Chapter 38 - Chocolates And Passion (Part 3)
~~~~September 1895~~~~
I didn't know what to think when I got your letter. I wasn't expecting this from you. Are you sure this is what you want?
Nikola knocked on the door of his good friend's town house on Lexington Avenue. He hadn't seen Robert and Katharine in a long time it felt, and when he received their invitation to stay for a weekend up in the country home something in him decided that he needed a break from all his work.
The door opened quickly and a woman ran into his arms, looping around his neck and pulling him into a tight embrace.
"Nikki!" she cried jovially. "Come in, dear friend, please."
Before he could protest the beautiful woman tugged him inside.
"Robert is picking up some odds and ends and should be back soon, let me make you some coffee," she nearly ripped his arms off removing his coat and hat and putting it on the stand. "Ah, Nikki, it feels like forever."
He smiled at her.
"Well, I've been busy," he coughed awkwardly and she blushed slightly.
"Yes, that was probably my fault...throwing myself at you like that, it was highly inappropriate, I still don't know what came over me," she looked at him honestly. "When you agreed to come I was so happy...I felt I had scared you off."
Nikola smiled at Katharine Johnson, the wife of one of his greatest friends. It had been months since he had been in their company, and in that last meeting, Katharine, through some force, had offered herself up quite seductively to him when Robert's back had been turned. To be truthful he had been avoiding them under the guise of work, if only to give Katharine a moment to cool down and consider what she really wanted, love or sex.
The way she smiled at him, almost beaming he understood now that it was no more than misdirected needs.
She tugged him into the kitchen and sat him down at the table. She busily rushed around the kitchen, fetching all that she would need to make him feel the most comfortable. Sugar, cream, biscuits, everything she could use to make him the best cup of coffee this side of Manhattan.
Nikola grinned, watching her flit around like a bee from flower to flower then dumping it on the table in front of him, plated with teaspoons and her good china.
"Robert and I have been looking forward to a nice trip out of the city for awhile, it's going to even better with you there, we'll have so much to do, so much to talk about," she said excitedly.
Nikola put his hand on her arm and she calmed down at the touch, her eyes drifting across to where his hand lay then flitting up to meet his gaze.
"Sit down, Mrs. Fillipov," he said teasingly. "You'll work yourself into a state of distress."
She blushed again and inhaled deeply.
"You're right, I just need to breathe," she put her hand over his softly, grasping his fingers in a gentle squeeze, lingering just that one second too long before Nikola snatched his hand back. "Robert has plans, you're in for quite the adventure."
Nikola chuckled.
"Always with the Fillipovs," he joked.
"I love it when you call us that...makes me feel like a new person...like when you're here we become different people in some kind of fantasy," she smiled sweetly. "I imagine, sometimes, that my alter ego, Mrs. Fillipov, is a strong-willed woman, much stronger than I, who lives a life of untold adventure and danger...and passion."
Nikola sputtered on a biscuit when she said the last word.
"Oh, I'll get you some water," Katharine said without hesitation. She poured him a glass from a tall pitcher and handed it to him, he took it gratefully.
"Thank you," he muttered, rubbing his throat slightly.
"The coffee should be ready soon," she sat back down, picking up a biscuit from the plate and nibbling on it. "So, what have you been up to Nikki? Any trouble? I heard about your lab...I was so upset, I tried to convince Robert to come and see you but you were no where to be found. Not your apartment, not the gentleman's club. We were worried that you had fallen into some kind of depression. Where were you, Nikki?"
"Uh, with a friend," he said with a shrug. He couldn't exactly explain what had happened that week after the fire. He had spent the majority of the oncoming weeks in his lover's arms, only really coming out to eat and tend to some small business issues. Katharine, he felt, wouldn't quite understand the basis of his relationship with Helen; honestly he had never mentioned the woman that so often captured his thoughts and fantasies to his good friends. In some twisted way, he liked keeping her all to himself.
Helen, his Helen. Every time he closed his eyes he could see her; smell her; feel her skin, slapping against his as they danced together between the sheets of her hotel room. He could remember and picture perfectly every curve and niche that woman had to offer and he became overwhelmed by his lust for her body and the desire for her heart. He had hoped that he could continue with their agreement, but he found it harder and harder as the weeks whittled away to keep it all bottled up inside. He loved her, more than he could say, and every time he was with her he loved her more. He was in love with everything about her, and everyone else reminded him of her. Just the thought of her caused his slow heart to beat abnormally fast.
