Becca slammed the door to her coupe and glanced up at the bright whitewashed front of the old plantation house. This had been the place where Rebecca had learned to ride horses, hosted her first party, and been introduced to much of New Orleans's upper class. Her grandmother had bought it as a "getaway" a few years ago, when Becca was 13. But recently it had been transformed into a training grounds of sorts for the young woman.

She turned back to the coupe to grab a ribbon out of the passenger seat before hurrying up the marble steps. Grandmere didn't tolerate tardiness for these morning runs. As she jogged down the porch and into the house, she noticed a few remnants of what looked like a wild night: three empty bottles of Jameson littered about the living room, a collapsed curtain rod, the still-turning phonograph...was that a man's jacket laying on the chair? She slowed and went over to examine the grey blotch lying on the arm of the couch. Sure enough, some man had left his suit jacket there. A strange thing to leave...and his tie, too? Becca shrugged and decided to take the articles up to her grandmother. Maybe she would know whom they belonged to. With a sharp turn, the young woman hurried up the stairs to her grandmother's room.

As her eyes blinked open Kates first perceived the early morning sun, and promptly clenched them shut, groaning. Must have been a late night. As her formidable brain struggled out of its sluggishness, she next realized that she was completely naked. Must have been a fun night, too.

And the numbness in her left arm meant that either her most recent conquest was sleeping on her, or it had somehow been amputated sometime between midnight and dawn. She cracked open her left eye and tilted her gaze away from the sun towards the sleeping figure beside her. He was cute. Mid twenties. In good shape. Buck naked on his stomach and snoring like an elephant. Kates gently snuck her arm out from under him and rolled out of her bed on the other side, catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror.

She looked exactly the way she did yesterday. And a year ago. And a decade ago. And more. She'd aged normally for her entire life, growing and becoming a woman. Even having Jack and noticing the first signs of her twenties slip away. But then it halted. Here she was with a son in his forties, a granddaughter who was seventeen, and she didn't look a day over thirty five. It'd been a joke, at first. Teasing Jack when waitresses thought he was with his wife. But the initial laughter faded to incredulity as the men and woman who served her developed wrinkles and grey hairs and she simply endured unchangingly, as if a diamond. With her looks and athleticism, almost nothing had changed since her thirty third birthday. Even she forgot how old she was, and no one else bothered to do so.

Regardless, the fellow in her bed certainly never knew he was getting ridden by a grandmother. She grinned at herself in the mirror as she pulled the sheet off her bed and wrapped it around her flat stomach, heading off towards the bathroom.

She was in the middle of pulling her hair back when she caught the clock in her peripheral vision. Oh my God. It was Friday. Her morning run with Becca. She'd be here any minute.

Kates, who'd been through hell and back as an agent and captain of Marietta, froze in abject shock as she heard her granddaughter's knock on the door.

"Ju-just a minute, Becca!  Wait right there!  Or go get some water to drink!"

There was a soft sound of rummaging inside of the room, complete with whispers that were cut off with a loud thump--as though a body had hit the ground. Becca's eyes widened with concern and she opened the door immediately.

"Grandmere! Are you all--Oh, dear God!"

There was a young man lying on the floor next to her grandmother's bed.  A stark naked young man.  A rather handsome, stark naked young man.  Becca blushed furiously as he scanned her drowsily. He screwed up his face and put his head in his hands, speaking in a low moan.

"Now, I know I didn't bag a teenager last night.  God, please tell me I didn't...and if I did, please tell me her parents aren't home."

As Becca stared, stunned, at the man, Kates hurried into the room from the closet, her athletic clothes apparently hastily thrown on.  She looked between her granddaughter and the young man and groaned softly, closing her eyes and hiding her face in her hands.

Kates buttoned her skintight black pants and prayed the situation was a just a bad dream. Hopefuly, she opened her eyes. Nope.

Uh. Becca. This is... this is...

She glared at the man, desperately trying to remember his name.

This is... an excellent lesson for you. About whiskey. And alarm clocks.

Pulling the young man to his feet, she threw him his pants and hastily led him over to the front door.

Wonderful evening, simply must do it again sometime. Have a great walk back- good exercise! Not that you need any more...

As she reached the door, Kates briskly opened it and pushed him out before turning to her granddaughter.

Now, uh. Would you like to use the opportunity to talk about sex? Or would you rather just head off on our run... we could use the back door.

Becca shook her head and mumbled to the young man, setting his jacket and tie down on the bed.

