A/N: Hello fellow Teslenites! This is an idea I had floating around in my head for a while and you know how it is... it won't leave you alone until you write it! I have to admit that this is not my best fanfic... I don't venture into the writing world too often, as graphics and art are more my thing, so I apologise for any mistakes that lay within and I do hope they aren't OOC too much. I wanted to keep it light-hearted, but it took a slightly more serious tone in the middle. I also took some lines from a Teslen scene – can you guess which lines and what episode?
Last but not least! I haven't seen season 3 yet (I know, I know... but I missed it on TV and only got my hands on the DVDs the other day...) However, I haveseen the masterpiece that is Awakening (and Animus), seeing as though it is basically an hour of pure Teslen goodness :) And again, I apologise for any events out of place... not that it should matter as it is only told during a few days. The events of this story take place directly after Awakening... on with the story! Enjoy it (I hope)!
Rocks.
After a moment of silence, he stood up and offered her his hand. She looked at it for a moment, then caught his eye and smiled. She took hold of his cool hand and he pulled her up from the rocks.
"Lets get back to the Sanctuary." He had said to her.
Those words kept resounding in her head as she moved through the glistening hallways of the Sanctuary, noting that there wasn't a single speck of dust anywhere – suspiciously so. She made a note to herself to ask Will about that later.
"Lets get back to the Sanctuary." His voice filled her head again.
Helen Magnus was curious. After the events with Affina, she had thought that he would have wanted to get back to wherever it was he went and carry on with his world domination plans. After all, this was Nikola Tesla. However, on their way home after leaning upon the rocks and being comfortable in each other's presence and relief that the other was still alive, he had fully insisted on going back to the Sanctuary with her. A tiny part of her had thought that maybe he just wanted to stay with her, just for a little while longer, to make sure she was safe.
As they had started to hike back towards the nearest civilisation that lay a few miles away, she had glanced at him. The moonlight reflected upon his features and sparkled within his eyes that seemed to make him look so much more vampiric now than when he was just 'ordinary.' He had spoken with his usual charming air as he replied to her question of why he wasn't going to continue his world dominating plans now he was back to being a vampire again.
"I need to finish an experiment that I started a few days ago." He had replied, a slight mischievous smile creeping upon his lips that she had seen much too often.
Her smile matched his momentarily before he looked away. She had watched him for a moment longer before her eyes became fixated upon the road ahead of them as her heart sunk at his words. Only just a little.
But this was Nikola Tesla. Always with his own damn agenda.
That had been two days ago now and she was just as curious then as she was now. She found herself listening outside the door of his makeshift lab, trying to figure out what he was up to. She heard absolutely nothing. This infuriated her and her brow furrowed. If he's making something for his vampiric plans here in the Sanctuary, I swear on the life of me I will kick his ass, she thought as a wash of anger flowed over her. The thought of knocking didn't even cross her mind as she pushed her way through the door. Neither of them knocked when entering the other's labs, so why start now?
"Ah! Helen!" Nikola sat in his lab chair, backrest down and legs stretched out. His hands cradled his head as he looked up at the ceiling and gently spun the chair around. "Hasn't anyone told you that it is common courtesy to knock before entering a room? I could have been doing absolutely anything…" He smirked, not bothering to look her way. His relaxed demeanour infuriated her even more and the furrow upon her forehead deepened.
"Last time I checked, Nikola, it was my house." She said defiantly back.
"Yes! And so it is!" Nikola suddenly sat bolt up right and took her gaze. "My God, Helen. You look sexy when you're frustrated."
The furrow upon her brow vanished immediately. She knew exactly where that comment was going to go so she gave him one of her disapproving eyes and decided to change the subject of her frustration.
"What are you doing?" she asked as she moved over to his bench and picked up a rather odd looking contraption that sat in front of him. Nikola watched her every move with that cheeky smile dancing across his lips.
"Waiting for the curiosity to get the better of you. It only took 2 days, bravo Helen! You know, they once said that curiosity killed the cat." The laughter in his voice chimed through his words and she couldn't help but relax at his usual airy tone.
"They also said that cats have nine lives." She caught Nikola's eyes and gave him a smirk that she only reserved for him. How could he make her feel so bloody angry, yet in the next instance make her smile?
"And how many lives do you think you have left?"
Helen didn't answer as she looked down at the silver, long whistle like contraption she held in her hands. It had a small, circular compartment attached to the underside that had a dull blue orb glowing inside of it that looked like it would extinguish itself in the matter of moments. Four tiny silver pipes branched out from the compartment and twirled around into the base of the long whistle.
"What is this rather strange looking thing, Nikola?" She asked suspiciously.
"Ah…" Nikola stood to his feet and took the gleaming silver from her. His hands lingered on hers for just a moment more than they should have. She couldn't help but notice the small fluttering butterfly feeling that washed over her. "… You came in at just the right time. You see, I've been waiting for you for two days to come and see me and now you're here, I can get this thing working." Helen scowled at him. Just for a split second. Nikola carried on with a grin across his face. "You see, it needs a little kick-start to get working properly. My electro-magnetic powers, as charming as they were, could never quite get it powered up enough."
"Nikola…" Helen sighed as she shook her head at him, but he cut her off with a swish of his hand before she could go on any further.
