No, I do not own Forever Knight, its characters, or anything having to do with it.

The Cure

Dr. Natalie Lambert pressed the accelerator a bit harder than necessary. She really shouldn't be driving this fast. It had been drizzling rain all day, and the sullen, gray clouds had been threatening snow. Already the roads were beginning to ice over.

For the tenth time since leaving work early, she reached over nervously to pat her purse, which lay in the passenger seat next to her. She was in a hurry to reach Nick's loft before sunrise. Nick. That was a warm thought. She glanced down at the dashboard clock. It read 5:45 AM, only a half hour 'til sunrise. Her smile quickly faded, replaced by a gasp of disbelief as she rounded the corner to Nick's warehouse. There in front of the garage were two huge moving vans, packed and ready to go. A man in coveralls stood busily closing each of the doors.

She pulled in beside the trucks and killed the engine, but she sat frozen at the wheel. With a puzzled frown on her face, Dr. Lambert grabbed her purse, holding it closely to her body, and stepped out into the icy air. Her feet made a harsh crunching sound on the gravel as she stepped out of her car and walked towards the garage. A feeling of nausea was growing in her belly.

Three men dressed in coveralls, like the first two she saw, were loading Nick's piano into a third moving van. "Hel-lo, Sweet thing!" one of the men called out. His name badge read "Buddy."

Natalie didn't even bother to glance at the man. She hurried on past him and his pal, whose name tag identified him as Fred. Her complete lack of interest or even irritation with them didn't dissuade the duo one bit.

"What's your hurry, Sugar?" Fred called out to her. He lithely jumped down from the back to the van, quickly moving next to her.

With the grace and speed of an ice skater, Buddy joined the two of them after securing the truck doors. "Yeah, Baby, why don't you stay and play with us?"

Natalie's answer was as biting as the frigid air around them. "I happen to be here to see Detective Knight, so if you don't mind, I'd appreciate your leaving me alone."

The two men pressed nearer until they had managed to push her into the garage and trap her against the side of Nick's Caddy. Natalie's initial irritation at their Ice Age manners was rapidly changing to one of fear.

Fred leaned against the car's front door blocking any escape Natalie may have had from the right. "Dickie Nickie's got all he can handle upstairs, Sweetheart," he murmured. With a cocky smile, he dropped his fangs and leered at her.

From the left, Buddy braced himself against the car, effectively catching Nat between them. He, too, smiled a wide toothy grin, showing off his fangs with delight. "That's right," he told her in a low voice. "Janette's got him kinda busy, if you know what I mean." He reached out to stroke the length of her arm.

From some inner sense of self-preservation, Natalie found the strength to push away from them. "Don't touch me!" she ordered Buddy. Fred snickered, and she shot a raw look of hatred his way. The next words popped out of her mouth of their own accord, and she hated herself for asking. "What do you mean Janette has Nick busy?"

Before he could answer, they were joined by a third vampire. His fangs, sharp and glistening like twin icicles, eagerly descended as he scented her fear. He moved in close to block her forward escape. This fellow, Jimmy, reached out to fondle a chestnut colored curl. He lifted it to his nose and inhaled deeply. 'You smell wonderful.'

Natalie froze with fear. If I scream, would Nick hear me and get here in time? she wondered to herself. Not if he's "busy" with Janette! she thought wryly. Natalie was fighting down the cold prickles of panic by now.

Almost as if he had read her mind, Buddy answered her. "Nickie and Janette? The Ice King and the Snow Princess?" Buddy drawled. "It's always been like that with those two. On again, off again." He shrugged and cupped her chin in his cool hands.

"Those two are LaCroix's golden children. They always get whatever they want," Fred added in a chilly tone.

Jimmy nipped, "Yeah, a couple of spoiled rotten brats, if you ask me, but that LaCroix is one scary bastard." He reached out and began to unbutton Natalie's blouse.

Natalie was nearly paralyzed with fear, but she wasn't about to show it. "All right! That's it!" Her tone was glacial as she shoved Jimmy's hands away.

Jimmy's retort was interrupted by Buddy's next comment. "Bet ya won't say that to his face." Both Buddy and Fred laughed loudly at his expense.

The look on Jimmy's face gave his cohorts all the answer they needed. "Do I look like a fool?" he laughed with them. Then as one, the group turned their piercing eyes back to Natalie.

"Stop!" a voice rang out. Natalie slumped against the Caddy with relief. Nick! He's come to save me! she thought wildly. But it wasn't Nick at all. It was the two other men she had seen earlier closing up the other trucks. The taller of the two ran forward with vampiric speed to pluck Natalie from their midst. "Don't you know who she is?" he hissed at the trio. His amber eyes glared at them.

Natalie, hiding behind her rescuer, was trembling with fear and cold. The temperature seemed to have plunged considerably in the last few minutes. Clutching her purse like a lifesaver, she struggled to re-button her blouse. She only partially succeeded.

"Sure, she used to belong to Dickie Nickie," Buddy answered the interloper casually. "But now that he's leaving with Janette and LaCroix . . . " Natalie's frightened face peeked out from behind the tall man. The shaking of her hands increased, and her face paled with his words. " . . . she belongs to us," he finished with a show of his fangs. Jimmy and Fred closed ranks with him.

"That's true enough," agreed Natalie's second hero. Natalie pressed herself against the taller man's back. "But this is Dr. Natalie Lambert. She cured us from the fever. Remember?" the second man told them emphatically.

Recognition dawned on the faces of Natalie's would-be killers. Instantly their fangs retracted and apologies were extended. It was with great relief and much bowing and scraping that the movers begged Natalie's forgiveness. Then, eliciting from her a promise not to tell LaCroix what they had said, the five of them settled down in the back of Nick's garage to sleep away the day.

