Hard Data

Although it was established at the beginning of the series that Natalie is researching a cure for Nick’s vampirism, the first episode to show her notebook was “Only the Lonely”, which came late in Season I.  In the course of that story, Nick searched Natalie’s desk in her office in the Coroner’s Building, found the notebook, and read it—or at least looked through it.

He is, therefore, perfectly well aware that she keeps records of her attempts to analyse his condition and alter it back to normal—normal for humans, of course, which is “normal” by Nick’s standards, though not by those of vampires generally.

Regardless of what the vampire community thinks of Natalie’s research (if it is aware of what she is doing), it would clearly be inadvisable for her notebook to fall into the hands of other human beings.  It is impossible to tell the damage that a vampire hunter might do with her research.

What Nick thinks of the security of Natalie’s keeping the notebook in her desk was never established in the series.  The story of “Only the Lonely” shifted on to its exciting climax, and the notebook was not seen again.  But, however Nick—and even LaCroix—may trust Natalie personally not to reveal the existence of vampires or use her research against them as a species, it is obvious that, should she be away from work for a significant period of time and someone else use her office, the risk that they might need to get into her desk would be enormous.

Of course, one may presume that, when she goes on vacation, Natalie takes the notebook home.  She may even do so most days when she goes home (though obviously not when she simply leaves her office for a bit, since that is when Nick searches her desk in “Only the Lonely”).  In “Hard Data”, though, she is taken ill; and she does not, therefore, have the opportunity to remove the notebook from her office.  In such a situation, she certainly would want to get the notebook out of risk of accidental discovery.  And so would Nick.

The truth is, of course, that keeping it in her desk at work is an incredibly dumb thing to do—except that that is where she does her experiments, and therefore where she records her observations.  And she needs to have to these results to hand so that she can refer to them as she continues her work.

Miscellaneous