This is written for the February challenge on GW…Hope you'll like it! The Abnormal's name is not completely invented, but it was made using an Internet translator, because I don't know Latin, so it may have some issues. Technically, it is supposed to mean "Sweet dream" but I don't know if I got it right…
The poem at the end is really Whitman's- at least that's what I found on the Internet, and I thought it suits them perfectly, so I used it.
As usually, I don't own anything Sanctuary.
Sweet dreams
It was a peaceful morning at the Sanctuary. Helen was in her room, drinking a cup of tea, when, suddenly, she heard someone knocking at the door.
"Come in. "she said. The one who entered the room was Bigfoot, who carried a little box.
"This came for you today." he said in a deep voice. "I didn't open it yet."
Intrigued, Helen took the box in her hands and she heard something squeaking from within. It sounded a lot like a mouse, but the box was too heavy for something like that.
"Who brought this here?" she asked.
"I have no idea." Bigfoot replied. "But I think it is safe to open it."
"I will decide that." She put the box on the table and then she took her gun. Holding her finger on the trigger, she carefully opened the box. Inside, there was a blue, fluffy Abnormal. Its eyes were big and clever and it made a funny sound.
"You are right." she said. "It doesn't seem dangerous." She lowered her gun, and then she caressed the Abnormal's head, between its long ears. It seemed to like it, because it purred.
"It looks like a Nubbin, but it's blue. However, this may be from a similar species." she said.
"You mean you don't know what that is?" asked Bigfoot, a little worried.
"I have no idea. But I like it. Unfortunately, until we find out more about it, I'll have to keep it contained. You know what happened with the Nubbins last time. Let's see who sent it."
She looked inside the box, but there was no clue about the sender. Only a little note, computer-written: "Sweet dreams, my love! P.S.: Her name is Helen; I thought it would be appropriate."
"Strange." Helen said. "Why did this come here? It's obviously not addressed to me."
Bigfoot only grunted. "What do you think we have to do, then? Throw it away?" he asked.
"No. Whoever sent this is sending Abnormals by snail mail. We have to find out who he is. And call Henry."
Bigfoot disappeared and returned with Henry in a matter of seconds.
"So, who is your secret admirer, Doc?" Henry asked.
"It's not my secret admirer, Henry." Helen said, rolling her eyes. "We don't know if it was even addressed to me."
"He called her Helen." Henry said. "I would say whoever sent this has a crush on you."
"I doubt it. Now, take her a blood sample and run it through our database. We have to find out what she is."
After Henry left, Helen yawned. She looked at her watch and saw it was ten o'clock in the morning. Strangely, she felt very tired, even if she would have normally stayed awake until midnight. She tried to get to her bedroom, but the little Helen started crying the moment she left the room. The Abnormal didn't stop until Helen took her in her bedroom and placed her on the top of her bed.
"You are worse than Ashley was when she was little." Helen muttered, before closing her eyes.
Helen fell asleep the moment she closed her eyes. In an instance, she started dreaming.
She was in Rome, holding a lecture about genetic mutation at Abnormals. In the middle of the lecture, she received a note, which wrote:"You will be killed in less than three minutes. Meet me now. P.S.: You look hot." The note was signed "Tesla".
She interrupted her lecture and got out of the conference room. In the hall, she saw Nikola Tesla, her old friend. He boldly opened the conversation, asking her to kiss him. Then, something happened. Instead of kissing him on the cheek, as she had intended to do a year ago, when the events in the dream had happened, she passed her hands through his messed up hair, pulling him closer to her and kissed him square on the mouth. Pushing him against the wall, she bit his lower lip and then started unbuttoning his shirt. "I missed you." she whispered. She kissed him on the neck, slowly descending to his chest…
"Whoa." Helen thought, now awake. "What the heck am I doing here? I can't possibly dream about this!"
"Doc, are you asleep?" Henry asked from outside.
"No. Come in."
"I ran little Helen's DNA through our database." he said." And that little critter is not very dangerous. It's a somnium dulcicus."
"Please tell me that doesn't mean what I think it means."
"As a matter of fact, I think it does. This little bugger here makes you dream about your deepest desires. The things you always wanted to do, but never did. You got the idea."
