[The Easter Island Philharmonic - "Where We Are Happy"

[Amanda, dancing in crowd, senses 'buzz'.]

[Amanda walks over to bar.]

Keane - [standing at bar] There is a God. [takes her offered hand] I'm Steven Keane. [kisses her hand]

Amanda - Amanda. You come here often?

Keane - I may have to start. [laughs] Actually, I, uh, own the place. Just bought it.

Amanda - Really? Well, new decor, better music, less water in the drinks -- I think you've made quite an investment here.

Keane - Well, it seems to be paying off.

Amanda - Well, you're the flavor of the month, aren't you? Let's see what kind of staying power you have.

Keane - Oh, I plan on making a lasting impression.

Amanda - That's very optimistic of you.

[They sit at a table.]

<Keane - CUT You've lived here long?>

Amanda - Oh, a thousand years, off and on.

Keane - Almost a native. You must know every Immortal in the city.

Amanda - Are you looking for anyone in particular?

Keane - Always.

Amanda - What's her name?

Keane - Duncan MacLeod.

Amanda - Is he a friend of yours?

Keane - We have some, uh, unfinished business. You know him?

Amanda - [shakes her head] Doesn't ring a bell. But, um, speaking of unfinished business... [leans closer] ...would you like to come to my place?

[Keane smiles at her, follows her out of club.]

[The music continues as they leave the club:

Amanda - Did you know this was a convent once?

Keane - [laughs] Next you're going to tell me you're a nun.

Amanda - Tempting. But black IS my color.

<[Keane turns away to unlock car door, sees reflection in car window of Amanda's drawn sword, ducks away and opens car door to block her swing. Her next attempt sends her sword through the door's window, shattering the glass. He draws his sword & brings it to her neck.] CUT

Keane - Was it something I said?>

Amanda - Duncan MacLeod.

Keane - Where is he? CUT I don't want to kill you.

Amanda - That makes two of us.

Keane - [pulls cell phone from his pocket] Then call MacLeod.

[Amanda takes phone from him.]
 

[Camera pans up from DM's feet as ⁴ DM walks toward chapel doors. ⁵ Camera continues panning up exterior of chapel to night sky.]

DM - [enters, sensing 'buzz'] Amanda?

Amanda - [steps into view] Sorry. [Keane steps into view behind her.] I didn't have a choice.

Keane - I asked her to call you.

<DM - Well, I'm here. CUT

Keane - Duncan MacLeod. You've haunted me for more than two hundred years. I'm Steven Keane.>

DM - [blandly] Oh.

Keane - You really don't remember? Then maybe you remember my friend, Richard Dunbar. The Earl of Rosemont.

[Super: England, 1746]

Dunbar - I lost scouting party after scouting party -- they'd march into the woods and we'd never find so much as their bones.

Keane - I heard it went hard.

Dunbar - They were everywhere. Any man or boy that could raise a sword or a scythe was against us. Scottish devils left me no choice.

Keane - I should have been there with you, Richard.

Dunbar - I thank God you were not, Steven. I entrusted you to look after my wife and my sons.

Keane - You're my family... Well, as much as I ever had.

Dunbar - There were days I thought I'd never see them again. That damned war seemed to go on for a thousand years.

Keane - But in the end you got the better of them, hmm?

Dunbar - Cumberland was ready to march home after the rout, but I convinced him that we had to finish it. We had to leave a mark -- make sure those Jacobites were wiped out. [resignedly] We cut down every man in tartan we could find.

Keane - If there had been another way, you would have found it.

Dunbar - Would I? Or was I too full of hate to look?

Keane - Let's have no more talk of the war, hmm? It's over, and you're home.

Michael - [runs past with kite] Father, look! Look at me!

Keane - With your family.

Michael - Whoa! [stops at wooden bridge] Father! Come, Father. [waves at them] Come, Father. [runs across bridge]

(resume previous scene)

Keane - Do you remember how many men you slaughtered? How many lives you destroyed?

DM - Yes.

[Super: Scotland, 1746]

DM - [voice-over] They were desperate times... with desperate measures. It was war. I followed Bonnie Prince Charlie, who managed to rally the Scots against the English.

[DM & Cochrane are in the midst of a battle, Scots against Redcoats.]

DM - [fighting Redcoats] Come on, for Scotland and Bonnie Prince Charlie! ⁶

DM - [voice-over] For a while, victory seemed possible. But the dream ended in slaughter and death at Culloden.

