Here's the final part.
Cheers, Jesse Ward.

SIX -cont.


Ann was lecturing at Dublin University that week. Since meeting Samantha and her friends she and Amy had developed a deep love for history and had gone on to earn history doctorates. Both of them, along with Joan and George were Professors of Medieval History at Glasgow. All of them traveled frequently, lecturing at several places worldwide.
Wednesday evening she was in a local pub. It was a place she had often visited over the decades and came to love. During that time she had been keeping an eye on the bartender, who never seemed to age. Every fifteen to twenty years he would leave, then quietly reappear about five years later. Ann had a feeling he was like her and tonight she was going to see. Everyone else had been watching him and agreed she should approach him.
Ann got a tankard of ale at the bar and asked him to join her when he got a free moment.
"Mike, I need to speak with you in private when you can spare a few moments" Ann told him.
"I'll join you shortly Professor" he replied.
The pub was popular with students and faculty. She was known there and often held impromptu lectures in the evenings.
Ann retreated to a private booth and sat working at her computer while enjoying the ale. It was made on site by Mike and was outstanding. Mike joined her ten minutes later.
"What’s on your mind Ann?" he asked.
"I want to show you a little trick, if you can match it I'll buy you a drink. If not you owe me one. Agreed?" she told him.
"It's a deal" he told her. "Lets see it."
Ann checked carefully to make sure they were alone and unobserved. Taking a small knife from her pocket she then held her hand out and sliced it deeply. The cut healed instantly with nothing to show it happened.
"Here, you can do it yourself" she said and handed Mike the knife.
Mike cut her hand and watched it heal. After a long moment he cut his hand which healed also.
"You're not alone, there are a few of us who are like this. I'm also nearly three hundred years old." Ann told him quietly.
"I know" Mike said softly. “I first saw that happen to a young woman in the early 1400's. I never spoke to her about it though. Since then I've met two others but we've lost touch. We last saw one another in 1903."
Ann and Mike left together and talked privately at his home in the countryside.
"I was born here in Ireland around 350" Mike told her. "After seeing I was different I spent much of my long life traveling and seeing the world. Since the early 1880's I've traveled mostly here in Ireland and Europe. The first person I saw with my ability to heal was Joan of Arc, she was badly wounded at Orleans and after a moment got up unharmed."
"You'd better brace yourself Mike, Joan is like us, and is in fact the Professor you know by the name Jean Montclair" Ann told him with a smile.
After shaking his head in amazement Mike continued.
"I never knew Joan was like us, I wonder if she'll remember me. I thought I was alone until I met Robert in 1640 and Frances in 1650. I lost track of Robert around 1850 and Francis and I last saw one another in 1903."
"Until now" Ann told him, "George was the oldest person I know. He was born in Scotland around 1060. Joan was born in 1412, Earl about 1620, Samantha in 1701 and Kate in 1904. Amy, Cristy and myself were born in 1993. We grew up and spent our whole lives together. Amy and I kept our gift a secret from Cristy. She learned she was like us in her nineties and hid it from us. She faked her death and only a month ago we learned she was like us and were reunited."
"That's incredible, so many others like myself" Mike softly replied after a moment.
"Would you like to come with me to Scotland and meet them?" Ann asked.
"I'd love to" Mike said. "When can we leave?"
Ann and Mike caught the next flight and arrived at the estate five hours later. She had called ahead and let them know she was on her way with a new brother.
Despite the late hour everyone was waiting at her and Amy’s house when they arrived.
"Mike, this is Amy, George, Earl, Cristy, Joan, Kate and Samantha" Ann said when they entered the study.
After a round of introductions George made the first toast.
"To our brother Mike" George said raising his glass. "Welcome home!"
"Welcome Home Mike!" everyone then shouted.
Several hours later Mike spoke to Joan and brought a shout of surprise from her.
"I'm wondering if you remember me" he told her.
