TIME AND TIME AGAIN  -  Jarvinia

Please send all comments, questions, and suggestions to: 
jarvinia@gmx.com

This story is a crossover between Forever Knight and Star Trek the Next
Generation.

DISCLAIMER:  The concepts of vampires as used in this story and the 
characters of Forever Knight are the property of James D. Parriott,
Sony Pictures Entertainment, Columbia TriStar Television, and the
Sci-Fi Channel, and are used without permission.  The concepts and
Characters of ST:TNG used in this story are the property of Paramount,
and are used without permission.  Other characters not part of either
series are mine, and my not be used without permission.  This is an
amateur publication intended solely for the entertainment of its
readers.  No infringements intended on copyrights, etc.


~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~


Time and Time Again  -  Part 1/4

A small craft silently traveled through space.  It carried its four 
passengers, speeding toward a nearby starship for their safety.  Inside
a young woman broke the silence which had overcome them, asking, "How
close are we to the Enterprise?  Can we make contact with it yet?"

"Yes, Asenath, we can, and we will soon be on board it," an old man
said, assuring both her and himself.  The attack on them had been
completely unseen, and everything was destroyed.  Buildings, their
homes and work, all gone.  They were the only survivors and soon hoped
to be safe on the Starship Enterprise.

The young woman appeared to barely be out of her teens.  She was
dressed in long flowing garments of dark blue.  Her hair was very long
and dark brown, and she had equally dark brown eyes that mesmerized all
who looked into them.  The old man had the same hair, although his was
turning silver, and the same piercing eyes although not as noticeable,
but they still held the same presence.

Also in the craft were two Vulcans in traditional dress, a male and a 
female, both also going to the Enterprise for safety.

The man opened communications with the Enterprise, immediately saying,
"This is the shuttle Aurora from the Kintala Colony.  I am Doctor
William Manning.   Also my granddaughter and two Vulcan scientists,
Setal and Talak, are on board.  We are the only survivors after an
attack by the Romulans, and request to come aboard the Enterprise."

Less than a minute later the Enterprise replied to their message, "This
is the Federation Starship the U.S.S. Enterprise, I am Captain Picard,
and you are granted permission to board."

Manning expressed his gratitude to the Vulcan's dismay, and flew the
shuttle toward one of the shuttle bays.  Suddenly, the shuttle rocked
violently and was pulled backwards, and once again Manning contacted
the Enterprise.  But this time panic was edging his voice as he tried
to prevent the shuttle from being ripped into pieces.


*+.*+.*+.*+.*+.


On board the Enterprise, they saw the anomaly that had appeared behind
the shuttle.  It was huge, bigger than the Enterprise itself, and was
growing bigger by the second.  They tried to lock their tractor beams
onto the shuttle, but instead of freeing the craft from the pull of the
anomaly, it caused the Enterprise to become trapped in it as well.

"We are being pulled into the anomaly.  I can not free us from it,"
Data told the Captain, while he tried to free the ship.  The picture of
the anomaly on the view screen continued to become larger, until they
could no longer see its edges.  Soon the anomaly's appearance changed
and they were now traveling through it.  Where to, no one knew.

The starship began to shake violently causing its passengers to be
tossed about.  Then just as suddenly as it began, everything stopped. 
They found themselves orbiting a blue, life supporting planet, no
anomaly in sight.  Only a Starfleet shuttle entering the atmosphere of
the planet, completely out of control.  They tried contacting the
shuttle, but they couldn't.  Their communications systems might have
been damaged or the atmosphere of the planet might have broken the
signal.  They were also not able to beam out those on the shuttle,
something was making it so they couldn't get a lock on them.  They knew
the shuttle was going down, and they could do nothing about it.

"The shuttle has entered the atmosphere, and appears to be heading
toward one of the land masses, and a large populated area."  Data
stopped, checked the data again, and said, "Captain, this is Earth. 
The shuttle is heading toward Toronto, just north of the city."

Picard stood up and walked several steps toward the view screen,
looking closer at the blue planet.  He thought to himself, 'Earth.  But
how, we weren't anywhere near Earth when the anomaly appeared. 
Something is not right about this picture.'

"This isn't our time though.  The moon is uninhabited, and the starbase
is not there," Riker commented, noticing the differences.  "The anomaly
must have thrown us into this time, and back to Earth."

"Data, when is it?  What is the year?" the Captain asked as he spun
around to his officer.

Data punched several commands into the computer, and once he found the 
answer, said, "It is 1997, January 16th."

He slowly turned back to the screen.  "Four hundred years. We've
traveled four hundred years into our own past, and a shuttle is about
to crash."  Picard, looked out the viewer to the planet below as the
shuttle disappeared through the atmosphere, and was soon out of sight. 
He then said, "Do we have any specialists in twentieth century history
on board?  I think we're going to need their help."

Riker went back to one of the computers, and after about a minute said,
"Yes, there are two.  They are husband and wife, Nicholas and Natalie
de Brabant.  Nicholas de Brabant is a Lieutenant Commander, and does
several different jobs, anything to working on the bridge at night, to
the ships logs.  His wife is a doctor and works the night shift in
sickbay.  They both seem to have an allergy to sunlight.  They
specialize in Earth's history.  It doesn't say exactly the period they
specialize in, but the late twentieth century seems to be included."

Picard nodded, he'd read a book written by the couple just a couple of
weeks ago.  It wasn't completely focused on any one period, but it did
have an emphasis on the late twentieth century, and that was what they
needed.  "Have them go to the observation room as soon as possible." 
After a slight pause he added, "We better get out of view, a good place
would be the dark side of the moon.  We can't let the people see us, it
could cause repercussions in our time."  Picard then went into his
ready room, then a few minutes later, left to the observation room to
wait for the arrival of the Brabants.


*+.*+.*+.*+.*+.


"Nick, I'm really sorry I had to ask for a ride home from you," Natalie
said.

"Nat, that's the third time you've apologized.  Don't worry about it. 
The season just isn't the best for starting cars, and I really don't
mind," Nick told her as they drove back to the city from the latest
crime scene.  They were all planning to go straight home to get some
rest.  From what they could tell the scene was a suicide, which meant
when they got Natalie's report back in confirmation, the case would
virtually be closed.

Suddenly a fiery streak darted across the skyline, and they followed it
to where it landed, or in this case crashed.  The site appeared to be a
couple of miles away, to the north of where they were.  "Trace, call it
in."  Nick told her.

This was reminding him of the events of a few months before.  An
explosion in the sky, and a drive to the crash site ending in the
discovery of his partner and captain's deaths.  He dreaded driving
toward the crash, hoping most of everyone were survivors.  He didn't
think he could deal with something like that again.  Especially if he
knew anyone.  He then put the light on top of the Caddy, turning it on,
and turned around driving toward the site of the explosion.

Five minutes later they parked, and the three got out.  Natalie grabbed
her medical bag, and the group walked down the hillside, toward the
site of the crash.  When they arrived, they saw almost no remains of
the actual object, only scrapes burning, and four people wearing
futuristic styled clothes.  As soon as they got closer, Nick felt the
vibration of another vampire, and was also able to hear the others'
heartbeats, although two seemed distorted by something, they sounded
like two instead of one.  He then quickly went to one of the men who
was bleeding severely.  When he looked at them he knew they were going
to have a problem.  "Natalie, come here, look at his features."

She did so and saw the pointed ears and slanted eye brows, she also
noticed the green tinged blood flowing from the wound.  Then after
seeing all of this and checking his pulse, getting two beats instead of
one, said, "Nick, this man isn't human."  He nodded in answer.  The
double heartbeat wasn't a distortion, it was real.

Tracy had checked the others, and nearly choked when she realized the
full implications.  The woman before her was pale, and her silky black
hair, slanted eyebrows, and pointed ears proved she wasn't human.  But,
then what was she?  She dismissed it for the moment and told her
partner,  "Neither is this woman, but the other two are, and from what
I can tell they're all alive.  Although the other woman won't let me
get anywhere near her."  Looking at Nick, she wondered how her
skeptical partner could take this in so easily, but something about him
always seemed to be surprising her.

"Tracy, go help Natalie.  I'll try to talk to her," Nick said looking
toward the young woman, who was now looking toward the beginnings of
the sunrise.  'This was the vampire I sensed earlier.'  "Are you all
right?" Nick asked as he came up behind her, trying to gain her trust.

