Title: Valentines Surprise
Fandom: Forever Knight
Note: Challenge Response to the Medieval Flower Challenge
Author: Endaewen
Rating: G
Disclaimer: All characters and settings belong to their owners and creators. 
The information on medieval floral codes comes from the book Paint Your Own 
Illuminated Letters.
Summary: He can't say it with words, at least not yet.
Archive: Just let me know where it goes.

	*Valentines Day*! It was going to be a long shift, and she hadn't even made 
it to the half-way point yet. Natalie's office was busy today and it was 
spilling over onto the night-shift crew. *Whatever happened to Valentines 
Day being a day to celebrate love? Right now it seems more like Toronto is 
celebrating love gone bad*. She was finishing up the report for a domestic 
abuse case that had gone too far, her second of the evening. Before this one 
there had been the aftermath of the fight at the club. *Not the Raven, thank 
goodness. I hope I don't have one of those tonight. This is bad enough.* The 
fight had left one person dead and had led to Natalie's being called on duty 
four hours early. *At least the cases are straight-forward, we have the 
perpetrators in custody. Drunkenness and jealousy. A bad combination.*  She 
shook her head at the waste of young lives.

	The only bright spot in the evening so far was one that was giving Grace 
and just about everyone else on shift plenty to speculate and gossip about. 
It wasn't anything outrageous or even too unusual for Valentines Day, just a 
bouquet of flowers. Clearly though it was not an 'off-the-shelf' 
arrangement.

	When Natalie got back from the scene of the fight it was waiting for her at 
the main desk, where everyone could see it and speculate. The arrangement 
was a mixed one, not simply the red roses traditional to the day, though 
they were present as well. However, most of the flowers were of other types, 
including the red and yellow tulips and pansies. There were a few flowers 
that the coroner didn't recognize, but she would be the first to admit that 
she was no expert on the topic.

	Almost lost among the flowers was a card saying: Natalie, may these flowers 
express my feelings for you. That was all there was written on the card. No 
name or signature and the handwriting was unfamiliar. Natalie stood there 
for a moment, re-reading the card and contemplating the words before Grace 
saw her.

	"So, who sent them? That's what we've all been wondering about since those 
beautiful flowers arrived," Grace asked eagerly. Natalie chuckled. From the 
looks of things, the office gossip mill had been going at high speed and 
they were now hoping for more tidbits. She didn't mind too much, at least 
when she wasn't the subject. It wasn't usually malicious. Still, her 
friendship with Detective Nick Knight was a common and popular topic of 
discussion both here and at the precinct. Sure enough, Grace's next question 
was "they're from Nick, aren't they?"

	"I don't know who the flowers are from, Grace. The card is unsigned, and I 
don't recognize the handwriting. They're nice though," Natalie replied, 
showing her friend the card. "Do you know when they arrived?"

	Still holding the card, the other woman answered. "About an hour ago. They 
were delivered by 'All Occasions Florists'." She added, "whoever sent them 
must have paid extra for that. It's long after normal closing hours." 
Currently, the clock on the wall behind the desk was showing ten o'clock.

	The coroner stifled a yawn as she glanced at the clock. *Six more hours. 
Hopefully I won't end up doing overtime.* As it was, she'd been called in 
three hours early that night. The thought of work drove the puzzle of the 
flowers and card right out of her head. In fact, she was so list in her 
thoughts, she didn't hear her assistant's next words. "Sorry, what was that? 
I wasn't paying attention."

	Grace repeated her question, amusement in her eyes. "Do you have any idea 
who sent the flowers?" *I guess she thought I was thinking about that 
instead of work.*

	"No, I don't. The inscription on the card is puzzling. At first glance, the 
assumption is that it means love, but it doesn't say that at all."

	Grace looked at the card, reading it out loud: "'May these flowers express 
my feelings for you.' You're right. This is becoming more of a puzzle the 
more I read it."

	"Well, whoever my secret admirer is, we'd better get back to work," Natalie 
finally said. However, she brought the flowers and card into her office 
where she could enjoy them for the rest of her shift. Her voice must have 
been somewhat short as Grace looked at her with surprise and asked if she 
was alright. "Just tired," she replied.

