I do not own Sanctuary. Exams are now over! YAY! So updates might hopefully be a bit more regular (although it's all up to those fickle muses... I mean lovely and beautiful muses...).
Helen was surprised when they arrived to find it dark, and a little chilly, with the moon high overhead, but she was certainly impressed by the view. The blanket lay mere steps from a river, on the far side of which pale marble glowed in the moonlight, the slender spired and peaked dome breathtakingly beautiful.
"The Taj Mahal, built almost four hundred years ago but the Muslim ruler of the region for his wife, he promised to make her a monument to match her beauty." John's voice was close behind her, but she only had eyes for the vision before her.
"Father had sent me a sketch he had made of it on his travels, but it could never do the place justice, he said that the walls were inscribed with their holy words and inset with jewels." Helen couldn't help but feel James' absence, he was the one she could share her love of architecture and historical civilisations with, she wondered if they had ever taken that trip to Egypt they had been idly discussing as something to do after Oxford. "It is hard to imagine the woman who could have inspired it."
"I imagine she must have been almost as beautiful as you Helen." His voice, so close to her ear, made her realise that his hands had come to rest on her waist, and she stepped forward, out of his arms, instantly feeling the loss of his warmth in the chill night air. As beautiful as the setting was, he might have mentioned that it would have been wise to wear a coat, rather than a dress more suited to a summer afternoon. It was frustrating that he had chosen a place so far from the building itself, a splendid overview of course, and romantic, but Helen longed to explore it, with James or her Father, neither of whom she would see again, and read its walls, limited though her understanding of Arabic was (she was still in the process of learning). She chose a place on the blanket and sat gracefully, spreading her skirt about her, intent on distracting herself from the chill and the melancholy by focusing on the meal.
Nikola was certain that the reason everything had fallen into place that morning and he'd been able to figure out the machine so quickly was simply so that he would have time to get well and truly aggravated by waiting for Helen's return, and so that he would have nothing to distract him from torturous thoughts of where they may have gone, and what they might be doing. It was almost five! How long could one picnic take? Of course that thought prompted a load more worries, worse than her having fun with Druitt, what if he was holding her somewhere and refusing to bring her back? He was pacing in the main hall, trying to decide whether to storm up to Helen's office and demand that Dr Expendable mount a rescue when he heard voices on the doorstep. He was torn between wanting to hear and not wanting to seem like he was snooping, or had been waiting for them. He settled on going into the kitchen to get himself some wine, knowing that it's proximity would allow him to hear most of the conversation from the foyer.
"Thank you John, I am sure I can manage from here."
"I'm so sorry Helen, please allow me to make it up to you."
"No, not at all, it was certainly an interesting trip and I will be fine, thank you." The door closed and Nikola exited the kitchen.
"Oh good, you're..." he was going to say 'back' but the words trailed off, "you're soaking wet."
"And rather chilled." Helen replied, shivering slightly.
"And you smell of..."
"Venice. A lovely city but the canals are not the cleanest place for a swim." Helen's tone was wry but the smirk on Nikola's face earned him a glare.
"Much as I appreciate the effect the water has had on your dress, we need to get you out of those wet clothes and into a warm bath before you catch a cold or something."
"I think I can manage that bit by myself Nikola. I will drop by your laboratory when I am finished, it has been a... very eventful few hours." Helen walked off, water dripping onto the floor behind her, once the elevator doors were safely closed Nikola allowed himself to finally laugh.
Henry went to make himself another coffee and found Helen in the kitchen. Her hair still damp and the kettle just about to boil.
"I was going to make myself a cup of tea and then come down to the laboratory, how are things going?"
"Pretty well, we think we know how it works now, and we know how things stand. How did things go with Druitt? Tesla said you fell out a gondola?"
Nikola recognised her laughter in the hallway before she arrived, and tried to squash the surge of jealousy before the pair could enter the room.
"I thought a picnic was supposed to involve going somewhere and relaxing, how many places did he take you?" Henry asked as they walked in the door.
"Five, honestly I think it might not have ended then if I hadn't fallen in! But every stop I kept wishing someone was there. It was lovely, and romantic, but it just felt like too much, and like something was missing."
"Oh Helen, don't tell me you missed me?" Nikola enquired, smirk firmly in place.
"Actually not so much," she smiled, patting his shoulder as his face dropped a little, "don't take it personally, it's just that mostly I missed James and my father. First there was the Taj Mahal, which was spectacular, but made me wish I could explore it properly with James, and reminded me of the letters my father wrote to me, do you recall? And the Dover coast reminded me of the field trip to the seaside to collect whelk samples, when Nigel ended up getting into that fight with Michael Jones, which later turned out to be over some comment about bathing suits."
"Ah, I remember. I almost gave the fellow a thrashing later when Nigel told me what it had been about, but Druitt had beaten me to it, and he was looking decidedly worse for wear already."
"Visiting the Eiffel Tower at sunset was delightful, and all the lights spread out below made the city itself almost seem alive, with its own pulse, it was a relief because I wasn't forced to deal with memories the entire time, but John does not have the best taste in wines, and I will admit I could have thought of better company for the setting." There was a slight blush at Nikola's grin but she continued uninterrupted. "Then a lovely forest glen, which would have been nice except that it reminded me that I had yet to ask Henry about being a werewolf, and I wondered whether he enjoyed runs through the forest, it was blessedly warm though, I was thoroughly chilled by that point, the night air, then the sea breeze, followed by the fresh air at altitude, I spent a good deal of time wishing I had been warned to bring a coat, and rather suspecting that he had been hoping I might sit more closely with him for the warmth. Finally he suggested a spot of boating, much as we might go along the Oxe in punts of a summer afternoon, and you know how the Venetian Gondola worked out, transporting onto a small craft is to be greatly avoided where possible."
"So in short a disaster?" Nikola's grin was more than a little irritating, but Helen's glare failed to make a dent in it. Until Helen sneezed anyway. "Here, take this." He handed her his handkerchief and then seated her on the couch, wrapping the blanket which still lay beside it about her, his arm remaining about her shoulders in a loose embrace.
"They were certainly very romantic places and it was an impressive gesture to have prepared so much so quickly." Helen replied defensively. "Although perhaps a little more thought and a little less extravagance might have been called for." She admitted. "Fine, if you must insist on the brutal honesty it was the worst afternoon I can recall which was intended to be enjoyable. But I do wish you wouldn't gloat so, it's most unbecoming in you."