Date: Thu, 05 Aug 1999 13:12:25 -0500 
From: Karin Plite <karin@indy.net> 
To: fkarchiver@fkfanfic.com 
Subject: A Final Favor 


Disclaimers: I do not own the characters of Forever Knight.
Sony/Tri-Star does.  No infringement is intended. 
 
This is my first piece of fanfic *ever*.  I'm normally just read, but
one day this all spilled out at once.  All comments to karin@indy.net.
Please  be kind, I bruise easily.  All rights reserved.


A Final Favor
by Karin 
 

Nick slipped sliently into the room.  Natalie laid in the hospital bed.
She was terribly thin, but as beautiful as ever.  Her hair was white, but
still as full and curly as he remembered.

"Are you going to stand in the doorway all night, or are you going to come
in?" she said softly with a hint of teasing in her voice.  Nick smiled and
stepped further into the room.

"How are you doing?" was all he could manage to say.

Natalie smiled.  She thought about how hard this must be for him,
constantly seeing people you care about growing old and dying, while he
never changes.

"I'm dying," she answered simply.  She saw the pain flit across his
handsome features, quickly to be replaced by a longing she couldn't
place.

Nick studied her heart-shaped face.  It had wrinkled some, and looked drawn
from age and her disease, but when he looked into her bright blue eyes, she
still took his breath away.

It had been 45 years since he left, but a night hadn't gone by when he
didn't think of her.  The seven years he had spent with her had been the
most fulfilling, and in a strange way, the most contented years of his long
life.  Natalie had become his best friend, confidant, and the love of his
life.  She made him feel like he belonged, like he was cared for, loved,
and as close as he had ever been to feeling human.

Being around her had become too difficult, and he had left to protect her
from himself and the ever-present danger of LaCroix.  Now, 45 years later,
as she lay dying in a hospital bed, she had sent for him.  It thrilled him
that she would want to see him one last time, but the pain of knowing that
she was dying almost crushed him.

Natalie studied his face as he looked at her.  He was as handsome as ever,
and even after all these years, he still made her heart skip a beat and
her breath catch in her throat.

"Nick, thank you for allowing me to contact you.  Please sit down.  There
is so much I want to talk to you about."

Natalie didn't know how Nick was going to react to their talk.  So many
years had passed, and he had moved on with his life.  Maybe he had put her
totally out of his mind, and he was only here just to be polite, or out of
some thirteenth-century sense of duty.

"Nat, I wanted you to be able to contact me if you ever wanted to.  I'm
sorry this is so late.  I came as soon as I got the message.  If you are
too tired now, I can come back at sunset tomorrow?"

Nick hesitantly sat down in the chair next to Nat's bed and unconsciously
reached out to take her hand.  As he felt the warmth of her hand in his, he
looked down at their joined hands.  It had been such a natural thing to do,
he hadn't even thought about it.  He was concerned that Natalie would be
uncomfortable with the familiar contact, until he looked up and saw her
smiling at him with her eyes sparkling.  She was still beautiful.

Natalie had been concerned that Nick didn't feel anything for her after all
this time, until she saw the look in his eyes as he held her hand.  She
breathed a sigh of relief.  This was the right decision.  She knew without
a doubt now.

"Nick, how long can you stay?"

"Until sunrise," he answered, then saw a look of disappointment cross her
face.  "I can come back tomorrow at sunset if you like.  I can stay in town
as long as you want."  As her face brightened, Nick took a deep breath and
relaxed.  This was right.  This was where he needed to be.

"Nick, there is so much I want to tell you about my life, and I want to
hear all about yours."  Natalie smiled.  This will all work out, she
thought.

"I guess the most important thing is that I have a daughter."  A look of
shock and pain flashed across Nick's features, to be quickly replaced by a
neutral look.  Natalie quickly added, "I adopted her forty years ago." Nick
looked relieved and slightly embarassed.

