Hi! :)

This chapter actually starts the story line that I intended for this. Slight M for those who are freaked out by it :)

Enjoy and please review!

xx

Sail - Part 3

"Magnus!"

Helen Magnus was being pulled from the wondrous oblivion of sleep by a pounding on her bedroom door. Frowning and groaning she reached for a pillow and shoved it over her head, hoping it would drown out the banging.

"Magnus! Are you in there? It's 10 o'clock and no one has seen you" she sighed. 10 o'clock. She hadn't slept that late for decades.

"Magnus!" the panic was evident in the voice calling for her. She conceded defeat then, throwing off the pillow and sitting up in bed. It took her a while to get her bearings as she looked around the room.

"Magnus, I'm going to come in. If you're in there please say something!"

She panicked, glancing at the shambles of her desk and the multitude of things covering the floor, including the remnants of her black lace bra. He definitely could not walk in.

"I'm fine Will" she called out hoarsely, surprised at her own lack of voice.

"Magnus? It that you?" he ventured. She cleared her throat.

"I'm fine Will, just slept in. I'll be down shortly." She raised her voice. He hesitated.

"You sure you're OK?"

"Yes Will, I'm sure"

She heard his reluctantly retreating footsteps stop and march back to the door. Sighing she extracted herself from her bed. God, she was completely naked.

"Magnus... there... there was some tampering done with the computer system last night. Someone hacked in. Are you absolutely sure you're OK?" Bless. He sounded really worried.

Helen quickly headed for her wardrobe, as she passed her full length mirror she stopped abruptly. She gasped. Her entire body was covered in dark red marks which were slowly turning purple. She padded closer to inspect herself.

"Magnus!"

There were love bites absolutely everywhere, even down the span of both of her legs. Thank God there were few on her arms or face, at least she could wear something which covered most of them. She turned slightly and saw deep red gashes down the length of her sides. She shivered as she touched them gently. Then her eyes fell on the deep puncture marks on the side of her neck. Her fingertips strayed over the marks and her legs just about gave out. She swallowed hard as she felt herself become instantly wet.

"Magnus!"

Will was damn annoying. She grabbed her robe and flung it around herself, hoping to cover up as much of the carnage of her body as she could. She used her messed hair to cover the puncture wounds and flung the door open.

"Will. I'm FINE!" she raised her voice a bit too loudly at the worried psychiatrist. He seemed startled to actually see her. He sighed and nodded.

"Well. OK. The briefing about Cuba is in half an hou..." he trailed off, seeing a broken lamp on her bedroom floor. His eyes widened and he pushed past her into the room.

"Will!" she cried.

"My God Magnus, what the hell happened? Were you attacked? Why didn't you call for help?" he almost shouted at her. She fumed at him from her doorway.

"Nobody attacked me William, I just had a little bit of an accident, now kindly get out." She motioned for him to leave. Will's eyes scanned the room quickly. Her desk was a mess, most of the paraphernalia on it was broken on the floor. The bed was a complete shambles, pillows strewn everywhere and there... wait, was that Magnus's skirt? Was that her bra?

His eyes darted to her rage filled ones.

Oh.

He bolted from her room quickly, mumbling something about the briefing before he gratefully entered the lift. Helen sighed heavily and shut the door, leaning against it as she surveyed her room. She shut her eyes against the sudden cascade of tears that threatened to fall. She felt her heart tighten painfully at the reality of waking up alone after last night. She let out a soft sob and clasped a hand to her mouth, how could he just leave after what happened... what they did, what she'd felt...

"Is he gone yet?" a voice whispered hoarsely. Helen stood up straighter, her hand falling from her mouth.

"Nikola?" she hissed.

"Can I come out?"

She frowned. Where the hell was he?

"Yes, he's gone" she looked around for him. She had to stop her mouth from falling open as he emerged from under her bed, only clad in his suit pants, clutching his clothing from last night to his naked chest. He smiled crookedly at her when he'd straightened up, his hair adorably mussed to one side. She tried a weak smile back.

He faltered.

"Helen?" he began to move towards her, seeing the unshed tears in her blue eyes. "What's wrong?"

She turned her head away from him and tried to subtly wipe her tears away.

"No...Nothing" her voice broke and gave her away. He was standing in front of her in an instant, the clothes in his arms forgotten on the ground.

"Helen?" he begged, taking her face in his hands and forcing her to look him in the eyes. She took a great shuddering breath as his thumbs traced circles on her cheeks. "Please, don't do this, don't shut me out, not after last night..."