"Um...I think these are yours."

He gave her a confused "thanks" before he scurried out with her grandmother.  Becca stood there, blinking, for a moment, before Kates's words sunk in.  A sex talk? Now?

"Umm...I think I know...plenty about all of that, Grandmere..."

She glanced back at the closed door before turning back to Kates with a badly smothered smile.

"And from the looks of it, you manage to get better catches than I do!" She let out a soft chuckle before motioning toward the back door. "Let's go running.  If you feel like you absolutely have to tell me something like that, you can do it while we're moving."

Kates falls back on her bed and crosses her legs, raising her eyebrow at Becca.

What do you MEAN you know plenty about sex?

Becca had almost been to the door when she heard her grandmother's words.  She stopped in her tracks and turned slowly back, crossing her arms uncomfortably.  As she spoke, her face reddened and she found her gaze dropping to the floor.

"Well...I mean...you know...like...remember Steve?  I went out with him for a year, it was pretty serious...?  Um...I kind of...well, it was silly, but he told me he loved me, and it was prom night and...and how about we just...just go?"

Without waiting for her grandmother, Rebecca suddenly turned and bolted out the door, down the stairs, through the kitchen, and into the courtyard, her feet slapping against the cobblestones with echoing noise.

Blinking, Kates burned Steve's name on her list of things to take care of, before chasing Becca outside. The younger woman was flying- she'd been soft when they started, like her father. Not a criticism of Jack, of course- the man could still take care of business when he had to. But Becca had a hard, ruthless vitality within her that had only recently begun to shine, just as hard winds and the sand will purify anything left in the desert.

Becca was good, but she wasn't quite at her grandmother's level yet. Grinning, Kates jetted past her, slapping her on the rear as she turned back.

Try to keep up, dear!

And the five mile loop of the grounds melted away, the two women gliding side by side, pushing each other..

The two women laughed as they jogged down the beaten path. Becca leapt over a root and gasped before continuing her story.

"And so the next thing I knew, she was passed out on the floor, drunk as a skunk, and it looked like I was the one who had to carry her home. So I looked over to the guy she'd come with--and he was trying to sneak out! I almost had to drag him back to help me get her in the car."

She took a deep breath, her eye trained on the thinning trees that lined the path.

"And now they're getting married for whatever reason got into their empty heads."

Rebecca chuckled breathlessly as the two ran out of the woods, pausing at the top of the long slope leading the final half-mile down through the defunct fields and to the house. Kates pulled her leg back to stretch it, a soft grunt escaping her. As she set it down, she shook her head with a smile.

"Not quite what it used to be."

Becca chuckled and shook her head as she stretched an arm behind her head.

"It's a miracle it is what it is, Grandmere. Ready to run back to the house and get a shower?"

The older woman nodded firmly before taking off down the hill at a slow jog. Becca soon followed, keeping at Kates's side.

"You know, Grandmere...two weeks after prom, after Steve broke up with me...a couple of my Sicilian friends went over to his house and you know what happened? He fell down the stairs and broke his leg. Couldn't play baseball again, and he was gonna be a professional. Shame, don't you know?"

As she glanced over to Kates with a small smirk, Rebecca noticed a few black cars trundling up the long, dusty drive and through the front gate. She was struck by the military movements of the man who got out to open the gate.

"Um, Grandmere, were you expecting some men?"

Kates slowed to a jog and then a walk, evaluating the cars that spilled into her long driveway. Five cars. As the line ground to a halt, men began to pile out of them. Individually they were hardly impressive, but what they lacked in quality they more than made up for in quantity. Two pairs of green eyes cycled through them, counting to twenty. A more refined figure stepped out in front of them and removed his fedora.

Good morning, Miss MacLeod. I had initially hoped to meet you more diplomatically but my studies of you have, unfortunately, shown this to be the only real option I have.

He made a quick chopping gesture with his hand and the thugs began their steady advances towards the two women, barely concealing toothy grins as they winked at each other. Kates, staring them down, murmured softly to Becca

Run back to the house. Lock the door. Call your father.

As Becca took off and drew the eyes of the men, the older woman's hand flew to the small of her back with serpentine speed and precision. The gun holstered there snapped off six expert shots. Six men fell to the ground screaming- the rest charged. Even four or five at a time she could have outfought them, but over a dozen charged at her directly. Thinking of her granddaughter, she threw herself at them in a ruthless fury. Decades of hand to hand fighting made her hands and feet a blur as the first wave of attackers was repelled, and the second. Her screams echoed over the pond next to the estate and Becca, slamming the door, saw Kates slip unconscious to the ground, the remaining few thugs kicking at her.

