"That's where I fell," Nikola said, waving a hand at the rickety scaffolding from a few nights before.

"I'm aware," Helen said. "I still have the bruises."

Nikola winced, retreating to his side of the taxi they had called. "Sorry." Ashley and Henry were crammed between them, Ashley looking rather stormy about the arrangement.

"So, is this ringing any bells?" she asked. "Where did you come from to get here?"

Nikola leaned over again to peer out of her window. Everything looked different in the daytime – if he looked up too high, he had to shield his eyes against the glare from the skyscraper windows.

But up wasn't where he needed to look. He concentrated, trying to remember the direction he'd taken from the portal. It had all been such a chaotic blur of light and sound and sensation, all he could think to do in the first few minutes was stumble anywhere he saw an open space.

"Right at the corner," he said at last.

Stopping every couple of blocks for Nikola to get his bearings, they eventually made their way to a busier section of town, where crowds of people hurried along the sidewalk, ducking in and out of shops and restaurants.

It was at one of the busiest intersections that Nikola lost the thread of memory he had been following. Helen had the taxi pull over and they all stepped out onto the curb, in front of one of the many stores running up and down the street.

As Helen paid the taxi driver, Nikola let out a sharp exhale, casting around for a landmark.

Henry was sticking close to Nikola, but his attention was focused on the store window, which proclaimed in large letters that it had some kind of new game about a war in the stars, and was offering free gifts with each purchase. Ashley was standing nearby, watching Henry. Her mood had vastly improved since beginning something she called "livetweeting" the afternoon, and she was chuckling at her phone apropos of nothing at random intervals.

Helen gave him a concerned look as she came over.

"I don't remember any of this," Nikola explained, frustration breaking through his voice.

"It's alright," Helen said. "The city can be a bit overwhelming if you're not used to it."

It was embarrassing, really – he prided himself on his memory, but he had been so dazed by the journey he couldn't even remember the basic direction he'd come from. Still, he managed to return Helen's reassuring smile.

He gave a shrug. "Well, you know, last week my only company was a bunch of woodland animals, so… I could use a guide."

He extended his hand with a hopeful look. Helen raised her eyebrows. Nikola dropped it immediately. "Ok."

"Just take a minute, look around," she said. "Maybe something will jog your memory."

"Right," he muttered, and pivoted slowly, trying to take everything in and match it against his memory from the other night.

While he was looking around, Henry peered at the curb, drifting away from them toward it as something caught his eye. As soon as Helen spotted him, she broke away from Nikola and followed him, but he managed to pluck whatever had gotten his attention from the base of the curb as she pulled him back.

"Henry, what have I told you about wandering off?" Helen began, but his attention was focused on his discovery: a gleaming purple crystal that threw glittering shards of violet light against his hand as he turned it this way and that in the sun. "What is that?" she said.

"It's a lightsaber crystal," Henry said, his eyes wide.

"Kinda looks like one," Ashley said as Helen started shaking her head. "Is that one of the promotion things they're handing out?" she asked, jerking her head back toward the shop.

Helen looked at the poster. "I suppose it could be."

Nikola glanced over and felt his breath catch. "No," he whispered. "It's mine." He'd thought it was lost forever, shaken loose somewhere in the void of the portal. At least his luck wasn't all bad.

"Yours?" Helen raised her eyebrows.

"Yeah, mine," he said. "Can I see it?" Taking the crystal from Henry's upraised hands, he held it up to the light. A closer examination told him that by some miracle it had been unharmed by the traffic of the city. He breathed a sigh of relief.

"What is it?" Helen asked.

"Part of an experiment I was doing," Nikola said. It was a half-truth and he felt a twinge of guilt, but Helen probably wasn't interested in his prior misadventures. It wasn't as if they could affect him here. Hopefully.

"What's inside?" Henry asked, craning his head for a better look.

Nikola beamed, displaying it a little closer so Henry could see the small, distorted worm inside. "Nasty little bug from back home," he said. "Likes to attach itself to your neck and suck your blood out."

"Delightful," Helen said as Ashley and Henry leaned closer with twin murmurs of "Cool…"

"Oh, don't worry," he assured her. "It's frozen in there."

"Like an insect in amber," she said.

"Exactly."

"So what were you doing with it?"

"Nothing," he said. "It was the crystal that – that I was interested in. I think it has – "

The fascinating monologue he was about to deliver was interrupted by a deafening noise from behind him. It was an explosive rattle, repeating in a rapid-fire pattern that jolted through his head.

He lurched forward and Helen caught him by the arms, steadying him.

"Easy," she said, turning him around and speaking in his ear to be heard. "It's only construction work."