"Great. Any more bad news?"
"You weren't the first that touched it, were you?"
"Why?"
"Well, it seems she creates some kind of telepathic link between her and the first person that touches her. Which means that she will now influence your dreams for life."
"Tell me distance will solve this problem."
"Sorry, Doc. The link between you two is indestructible."
"How do I stop it?"
"I don't understand why you would want to stop her. She doesn't give you nightmares, does she? Anyway, the only way to stop her is obviously doing what you are dreaming about. Then she will make you dream about something else."
"That's completely out of the question."
"Why? What did you dream last night, Doc?"
"I can't tell you. It's personal. Very personal." she said, angry at herself, angry that she knew Henry was right, angry that she was starting to blush whenever she thought about her dream.
"You can tell me, you know. I won't tell. Were you kissing someone?"
"Get out, Henry! Call Will. He'll find a solution to this. He has to."
"What's the matter, Magnus?" asked Will when he entered her office. "Are you having sleeping problems?"
"Sort of. I suppose Henry told you about my dream problem."
"He did. And there are two solutions:1. You do what you dreamt, so you can wish something else and 2. you convince yourself that you don't need what you dreamt."
"It won't work. I know I don't need what I dreamt, but the problem is…"
"You want it without needing it. Ouch. Well, then the solution is obvious. You want me to call him?"
"You forgot about the third solution. Never sleep again."
"I still say call him. You may not require too much sleep, but you'll have to rest eventually."
"I'll cross that bridge when I'll get there. Who do you want to call?"
"Helen, I am a psychologist, remember? I know who you dreamt about."
"No, you don't. You can't possibly know."
"So I suppose he doesn't have any connections with The Five, does he?"
"If you think I was kissing Nikola in my dream, you are wrong." she said blushing.
"You know, there is a very interesting thing in psychology called denial. I never said anything about what were you doing in your dream and with whom. I just said that he was part of The Five. This means that I presumed you were dreaming about someone of the four men that were part of The Five, that's all. However I could have bet my year's salary that it was Tesla. And that you were at least kissing him."
"Don't make me regret I hired you. How did you know?"
"It's so obvious that you love each other. I saw the way you look at him, I know that behind all his cheeky jokes there are deep feelings, I simply wonder how the heck you two managed to hide this for over a century and why you want to hide your feelings."
"Sorry to interrupt, Doc." said Henry entering. "You've got a new package from your secret lover."
"I told you he's not my secret love!" Helen yelled. "And if he was, I doubt he would like what he managed to do. Open it. I don't want any more surprises."
Henry put the box on the table and opened it. This time, there wasn't any Abnormal, it was just a red rose and a note: "To my love: I hope you slept well last night."
"You know, it's kinda romantic." Henry said.
"It is not specifically addressed to me." Helen replied defensively. "It may be romantic, but it's not for me. We have to find the real receiver and give the two presents to her."
"It would be useless. Helen and you are connected now. And I doubt she would have anything to do with a rose. And I doubt this is a mistake. It is the second one that arrives here. Maybe he doesn't know your name. "
"Yes, maybe. However, I'll be in the library; I have to do some research. "
Saying this, Helen left and went to the library. She started searching for information regarding little Helen and her species. However, after two hours of searching, she felt very tired. Fighting with her body, she refused to fall asleep, but her eyes closed after all.
She was at the Sanctuary, in the living room. Suddenly, Nikola came from the kitchen with two bottles of wine.
"Red or white?" he asked smirking.
"What do you say we kiss now and drink later?" asked Helen.
"You know, this wine is from '45. It was a very good year. However, if you are convincing enough, I may leave it for later."
Helen got up from the sofa and embraced him. He took her in his arms and gently laid her back on the sofa. Then, he started kissing her cheeks, slowly moving to her ear. Meanwhile, she pulled his shirt out of his trousers and let her fingers dance on his back. She kissed him passionately, allowing her tongue to feel his lips, which tasted like wine …
The next morning, Kate, worried that Helen hadn't woken up, entered the library, after knocking gently at the door.
"Doc, are you OK? Wake up!" she said.
"Lower, Nikola." Helen whispered, still asleep.
"Magnus, wake up! Now!"
