A/N: The first in a little three-part series of connected ficlets, taking place a couple of years post-canon. This one is for the "Comfortable kiss" prompt.

Enjoy!

"Oh my God!"

Helen, who had been deep into translating one of the Praxian texts they had recovered from the ruins of the city – fascinating research about their abnormals – looked over in alarm at Nikola, from whom the dramatic cry had just emanated. Loudly.

He was stretched out on the couch next to her, bits and pieces of one of her stunners scattered in a worrisomely haphazard way around him. The power core seemed to be missing, and Helen was quite sure it had fallen down the cushion, which she didn't plan on telling him until he'd cleaned up some of the mess.

Since it didn't appear as though he were going to make anything explode in the next few minutes (never a certainty with Nikola), Helen's answering tone was calm. "What is it, Nikola?"

Nikola looked at her and held up a coil. "This! Have you ever seen such shoddy work? My God…" He trailed off into frustrated mutters about irresponsible children, distracted by miniature werewolves…

Helen smirked a little behind the book. She'd known him for over a hundred years twice over, and she could tell exactly how fond he had grown of Henry, despite his disparaging act. "The stunners have worked perfectly fine for years, Nikola. I hardly think it's a life-or-death issue."

"It's only a matter of time before something explodes," Nikola said cynically. "Look at this, Helen." He pushed about a quarter of the broken-down stunner on top of the page she was reading, blocking the Praxian figures.

Helen sighed. "I'm looking," she said.

"Isn't it horrible?"

"Yes, it's quite shocking." She pried his hand off of the book and went back to her reading. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see him shaking his head.

"I'm surprised at you, Helen, settling for this inferior tech."

"I've never had a problem with Henry's work," Helen pointed out.

"Ok, so maybe it's probably not going to blow up in your face any time soon," Nikola admitted, gesturing with the components still in his hands. "But it's second-rate – not even close to what you should have. Small wonder, though, if he had to build it in that old lab of yours." His nose wrinkled.

Helen chuckled. "You're never going to let me live that down, are you?"

"Never," Nikola said, grinning. He shifted on the couch so he could lean comfortably back against her shoulder and began gathering the pieces back together. "Just watch, Helen. I'm going to turn this wreck into something extraordinary. I think I'll call it…the super-stunner."

"Oh, dear Lord."

Nikola kept up a running commentary detailing his work on the stunner for the next several hours, seeming quite unaffected by her veto of the name change. It was, to be honest, quite distracting, and Helen only got through half of the reading she would have, but she didn't really mind. For one thing, it was just as well she was on hand to approve everything he was doing; otherwise she probably would have ended up with a death ray in her stunner.

"Beam, Helen," Nikola corrected when she voiced this. "Death beam."

"Oh, excuse me." Helen raised her hands in sarcastic apology.

Apart from that, though, she had to admit she was enjoying just spending some time with him like this, quietly. Much of their acquaintance, it seemed, involved dodging through dark caverns, trying to save the world, avoid being killed horribly, or dealing with some other crisis. (Occasionally it was a combination of all of these.)

As much as Helen loved that part of their relationship, it was rather nice to sit here comfortably with him, employed on their projects. Helen had always enjoyed watching him work, his dexterous hands darting around as he still managed to keep up their usual repartee, as he was doing now.

Well, he had been, anyway. Nikola hadn't said anything for a few minutes, presumably deep in thought over some sticking point in his work, or trying to come up with a name that she wouldn't immediately shut down.

Or not, she realized, glancing over at him after she'd finished a page. In actual fact, Nikola had fallen asleep, head resting on her shoulder. The stunner was still scattered about in pieces over his legs, which were stretched out and dangling just over the side of the couch.

Helen debated whether or not to wake him up; on one hand, if he slept through the night like this, he was going to complain about a crick in his neck all day tomorrow, even though they both knew full well it was impossible for him to be afflicted with such things. But on the other hand, Helen was fairly sure he hadn't slept for several days – he had the greatest tendency to get totally wrapped up in whatever it was that he was doing – and she was loath to disturb him. He looked so comfortable, too, snoring lightly against her shoulder. Sometime, when Helen hadn't been paying attention, she had wound an arm around him.

Even as she watched, he shifted and turned, more bits of stunner falling between the cushions as his legs curled up, and snuggled farther into her side, his mouth curving and dimpling his cheeks.

Nikola's smiles – his real ones, not his sardonic smirks – had always been contagious, and as she turned towards him Helen found herself smiling too. She bent over and kissed him lightly on the forehead before lifting her hand to stroke his face, brushing her thumb gently over his cheek. Sliding her fingers up, she started to card them through his hair and rested the side of her head against his.

The repeated motion was making her drift off herself when Nikola moved again, adjusting his position against her and now smirking deeply.

"Keep that up all night, I'm still not changing the name," he said, voice muffled by her shoulder. "But, you know, feel free to keep doing it."

Helen snorted. "Nikola," she chuckled, shaking her head. She bent over to kiss him one more time, lingering for just a second longer than necessary. Nikola craned up to prolong it, his eyes closing briefly, then fell back against her with a sigh.

"Maybe minor alterations."

"No prefixes," Helen said.

"You cut me to the heart." Despite his words, Nikola didn't seem too discouraged.

Helen began to stroke his hair again, and he leaned into her hand, turning his head and kissing her palm.

"Well, I'll come up with something brilliant, as I always do." He settled against her, sighing contentedly.

She snorted again. "Oh yes, you have a long and shining history of coming up with the perfect names for your inventions."

"Mmm." Either he was drowsing, or he was choosing to ignore her. Knowing Nikola, either one was highly possible.

Even amongst the mechanical pieces and books lying around, it was so comfortable sitting there with Nikola that, a few minutes later, Helen was starting to nod off again herself. She looked back down at him, blinking tiredly. "If you sleep like this, you're never going to let me hear the end of it tomorrow," she told him.

Apparently to little avail, because Nikola had fallen back asleep, breathing slow and deep as one of his hands found its way to rest on her knee.

Helen shook her head, another exasperated smile crossing her face. As she leaned against Nikola again and closed her eyes, her own hand covered his on top of her knee, lacing their fingers together.