AN: Written for the Gateworld Helen/Nikola Februay Challenge - Secret Admirer. Dedicated to the Teslen fanatics over there, I must apologise it isn't more shippy; I tried.

AU after Sleepers, Nikola stayed at the Sanctuary. I own the mistakes, nothing more.

Gifts

Nikola sighed as the doorbell went for the millionth time that minute. He'd been waiting for one of the kiddies to get it, as Helen was in Malaysia hunting down 'something'. She'd refused to say what it was so Nikola had sulked for a while – make that a long while – and hadn't seen her again before she left. But you may be sure his bad mood had nothing to do with a certain 'bickering like an old married couple' comment from Miss Freelander.

It seemed as if the kids were either out or 'busy' (aka watching movies) as the doorbell was still ringing. It sounded again and Nikola finally got up to answer it, grumbling all the way. Upon opening the door he came face to face with a very nervous looking delivery guy.

"What do you want?" he growled, wishing he still had fangs – that would send this pest packing.

The guy fiddled with his cap and pushed a clipboard into Nikola's chest, announcing:

"Parcel for Helen Magnus."

Nikola raised his eyebrows, refusing to take the proffered item. "Do I look like Helen Magnus to you?"

"N-n-no," the man stuttered. "But I was told to deliver this gift, here, today, and I'd be paid handsomely. So I'm delivering this," He gestured to the rectangular box. "here, today." He shoved the clipboard once more at Nikola with the sort of determination quiet people sometimes get which is actually quite intimidating – not that Nikola was intimidated of course. "Sign here please. You can give it Miss Magnus yourself."

Nikola had picked up on a certain word and pounced on it now. "Gift you say? And who shall I tell Doctor Magnus it's from?"

"Oh no." Mr. Delivery stated firmly. "He said that she wasn't to know who sent it, no sir-ee. Now sign."

Nikola finally took the brandished clipboard, pondering the possible consequences of these words. He gave back the signed paper and picked up the parcel, before retreating inside and slamming the door behind him, earning a yelp from the poor man it probably hit.

He stalked back to his room in silence; and then placing the gift on the arm of his favourite chair, he sat down and stared at the offending item.

Nikola quickly put all his information together. Somebody – a man – had sent Helen a present, not wishing her to know who he was. This gift-sender would also have to be unaware that Helen wasn't currently in the country, so it wasn't someone in the Sanctuary network. He had to admit this worried him: he knew it was irrational, but he couldn't help it. He'd just begun to feel more confident about Helen's feelings towards him; she flirted with him sometimes and they spent a lot of time together now that he'd become mortal. He felt threatened by this other man who was sending her stuff, and he wasn't going to stand for it.

There was a brief knock at the door and it creaked open; Kate's head poked itself around the frame.

"Hey Grumpy, dinner's ready.

"So?" Nikola was living up to his new name.

"So," Kate repeated. "We thought you might like to keep that mortal body of yours from starving."

"Not hungry." Nikola snapped, more than aware that his stomach had been protesting the fact for the last half an hour.

"Sure?" questioned Kate as Nikola's stomach decided the time was ripe for another demonstration.

"Sure."

"Fine," Kate rolled her eyes. "Suit yourself."

Nikola listened to Kate's heels clip their way around the corner; waiting until they'd gone sufficient distance before he got up and made his way to another kitchen, Helen's gift in hand.

He made himself a sandwich, and then stared at the parcel for a bit longer. Finally unable to stand it much longer, he carefully undid the wrappings and slipped out a black box measuring about 30x10 cm. Nikola figured that as he'd already started, he might as well finish the job. He swiftly pulled off the lid and peered inside.

Nestled within the box were some of the most gorgeous scarves Nikola had ever seen. The ones that were visible were made of coloured velvet, intricate designs sewn in in silver, aquamarine or violet; and those were just the ones on top. Nikola didn't think them the kind of scarves that Helen would wear though. He felt slightly relieved that this guy didn't know Helen that well; although the scarves were obviously expensive, and in this day and age 'it was the thought that counts'. That was a concept Nikola really couldn't get his head around: surely if someone gives you a horrible present you're not actually going to be grateful for it? There was still so much he didn't know about this century.

