Title: "The Apartment and What Happens Next" (Last Knight and Ashes to Ashes spoilers) By: Arletta Asbury g4akl@charm.net I'm a relative newbie at Fanfic, so please, remember that and try to be kind. It was inspired by my hatred of the ending of "Last Knight". I hate it, hate it, hate it! So in a complete state of denial, I offer you this. This story follows my earlier stories 'Another Ending', 'Transitions', and 'The End or Not?". You must have read both 'Transitions' and 'The End or Not?' in order to understand this story. If you haven't read them, you may request copies from me at the email address given above. DISCLAIMER: The characters of Nick, Natalie, Lacroix, etc. are characters of the Forever Knight show and as such are the property of TPTB. They are not mine I am just borrowing them for a little while. ******************************************************************** Natalie glanced at Nick sleeping at her side. He looked different somehow. She puzzled over it for a moment, then she realized that Nick actually looked peaceful. Natalie couldn't help herself, she rolled over and kissed him briefly on the forehead. Then she rolled back to her side of the bed and promptly fell asleep again. When Nick awoke later, Natalie was still sleeping. As he looked at her lying there he could hear her heart beating steadily and he smiled a half-smile. Then he got out of bed, grabbed some clothes and headed to the bathroom to shower and change. When he emerged from their bedroom, Lacroix was already standing near the suite's bar and its refrigerator with a bottle in his right hand. "Good evening, Nicholas. How is Natalie?" Lacroix greeted him. "Good Evening. She's fine. She's asleep." Nick replied. This time Lacroix didn't raise his eyebrows or shake his head. He had been pleasantly surprised when he hadn't found Nicholas sleeping on the couch as he had on the previous evening. "The apartment should be ready now. Perhaps we should go and inspect it this evening", Lacroix suggested. Nick nodded in reply and they left the suite together. When they returned both Urse and Natalie were in the living room playing with Sydney. Urse seemed to have become very fond of Natalie's cat. "We've been to the new apartment. It still needs some work but it is inhabitable now. I suggest we leave the hotel a few hours before dawn." Lacroix said. Nick nodded his agreement. "Have you eaten yet?" He asked Natalie. When she had replied, "No", he offered her his arm and together they went downstairs to the restaurant for one last meal at the hotel. After dinner, they again strolled, while holding hands, thru the hotel's gardens. They enjoyed the moonlit beauty of the gardens in silence and then returned to their hotel suite. They found Urse busy packing her luggage. Natalie wondered why Urse had even bothered unpacking anything when she knew they were moving the day after she had arrived. Lacroix was also packing and suggested that Nicholas do the same. Natalie had only the few things Nick had bought for her since her arrival in Paris but decided to join in the general mood and sorted thru the items. She left four sets of shoes, jeans, etc. for the maid who would clean the room later in the day. Urse had taken one set of things off her hands and Natalie was left with only the items that actually did fit her. Nick made room for Natalie's clothes within his luggage and that simple act made it seem more like they really *were* married. Natalie also took care of packing away the few toys and miscellaneous things removed from Sydney's 'baggage'. That only left the few parcels she had brought with her from the hospital. Nick produced a box as if by magic and those last few things were taken care of. * * * Downstairs, Natalie stood beside Nick as he checked all of them out of the hotel. She could barely follow the conversation because her French was so poor. She had taken several French classes throughout her education but living in an English speaking Canadian province she had had little practice actually using it. However the figures on the hotel bill were unmistakable. Natalie was appalled at the total cost, yet Nick paid in cash without batting an eye. She had to remind herself that he was rich, in fact very rich, and such large hotel bills meant nothing to him. The four of them gathered their accumulated luggage, boxes, miscellaneous stuff, and a cat carrier into a rather large pile in front of the hotel and summoned two cabs. Evenly distributing the assorted baggage between the two cars, Nick and Natalie rode together in one cab (with Sydney tucked safely in front with the driver) while Urse and Lacroix took the other taxi. Several minutes later the cabs stopped in front of their new home. Nick and Lacroix carried all the assorted items from the curb into the apartment as Urse and Natalie explored it. Neither of the women had seen it before and they both found it quite charming. It was very large with living room, library, dining room, kitchen and two master suites. Both suites had their own small sitting