All right, this story is for Ren, she made me think of it therefore
she is my accomplice and must be held accountable <eg> This comes from
the predicatiblity of some N&N fic. (No offense meant to the many fine
N&N writers.) Anyway, Ren sent me a list of things that always seem to
happen in that kind of story (Nat finding a cure, Nick showering Nat
with gifts, fat blonde babies, etc) and I felt the need to carry them
on to their natural conclusions <eg>

Usual disclaimers, Nat and her undead playmates don't belong to me.
I'm just taking them out to stretch their little legs and will put
them back in their pens when I'm done. Comments, questions and
expressions of moral outrage should be directed to anteros@juno.com

Happily Ever After

By: Cousin Mary

(for my honorary twin Ren)

Doctor Natalie Knight woke up to the sound of her clock radio
screeching bloody murder in her ear. 

"Argh, alright already, I'm up, I'm up!" She moaned as she sat up on
the corner of the bed. She cradled her head in her hands and spared a
peek at the time, "5:00 AM." 

Right on time. When she'd still worked night shift she'd always wanted
day shift. Now that she had it, she wanted nights back! In the good
old days (as she was beginning to think of them more and more these
days) she hadn't needed an alarm clock to wake her up. She'd usually
wake up somewhere around noon on her own, have a leisurely breakfast
as she read the paper (comics first), take a shower, get ready and
still have plenty of times to run errands or just vegetate on the
couch before her shift started. These days she had to be up and out of
the house by 6:15 if she wanted to beat rush hour traffic. Half the
time she didn't have time for a shower, and she almost never got to
eat first. 

Groaning, Nat climbed to her feet and made her way down the hall to
the bathroom. The door was locked. "Who's in there? Come on, I need to
get ready for work!"

Something close to a tsk sounded behind the door, "Mo-om," (how do
teenage girls make 'mom' into a 2 syllable word anyway?) Flora called
back, "I have to do my hair! It has to be better than Jill's! Cheer
leading try-outs are today you know!"

Nat rolled her eyes. As much as she loved her, Flora was one spoiled
teenager. Her father never seemed to be able to say 'no' to her.
(Which explained the $300 dollar leather jacket for her birthday and
promises of a car when she turned 16.) Giving up on ever getting her
mirror-addicted daughter out of there, Nat went down stairs to the
bathroom in the guestroom. Sure they'd never got around to finishing
the renovation, half the fixtures still weren't in and the unpainted
drywall was beginning to mold, but it was better than nothing. 

Nat looked at her reflection, there were dark circles under her eyes
and somewhere along the way the wrinkle fairy had definitely paid her
a visit. She leaned in closer and spotted a rather scraggily dark hair
poking out of her chin. With a sigh she gave it a yank and grimaced as
the deep-rooted little bugger came free. Just one of the joys of
getting old. 

She quickly threw off her robe and jumped in the shower, Flora had
used most of the hot water so she had to be quick. As she scrubbed
herself, Nat tried to ignore the fact that she was slowly but surely
losing the battle of the bulge. 

"I've never seen so much cottage cheese outside a dairy," She mumbled
wryly, grabbing a towel and stepping out of the enclosure. She didn't
have time for make-up, so she didn't bother. 'Not like anyone at work
will complain,' she thought, it'd been awhile since any of her
patients offered her any opinion either way. She grinned at that
thought, wondering for the first time that morning just where her
darling hubby was.

She went back to their bedroom and noticed that his side of the bed
hadn't been slept in. She frowned as she dressed. That was odd. Since
she'd cured him all those years ago, Nick had been working days, and
insisted she do the same, claiming that they should live their lives
in the sunlight. Nat glanced at the window, well, the sun was up, so
where was he?

Wandering back down to the kitchen, Nat nearly tripped a couple times
on the kids' toys. Why Richie and Andy couldn't pick up their Mighty
Mutant Monkey Monks was beyond her! The school psychiatrist called
them hyperactive with anti-social tendencies, the neighbours called
them brats. Nat kicked the Monk-par (with kung-fu action grip) out of
her way and began digging around in the cupboard for coffee. She came
up empty. It had been Nick's turn to do the shopping this week and
he'd forgotten her coffee.

