It had been two days since they arrived home and Helen had had no sleep, dedicating all her time to trying to figure out the device and to make sure that it had no other effects on the team other than the obvious body shrinkage, something she still hadn't figured out either.

Helen was at a desk in her lab, her tired eyes staring at the device but not really seeing it as Nikola ran in, chasing Henry around the table, a deadly look on his face. Helen sighed, not bothering to tell them to leave; she had done it so many times with no luck and she was far too tired to bother. The Big Guy entered at that moment, sharply ordering the two boys out of the lab and in fear of their lives, they left, their yelling echoing down the hall.

"Thank you, Old friend," Helen smiled softly as he approached her, laying a hand on his arm gratefully.

"You need rest, I'll look after the children," He grunted but she shook her head. "Helen…" he said warningly as she yawned.

"Okay, I'm going." She said, heading up to her room. Discarding her shoes, Helen, still fully clothed, dropped into bed and fell into a blissful sleep.

::Sanctuary::

Helen was sure she had lost her mind. It was the only logical explanation that she could find as to why she thought taking a group 4 year old shopping was a good idea to wear them out; instead of wearing them out, Helen was finding herself tired and cranky again. Kate stood in the trolley; her tiny hands wrapped firmly around the metal bars and she was shaking them angrily, her cries echoing down the aisle of the shop. They were receiving strange glances from the other shoppers and Helen sighed, crossing around the trolley to Kate.

"Kate!" She said sharply, prying the girls' fingers from the bars but her screams seemed to grow louder, stamping her feet furiously. Henry sat at the back of the trolley, his nimble hands flying across Helen's iPhone as he defiled it, pulling it apart and Will stood beside the trolley, he and Nikola in a heated debate over whether dinosaurs or ducks were better and Helen was at her breaking point.

"I WANT LEATHER!" Kate screamed, tears streaming down her face and Helen grabbed her arms firmly, turning the child to face her as a woman passed them, unmistakably moving as far from the group as she could.

"Kate Amara Freelander!" She snapped impatiently and Kate stopped crying, glaring at Helen with a sniffle and Helen felt herself sigh again. She used to hate seeing Ashley cry as a child and she supposed it went for all children. Lowering her voice, she crouched to Kate's eye level. "If you don't calm down, Kate, I'll take you home right now and you won't get anything. Do you understand me?"

Kate hesitated and then nodded; wiping her runny nose on a tissue Helen gave her. "But they don't have any leather in my size," She said quietly gesturing around the children's clothing aisle, not meeting her boss' eyes, looking slightly ashamed at her tantrum. Helen smiled, kissing the girls head gently.

"How about this," She said handing Kate a bottle of juice from her hand bag, "I will buy some leather and you can help the Big Guy make some clothes for you?" The girl nodded excitedly, sipping her drink and Helen moved from her to the squabbling boys.

"Junior, you're missing the point! DUCKS ARE REAL! Dinosaurs aren't!" Nikola said, clearly frustrated at Will who stood shaking his head, his arms crossed as Helen had seen him do so many times as an adult.

"Nikola, you have no evidence to support that dinosaurs aren't real! God, you may be a vam-oof!" Nikola had tackled will to the ground, his hand covering the other boy's mouth.

"Are you trying to get me killed?" The Serbian snarled, ("Well, it would shut you up for a while," Will mumbled against Nikola's hand,) and Helen shook her head, pulling him off Will.

"Really, you two are worse than children!" She hissed, carrying a struggling Will to the trolley where she put him in, her eyes flashing with something that told him to stay there.

"You're very funny Helen," Nikola said bitterly as he, too was picked up and she placed him to sit on her hip, not trusting him in the trolley with Will who was eyeing him angrily. Nikola grinned over at him, laying his head against Helen's chest contentedly. Deciding that while Henry was quiet, she would leave him, even though she knew she was going to have a 'fun' time putting her phone back together later.

With one hand, she pushed the trolley to the checkout, Will and Kate piling the clothes from the trolley onto the bench and a young girl about 16 smiled at them, then to Helen.

"Are these all your children?" She asked making conversation as she scanned the clothes and Henry looked up at his 'mother', curiously, his attention pulled from her phone for a split second.

"I guess you could say that," Helen said, holding back a laugh at the girl's surprised face. Obviously, none of the team actually looked like her but she couldn't exactly explain that a scientist that was supposed to have been dead for 70 years touched an ancient Vampiric artefact that made them all children again.

"Well, they are all very well behaved and so adorable!" The girl cooed, her eyes falling on Nikola who threw her a charming smile and it was obvious that her heart soared at the sight of him.

Kate took Helen's wallet from her bag, seeing that her boss had her hands full as Nikola started tugging on her hair and Kate desperately tried not to roll her eyes at him.

"I always liked you with dark hair, Helen," he said grinning, and Helen rolled her eyes, watching as Kate paid for the clothes before they made their way out of the shop, the clerk watching their retreating backs.

"I'm hungry!" Henry whined rubbing his tired eyes and Will nodded in agreement, now walking beside Helen. Will was dealing with the change very well, better than any of the others; in fact it was almost as if there was no change at all. He went about his business as usual; though reaching the books in his office was harder than before for obvious reasons and he couldn't be taken serious by any of the Heads of Houses, something that annoyed him to no end.

Helen pushed the trolley into the food court one handed, Nikola still clinging to her from where he sat on her hip.

"Can we have McDonalds?" Kate asked her arms crossed over the bars and her chin resting on her arms.

"No, I'd prefer KFC," Will piped up and Nikola shook his head against Helen's chest.

"Something where I can have some wine, and proper food," he mumbled and fearing another argument, Helen interrupted them.