"The sunrise, I need to find shelter," she murmured, more to herself
than to Nick.  She then turned around, and when she did, the look of
slight fright, changed to a look of amazement.  This was the same
vampire that had saved her from being killed by her creator almost
fifteen years before.  This was a different time, and he didn't know
her, but it was still him.  She knew she could trust him, and anyway,
it was her only chance of surviving the sunrise.

"Don't worry, it won't come up for another hour.  But I do need you to
tell me how to help the two you traveled with," he said gesturing to
the Vulcans.   She hesitated, so he told her, "We aren't going to hurt
them, but they aren't human, and can't be taken to a hospital.  We need
to know how we can help them."

"What about my father?" she asked, knowing she couldn't lie to him. 
Not only would he sense it, but she wouldn't lie anyway.

Nick was a little surprised that the man was her father, but looked
toward Natalie for an answer.  As he did so he became lost in his mind,
in the events that had just occurred.  Natalie noticed, but didn't
comment.   She then told them, "He should be fine, at least for now. 
He just lost a lot of blood from a large cut in his side.  Can you tell
us what the others' conditions are?"

Asenath cautiously approached them, and after looking each of them over
said, "Setal, the woman, she'll recover, she only has cuts and scrapes
and is waking up.  I'm not sure about Talak though.  I really don't
know enough about their physiology to tell you that, but Setal probably
could."

Nick nodded slightly, then he remembered they had called this in and
that help would probably be there soon.  Very soon.  "We called this
in.  We need to hide you while we give our report, then we can leave." 
He quickly walked over to Natalie and asked, "How are they?"

She nearly glared at him, but then remembered when he zoned out.  He
didn't remember what had been said.  "Her father should be fine,
although he may need a transfusion.  He can't walk right now, you'll
have to help him to the Caddy.  Setal seems to be okay, but I'm not
sure, she seems awfully quiet and observing, almost like she's nervous.
 The other man, Talak, is unconscious, and he's lost a lot of blood. 
The problem is, his blood seems to be copper based.  That means to give
him a transfusion, I would need to use Setal's blood, and I don't know
if their blood is compatible.  Other than that, I can't say anything."

Both Tracy and Nick nodded in understanding.  They were all working
blindly, and all they could do was to do their best and hope it would
be enough.  "Okay, we need to get everyone in my car, can you help us?"
Nick asked Asenath as he returned to the matter at hand.

"Yes."

After five minutes everyone was in the Caddy.  The four were in the
back seat with a blanket covering them up.  Right after they shut the
door, a police car pulled up, and an officer got out and approached
them.

"Detective Knight?" the officer asked, recognizing the detective and
his partner.  When Nick nodded, he said, "You called in a crash?"  He
received another nod, and asked, "What happened?"

"We saw it come down, it looked like it might have been a small plane,
and I had my partner call it in.  We drove here, and checked for
survivors.  There weren't any at the scene, although there does seem to
be blood down there.  Then we came up here and you arrived."

After asking several other questions, and receiving satisfactory
answers, he told the detective, aware of his unique allergy, "Okay, if
we need to ask you anymore questions, we'll contact your captain." 
Nick nodded and he and the others left and got in the Caddy, heading
back to the city.

They had just enough time to drive to Nick's before the sun rose, and 
nothing more than that.  By the time they got there, Setal was able to
walk, so they only needed to make one trip in the elevator.

"So, what's your name?" Nick asked the young vampire after they had
gotten everyone into his loft.

"Asenath, and that's my father, William Manning."

Nick making sure Natalie and Tracy were busy, and asked, "Do any of
them know what you are, what we are?"

"My father knows what I am, and he probably knows what you are as well.
 The Vulcans, they don't know what we are, only that we aren't human,
even though we appear to be.  They seem to be able to sense the vampire
in us, sense what we are, even from a distance."

"Help Natalie with treating them, okay?  I'm going to talk to Tracy." 
He walked over to his partner and pulling her away, took her to the
kitchen area and said, "Tracy, I really need to tell you something." 
He had decided after Vachon's death he would tell her what he was, and
found that now would probably be a good time to tell her.  He probably
wouldn't get a chance like this again.  Even if he wasn't planning on
it, he knew he'd have to say something before the night was over,
otherwise she would either discover what he was, or what Asenath was. 
She had already noticed the absence of injuries on Asenath, but the
blood and tears in her clothing told otherwise.

"What?" she asked, not understanding what he would need to talk to her 
about.

"You knew what Vachon was," he stated, making her features go pale. 
'He knows what Vachon was.  He knows about vampires.  "Trace, I am like
Vachon, and so is Aseneth."

Tracy went even paler, her features appearing almost pure white.  'Oh,
my God, not only does he know about vampires, that they exist, but he
is a vampire.  He is a vampire.' As her mind accepted the information,
she paused in her thinking, noticing something.  Something that made
her doubtful of his confession, 'But he doesn't feel like a vampire,
there isn't any evil in him.'  Confused, she told him of her
observation,  "But you don't seem like one of them.  I mean, when I'm
around the others I can sense . . .  evil."  She shivered recalling the
feeling she got around Vachon, and in the Raven.  "I don't sense that
around you, or around her for that matter."  Her gaze became directed
at Asenath, then she slowly turned back to him.

"That's because I've learned to blend in," he stated to her.  She
seemed to take it as truth.  This was going much better than he had
expected, but then Tracy was a lot more than she looked.  She wasn't
just a blond, or just the Commissioner's daughter.  She was very
intelligent and deserved her position.  She probably deserved it more
than many of the other detectives.  She had to prove to the others that
she deserved her position and had to surpass higher levels, those set
by the other officers.  Nick looked at her, and saw the same thing in
her eyes as he saw on many of their cases; the need to understand the
reasons behind the action.  She wanted to know what his reasons for
keeping this from her, and he knew he would tell her.  Just as she
deserved her position, she also deserved this information.  He then 
told her, "I know I should have revealed what I was to you before, but
then it would have created more problems than helped, now it will help.
 The other reason I didn't tell you was the more of us that knew about
you, and the more of us you communicated with, the greater danger you
would be in.  But then if you don't have any links to the community, it
might even be worse for you."

She starred at the table, feeling slightly betrayed, but she thought
she understood his reasons.  She figured if their situations were
reversed, she could have easily done the same thing.  In fact she
probably would have.  It wasn't their nature to let others, to let
mortals into their real lives.  Then she realized she didn't know what
his real life was.  "Who are you really?"

"Nicolas de Brabant, born in 1193, brought across thirty five years
later on the way back from the crusades," he told her, his face
remaining neutral.

"You're more than eight hundred years old," she stated, her mind still
not entirely comprehending what she just learned.  At least she
partially understood it.  Vachon had been almost five hundred years
old.

"Only by four years, and sixteen days," he added, trying to lighten up
the mood a little.  He knew she would find that piece of information 
interesting.  Natalie had.

She thought for a moment and then with incredibility laced in her
voice, she asked him, "You were born on new year's day?"

"Yeah, it's kind of strange actually.  After all that's the day I
chose to be ‘born' on for this life as well."  Nick looked at her with
a slight smile on his face, then said, "I really am sorry I didn't tell
you sooner, but things have been kind of busy lately.  Come on, let's
go help Natalie."

Tracy followed him, still in shock from the new piece of information
she received, still wanting to know why he didn't tell her before, and
also more about who he really was.  'Is this Nick the same person she
had been a partner with for over a year?  Would that partnership change
now that she knew what he was?  Or would nothing change, and everything
stay the same?'


Time and Time Again - Part 2/4

In the observation room on the Enterprise, the senior staff and the
Brabants were present and Picard began the meeting, "As you all know,
we have traveled back in time, to 1997, the late twentieth century.  A
shuttle craft from the attacked Kintala colony had become trapped in an
anomaly soon after contacting us.  When we used our tractor beam to
help the shuttle out of the anomaly, we were also caught in it.  As a
result, we were brought here.  Four hundred years into the past.  The
shuttle then entered Earth's atmosphere, and crashed just north of
Toronto, Canada."  He paused, allowing that information to sink into
the minds of those present, especially the Brabants.  "We scanned the
crash site, and discovered that the shuttle was completely destroyed,
therefore we don't have to worry about the technology being discovered. 
However, we believe the occupants survived the crash.  When we first
scanned there were seven life signs present at the site of the crash.  
They were of three different races.  Two Vulcan, three human, and two
of unknown origin.  We need to retrieve those who were on the shuttle,
then return to our own time without revealing our presence after
repairing any damage that has already been done."

