Forever Not:  Final Things
by Sharon S. Scott
 
Time: after 10 seasons of Forever Knight
 
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Scene 1: At the Raven
 
"Janette, I have to do this. Why won't you understand that?"
 
She looked at him contemptuously, took another drink from the
wineglass, and spat out, "Because it is a ridiculous thing to do. You want
to throw away everything to follow this dream, and it *is* a dream,
cheri. What would you expect me to feel? Happiness?"
 
"No, I know you better than that. You haven't ever wanted me to find the
way back across. Just like LaCroix."
 
"Don't speak his name to me again, Nicolah. We're both happy he's no
longer a problem, but for him to have been killed by your quite
*common* partner is a slap in the face for all vampire kind. "
 
A slightly sad smile crossed his face. "Schanke didn't kill him. And it
wasn't his fault that the chase went sour. "
 
"Getting involved in a high-speed chase wasn't very bright, you'll have
to admit."
 
"Okay, I admit it, but Schank couldn't have known the perp would lose
control of his car and crash it into the radio station while LaCroix was
broadcasting."
 
"But to die by fire ... " She shuddered and took another drink.
 
"I'm sorry, Janette, but I can't feel pity for him. I've tried. I can't. I feel
nothing except relief. He was too cruel, to both of us, for too many
years."
 
"Then let us not speak of him again." She sipped from her glass again.
"Explain to me again why you're going away."
 
 He tried to think of a way to make her understand why he had to leave.
Leave the job, leave Toronto.  Leave her. It had taken him a long, long
time to understand it himself.
 
"It's time to move on, that's all.  You know the feeling--that urge to be
somewhere else ... someone else ... "
 
"Well, I will have to admit that this particular incarnation has lasted
much longer than I would have thought. Are you tired of playing
policeman?"
 
"I have not been *playing* policeman."
 
"You are still touchy on that subject, I see. Then what is it? Are you
bored with your life? With this place? With ... me?"
 
Her hand was gripping the stem of the wineglass so tightly that he
thought it might break. He loosened her grip, and brought her hand to his
lips. "Never with you, Janette."
 
She took her hand back and placed it back on the wineglass. "Are you
taking ... her ... with you?"
 
"Would that bother you?"
 
"That's not the question. Is she going with you?"
 
"No, she's not."
 
"Have you asked her?"
 
"No."
 
"She would go with you, if you asked. "
 
"I haven't asked, and I won't."
 
Janette turned to stare at him. He was looking down at his hands.
 
"Do you wish ... me ... to go with you?"
 
He looked up into her eyes, and could tell how much that question had
cost her. He reached for her, and she came into his arms willingly.
 
"Janette." He sighed into her hair.
 
She pulled away from his embrace. "Again, no, eh? Well, I have much to
keep me here--the club, Miklos ... "
 
" ... Alma?" He smiled at her look of irritation.
 
"*Someone* has to keep an eye on her, else she would decrease the
mortal population of Toronto in a few weeks." She motioned for Miklos to
refill her glass, and he did so immediately, then smiled and went back to
his other duties. Janette's eyes tracked him as he moved to the far end
of the bar.
 
"So, Nicolah, this is good-bye?"
 
"For now.  If you need me, Aristotle will be able to get in touch with
me."
 
"I won't."
 
"You might."
 
She was still watching Miklos, but Nick put his hand under her chin and
turned her face towards his. His finger traced the familiar lines of her
mouth. He kissed her and then walked away, so that she spoke to his
back.
 
"Au revoir, Nicolah."
 
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Scene 2: At the morgue
 
"So, you're giving up? Giving out? Giving in?" Fire flashed in her eyes
and in her voice as she harangued him.
 
"Nat, we've tried everything, and nothing has worked. I'm still a
vampire and you're still a mortal, and we're fooling ourselves that we'll
find a cure. I can't stand it any longer. The hope, the frustration. I've got
to get out."
 
"Well, poor, poor baby. He's disappointed he's still a vampire."
 
"Don't patronize me."
 