Nikola looked over at Katharine. He loved her as well, but it was a kind love, a fondness. She was a friend, and despite how beautiful and entrancing she was he did not burn for her the way he did for Helen. How could he explain that to her without making her feel like a fool for feeling the way she does? Katharine was anything but a fool, but she was missing something, a passion that was not being satisfied by her husband's comfortable way of living. She had no children to occupy her time, no job to get her out of the house, and a husband who found more romance in poetry than in his wife's body.
"Have you found a new lab yet?" Katharine brought his mind back on track.
"Yes," Helen had helped. "It's on Houston Street now, right below Greenwich Village. It's a nice place. Still settling in but hopefully now it will be more secure than my last laboratory."
Katharine nodded. The coffee pot whistled and she stood up to fetch it and fill up the delicate china cup with the dark aromatic liquid.
She brought the cups over and placed them gently on the table, careful not to spill any on her fingers.
Nikola accepted his cup and proceeded to dump three large spoonfuls of sugar and a dollop of cream, stirring it with trained precision, and then taking a decent sip of it.
Katharine giggled.
"I still can't get over you're awful sugar habit," she teased. "You can't eat or drink anything that isn't sweet. I see now why wine is your drink of choice."
"My father was a priest. Sweets were an indulgence, and he had sworn off all indulgences as a fast for the Lord. The moment I moved out on my own I was offered a sweet and I have not turned back since. As for wine...what little altar boy didn't steal a swig from the sacramental wine once or twice? My father practically encouraged it, said it was cleansing for the soul...you know, with moderation."
"Of course," Katharine nodded.
"I plan on finding the finest wine ever made in the world one day," he took another sip of coffee. "Everything else I drink, I drink with sugar because nothing compares to the delicate sweetness of a fine wine."
Katharine laughed.
"Robert is a sherry man. He likes his port, every night before bed," said Katharine conversationally.
"What about you?" asked Nikola.
She grinned slightly then stood up, sneaking over to a small box opening it, taking out its contents to reveal the box's false bottom and pulling out a small tin. She brought the tin over to him and pried of its lid. Inside were chocolates, small little bite-sized chocolates. Nikola stole one and popped one in his mouth. In the middle was a candied cherry, setting off a tangy sweetness against the dark chocolate.
"It's not a drink, per se, but I'm so shy about it I can't even tell Robert...I buy them for myself every so often and sneak one when Robert isn't looking," she blushed slightly. "Chocolate is my weakness. I find its taste pure and simply pleasurable. As if God bottled up a single moment of ecstasy into one silky bite-sized morsel."
Nikola eyed her as she took a chocolate from the box and gently placed it in her mouth. His throat went a little dry at the subtle and serenely lustful glance she gave him as she indulged in her pleasure. She covered the lid back on the tin and placed it back inside the box under the false bottom. Nikola watched her every move.
Robert walked in, disturbing the oddly tense moment.
"Ah, Nikola!" he said with a smile, opening his arms wide in greeting.
"Luka!" Nikola said, glad for the distraction from Katharine. He embraced his good friend. "I'm glad you could make it! Our cab leaves within the hours. Dear, are we all packed?"
Katharine looked up at her husband and smiled.
"Of course, my dear," she tucked the box back into its original place and proceeded to clean up the remains of her and Nikola's strange tea party.
"Nikola, there is something I'd like to show you before we leave, if I may?" asked Robert.
"Yes, of course," Nikola gestured to have Robert lead the way.
Nikola followed him out. He paused at the door and chanced a glance back at Katharine, catching her eyes for a tense second. He quickly averted his gaze and walked out. He had the sudden and sinking feeling that this weekend wasn't going to go as smoothly as he had hoped.
~~~~April 1895~~~~
Nikola felt Helen's hand on his knee, quite prevalently. It slid up his thigh gently and squeezed slightly every-so-often. He pretended to ignore it, pretty sure Helen didn't even realize she was doing it.
They were taking a carriage to the constuction site where the new Sanctuary was to be built. It was a large plot of land in Queens. Nikola thought the name was actually quite fitting, figures his highly british friends and colleagues would find a spot in a place that reminded them of their heritage.
James sat across from them, promptly ignoring the quite telling gesture. Nikola chose to keep his gaze outside the carriage window, but tht didn't keep his mind off the fact that she was caressing his knee, quite sensually too, and right in front of their old inquisitve friend.