Nikola decided not to look at the rest of the scarves, just in case they were nicer.

~~~***~~~

The next morning found Nikola up not-so-bright (it was raining), and early (as usual). He was making himself a cooked breakfast for the first time since Helen had left in one of the kitchens.

The doorbell rang. Nikola ignored it.

The doorbell rang again. Nikola sighed.

Turning down the temperatures of his masterpiece, he quickly rushed off to open it.

Standing on the front step was the same guy from yesterday and he was holding a familiar looking clipboard. Next to him stood a collection – about a dozen or so - variously sized boxes, also strangely reminiscent of their previous encounter. The smallest looked like a hatbox, the largest more like a cat box. Nikola hoped it didn't contain a cat; they had too many pets already.

Delivery guy bit his lip upon seeing who answered the door, and hesitantly offered the clipboard.

"Let me guess," Nikola rolled his eyes theatrically. "Gifts for Helen Magnus; orders to be delivered today from a well-off man who wishes to remain anonymous. Am I right?"

"Actually sir," Nikola liked the 'sir'. "Apparently these were meant to be delivered yesterday along with the other one, but they got separated when they came off the plane."

Nikola raised his eyebrows at this new piece of information; the guy must be super-rich and determined to ship everything from abroad.

He signed the form and watched as no-name ran off (literally ran), wondering how on earth he was going to get this stuff to his room without the kids knowing.

~~~***~~~

Eventually he managed to get all the parcels into his room with a little help from a handy wheelie trolley. That done, he sat down to start opening them before his stomach grumbled and he was reminded of a certain breakfast he had left cooking...

~~~***~~~

Nikola stared at the sight before him. Having just run around the house trying to find the right kitchen, he'd expected to find at least something on fire; what he had not expected were three hungry kids eating his breakfast and Bigfoot washing up.

"And just what do you think you're eating?" he asked the group.

"Food." Grunted Henry – yes, he could remember their names, he just didn't like admitting it.

"Breakfast." Elaborated Kate around a mouthful of said dish. Children had no manners these days.

"My breakfast." Corrected the angry ex-vampire.

"Really?" Will turned to look at him. "It was cooking itself and close to burning. We didn't think Magnus would be happy if you set fire to her house, so we took appropriate action considering the little we knew about the situation."

Nikola growled, and once more wished for fangs. "And by 'appropriate action' you mean 'eating my breakfast'."

Will gulped. "Err...yeah." He at least had the dignity to look guilty. The other two didn't look up.

"Besides," Henry broke into the frosty silence. "You cook for Magnus all the time."

Nikola glared. "I do not. I just generally cook extra." That sounded pathetic even to his ears.

The Big Guy turned around and Nikola absently noticed he was wearing marigolds. "Uh huh." He placed a saucepan on the drying rack before turning back.

"Dude, that meal fed four hungry mouths! How much food do you think you need?"

Nikola furrowed his brow. "Four?" Then it dawned on him. "Oh great; tall, dark and hairy eats hash browns. Marvellous!"

Ignoring the glares, Nikola strode up to the counter and picked up five slices of bread before stalking out of the room.

~~~***~~~

The cat box did not contain a cat. Instead, Nikola was happy to note, there was an assortment of coats. The hat box held a large collection of jewellery, and another box was filled with hats. None of the items he'd been through seemed to resemble anything close to what Helen might wear, but any reassurance this might have given him was immediately dispelled by the shoes.

There weren't that many of them, in all honesty, but it wasn't the number which was alarming; it was the design. He went over them again and again, even checking the label, but he'd been right the first time. Most of these were men's shoes. Yes, there was a pair of heels or two and some pumps, but the majority were definitely made for the male of the species. There were some trainers, men's converse and vans, and rather a lot of dress shoes – more like the kind of thing he would wear. Was this guy trying to move in or something?