"For starters, Nikola you are not getting any wine and we are not going to eat any junk that you three may call food. Why not Sushi? Henry, I know for a fact that you love Sushi," She said firmly and all four of the children groaned.

"Oh come on Doc, we all know you have that 113 year zen thing going on but sushi? 4 year olds need hearty food!" Henry complained.

Helen was about to reply when a deep voice like silk interrupted from behind her.

"Sushi is very good for growing children, Mr Foss," The man's voice said and Helen knew that voice so well, as if it was branded into her mind. Spinning quickly, she found herself face to face with a man she hadn't thought she would see for a very long time, if ever again.

"John?"

John Druitt smiled at her, his eyes scanning over her.

"Helen, you look well my dear," he observed.

"Wait," Will said, rounding Helen to look up at Druitt. "Aren't you supposed to be dead?"

John chuckled, his face showing intense curiosity as he examined the boy. "And very nice to see you too, William," he said.

"John," Helen said again, "What are you doing here?"

"Can we get a table first? I think I'm getting bar imprints on my butt!" Henry asked from the trolley as he examined his thighs carefully. Helen smiled and nodded, directing the group into a Sushi bar, John's head almost hitting the low ceiling and they sat at a table, watching as John and Will dragged an extra table and chairs towards the first.

They all sat, Nikola refusing his own seat as he sat holding Helen protectively, glaring daggers at John.

"What's the matter, Nikola?" John teased, "Afraid that I am more of a threat to your constant courting of Helen now that you're too small to fight me? Not that you ever had a chance in the first place, being as scrawny as you are."

Nikola growled, trying to launch himself off Helen's lap to get to John but Helen held him tighter, shoving a juice bottle into his tiny clenched hands.

"Enough John, please. He is already bad enough without you encouraging him." Helen pleaded and John nodded, helping Kate open her juice.

"Of course," he leant in close to Helen's ear, "insufferable, isn't he?"

Rolling her eyes, Helen pushed him back lightly. "Please explain what you're doing here, John."

Smirking, he gestured around the tables to her team and Nikola. "I am here to help you, my dear. Your man servant explained the situation to me after an hour of me nagging him for information and suggested that if I wanted to make myself useful, I should come and assist you with the 'children'."

Helen looked thoughtful and then nodded. "Okay, but I distinctly remember that the last time we saw each other, you were electrocuting yourself in one of Fathers old labs below Praxis. What happened?"

"Oh, the usual, I suppose. After our quarrel and you jumped into the, wormhole, for lack of a better word, I found the electricity all too much – I am no Tesla, after all" ("Of course you're not. You're not good looking enough, Johnny" Nikola muttered) "– and I seemed to have lost a day or two after that. When I came to, your father was standing over me. He and the other abnormals that were left nursed me back to health and, the rest is history. Needless to say, I am free of my creature again and hopefully on a permanent basis this time."

"My father is alive?" Helen asked and John bowed his head.

"The last time I saw him, yes. He was most appreciative of having his cane back, I must say."

"Doc, as much as I love his stories, can we please get some food?" Kate complained, holding her stomach as it growled and pulling herself from her thoughts of her father, Helen nodded.

"Of course," she said, waving the waitress over and Nikola groaned as she placed him on his own chair between her and John. He was rather enjoying having Helen carrying him everywhere. Maybe there was an upside to this shrinkage, after all.

A short woman with dark hair and very pale green eyes made her way over, smiling politely in black pants and shirt, her name tag reading 'Cindy'.

"Hello, are you ready to order?" She said to Helen who gestured for her team to order first.

Nikola grinned. "Hi Cindy, I'll just have a bottle of your best wine, please."

Cindy laughed, ruffling his hair affectionately and John nearly choked with amusement.

"You're so cute," she said, turning to Helen who smiled.

"He'll have a satay wrap and I'll have the same thank you."

Soon they had all ordered and were eating their food gratefully, except for Nikola who was eyeing his grumpily, stating very plainly that if he couldn't have wine, he would starve himself, and that if that woman or anyone called him cute in that 'condescending tone again', he would show them how not cute he could be. Helen had ignored him, knowing full well that he would eat sooner or later – he was far too arrogant to starve himself – and she was just glad to be off her feet for a moment. John was showing Will, Kate and Henry his walrus and vampire impersonations using his chopsticks and had them in fits of laughter, sending a pang of guilt constricting through Helen's chest. Is this how he would have been with Ashley all those years ago when she was a child, had he known about her? Would Ashley have grown up differently, knowing her father? There was no doubt about that, but she wasn't sure whether that would have been a good or a bad thing.

When they had all finally finished, even Nikola who decided eventually that he was too good looking to die (his words) and began eating, and the bill was payed, they six of them wandered out of the Sushi bar and around the shops for half an hour before Kate decided she had to use the ladies room. Helen agreed that she would take Kate to the bathroom, and John would do the same for the boys and they would meet up in an hour and a half at the Sushi Bar again, giving the children the chance to do some clothes shopping with supervision and Kate would get some 'bonding' time with Helen.

As they separated, Helen heard Nikola yelling at John for something and she sighed with relief as she realised she only had Kate to deal with now, and that couldn't be too hard. She smiled at the girl clinging to her hand and they made their way into an expensive children's shop.

A/N: I have to say, I have only seen up to 'Fuge' so if Druitt or Gregory have come back or anything like that and this doesn't (and I know it won't) match the storyline, I apologise! :D I'd like to thank my brother 'RealVampiresDon'tSparkle' and Kikilia 14 for their help on this chapter! Also, sorry if John is a little OOC *smiles sheepishly* End of the shopping trip part 1 XD