DISCLAIMER: Richie Ryan belongs to me and the rest of the Clan Denial and 
we're not giving him back. Joe and the rest of the Highlander crew still 
belong to Panzer/Davis, at least until they get too popular for their own 
good. Neeki and Nat and friends are owned by James Parriott and the FK crowd. 
And Elaine, as always, belongs to me.

I'm not labeling this ADULT, but you should be aware this gets steamy in 
places. Nothing really blatant, though. Certainly less than you see on NYPD 
Blue or a soap. There's also a few four letter words scattered about. If this 
were a movie, I'd give it an R.

And if you can figure out _exactly_ where I got the Forever Knight quote from 
(hint -- it's _not_ an episode), well, I won't tell if you won't. <G>

Thanks to Kat, Silvia and JoAnne for betaing this for me.

Oh, and there's a bit of a mush factor in the last part. Sorry about that.

                          A Day in the Sun

By Elizabeth M. Lawrence (luckyliz@mindspring.com)

Comments always welcome. (This is a hint, people <G>) Other stories in the 
Elaine Saga can be found at http://www.mindspring.com/~luckyliz/.


Richie Ryan was in a rotten mood. Mac was in another of his snit fits 
(something about Amanda and a credit card bill), another ex-girlfriend of 
someone he had whacked had come looking for revenge (Elaine had taken care of 
her and he wasn't sure he wanted to know how) and he was broke with no job.

Worse, Elaine had suddenly taken off a week ago, saying she "had somethin' 
tah do." Something to do. Sure. He knew what that usually meant. It usually 
meant the next time he saw her, she would be an emotional wreck for days. And 
not even a word about his upcoming birthday before she had flown off.

At least Duncan had managed to take Richie out for a birthday breakfast, even 
if his ill-temper had put a damper on the whole thing.

So when Joe had called and asked for a favor, he had said fuck it, why not. 
At least it would earn him a few bucks.

Even if it was on his birthday.

Turned out the "favor" was escorting some old rich widow friend of Joe's 
around town.

So here he was, in the most expensive hotel in town, trying to convince 
himself things were not as bad as they sounded.

He rapped on the door.

"What?" was the reply.

A wonderful beginning. "My name is Richard Ryan. I'm looking for...." Richie 
realized Joe hadn't even bothered to tell him the name of the widow. Thanks 
Joe. "Uh, Joe Dawson sent me," he finished lamely, hoping he didn't sound as 
dorky as he thought he did.

"Doah's open. Ah'm on the balconay."

Her voice sounded very familiar. In fact, it sounded like --

**Impossible,** Richie thought as he opened the door. **If Elaine was back in 
town, I'd know it.** Besides, it was daytime. There was no way Elaine could 
be outside on the balcony during the day.



But it was.

Richie didn't know how it was possible, but standing in the middle of the 
balcony, blond ponytail glistening in the sun and wearing sandals, shorts, a 
swimsuit and a baseball cap was someone who should have been bursting into 
flames.

The former vampire strolled over to him and took his hands, dragging him into 
the sunlight and gave him a totally mortal kiss.

"Happay bahthday, Richay."



Richie still didn't believe it. But he couldn't deny the warmth of her skin 
or the smile on her face, either.

"Elaine? What are you doing here?"

The blonde giggled. "Tell meh why yah heah fahst."

"Joe sent me." Things were beginning to pull together. "To meet with an old 
..." Click. "... rich ..." Ding. "... widow friend of his." Bingo! "You're 
the rich widow."

"Well, Ah am ovah one hundred yeahs old, even if Ah don' look it. An' Ah do 
have access tah millions, which qualifies fah the rich paht. An' as fah 
widah...." Wrapping his arms around her back, she pulled him tight against 
her. "Yah took caah of that fah meh, didn' yah? An' that is somethin'...." A 
toe slid up the inside of his calf. "....fah which Ah cn nevah begin...." She 
added a sultry look to the mix, staring into his eyes. "....tah repay yah." 
Their lips met.

It was several minutes before Richie could think again. There was still one 
thing he didn't understand.

"How?"

"Litovutahrine C. It's somethin' mah Nat discovahed in hah quest tah make 
Neeki mahtal again. It event'allay didn' wahk, an' it's too dangahrous tah 
use moah then once, but it will give us this _day_ togethah."

