A/N: I can't thank everyone enough for the reviews. Keep them coming, okay? So, I know this one's a little shorter than usual, but the next chapter will make up for it.

"In both the day and the night…
In all the darkness and all the light…
Here in life, and so in death…
In our blood and in our breath…"
- Inkubus Sukkubus, "Supernature"

IV. Lullaby

Vanja knew that it would be wrong to think badly of Nuala, but she couldn't help but wonder, with a little laugh, what must be going on with her. After Red's battle with the elemental, when they'd all gotten back to headquarters, Nuala had explained to Vanja the extent of the siblings' connection. Vanja understood that they were twins, that they had a link. But she didn't realize the degree until Nuala told her herself. So what was this moment like for Nuala?

Nuada pulled Vanja out of her ponderings when he grabbed her off the floor, sweeping her up into his arms and stepping into the sunlight. Vanja's heart was hammering. Impossibly loud. God, how did I ever miss this? she thought. I can barely even hear myself think.

"You'll get used to it," Nuada assured her.

She wondered again if he could read her mind.

"A little," he told her, a broad smile spread across his lips. "I just skim the surface."

Vanja narrowed her eyes at him. "You let me wonder, all this time?"

If it was possible for his smile to widen, it did.

Vanja shook her head, then let it drop back, let her entire body relax in his strong arms. She closed her eyes and let the sun warm her skin. No fire. No burning. It was nice, but almost disappointingly simple. It happened so fast. A drink of his blood and suddenly her heart was pounding and she was granted the ability to sunbathe. Vanja's eyes snapped open.

"Let's go up!" she requested urgently.

"We shouldn't -" Nuada protested, his more logical reply flimsy in comparison to Vanja's newfound enthusiasm.

"Oh, bollocks!" she dismissed his logic. "Only for a minute," she assured him, writhing out of his grasp and planting her feet back on the floor. "C'mon," she urged, grabbing his hand and pulling him along with her as she ascended the steps.

"This way," he corrected her, pulling her down from the stairs and guiding her toward a different path.

Vanja soon realized why when the route emptied right out into a back alley. Vanja took over as leader and quickly climbed a nearby fire escape, up to the building's roof. Vanja found a good vantage point and sat down, Nuada seating himself next to her.

The only vision more beautiful than the sunrise was him. He was beyond breathtaking, impossibly awe-inspiring in the full sunlight. The subtle golden glow of his skin seemed to her the epitome of that ancient, Grecian kind of beauty. But then she smiled when she remembered he was even older than that culture. Not only was his body the visual definition of life, but his hair seemed fuller, much more alive. More blond and with the slightest of waves, it was an unbelievably far cry from the colorless, dismal lankness of his hair when he was hidden away underground, in the dark. This is no elf, Vanja thought, this is an angel.

Vanja couldn't stop herself from touching his face, bringing him toward her as she leaned closer to him, touching her lips to his. His lips smiled against hers, and he draped an arm over her hip. He was beginning to get the best of her - hell, he already had - and she was again feeling wary of letting go of her control. Vanja pulled away from him and shook her head a little, physically clearing her mind.

"Will Nuala tell the others? About us?"

This seemed to be the wrong thing to ask. Nuada's face, which, such a short time ago, was peaceful - happy, even - was now furious. But Vanja could see clearly that his rage was not directed at her.

"No," Nuada hissed through his teeth, seeming almost to be in pain. He took a moment of silence, and calmed himself slightly. "She is…unaware."

Vanja stared at him, confused, curious. He took a deep breath, and stood. Vanja knew he was going to begin to pace. She was quickly understanding that when Nuada was agitated, it was probably impossible for him to sit still. So she stood as well.

"There was a time," he began, still sounding bitter, but with a twinge of reminiscence in his voice, "when Nuala and I had no secrets from each other. We couldn't have had secrets, even if we had wished to."

He spoke with his back to her, pacing a short length of the roof, just as she had predicted. He turned toward her, continuing his tirade.

"And I'm not sure when it happened…exactly…but…somehow, we grew apart. Now there are things that she can keep from me. And things I can keep from her. Secrets," he spoke the word with great sorrow, stepping close to Vanja. So close she could see loss in his eyes.

Then he turned again, looking like a caged animal.

"She is no longer on my side. She was prepared to let me die, to let herself die, for them. And why? Why should she prefer them to her own people? When they have brought nothing but misery and death, to our kind and countless others," he raged, his voice a deep growl, all confusion and anger.

Nuada turned toward her again, his incensed words never slowing. More than Vanja listened to what he said, she thought that maybe this was an indicator of his honesty. That he could just lose himself like this in her presence.

"She is so blind! They have done nothing for her, and yet she protects them like her own. And she is helping them. Helping them to hunt me. She would die to save them…" he stopped where he stood, his expression holding infinite pain, his lean chest heaving now with a different kind of exertion. "She would rather us die…both of us, all of us…than to see the humans perish."

The momentary softening of his voice exploded into a sudden roar of frustration.

"Why? What is it she finds in them worth saving?"