"How are we going to find them?  By now they could be almost anywhere
in the Toronto area," Troi asked.

Picard looked at Brabant, who was very silent about the announcement. 
In fact he looked awfully pale, much more so than when they walked in,
and he didn't think it was from discovering they had traveled back in
time.  It seemed to coincide when he had mentioned where the shuttle
crashed.  He then asked, "You know the procedures from this time,
correct?"  Nick nodded, and was asked, "Where would we find that
information?"

He tried to conceal the nervousness he was feeling as a result of this 
incident.  He was living in Toronto in January of 1997, and had no wish
to meet himself, or for any of the Enterprise officers to do the same. 
After a few seconds, he responded, "It was most likely believed to be a
plane crash.   It was probably called in by a police officer, then they
would have gone down to the actual site.  Those that called it in would
most likely know the most about what happened, and given that there
were seven life signs at the scene of the crash, of more than one race,
the occupants were probably discovered by the officers."

Picard nodded, knowing he was probably right.  It made a lot of sense
for this time.  "Okay, I want Riker, Troi and you to go down and find
out who the officers that reported it are."

He looked down slightly, and told them, "I can't do that.  It's day
down there right now, and I'm allergic to sunlight."

Picard had forgotten about his allergy, and said, "Okay, then, take
another officer with you.  Just find out who the investigating officers
are, and who called it in, and then come back.  We'll do the research
on them here.  Dismissed."

Everyone left the room, Natalie returning to her quarters.  A few
minutes later Riker, Troi, Picard, Nick and one of the security
officers were in the transporter room.  Then Troi, Riker and the
security officer were dressed in period clothing, and  were given final
instructions by Nick.  He told them the best place to beam down, and
how to find out who the officers were.  He also gave them a handful of
replicated coins from the period so they could buy a paper, a source
where the ‘crash' would have been reported.  They beamed down, and
Picard had Nick come to the bridge with him to wait for their return. 
Hopefully the information they needed to find the shuttle's passengers
would be with them.


*+.*+.*+.*+.*+.


The three beamed down in an alley, and were glad Nick told them to wear
heavy coats.  It was below freezing outside, and was attempting to
snow.  They went to get the paper, which was a very good way to find
out without interacting with anyone.  It took a few seconds to figure
out which coins to use, and how to get it out, but they were able to
quickly and successfully get a paper.  They found the article on the
bottom of the front page of the Toronto Sun, and found both the names
of the officers that discovered it, and the names of those
investigating it.

They immediately beamed back up to the Enterprise, and went straight
to the bridge.  As they stepped off the turbolift, Riker with the
newspaper held firmly in his hand, he told him, "Captain, we found an
article in the paper, it tells who called it in and the officers on the
case."

"Who called it in?" the Captain asked.

He again replied, this time glancing down at the paper to make sure he
got the names right, "Detectives Knight and Vetter, and a Doctor
Lambert.  They had been on the way back from another crime scene north
of the city when they saw it go down.  They told the officers that
there were no survivors, but they were almost on the scene when they
called it in.  Also, blood was found at the scene.  It says that there
were probably survivors, they just don't know where they are, or how
many there were."

"Good, put their names in the computer, and then tell me what they come
up with.  If those detectives were as close to the crash site as they
claimed, they had to have been the other three we picked up on the
scanner.  The survivors must be with them, or they should at least know
where the survivors are.  Now we just need to find more out about these
detectives."

Nick had gone extremely pale at the mention of his old life, and the
fact that he and Natalie were involved in this case.  As soon as the
files were pulled up the Captain and the rest of the bridge crew would
know something was going on, but not what.  He then told the Captain,
"I'm going to have Natalie come up here, okay?"  As he spoke, his voice
was almost shaking, and after receiving permission from Picard, he
contacted her using one of the computer panels.  "Natalie?"

"*Yeah,*" she said just after her picture appeared on the screen.

Quietly he told her, "Come to the bridge, and bring a photo of us and
Tracy, from Toronto."

"*Why?*" she asked.  She didn't yet know about what was found in the
paper.

"Just do it.  They found out who called it in.  Brabant out."  Her
picture faded out, and Nick moved away from the computer, waiting for
her to reach the bridge.

Natalie arrived on the bridge less than five minutes later, and was
handed the article by Nick.  A couple of minutes after that, the files
of the two detectives and Doctor Lambert were found.  At the same time
Natalie finished reading the article in the paper, also very pale with
the information.

The Captain looked at the files of the people that called it in, and
with it, their pictures.  Two of the pictures looked like the couple
standing on the bridge.  He looked down at the Brabants, and then he
had no doubt.  They were the same people, they had to be.  He decided
to test them, see what their reaction to this would be, "You might want
to come up here.  We found something that might interest you."

They did so, already having a pretty good idea what it was, and stared
straight into their own faces of four hundred years ago.  The reaction
they expected wasn't the same as the one they got.  Nick clutched his
head as if it hurt, as if he were experiencing a severe headache.  It
increased and increased, until eventually he had to sit down from the
pain.  The Captain and Riker were concerned that it might be serious,
and watched.  Natalie then stood over him, pulling out her tri-corder,
even though it probably wouldn't tell her what was happening to him. 
She quickly asked him, "Nick, what's wrong?  What's happening?"

The only thing he could think to say, he did, "My head hurts."

"Nick, can you tell me why it hurts?"

He seemed to think some more, trying to figure out why.  Why does it
hurt to think?  After another minute, he said, "Memories, ones that I
don't remember, ones that I haven't had, but have.  I don't
understand."  He shook his head, and then it seemed to get worse, worse
than it already was.

'Why were memories causing this?  How?'  She had to figure out how to
stop the pain.  Natalie reached into her bag and grabbed something she
had discovered about a hundred years before.  Something that would
greatly minimize pain without visible side effects, even for a vampire.
 She gave it to Nick, then asked, "Do you feel better now?"

He nodded and said, "It's gone, they're gone."

The Captain interrupted them as Nick recovered, and asked, "Can you
explain this?" pointing to the computer.

Natalie looked at Nick, not knowing what to do.  She had never liked 
explaining these situations and doubted Nick liked it either.  Nick
then told the Captain, "Yes, that is me and Natalie.  Give him the
picture."

Natalie gave the picture of them to the Captain, and said, "That will
be taken in about two or three weeks."

The picture matched the pictures in the computer, and the appearance of
Nick and Natalie.  It also showed the other detective, Tracy Vetter,
with them.  That with their possession of the picture, put more weight
on their identity.  They were the same people.  "So you were the ones
that called it in and went to the scene.  What really happened?" he
asked, overlooking the fact for the moment that they had to be over
four hundred years old to have lived in the late twentieth century. 
The important thing was, that they were there when the shuttle went
down and that they probably knew who the other three detected life
forms were.

"I don't know, I can't remember anything about what happened.  It's
like my memory is being suppressed," he told the Captain, his head
hurting more as he tried to remember what happened.  The more he
thought, the more it hurt.

"What about you?" he asked Natalie.

"I don't know.  I don't have any memory at all of that incident."

Picard looked at them, then asked another question.  One that to him
was unexplainable, the one that he had overlooked at first.   "How can
this be you?  What are you?" in the process he gestured to the pictures
of them on the computer, and in the photo.

Natalie looked at Nick, indicating she thought he should answer the
question.   About a minute later he told him, "We are members of a very
old race.  Other than that, we can't say.  Although I will tell you
that we are on your side, and you have nothing to fear from us."

The Captain looked at him, took in his expression and everything else,
and for some reason he believed him, but still wanted to find out more.
 His duty as a Starfleet Captain, and his passion for archeology and
other cultures both wanted to find out more about this ancient race. 
He knew he wouldn't get any more information about them, at least not
now.  He then decided to focus on the events of the here and now.  "We
need to talk to your previous selves.  Find out what they know about
what happened.  If you had met people from the future then, ones that
were obviously non-human, what would you have done?" Picard asked.

Nick thought for a moment, running the scenario through his mind, 'What
would he have done?'  After several minutes, Nick replied, "Probably
take them to my place."  Nick knew Picard wanted to get to them as soon
as possible, and asked, "Could I see pictures of those aboard the
shuttle.  Except Asenath's, I don't need hers."

