Disclaimer: I don't own "Van Helsing"

Van Helsing sat beside the bed that Sarah laid in, still and quiet. A few hours ago, he just brought her in from the bitter cold, after he managed to get Dracula away from her. When he brought her inside the order, he could never forget the look on Steel, and Anna's faces. Especially Anna's. When she saw her daughters limp form in Van Helsings arms, she broke down crying. Later she was given medicine to calm her down, and she fell asleep in a different room. Steel was just quiet, with tears streaming down his face. They moved Maria into a different room so Sarah could have the bed in the med room. And there Van Helsing sat quiet, making sure she was okay and warm. He roasted up a roaring fire next to her bed, and put in hot water bottles under the covers. He stayed awake, even as the other order members went out for the night so they could be rested up for the next morning. His only wish was that he'd gotten there in time.

"Van Helsing?" asked a voice.

Van Helsing turned around and saw Steel, tired, and red-eyed from tears of sadness.

"Steel?" he asked. "It's two in the morning. What is it?"

"I found this,"

Steel opened up his fist to reveal a necklace. It was kind of like the one Sarah had, but it had a sun and a cloud. Van Helsing took it and examined it.

"Where did you find this?" he asked.

"I accidently took Taylors bag by mistake and found this in the pocket in front," Steel explained.

Van Helsing thought for a moment and nodded.

"We may need this," he said. "You're in charge of watching it,"

Van Helsing gave the necklace back to Steel, and he looked back to watch Sarah. Steel watched too, the pain of seeing her like that growing inside him.

"Is she gonna be all right?" he asked.

"The only damage that Dracula's done to her is a very purple bruise on her neck, and temporary voice loss," Van Helsing said softly.

"Wake me when she wakes up. Please. I want to see her eyes,"

Van Helsing smiled.

"As long as you're not that tired. But I really do suggest that you get some rest Steel. You, Sarah, Michael, and Maria have been through a very tough ordeal,"

Steel nodded and left the dark room. Van Helsing sighed as Sarah breathed slowly and steadily in her sleep. Getting up, he went through her backpack, trying to look for something: A hairbrush (like she ever used it), first aid kit in case Maria got hurt or something, the book they borrowed from the library...A ha! The doll he had given her before he left the last time he saw her. Walking back to her bed, he laid the doll beside her. Once he did, as though Sarah knew her doll was with her, she moved her arm, wrapping it around the precious French doll.

"If only I had gotten to you in time," Van Helsing whispered as he closed his eyes.

"You already did," said a very soft voice.

Van Helsing looked up, and saw Sarah opening her eyes slowly. Fluttering them, she let out a sigh of relief. She was alive. Van Helsing looked like he was gonna cry, but he didn't show it entirely.

"You're all right," he said putting a hand on her head.

"What happened?" Sarah said trying to sit up. "I can't remember anything."

"Lay back down. As usual, you were lucky,"

"Oh really?" Sarah laid back down.

"I just saved you from getting the air forced out of you,"

"Thanks...My voice...What's wrong with my voice?"

"It's only temporary. The best thing to do to get it back faster, is to not talk,"

"Where have I heard that before?"

Van Helsing laughed. Sarah just smiled, until she realized something was missing. She felt her neck for anything. Nothing.

"The necklace!" she whispered loudly. "He took it! We've got to find it!"

Sarah tried to get out of bed, but Van Helsing held her down.

"Sarah," he said. "You were almost killed by one of the most feared vampires of the world. If you go out there, he'll kill you instantly just by looking into your eyes,"

"But the eclipse!" Sarah protested. "It's going to happen at midnight,"

"With or without the necklace Sarah, he won't accomplish what he needs,"

"But..."

"There's another piece to the puzzle that he doesn't have,"

Sarah stopped protesting, and laid back down, still looking at Van Helsing.

"Taylor left his backpack, and took Steel's by mistake, and Steel found a necklace with a sun and a cloud. It could be something that Dracula forgot about,"

"Oh my gosh," Sarah remembered. "They made it here safely? Are they all right? Can I see them?"

"Sarah, Sarah. They're fine. You can't see them right now. It's 2:30 in the morning. They're sleeping. Maria had a little accident..."

"Define 'little',"

Van Helsing was surprised. Even though her voice was barely gone fom the choke, he could hear the defiance in her voice. He had never seen her like this. It was almost like she didn't care about her life anymore. But he figured he could give her the truth. It was one of the very few things she needed.

"I want you to know that I got to them in time, and they are fine," he said cautiously. "Maria was bitten..."

