Some lawyer stuff to discuss: First of all, I give my permission to post on Mel's Forever Knight Fan Fiction Page and Anita at fkfanfic2. It will also be available for download on my website at http/ Second, I do not own most of the characters. Jim Parriott owns Nick, Natalie, Donald Schanke, Amanda Cohen, and LaCroix. Rawley Wilkes and Falcon are names I had gotten from the movie "Lone Wolf McQuade". These characters I am borrowing for my enjoyment, and hopefully yours too. I, myself, do own Nichole Ann de Brabant Knight, thou. So please ask before using her. Any resemblance to anyone mortal, dead, dhampir, or vampire is purely coincidental. The song that Nick plays on his stereo is "I Think of You" by Collin Raye. The songs Nichole plays is "Father of Mine" by Everclear, I just changed a few words to fit the plot, and "Daddy's Girl" by Red Sovine. The poem LaCroix recites in his monologue is Thomas Hardy's 'The Man He Killed' taken from A Child's Anthology of Poetry edited by Elizabeth Huge Sward with Victoria Flournoy McCarthy. :-&
I have not been to Toronto, so please excuse me if landmarks are not real or in the right places. Flashbacks are titled correctly, with 'Flashback' and 'End of Flashback'. Everything that is in apostrophe '…' are the characters' thoughts. :-
This is the second story in the Nichole Continuance. It takes place two months after "Daddy's Little Girl", (which you may get from me, my site, or from the FKFanFic2 site) it is not necessary to have read the first story to understand the storyline. Within the two months time span, David has been moved back in with his father (court's decision) and Schanke, Nick, & Natalie transferred from the 23rd precinct to the 96th.
Because Don has strongly mention that ANY MENTION OF GENTAIALS is considered adult subject matter, part three is described as adult. I would most likely rate it R for content, it is only a itsy-bitsy-tiny-weeny part.
€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€
Nuclear Dreams
Part 1?
Nick Knight walked into the precinct on time. When he entered the bullpen, Captain Amanda Cohen was in her office. Nick hoped that she was in a good mood tonight. He was already looking for his partner, who was suppose to be there already. His search was interrupted by Captain Cohen's quiet, demanding voice, "Knight! Schanke! In my office now!" Well, at least he knew what mood Captain was in. He resumed his search for his partner, his eyes stopped at the desk next to his. His partner was sitting at his desk, and he watched as his partner stood up straight.
"I know I didn't do anything wrong Schanke, I was here on time," Nick told him as he walked up to his side. He agreed with him, telling him that he was also there on time. Both of them walked into the captain's office. "You wanted to see us Cap.?"
"How much have you two got on the McCall case?"
"Same thing we had for a week, Captain."
"I want you to classify it as unsolved and place it on the back burner."
"But, Cap..."
"No 'buts'. You two have a new case. This one just came in," Cohen handed a slip of paper to Nick. He glanced at it, written was the address of a new nuclear power plant on the outskirts of the city limits. "ME is already on the way, detectives."
"Do you know who it is?" Nick asked. He also needed to talk to Natalie, and hoped she is on this case.
"Yes, Detective. You know who it is, as well as I do."
"Dr. Lambert?"
"The one and only. Now get going before I bust you down to traffic officers."
"Yes Ma'am." Nick and Donald Schanke answered in unison, and stumbled out of the office into the bullpen. Fellow officers and detectives watched as the two trotted out to the parking lot and to the caddie, or as Schanke had been known to call it once or twice, 'Titantic'. After a few minutes, Schanke broke the silence, "So where are we headed for this case, Partner?"
"That new nuclear power plant that was built recently just outside of the city." Nick answered without taking his eyes off the road. "I hope we can hurry up and finish this investigation."
"Why do you say that?" Schanke was trying to keep the conversation going, maybe he could learn something about his close-mouthed partner. Nick then skillfully navigated the caddie to a protected parking spot.
"Because Nichole is home alone and I want to spend some time with her, that's why. We're here." Nick announced to Schanke. He looked outside of the car for the first time in the last 30 minutes, and found a front of a nuclear power plant building looming in front of him. Nick was already out of the car looking for a familiar Ford Taursse, he spotted it as it pulled into the parking lot. Schanke was out of the car and making his way to the entrance, while Nick walked over to the new arrival. As he approached the car, his query steeped out of the car in question. "Nat? Do you have a sec?"