	The coroner hadn't slept well for the past week or so, and, it seemed, it 
was beginning to show. She kept waking up from mostly unremembered bad 
dreams. All she remembered when she woke up were vague and fragmentary 
impressions that made no sense. White roses, cold eyes and harsh hands 
gripping her head and shoulders. She couldn't figure the dreams out, but 
they had been getting worse as Valentines Day drew closer. Natalie shook her 
head and turned to the never-ending pile of paperwork on her desk to pull 
her thoughts away from the strange dreams.




Instead, her eyes were caught by the flowers on her desk. Grace, and 
apparently most of the rest of the nightshift thought the flowers were from 
Nick. Natalie thought it was a possibility as well, but given the state of 
her relationship with the detective for the past year, she had her doubts. 
*Not to mention his vampiric nature. He keeps reminding me that it's not 
safe to get too close to him.*

	*I have no clue how he feels about me, if Nick sees me as only his doctor, 
his hope for a cure, or if I am his friend, or even if he sees me as more. 
Last year it was easier. I'd have sworn we were friends, possibly more. But 
then, about a year ago he became distant again, the way he was when we first 
met. I don't know why. Without knowing that, it's hard to know how I feel 
about him. Though, I'd like it if we became closer again.* She missed the 
casual visits, the discussions of almost any topic, though Nick was 
uncomfortable talking about much of his history.

	Natalie had decided not to push the detective however, for fear that it 
would make him even more distant. Instead she would keep their friendship at 
whatever level he was comfortable with.

	Eventually the coroner was able to put aside her musings on the state of 
her relationship with Nick and the puzzle of the flowers and card and get 
back to her work. At least, unlike the early part of her shift, there were 
no new cases for a while and she was able to work on paperwork for a couple 
of hours.

	It was now past two in the morning and Natalie was working on paperwork 
again, having been interrupted by another call to a scene. Again the case 
was straightforward: a jealous spouse comes home to find their partner in 
bed with another. The only thing unusual about it was that the killer was 
the wife. *Valentines Day is supposed to be a day for love and happiness, 
not jealousy and violence. What's going on this year?*

	She was staring at the flowers on the desk, an arrangement of mostly red 
and yellow, mixed with some other colours and greenery. Unusual for the day, 
given that most Valentines Day bouquets were comprised of some combination 
of red, white and pink flowers. Just staring, not thinking of anything when 
Detective Knight arrived to pick up some files.

	"Busy night?" he asked as a greeting. He'd been on her last call, so he was 
probably hoping for some of the files to be ready.

	"You need to ask?" Natalie's reply was friendly but sarcastic. She 
continued with: "Whatever happened to Valentines day being a time for 
romance and love?"

	"I don't know, though people only really began to celebrated it in the last 
couple of centuries. Now, in many ways it's become a Hallmarks day." Natalie 
always found it fascinating, the little tidbits of historical knowledge that 
Nick would drop into conversations. They came from his eight centuries of 
life and experience.

	"I heard the gossip in the halls. All everyone's talking about are the 
flowers you got. So, who sent them?"

	"Not you too," Natalie groaned, but there was laughter in her voice and a 
twinkle in her eyes.

	"You wouldn't believe the number of people who asked if I had sent them."

	"Try me," she replied. "It's probably close to the number who asked me if 
you sent them."

	Just then Grace came in, carrying a couple of brown envelopes. "I got the 
results for two of last week's cases back."

	"Thanks, Grace." Natalie replied, then answered Nick's question. "I don't 
know who the flowers are from. There was no name on the card. All it says is 
: 'May these flowers express my feelings for you.' They are an unusual 
choice for Valentines Day, though," she added, looking at the flowers in 
question.

	Nick frowned thoughtfully, looking between the card, which Natalie had 
handed to him after reading, and the flowers on her desk.

	The third person in the room, Grace, took that moment to ask the question 
that had been occupying the gossip mill since the flowers had arrived 
earlier in the evening. "Nick, did you have anything to do with these 
flowers?"