rooms, bedrooms and bathrooms. Both sitting rooms as well as the living room and the library had fireplaces. Natalie wondered how Lacroix had managed to find such a large apartment but decided he must have had others searching for him. The interior decorator had furnished the apartment with their furniture from Toronto as instructed by Lacroix. One of the bedrooms contained the furniture from the bedroom in Nick's loft with the addition of a bureau and dressing table from Natalie's apartment. The other bedroom had what was, Natalie guessed, Lacroix's bedroom furniture. Their sitting room had most of the furniture that had been in Natalie's living room. The other sitting room was sparsely furnished with some of Lacroix's living room furniture. The apartment's living room and dining room contained furniture from those areas of Nick's loft. The library contained the remainder of Lacroix's furniture and a few pieces of Nick's that suited that room as well as Natalie's desk. All of the windows were covered by extra heavy black curtains. Natalie wondered where the remainder of her furniture had been placed. She eventually found it stored in a spare room off the kitchen. There were boxes everywhere. While the decorator had arranged the furniture, her staff had *not* unpacked for them. Natalie, Urse, and Nick formed a team and began the task of unpacking all of the countless number of boxes. They had barely made any progress in the huge task when both Urse and Nick sensed that the sun had risen and that it was time to sleep. Lacroix hadn't helped much with the unpacking but he had stayed out of the way and on the odd occasions whenever Urse or Nick had requested his assistance, he had willingly provided it. As the sun rose higher in the mid-morning sky both couples retired to their respective rooms for some much needed rest. When Nick awoke sometime after sunset, Natalie had already gotten out of bed. He couldn't hear the shower and he looked for her first in the empty bathroom, then in all the other rooms of the apartment. By the time he got to Lacroix's sitting room, Nick had managed to awaken Lacroix who was rather grumpy at having been awakened at all. "What do you want?" He asked Nicholas. Nick was frantic. "Where is Natalie? I can't find her. Where could she be?" Lacroix watched, for some time, in silence as his son paced among the boxes in the living room. Back and forth, back and forth, its entire length, Nick paced before finally Lacroix told him, "Nicholas, you must calm down. You are doing yourself harm." Nick ignored him. "Urse is not here either. They are probably out somewhere together." This did nothing to calm Nick. About forty-five minutes later the front door opened and Urse and Natalie returned laden with several bags of groceries. Nick who should have been relieved nearly exploded in apparent anger. "Where WERE you? How could you just LEAVE like that? You DIDN'T tell me where you going!" Natalie was rather taken aback by Nick's shouting and felt her own anger rising. "Whaaat", she began. It wasn't until she noticed that Nick's hands were actually shaking that she began to suspect something else. "Let's continue this privately." She quietly suggested and then she went into their sitting room. Nick followed her. "Why are you shouting at me like that? Nick, what's wrong?" Natalie asked. "You didn't tell me you were going somewhere. Anything might have happened to you." "Nick, we were gone only a few minutes. We went to the market. You have no right to yell at me like that for only going to the market." "I didn't know where you were", Nick commented hotly. "Nick, what's really wrong? Are the enforcers after us?" "No, no it's nothing like that. I just didn't know where you were." Natalie looked closely at him. His hands were still shaking and there were tears in his eyes. She took a deep breath and went over to him. She put her arms around his neck and kissed him lightly on the cheek. "Did you think I'd left?" She asked. He nodded slightly. "Yes, I can't believe that you're here with me. That you'd actually stay with a monster like me." Nick finally admitted. Natalie closed her eyes and tightened her hold around his neck. She had suspected something like this when she's seen him shaking with emotion. "Oh Nick", she said as she hugged him even closer. "You're *not* a monster. You're the sweetest, nicest person and the most mortal man *I* know and you don't even realize how nice you *are* or how much I love you. I'm not going to leave you unless you make terrible scenes like that every day for no reason. Just calm down. Relax. Everything is OK. We're together and that's all *I* want. I just want us to be together, forever." Nick shook his head. "I don't deserve you. I nearly killed you in Toronto. How can I forget that?" "Nick, it wasn't your fault. *I* pushed you too hard. You just can't sip my blood. It's too much for you. I didn't know that and pushed you into doing it. It's as much my fault as yours. Forget it. It's over. *We* won't make that mistake again. Will we?" Nick shook