It was with cold comfort that Natalie left her would-be attackers and headed up to the loft. Her stomach lurched with every step, but she forced her feet towards the elevator. What would she find when she got upstairs? Hooking her purse over her shoulder, Nat stepped into the bleak loft. It was cold inside too.

Having gotten used to the sound of the elevator as the men loaded Nick's things, the three figures inside the loft didn't even bother to turn around. LaCroix sat in Nick's black, leather armchair, the only piece of furniture left in the room. In his hand, he held a full glass of blood. Soft music drifted like lazy snowflakes from a portable CD player at his feet. Nick and Janette were wrapped around each other, dancing to the music, while LaCroix looked on with approval. Nick crooned softly:

"My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun.

My hunger for her explains everything I've done.

To howl at the moon the whole night through..."

LaCroix's frosty voice rang out. "Well, Dr. Lambert, what brings you here?" He snapped off the CD player, interrupting the song and the dancers.

As Nick reluctantly let go of her and moved lithely over to Natalie's side, Janette strolled over to LaCroix and sat on his lap. Father and daughter stared at Nat with identical arctic eyes.

"Nat," he asked, "what are you doing here?" He reached out to stroke the length of her arm.

"You're leaving?" she asked tightly. Her throat was constricting. "Without telling me?"

His smile cooled. "Yes, I'm leaving. It's time. And, no, I was coming by the lab tomorrow night before we left to tell you."

He was going to tell me at the lab? She couldn't believe it.

Nick reached out to push an errant curl back in place. His hand lingered to toy with her hair. "I left a message on your machine." He glanced down at her half-buttoned blouse and rumpled skirt, the same clothes she had worn to work last night. "But you haven't been home, have you?" he asked.

Natalie glanced over at Janette, who was now in the kitchen pouring a tall, red glass. Janette, beautiful and perfect, was dressed in a sapphire blue velvet dress. It was cut low to show off her jewelry and her cleavage. Glittering ice blue eyes matched the sapphires at her throat. She smiled triumphantly back at Natalie.

"Nick," Natalie lowered her voice, "I have something very important..."

He interrupted her. "Nat, I've finally found peace." Natalie was confused. "I've finally come to accept myself for who and what I am." Reaching up with cool hands, Nick cupped her chin.

Natalie tried again. "Nick, listen to me..."

"LaCroix and I have reached an understanding," he told her. His hands now took hers. "No more cold blooded murders . . . for any reason. LaCroix and Janette have agreed to try to live a more moral life." Nick was happy, radiant. "Of course, they will still drink human blood, but I'm sticking with animal blood."

Squeezing his hands with her own, Natalie spoke urgently. "Nick, you don't have to dri..."

"Nat, I'll be with my own again." Nick glanced away from her toward his vampire family. "Yet I'll be free to make my own choices." He moved closer to Natalie and began to re-button her blouse correctly. "I guess it just took a while for my father . . . " Nick cut a sly smile at LaCroix. LaCroix raised his glass in an unspoken toast to his favorite child and took a long draught. " . . . to realize that I am a man, and although always his son, no longer a child." Nick smiled his most charming boyish grin into Natalie's face.

"Oh, Nick, if you'll only let me tell you . . . "

"Nicolas," Janette called him in her sing-song voice. "I am waiting, Mon amour."

Nick released Natalie and turned to face his lover. "I'm coming, Janette." He turned back to face Natalie, to say his final farewells.

Janette flashed to Nick's side. She reached around him and cupped his manhood in her soft, white hands. "Yes," she whispered huskily in his ear, "you will." Gently she squeezed him and bit his shoulder.

Nick froze in place, his eyes closed. He swallowed hard.

With a flurry of misplaced air, she was on the stairs, calling out to him one last time. 'Don't keep me waiting," she commanded him. Then she disappeared into his bedroom.

Nick opened his eyes. A slow, stupid grin spread across his face, Nick cleared his throat and blinked his eyes several times to rid them of their reddish glow. Holding his hands clasped before him to hide his obvious arousal, Nick stuttered his question. "Uh, yes. N-nat, wh-what was it you were saying?"

"Nothing, I guess," she muttered. She let go of her purse, allowing it to drop almost to the ground, but catching it by the strap. She could barely speak. Her throat felt raw. If she didn't get out of there soon, she'd burst into tears. Quickly, she pecked him on the cheek and wiped away her lipstick prints. "Have a happy life, Nick," she whispered sincerely. Then, with a feeling of desolation, Dr. Natalie Lambert walked towards the door where LaCroix stood. He held it open for her in a mockery of chivalry. A last glance backward showed her that Nick was no longer there. No doubt he was upstairs in Janette's arms.

Natalie stared down at the scuffed toes of her gray pumps for several seconds. Drawing in a deep breath, she raised her head and pulled her purse's strap over her shoulder.

"It really was for the best, my dear," LaCroix said simply.

Natalie looked at him with hard eyes. She couldn't tell if he were being sarcastic or sincere. Of course, it didn't matter now. Nothing did.

Wordlessly, she reached in her purse and pulled out her car keys along with a capped syringe. For several seconds, she contemplated the hypodermic, fondled it. Then with a decisive movement, she thrust the object into LaCroix's hand and stepped into the elevator.

LaCroix frowned as he stared at the gelid fluid inside. With a frown on his face, he watched the doctor press the down button. "What is this?" he asked in a perplexed tone.

"The cure," Natalie answered.

Just as the sun rose above Toronto's horizon, the elevator doors closed, isolating Natalie. And the snow began to descend along with her tears.