Alright-thanks for all the great reviews! I'm sorry it took me so long to get this chapter up, but I think it's worth it-hope you guys do too. Just in case anyone was wondering this story is set after the first season and disregards the second season episodes. Hope everyone enjoys!

Basic disclaimer applies.

"Vicki?" the voice came from far away, but Vicki thought she recognized it. "Victoria?"

Yep, she definitely knew who that was.

"Henry." She said the name as soon as her brain latched onto it, and the sound was beneficial to both in reassuring Henry and helping Vicki to swim a little farther up out of the fog. The next step was logical; Vicki opened her eyes and tried to sit up.

"Whoa, take it easy!" Gentle hands pushed her back down onto her couch. 'No,' Vicki realized, 'his couch.' With an internal sigh, she pushed that information aside and managed a grin. "Why?"

"Let me see: several lacerations, contusions that include the hand-print around your neck, and you probably have a concussion." Henry sat down on the couch by her legs. "Vicki, what happened?"

Her voice was only mildly sarcastic as she said, "Oh, you know, tall, blonde, handsome and I went for a little fresh air. One second he's telling me a joke and the next thing I know Mr. Vampire is-"

"Vampire? Henry interrupted.

"Yeah, complete with the black eyes and threatening dental work." Henry rolled his eyes but said nothing further.

"Anyway, Mr. Vampire is trying to persuade me to tell him where you are. I guess he doesn't like getting no for an answer because then I was pinned against the wall and he demanded I tell him. Don't know how he expected me to say anything seeing as he was choking me, but then he dropped me and, well, you know the rest."

"You didn't happen to catch this Vampires name did you?"

Vicki sighed; she had been afraid he'd ask her that. "He said it once. It was something like Cody or Caleb."

Henry stood and started pacing. "Christopher?" He asked. "Kyle? Carlos?"

Vicki shook her head at each name that Henry offered. "Mm-mm, keep going."

"Charles? Kevin? Casey? Uh- Clark?"

"No. I'm sorry Henry, I must have hit my head harder than I thought."

Vicki was upset at her lack of memory, Henry could hear it in her voice. He still had questions for her and he certainly didn't want to upset her, so he went for appeasement.

"It's alright Vicki, it was a long shot anyway."

Silence reigned for a moment, and then Vicki said, "It was something like Camaro." Henry just nodded, staring out the window, arms crossed over his chest, surveying his city. And then it hit him. His eyes widened and his brow rose as he turned back to face Vicki. "Cameron?"

Vicki sat straight up. "Yes! Camaro, Cameron, I knew I wasn't crazy! What's wrong?"

"The only Cameron I know is one that Christina turned forty-five, maybe fifty years ago."

"Christina your sire?"

"The one and only. Vicki, I need to know exactly what he said."

"He asked me if I was cold. When I said yes, he moved in front of me and put his coat around my shoulders…" Vicki ignored Henry's low snarl, "and then he went vampire and asked me where you were. When I told him his charms wouldn't work on me he slammed me into the wall and said that I would tell him where you were-"

"Why didn't you fight back?"

His question was quiet but it nevertheless riled Vicki.

"Maybe because I was being held three inches off the ground by a hand around my neck! Or maybe I was waiting for someone to come save me! Or maybe…" Vicki paused, and her eyes narrowed. "Speaking of which, where were you? And you'd better not say you were sucking some blonde bimbo's blood!" Henry couldn't quite meet Vicki's eyes, and she groaned. "Oh, Henry, you were!"

"Not exactly. She wasn't blonde, and I didn't quite make it past her trying to stab me with an athame."

"An atha- what?"

"An athame. It's a ceremonial dagger used to…never mind. Now, you said he wanted to know where I was."

"Yeah, so what?"

"That means he doesn't know what I look like."

Vicki engaged her brain and tried to catch up with Henry's reasoning. 'Maybe I taught him a little to well,' she thought. "You mean because he saw us come out of the back together?"

Henry nodded.

"Well," Vicki began, now in full investigative mode, "if he doesn't know what you look like, that brings up two questions. One, how does he know who I am? And two, how did his distraction know who you were?"