"I...I thought you'd gone. Niko I thought you'd just left. I..." she felt a hot tear slide down her face and she cursed herself for being so utterly taken in by him that she'd been reduced to a quivering puddle. He sighed and let his forehead rest against hers, squeezing his eyes shut tightly and breathing her scent in.

"I would never do that Helen. Never." He found himself choke back unshed tears. "God, I thought you were having second thoughts, about us... I don't think I could have survived you rejecting me." He confessed.

Helen's heart melted at his admission and she wrapped her arms tightly around him, pulling him into her.

"Not after last night, Niko" she breathed. He smiled against her lips and gave them a lingering kiss. She smiled and sniffed delicately once he'd pulled away.

"What the hell were you doing under the bed?"

He grinned as he looked into her much happier eyes.

"You were still fast asleep when Will started knocking on the door so I scrambled to get my stuff and hid under the bed just before he threatened to come in."

Helen frowned and nodded in understanding.

"Helen, it's not like that" she was slightly rattled at his ability to know exactly what she was thinking. "I didn't know how OK you would be with about us when you woke up, I didn't know if you wanted your team to know"

She smiled softly.

"I'd be more than happy to put on a show if you would like them to know though" he teased, nuzzling into her neck. She gasped and clutched onto his arms for support, her whole world going fuzzy around the edges and her core igniting with need. He'd inadvertently brushed his lips right over the marks he'd left from feeding on her last night.

"Helen!" his voice laced with worry as he felt her sag into his arms.

"Niko, what have you done to me?" she whispered against the taught skin of his chest her face was currently buried in. He helped her to stand up before brushing her hair away from her neck, examining the deep wounds. They were healing quickly and didn't seem to be at risk of infection but were just extremely sensitive. He felt inexplicably drawn to them and his fingers reached out to touch them. She sighed with pleasure as he did and leaned into his touch. He smiled at the look of complete happiness that radiated from her, a thrill rocketed up his spine as he realised he was the cause of such pleasure to Helen Magnus.

Emboldened he pressed more firmly down on the marks. She let out a cry of joy and fell heavily back against the door, dragging him with her and grinding her body against his. He gasped at the obvious way her body was reacting to his touch, loving that he could bring her such intense pleasure. He felt his heart rate intensify as a bolt of lust shot through him at the way she ground her heat against his thigh, her own leg brushing against him. Going for broke he brought his lips down to his mark and bit down gently, his human teeth slipping into the larger indentations of his vampiric marks.

She cried out loudly and almost immediately spasmed against him, jerking violently in his embrace while still trying her damndest to grind herself into oblivion on his leg. His hand jumped quickly to her core, rubbing tight circles against her throbbing clit. He felt her collapse over the edge of sensation and a sob escape from her body as she came hard against him.

As she slowed and came down from her high she clutched at his neck, kissing him senseless. He groaned into her mouth and held her upright as her body regained its faculties. She giggled slightly as she pulled away from him and let her head thunk gently back against the door.

"Dear God Niko, what have you done to me?" she repeated, a post coital haze descending in front of her eyes as she smiled upwards, pleasure still throbbing through her. Nikola chuckled and took her in his arms, lifting her clear off the ground and carrying her over to the bed. Depositing her gently down onto the mattress he shuffled to the other side of the bed and got under the covers, pressing his body against her back as they spooned.

She sighed happily and wound her fingers through his, gently rocking her hips back into his as she felt the hard flesh of his arousal pressed into the small of her back. He growled into her ear.

"Helen, rest"

She ignored him and twisted in his arms, turning to face him, her nose millimetres away from his. She gazed into his eyes for what felt like hours before sighing sadly.

"I have a briefing in twenty minutes" she pouted.

He smirked. "Helen Magnus not wanting to do work? What has the world come to?"

She laughed and shuffled impossibly closer to him, her lips brushing quickly against his.

"You know, you are the boss, you don't have to go" he suggested, reaching forward for another quick kiss.

"The head of the Cuban Sanctuary hates Will with a passion, I think there was a suspicious round of poker the last time he went as an envoy. He will speak to no-one but me."

Nikola smiled sadly back and nodded.

"Helen" her name was loaded with trepidation and conflicting emotions. "Where does this leave us? What are we going to do?"

She frowned deeply and sat up slightly, leaning on her arm to look at him.

