"Come on, Helen, this is ridiculous. I should be putting my genius brain to the service of studying that Praxian database, not cutting weird carrots in cubes." Nikola protested.
It was funny enough that Helen had not asked anything of him whatsoever. She had simply locked her most precious belonging in one of her desk drawers, to be taken out later – as, of course, she was as eager as Nikola to get to work on it together – and he had followed her to the kitchen, whining all the way, but not once thinking of getting to work on his own projects in his lab while she was enjoying lunch with her team.

"It could go faster if you'd only stop complaining." She suggested, getting a saucer out of a cupboard.
He ragingly finished cutting his vegetable, pushing the cubes to the side to get a second one.
"I'm not complaining. I'm only questioning your priorities." He corrected, pointing his knife at her.

She let the saucer fall on the induction plate with more force than she had intended, and licked her bottom lip, turning to him.
"I'm not giving up on Ashley, if that's what you're thinking." She clarified. "Still, I haven't been the best of friends lately. Cooking lunch for my team isn't a big effort to show my gratitude for their support."

He fell silent. There was no use to try and get her to change her mind and rush to the lab. What's more, they were alone again, and even cooking was nice in such circumstances. And he was starving.
So he peeled the weird tuber she had taken out of the fridge, watching her from the corner of his eyes as she poured a bottle of oil into the saucer.
They had never shared such a domestic moment, he thought. They had camped together quite a lot, eating from rations and sleeping on the same side of the fire. But nothing had ever felt like this, simply preparing a decent meal together. When he saw her hand come to rest unconsciously on her abdomen, he sighed, unable to contain himself any longer.
"I hate to be the first one breaking the question, but – " he hesitated. It was not the way he would have liked to broach the topic of what seemed like their burgeoning 'more than friendship', but starting a family was a pebble in the gears.

"Does it change anything to our relationship?" He asked, sounding more frightened than pesky.
Helen looked right ahead, stopping what she was doing, and let a breath out. She had feared this question. Only because they had a child on the way didn't mean she would consider Nikola as her property or let him think of her as his.

She sighed. If that child could bring them anything else than more complications to their relationship, it would be wisdom.
"I'd like to think it does change everything." She said, honesty radiating from her every pore. "To the way you set off in the night whenever we don't see eye to eye. For instance. We have to find different ways of coping with our differences if we are to raise this child together."
He gulped. That wasn't really the answer he had been hoping for, but he had to admit she had a point there. Starting a family would leash him to the Sanctuary. Permanently. It was a frightening concept. Although he did have his own lab, and quite the large selection of nice bottles.
He shrugged.
"I was running out of excuses to haunt your little zoo." He pointed out, looking at her sideways, smirking.
Helen leaned on the counter, facing his side.
"That's it, you see? You don't need an excuse to stay. So long as you respect my rules, my house is yours as well." She assured.
He winced. He had felt that, a long time before. At least until James and Helen's relationship had deepened to the point where he no longer had had his place under the same roof. Or even in the same country, to be fair.

"I like the fact that we don't need to put words on what we are, what we have, you know?" She confessed, a soft smile on her lips. "But I guess we should really get to try and communicate more. If at all." She suggested.
He nodded, decidedly.

"Then I should tell you I was only half joking." He sighed, putting his knife to the side of his cutting board, all his previous frustration vanished from his complexion. Helen searched his gaze, confused, and he shrugged.

"This morning. About marrying you. If a contract can help you believe I'm serious about staying around..." His words hung in the air.
For a few seconds, Helen was taken back to their Oxford days. He was wearing that very same expression of wonder he had had that day, when she had gripped his hand as he injected her with the source blood serum. He was resolute, it seemed, but unsure of her reaction. She softened, and on an impulse, she extended her hand to take his, gripping it the exact same way she had back then.

And she huffed.
"My, Nikola. I didn't think you were so old-fashioned." She whispered, smiling softly. He looked at their hands and shrugged again.
"Only when it counts."

"Even if any country could legally unite two dead people, that's not what I need." She finally answered. It wasn't the first time Nikola had evoked that wish to make her his eternal bride. Except that this time, there was no underlying plan for world domination. It was the second time in four months that she saw him so raw. Which was, she reflected, a nice change if she were to open herself more to him.

