Sorry about the delay with this one... I've been fiddling around with the order of the next two chapters and blanked on uploading another!

So, this little one contains a bit of voyeurism (as does the next one) so if anyone is, oh, I dunno, freaked out by the idea, approach with caution...

Thanks for all the reviews :) And let me know what you think of this bit...

Enjoy

xx

The next week and a half passed without any real consequence. Will assumed the role as head of Old City, Declan that of the network and Helen was mostly left in peace to try and figure out how to fix her 'little problem' as Henry had dubbed it. She barely slept, ate little and would spend hours alone only to emerge seeking some kind of frivolity to distract her. The only thing that could keep her from surfacing was Nikola's presence. If he entered her lab, Kate, Will and Henry knew they probably wouldn't see either of them for at least a day. Not that they were doing anything inappropriate, the door was always open but they had all learnt better than to disturb the old friends.

Will had tried once to join in their discussion and had receive what he supposed was the cold shoulder from Helen. They'd all developed an understanding for what her silences meant and they could picture with ease her looks of disdain, annoyance, understanding and even confusion. She seemed mostly normal but the mood swings were becoming more pronounced and they'd had secret midnight meetings to see if there was a way they could speed up her research or at least dull the mood swings that took her from flirtatious to furious at the drop of a hat. The morning after their secret meeting, Helen had approached them and in no uncertain terms told them that before they began to question her work, they should do their own. The meetings had stopped pretty quickly after that but their unease wasn't so easily dissipated.

Nikola, while concerned, was highly pleased with her new found attachment to him. They would talk for hours about whatever discovery she'd made concerning her blood, he quipping that they really needed James for this kind of work. She always sighed at that before recalling some silly little memory of the five of them. Normally a time when James had bought her an abnormal, she'd studied it and Nikola had succeeded in distracting them all by blowing something up. In retrospect, he noticed that had happened quite a bit. These days made him remember the easy friendship that had effected them all for a very long time.

"You need to get out of here," Nikola said one day, lounging in her doorway.

"And the point of that would be?" she said and he knew she wasn't looking at him.

"Getting a life?" he joked. "Oh come on Helen, it's a beautiful day and you haven't left this room in weeks."

"Firstly, I left last night to go have dinner with you all and secondly, it has been precisely 12 days since I first woke up like this, not weeks," she countered calmly as a slide hovered in mid air before sliding onto the microscope. "And I need to work. I refuse to wait 120 days for this to resolve itself."

"Oh you're just worried that young William will destroy your little Sanctuary right under your nose."

"Actually Nikola, isn't that your domain?" she snapped.

"I don't try to destroy it, it just happens," he said with an unaffected shrug. She scoffed at him.

"Intent was not the issue," she reminded him and he started to grin.

"Come on, we're leaving. Now," he ordered, coming to stand behind her. With firm hands he grabbed her shoulders and started to pull her away from the table. "Oh, we're feeling decadent today, aren't we?" he commented over her protests.

"What?" she asked, annoyed as she tried to fight his hold.

"Your top," he explained. "It's silk."

"What does that have to do with anything?"she complained as they made it into the hallway.

"It seems a shame to let such a beautiful garment go unseen," he commented, finally letting go of her.

"I can see it," she argued as they began to walk down the corridor. "It's not as if I am dressing to impress anyone."

"Are you trying to tell me those tight little skirts and painfully high heels are not for me?" he asked, pretending to be offended.

"Yes, Nikola, because I really need to encourage you," she bit back in a sarcastic tone that had developed over the last few days.

"It couldn't hurt," he said happily. "Or it could. But only in the good way," he added on for good measure. She let out a heavy sigh as they kept walking. A few moments later Nikola had an idea.

"Whatever happened to the list?" he asked, trying for nonchalance.

"Dangerous territory," she advised darkly and he heard her footsteps pick up the pace.

"My favourite kind," he whispered as his hands darted out to grab her. His hands met her hips momentarily but then he found himself being shoved backwards. He slammed against the nearest wall, the breath forced from him as her body pushed against his.

"Then what's number 2?"

"Ahh, number 2, I think you'll like this one," he said fondly. "I'd sneak up behind you and pin you to the wall."

She waited for the rest of it. "That's it?" she asked when it became clear he wasn't going to say anything else.