"What do you mean Nikola?"

Oh damn, she'd gone back to Nikola, he was no longer Niko.

"Well. We're on opposite sides, me with SCIU and you here, we're like a way cooler version of Romeo and Juliet, except, there will be no stupid suicide right?" he tried to joke to lighten the atmosphere. She waited patiently for a serious answer. He sighed.

"Helen, I will leave SCIU if it's what you want. I've waited over a century for this and I'm definitely not going to throw it all away for some money and a jet." he ran a hand lightly over the skin of her cheek. "I meant what I said last night Helen. I'm completely in love with you."

She stared into his wide eyes. She'd been so close to saying it to him last night but he'd prevented her from it. They'd been so hazy with lust and a century's worth of denied need that she probably would have regretted admitting her love for him for the first time in such a way. This was the perfect moment, he'd reaffirmed his love for her over and over the previous night and now here again. She knew he wanted her to say it freely, to really mean it, not to be influenced by her body's reactions or his hand up her skirt.

She took a large gulp and looked down, eyes focusing on his bare chest for a couple of seconds before she met his eyes again. The last time she'd said it to anyone he'd ripped her heart from her chest and left her crushed. She still wasn't sure she would ever be over the pain he'd caused. But this was Nikola. Niko. Her best friend, now her lover, he was not like... him.

"I..." she started. His eyes seared into her, wondering if he was dreaming this. "I'm in love with you too, Niko" she whispered, barely audible. She saw tears of relief spring to his eyes immediately. "I don't think I realised just how long I have been in love with you" she finished.

His jaw clenched tightly as he felt his heart explode within his chest, the amount of times he'd dreamt of this moment were too many to count and now, now she'd finally said it to him. She'd really meant it. He couldn't help but pull her into a passionate kiss, his tongue exploring her mouth with renewed vigour and his hand tangling in her hair. She moaned and pulled away from his eager lips, if she let him carry on they'd never get up.

"Helennnn..." he groaned, reaching for her again. She swatted his hand away laughing.

"Niko, I need to have a shower and get ready for the briefing. We have to talk about this though. When do you have to be back at SCIU?"

He sighed and checked the clock on her bedside table.

"About two hours ago"

She raised her eyebrows and swung her legs over the side of the bed. He sat up, watching her.

"Right, well, you'd better get going" she smiled, chucking him his discarded clothes. He stared hungrily after her. She turned just before entering the bathroom.

"Oh and Niko" she almost purred from the doorway. He perked up at her tone. "You need a shower" he cocked his head, confused.

"I'm not leaving you like that... come on..." she motioned to the tight material across his crotch and slowly undid her robe, letting it slide from her body. His eyes bulged and he stumbled after her as he hurried from the bed, the sight of her body completely and utterly ravished by his mouth and claws making him dizzy with lust.

Helen strode into her office, late for the briefing – It had taken her a good fifteen minutes to cover up all the marks on her body. She'd left Nikola in her bedroom to finish showering and changing. She smiled at the thought of him still so close. Her eyes widened at the scene before her as she entered the office.

"They were YOUR cards! I never touched them before the game!" Will was shouting at a computer screen, hands flailing. She cleared her throat gently.

"Thank you Will, that's quite enough"

Will nodded and sat himself down on the couch, still eyeing the screen circumspectly. Helen moved to sit in front of her computer, smiling warmly at the head of the Cuban Sanctuary. Just as she was about to begin her apologies for her late arrival Henry burst into the room.

"Doc..." he rushed, out of breath. "Doc, I've just intercepted a communication from SCIU, there's been some sort of accident."

Helen opened her mouth in shock, blinking slowly.

"You'd better come take a look" he motioned and left the room. Helen turned back to her computer and sighed, explaining the situation.

Moments later she was down in Henry's lab. He was hurriedly flitting about, hooking a monitor up.

"They mentioned something about the nodes we saw there Doc. I'm not too sure what they meant by all the codes they used but it sounds really bad."

Helen rubbed her brow in worry, apparently it was the worst day for Nikola to be late for work.

"I should be able to get some footage from their security cameras soon so we can take a look at what's going on, I'll be able to get sound with it in a couple of hours" he continued, typing frantically.

Will was staring at Magnus intently as Henry got the footage up and running. She noticed and raised a questioning eyebrow at him.

"You don't seem too worried" he said.

"Why should I be worried, we don't even know what happened yet." she countered. Will raised his eyebrows.

