A/N: I fully and unashamedly blame Entrenched for this. This completely her fault for plying with sweet talk and then unleashing her dirty mind on me. She knows what she did and she will pay for it. This one's for you girl ;)
Helen tried to shift into a more comfortable position and hissed as she irritated her welts. Not for the first time she wished she healed as quickly as Nikola. At least the silk sheets were cool and the rose petals soft against her skin. That helped some. As did the ointment John had applied after their play session.
Helen shifted to her stomach so as to keep the red marks on the back of her body away from anything but air. This wasn't her normal sleeping position so she knew sleep would be long in coming. She sighed as she thought of the long day she had tomorrow. Perhaps she could convince Nikola to run the world without her for one day. Then she shuddered at all the trouble Nikola could cause on his own in one day. Even if she was exhausted, she was still needed to keep him in line. John could do the same job—he'd proven that several times this night—but he insisted he had no interest in the government. He'd only done those things to shut Nikola up.
With a growl, Helen propped herself up on her elbows and glared at the cat-o-nine tails whip that was curled up, resting in the corner. She wasn't usually one to blame inanimate objects for her situations but the whip was what caused her current predicament. Of course it more John's fault than the whip because he had been wielding it but she always found it hard to be upset with John. So she focused her frustration on the whip. And she couldn't find the leather cuffs to glare at.
Really she should focus her frustration on Nikola. But it was just as hard to stay mad at him as it was to stay mad at John. Besides she knew what her mad scientist was like and she knew that the original plans for this evening would test his control. So really, she had no one to blame but herself.
They had been trying to set up a lovely scene for John's birthday but Nikola's playfulness had overwhelmed him at the sight she presented. John was not happy to walk in on his two lovers already through the first round of play. So the whip and the cuffs had come out and well…the rest was history really. History that was keeping Helen Magnus from getting a goodnight's sleep.
"Helen, are you still up?" Nikola half mumbled.
"I can't sleep," she snapped.
"Come now, love," John drawled. "I thought I thoroughly wore the two of you out."
"So you did," Helen agreed. "But my back…"
Before she could finish that sentence she found herself tightly embraced by her men. Nikola pulled her close to his chest and John pressed close to her back. "Better?" John drawled right in her ear. If Helen hadn't been so exhausted, she would have been excited.
"Much," she whispered back.
"Then sleep," Nikola told her with a kiss to her forehead.