his head. Even after being with Natalie for two nights, he was still afraid that he'd kill her. And he did *want* to touch her. He tightened his embrace and they held each other for a few minutes more. Natalie said, "I love you." Nick nodded his head in acknowledgment. They heard Urse calling "Sydney, Sydney." and ended their embrace in order to go back into the living room. Urse was looking around for Natalie's cat but couldn't find him anywhere. Natalie immediately began searching and calling "Sydney", too. When the two women left the room in their search, Nick shot a quick glance at Lacroix and muttered, "We've got to find Sydney. Maybe she'll forgive me for nearly killing her but she'll *never* forgive me if anything happens to that @#%@ cat!" Lacroix looked at his son and remarked "Nicholas, sometimes you really *are* clueless" then he abruptly left the apartment. "I've found him" Natalie announced and she returned to the room carrying Sydney, "He was hiding in the storage room. I guess moving so much in the past few days just got to him. I think I'll shut him in our sitting room. Maybe the couch from my apartment which is in there will make him feel at home." When she returned to the living room she gathered up the grocery bags she had dropped there and continued into the kitchen. Urse joined her in that room. Between the two of them they managed to decipher enough of the labels so that Natalie could fix a small meal for herself. Shopping with Urse had been interesting. Urse hadn't been food shopping in over a century and she was amazed at the variety of items now available. Neither of the two spoke enough French to be able to go shopping alone but together they had explored the small market and picked out enough food to last Natalie several days. Urse stood in the kitchen looking at a small container and asked "Is this really ice cream? I've never seen it before." Natalie looked at her in surprise then realized how old Urse must really be. "Yes, would you like to try some?" Urse nodded and Natalie took one of her spoons and scooped out about half a teaspoon of ice cream with it and handed the spoon to Urse. Urse hesitatingly licked the ice cream off he spoon and remarked "It's cold, isn't it? And maybe.. oh....I don't know ....sweet?" This time Natalie was astounded. Urse had just demonstrated more capacity for actually tasting food than Nick had ever done in four years of trying. Natalie brought a bowl of soup and a sandwich for herself into the dining room and was joined by both Urse and Nick at the table. They had brought wine glasses and a bottle containing their 'food' and placed them on the table too. The three of them sat together and had a rather agreeable, if strange, meal together. Natalie wondered why they had bothered and it never occurred to her that it was because they enjoyed her company and wanted to enjoy a pleasant meal with her. After eating they resumed unpacking and were joined by Lacroix when he returned from his meeting. "We signed the papers tonight. The radio station is now mine. The current manager will continue his duties but I have taken over the late night spot and will begin my broadcasts in a few days", Lacroix announced in a satisfied tone of voice. "That's good", Nick commented before continuing, "Tomorrow we're going shopping, Urse, Nat, and me for some new things for the apartment. Do you want to join us?" "What are you going to buy?" "All the electrical gadgets we brought with us need to be replaced. TV's, stereo, hair dryer, everything because of the different electricity--you know." "Ah, yes. I'd almost forgotten. No, I'm meeting with the station manager and probably will not be free but I am positive you can manage without my help", Lacroix answered. * * * The following evening, the three of them went shopping as promised. The store clerks loved them. They spent several thousand francs, in cash, on an assortment of small appliances, radios, stereo, TV's etc. before venturing into a computer store. There they proceeded to order three personal computers equipped with much more than the average person ever added to theirs. Nick, Nat and Lacroix all had had their own PC's before and these were merely their replacements. However, Urse looked so wistfully at them that after Natalie nudged Nick with an elbow in his side he ordered one for her too. Urse smiled at them both in appreciation. Before leaving that store, they made arrangements for the PC's to be delivered late the following afternoon. Returning to the apartment, Natalie again fixed herself a meal and was joined by the other two with their own 'food'. Lacroix returned early and with his help they managed to finish unpacking. Natalie was overjoyed to find her missing purse among the boxes from Nick's loft. Most of the contents, (i.e. the drivers license, credit cards, Canadian cash, etc.) were now useless to her but she was still glad to have it back. The four of them sorted thru and arranged what had been the contents of three households. Natalie believed that the finished results looked