This is my feeble attempt at the August challenge…Clearly not one of my best fics and a little too fluffy if you ask me, but I hope you'll like it anyway…Maybe a little OOC but I am not sure:P
Some things you would better know before reading this fic-although I'm sure many of you know them already:
The real Nikola Tesla claimed that he wasn't planning to get married because it was very important for his work to remain single.
The Heavenly Waters is a real family of constellations. I had no reasons for using this one-except the fact that there are nine constellations and one of them is the Dove.
This fics' title and Helen's last line were inspired by one of LeAnn Rimes' songs- "Can't Fight the Moonlight".
It wasn't unusual for Helen Magnus to stay up so late at night. What surprised her, though, was that she wasn't the only one that wasn't asleep. Henry Foss literally stormed in her office, almost yelling at her.
"That's it, Doc! I can't stand it anymore!"
"What happened, Henry?" she asked, afraid that some Abnormal had gotten away.
"Erik!" her computer expert said. "I get that you too are friends, or God knows what you are, but that guy crossed the line this time!"
"Erik?" Helen asked surprised. "I don't remember having a friend named like that."
"Seriously, Doc, you need to start reading comics. Erik Lehnsherr? Does that ring a bell?"
"No."
"Magneto! The guy in X-Men who…Never mind. The point is that Erik, ex-Vlad or whatever you want to call him, is playing some tricks with the electric circuits of the Sanctuary and because of this my computer shut down exactly when I was…busy. "
"You mean Nikola." Helen said amused. Frankly, he was starting to make her worried too, because he had been acting strange in the past three days. He had come to her place a few days before, claiming that he needed a room to conduct some experiments. Naturally, she would have refused him, but he had sworn that he wasn't planning anything related to world domination, so she had ended up giving him a room she hadn't used for a long time. She didn't exactly know how he got her to accept-it had nothing to do with the way he had smiled at her-but the situation was clearly getting out of her hands. She had to do something.
"I don't know what he is doing here, Henry, but I assure you he is not doing anything dangerous." She said after a short pause. Her techie would have probably believed her…if the lights hadn't gone off.
"This is it!" she yelled. "Nikola has gotten too far this time. You go and tell him that I want him."
Despite the dark situation they were in, Henry couldn't help giggling. "Yeah, well, that's pretty much obvious to everybody…But I think that is something he needs to hear from you."
"Henry, I'm not in the mood for this! I want him in my office, to tell me what in God's name he is doing with my electricity!"
"Right…" Henry said and left before Helen could reply. After a few minutes, he returned in Helen's office, the look on his face indicating that he hadn't completed his mission.
"He said he isn't coming." Even if it was dark, Henry could feel that Helen was angry, so telling her that Nikola's exact words were "If she wants me, tell her to come and get me." was probably a bad idea.
"I'll take care of the problem myself then." his boss said and left her office fuming. She walked up the stairs-the elevator wasn't working- and practically stormed into Nikola's dark room.
"Are you here, Nikola?" she asked on a threatening tone.
"I knew that cutting the power would work." He whispered in her ear, a lot closer to her than he should have been.
"Turn. On. The. Light." She said. "Now."
He moved away from her and soon after she could hear the distinct sound of a liquid being poured in what seemed to be a glass. "Wine, my dear?" Nikola whispered, handing her the glass.
"What game are you playing, Nikola?" she asked, taking the glass from his hand. "Turn on the light."
"Good things come in threes, Helen. I have you, I have wine…and I have the stars."
"Stars, Nikola?" she asked surprised. "We are inside the Sanctuary and this room doesn't have an extraordinary good view…"
"I took care of that." He said and turned on the light. What Helen saw simply took her breath. The ceiling of the room, once empty, was now covered with hundreds of light bulbs which flooded the room with a cold light. A closer look told Helen that the light bulbs portrayed perfectly a group of constellations named The Heavenly Waters.
"The Heavenly Waters?" she asked surprised.
"Yes. Nine constellations. Delphinus, Equuleus, Eridanus ,Pisces, Austrinus, Carina, Puppis, Vela, Pyxis, and, my personal favorite, Columba. The dove."
"Nikola, this is beautiful." She said in the most sincere tone possible.
"I knew you'll like it." He answered with a smirk.
"Why did you do it, Nikola?"
"Have you ever watched the stars, Helen?"
"Of course I have."
"No. I mean, have you ever really watched them?" he asked, locking his blue eyes on her gaze. His unguarded look made her knees tremble. She had never seen him so vulnerable.
"They are special in so many ways." Nikola continued. "So beautiful, and yet so cold. They seem so close to us, but we can never actually have them. Alone in the night, watching over the ones that wander in the dark. Healing everybody with their kindness and beauty but not realizing that they too need to be healed. It takes you a single second to fall in love with them-"his look fixated on the dark red liquid in his glass as he continued"- …but not even an eternity is enough for you to forget them. They hunt your dreams, your imagination, but they can never be yours. But this doesn't stop you from hoping."
"I thought that you weren't the romantic type."
"You mean that stupid interview? Don't tell me you actually believed that crap."
"I did. You weren't serious?"
A sad smile fluttered on his lips as his look became more focused than ever, as if he wanted to count how many drops of wine were in his glass.
"I was forced to lie, Helen. What could I have possibly told them? That I didn't plan on getting married because I had fallen in love with this amazing woman that didn't love me back? Tell them that I had lost her because I had been so stupid and hid my feelings from her, allowing a bastard to steal her away from me? And that I planned on spending the eternity she had given to me waiting her? Waiting the day she will tell me that she feels the same for me? That I spent each day of my life wondering what her lips tasted like?"
A shiver went down his spine as she took his hand into hers. It was something he had wanted for so long, but he had never actually expected her to do that. Was she starting to give in? No, that wasn't her. But he had started his confession and wasn't going to stop here.
Nikola's thoughts were interrupted by a sudden 'crack'. Helen's glass of wine had hit the floor, but he didn't have the time to think how she had dropped it. She crushed her lips to his mouth, kissing him like she was suffocating and he was air. His strong arms encircled her, crushing her body to his, with a passion that let her breathless. She let herself enjoy the taste of wine on his soft lips, as his cheeky tongue explored her mouth on the inside, making whimpers of delight escape her throat.
"What was that for?" Nikola asked when their lips parted for a few seconds. He was surprised to see a flirty smile fluttering on those sweet lips he had tasted.
"I guess what they say it's true…" she whispered. "You can't fight the starlight."