"What?" Sarah interuppted

"Let me finish. She's fine. We cured her, and she'll be good as new in the morning,"

Sarah relaxed a bit, sinking her head more into her pillow. Van Helsing looked at her sympathetically.

"You really thought about them more than yourself," he said. "Your one thought was to get them here safe and sound...You even thought more about Steel than you ever did,"

"You know about that?" Sarah asked.

Van Helsing smiled.

"It was the same story your mother and I had togethor," he explained. "The hunter is assigned to protect the princess, and they fall in love. I wasn't the only one who saved your life,"

"He told you didn't he?" Sarah asked

Van Helsing nodded.

"Well...I'm glad he broke that promise,"

Sarah smirked as she closed her eyes to rest. Van Helsing got up from his chair, stroking her hair as he went up.

"Rest," he said as he was walking out. "When you wake up, some people will be very happy to see you,"

"Van Helsing..." Sarah said.

"Yes?"

"...Thank You,"

Van Helsing smiled, gave off a nod, and closed the door slightly. Sarah rested her eyes for a while. Boy, was she glad that she had very good friends with her. Just as she was drifting off to sleep, she heard the door open. Opening her eyes again, there was Steel walking towards her.

"Sarah!" he whispered loudly.

"Steel!" Sarah whispered as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

For a few moments, the couple stayed like that togethor. Steel cried silent tears, and let them drop on Sarah's shoulder.

"You scared me to death," he said.

"Really?" Sarah asked. "You don't look half bad for a dead guy,"

Steel laughed a bit.

"What are you doing here?" Sarah asked.

"Sarah Valerious," Steel smiled brightly. "How would you like to spend a night in Rome with me until the sun rises?"

Sarah smiled back at him.

"If I was in any shape to go on a date, Steel, I would love to," she explained. "But Van Helsing told me to get some rest,"

"Sarah...I know. I want the best for you. But I really would be happy if you spent just one night with me...No more vampires, werewolves, magic necklaces...Put all those things away for a while, and just spend a night in Rome with me,"

Sarah thought about it for a moment...Then after a few minutes, she smiled a mischievious grin.

"Let's go," she said in her raspy voice

About three in the morning, Steel and Sarah managed to slip out of the Vatican and into the beautiful city of Rome. Taking Steel's horse, Hamlet, Steel guided them through the cobble stone streets, with his arms wrapped around Sarah in front of him. But Steel had a secret. The necklace he found was around his neck, but he was going to tell Sarah soon. When the time was right. Soon they stopped in front of a frozen lake. When Steel helped her down from his horse, Sarah looked at the surroundings. The previous blizzard had left a blanket of snow that was untouched by human hands, except them. The lake was frozen solid, and smooth like marble. Sarah heard Steel cough in his throat, and she turned to him. He held up two pairs of ice skates. Sarah's smile brightened up, and she walked slowly to him, tears shining in her eyes. Putting her arms around his neck, she whispered in his ear

"Je amour tous," she spoke in French

Steel smirked.

"What does that mean?" he asked.

"I love you," Sarah whispered

Looking deep into each others eyes, they were lost in the wonderous snow-blanketed world. Sarah closed her eyes, breathing the air, as Steel leaned forward. He kissed her longingly on the lips. But suddenly, a powerful urge inside of Sarah grew. Steel felt it too, and their kiss kept still as it came, until the power inside of them hurt. Backing away from each other, breaking the kiss, the two started gasping for air.

"You okay?" Steel breathed.

"I'm fine," Sarah said her voice better, and louder.

Steel widened his eyes.

"Your voice!" he exclaimed. "It's back!"

Sarah stopped what she was doing and took a moment to take that in.

"And your bruise! It's gone too!"

"How?" she asked. "It can't have gotten better in less than 2 hours,"

Steel started thinking quickly about the possibilities. Suddenly, the solution came to his mind like lightning bolts in his head. He unbuttoned the first button if his shirt and revealed the necklace of the sun and cloud. It was glowing but it was fading. Something different was about this necklace.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you," he said.

"It's okay," Sarah reassured. "Van Helsing filled me in,"

"Oh...Don't you think we should go back and find out what's up with this?"

"What time does the sun rise?"

"In three hours,"

"We'll go before then. When we get there we can watch the sun come up," Sarah spun in circles as she said this. "Then we can bravely sneak inside, sneak back into our rooms, and no one will notice we were gone during our night of romance,"

Steel raised an eyebrow.

"OK," he started. "Not that I think that isn't a great idea or anything but, how much did Dracula choke you?"

"Come on Steel. This one of the very few best things thats ever happened to me. You're the best thing that's ever happened to me!"

"I know. But Van Helsing has a way of finding out things, and..."

