Date: Sat, 4 Dec 1999 17:42:42 -0500 From: JoAnne Seamans Subject: XOVER--Backstep to Forever (1/2) To: FKFIC-L@lists1.cac.psu.edu XOVER: FK/Seven Days: Backstep to Forever--by JoAnne Seamans Part 1 of 2 I don't own these characters, I am just borrowing them for a little bit. Please feel free to archive this story (if it ends up to be any good) at the FK FanFiction site or whereever. If you're not a Seven Days fan some of this will probably confuse the heck out of you. Basically it's a show about a special project where this guy can go back in time exactly 7 days to change the way events unfold. On the show the 'backsteps' as they are called are reserved for extreme times of world crisis. Well, I can't think of a worse crisis than the way way FK ended, can you? So I wanted to find a way to undo it. The story is a labor of love. And this is my very first time at writing fan fiction so please be gentle with me, ok? SPOILERS: Ashes to Ashes, Last Knight = Toronto "Damn You, Nicholas!" The words rang over and over in Lacroix's head as he replayed the events of the evening. Blood-tearstains streaked down his cheeks as he recalled the tragedy that had taken place in the loft. He had sensed the despair through the link he and Nick shared and had been on his way to the loft to see him. He had hoped to convince his son once and for all that his quest for mortality had brought nothing but heartache to him and those around him. He had planned to convince Nick to move on to a new identity--with him. They had become somewhat closer in the last few days, after what Divia had put them through. After being released from her crypt by an unethical archeologist she had found her way through their link to Toronto where she had systematically and with twisted pleasure destroyed countless mortals and also some of his favorite proteges. Among them had been the lovely Urs, a young goddess whom he had often enjoyed passing the day with. Divia had also attacked Urs's maker, Javier Vachon, who Lacroix was often publicly scornful of, but secretly sometimes envied for the simplicity of his life and the fierceness of his loyalty to those he cared for. It was that loyalty that had done him in--in the end the young Spaniard had chosen to take his own life to protect those he cared for. In the end she thought she had destroyed Nicholas as well, and had arrived at the Raven to torment Lacroix with her successes. But somehow Nicholas had survived the injuries and arrived just in time to remove her from the world once and for all. He had hoped that he and Nicholas could begin again to build a better relationship than the one they had had over the centuries. But the events of this night had put an end to that. Tracy Vetter, Nicholas's ambitious young partner had been shot while trying to provide back up for him and had not survived her injuries. Lacroix had only met her a couple of times, the most recent having been two days ago when he had had to use his powers to make her believe her close friend Javier Vachon had simply left town to pursue other interests. She was a resistor and he had had quite a time convincing her that Javier would just leave town, but in the end he had succeeded. He developed an admiration for her strength of will in the process, and felt true regret, as if he had taken something of great value from her. Her death had sent Nicholas into an emotional tailspin and the threads of their connection were playing a very sorrowful melody. His coroner friend, Dr. Natalie Lambert, had also had a recent tragedy in her life in that one of her colleagues had committed suicide, lamenting on the loneliness of life and chances lost. Lacroix was worried that his son would grow even closer to the lovely doctor and further away from him as a result. But even he had not been prepared for the sight awaiting him at the loft. It appeared that grief had taken them both beyond rational thought and he could hear the doctor's heart struggling to keep beating as he entered through the skylight. Nicholas was kneeling over her, holding her, rocking back and forth in despair. It had been too late to save the doctor, too much blood had been taken. Lacroix felt great rage and sorrow for he knew that even though she was now dead, the doctor had finally succeeded. Nicholas would never come back to him and live as a vampire of his bloodline should--not now. Dr. Lambert had been the one mortal in all the centuries that Nicholas truly could not live without. Lacroix could feel it through the link. He knew he had lost his most prized possession, and his most beloved child. The memories ran through his mind again and again, Nicholas begging him to take his life so that he could be with his precious Natalie in eternity. Lacroix did not believe in such things, but he knew that his son did. He also knew that if he did not do it then Nicholas would fly into the sun. So, he had done the only thing left to do for his much loved