Date: Wed, 8 Oct 97 23:22:11 UT From: "Mary Lou Manzie" To: FKarchiver@fkfanfic.com Subject: Prelude, 01/03 SPOILER/CAVEAT/DISCLAIMER: The original Forever Knight characters were created by James Parriott and Barney Cohen and are owned by Sony/TriStar/Paragon Films. I have only borrowed them for my little tale, and hope I am returning them no worse for wear. The story takes place in the flashback sequence from the Forever Knight episode Only The Lonely (written by Susan Martin) which has been embellished to allow this story its conclusion. All dialogue is verbatim from Only the Lonely based on the transcript of Victoria E. Meredith and Janet A. Dornhoff with the exception of the final interaction. The asides and explanations are mine. Special Note: This piece was written as a result of Debra Ann Fiorini's idea which was posted on the N/N Pack loop and has been developed with her permission. The premise is that Nick deliberately bumped into Natalie after the incident in the morgue so that she would remember. (Hugs and waves, Debra Ann!) Beta read as close to perfection as we can get by: Angie, Jen Nelson and Jeanine Hornby. Editor, enhancer and contributor extraordinaire: Barbara Erickson. Prelude by Mary Lou Manzie Part 1/3 Damn the twentieth century! This would never have happened in the past. For seven hundred years of his existence, combatants had tread with honor. In little less than ninety years of this century, honor had become extinct. He had gone to the aid of a shopkeeper who was being harassed by gang thugs. He had tried to 'reason' with them. For his efforts, a gang member tossed him a pipe bomb. A pipe bomb! Boys barely past puberty carrying pipe bombs! Nick had come to Toronto to start another life of atonement--atonement to society for his sins of the past: a past before pipe bombs, computers, satellites, beepers, television, automobiles and even electricity. A long distant past. Starting a new life was always difficult for Nick. How to begin to atone? How to settle the balance sheet? Each new life meant severing the mortal entanglements of the past one, a task that seemed to become more difficult with each passing lifetime. And was he any closer to his goal of regaining mortality? Nick did not know. He only knew that he longed to be mortal again, to walk in the sunlight, to love a woman with his heart, body and renewed soul, and be loved by her in return. The possibility of it seemed so very, very far away. Over the centuries Nick had gained many mortal friends, only to be forced to forsake them suddenly and without explanation when it came time to move on. Vampires are not entitled the luxury of mortal friends. Mortals age, wither and die while vampires exist over the ages. But what of loneliness? Loneliness is the companion of those who cannot love, of those who will not die. Each of Nick's lives seemed to begin with the hint of hope, only to end in disappointment when discovery crept too near. Loneliness had become his faithful fellow traveler as each life closed without resolution, without fulfillment, without mortality. His current life in Toronto had only begun to unfold. Perhaps *this* time he would find the redemption he longed for. END Part 1/3, Prelude. Mary Lou Manzie, mmanzie1@maine.rr.com ****************************************** Date: Wed, 8 Oct 97 23:24:49 UT From: "Mary Lou Manzie" To: FKarchiver@fkfanfic.com Subject: Prelude, 02/03 ****************************************** Prelude Part 2/3 Nick had been severely damaged by the pipe bomb. While the sweet nothingness of death seemed almost preferable to a return to the dark life he led, some unyielding part of him grasped at consciousness as his vampire body struggled to restore itself. His recovery would take some time. There would be consequences. Mortals would be involved: doctors, emergency medical technicians...and the police. So many, many consequences. And it was cold--cold even for one whose heart had not experienced a steady beat in eight hundred years. Nick heard voices. A man was explaining what had happened to him. They must think him dead! Then he heard a woman's voice. Bright fluorescent light flooded his face as the body bag was unzipped. The woman's voice said, "That's not so bad. Not so bad at all." Nick absorbed her delicate caress as she gently ran her fingers from his temple down to his jaw line. She was so warm even though the glove muted her touch. The warmth emanated not from her hand but from her heart. He could feel it banishing the cold. She turned and he heard her pick up the telephone. "There's hardly a mark on him. Are you sure you didn't make a mistake?" Nick's wounds were in the final healing process as his eye lids fluttered, but he was still weak. He needed to feed *now.* Eyes glowing and fangs descended, he abruptly sat up. NO! What was he thinking?!! Hunger consuming him, he growled a warning for her to keep away. Startled, Natalie lost her grip on the phone handpiece. It clattered to the floor as she gasped, "What the...what the hell?" Her mind screamed for an answer. What was going on? Was Eddie playing a joke on her? No, that was not possible. She had checked the 'corpse' herself. This man had *not* had a pulse. "You...you were dead...a minute ago. Who are you?" "You don't need to know," Nick growled again as he leapt from the table, putting it between them. "*What* are you?" She barely whispered, sharply inhaling a breath and holding it. "Something very different from you." His eyes were still aglow as he grabbed a unit of blood, bit off the top and drained it in what seemed like one fluid motion. There she stood, so unafraid yet so mortally fragile. He needed to do something...shock her. Scare her. Make her aware of the danger he represented. "I am a vampire," Nick declared. A small breath escaped her control. "Vampire?" Natalie's expression was incredulous, but not frightened. "Yes." Natalie approached him, and again he felt her warmth cut through his frigid shroud. She raised her hand to touch Nick's face. He snatched it in mid air and held it away for a moment, then slowly let it resume its intended course to his cheek. "You're so cold," she whispered. "I'm dead," was his only response. For an endless moment, they stared into each other's eyes. "No. No, you're not. You're not dead," Natalie protested. **************************************** Nick sat on the sofa in the loft as he drained his third bottle of bloodwine. What had happened in the morgue? His interaction with her had started as with so many other mortals--discovery followed by forced forgetting. But her warmth, her warmth sang to him even as the hours wore on. He had tried to wash himself from her memory, but she was strong, possibly a resister. She had courage beyond mortality. He sensed that. And she was not afraid. Released from some deeply sequestered room within his ancient heart, a feeling approached his brain. Hers was a soul full of strength and resolve, capable of being a foil to his doubt, an ally in his quest. *NO!!