Subject: A Friend in Need 1/3 Date: Fri, 20 Feb 2004 21:39:17 -0800 From: Kristen Fife To: FKFIC-L@LISTS.PSU.EDU Timeline for this is immediately after "Only the Lonely." Some spoilers. ====================================== A Friend in Need 2/2004 Kristen Fife Part 1 Nick looked at the floor while Captain Stonetree considered his vacation request. He had over 5 weeks accrued, and was requesting to use two of them. Schanke didn’t know yet, and he dreaded telling his partner, but he really needed some time to himself. He needed to get away from Toronto for a bit. Go somewhere. ANYWHERE. “Nick, is everything OK? This seems rather sudden.” The solid man behind the desk looked up at Nick. “Yeah Captain. I just need some time to myself. I’ve had a lot on my mind the last few weeks, and I just need a change of scenery.” Nick tried to sound casual, hoping his voice didn’t sound as taut to Stonetree as it did to him. Stonetree sighed. He initialed the forms and handed them back to Nick. “OK. You’re off after tomorrow’s shift is over.” He looked up at the other man intently. “I hope you know that if you need anything, you can talk to me.” Nick smiled. “Thanks Cap. I know and I appreciate it.” He walked out the door over to his desk and sat on the edge of it. Schanke was filling out paperwork, a donut in his other hand. He didn’t notice Nick sitting on the edge of his desk for almost a minute. Finally he looked up. ”Yeah Knight? You needed something?” He held the donut out for Nick, who leaned back and wrinkled his nose. “Um, I just wanted to talk to you. I, uh, wanted to let you know that I’m taking a couple of weeks of vacation starting after the end of shift tomorrow.” He rushed through the sentence in an effort to get it over with. Schanke scowled. “Geez Knight, thanks for giving me some ADVANCE NOTICE.” He got up from his desk and stomped down the corridor toward the men’s room. Nick sighed. He and Schanke were still getting used to each other. He wasn’t used to having a partner and he really did need some time alone to cope with all the stresses in his life right now. The rest of the night dragged on with Nick and his partner doing more paperwork. For once the criminals seemed quiet. Just when Nick wanted a distraction, the villains were completely uncooperative. He finally just dug into the never-ending pile of paperwork. By the end of his shift he was actually pleased with the fact that he had decimated 15 case reports out of the 27 sitting on his desk. If it remained quiet, he realized he could leave feeling good about the administrative workload. He silently hoped he had that chance. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard - Read only the mail you want. http://antispam.yahoo.com/tools Subject: A Friend in Need 2/3 Date: Fri, 20 Feb 2004 21:40:34 -0800 From: Kristen Fife To: FKFIC-L@LISTS.PSU.EDU A Friend in Need 2/2004 Kristen Fife Part 2 At 5:30, he packed up his belongings and said good night to a still sulking Schanke and walked out of the precinct to the caddie. He drove through the deserted streets and decided to take a quick tour around the lakefront to get home. He still had almost an hour until dawn, and he was feeling the restlessness that prompted him to request vacation time. As he turned right on Front Street, he finally allowed himself to think about the true root of his state of mind…Natalie Lambert. She was still on leave from her incident with Roger Jameson, and wouldn’t be back until the end of next week. She was visiting friends in Ottawa, telling everyone that she needed a change of scenery. No one had questioned her motives, Nick least of all. And that was part of the problem. He missed her terribly. All the time. His thoughts kept returning to the night he had crashed in on her at the nursery. He hadn’t told her how close he had come to ripping out Jameson’s throat. He kept reliving the memories of those several days, especially how he had felt when Natalie had come home from her day spent in the sun with Jameson and he was waiting at her apartment. When Natalie had opened the door and he had seen her obviously breaking off a passionate embrace with Jameson, his reaction had been jealousy, and it was 100% male. It hadn’t involved the vampire at all, and had been completely out of line. He knew it after the whole incident was over and done with, and he had truly tried to prove to Natalie that he understood that she needed the freedom to pursue a relationship with someone else. It was the fact that his reaction HAD been a human one that was the crux of the matter. He was used to fighting off the possessiveness of the vampire, but he was at a loss to deal with the emotions of the man. It had been so long since anyone had inspired those feelings in him that it was really bothering him. He was realizing that somewhere along the line, he had crossed the invisible line he had set for himself and his feelings for Natalie were changing into something that scared him. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard - Read only the mail you want. http://antispam.yahoo.com/tools Subject: A Friend in Need 3/3 Date: Fri, 20 Feb 2004 21:44:54 -0800 From: Kristen Fife To: FKFIC-L@LISTS.PSU.EDU A Friend in Need 2/2004 Kristen Fife Part 3 Finally turning the corner onto Gateway, he pressed the garage door opener and pulled the caddie into the bay. He turned off the engine but still sat in the car lost in thought. The scenes that were replaying in his mind were Natalie’s instinctive desire that HE be the person to rescue her from Jameson, and the fact that she had turned away from him at the precinct when he almost kissed her. He wasn’t sure which set of actions were indicative of her feelings for him. Part of him argued that it was natural that she had shied away from him after the ordeal she had just been through, but it did hurt. And, the fact that she had cried out for HIM in terror touched a place he wasn’t sure he was ready to cope with. What was she feeling? What would he say to her when she came back? Where did they go from here? Was their relationship changing? He thought back to his feelings for Alyssa, and winced inwardly at the memory of the lovely woman he had killed. Were his feelings for her even comparable to what he felt growing inside of him for Natalie? He had barely known Alyssa as a person. The times had been so different then. Women and men had such clearly defined roles. She had captivated him with her loveliness and her innocence, but he admitted to himself, finally, that if she HAD successfully crossed over into the night, that by now he would have probably tired of her and she would be somewhere else in the world living her dark existence. He got out of the car and walked over to the lift, and his thoughts turned to Janette. Ah, Janette. His lethal siren, the woman he had loved for so long and so deeply. He smiled sadly to himself. Such a history they had together. Theirs was a relationship so intertwined and so deep that he couldn’t fathom another in his life that matched it. He knew Janette as he did himself. After so many centuries, how could he not? She was a complex individual; if she were not, he would not be drawn to her again and again. Seeing her in Toronto had been like a bucket of cold water. They had spent time together on and off throughout the last century, but never more than a few months here or there, and even their brief interludes as vampiric lovers had been just a physical release for both of them, not a revival of their emotional passions. She had tried to rekindle their love affair, but even she realized that her rejection of him in the 16th century had irreparably separated them. Nick knew she had come full circle in her life, and wanted to become a couple again, but he also knew that the hurt of her leaving was still an invisible barrier between them. And now there was Natalie. His feelings for her were deepening. He trusted her as he had trusted no one but Janette, ever. Her friendship was the cornerstone of his current life, and to lose it would wound him in ways he couldn’t fathom. He cared for her not for her professional abilities, but for the warmth she brought to his cold world. His heart was warming again and she was the sun. He was terrified. Of hurting her, of being rejected, of losing her as a friend. He didn’t know what to do. He stepped out of the lift and threw his keys onto the dining table. He wandered over to the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of blood. Pulling the cork out with his teeth and spitting it into the sink, he grabbed a glass and filled it. Putting the bottle on the counter and bringing the glass to his lips, he wandered over to the couch just as the blinds began their daily descent. He plopped onto the couch and continued to brood and sip. Suddenly the phone rang. He started as he turned to grab it. “Knight here.” “Uh, Nick, hi. I wasn’t sure if you’d be there.” Natalie’s hesitant voice raced through him. “Nat! How are you? I was just thinking of you.” He grimaced as those words slipped out. After a brief pause, she asked, “Really?” He smiled. “Yes, silly. How are you? How is Ottawa? Are you feeling better?” “Actually, I’m back. I got in a couple of hours ago. I’m fine. It was nice to get away, but I wanted to come home.” Her tone of voice sounded forced. “Nat, are you OK?” Nick’s concern communicated itself along the line. “Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just that, I guess I didn’t realize how long I’ve been in Toronto. It was great to see Angela, but…I don’t know. I guess it finally sank in that my life is here, and the people that matter to me and that support me. Angela was great, but I missed my friends here.” She sounded tired but wound up. “Nat, I’d come over if I could. If you want to talk, you’re welcome to come over. I just got home.” It sounded to Nick like she needed a friend. “Really? Are you sure? I don’t want to be a burden.” She tried to keep the eagerness from her voice. Nick smiled again and felt a warmth inside. “Nat, I mean it. You’re my friend and I’d really like to be able to return the favor of your friendship after all that we’ve been through. Please, come over.” She sighed. “I really appreciate it. I’ll be there in about 20 minutes. And Nick, thanks” As the phone hung up, Nick realized that his feelings for Natalie all boiled down to one very important fact. She was his friend. And if nothing else, Nick valued her friendship above and beyond almost anything in his life. And she needed HIS friendship right now. That knowledge in and of itself was all he needed right now. Maybe, one day, they would be able to explore other facets of their relationship, but as long as they were friends, he was content with his corner of the universe. ============================ So, what did Nick think and feel between "Only the Lonely" and "Be My Valentine"? And what about Natalie's recovery from the scary ordeal? I wanted to write about a very human and mundane situation for our favorite vamp. A conversation with a friend sparked this story for me today. She is poised on that brink of friendship and love, and is very confused and scared. (I think she'll end up marrying the guy, but that's just my opinion ;) __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard - Read only the mail you want. http://antispam.yahoo.com/tools