Across the street, a few people were milling around a piece of machinery that seemed to be behind that huge noise. Nikola stared at it breaking into the concrete beneath them. "Hey, do you think they'd let me have a look at that?" he shouted to Helen over the din.

"No!" she shouted back.

Nikola turned back to the construction crew, narrowing his eyes. Just past the workers was a circular hole in the ground with a metal plate covering it. It was hard to tell from this distance, but the plate looked like it was worked with decorative scrolls and vines that were very familiar.

"Helen," he said as the machinery stilled for a moment. "Helen, I remember now, I came through there." He pointed, his heart thudding in his ears as everything but his destination faded from view.

"Through the sewer?" Helen asked with a skeptical look.

"No, no, that's where the portal was." Hope rushing over him, Nikola pulled his arm out of Helen's grip and ran, weaving between stopped traffic as he crossed the bustling street.

"Nikola!" she shouted, taking off after him after a brief look to Ashley, who moved closer to Henry.

"Nikola, wait," she called, but he had already skidded to a halt, ducking through the barrier and falling to his knees next to the plate. As he attempted to get his fingers under it, Helen caught up to him and a few construction workers came over.

She blocked him from their path, striding in front of him and folding her arms. "Good morning, gentlemen," she said smoothly. "My apologies for the interruption. My friend here is new to the city, and, ah…"

He could hear her falter slightly, trying to think of an explanation as he frantically pried the plate off, letting it fall with a metallic thud as he leaned forward into the opening.

"He was curious to examine – "

"It's gone," Nikola said softly. There was only a dark, dank tunnel underneath him, nothing at all like the swirling portal he remembered. His excitement vanished and he fell back, feeling drained.

Helen turned back to him. "What?"

He raised his face to meet her eyes. "The portal, it's gone."

Her mouth opened slightly, sympathy filling her expression even if he could tell she had never expected him to find anything in the first place.

"Portal?" one worker muttered.

"Not again," another sighed.

Helen came over, kneeling next to him as she looked into the opening. "You're sure this is the right place?"

He nodded, gesturing helplessly. "I never expected it to be stable, but…" He had hoped it might last long enough. It had only been a few days since he had come through. How much time had he missed it by? Hours? Minutes?

Nikola swallowed, his throat tight. This had been his best shot at getting back. It could take him years to harness this world's technology to create a new portal. As fascinating as this place was, he would have preferred to visit it on his own terms, not be trapped here against his will for who knew how long.

He felt a gentle pressure on his arm and realized Helen had slid a hand over it. Rubbing his shoulder, she looked back at where Henry and Ashley were waiting.

"I'm sorry, Nikola," Helen said quietly. "We'll get you home, I promise."

He gave her a faint smile. "Thank you, Helen."

"Now," she said, pulling him up to his feet with a glance at the construction team, eyeing them with odd expressions. "It appears that you'll be staying with us for a little while longer, so we should make a few stops on the way home."

"You know, I did have something rather more casual in mind," Helen said as they left the store. After three hours engaged in a grueling search, Nikola had finally settled on something that was "less awful than the rest, I guess."

"This is casual," Nikola said, brushing down his brand-new fitted waistcoat and giving his jacket a swish. Despite his lack of enthusiasm in the last few hours of clothes shopping, he was beaming, and kept running a finger over the trim on his lapel.

Helen pinched the bridge of her nose. "And what makes you say that, exactly?"

He looked at her in surprise. "No cravat, of course."

Ashley snorted.

"Well, that clears everything up nicely," Helen said. She held Henry's hand in one of hers, the bag of Nikola's new acquisitions swinging in the other as they walked along the sidewalk.

She had insisted on him wearing one out of the store, as his previous outfit was starting to draw some attention. It was bundled in with the rest of the clothes now, safely out of sight. Nikola stood out slightly less, although Helen wasn't spying very many other weekend shoppers out wearing three-piece suits.

"I still don't think there was anything wrong with what I was wearing," Nikola grumbled.

The less said about that the better, Helen thought. Naturally, Ashley disagreed.

"Dude, you looked some kinda vampire B-movie extra," she said, chortling.

Nikola leaned closer to Helen and whispered in her ear. "What's that, is that good? Cool, right?"

"Not in the slightest," Helen whispered back.

Nikola pulled back, giving her a look that was half-offended, half-pleading. "Dashing?" he tried. "Debonair?"

"Afraid not."

He pouted.

"Where did you get that stuff, anyway?" Ashley continued.

Nikola bristled with the fresh insult. "I'll have you know 'that stuff' was made out of the finest spider silk in all of Andalasia."