Scottish soldier - [looks at bodies of dead Scots and Englishmen] Ahh. The English bastards know we're coming.

DM - Not these ones. Cochrane saw to that.

Scottish soldier - And now he's dead...

DM - [voice-over] Charlie was forced to flee, taking our shattered dreams with him.

DM - [rides his horse close to Charlie's] My Lord, can we not rest the night? We can reach the boat at dawn.

BP Charlie - [raises his hand to halt company] The boat to take me off, to lick my wounds like a whipped hound. I've suffered the worst defeat in Scottish history. And now the English murderers will say, "Aye. Bonnie Prince Charlie ran away with his tail 'tween his legs."

DM - Let them say what they will. By God, we fought as bravely as men can.>

[A murdered Scot & his wife hang from a tree. Four English soldiers sit around a fire nearby.]

Rupert - When we're finished, there'll be nothing left in this stinking land but oats and sheep, eh?

[The soldiers laugh.]

DM - [voice-over] Culloden was terrible, but what happened after was worse.

[Willie is shot by a musket & falls over, dead.]

DM - [rides into view] Hyah! Hyah!

Rupert - What the devil?

DM - As far as you're concerned, the devil himself. Hyah!

[DM kills Rupert with his sword, then is shot off his horse by the remaining two soldiers.]

DM - [voice-over] The English weren't content with defeating us. They wanted to wipe us off the face of the earth.

[DM climbs to his feet & fights the soldiers, killing them both, then collapses.]

DM - [voice-over] Farmers, women, children. They were without mercy. I killed because they killed. I answered death with death.

[An older woman weeps over a dead boy. She hears a noise & looks up. DM is walking toward her.]

Grandmother - Look. Look what they've done to us.

DM - I know.

Grandmother - [re dead boy] He was only a lad. They said they couldn't let him be a rebel like his father. His father's been dead ten years. He got the fever in '35. He never saw the cursed war. Where are our men? Where is Prince Charlie?

DM - The men are scattered. Prince Charlie's fled. The war's over. We've lost.

Grandmother - If the war is over, why is the killing still going on?

DM - Come, Grandmother. I'll help you bury them.

Grandmother - His mother and sister were in there. [points to burnt hut] I pleaded with the soldiers to let them out, but they laughed. They said that they couldn't let us breed. They burned them! "On the earl's orders," they said. CUT

DM - What was the name of the earl that gave the order?

Grandmother - Rosemont. God will make him pay for this!

DM - He'll not have to wait for God. [storms off]

(resume previous scene)

[DM gallops across the grounds.]

[meanwhile, near the house]

Keane - Josephine prayed for your safe return every night.

Dunbar - And now Josephine must have a new prayer. Pray this victory holds. Pray those Highland bastards have finally understood. I won't have my sons called to this battle again.

<[DM gallops towards the house, senses 'buzz'. Keane also senses 'buzz'. Michael runs with his kite along edge of pond, runs headfirst into DM.] CUT

DM - Where is the Earl of Rosemont, boy?

[Keane & Dunbar run across wooden bridge toward them.]

Keane - [to Dunbar] He's come for me. Leave us.>

DM - No. Stay. [draws pistol, shoots Keane]

Dunbar - My God! Please. Don't hurt my son.

DM - That is what a thousand Scottish mothers screamed when your soldiers murdered their children.

Dunbar - Who are you?

DM - A man of Scotland your butchers could not kill.

Dunbar - It was war!

DM - It still is.

Dunbar - Let my son go. Let him go, and face me.

DM - [turns Michael to face him, looks at him in disgust] That's right, boy. You run. [lifts him up] You run and you tell every English boy you meet that Duncan MacLeod is coming for their fathers. You tell your children, and your children's children, that they're not safe from me. [drops Michael back to the ground] Now run.

Dunbar - Run, Michael!

[Michael runs back across the bridge as DM & Dunbar begin to swordfight. DM stabs Dunbar.]

DM - On your knees. [stabs Dunbar again (offscreen), throws the hairpiece Dunbar was wearing to the ground]

(resume previous scene)

Keane - And that's all you have to say?

DM - There's nothing else to say.

Keane - Six A.M. The Luxembourg Gardens. That gives you time to say your goodbyes. [walks to exit, turns back] If you run, I'll find you. [leaves]

DM - [quietly] I won't run.

