DISCLAIMER: As chapter one; I'm not writing it all out again! ;O)

'Thoughts'

"Speech"

Summary: Ellie's made a major announcement on the flight to New York; how will Josef and Mick handle it? What will Sam do when she meets the person Josef's brought her to New York to see?

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

COMPLICATIONS

Chapter Twelve – Love and Vampires

"What makes you think you've seen a vampire, kiddo?" Mick asked calmly.

"Aunt Sam has loads of friends; lots keep really odd hours, but she never complains if they turn up late at night to chat. I don't think she knows that Larry is a vampire though - I don't suppose she even believes in them."

She looked earnestly at both men "he's really nice, honest. He doesn't scare me; I don't think he even knows I know, 'coz I've never said anything. But one day he came for coffee; he does that sometimes, but he never drinks any.

Anyway, aunt Sam went to the bathroom and I crept out of bed and stood by the door – Larry always comes to visit real late at night; he works in the local precinct; he's a detective there. I know he really likes Sam, so I wanted to make sure she was okay - you can't be too careful." She paused and sucked her cheek for a moment "and she does make some guys crazy….."

"Tell me about it…." Muttered Josef, realizing that he probably had yet another vampire male to watch out for now. God! What was her apartment, the damn meeting place for 'Vampires Anonymous'?

Mick shot his best friend a warning look and let Ellie continue "guys like Larry anyway; she can get all sarcastic and spiky and I think men like him prefer women like that - ones that answer back you know?" Mick nodded; aware that this was a very clever little girl, and so she had to be handled carefully to avert disaster. " So I stood by the door, and he had this drinks bottle thing – one of those closed ones with an inbuilt straw. Well, instead of using the straw, he popped the lid, opened his mouth and swigged from the cup a few times.

It was when he opened his mouth I saw his teeth – they were way different than they normally looked. I couldn't see much of his face as he was turned a bit away from me with his eyes closed."

Mick almost sagged with relief; he noticed the tension in Josef's face relax a little. She hadn't connected his look with her mother's. The cleaners, especially their 'leader' Alicia, were not known for their warm, maternal natures. Neither vampire would put it past the group to murder Ellie, just to ensure their species remained unknown. It was a wonder that the kid and her aunt had slipped under their radar this long…

"But that doesn't mean he was a vampire, Ellie" Mick noted; praying the kid hadn't snooped further.

But Ellie, being the offspring of her equally inquisitive family, had indeed investigated more. "Wait, I haven't told you it all yet. I waited for him for him to wander over to the window, where he started chatting to a photo of Sam's old dog, Roman; then I snuck over and looked at the cup. It had dregs of what looked like blood in it!" She wrinkled her nose "it smelt awful! I crept back to bed and worried all night that aunt Sam might not know one of her best friends was a vampire."

"Aren't vampires supposed to bite people though?" Mick offered "all the books and movies say so; yet you say he drank his blood from a cup." He ignored the indignant look Josef was giving him. The misrepresentation their kind received at the hand of novelists and movie makers was a pet peeve for the older vampire.

Ellie waved his point away "that's rubbish – well, maybe not in the olden days; but it is now. Nowadays there's blood banks and stuff – I bet you could get human and animal blood twenty-four hours a day if you wanted, and all without pulling a Dracula on someone's neck."

Both Josef and Mick were stunned at the way the child had reasoned all this out so well. Neither one really had a ready comeback; finally Mick smiled "well, we better meet this Larry when we get back huh? Make sure he's at least nice, right? Wouldn't want your aunt mixing with the bad guys, would we?"

Ellie nodded and hugged Mick "thanks Mick; I knew you'd sort it out. But you do believe me right?"

The vampire took a moment to pick his words "I believe you saw what you think you saw, Ellie. I just think your view on the why he did he what he did might be wrong. There might've been medicine or anything in that cup that made it look like blood and smell that bad. So let's see when we get back right?"

Ellie considered this for a moment "you think he might be really sick?" She sounded worried "I hope not; Larry's a really nice guy, vampire or not, and I know Sam likes him. She'd be very sad if she thought he was poorly."

"Well, I don't know for sure obviously as I've never met him; but, like I said, when we get back me and Josef will meet him and see what's what – okay?"

Ellie nodded and subsided into her seat, returning to her book she'd been reading. Josef and Mick shared a look; one disaster averted…..for now.

However Josef couldn't resist one other question "why was he talking to a photo of Sam's dead dog?"