	Instead of answering her question, he said "I saw a show on T.V. about 
medieval heraldry a while ago. It had a section on symbolic meanings for 
flowers in it." Natalie shot the detective a sharp look, but he continued 
speaking without seeming to notice. "I don't remember a lot, but I do 
remember that apparently, tulips, roses and chrysanthemums," he touch each 
of the flowers in question gently as he spoke their names, "all had a 
connection to love." The three types of flowers he named were quite numerous 
in the arrangement, making up about half of the flowers.

	*That answers who the flowers are from, I can't think of anyone else who 
would have heard of such a thing. At least not anyone I know. It's a good 
excuse for Grace though. So Nick Knight loves me.* As she thought that, 
Natalie asked about the other flowers.

	"I don't know, but given the card, it is likely that they do have a 
meaning," was the detective's reply. With that, he changed the topic of 
conversation to work related questions. Soon enough, Grace left, citing work 
of her own as the reason.

Once she was gone, leaving the two alone in the room, Natalie asked Nick if 
he had sent the flowers. This time, unlike when Grace or anyone else had 
asked, he answered, rather than evading the question. "Guilty as charged." 
She thought there was a hint of laughter in his voice. "I had to let you 
know how I feel somehow." Natalie was certain she could see Nick's emotions 
in his eye, specifically, love, but she was worried that she was seeing what 
she was hoping for and not what was really there. "Today seemed as good a 
day as any other. I'd intended let you know last year, but other things got 
in the way. It wasn't safe after that," the vampire said, then added so 
quietly that Natalie almost couldn't hear his words, "it still isn't. And, 
yes the flowers are a part of that symbolic code I mentioned earlier," he 
changed the subject with a lighter tone of voice.

	"So what do they mean?" Natalie asked. She was puzzled by what he had said 
about it not being safe, because she didn't remember anything happening the 
previous year, but went along with his change of subject. *It explains why 
he was so cool to me for most of the last year anyway,* she thought.

	"As I told you and Grace, tulips, roses and chrysanthemums all have a 
connection with love, but the colour of the flower was important as well, as 
it could completely change the meaning of the message. Just as they do 
today, red roses meant love. Red tulips are, specifically, a declaration of 
love." Again, as he spoke the names of the flowers, Nick touched one of the 
blossoms of that type. The red chrysanthemums say 'I love'," he continued. 
"Also, the red carnations," naming one of the other flowers she had 
recognized.

	The next flower the vampiric detective pointed out was one of a number of 
pansies. "These send a direct message." Here he looked straight at Natalie, 
"I think of you always." As Nick said that, he removed one of the pansies 
from the arrangement and handed it to her. He looked back at the arrangement 
and touched one of the strands of ivy. "Ivy has several meanings, but the 
ones I intended for this arrangement were lasting friendship and fidelity." 
Nick explained the rest of the arrangement in a similar manner. Finally he 
came to the yellow tulips that made up such a large part of the bouquet.

	"They symbolize hopeless love." There were a number of emotions in Nick's 
voice when he said that, but Natalie couldn't pick out any specific ones.

	Before she could argue with his last statement, Nick continued. "There are 
a number of other flowers I'd have like to include in the arrangement, but 
the florist couldn't get them. For example, Forget-me-nots for true love, 
and pear blossoms, which are a wish for lasting friendship."

	They continued to talk about the flowers for a few minutes more, before 
Nick had to go back to work. His final words to Natalie were: "I don't know 
where we can go from here, but I'd like to find out."

	"So would I, Nick," Natalie replied as Nick turned to walk out of her 
office. As he turned, she could see the smile on his face.

The flowers used:
Yellow Tulips: Hopeless Love
Forget-me-nots: True Love
Pear Blossom: Lasting Friendship
Red Roses: Love
Red Chrysanthemums: Love
Red Tulips: A declaration of Love
Pansies: I Think of You Always
Ivy: Eternal Life (Not the meaning Nick would use), Fidelity, Lasting 
Friendship

The Medieval Floral Challenge:
Write a story where the symbolic meanings of flowers forms an important plot 
point

Finduilas
http://www.go.wifl.at.org/fin/index.htm
Updated on June 1
http://www.livejournal.com/users/endaewen/
http://www.fanfiction.net/u/761957/