Before you start reading this you should know a few things. This is fic is Nikola centered. It deals with the way Nikola met Helen and how things evolved later (more of a pre-ship fic). I did not intend to describe Nikola the way he is portrayed in the Sanctuary series. I focused more on what I know about real Tesla's personality but also on the way I see him. I dare to say that I've even put a part of me in the Nikola I created, so don't be surprised if he doesn't sound like the Nikola you know it. I wouldn't be able to explain you why, I just felt I have to write this down.

That being said, if you still want to read my story, I hope you'll enjoy it.

many thanks to my beta Socratic Method :D

It was raining. The rain was the only good thing in the whole of London… the only thing that pleased him. It was a crowded, noisy city, with carriages everywhere. It was a city where people lived in a society built upon stupid rules. He liked nothing of it except for the rain. And today, on his first day at Oxford, it was raining; giving him the necessary strength to face the crowd of people gathered there.

He had strange feelings about people. He neither liked nor trusted them – preferring his solitude instead - but he liked studying them. It was a great pleasure for him at times and a great repulsion at others, to watch the human comedy performed on the great stage of life.

He plucked up his courage and stepped through the crowd to find a lonely place from where he could watch without being interrupted by the festivities. He was wearing a black suit - simple but elegant - a pair of black shoes, a vest and a white shirt with a brown tie. He might have admitted himself that he was very good looking if he had been interested in the impression he was making to other people. But he wasn't trying to show off; on the contrary, he was hoping that no one would notice him.

The festivities had begun and he was silently wandering his gaze through the crowd of men. Suddenly his attention was distracted by the only dress in that monotonous crowd. It was a blue dress which had nothing of the superficiality of all the dresses worn by the women in London.

More and more intrigued, Nikola was trying to see the woman's face, but it was covered by her umbrella. Looking with more attention, he noticed that she was talking to a man standing to her right. His black long hair, tied at the back, reminded Nikola of those gentlemen he had read about, who didn't know very much but "society" appreciated them because of their manner of speaking.

He turned up his nose and moved his gaze to the woman again. The umbrella was still hiding her face. For the first time in his life, Nikola wished the rain would stop so she could close her umbrella.

And then, just as if someone had heard his thought, the rain stopped.

If he still believed in God he would have thanked Him with a prayer for granting his wish. But he satisfied himself with the idea that the clouds scattered because of the wind, when the first sun ray appeared from the gray sky.

And she closed her umbrella…

If an earthquake had begun that very moment it still would not have had the same devastating effect on Nikola as the sight in front of him. With her blonde curls, a porcelain face and intense yet peaceful blue eyes, she could have been a goddess descended to earth.

Nikola felt attracted by her in an inexplicable way and he knew in that very moment that she would be his new obsession. He had lived his entire life between his obsessions. Some of them weaker, others more powerful. Some of them shorter, others longer… But now he felt that there was something special about that woman; that he won't be rid of this obsession soon. Probably never…

He didn't know when the festivities ended, nor how he had reached his hotel room. His mind didn't want to accept another reality except for the one of that mysterious woman whose face was now constantly haunting his thoughts. Lying on the bed with his gaze locked on the ceiling, he was reviewing every second, every gesture she made, every expression on her face. He had watched her during the whole festivity, studying her and trying to understand her mystery. What was a woman like her doing at Oxford? Why was she so different to all other women? His questions were endless and the answers were entirely missing.

After the festivity, the woman had gone away in a carriage with the same man she had been talking with earlier.

"He must be somebody important to her" Nikola thought "otherwise, a true lady would not have shared the carriage with a man of mere acquaintance."

He smiled. Nikola was extremely pleased with self when he accomplished something on his own. He looked then at the clock: 3:00. From the moment he first saw her he knew that all his nights to follow would be dedicated to her. He scarcely felt the need to sleep. His soul was burning with impatience to meet the mysterious woman again. And then Nikola realized that he needed to see her as much as he needed to breathe. Anyway, anyhow, even if it was just for a second. He had to calm down the torment of feelings growing inside his mind.

"If she was at the opening festivity she must be connected somehow with the university. So, she might be there tomorrow too."

And thinking about this, a shiver of impatience went down to his bones.

"Yes. I will wait." He said.

Then he got up from the bed and headed to the desk. He was no longer able to work through his projects in his mind tonight as his mind was too scattered so he decided to write them down…