A/N: The second part of the post-canon series, for the prompt "Laughing kiss."

"I have something for you," Nikola announced as he Arrived in her office with a swish of his coat. Nikola, Helen had found over their long acquaintance, never did anything he couldn't dramatically capitalize at a later date. "If you'd like to fall passionately on my neck in gratitude, I'm available now."

Helen snorted behind the cup of tea she had just lifted to her lips. "You'll have to wait for that, I'm afraid." She waved the document in her other hand at him. "While I was in Egypt, I fell behind on Will's reports on that abnormal smuggling ring we've been keeping tabs on. I've been catching up on them."

"How dull," he replied, wrinkling his nose. He dropped into the chair across from her and looked around, Helen suspected, for the wine. "The reports, I mean – tracking a smuggling ring sounds amazing. Tell me, when are you planning on going after them, bursting in on their sordid operations with guns blazing?" He accompanied this with a wide, anticipatory grin, leaning forward to rest his elbows on her desk.

Helen set her cup down. "Not until I've gathered enough information. By, for example, reading these reports." She raised an eyebrow meaningfully at him.

"Ehhhh," he said, and slumped back. "My gift is better."

"Honestly, the fact that you didn't blow anything up while I was gone is enough for me," she said dryly.

"Your confidence is overwhelming," Nikola said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"It must be your stellar track record." Helen matched his tone with a sweet smile.

"Hmm." Nikola got up and rounded the desk, sitting on the edge next to her. He idly toyed with a crystal paperweight. "You may have a point. What can I say? Sometimes progress means an exploding lab or two."

"Kindly keep that philosophy away from your shiny new laboratory." Technically, it wasn't exactly new anymore, but both Helen's and Nikola's standards for what constituted "old" were naturally a little different than the norm.

Nikola put the paperweight down and started twirling his fingers over her desk instead. A couple of her pens started to bounce around the surface.

Helen rolled her eyes a little. Well, at least it was only pens this time.

"Ah, my wonderful new lab. I can never thank you enough for that, my dear Helen." Nikola leaned closer to murmur in Helen's ear. "Though I could do it again, if you'd like."

Even though she couldn't see his face, Helen could hear Nikola smirking as clearly as if she'd been looking right at him. "I may take you up on that offer…later."

Reverting to his former perch, Nikola groaned. "Aww, Helen…"

She laughed. "Are you going to be decorating my desk for the rest of the day, or don't you have anything to be working on in that shiny new lab?"

Nikola waved a hand. "Oh, oodles of things. But I had to drop off your gift first."

"Ah, yes," Helen said, her lips twitching.

"It's pretty amazing," he told her.

"I've no doubt."

There was a pause.

"Well?" Helen prompted.

He leaned over again, touching her cheek and lightly running his finger along it. "You're looking at him."

"Dear Lord," Helen exhaled, rolling her eyes.

Nikola started to laugh, his hand falling away from her face as he rocked on her desk. The pens he had been messing with earlier skittered around, and she caught one firmly, poking him with it lightly in the ribs.

"Alright, off with you. You clearly have better things to be doing and I really do have to work."

"Oh, Helen, you don't really think I'm that cheap, do you?" Nikola clutched his heart, the melodramatic action slightly ruined by the fact that he was still laughing. "You wound me."

"Hmm. I don't think you want me answering that."

"I demand proof."

"Your idea of the perfect birthday gift was to fix my computer system…after you'd fried it." Helen raised a challenging eyebrow at him.

"Because I know how essential it is for Sanctuary operations!"

"Which is why you were fiddling with it in the first place, I take it?"

"I was trying to improve it," he said defensively.

"Good intentions…"

"Fine, fine," he admitted. "But this is way cooler, trust me. Here, let me –" He darted out of the room and came back in a second later, his hands behind his back, and stood next to her, practically bouncing.

Helen shook her head with a smirk. "It had better be good after all this build-up," she said teasingly.

"Oh, it is." Nikola took a step towards her and whipped his hands out from behind his back, presenting her with a sleek silver object.