He knew of the affair, and that was one thing, but flaunting it about so carelessly, well, it was throwing him off slightly. Either she was comfortable enough in front of James that she didn't care that he saw her touching him so tenderly, or she was so comfortable with Nikola that she was subconsciously doing this. Nikola silently prayed for the latter. In some twisted way, knowing she subconciously wanted him gave him hope for the future.
He knew it, and he knew James knew it: He was hopelessly wrapped around her finger, and the sad thing was, he enjoyed it.
Instead of making a scene, or making things more awkward for James, especially if she wasn't aware of the gesture, he looked out the window and counted the number of lamp posts they passed on the way to the site.
3...6...9...
"Nikola, darling," Helen's voice broke through his thoughts.
"Yes," he snapped his gaze at her. Her hand was still on his knee, in fact, it had shifted higher.
"What do you think?" she asked. He deflated slightly, he had not heard a word of her discussion with James. Apparently it was more of an argument and he sputtered for a few seconds coming up with an answer.
"Uh, I, uh-agree with you," hesmiled as genuinely as possible.
"See," she looked over at James.
"You think fireplaces over fuel burning furnace?" James looked at Nikola skeptically.
"Y-yes?" he said looking over at Helen and she smiled at him.
"I told you he'd agree with me," Helen said defiantly.
Nikola laughed awkawardly then returned his gaze back out the window. In fact, he thought the furnace was much more practical than fireplaces, but he wasn't about to voice that at this particular juncture.
"Of course he agrees with you, he considers it his fee for sexual intercourse!" James stated simply and with a slight chuckle.
Nikola's head snapped back.
"I do not!" he cried indignantly.
"James!" Helen cried, a slight blush creeping into her cheeks. "That is a highly inappropriate thing to say."
Nikola looked at her.
"I agree...and not because of sex," Nikola nodded his head.
James laughed.
"You two are positively adorable," James leaned back in his seat. "Sticking to your guns together even to the end."
"What are you on about?" Helen rolled her eyes.
"I don't know if you noticed Helen, but Nikola hasn't heard a word from either of us the moment your hand touched his leg," James pointed his finger at her gloved hand still resting on his knee.
She lifted it off immediately.
"I used it to steady myself over that bump," she said defensively.
"That maybe so, but you didn't bother to move it once you gained equilibrium," James admonished with a grin.
"What are you insinuating, James?" Nikola jumped to her defense.
"I'm just saying if your plan was to be discreet you aren't doing a very good job of it," James crossed his arms and fized them with a pointed gaze.
"Well, this is just in front of you, we don't have to be discreet around you, you already know," Helen jumped in.
Nikola looked over at her then back at James and nodded.
"Well, why don't I just turn my head for the rest of the trip so you two can share a good snog?" James challenged.
"Maybe we will," Helen challenged back.
Nikola snapped his head back a her.
"What?" he sputtered.
"Why don't you just climb on his lap and go right at it then!" James challanged even further.
"Maybe I should!" Helen cried, a hint of a small giggle in her voice.
Nikola's eyes widened significantly at this.
"Uhhhh," he raised a finger to interject but was promptly ignored.
"I'll just turn my head and give you some privacy then," James crossed one leg over the other and shifted his body in his seat to stare out the window.
Nikola looked over at Helen whose eyes darted to his.
"We're not really...I mean...with him here..." Nikoal whispered to her and she smiled widely and shook her head.
"No," she whispered back.
He let out a sigh of relief.
"Oh good, for a moment there I couldn't tellif you were kidding," he blushed slightly and she giggled, leanign voer and pressing a small kiss to his. It was a friendly kiss, she had always done it when he got shy and awkward like this back in Oxford. It was bits and pieces of their deep friendship resurfacing.
As much as they still had their agreement, things like this kept happening, little things he'd almost forgotten but gladly welcomed.
Helen leaned back in her seat and smiled slightly, placing her hand back on his knee. She was definitely aware of that and how it affected him...minx.
~~~~September 1895~~~~
Robert and Katharine's cottage in the country was beautiful. Serene and out of the way. Picturesque, complete with beautiful garden and bright flowerbeds, despite the season. It was like Fall had never touched this place.
The sun glistened of the neatly thatched roof, making Nikola feel like he had stepped out of reality and into a fairytale.