"We've known each other for quite a long time. And still, our relationship has always been a dotted line." She paused, and let her thumb run along Nikola's palm. "Can we maintain what we have if we decide to live under the same roof without interruption for the next few centuries?"

He freed his hand from hers and turned back to his task. Helen's heart missed a beat as it dawned on her that he was not as sure of himself as he usually was when talking about their future. He too was afraid. Afraid that their friendship fed on the distance, that they would get on each other's nerves in the end or wake up one day with no trace of love left for the other, that a child wouldn't be enough to hold them together. And – maybe – frightened that their mutual desire would eventually burn them and leave two cold bodies with tired minds.

Somehow, it comforted her to know that she was not a passing fancy to him. He was in earnest. She smiled to his back and crossed the distance between where she stood and the fridge to get eggs while he resumed cutting vegetables.

"I can't see the future. But I'm willing to try my best to make it work. And not only for our daughter." Nikola promised.

Helen closed the door of the fridge with a bump of her hip, and smiled. "Good." She approved. "Because I intend to make it work too."

They chatted amicably for the next half hour while cooking. They kept the conversation light enough, sharing their hopes of seeing a new Praxian Council that would be inclined to cooperate with the Sanctuary, and exchanging about their pending scientific research.
Helen was fishing her last vegetable pancake out of the frying oil when Archibald came in, wearing not only his sarclonite pendant but also a large collection of bracelets made from the same isolating material, which made him look like he was just getting back from a fashion week.

She beamed at him.

"I'm delighted to see you've decided to join us for lunch" she said, carrying two plates loaded with pancakes to the table that Nikola had set for the occasion.
Her brother shrugged.

"Might as well quench your friends' curiosity about me."

The loud 'pop' of a cork being torn from a wine bottle directed their attention to Nikola, who pointed his corkscrew to Archibald.

"You see, that's lesson number one there – There's no quenching the chipmunks' curiosity." He corrected. "Give them the satisfaction of answering one question and they'll think they can harass you with a thousand others."
Archibald glanced at Helen, looking for confirmation. She shrugged with a sorry smile.

"They have a bad habit of betting on personal details." She added. "It can be quite profitable to have someone bet for you."

Nikola's hand flew to cover his heart, as his face took on a shocked expression. "Helen! How shocking of you!" He exclaimed.

A satisfied smile came to grace her lips.

"Now, I'm not such a bad sport, I keep the gains and reinvest them in the losers." She explained, defending herself.

Nikola's eyes lit up, energy suddenly coursing through him in understanding, and Archibald could have sworn he was blushing, ever so slightly.
"You… That's how Nigel was always wining our bets!" He realized.

There had been a day, back in Oxford, when he had lost every penny he owned in gambling. Nigel had been the only one to know about his debts. That's why when he had found a jar full of money on his desk, he had thought his old pal had taken pity on him. Now he understood why Nigel Griffin had looked utterly lost when he had thanked him. He had not been modest – it simply wasn't his money.
Helen pursed her lips, squinting.
"Ow it took you so long to figure it out." She said, grinning like the Cheshire cat.
Nikola didn't have time to share how grateful he was that she had cured his gambling compulsion as the door opened again and Helen's starving team entered, chatting joyfully. Kate and Garis were there, flanked by Will and Henry, who obviously had been filling them up with the last events surrounding the boss' life. When they had all entered the room, Kate's gaze went from Helen to Nikola and back, beaming, before she nudged her fiancé.
"You owe me." She whispered to him.

Helen bit her lip, glancing sideways at her brother, who frowned, wondering if she had been a part of that bet as well.

Kate followed her gaze, and froze when she saw Archibald.
"Archibald?" She asked, her voice catching in her throat.

The aging man looked equally surprised as her, but the smile on his face was one of pure delight.
"Kate…" He greeted her, nodding.
Henry and Will exchanged a questioning look.
"You know each other?" Abby asked, raising an eyebrow.
Kate crossed the space that separated her from the older man and threw her arms around him, laughing in relief.

The force of the woman's hug nearly suffocated him, but Archibald felt all the questions hanging in the air about them and he found enough force to answer at least one of them:

"This young lady here saved my life."