Don't damage the merchandise, idiots. snarled the man in the fedora as he turned towards the house. Put her in the car, then go get the girl. You'd think one woman wouldn't give you quite so much trouble...

Strapping Kates' unconscious form into the front seat of one of the cars, they turned and quickly approached the house.

Becca's breath heaved her chest in and out as she sprinted for
the house, her lithe brown legs carrying her across the fields and
deftly avoiding the eroded furrows.  It was the trickiest part on any run, and she'd sprained her ankle here at least once when they were first training.  But the panic coursing through her veins seemed to turn her into a nimble deer, leaping over the ground in wide bounds and trying to ignore the sounds of struggle behind her.

As she set foot on the gravel of the driveway, she heard the heavy panting of a man close behind her.  Gathering a last bit of strength, she leaped for the porch, trying to scramble over the railing before the thug behind her could get her.  She swung one leg over, and was about to hop to the old wood floor of the porch when she was jerked back by her other leg.  Becca turned with a furious green gaze to the man who had wrapped his saucer-sized palms around her leg and kicked ferociously at him.  His grip didn't loosen a bit, but she still managed to connect her toe hard with his jaw.  She was unsure of who was in more pain, though.

"Let me go, you bastard!"

He only replied with an empty grin and reached toward her, trying to pull her back down to the ground.  She gave a low growl and slammed her fist into the top of his head.  Stunned, he began to let her go.  As she whipped her leg away from him, though, she felt a pair of strong arms picking her up around the waist and lifting her bodily.  Another goon had sneaked up behind her and snatched her up.  As she began to kick and scream, he shoved a handkerchief over her mouth.  It was soaked in something that reeked sweetly.

Soon, Becca was lying limp in his arms, barely aware of what was going on around her.  She had a faint feeling that she was lying against her grandmother, though, and her drowsed mind assured her that this meant everything would be all right.

Even before she opened her eyes Kates felt the leather straps tightly holding her down. Her naked back recoiled against the cold metal of the table, but she could barely move herself an inch. The man in the fedora, now clad in a white lab coat, sat a few feet away, his gaze fixed on her as he tapped a scalpel gently against the side of his kneecap.

You're a very interesting woman, Miss MacLeod. I saw you... almost thirty years ago now. I was a young man. We danced, briefly. Quite the memorable night for me. So imagine my surprise when, decades later, I see the exact same figure before me. Not a daughter or another family resemblance- the exact... same... figure.

After a moment's silence, he rose and approached her, partially pulling back the sheet that lay atop her.

You're beauty, while remarkable, is still perfectly explainable, with millions of precedents. Your mind, while certainly pushing the upper boundaries of such, is nonetheless easily understood within normal range of human intellect. But your refusal to age... your temporal stasis... is unlike anything the medical community has ever analyzed. There are stories, of course, of men and women who simply do not age. But these are largely buried within legends and folklore.

He leaned close to her, his eyebrows latched in their perpetual scowl.

But now we have you. And while I regret the destruction of such an incredible specimen, it simply must be done for the betterment of humanity. To cut into you will be painful indeed, but your tragic death could potentially unlock the secret of this temporary stasis... this natural immortality of yours...

As he injected her in her arm Kates struggled in vain to get free. But it was no use, and soon her green eyes dimmed and closed. She had few regrets, and welcomed the parade of those she loved into her mind as she faded away...

Goodbye, Miss MacLeod.

"Think the doc would let her out for us to play with her?"

"Nah, not 'til he's done with whatever it is he's doing with them. An' she might not even be alive then."

"Shame. Bet she ain't even been nailed yet."

Becca's eyes cracked open, watching the burly figures through a slight chloroform haze. They were leering back to her through some steel bars. Neither seemed to notice she was waking up. Becca remained still on the cement floor until the two men turned away from the cage, conversing lazily about their recent conquests. The girl blinked several times, her mind racing. Where was her grandmother? She quietly checked her surroundings. She was in what looked like a tiger cage she had seen in a circus. She remembered the mangy tiger, billed as "A Ferocious, Lithe Beast of the Orient" lying in a defeated way as the disappointed crowd tried to prod it into action.  Once it was finally goaded enough, it hurled itself at the bars and spat furiously at the onlookers.  But the bars wouldn't budge, and the people stood in awe or laughed at the creature.