"And now I am, re-vamped, as we like to call it," he gave a twist of his hand, "I have enough power to boot it up."
"Nikola, your electro-magnetic powers were wonderful in their own right. Your vampiric abilities do not automatically make you a better man." Helen's mind went back to the events after Nikola had lost his vampiric abilities. She had never admitted it to the man himself, but she had admired his genius brilliance more as she had watched him work knowing that it was truly him. His voice jolted her back to reality.
"No, Helen. They do not make me a better man. They make me better than man. The vampires were geniuses, the greatest…"
It was Helen's turn to cut him off this time. "Nikola…"
"Alright, alright. But Helen, I have never felt more alive than I do now." A fire raged in his eyes and the light heartedness had vanished. Helen cursed herself for changing the tone of their conversation. But deep down she knew she had to have this conversation with the man in front of her. The man she had known for a very, very long time and the man she was very, very fond of.
Maybe too much so.
"Its just…" she faltered, not knowing how to say what she wanted to say next. She could see the confusion spread across his face.
"Go on, Helen." He prompted.
She remembered something he had said to her when he had graced her with his presence in the catacombs of Rome for the first time since she didn't know how long. "I can't help but think that I admired you without your vampiric abilities."
Nikola looked crushed as a moment of silence fell between them.
"Well, I'm sorry that you can't like who I am. I know I am disliked by the others of The Five, even your father, but I thought that you at least understood." The bitterness dripped through his voice.
"I do, Nikola. I do understand. But it is not who you are. It is what we made you."
The silence hung between them again and was only broken when Nikola looked down and placed the compartment containing the blue orb between his thumb and finger. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes before a small pop of electricity sparked between his finger and thumb. Suddenly the blue orb glowed brightly and Helen was sure it would explode. Nikola held it out to her. She hesitantly took it, her curious eyes never leaving his.
"I made this for you, Helen. Keep this with you and if you need help just blow on the end and I will be able to hear it." He looked deeply into her eyes before the playfulness returned in his own. "Then I can come and rescue you."
She smirked. "It's usually you who needs rescuing, remember?"
"Did I say that was its only purpose? You can also use it if you just want to see me or if you're feeling a little bit lonely of a night-time." He lightly touched her upper arm and grinned.
"Get out."
"OK." Nikola's grin stayed on his face as he strode out of the door, Helen watching as he disappeared, twirling the whistle through her fingers.
The following morning, Helen took a last look at the glowing blue orb of the whistle before placing it into her jacket pocket and taking the last few steps into her office. Will, Henry and Kate sat in their usual places mumbling intermittently to each other, the tiredness obvious upon their faces and voices.
"Good morning." Helen said as she passed them and sat on top of her desk in front of them.
"Is it, Magnus?" Will groaned. Helen looked at Kate and Henry confused as they tried to stifle their giggles.
"Oh shut it, Will!" Kate laughed.
"Maybe you should have gone to bed earlier!" It was Henry's turn this time.
Will shot them one of his best death glares. "Er, you didn't have Dracula thinking it would be funny to wake you up at 3.47 this morning just to say goodbye."
"Oh come on Will. You should know by now that vamp-boy never sleeps. Much." Kate laughed at Will's glare again before Helen interrupted.
"What do you mean, goodbye?"
Will turned his attention back to Helen. "He said something about having to go and he wanted to annoy me just one last time. Not that that is hard for Tesla to do."
"Did he say where he was going?" Helen's heart sunk a little more at the fact that Nikola had just left in the middle of the night. She would have tried to persuade him to stay at the Sanctuary with them. With her.
Or just to be able to say goodbye.
Will's voice jarred her back to reality. "I was half asleep and angry at the time, Magnus. I threw the pillow at him and he disappeared." This drew more giggles from Henry and Kate, which in return earned them another 'Will' glare. They didn't notice Helen's hand reach into her pocket to touch the silver whistle before she shushed them and carried on with the mornings meeting.
Helen found herself watching the city's lights dance across the sky as she stood upon the roof of the Sanctuary. The wind blew around her as she tightened up her coat to try and savour some of the warmth within. She often found herself up here after a particularly hard day, or when she needed to clear her mind. Today had been particularly hard. She had had to deal with a matter of utmost importance regarding the exportation of a container full of red listed abnormals from France into England. Declan was more than capable of dealing with the European team and handling the situation, but she needed to get to the ringleader of this new group who had been exporting several red listed abnormals over the past few months.
She sighed. It never got any easier. After you fell one bad guy, another would just take their place.
As she reached into her pocket in an attempt to keep her hands warm, her fingers glided over something warm and shiny. She suddenly remembered the whistle that Nikola had given her the other day that had been left forgotten in her pocket. She gently pulled it out and smiled as the blue orb emitted a strong electric glow and warmth from the palm of her hand.
"If you need help then just blow on the end and I will be able to hear it…"
Helen was tempted to blow the whistle, just to see him again.
She resisted his charm and instead placed the whistle back into her pocket with a smile. She could always count on Nikola to think of her – no matter if his agenda was vampiric world domination or otherwise.
As she turned to go back inside to the homely glow of the Sanctuary, she whispered into the wind, "Try not to get into too much trouble whilst you're away, Nikola."