Amanda - [follows DM out of church] Look, I'm really sorry. The guy had a sword to my throat. I didn't know what else to do. I thought, Holy Ground, they'll talk...

DM - You did the right thing.

Amanda - Yeah?

DM - Yeah. I like you with all your parts intact.

Amanda - Well, you and me both.

DM - What do you know about Keane?

Amanda - Nothing. I just met him. He seemed like a nice enough guy at the time. Now you're going to have to kill him.

[DM is asleep in bed with Amanda, having a nightmare.]

DM - [jolts awake] No! No! No!

Amanda - No! No, Duncan! It's me! It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay.

DM - I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

Amanda - It's all right. It's okay. [hugs him] Here.

DM - I was-- I was dreaming.

[Amanda nods, raises her hand to caress his head, offering comfort. ⁸]
 

Amanda - Duncan? [walks toward couch, tying her robe closed] ⁹

DM - I couldn't sleep.

Amanda - [joins him on the couch] Yeah, I noticed. You know what? I've come up with a brilliant idea. Why don't we go somewhere really, really warm. Like... Tahiti. Yeah? No shoes, no clothes, no, uh, tan lines and no pesky Immortals coming out of the woodwork. Oh, well, there was that one guy. What was his name? Grenville?

DM - Grenville.

Amanda - Yeah, but you know what? He's not gonna be there. It's just going to be you and me, and I'm going to get out that old copy of the Kama Sutra, and it's going to be--

DM - [interrupts her] Amanda. Amanda....

Amanda - What?

DM - I can't.

Amanda - Why not?

DM - Because I have to deal with this.

Amanda - [sighs] What do you mean, "deal with this"?

<DM - CUT With Keane, this whole bloody mess. It should never have happened. I'd seen women and children slaughtered, farms destroyed, villages razed to the ground. And for what? All I wanted was revenge. I thought the best way to do that was to kill as many English as possible. It was no answer.>

Amanda - So what are you saying? ¹⁰

DM - Keane's right about me. I am a murderer.

Amanda - Duncan, that was two hundred and fifty years ago! Everyone's dead now -- the people he killed, the people you killed, and -- and four generations of their children. It's ancient history. It's just over.

<DM - CUT It's not over.>

Amanda - Great. So you're going to let this arrogant little English ass shows up with a two-hundred-and-fifty-year-old grudge and convince you that you're a bad guy. It was war, Duncan.

DM - The war was over.

Amanda - CUT Duncan, you are the best man I know. You make people BETTER, you know, people like me, people who didn't give a damn about anything in their whole lives until you came along with your big brown eyes and your Boy Scout rules. What, are you just going to throw this away--

DM - No, Amanda.

Amanda - --because you made one damn mistake?!

DM - Amanda.

Amanda - No. If you're gonna let Steven Keane kill you over this crap, then you are on your own. [storms out]

[Methos wakes, sensing a 'buzz', jumps out of bed & grabs his sword.]

Amanda - [from outside, knocks on door] Methos. Open the door. I know you're there. [continues knocking as Methos lowers sword & goes to door] Methos! Methos, it's Amanda.

Methos - [throws door open] Do you want to knock a bit louder? I don't think they heard you in Philadelphia.

Amanda - I'm sorry. It was an emergency, okay?

Methos - No. It was a good way to get your head cut off, is what it was.

Amanda - You're turning into an old grouch, aren't you? [takes in his appearance - bare chest, boxers, sword in hand] Or did I interrupt something important? CUT

Methos - Amanda... It is the middle of the night, and I wasn't exactly expecting anyone. Give me a minute. You want some coffee?

Amanda - Yeah.

[short time later]

Amanda - All right, so tell me what you know about this Keane guy.

Methos - Nothing. Never met him. [hands her a cup of coffee]

Amanda - Wait a minute. I thought the Watchers knew everything.

Methos - [walks back to his bed and up onto the mattress] Well, I've done with the Watchers.

Amanda - Really? I thought you'd found the perfect hiding place.

Methos - [shakes out his covers] Well, I changed my mind. Sorry. Can't help. [lies down on the bed]

Amanda - No, no, listen, Methos. Why don't you just-- you just talk to MacLeod? You know, try to convince him that Keane is wrong about him. [sits on edge of bed]

Methos - You want me to talk to MacLeod... and tell him... uh, you know, stop worrying, you're not a bad guy?