Becca sat up slowly, realizing that her grandmother was nowhere near. Although a small part of her told her that she should stay put and Kates would come rescue her, her pragmatic nature told her that she would have to get out of here and find the woman herself.  She evaluated her surroundings: two 300-pound men were guarding her in a cage built to keep a tiger inside, and there wasn't anything she could use as a weapon.  Lovely.  Well, wait.

She reached behind her head and felt her hair.  They hadn't removed the ribbon from her hair.  It wouldn't kill anyone by itself, but it could prove useful.  She glanced back at the guards just as serendipity showed its beautiful face.

"I'mma go take a leak.  Watch her while I'm gone, a'ight?"

"Yeah, yeah. Hurry back. Don't want the doc comin' in with only one of us out here.  Plus, you's the one wid the keys."

The other goon waved his hand behind him as he left.  Becca crept slowly toward the remaining man, pulling the ribbon taut between her two hands, wrapping the material around one of her palms.  He still hadn't heard her when she was right behind him.  Deftly, she slipped her arms through the bars and pulled the ribbon tight against his neck, slamming his head back into the bar behind him.  He choked and fumbled for his gun, but Becca banged his head five, six, ten more times against the bar, leaving him with a bloody gash on the back of his head and a cracked skull.  When he was limply hanging against the ribbon, almost breaking it with his weight, Becca quickly searched for his gun, managing to pull it out and lay it next to her.  She let the body drop to the ground and coiled into the corner of the cage, waiting for the other guard to appear.  As soon as he did, she whipped the gun out, aimed it square for the man's chest, and called out authoritatively.

"Show me your hands and drop your gun where you are.  Now!"

His gaze shifted between his companion's collapsed body and the gun in the young woman's hands.  The wheels seemed to crank behind his eyes for a moment before he complied with her request, holding one hand up to show it was free before standing in a surrendering pose.

"Now get over here and unlock this thing."

She kept her gun trained on him as he moved, her finger snug against the trigger.  As soon as the lock to the cage clinked open, she shot him.  His face was a little surprised as he crumpled to the ground with a creek of blood pouring from his chest.  Becca quickly exited the cage, leaping over his body to avoid stepping in the blood.  She scanned her surroundings, hoping no one had been summoned by the gunshot.  It didn't look like it.  She jogged through the warehouse and down a corridor, peering cautiously into the darkened rooms that lined the walls.

"Goodbye, Miss MacLeod."

Rebecca jumped and turned as she heard these words, her gun at the ready.  But they had come from a room down the hall.  She hurried to it, shoving the door open to see her grandmother lying on a table, the slender man from before standing over her with a needle in her arm.

"Get the fuck away from her!"

The man turned, confused, as the young girl charged into the room.  He reached for a scalpel to defend himself, but soon found that there was a rather inconvenient hole in his stomach.  He groaned and fell over, twitching on the floor as life poured out of him.  Becca hurried to the table and checked her grandmother's pulse.  Still there.  She gave a soft sigh of relief.  But it was hardly over.  She'd need to get out of here...and she couldn't carry her grandmother.  She'd have to wait for the woman to wake up.  Becca rummaged in the doctor's pockets, found a ring of keys, and quickly locked the door to the room.  She looked around the room and began to open cabinets and drawers, looking for any kind of drugs she could take with her to sell later.  Hey, why not try to make a buck off of this guy?

After she had filled her pockets with bottles of pills and powders, Becca sighed and checked her grandmother's pulse again.  She was still alive, but pretty heavily sedated.  Finding Kates's clothes crumpled in a laundry hamper, Becca brought them and laid them over the unconscious woman's stomach.  With another sigh, she stroked her grandmother's hair and waited for the woman to wake up.

Her green eyes struggling to open, Kates stared at her granddaughter and rasped.

"What the hell?"

Rebecca herself had almost been drowsing over her grandmother, the adrenaline having drained from her system, when the woman woke up.  Becca grinned and planted a quick kiss on her grandmother's forehead.

"There you are! Come on, Grandmere, we've got to get out of here.  I put your clothes right here...I'll turn around and let you dress.  Tell me when you're done."

Becca promptly turned around and took a few steps away from her grandmother.  After a moment of silence, she heard the sounds of Kates slipping to the floor and putting her clothes on.

"Becca...what happened?"

"I'm not sure...but this guy had a needle in your arm, and whatever he wanted to do with you, I don't think it was any good.  But I managed to get a couple of his guys and then...well, the good doctor is on the floor there."