Natalie's smile faded.  "I could never have fallen in love with someone
else, gotten married, had two kids, and lived in the suburbs with a dog
and a cat." In a bare whisper that she knew he could hear, she continued,
"not after loving you."

Seeing the sadness and pain in Nick's eyes, she squeezed his hand and
continued in a cheerier voice, "Adopting and raising Claire was such a
joy."

Nick smiled broadly, and at Nat's questioning look answered, "Claire was
my mother's name."  Natalie grinned back.

They spent the rest of the night telling each other about their lives
since Nick had left.  Each enjoyed the time spent together, even during her
bouts of pain.  He would hold her as the pain flared up and then subsided.

Finally, Natalie looked at the clock on the wall.  It was an hour before
sunrise.  Natalie hesitantly began to tell Nick why she had asked him
here.

"Nick, the reason I asked you here is because I have a favor to ask of you."
Natalie looked down at their hands, which were still clasped.  "A rather
large and probably difficult favor."

She looked up into Nick's eyes and continued.  "I've lived a very long and
productive life.  But I'm old now, and very sick.  I'm just going to get
worse and the pain will become untreatable."

She was looking at him when he suddenly realized what she wanted.  He
quickly pulled his hand away from her and started.

"No, Nat you can't be serious!  I...I won't do it.  I can't do it..."  his
voice trailed off.  There was a moment of silence, and then Nick looked up.

"Why?"

Natalie smiled at him and reached out to hold his hand again.  When Nick
grabbed her hand, she continued.

"I have a couple of reasons and they are mostly selfish, but I'm eighty
years old now and feeling older by the minute," she mused.  "I'm in
constant pain and it's going to get much worse very soon.  I've had a good
life and now it's time to put me out of my misery."  She said the last part
with a mischievious smile of her face, and Nick couldn't help but smile
back at her.  Natalie sobered and added, "The other reason is the harder
one."

Natalie looked out the window and then back at Nick.

"You once told me that someone's entire life was in their blood.  That
every drop held their life, their loves, hopes and dreams.  You also said
that it worked both ways.  That the other person could see your life and
know intimately who you are.  Is that true?"  Natalie looked at Nick
expectantly.

Nick just stared at Natalie.  She was very serious about this.  Admittedly,
he had always wanted to taste her blood.  In fact, that was one of the main
reasons he had left all those years ago.  But now that she was dying, could
he do it?  Could he taste her blood and drain what life she had left from
her?  Could he even refuse her request?

"Yes, that is true.  If I tasted your blood I would know everything about
you-- your secrets, your desires, all of your hopes and dreams.  Why would
you want me to know that?"

Natalie looked at Nick and tried to read his face.  He was very confused as
to why she would want him to use the vampire now, after all the years of 
trying to deny it.

"I want you to remember me," she answered simply.  Nick smiled softly.

"How could I forget you?  You have made such an impact on my life.  You
were able to crumble the walls I built around myself, like no one else I've
*ever* met.  You are my confidante, my conscience, my hope, and my best
friend."  Nick's voice cracked and he blinked his eyes to try and hold back
the blood tears forming there.  "I could never forget you." A single blood
tear fell silently down his cheek, before he wiped it away.

Nat reached up to caress his face with the back of her hand, just like the
night they first met all those years ago.  Just as before, Nick grabbed her
hand, but this time he turned it over and placed a cherishing kiss in her
palm before he brought it up to his cheek.

"Is it also true that if you drink from me, that I will also know
everything about you?"

She looked at him expectantly and he realized that that was what she truly
wanted.  She wanted to know him, everything about him.  It made him happy
to know that she wanted to feel him that intimately, but it scared him to
the core that she would see all that he was, all of the evil.  And, if he
admitted to himself, scared that she would die hating him.

"Yes, you will but..." Nat placed her fingers over his mouth to silence
him.  She knew that he would not want her to see the evil within him or to
know what he had done in the past.