After another minute, the files of the two Vulcans and Asenath's
grandfather were displayed.  As before, when he had seen his own
picture, Nick's head began to hurt.  Memories were floating in faster
than his mind could assimilate.  He held his head, and tried to piece
the information together.  Find out what had happened, and was now
happening again.

He was brought back to the present by Natalie asking if he was all
right once again.  He took a few seconds and looked at the pictures,
and told them, "Yes.  I can't remember what exactly happened, but I do
remember that at least one of the people were hurt seriously, much more
than the others, possibly Talak."

Picard nodded, again believing what he had to say.  After all, what
reason did this man have to lie?  He asked, "You still don't have your
memories of the incident?"

Nick shook his head, indicating he did not.  Then the Captain said,
"That would indicate they were erased, possibly because of coming
aboard the Enterprise?"

A light went off in his head.  That's the only reason he wouldn't have
the memories, but how could they have been erased?  He hesitantly
answered, "Possibly."

Picard again nodded, as nothing seemed to be definite, and told them,
"I want you two to go to sickbay, have Doctor Crusher find out if
that's what happened.  Then come back here.  We'll decide what to do
then."

The two nodded then left for sickbay. The Captain walked over to Troi,
who had been listening to the whole conversation from her position just
a few meters away.  "What do you think, Counselor.  Should we take
everything they say as truth?  Or should we take caution when believing
their words?"

She looked at him, her face covered with different emotions, no one 
dominating.  "I'm not sure, it is very hard for me to read them, but I
sense no deception from either of them.  The man's mind is harder to
read, why I'm not sure, but I think they are telling the truth."

"Keep watch on them, tell me if anything changes," the Captain told
her, then she nodded back.  "I'll be in sickbay," he said getting on
the turbolift, following after Nick and Natalie.


As he entered, he saw Dr. Crusher adjusting the computer, and asked,
"Were their memories erased by us?"

She put her hand up, telling him to wait for a couple of minutes.  She
then ran a few tests on the computer, attempting to find the place
where the memories were erased, and therefore the pattern left behind. 
Natalie was looking on from behind, both in interest, and critiquing
her actions.  "No, their memory was not altered by us, something else
that I've never seen before did.  Also, the memories were not erased,
merely suppressed in some way.  Whatever did this did a very good job. 
I've never seen a machine that could suppress such a small section of
memories and, from what I can tell, leave no damage of any kind."

"I've seen this pattern before," Natalie commented as she approached
the screen, then adding, "This wasn't done by a machine."  She
continued looking at the pattern from their memories, exactly the same
as each other.  She looked closer at it and said, "Nick, come here. 
Doesn't this look like the pattern one of us puts into another's mind
when we hypnotize them?"

He came over and looked at it.  Then recognizing parts of the pattern,
but not everything just as Natalie had, said, "Possibly, but I don't
know who's it is, other than one of us, or someone we know."

"Yeah, and there's only one way to find out."  Nick nodded, and looked 
toward Natalie.  He knew there was only one way to know who hypnotized
them, and that would be to hypnotize someone, and look at the pattern
left behind.

"What do you mean by hypnotize?" Crusher asked, completely lost by
their conversation.  She knew it could be done, but to the extent they
were describing?  She didn't know if it could be done, let alone
without out help.

"We, and others like us, are able to hypnotize others.  Make them
forget things, and even make them do something they might not really
want to do.  When we hypnotize someone, just like when you erase, or
suppress someone's memory, a pattern like this," Natalie pointed to the
computer, "is imprinted into the person's brain.  With this pattern, we
can tell who hypnotized them, as the pattern is different depending
upon who does the hypnotizing."

"So, can you tell who did from this pattern?" the Captain asked.
"Not positively, but it was probably me.  I don't know of any others on
the Enterprise, and I am fairly good at it.  Plus to hypnotize one of
our own, or someone that is a resistor, or immune to hypnotism, as
seems to have been done.  It is very difficult."

"You said there's only one way to find out, how?" Crusher asked.

Nick looked at her and said, "By allowing me to hypnotize someone, then
analyzing the pattern imprinted on their mind.  Then compare it to the 
patterns left on our minds.  If it's the same pattern, it was me."

Dr. Crusher shook her head, knowing it probably was the only way to
find out.  "I volunteer, what do you want me to do?"

Nick looked toward the Captain, silently asking his permission.  After 
receiving a nod he told her, "Just stand there, and look into my eyes."
 He paused while she did so, and then, as she looked into his eyes and
they began to glaze over, he began, "Doctor Crusher, you will not
remember anything that happened within the past ten minutes."

"I will not remember," she said slowly, her eyes fixed on Nick's, her 
attention not wavering a bit, and her voice becoming monotone.

Receiving a positive answer, he continued, "Myself, Natalie, and the
Captain just walked into the room."

"Just walked in. . ."

"Do you understand?"

"Yes . . . I understand," she said, then Nick released her from his
hold on her mind.

After recovering from the slight disorientation, she said, "Can I help
you with anything?" looking at the three before her.

"How long have we been here?" Nick asked.

"You just walked in," she told them, her voice fading slightly, losing
its color.

"Good, it worked," Natalie mumbled, not meaning for anyone to hear.

"What do you mean, it worked?  What worked?" Dr. Crusher asked him,
completely confused about what was happening.  'What's she talking
about?  How come it seems like I'm an outsider to this conversation?'

"You'll remember later, for now Natalie is going to scan your mind."

Dr. Crusher looked toward the Captain, wanting to know if she should do
as they say. 'I am definitely out of the loop on this conversation. 
But why?'  He nodded and she let Natalie scan her, and then right
afterwards, Nick looked at her and commanded both with his eyes and his
voice, "Look into my eyes, Doctor.  You will remember what I told you
to forget, and the events that have transpired since.  You will
remember everything."

"I will remember . . ." she dully said, but already the connection was 
broken.  She shook her head slightly, her mind having a little
difficulty understanding why she would have forgotten, even though she
knew why, but at the same time didn't.  This was very disorienting when
you were trying to think about it.  She walked over to Natalie, the
pattern appearing on the computer, then watched as it was compared to
the scans she had done earlier, and she commented, "They're identical."

"Yes, which means we both come into contact with our former selves, and
Nick makes us, uh . . . them, forget about what they saw.  That would
explain why we don't remember."

'This situation is getting very interesting,' the Captain thought,
thinking about when and where they were, and also the little he knew
about immortals. 'Yes, that's what they are.  Some type of immortal
human.'  "Doctor Crusher, come with us, we need to decide how we are
going to deal with this situation."  The four then left for the bridge
of the Enterprise, the Captain telling the other bridge officers to
meet in the observation room.  Now they needed to decide what they were
going to do.


Time and Time Again  -  Part 3/4

"Nick, why are we going in to work, shouldn't we be helping Natalie?"
Tracy asked as she got ready for work, her partner sitting in her
living room waiting for her.  She didn't see why they should go in when
the people they found the night before were injured.  By not helping,
she felt as if she was not doing all she could.  She came out of her
room, and after she picked up her things and put her coat on, they
started for the door.

"Natalie doesn't need us to get in her way.  Besides, what can we
really do to help them?"

She thought about it.  They really couldn't do anything, and she
remembered Natalie saying that she didn't know if she could do
anything, and she was a Doctor.  "Yeah, I guess you're right."  Tracy
then turned her attention to the radio, tuned to CERK as usual, and
noticed the similarities between his topic, and what was happening. 
She'd never heard LaCroix talk about the possibility of life on other
planets, and it didn't seem to fit him.  In fact it seemed down right
uncharacteristic, but then he didn't seem to stick to any one topic in
particular.  Then, she noticed this wasn't the first time she'd felt
this way when listening to one of his broadcasts.  She'd noticed the
similarities before.  "Nick?  How does he always seem to know what is
happening, particularly about cases we're working on."

He was brought out of wherever he went when he zoned off, and after 
listening for a few seconds, told her, "Yes, he does seem to know what
we're doing, doesn't he?  He must be getting things over our link, he
likes to poke and prod into my life.  When something interesting comes
up, it just makes it even more so.  He taunts me because of my
involvement in mortal affairs."

"So, LaCroix' a vampire?" she asked curiously.  She had once asked
Vachon this question.  She had received a negative answer, but had
suspected he was lying.  Now she knew.

Nick looked over at her for a second, and told her, "Yes.  He is a
vampire.  He was the one that brought me across."

He seemed to take on a darker mood, and she figured he didn't want to
talk about it.  So she let him be.  Maybe he would tell her more later,
she hoped he would.

