Bingo Prompt: Animus
Medium: Fic
Rating: G
Warnings: none
Spoilers: Animus, The Five mostly, allusions to time at Oxford
Summary: Sometimes, even a genius needs his sleep. Fic takes place during Animus.
Characters/Pairings: Helen Magnus, Nikola Tesla, Helen/Nikola (friendship/UST)

"Nikola?"

Dr. Helen Magnus often forgot how big her home was.

But honestly, how does one lose a fully grown, stubborn, former-half-vampire?

Apparently quite easily.

Helen had first checked the library. The crystal was still dormant and the only signs of Nikola were a few sketches for something to reactivate said crystal.

Didn't she send him to bed?

Helen backtracked to the sleeping quarters. She should have checked their first but didn't think Nikola would still be in bed by almost noon.

Not when there was something to be worked on, at least.

"Nikola?" Helen knocked firmly. After knocking for the third time she tried the door.

Finding it unlocked, Helen slowly opened it. She half wondered if he was in bed waiting for her to look for him.

No, that would be too obvious and just get him ignored.

True enough, there was no sign of Nikola in bed or anywhere else.

Nikola's bed was made, and looked as if hadn't been slept in for a few days. There was a pile of clothes by the bathroom, needing to be washed or dry cleaned, more the latter she suspected with what Tesla tended to wear. A couple empty wine bottles on the desk...

"Damn it," Helen grabbed one of them, "thought I hid this one."

With a sigh, she set the rather empty bottle back in it's spot on the desk, next to various notes, all in Nikola's slanted script.

Next stop was the kitchen, though Helen wasn't sure why, getting him to actually eat was harder than convincing Henry there wasn't life on other planets.

Nope, no genius there.

Helen walked into her office.

Nope. No sign he was napping on her sofa or stealing her computer to work on something.

"Damn it, Nikola, where in the hell are you?" Helen sighed as she continued her search.

Finally, she wandered her way down to her lab.

Why she hadn't thought here sooner, who's to say.

"There you are," Helen tried to not smile at finally finding him, "I've been looking everywhere for you."

Helen blinked, Nikola didn't respond.

Quickly Helen walked closer, for a moment worried something was very wrong only to realize Nikola was merely leaning against a stack of books.

He was sound asleep.

With his head resting neatly against an advanced physics book and his pencil looking just slipped from his slender fingers onto the notebook he'd borrowed, Nikola Tesla had fallen asleep in the middle of working.

Helen bit her lip to keep from giggling.

"Haven't seen you do that in a long time," Helen whispered.

"Nikola," Helen put her hand on his shoulder and gave it a gentle shake, "Nikola, wake up, you can't sleep in the lab."

A mumbling about being sleepy came from Nikola but nothing else.

Helen rolled her eyes, "then sleep in your bed. Come on, get up."

"Tired," Nikola yawned, eyes not opening, "take notes for me, will you Helen?"

Notes?

Wait, why did Nikola suddenly have his accent back?

Was he dreaming?

Did he think they were at school?

This was too amusing.

"I will not, you've still not repaid me for the last set of notes I took," Helen decided to play along, it was too interesting not to, "Up with you, time for class."

"Please?" Nikola looked like he was trying to get more comfortable, "I'll make it up to you this time, promise."

Over 120 years later and she was still unable to say no when he looked like that, all vulnerable and cute.

Not that she'd ever say that word to his face.

"You promise?" Helen was fighting a giggle again.

"Yes, promise," Nikola was falling back into a deeper sleep.

"Fine," Helen 'agreed', "but you're taking me to dinner then, not lunch."

Nikola mumbled something that might of be 'of course' then wasn't speaking anymore.

Helen sighed, though she was laughing too. Sure he was asleep, she reached out a hand to run through his hair.

Whether or not she used to do that at school she refused to say.

Out of some strange sense of nostalgia mixed with it just feeling appropriate, given it really was chilly down here, Helen shrugged out of her sweater and set it over Nikola's shoulders.

Much like she used to put her shawl on him when he'd fall asleep in the winter back at Oxford.

When Nikola didn't stir Helen took a tiny step forward and put a kiss to Nikola's cheek, "sweet dreams," she whispered before turning from the lab to get back to work.