A/N: The third and (probably) final part of the post-canon series - "In the dark kiss."
"I've said it before and I'll say it again, Helen, you and me, dark corridors, it's a pattern." As they walked down the dim hallway, Nikola sidled closer to Helen until their shoulders brushed so he could lean over and whisper in her ear. "I think we should do something about that."
Helen turned her head to level a highly unimpressed stare at him. "Yes, perhaps the Master of Electricity himself should do something about that." She rolled her eyes.
"That's, uh, not quite what I meant."
"I know what you meant."
"And must you remind me of my former glory, now lost forever? I can barely turn a lightbulb on anymore." His tone switched with lightning speed from mournful to flirtatious. "You, on the other hand…"
"Chin up, Nikola. You've just traded in that particular power for the ability to come up with endless cheesy lines to use on me." Helen stopped as if she'd just had a revelation. "Oh, wait. You've always had that."
"Hmph. You're clearly determined not to have any fun tonight."
"I fail to see what's so fun about the trafficking of hundreds of abnormals." Helen gave him another look, her eyebrows raising.
"Sure, I mean, when you put it like that…" he said, lifting his hands. "But try to see it from my perspective. You're going to burst in there, shoot some people in that stunning way of yours, save all of those poor helpless abnormals, and then it's back to the Sanctuary for a passionate night of –"
"Nikola. Focus." Helen felt her lips tugging up despite herself. "And try to keep quiet. If we alert anyone to our presence before Will gets his team in position, they'll almost certainly be able to scatter out through the secondary exit."
"Eugh." Nikola's nose wrinkled. "This is a lot less exciting than I was expecting. You said 'smuggling ring' and I was picturing…" He shrugged. "Something cool. Not yet another unimaginative dark hallway. I mean, come on. Not that I'm complaining too much about that part," he tacked on. "I just like a little variety in my life."
"You're the one who keeps begging me to take you on missions. Well, welcome to the Sanctuary team." Helen tried to inject a little "now let's get back to business" into her voice, casting a concerned glance around. So far, they hadn't run into anyone in the vast, empty storage facility that served as the ring's headquarters, but that wasn't likely to last very much longer.
"What, and just because you all do it the boring way means I have to?"
"Yes, actually."
Nikola sighed. "Fine."
Mercifully, he fell silent after that. For two whole minutes.
"Hey, Helen."
It was Helen's turn to sigh, long and heavily. "Yes, Nikola?"
"We're almost in position, right?"
"Yes."
"And Junior hasn't given you the all clear yet?"
"He has not." Helen saw where this was going; as nebulous as Nikola's motives could be, to her he was, more often than not, transparent as glass.
"Well then," Nikola said triumphantly. "I think we should find ourselves a nice, quiet little corner and pass the time until then a little more pleasantly."
Helen made a noise somewhere between a snort and a cough. "Might put a damper on all of that bursting in, shooting, and rescuing you were talking about earlier, don't you think?"
Nikola sighed again. "You and your incredibly attractive sense of justice."
Helen had to bite her lip to keep from laughing this time, and she shook her head, about to make another attempt to get Nikola to quiet down, when he jerked to a halt beside her. He had been walking close to her with his fingers wrapped lightly around her arm; when he stopped, Helen immediately stopped too.
"There are people coming up ahead," he said quietly, narrowing his eyes.
Helen peered forward into the shadowed hall. There was no sign of anything yet, but she trusted Nikola's abilities.
"Oh, this'll be fun," he muttered, taking a step away from her. "Just what I needed to break the monotony." He flicked a hand, his claw-like nails extending as his eyes turned black.
Helen could hear the familiar hiss building up in his throat, but before he could do anything else she grabbed his wrist and hauled him back, throwing them both off balance.
"What was that for?" Nikola righted himself indignantly.
"You can't just go charging in there!" Helen hissed. "We can't raise an alarm yet, remember? I'm not letting any abnormals slip through our fingers just because you're bored."
"Come on, Helen," he protested. "We can take 'em."
Nikola's claws had retracted as soon as she'd taken his hand, and Helen got a firmer grip on it and tugged him back down the hall to the last corner they'd turned, pressing them both up against the edge of the wall.
"You're absolutely right," she said. "Which is why we're going to, as soon as I have a clear shot and they can't see us coming."
Nikola opened his mouth, then closed it. "Well, we could have at least ducked into a cramped closet," he said crossly.
Helen stared at him for a second. "You just never stop, do you?"
He flashed a sharp smile at her.
If Helen concentrated, she could now hear the faint clang of footsteps on the metal floor from up ahead, and when she looked out into the hall around the corner she could see a beam of light bouncing up and down the far wall. Some kind of security patrol, most likely. Helen was surprised they hadn't run into one earlier.