Still hoping he was dreaming, he opened yet another box, and almost stumbled back in shock. Sitting quite nicely in its holdings was a tuxedo. He picked up the accompanying black tie.

Nikola stared.

The doorbell rang.

Nikola growled.

He stalked up to the door and easily worked himself into a frenzy in order to confront the unfortunate delivery man. Suffice to say Nikola was suitably shocked when he found Helen Magnus standing on the doorstep.

"Nikola?"

"Oh, hi Helen." He quickly schooled his face into something that looked less like he wanted to murder her. Luckily – or so he thought – Helen's attention had been drawn to something else.

"Nikola?"

"Yes Helen?"

"What's in your hand?"

Nikola looked down. There appeared to be a black tie clenched in his right fist. Oh dear. He looked up to find Helen glaring.

"I can explain, honestly."

"If you let me in I might be inclined to listen." Nikola suddenly noticed he was blocking Helen's path. He quickly moved to the side to let her past, and then followed her and her backpack down the corridor. After some time he realised that they're weren't going to her office...

"Helen, where are we going?"

"Your room."

Nikola was aghast. "What! Why? You can't!"

Helen stopped and Nikola almost bumped into her. "Why not?" she questioned with an expression that read; 'Make it good or you're dead meat.'

Nikola gulped. "Well...urr...I didn't expect you home until next week so I left it in a bit of a tip. If I'd known you were visiting I would have put my laundry in the wash."

Helen gave him an exasperated look: she wasn't buying it, but he hadn't expected her to. At least she hadn't gutted him yet.

They reached Nikola's room just as he resigned himself to his fate; all the while trying to make up a better excuse for what she would find than: 'it was an accident.' Helen opened the door and slipped inside, out if view. Nikola took a deep breath before following her in.

She was standing in the middle of the room, looking on in disbelief. As he entered she turned and glowered at him. "Niko-"

He cut her off before she could continue, resulting in something like a nickname. "Honestly Helen, I only opened them to make sure there weren't any dangerous abnormals lurking in your presents from strange men. It is none of my business and I won't pry into your personal relationships if you don't want me too." A little light went out as he spoke; a light he had relied on for over a hundred years to keep him going. "I'm sorry Helen; I'll pack them back up and deliver them to your door, personally."

Helen just stared at him. "Presents from strange men...What are you on about Nikola?"

"Oh, well, I realise that whoever he is obviously isn't s stranger to you – after all he seems to be moving in – but I have never met him, therefore he's strange. But as I said before, it's your business, not mine."

Helen sighed. "Honestly Nikola, I haven't got a clue what you're on about."

Nikola rolled his eyes. "Fine, fine, play the ignorant party here. Whoever is sending you presents obviously isn't dangerous, although they really don't know your style, so I'll pack their gifts up and give them back to you."

"Nikola, those presents aren't for me; they're from me."

"I know I-what?" He was now officially confused.

Helen gave another sigh and gave him an odd look. "It turned out the rumour I was chasing was nothing but that, a rumour. So as not to waste a perfectly good trip abroad, a friend and I used the opportunity to go shopping for gifts for the team and some of our residents; I don't spoil them nearly as much as I should. And then to save on the amount to carry I had them flown back here on an earlier flight and delivered before I arrived."

"Wait, so the scarves and jewellery and the men's shoes..."

"Are for the girls and boys, yes." Helen finished his sentence for him. "Why, what did you think was going on?"

Nikola gulped. "Oh no, nothing at all. I was just...confused." He prayed that his blush was hidden from view as he turned slightly away from her. He had to admit it was a relief that she wasn't actually seeing anyone though. A thought struck him and he turned back to Helen who was now leaning against the door. "What about the rich man who ordered the stuff delivered here?"

"Hmm? Oh, that was Alfie, he owes me a few favours. Well, owed now." She turned to leave. "And Nikola, you might want to put your tie back, we wouldn't want you to wrinkle it before you've worn it."

Nikola stared after her as she sauntered out. His tie? But that would mean the tux it had come with...

"Oh dear."

~Fin

I hope you enjoyed this. Any feedback and concrit is greatly appreciated.