Chapter 55 - The Death of Luka and Mrs. Fillipov (Part 4)

~~~~Late October, 1937~~~~

She watched the funeral procession as the priest read the tale old words from his black bible.

He stood in the back, hands deep in pockets, holding a single flower in his hand. She sat far away on a bench watching.

Her black veil made her look like she was in mourning while also shielding her face in case he should turn around and look over. He might catch her eyes and feel a bit of familiarity in them but not even he could decipher her face from behind the sheer black lace.

His black coat was buttoned up all the way and the collar flipped up to protect his neck from the rising chill. His hair was neatly slicked back as always, and he listened intently to the blessing.

Watching him always made her sad, especially now, knowing what part she had played in it all. The words still rang clearly in his head.

"You did this! Why, Helen, why?"

The words were still biting and stinging at the edge of her mind, remembering that cloudy October eve and that mournful phone call.

"She's gone, she's left me, she's gone, everything! And it's your fault! Why can't you ever let me be happy? Why do you insist on torturing me this way? You can not stand me moving on just because you can't!"

She looked down at her hands and stifled her prickling tears.

"Nikola what are you talking about?"

"Kate! Why did you do it, Helen? Why did you convince her to leave me? Why!"

"What are you talking about?"

"She told me it was Tesla, that he had sent a strange woman, an old friend to warn her about seeing me! You are...you are so cruel! I know what you did! Just tell me why!"

She cringed and looked up at him.

"I did it to save the world," she mumbled under her breath so only the dead could hear her confession.

~~~~A week earlier~~~~

Nikola felt elated, his heart soaring. A feeling he hadn't experienced in a long...long time, not since - no, better not to think about that.

But Kate...loved him, and he...wow he could take flight, he thought he seriously could. He could just open up a window and soar straight across the Manhattan skyline.

Yesterday had been the best day of his life, at least, he'd like to think it was.

Gosh, had he ever felt this way with Helen. He hook his head. It didn't matter, he was with Kate now, they were going to start anew. He was going to kill off Tesla. He'd be Javor now and forever, he'd be with her now and forever. They could go any where, do anything, and never want for nothing.

He was tingling from excitement. He hadn't been able to sit still since she left. He was too busy, too busy planning and thinking and dreaming of everything.

He was downright giddy that's what he was. Could men as old as he get giddy...should they? It doesn't matter, he was a young duck to her anyways and he like it, he liked his reclaim to youth.

He heard a soft knock at the door and he smiled and nearly skipped to the door and opened it without a care.

He smiled when his eyes fell upon Kate and he wistfully grabbed her arm and pulled her inside.

"Hello, my darling," he smiled and pressed a gentle kiss to her lips.

"Is...is Tesla here?" she asked.

Nikola shook his head and scoffed.

"He's still out," he sighed happily, but then he saw her eyes and his smile dropped. She'd been crying. "Are you ok?"

She shook her head.

"Yah, yah, I'm fine," she shook her head.

"Ok," he stepped back skeptically. "Well, anyways, I was thinking...maybe our first stop could be France. Paris is lovely this time of year, you know, I'll show you all around, to all the best spots," he began babbling dreamily again.

She moved out of his embrace to a window. She was biting her lip, and he knew he could tell.

"Kate, what's wrong?" he asked, concern inking its way into his features.

"Nothing...please go on," she said, not looking at him.

"Well, uh, after Paris I thought we'd make a small trip down to Nice, and maybe after that we'd...uh, are you sure you're ok?"

Kate bit her lip again.

"I...I can't go with you to France," she said, still refusing to meet his eyes.

"I told you Kate, money is not an issue," he said.

"It's not about the money, I just, I just can't go with you, I have to stay here," she said with as much determination as she could muster.

"Fine, we won't go then," he shook his head.

"No, you go, it's sounds nice, in fact, get as far away as you can from here...from me," she sighed.

"The only reason I wanted to go was to be with you Kate...are you saying you..."

"Yes, I don't want to be with you...I lied...what I said to you earlier, I don't love you...it was just a game."

"What?" Nikola's heart hit the floor. "No, no, no, you meant it I know you did, just like I meant it, it wasn't a game."

"Yes it was."

"No it wasn't, this isn't you. What's happened Kate, what's wrong?"

"What's wrong is that we have to grow up, move on with our lives, we can't keep living in this dream world where it's just us and we can travel the globe and make love under stars and never have responsibilities!"

"What are you talking about?"

"What if you get injured? Hmm? Or what if I get pregnant? What would we do then? Settle down? Raise a family?"

"Are you saying you're..."