"Well think of how it would look," he said. "You, stuck against the wall, eyes closed, face flushed with the pleasure of having me pressed against the length of your body. And then when I started to nibble your ear…" he trailed off seductively.

"What would you do if I fought you?"

"You wouldn't," he said simply and she let out a snort of laughter. "We both know you want me," he continued. "You kissed me in Rome."

"No, you kissed me! Actually you stole a kiss from me," she argued.

"O.K," he accepted. "You kissed me back. You. Kissed. Me. Back."

"Believe what you want Nikola. I'm already certain your scientific principles are a little off kilter but repetition won't make it fact," she said with a light laugh, brushing off his accusation. She never kissed him back, she only thought about it.

There was a pause.

"I would fight back," she said and he laughed.

"Please, you'd be putty in my oh so capable fingers," he said, wiggling the offending appendages at her.

"I never would have picked you as a voyeur," she told him, trying to sound disapproving.

"I'm not," he countered, "you are." She scoffed at him.

"Has this past century taught you nothing about me?" she scolded with a giggle.

"I'd like to think they've taught me all I need to know," he said suggestively and she laughed out loud at him.

"Incorrigible and corny! Sometimes you are just too adorable, Nikola!" she said between laughs.

"I'm adorable?" he asked, completely taken aback. On his face was a look of absolute innocence and Helen laughed harder.

"Don't provoke me," she growled in his ear.

"And here I was thinking that you'd forgotten about the list," he whispered to her.

"Never," she said with a seductive laugh. The change of mood left him stunned but when she pushed against him even harder, he lost almost all rational thought. He was paralysed.

"Nikola," she whispered teasingly, her body beginning to move against his, her hands trailing down his sides. He shivered and his eyes slid shut, her soft chuckle stirring the air by his ear. Slowly, her tongue stole out, hitting the lobe, making his choke slightly as she sucked on it. "I vaguely remember something about biting," she whispered, pulling back ever so slightly. "But if this is all you can take…" she trailed off, her hands stroking up his chest to his neck. Her body was now still as can be against his and he felt his heart beat quicken

"Helen," he whispered, his voice deep and feral as his neck arched, allowing her soft fingers to caress every inch. He held the rest of his body perfectly still. For now.

"Vlad?" came an unwelcome voice. As his eyes popped open, he noticed the gentle caress of his neck had not stopped. He almost moaned as he looked over at a very flustered Kate. He was fighting a losing war with his own hips, they were so very close to moving against hers.

"What's going on here?" Henry asked, coming around the corner, stopping dead as he watched Nikola's eyes flit shut and then open again.

"I think Vlad's getting his jollies," Kate said, mollified and Henry started to look sick. As if hearing the voices for the first time, Helen stepped away from him and he immediately stepped forwards, trying to straighten himself out.

Nikola opened his mouth to give an explanation but found there really was none.

"It was Helen," he tried, his voice pained. Both of them looked at him in disbelief. "She's right here," he said, exasperated. Still nothing. "Helen," he called, his voice sounding a little panicked. "Helen!"

"We'll ah, leave you two to it then," Kate said condescendingly.

"She's here," Nikola protested, his eyes searching the corridor.

"Okay," Kate said simply, dragging the almost retching Henry back towards wherever they came from.

"She was right here!" he called out to their retreating figures. They sped up and he let out an angry curse.

With a sigh, Nikola turned around, his face dark, near murderous rage filling him up.

Then he heard her laugh.

"You," he said menacingly, turning to face her. She laughed harder. "Why didn't you… Couldn't you… That was…" he tried, spluttering.

"Oh, Nikola. I have never seen your face so red in all my life!" she said between giggles.

"That was mean," he said, narrowing his eyes at her.

"You shouldn't have provoked me," she called to him, her voice floating down the corridor.

"And you shouldn't have made me look like a pervert," he replied, hurrying after her voice.

"It's your list," she retorted as he came to her side. "It's hardly my fault you can't stomach your own ideas."

"You could have at least picked somewhere a little more private," he grumbled and she laughed again.

"That would have completely defeated the point."

"And pray tell, what is the point?" he bit back.

"You've spent the last few years tormenting me Nikola, I think it's high time for a little payback."

"Now you've got me excited," he responded, his voice darkening .

She just laughed.