you, milady; this man is a beast!" The words were barely out of his mouth when Doc, checking the pistols, lifted one high and suddenly brought it down on the Count's skull.

Sarah Jo caught him on the way down, and as she lowered him gently to the ground, she glanced up at Doc. He could see the hint of merriment in her eyes and a quick smile. "Have fun," she whispered to him.

"My word," Doc said in a surprised tone, "Look what happened! As second I guess I shall have to take his place."

Krono shrugged and then smiled at Ben gleefully. "Swords, Brother?"

"Oh no. Unfortunately he chose guns." At the last word his voice seemed to change and harden. The look in his eye was icy.

The smirk on Kronos face changed to a slight frown. "Lets get it over with then," he said in a low voice. "And after I blow your fool head off, I'll take your woman there as my prize. I have heard some very interesting things about that one."

Doc looked at Sarah Jo and sneered. then he looked down at his 19th century jacket and scowling, he threw it off, where it fell into the sand. "We never met, did we, Brother," he went on in a hiss. "Oh, I heard about Koren. How much of him do you have left, Brother? Any at all?"

"Enough to take you," Kronos said with a snarl as his leather jacket hit the sand as well. He wasn't too sure of the game Adams was playing. He sounded different, like he had become more like himself - menacing and very, very dangerous.

Coatless, *Doc* limbered his arms and then, snarling, he reached up to tear off his cravat and throw that to the ground beside the fine coat. Then he stood with both legs open, planted firmly in the sand, as if testing the footing. Finally he turned and, whirling stalked off toward the carriage he and the Count had used to take them to the beach.

Kronos followed him, the scarred side of his face twitching slightly. He stood off to the side, waiting for his opponent to offer him his choice of pistols. The blood was starting to rush up in him as it always did just before a kill and he licked his lips slightly in anticipation of both it and taking the young woman afterwards to celebrate his victory.

*Doc* grabbed out a brace of pistols from under the floor. Throwing them at Kronos, he snarled, "We'll do this my way now." Then he got a set for himself. Turning, he strapped on his guns as he waited for Kronos to do the same.

Grinning, Kronos buckled the gun belt around his hips and then tested the weight of the six shooters in each holster. He did a quick check, making sure each one was fully loaded. "Ready when you are," he said with a fiendish look on his face. This morning looked like it was going to turn out to be a little more challenging than he had originally anticipated and he was relishing the prospect of it.

*Doc* glared at Sarah Jo, who was suspiciously quiet through this. Then he waved Kronos toward the beach. "Let's do it."

Sarah Jo had been watching all this very carefully, fully aware of the complete change in Ben’s personality. The man ready to fight Kronos was not the Doc she knew and loved and it was making her very uneasy. As the two men got into position, she leaned over the unconscious Count, shielding him with her own body.

*Doc* set his legs in position, then flexed his fingers. "Ready?"

Kronos barely got the chance to nod. Suddenly a shot rang out and the scarred Immortal was flying backwards, a bullet in his chest. But before Cain could make a move toward Sarah Jo, another shot was heard, and he crumbled.

Sarah Jo looked up in surprise, wondering what was going on. Both men were laying sprawled out on the beach.

Methos came out from behind a dune. There was a shotgun in his hand. "Go," he said softly to Sarah Jo. "Take Vronsky and have his head looked at. And don't go near Doc," he said the name with bitter sarcasm, "until tonight at the earliest."

Sarah Jo nodded and struggled to her feet with Count who was starting to regain consciousness. She steered him off the beach and towards the clinic. Sarah Jo was more than happy to heed the warning Methos had given her. There was something about the personality Doc had became that frightened her to the core of her soul.

After making sure Sarah Jo and the Count were gone, Methos hunkered down to wait for Doc and Kronos to awaken. He had to be sure Doc would come back as Doc, not Cain.