"Tesla was there, not worried about him?"

Magnus sighed, she had hired Will for his observational abilities.

"Niko can take care of himself"

"Niko?"

She blanched at the slip and turned to Henry, who had just pulled up the footage.

"When did this happen Henry?" she asked as she watched.

"Early this morning, at about three."

Helen nodded and watched. Henry fast forwarded quickly.

"Now that we have all the information about SCIU, I was able to hack into their system and piggyback on... well... everything" he sounded proud.

Nikola's lab came into view. The lights were dimmed but it was clear somebody was working late. They all squinted at the blurry image.

"Looks like Tesla" Will proffered. Henry nodded in agreement.

They continued watching as the figure left the work station and headed over to the large nodes. Fiddling for a few moments with some part of the wiring, the person stopped and ran a hand through his hair. This was when the camera was blinded by a searing flash of light. The three watching the monitor shielded their eyes at the brightness. The scene that was left when the light faded brought a gasp to Magnus's lips.

"Bloody hell" she exclaimed.

The lab was completely devastated, everything blown to pieces.

"There is no way he survived that" Henry said sadly.

"He's a Vampire" Will argued.

"Yeah, but still, he can't survive being blown apart"

Helen sighed and checked the monitor for any signs of life from the lab.

"That was not Nikola" she put an end to their discussion. Will and Henry exchanged confused looks.

"Doc, he was in Tesla's lab at three in the morning."

"Yeah, it looked a hell of a lot like Tesla too, with the suit and the hair. I'm sorry Magnus" he ended, trying to comfort her.

Helen only rolled her eyes, her attention captivated by the screen.

"Look" she pointed to some movement. "Whoever that was survived the blast"

Will and Henry both craned to see a pile of rubble shift as though someone was trying to pry their way out of it. Henry began to fast forward again.

"Jeez, Doc, no one found him until seven this morning." He commented as a team of people picked their way through the rubble and began to pull out the prone form of the person who endured the blast. Helen sighed as they pulled the battered and bruised body from the wreckage and carried it away. Will gave her a funny look.

"Magnus, that WAS Tesla" he tried to convince her.

"No Will, I guarantee you it was not. Now, that was very interesting but I don't see how it affects us" she asked Henry. He only gawped at her.

"I thought it was Tesla, he was the only one who could enter that lab and..." he was interrupted as his computer bleeped. Hastening to it his eyes widened as he read.

"Doc..." he started. "It was him"

"Who?" Magnus asked, exasperated by the two men.

"Tesla. I've just intercepted a notification that SCUI's director was the man involved in the blast this morning and that he's in a coma in SCUI's infirmary".

Magnus just shook her head and sighed.

"Henry, Nikola was not the man on the security camera. The person must be too badly burned or hurt to be properly identified and they just assumed it was him."

Henry shook his head sadly.

"No. Doc. They've run blood tests to be sure. It's Tesla." He swivelled the screen around so that Helen could see the blood test results he'd gotten from SCIU's database. Helen faltered slightly then sighed.

"Fine, if you don't believe me, come on" she huffed, storming out of Henry's lab. "I can't take much more of this insanity"

Another confused look was thrown between the two men before they hurried after their boss.

Both Henry and Will were thoroughly bewildered by the time they were standing outside of Helen's bedroom door.

"Uh, Magnus..." Will began, fearing his boss had lost her marbles.

"Just come in" she waved his half started comment away and pushed the door open into her room. She could hear the shower still going and her room was still in the state she left it in.

"Whoa... Doc, what the happened here?" Henry exclaimed as he took in the damage. Helen neglected to answer the HAP and strode over to her bathroom door, opening it slightly.

"Nikola, will you come out here please?"

Will and Henry both looked at her as if she was completely insane. Helen heard the shower shut off and smiled knowingly at the two men. The door eased open, revealing a naked Nikola Tesla, clad only in a small towel which covered his modesty. Helen could not help the jolt of excitement she felt at seeing him in such a state and her eyes became fixed on his naked chest before she pried them away. He smiled at her before turning towards Will and Henry.

"Ah Helen, you've brought the children to say good morning to daddy" he quipped.

She smirked at their incredulous faces.

"See. One Nikola Tesla, in the flesh and not in a coma" she said triumphantly.

Will and Henry both stood, mouths agape as they stared at the bathroom doorway. The completely empty bathroom doorway.

"Oh. Shit." Will whispered.

*looks around sheepishly*