Date: Sat, 27 Sep 1997 12:59:34 -0700 From: Marie Jordan To: FKarchiver@fkfanfic.com Please archive this with everything else, thanks so much. - Sunhawk Rediscover Faith By Sunhawk These characters are not mine, and I will return them good as new (which is more than I can say for the scriptwriters). Nick&Co. belong to J. Parriot, B. Cohen and the extemely nice folks at the Sci-fi channel. Star Trek is the property of The Great Bird (Gene Roddenberry) and Paramount. Some things have and extremely religious/Christian flavor. I am an LK denier, but i just had to write this. Love, Faith and SNOW are forever! Many thanks to KatMulder, who beta-read LaCroix raised the stake, ready to plunge it into his son's body. Poor, poor foolish Nicholas, falling in love with his little mortal woman. Trying to bring her across, and failing, again. Damn you to the deepest and farthest hells, if there is such a thing as a hell. Nick's body lay, shaking slightly, over Nat's. He waited for the blow to come, praying to a God he had once fought for and forsaken so long ago, the forgiving God of Joan, the maid of Orleans. You said you would pray for me. Pray I will join with my beloved, at last. Lucien LaCroix's scream echoed through the night, as he stood over his rebellious son, ornate stake in hand. Nicholas wandered, for ages...he was lost...forsaken...in this barren land, this gray eternity...wandering with the knowledge that he had killed so many, and highest above, his Natalie, his golden creature, who had given up so much for him. He knew he deserved it, knew he deserved worse, but that did not stop the tears from coming. So wrapped up in his angst was Nick, that he did not notice that the tears rolling down his face were of salt-water, and not blood. He also did not notice the figure with the chestnut curls walking toward him, kneeling at his side. He did not look up until the figure put her arms around him. "What took you so long?" Nat smiled at him, while Nick couldn't do much more than gawk. "I don't think I've ever seen you looking quite so poleaxed before." She looked happier and more alive than for the last few weeks. He realized that she had been getting more and more depressed since the vampire fever. He started to berate himself for not noticing, but as if she could read his thoughts she quietly smiled and put a finger over his lips before he could begin to speak. "Not now. Not ever. What has happened is not your fault. Nick, you were doing what you thought was right, you were being human!" Finally Nick noticed that although he had been crying, neither he nor Natalie had any blood on them. Once again, he looked as though someone had whacked him on the head with a two-by-four. This time Nat couldn't control her giggles and she burst out laughing as his face turned a bright red. "Are we dead?" It seemed a strange question, but he was curious. This certainly didn't seem like the plain where he had made choices twice before. "No, both of our bodies are still alive. LaCroix didn't find the courage to strike you down, but your deathwish was so strong that somehow your soul found it's way to this limbo." Natalie replied in her usual matter-of-fact way, as if she had been discussing a new case, or politics. "But your body has been almost completely drained! I won't go back without you!" "Don't worry Nick, things will come together. I found a way to correct our mistakes. You've got a friend up here who explained everything to me." Nick could only stare, until he took her face gently between his hands and kissed her on the lips. Natalie returned the kiss, and gently kissed each of his eyes, then each tear that rolled down his face, then she finally reached his cool lips. A figure wreathed in gold, but with a surprisingly plain face smiled. She knew their love would be something special, and that nothing would ever stop them again. Turning, she got back to her previous business of helping out Nirmala with some money problems her sisterhood was having. Suddenly, Nick was staring down at Nat's pale face from above. The stake had been tossed in the fire and LaCroix had fled. Gently picking Natalie up, he meant to carry her up to his bed, but found he could make it only as far as the sofa. Figuring that was better than nothing, he laid her still, pale form down, and covered her gently with a wool blanket thrown over the back of the makeshift bed. He sat down on the floor, leaned his head up against her warm body and let Nat's heartbeat lull him off to sleep. Natalie woke up the next morning feeling somewhat less than great. She carefully sat up, paused to wait for the dizzy spell to end and glanced down at Nick's still-sleeping form. In sleep he looked peaceful, almost happy. Some curls had fallen over his face, making him look younger than what he appeared to be in mortal years. She smiled and bent over his head, feather-kissing him on the top and whispered "I knew you would stop." Her touch woke him, and he looked up, meeting her eyes. He drew away almost as if in reflex, and looked wonderingly into her eyes, free of any hatred or fear. "You have seen the beast that is in me. How can you still love me after I nearly killed you?" he asked in wonderment as her face looked confused and hurt in turn. "Nick, don't you remember what I said to you last night? What I said about us? Nick's face slowly dawned with recognition as he remembered all the events of the night before. Natalie continued speaking when she saw the look of remembering on his face. "I LOVE you! And I have faith in you! How could I ever hate you, I didn't when you sat up in the morgue and took ten years off my life, for Chrissake! And my faith was well-founded, you stopped before you took my life, you stopped in time!" Nat lay back suddenly as she finished, exhausted from loss of blood. "I love you Nick, man AND vampire. I'll always love you no matter what you do or who you are." Touched by her love, Nick came and gently took her in his arms. Gently kissing her, he sensed her blood that smelled and tasted like roses and cinnamon and