He took the attic bedroom which has a lovely four post bed, a small desk, a lamp, and a chest of drawers. A window streamed sunlight into the small room and a staircase led to the second floor of the cottage which held the mater bedroom and bathroom, and beyond that was a staircase leading on to the groundfloor which had a small breakfast nook attached to the kitchen and a cozy little sitting area which lead to the backyard veranda and the garden.
The colors were warm and vibrant, the scent was of fresh rain and flowers, the air was clean, and the atmospshere pleasant. A very restorative environment.
Nikola plunked his suitcase down on the bed and changed out of his heavy suit jacket and waistcoat till he was in nothing but his shirt and vest, popping the buttons the vest to open it up to the warm air. He also unbuttoned the first three buttons on his shirt and yanked off his cravat exposing his long white neck. He neatly folded the garments and put them away accordingly along with the rest of his clothes in the chest.
Soon after, Robert had called him down to join him on the veranda with a bottle of wine.
Nikola was done before Robert could say what vintage it was.
"Quite worth the day's travel, isn't it?" asked Robert, pouring the wine into the slender-necked glasses.
"Yes, how did you find such a place?" asked Nikola, he sat down in one of the chairs on the veranda and accpeted the wine gratefully.
"It belongs to my family, we've been coming here for years," Robert sat in the chair next to him, reclining fully into it and cradling his glass.
"Where is Mrs. Fillipov?" asked Nikola.
"Changing into something a bit more comfortable, I imagine," shrugged Robert. "She'll be joining us shortly."
Nikola nodded his head and sipped the wine.
"Ooh, good vintage," Nikola smirked happily, letting the taste linger on his tongue.
"Only the best for you, my friend," Robert cheered, clinking their glasses together. "So, where've you been all this time, Nikki?"
Nikola looked up from his wine.
"Busy, as usual," he said nonchalantly.
"I haven't seen you since...lord it's nearly been since January," Robert continued.
"Yes, with this War of the Currents, George has had me running in all directions, we predict we'll be harnessing the power of Niagra falls ealry next November...it would've been sooner but that lab fire was a great set back to my plans," sighed Nikola.
"I heard, we had come to find you, but nether me nor anyone else could find you for a week," said Robert.
"I went to a friend's," Nikola shurgged dismissively.
"So Katharine says," he nodded.
"They helped me get back on track...that fire disturbed me...it still does, but now I can move on," Nikola took another sip of his wine.
"Do you know who did it?" asked Robert.
"I can only guess," sighed Nikola.
"You don't think it was Edison, do you?" asked Robert.
"It's only speculation, any evidence burned along with everthing else," Nikola sighed. "Anyways, I still won the bid for Niagra, and no lab fire can destroy that. But this time I'm prepared for any mishaps. I bought a safe for safe keeping all my blueprints and schematics, if my lab mysteriously catches fire again I won't have to start from scratch again."
Robert cheered again, and their glasses clinked just as Katharine stepped outside of the cottage.
She wore a light blue sundress. Nikola almost dropped his glass upon seeing her. Her hair was done up in a tight up do, and the dress was sleeveless and barely came down to her ankles. She was stunning.
"Darling, you look ravishing," Robert stood up and took her hand and kissed it. "The sun does wonders to you."
Katharine smiled brightly at him.
"You really think so Robbie?" she twirled for him slightly.
"Emphatically," he leered at her admireably.
Nikola did everything he could to try not to stare, ending him in bruying his nose in his wine glass and gulping the whole thing down in one go.
"Nikki! Pace yourself!" Katharine admonished him witha slight grin. "Wouldn't want you to lose control of your faculties."
She winked at him slightly, taking his wine glass from his hands, her fingers grazing his hands gently as she did so.
"How's about a picnic lunch in the gardens? The gazebo looks so pretty this time of year?" said Katharine excitedly.
"That sounds lovely, my dear, how's about it, Nikola?" asked Robert.
"Uh, sure," he forced a smile at the two of them.
"Great, i'll pack a lunch," smiled Katharine. "Nikola, may I request your assistance? Robert find that blanket...you know."
Robert nodded and left, heading inside.
As soon as he was gone Nikola turned to her and glared at her.
"I know what you're doing Katharine," he growled lowly.
"Doing what?" she shrugged innocently. "I just asked for some assistance."
"You know what I mean, Katharine, and you need to stop it," he whispered harshly, following her into the kitchen. "I can't do this with you, I value my friendship with the both of you too much to ruin it with any kind of lustrous fantasy."