Amanda - [nods] Yeah.

Methos - Trust me, Amanda, that's not going to work. [turns onto his side]

Amanda - Look-- No, Methos. You have to do something! I've never seen him this upset before. And you know how guilt-ridden he can be. CUT [Methos groans, sits up.] Look, if he goes up against Keane thinking he deserves to lose, he'll lose. He'll die, Methos.

[DM strides ¹¹ through sculpted topiaries, senses 'buzz'. Methos steps out from behind a topiary.]

Methos - So, nice day for it. You know, not too cold, ground's nice and dry.

DM - Amanda's got a big mouth.

Methos - Well, she's worried about you.

DM - Yeah, and you?

Methos - Oh, me? No. Just scholarly interest. I just came by to watch the perfect Immortal die.

DM - I'm not.

Methos - Not what? Not the perfect Immortal or not going to die?

CUT

DM - Go away.

Methos - Hey, we're none of us perfect, Macleod. Not you, not me, not even Darius. I'm sure not your friend Steven Keane.

DM - You should write fortune cookies.

Methos - Yeah? Well, maybe I should. Just so long as I am not writing your epitaph. What Keane hates you for happened. Nothing you do is going to change that. You accept it, MacLeod. <It's part of who you are. CUT

DM - Are we talking about me now?>

Methos - Yes. Do you remember what happened after Culloden?

DM - Yeah. I went after innocent men and slaughtered them.

Methos - No. That's how Keane tells it. I want to know how YOU remember it. 'Cause they weren't innocent, were they? They were murderers. They were the English bastards who destroyed your people. And they deserved to die -- all of them.

DM - You sure all of them did?

Methos - Well, you were. You wanted to kill. You killed them. You know, Keane is just like you. He wants to divide the world up into Good and Bad. Well, it's not that simple. We are all both -- good AND evil. We have rage AND compassion. We have love AND hate. Murder and forgiveness. Why don't you try forgiving yourself, for once.

DM - Why don't you try minding your own business, for once. Hmm? Tell Amanda to do the same.

Methos - [steps aside] She can't say I didn't try. [DM walks past. Methos points gun at his back, shoots him.] You are such a pain in the ass.

[sometime later]

Keane - [as Methos approaches] I don't think we've met. Steven Keane.

Methos - So I heard. [draws his sword]

Keane - I have no fight with you.

Methos - No, that's true, if you leave Paris and leave Duncan MacLeod alone.

Keane - Guy's got a lot of friends.

Methos - Good men often do.

Keane - A good man? You must not know him very well.

Methos - You would be surprised. Keane, let him be. ¹² CUT

Keane - You try and stop me, and I'll start with you.

Methos - [sighs, then attacks suddenly] Your call!

[They seem evenly matched, both confident in their ability. Then Methos slips, stumbling to his knees. Keane raises his sword, & Methos draws a dagger from his coat, plunges it into Keane's gut.]

Keane - You bastard.

Methos - Sticks and stones...

[Keane topples, "dead". Methos raises his sword. DM walks up behind him.]

DM - You do it, and I'm next.

Methos - [exasperated] I am trying to save your head!

DM - I don't need your help! You kill him -- I swear, Methos, you face me.

Methos - [scoffs, then looks at DM's determined, disappointed expression] Fine. It's your funeral. [hides his sword in his coat, ¹³ walks away] ¹⁴
 

Keane - [revives, looks around] What happened to your friend?

DM - [sitting on nearby bench, Keane's sword beside him] It's Tuesday. He doesn't take heads on Tuesdays.

Keane - Then why didn't you take it?

DM - Because I don't want it. We don't have to be enemies.

Keane - There's nothing else we can be.

DM - Culloden was a long time ago.

Keane - Dunbar was a general in a hard war. People died.

DM - Yeah, and so did he. You didn't see the women and children slaughtered on your friend's orders.

Keane - I don't care what he did. Only what you did.

DM - What, and killing me is going to bring him back?

Keane - No, but it'll make me feel a helluva lot better. [He makes a move toward his sword. DM halts him with his katana.] A hundred years, a thousand... You still have to pay for it.

DM - I do. I live with it every day. But I also live with the fact that revenge doesn't make anything better.