The rest of the way to the precinct was spent in silence.  As soon as
they walked in Nick was given a sheet of paper, and told that they
would be briefed on the way there.

They got in the Caddy and called dispatch, being put through to one of
the officers on the scene.  "Detective Knight?"

"Yeah," Nick said, "What's the situation?"

"There's a gunman in the building on the top floor of an apartment
building holding two hostages.  He's threatening to kill a girl and his
mother unless you and your partner get down here and talk to him."

"Do you know who he is?" Nick asked, wanting to know as much as
possible before getting there.

"Said his name was Ryan Fletcher, brother of a Nathan Fletcher.  He
said you'd know who he was."

"Okay," Nick said, remembering that Nathan Fletcher had been shot by
him about a month before.  He had murdered and killed a woman.  Then he
had run, firing at them when they had tried to arrest him, giving them
no choice.  He also remembered that Nathan Fletcher had died instantly,
a shot to the heart, when he had fired.  It was just after Fletcher had
shot another officer, also killing them instantly.  "What does he
want?"

"Like I said, he wants you and your partner to go up there, and I don't
think he likes you very much."

"Probably, and he doesn't have any reason to either."  Nick paused then
said, "We'll be there in about a minute."

They pulled up to the scene, switching the siren off and walking toward
the building showing their badges to the first officer they met.  They
were directed to another officer, and told the same thing they had been
told on the radio.  They entered the building carefully and took the
elevator up to the floor below the one Ryan Fletcher was on, then took
the stairs up to the top floor.  Just before turning the corner, Nick
told Tracy in a whisper, "Stay behind me as much as you can, not
necessarily directly behind me, but so there is more space between you
and him, than me and him, okay?"

She nodded in response, and they turned the last corner, and once to
the slightly open door they heard, "So nice that you could join us,
Detectives!  Come on in, or say goodbye to the beautiful lady, and her
precious little girl!" said Fletcher, a man in his early twenties,
pitch black tousled hair hanging down in front of his matching eyes,
and contrasting pale skin.

They did as they were told, knowing from the madness in his eyes that
he would do what he said if he had the chance.  The woman and the girl
were both scared to death.  Their heartbeats throbbing uncontrollably 
in Nick's ears, afraid they would die in the next instant.  They had
every right to be scared.  The woman had a gun to her back, and the
child a knife to her throat.  Neither could move if they wanted to
live, but then they were both too frightened to move.  If they had to,
they didn't know if they could.

"What do you want Fletcher?!" Nick asked him lowering his gun, but
still having it ready in case something were to happen.  Hostility was
not going to solve this one, at least if the woman and child were going
to live.  Especially if they were to live.

"I want to see you and your partner dead, that's what I want!  You
killed my brother.  My brother that always took care of me, taught me
everything I know.  Now I'm going to take care of him, starting by
getting his killer!" he yelled, his hand waving wildly with the gun,
causing the woman to begin to panic.  She suppressed a whimper and
looked toward the officers before her, pleading with her eyes.  She
wasn't going to be able to stand this much longer, she would break, and
break soon.

"Why don't you let them go?  They aren't a part of what you want. 
We'll trade, their lives for ours."

The man seemed to think for a moment, and just as he was about to
answer, his mind snapped, "No!  First I'll kill them, then I'll kill
you!  If I let them go, you'll just shoot me!  Like you did my
brother!"  Fletcher again turned the gun toward the woman, in the
process letting the child go.  She screamed and Nick flew toward
Fletcher, knocking his aim off, but not enough to avoid hitting the
woman in the shoulder.

Fletcher ran, and Nick told Tracy, who had been knocked down, to call 
outside and tell them what happened.  Nick ran after Fletcher, and just
as he got to the roof shots ripped through his body from overhead,
causing him to stumble and fall to the ground.  This allowed Fletcher
to get away on a helicopter that had swooped down to pick him up.

When he was able to stand up again, the helicopter already gone, he
went back down to the apartment and saw the paramedics helping the
woman.  She and her daughter were being taken out to the ambulance. 
Tracy asked, "What happened?"

"He went up to the roof, and got away by a helicopter."

"Damn!" Tracy said, mad that Fletcher got away.  Especially because the
woman had been hit.

"And he also got a little bit of satisfaction.  Although that will be 
destroyed when he discovers I am still alive," Nick said, causing Tracy
to become confused.  Then Nick opened his jacket, revealing several
bullet holes, and Tracy immediately became concerned.  'He'd been
shot.'

"Nick!  Are you going to be okay?!" she exclaimed upon seeing the holes
and blood on his shirt.  She didn't care what he was, that couldn't
have been that comfortable.

"I'll be fine.  I'll just have Natalie get them out.  Until then I can
put up with a little discomfort," Nick said, then left the room, Tracy
following him out of the building.  They made their statement, and Nick
explained some of the more visible holes in his coat as near misses,
although they'd been a lot more than that.  Then after calling Natalie
and telling her what happened, Nick had Tracy drive them to the morgue,
which made her concerned.


Natalie didn't want to leave, but knew she had to deal with Nick's
little problem and didn't think anything would go wrong if she was gone
for a few minutes.  Talak was stable and Asenath assured her that it
would be alright if she were gone for a while.  She took her car that
had been fixed and brought by the loft earlier that day.  She entered
her office to see Tracy sitting at her desk and Nick sitting on the
examining table.  She put one of Nick's shirts which she had brought on
her desk, then locked the door, just to make sure no one would come in,
although she knew no one probably would.

"Okay Nick, let's see what you did this time," she said while getting
her tools.  Nick unbuttoned his shirt, revealing about a dozen bullet
holes in him, causing Natalie to gasp when she turned around.  "Nick! 
You said a little discomfort, now I take that as one, at the most three
bullets, not more than a dozen!"

Tracy gasped and backed up when she too looked at him, not at the sight
of the bullet holes themselves, she had gotten used to that.  But at
the sight of them in her partner's chest, a partner she now knew was an
undead creature of the night.

Natalie was glad she brought the extra shirt, she didn't even bother to
count the holes in the one he was wearing.  "Nick, take off your shirt,
or at least what's left of it, and lay down."  Nick looked at Tracy who
was still a little startled, but was actually handling it pretty well
for a mortal.  Of course she already knew about the community before
she knew about him, but she had never seen this happen, never seen
bullets taken out of a live person.  "How many didn't pass through
you?"

"About half of them.  It seems I'm becoming a little less bullet
proof."  A slight smile appeared which caused Natalie to roll her eyes.

Natalie went and put on a pair of latex gloves, then returned with a
beaker an placed it on a nearby tray.  Nick handed her his shirt, which
she threw straight in the trash, and then he sat on the table once
again, carefully shielding his left side from view.  "Okay, now I want
you to stay still, and tell me if anything hurts," she told him.

"Don't worry, I think I've gotten quite used to this procedure."  Nick
then laid back and watched as Natalie, using more care than needed,
extricated the bullets from his upper chest with little difficulty,
then the ones in his abdomen.  She then decided to start on the ones
that entered his left side.  She noticed most of the bullets entered on
the left side of his body.  Silently noting that the shooter was on
that side.  After retrieving one that entered his arm, she said, "Nick,
I need you to move your arm so I can get to the ones in your side."

"Where do you want me to move it?" he asked not wanting to move it any
more than he had to.

"Um, I need your whole side, so move it so I can get to that," she told
him, remembering how hard it was for him to let her look at it, knowing
he would be reluctant to let Tracy see it, but that she would.

"Okay," he said, then moved his arm across his chest revealing the few
that had entered there, and also a large scar starting below his
waistline and running around his side, ending somewhere on his back.

Tracy approached Nick and looked at the huge scar that marred Nick's 
otherwise blemishless skin.  "How did you get that?" she asked, her 
fingertips almost touching the scar, but not quite.

"Remember when I told you I was brought across on my way back from the 
crusades?"  She nodded, then he continued, "The reason I was on my way
back was because of my injuries.  While in the Holy Land, I had a run
in with a scimitar, and it did a great deal of damage to my then very
mortal body.  I received that scar, and another on my thigh, and barely
survived the encounter.  Luckily my horse was still alive and I made it
most of the way back to the camp before someone found me.  Out of the
twenty of us that were attacked, only three made it back, and they both
died from infection soon after.  The other two received much more
serious injuries than me.  I guess you could say I was extremely lucky.
 I not only survived the encounter, but I also survived it without
major infection, or permanent damage.  Both of which were rare, and
almost unheard of for a wound this large, especially in that time
period.  Soon after I received word to return home, and I made it as
far as Paris, but my injury had made me weak.  Weak in more than one
way."