quite nice and was pleased at their efforts. Lacroix thought the results tolerable. Urse thought it didn't matter. And Nick just seemed relieved that it was completed. When the PC's were delivered the next day, Urse set hers up in the library twice as fast as the others did with theirs and she immediately began surfing the 'Net looking at rock groups and the musicians listed for each. Natalie watched and wondered but Nick realized that Urse was still searching for Vachon. This seemed a long shot to him but maybe Urse knew something he didn't about Vachon's likely pursuits. Natalie used her PC to begin writing the mystery novel she had said she'd try to write. Even if she did it to humor Lacroix, she knew she had some talent in that area and she began typing what more experienced writers would have called an outline but she thought of it as a general idea for a book. It was based on an strange case that she had worked on that had seemed really interesting to others at the time. So they settled into a kind of routine. Lacroix doing his Nightcrawler radio show. It was in French of course, but otherwise still basically what he had been doing in Toronto. Natalie working on her book. And Urse, well Urse divided her time between surfing the 'Net for Vachon, overseeing the running of the apartment, occasional shopping forays with Natalie and her own special project which was a secret to all but Lacroix. Nick was the problem child, as always. He had not found anything which occupied his attention. He had *finally* stopped following Natalie about constantly but he spent too much of his time watching TV or just plain being bored. Natalie gave up trying to feed him human food. Nick was too listless to attempt a cure for his vampirism now and she wasn't sure when he would get over his depression. Urse and Nick still joined her at the dining table at mealtimes but they always brought their own food. Natalie noticed that they were filling their goblets from the same bottle so it wasn't 'cow'. She might have said something to encourage him to return to his cow diet but considering his overemotional state she decided the wisest course was to remain silent on the whole issue. Sometimes Urse would join Natalie in the kitchen as Nat prepared her own meals. Natalie didn't realize that with a vampire's perfect memory, Urse was learning all over again to cook mortal food until the night she was preoccupied with a particularly difficult passage in her book. When Nat didn't take her usual meal break, Urse surprised her by bringing a tray to Nat in the library containing an exact replica of the meal Nat had fixed for herself the previous night. "Thaank-You", Natalie said to Urse. "Oh, you're welcome. It was nothing. I noticed you were too busy to fix yourself anything." Natalie stared open mouthed after her friend, as Urse shut the library door behind her. Natalie shook her head and returned to her writing. * * * Later that night when Natalie did finally take a break she went into the living room and found Urse curled up on the couch reading a book. When she looked closer she realized it was 'Pride and Prejudice', a classic. Urse looked up and noticed Natalie staring at her book. "Uh, Lacroix has been trying to get me to improve my education. I've been trying to read some of the classics to please him. I prefer the romantic ones like this one though. Have you read it?" "Yes", Natalie nodded in surprise. Natalie used the opening to talk a little about Lacroix with Urse. Normally Urse made no comments about him whatsoever. A fact that Nat wasn't quite used to in her other friendships. "He wants you to further your education?" Nat asked. Urse nodded, "Vachon never really cared one way or another. He never tried to stop me, of course, but he never did anything to encourage me either. Not like Lacroix. And well, the lifestyle of a musician doesn't offer much opportunity for a formal education." "What about before.....", Natalie trailed off unsure how to ask diplomatically. "Before being a vampire? No, my family was too poor and book-learning for girls didn't seem very important. Just trying to keep us fed was *much* more important to my mother. And later working in a dance hall...." Urse looked sad at the reminder of her earlier life. Natalie swiftly changed the subject. "What will you do when you find Vachon? Will you leave us to join him?" "No", Urse shook her head emphatically. "He's with Tracy now. It's been a long time since we were.... you know *together*. No, I just want to know where he is and that my master is alright. And to let him know that I'm OK too. I like being here with Lacroix and you all." Urse smiled. "Is Lacroix.....", Natalie stopped. She couldn't ask the questions uppermost in her mind. Urse looked at Natalie. Blinked. Then she understood something of Nat's unasked questions. "Lacroix is very nice to me. He's rich and can buy me anything I reasonably want. He doesn't love me....not like he loved someone else in his past. She was Nick's sister, I think. But he *is* fond of me, I'm sure. He