Nat checked, no, he just hadn't done the shopping at all. She frowned
and made a mental note to stop by the store on the way home. She went
to the refrigerator and pulled out a gallon of milk. As she poured
herself a glass, she looked at some of the artwork covering her
'fridge. Lucy had definitely been busy, no less than 9 drawings of
dinosaurs eating people who bore an uncanny resemblance to her family
wallpapered the appliance. 

Sipping her 'moo-juice,' Nat let her eyes travel to the small snap
shot taken on their last family vacation. Camping. God she hated
camping, but Nick had just looked at her with those hurt little boy's
eye and she'd crumbled. Of course Flora had complained the entire
time, the twins had caught poison oak and six year old Lucy had spent
the entire trip in the car (afraid that a grizzly like the one on the
'Only you can prevent forest fires' poster was going to eat her.) 

With a critical eye Nat looked at her family, she'd been the one
taking the picture so it was just of Nick and the kids. They all
looked like Nick more than her, that was for sure.

"Fat, blonde babies," She mumbled under her breath, that's what Tracy
had called them a couple years ago, of course she'd meant it in a good
way. 

"Ten years," Nat realised with a start, it had been right after the
twins had been born, right before Tracy and Vachon had moved on. It
had been ten years since she'd last seen her friend. She felt a twinge
of regret at that, it's not like Tracy hadn't sent her their new
address. And she still sent a Christmas card every year, but, Nat
sighed, they'd just sort of lost touch.

Finishing her milk, Nat rinsed the glass off in the sink (she was the
only one who ever did) and grabbed her purse. She called up the stairs
to make sure Flora would see her younger siblings off on their bus
before catching a ride with her friends to the junior high, and was
met with some whining about 'why did she have to do -everything-?' 

Nat just rolled her eyes and headed out to the garage. 

The Caddy was up on blocks still. "Sucks in money like the black hole
of Calcutta," She griped as she passed it and climbed into her '96
Plymouth mini-van. She hit the button to open the garage door and
backed out. As the light blue auto warmed up, she let her mind wander
back to Tracy Vetter. Tracy had chosen to let Vachon bring her across
shortly after they'd found the cure. Later on she'd admitted privately
to her that since she'd had 'an out' it hadn't seemed quite the
eternal damnation she'd let Nick and her own morals convince her it
was. And once she'd actually crossed, she'd realised she'd never want
to be mortal again. 

Nat sighed, thinking about the Spanish Villa Tracy had sent her a
picture of when they'd moved away, "There but for the grace of…" Nat
mumbled, throwing the minivan into gear and entering the stop and go
fun that was commute.

After sixty-five minutes of 'fun,' Nat pulled into the Morgue's
crowded parking lot and went to the lab she shared with two other
M.E.s. (Since she was day-shift now she had to share, and boy she
really hated that.) 

The morning passed slowly. And even though she brewed a fresh pot when
she got in, the coffee still tasted stale, plus she spilled half a cup
in her lap. The case load was monotonous and uninteresting, and her
co-workers' chit-chat was insipid and boring. 

Nat sighed, again thinking back on her glory years, maybe it was just
her, but working nights had just seemed a lot more fun. The people had
been more laid back, had darker senses of humours, and of course the
rules had been a lot looser. (No one would ever let her answer the
phone 'Natalie's Bed and Breakfast' during the day that was for sure!)

Finally lunch time rolled around, and rather than fighting her way out
of the parking lot and back through traffic (since everyone seemed to
get lunch at the same time, not like night shifts…) Nat plunked a
couple of coins into a vending machine and grabbed a candy bar and a
sack of chips. 

The lab emptied out and Nat say at her desk, trying to get through the
novel she was reading. She never seemed to have anytime at home
anymore, what with the kids and all. 

Suddenly the door opened and Nick walked in, "Hi honey." He smiled. 