She slammed the morgue drawer shut. "I should have known. That's a
man for you--here one day, gone the next."
 
"It hasn't been a matter of days. It's been a matter of *years*--almost
a dozen of them. Haven't we tried everything? Potions, pills, injections,
sun beds, hyperbaric chambers, chemotherapy, gene-splicing--nothing
has worked. I drank blood to live when I met you. I *still* drink blood. Do
you know anything else to try?" She didn't answer. "Do you?"
 
Her shoulders sagged, and she turned to look at him. "No, damn it, I don't
know anything else to do. I don't have any other ideas. I'm at an end."
 
He put his hands on her shoulders and felt her tremble. "Exactly. We're
at an end."
 
She walked slowly away from him. "So you're packing up and leaving. To
try to find someone else to help you? Will you give up on them as quickly
as you have on me?"
 
"I'm not giving up, if that's what you're asking. I'll never give up."
 
"That's something, I guess. It won't all have been in vain." She squared
her shoulders and turned to face him. "Onward and upward, then. A new
place, a new name, a new life."
 
"You make it sound easy. It isn't."
 
"Good. I'm glad it isn't."
 
"You don't mean that."
 
"You're right. I don't. But it won't be easy saying good-bye."
 
"Then don't. I'll keep in touch."
 
"Yeah, right."
 
"I will, Nat. You think I'm running away from it all. From you. I'm not.
But 800 years teach you that you have to keep moving, keep changing.
I'm at that point where people are beginning to notice that I don't age;
they're beginning to have questions about me. It's time to move on."
 
"So what does Schanke think about all this?"
 
"Oh, he thinks I'm nuts, but then he's always thought I'm nuts, so it's no
big change. He's being promoted to Captain, by the way."
 
"That's great! I knew Cohen was retiring, but I didn't have any idea ..."
 
"Neither did he. And I don't know if he knows it yet, but Cohen's the one
who recommended him for the job.  He's excited, but Myra's ecstatic,
since it means he won't be out on the street any longer. She's always put
on a brave face, but she's been terrified he'd be seriously hurt, or killed,
on the job. And Jenny's glad because she'll get to see more of her dad.
So everybody's happy."
 
"Except you, Nick. You're not happy. You've never been happy, have
you?"
 
"The last decade has been happier than I had any reason to expect. And
you're the reason for that, Natalie."
 
"Why, thank you, kind sir. I've done my best."
 
"And you have my eternal gratitude for that. And my love. You know
that, don't you? You have my love."
 
"You're saying beautiful things again, Nicolas Knight."
 
"I wish one of them didn't have to be good-bye. But it does. For now,
anyway."
 
"I know."
 
And after a kiss that didn't last nearly long enough, he was gone.
 
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Scene 3: Nick's place
 
"Come in, Dr. Lambert." Janette was standing at the piano, looking
mysterious and melancholy in the light of a single candle.
 
"He's gone already, isn't he?" The furniture was draped in dust covers;
the lights were all off; the place seemed empty, unused, already.
 
"Yes, he's gone. To wherever it is he thinks he has to go."
 
"He's done this before, I gather?"
 
"Many times. Either because he couldn't bear LaCroix any longer, or
because he had a new ... how shall I put it? A new ... interest?"
 
"Just say it, why don't you? You mean a new woman, don't you?"
 
"Yes, if you wish to be blunt. It's very odd, though. This time he left
without the woman." She smiled at the look of shock on Natalie's face.
"Yes, it's very odd, indeed."
 
Janette ran her hand over the keys of the piano, as if she could feel his
touch on them.  Then she blew out the candle, put the dust cover back,
and started towards the door. "If you wish, leave your key on the piano.
I'll be looking after his things while he's gone."
 
Nat had to think about that for a moment. "No, I think I'll keep it. For the
time being, anyway."
 
Janette smiled again. Let the mortal dream. "As you wish, Dr. Lambert.
Good-bye."
 
Natalie moved to the window and looked out into the night sky. He had
gone away before. And he'd come back before. It could happen again.
 
The End
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Comments to scotts@baylor.edu or sss44@aol.com.