Steel stopped.

"What?" asked Sarah softly after a moment of silence.

"Did you know that Van Helsing had nightmares?"

"Yes," Sarah nodded

"He stays up at night looking after the headquarters, so he doesn't go back to sleep. I know that. Once, my father had to work late so I had to sleep in the quarters downstairs. I woke up in the middle of the night and found Van Helsing standing at the top of the Vatican, and he and I talked for a while. That's how I knew,"

"Well if he finds out sooner than we planned, I'll say it was my idea to sneak out...Now. Didn't we come out here to have a good time?'

Steel smiled, and quickly the two put on their ice skates. There was not a moment to lose. Sarah finished first, and leapt onto the ice doing a figure eight, as Steel sakted softly on the ice, following her until he took her arms gently. Guiding her, they glided togethor as they could hear music play in their minds.

(A/N: I don't own "This I promise you" by N Sync...yeah, I know they suck, but my friends little sister listens to them, and I thought this was a good song for our little couple)

When the visions around you,
Bring tears to your eyes
And all that surround you,
Are secrets and lies
I'll be your strength,
I'll give you hope,
Keeping your faith when it's gone
The one you should call,
Was standing here all along..

And I will take
You in my arms
And hold you right where you belong
Till the day my life is through
This I promise you
This I promise you

I've loved you forever,
In lifetimes before
And I promise you never...
Will you hurt anymore
I give you my word
I give you my heart (give you my heart)
This is a battle we've won
And with this vow,
Forever has now begun...

Just close your eyes (close your eyes)
Each loving day (each loving day)
I know this feeling won't go away (no..)
Till the day my life is through
This I promise you..
This I promise you..

Over and over I fall (over and over I fall)
When I hear you call
Without you in my life baby
I just wouldn't be living at all...

And I will take (I will take you in my arms)
You in my arms
And hold you right where you belong (right where you belong)
Till the day my life is through
This I promise you baby

Just close your eyes(Each loving day (each loving day)
I know this feeling won't go away (no..)
Every word I say is true
This I promise you
Every word I say is true
This I promise you

Ooh, I promise you...

As soon as they two grew tired of skating, Steel laid down a blanket against the base of a tree, and he and Sarah laid beside each other looking at the sky, as their stars were slowly fading.

"You know what I'm thinking?" asked Steel

"What?" smiled Sarah

"That each one of those stars up there is a spot for every person's wish,"

"Steel. We've all made wishes on stars. I'm pretty sure you've made a wish on all them,"

"Not all of them. Just one. You have to make one wish. And you can only make it twice on the same star,"

"..I've never heard that before. Have you made a wish on the same star twice before?"

"Yep,"

"Did you get it?"

"Oh yeah,"

Steel kissed Sarah on top of the forehead, and she snuggled in closer to him. Sighing, she closed her eyes, resting.

"You know what I wish?" she asked

"What?" asked Steel.

"That I could fly up there, touch one of those stars, and use it to make my wish,"

"..Why don't you?"

"What are you saying?"

Sarah sat up as Steel dug into his bag, and took out two belts. Each one of them had a button on the side. Sarah looked at them curiously.

"What is this?" she asked.

"You wanna find out?" Steel said with a grin.

Sarah raised an eyebrow, and pointed a finger at Steel as he and Sarah each put a belt on

"OK," she said. "That look is creeping me out. What are you up to?"

"Nothing," Steel laughed. "It's perfectly fine. Carl invented it a few months ago,"

"If Carl invented it, then I know it's not safe,"

"Don't worry. I tested it myself. Just close your eyes for a moment,"

Sarah closed her eyes slowly as Steel wrapped his arms around her waist tightly. For a moment, she felt nothing. Then suddenly, she could feel her feet slowly drift off upward. She clung on tightly to Steel, and kept her eyes closed.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Don't worry," Steel whispered. "I'll tell you when to open them,"

Sarah kept her eyes tightly shut, fearing what was happening to them. She could feel Steel's hand on her shoulder for comfort.

"OK," he whispered. "You can open your eyes now,"

Slowly, Sarah opened her eyes, and saw that they were off the ground. Flying. Were they flying? Were they actually flying? Gasping, she grabbed onto Steel tightly. Steel laughed silently.

"It's okay," he whispered. "I'm gonna let you go,"

"Steel don't," Sraah whispered, frightened.

"Do you trust me?"

Sarah stared into Steel's emerald eyes and nodded.

"OK. On the count of three, we're gonna let go of each other. One...Two...Three,"

They abruptly let go each other, and Sarah snapped her eyes shut waiting for her fall. Nothing happened. Opening her eyes, she was still off the ground, floating. Steel, who was also flying, smiled at her.

