A/N:The real Nikola Tesla was in fact enamored with pigeons, even going so far as to claim a particular female as his wife. Special thanks goes to Entrenched who provided crucial support and ideas.
Nikola growled in frustration. He was supposed to be a genius, damn it. This shouldn't be so hard for someone as smart as him. Too bad he couldn't convince Helen to outlaw Valentine's Day. That would really solve all his problems.
Of course Helen was the easy one to shop for. Jewels, furs, dresses, all those things were picked up with barely a flick of his wrist toward one of the servants. But Helen wasn't the only one he needed to shop for anymore. Now John was in his life and while Nikola loved John deeply, his male lover often confused him. The man didn't seem to want anything that their new life had brought them. Instead he preferred to stay secluded in the library or walking through the gardens, rather than thinking on the fact that the three of them had recently taken over the world and could now do so much more for fun.
Nikola let another growl slip out and decided to ask Helen. She and John had been together for years, she would know what the other man wanted. He found her secretary in the office. "Where's Helen?" he demanded.
"The Empress is in the bedroom," the woman answered. Nikola swept out without so much as a nod of acknowledgement.
Helen was wrapping her own Valentine's Day gifts when a soft knock came. "The Emperor wishes to see you," one of the maids said.
Helen sighed. She had known Nikola would come running to her sooner or later. Slipping the gifts under the bed, she nodded to the other woman. "Send him in."
The maid had barely disappeared before Nikola swept inside. "I hate Valentine's Day," he stated.
"Hello, Nikola. Pleasant to see you too."
Nikola strode over to her and brushed a soft kiss on her mouth. "I need help," he told her as he pulled away.
"I've been saying that for years."
"I meant I need help picking a gift for John."
"And?"
"And? And I want your input."
"Nikola, it's not like this is our first Valentine's Day together. John loves you; he'll love whatever you get him."
"Yes but this is the first Valentine's since we took over the world. Normal gifts and fantastic sex won't cut it this year. I need something…" Nikola made one of those grand gestures that he did when articulating a particularly important point..."amazing."
"I, for one, think you are blowing this quite out of proportion."
Nikola was about to respond when his eyes narrowed in on the wrapping paper next to her. "What did you get him?"
"I'm not telling you."
"But I need help."
"Then you shouldn't have waited until the last minute."
"What did you get me?"
"I'm not telling you that either Nikola."
"Please, Helen?"
"I already gave you my answer. Go be original for once."
Nikola bared his fangs at her but hurried out of the room. Helen gave a deep sigh. She loved both her men very much but they could drive her to a distraction sometimes.
Nikola ended up back in his own study pacing the floor. Dinner was in two hours and they had agreed to exchange gifts after that. He needed something that would be just right for John. Lighting on one possibility, Nikola hurried to the chest in the corner of the room. This was where he kept his relics. All those pieces of his past that he wasn't quite ready to get rid of yet. There, deep in the chest, was the carving he was looking for.
John had always been a good carver and not just on corpses either. Way back when The Three had in fact been The Five, John had decided to make something for Helen on their first Valentine's Day together. Nikola had felt himself grow more jealous each time he saw John in the corner whittling away. Back then he was sure it was jealousy at John taking Helen from him. Now Nikola knew better, it had been jealousy that he couldn't join them. Nikola gently ran a thumb over the dark wooden bird he had stolen. His hopes of making John look the fool on that Valentine's had been dashed of course. John had managed to have something lovely planned for Helen. But Nikola had never let go of the bird.
Nikola noted that the bird's beak was open just enough to slide a letter in. He supposed John intended to use it to write those things that were not proper to say in the Victorian Era. Still it could be useful to him now. Nikola could write John some sort of heartfelt note—he had always been better at writing these things out than saying them—and slip it in the bird's beak. It wasn't really quite the present he was looking for but it was unique and that would have to be good enough this time.
Dinner was a pleasant affair with John asking Helen and Nikola how their day went and offering his advice where ever he could. He didn't want to rule the world but he did like to make the lives of his lovers easier. Or as easy as any of their lives got these days. "Shall we exchange gifts now?" Helen suggested.
"Let's," John nodded. "Why don't you start, Helen?"
"I'll be right back," she smiled.
The men settled themselves in the library where Helen met them with presents. Her gifts to John were several first editions of Keats and Shelley. For Nikola she had bought him new lab equipment. Both got new shirts to replace the ones lost due to their amorous activities recently. "You next, John," Helen prompted.
"I'd prefer to go last if you don't mind."
"It's Nikola's turn then," Helen said.
Nikola nodded and hurried to his study. He quickly grabbed Helen's present but hesitated when he came to the bird. A part of him still wasn't sure that John would truly like it. But he had no other choice. It was do or die. With that thought in mind, Nikola grabbed the bird and headed back to the library where his lovers were waiting. Helen was delighted with her new books but Nikola knew she loved the new dress even more. She might have portrayed a serious, intellectual face to the rest of the world but John and Nikola knew their female lover adored being spoiled as much as anyone. "I'm glad you like them," Nikola whispered, kissing her lightly.
John leaned back in his chair and smirked. "Have you no gift for me, Nikola?" he drawled. He was delighted to see the tiny shivers that ran both their spines at his tone.
"Of course," Nikola snapped. Not trusting his resolve to stay he thrust the bird at John.
The other man gasped and reverently took it from Nikola's hands. He glanced through the note which was very Nikola and warmed John's heart. But his real focus was the bird. "Where did you get this?" he murmured.
"I…um…I stole it," Nikola finally admitted. He felt very much like a naughty schoolboy in the principal's office.
John gave a slow nod. "Nikola, the longer I know you the more I believe in Divine Providence."
"What are you talking about John?" Helen asked.