child--he set him free. Lacroix wept bitter tears as he was deluged with thousands of memories of times long past, happy hours spent hunting with Nicholas and also of the many times when Nicholas had run off to start a new life on his own, only to have Lacroix find him and force his way into his life again. Oh how they had fought. But finally in this incarnation they had found a sort of peace together. Suddenly, from the depths of his sorrow, Lacroix remembered something he had felt while partaking of a special vintage a few weeks ago. It had come in with a shipment of expired US-military donated blood; he had been so impressed with the memories, thoughts and feelings he detected from the blood that he had set it aside in his special stock. He had actually toyed with the thought of tricking Nicholas into drinking some of it as he was certain it was from someone he had been close to while in Vietnam. If there was any way that what he had detected in the blood could be true he knew he must find the donor immediately. With one quick phone call to Aristotle he had the information he needed and was on his way to the airport to board the DeBrabant Foundation jet. --------------------------------------------------------------------= ---- Backstep facility Bradley Talmadge was tired. He and the Backstep team had been under way too much pressure since project Backstep had been determined viable. He was very grateful that Donovan and Dr. Ballard were soon due back from two weeks of leave. He was heading for his office to grab a few minutes of much needed sleep on the couch. He closed the door behind him headed straight for the couch without even turning on the lights. "Good evening, Bradley". The silken tones emanating from the darkness were the one voice he had prayed he would never hear again. "What do you want, Lacroix?" Bradley hissed. "How did you get past all of our security personnel?--never mind, I can well imagine you using your persuasive techniques to maneuver your way in. Now, just state your business and go." "Nicholas is dead," Lacroix blurted out. "Nicholas? Dead? How can he be dead?" Talmadge asked, shocked. "He was one of you. Immortal." Although they had not spoken in years, Talmadge had long considered Nicholas one of his best friends. Nick had saved his life after Talmadge had been seriously injured during his time in Vietnam. Nicholas had been working in a medical unit during that war, for reasons which Talmadge found out later, quite by accident. Talmadge had been severely wounded and was near death from a chest wound and Nick had saved him. After he woke up, he and Nick had spent many of his recuperative hours playing chess and talking. They found they had many common interests, among them a love of music, the theater and art. They spent many hours debating about who had been the greatest composer of all time. Nick spoke of the great artists of the past as if he had actually known them. Talmadge developed a great deal of respect for Nick from watching how he treated him and the other patients in the hospital. He always seemed to know exactly what to say or do to encourage or to challenge the seriously wounded to fight to live. He never seemed to tire, always working through the night. One time when the fighting had gotten too close to the unit for comfort and they were forced to endure blacked out windows he had worked day and night to keep the patients as quiet and comfortable as possible. Sometimes it seemed that he could quiet a patient just by looking at them and speaking softly to them for a few moments. What amazed Talmadge most of all was that Nick never seemed to realize just how valuable he was to the unit. He always seemed to be carrying some dark burden. As Talmadge grew strong enough to travel and the time grew close when he would be sent back stateside, he developed insomnia. He took to going for walks back and forth, all around the small medical unit. It was on one of these walks that he finally discovered Nick's secret. He was walking past the area where the most critically injured patients were kept, the ones that were not expected to survive. He saw a tall aristocratic man with short blond hair leaning over the only patient currently being kept in that part of the building. The man must have heard him and raised his head to glare at Talmadge with yellow glowing eyes. "This is most unfortunate" the man snarled, "for you." Before Talmadge could react the man had him pinned up against the wall, hissing at him around very long fangs. There was blood running down one side of his mouth. "What are you?" Talmadge managed to croak out. "I am the last thing you will ever see" the man said menacingly. Suddenly the man was thrust away from him and thrown into a nearby wall. "Leave him alone, Lacroix" Nick hissed. "He is my friend." "Are you all right, Bradley?" Nick turned to look at him in concern, with flashes of gold in his eyes. "You are what he is, a