A/N: this is for the teslen monthly challenge June Theme: Father's Day (hence the title lol) uhh slight character death. Teslen all the way. I own nothing of Sanctuary. Hope you enjoy it =] All reviews welcomed!
When he had been young he was an extremely precious boy. In his free time, when not attending to his studies, he had nestled into a corner of the large library with a book that looked as if it weighed as much as he did. They were books by Einstein and Hawking and other exceptionally gifted scientists that most never could comprehend in the slightest but that he understood by the time he was a mere eleven years of age. It was not uncommon for his mother to find him seated there well past dinner time. He would lift those soulful blue gray eyes to her own, and say,
"I'm sorry mother, have I kept you waiting?"
He had those old gracious manners even as a child, and he kept them to this day. Women's families whom he dined with often said that he was a dying breed, such manners and gentlemanly kindness had not been known since the Victorian days. He always had a small chuckle to himself but smiled to them and simply answered that his mother had taught him well.
And she had. She had been a truly wonderful mother. She taught him all knew, along with some help from his aunt and uncles. He had never been truly alone growing up and had had plenty of people around him always, and the constant entertainment of his cousins. Now as an adult nothing had changed. Perhaps he didn't live at home anymore but living and working in London meant that he was never truly disconnected from his mother back in Old City or any of his family.
Barring any unforeseen incidents he went home only three times a year. Christmas was of course one of them as he thoroughly enjoyed having a visit with aunts, uncles, cousins and their children. It was like old times during Christmas.
The second was his father's birthday. The third was today. Father's day. Because those were the days he knew his mother needed him most.
So here he stood, before his father's grave, reading over the inscription for what must have been the millionth time in his life, wondering the same things he always did. Would his father be proud of him? How had he dealt with who he was?
As he stood there, he was unaware of his mother watching him from not far off. She had her arms wrapped around herself. She had always marveled at how like his father he was, not only in his charming personality, exceptional intelligence, and devilishly handsome looks, but in the small things that only a lover and a mother would ever notice. One of her favorites was the mischievous smile they both shared; the one that lifted their upper lip to reveal one canine. The other was the way they would tuck back their jacket to stand with one hand on a hip.
She came forward suddenly, the clack of her heels causing him to turn.
"There you are mother, I was wondering where you were." He smiled warmly at her.
She made no reply other than to embrace him. They stood like this for a moment before they moved apart to stand shoulder to shoulder, facing the grave.
"I am sorry you never got to know him, it was his wish that you be born after his death so you would not have to go through the pain of his loss."
He nodded; he had heard all this before, along with the fact his father and chosen his name, and he had long ago accepted this.
"He would have been so proud of you Dane, he really would have been."
Again he nodded, throwing in a grim smile, this too was old news to him.
"He wanted me to give you this, when you reached a certain age."
This startled Dane, and as he turned to his mother he saw she was holding a thick leather bound journal. He took it gently from his mother as she explained,
"He and I both knew you would have certain questions, ones that I could not answer. So he decided to write you this. I do not know what is in it because it was meant for you and you alone. You were his final and best gift to me, and this is his gift to you. "
Helen watched her son gently open the journal she had kept in her night stand since his father's passing. She watched him skim it, flipping pages, tears filling his eyes. Finally he shut the book and held his mother in his arms.
There they stood, weeping silently. The mother and the son. The immortal woman and the only vampire left on earth. The only two people who Nikola had ever truly loved, and the only two people who would ever really know or love him.