I promised something longer and this is definately not it. I'm not happy with this one at all, but I couldn't really decide what to write for this one. It's just a bit of morning fluff to tide you guys over until the next chapter.

Thanks for the reviews!

004. rise - spring, 1890

Nikola had fallen into a morning routine with Helen. Since he needed very little sleep, he merely waited until she woke up before beginning his day and settling into the familiar and somewhat humble routine. It reminded him vaguely of the early mornings they would all gather in the lab. The five of them had developed a routine so they were never bumping into each other, always moving with some fluidity about the room. His and Helen's morning routine now mirrored it.

As the sun began to filter through the curtains of her room, Helen stirred against his side. Her arm was still thrown across him and her head rested on his shoulder, the exact position she had fallen asleep in. Nikola hadn't moved during the night, either.

"Good morning." He greeted as Helen sighed heavily, a sure-sign that she was awake (and likely didn't want to be).

"Don't let Mary catch you in here." She muttered and he chuckled at the mention of one of the few staff members that Helen still kept employed in the manor. They were needed, of course, but Helen had mostly a skeleton cast of staff. They were priveledged to know bits and pieces about the work she and her father kept up in the basement level, and they understood the unique situations that surrounded the remaining four that stayed within the manor. Helen had only felt comfortable with the few of the staff knowing - any more and she was afraid they'd be spreading it all over London.

And so began their morning routine. They had an entire time to themselves before breakfast, something he looked forward to during the night while she slept.

He pressed a kiss to the top of her head as she buried her face into his side, likely trying to will herself back into some semblence of sleep. Some mornings she succeeded, but more often than not she would realize that the day needed to begin and awoke with minor grumbling. Nikola merely smiled the entire time; sometimes it felt nice not to need sleep.

"Are you getting up this morning?"

"Working on it." She murmured, slowly pushing away from Nikola to avoid temptation. Her eyes finally opened and she gave him a tired smile. "Good morning."

She stretched, much like a cat, back arching as she rolled over onto her stomach. Her legs tangled momentarily within the blankets as she struggled to pull herself from the last clutches of sleep.

"Remind me again why we get up this early?"

"You generally want to be up because you have work to do." Nikola replied seriously and she threw him a glare - rather, half a glare since part of her face was hidden by the pillow and her hair. There was something beautiful about the way she looked in the mornings, he noted for not the first time. Yes, he could definately get used to an eternity of waking up next to her as his wife.

"I just want to stay in bed today." She complained.

"You have a meeting with James to attend. Something about funding."

"Don't want to go."

She rolled to lay on top of him , chin resting on his chest. He reached up and combed his fingers through her tangled curls and she sighed softly, looking as if she could indeed fall back to sleep at any moment. Helen leaned up to kiss him. He responded appropriately, before he trailed a line of kisses down her neck. His lips hit the bite mark there and he lingered in that spot for a long moment, delighting in the goosebumps that appeared along Helen's arms. He smirked, his human teeth grazing the spot momentarily before he released her.

"Don't start something you can't finish, Helen." He warned.

"We could always stay in bed all day." She teased.

"You have that meeting today and the theater tonight."

Suddenly her face brightened and she sat up, brushing hair out of her face.

"I forgot that was today." She admitted, glancing toward the window as if she was afraid it was already far too late in the day. The sun had just risen not too long ago and her meeting was at lunchtime, Nikola knew, so she had plenty of time to his knowledge.

"Don't forget the pigeons this morning." He reminded her and she nodded. Another part of their morning routine was to feed the pigeons the so often lurked in the garden, just below Helen's bedroom window. The cook had started sending up stale bread with their breakfasts upon Nikola's request.

There was a knock at the door and Helen called for them to enter, knowing it would be breakfast. Mary didn't usually appear until later in the morning to help Helen dress, and by that time Nikola was long gone. The older man that brought breakfast gave them both a smile as he deposited the tray on the corner of the bed like every morning, leaving as silently as he had come.

Helen shifted carefully on the bed and reached for the nightstand drawer, pulling out a packet of powder that Nikola was already wrinkling his nose at. She dumped it into the glass of wine that was on the tray and used the fork to stir it around before handing it to him.

"Bottoms up, darling."

The powder was the medication that Helen made sure he took every morning to curb his bloodlust. He hated the taste and wine was the only thing strong enough to mask the disgusting taste. Helen licked the fork clean before she began to nibble on her breakfast. Nikola swirled the wine in the glass for a moment before he took a long drink of it, under Helen's careful gaze.