"No Nick, I do not. Why? Do you want to talk to me?" Dr. Natalie Lambert answered Nick.
"Why, yes..."
"You can walk with me inside and talk on the way. So what do you want to talk to me about, Nick?"
"It's about our relationship, Nat."
When she heard that last statement her mind told her, 'This is it. He is moving on, without me.' Not to let her fear get the better of her, she responded with, "What about our relationship, Nick?"
They both had just walked inside of the entrance, Nick had better talk fast to get his point across. "Nat, I'm not a man of words. I don't know why I find this difficult to say, maybe it's my 13th century upbringing. Oh, hell. Natalie Lambert, I love you with all my heart. I know this isn't the appropriate time to ask, but will you do me the honor, Natalie Lambert, of becoming my wife for all eternity?" They walked into the crime scene, a room in the working part of the plant. Nick notices this little detail and continued to whisper into Natalie's ear, "You don't have to answer right now, just let me know before the night is over."
Without thinking of what her soulmate just said, Natalie hoarsely answered, "Yes, Nick Knight. I will marry you. I love you with all my heart and soul."
Nick had meant to ask her one month ago, but found it difficult to form the question into words. As Natalie bent over the victim, he could visibly see her scar that had appeared two months ago. It gave him a pang of guilt everytime he saw it there on her neck. "So, what do you have for us, Nat," Nick asked to break the tension in the room.
"Male in the mid 30's. Gunshot to the chest with what appears to be a .22 rifle." She said in her 'professional mode' to the two detectives and the captain. "I'll know more once I get him back to the lab. I should have the post before lunch."
Before she can turn around and leave with the body, Nick had grabbed her arm, and whispered, "Nat, come spend the day at the loft with me, please?"
"Okay, Nick. What about Nichole?"
"I'll send her to a movie she has been wanting to see. I better see what Schanke has got. Bye, Nat."
"Bye, Nick." He watched as she walked out of the plant. He then turned to find Don talking to someone who was well dressed and looked like they owned the plant. For some odd reason, the man in front of Donald looked familiar to Nick. He walked up to his partner, startling him.
After he had given him a brief time to calm down he proceeded, "So, what have you got, Schanke?"
"Nick, this is Rawley Wilkes. He owns this building and the surrounding property we are now standing on. Mr. Wilkes this is my partner, Detective Nick Knight."
Nick started in disbelief as Schanke said the well-dressed gentleman's name and he could barely contain the rage he felt toward this man. All of the rage was not coming directly from him, half of it was coming from Nichole. Mr. Wilkes had a look of recognition plastered on his face as he looked at Nick.
"Razón me, Señor Knight. Do I know you? You seem familiar." Mr. Wilkes stated flatly, slightly accented in Spanish.
"I just have that kind of face, I guess." Nick replied dryly to the curious statement.
A few hours later, after the authorities left the plant and finished the investigation of the crime scene, Mr. Wilkes turns to his assistant, "Falcon, find everything you can on Detective Nicholas Knight."
"Sé, Señor Wilkes." The man retreated to where ever he had come from.
At the precinct, Don decided to grill his partner's actions at the crime scene tonight. "You know Wilkes, don't you?"
"Like I said before to him, Schanke. I just have that kind of face." He almost growled at his partner, seeing the man that he knew killed his latest ex-wife didn't set well with him.
"Come on, Nick. I saw that look on your face the second you laid your eyes on him. You had the exact same look he had when he saw you."
'Damn him! He's just too smart for my diversion tactics!' Nick started to stand, "I'm going to lunch, Schanke. While I'm on my break, I'm going to see what Nat's got from the body."
"Aren't you going to check on Nichole while you're at it?"
"She's a big girl, Schanke. She turned 13 last month, and besides I only get an hour for my lunch break." Nick retorted rather angrily and made a hasty retreat out the door, not before signing himself out.
