Summary: John and Helen come back to stop the first stages of a war that could break out between humans and Abnormals.
Disclaimer: I own nothing of Sanctuary
Rating: T+
Pairing: Helen and John.
PREVENTION:
John stood in the center of the Cathedral trying not to focus on what he and Helen were about to do. Time travel, John thought. It sounded so ridiculous to think, let alone say. But then again, the Vampires were geniuses; they knew how to make their inventions work. Still the idea of time travel boggled his mind. Yet, Helen as determined to do this; she wanted it, and John was never able to deny her anything. He slipped his hands in to the pockets of his trench coat and waited for her to come down. In his pocket he felt the leather cord and the locket he always kept. Pulling his hands out John used the leather to this his long black hair back at the nape of his neck. For twenty years now he had let his hair grow thick and long. He hadn't done it for Helen; he had grown it out for himself. John had been given a new lease on live 35 years ago as well as a second chance with Helen.
"You know, there is a chance that this might not work." Nikola snapped fiddling with final adjustments. He couldn't believe that he was in one of her Sanctuaries again. Helen had thrown him out of her life permanently, and yet she had called him back after 64 years to have him help her. It made his head spin and his anger fire at the thought. Was what he had done so terrible? He became a vampire again and that seemed so terrible to her. Nikola had only used the Source blood, the same source blood that had altered her daughter. Why shouldn't he use it? Nikola had found the last bit of Source Blood the Cabal had stolen and he used it to regain his identity and then Helen had thrown him out. She never made sense to him.
"You're supposed to be a genius Nikola, just make it work."
John turned to see Helen striding up the stone isle towards him. She was a vision to his eyes. His Helen was a woman with a barely restrained wild side. It was a far cry from who she used to be, the version from 70 years ago. John mapped her body, took in all she was wearing. Her long legs were incased in worn, scuffed, black leather pants that fed into boots that were secured to her with buckles, laces, and a zipper. Her upper body was covered in a black t-shirt with a deep V-neck. She wore a long black trench coat similar to his. Her clothing these days were always similar to his. John strode to her and whispered, "He's doing the best he can. Not even Nikola can make everything work."
"I heard that!" The vampire shouted.
John chuckled slipping his arms around her waist. "Are you certain about this?"
Helen slipped her arms up and draped them over his broad shoulders, "Yes, we have to stop this war between humans and abnormals." We have to stop what was done to me. Helen didn't say that out loud. She knew John liked the way she was now; he liked the wildness that was spliced into her. Leaning foreword Helen touched her forehead to John's chest. Taking a deep breath Helen pushed the instincts that told her to be on guard deep down and let comfort from John seep into her body.
"Ok," Nikola clapped his hands together, "I think I'm ready to power this thing up provided that you two cobbled this together right." He finished, his arrogance ringing in his voice.
Helen pulled out of John's arms and snapped, "The only reason you are here is as a human battery." She went to step within the circle and waited for John. Just seeing Nikola after 64 years was enough to make her feral side snap and snarl; the side that the resurrected Cabal had spliced into her already changed DNA.
Letting Helen calm herself John moved over to where Nikola stood with his hands wrapped around two conductors, "Will this work?" He asked. As it was John was the buffer between Helen and Nikola. Not quite sure on how he ended up as such since his distaste for Nikola ran deeper than Helen's.
"It should. My people were brilliant, but even then…." Nikola trailed off. Even he knew in his infinite arrogance knew not to tamper with time. Nikola leaned his forearms on the conductors and said, "I'm lucky Helen isn't chaining me to this thing."
"She would have, I talked her out of it." John answered. That fight he had had with Helen had culminated on fiery kisses and brutal scratch marks up his back. One never courted her anger without paying the price in passion. John smiled and turned to head to Helen.
"I should respect that she chose you," Nikola said barely catching John before he had a chance to leave, "But I don't. Helen deserves better than you." He had been waiting to say that for years.