v-vampire, aren't you?" Talmadge whispered brokenly. "How can this be. There's no such thing as vampires, is there? But if not that, then what?" "It's nothing you need concern yourself with, Bradley," Lacroix said now looking at him through eyes that no longer glowed. "Stay out of this Lacroix" Nick threatened. "It does not concern you." "Anything you do that could affect the Community concerns me, Nicholas," Lacroix said in his silky- steel voice, "he now knows about us, and that must be dealt with." "I will deal with it Lacroix, in my own way." Nicholas said. "See that you do, or there will be hell to pay. You have angered the Enforcers once before--I will not be able to intercede on your behalf again." A second later Lacroix was gone. Nick quickly went to the patient that Lacroix had been leaning over and checked on him. "He is still alive. I need to give him a transfusion. Please bring me that tray over there on the bench." Nick went quickly to the refrigerator and removed a unit of blood to give the patient. Talmadge was still in shock but managed to find the tray Nick had spoken of and took it to him. By the time Nick had re-stabilized the patient Talmadge was beginning to feel weak from all the excitement and exertion. Nick helped him to a chair and said "I imagine you have a few questions." In the end Talmadge had proven to be a resistor, but had also, as a result of his military training, proven to be very good at keeping secrets. "I'm very sorry for your loss, Lacroix", Talmadge said sadly. "Nick was a wonderful man, I admired him a great deal. The world will seem a much colder place without him in it." "Oh, but my dear Bradley, you are going to see to it that he does not leave it" Lacroix said softly. "Whatever do you mean? You just told me he's gone" Talmadge asked. "Ah, but you and I both know that you have the means to bring him back" Lacroix replied smoothly. "I don't know what you're talking about, Lacroix," Talmadge huffed, "now kindly get out of my office before I call security." Quicker than a heartbeat Talmadge once more found himself up against the wall, with Lacroix's yellow eyes gazing malevolently at him. "Don't play games with me. You will authorize one of your little 'Operation Backsteps' at once. Your Mr. Parker will be most happy to help us once I have convinced him." Talmadge gasped "How do you know about Backstep? It is one of the best-kept secrets in the world." "Why you told me all about it, Bradley--or at least your blood did." Lacroix answered suavely. "You Americans really should be more careful of how and where your expired blood is disposed of you know. There are members of the Community that have a special fondness for such vintages." He released Talmadge to allow him to stand weakly on his own feet. "Most of the Backstep team is on leave right now. Anyways, you will never be able to convince Frank to go along with this. He is certain to be a resistor to your brand of persuasion." Talmadge said. "Oh I think he will be most eager to help us, once he has spoken with my houseguest--Olga I believe is her name? Such a lovely spirited woman. She reminds me very much of my own daughter Janette," Lacroix spoke softly but with palpable menace. "You unbelievable bastard!" Talmadge shouted. "Perhaps", Lacroix said, "but that is not the issue, is it? Now why don't you call Mr. Parker into your office so we can chat. I understand that seven days is the current limitation of your craft? Certain other... unsavory... events have occurred during the last week leading up to Nicholas's demise. I should like the chance to correct them as well." In the end convincing Parker to go along with the covert operation had not been all that difficult. Along with releasing Dr. Vukavitch, Lacroix had had to use his powers on a certain Nate Ramsey to get him to repeat over and over the words "You were right, Parker, I was wrong. I will never disagree with you again", and to repeatedly act out both parts in an old Abbot and Costello routine while standing on one foot and rubbing his stomach with one hand. "Are you ready Mr. Parker?" Lacroix asked finally. "There are a couple of things you must remember to do. Timing is essential. Divia must be destroyed before she begins her rampage. You must come to me immediately after your arrival and convince me of what has happened." "I'm not likely to forget that Lacroix", Frank said, still shaken from hearing about the havoc Divia had caused. He had seen much during his years as a Navy SEAL, had even seen others of Lacroix's kind, and had thought there were no atrocities he had not already seen in the world. But the trail of bodies, both mortal and immortal, that Divia had left in her wake was unspeakable. To mutilate and kill children as she had made Frank's blood boil. He would put and end to it before it happened, or die trying. "But you forget, Lacroix, that Divia will sense you coming after her. I will have to find another