Too dangerous? Richie didn't like the sound of that at all. Too many of his 
friend had died because of drugs. He didn't want to lose Elaine, too. "What 
do you mean 'too dangerous'?" He backed up a step, putting his hands on her 
shoulders so he could get a good look at her.

"Nuthin' yah need tah wurrah abou'." She tried distracting him with a kiss.

It didn't work. "Elaine --"

"Oh, all right," she pouted. "Lito-B was ahriginallay designed as a synthetic 
beef hahmone onlay it tahned out tah, well, kill the cows it was used on. But 
don' wurrah," she quickly added. "Nat 'n' Ah think weh have mos' of the bugs 
out of this one."

"You _think_?" This was not good. Releasing her, Richie began pacing the 
balcony.

"It's not like theah ah many volunteahs tah test this on. Mos' of us eithah 
make the adjus'men' oh end up destroyin' ahselves. As fah as Ah know, Neeki's 
the onlay one of us who's evah reallay tried tah go back. Sah he's the onlay 
one tah evah have done this befoah. In fact -- oh deah."

"What?"

"Yah not goin' tah like this. But the fahst time the C was tested was abou' 
fifteen minutes ago."

Of all the idiotic, no-brain, stupid.....

"Yah goin' tah yell at meh, ahn' yah?"

Richie looked at Elaine. She had that expression on her face again. The one 
that reminded him of a dog that'd been kicked too much. He pulled her into 
his arms.

"No, I'm not going to yell at you."

"All Ah wan'ed was tah --"

"I know."

"Then yah not angray?"

Richie sighed. Why did she always expect him to yell at her? It was a little 
late anyway.

"Of course, I'm not angry."

"Good," she said, her excellent mood instantly restored. "Then weh'd be'ah 
get goin'. Cause as much as Ah wan' tah spen' the day makin' love tah yah, Ah 
have no idea how lon' this is goin' tah las' an' yah supposed tah show meh 
the citay."

He had to laugh. He didn't know how she managed those abrupt mood changes of 
hers, but they never failed to amuse him.

"Where to first, my lady?" he asked, getting into the fun of it.

Elaine paused, looking for all the world like she was making the decision of 
a lifetime. "Well, it's been ovah a hundred yeahs since Ah've eaten anythin'. 
How 'bou' breakfas'?"



Breakfast turned out to be an interesting experience.

Elaine insisted on ordering one of everything. And then she insisted Richie 
try everything with her. The young Immortal wasn't sure he had ever seen so 
much food at one time. Even Tessa's delicious breakfasts didn't compare to 
this.

But Elaine had a way of making everything make sense and she seemed totally 
oblivious to all the strange looks they were getting. Halfway through the 
Belgian waffles, Richie noticed the waiters were already referring to them as 
the Lovebirds.

Besides, the laughter he was rewarded with the time he got whipped cream on 
his nose alone made it worth it. And after the kiss he got when Elaine licked 
it clean, he began hoping the day would never end.



After breakfast came the amusement park.

It was impossible not to share Elaine's enthusiasm. So much of what they were 
doing was new to her, or so old that it was as good as forgotten, and Richie 
found himself looking through her eyes.

_Everything_ was important. From feeding the birds in the park, to buying a 
vendor's entire stock of helium balloons just to release them and watch them 
fly away, to Elaine's very first taste of cotton candy.

Richie still couldn't believe the amount of food she was putting away. He 
finally asked her about it, halfway through a banana split and she admitted 
that, yes, Nat had mentioned something about the way Nick had "pahked his way 
through the town like he was a fuckin' kid at the fuckin' cahcus," but both 
of them had thought it had more to do with Nick not eating for several 
centuries.

"Guess weh wah wron'. Besides," Elaine put down the spoon and moved onto his 
lap. "Food's not the onlay thin' Ah'm hungray fah."

By the time they came up for air, the banana split had melted and a crowd had 
gathered around them. The crowd was cheering. Elaine hopped off Richie's lap, 
bowed with a flourish and they were off again.

Elaine's next target was the gaming booths. One thing that hadn't changed 
with the daylight was her marksmanship abilities. She went through them like 
a house afire and by the time she was done the carnies were offering to pay 
her to leave.