John wasn't angry, wasn't going to hurt Nikola. "That may be your opinion, but she chose me. She loves me. She married me." His thumb fiddled with the silver band on his left ring finger. Never had he thought that Helen would wake him, drag him down to a nameless river and have a priest marry them. When he had asked her about it, Helen had only said her life wasn't anything without him. John couldn't have been happier. "Just get it working, and if all goes well, she might not throw you out of her life." Moving away John joined Helen in the center of the circle.
Helen had used her heightened hearing to listen to Nikola and John. She wanted to punch Nikola in saying that she deserved better than John. John was all she had ever wanted, would always want in her long life. In two hundred years no one ever compared to him. it was why she married John; he was the only one strong enough to tempt her, to take her anger and pay the price in her wild passion. Nikola may be a vampire again, but she never wanted him like that. His arrogance made her head hurt and his utter lack of consideration for others infuriated her. But then again it was Nikola and he only got involved when his goals were threatened. As mad as she was at him, Helen knew she needed his brilliance.
"Ready for this?"
John's voice slid over her senses and soothed her. "Yes, I am." Turning to him she was brought into the warmth of his body, his arms going around her while she wrapped her arms around his waist pillowing her head on his chest.
"When you're ready Nikola," John shouted over to the vampire who had once again wrapped his hands around the energy conductors to power the device that would send that back 70 years in the past for just one week. If they couldn't accomplish what they wanted to in a week, then they were stuck with their present just the way it was; a war between humans and abnormals.
Using all of his powers Nikola fueled the device. In a blinding flash and a sonic boom John and Helen disappeared from the cathedral leaving Nikola alone. His strength was sapped; he fell to the floor and passed out.
70'S YEARS AGO:
Will Zimmerman sat behind his desk trying in earnest to tune Nikola Tesla out and all the excuses as to why he needed money. All Will got out of it was a new project; that was where he just stopped listening. He was trying to focus on his computer screen when a flash lit up outside his window and a loud boom. Jumping from his seat he went to the window. "What the hell?" Standing out in the courtyard where two figures and both of them collapsed. Giving no more thought to Tesla, Will rushed out of the office.
Helen held tight to John as she felt something akin to electricity break out over her body. It reminded her of John's power, only magnified. She held him closer feeling the pulses intensify until a blinding flash engulfed them taking them away with a loud sonic boom. With her senses regained Helen pulled back from John and saw the courtyard of her home. She felt relieved and dizzy. Blackness stole her vision and all Helen could feel was the ground against her back.
John felt Helen in his arms, felt the tingling, and then he was in the light of day of the once beautiful courtyard of Helen's Sanctuary. He swayed his mind dizzy. His vision cleared for only a moment, just enough to see Helen fall to the ground. He wanted to catch her, to keep her standing, but his own body was quickly failing, bringing him down to the ground. His vision blanked as he too let his mind fall into blackness.
Will, with Nikola hot on his heels, rushed out to the front courtyard. He was the first to get to the two bodies lying on the ground. Neither of them were moving. But what shocked him the most was that the bodies were that of John Druitt and his friend and employer Helen Magnus. They had only left on a mission two days ago. Magnus had said that they wouldn't be back for at least a week. What happened to make them come back early? Moving over to Magnus Will felt her pulse; it was strong and steady. "Check Druitt." Will snapped out. More than anything his concern for his friend was dictating his mood.
"You check him." Nikola curled his lip. Checking to make sure 'Johnny' Druitt was ok was extremely repugnant to him.
"Do it or you don't get the money you need," Will snapped back. He was slowly learning how to handle Tesla, short of shooting him.
"You're learning." Nikola crouched down beside Druitt and felt the pulse at his wrist; strong and steady. Taking a second look, there were noticeable differences in the Druitt that left with Helen two days ago vs. the Druitt that was lying here unconscious. "William," He looked at Helen's second in command, "Do you notice anything different about these two?"
