In the morning, Helen found a piece of paper taped to her bedroom door. Only one other person had access to her suite, so she assumed it was from Nikola, and she was right. The first surprise was that it was written very neatly in English, and the second was the content. It read:

Beautiful Helen

Your eyes are not limpid pools

They are whirlpools swirling mysteriously,

Drowning me in their depths.

Your hair is not a shining waterfall

It is a dark wave that engulfs me,

My head spinning with its opium scent.

Your lips are not rosebuds

But rich dark heavy-scented wine

That fills my head and makes me drunk.

Your skin is not silk,

It is incandescent moonlight

And I become a lunatic in its glow.

Your beauty is not that of the sun,

It is the entire Milky Way

Across the night sky, entrancing me.

You are the music of the world,

It soars in my mind

And I can hear nothing else.

You are the flame to my moth;

Brilliant, dangerous, endlessly fascinating.

I beg you, Helen, warm me gently.

Your Nikola

"Good lord, English and puberty have hit him at the same time, and I am his first puppy love" Helen said aloud. What was she going to do? She wanted him back, but mentally he wasn't prepared for a real relationship. On the other hand, she didn't want to reject him either. She didn't want to hurt his feelings, and she would find it highly unpleasant if he developed a crush on some other woman instead.

Perhaps a long courtship was in order; something around 140 years would be about right. Helen went to do her morning routine, her mind busy with the problem of keeping Nikola interested, while keeping their relationship at a very innocent level. Unfortunately, the poem didn't exactly scream "innocent love" but rather "total infatuation", and young teenage boys were not noted for their desire for innocence either.

Well, she had a little time to think about it. She went to her office to work, and saw her little collection of memorabilia from Nikola's Language of Flowers courtship. Perhaps she could interest him in that again, but she didn't hold out much hope for it. The adult Nikola had his own work which took up most of his time and energy; teenage Nikola had nothing to do besides focus on her.

Ah, time to call in Henry. Surely he could find something for Nikola to do that would keep him busy and challenged for a few days. She called Henry on his cell.

"Henry, do you have some work for Nikola for a few days?"

"Um, not really. Nothing has broken, everything is working fine; I don't have that much to do myself, just normal maintenance."

"Then perhaps you have time to work with him on a new invention of some kind."

"Like what? Is there something you need?"

"No, not that I can think of, other than occupying Nikola."

"Do you want me to just babysit?"

Helen sighed. "No, he's too advanced for that, I'm afraid he would see through the charade if there's no real work for him to do. But if anything comes up that he could do for you, please call." Please, please call.

It was less than an hour later that she sensed Nikola in the doorway before he knocked. She looked up and smiled; if her smile was a little less than enthusiastic, he didn't notice.

"I remembered English. Did you get my poem?" he asked, with a very slight trace of a Serbian accent.

"I did. I was a bit surprised; you don't usually care to share your efforts at writing."

"Well, it was for you, so . . . how did you like it?"

"I'm extremely flattered, and you have a very good command of English. I think it might be a bit exaggerated, though, don't you?"

"No, that's how I feel. Maybe I can't express it exactly right yet, but I do think you're the most beautiful person I've ever known."

There was an awkward silence. Nikola came further into the room and stood in front of her desk. "Would you like to go for a walk in the gardens? Some of the flowers are starting to bloom."

Helen hesitated. She really didn't have anything urgent waiting for her; in fact, her workload had been rather light the last couple of days. And a walk in the gardens was a fairly innocent activity. "Very well. I can take a little time this morning, but I'll have to make up for it this afternoon."

Nikola gave her a pleased smile and they walked through the hallways next to each other. He opened the door to the "outside" area for her, and they started a tour of the flower beds. Helen kept her attention on the flowers, commenting on the various species, and making sure her hand wasn't available for holding yet. She wanted this to go slowly.

When they were well away from the building, Nikola stepped in front of her, looked deep into her eyes, and moved in. Helen put up her hand between them to stop the kiss he was trying for. He took her hand in his.

"Nikola, we don't know each other very well. Your memory . . ."

"Isn't as bad as you think. I know there's a lot I don't remember, but I remember the past few days, how kind you have been to me, how you took care of me when I couldn't do it myself. And I have flashes of memories of Oxford- is that right, Oxford?"

At her nod, he continued. "I remember sitting next to you in class, and dinner at your home with some other men. You were kind to me then, too, including me in things when no one else did. You're a wonderful person, beautiful inside as well as outside. I should have said that in my poem, but I didn't think of it when I was writing it."

Helen took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He was starting to get to her, making her love him all over again, and she couldn't let that happen, at least not yet.

"Nikola, I do care for you, but this is moving a little too fast. In a few days our relationship will have a great deal more depth as you remember more of our past together. I do love you, but can you wait just a few days, please?"

"I love you too, why do we have to wait?" Nikola sounded peevish.

"Because I asked you to. Because I need a little more time." Because I feel like I'm robbing the cradle.

