Hi y'all :D. Thank you so much for your amazing and continuous support ! I must say I really love reading your ideas for the next chapters... I've got a list and all on my desk ;). I hope I won't disappoint with this chapter... A lot of you asked for a first edition of some book (I'm sorry I forgot who exactly asked for that... .). Anyway... Enjoy.

OH, and... The Summer is OVER :(. It does mean I'll be studying hard again and I'll have less time to write... HOWEVER, I'm glad to say my work is related to Tesla, so it will probably give me loooots of ideas to write about ;). Keep in touch!

2010

Working for the SCIU meant moving out of his apartment into a new one paid for by the government. He didn't have a lot of things to pack. He had never been materialistic, having moved a lot in his long life, but he had thought of Canada as a home for a few years, and he had thought he was finally settled for a few decades... And so he had piled up gadgets, notes, books and memories that he had to move to the United States.
That's how he had ended up sipping wine and going through the books on his shelves. He threw an old collection of Whitman's poetry into the closest box, uncovering the cover of the next book of the pile. It was the first edition of A Yankee from Connecticut in King Arthur's Court, by Mark Twain. Nikola took it and sat down on his bed. This book was worth an awful lot of money, but he couldn't sell it. The author had been his closest friend when he had arrived in New York, and he had spent years working with him. He rose his glass to the sky.
"Cheers, Samuel. Wherever you are, I hope you're having more fun than I do."

1889, New York,

"That's it!"
Nikola had been so engrossed in his study of a plan commissioned by the city council that he had failed to notice the old man entering his brand new lab.

He smiled when he saw his favorite American writer and best friend walk towards him, brandishing a green leathery book with large golden inscriptions on its cover, reading "A Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Mark Twain.".

Nikola folded his blueprints and put them aside. He hadn't seen his friend in months, and he wasn't about to turn down an invitation to take a break coming from Samuel Clemens.

The two men shook hands and hugged.
"Before we talk about my last book, may I express my utmost disappointment regarding your disinterest in your American friends, Nikola? You barely wrote, and only to my wife." The eminent author said with a smile, unable to hide his joy of seeing his friend after his tour in Europe.

Nikola shrugged.

"I wrote to you both. Didn't she let you read?" Nikola said, smirking.
Samuel shrugged.
"Olivia and you share a love of poetry that I don't really feel I should share. Anyway. You didn't stay only in Paris, right?"
Nikola shook his head. He had given a few lectures in Paris, attended the celebration around the Eiffel Tower -which he had found quite fascinating regarding radio transmissions-, but he had mainly gone to London to see Helen. Something was wrong, he had understood that while reading her last letter before he had set to Paris. At first, he had thought she was only nervous about the wedding. She was only a few months away from marrying John, and she was not the kind of woman the society wanted her to be, after all. But when he had seen her face to face... He had known something was terribly wrong. John was not acting decently, yet, Helen wouldn't admit it. She didn't have to. He knew her, and he knew something had been broken inside of her. Whatever, he had already planned to smash the wedding anyway. She had told him she would visit him in New York before the ceremony. He still had time to extract information from her.
"That Eiffel Tower has given me new ideas for my current research. I'll tell you about it if you tell me what this book is about." He promised, pointing at the book Samuel had put on the desk.
"This, my friend... Is a book I couldn't have written without you. That's your book. This is the first edition and I've thought I'd bring you one. Keep it for your next time you're in bed with a strange illness."
Nikola smiled. He had discovered Mark Twain's first books while struggling against an unknown sickness that had almost killed him in Croatia, long before the Five and the source blood. His friend had saved him through his writing, and when he had told him that upon their first meeting, the author had shed a few tears. He took the book and opened it. Inside was Samuel's signature and a few words:

"For a genius who gave life to the future, and whom I'm honored to call my friend."

Nikola smiled like the cat who got the milk.
"My dear friend... If I invented the future of science, you sure invented the future of American literature." He said with a wink.

Present times,

Helen couldn't find words to express how touched she was to see Nikola's second gift. When she had met him for the first time in Oxford, he was sitting under a tree, reading some of Twain's early work, and they had spent long hours exchanging their thoughts about those books. Later, he had introduced her to Mr. Clemens, and she had been delighted by the man... And by his wife, Olivia, whom Nikola seemed to love fondly. She had been heartbroken when she had understood that Nikola was too loyal to his friend to take his wife away from him. But that was another story.
She opened the book. Under Twain's message for Nikola was Nikola's message for her:

"For Helen, Because the best of men couldn't give life to anything without a woman by his side."

She looked at the date and frowned. He had signed it just before beginning to work for the SCIU... A subtle way to tell her he wouldn't oppose her. They were a team.

She smiled fondly and shook her head, closing the book and looking at Nikola.
"Why then? You've had this book for over a century... Why this one?" She asked.
He shrugged, still looking at her from the end of the bed, leaning on the canopy.
"I was about to move to Nevada. I needed space." He said, avoiding her gaze.

She smiled, knowingly, and raised an eyebrow, her head tilted to the side, waiting for the rest of the story. He sighed.
"Okay. I already kind of knew what the SCIU was doing to your little friends, I considered it possible they would keep me as a prisoner or try to kill me. I wanted you to remember me as I am. Not as the one who betrayed you or turned into I don't know what...". He admitted, looking at his feet.
Helen closed her eyes and smiled. God how sweet he could be. She laughed softly and offered a hand to him, waiting for him to take it before she opened her eyes again.
"Nikola..." She played with his fingers. "I've known you far too long to believe you could change overnight."

He smiled like a kid.

"I thought for a while you didn't love me anymore." He tried, kissing her fingers.
She snorted and took her hand back.

"Now don't push your luck. You did betray me, Nikki...".
At that, Nikola rolled his eyes and turned back to the rest of the gifts, wondering which one to open next.