Henry walked over and sat down beside Vicki. "I have no idea about the first one. As to the second one, she didn't know."

Vicki just stared at him, her skepticism apparent on her face.

"She called to me. There's a frequency, to low for human ears, that most supernatural creatures can use to speak to each other." Vicki still looked skeptical. "It's kind of like bats and echolocation, but the point is she called and I answered. I walked right into her trap, not that she lived long enough to gloat."

"Well, that aside, we still need to know how he knows who I am and what he wants with you. The only choice I see is to go back to that club."

"No, Vicki, I won't allow you to use yourself as bait."

"What other choice do we have Henry? We don't who he is, what he wants, or even where he is! The only thing we do know for certain is that he likes to hang out at that club!"

"Exactly! Don't you see Vicki, he is luring us onto his ground."

"His ground or not, I'm going back to that club tomorrow night. You can come with me or not, it's your choice."

Henry opened his mouth, and then closed it again. He was wise enough to know when he'd been beaten. "Of course I'm coming with you Vicki."

Vicki smiled, then groaned as she picked herself up off the couch. "I should probably go."

"You don't have to." The words were out of Henry's mouth before he'd had time to correctly process them. But Vicki just smiled. "That an invitation to stay?"

She expected one of his cocky retorts, something about how, with any other woman, he wouldn't have had to extend the invitation in the first place. She certainly wasn't expecting him to be serious, or to receive only a quiet, simple, "Yes."

Vicki sat back down and slowly met Henry's eyes. Never before had she so clearly seen him, his feelings.

He held her gaze until her eyes began to water, then bent down and kissed her.

This kiss was unlike any he had given her before. It was soft and hard, chaste and passionate. It was silk and steel and lightening, and Vicki was helpless to resist. Her arms seemed to twine, one around his shoulder the other in his hair, of their own accord, and when Henry buried his own hand in her hair she could make no move to stop him.

They were both breathless when finally the kiss ended.

Henry stood, and Vicki stood with him. Henry offered her his hand, effectively making the choice hers. She tried to ignore the way his eyes burned a line down her body and think. But there was no sense in any longer denying the inevitable, denying what they both were feeling. Vicki knew it and so she spoke no words of protest, only placed her hand in his and let him lead her through the door and into his bedroom. Once through the door he turned to face her, and his right hand closed over the nape of her neck, his thumb tipping back her head until she looked at him. His mouth was hard, eyes ice blue, but his touch wasn't rough. She felt naked and suddenly vulnerable with him watching her with those eyes. She swallowed convulsively as he ran his left hand down her body, his eyes never leaving hers.

"Don't be afraid," he whispered, "I promise I won't ever hurt you."

And she believed him; he could see it in her eyes. No one, down through nearly five centuries, had ever looked at him the way Vicki was looking at him now.

Their clothing was thrown, piece by piece, onto the floor, while a struggle for dominance raged on the bed. Vicki knew she never really stood a chance, and sure enough she ended up on the bottom, with a decidedly smug Henry above her. Although she had to admit, as his touch sent liquid fire through her veins, that perhaps his bragging wasn't all for naught. And when finally they joined Henry was tender and gentle. But every slow, deep stroke built a heavy craving for more, an insistence that had her hands caressing the damp skin and chiseled muscles of his back, urging him on. Fire licked along his skin as his muscles contracted and flexed, as his body moved harder and faster. And in the end, just as they crested that last wave, Henry sank his fangs into her left breast, just over her heart. He drank deeply as Vicki cried out and their bodies convulsed.

And when it was over and they lay side-by-side, Vicki was the one to break the silence.

"Henry?"

"Hm?"

"Do we get to cuddle now?"

Henry's laughter was deep and rich as he wrapped both arms around her and pulled her to his side. She was still there when the sun rose.

Well, what did you think? I had to up the rating because of the minor lemon, and I hope that didn't discourage anyone. I tried to refrain from the full-on sex scene and just write enough to get the picture across. Please review and tell me what you thought. Thanks, Mia21

Oh, and the cuddle thing is from the episode Love Hurts. Hope everyone got that!