Nikola dropped her hand and took a step back. His head was lowered, and she could see how disappointed he was.

"That's all anybody ever says to me, 'just wait'. How long do I have to wait?"

"A few days, a week at the most." At least you'll be an adult by then.

Nikola's head came up suddenly, and Helen could see he had an idea. "What about babysitting Angelina? Haven't I waited long enough for that?"

Helen brightened at that suggestion; perhaps she could throw him a bone of sorts. "Let's go talk to . . . Erika and see." Henry tended to be overprotective, but Erika was sensible and if she agreed, Henry would go along with it.

They walked over to the Abnormal housing building. Erika was back working half days as head of electronic security for the dangerous Abnormals. Helen led the way to her office. Her door was open, and Helen went in followed by a hopeful Nikola.

"Erika, it's good to see you back at work. How are you feeling?" Helen asked.

The slender HAP woman looked tired. She said "I'm fine, although I do miss sleeping."

"Angelina is still keeping you up?"

"She certainly is. I'm sure she's going to grow up to either be an opera singer or win a hog-calling contest" Erika joked.

Nikola saw his opening. "I usually stay up very late. I could stay up a little later and watch her for you until maybe 6:00 a.m."

Erika looked at Helen hopefully. "Do you think he could?"

"I'm quite sure of it. Just give him specific instructions on feeding, changing, and such."

"How much would you want?" Erika asked Nikola cautiously.

Nikola looked confused, so Helen answered for him. "He doesn't want to be paid; he just wants to spend time with Angelina."

Erika looked surprised, but her surprise quickly turned to joy. "That's wonderful, thank you so much Nikola. Come around about quarter to ten tonight, and I'll show you everything."

"Okay, quarter to ten, I'll be knocking on your door."

As Helen and Nikola walked back to the Sanctuary main building, Nikola said "Thank you Helen. See, I knew you were a good person. May I give you a 'thank you' kiss?"

Helen shook her head. "You may give me a 'thank you' handshake, if you really need to."

Nikola stopped and put out his hand and she took it, but he didn't shake her hand. He bowed over it and kissed the air just above it, as had been proper a very long time ago. Helen had to smile at the old-fashioned courtesy, and she gave his hand a little squeeze as he released hers.

After that, they dawdled on the way back. Helen was in no hurry, and the silence between them felt comfortable, like it used to be. Eventually she asked him "What are you going to do today, Nikola?"

"I don't know, do you have anything you need me to do, at least up until 9:45 tonight?"

On impulse she said "Why don't we have dinner together?"

"I'd like that, but not too late. My suite, seven?"

"Seven, but my suite."

"I look forward to it, beautiful Lady."

"As do I, gentle Sir."

She let him take her hand and hold it on the way back to the building, Helen reassuring herself that handholding was a very innocent romantic activity. That lasted about five minutes before Nikola squirmed his hand loose, and then looked at his damp hand as if he could see the germs crawling on it. Helen pulled one of his handkerchiefs out of her pocket and handed it to him. He wiped his hand thoroughly, and then offered her the soggy handkerchief back.

Helen said "Keep it, it's yours anyway."

"If it's mine, why did you have it in your pocket?"

"Let's just say I had a feeling it might come in handy."

Nikola gave her a thoughtful look, but didn't comment further. When they parted Helen went back to her office for a few hours. She would have to quit working a little early to set up their dinner so she needed to accomplish as much as possible in the time she had.

With his new-found ability to speak and read English, Nikola headed for the Sanctuary library by way of the wine cellar. He wanted to read some poetry- perhaps something about wooing a woman; he could use some pointers. And maybe find a book about Abnormals so he would have something to talk about over dinner that would interest Helen.

Scrubbed, polished, dressed in a black silk suit, and bearing a small vase of flowers from the gardens, Nikola knocked on Helen's door precisely at seven. She answered quickly. Nikola was a little disappointed she wasn't wearing some sort of ball gown, but she had put on a dark blue cocktail dress that brought out the blue of her eyes. In her heels, they were of equal height and he stood staring into her eyes before she broke eye contact by looking down at the flowers in his hand.

"Are those for me?"

"Oh, uh, yes, red and white roses. You said you liked them when we were in the garden and there was something about them . . ."

The two together means '"unity", the white means "I am worthy of you" and the red means "pure and lovely". I wonder if he chose them by accident, or his subconscious remembered the Language of Flowers? Helen smiled and took the vase.

"They're lovely; we'll use them for a centerpiece. Come in Nikola, don't stand in the doorway."

She led the way into her sitting room where she had set up a small table with a white tablecloth. Her place had a full place setting of dishes; Nikola's had a series of wine glasses. Helen served herself a tossed salad, and Nikola a Slovenian Sauvignon, hoping it would be familiar to him. For the main course she had blackened salmon, brown rice, and steamed vegetables, and served Nikola a French Bordeaux with his plasma and medication. For dessert she had melon balls and he had a Portuguese Madeira.