way to stake her myself and then bring her to you," Parker said. "And just how to you intend to do that, Mr. Parker? She will kill you before you have a chance to even raise your hand to her." "Let me worry about that, Lacroix," Parker said in what he hoped was a convincing manner, as he entered the Backstep sphere. End Part 1 XOVER: FK/Seven Days: Backstep to Forever--by JoAnne Seamans Part 2 of 2 I don't own these characters, I am just borrowing them for a little bit. Please feel free to archive this story (if it ends up to be any good) at the FK FanFiction site or whereever. If you're not a Seven Days fan some of this will probably confuse the heck out of you. Basically it's a show about a special project where this guy can go back in time exactly 7 days to change the way events unfold. On the show the 'backsteps' as they are called are reserved for extreme times of world crisis. Well, I can't think of a worse crisis than the way way FK ended, can you? So I wanted to find a way to undo it. The story is a labor of love. And this is my very first time at writing fan fiction so please be gentle with me, ok? SPOILERS: Ashes to Ashes, Last Knight = Toronto--backstepped Lacroix felt the hairs on the back of rise as he entered the Raven. Something just was not right but he couldn't place what it was. He had just sent Urs and the young Spaniard Vachon on their way after finding them in his office, Urs babbling something about an evil presence. He did not believe in such things but even he had to admit something was very wrong in his little world. He tested the link he had with Nicholas and assured himself the problem was not there. He detected the usual perpetual feelings of guilt that Nicholas insisted on carrying with him, along with the warmth of the love that Lacroix had come to realize meant he was with Dr. Lambert. No, the problem was elsewhere. He could almost taste it. In fact, he suddenly realized he could smell fresh blood coming from the bar area of the club. He made his way to the bar slowly, opening his senses, trying to determine just what it was that was different tonight. He thrust open the door to the undercounter cooler and found the source of the blood-smell was a decapitated, badly decomposing body. He then noticed a box sitting near the cooler and slowly opened it, dreading seeing what he already knew he would find in it. The face stared up at him, frozen in eternal horror. But that did not frighten Lacroix nearly as much as the sight of the cameo broach he knew could only have come from one source. Memories from two millenia ago flooded his mind. It could not be her. This could not be possible, could it? He shook his head to clear the memories and decided the logical course of action would be to call Nicholas. For once he was glad that his son's current choice of profession was as a police detective. "Vachon, can you do something for me?" Tracy asked, sitting in her car outside the precinct. "Sure. Anything." Vachon murmured staring into her beautiful eyes. "Can you call me when you get home?" she asked. "Okay" he said, cupping her chin gently, and left as quickly as only a vampire can. How he loved this mortal woman. If only they could be together. In the hundreds of years he had been alive he had never once met any mortal who affected him as much as his tiny apricot and calla- lily scented lady. He could not tell her how he felt, she was not ready to hear it yet. So he would wait, as long as it took. Tracy sighed after he left. How she loved him. If only they could be together. No other man had ever made her feel so alive, so complete inside. She was afraid to tell him how she felt, he just wasn't ready yet. So she would wait, as long as it took. Frank Parker was a man of action. He knew he had to work fast under the circumstances and could think of no better way to reach a vampire than the obvious. He stepped right in front of the leather-jacketed man fitting the description he had been given and, using his pocket knife, sliced open his arm. "Drink this" he said and thrust his arm in Vachon's face. Instinct took over and before he could control it Vachon had taken two large swallows from the proferred arm. He only then noticed the man encouraging him to read what was in the blood, that it would save his life. Divia sensed the vampire she had seen coming out of her father's club earlier heading towards her. She quickly landed in a nearby alley and knelt down on the street. She covered her head and began to make weeping noises, hoping to lure him towards her. She heard him call out to her, asking if she was all right. Stupid man, she thought with an evil grin, as she made ready to pounce. He drew closer as she continued to making crying noises. Before she could move to strike him she felt on fire as the wooden stake was thrust through her heart, rendering her immobile. Eyes of the purest evil glared at Javier Vachon as he flew quickly, carrying both Divia