Luck Be A Lady
By Fewthistle

Author's Note: Written for the Bad Luck Challenge (take two) at the_pottingshed Community on Livejournal.

Spoilers: Set after end of Series 3.

Bad luck. Fate. Lousy karma. Call it what you will, it had always stalked her, following along for years at a distance, a figure in the shadows, the ghost of a chill wind along her spine. Nikki had managed to stay just barely beyond the reach of its skeletal grasp for ages, sometimes even happily forgetting it was there, waiting, watching.

Until that night, that night when, malevolent and stealthy, it had shoved her forward, broken bottle in her hand, and then stood behind her, laughing delightedly as the blood flowed freely from the wound in his neck. She had almost caught a glimpse of its ghastly face as the police had led her away in handcuffs.

So, she had ended up there, in that unspeakable place, reduced to nothing more than another inmate, another con. They had tried to strip away all that she was, pulling at layers of her, like tearing shreds of wallpaper from crumbling plaster. Perhaps they would have succeeded, if it hadn't been for Helen.

Helen, who lay now, her head pillowed in Nikki's lap, hazel eyes for the moment shuttered, a sweetly contented smile just touching the corners of full lips. Her savior. Her passionate, avenging angel. Her heart.

If bad luck hadn't stalked her, if Fate had not stepped in and forced the issue, if karma hadn't caught up with her, she might never have known this woman, this soul who completed her own.

Smiling tenderly, Nikki gently brushed the hair from Helen's forehead. Then, closing her own eyes, she said a silent prayer of gratitude for bad luck.