Ellie looked up and shrugged "I dunno; it's just something he does. He used to own a dog a long time ago apparently; but then it died. He misses it, so I suppose he talks to Roman because he misses his own dog too."

"Yeah, but what about your pets now? I mean they're living; if he talks to anything, surely it'd better talking to them?"

"Oh he doesn't come around so much now – apparently he's found out he's developed allergies. It's a real shame I as bet he'd love them……"

Josef and Mick shared another knowing look – oh they'd bet he'd love them….as a snack. Still at least this Larry was sensible enough to stay away while the animals were out and about.

Sam began to stir – she lifted her head off of Josef's shoulder "oh Lord, I'm sorry….." she was all sleepy and Josef had to control himself from doing anything other than think about her….

"Had a good sleep?"

She shrugged "m'eh – it was okay" she ran a hand over Josef's sleeve "at least I didn't drool on you."

"You didn't snore this time either!" Ellie grinned.

"As I have told you before, I never snore" Sam replied indignantly.

Josef snorted "what?" she glared at him "what are you implying?"

"I'm not 'implying' anything; I'm telling you. I am happy to agree with the ankle biter on this one; you do snore – loudly and a lot! I had to listen to you, so I should know. You snored all the way back from Los Angeles that time; I'm only surprised that you didn't rattle the aircraft windows!"

"I so didn't! You take that back!"

"You did! Truth hurts huh?" Josef grinned.

"Not as much as you will when I punch you!" Mick chuckled as she glowered at his friend. He still marvelled at the way she completely accepted what they were - no fear, no loathing. They were her friends, end of.

Josef grinned when Ellie high fived him; crowing in triumph at her aunt. He felt strangely touched that she'd finally showed him some of the affection she normally lavished on Mick – if only her aunt would…..

0-0-0-0

They reached New York and after they'd got settled into the hotel suite he asked Mick to take Ellie toy shopping as his treat, which the child readily agreed to – so he could take Sam to meet his 'friend'. Mick knew exactly where they were going "are you sure about this?" he murmured as Sam instructed Ellie not to max out Josef's platinum credit card.

Josef nodded "yeah; she has to understand some stuff and this is the best way to begin to explain it."

Mick nodded, though he still looked dubious and took Ellie off; clearly disbelieving that the little girl could spend that much money. Sam watched the two of them go, a soft smile on her face "he has no idea what he's letting himself in for - that kid could truly shop until she dropped…." Then she turned a sterner gaze on Josef. "okay, they've gone – so tell me; what the hell is all this about? I am not setting a foot anywhere else until I get details on what the hell is going on?"

Josef sighed and motioned to a seat; Sam sat down and looked expectantly at him "I can start at when I was turned; but there's someone I need you to meet before I can give you the full expo, alright?"

Sam sighed, seeing how genuinely stressed he was she knew he could get round her. "alright; this is obviously important to you – so let's go."

0-0-0-0

It was a scant twenty minutes later that Josef led Sam into a room where a beautiful woman lay in a bed, hooked up to various life support devices.

"Sam say hi to Sarah – Sarah this is Sam." Josef smiled self consciously "her nurses call her 'Sleeping Beauty'. She is also the reason why I believe love and vampires don't mix."

Sam stared at the woman and then turned to Josef "what happened to her?"

Josef sat down and stared at Sarah, before turning haunted eyes to his PA "I did. I happened – I…..loved her and I destroyed her" he rubbed a hand over his face "I loved her so much, Sam. Just like you, she drove me crazy; you're a lot alike actually. She was impetuous, passionate, sarcastic, funny – just like you….."

He sighed "we fell in love; it was 1955 and I was going by the name of Charles Fitzgerald. We wanted to be together, but I made the mistake of telling her what I was – that she would only have a short time with me; the span of her human life basically. I wanted to be honest, to let her know what being with me really meant."

He smiled mirthlessly "she hated the idea of being human with a vampire; of growing old, of dying and leaving me alone. She talked me into turning her; I shouldn't have done it – but I didn't want to lose her either. I couldn't have cared less about her getting old; but I couldn't stand the thought of her dying and leaving me. Even if she'd lived to a hundred it would still be too soon to lose her…"

"How old is she?" Sam murmured.

"She was twenty one when I turned her."

"What happened?"

"I don't know; I wish I did, because then perhaps I could put it right. I did everything properly Sam; no mistakes, no errors. I drained her and then fed her my blood; but somehow she got lost somewhere between being human and being a vampire. This is how she's been, in a coma, since 1955. Forever twenty-one, just not the way we thought; the way we wanted it to be." He sighed "I let her family think she'd died, and I've been secretly caring for her ever since."