doesn't have very many people in his life that he cares about or that care about him. Nick is his favorite son and Lacroix has been VERY worried about him. He brought Nick to Paris because he thought being back in Nick's native country would help. I think he would have done almost *anything* to placate Nick after what happened in Toronto." Urse looked upset again at the memories of what had happened to her and the rest of them before leaving Toronto. Natalie tried to change the subject again. "Do you like it her in Paris?" She asked. Urse shrugged. "It's OK. I'm picking up the French pretty fast. It doesn't really matter *where* we stay. Paris is as good as anywhere else." Natalie realized that Urse was coping with her own depression. Urse definitely wasn't the cheerful bubble head that she might appear to be at first glance. "I'm really glad that you're here. You've made it a lot easier for me to adjust to a new life. I mean with Nick and all. And somehow this apartment seems like the home of two couples not just a place shared by three vampires, a mortal human and a cat!" Urse smiled at the kind words from Natalie and added, "I'm glad you're here too, Natalie. I think it's easier having another woman, ...a friend, here to talk to. Lacroix is nice but he's very private and doesn't want to talk about his feelings. I mean he didn't want to....I shouldn't be telling you this but....well, he would drink my blood but it was a long, long time before he would let me drink his in return." At Natalie's puzzled look, Urse explained, "It's too personal, you know, I can sense what he's feeling and all." "Ah", said Natalie. Urse, because of her relationship with Lacroix, knew what he was thinking and feeling whenever they exchanged blood. She knew how private Lacroix was and respected his wishes and didn't talk about him, not at all until this night, anyway. "Lacroix isn't happy, is he?" Natalie asked. "No, he's had a lot of things in his life that've been unhappy. Divia, for one." Urse replied. Natalie nodded, satisfied. She didn't want to pry any more into Urse and Lacroix's relationship. She could understand it better now and realized that it wasn't just a fling. They actually did care about each other and were a reasonably compatible, stable couple, despite outward appearances. Changing the subject yet again, Natalie said, "I think I'll go shopping tomorrow evening. I need to get another box of diskettes for my PC. Would you come with me?" "Sure". Urse agreed. "I have to get back to work", Natalie jerked her head toward the library door. "See you later", and Urse picked up her book again. Standing just inside their sitting room door, Nick who had been eavesdropping on the whole conversation, moved back to the sitting room couch and resumed watching TV. Later that morning as Natalie lay curled up in bed next to Nick she thought back to what Urse had said. She began to appreciate just how much Nick was missing from a normal vampire sexual relationship because in his relationship with her he couldn't safely drink her blood. The next night, after Lacroix had returned from the radio station, Nick made an announcement to the group, "I want to return to teaching archeology for a while", he said, "I would *really* prefer to be a cop again but my medieval French just won't cut it with the street punks, I'm afraid. At least teaching, I'll be interacting with young people and will pick up the lingo faster than just sitting around watching TV." Lacroix breathed a huge sigh of relief. Natalie seemed relieved too. She walked over to stand beside Nick and put a hand on his arms as she said, "I think that's a wonderful idea." Later that night as Natalie sat before her PC typing, Lacroix came to stand behind her. She stopped what she had been doing and looked up at him. He put a hand on her shoulder before saying, "When the time is right for *you*, never mind what Nicholas thinks on the subject, when you think it is the right time, tell me and I will 'bring you across'." Natalie closed her eyes briefly, opened them, and nodded before replying, "Thank-You, Lacroix. I'll remember and when the time *is* right I'll tell you." Then she covered his hand with her own warm one. * * * Late one night a few weeks later, Natalie looked up from her PC screen to muse on a detail in the current chapter of her book. She surveyed the various individuals within her line of sight and paused in contemplation. Nick was sitting at the table grading his student's papers while Urse was typing and clicking furiously at her PC. But the most thought provoking sight of all was Lacroix sitting in an easy chair with a wine glass on the table by his right hand. A book of poetry was lying in his lap, ignored. The thing that held Natalie's attention was the expression on Lacroix's face. He looked... well...not happy but maybe...contented was the word, as if for once, everything was right in his world. The End ************************************************************** Send any comments to: g4akl@charm.net Nick & Nat Packer, Light Cousin