"If you keep staring at me, I might spontaneously combust."

She smirked and took another bite of eggs.

"Cheeky."

"I try."

He drank the wine quickly, the faint taste of the medication still on his tongue when he set the glass aside. Helen finished off less than half of her breakfast before she moved the tray to a side table near the door. Nikola was finally moving out of bed, taking the few slices of bread she handed him that had come up with the tray.

Still in her dressing gown, Helen kneeled on the window seat and threw open the windows, brushing curtains aside. Nikola sank into the cushions of the seat as well, leaning over the side. Sure enough, there were the pigeons he and Helen had dubbed as 'theirs'. Nikola crumbled the bread in his hands and sprinkled it over the side, watching as it fell onto the grass below. The birds instantly swarmed around it.

"Think this is how we'll spend every morning?" Helen asked, a half smile on her face as she glanced over at Nikola. He shrugged.

"Depends on how much you think North America is like this." He replied. She stared at him a long moment, confusion marring her face before she realized what he was saying.

"You want to move there?"

"I figured we might eventually. Perhaps not for a while yet, but eventually." He muttered, leaning against the window sill. "You can show off your creatures and I can show off my inventions."

Helen smiled faintly and scattered more breadcrumbs outside of the window, watching as the pigeons fluttered around below. Her gaze flickered to where the sun was still rising, casting a variety of colors all across the sky as it continued to lighten. It was promising to be a beautiful day, at least. Perhaps he'd throw open the windows in the study while he researched today. What else was he supposed to do while James and Helen were off at their meeting? He certainly wasn't going to go with them.

It was all rather domestic, really, their mornings, and Nikola found it quite odd indeed. Throughout Oxford he had done as he wished and reported to the lab when they had all agreed. He'd never thought himself to be such a domestic man in the near future at that point in time, but here he was. He didn't mind it much, but he felt so . . . normal. And he knew he was anything but.

"Guess I'd better get ready. James'll want to leave soon." Helen sighed. "Mary will be here soon. You'd better go."

"There will come a time when I will get to spend the entire morning with my fiance." Nikola muttered. Helen smirked and kissed him briefly.

"Only when I'm your wife."

Pressing another kiss to her forehead, Nikola returned to his room just down the hall. He stayed the nights with Helen on her insistence. He had never pressed his advantage with her, of course, and their nights were always spent talking until Helen fell asleep. He was there merely as a security measure. While it was entirely improper, Nikola cared not.

In his room he found a hot bath had been drawn and one of his more favorite suits lay across the un-slept in bed. Yes, he was quite aware that most of the staff knew he spent his nights with Helen, but the lady that helped Helen dress every morning, Mary, was not afraid of chewing him out for inappropriateness everytime he'd been caught in her room.

Which had only been twice, thank you very much.

He stripped, bathed, and changed into the suit that had been set out. Thankfully spring had finally arrived and he could start wearing the cooler suits he'd had to forgo for appearances during the winter. Satisfied with his appearance in the mirror, he ventured into the hall.

He picked up voices from downstairs, distinctly male, so Nikola knew James and Nigel were already awake as well. Sometimes he swore they were up all night (which was entirely possible) with the hour they were awake in the mornings. Helen was not likely ready yet, so he ventured downstairs toward the parlor.

"Morning, Tesla." Nigel greeted almost gruffly as he entered. He and James were both pouring over the newspaper.

"Do you two purposefully wake up with the roosters?" Nikola inquired.

"We were up all night finishing a project." James replied. "Whatever it is that you're working on down there nearly got pitched out the window because it shocked me three times when I had to move it out of the way." He continued. Nikola smirked.

"Don't try to move my inventions, then." He replied as if it were the most obvious answer in the world. James gave him an annoyed look that Nikola pointedly ignored. The three fell into a comfortable silence until Helen graced the room with her presence.

"Good morning, gentlemen." She greeted, leaning over to give him a kiss on the cheek as another morning greeting as she appeared. "Ready to go, James? Don't want to keep our potential future patrons waiting." She smiled brilliantly.

"Ready when you are."

"Let's take our leave, then." She said. James got to his feet and folded the newspaper, setting it on the edge of the coffee table. Helen smiled and bid goodbye to Nigel, allowing Nikola to escort her into the entry-way, which was only a few steps away.

"Have fun with your research." She grinned at Nikola, kissing him again. Nikola smirked.

"Have a good day at work."

Yes, he was definately going to get used to these particular mornings.