Instead, she and Richie spent the next hour handing out the prizes she had 
won to passing children.



By this time, even Elaine was getting tired, so Richie suggested a more 
sedate activity -- the Tunnel of Love.

Halfway through, the boat they were on suddenly stopped dead in the water. 
The lights illuminating the corny wall hangings went out and they were left 
in complete darkness. A few minutes later, an announcement came over the loud 
speaker saying that their computer had just crashed and just hang tight 
everyone until it was working again.

Hang tight? Yeah, right.

The hand holding Richie's was already squeezing it hard enough to hurt.

And he didn't need to see her to realize that Elaine was trembling.

"You okay?" He felt her nod, but Richie wasn't sure he believed her.

He was right, of course. A few decades later, she answered him.

"It's sillay."

"What's silly?"

"Yah goin' tah laugh."

"I won't laugh. Now tell me what's wrong."

"Pahmise meh yah won' laugh."

"Have I ever laughed at you?" he reminded her.

"No," she acknowledged. "Yah real good abou' that."

Still, it was several minutes before she told him, and when she did it took 
him completely by surprise.

"You're _what?_"

She punched him in the chest. "Yah prahmised yah wouldn' laugh!"

"I'm not," Richie lied, trying to get his breathing under control. Elaine may 
not have had vampiric hearing that day, but her ears were still sharp. "It's 
just, for someone like you, who would have thought, I mean, your whole world 
is --"

"Ah tol' yah it was sillay," she pouted.

Again, there was silence and again it was Elaine who broke it, in a voice so 
tiny Richie could barely hear it.

"It's not, yah know."

"Of course, you're not silly."

She hit him again, this time a lot more playfully. "That's not what Ah mean'. 
Ah mean' that it's not dahk fah us. Evah. Ah don' think Ah've evah been in 
total dahkness since the day Ah died.

Richie found Elaine's head and placed it on his shoulder. Even though they 
had been together on and off for over two years now, he was still learning 
how to read her. Elaine was a very private person, accustomed to hiding her 
thoughts and feelings lest they be used against her.

But he did know enough to realize that when this agnostic, modern scientist 
started quoting vampire mythology to him, she was a lot more scared than she 
was letting on.

"It's all right," he assured her. "I won't let anything get you."

"Ah know. Yah sweet." She raised her head and kissed his nose. At least, she 
thought it was his nose. Same general area, anyway. "Would yah believe, when 
Ah was a li'le gahl Ah used tah love the night?" Elaine continued, determined 
not to let the silence get to her. "It was always sah quiet. Dahrin' the Wah, 
sometimes it seemed the figh'in' wen' on fahevah. But yah can' figh' when yah 
can' see. Can' see all the dead an' dyin', eithah."

"So what happened?" Richie hated having to ask, and he had a feeling he 
already knew the answer, but he needed to make sure.

"Yah can' guess?"

"Reese." God, how Richie hated that man for what he had done to Elaine. 
Sometimes he even wished the bastard was still alive just so Richie could 
kill him all over again.

"Got it in one," she answered. "Sometimes, when he thought hi'in' meh wasn' 
enough, he used tah lock meh in the cellah until Ah screamed. No pest control 
in those days."

And knowing Elaine, she would have done just about anything before letting 
Reese hear her scream. Sometimes she was just _too_ stubborn_.

And it did explain why she was afraid of spiders.

"Oh, God, Elaine." Just when Richie thought he'd heard everything, Elaine 
would let something else slip. Sometimes he wondered how she ever survived. 
He squeezed her closer to him.

"It's diff'ren' this time. Yah heah." A smile crept into her voice. "Do yah 
know how lon' they'ah goin' tah take?" Ah don' suppose weh could...."

Elaine didn't bother finishing her sentence, but from the hand that slipped 
into his jeans and was doing a _very_ thorough job of exploring, Richie had 
no trouble following her thoughts.

He made one feeble attempt at stopping her. It was, after all, a public 
place, even if nobody could see them.

"Elaine, that's --"

"Nice?" She gave him a gentle squeeze.

So much for protesting. "Yeah."

Richie was giving some serious thought to ripping off Elaine's clothes and 
taking her there on the spot when the boat gave a jerk and started moving 
again.

"Drat," Elaine said as the hand disappeared.