"Nick, I love you and no matter what I see, that will never change!"  Nick
started to look away, but she forced him to look at her again.  "Nick, I
want to know all of you and have you know me.  I want to feel what's inside
of you before it's too late.  Please Nick, tell me you will at least think
about it?"

Nick could see the very real need inside of Nat and the love shining
brightly in her eyes, and knew he was lost.

"Okay, Nat.  I'll think about it."

"Good," she said.  "Besides, I want you to meet Claire.  If you come
right after sunset, she will still be here."  Natalie's smile lit up the
entire room.

"It's almost sunrise-- I'd better be going.  I'll see you tonight...

"Nat, I have always loved you."

He disappeared.  Natalie just sat there staring at the place Nick had been,
and a broad smile slowly crept across her face.

That night, a few minutes after sunset, there was a knock on Natalie's
hospital door.  Natalie looked out the window and saw the beautiful hues of
the lasts rays of the sunset and knew that Nick didn't drive over.

"Come in," she answered softly.

Nick stepped into the room to see both women staring at him.  Natalie
smiled and motioned for him to come further into the room.

"Nick, I'd like you to meet my daughter Claire.  Claire, this is my very
dear friend Nick."

Claire stood up to shake Nick's hand.  "It's very nice to meet you."

Nick couldn't take his eyes off of Claire.  She had blonde hair and blue
eyes and looked like she could have been his daughter.

"It's uncanny isn't it?" asked Nat.  "I adopted her when she was a baby,
who knew?"  Natalie shrugged her shoulders and laughed at the stunned
expression on Nick's face.  Nick heard Natalie laugh and turned back to
look back at her.  He turned back to Claire and shook her hand.

"It's nice to meet you, too.  Your mother has told me a lot about you."

Claire stuttered, "Well, I'm afraid you have me at a slight disadvantage.
Mom hasn't really spoken of you before."

Then suddenly, Claire remebered something.  She had once broken into her
mother's private drawer and seen a picture of her mother with a very
good-looking blonde-haired man.  The resemblence to the man in front of
her was striking.

"You look so familar to me.  Do you look like your father, or an uncle
perhaps?"  At Nick and Nat's questioning looks she continued.  "I once
saw a picture of you, when you were younger, and a man who looks a lot like
Nick."

Natalie eyed Nick, who just smiled, then looked back at her daughter.

"I knew Nick's uncle a long time ago.  I've known little Nicky here for
a while now."  Natalie winked at Nick, who tried to stifle a snicker.

Claire was just about to ask more questions when Nat raised her hand to
silence her.  "Claire, why don't you go get some dinner.  I would like
to talk with Nick privately."  Claire saw the determined look on her
mother's face and knew it was pointless to argue.

"Nice meeting you, Nick."  She turned and walked out of the room.
Nick and Nat just looked at each other before Natalie broke the silence.

"Have you thought about what I asked?"

Nick saw the anxiety on her face and silently sat down on the chair. 
After he had gone back to his hotel room, he had tried to sleep, but all he
could think about was what Nat asked of him.  How could he deny her anything
after all she had done for him?  The answer was simple, he couldn't. 
But the thought of her seeing his beast and what he had done frightened him
more than he wanted to admint.  If Natalie died being revolted by him
and hating him, he would never be able to go on.

"Nat, I'm scared."  It was such a simple sentence, but one that said all
he was feeling.  "You don't know what I've done, what I'm capable of..." he
trailed off, unable to finish his thought.

"Nick," Natalie sighed, "I love you.  I will love you for eternity. 
What are you scared of?"

Nick looked up to see the love shining in Nat's eyes.  She was
everything to him.  He looked down at his feet.

"I'm afraid that once you see the real me, you'll hate me."  Natalie
raised his chin so she could look into his eyes.

"I already see the real you.  I know you've done terrible things in the
past and that you enjoyed it, but that's not who you are now.  That's
not what you have become.  The real you is the person you are now, and I
know you are a good person.  One who deserves to be happy, and one who
deserves love.  That's the person I want to learn about."  Nick sat there
thinking for a minute, then stood up, bent over Nat and kissed her gently but
lovingly on the lips.