"What?" Will asked quickly, but looking at Magnus again he did notice a few differences. There was a silver band on her left ring fingers, her hair was darker, the style of clothes were a little worn, but all in all she still looked like Magnus. But there was some thing niggling the back of his mind warning him to move away; it was warning him that Magnus was dangerous.
"We should get them inside." Nikola rose and stood over Druitt's waist. Bending down he grabbed the leather lapels of the leather coat so he could at least haul Druitt up and get him inside. "I still get the money I need right?" Nikola asked as he slung John's limp arm over her shoulders.
"So long as you get him inside and figure out why they're unconscious," Will shot back. Lifting Magnus up, wrapping his arm around her waist and putting her limp arm over his shoulders.
"Just checking," Nikola replied and headed for the door with John while Will followed with Magnus.
INFIRMARY:
Will and Tesla got Magnus and Druitt into the infirmary and affixed them with monitors. All the read outs were telling them they were fine. Each of them had a faint energy signature around them at least that was according to Tesla. "There's not a lot we can do until they wake up." Will muttered standing next to the bed Magnus was resting on. He couldn't beat back the feeling of wanting to run from her. Why was he feeling this way? It was Magnus, his friend and his boss. She wasn't a threat to him. Yet, the primitive part of his brain was sending warning bells through his entire system.
Nikola used his scientist's gaze to pick out all the differences. John had his black hair back, longer than before, but it was still back. On his left ring finger was a silver band as well as a device on his wrist that looked similar to the vampire shield he had built months ago. Moving his gaze in a sweeping motion Nikola took in John's whole appearance. The Druitt from two days ago had worn a long coat, dress slacks, and a black button up shirt. This Druitt wore a black V-neck t-shirt, leather pants, boots, and a long leather trench coat similar to Helen's. In fact the pair was dressed to match.
Nikola walked away, standing at the foot of the bed gazing at both sleeping figures, "Something is not right here." Stating the obvious was way below him and yet he had just done that.
"Really?" Will shook his head, "You're just now getting that?"
"Respect your elders," Nikola replied. "What I mean is I don't think they are the same people who left here two days ago." Seconds after Nikola had finished that statement Druitt and Magnus groaned in unison.
The last thing John remembered was seeing Helen pass out, fall to the ground. He had wanted to go to her, to help her, but his body did as hers had. John had fallen to the ground with blackness claiming his mind. Now, he was regaining the ability to use his body; feeling was coming back into his extremities. Sitting up John bowed his spine and heard a succession of internal pops and cracks. John blinked seeing young William and the past version of Nikola. Both were looking at him with strange looks on their faces. John knew how he would appear to them, a vestige of his former 19th century self.
Shaking the cobwebs from his mind, John slid off the side of the bed to go to Helen who was lying mere feet from him. His feet were a little unsteady, but he managed to sit down next to her gently. John reached out and cupped her cheek, "Helen, you need to wake. We're back." He whispered mindful of the other two in the room.
Helen shifted, listened to John's voice. She was feeling stronger, more herself. Rising up, going into his arms Helen open her eyes seeing Will and Nikola standing just out of reach. With her eyes on Nikola a deep growl rumbled in her chest. John's left hand rubbed small circles on her back trying in earnest to calm her wild side; the side she had relied on for so many years.
Pulling her eyes from Nikola and Will, Helen looked John in the face, "We really made it back. I mean, we're back." She didn't miss the note of exhilaration in her own voice or the look of triumph in John's. Happiness overwhelmed her to the point she was pulling John into her arms and laughing.
"I didn't think he could get the device powered up enough," John replied, laughter in his voice.
Again Helen pulled back to look at him, "Of course he did. His arrogance wouldn't let him do anything else."
"Uh, not to interrupt, but…" Nikola gestured with his hands, "What are you talking about?" he wasn't entirely sure that they hadn't sustained some head trauma from their falls.
