A/N: Set between Awakening and Out of the Blue.

Whatever Nikola had been expecting when he walked into the Sanctuary tonight, it wasn't this.

He had been around for a lot of Halloween nights. This one was clear, calm, and disconcertingly warm, but perhaps more disturbing was the collection of the gaudiest Halloween decorations he'd ever seen, cluttering the beautiful Sanctuary floor.

"Helen?" he called as he picked his way around them. "What the hell is going on?" After a moment, he added, "I'm never the one asking that, are you alright?"

"Nikola!" Helen's voice rang out from behind an animatronic ghost. "I'm glad you're here. Put up those lights for me, will you? They go right over the door."

Her hand shot out from behind the ghost and waved towards Nikola's right. He glanced over and raised his eyebrows. A tangle of pumpkin lights grinned rather pathetically at him, blinking on and off.

"Is this how I'm to be greeted now? Ambushed by…whatever this is." Nikola peered closer at the lights, wrinkling his nose. "Ugh. Where did you get these things, anyway?"

"Last minute sale. Come on, Nikola." There was a mischievous note in her voice. "I've let you in, now I expect you to make yourself useful."

"Oh, Helen," Nikola groaned. "Not done-to-death vampire jokes. Not from you. Not tonight."

"Sorry, Nikola," she said, now directly behind him. "Couldn't resist."

Nikola turned to face her so as to complain more effectively and nearly smacked his head into a huge black object hovering near him.

"Nice hat," he said.

Helen adjusted it. "I was going for the wicked look."

"Well I was going to say you look ravishing, but what's the difference?"

Helen rolled her eyes. "Lights, Nikola." She waved her wand at him, a hideous black plastic affair with a melted blob of green on top.

"Anything for you, my dear," Nikola said, grinning in what he considered his most charming fashion. Helen just raised her eyebrows at him in that unimpressed way of hers.

"So can I ask what the occasion is?" he asked as he started maneuvering the lights into place. "I don't remember you ever being quite this much of a holiday enthusiast."

Helen joined him at the door, tacking up a cartoonish grinning bat and a few dangling spiders. "Halloween is something of an occasion around here. For some of the residents, it's the only time they can really go out in public."

"Hmm," Nikola said. That might have been true, but Helen's enthusiasm still seemed over the top. The bat and spiders had googly eyes, for heaven's sake.

"There's something rather hopeful about it, really," she continued. "For one night, instead of shunning the abnormal, the world accepts it - even encourages it."

"Really? I thought it was about getting free candy and scaring people."

Nikola caught the twitch of her lips even through her heavy sigh as she finished with the door and moved back to the pile of decorations inside.

He slid the last string of lights into place, still watching her and smiling faintly. Even if he wasn't a fan of the holiday himself - all those tiny inaccurate vampires running around made him shudder - he loved listening to her talk about her work.

"So where are the kids?" he asked. "Aren't they supposed to be the ones doing stuff like this?"

"Will got invited to a party with some of his old friends. Henry and the big guy are with the residents who wanted to go out, and Kate decided to go along, I suspect in the hopes of acquiring candy."

"So it's just the two of us..." Nikola mused, grinning at Helen when she looked over at him. "Have anything fun planned?"

Her answering grin was slightly disturbing. "As a matter of fact, I do."

"No," Nikola said flatly. "Helen, you know I'd do anything else for you, but there are lines I won't cross."

"Yes, you will," Helen said. She pushed a garish cape into his hands, made of cheap, shiny red and black fabric with a collar as high as his ears.

The rest of the costume, lying spread out over a nearby couch, wasn't quite as bad as the cape itself, but the bright crimson waistcoat was hurting Nikola's eyes, not to mention his sense of historic authenticity. And white gloves? Really? The damn thing even had plastic fangs to go along with it.

"No, I won't."

"Not even for a crack at the wine cellar?" she prodded. "Whatever you want out of it, it's yours."

Nikola groaned. "Why must you hurt me so, Helen?"

"Necessity, I'm afraid."

He pouted. "This is hardly necessary."

"It's this or the mummy costume. Besides, you'll look cute," she added casually.

Nikola's jaw dropped. Rationally, he knew he should be arguing that vampires weren't supposed to be cute, but he could feel his face getting rather warm. His rational arguments somehow turned into a muttered, "Uh," before he rallied, clearing his throat. "At least in that no one would be able to see my face..."

When she saw him step out into the hallway wearing the costume, his dreadful cape swirling behind him, she started laughing so loudly and richly Nikola almost forgot about how ridiculous he felt.

"I'm not putting on the fangs," he told her, clinging to this one last shred of dignity.

Helen didn't even hear him. She was leaning against the wall clutching her side, tears running down her face.

"Glad you like it," Nikola said dryly.

"Oh, Nikola," Helen choked, getting her breath back. "You look, you look so - "

"Idiotic," he finished for her. "Ridiculous? Shamefully unrealistic?"

"Well, perhaps a bit unrealistic," Helen admitted, still chortling. "Just a bit. But that's not quite what I was thinking." She crossed the hall, taking his arms and leaning forward to kiss him lightly on the cheek.

Then she turned around and walked off, leaving him standing speechless behind her with the dawning certainty that he would wear the damned costume six months in a row if it got Helen to laugh like that again.

"Vampires are so cool!" squeaked one little girl that had been brave enough to come up to the Sanctuary to trick-or-treat, looking at Nikola with something akin to awe.

He beamed. "Very true. Extra chocolate for you."