Tracy was still slightly fascinated by the injury, and watched as
Natalie removed the bullets in his side.  Natalie asked, "Did I get all
of them?"

"Yeah, if not I'll find out later."  Nick noticed the bareness of his 
situation, he couldn't very well put his other shirt on, and was about
to ask Natalie a question, when she handed him one of his silk shirts,
making his question pointless.  Once done buttoning the shirt he asked
her, "How is everything going back at the loft?"

"Setal and Aseneth are fine, Mr. Manning's injury was more serious than
I originally thought and will take more time to heal than I had
believed.  Talak seems to still be in serious condition, and I'm not
sure what to do for him.  His physiology is completely different than
ours, than a human's."

"Okay, go back to the loft, and we'll meet you there as soon as we can
get away from the precinct, we still have to make our official
statements on what happened tonight," Nick said as he tucked the shirt
in, and left the Morgue with his partner, dreading the statement they
were going to have to make, and trying to explain why they didn't come
right back to the precinct.  Instead they had been as far as anyone was
concerned, missing for about an hour.  And that was just the time they
spent at the Morgue.

Natalie nodded and started to clean up the instruments, and get ready
to leave for the loft.  Ten minutes later she was reaching for her
purse, but was stopped by a gun being put to her back.  She was told to
slowly turn around, and she did as she was told, seeing the madness in
the man's eyes and looks, knowing he could easily kill her if he wanted
to.  She was told to give him her purse and to grab her car keys.  The
young man with his unruly raven hair told her to get in her car slowly,
and then drive to the 96th precinct.  He also told her who he was,
causing her to tense, knowing this man was the one that shot almost
twenty bullets into her friend.  Sure, he was alive because of his
enhanced immune system, but still, to shoot anyone almost twenty times,
was definitely overkill.  She drove in silence to the precinct, and
hoped Nick would be able to prevent anyone from losing their life once
they got there.  She also hoped the young man wouldn't decide to kill
her as soon as he got to his destination, but somehow she knew he
wouldn't.  She was bait for Nick and Tracy.


*+.*+.*+.*+.*+.


The meeting had progressed well, and they now had a plan that just
might work.  Picard still didn't know why they couldn't use a more
direct approach, like materializing directly in the loft, so asked as
much, "Why can't we just materialize right in the loft?  It would be
much easier."

"Most likely my other self would feel confused, and could attack, not
really knowing what was happening, possibly injuring someone, most
likely as a result of a phaser being fired when someone would panic,"
Nick told everyone.  He knew that probably wouldn't have been his
reaction, but he never really knew what his reaction would be until the
event occurred.  He didn't want to underestimate himself, and cause
problems in their goal.  He wished he could remember what his reaction
was, and what action provided this reaction.

Picard nodded, now understanding that the direct approach would not
work, or at least that there was a chance it would not.  A chance that
they couldn't take.  They had to spend as little time as possible in
the past.  "So we are going to get both Knight and his partner alone,
or at least away from each other, then tell them what is happening, who
we are, and that we can help those that they found.  Then take them to
Knight's place."

"Yes, it's the only way we can assure nothing will happen.  Plus it
would be easier to explain to them individually than all at once."

"What about Natalie, your past self.  Why aren't you going to talk to
her?" Riker questioned, speaking to Natalie.

"Because she might be somewhat shocked at first, but I won't react
violently like Nick or even Tracy might because of their nature, and/or
their training.  I also tend to believe strange things more easily
than they do," she said as she remembered meeting Nick for the first
time, and all of the strange things she had seen throughout her life.

"Okay.  Riker, I want you to go with Natalie here, and Dr. Crusher, I
want you to accompany the Lt. Comdr.  Once assembled at Knight's I want
you to transport up first the injured, then everyone else."  He paused,
then asked, "Does anyone have any questions?"  When he received a
negative on that he said, "Dismissed," then watched as everyone but
Brabant left the room.  "Do you have a question you did not wish to ask
in front of the others?" he asked, curious as to why he had stayed
behind.

"No.  I just want to thank you for trusting us.  Believing what we've
told you, and not questioning us too much about it," he said then
exited the room as well.

Picard was still slightly perplexed by the whole situation, but through
this officer he was able to sense some strange feeling of trust.  True,
he was definitely hiding something, but he could tell it was most
likely more for their protection than to deceive them.


In the transporter room, Natalie and Riker prepared to beam down near
the precinct, both wearing clothes that would blend into the time
period.  Natalie wearing something she would have typically worn to
work, and Riker was wearing slacks and a dress shirt, both wearing
black winter coats.  Once they beamed down, Natalie stayed outside of
the precinct in the shadows to avoid being seen just yet.  At the same
time Riker walked into the precinct to get Knight outside and into his
car, where she would be waiting in the driver's seat.

Riker walked into the precinct, busier than he had expected it to be 
considering the hour, and looked for Knight.  He easily spotted him. 
He had the exact same appearance of the man he knew, and walked over to
the desk he was sitting at.  He then asked, "Detective Knight?"

"Yes," Nick said, raising his head from the paperwork, revealing the 
paleness of his face, much paler than Brabant's, but he still had the
same piercing blue eyes.

He tried to remember the particulars on what he was supposed to say,
his mind being frozen by Knight's eyes, and said what he was told to
say.  "Detective, I need to talk to you outside.  It is very
important."

Knight studied him very carefully and then asked very silently, quiet
enough that his partner couldn't here, "What is it about?"

Riker did the same, and replied quietly what he was told to tell him, 
"Fletcher, I heard about it and I know where he is."

Nick was too busy being pleased at the comment to notice Riker's
heartbeat rise at the lie he made, and told his partner, who had just
noticed the man her partner was talking to, "I'll be right back, I need
to get something out of my car."  She didn't get any time to respond
before he was away from his desk and on the way toward the exit, the
other man following close behind.

The two exited the precinct and walked toward Nick's car.  Once there
Riker told him to get in.  Nick was about to ask why, but when he saw
Natalie sitting in the front seat of his car, instead was going to ask
what she was doing there, but realized something.  Natalie, wasn't
really Natalie.  At least not the same one he had removed over a dozen
bullets from him less than an hour before.  This Natalie had no
heartbeat, and had the presence of a vampire.  She was also possibly
half his age.  Instead he simply looked from her to the man, and back
to Natalie and simply said, "How?"

Natalie was pleased Nick hadn't been violent, just very, very confused,
and said, "Get in.  We'll explain on the way back to your place."

Hesitantly Nick complied, and as soon as they drove off, Nick and Dr. 
Crusher came out of the shadows, both also dressed in typical clothes
for the period, Nick hoping no one will notice the change in his shirt
color.  They walked into the precinct, and directly to his desk.  As he
approached Tracy he almost choked on his words, not expecting seeing
her alive would affect him this much.  "Trace, could you come with us,
I need to tell you something."

Tracy was curious of who the man that had left with him was, and now
the woman that was with him.  At least now she would know what they
went to talk about, at least most likely.  She was a little confused
and sensed something different about her partner, not knowing what it
was at first.  Then after a few seconds realizing that it was his
presence, she followed Nick into one of the observation rooms, and
listened to his explanation anyway.

Tracy didn't believe what she was hearing, and once they finished, told
him as much. Then said, "If you really are Nick then how come I can
feel the evil around you like the others?  I've never felt it around
you before," she said, challenging him to prove who he was.

Nick winced at her description of what mortals sometimes feel around
his kind, 'Evil, yep, that was exactly what it was. The evil that
allowed his kind to survive while others perished.'   He then said,
"Like I said, I'm older now, four hundred years older, that makes
people's sense of me change."

She was still skeptical at his explanation, not believing time travel
was possible, and asked, "Prove to me who you really are."  When he
didn't do anything, she decided to do a test.  She remembered earlier
that night when they were in the morgue, when Natalie had removed the
bullets and she had seen the scar.  She looked straight into his eyes
and asked him, "How many scars do you have, and where did you get
them?"

He was a little taken back at her knowledge of that, and knew he had to
answer despite the Doctor's presence. Tracy noticed his
uncomfortableness, and waited for his answer.  "Two large scars, one on
my left side, the other on the thigh of the same side.  I received them
while I was in the Holy Land, when I was attacked with a scimitar," he
said, hoping that was enough to convince her, not wanting to reveal
just how old he was yet to the doctor.  She didn't know what he was,
and hoped it would stay that way.

