Chapter Eleven:As it Develops
There was silence after. Then it was interrupted by the arrival of Kate when she breezed in. "Hey doc, sorry, but the other Heads of House really want to talk to you. They have a list of requests and meetings they want to schedule, and to top it off, they really want to meet Jenna, and if I can say so, so do a lot of other people." She finished giving the message before turning to Jenna. Kate smiled warmly and held out her hand. "Hi, I'm Kate; you must be Jenna."
Jenna put her spoon down and shook the other woman's hand with a just as warm, though tired, smile. "Hi, it's nice to finally meet you Kate. How long have you been here?"
Kate shrugged. "A week or so. We've decided to have a double reception for the wedding; in Hollow Earth and here. So I'm here to get some details ironed out." She smiled impishly, putting her fingers in her pockets and swaying slightly as she talked.
"Wow." Jenna grinned. "How are you holding up with it all?"
"Oh god." Kate exhaled heavily. "Good, but it's been difficult. The Praxian's have different traditions. Some mesh with mine, others don't."
"If you two are done." Helen interjected, but not harshly. "Kate, can you please tell them that I would be happy to introduce them to Jenna in due time."
Kate nodded. "I had an idea about that, actually."
"Go on." Helen said slowly.
"Well, you still have to give me an engagement party." Kate grinned mischievously. "You could use the chance to introduce them to her in a social setting; and some of the more trusted abnormal's that are invited will have the chance to see her." Kate smiled ingratiatingly.
Helen sighed.
Jenna smiled and said quietly. "Oh, can we do the masque idea she's thinking of? That would be cool."
"A masque?" Will asked, skeptical.
"You know, dress up all fancy and wear masks." Kate told him as if he was two.
Helen looked over at Nikola. "We haven't been to a masque in, what? Over a hundred years?" she asked with a small smile.
Nikola put one hand on his hip while the other had a new glass of wine. "Wasn't it at one of your father's associate's house? The one that thought his son would be a good match after your betrothal to John fell through?" He grimaced. "He was a slimy, ninny courtier." Nikola smiled at the memory. "But you still arrived, sparkling!" He grinned mischievously at her and toasted her. "While everyone was torturing the current fashion of over layered petticoats, your boss wore only three..." He shrugged, "if you count the sheer top layer." He took a sip of wine. "Of course I had come as an invited guest."
"And if I remember correctly you were dressed in your usual apparel, but in all black." Helen shook her head. "Not very creative."
"Hey, I was personifying the Universe at its most pure form." Nikola replied, sauntering back to his seat on the other side of Jenna.
Who gave him a saucy smile. "I would have liked to see that." She said even as Helen put her memory into clear focus for Jenna's benefit. Jenna blinked. "Oh there we go!" She said with a playful grin towards Helen. Now that she was done eating, she couldn't hold up her head anymore so she laid it on Nikola's shoulder.
Kate shook her head with a smile at the interplay between the three. This girl certainly was strange. Though from what she's heard, Jenna's been through something not many people experience. "So is it a go? Shall I go tell the suits to expect invitations?"
Helen shook her head and stood up. "Nay, I'm not sure a party of that grandure would be a good idea. I think a more intimate dinner should suffice. We'll invite the Tribe Leaders as well as my House heads. I'll come and tell them about the notion. They'll take it more seriously coming from me." She turned towards the others. "Get Jenna to bed and I don't want to see her doing anything strenuous until she's back to normal. Biggie, I want you to make sure she gets enough rest and enough to eat." She gave the woman in question a stern look. "Understand?"
Jenna pursed her lips for a moment but nodded. "There's something else you should be aware of Helen."
With a raised eyebrow, Helen approached and put her hands on the back of the couch. "What is it?"
With a deep breath, Jenna just let it out. "It's about John Druitt." She looked between Nikola and Magnus. "He's back."
When Biggie entered Jenna's room with her tray of food, he was disgruntled to find Nikola there as well. What more, he was laying indolently on the bed beside her, a tablet in one hand and a glass of half drunk wine in the other. Jenna herself had another tablet and was trying to explain her reasoning for a central hub platform instead of having the teleporter's able to teleport one to any of the others. "We just don't have the technology for such a complex system, Nikola. The hub will allow us to get this done in a few months rather than years and it will be a safer system."
"Am I interrupting?" Biggie asked gruffly.
Jenna looked up and smiled at the burly man. "Sorry big man. You're not interrupting." She handed her tablet to Nikola unceremoniously and sat up straighter as Biggie placed the tray over her lap. "Looks delicious, thank you!"
Biggie grunted appreciatively, as well as growled low at Nikola when he looked as if he wanted to continue their discussion. "She's supposed to be resting." He accused.
Nikola put up his hand innocently. "Hey, it wasn't my idea. She gets restless; and as she can't come to the lab and help me, I thought I'd bring our work to her." He smiled as if he'd just solved world hunger.
Biggie merely grunted and shook his head as he left.
Nikola shook his head as well, watching Jenna eat. "You know he put sedative in there. The hairy nurse maid always does." He commented sourly.
Jenna shrugged. "Getting kind of tired anyway."