Sighing John muttered, "He's still annoying no matter what year it is." He leaned his forehead to Helen's and breathed her in. Locking his gaze with hers John asked, "Are you well enough to stand?" Standing up, John offered Helen his hand. He knew how much she liked to move around when she spoke. There would be a lot to discuss, and for Helen plenty of moving around.
Helen looked at John's hand, then to his eyes, and back to his hand. Smiling sweetly at him she nudged his hand aside and stood up under her own power. She must have risen to fast; her head swam, but John's arms were around her, holding her close. "Thanks," she muttered placing her hands, palm down, on his broad chest.
"Better?" As he asked John brushed a strand of dark hair out of her face. He knew nothing but happiness when he touched her, was touched by her, that being back 70 years in the past didn't faze him in the slightest.
"Always," Helen took a steadying breath and stepped away from the warmth, from the security John gave her to face to the other two men standing near them. Seeing Will again suffused her being with happiness, with fondness. If all went well Will wouldn't die young. "Hello Will, it's been a long time."
"Long time? Two days is a long time?" Will asked in his usual sarcastic manner.
"It's been 70 years for us." John turned, took his place beside Helen. Without thought he slipped his left hand into her right and laced their fingers. Helen squeezed his hand.
"Did you two happen to hit you head harder than you thought?" Nikola asked motioning between the two of them. He hadn't missed John taking Helen's hand and he had missed her squeezing back. What was going on with them?
"We're telling the truth. It's been 70 years and for most of that time war has broke out between humans and abnormals." Helen lowered her head and chased away the images of death, of pain, and memories of sorrow.
"70 years, that's a long time…." Will ran his hand through his hair. He wasn't sure if something had happened to them on the mission or what, but looking at them Magnus and Druitt thoroughly believed what they were saying.
"We're not crazy." John stated. He knew how this sounded and had John been in the reverse position would react with the same level of skepticism.
"Well, we know she's not…." Nikola trailed off.
Helen would have lunged for Nikola. Just as she moved a fraction of an inch John hauled her back against his chest to calm the raging fury in her. After thirty years she still didn't have a handle on the feral rage she had. Only John's touch seemed to soothe the savage beast she had become inside. "Don't ever imply that John's crazy." Her words dripped with ice and they were directed towards Nikola.
"Sh, sh, sh… Let Nikola say what he wants. He does anyway." John whispered to Helen rubbing his hands up and down her arms. If all went to plan, then her anger would be one of the things that would never happen to her. He felt her still, but anger was still riding her.
"I would leave right now." Helen warned. Her breathing shuddered and her body ached to be free.
"I know when I'm not wanted." Nikola threw up his hands and headed for the door. He barely made out Helen's, 'You should have left sooner' comment. Deep down he was actually stung by her comment. He had done plenty in his life to make her angry, some of them had garnered him bullets to the chest, but for her blatant anger; Nikola didn't understand.
Will watched Tesla leave, then tracked his gaze back to Helen still being held by Druitt. His friend looked ready to hurt the former Vampire. It made no sense. Yes, Tesla was a major pain, flippant, egotistical, arrogant, sarcastic, and intrusive, but Magnus had put up with him for years. What could have changed to make her hate him so much? "What was that about?" he asked. Never in all his time here had he seen Magnus so angry, not even during the short lived war with the Cabal.
"Nikola has forever earned my distain and distrust." Helen seethed, pulled out of John's arms, and paced a furious line in an attempt to control her anger.
Will put space between himself and Magnus, going to Druitt to talk, "I guess something major happened between them." What could Tesla have done to make Magnus so angry at him?
"And you would be right." John kept his eyes on Helen. "For us, Nikola is once again of the Sanguine Vampiris race. Helen told me that you once found him in a secret Cabal lab."
"Yeah, he was looking for the Source Blood." Will confirmed, though he knew Magnus must have told Druitt all of it.
"Yes, only what was destroyed in that lab was not all of the Source Blood. In a few years Nikola will hear whispers of the remains of the Source blood. It will take him a few more years to track it down but he will find it, take it from former Cabal, become a Vampire again, and in the process he will sever all tenuous ties he had to Helen." John kept his gaze on Helen as she continued to pace.