"God no, I mean, that's not what I meant, I'm just saying, we're running away from it all, and I just think that it'd be best if we stopped."

"Then we won't leave, I don't care, we'll stay here."

"No, I mean, we have to stop...seeing each other...I can't see you anymore ok?"

Nikola could feel something in him physically break at that.

"But I love you..."

"No you don't, you're in love with the idea of being in love with me, and we can't, I can't pretend any more...I don't love you Javor," she couldn't hold it in anymore and a tear escaped her.

"You're lying!" he exclaimed. "Your tears give you away!"

"We can't do this any more, alright, it doesn't matter whether I cry or not, I'm still leaving!" she cried.

"For god's sake why?" he cried grabbing her arms. He was becoming frantic, desperate to hold on to her and it was suffocating her. She yanked her arms out of his.

"It's unhealthy!" she barked.

"What is?" his eyes were red, and he looked beyond distraught and it was breaking her bit by bit.

"Everything!" she cried.

"You're not making any sense to me, what has changed. Yesterday you loved me now I'm unhealthy, what the hell's gotten into you!"

"You! You and me, it can't work, it will never work...Mr. Tesla even said so himself..." she cut herself off and mentally cursed herself. She hasn't meant to bring him into this.

"What?"

"Just drop it Javor, it's nothing, goodbye," she darted around him to the door and he was quick to follow, keeping the door shut with a firm hand.

"What do you mean Mr. Tesla told you so," the edge in his voice was almost frightening.

"Let me go Javor, please," her tears ran down her cheeks, and her eyes darted to the floor.

"Did Tesla tell you to leave me?"

"It's nothing, it just slipped out, I'm sorry. Let me go!"

He grabbe her arms roughly and she shrieked hitting him in an attempt to have him release her.

A sharp think to the head had him clutching it and stepping back.

It was enough for her to quickly run out of the hotel room.

He was quick to pursue her.

"Kate! Kate, come back!" he pleaded.

"No!" she cried, running to the elevator.

"Please! Talk to me! Kate!" she was in the elevator before he could reach her and he quickly turned and ran to the staircase and began bolting as fast as vampirically possible to get to the lobby just in time.

Kate ran out of the elevator on the main floor, trying as hard as she could to contain herself. She had grabbed her coat and thrown it on, walking as fast as he could to get out of this building.

Nikola reached her just as she steppe out the door. Him following and grasping her arm, she gasped.

"Kate, please, help me understand. What did he say to you?" he pleaded.

"Let me go, please let me go, I can't do this," she sobbed.

"You love me Kate, I know you do, somebody's scared you off, or threatened you, I assure you it wasn't Tesla, just somebody masquerading as him. Please don't leave me like this."

He pulled her into a soft kiss but she pulled back, crying, and running cross the street to the park.

"Kate, please! Stop running from me, and tell me!"

"I can't!"

"What did he say?"

"I can't! I can't!"

"What did this Tesla say, pleas whist tell me that, then I'll leave you alone...I promise, just...just tell me what he said."

Kate stopped and dragged in a ragged breath to come herself.

"It wasn't from him directly," she said, her arms wrapping around her. "It was from a woman, she said she was an old friend of his...I never got her name."

"Who was she...was she blonde?" his demeanor changed dramatically, it was frightening.

"What? Blonde? I, uh, I don't know she wore a hat and a...a veil of some sort, I didn't really see her face," Kate shrugged. It was cool and it smelt like it was going to rain soon.

She shivered slightly.

Nikola's eyes screwed tightly and he ran a hand through his hair.

"That bitch," he muttered. "She got to you...she...I can't believe she got to you!"

"Do you know this woman?"

"She can never stand to see me happy!"

"She said it was for the best, that you were meant for something beyond my comprehension."

"She would," he growled bitterly.

"Who is she?" asked Kate.

"It doesn't matter cause its a lie, whatever she said to you it doesn't matter. I love you, and I want to be with you, please listen to me."

"No, I'm sorry, I can't," Kate shook her head. "I don't...I don't love you Javor, I never have."

"Stop saying that! I know it's not true!" he cried. "Why do you keep saying that?"

"Because it's easier!" she screamed.

"Easier than what?" he cried back.

"Easier than knowing that you can't be with someone you desperately want to be with! But I can't be selfish...I can't take that chance...so I don't love you, and I'll keep telling myself that until its true! I don't love you!"

Thunder punctuated her last words and that was it. Nikola was on his knees, begging, the sky broke and rain poured down in sheets, drenching them instantly.

Kate looked him in the eyes, despite the rain she saw tears there, pleading tears.