"Tired of losing arguments, you mean." Nikola teased with a straight face.
"I have not lost one yet, Nikola Tesla." She replied, giving him a rueful glare. "You're the one that has been losing, not me." She said stubbornly.
Nikola smirked as he leaned against the headboard. "Obviously I'm being a gentleman and letting you win."
"Letting me?" Jenna laughed, almost spilling her food.
"And don't you first and last name me, missy. I'm over a hundred years older than you, show some respect." He replied airily. Nikola adjusted his vest and picked up one of the tablets. At her silence, he grinned and reached for his wine glass. But it wasn't there. He looked and it wasn't on the nightstand where he'd put it. Nikola swiveled his head around to glare accusingly at Jenna; who had just downed the last sip of wine and laid the glass on the nightstand on her side with her tray of empty plates.
She grinned over at him. "Now what are you going to do?" Jenna mocked.
He slowly and methodically placed both tablets on the other table before turning and staring at her for a moment. Suddenly he had her laughing and squealing as he began tickling her. "You forget, moj belog goluba, vampires are experts at revenge." He mock threatened.
"Nikola, please stop!" She giggled and squirmed, soon finding herself under him, trying to escape. "Milost! Milost!" Jenna cried in Serbian. Nikola stopped and looked down at her, stunned. Jenna caught her breath. "What? Didn't think I spoke only English did you?" She scooted away slightly, aware that the light sedative Biggie spiced the food with was beginning to work, even with her heart pumping from the tickle attack.
"I never thought about it." Nikola admitted, shifting to a sitting position beside her.
Pulling up the covers, Jenna snuggled into Nikola's side. She signed and closed her eyes. "Nikola?" she asked tiredly.
Nikola put an arm around her and stroked her hair. "Yes moj andeo?"
"Why did you call me your white dove?"
Chuckling first, Nikola let out a reminiscent sigh. "I'm not sure how to explain." He admitted. "It's a complicated story."
"I'd really like to know." Jenna mumbled, her eyes closed. "Tell me the story."
Slowly, to put her to sleep, he told her about his pigeons. And the white dove.
It wasn't until they were at the base of the giant tree near the back that Biggie let go of her arm and spread out the blanket on the mossy ground between two large roots. "Sit." He indicated the blanket, causing Jenna to smirk in amusement.
She made a show of picking just the right spot and slowly lowering herself down onto the blanket. When she was down, Jenna looked up at the Sasquatch sourly. "Please stop babying me. I'm not fragile or in need of dotage anymore."
He only grunted and walked off to do some gardening.
Jenna took her tablet from where she tucked it under her armpit and settled against the large tree root. She was determined to finish the coding for the teleporter hub. Of course she won her case almost a week before and they had started on the schematics and programming code. Nikola was relatively sure that he could replicate how Jenna teleported for the pads. Jenna wasn't much help there; she was just as smart as the vampire, (secretly more so), but he had a knack for letting his plans stay in his head and not writing them down. Made it hard for her to keep up with his process. So she mocked up a general design that was functional as well as aesthetically pleasing. And now she was designing the code and innards based on what Nikola had thus far told her it would need.
She looked up with a smile. The thoughts of Kate and Will arriving in her head before they had actually appeared. Jenna closed her eyes and allowed herself to see through their eyes and hear their conversation as they approached the garden.
"It's not that I don't think she'll succeed. It's just that it's an awfully big risk." William was saying to Kate. His concern was accentuated by his memories and fear for Helen most of all. "I mean, she can't even explain what she's going to try to do so we're prepared."
Kate smirked. "Come on Will. You can't expect to be in the loop for everything. Besides, maybe she doesn't even know what's going to happen."
Will opened the gardens gate for Kate before stepping in after her. "I still think it's risky." He insisted.
With a smile, Jenna opened her eyes and returned to her programming while she waited. When they were close enough, she looked back up. "It's nice to know you have so much faith in me." She smiled cattily over at Will, who blushed.
"See." Kate whispered, nudging him.
Jenna laughed. "It's okay. I know the plan is... well... There's a lot of risk for little gain. But both Helen and I think it's the right thing to do."
"I guess." Will hedged, settling down on the edge of the blanket. "But will you be up for it when the time comes?" he asked, the memory of her starving and sleep deprived was still clear in his memory; though it had been almost three weeks.
"I will be." She said confidently. Jenna turned to Kate. "How's the planning for the engagement party going?"
Kate smiled. "Great! Magnus is doing most of the planning, but she's keeping me filled in. She says I have 'veto' rights." She giggled.
Jenna definitely liked Kate. She was a very happy person; possibly due to her impeding nuptials. She had this new found wonder for abnormal's and it brought out the best in her. "So it's definitely scheduled for next month?"
"Yup!" Kate nodded, sticking her hands in her pocket.
Nodding, Jenna turned back to Will. "Has everything gotten set up and ready?"
Will blinked, sometimes finding it hard to keep up with Jenna's quick subject changes. "Uh, yeah. Everything's ready. Why? Do you think it will be soon?"
Jenna nodded.
"Okay." Will replied. "I'll let Magnus know."