"What happened?" Helen asked, yawning and slowly opening her eyes.
"Sorry to interrupt, Doc. I can see you were dreaming…"Kate said, chuckling.
"No problem. It's better this way."
"I don't know…you seemed pretty busy in your dream…"
"Tell me I didn't say anything."
"You said enough, trust me. Don't worry, my lips are sealed."
"Kate, listen. I've been having these dreams since I got little Helen. It's not my fault, I can't stop them. Trust me, I would do it, but it's impossible. And I feel very guilty for what I'm dreaming."
"You shouldn't. It's absolutely normal to dream about someone you love."
"I don't love him." Helen said, stressing on each word.
"Sorry, Doc, but that little Abnormal doesn't make you dream something you don't want…It is so obvious that you love him, you want him, and from what I've seen, he loves you too. I don't know how you manage to keep your feelings hidden. I mean, honestly, you two should get a room and fool around at least one night."
"Let me show you what I've found." Helen said, quickly changing the subject. "It seems this somnium dulcicus was the sacred animal of the Lofu tribe in Africa."
"Never heard of them." Kate replied.
"Because it seems they were so pleased by what they dreamt that they eventually refused to wake up. This caused the disappearance of their tribe. "
"That's sad." Kate said. "But I suppose you are not going to do the same, are you?"
"Don't be silly. Why would I want to dream?"
"Hmmm…why would you like to dream about a sexy vampire that you are in love with? Yes, you're right. No stress."
"You are wrong."
"Oh, come on! Stop denying your feelings!"
"Not with the you are in love part. He is not a vampire anymore." Helen said, smiling sadly.
"And I guess this didn't change your feelings too much…"
"Sadly, no. However, I have to stop dreaming about this. I may love him, but he is still arrogant, and cocky, and insolent, and…"
"…smoking hot." Kate ended the phrase for Helen.
"Go and find Bigfoot. Tell him I want a coffee. A strong one."
Kate went to find the Big Guy, but she didn't find him. However, minutes later, he stormed into Helen's office, pulling someone of his coat.
"I caught him when he was leaving another present." he growled.
Helen looked surprised at the terrified man Bigfoot was carrying.
"Put him down." she said. "And go change your stupid Halloween suit, it's February."
"Sorry." she said to the young man, after they were left alone. "My friend is obsessed with Halloween and keeps wearing that stupid suit."
"My God, I almost thought he was real."
"Don't be silly. There's no such thing as monsters." she said, trying to be as convincing as possible. "Now, back to you. Who are you and why do you keep sending me presents? If you are sending them to me."
"Is your name Helen Magnus?"
"Yes."
"Then these presents are for you. But I'm not the sender. I am concierge at a hotel. A guy paid me 100$ to deliver them here."
"Interesting. How does that guy look like?"
"I never saw him. He leaves the presents at his door and I take them. He sends me notes with instructions."
"Clever. So, do you have another one for me?"
"Yes. Here it is."
The young man handed Helen a small box. Inside it there was a necklace with a heart-shaped pendant. It was beautiful. Helen put it at her neck and admired herself in the mirror.
"Nice. Thank you. You may go now." she said.
"The guy who sent you these said he'll come here tonight, at 10 o'clock. You'll finally meet him." the concierge said and then he left.
Helen looked inside the box. There was another note there:
To Helen.
Once I pass'd through a populous city imprinting my brain for future
use with its shows, architecture, customs, traditions,
Yet now of all that city I remember only a woman I casually met
there who detain'd me for love of me,
Day by day and night by night we were together--all else has long
been forgotten by me,
I remember I say only that woman, who passionately clung to me,
Again we wander, we love, we separate again,
Again she holds me by the hand, I must not go,
I see her close beside me with silent lips sad and tremulous.
"Wait! Don't go!" she shouted. The concierge turned back. "In what hotel room is he staying at?"
"33." the concierge replied. "Does that make any difference?"
"All the difference in the world. Thank you. You may leave now."
After the concierge left, Will and Kate entered Helen's office.
"I know who my secret admirer is." she said, showing the note to Will.
"Very romantic ." Will replied, after reading the note. "But I don't know how this helps you."