Keane - I had a friend who said the same thing to me once. He was a great man. CUT

[Super: England, 1779]

Keane - I've tracked him for thirty years, Sean. To Russia, Constantinople, across North Africa, even as far as China. But I'm always a day behind, a week behind, a month behind. A year ago his ship went down off Shanghai; since then, nothing. I'm beginning to think I'll never catch up with him.

Sean - Maybe it's for the best, my friend.

Keane - What do you mean? I swore on Richard Dunbar's body that I would find the man who killed him. I swore to his wife and family that I would not rest until MacLeod was dead.

Sean - And for thirty years you've thought of nothing else. Thirty years that could have been spent helping Dunbar's family. Thirty years of your own life, wasted. That's long enough, Steven. Let it go.

Keane - How can I? How can I, when that murderer is still out there? ¹⁶

[Super: England, 1779]
(the superimposition is moved here in the cable versions)

Sean - You're so certain that you have to kill him. What do you know about Duncan MacLeod, Steven? Do you know why he left Europe? Why he went East?

Keane - Does it matter?

Sean - Everything matters.

Keane - You know him!?

Sean - Oh, I've known a hundred men like him. In every century I've lived, there's been a war that kings and generals said would end wars. There's been a people ground down in the name of peace. And there have been men like you, Dunbar, and MacLeod, fighting on one side or the other, always believing in their hearts that theirs was the side that God was on.

Keane - You don't have to lecture me.

Sean - I'm not finished. Until one day they look around. And they're sick and they wretch with the pain of it. And they ride and ride until they can ride no more, hoping they'll find something different across the steppes, or across the Atlantic. Hoping, praying that they won't have to keep killing. And one day, Steven, that day will come for you. And I pray that no one haunts your steps. Leave MacLeod be, Steven. Let the war be over... for both of you.

(resume previous scene)

Keane - Maybe you remember him. His name was Sean Burns.

DM - [voice-over] Sean was a man I respected very much. A man I owed a great deal to.

Sean - [in middle of conversation with Caroline] A thousand?

DM - [interrupts them] Lady Caroline, I assure you, Hugh Fitzcairn is the most honorable of gentleman. ¹⁷

Sean - [laughs] You cannot be serious.

DM - [sotto voce, to Sean] I'm trying to be delicate.

DM - They're all so young.

Sean - They always are.

DM - But look at them.

Sean - [as nurse helps soldier with bandage covering his eyes] Duncan, you didn't take away that man's eyes... [motions offscreen] Or his legs. ¹⁸ You're spending the war trying to save them.

DM - I'm doing a great job, aren't I.

Sean - Is that Scottish guilt I sense?

DM - What, are we going back to my childhood again? Is it Jung or Freud this time?

Sean - It's Sean Burns. You were brought up to lead and protect a clan. You feel guilt because you're whole. Because you'll survive.

DM - I always survive.

Sean - I'll send you the bill.

DM - How do I stop it?

Sean - Duncan, it's not an illness. It's... who you are. Who you'll always be.

Sean - You could stay on. I could use the help. ¹⁹

(resume previous scene)

Keane - Sean convinced me that revenge wasn't the answer.> I did what he wanted. I let it go. CUT I let myself believe that Sean was right. That you were a good man who'd made a mistake. <And then you killed him. CUT

Sean - [holds out his hand] Now, come.

[DM reaches out a hand toward Sean's, hesitates, then grabs Sean's hand, pulls him forward, beheads him.]

(resume previous scene)

Keane - Are you going to tell me he'd done something dark and depraved to you and yours?>

DM - He shouldn't have died.

Keane - Then tell me. I can't wait to hear it. Tell me why the man who killed Sean Burns isn't anything but a murdering bastard who deserves to die.

CUT

DM - It was a mistake. It should never have happened.

Keane - Sure. What was it this time? You were drunk? Drugged? Temporarily insane? Maybe you thought he was somebody else? Maybe you just didn't care.

DM - Look, it's not that simple. You weren't there. You can't know.

Keane - I don't need to know. I don't judge your reasons, MacLeod. I judge your acts. [grabs up his sword]

DM - Walk away.

[Before they can begin, they hear a siren in the distance. An unmarked car pulls to a stop nearby. They both hide their swords.]

Inspector Bégue - [gets out of car, walks toward them] Duncan MacLeod?

DM - That's me.

Inspector Bégue - [holds up her badge] I'd like you to come with me, if you don't mind.

DM - Certainly.