"He carved it for your first Valentine's Day," Nikola explained quickly. "I was jealous and I stole it. I had hoped it would make him look like an idiot for not having anything. Clearly that didn't happen."
"Wrong on all accounts," John stated. Both heads turned to him with wide eyes. "The bird wasn't for Helen, Nikola, it was for you."
"Excuse me?"
"I made this with the intention of giving it to you. I remember the hours I spent agonizing over the decision of whether or not I should even bother finishing it. We were rather...straight-laced in those days. When it disappeared I only assumed it was a higher power sending me a sign that such ideas were foolhardy and immoral and so I never confronted my growing affection towards you. I thought that the things we had been taught all our lives were right on this point and that I should pursue Helen as the right and proper thing to do." He turned to Helen with a warm smile. "That's not to say that I didn't love you, my dear. Merely that even then my affections were divided."
"Understood," Helen nodded. "Of course, Nikola, any fool could see that this bird wasn't meant for me."
"Why's that?" Nikola demanded.
"Nikola, have you taken a proper look at the bird?"
"No."
Helen laughed. "It's a pigeon, Nikola. And everyone knows you are far more enamored with those birds than I am."
It was Nikola's turn to gasp this time. Now that he looked closely at the carving, it was indeed his favorite bird. In fact, Nikola would swear John had modeled the little statue after his favorite of all birds; a white female that he had been particularly attached to right up until is "death". But then John was good with details like that. Nikola reached out a shaking hand to touch the bird. "It's really for me?" he asked in a whisper. The part of him that was still very insecure in their relationship expected John to slap his hand way and say the whole thing was a joke.
Instead John pulled him close for a loving kiss. When Nikola pulled away he found the bird grasped in his hands. "It's really for you," John affirmed quietly.
Helen was grateful for the new understanding between her men but there was still lingering tension in the air. "Such a shame you were so jealous, Nikola," she said with a toss of her hair. "Think of all the fantastic sex we could have been having if you had simply let John confess his feelings."
John out a loud laugh at the statement. Nikola whipped to Helen with a glare until he saw the teasing gleam in her eyes. "How about I make up for it tonight in the bedroom?"
"Promise?" Helen asked coyly.
John chuckled at the heat sparking between the two people he loved most in this world. "I have one last present before we get to that," he announced.
"And where is this magnificent present?" Nikola demanded.
"In the old study I've been renovating," John explained. "Leave your gifts here. You'll want your hands free for this."
"Nikola," Helen called shyly, "May I see your bird?"
Nikola almost hesitated in giving it to her. But Helen would never do anything to hurt him like smashing the bird so he willingly handed it over. "What do you need it for?"
"I need it to put it right…here." Helen gently placed the bird on a shelf where it would be protected but not noticed immediately.
"Why there?" John asked.
"I thought it might be good to sue it to send letters to each other. Just to remind us that we're loved." She looked back at her men. "Don't you like it there?"
"I like your idea, sweet, but that might not be the best place for it," John mused. "But we'll work on that later. Come over here so I can give you two your last present."
Both allowed John to pull them close to teleport to their destination. John was proud of his gift but really didn't want to let go of his lovers. Still, he consoled himself with the thought that they would soon be in the bedroom. "Just in here?" Nikola asked. John nodded and pushed them forward.
Helen and Nikola opened the door to reveal a rather bare room. A plush cream carpet was under their bare feet, the walls were painted a lighter shade of green and dozens of black and white pictures hung on all of one wall and part of another one. But other than that, there was nothing in the room. "John?" Helen called questioningly.
"Touch one of the pictures," John prompted.
Helen and Nikola exchanged curious looks but moved forward. They realized that all of the pictures were of the three of them. Helen reached out to touch one of them in the Sanctuary.
******Suddenly the room changed as the picture expanded outward. Helen and Nikola were both strongly reminded of the 3-D city as they found themselves in the library of the Sanctuary. John was lounging in a chair while Nikola and Helen paced around a table with a small city on it. Each had a heavy book in their hands and had previously been arguing. "John, don't be an ass," Helen snapped, not looking at him.
"Why not, it's his best talent," Nikola pointed out. He turned to his male lover with a grin. "Love you."
John snorted. "That won't get you out of punishment this time."
Helen dropped her book to the table. "Please boys, not tonight." She rested her elbows on either side of the book and buried her head in her hands. "I'm just so frustrated right now."
John strode over to them with an indolent air. "That, loves, is because both of you are over thinking this. It's quite simple really. Nikola shall make the plans and Helen shall put them in motion. There be such minimal resistance it won't even be worth noticing."
"And what will you be doing while we're conducting all this?" Nikola asked archly.
"I'll deal with what little resistance there is." John pulled them close. "This will work. You two just need to have faith."*********
Helen and Nikola turned to John as the scene faded away. Both of them recognized the scene as one from when they laid their first plans to take over the world. "You don't want to know how many Abnormals and technicians I worked with to get this just right," John stated.
"Do all of the pictures do the same thing?" Helen asked.
"They do," John nodded. "Every moment of our lives together is represented here. To watch a scene just touch a picture. To stop it, touch the frame again. Simple."
"This is…"Helen began.
"Incredible," Nikola finished.
"There's room for more of course," John added. "SO that we can always have our memories at our fingertips."
Nikola studied the pictures curiously. "Just how graphic do these scenes get?"
John's smile grew predatory. "Those pictures are in a far more private location. The unused receiving room right next to our bedroom."
"Why, John, that's almost as big as our bedroom," Helen gasped.
"It must look so empty right now," Nikola mused. His eyes took on a devilish gleam. "We should really add to it."
John laughed as he moved close to his two lovers. "Nikola, I love the way you think."