"How can this be possible?" she asked.

"With Carl's inventions, anything's possible," Steel smiled as he flew toward her.

Sarah smiled, giggling. She should've known that.

"Dracula better be ready the next time he's sees me." she warned.

Sarah, flying high into the air, shouted back to Steel.

"Take a message back to those who'll ground me," she shouted playfully.

"What message is that, my dear lady?" asked Steel

Sarah, with a twinkle in her eye, smiled.

"You tell them how I'm defying gravity," she said.

(A/N: For those of you who don't know, that was kind of a verse from the song "Defying Gravity" from the Musical, "Wicked", which I'll be seeing on stage very soon! I am so happy!)

Shortly before the sun rose, Steel and Sarah rode back to the Vatican. Quietly putting Hamlet away, they raced to the stables, and through a secret stairway which led to the very top of the Vatican to watch the sunrise. The view from the hidden balcony was intense. It was like you could see all of Rome and the rest of the world. Steel wrapped his arms around her and watched it rise.

"You know," Sarah said. "This is one of the very few sunrises I've seen in my entire life,"

"You've never seen a sunrise all the time?" asked Steel.

"No," Sarah shook her head. "For as long as I can remember, the only thing I've woken up to was grey skies and snow falling. With Dracula alive, it was always like that,"

Steel turned Sarah around slowly, and put a hand on her cheek.

"When this is all over," he started. "This sunrise we're seeing now, won't be the last,"

Sarah smiled, and they shared a kiss, until they heard voices from down below.

"Look at it Michael!" shouted Maria's voice. "Isn't it the most beautiful sunrise you've ever seen?"

"Yeah, sure," Michael said casually. "It's great,"

Steel and Sarah looked down and saw Michael and Maria down on the snow covered ground in the courtyard. Maria was watching the sun rise, while Michael was forming a snowball. Sarah smiled, glad to see her friends safe and sound. While the watched, Michael threw a snowball at Maria, hitting her in the head.

"Hey!" Maria turned around. "That hurt!"

"Heads up Maria," grinned Michael.

Steel and Sarah stared at each other.

"Should we?" he asked grinning.

"After you," Sraah bowed slightly waving a hand off the blacony.

Taking each others hand, they jumped onto the ledge, and jumped onto the roof, sliding on the snow, and jumping off into the air, landing onto the ground.

"Michael what did I tell you about you hurting Maria?" Sarah asked playfully, putting her hands on her hips.

Michael and Maria stopped throwing snowballs at each other, and smiled as they saw their royal friend, safe and in one piece. Maria ran up to Sarah and hugged her.

"Sarah!" she cried. "I thought I'd never see you again!"

"So did I, my young friend," Sarah smiled. "I thought you were gonna be a werewolf?"

"Are you kidding? Not this girl. Beisdes, Carl and Van Helsing cured me,"

'I know.He told me when I woke up. I am so glad you're all right,"

"Hey!" Michael protested. "Don't I get some royal love?"

Sarah smiled and hugged Michael.

"Of course you do," she said. "But first..."

Without warning, Steel plunged a snowball down Michael's back. Michael let out a yelp, and started dancing around, while the other children laughed. Soon, the whil fiasco became a snowball fight. Boys aganist girls. Poor Michael never got the chance to throw one, beacause everytime he tried to throw one, he'd always get hit.Maria only got hit a couple of times, while Steel and Sarah never got hit once. When they were just in the middle of their fun a voice sounded.

"Maria and Sarah what are you doing out of bed!" shouted a fierce voice.

Everyone turned around as Steel and Michael accidently, let go of their snowballs and into the face of Van Helsing.. They boys gasped, and ducked behind the fort they built for the snowball battle. Sarah casually got up in front of Van Helsing.

"I can explain," she said calmly.

"Explain?" growled Van Helsing. "You almost gave me heart attack the first time you snuck out of bed. This time I nearly died! Do you know what that did to me to find you not there? Where were you? Where did you..."

"Mom?" Sarah whispered looking past Van Helsing.

Van Helsing turned around, and saw Anna standing at the bottem of the stairway, tears in her eyes. Sarah couldn't believe it. She was alive. Her mother was alive. Walking slowly at first, she started to cry softly, then running towards her, she hugged her tightly, sobbing with happiness. This was too good to be true. She looked up at her Mother, tears streaming fast down her cheeks.

"I love you," Sarah whispered.

"I saw you again," Anna cried with happiness improvising her famous words.

And thus, the Valerious family was reunited.

(A/N: Sniff. That was so beautiful. I'm in tears now...update please)