She seemed to study him for a moment.  Then shook her head, telling
them that she believed them, even though she didn't know why.  Suddenly
they heard a commotion in the precinct, and the three immediately left
the room.  What they saw made the situation much more complicated.

Natalie was led in at gun point by Ryan Fletcher, and he yelled out
that he wanted to speak to Knight and his partner, and that he wanted
to make a deal.  Reese came out of his office and asked Nick, "What the
hell is going on!"

Nick did his best to slip back into his life as a detective, and not
knowing exactly what was going on, said, "Fletcher just came into the
precinct, holding Natalie at gunpoint.  He wants to make a deal. 
Possibly our deaths for the lives of Natalie and the others in the
precinct."

Reese nodded, seeming to accept his vague explanation, one that merely
told him what he already knew.  He knew they didn't have much choice
but to try and make a compromise with Fletcher.

Nick and Tracy approached the front of the gathering crowd, and said,
"We're here, what kind of deal do you want to make?"

"You know what kind.  I want you and your partner dead for what you did
to my brother.  If you agree to die, I will allow everyone else to go."
 Nick could see the madness in the man's eyes, becoming almost a golden
sparkle despite the fact that he was definitely not a vampire.  Nick
knew it would be hard to hypnotize him, even when alone.  His thoughts
were so mixed up the man couldn't even think straight, probably didn't
really even know what he was doing, let alone assimilate information
correctly.  But then he could use his speed, and capture the crazed
man.

"Okay, we agree to your deal.  First let everyone leave," he said, his
voice almost commanding in its nature.

Fletcher looked at the detective, and said, "Everyone but, Dr. Lambert
here, and her," pointing randomly to someone after scanning those
present, picking Dr. Crusher.  As an afterthought he said,  "and of
course you and your partner."

"And when you release them, you will allow them to leave, and then once
they leave you will kill us," Nick half stated, half asked the man
before them.

"Actually, no.  I think I'll kill you two first, then, perhaps, I will
let them go."  He paused, a ruthless smile appearing on his face, then
looking at others in the room he said, "You might want to start moving,
but slowly, if you don't want to suddenly die from a gunshot."

Everyone in the precinct left, slowly as they had been instructed. 
Once the precinct was empty, an eerie silence filled the area, broken
finally by Nick's voice.  "Look at me," Nick said, and after a few
tries the man was ensnared by Nick's mind.  Nick told the man to put
the gun down, and he was just about to when suddenly another sudden
headache made Nick's mind falter for a split second as he tried to
control the pain from his returning memories of the present.

This allowed Fletcher to free himself, and he continued as if nothing
had happened.  But Nick knew what was going to happen.  His lapse had
revealed the future.  So when Fletcher moved, giving him only a glance
of his hand with the gun, Nick knew Natalie was going to die unless he
did something, Fletcher's finger already pulling the trigger.  Before
anyone even had a slight idea what was truly happening, Nick flew the
few meters to where Natalie and Fletcher were and pulled her away. 
Nick pushed the gun away from its target as much as possible, but not
enough.  The gun went off, the bullet still hitting Natalie, but only
grazing her arm instead of passing through her heart and killing her as
Fletcher had intended to happen.  Fletcher passed out, his mind not
able to understand how the detective was able to move so fast, or how
he, for the most part, missed his target now for the second time.

Nick told Tracy, who from her angle did not see Natalie get hit, to go 
outside and tell the others that Fletcher is no longer a threat, and he
and Dr. Crusher went over to Natalie.  The doctor looked at the wound
in her shoulder using her medical scanner to determine the extent of
the damage, and commented, "It's only a flesh wound, it will be fine." 
Natalie was a little taken aback at the appearance of the device, but
only gave Nick a questioning glance.

Nick nodded and put his coat around Natalie's shoulders and said,
"Don't tell them you were injured, and as soon as we get the chance
we'll explain."

Before they were able to leave the precinct as they had planned, they
all had to give their statements on the events that occurred, then Nick
told the Captain they would be leaving, and that they would not be back
that night.  Nick explained to Natalie what was happening and she said
that would explain why he was wearing a different shirt, and why his
car wasn't outside the precinct.  The group exited the precinct and
walked toward a dark alley, making sure no one saw them enter it.

Abruptly, Nick stopped and held his hand to his head.  Yet another
headache from his returning memories, this time causing him to grab a
hold of something for support.  Natalie asked him, "What's happening to
you?"

He let the headache pass, then explained, "My memories of the events
that will occur are returning, and because I'm living throughout both
past and present at the same time, my mind is trying to comprehend it
and is in turn causing the headaches."

Dr. Crusher then explained that they would be transported to outside of
Nick's place, and then explained what would exactly happen when Tracy
asked.   "I think I'd rather not know that I am being reduced to my
mere molecules, then transported and recomposed somewhere else.  I
shouldn't have asked," she commented, feeling slightly sick to her
stomach.  She really wished she hadn't asked.

Nick then contacted the Enterprise, and they were transported to just 
outside of the warehouse.  They walked up to the security panel, and
Nick quickly punched in the code, almost as if it was still a regular
everyday task.  They then rode up in the elevator, and once inside,
Natalie and Nick each meet their other selves for the first time, this
time, in the flesh.


Time and Time Again  -  Part 4/4

At first they merely stared at each other.  Natalie knew that for her
to survive four hundred years, she would have to become a vampire, and
Nick knew that he would probably be the one to make her into one. 
Doctor Crusher interrupted the silence, saying, "We need to get Talak
in sickbay as soon as possible.  I'm going to go directly there with
him, Manning, Brabant and Dr. Lambert," she said, trying to make it
clear who will be going up with her and who won't.  "Riker will take
everyone else to the transporter room."   She had Nick and Natalie come
over to her then, reaching into her jacket contacted the Enterprise and
said, "Five to transport directly to sickbay."

Tracy showed virtually no surprise at what happened, but Nick however
was startled when the five dematerialized.  Since Tracy seemed to
understand, he asked her, and had about the same reaction she had.  He
also mentioned he would rather not know anything more about this
particular future device, at least not about how it worked.  He didn't
like the idea of being reduced to his molecules, then to disappear and
reappear somewhere else, in this case a spaceship somewhere out in
space.  Riker then contacted the Enterprise as well, and they too
disappeared in the transporter beam, only to reappear moments later in
a different place.

Tracy looked around the room in amazement, never planning on being able
to see the future.  The technology looked like something out of a
big-budget science fiction movie.   Nick however, had experienced the
last eight hundred years of Earth's advancement.  After getting used to
the idea of the transporter beam, he merely looked at some of the
things he did not recognize, such as the transporter pad itself.  After
less than a second later, he assumed that to be transported you were
supposed to stand on one of the circles on the pad itself.  Nick and
Tracy were then shown to quarters by Natalie, and from what Nick
recognized of the decorations they were his and Natalie's quarters. 
Then she left, saying she would be back soon, leaving the two alone.

They walked around the room, and soon found themselves asking what was
going to happen to them.  Were they going to be returned?  'Probably'
Nick's mind told him.  But will we still have our memories?  He didn't
know if they would or not, but he guessed they wouldn't, his future
self seemed a little surprised at first, like he was experiencing
everything for the first time.  He continued to think about what will
happen, and what had, when suddenly a door chime rang.  Seconds later
the door opened, after which Natalie, his Natalie, and their future
personas came into the room, and explained that they will need to wait
there until further notice.  They also explained the door chime, and
how to open it, either by voice, or the keypad, and how to work the
replicator before they left.

Nick asked her why she had to go up with the doctor, and she told him,
"I had been injured slightly when Fletcher took me to the precinct." 
At his apparent confusion, she explained what had happened, and how she
got the wound, the small graze on her arm.

He demanded to see it, and all he saw was a small tear in the fabric of
her shirt, and the perfect skin beneath.  At his confusion, she
explained, "Their medical technology is amazing. They were able to
immediately heal my wound with no pain, no stitches, and I watched it
heal faster than even your injuries do, with no apparent scars or
blemishes."

After a second Nick just merely nodded, but Tracy was now looking at 
Natalie's arm with fascination.  Even though she knew it was the
future, she still had trouble believing it was true.  To her it seemed
more like science fiction than science fact.   Natalie then asked,
"What do you think will happen next?"