The rest of the ride was over way too soon, although Elaine did make one 
interesting comment as they left. 

"Nevah thought Ah'd evah beh glad tah see the sun."



Crisis over, Elaine discovered a new toy -- cameras. Normally, she tended to 
avoid having her picture taken. The rule was no empirical evidence and it was 
easier to just avoid the whole mess. But when a young couple went up to them 
and asked Richie to take their picture, it occurred to her that she didn't 
have to worry about that today. And it might be a good idea to have a picture 
taken of her in the light. Just in case it was ever needed for proof, of 
course.

Needless to say, the owner of the gift shop was a _lot_ happier by the time 
they left. A lot richer, too.

As before, once started, there was no stopping her. Elaine took pictures of 
everything. Children playing, birds picking at left over lunches, couples, 
families standing in line for rides, anything was fair game. A few people 
didn't appreciate it, but when they went up and complained, her winning ways 
and obvious happiness proved so charming that most of them went away smiling. 
Even the ones who couldn't be placated went away with a brand new disposable 
camera.

Halfway through the fifth camera was when it happened. Elaine grabbed 
Richie's arm and would have fallen if he hadn't caught her. He found a mostly 
empty bench in the shade and sat her down on it.

"You okay?" he asked.

It was several minutes before she slowly nodded. "Ah think sah. It seems tah 
beh passin'."

Richie wasn't convinced. Elaine's pulse was racing, she was breathing hard 
and her skin had turned bright red. 

"You sure?"

She nodded again. "Ah've saht of been expectin' this. The drug's beginnin' 
tah weah off, that's all." Richie caught a flash of gold from behind Elaine's 
sunglasses as she looked up at him. "It prahbablay wouldn't beh a bad idea 
tah head back tah the hotel now. Goin' up in a ball of fiah is _not_ how Ah 
intend fah this day tah end."

The walk to the gate was a lot slower than previous ones, keeping to the 
shade as much as possible. Elaine took full advantage of the pace to get her 
hands all over Richie. It was almost, he realized, as if she was trying to 
memorize as much of him as possible before her senses returned to normal.

Either that or she was just real horny and didn't care who knew it.

On the way back to the hotel, Richie almost crashed three times because of 
the damage she was doing. He finally had to halt the bike and threaten to tie 
her hands together. It didn't quite stop her, but they did reach the hotel in 
one piece.



However, the first thing Elaine did when they reached the room was _not_ to 
throw Richie on the bed.

The first thing she did was order dinner.

_Then_ she threw Richie on the bed.

"Ah arranged fah a special meal fah us," she explained as she pulled his 
shirt off. "It's mean' fah lovahs an' it comes....." The next set of words 
were muffled as Elaine unbuttoned his jeans with her mouth. Some things never 
changed. "....With ev'rythin' ... cut intah ... bite-sized ... pieces ... an' 
theah's no silvahwaah."

The jeans joined the shirt on the floor.

"_Verrah_ nice," Elaine commented, eyeing the results of her efforts.

By the time room service had arrived with dinner, her clothes had joined his.

Richie was all for forgetting about dinner, but Elaine insisisted.

"Leave the tray, come back in the mahnin' an' theah'll beh a nice tip fah 
yah," she called out.



Dinner turned out to be an education for Richie. Before there had been food 
and there had been sex. Richie knew that they were the same thing for 
vampires, but he had no idea how well they could be combined for mortals.

After Richie had brought the tray to the bed, Elaine told him to lay back 
while she fed him. After all, it was his birthday, she reminded him.

"Oh Ah'll pout," she then threatened mischievously.

Laughing, Richie complied.

The first few bites went simply enough. Elaine daintily picked each piece of 
food up with her fingers and held it out for Richie to take into his mouth. 
And while he was busy chewing, she'd eat a little, too.

Then she got creative. She found a piece of asparagus that was too big for 
just one bite. Placing it between her teeth so it was sticking out of her 
mouth, she bent over Richie, who reached up and nibbled on his end of the 
stalk until their lips met in a kiss.

It was several minutes before either of them remembered the food again. But 
eventually, Richie's stomach woke them from their passion and Elaine went 
back to playing the obedient servant.

Drinking proved interesting, too. Elaine held the glass for Richie to sip 
from, then "accidentally" tipped it so half the champagne went spilling down 
his chest.

