I told you I'd have another new chapter up tonight, in quick succession because I honestly thought I'd already posted the last one and then realized I hadn't... This one went fairly quickly anyway, since I already had it pretty much written in my head. Some cute Nikola/ Kiri fluff and Helen/ Kiri fluff (which we have not had enough of, but they are best friends). Translations at the bottom. Thanks to NCIS She-demon for the advice, and this probably wouldn't have been done so soon without her. Enjoy
Disclaimer
Kiri read the letter a third time as she got off the train and started the walk to the lab where the study group met. Ever since she had received the letter a little over a week ago, she had been worried about Nikola. She had no idea if he would be in the lab or not, but she had promised Helen and James that she would meet them there when she arrived. About half-an-hour after she had left the train station, she opened the door to the lab quietly. Five pairs of eyes met hers, and three smiles broke out. John never smiled at her, and whatever Nikola was doing could not be classified as a smile.
"Kiri, you're back. How was your trip?" Helen asked, moving to give the younger girl a hug. Kiri grinned.
"It was amazing. India was beautiful, and I managed to do what I was told. I'm glad to be home though." Kiri glanced over at Nikola, who was now looking down at his beakers. Kiri grinned at James, who shook her hand.
"Welcome back. Gregory wants to talk to you, by the way," he informed her. Kiri nodded.
"I know. I got his letter just before leaving India. I'll be stopping by tonight." She moved past those two to throw Nigel a grin, and he smiled back. The two of them weren't quite friends, but they had bonded over Christmas and were a little more than acquaintances at this point. As she passed John she curtsied, as she knew he preferred, and then finally reached Nikola. Before anyone could register what she was doing, she had thrown herself at him, wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug.
"Nika, I got your letter," she whispered in his ear before dropping back to the floor and turning to grin at everyone. "Now that I've said hello to everyone, you five should go back to doing what you were doing. I don't want to distract you." With that, she went to a pile of dirty beakers next to the dish water and began cleaning them. Another half hour passed in relative silence until there was a crash and Kiri turned in time to see Nikola storming out.
"Niko!" Helen called, moving to follow him.
"Helen, I'll go talk to him. He had something he wanted to talk to me about anyway," Kiri told her, beating her to the door. The smaller woman followed Nikola outside, finding him under the tree the study group had used as a meeting spot the previous autumn. She sat down next to him, sitting there silently for a few minutes before noticing that he was holding his folded glove against the palm of his right hand.
"Nika, you'll ruin your glove. And that's your only pair," she exclaimed, taking his hand gently in her own and pulling the glove away.
"Why does it matter? I'll probably have to leave for Serbia by next week anyway," Nikola snapped, though he let Kiri continue her ministrations on his cut. She had pulled out a small canteen and had poured some water over his hand to clean it, and was now wrapping it with a bandage.
"Why would you have to leave?" she asked quietly.
"I was only able to stay here because someone has been paying for the apartment. But now that I've been expelled, I doubt they'll continue doing that." Nikola looked down at his now bandaged hand, furrowing his brow. "What were you even doing with a canteen and bandages?" Kiri shrugged.
"I came straight from the train station, and I always travel with bandages and a canteen." She moved closer to him and rested her head on his chest. "I'm sure it'll all turn out alright, Nika. It might not seem like it now, but sometimes we need pain in order to appreciate pleasure, and we need sadness in order to appreciate happiness." She smiled up at him.
"Where did you come up with that?" Nikola looked down at her, a hint of his usual light-hearted teasing coming through.
"I spent some time with some philosophers in India. They had all sorts of strange sayings like that." Kiri snuggled closer to Nikola, staring out across the grounds. "Ne želim da odem, velikog brata."
"Mene bilo, sestrice." Nikola held his 'sister' more tightly, and they sat like that for almost an hour before Helen came out and found them.
"Kiri, do you want to walk home with me tonight?" she questioned, smiling down at the pair. Kiri turned to Nikola, who nodded, then extracted herself from his hold and stood next to Helen.
"I would love to," she exclaimed, grinning.
"Good night, Nikola," Helen called as they began walking away. During the carriage ride, Helen kept her eyes on the floor, looking slightly guilty.
"Is something wrong?" Kiri finally inquired, cocking her head.
"Have I been ignoring you and Nikola?" Helen met Kiri's eyes slowly. Kiri grinned at her.
"Of course not. You have been busy, and so we do not spend as much time together as we used to. But I don't think you're ignoring us."
"Do you know why Nikola has been so upset recently?"
"Isn't that something you should be asking him?" By now, the carriage had stopped, and Kiri hopped out, walking towards the house. She went straight to Gregory's office, leaving Helen alone in the living room. Kiri walked back down half an hour later, and she plopped down on the couch next to Helen.
"Helen, really, just talk to Nikola. That's all he wants. Gregory says he informed you of his decision," she told Helen, patting her leg.
"Yes. He did. I-I want to talk to Nikola about it, but he hardly even looks at me anymore. I don't know what to do." Helen leaned her head on Kiri's shoulder and stared at the fire.
"He is probably trying to be careful around the others, so that they don't think he is challenging your father's decision. Get him alone and talk to him. He does have his pride." Kiri rested her head on top of Helen's, and the two woman were soon asleep.
Ne želim da odem, velikog brata - I don't want you to leave, Big Brother
mene bilo – Me either