"Well, we know they probably will have us forget what happened," Nick 
responded, but was interrupted by Natalie.

"Actually I know we will all forget, and from the bits and pieces of
the conversation I heard in sickbay, they think it was your double that
had done it.  Which means he'll probably be the one to hypnotize us."

"But, how is that possible?  I mean, isn't it virtually impossible to 
hypnotize a resister, and both me and Natalie are.  And wouldn't it be
even harder to hypnotize another vampire?" Tracy questioned, confused.

"You're right; it would be very difficult, if it is even possible."

Nick thought about how that could be done, then Natalie interrupted it,
saying, "Another thing, while I was in sickbay, I noticed that neither
the doctor, nor the other officers, seem to know what our future selves
really are.  They don't know vampires exist, so we should probably be
careful of what we say."

Nick nodded then they all decided they should probably get some sleep,
after all, they had nothing else to do, and they had been awake for the
majority of the past thirty six hours.


*+.*+.*+.*+.*+.


In sickbay, Nick decided to have Natalie see why he was still having
the headaches while he waited for the Captain, his first officer, and
the Counselor to join them.  When they arrived, Nick motioned Natalie
to the side so that he could stand up and walk toward them.  He only
got a couple steps before another headache came, this one far worse
than any of the others as the memories of the last couple of hours
joined him.

Dr. Crusher came up to him and was going to scan him, but he couldn't
allow the scanner to scan him.  It would cause discovery.  The doctor
didn't know what he was, and if she scanned him, she would discover he
was something other than human, and would demand to know how he could
possibly be alive when he had virtually nonexistent life signs.  Nick
roughly knocked the tricorder from her hands, almost causing her to
lose her balance in the process, and allowing everyone to see the
green-gold color his eyes had become caused by the pain of the
headaches.  Nick fell to his knees, as the headache increased in it's
intensity, and Natalie used her medical scanner on him.  She grabbed
her bag, and as before injected him with a drug, and almost immediately
he started to feel better, even though they didn't completely go away,
but the damage had been done, he had been seen.

Nick told Natalie to give him a second dose, that it wasn't working as
well as before, the headache had already gotten worse.  She did, and
afterwards, Captain Picard approached the two, now both kneeling on the
ground.  "You aren't just a unique human, are you?  I saw your eyes
change.  I've never seen anyone, from any race do that.  What are you?"
he asked.

Nick repeated to them what he had said before, "As I had said, we are a
race so old we can't even tell you our name.  But, I will tell you that
we are from Earth, and that we are for the most part human, although our
organs perform different tasks and at different levels of operation.  We
were also all at one time human.  As you can see with Natalie's past
self, she is still human in this time period."

"How do we know you are telling the truth?" Riker asked, unsure if they
could be trusted.

"What reason do we have to lie?" was Natalie's answer, while she helped
Nick stand up.

"Captain, I'm sure he's telling the truth, even with his mind being 
shielded.  And anyway, what reason do they have to lie?" the Counselor
said, knowing she was right, and so was Natalie.

"Are you positive?" the Captain said glancing quickly at Troi, Nick and
Natalie also waiting for her response.

She told him, "Neither of them are lying.  They may be concealing the
name of their race, but they aren't lying about what they are, that
they are from Earth, and were once human themselves."

Picard nodded, trusting her judgement, and asked, mainly directing the 
question to Nick, "Then, what should we do now?"

"Now we need to make our past selves and Tracy forget their experiences
of the past two days.  We should probably take them back to their
homes, and then hypnotize them there.  That way we don't need to worry
about them remembering something between here and there."  Nick paused
then, remembering the questions Picard asked Troi, he suddenly turned
to her and asked, "Are you Betazoid?"

"Half," was her short response.

He nodded and looked toward the Captain, waiting for his response.

"Will you be able to do it?" was the question he received.

"Well, considering the fact that both myself and Natalie had forgotten,
and are just now remembering, I would say yes.  But as to how difficult
it will be, I don't know."

"Very well.  Start working on it."

Picard, and Riker then left Sickbay, Troi staying behind and walking
toward Nick.  "How did you know I was a Betazoid?" she asked.

"Well, first of all the questions the captain asked you, and also your
mind.  Somehow it seemed different than the others."

"Are you, or your race telepathic?" she asked, catching the reference
he made.  He could tell the difference between a human's mind and a
Betazoid's.

Nick thought for a moment, wondering if what a vampire had could really
be considered telepathy, and replied, "I guess you could say that. 
Although if we are, it isn't the same as the type you have."

"Is there anyway I can help you?" she asked, wanting to do them a favor
for helping them get the others back aboard the Enterprise.

Nick thought about it, and asked, "You're the ships counselor correct?"
 She nodded, then he said, "There isn't anything specific for you to
do.  But if you would like, you can come with me and if I need help I
have it.  Then you can tell me what you think of my mind, if I'm
telepathic or not."

"Are you sure I can come with you?" she said, referring to going down
with them when they returned the others to Earth.

"Yes, and right now we are going to tell our past selves what we are
going to do.  But first we should get you clothes that will, if needed,
allow you to blend into the twentieth century."

The three left sickbay, and five minutes later were standing outside
Nick's quarters.  He hit the door chime, which was answered moments
later by his other self, and the three entered the room.  They then
proceeded to tell them what they were going to do, and Troi's presence
came in handy to reassure them that this is what was supposed to
happen.  They were told that they would be transported one by one to
their homes, and that Nick would be the first to go.  The others would
be taken to the transporter room later by one of the security officers,
and transport down on their own.

Once in Nick's home, they proceeded to suppress his memories of what 
happened.  It took longer than it would even for a mortal resister, and
by the time they were done Nick was almost completely drained of his
energy.  But he explained he would have enough to finish, and that it
shouldn't create any problems.  They left his past self in a dazed
state, and quickly slipped away.  They then transported to Natalie's
before he could figure out what was happening, and possibly jog his
memory.  Both Natalie and Tracy were easier to hypnotize, mainly
because they were not vampires, but by the time Nick and Troi returned
to the Enterprise, he was about ready to collapse from the effort. 
Before returning to the bridge as the Captain asked, he went by his
quarters, and got some ‘nourishment' then went to the bridge to see
what the Captain wanted, both he and Troi still dressed in their
twentieth century attire.

"So, what do you need?" Nick asked, approaching the Captain.

"Did everything go according to plan?" was the answer, a hint of
hopefulness in his tone.

"Yes, they don't know anything about what happened.  Their lives will 
continue as if this event had never happened."  He thought about how
Tracy's life would ‘continue.'  It would end only a few months later.

"What about you?  Do you feel any better?" Picard asked, referring to
the headaches Brabant had been experiencing since they traveled back in
time.

This pulled him away from his memories of the past, and he answered, "I
haven't had anymore problems, and I'm sure that when we return to our
own time it will go away completely, if it hasn't already."

Picard nodded and then he asked, "Would you care to take the helm Lt. 
Cmdr.?"

"What?!" Nick replied as he was slightly taken back by the request. 
After all he had only piloted the ship a couple of times, both at night
when the normal bridge officers were not on duty, and then it was
basically just monitoring the computer.  True it was night, but most of
the regular officers were still on duty because of the slight problem
they had.

"I asked if you would like to pilot the ship back to our own time," the
Captain repeated, knowing the request would seem odd to the officer
before him, dressed in the twentieth century clothes that along with
their wearer were timeless.  He could fit into the civilian populace in
almost any century, and no one would really notice his strange dress
unless they looked closely.  Even if they did, he wouldn't really seem
that out of place.

This time Nick simply asked the Captain, "Why?"

"Because your race is so old that you can't even say its name, yet you
can tell us more about you than we would probably get from it.  You put
a lot of trust in us, and we put some in you.  Also since you did the
main work in our task, I am putting more trust in you.  Trust that we
owe you and that you can get us the rest of the way out of this mess,
get us back to our own time."

When Picard looked at him silently, Nick took the seat behind the helm
and got the ship ready to leave its position hidden behind the moon.

"Set a course to sling shot around the sun, I believe Data's
information is in the computer."

Nick punched several commands into the computer, and quickly found it -
the angle, speed, and everything else he needed to plot the course
home.  He simply said, "Ready," so the Captain would know he had found
the information, and prepared to carry out the command.

Picard leaned slightly forward, and said, "Engage," and the ship made
its way toward the sun, and toward their own time.



~fin~


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