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The Watch
By Megan Hull
(c) December 2001
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	Nick scowled in frustration.  These last two days it had been one thing 
after another, and he had not had a chance to so much as set foot in his 
loft for almost 36 hours.  And now he was caught away again, trapped by the 
sun here in Natalie's apartment.  He glanced at his watch again.  What was 
he going to do?  Time was running out.

	"Nick, is there something wrong?  That's the third time in 5 minutes you've 
looked at your watch."  Natalie's voice was concerned.

	Nick sighed, argued with himself for a moment, then decided that this was 
too important.  "Nat, can you do me a favor?"

	"Sure, of course."

	"I need you to go to my loft and get me something."

	"Oh?"  He didn't need clothes or blood-she kept both in her apartment.

	"In the top drawer of my bedside table, there's an antique silver pocket 
watch.  I need you to bring that."

	"A watch?  I don't get it."

	"Look, Nat, I don't have time to explain right at the moment.  The sooner I 
get that watch, the better.  I'll tell you all about it once I have it."

	Natalie wondered what this was all about, but Nick looked so agitated that 
she decided not to argue.  "OK, one antique pocket watch coming right up."



	The watch was exactly where Nick had said it was.  Natalie peered at it 
closely.  It certainly was beautiful, and obviously very old, but she still 
didn't see why it was so important that Nick have it right away.  When she 
held it to her ear, she could hear the faint tic-tic-tic-tic-tic of the 
gears working.  With a shrug, she slipped it into her purse and headed back 
to her place.

	Nick could hear the faint ticking of the watch the moment Natalie opened 
the door.  With a frown, he noted that it was slower than it should be-the 
spring was almost unwound.  Anxiously, he took it from Natalie's hands and 
quickly set to winding it.  For some twenty seconds, the only sound was that 
of the gears winding the spring tight again.  Nick then adjusted the minute 
hand ever so slightly and sat back with a sigh of relief.

	"Just in time," he muttered.

	"In time for what?  Nick, what's so important about that watch that you 
couldn't wait to wind it?"

	Nick considered the ancient timepiece as his thoughts drifted back to its 
origin.  "It belonged to a very special friend of mine."



	"What a fine old watch!" Nicholas Harper exclaimed as his friend checked 
the time.

	"Yes it is, isn't it?"  Simon Newcastle seemed pleased that Nicholas had 
noticed.  He held it out for his friend's inspection.  "It belonged to my 
great-grandfather, originally.  I received it when my father died, when I 
was a youth."

	Nicholas brought the watch closer to look at its finely wrought carving.  
It was, indeed, a singular watch.  He hadn't seen it's like in some hundred 
years, and this one was clearly well cared-for.  "My friend, you know what 
this is worth?" he asked.  "Some two-hundred pounds, I'd wager."

	"Oh, no, Nicholas.  It is worth far more than that."  He took the 
pocketwatch back and cradled it lovingly in his hand.  "When I was a small 
boy, our family fell on hard times.  For a while, this watch was the only 
article of value that we possessed.  Yet my father refused to sell it.  He 
said it was the only thing he had remaining of his father, as it is the only 
of mine, and that as long as the watch was in his possession, his father was 
not truly gone."  He now tucked the watch back into his pocket.  "Every day 
of my childhood, I watched him carefully clean and wind the watch.  Its 
spring is extra-long-it will go for a day and a half without winding, if 
need be.  But it never needed it.  And now it is mine.  And yet," he made a 
dramatically tragic face, "I fear I shall have never have heir to pass it on 
to."

	Nicholas laughed.  Simon's lack of a wife was something he often bemoaned, 
yet never seemed in a terrible hurry to remedy.  "Someday, my friend."



	"Sounds like a nice guy," Natalie commented when Nick paused.

	"He was more than 'nice'.  The more time I spent around him, the more awed 
I was.  He seemed to dedicate his life to making people happy.  All he ever 
did was give.  I loved to be around him, but I often feared that he would 
tire of *my* company."  Nick laughed shortly.  "I was astounded when he told 
me I was his closest friend.  I wondered why; I certainly had nothing to 
offer him in return."  He shook his head.  "I still don't know."  Natalie 
hid a knowing smile.  She did.  But Nick didn't notice.  "He accepted me 
whole-heartedly, never tried to pry into things I didn't want to talk about. 
  He made me feel more accepted and loved than anyone ever had before."

	"But he never married?"  Natalie was incredulous.

	"No, he never did.  We spent 6 years as nearly inseparable friends, during 
which I learned almost everything about him, but told him very little about 
myself.  But he never seemed to care.  I didn't find out why until it was 
too late."

	"'Too late'?  What happened?"  Natalie had the distinct feeling that this 
story had a sad ending.

	"An epidemic of pneumonia.  It killed so many, and no-one knew then how to 
stop it."



	"Hush Simon.  The doctor said you have to rest until the fever breaks."  
Nicholas gently wiped his friend's face with a damp cloth.

	"It is no use, dear friend."  Simon's eyes were bright and his breath came 
rapid and shallow.  "I have no more life left in me than my poor watch will 
with no-one to wind it."

	Fear and pain furrowed Nicholas' brow as he clasped his dying friend's 
hand.  "Than I shall wind it for you!" he whispered fervently.

	"Do so.  Then, at least, some part of me shall live on."  Nicholas opened 
his mouth, was about to speak from desperation, but Simon shook his head.  
"No, Nicholas.  Let it be."  He stared knowingly into the vampire's eyes.  
"Let it be."

	Nicholas closed his mouth and swallowed his words with difficulty, then 
nodded slowly.  There was nothing else he could do but sit in silence as 
Simon struggled for his last breaths.  "The watch, Nicholas.  You will wind 
it for me?"  Nicholas nodded, not trusting his voice.  "Then I, too, shall 
be eternal."  A final, shaky breath, and Simon Newcastle was no more.  
Nicholas dropped his head to his chest, as crimson tears fell from his eyes. 
  Then, tenderly, he laid his friend's arm across his chest and leaned to 
blow out the candle.



	"He knew," Natalie spoke into the silence that had stretched several 
minutes after Nick had finished his story.

	"He knew.  Though for how long, I'll never know."  He looked 
contemplatively at the silver pocketwatch he still held in his hand.  "Yet 
he never questioned.  Never said a word.  Never gave me so much as an odd 
look....  He was one of the best people I've ever known.  And he was one of 
the best friends I have ever had."

	"And you've had the watch ever since."

	Nick nodded.  "In a hundred and fifty years, the only time it's run down 
was when it was being repaired.  It's my way of keeping his memory alive."

	"Wow.  That's one old watch.  And very valuable."

	"Yes, it is.  In ways the world would never understand."  He considered the 
watch a moment longer, then slipped it into his pocket.

End