It broke her heart to see him so devastated by the four simple words. Where three had made him the happiest man alive, four had him crawling on all fours in the mud, begging.

Every fiber of her being wanted to run into his arms, kiss him, hold him and swear she'd never leave him ever again.

But the woman's words ran clear in her mind and she steeled herself. She would become ice and stone, and she would turn and walk away with dead ears to any pleas and when she got home then she would break and cry for days, but now, she had to be strong.

"Goodbye, Javor," she said firmly and turned and walked away.

"No, Kate, please, just stay, please."

He ignored him and focused on the rain and kept walking.

"Kate!" he cried. "I love you, does that mean nothing?!"

She paused for one moment, the words breaking through her walls. Somehow those words ran deeper than just her, like this wasn't the first time he's had someone walk out on him like this.

She bit her lip and began running; she couldn't do this anymore. Eventually she would be far enough away that all she'd be able to hear is her own heart breaking.

~~~~Elsewhere~~~~

The phone was ringing off it's hook in the London Sanctuary.

Helen finished her tea and casually went to pick it up.

"Hello," she said with a smile. That smile quickly melted when she heard the sobbing on the other line. "Nikola, is that you?"

"You!" the unbridled rage came from over the line. "You did this!"

She'd never heard him in this much despair.

"Why, Helen, why! he screamed and she could hear a loud thump, he obviously smacked the glass of the phone booth.

"Did what?" she asked, trying to muster all she could not to sound patronizing.

"She left me, she's gone, everything! And it's your fault!"

Nikola was openly sobbing into the receiver and her heart broke for him. Her back hit the wall as she leaned against it, intent on listening to him as he cried out his pent up frustrations at her. This had been a long time coming.

It was something that was going to haunt her for a long time.

She remembered the tears that had fallen, the guilt, the despair, the years of silence between them till he made his way back to her on his own time.

Now she was sitting on this cemetery bench as they buried Luka Fillapov next to his beloved Katharine, watching it all pass by her. Her heart broke again.

Now she had the memory of watching him, knees in the mud, pleading. Hearing those words coming from him. She knew, he had witnessed it.

It was all she could do to keep in the shadows, under an umbrella hidden by low hanging branches.

She saw him in that phone booth, every cry breaking her heart that little bit more, the anger he had unleashed into that receiver. She remembered not understanding what he meant, not knowing why he blamed her except that maybe he just needed someone to scream at.

They would recover from this.

She looked up as she heard the funeral procession begin to slowly leave the grave spot, following the priest back to their cars.

He was the last to leave, gently placing his roses, one for each on their graves, before getting up.

His eyes met hers instantly and for a moment she was frozen under that blue grey gaze.

Her heart caught in her throat and she quickly slipped into the crowd of black adorned people.

She needed to get out of here before he found out it was her.

She walked calmly, maybe he wouldn't follow her.

"Hey!" his voice called.

She didn't turn to him but quickly made herself disappear in the blink of an eye.

He stopped, much like he had that day in the park, looking around for her, not being able to see her amongst the stone angels and crosses.

"I know you're there!" he shouted. "When will you stop haunting me?"

She bit her lip and kept as still as possible knowing that even the slightest rustle would reach his ears.

"Haven't you done enough damage?" he kept yelling. "How do you expect me to move on if you won't let me get you out of my head? I despise you!"

A tear escaped but she held her tongue with all her might.

"I know why you did it! Just...I'm tired of fighting for you...I don't...I don't want to want you anymore," he sighed and walked away.

She collapsed against the tree once he was far enough away.

She breathed in deeply.

She looked to where he stood and gulped air as if she had been holding her breath for years.

She never knew. And now he'd never know.

~~~~Author's Notes~~~~

And TimeWarp Helen strikes again...but with good reason as she clearly pointed out! He needs to stay in New York so that he can die, smart cookie figured out that she had to break his spirit a bit to stay true to the timeline...Helen is a smart cookie. Say bye bye Kate...i know a part of you just kind of felt out and spilt on the floor for Nikola, here's a mop...

I promise you I won't make him suffer any more, from here on out he'll be awesome like we know he is...maybe..you know...depends on how cruel I feel...no more heart ripping out kind of stuff though...I think.

This concludes this particular arc. We move on to the next and possibly final for this fic. I know, you're thinking, am i truly ready for this...where am i going to turn to for my Sanctuary needs now that Syfy has crushed ye another one of my hope and dreams! WHY! Okay...maybe that's just me. ButI have another idea brewing in my over active noggin and if life doesn't continue to keep getting in my way, hopefully I can continue to entertain all who will listen.

Love you guys, enjoy reading :)