Inspector Bégue - We received an anonymous tip. CUT The caller was very persuasive and very specific.

DM - Oh, good. I can't wait.

Inspector Bégue - [picks up storage tube from desk] With your permission?

DM - Do I have a choice? [Inspector removes cap.] Hmm. Didn't think so.

Inspector Bégue - [holds up necklace that was in tube] I expect you'll tell me you've never seen this before.

DM - Why don't we skip that part and you tell me where you think I got it.

Inspector Bégue - It belongs to a collection of pieces that were stolen from the Countess Pekowsky three years ago. The collection was valued at something over three million dollars. This necklace alone is worth seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars. You're under arrest, Mr. MacLeod. [Policeman handcuffs DM.] CUT

<DM - I guess it wouldn't help to tell you I'm innocent. [to policeman] Hey, not too tight.>

Amanda - What?

DM - This is amazing, even for you.

Amanda - I know. [leans forward across the table] You know, that necklace would bring half a million, even hot. But you're worth it.

DM - [throws himself over table toward her] This is not funny! [Guard steps forward, raps on table. DM sits back down.]

Amanda - You're right. It's not funny. It's deadly serious. You're safe in here. With your squeaky clean record, they're gonna give you a couple, three years, tops for that Pekowsky job. Who knows? Two or three years, anything could happen. Maybe we'll get lucky and that guy'll get whacked before you get out.

<DM - Damn it, Amanda, why can't you and Methos just stay out of my business? Why don't you just leave me alone? CUT

Amanda - Okay, fine. [stands up]

DM - [stands in reaction] No, not now! You've got to get me out of here. [Guard raps on table again.]

Amanda - Look, I know you're upset now, but you're going to thank me later.>

DM - [unimpressed] Oh.

Amanda - I couldn't just let him kill you.

DM - Amanda, listen to me. You do whatever it takes, and you get me out of here.

Amanda - No. I have too much time invested in you, MacLeod. I want to keep you around.

DM - [quiet, intense] I can take Keane.

Amanda - Honey, I'm sorry, but I don't think so. There's something different this time. You know, if you had it together, then there'd be no problem. I'd say six to five on you. But in your present state... I don't think so.

DM - [still quite, intense] Amanda, I need to have this fight. It's the only way to settle this. [leans forward again, raising his voice] Now I'm warning you, I'm not staying in here! I'm not staying in here!

Amanda - Fine!

DM - No, I'm not staying in here! [Guard pushes him back down in his chair.]

Amanda - You can break out of jail, but-- CUT

DM - I'll strangle you! Come here!

Amanda - Either way, you're going to stay out of Keane's way. Honey, don't worry. I'll see you every day.

DM - [as Amanda leaves] I warned you. [to Guard] I want to see the inspector.

Methos - [to himself] I love good guys. ²⁰

Inspector Bégue - You're trying to tell me that a single woman was responsible for the Pekowsky job, and the break in at the Musee D'Orsay, and that little business at the Louvre....

DM - Yeah, and one or two other things from Cartier.

Inspector Bégue - This friend of yours is very resourceful, Mr. MacLeod.

DM - Tell me about it. Some of these cases have been open five or six years. Imagine the reaction when you solve them all in one day. Careers have been made on less. Now, are you interested?

Inspector Bégue - You'll give me a description of this woman?

DM - Yep. And the location of the rest of the jewels.

Inspector Bégue - In exchange for what?

DM - In exchange, you never saw or heard of Duncan MacLeod. [turns to look at the inspector ²¹]
 

Amanda - That son-of-a-bitch! That double-dealing swine! You know, there are cops all over my house. He even gave up my secret stash of "rainy-day" jewels. Well, one of them.

Methos - Amanda, what did you expect? You got him sent to prison. You think he's just going to sit there and take it?

Amanda - I was trying to keep him alive, and he turned on me!

Methos - All right, correct me if I misunderstood, but this was AFTER you framed him, wasn't it? [holds out a glass] Have a drink. You'll feel better.

Amanda - You know, I was ratted out by my very best friend.

Methos - Well, I know how that feels. [clinks his glass with hers]

Amanda - Methos, I was just trying to help him, you know? I didn't care how mad he got at me, as long as it kept him alive.

Methos - Look, you did your best. Okay? So did I. Now it's up to him. He's lived a long time, Amanda. It's not all luck.