"Of course I do, you're the bartender from Casey's pub in Dublin. I first saw you about sixty years ago and we've kept an eye on you" she told him.
"The first time I saw you, you had a bolt in your leg and an arrow in your chest. After you pulled them out I helped you off your horse. When you got up unharmed a few minutes later I was astonished." Mike replied.
Joan sat in thought for a long moment and then remembered him.
"Henry!" Joan shouted happily and tackled him with a war cry that rattled the walls.
The celebration lasted until dawn and then they had breakfast.
"We're going to have to change Georges title now that Mike has joined us" Kate said while they ate.
"I didn't know I had one" said George.
"You'd better fill us in Sister, we're all clueless" replied Ann.
"Truer words have never been spoken" George said with a broad grin.
"Look who's talking!" said Samantha. “You’ve been clueless since I met you in 1823."
"We're going to have to change it from Resident Old Fart to Old Fart Emeritus" Kate said with a straight face.
The resulting laughter blew out the windows.
"You guys are amazing" Mike told them." I can't remember the last time I've felt I was at home."
Mike spent the week with them, sharing his story and listening to theirs.
"I met Robert in 1640" Mike said, telling of the others like them he'd met. "He was born in Gaul around 40 A.D. He had met six others before meeting me and had lost touch with them over the centuries. He told me about them and I need to think a moment."
"Lets see, their names were Lucian, he was born around 3800 B.C in Egypt." he went on.
"Before you go on Mike, I'd like to make sure you understand that we know your being honest with us." George told him.
"Thanks, that means a lot." Mike told him. "I was astonished myself when Robert told me about them."
"Now, where was I?" he continued. " Demetrius, he was born around 1500 B.C in Greece, Eric was born around 1100 B.C in central Europe, Mark was born around 200 B.C in Rome, Paul was born in 69 A.D in Sweden, and Derek was born around 150 A.D in France. Francis, the person I met in 1650 was born around 1200 in eastern Europe. Robert had met him in the late 1400s and introduced me to him when they met again in Rome.
"Wow, being born in 3800 B.C means he'd be nearly six thousand years old" Joan said. "I wonder if he needs Viagra."
This last comment caused a rain of spewed drinks and a flood of laughter that brought almost everyone to years. Everyone then ganged up on her and tossed her in the pool. This resulted in a friendly scuffle that left Kate standing poolside in dry triumph. Cristy emerged dripping wet and picked her up and jumped back in.
"I have lived many, many years" Mike said with mock solemnity "and seeing a wet nun is now on my top ten list of favorite memories."
Later, after everyone had changed into dry clothes they sat around the patio. Ann and Earl had the grill fired up and Mike had just fixed a round of drinks and sat down.
"Mike, we all have homes here on the estate and you're invited to join us if you want to" Ann told him.
"Ann I'd love to. All of you make me feel like family and I've never met a merrier bunch in my life."
"Welcome to the asylum" Kate told him with smile.
"You know" Mike said thoughtfully, "If we truly are immortal we'll one day have a new title."
"I'll bite" said Amy. "What will it be?"
"The Old Farts Of The Apocalypse" Mike said with a straight face.
Two minutes later, by mutual consent, he was tossed back in the pool amidst a sea of laughter.
The next day George and Amy sat on the patio discussing different things. Mike had returned to Ireland and everyone else was busy with various affairs.
"Joan once shared the thought that perhaps our gift was natures way of forcing us to leave the nest. To leave Earth and spread among the stars" Amy said.
"It's something to think about, that’s for sure" George replied.
"I’ve been thinking on how to find the ones Mike told us about" he went on.
"It won't be easy" Amy told him. "We can't go by fingerprints or DNA. Observing a injury heal or watching someone for many years the way we did Mike is currently our only options."
"Knowing there are at least eight more people with our gift, one who's nearly six thousand years old, renews my determination to keep looking" said George.
"They've seen a lot of history, that's certain" Amy laughed.