She turned to him, her arm snaking around his shoulder to he back of his neck.
"How so?" she teased, pressing her hips into his slightly. She leaned against the counter as she fiddled with the hair at the base of his skull.
He grasped her hand and stepped out of her embrace.
"You know very well how so," he growled. "And it's wrong. It's a betrayal to Robert's trust of me and of you."
Katharine sighed disappointedly and turned back to the counter.
"Katharine..." Nikola groaned. "I love you. I do, I really do." He stepped up behind her. "But as Mrs. Fillipov, anything more than that I can't give to you."
Katharine turned in his arms.
"I know that's not true...you look at me...you look at me," he knew what she was trying to say. "Kiss me, Nikki, please, just once. One time and then tell me how you feel."
Nikola groaned and scrubbed a hand over his face.
"Not here, not now," he sighed.
"Tonight, when Robert is asleep, at the gazebo...meet me there," Katharine stepped up to him, placing her hands up to his cheek, whispering into his ear in case Robert was nearby.
Nikola shuddered slightly
"Yes, fine...but this one time only, then you stop this relentless pursuit of me, alright?" he said firmly.
"Yes," she nodded her head. She stepped away from him and began to busy herself around the kitchen to prepare the picnic lunch.
~~~~April 1895~~~~
Nikola lifted his hand to help Helen out of the carriage.
"So this is the dirt heap your father bought?" teased Nikola. "It's beautiful, the most stunning dirt heap in town."
"Joke all you want, it may be a dirt heap now, but in a few years when construction is finished you'll see," Helen hit his shoulder playfully.
"Yes, expanding operations into the new world," Nikola mocked.
"Abnormals are everywhere, and not all of them can come to us, this makes it easier for the both of us," shrugged Helen.
"Who would be running this operation?" Nikola looked at her. "You?"
"Possibly. Nigel might as well, he's english to the bone but I think he's beginning to feel a bit restless. But it will be years before any solid decisions are made, first construction, then we'll nitpick over the tiny details," said Helen.
"Oh, Helen, imagine all the fun we could have if you live in New York," Nikola smirked dreamily. "I can just see it, dinner at 8, dancing ant 8:30, dessert at 9, and by 9:30 you're on your back begging for more."
Helen rolled her eyes.
"Hardly, I'd get bored of your presence quickly," she waved it off jokingly.
"Oh Helen, you wound me," he clasped a hand over his heart. "Let's ditch the detective, find a nice quiet alley and get up to some trouble."
Helen laughed.
"No, we already had a debacle with James in the carriage, do we reall need to have that conversation with him again? If he catches us we'd never hear the end of it, he'd never trust us along together," she sighed.
"But don't tell me the possibility excites you," he grinned. "I saw your face in that carriage, you were positively ecstatic in that dare."
"It was a joke, Nikola, I would never...in front of him...no!" she rolled her eyes.
"I know, but the danger and risk of it...that excites you," hecame up behind her, dangerously close ad whispered in her ear. "You're thinking, he's not looking, we should sneak off behind those buildings over there...5...10 minutes...he'll never notice."
Helen shuddered slightly.
"No, i'm thinking, he's making a scene...I shouldve left him at the hotel," Helen elbowed him in the gut and he grunted.
"Aww, come on, Helen, we used to get into tons of trouble back in the old days," he followed her.
"Setting up pranks and shooting at our classmates with homemade slingshots is a very different kind of trouble then what you're up to Nikola," Helen teased.
"Well back the I didn't know what kind of trouble you were capable of," he teased back.
"Later, Nikola, just not here," she pushed him away once more. "I want you to see what's going on here, I did bring you here for a reason."
"I know...I just thought it involved...nevermind..." Nikola whined and Helen laughed.
"Later...now, we're going to act normal..." she smirked a little deviously. "When we get back to the hotel though."
"Promises, promises," he joked. "Alright, show me the dirt heap."
He gave her his arm and she took it with a small giggle.
"Well, over here is where we're planning to have the foyer..."
~~~~September 1895~~~~
The day had gone from beautifully sunny and warm to an all out downpour in a manner of seconds. Luckily the threesome had finished their picnic long beforehand the rain had come. It started pouring around 4:oo and hadn't stopped since.