Nat smiled back, he was ageing a lot better than she was, some grey
hairs, but that was about it. If anything he was actually getting
better looking with age. "Hi, where were you last night?"

He seemed to flinch at that, but then just smiled and handed her a
small velvet box, "Just talking with some of the guys from the
department. It was so late when we finished I just stayed over instead
of waking up the whole house coming home at an hour like that."

Nat stared down at the box. Jewellery, it had to be. He always gave
her jewellery. Correction, he always gave her jewellery when he was
feeling guilty about something. Nat's eyes flew up, looking for the
obvious signs. Lipstick on the collar, the faint hint on perfume. He'd
said it was over with Midge from vice, but…

Nat opened the box, a small silver chain with a gold and silver heart
pendant. Looked expensive. Her heart jumped to her throat, the old
saying 'when a man brings his wife gifts for no reason, there's a
reason,' kept repeating itself over and over in her head. She'd known
long before she'd married him that Nick was a bit of a flirt. Heck,
he'd cheated on her countless times with mortals and vampires alike
before the cure, but like a love-struck fool she'd thought marriage
would change him. And it's not like this hadn't happened before.
Before Midge there'd been Candice from accounting, and before her,
Sarah-Lee who worked as a dancer at the Voodoo Lounge, and before
that, she sighed, there'd been others. At least five in their 15 years
of marriage, well, five she knew about. Nat turned watery eyes on her
husband and whispered, "You were with her again weren't you?"

Guilt flashed across his face, "It won't happen again Nat," He moved
to hug her, "I promise."

Nat started to lean into his embrace, a sob breaking in her throat.
But then, something happened, something snapped. Grabbing a nearby
scalpel she began stabbing him, over and over again. And she just kept
right on going until the day crew came back from lunch and pulled her
off his dead body.

"Dr. Lambert! What are you doing?!" One of the orderlies (who'd never
been anywhere near as nice as Grace) yelled at her.

Nat looked down at her blood soaked scrubs, then looked at the scalpel
still clutched in her and. She dropped the weapon and just started
screaming. "This isn't what I wanted! I never wanted this!!"

"No! No, no, not this, never this!"

>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"No, no," Nat woke up to find that someone was shaking her.

"Natalie, are you all right my dear heart?" Amaru's beautiful dark
eyes looked down at her filled with concerned, "You must have been
having a very bad dream."

Nat opened her eyes and sat up, she looked around, still half muddled
with sleep. Her eyes met Tracy's. 

"You okay?" Her best friend asked from her place in Vachon's arms.

Nat nodded, the blonde and her boyfriend lay on their own beach towel
next to her and Amaru's. She shook her head again as she woke fully
up, they were on vacation, under the full August moon on the white
sanded beaches of the Spanish Riviera. Why the heck was she dreaming
about Nick Knight?! "What? Oh, yeah, I'm okay. I just had the worst
nightmare!" Nat told her friends. 

Nat next looked down the beach, in the distance she could see Screed
and Urs flying a kite. The Crew and her had the beach all to
themselves on this wonderful night. She took a deep breath, pulling in
the scent of the sea and exotic night blooming flowers. She settled
back into the Inca's arms, "No more blood right before bed," She
smiled a fang filled grin up at her lover, he dropped a kiss on her
nose.

"You shouldn't be asleep at this hour anyway," He told her, his eyes
beginning to glow softly.

Tracy and Vachon took that as their cue to leave, "Care for a swim?"
The Spaniard asked his love.

"Love to," Tracy nodded quickly and raced Vachon down to the gently
lapping waves.


"You know, I'm so glad I made the right choice," Nat told her
eternally loyal love.

The Inca gave her a slightly confused smile, but then just kissed her
and said, "So am I."

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Can you tell I'm not a N&Ner? <eg> I just don't think Nick would make
anyone really good 'husband' material, why I decided he'd have demon
children in his genes… Well, we'll call that creative license J
Feedback is more than welcome at anteros@juno.com