life is like a game to me…

Helen Magnus had gathered everyone for an urgent meeting, and was currently pacing up and down the room, seemingly lost in her own world. Though her voice was loud enough for all to hear, it seemed as though she were talking more to herself, watching the ground like she was calculating the mass of the sun. Everyone frowned at her, all except Bigfoot, who had gotten up a while ago and started dusting the bookshelves absently.

The sun streamed in through the window, clearly irritating Helen as she walked over and yanked the heavy curtains shut.

Nikola gazed at her from where he was leaning against the door frame, cradling a half-empty glass of red wine. His mind began to wander; when Helen got herself into these trances, it was almost impossible to follow her train of thought. Helen was an enigma. Life needed mystery and intrigue. But she was one he hadn't been able to conquer, not in two hundred years. Nikola Tesla was the master of electricity, of radio, yet, no matter how hard he had tried, Helen had always been able to remain just out of reach. He ran and ran and ran, but she was always ahead. Nothing seemed impossible in his presence. Well, except maybe the reason behind him inexplicably being turned into 'magnet man', and then later becoming the last member of the Vampiris race again. That still eluded him. Not to mention the fact that his old colleagues and self-proclaimed "best friends" had been Jack the Ripper, able to teleport anywhere in the world with a single thought, the invisible man, and possibly the most ingenious man in the entire world (which Nikola still disputed whenever the subject was brought up. Had Watson invented radio? No. He had been made into Sherlock Holmes.) But back to the point; let's just say that Einstein wouldn't be quite so famous if Nikola hadn't peered over his shoulder at him struggling with an equation, and suggested he add some squared to that 'mc'.

He wasn't usually one to get in a bad mood; his sharp tongue and sarcasm and undying disappointment in mankind didn't count. Really the only reason for him to start snapping at people was if he was running low on wine and was forced to drink the cheap stuff, left to age for under ten years. But at the moment, he was especially short-tempered, most likely caused by the amount of hurt he was experiencing at Helen choosing Jack the Ripper over him. It was ridiculous and degrading for someone with such a huge ego. There had always been rivalry between the two men, which had steadily escalated into hatred. The looks of contempt John shot Nikola when Helen chose the murderer to accompany her, or in the early days when the engaged couple would spend a lot of the day gazing into each other's eyes like a pair of love-struck idiots made Nikola's blood boil and his heart ache. He did want Helen to be happy, much to the disbelief of others who regarded Nikola as nothing more than selfish and narcissistic. That was the one thing stopping him from ripping John's head off, because he knew it would shatter Helen's heart, thus shattering his. So it was a dilemma. He just wanted Helen to be happy with… him. But, seriously, what could she possibly see in the bald giant? He was convinced he loved Helen more than John ever could. And she had gone on to James Watson, and basically everyone except Nikola, much to his chagrin. He felt a pang in his heart at the thought of James – he did miss him.

Helen wasn't perfect, and she infuriated him. And that was what made her so perfect to him. She was the only other person he truly respected, and the only opinions he listened to were hers. Only she could keep him at bay, and that was what kept him coming back for more. She was his best friend in the world, the world they had saved together time and time again. He trusted her with his life, and he knew she trusted him too, though he had given her little reason to. If he was in a fight, he knew who he would want on his side, and it wouldn't be some idiot wielding a machine gun. Times change, everything died, but his love for her seemed to be eternal. God, he hated how poetic he could be sometimes.

He didn't have to pretend to be someone he wasn't around her; she matched his fire, didn't try to contain it. So when she had returned to the Sanctuary with only a few weeks to live after following Adam Worth into the rift, it had felt as though his world had come shattering down around him. Just thinking of it made him shudder inwardly. When John had been on the verge of slashing Worth's throat open, Nikola had simply stood back and watched, eventually letting the human inside him (yes, much to everyone's amazement, there still was one) get the better of him and intervened. But he hadn't been himself back then. He had delivered mocking remarks in a soft, withdrawn tone; he had had to assure everyone else that Helen would be fine, when really all he wanted was someone to tell him that, though that would have done nothing to calm his nerves. When he had learnt she would be fine, he had wanted to scoop her off her feet and let his animal instincts control him.

Yes, he may have used her a few times, but he always remained true to her in the end, and she always found ways to forgive him for all the wrong he had done. He would follow her to the end of the world if he had to, and he wasn't sure if she even knew how much she meant to him.

