AN - I know it's short!

Without You, Pt 2

Nikola stared at Lila, her eyelids closing. A pang of fear shot through him. Nikola pushed it away. She needs to sleep. He ran his hand over her hair. Lila twitched in her sleep, and a low moan escaped her lips.

Slowly, though he knew it was an irrational impulse, he her slowly and gently up against him. Nikola looked at her, long and hard. "I don't want to lose you," Nikola whispered. He couldn't quite explain it, but at the moment, he didn't have to. Slowly, Nikola's lips came toward hers. When his face was inches from hers, Lila's eyes opened. Without thought, they kissed. Lila forgot where she ended and he began, his hands in her hair, his lips on hers, so close to him. Her eyes closed. The pain vanished, her hands came around both sides of his face, and she forgot everything else.

Until he came away. She tried to pull him back, but he just held her. Lila made a soft noise of protest. Everything spun around. She couldn't focus on anything, remember anything apart from the fact that she needed him. It wasn't just that she wanted him to hold her and kiss her, she needed him with her.

*.*

Lila's head rested in Nikola's lap. He sighed. He didn't know what had happened, what would happen. What he was even feeling for her. What she felt for him. All he knew what he couldn't lose her. Nikola wasn't sure why he cared so much, many, many humans had died over his lifespan. Something about Lila opened up something inside him. She frustrated him, she made him angry, she distracted him, she intrigued him, she... she did everything no one should be able to do to him. She rattled him, she opened his heart, she made him reach out, she did something he couldn't quite explain. And now, what if he lost her?

Nikola looked down at her. He would never know. Slowly, he began to cry.

*.*

"So boss, can I get out of bed now?" Lila sat up in bed, Nikola working at a desk near her.

"What?" He looked up, startled.

"Um... the hospital bed..." Lila said, suddenly feeling awkward.

"Oh, yes. You've healed significantly." Nikola said, staring at her.

"Well, having significantly healed, I guess I'll head up to the lab. What creepy little morbid experiment have you got this time?" She asked, sliding out of the bed.

"No, you should still rest. Have some time to yourself." Nikola said.

"That morbid, huh?" Lila grinned. "Okay." After a moment, she added. "Nikola, did anything... happen... while I was injured?" Lila looked straight into his eyes. "Did I do anything odd?"

Nikola looked away. "No, nothing I can remember. You were asleep most of the time."

"Okay. Thanks." Lila left. She knew he had lied.

*.*

Two months later

"Stop working," her hands worked their way under his lab coat.

Nikola spun around from the project he had been working on. "My, my, Lila, I didn't know you were so impatient."

"You've been up here two days. Straight." Lila began sliding his lab coat off, massaging his shoulders.

"I hit a wall." Nikola sighed.

"Literally or figuratively?" Lila wondered.

"Both," he grimaced.

"Well, you just need some inspiration," she whispered.

"Lila, can you hold this for a moment?" he handed her an electrical part.

"Sure." She slipped away from him. "If you promise to get some rest afterwards."

"I thought you-"

"I didn't say what you would be doing after you'd rested." Lila grinned.

He smiled at her. "Vixen."

"Vampire. Come on, let's get this crazy electrical project running." Lila said.

"Ah, what would I do without you?"