thedevamper | For Helen

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For Helen

Nikola did not have to be a genius to realise that something had occured in the middle of the night to him. For one, his feet could no longer touch the floor when he swung his legs over the bed. Secondly, William's stolen clothes were like giants on him. And thirdly, well his voice sounded like he'd backtracked several decades or so and was a child again. Despite all that it was only until he saw himself in the mirrors (after getting a chair to see) Nikola realised what had happened.

"Oh for the love of- This is ridiculous!" Nikola said scowling at himself. Climbing off the chair Nikola changed his clothes before he stomped his way out of the compound towards Helen's home. Helen would know what this was about and Helen, currently, was the only one he could trust. However getting to Helen's proved to be a much more difficult task than planned. He was a good three feet shorter and Helen's door suddenly seemed like it was made for giants.

Nikola stood on his tiptoes reaching for Helen's door before groaning as he couldn't quite get it. Jumping Nikola growled when he couldn't reach it. Running at the door proved fruitless too. Nikola scowled at his new enemy and kicked it impatiently. The Great Nikola Tesla would not be defeated by a- by a door!

"MAGNUS!" Nikola yelled in a voice that was far too small and childlike. Stomping his foot down on the floor like a petulant child rather than the hundred plus year old he was, Nikola yelled in frustration as he jumped for the door handle. His small fingers grasped at the door before slipping down and he fell with a thump to the floor. Nikola stared at the door, tears- stupid Tears- welling up as he kicked at the door. "HELEN! Open the damn door!"

Nikola Tesla did not cry. Nikola Tesla certainly did not cry in front of Helen. "Heleeeen," Nikola wailed, sticking out his bottom lip.

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Helen had been up early to go to the Compound for tea after the...waking up with a boyfriend who was now a girlfriend fiasco and when she came back, there was a petulant little boy sitting outside her hut.

"What's wrong, then, darling?" She didn't know him but that hardly mattered; being on the Council meant everyone knew her face.

Nikola turned his head, staring up at Helen with wet glossy eyes before he did what every child would do and held his arms out towards her. Nikola looked like he was on the verge of tears, which truth be told he had been about ten seconds ago but now with Helen here, Nikola felt safe and like he could also play this to his advantage.

Nikola sniffed dramatically and stuck his lip out further, impatiently holding out his arms.

"It's all right," she murmured, taking him into her arms. It'd been a while since she'd held a child, Coraline's a young woman and hardly this young, and she smoothed her hand over his hair to try and ease whatever was wrong.

"Did you just arrive? How did you know my name?"

Nikola managed to keep his face straight as Helen picked him up and as he pressed his face against her neck. And nuzzled. Ah, yes, this was exactly what he wanted. Well, almost entirely what he wanted. Nikola's lips twisted into his tell tale smirk as he put his arms around Helen.

"You could say that," Nikola said, grinning at Helen impishly. "Is this all it takes to get you to hold me? Apparently children do have their uses."

"Nikola Bloody Tesla," Helen spat, pushing him away from her as quickly as she dared when he was a small child. Of all the horrible things...I can't believe you'd stoop this low. I suppose the same thing that caused Will to wake up with breasts has done this to you?"

Nikola braced himself as Helen pushed him away although a lot more gentler than she would had he been his usual enigmatic self.

"You sound so surprised Helen and yet you know I love it when you hold me." Nikola said smirking up at her as if he was very pleased with himself. Nikola peered around Helen, practically bouncing with desire to see Junior in a similar if not worse state then himself. "Young William has breasts? Now, that I have to see."

"Will's breasts aren't your concern," Helen said flatly, trying to tamp down her own pleasure at thinking about them. There were worse ways to wake up, certainly.

"And don't talk like that. You're a little boy, Nikola. It's improper."

"I'm a hundred and fifty four years old," Nikola replied, fighting the childish urge to pull a tongue up at Helen. Nikola crossed his arms instead over his chest and stomped his tiny foot in the ground. "I might look like a child but that doesn't actually make me one. I'm a man more importantly I'm a scientist."

"You've certainly gotten the petulant part down. You're worse than Ashley," Helen said dryly, looking him over. "You won't be drinking in that body. I won't have you die on me from alcohol poisoning after I've just gotten you back. We'll have plenty of wine when all this madness has passed."

"Helen you're concerned, I'm touched." Nikola said reaching for Helen's hand with his tiny one and smirking not so innocently at her. "Well, if I'm not allowed to drink or work in the lab what am I allowed to do? Are you going to entertain me? Keep me from going mad without my lab."