Nuada set his eyes on Vanja, looking at her expectantly, as if she held the answer to Nuala's betrayal. As if Vanja could tell him why Nuala wanted to save humanity. Vanja exhaled a heavy breath and wrapped her arms lightly around Nuada's shoulders.

"Calm yourself," she whispered. "If she does not know of your intentions with me, of mine with you, then why she stands in our way is of no consequence."

Vanja almost shuddered at her own words. They sounded like something she would have said many years ago, to many other men, in many similar situations. Was this the path she was ready to take? The side she was ready to choose? The role she was ready to play?

"I used to know," he breathed, agonizing. He buried his hands in Vanja's hair and leaned his forehead against hers. "Why don't I know? Why have I lost her?"

Vanja bit her lip. In her mind she was damning herself.

"You may have lost her, but you have acquired me."

Nuada pulled away so that he could look into her eyes. He looked shocked.

"Your answer, then?" he whispered, as if hearing something he had never expected.

Obviously he had taken her words earlier as seriously as she had. He must have sensed the hesitancy in them. She knew he was probably sensing it now too, as the silence drug on, and Vanja watched his expression fall. She still did not have an answer for him. Could not give it to him yet.

"I am sorry," she breathed, feeling ashamed. "I cannot. Not yet…."

"I understand," he told her, pulling away from her embrace.

She knew that he did not understand.

"Nuada," she began, trying to explain, "the things you know about me, the things you said the night we met… I can only assume that you've watched me."

"I have," he turned toward her, new vehemence in his voice. "For so many years, I have."

"Then certainly you know how fickle I am," she told him honestly.

Nuada's expression softened enough that Vanja felt he was understanding her meaning now.

"And this is not a decision that can be made impulsively. I have too many things to work out first. Because if I say yes, it's permanent, isn't it? You have to realize that for me, a relationship is only as good as how easy it is to get out of it. That's the way it's always been. I never stay with anything, with anyone, for too long."

Nuada smiled slowly, sadly. "Yes. I know."

"But I don't have that luxury here," Vanja continued. "I'm used to relationships having an open door. But the door to ours is closed and very well locked. If you are my choice, then you are my choice. I won't be able to go back. And I'm not so sure I'm ready to make the choice yet."

Nuada looked thoughtful. "I understand. And I will wait. As long as you need, I will wait."

Vanja knew the "but" was coming when Nuada's eyes seemed to darken, all of a sudden becoming sinister.

"However, do not expect my plans to halt for you. I have made my choice," he told her, perhaps a little resentment flashing in his eyes.

"I know," Vanja nodded. "I know that. I don't expect you to change anything for me."

Vanja thought on this, knowing that Nuada would continue his quest for the Golden Army with or without her. And in a flash of realization that complicated everything further, Vanja knew that that could endanger Red, Abe, Liz, and the others just as much as siding with Nuada could. Vanja knew that if she were not at Nuada's ear, it would be easier for him to kill her friends. She had confidence in HB, confidence that he could take care of himself and the others, should the time come to fight Nuada. But she also knew Nuada's conviction could border on cruelty and cold-bloodedness. She knew Nuada would not let anything stand in his way. But if she were to accept him, to be at his side, perhaps when that fateful time came…maybe that would be the way to save her friends….

In three hundred years, this was by far the most difficult decision Vanja ever had to make.

Nuada must have seen the worry and fear on Vanja's face because when he spoke to her next, his voice was as soft as if the previous conversation had never happened.

"You must be tired," he said, stepping closer to her, wrapping his arms around her.

And now that he said it, she was tired. It was past her bedtime, after all.

"Let's go back," he coaxed her, leading her to the edge of the roof.

They followed the same path back down to Nuada's cave-like home, the darkness seeming strange after the bright sunlight. Nuada led Vanja to the small room under the stairs, and she made herself comfortable among the soft bedding. Nuada lay down beside her, not seeming quite as at ease.

"Do you sleep?" Vanja asked as soon as the somewhat random thought occurred to her.

Nuada smiled. "Not the way you do."

Vanja tilted her head to the side, inquisitive.

"We require only a few hours of a…kind of meditation. A trance. It's restful, but the entire time we are completely aware of our surroundings."

"Do you ever feel tired?"

"Not in the way that you feel it physically. We are children of the Earth, and as tireless as She is. We don't," he paused, looking for the right word. "feel the same way that you do. It's deeper. Any way that we feel exhausted, it's like a soul sickness. I think our souls are the only part of us that tire."

Concluding, Nuada's eyes flickered away from Vanja's face, looking off somewhere else, his face relaxed, but pensive. Almost sadness.

"That sounds painful," Vanja murmured, knowing that she'd felt something she'd describe the same way occasionally over the centuries. Surely every immortal must.

"It is," Nuada replied, his eyes coming back to rest on her face.

Then his face lightened and he smiled. He bent to kiss Vanja's forehead. He settled into the blankets and snuggled up close to her, wrapping an arm around her.

"Now get some sleep," he whispered, his breath a strange, warm spring breeze that made her newly-alive skin tingle.