Ashley caught Helen's eyes, jerking her head towards Nikola with a "is this guy for real" look. Helen raised her eyebrows.

"Spider silk?"

"Yes," Nikola said, raising his chin as if daring her to continue. "What, you don't have that here?"

"Ah, no." Helen took a sidelong glance into the bag she carried. Was she imagining it, or was there a faint shimmer to the fabric…?

She looked back at Nikola, who had his arms crossed and a sulky look plastered on his face.

"Regardless, I'm glad we found something for you," Helen said, glossing over how long it took to accomplish that goal. "It's nearly lunch time."

Nikola perked up. "Lunch? Hey, are there any more of those hot dog things around here, by any chance?"

Helen laughed. "More than you would believe. Although I was planning on something slightly healthier."

"Aww…" Nikola looked disappointed.

"Please, Mom?" Henry begged, tugging at her sleeve.

Helen looked from Henry to Nikola, both giving her pleading looks, and sighed.

"But if it's all prepared using the same method, why isn't anything else called fries?" Nikola asked an hour later.

After she had agreed to hot dogs for lunch, Nikola had hinted wistfully that he might enjoy feeding the park pigeons again too, and after how upset he'd been that morning, Helen couldn't find it in her to turn down his request. So they had returned to the park outside Helen's office and were now gathered on a picnic table, munching hot dogs while Henry told Nikola about all the delicious fast foods he had missed out on in Andalasia.

Henry had accepted Nikola's story of being from another world instantly, deeming it "awesome" and asking him if he knew how to get to Coruscant. Naturally, Helen was having a bit more trouble with it. Still, she had to admit he really did act like he wasn't from this planet sometimes.

Although the day was windy, the sun was shining and the temperature moderate, which meant the park was a popular destination that day, even busier than it had been yesterday. Louder than their fellow park-goers was the ever-present flock of pigeons surrounding Nikola, concentrated around his feet as he occasionally dropped a handful of seeds on the ground.

"I really couldn't say," she said, catching Henry's napkin before the wind carried it off the table. "They're not called fries where I'm from."

"Oh, where are you from?" Nikola asked, apparently delighted to find out more about Helen.

Thankfully, his attention was diverted by something he caught sight of over her shoulder. Behind her, Helen heard a faint beating of wings growing louder until yet another small pigeon swept over her head and landed on Nikola's arm.

"Hello there," he said to it. "Have news for me, hmm?"

Helen watched curiously as it bounced up and down on his arm, cooing. How on earth had he trained it to find him in the middle of the city after only a day here?

"Really?" Nikola's face fell, an echo of this morning's disappointment flashing through his eyes.

The pigeon gave another coo and nestled against Nikola's arm, rubbing its tiny beak against his sleeve.

"Thanks," he said to it, and it gave him a final nuzzle before flying off.

Nikola looked up at Helen, who raised her eyebrows.

"I asked them to look around the city for another portal," he told her, crossing his arms and glancing over at the pond, sparkling with reflected sunlight. "No luck."

Helen could have pointed out that she might expect little progress when pigeons were his only apparent resource, but it hardly seemed tactful. She cleared her throat instead, feeling rather awkward.

"Unless you happen to have one stashed in your apartment somewhere," he added glumly.

"I think I would have noticed," Helen said.

Nikola sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I'll have to build it." He brightened somewhat. "Well, at least this'll give me a good chance to take a look at all that technology you've got kicking around this place. And enjoy your company some more, of course," he added with a wink at Helen.

She rolled her eyes, though her lips twitched.

"Can I help you build it?" Henry asked eagerly, oblivious to this exchange.

Nikola blinked, throwing Helen a bewildered look. "Uh…"

"Henry is quite the budding inventor." Helen beamed at Henry, her voice dripping with pride.

Nikola gave a slight chuckle. "Oh, I really doubt…" As he spoke, Helen angled a meaningful glare at him. Nikola swallowed and took a second look at Henry, who was nearly glowing.

"Alright, sure," he conceded. "You can help walk me through your tech, but I'm doing the detailed work, alright?" He looked at Helen, giving her a little shrug.

Henry's face lit up. Helen smiled approvingly at Nikola. Of course, she didn't really believe he would be able to build an interdimensional portal – in fact, she would never have let Henry work with him if she thought they'd be doing anything dangerous – but she knew how much Henry loved his inventions. It would make his year to be able to talk to a fellow engineer about them, even if only for a short time.

Nikola smiled back at her, and Helen was struck again by how very blue his eyes were in the afternoon sun.

She tore her gaze away with difficulty, concentrating on the task ahead. "Very well then. We'll stop for parts on the way home."