for Nikola

[notsocommon]

Helen had actually not been expecting any visitors and with Will out seeing patients and teaching classes, it was just she and Gregory tucked into the tidy penthouse for the time being. When she heard the bell ring, she imagined it was Will and buzzed him in without a thought, thinking that he must have forgotten something.

She opened the door, smile wide, only for it to fall a bit in confusion when she saw Nikola there. "Ah, Nikola. I wasn't expecting you." She shifted Gregory a bit and opened the door a bit wider to let him in.

"Do come in. Tea? I'm afraid I don't have any wine on hand."

Comments

[notsocommon]

"It's not up to you, Nikola. I have made my own choices and my choice is to remain here, with Will, and to have my mortal life. I have no doubt that eventually someone will crack the mystery of the island but I have no interest in it. Not when everything I hold dear is here. I've made peace with that."

Helen sighed and stretched her arms out to take the baby once more. "I've grown tired of political machinations and trying to cheat death and everything after. I want to be ordinary once more."

[thedevamper]

"Why can't it be? Why must you all leave me? I won't allow it not again." Nikola said, jaw tense as he looked at Helen seriously. He wouldn't allow her to settle for a mortal life, he wouldn't allow her to leave him alone like Nigel and James. Like everyone he had ever cared for. "You might have made peace with it but I haven't. I never will."

Nikola could feel his hand tensing, Gregory stirring in his arms. He offered him back to Helen, once safely out of his arms Nikola stood up unsettled and annoyed at her. She couldn't die, he wouldn't allow it. Not now, not ever. "You're not ordinary, you never were."

[notsocommon]

"Perhaps I'm not but I will not watch Gregory grow up and die while I remain the same. I won't lose Will. It's just not an option, Nikola."

Perhaps it was selfish but Nikola was selfish too, in his own way.

[thedevamper]

"There are other options, we have the source blood Helen." Nikola replied, crossing his arms sulkily across his chest.

[notsocommon]

"That likely doesn't work," Helen pointed out. "Besides, I doubt Will would concede to that for himself or our child. Again, the point is rendered moot."

She softened her voice. "Can't you be content with mortality, Nikola?"

[thedevamper]

"What and grow old and die before I've changed the world? Never, I'll never be content with that Helen. It's not romantic, it's resignation." Nikola replied simply. He would never be satisfied fully with a mortal life, immortality or at least his name memorialised was his life's ambition. Change, bringing that about was his goal. "William doesn't know what's good for him."

[notsocommon]

"No, Will just doesn't feel the need to seek glory and make a name for himself. Since he's the one in my bed, I think it's not entirely a bad path to take."

Helen laughed a little. "It's conceited of me to assume that all of you want to sleep with me, isn't it?"

[thedevamper]

"Not any more so than I think you all want tto sleep with me, Will included." Nikola replied with a lighter look on his face. "You won't leave me alone, will you Helen? Not like James."

[notsocommon]

"Will does not want to sleep with you. I don't think he has a single homosexual inclination in his body," Helen said, laughing loudly. She sobered for a moment and touched her hand to his.

"Darling, I will be here as long as I can manage. You know that. You know I care about you, Nikola."

[thedevamper]

"No, then how do you explain all this unresolved sexual tension between us?" Nikola said with a smirk at Helen. His smirk turned softer as she touched his hand. "I know, shame you won't ever listen to me or do what I want, isn't it? Then I wouldn't have to lose you as well."

[notsocommon]

"You're not playing fair, Nikola," Helen pointed out but, really, what was fair in situations like this? Very little. She'd made her choice and she was determined to stick by it. She didn't want to leave Will or Gregory alone ever again.

[thedevamper]

"When have I ever played fair?" Nikola replied with a tired smirk. "Playing fair is boring."