She pointed to the corpse on the ground.  Seeing her grandmother was dressed from the corner of her eye, Becca turned back around and leveled her gaze with Kates's.

"Now we've gotta get out of here. If he had that many thugs at his disposal to get us here, I'd hate to imagine what would happen if they found out he was dead."

Rebecca produced the keys and her gun, handing the latter over to Kates.

"I think you'd do better with this than I could."  She glanced over to the tray of knives and scalpels.  "I'll see what I can do with these if we run into any trouble.  Probably not much more than a nuisance, but it would be a nice distraction."

She carefully grabbed several of the sharp instruments before carefully unlocking the door, peering out.  No one.  She motioned to Kates to follow her as the pair sneaked out down the hall.  The fifth door they tried led to a garage where three men loitered next to the sleek black cars they had driven to Kates's house before.

As Kates walked the sound of her feet grew from unsteadily scraping to forcefully rapping against the pavement. By the time they got to the cars she felt nearly like her old self. Looking at Becca, the girl wordlessly ducked behind her car as her grandmother continued walking forward.

Too pissed off for subtlety and mercy, Kates started firing before they could see her. Two shots each in the abdomen and stomach and the men were left whimpering on the floor. Their cries were muffled by the rumbling of the engine as Kates pulled up to Becca and, once the younger woman was aboard, sped off towards the highway.

She drove fast, though not recklessly, constantly scanning the road and checking her rearview mirror. She said nothing until she put a dozen miles behind her, before exhaling deeply and seeming to unwind a bit. Becca sat fidgeting in the passenger seat, occassionally alternating between searching looks at Kates and staring out the window. Until the Godmother turned to her with a wry grin.

You were awesome, you know.

Becca grinned back to her grandmother.

"Thanks, Grandmere.  I...I just wanted us both to get out of there in one piece."

She paused for a moment, staring out at the world moving outside the window.  Her mind was turning over memories like stiff book pages.  The men's conversation about her as she lay in the cage, the hands of a would-be rapist grabbing her body, the doctor who had gone through incredible lengths to obtain her grandmother and herself for some sort of medical experiment...even the backseat of Steve's 1932 Buick Victoria, his body pressing heavily onto hers as he ignored her soft sounds of discomfort.  She sighed and leaned her head against the glass, her hand absently rubbing her leg.  Abruptly, she turned her head to her grandmother and spoke.

"Are our bodies that desirable a commodity that we can just be taken without a thought?" She blinked quickly, half-surprised at what she had just said, but continued gazing levelly at her grandmother.

Kates chuckled, but her eyes maintained the seriousness they had for the duration of the drive.

I hardly think this was the best situation for analyzing the complex relationships between men and women. I think you know I've had my share of adventures... and I can honestly say this is the first time I've ever had 20 men grab me and try to cut me open so they can try to live forever.

She coughs, a mischievous twinkle returning to her eye.

You must always remember, Becca, that beauty is a double edged sword. It can open doors for you that are closed to others and make men... and some women... putty in your hands. It can bring you tremendous power, in its own way.

But it also makes you a target. Not just for men that may be physically after you... and they will be. But it will make you a target of bias and underestimation. Other women will resent you for it. And some men will probably take you less seriously because of it. Hell, I'm probably just a pair of tits to dozens of men out there, though they'd never say it to my face. Point is- a beautiful woman needs to work harder than a man, if they'd like to be taken seriously for something other than their silhouette.

And in our particular line of work, you will meet brutes. Rapists. Murderers. Men without morals. There's a reason I like training with you, you know, other than the incredible pleasure of your company, which I cherish. It's comforting for me to know that you can handle yourself.

Becca gave her grandmother a small smile before staring back out the windshield.  She thought about what her grandmother had said, running her mind's hands over it.  She reached a hand over and patted her grandmother's, smiling broadly as she spoke in a low murmur.

"Thanks, Grandmere.  I'll remember that."

After a few more moments of driving, she saw the plantation appear like a tiny white Monopoly house in the distance.  Becca burst into a sudden bout of laughter.

You know, we still haven't showered.  I bet we stink worse than we realize." She winked to her grandmother.

"Race to see who gets to shower first?"

Her grandmother chuckled, shaking her head.

"I think you've seen me naked two too many times today...you go first--I'll call your father and tell him we put in a bit of extra training time."

Becca grinned and nodded, resting her head against the cool window and absently counting the fenceposts on the slope down to the house.