Nikola talked about Asian Abnormals; Helen recognized the book he had gotten his information from, and helped him maintain the conversation by telling stories of her encounters with some of the creatures he had read about. After dinner they moved to the couch with a couple of sherries.

Nikola stretched, and put his right arm along the back of the couch behind her. Helen kept herself from laughing at the adolescent move. His hand slid to her shoulder, and she leaned toward him and said in a low voice "It's 9:30, and you need to change clothes before you babysit Angelina."

"Oh!" Nikola said and jumped up to his feet with the sherry glass still in his left hand. He started to put it down on the table, remembered the coaster requirement and nearly dropped the glass. Helen took it from him.

"Thanks. Can I see you tomorrow?"

"Nikola, we live next door to each other, we'll see each other every day."

"That's not what I meant, I mean, can we, you know . . ."

"I won't know how much time I can spend with you until I see what my workload is in the morning. If you're going to stay up until 6:00 a.m. you'll likely sleep quite late. Let's wait until then to make any plans, all right?"

Nikola nodded and started backing up, almost falling over a chair behind him. He hesitated, and then said "Well, good night then. I'll see you in the morning."

"Good night, Nikola. Take good care of Angelina."

Nikola nodded some more, and finally turned and went through the adjoining door into his suite. He quickly changed into a sturdier pair of tan slacks, tan vest, and white shirt, and hurried to knock on the Foss' door at 9:45.

Henry answered the door, but didn't open it very far. "Hey Nikola, it's kind of late for a social call."

From behind him, Erika said "Henry, let Nikola in. I told you he's going to babysit for us tonight."

Henry reluctantly stepped back and Nikola came in. Henry said "I don't think this is a very good idea, Erika."

"Henry, we need to get some sleep. Helen said it would be fine."

"Yeah, but . . ."

"Do you trust Helen?"

"Yeah, but . . ."

"Do you want a good night's sleep?"

"Yeah, but . . ."

"Do you want me to be very, very angry as well as sleep deprived?"

"No, definitely not." Henry shook his head for emphasis.

Erika smiled, and gave him a peck on the cheek. "Then let me show Nikola what he needs to know. Nikola, come with me."

Nikola followed Erika and she showed him Angelina's routine. Angelina was in her crib, dozing. Erika turned the light off so only the night light was on, and went to her own bedroom and closed the door behind her. Nikola sat down in the rocker. In a little while, the light in Henry and Erika's bedroom went off and everything became quiet. Angelina woke up and started fussing.

Nikola picked her up and sat back down in the rocker. He liked having her warm, living weight in his arms, and the way she looked up at him in complete trust and innocence. He rocked her gently and her eyes closed again.

/

The Arrendulics entered the Hollow Earth tunnels as the daylight was fading. A short distance in they found the first sensor, just as Reena had said. It was only a simple laser beam about a meter off of the ground that sent a notice to Henry's security system and activated a camera when the beam was broken. The Arrendulics just slithered under it and proceeded down the tunnel.

They were still several hours from the Sanctuary. The map was clear, but it was still a long trek and they moved quickly through the labyrinth. Two hours later, they halted in a seemingly ordinary stretch of tunnel and began searching for a hidden door. Even knowing it was there, it still took the eleven of them twenty minutes to find it and trigger the hidden catch.

As the door swung open, two of the Arrendulics grabbed it and halted it. If it had opened fully, another signal would have been sent to Sanctuary security. But the opening was wide enough for them to slip through, the last one pulling the door shut behind him.

Now they were within the Sanctuary's tunnels, and they needed care more than speed. They moved cautiously, until they came to the first gate. It wasn't a door as such, but just an opening they had to pass through while being scanned. If the scanner detected an unusual energy signature, it would set off an alarm and drop a barrier in front of them.

But Reena and Bobby had prepared them for this as well. The Arrendulics carried no energy weapons or anything that would set off the scanner other than their own life energy. Each of them had a small device they turned on that adjusted their life energy just a little for the scanner, and the scanner read them as human. They passed through without setting off any alarms.

A short distance further on, they came to the first checkpoint that required them to input a code. The codes changed periodically, and were not in any of the computer files that Bobby and Reena could access, so they had rigged up the remote control to bypass the system and just open all three checkpoints. But the Arrendulics would have to hurry to get through all three before the system reset.

Kok had the device, and got everyone lined up at the checkpoint. He pushed the button, the checkpoint opened, and the eleven of them threw themselves forward, all of them flat down on the ground. Their snake-like motion propelled them far faster than any human could run, especially over the roughly two kilometer distance to the third checkpoint.

They made it with time to spare. Dod had them move a little way past the sensor, and then rest, drink water, and eat a light snack. A quarter hour later, they were ready for the assault.

A/N: Thank you Anthro and Nayukhuut for your reviews/comments on Chapter 13. I hope you liked this one!