Future Mortality

Part 27/?

By Christine Hantzopulos

Darkness had fallen, and with it everyone had arrived. Janette and LaCroix had burst in, prepared for the worst. Stavros had come close behind them, accompanied by only one of his men. There were no Enforcers to be seen. Of course. Dimitri’s existence was still a well-kept secret.

Nick watched Stavros hug Dimitri to him, heedless of the others in the room. Nick knew that unbound paternal love, and the reason for Stavros’ sympathy towards Nick and his daughter was suddenly crystal clear. He didn’t want to think about how painful it must have been for Stavros to lose Dimitri’s mother. He’d come too close to losing Natalie this very night, and the mere thought terrified him. He pushed the dark thoughts from his mind, calling up instead the image of moments ago—Natalie sleeping peacefully with their infant daughter in her arms. That was all that mattered now.

“I must admit, Nicholas, I’m impressed,” LaCroix said at his side. “You defeated a powerful vampire—as a mortal. Perhaps the valiant knight I brought across eight centuries ago has not lost his touch.” It was as close as LaCroix would come to admitting that Nick did not need the vampire, and Nick appreciated it as such.

“I knew you could do it, Nicolas,” Janette told him. “You don’t have to be a vampire to protect them.”

Janette had hit upon the crux of the conflict that had plagued him since he’d become human. But no longer would he doubt his ability to keep safe the ones he loved. He had done it, and he would do it again if need be.

“Fighting the vampire was easy. Delivering the baby was the hard part,” he replied humorlessly.

Just then, Stavros came to face him. “Nicholas, I am eternally in your debt for my son’s life. Steven would have killed him.”

“As he nearly killed Natalie and our baby,” Nick responded, knowing it was bold of him to speak thus to the Elder.

But far from showing anger, Stavros nodded in an acknowledgement of his own shame. “I would beg your forgiveness for my son’s part in this. He merely wanted to meet your daughter, and I had no idea that Steven would take advantage of his naivete to find your family.” He paused pensively, then admitted, “I am to blame, ultimately. I should have kept a closer watch over Steven…” He glanced at Dimitri, who was standing nearby with Niki, watching the exchange. “And I should have been more sensitive to my son’s feelings. Even four thousand years did not prepare me for the role of being a father.”

Nick nodded his understanding. He could empathize with that frustration, though he believed he had probably fallen into the role more easily than Stavros had. “I think the real question is Steven. Why did you bring him across? And how?”

“I tried, right after he had been killed,” Janette broke in, perplexed. “It wasn’t possible.”

Stavros smiled paternally at Janette, as a father whose child had mastered arithmatic but found algebra impossible. “There are gifts that come with age,” he said simply. “As for why, I believed it was an act of kindness towards Dr. Lambert, for all she had done for our community. I knew of your daughter, Nicholas, and the difficulty of your separation. I had been through something similar myself. Natalie seemed to have found a peaceful life, and I only wished to restore it to her.” He sighed deeply. “I had no idea that the two of you would find each other again. When I met you in Greece, I meant what I said—I was truly happy you were together once more. But I was left with the dilemma of Steven. I didn’t want to complicate your lives, and I hoped that if I could keep him away long enough, and introduce him to our way of life, that he would move on. But the more obsessed he became with going back to his old life, I suppose the more deranged he became. It was…a very regrettable mistake on my part.”

“Mistake? That was my brother!”

They turned to see Andy, who had been listening unnoticed by the others. Nick had come to think of Andy as an ally, and hadn’t really considered that Stavros might see him as a threat.

“Andy,” Nick warned gently but firmly.

Stavros held up his hand. “No, no, Nicholas, I accept responsibility. I am very sorry for what happened to your brother,” he told Andy. “But if anything, I tried to give him another life. It is just unfortunate that he wanted only to return to his old one.”

Andy was silent. He knew that it wasn’t Stavros who had killed Steven, and if anything, Nick was sure Andy was feeling guilt for his own part in his brother’s final demise.