"If that's what you truly want, then I will do it."  Nick answered
quietly.

Natalie felt the tears well up in her eyes.  She loved him so much even
still and she knew this was very hard for him.

"Oh, Nick.  Thank you."

Nick looked at her door then back to her.  "When?" was all he could ask.

Natalie sat there for a second thinking and said, "Midnight.  I want to
say goodbye to Claire first."

Nick looked sadly at Nat and then bent over and kissed her on the
forehead, an act that was so natural for him.

"Until then, my love."  And he turned and walked out the door.


At midnight, Nick walked into her room.  "Right on the dot I see," Nat's
cheerful voice greeted Nick.

"How can you be happy and calm about this?  You're about to die!  I'm
about to kill you!" Nick gasped.

This was all becoming very real for him.  Natalie held out her hands to
Nick and then patted the bed next to her.  Nick sat quietly on the bed
holding Natalie's hands.

"Nick, I'm ready to die.  I'm old, I'm sick.  It's time to go.  I know
this is very hard for you.  Seeing people you care about die is hard enough,
but killing them yourself, well...  I'm sorry this is so hard for you.  But,
it's what I want."

Nat continued teasingly.  "I get to die in the arms of the man I love
while getting to know him more intimately than I ever imagined."  Nat chuckled
softly.  "What a way to go!  It sure beats being hit by a bus!"

Nick smiled despite himself.  This *would* be better for Nat.  All she
had to look forward to would be a painful, lingering death.  He would do
this for Nat.  He would do anything for Nat.

Nick stood up and went to lock the door.  He came back and sat on the
bed next to her.  He kissed her on the tip of her nose.

"Are you ready?"

"Yes, Nick."

She reached up and ran her fingers along his jaw line and over his lips.
She felt that his fangs had already dropped.  She smiled and looked into
his golden eyes an added, "I love you, Nick.  I will always love you."

Nick took her hands and kissed her on the lips.  He tried to show
Natalie all his love for her in that one kiss.  "I will love you for all
eternity," Nick wispered.

Nick brushed the hair off her neck as Natalie turned her head to give
him better access.  Nick kissed her neck, then gently slid his fangs into
her.

With the first taste of her, he knew her overwhelming love for him.  It
had not diminished over time.  He knew her life, her dreams, her hopes.  He
knew that she regarded Claire as their child.  And he knew that this was
what she truly wanted.

As she felt Nick's fangs enter her neck, Nat felt an overwhelming warmth. 
She felt Nick's utter love her her.  His desire to know her completely.
She saw images from his life.  Images from his childhood, the crusades, his
life as a vampire all passed before her.  But then she felt the warmth and
love come back.  She wanted to stay in that warmth forever.  And then
blackness.

Her heart started to fade and then stopped.  Nick withdrew his fangs and
held Natalie's lifeless body.  Her blood had been incredible.  It was so
strong and powerful, yet all he felt was peace and contentment.

Nick lay in his hotel bed, reviewing the images and feelings he received
from Natalie.  They were overwhelming.  Natalie was even more incredible
than he could have imagined.  He still couldn't belive how strong her
bloood seemed and how calm and peaceful it made him feel.  Nick drifted
off to sleep feeling loved and contented.

When Nick awoke the next night, something seemed wrong.  It was dark, very
dark, and he couldn't hear anything.  He sat straight up in bed.  He put
his hand over his heart and couldn't believe what he felt.  His heart was
beating.  He felt for a pulse and was suprised when he felt a perfectly
normal *human* pulse.

He jumped out of bed and ran into the bathroom.  He looked in the mirror,
and the face that looked back was not the pale face of a creature of the
night, but a face flushed with life.

"You did it, Nat.  You really did it."  Nick sank to the floor and looked up.

"You knew the whole time, didn't you?  You knew."


finis