Amanda - Yeah, but it's not all skill, either. He's gone up against Immortals older than him, some better than him, and he's always won. You know why? Because he doesn't give up, not when he thinks he's right.

Methos - No. Which can be bloody annoying, as we both know.

Amanda - You know, there's something different this time. His heart's just not in it. CUT

DM - I'm so tired of killing... and so tired of deciding who to kill. He's a good man, Darius. I don't want to kill him. All he's done is judge me like I've judged others. I'm so TIRED of the killing.>

[Keane drives up, parks, gets out of car, senses 'buzz', sees Amanda standing nearby. They walk toward each other.]

Keane - You want another shot? I warn you, I'll finish it if you make me.

Amanda - I didn't come to fight. I'd like to talk to you.

Keane - If you've come to talk about MacLeod, you're wasting your breath.

Amanda - Just humor me, all right?

[Keane motions her toward the nightclub. They go inside.]

Amanda - Look, Steven, I don't know you, but, um, I do know MacLeod. He's the kind of guy who doesn't make promises he can't keep, and he carries a grudge a long time. You know, one of those people who can talk about honor and justice with a straight face.

Keane - A man who hunts and kills innocent men.

Amanda - Maybe. Because that's the kind of mistake you make when you think it matters who lives and who dies.

Keane - [sarcastic] The voice of experience.

Amanda - You know, I've been around a lot longer than either one of you, and I can tell you, it's not going to make a bit of difference in the big, bad world whether you kill him or he kills you. But, uh, it makes a big difference to me, and to a lot of people who care about MacLeod. Why don't you try thinking about them?

Keane - Because that doesn't matter.

Amanda - Would-- Just listen to yourself. Now, isn't that exactly what MacLeod was thinking when he went after your friend -- that HIS idea of justice was more important than the people he was hurting? What are you going to think of yourself a hundred years from now, when someone's coming after you for killing a good man, and you're trying to explain your reasons? I really hope he listens when your friends try to stand up for you.

[Both sense 'buzz' as DM enters nightclub.]

Keane - When the time comes, I hope I'll have someone like you to speak for me. [goes over to DM] Are you ready?

<DM - Whenever you are. CUT

Keane - Outside. [Amanda walks toward them.] Five minutes. [leaves club]

Amanda - [hugs DM, sniffling] Okay, I want you to listen to me.> You're going to go out there, and it's not about Culloden, and it's not about the Earl of Rosemont. You have to just-- just forget about all that, and you just worry about coming back, okay?

DM - With my shield or on it. [kisses her] It'll be fine.

Keane - [as DM joins him on the roof] I've waited a long time for this.

DM - Maybe we both have.

[They begin their fight. DM knocks Keane down a couple times, then kicks him off the roof. He picks up Keane's sword & jumps down after him. He holds both swords, blades crossed, at Keane's neck. Keane tilts his head back, accepting his defeat.]

DM - Not this time. [hands Keane his sword] The war's over. Walk away.

[DM backs off, lowers his katana. They exchange a wary look, then Keane wordlessly acknowledges DM's mercy & departs. DM watches him go, then turns to look out across the railroad tracks. ²²]
 

DM - You really thought I'd lose?

Methos - Oh, yeah, and you didn't?

<DM - It wasn't about that. You guys still don't get it, do you? CUT

Methos - No.

DM - [sighs] I had to take responsibility for what I've done, and nothing you two could do was ever going to solve it for me. I had to face him and fight the best fight of my life, knowing he'd do the same. Just trust the fates to decide the winner.>

Methos - Trial by combat. CUT Whoever survives is proved right in the eyes of the law.

<DM - CUT Bright boy.>

Amanda - But what if he comes after you again?

DM - He won't.

Amanda - How do you know that?

DM - Because I wouldn't.

Amanda - Well, he's not you.

DM - He's not that different. None of us are. We all make mistakes.

Methos - And we all have mistakes to forgive.

Amanda - Speaking of mistakes, there seems to be an inspector who is determined to put my cute little butt in jail. [sits on DM's lap]

DM - [chuckles] Sorry about that.

Amanda - Hmm. Should I forgive you?

DM - Oh, no. I don't think you should. [Amanda kisses him.]

Methos - I think this is my cue to leave. CUT

<Amanda - Bye, Methos.

DM - Bye, Methos. [kisses Amanda]

Methos - [as he leaves] You guys be good.

DM - If not, we'll try to be better.>