"It's a poem by Whitman. And the boy told me that the one who sent me these is staying at room 33, which is a number that is divisible by three. And we both know what that means, don't we?"
"What are you going to do?" Will asked.
"Pretend nothing happened. Meet him tonight and pretend I didn't dream about him. I don't want to give him that satisfaction. Act like I am just his friend."
"You know, Magnus, I don't get you." Kate said. "He obviously loves you."
"It's complicated, Kate. You are too young to understand. Anyway, I will need a coffee, because if I go to sleep again pretending that between us is only friendship will be very difficult."
"No problem. I'll get you that coffee." Kate said and pulled Will in the kitchen.
"Listen." she said when they arrived. "You are a shrink, right? I suppose you have some sleeping pills?"
"What do you want to do?" Will asked, a little worried.
"Well, you know, I like listening to the radio. And AC is very useful in these days. I think we owe him that, don't we?"
"Yes, but if Magnus finds out you've put sleeping pills in her coffee, she'll kill you."
"Probably. But I'll take that risk."
"I guess you're right. They deserve to be together."
"Exactly. Now, do you think three pills will be enough? Because we don't want her to be asleep when he comes, don't we?"
"I think it's safe. She still has the Source Blood in her veins. It is complicated to put her to sleep. However, we need to do something about Bigfoot and Henry."
"No problem. I'll take them to a movie. Do you want to come too?"
"Sure. I'd love too. They need some privacy."
"Actually, from what Magnus said in her dream last night, I guess we should leave for a night. At least."
"We'll find something." said Will chuckling. "These are the pills. Remember, if she asks, you stole them for me."
"Very brave." muttered Kate. "Fine."
Ten minutes later, Kate gave the coffee to Helen.
"It's awful." Helen said, after taking a sip. "I hate coffee, but I have to drink it."
"Yes, drink it all, don't you leave a single drop."
"So you realized I'm right after all?"
"Yes, of course. Come on, drink it!"
A little suspicious, Helen drank the coffee and she fell asleep instantaneously.
This time, she was outside, on the rooftop of the Sanctuary. She was apparently alone, but Nikola arrived soon after.
"Nice view." he said, pointing at the full moon. "Very romantic."
"Yes, you're right." Helen replied. "However, I think talking about weather is a waste of time."
"What do you want to do, then?" he asked and moved closer to her.
"I was thinking we could have a little fun."
Nikola smirked and took her in his arms. He started kissing her gently on the lips then he began unbuttoning her shirt.
"Not here." she whispered. "My room."
They both took the elevator and arrived in Helen's room. There Nikola laid her on the bed and continued unbuttoning her shirt. She reached to his belt and…
"Stupid coffee!" she thought when she woke up. "I don't know why I supposed it would work."
She looked at her clock. It was half past nine in the evening. "Crap! I only have half an hour left to completely forget what I dreamt about."
She called for Kate and for Will, but they didn't reply. Helen went out of her office and began searching for them, but it seemed the Sanctuary was completely emptied. Half angry and half scared, she went to the front door, where she found a note:
We heard it was a nice movie at the cinema tonight and we went to see it. We would have invited you too, but you have more important things to do, so…
The note was signed "Will, Henry, Kate and BG.". It also had a P.S.: We won't be back until morning. Have fun with Vlad, Doc. Or should I say…Mina?"
"Henry is so fired for this when he gets back." Helen thought. "How dares he?"
But it was not a good time to get angry. She only had 15 minutes left. She changed her clothes and hesitated a little, but decided to wear the necklace Nikola had sent her. It was a very nice one after all.
She was sitting on the sofa, trying to think at everything else besides her last dream, when somebody knocked at the door.
Taking a deep breath, Helen went to open. Her stomach made a flip when she saw Nikola smiling. "Damn, why does he have to be so damn sexy? "she thought, but tried to keep cool.
"Hello, Nikola. I was waiting for you."
"Hi, Helen." he said entering. "You aren't surprised to see me. I guess you figured out I was your secret admirer."
"Not until today." she admitted. "I realized it was you because I know you like Whitman. And your delivery boy told me that you are staying in room 33. However, I have to talk to you about these presents. I loved them, but we are just friends. Nothing more."