"You finished the new stunner!" Helen said, pleasantly surprised, as she took it into her hands and turned it around. "Ah, Nikola, it looks wonderful." She started to break it down to see what he'd done.

"We're not talking minor recalibrations here either." Nikola knelt down by her chair. "I did all sorts of awesome stuff. Power efficiency? Increased by a whopping three hundred percent. And before you ask," he said as she opened her mouth, "let me assure you that it is just as safe as the old one. More so, actually."

Helen smiled at him. "Well done, Nikola."

His answering grin practically blinded her. "Thank you, Helen. And I haven't even gotten to the best part yet… Look." His fingers settled on top of hers and directed them towards a new switch. "I did such a fantastic job of smoothing out its operations that I was able to give you a new setting."

"Not a death ray, I hope," Helen said, looking over at him.

"Helen, please. Death beam. And no. Inspired by our thrilling misadventure in a certain vampire tomb, during which you expressed your true feelings for me…" A deep smirk crept gradually across his face even as he fiddled with the stunner, exposing his glinting teeth.

"I knew I shouldn't have ever let Henry convince me to have a Star Wars movie night."

"You have a cutting beam now," Nikola said, still smirking but thankfully moving on. "Much stronger and more reliable than your make-shift one, I might add."

"That may prove quite useful."

"That was the idea." Nikola looked at her expectantly. "Cool, huh?"

"Very cool," she said with a nod.

He closed his eyes, basking in the praise. "Keep going, by all means."

Helen chuckled and set the stunner down. "Thank you, Nikola, really. Now, I do have quite a bit of work to catch up on, so…"

"Ah yes, those fascinating reports," Nikola sighed, getting up and heading towards the door.

"Oh, Nikola, one more thing."

He turned and raised his eyebrows.

Helen leaned forward, linking her hands and resting her chin on them. "What did you end up calling it?"

Nikola's mood immediately improved. "Ooh, you're gonna love this, Helen." He stepped closer, grinning, and lifted his hands towards her desk in another dramatic gesture. "Behold, the Stunner Supreme!"

Helen stared at him for a second, then she started laughing, and kept laughing so long and hard that tears began to run down her cheeks.

Nikola's offended mutter of "Hey, it's cool" did nothing to stop her, and she buried her face in her hands, her shoulders shaking.

"Fine then," he grumbled, and turned around in a rather prickly way, starting back towards the door.

"Oh no," Helen choked, still laughing so hard she could barely speak. "You're not getting away that easy." She bounded up from her chair and made it across the room before Nikola reached the threshold. He turned again as she approached, his forehead creasing, and she grabbed his shoulders, sliding one hand up his neck and into his hair, pulling him against her.

Nikola stood stock still in surprise for a half-second, then he kissed her back fervently, his arms unfreezing to wrap around her shoulders. His hair slid smoothly through Helen's fingers as he tilted his head to get a better angle, and she gripped it firmly, pressing up into him.

Unfortunately, Helen's recent fit of merriment had left her a little short on air, and she was forced to pull back and take a deep breath, and even that was broken by a few lingering chortles. She rested her cheek on Nikola's shoulder and hugged him tightly.

"Mmmmmm," Nikola said eloquently, fingers threading through her hair as he kissed her forehead. "I would've redone the stunners years ago if I'd known that was going to be your reaction."

Helen laughed again, the sound muffled by his waistcoat.

They stood like that for a minute before Nikola, of course, broke the silence, with a predictable remark. "I'm not working on anything pressing, by the way."

"Unfortunately, I am," Helen said. She kissed his cheek. "Off you go. Don't blow anything up."

"Helen, I would never do such a thing," Nikola said, feigning shock. He only kept up the charade for about two seconds before another wide grin split his face, and he practically cackled as he backed up to the door before disappearing through it.

Helen looked after him for a second before shaking her head and going back to her desk, where she turned over the stunner a few more times before setting it aside and returning her attention to the reports.