Well, it wasn't his lab but that was hardly the point.

"I will entertain you some," Helen conceded. "But something suitable. We can go to the Compound and play chess? Won't that be lovely?"

Why was it that even though it was still Nikola, she felt the tug of her long-buried maternal senses?

"I'd rather play with the Angelator or with the nanotechnology but I can't seem to reach them anymore." Nikola replied staring up at Helen. Nikola pouted at her, tugging on her hand. "How about we take your blood again for research purposes? No? Fine, we'll play chess."

"We're not taking my blood," Helen said, frowning. "We're going to have a lovely game of chess. Even as a little boy, you'll probably trump me. You know I'm bloody terrible at chess for the most part."

"Just a little prick, you won't notice it at all." Nikola said before smiling at Helen with the childish need to laugh and add a comment about John. Nikola knew that was his body, not his mind talking and managed to control the laughter. For the most part. "Fine, I'll play chess with you but if I win then I want something in return."

"Forgive me if I'm not inclined to give you free pick of prizes," Helen said warily, offering her hand to him. They might as well walk hand in hand to the Compound when he was this small.

"What did you have in mind?"

If it had been anyone else Nikola might not have taken her hand but this was Helen and well, it was the little things that amused him. Plus, he could always tell Will all about this later. That would certainly improve his mood.

"Access to any medical files located on the island, samples of blood and suits. That damn box only wants to give me tropical shirts," Nikola said grinning. "And if you win, I'll stop breaking into your hut."

"You'll stop breaking into my hut anyway," Helen said coolly. "I won't stand for it and neither will Will, whose privacy you're also assaulting. It's a lot different now, Nikola. I've a boyfriend to worry about."

"You never used to mind when I'd come and visit," Nikola said, his bottom lip sticking out just the tiniest amount. Nikola couldn't help how his body at this age reacted and it was starting to irritate him. It was like being stuck in... well, a child. "Can you please address him as the concubine? Fine, what do you want if you win. Which you won't."

"Nikola, I'm not calling Will my concubine," Helen said, letting her hand drift through his hair to ruffle it slightly. "He's...you might find this hard to believe, but he's special to me, Nikola. He's not just a passing phase, which concubine seems to imply."

"Boy toy then," Nikola replied, lips twitching and leaning into Helen's touch as she brushed her hand through his hair. He had always liked that. "Fine, he's your boyfriend but that doesn't mean I'm going to miraculously become his best friend forever and draw hearts around his name, does it? At least, I'll give you this, he's better than Johnny boy. I always did wonder what you saw in him, certainly not his hair."

"He had hair when we were engaged," Helen said dryly and sighed. "Nikola...you remember what John was like, don't you? Before he went mad? When he still loved me?"

She thought John might love her now, even, but it wasn't something Helen wanted to consider.

"Yes, hair today gone tomorrow." Nikola said childishly grinning up at Helen before he noted the look on her face. "Yes, I do. And I remember what he was like probably a lot clearer than you do Helen. I didn't love him after all. Even if he hadn't gone mad, the source blood brought out the best, the strongest parts of ourselves and that's what it brought out in Johnny."

"I miss him," she admitted, soft and quiet. "It's not something I can really talk to Will about, missing John. I don't think he'd understand that...Christ, I still love the bastard no matter what he did to me. I don't exactly know why that is."

Nikola certainly didn't miss him but James... well, that was a different story altogether. Not that he'd even admit to missing him.

"No, I doubt Junior would." Nikola replied, his hand tightening on Helen's. If she took it as reassurance so be it. "He was your first love and the first person to betray that trust. Of course you still love him, you're not stupid enough to take him back. At least I hope you're not."

"No," Helen said, shaking her head. "The John I love is long dead, unfortunately, and even if he were to suddenly show up here, his former self, I don't think I'd ever be able to relax enough to enjoy myself. I'm not the woman I was in the 1880s any longer. The woman I am now needs something different."

"And that something different couldn't be me?" Nikola asked, though he knew the answer. As much as he might Admire Helen, he could never offer her what she truly wanted. Still, that didn't mean he couldn't keep trying. He was always a persistent bugger as Nigel would have said. "Really it had to be him. James I could always understand but Junior?"

Edited 2011-08-08 07:48 (UTC)

"He's actually quite a bit like James in some ways," Helen said, prickly to have to defend Will to Nikola. "Besides, you know he loves me and adores me. He'd never hurt me, Nikola, and that's more appealing than anything else at this juncture in my life."

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