It was then that Dimitri stepped to his father’s side to face Nick. “I’m really sorry. I didn’t want to bring Natalie and Niki here. But my father told me he would be here at sundown, and that I should play along until he got here, so that no one would get hurt.”

“That is true, Nicholas,” Stavros asserted. “The boy called me the night before. He is quite smitten with Nicolette, and was fearful for all of you. I hope you won’t hold a grudge against him.”

“I really care about Niki…a lot,” Dimitri told Nick, the emotion in his voice, and his eyes, betraying it as an understatement. “I would never let anyone hurt her…or any of you.”

Out of the corner of his eye Nick could see Niki looking at him, her eyes begging him to forgive this boy that she had clearly fallen for. “It’s okay, Dimitri,” Nick told him. “Look, if you hadn’t called your father, he wouldn’t have sent the doctor. Natalie could have bled to death. I owe you all for the fact that she and the baby are alive.”

“Thanks,” Dimitri said, beaming with relief.

“I am very relieved that Natalie and the baby are all right,” Stavros said. “Doctor Pappas said she just needs bedrest. If you like, I can have an ambulance sent to take her back to your home. I’m sure she would be more comfortable there.”

“That would be great,” Nick said, nodding. “I think the sooner she—and Niki—are out of this house, the better off we’ll all be.”

Exhaustion had thrown her into a dreamless sleep, but as she felt the tiny infant stirring against her, Natalie’s maternal instincts snapped her awake. For a moment of disorientation she wondered about the room about her, but as she looked down at her daughter nestled against her breast, her heart was at peace.

It was over. The baby was fine. And Nick had been there, just as he’d promised. More than that. He had helped bring their little girl into the world. She smiled down at the infant, touching her tiny fingers in wonder. The head full of dark hair would fall out soon, she knew, and she was sure it would be replaced with the same blond curls as Niki’s. How much this baby looked like her older sister had! A flow of emotion suddenly threatened to bring tears to her eyes. How different things had been thirteen years ago! How she wished that Niki had not been robbed of all those years that this baby would have with her father! But before she could let that old despair rise to the surface, the door opened for Nick and their first daughter.

“Mommy! Are you all right?! Oh my God, she’s so tiny!” she squealed as she came to look down at them.

“So were you,” Natalie told her with a smile. Her eyes met Nick’s, and she knew his thoughts had had gone in the same direction as hers. He smiled as he sat on the bed beside her, one hand reaching out to touch the tiny hand of their latest miracle, the other caressing the blond hair of their first. She had always known that he was full of love, and he would make sure that Nicolette never felt resentment for the years they had missed together.

“There’s an ambulance coming to take you home,” he told her tenderly. “Stavros arranged it.”

“He’s here?” she asked, realizing it must be dark.

“Yes. He got here at dusk. So did Janette and LaCroix.”

“What about Richie?” she fretted. Surely they hadn’t brought him into this—

“He’s with Dawn,” he assured her. The next door neighbor. Of course. Her son Brian was Richie’s friend.

The baby began to cry then, and Nick’s eyes filled with panic.

“What’s wrong with her?” he asked.

Natalie smiled. “She’s just hungry, silly. Niki, can you please get me one of those little bottles of formula the doctor left?”

“Oh, sure,” she said, quickly spotting them. She shook the two ounce bottle of Similac, unwrapped the disposable nipple, and twisted it onto the bottle. Nick was watching in amazement.

“How did you know how to do that?” he asked her as she handed it to her mother.

“It’s just a women’s thing,” Natalie teased, then confessed, “She used to help me feed Richie all the time.”

“Daddy, I think if you can deliver a baby, you can learn how to feed one,” Niki teased.

“That was different,” he said humbly. “I was terrified. I didn’t even realize what I was doing.”

“You did great,” Natalie told him, as the baby hungrily finished an ounce then pulled her mouth away from the bottle.

“No. You did great,” he replied, and pressed his lips against hers. “And now it’s time to take all of my girls home.”