* He would not, he *could* not condemn one more mortal soul to his symphony of regret. He had to know! He had to know that he had cleansed his memory from her being. He had to assure himself that she was safe--safe from *him.* End Part 2/3 Prelude. Mary Lou Manzie, email: mmanzie1@maine.rr.com ***************************************** Date: Wed, 8 Oct 97 23:28:56 UT From: "Mary Lou Manzie" To: FKarchiver@fkfanfic.com Subject: Prelude, 03/03 ***************************************** Scene: Later in the misty evening, on the streets of Toronto. Natalie walked with resolute if cautious strides down the sidewalk from the Coroner's Building to her car. Her memory of the incident in the morgue wafted on the outskirts of her consciousness, registering as neither fact nor fiction in her scientific mind. Nick approached silently from the opposite direction. He had seen Natalie leave her office and decided he must test her memory of their encounter. She must forget! How could she live her life knowing what she had seen was real--that evil was real. He must scour the scar from her mind and her heart. She would not be another mortal tainted by his journey. Meters away, her warmth embraced him and bathed his soul. She did not look at him; he did not look at her. But he felt her, all the while trying desperately not to stain her again with his touch. Her eyes gazed straight ahead, as if she were a sentry marching on patrol. There was no room for him in her view or in her life. As his body floated next to hers, he silently sighed in relief that there was no recognition in her face. Nick was safe--safe from the questions he could not answer, safe from mortal entanglements, safe from guilt. He looked past her to the deserted walkway. Loneliness intercepted him. Some incomprehensible, involuntary sensation overtook his psyche. He brushed lightly against her. "You're testing me," Natalie spoke soundly as Nick glided past her. He stopped abruptly at her words. "To see if I've forgotten." She turned to face him. "I see you haven't," Nick recouped. Nick's conscience screamed for a way to undo her memory. "Oh, please, don't bother. It won't work. Maybe I'm just one of those people who they say can't be hypnotized. Or maybe I don't want to be." "And you're not afraid?" Nick kept his voice steady. "Fear is based on ignorance. I'd rather try to understand. What makes you think I can't help you?" her strength answered. Hope tried to enter his brain, but he fought it back. He *would not* allow hope to tease him yet again only to leave him desperate and alone when it proved false, as it always had in the past. "Help me? Are you serious? No one can help me. My immortality is a curse. A fall from grace." Nick walked up behind her and whispered directly into her ear. "Evil is a metaphysical condition." "You're not evil!" she tried not to shout as she turned to face him. "You ended up on my examining table because you tried to help people. Also, your condition *is* a physical one." "I see." Nick continued to search for a way out, yet hoping beyond hope not to find one. "Your specialty. And how on earth do you think you can help this eight hundred year old body...this incessant hunger for blood? This.. "physical" condition of mine." "I don't know. Yet. But I *am* willing to try." Natalie's doctor mode had kicked in, pushing doubt from her mind. "And what's the reward for you, Doctor? What could you possibly expect in return?" Nick awaited her answer in silence. She stared at him for several moments. "Solving a puzzle is its own reward for me." She hoped he would not press her, for she could not reveal either to him or herself the real reason simmering in her heart. "Are you sure?" he asked. "Oh, yes." Her nerves were steady now, she thought. "Don't. Don't get too close to me," Nick's voice warned, trying to stop them both from proceeding, and praying she would not listen to him. "You want to hurt me. Kill me," she questioned. "No. But I might anyway." He spoke the truth not only to her but to himself. Nick stared into her knowing eyes for several moments. He knew if he spoke, there would be no turning back. She would be a part of his life, a part of his quest, yet he craved shelter from the storm of loneliness. "I'm Nick Knight." Natalie met his gaze and thought she saw a pale reflection of some innermost need in his eyes. She reasoned that if she replied, her life would never be the same. "Natalie Lambert." I was in a daze, movin' in the wrong direction Feelin' that I'd always be the lonely one Then I saw your face, on the edge of my horizon Whisperin' that I wasn't the only one The lonely one. One chance intervention, see what it can signify The slightest misapprehension, baby And we'd have passed each other by When I heard your sweet voice callin' Saw your light come shinin' through I couldn't stop my heart from turning Churnin' out my love for you, my love for you. True love or perfection It seems like it's overdue Then just when you least expect it It comes sneakin' up on you When I thought that I was dreaming Felt your body close to mine Now love takes on a different meaning, Together till the end of time. I was in a daze, movin' in the wrong direction Feelin' that I'd always be the lonely one. When I saw your face, through the web of my confusion Whisperin' that I wasn't the only one The lonely one.** END 3/3, Prelude. Mary Lou Manzie, mmanzie1@maine.rr.com **Not the Only One, Copyright 1983 by Rondor (London) Ltd. (Admin. By Almo Music Corp. (ASCAP) in the U.S. and Canada, performed by Bonnie Raitt on her Luck of the Draw album.