Disclaimer: FK is the property of James Parriott and Sony/Tristar, no
copyright infringement intended
Archiving: Any DP and Mel, all others please ask first
Note: This is part two of a series that started with 'Sleeping Beauty'
where Tracy wakes up next to Miklos. They're also from Tracy's POV and
will soon be archived at my site
http://www.oocities.com/Area51/Hollow/1228/
Long Day's Night
By: Cousin Mary (Jenkins)
So I get to work and low and behold Nick is no where to be found. Sure
I rushed over here expecting to be, for once, on the receiving end of the
'you're late' look, but nope. No Nick. I settle down behind my desk and
start sorting through the ever present pile of paperwork. I sigh,
shoving some of the more boring pieces into Nick's empty mail box. Okay,
so I'm -slightly- disappointed, after all, what's the point of having
that morning after glow if you can't make your partner suffer? See Nick
and I kind of have this thing, this thing where we tell each other
nothing. I mean, I sometimes think I could stop a random passerby and
they'd know more about my partner than I do, and visa versa.
Well, yeah that's pretty much the last thing any cop would want to say
about their relationship with their partner, but what can I say? Nick
started it. All right, not a good defense, but it's true. Not that I
was particularly close with Ernie, my partner while I was still in blues,
but at least I knew Ernie liked cheese dogs and hockey, had a soft spot
for Tom Jones and had relatives all over Manitoba. Nothing deep or
profound, Ernie and I weren't soul mates, or even Starski and Hutch, but
at least I knew -something.- With Nick, I know pretty much zippo. Nada.
The big goose egg. And after a few failed attempts to get to know him, I
stopped blabbing my own life to him too. I sign off on a couple
write-ups and move on to some yawn worthy forensic reports. Grass stains
were found on the suspects shoes... well, I'd chased him across a high
school football field, what were the expecting? So anyway, Nick knows
who my father is. Everyone knows who my father is. But beyond that?
I've kind of tried to keep him in the dark too, I admit it. Not that
he's shown any interest in my life, but you know, kind of a defense
mechanism I guess. He keeps me out, so I keep him out.
At least, it started out that way. Then, well, I guess we got bored, so
we started hinting. I swear, I know more about the scent of a woman than
Al Pachino. Nick and sniffing, it's just weird. He's hinted a couple of
times that his current lady-love smells like roses. Of course, couple
weeks before that he hinted at oranges. Meaning either, she's changed
her shampoo, or Nick was trying to hint that he's got more than one pot
on the burner if you catch my drift. I suppose it's inevitable that we'd
end up talking about sex. Nick's into what? Classic cars, talk radio and
over moussing his hair? I like jogging, Lilith Fair and espressos at
midnight. Sex is about the only thing we have in common. Not that we
talk -about- sex, no, we use metaphors, we talk around sex. And lately
Nick has been kind of ribbing me about the fact that I've been getting an
awful lot of beauty sleep. As in, alone sleep.
And for once I actually didn't, and I can't rub his face in it because
he called in sick! I throw a few more forms on his desk and get up in
search of coffee. What I really want is a chocolate chi from Buckstars,
but that's probably not in the stars tonight. Unless I can con one of
the squad cars to swing by... I sigh, calling in favors for something
like that is probably a bad idea. I should save them for real
emergencies... like on those days I really need cheesecake. So I must
make due with regular, hope to God not decaf, coffee.
Walking up to the pot I notice Nat is talking with Reese, waving some
files at him. He smiles and takes them, she beams back. She must be
early or something. Well, it's not one of my cases so I shrug and reach
for the non-dairy creamer. As I mix in the beige powder, my mind wanders
back to last night. I actually slept with a vampire. The strange part
is that it doesn't seem that weird really. Miklos, God that's a great
name, Miklos, just kind of rolls across the tongue doesn't it? Anyway,
Miklos is sweet, I mean he actually listens when I talk, not like he's
waiting for me to slip up or stop all together, but like he's actually
interested in everything I have to say. And beyond that, well, lets face
it, the man is sexy as hell.
I promised to meet him after work. He said he lived and worked at the
Raven. I should run a check. As I think about that, I sip my coffee.
Ugh, if vinyl siding could be liquefied it would taste like precinct
coffee. I take another sip, nope, hasn't gotten any better. Oh well,
sometimes the need for coffee overrides the sense of taste, and this is
one of those times. At least this time my tiredness can be blamed on
something, actually, someone. I blush and touch the side of my throat.
God, I was bitten by a vampire! How unbelievable is that?! Of course as
soon as I touch it it starts itching. Absently I pull the collar of my
sweater down and scratch it, I feel one of the tiny scabs come off and
some puss squish onto my fingers. Eww. You know, I'm beginning to think
maybe being bitten is not the most erotic thing ever. All things
considered... whip cream washes off. I blush again and look away from my
liquid vinyl coffee, straight into Nat Lambert's shocked face.
"Uh, hi Nat." I wore the sweater to -hide- the bite mark so why did I
just pull it down and scratch right in front of a pathologist? Oh yeah
Vetter, you're one smart cookie huh? Maybe for an encore you can put tin
in the microwave and stick a fork in a light socket. "Look, this isn't
what it looks like-"
"Of course it isn't. Bad spider bite I'd say." She agrees, maybe a bit
too quickly. "Oops, looks at the time, gotta get back to the lab. Time
and cadavers wait for no man. See ya."
I watch her hurry off. Maybe it's the caffeine making me paranoid, but
you'd think a doctor, especially one who works with the police, would be
a little more curious about a neck wound. Sure it could be a spider
bite, actually, if anyone else asks that's exactly what it is, but geez,
she barely looked at it, plus there's no swelling. I go back to my desk
and sit back down as I watch Nat stalk across the bullpen and out the
door, slamming it behind her. Something's definitely up. If I didn't
know any better I'd say she was planning to chew someone out. But who?