Nikola allowed his mind to wander further, and everything around him melted away completely. His brain dug deep into the memories of the years just before Helen had helped Nikola fake his own death, back to the time Nikola and Helen had dated. Okay, it wasn't so much 'dating' as a few drinks in restaurants and some late-night booty calls, and even that had only lasted a few weeks. But nevertheless, those had been the happiest days of Nikola's entire life. Happier than when he created the radio, happier than when the Five finally managed to get their hands on a vile of the source blood after so many years of searching. Though he had always been in love with her, those were the days when he truly gave her his heart. And yet now, every time he tried to get close to her again, she would push him away as though he were joking. Yes, maybe his methods weren't the most romantic, but… He was Nikola Tesla! He honestly didn't understand why people were so obsessed with this whole love thing – it was painful and confusing and distracting. He could have solved string theory by now if he hadn't been so focused on the British woman.

He shook his head to clear his troubled thoughts, letting out a small sigh. Raising the glass to his lips, he finished off the last of the wine, once again annoyed that the alcohol had no effect on a half-vampire.

"So then you don't agree, Nikola?"

Perhaps he should just give up…? But that wasn't who he was. You don't achieve what he had by giving up. Maybe one day she would realise her mistakes…

"For God's sake, Nikola, pay attention! This is important!"

He shouldn't be obsessing over these stupid, insignificant things. But they weren't insignificant, and-

"Tesla, dude!"

He jumped as a pillow connected with his face, knocking the glass from his hands. It fell and shattered on the wooden floor boards below, and Nikola cringed. But he quickly collected himself, using one hand to straighten his shirt collar, and raised his head to glare at Will, who was looking at him, eyes sparkling with amusement and self-satisfaction.

Nikola growled, "Now look what you've done, William!" he snapped, gesturing down at the broken glass angrily. Will looked taken aback at his response, and frowned, much to Nikola's contempt.

From beside Will, Kate leaned forward, eyebrows raised questioningly, and Henry looked up from where he had been studying something on his laptop.

Bigfoot let out a rumbling sigh and placed the feather duster on one of the shelves, walking heavily over to Nikola, who stepped aside. "Don't worry about it, I'll get it," The abnormal scooped the sharp shards into his bare hand, thick skin no match for the jagged edges and stood back up, walking out of the room and disappearing down the corridor.

Everyone in the room watched him leave, an awkward silence gripping the room. Henry cleared his throat and went back to his work, though, by the lack of eye movement, Nikola could tell he was simply staring at the screen to avoid making eye contact with the other people in the room.

Finally, Helen broke the quiet and leaned back against the window sill, arms folded across her chest. She watched Nikola curiously, concern creeping into her stunning eyes that had so often caused him to forget his own name. "Is something bothering you?"

He shook his head, "I'm fine," he replied curtly, instantly feeling guilty at speaking to her like that. Composing himself, he became the man everyone knew him as, the only person he would let anyone know, even Helen, so he wouldn't appear weak, "Just…" He headed for the drink cart and poured himself another drink, "Well, quite frankly, the drinks here aren't worthy of me. Me, Helen. You should be ashamed."

She rolled her eyes, "I'm sorry our beverages aren't up to your liking, your majesty," she threw back, a small smile playing at her lips. Her voice was light and teasing, and he wished she would use it more. It went so well with her sexy accent. Then both of them noticed the other people in the room were still watching them – Kate had barely suppressed a snicker as Will had leaned over to whisper in her ear how obvious Nikola and Helen's chemistry was and how he wished they would stop with the foreplay and just get it on already, which had earned them a scathing glare from Nikola and a blush from Helen.

"Really, Will, I would expect better from you."

Nikola smirked and threw her a sidewards glance, "This is what you get for hiring an American, my dear Helen," Turning back to Will, he added, "And by the way, chump, I handle the sarcastic remarks, thank you." Will rolled his eyes dismissively.

Helen put on a more serious expression before continuing, "Anyway, Nikola, I asked if you thought my plan of capturing the abnormal would work. It's been over a decade since I've seen one of these species, and I believe you came up with the device that used electrical pulses to confuse it," She gestured with one hand at the picture that was up on the computer screen to her left, before tucking her hand back under her other arm. Nikola glanced at it as she went on, "In case you haven't been listening at all during this meeting, Henry has updated the model from my memory and I would like you to take a look at it later, to see if it is up to scratch, unlike our wine."

Nodding, Nikola flicked Henry a look, "Knowing your tech guy, he's probably stuck the pieces together using chewing gum."

"Hey!" Henry snapped defensively, eyes flickering from Nikola to Helen, as though he couldn't believe what he had just heard.

He should be used to this by now, Tesla thought to himself, chuckling inwardly. Though he had nothing against Henry, he was just so fun to tease; Nikola could never take him seriously, however hard Henry tried to prove himself. It was obvious the young man wanted to learn from the scientist, and that he looked up to him, but Henry, however impressive he may seem to other people, was, quite simply, Henry. Then again, everyone was inferior to Nikola Tesla. Everyone except Helen Magnus.