Title: Old Times Not Forgotten
Author: merfilly
Feedback address: merfilly@gmail.com
Date in Calendar: 19 December 2010
Fandom: Highlander / Forever Knight
Pairing: Janette/Amanda
Rating: PG / Fem
Word Count: 1021
Summary: After losses, there can be healing through sharing
Spoilers: For Amanda's personal arc on Highlander, and the series finale of Forever Knight; does not follow Highlander: The Raven canon
Warnings: References canonical and inferred character deaths from both series
Archive: Site
Advertisement: Part of the FSAC:DW10

author's Disclaimer: Each of the characters within are the property of their respective owners, and I make no claim on owning them; I am merely exploring the possibilities.

Author's Notes: continuing from Interesting Allies and Chance Encounters

Beta: ilyena_sylph, who is a life saver

Amanda was in Paris, at loose ends for a change. Sure, she and Duncan had been close for centuries, but she wasn't one to stay too tightly attached to any person for too long. Not once Rebecca had helped her find wings enough to fly. The thought brought an ache under her breastbone; it was still relatively too soon to be able to think of Rebecca without the ache. Maybe in a decade. Or more. Or maybe never. Rebecca had been...different than any other person in Amanda's life, one of the few she was willing to change her own self to appease or please.

The woman had yet to find the heart for a good heist after everything with Duncan. One reason she had decided they should part ways for a while was her lack of interest in being her normal adventurous self, and she blamed his steadiness or maybe Dawson's influence on tapering off her hijinks. At this point, she was even more than willing to blame Methos for being too ... himself as another reason she needed to get moving.

She was unsure just what she wanted now, which may have been why she opted to check into a luxury hotel for a week, just to decide her next step and to pamper herself. It was well past dark by the time she reached her hotel of choice, walking in in her designer clothes and all the jewelry she felt like breaking out of her hiding places, mostly pieces she had 'acquired' so long ago that no one could possibly recognize them.

"Amanda?" came across the lobby, before she even thought about getting near the concierge, in a quiet voice. It made her turn to see a familiar face, one that she'd encountered off and on over the centuries.

"Janette!" Amanda's initial joy tempered at subtle changes in Janette's face, in her body language. She walked quickly over, taking in the elegeant, tailored dress, the short gloves, and the pill box hat with the small 'widow's veil' over the eyes. "Are you staying here, or... cruising through?" she asked as she reached the other woman, not yet reaching out.

"I have a suite," Janette replied, her face lighting with a glimmer of hope, jaw tilting just slightly to the side.

"I just arrived and haven't checked in yet," Amanda told her, indicating the small piece of luggage she had.

"There is room... with me," Janette offered.

The Immortal could see the benefits of the arrangement, as she had in the past. Janette acquired a daytime protector, and Amanda had an alibi no matter what she might actually be involved in. "I would be glad to share your suite, Janette. It will give us time to catch up on things."

"Yes... yes it will." Janette's face faltered just slightly, and Amanda knew that it had to be bad. Janette would not have invited her to share living space if either Nicholas or Lacroix were in residence, so whatever it was probably centered on one of them.

"Well, let's get me a key; I hate breaking into these newer electronic doors," Amanda said brightly, pleased when it garnered her a smile and slight chuckle.

`~`~`~`~`

They had settled in, and Amanda had ordered in, so that Janette would not have to pretend to eat in a public setting. The talk over that dinner had been of the world and politics, with nothing personal intruding on the polite words. It had been quite some time since their last encounter, Amanda knew, but there was a reserve around the edges of her friend Janette that bothered Amanda deeply. She poured wine for them each once her dining detritus had been removed, settling with Janette on the large, plush sofa in the shared entertaining room of the suite, and turned fully towards her.

"You, my dear Janette have something weighing on your heart and soul," Amanda declared, deciding this once that she wasn't playing cat and mouse around the elephant in the room.

Janette nodded with a slight sigh. In looking the vampiress over, Amanda had decided to bet that the dark-haired beauty wanted to talk. Otherwise she never would have attracted Amanda's attention this evening, and they would not now be sitting together in a private suite.

"Nicholas is no more, and I cannot feel Lacroix so closely," she said, short, simple -- and shocking to Amanda.

"You have got a lot on your mind then," the Immortal said, leaning forward a little, elbow on the back of the sofa, that hand balancing the wine she was drinking. "Care to talk about it?"

Janette sipped her wine a long moment, considering, then she shook her head. "Not yet."

Amanda cocked her head to the side, weighing that answer versus the spontaneous invitation to stay with Janette...and thought she understood. "Alright. Then I'll just have to catch you up on the life I've been leading."

"If you are here, I am surprised the museums are not screaming into the press about missing items," Janette joked weakly.

"Luther killed Rebecca," Amanda said soberly, instead of rising to the joke, and knew she had Janette's complete attention from there. "She's gone. She's never going to be there, ever again, to make it all better." The stark, brutal honesty of those words shattered Janette. Amanda could see it in the way her friend's shoulders twitched, and the way Janette looked away. "Zachary, Hugh... Kenny, oh poor Kenny... It's been such a hard few years, Janette. I don't even know what to think as the Game goes on, some days." She paused, then shook her head. "Okay, maybe I'm not yet ready to forgive Zachary enough to list him as a loss, but still."

Janette offered a sad smile at that typically Amanda twist of emotions, then took a deep breath. "Perhaps... perhaps I am ready to talk to you. Let me start by telling you how I achieved Nicholas's goal, quite by accident..." she offered, softly, while Amanda settled herself back away from her own grief to be the listener that her vampiress friend and lover needed.