Nikola stood outside his window, wondering if he was still meeting Katharine out by the gazebo or if the rain had called off their plans. Seeing as it was near midnight and she hasn't stolen him away in the last few hours to change plans he assumed so, but either way he was going to wait for her to make the first move.
He sighed, looking at the thick sheet of rain pouring heavily onto the the little cottage.
What was he going to say to her to gently say he wasn't interested? Yes, she was a beautiful woman, and yes she was very appealing to the eye. He liked her very much both physically and intellectually, and with all the innuendo she's been throwing at him the last few days he knew she definitely had an effect on him, but for all that, she wasn't Helen.
He misses her. He always missed her when she went back to London. Though her visits had been frequent for the last few months he felt them becoming less and less so. Every time she was far from him he felt it in every bone in his body.
Although the nightmares had ceased long ago, he still had dreams, and dreams made him restless. So he usually spent his nights working or in the company of friends. When she would come back he would be on fire, it was he could not to kiss her senseless on first sight. He kept hoping that it was the same for her.
He heard a door slam and he looked out the window seeing a flowy figure run out on to the veranda. She stopped and looked up at him, smiled then kept running through the garden.
Nikola sighed and grabbed his suit jacket before heading with deft silence down the stairs to the ground floor and into the rain.
By the time he reached the gazebo he was soaked through. She was as well, and looked even more tantalizing with her wet hair and soaked sundress that was nearly see through, despite the dim light.
"Alright, I'm here," he sputtered some rain water dripping off his face.
She didn't respond but grabbed his lapel and pulled him to her fiercelyn engulfing him with warm lips, wamr touches. Her hands opened the buttons on his jacket and slipped her arms inside, holding him close. Nikola got lost in the kiss, almost forgetting who he was kissing and slid his hands into her wet, slightly curled hair. One of his hands slid from her hair to cup her cheek and hold her closer.
"Oh, Hel-" he groaned.
"Shhh," she whispered.
Their lips collided once again, and he felt himself pushed outside the shelter of the gazebo into the dripping rain and all he could feel was her beyond the thrum of the rain on his head and back.
There was no wind, so it was a relatively warm rain shower, which only added to the heat of the moment.
He felt her legs buckle and pull him down on the wet grass. His body hovered over hers, sheltering her from the rain. His hands, through a will of their own, pushed the skirts of her dress and petticoats up, sliding his hands over her wet thighs.
"Oh Nikki," she groaned.
He dipped his head to her and kissed her hungrily, his hands grasping her hips firmly, trying to steady her writhing. Her hands slid through his hair, dislodging it from it's set place, causing it to stand up on it's end. He groaned unintelligibly at the contact. His mouth trailed over her face, tasting the clean rain water off her nose and chin and down to her neck. He wanted bite her, he always wanted to bite her, she tasted exquisitely but he knew he couldn't.
She shifted a leg so that the knee pointed up, her ankle sliding up against his butt, rubbing against it to coax him slightly. The action made him snarl instinctually and he felt his hips grinding against hers...or vice versa...he couldn't really tell over the haze of lust and rainfall.
She hooked a leg around his and spun them over but he acted quickly and kept them spinning so he remained on top, but he could feel how the little tumble resulted in a coat of mud over each of them which was quickly washing off due to the rain.
"Kiss me, Nikki," she whispered and he obliged her, pouring his heart and soul into the kiss.
I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you...Helen.
Helen? Helen. This is not Helen. This is Katharine. Katharine Underwood Johnson, married to Robert Underwood Johnson, my friend...my best friend. This is Katharine, not Helen. Helen is the one I love. This is not Helen, this is Katharine, the wife of my best friend...Mrs. Fillipov!
"Touch me, Nikki," he heard her again and he pulled back, looking into her lust-filled eyes with a mixture of shock and horror.
"No, no, NO!" he rolled off of her and scrambled to his feet. "This is wrong!"
Katharine sat up.
"Nikki, please!" she pleaded.
"No! I won't betray him like this! I won't hurt a friend like this, Katharine!" her name came out like acid. "I can't give you what you desire, Katharine, not like this."
"Nikola! I love you!" she cried, getting up to her feet. "I always have. I want to be with you, not just for a night, Nikki, can't you see that...I love you."
"I can't love you back, Katharine!" he cried back. "You are married, more importantly, you are married to one of my best friends. I can't love you Katharine!"
"But you do! You just proved it to me, right now!" she accused him.
He scrubbed a hand over his wet face.