"And you think this is all your fault?"

"Who else's would it be? I bit her, I drained her, I turned her…wrongly it seems, but I did it. There was no one else – it was all me."

"But you didn't do it like Coraline, right? You didn't turn her by force like she did with Mick. Sarah badgered you into doing it, right? Oh I'm not saying you didn't want it as well" she waved away his protest "otherwise you wouldn't have given in; you're too damn stubborn for that.

But she knew what she was doing; she was willing to risk everything for you. Don't take that away from her by saying it was all your doing. It was a two way street Josef; I bet if you could ask her, she wouldn't regret it – even now. I admire that in her; to love someone that much."

Sam had moved to stand in front of him; and Josef grabbed her around the waist, burying his head in her middle "I thought you'd hate me…." She heard him mutter.

Sam frowned "what for?" she released herself and crouched down in front of him; gripping his chin when he refused to look at her, forcing him to meet her gaze "because you loved someone so much you didn't want to let them go? Because you wanted her no matter what? Because she loved you enough to want to sacrifice her human nature for you? Or because you just didn't want to be alone anymore?

Jeez Josef, I can't imagine what it's like to be you and Mick, or any other vampire – always alone, always watching friends you make age and die; unless they're other vampires - other people who are jaded by the knowledge they're here for eternity…."

She shook her head "I wouldn't condemn you; how can I when I've never had to live that existence. In fact in way I totally get it – my brother became a vampire because he loved his wife so much he couldn't imagine her going on without him; he knew she need him no matter what. So he gave up his human life without a second thought; seriously, not a single one. Me, our parents, even his daughter – nothing stopped him. So why on earth would I hate you for choosing love?"

Josef gave her a watery smile "you know, just when I think I have you all figured out you go and throw me a curve ball."

"Ah well see, that's a female thing – men really do never understand us." She grinned then sobered "but why are you still keeping her alive?"

"One day there might be a cure – technology moves on; there's always advances being made in medicine….."

"Not where vampires are concerned, Josef – to the vast majority of the world you guys don't even exist, there's never going to be any medicinal research into your species and any errors that occur. There's no way there'll ever be a cure for a vampire turning glitch like this."

"You're saying I should let her go?" He frowned "I can't do that to her; she trusted me….."

"You repaid that trust; you did what she wanted. Like I said, it's not your fault she's like this; you couldn't help what happened. There's no way you could've known it would go that wrong; if you had I know you enough to know you would never have done it." He nodded.

She gestured to the girl in the bed "you said I'm a lot like her – well, I'm telling you I would hate to be like this. Neither dead or alive, human nor vampire; just existing in some kind of limbo. That's not a life under any circumstances, Josef – let alone an eternal one like a vampire."

"But….."

"No buts; think about it – would you want to exist like this? Be honest Josef, because we both know you would hate it as much as I would. An eternity of being in a coma" Sam shuddered "that's a living death; a bit like being buried alive…"

Josef looked from her to Sarah and back again "I need to think about this…."

"Sure; but remember – this is her for eternity….." She shook her head "it's not fair to her." Sam reached out and stroked his cheek "but neither is it your fault; don't let guilt eat at you Josef. You both acted out of love, a need to be together." She smiled sadly "I wish I had that, I wish….."

"What?" He snagged her hand and held it close to his face, she could feel his cool breath on her skin "what do you wish Sam?"

"I wish someone would love me that much…." She pulled herself together and lost the wistful look in her eye "anyway, you need to be with her alone for a while, I can see that. Leave all the rest until later. I'm going to call Mick and see where he and Ellie are; I could do with doing some retail therapy too. I need some more tissues for one thing" she flashed a cheeky smile "I'm still not quite over this cold after all."

She patted his cheek as she flipped open her phone – punching a speed dial number she grinned as the caller picked up "hey Mick! Where are you?" her face fell "you're where? Oh no, Mr St. John I am so not going up the empire state building – has my little horror not told you that I am so scared of heights that I get dizzy standing on a chair?!"

Giving a wave to Josef she headed out of the room still arguing good naturedly with Mick; wanting to know what drug he used to persuade Ellie to stop shopping and go sightseeing instead; but then she doubled back and squeezed Sarah's hand, before kissing Josef's cheek. When she left again she didn't look back, and so didn't see him looking at her stunned as his finger gently touched the place her lips had kissed……..