sugar. Softly he whispered the words she longed to hear. "I love you too, Natalie Lambert, and I don't know what I did to deserve you, but I will stay with you forever, and we will accomplish this together, either as vampires or mortals." Her eyelids opened one more time and she smiled and said with great conviction, "We will succeed Nick, we have love and faith, and that will keep us together." Then she slipped back into unconciousness. Nick called in that night and Tracy answered the phone. "Hey Nick, you better get your butt moving or the captain will throw a fit." Nick smiled at the sound of her voice. "Hi to you too, Trace. Nat isn't feeling very good, so I'm going to stay with her, tell the Captain I won't be in tonight and probably not tomorrow either." "Okay, tell Nat I hope she gets better soon. And I'm still not letting you off the paperwork." At that she hung up, leaving him staring bemusedly into the phone. Turning, he saw that Nat had awoken, and smiled at her as she shook her head and tried to flatten her curls down. Grinning weakly back at him she asked "You don't happen to have an extra brush around do you?" "Sorry, but I'll go to your place later on and pick up enough of your things to last about a week. I don't mind Sidney and after nearly losing you once, I don't want you out of my sight! "Don't see me arguing!" Nat laughed. She tried to get up but fell back, her vision going fuzzy. She closed her eyes for a minute, then opened them to find Nick standing over her, concern and love on his face. He gently took her in his arms and carried her up to his bed. She put her arms around his neck, lightly, trusting him not to let her fall. They shared a kiss before he placed her gently on the silk sheets. He covered her tenderly and said "I'll get your things, try to sleep. I promise I'll be back soon." She nodded to him, childlike and drifted off again. Right now that was the best thing for her. Nick realized that she would need some real food, not just the munchies he kept on hand for her and Tracy. Supermarket later, apartment and poor Sidney first, he decided before driving off in the Caddy. Letting himself in, wary of a hungry cat, he found Sidney suddenly on his shoulder, meowing approximately .005 centimeters from his face. Startled at the creature's almost inhuman speed he dropped the keys, scaring Nat's cat off. Sid didn't waste any time, but shot off for his food bowl, meowing angrily the whole time. He came to a stop beside the bowl, still voicing his disapproval and switching his tail back and forth, looking like someone Nick knew when he didn't drink his protein shakes. He laughed at that thought and gave the starving animal some food. Nick then disappeared into the bedroom and came out with a small suitcase filled with clothing and personal stuff. He took out Sidney's traveling cage, put food and toys in it and finally a mewing cat. Loading everything but the cat into the backseat, he set off for home and Nat. Arriving back at his home, he let out the still indignantly mewing Sidney and went up to see Nat. She awoke at the sound of his footsteps and smiled to see him. Nick put her things down and enveloped her in a hug and kiss. They sat there for a few moments, just enjoying each other until a small furry body squirmed its way between them. Nat giggled as his whiskers tickled her and she scratched behind his ears saying "And how does my little man like his new home for the week?" "If he answers, your life is way too weird." "Hey, I was never called normal when I was little, why start now?" Nick left the two of them to doze some more together and set off for the all-night supermarket before dawn came. He made sure to buy plenty of red meat to replace the nutrients in the blood she had lost. Nick would have preferred to take her to a doctor, but it would be too hard to explain the sudden loss of blood. Maybe Aristotle could recommend someone, he'd be sure to stop by the mysterious vampire's place soon. Letting himself in, armed with groceries, Nick discovered that Nat had fixed some hot chocolate and curled up on the sofa, watching a rerun of the old Star Trek. She twisted around and smiled at him and he was struck again by her earthy, human beauty. He returned the grin and cocked an eyebrow, nodding at the TV. "The news was too depressing and I used to love this. Nick remembered it too, it was one of the early episodes, one called "The Naked Time". As they watched it together, Nick remembered it was about how the crew got infected with something through touch and it brought out hidden emotions. Soon it got to a part where Nurse Chapel had gotten infected and she cornered Spock. A few lines rung true. "Human Mr. Spock. Vulcan Mr. Spock. I love you just as you are." "I thought you couldn't write a scene like that with the creator's wife in it." joked Nick, but Natalie turned to him, her face serious. "Nick this is what I've been trying to tell you for the past two years! I love the vampire in you and the human! Why didn't you believe me?" Nick looked at her in surprise. He hadn't know she was this unsure about his acceptance of her love. He searched for words to reply but couldn't. Then he noticed Spock had broken down and was trying not to cry. He, Nat and Captain Kirk soon learned that this was because he could never bring himself to tell his mother that he loved her. Turning slightly, Nick looked down at his first soulmate in nearly 800 years. "I guess I have a lot in common with Mr. Spock" he said softly "You are half of my soul and all of my heart Natalie Lambert, and I will never leave you. I just didn't know how to tell you." "Eight HUNDRED years, MOST of the great poets of our time and YOU don't know how to say "I love you Natalie"??!?!??!! I know eight-year olds who are more articulate! Never mind, I was just kidding- a little bit." she softened at the look of hurt on his face. "It's hard to admit love sometimes." They watched to the end of the show and fell asleep in each others arms. ///////////////////////sequel coming soon//////////////////////////////