"I don't...I don't love you, Katharine...it's hard to explain, but I can't love you...this was a mistake...that was a mistake...Katharine...Robert is your husband, Luka...I'm not going to make that any better...I'm...I'm in love...with someone else...someone I can't have...not like you have Robert, and I won't do that to you."
"But you are the one that I want, if I can't have you then..." she began to sob.
"You will love your husband, but you can't have me...just like I can't have Helen," he looked down at the ground.
"Helen?" she looked at him through bleary eyes.
"I should go," he said suddenly.
"Wait, who's Helen?" Katharine grabbed his arm.
"It was a mistake, I shouldn't have come here. I'm hurting both you and Robert," he yanked his arm out of her grasp.
"Nikki? Don't go!" she rushed after him.
"I have to, I can't stay here," he rushed back inside and ran upstairs.
Katharine continued to follow.
"Please, Nikki, don't leave, stay, please," she begged.
"No Katharine, neither of us are in our right minds, I have to go, and you have to return to your husband and forget about me, Katharine," he pulled out his suitcase and shoved his belongings inside.
She grabbed him by the lapel and kissed him fiercely.
"I love you, Nikola, heart and soul, and I will never stop loving you," she whispered against his lips. "Please love me, Nikola, please try. Make love to me, Nikki."
He shuddered slightly and leaned into kiss her but moved his head at the last second to press the kiss to her cheek.
"Goodbye, Mrs. Fillipov," he whispered back, grabbing his coat and hat and taking his case and leaving quickly and quietly and running off into the ran trodden night.
Katharine stayed frozen up in his room, tears free-falling down her cheeks till she fell to her knees in uncontrollable sobs.
The next morning she told Robert that Nikola left for some kind of emergency to do with Niagra and sends his apologies for cutting the trip short. Robert sighed and shook his head. "Oh, Nikola, couldn't stop working even if he tried."
Katharine gave a half-hearted chuckled and fixed them both breakfast in a somber silence.
Nikola arrived in New York two days later having walked the entire way there. Luckily his vampiric stamina allowed him to survive so long without feeling much effect. Yet when he arrived home he felt oddly exhausted, not physically so, but mentally. The walk gave him lots of time to think. Of Katharine. Of Helen. Of everything he wanted and desired. Everything that was important to him.
He collapsed on the bed in his apartment and clutched his face to the sheets, inhaling their dry scent.
He heard a knock at the door.
He got to his feet to answer it.
His landlady grumbled a greeting and handed him a letter.
"For you," she growled and left.
He took the letter and opened it reading it's contents. Then folded back up and scrubbed a hand over his face. Before he pulled out his own parchment paper and inkwell and began to write.
- I didn't know what to think when I got your letter. I wasn't expecting this from you. Are you sure this is what you want?
- Yes, this is what I want. I can't go on like this. I want it all or nothing.
- We'll talk about it on my next visit. I promise we'll be alone this time.
- There is too much at stake.
~~~~Author's Notes~~~~
Maha! Another confusing ending that I will explain in the next chappie. Boy, I'm tired, I should take a break..ok I will. *hears a symphony of groans* aww don't fret, I'll finish this arc before I take too long of a break, promise
This chappie had lots of goodies didn't it? A little bit of Teslen fun, a little bit of Tesla whump angst, and some James fun thrown in for good measure. A recipe of some success cake...definitely!
Reviews are most welcome...in fact...they're encouraged!
On another note. I just have to give a shout out to three writers out there who are doing something that I personally think is the awesomest and most generous thing ever, seriously I commend them for what they're doing. I read about it and was just flabbergasted with awesome you guys are reading this, chartreusian, Emmy1512 and LoveActuallyFan, you guys are like my own personaly heroes right now. If you don't know it yet, they're doing a thing on , they're writing stories and for every review they get they're going to donate 2 dollars to Sanctuary For Kids. I know awesome rights...but better details about the whole thing go to their pages and check it out, but I heard about it and just got hit with how awesome that is! I would join them but I have no income or any sizeable amount of funds stashed away to use for such awesomeness...plus, as you all know, I don't write one-shots haha...though I tried once...now it's a series...i'm cursed. But anyway, I wanted to let you guys know that I will be leaving reviews for you guys! Here are some Niko Cookies as a reward for sharing your awesomeness
I typed the word awesomeness like five times right there, hah...wow.
Well, happy back to school for everyone!
Peace, Love, and Niko Cookies for all!