'Schanke's right, though. I haven't been paying much attention to her lately. Maybe I should call her from the morgue to see if she's up for a little of quality time, maybe Paris for a week or something. He had noticed how much Nichole was becoming more nocturnal like him, so he wouldn't be surprised if he called the loft at this time of the night and she would answer the phone. He turned on the radio hoping it would improve his mood, but once the voice of his master came through the caddie's speakers it caused his emotions to contradict inside of him. The ancient's voice had calmed Nick's nerves, 'very' little that is. He is still 'very' enraged at this moment and LaCroix's topic doesn't help matters one bit. He placed the caddie in gear as his master's voice rang out of the speakers.
"Ah, gentle listeners, tonight we talk about rage and revenge. How each seem to go hand in hand throughout history. First comes the rage that makes us commit a rather bad 'altercation'; next comes the revenge to avenge the actions taken out on someone the renegade cared for. Let us go deeper into the rage and what it drives us to do. I believe our friend, Mr. Thomas Hardy, has placed into simple words we might comprehend."
Nick sat at the wheel gripping it so tightly, that it might crumble into dust if he held it anymore tighter. The light turned green just as LaCroix's voice recited Hardy's 'The Man He Killed'.
"'Had he and I met
By some old ancient inn,
We should have sat us down to wet
Right many a nipperkin!
"'But ranged as infantry,
And staring face to face,
I shot at him as he at me,
And killed him in his place.
"'I shot him dead because——
Because he was my foe,
Just so: my foe of course he was;
That's clear enough; although
"'He thought he'd 'list, perhaps,
Off-hand like——just as I——
Was out of work——had sold his traps——
No other reason why.
"'Yes; quaint and curious war is!
You shoot a fellow down
You'd treat if met where any bar is,
Or help to half-a-crown.'
A small amount of silence followed the citation for reality to sink in before LaCroix continued, "What was done to make you turn to rage, my children? Confide in the Nightcrawler. Call and we shall discuss."
Nick, disgusted that his father would even go that far, abruptly and furiously switched the radio off. He drove half of the way to the morgue in silence, brooding in his mood before he came to a decision. 'Maybe I should just book off the rest of the night. I could call Nat from the loft and tell her where I am. Don would be rather upset with me, but hell, I need some time alone with Nichole right now. I haven't been spending enough time with her lately. Captain would understand, I hope.' With that thought in mind he fished out his mobile and dialed Captain Cohen's number.
"96th precinct. This is Captain Cohen."
"Captain, this is Nick. I was wondering if I could book off early to spend some much needed time with Nichole?"
Cohen, being a woman herself, understood what Detective Nick Knight was asking for. She knew he is only asking for this just because he had most likely been neglecting his daughter and putting his work before her. "Sure thing, Detective. I expect that report on my desk before the end of the shift tomorrow night. I will tell your partner of your unexpected change of plan."
"Thanks, Captain. I know Nichole would appreciate this." After they said their byes, Nick hunk up the phone and turned the caddie right around and headed for the loft. He drove straight there, rage still pulsing from him. As he arrived at the warehouse he called home, his rage had somewhat abated from him. 'I can't be this much angry around Nichole, she'll sense how angry I am.'
Nick opened the garage door and pulled the car inside, and gotten out. He punched in security code and waited impatiently for the lift to retrieve him from the ground level. Once the lift had finally arrived to him, he got inside and pushed the button for the second floor. As the lift neared its destination, he heard the most dearest, precious, and loved heartbeat to his own still heart.
The lift stopped at the desired place, and he opened the door to be attacked by a flying 13-year-old girl. "Daddy! What are you doing home so early?"
"I thought we could spend sometime together, just the two of us. Nat's gonna spend the day with us, Princess. Guess what I finally did tonight?"
"What was that?"
"I finally asked her. Speaking of Nat, I better call her and tell her where I'm at and with whom."
"Mom was expecting you at the morgue?"
"Not exactly. Schanke probably told her I was going over there to see what she had gotten from the autopsy tonight." Nick said as he shifted his daughter to one side to put her down, and made his way over to the phone. He picked up the receiver and started to dial the so familiar number before he was stopped by a questioning child. He hung up the phone to give her his full attention.
"Daddy?"
"Yes, Princess?"
"Why are you mad?"
"You can feel 'that'?"
"It was very strong, how could I not feel 'that'?"
"I saw somebody from the past, I didn't like him then. I still don't like him now, but for a different reason."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"No thanks, Princess. You don't want to hear it."
"Okay."