Her companion, a boy dressed up as a superhero Nikola was fairly sure Heinrich had an action figure of on his computer desk, snickered audibly at Nikola's appearance.

Nikola smiled, his teeth glinting, and fished around for the sourest candy Helen had.

"Well," Helen said, looking at their empty candy bowl as the last trick-or-treater receded into the darkness. "I suppose that went as well as could be expected."

Nikola sighed, polishing off the last candy bar. "I can't believe you didn't let me show any of them what a real vampire looks like. Just once, that's all I asked..."

"Honestly, Nikola," Helen said, giving him a disapproving look before she went to shut the Sanctuary gates.

Nikola shrugged and started to turn out all the decorative lights. While he couldn't really see this making the list of activities he ever wanted to do again, spending an evening with Helen without one of them being in mortal peril was kinda nice for a change.

"You know, you're going to have to take all this down tomorrow," he pointed out as she returned.

"Perhaps," she said. "I may leave it up for a few days. I must say, I'm rather surprised you didn't bolt to change as soon as I left."

"Oh," Nikola said, looking down at himself with surprise. He had actually forgotten what he was wearing. He had to admit, it had been rather nice to wear a cravat again.

He grinned at Helen. "Well, since you clearly find me irresistible in this, I may keep it on for a while. Unless you'd care to do something about that."

She laughed. "What would you say to your reward instead?"

"I'd say, I'll get the glasses."

Helen was quiet as they drank, and Nikola was content to let the silence continue. The night had finally gotten colder, and she had lit a fire while he poured the wine. The light from it danced across her face, casting it in constantly changing shadows whenever she turned her head. Nikola found it fascinating to watch. Not that he ever really lacked for willingness to stare at Helen's face.

He was unwilling to disturb the comfortable tranquility, but he was still curious about something. It had taken him by surprise, even though he had known her so long. "Helen," he said finally.

Helen looked over at him, her eyes focusing on him like her thoughts had been far away. "Yes, Nikola?"

"Why did you do all this tonight? I mean, apart from getting to see me make a fool out of myself, of course."

She smiled faintly, but didn't answer for a long time.

"This was Ashley's favorite holiday," she said at last.

A hollow ache sprang up in Nikola's chest at the look on Helen's face. He put his glass down and slid over to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders, and she leaned into him.

"She loved it. All of it." Helen smiled sadly. "Even the ridiculous decorations."

Nikola was quiet, letting her talk, but he hugged her a little closer.

"She used to get all the residents in on it, decorating the Sanctuary. They'd have the entire place done in an hour. And she'd get the big guy to tell her scary stories about the missions we went on together – which he shamelessly inflated for her benefit, of course…"

They spent several hours there, until eventually silence fell again. The fire was getting low, but Nikola certainly wasn't going to move from his current proximity to Helen, and it didn't look like she was inclined to do anything about it either.

Abruptly, a loud slamming door from downstairs jerked Nikola out of the light doze he was about to fall into.

"Take THAT!" Kate cried from downstairs with pure glee. "FIVE king-size bars. I bet none of you did that well."

"Doesn't it bother you at all that that candy was meant for kids?" Will asked, his voice muffled by distance but audible to Nikola's hearing. "Where did you even get that, anyway?"

"Uh," said Kate.

"We went lots of places," the big guy grunted.

"You should have seen the library," Henry said. "They had the good stuff there."

"Yeah," Kate said. "It sounds like your party kinda sucked by comparison."

"Hey!" Will protested. "We watched, uh…"

"What?" she prompted.

"Alright, I fell asleep," he admitted.

"There we go," she said triumphantly.

Henry chuckled. "Where's the doc?"

"Asleep?" Kate suggested. "It's pretty late."

"Nah, she loves Halloween."

"I can see that," Will said, a little dumbfounded. He must have just gotten a good look at the entrance hall.

Nikola looked over at Helen. On second thought, maybe she was a little closer to dozing off than he had been. "Helen," he whispered to her. "We have company."

She stirred and opened her eyes, blinking as she took in her current pillow.

"Ah...Nikola, did you say that - "

Kate chose that moment to shout, "So who's up for some popcorn and the Nightmare Before Christmas?" right outside the door, on her way to her room.

Helen winced. "I think that answers my question."

Nikola gave her a smile. "Didn't think you'd want to be found in a compromising position with me."

"How chivalrous of you," she said sarcastically.

"We could get a little more compromising as soon as they go back downstairs," he said.

She rolled her eyes, but there was a smile pulling at her mouth. "I'm afraid I'll have to pass. I have a few things I need to go over with them tonight."

"Never stop working, do you?"

"Not really. But you're hardly one to talk."

"On the contrary," Nikola said. "I know exactly when to stop working."

Helen tilted her head, looking around. "I suppose you may at that."

"Well then," he said, reluctantly disentangling himself from Helen and getting up. "I suppose my welcome is at an end."

"Nikola," Helen said, stopping him in his tracks.

He turned, raising his eyebrows.

"Thank you," she said.

He inclined his head. "Any time," he said, meaning it, and headed for the door.

"And, Nikola?" Helen had risen as well and followed him.

"Yes, my dear?"

"Your welcome is never going to be at an end." She took his hand firmly and pulled him the rest of the way to the door.

"Now," she said, "Either you're coming with me to watch whatever movie they've set up down there, or I'm afraid I'll have to seize the rest of your reward."

Even if he had his doubts about the children's discernment when it came to quality cinema, Nikola would have gladly stayed with Helen no matter what they were watching – but a horrible realization hit him suddenly.

"Let me get out of this hideous thing first."