"Are we now?" he asked smirking. "Why don't you tell me what you've been dreaming about lately? Or better, why don't you show me?"
"I haven't been dreaming about you, if this is what are you insinuating." she lied, trying to keep herself from blushing.
"I see you are wearing my necklace. Why don't you come closer and whisper me in my ear that you didn't dream about me?"
"If this will convince you, fine."
She sat next to him on the sofa and leaned closer to him. "I didn't dream about you." she whispered and then tried to get back. However, her necklace was now stuck to Nikola's neck, so when she turned her head, trying to escape, her lips came an inch closer to his.
"Oops." Nikola said, smiling devilishly. "You didn't figure out that the pendant was a magnet, did you?"
"Very funny. No, I didn't. Let me go." she said, trying not to look him in the eyes and to resist the burning temptation of kissing him.
"Not until you repeat what you said. So, are you sure you didn't dream about me? Not once?"
Helen hesitated a little. She had lied to him once, but now, when her lips were millimeters close to his, when she felt his breath tickling her face, when he was smiling so devilishly, which made him illegally hot, lying him was an impossible task. And admitting was a total waste of time. She pressed her lips to his and remained like that for a few seconds. Then, completely ignoring what her brain was trying to say, she let her tongue lick his lips, trying to gain entrance. When he opened his mouth, allowing their tongues to meet, passion exploded inside them. Their lips didn't split up for a few minutes.
"You know, you were never a good liar." Nikola said after they had finished. "And you have to admit that the necklace was a clever move."
"It was." she said. "Little Helen however, was a stupid move. You took a great risk, you know. What if I started dreaming about John?"
"You, dreaming about Ripy?" Nikola said smiling. "I don't think so. Plus, I know your mind by now. And I know you are magnetically attracted to me. I wanted to show you what it's like to be dreaming about someone in a way like that. Because I've been dreaming about you since we met. That's why I named the little Abnormal Helen. Because you are the one who gave me sweet dreams for ages."
"You really love me, don't you?"
"Of course. I told you."
"And then you tried to kill me."
"That's what you thought? I wasn't going to kill you. It was just a threat, because I wanted you on my side so badly that I would have done everything for this. I wanted you to love me."
"Well, it seems that sending presents was more useful for impressing me than trying to revive the vampire race. "
"Yes, well, I miscalculated this at first." Nikola admitted smiling. "But it worked after all."
"And I suppose it's not a coincidence that I felt very sleepy lately, is it?"
"You know, the somnium dulcicus is a remarkable species. It is empathic. If it feels that you are denying your feelings, it makes you feel tired. And I would have bet my life that you'll deny it at first."
"I am predictable, aren't I?"
"You aren't that predictable. But I am a genius."
"Only sometimes. Now, would you please let me go?"
"You promise to be good?" he asked, smiling devilishly.
"Nope. As a matter of fact, I'll be very bad." she replied, with an equally devilish smile.
Nikola smirked and let her necklace fall from his neck. He took her in his arms and started to kiss every centimeter of her face, except her lips. She scoffed and kissed him square on the mouth, not allowing him to say anything.
"I remembered something." he whispered, when Helen made a pause to take her breath. "Where are the children?"
"They had the brilliant idea that we should be left alone." she replied smiling.
"How very gracious of them."
"Yes, well, Will said that if I made my dreams come true, I won't dream about you again, and probably thought I should give it a try."
"Kids these days…that's what he said?"
"Yes. Why?"
"Helen, that little abnormal makes you dream about things you want. You didn't stop wanting me just because we kissed, did you?"
"So this will make things worse?" she asked.
"Not necessarily. However, sadly, we'll have to do this very often, because if we stop, you'll dream about it again, and this is not what we want, don't we?"
"Nope. Reality is much better."
Saying this, she pushed him, making him to lie down the sofa and then she sat atop of him, slowly unbuttoning his shirt, making short pauses to kiss him from time to time. He smirked and let his hands go under her blouse, slowly dancing on her back, which made her mind go to the craziest places possible. She let her fingers pass through his messed up hair, kissing him very often, to avoid any cheeky line he would have made and then the two lovers spent their night making their sweetest dreams come true.
~The End~
