Standard Forever Knight disclaimers apply. 'Fields of Gold' is
sung by Sting.

Timeline: Near the end of the second season.

After the cure, Nick wanted a perfect normal life. He searched
all over and found a small town in Iowa, where he secured a job
as a sheriff. He moved there three months after Natalie finished
the cure and bought a big farmhouse to fix up.

Natalie cried after he left. She'd always hoped when they found a
cure, they'd live out their days together.

Six months later, she received a letter from Nick. He'd sent her
an airline ticket, requesting she come visit him. even though she
knew it would re-open the wound on her slowly healing heart, she
agreed.

///You'll remember me when the west wind moves
   Upon the fields of barley
   You'll forget the sun in his jealous sky
   As we walk in fields of gold///

A tan, happy Nick greeted her at the airport. As they drove the
nearly one hundred miles to Nick's new home, Nick spoke almost
non-stop of the wonders of the town and it's surroundings.

He mentioned he owned about three acres of land, but rented it
out to a neighbor who grew barley on it.

They arrived late to his home, so he showed her to the guest room
and they said good night.

Nick had to work the next morning, but he promised to be back at
noon.

Natalie spent the morning puttering around the kitchen and the
house, which was decorated in a charming country motif. When Nick
arrived home, she was packing a picnic basket. After he changed,
she demanded he take her to explore the surrounding farm.

///So she took her love
   For to gaze awhile
   Upon the fields of barley///

They sat in the middle of a field. He told her more of his life
in the peaceful town.

Then casually, oh so casually, he mentioned the town doctor was
retiring soon and was looking for a replacement.

He knelt beside her and opened a small jewelry box. Inside was a
gold ring with a diamond that glowed in the sunlight like liquid
fire.

He asked her to be his wife, and live out his mortal life with
him. The most beautiful words she ever heard. She was in his arms
in a moment.

///In his arms she fell as her hair came down
   Among the fields of gold
   Will you stay with me, will you be my love
   Among the fields of barley
   We'll forget the sun in his jealous sky
   As we lie in fields of gold///

As the glorious summer sun beat down on them, they made sweet love
in the field.

///See the west wind move like a lover so
   Upon the fields of barley
   Feel her body rise when you kiss her mouth
   Among the fields of gold///

They had a simple marriage in the town's church. The Schankes
came down, along with Captain Cohen. 

Schanke was thrilled and said he knew it would happen someday.
His only complaint was that he longed for Nick's brooding
sometimes when the commissioner's daughter, Tracy, his new
partner got too perky around two in the morning.

The next five years were a dream. They had two children, a boy
they named Don, much to the delight of his Canadian godparents,
and a little girl they named Fluer.

Of course, after eight hundred years of not worrying about being
sick, Nick often failed to get a through check-up often. It
wasn't until the spring right before their sixth anniversary when
Nick collapsed, that anybody found anything wrong.

The doctors found the tumor on his neck, too close to his brain
stem to remove. They estimated Nick had three months to live.

Natalie sat by Nick's hospital bed and let the tears run down her
face as he slept. She blamed herself, God, Lacroix, anyone. If
she hadn't given him a cure, if God had seen fit to keep this
disease away, if Lacroix hadn't made him a vampire in the first
place.

Nick awoke and she tried to hide the fact that she was crying. He
took her hand.

"My Natalie, I never thanked you for giving me the chance to see
the sun."

"If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't be dying." Natalie said as a
fresh rain of tears slid down her face.

"I would rather die, having walked in the sun then spend an
eternity in darkness. I have three months to live in the sun with
you and the children. That is the greatest gift I could ever
have."

Natalie nodded. "I'll go check you out of the hospital."

///I never made promises lightly
   And there have been some that I've broken
   But I swear in the days still left
   We'll walk in fields of gold
   We'll walk in fields of gold///

Nick lived his full three months in all the summer heat Iowa
summers had to offer with Natalie and their children. Schanke,
Myra, and Jenny came down for a month in July for a final visit.

Even Lacroix stopped in once.

August, Nick and Natalie spent their days walking, mostly with
the children, a lot by themselves.

One night, towards the end of August, when the kids went to bed
early and the sun was still up, Nick and Natalie went into the
field where he proposed to her, to watch the sun set. They sat in
the same spot, facing west.

It sunk slowly, making the world glow with golden joy.

"One of the things I hate is not seeing the children grow up. Not
being about to raise them with you. Natalie, it would have been
wonderful."

Natalie nodded. "I'll make sure they would have made you proud."

"I don't doubt it, they already do, every day." Nick sighed.
"What I hate the most is I won't be able to grow old with you."

Natalie nodded. Despite the warmth, Nick was shivering with cold.
He'd grown so thin in the last month. She sat behind him and
wrapped her arms around him to try to offer him some of her heat.

Nick leaned back into her lap and rested. He looked up and
touched her face. "Thank you for the sun."

"I love you, Nick," Natalie whispered.

Nick shivered. "I love you, Natalie."

With those last words barely from his lips, Nick Knight, 800
years old, died in his wife's arms.

The funeral passed. Natalie continued to live. The children grew
up too fast as children always do. Don went to medical school and
met a beautiful young woman, Sharon, who loved the idea of small
town life.

Fluer followed in her father's footsteps, much to the surprise of
the old-fashion town, she became the head sheriff and married the
owner of the general store in town. 

Natalie grew old. She had six grandchildren who she spoiled
rotten. She still lived in the farmhouse, where Don and Sharon
had moved in with her.

///Many years have passed since those summer days
   Among the fields of barley
   See the children run as the sun goes down
   Among the fields of gold///

One summer night she smiled contently as the grandchildren ran
about the yard. She smiled as they groaned as the parents called
them inside as the fiery sun, her constant companion all these
years began to set.

The grandchildren all kissed her goodnight. She watched the wind
make the barley ripple like the ocean. She watched the sun set,
and remembered her Nick. 

///You'll remember me when the west wind moves
   Upon the fields of barley
   You can tell the sun in his jealous sky
   That we walked in fields of gold
   That we walked in fields of gold
   That we walked in fields of gold///

Natalie Lambert Knight, joined her husband, her mortal beloved,
and the last rays of sunlight faded.

The End

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