"Does that have anything to do with what's wrong with Magnus?" He knew something was wrong with her.
"Nikola's thievery of the blood set wheels in motion for Helen's fate. Be warned young William, the Cabal has not gone from this Earth despite my best efforts." John warned finally going to Helen. Once again he wrapped her in his warm embrace giving her the strength of his body to calm and soothe that savage beast inside of her. It was a beast he knew all to well.
Helen listened to the conversation John was having with Will. Her mind took her back to that day so long ago…
Helen stood in her study waiting for John's return. She had trusted him, sent him to obtain an abnormal; it was dangerous and the danger to John weighed on her mind. Helen knew he could take care of himself, but the ore he lingered in her Sanctuary the more her concern and caring for him grew. Stepping from behind her desk Helen trekked to the window to watch the sun play on the water. But as she watched the water, someone was watching her. Turning she saw Nikola but something was different. It had been months since he had last darkened her doorstep. "What are you doing here?" Helen asked.
"Oh, I just dropped by for a chat." Nikola's grin widened. Without thought he let his vampiric nature bleed through contorting his features, making his nails grow into deadly daggers. His voice deeper Nikola spoke, "What do you think?" He flexed his fingers.
"What have you done?" Helen asked backing away from the window. She was staring at Nikola as a vampire, not the human magnet. Somehow he had gotten a hold of the source blood. Hope had abated her anger years ago at him at the thought that Source Blood was finally gone. But seeing Nikola now, she knew it wasn't so. That made her anger rise again.
"Oh Helen, don't be so shocked." He stepped over the threshold of the door and put himself in her office. "Think of all the projects we could complete, think of all the discoveries we could make." Nikola spread out his arms.
"I can't believe you did this?" Disbelief deadened her voice.
Nikola scoffed, "Oh please, like I was going to let the former Cabal keep the blood. Not when I could use it." He really thought she would see things from his point of view.
"That blood turned my daughter into a killer." Helen itched to reach for her gun, but that would do little good against Nikola now.
"Like Father like daughter I guess." Nikola rolled his eyes. He was feeling too good to let Helen spoil his mood. "It's not like Ashley's around…" The minute he started he knew he shouldn't have said anything.
Helen felt rage boil through her at the callous way Nikola had mentioned Ashley, "Get out. Get out of my Sanctuary and never come back."
"Helen…" Nikola reverted, let his human features come back through, "I didn't mean…"
"Yes you did. I've put up with your selfish nature, your arrogance, your superiority complex for years, and now I'm done. If being a vampire is so important to you; go and find someone who cares." Helen moved past him and out of her office…
Suddenly John's arms were around her, calming her, soothing her ravaged soul. "I hate remembering that day." Helen sighed and leaned her head back to touch his shoulder. "It's all going to happen again. Nikola will go for the blood…"
"But they will not come for you." John assured her. By all the powers of Heaven and Hell he would ensure that nothing harmed her ever again.
Helen rounded on him, "How can you be so sure." Since the resurrected cabal had taken her she hadn't been sure of anything; except for John. He had been the one to come for her, been the one to save her. Only he wasn't in time to reverse what had already been done to her.
"Because, I am forever your shadow," John smiled that easy smile at her. He knew that it would put her at ease. There was no power on this Earth that would stop John from protecting Helen in whatever way he could. She was his life, his lover, and by the grace of Fate, she was his wife.
Will leaned against the wall and watched Druitt with Magnus. It should rock his world that they claimed to be 70 years in the future, and yet, it didn't. He worked in a place that catered to abnormals, that helped them, studied them, and protected them from the eyes of the humans. Why should head be doing a complete 180? Only, it was. Will watched John wrap his arms gently are Helen and she didn't push him away. Rather, she pulled his arms tighter around her. Will's day could not get any weirder than it already had.