Helen let go of Nikola's hand and pulled out the new stunner. It really was a marvelous piece of work, and she couldn't help but admire it.
"That looks remarkably good on you," Nikola murmured over her shoulder.
"They're getting closer," Helen said out of the corner of her mouth. "Be quiet."
"As loud as you're breathing? You're one to talk."
"That's you," she hissed.
"Excuse me." Nikola managed to infuse a lot of righteous indignation in a whisper. "I'm a vampire; I don't breathe heavily, I –"
The beam of light appeared on the wall opposite them, indicating the group had turned into their hallway, and they both fell silent. Helen edged just beyond the corner to take a look.
"Three of them," she whispered to Nikola.
"Excellent." He extended his claws again, his eyes darkening.
Helen leaned out one more time, getting an idea of their position, then stepped quickly out from the corner, Nikola following her, and shot all three of them before they even had a chance to react. They toppled to the ground, unconscious.
Helen glanced down at the stunner, flipping it back and forth in her hands. "Oh, this is wonderful, Nikola!"
Nikola skidded to a halt beside her, staring open-mouthed at the ground. "My God," he breathed. "That was incredibly hot."
Helen turned around to give him a look.
"Though you could have saved one for me," he added.
"Well, you know, didn't want to let them get their hands on the last vampire. Imagine how much you'd be worth." She shrugged, smirking.
"Aww, Helen." Nikola grinned. "I don't know what's more attractive about what you just said: you calling me priceless, or you being protective."
"Oh, you're priceless alright," Helen said sarcastically, but she was smiling. "Come on. We're almost there."
"Ok, so let me get this straight," he said as they started off down the hall again. "Did you just say that you'd shoot anything that threatens me?"
Helen snorted. "I'd end up shooting you if that were the case."
"You have shot me."
"Ah. Yes. Well, I'd be shooting you more often."
"You've shot me a lot."
"Not recently!" she protested.
"True," Nikola admitted. An impish smile crept over his face. "So?"
"So…?" She raised her eyebrows.
"So would you shoot anything that threatened me?"
"Nikola." Helen stopped walking. "I hardly think now is the ideal time to be discussing this." She gestured down the hall. "Abnormal trafficking? Remember?"
"You said it yourself, we're almost in position and Junior hasn't radioed in yet." Nikola's smile dipped. "Helen."
Helen pursed her lips and avoided looking at Nikola. "Alright," she said at length, stiffly. "I may…" She trailed off.
She did seem to pull Nikola out of trouble quite frequently, but then, she'd had to watch him nearly die more times than she cared to count, and she was all too aware that if anything ever happened to him, there would no longer be anyone like her in the world.
Nikola had been in her life for something like a hundred and fifty years, give or take depending on how many timelines you took into consideration; he was one of the best friends she'd ever had, he knew her better than anyone living, and he understood what an immortal life was like.
Those, at least, were the reasons she used whenever the subject came up. But at the end of the day, no matter what rationalizations she threw at it, Helen wanted to keep him safe for the simple reason that she cared about him.
It was highly likely that Nikola could read at least some of this on her face, but he waited, still with a faint half-smile – probably for her to say something sarcastic and change the subject.
"Nikola," she started, then stopped. This was ridiculous. "It would have to be within reason," she said at last.
"…What?"
"I'm not…shooting a dragon, or anything like that."
"Why – why would you do that." Nikola had clearly not been expecting that topic shift.
"Well, you were the one who asked."
Nikola blinked. "Wait, are you –"
"Yes, but there's no need to dwell on it. Now, let's get moving, we've wasted enough time as it is." She turned on her heel and started to walk away, leaving him still standing in the hall.
"Helen, wait." He caught up to her and took her hand, spinning her to face him before he kissed her – a long, deep kiss that lasted until they had to break apart for air. Nikola's hands had settled against Helen's arms, pulling her closer to him, and when they separated, he slid his hands down to her waist.
He kissed her again, briefly, then smiled. "Thank you," he said softly.
Before Helen could say anything, the radio crackled with Will's voice, letting them know he was ready.
"Really, could he have worse timing?" Nikola sighed.
Helen patted his shoulders. "It wouldn't be bad if we were where we're supposed to be," she pointed out.
"Fine, but it was worth it."
She chuckled. "Perhaps. Are you coming or not?"
"Of course," he said, picking up his pace to match her, striding quickly along the hall. "I'm still waiting for this to get interesting."
"Oh, that wasn't interesting enough for you, back there?"
"Mehhh."