A few months ago I would have said she was going to go tattle to Nick,
but water cooler gossip holds that my partner and M.E. haven't been an
item for awhile. Even the most steadfast romantics in petty theft have
given up on the idea. So that begs the question, where the hell is Nat
going?
I'm almost tempted to follow her. In fact I'm reaching for my keys when
Reese comes and dumps another report on my desk, complete with a few
choice comments about my tardiness and Nick's total no show. Oh well, I
know Nat can handle herself.
So the next few hours are spent neck deep in paperwork. I'm beginning
to notice a trend here, whenever we get -really- behind in our paperwork,
so much so that Reese has to order us to stay at our desks until it's all
done, Nick calls in sick. Hmm, one quick call to my friend Milly in
traffic and next time he parks in front of the Coroner's Building he'll
get towed... Now would be a good use of a favor!
Five o'clock doesn't come soon enough, but finally my shift and all of
the paperwork (except what I stashed on Nick's desk) is done.
Hallelujah! I trudge out of the precinct and out into the parking lot,
my car is parked in it's usual spot and is probably the most wonderful
thing I could possibly behold right now. It's a way out! I get behind
the wheel and turn up the radio as I back up and zoom out. I'm so busy
bopping around to Shirley Manson I almost forget that I'm supposed to
meet Miklos. My after work euphoria goes up a notch as I turn onto the
Raven's street. Things are definitely looking up.
"Beauty!" I walk up to the bar and Miklos just looks thrilled to see
me. Now what girl wouldn't be flattered by a welcome like that? He
gives a man in a fedora standing across from him at the bar a disgusted
look and then sits a tall icy glass down in front of me. "Here, try this
and tell me what you think."
I give him a questioning look but he's just glaring at the other man
with a challenging expression. Well, he's a bartender and I don't think
he's going to poison me... at least, if he were I don't think he would be
so blatant about it. So with a shrug I lift the glass and take a sip of
the icy brown liquid. Oh my God! "A chocolate chi! I was just thinking
about these!" I feel myself grinning like an idiot but then so is Miklos
so at least I have company.
"So it tastes like it's supposed to?" He asks, raising an 'I told you
so' eyebrow at the man in the hat.
"Oh yeah," I grin, taking another sip. The other man rolls his eyes and
wanders off as I hop onto a stool. I look around the club, it's almost
deserted. Of course it's a quarter to six, nearly closing time, and add
to that that dawn was about ten minutes ago so all good little vampire,
with the exception of the one wiping down the bar, should all tucked away
nice and snug in their crypts and what not... I turn my attention back
to Miklos and smile.
"Hello my Beauty." He leans over and gives me a quick kiss. "How was
your night?"
"I survived," I joke, still enjoying my chocolate chi as I muse about
fate. "How about yours? Was your boss mad you were late?"
"I too survived," He winks. "But only just."
I smile and he motions for me to stay put as he flips the house lights
on and checks the club. I follow, of course. He checks in corners and
the bathrooms to make sure all the patrons have really left, I assume
those enhanced senses must come in handy in situations like this. He
turns off the music, locks all the emergency exits and finally the front
door. Six o'clock and the Raven is officially closed. And I'm inside.
I have to admit, this is kind of cool.
I follow him back to the bar and watch him collect the last of the
glasses and toss them into the sink. While he's washing them I start
pointing around the club asking all the questions I've always wondered
about the Raven. "Where does that door go?"
He glances up, "That is the utility closet."
"Oh, okay," I point to another, "And that one?"
He rinses the last glass and starts putting them in the rack. "That
leads to my room, I shall show you as soon as I finish if you like."
"Um," I feel myself go a little red, "And that one?"
He looks and I notice his broad shoulders tense slightly. He isn't
happy I asked that, but unlike Vachon, he doesn't avoid answering. "That
leads to a hall and off of that is the office, his sound booth and a
stairway to his apartments up stairs."
"Lacroix's?" I ask, as if I don't know. So yeah, I did run that check
and guess who owns this club? Lucien Lacroix, aka the Nightcrawler, aka
creepy radio guy who seems to spend an awful lot of time talking about
'the night.' And other than that, it doesn't exactly take much to figure
out that the owner of the biggest vampire club in the city is also a
member of dentistry's sharpened elite.
"Yes, Lacroix."
He looks at the door as if it's a snake about to strike. I don't think
he and his boss are too chummy. Now I don't want to press it if it makes
him uncomfortable, but another part of me wants to know if Miklos will
actually tell me things about the community if I ask. Vachon hadn't.
Well, he would tell me things about his own past, and the occasional odd
bit of vampire trivia (like the garlic thing is true, can you believe
it?) but when it came to stuff like who is or who isn't, or pretty much
anything else, I was on my own. Would Miklos tell me? "He's really old
isn't he?"
"Yes, very old. He was a Roman General."
He doesn't even blink, he just nods right away, not even thinking about
getting out of it. Trust. It's been a long time since anyone had given
me that. Hell, I can't even remember the last time someone had. I
couldn't care less how old Lacroix is, 2 or 2000, it doesn't make much
difference if you're mortal how old a vampire is. But the fact that
Miklos told me, now that's amazing. I walk around the bar just as he
finishes staking the glasses. He turns and I slip into his arms as if
I've done it a million times. He stiffens in surprise, but only for a
moment, then he relaxes and leans down to press his lips against mine.
Have you ever had one of those moments that seem to crystallize
themselves? A moment that even as it's happening you know you're going
to remember for the rest of your life? That is this kiss. It's perfect,
it's a forever kind of kiss. Oh hell, I think I could really fall for
this guy.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
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