She spent a considerable amount of time licking him clean.

Or she would take the sip herself, holding the liquid in her mouth, and let 
Richie drink from her.

And so the meal went. It took a while, but most of the food did get eaten. 
Eventually.



Disaster struck during desert. Elaine was holding a whipped-cream dipped 
strawberry when she dropped it, grabbed her stomach and ran into the 
bathroom.

Richie followed just in time to watch her lose all the food she had eaten 
that day.

"This is it, the drug's wahn off," she gasped when she could speak. "The 
vampiah's takin' ovah again."

Wetting a washcloth, Richie used it to wipe Elaine's face. Somehow, he had a 
feeling the trip back was not over yet. Nor would it be an easy one. "So what 
happens now?"

"Evah seen a hahd-coah heroin addic' go through withdrawl? If it's anythin' 
like this mahn--"

She couldn't finish the sentence. She didn't need to. It was all Richie could 
do to hang on to Elaine as the last of the drug convulsed its way out of her 
system.

And this was the _second_ time she was going through this? Why on earth would 
she do it to herself?

No, he did know the answer. For him. She had done it for him. If she ever 
thought something would make him happy, there was no limit to how far she 
would go.

He wasn't sure if the Lito-C had been worth it. Not if it did this to her.

By the time the thrashing had stopped, Elaine's skin had returned to its 
normal pallor and low temperature. The vampire was back in control.

Elaine almost didn't recognize Richie when she finally opened her eyes. She 
had gotten so used to seeing what he really looked like for a change that it 
took her a few moments to make the connection between him and the figure 
holding her. "Richay?" she asked weakly.

"It over?" 

"Yeah. Give meh a bit."

They stayed there, naked, on the bathroom floor. Elaine showed no inclination 
to move and Richie didn't want to do anything to disturb her. Besides, he 
liked the way she felt next to him.

It was only when the first few drops hit his chest that he realized she was 
crying.

"Elaine, honey, what's wrong?"

"It's too soon," she said. "Ah had the whole day planned an' it was supposed 
tah end with meh makin' love tah yah without killin' yah. An' then that damn 
drug got in mah head an' screwed ev'rythin' up. An' Ah nevah got tah make 
love tah yah."

"You did, Elaine. All day," he assured her. "From the moment I walked into 
the room this morning." Corny, but true. And the smile it earned him made him 
glad he said it.

"Reallay? Yah not jus' sayin' that?"

One of these days, he _was_ going to get it through her head that, yes, it 
was possible for someone to love her just because. Not tonight, though. She 
was already falling asleep in his arms.

"I can't lie to you, remember?"

Richie waited for his words to sink in before continuing. "No more tears?"

She smiled. "No moah teahs."

Hunger briefly raised its head as Richie gently kissed her tears away, only 
to be defeated by exhaustion. Nat hadn't mentioned that particular side-
effect, but Nick was eight hundred years old and used to depriving himself in 
a way Elaine couldn't begin to imagine.

"It was a nice day, wasn' it?" Elaine asked, not quite willing to give into 
the sleep that was all too rapidly overtaking her.

"A wonderful day, Elaine." And it had been, Richie reflected as he picked her 
up and carried her to bed. The day had been magical beyond his wildest 
dreams. There was only one thing needed to make it absolutely perfect, but he 
hadn't really been expecting it.

It wasn't that he didn't know how she felt about him. When she had returned 
from Paris, she had made that quite clear, in no uncertain terms. Besides, 
the images carried across when she let him drink from her meant far more than 
any words could convey any day.

And it wasn't like she had never said it to him before. But it had always 
been after he had said it first or slipped in like she didn't know she was 
saying it. Never deliberate.

It was just, she had been in such a remarkable mood today he'd hoped she'd 
finally be able to make the breakthrough.

But he supposed a hundred years of misuse was a lot harder to get past than 
ten.

Richie placed Elaine between the sheets, got in next to her and turned out 
the lights.

"Richay? Fahgot somethin'." Elaine had one final thing to say before finally 
falling asleep "Ah love yah. Mean' tah tell yah ahlayah, but Ah wan'ed tah 
beh shoah it was meh sayin' it an' not the Lito."

He'd been wrong. The day was perfect after all.

THE END