A/N: Okay I'm just really bad at keeping up with fics and uploading on time? So thanks for reading guys and I'm putting up 2 chaps today to make up for it :)


You Can Fool It Till the Season's Changing

"I thought you didn't care about governments anymore" he teases Helen gently. "Isn't that the point of this place?."

"Shhh. Nikola this is important!" He loves the look in her eye when she's pissed at him and he can't help but egg her on.

"I'm sure." She tosses her head and turns to him to explain.

"Looking beyond their mere policies, Obama is an altrayn, a sharp and hardy abnormal but they are not only highly intelligent but also compassionate and reasonable. Romney is a draithmot. While intelligent, draithmot are cruel, ruthless and completely uncontrollable. Which would you prefer to be leading one of the most powerful countries in the world?"

"I see your point" he concedes and she turns back to her news coverage with a huff. Nikola takes a sip of wine and casually slips his hand onto her upper thigh. She bats his hand away—Helen has made it quite clear that PDA, especially in front of the kiddies, was completely out of the question—but when he drops his hand down into the small space between their bodies, she slips her hand into his.

Nikola grins and decides that maybe paying attention to this televised drivel might well be to his advantage.

"We are announcing a win for Obama" the newscaster proclaims and they all erupt into action. Will shouts

"Yes!" Henry fist pumps the air, and Kate grins in victory.

Helen sinks back into the couch cushions and smiles widely.

"Thank god" she murmurs.

They get back to her room, their room? No Nikola is fairly sure that until she gives him a reply on his somewhat-proposal it is still definitively her room. Even though a number of his suits have snuck into her closets and other articles of his clothing have ended up in her drawers. Despite the fact that, in everything but the technicality of his unused room down the hall, he lives here now, it is still quite definitely Helen's room.

"Thank you for watching the elections coverage with me Nikola" she says huskily and he knows that tone of voice very well by now.

"Yes well, if you'd like to make it up to me I can think of a few ideas." He's teasing, mostly. And he certainly isn't expecting what comes next. Helen smirks,

"I'm sure you can." He's in the process of unbuttoning his vest when she walks up to him and kisses him deeply, her tongue reaching into his mouth to battle with his own. He groans deeply and pulls her impossibly closer, tangling his hands in her hair and tugging sharply. She moans and snakes a hand down to his crotch, palming him through his trousers.

"Helen" he gasps, tearing his mouth away from hers.

"Shhh," she murmurs. "I'm making it up to you." She bites his neck and licks the mark, smiling at his throaty gasp as her hands begin to undo his belt.

It's late November when Erika and Declan arrive from London. Henry stalwartly ignores Declan, barely interacts with Will and is polite, if awkward, to Erika. He and Will, despite their Thanksgiving-day truce still haven't reconciled and, though Henry is no longer angry, he has no volition to. Reasonable or not, he feels like Will betrayed him in London. This all leads him to be working in the solitude of his lab on a Saturday morning, door closed and the newest Sea Wolf album blasting as loud as he can possibly play it. He considers putting a sign on the door saying "Do Not Disturb" but that seems a bit over the top.

"What is that racket and could you turn it down please? Some of us are trying to get work done." Then again, maybe the sign was a good idea.

"Suck it up, Vlad. My lab. My rules."

"Oh really? So if I just—" the music cuts off abruptly and Henry whirls around to see Tesla standing there, plug in hand, looking as aggravatingly self-pleased as ever. Henry can't stop himself, he immediately HAPs out and, with an angry growl, pushes Tesla against the wall. Tesla doesn't waste any time vamping out and then he's giving as good as he gets. They rip at each other with their claws as they tussle through the lab and Henry is so angry that he doesn't even care when he hears the clatter of instruments falling to the ground. The fight goes on for a few minutes until Henry, breathless and bloody pushes away and transforms back into human form.

"Feel better?" Tesla asks, and if it weren't for the rips on his clothes it would be impossible from his casual demeanor to tell he'd been fighting furiously just moments before. Henry sighs.

"Yeah. Look. I'm sorry—"

"Hey. No apology needed." And with that Tesla is leaving the lab. "Keep your music down." He calls in parting.

Henry sighs and goes to a nearby cabinet to grab a spare change of clothes.