and the mortal he had come to know as Frank Parker over the city towards the Raven. He hoped Lacroix would know what to do to destroy the evil one. The scenes he had read in Frank's blood were horrifying even to a vampire. She could not be allowed to live, it was as simple as that. He knew that as old as she was a mere stake would not necessarily kill her, and that more destructive means must be used, but he would let Lacroix make the decision as to how. "What is this?" Lacroix said harshly as Vachon made his way into the still closed Raven, accompanied by a mortal and someone else. He had finally been allowed to leave the police station and was in need of a good meal. Suddenly he sensed something of his daughter and maker. "Divia!" he gasped. "So it is true." "Look, Lacroix," the mortal exclaimed, "we don't have much time here..." "Silence!" Lacroix spat out at the impudent mortal. "Javier, what is the meaning of this? And what is this man doing in my club?" "My name is Frank Parker", Parker said calmly, "and you'd better sit down if you want an explanation." "I will do no such thing" Lacroix snarled. "You will leave my club immediately and you will forget everything you have seen," the last part was said hypnotically as Lacroix tried to zero in on Frank's heartbeat. "Don't even try it old man" Parker said casually, "it doesn't work on me. Now, if you care at all about your son you will sit down and listen to me." Vachon, who had remained silent to this point, watching the two argue with great interest, interjected "Um, gentlemen, I hate to interrupt you but we don't have much time here. Perhaps the same method you used on me would work here, Parker." "Oh, all right" Parker grumbled, "why do I feel like a wineskin at a Kiss concert?" He thrust his arm at Lacroix and said "go ahead, help yourself". More curious than angry at this point, Lacroix drank deeply for a moment and then dropped Frank's arm in horror, cringing at what he had seen in the blood. "Nicholas?" he said hesitantly, as a single blood tear slid slowly down his face. "Is he--" "No, he is fine. The events you told me about have not yet occurred, and may not occur if we hurry" Parker replied. "Yes. Yes, I must hurry" Lacroix said. "You will remain here. Both of you. This is mine to deal with." "I will deal with you" he looked at Parker briefly, "when I return." He took the still-immobile Divia from Vachon's arms and whooshed away. Lacroix landed softly in the junkyard. He was still in shock from what he had detected from the mortal man's blood. The chain of events brought about by what Divia had done was more than he could take in at once. He knew he must work quickly when he heard Divia hiss at him. She was one of the true ancients and he wasn't certain a stake would hold her until the rising of the sun. No he would have to cleanse the world of her evil with real fire. He laid her body upon a car and set it on fire. He watched sadly as it burned, the body of one whom he had loved more than any other living creature at one time, but had grown to hate in the end. He reflected on how ironic it was that some of the same characteristics he had grown to hate in Divia were ones that Nicholas had grown to hate in him. The irony was not lost on him as the last embers died out and took with them all that was left of his once- beloved Divia. Perhaps it was not too late to salvage something of his relationship with Nicholas he thought as he remembered more of what he had tasted in Parker's blood. They had gotten along better lately, and he had to admit he had almost become fond of the good doctor. She would make a welcome addition to his family. If only Nicholas would see it that way. Ah, well, now they had time. He flew slowly back to the Raven, deep in thought. He was not surprised to see that neither Mr. Parker or Vachon were there when he returned. He knew the Spaniard would be discreet with his knowledge of the evenings events, and he could tell from the mortal's blood that he could be trusted to keep quiet as well. "Good evening gentle listeners", Lacroix's smooth voice went out over the air. "Tonight I would like to talk to you about second chances..." "Hi, Trace" Vachon said as she entered her apartment after her shift ended. "In the mood for company today?" "Ready whenever you are, Vachon," she smiled softly as her heart skipped a beat. Far across town, a woman roused herself from her couch to answer the door. She was so depressed lately and just didn't know how much longer she could go on this way. She just felt no joy or satisfaction in her life anymore. The last time she could remember truly feeling happy was way back when she was in medical school. In her depressed state, she opened the door without thinking, to find a very handsome man. "Hi", Frank Parker said. "I need to talk to you about an old friend of yours named Natalie..." THE END Thanks for reading! please send any comments to jseamans@prodigy.net