(Ashes to Ashes unwriten scene) Thanks so much to Renee for Beta
reading this story.  These characters are owned by someone else.  I'm just
borrowing them.  No infringement intended.  



A Gift of Love (01/01)
by Jeannie Ecklund
Copyright 08-25-00


*****

Natalie screamed with silent frustration and threw down her instruments.
She pulled the gloves from her hands and tossed them at the trash
recepticle.

"How can you concentrate on work?  Nick might be killed this very night
by this monster and I stand here working!" she cried out to the silence
around her. Urs lay dead on the autopsy table, dead, stone cold dead. No
longer a member of the living un-dead community. Natalie could only
guess at what poisons could invade the body of a vampire and cause it to
die instead of regenerating.  The more she thought of it the more her
knees became weak and perspiration broke out on her forehead.


She pulled her labcoat off and threw it onto a chair.  She then covered
the very dead vampire and put her into a refrigerated compartment.

If Nick was attacked tonight she must go to him.  Try to save him. She
knew he had been at home. She grabbed some supplies and her keys and
decided to start there in her search for Nick.  She booked off and
headed for the car.

The night was damp and foggy making the streets errie and silent.  As
Natalie neared Nick?s street a dread as deep and inky as black waters
creeped upon her heart making her gasp in pain.  She pressed hard on
the gas peddle and the car flew down the street. She breake the car with
a screetch before the warehouse. Natalie grabbed her things and jumped
from the car.  The eerie quiet pressed on her cold and dark as she
headed for the stairs.

Nick had told her he'd found Urs in the lift.  She quietly let herself
into the door leading to the stairwell.  A cold chill made her shiver.
There seemed a dead silence like a frozen tome about the place.

She silently climbed the stairs.  Her heart beat in her ears like the
pounding of huge drums.

She listened at the top of the stairs and only heard silence at first,
then a deep moan, low and involuntary.

Natalie with no regaurd to herself pulled the door open.  Only dim
candelight illuminated the darkness of the room.  It reavealed Nick
lying in a pool of blood.

"Nick!" she cried out, fear clutching at her heart so tightly she could
barely take a breath.

She went to him and with trembling fingers she touched his torn face.
With some relief she found he was still alive.  Yet she could see it
wasn't for long.  She knew if the injuries where made by the creature
that killed Urs and Vachon, Nick would most likely die.

"Nick can you hear me?" she cried scooping him up and holding him close
regardless of the blood that saturated her clothes and covered her
hands.

"Natalie," he goaned through clenched teeth.

The pain must be fearsome she thought, "Nick!" she cried, pressing her
lips against his forhead.  He opened his eyes and they glowed a deep
amber.  His fangs slipped into place to rest against battered lips.

He grabbed at her and drew her down to him. His fangs pressed against
her neck.

"!Nick," she cried, fear overwhelming her.

It seemed to penetrate his poisoned mind. "No! Natalie, leave!" He threw
her from him and crawled backward away from her.

"I need to feed", he growled.

She struggled to her feet and ran to the refrigerator.  She grabbed two
bottles from it and carried them back to Nick.

He snatched them away from her and grabbing the cork between his teeth
he pulled the first one out,spat it across the room and drank down the
vile cow's blood.  Bottle after bottle followed and still his pain and
hunger persisted.

Natalie blind with tears watched as waves of pain passed over him.  Raw
red peices of torn flesh hung on his face,weeping the new red blood.

Nick finally slumped against a wall and drew his knees up to his chest
and wrapped his arms about them. Numbness had set in and he no longer
felt the need for blood.

His eyes were still gold with pain.  He looked up to see Natalie near,
her eyes were studying him, tears stained her face, her eyes rimmed red.

"Nat," he said weakly, he held out his hand and she came to wrap her
arms around him, fear knowing this was now the calm before death.  She
held him close, "Nick, I love you, always remember that."

"I love you," he said, he reached up a hand to carress her face,leaving
a bloody streak on her soft smooth face.  His eyes closed and he slumped
against her.

"No!" she cried, "No!" she laid him down and got her bag.  He'd only
drank cows blood.  She knew all vampires need human blood to heal
from serious wounds.  She cursed herself for forcing him to restrict his
intake to only animal blood.  Her hand tore the bag open and she grabbed
some tubing and needles.

Quikly with a calm proffessionalism she tunrnicated herself and inserted
the needle into her vein.  She slipped the other end of the tube into
Nick's mouth and let the turnicate go.  She would give him all her blood
if it would save him.  Her blood poured into Nick's throat.  His tissues
sucked it up like a sponge.

She felt dizzy and thought she could lose her life.  Yet she would have
it no other way if it would save him. She stared into Nick?s face, at
first she saw nothing.  Then his eyes flutered and the wounds on his
face began to heal.  Natalie slipped down to sit beside him, weak with
loss of blood and the relief.

Nick's eyes opened, a blue clear, would sound better.

"What?" he asked, confused.

Nick's eyes focused and his lips moved and he tasted blood, so sweet.
So filled with goodness and love that his heart sang with a lightness
he'd never known before.

His awarness came back to him.  He realised as he focused on Natalie's
drowsy face that she was so pale.  He forced his mind to study her.  He
realised that she han an IV in and he became aware of her blood flowing
into him, across his tongue and down his throat.

"Natalie," he cried suddenly, fearing for her.  He struggled against the
leaden weight of his own limbs and pulled the IV from her arm, and
pressed his hand against the blood that seeped from the needle mark.

He nearly leaned inward to run his tongue over the mark.  Her blood was
filling him as no other ever had.  It brought such a feeling of well
being and health.  Her gift staggered him.  He felt such love.  The
poisons that had burned through his body now faded, consumed by her gift
of love. His strength returned and he picked her up and craddled her
close.

"Nick, you're alive." she said weakly, tears of relief stinging her
eyes.

Nick held her close and kissed her forhead and eyes. "Nat, you saved me,
I must take you to the hospital," he said, rising to his feet holding
her close.

"No, Nick!" I'm alright I didn't lose that much."
He peered at her closely, "You sure?"

"Yes. Positive. Give me some of that Orange juice I left in your fridge
then I just need to sleep..."

He got her the juice and she drank it quickly then he carried her to the
couch and she fell asleep before her head touched the pillow.  He was afraid
for a moment, then realised her heart was beating strongly.

She just needed rest.

Nick stood feeling new energy spread through him. As his strength
renewed he knew he would never be satisfied with any other blood.

Natalie had saved him, but in doing so he was much more a danger to her.
Her blood called to him.  The purity of it sang in his veins and made
him feel more alive than he'd ever been before.

He leaned to kiss her and her eyes fluttered.


"I must go see LaCroix," Nick said. "He's in grave danger."

"Go," she smiled, though her eyes had closed again.

Nick planeted another kiss on her forhead and then turned,
whole and strong to take up the batttle at his father's side.

*******

end.....Jeannie Ecklund....jecklund@lightspeed.net