Information is gathered from Wikipedia and dodgy looking websites so just pretend it's right, yeah? The title is, well, me poking fun at the fact that everything in Sanctuary is all because of that damn blood!

Also, hugs for all the reviews.

Also, Engelbert Humperdinck deserved way more than 12 points. Just sayin'.

Also, ManTap should have won her Leo. They are all amazing and don't need to win to be amazing but... I love ManTap. She looked smokin'!

Also... Nah, just kidding :P Love you all!

xx

"She's still unconscious," Nikola said softly from his seat opposite Helen and she sighed, smiling sadly at him.

In the past week it had become a habit for both of them to spend an hour or two by Rose's side as the sun rose. At first it had been accidental, Nikola barely moving from her side and Helen simply taking time she didn't really have to talk to her old friend in the hopes that something one of them said could spur her into alertness. As it was, she'd occasionally mumble a few words to whoever was with her at the time but those were few and far between.

Only once had any of them heard any mental chatter. Kate had fallen asleep with her head on the other woman's arm only to be roused by a few grumbling complaints running through her mind. In an instant she'd called the others to her side but no amount of pleading or prompting had been enough to encourage a repeat performance.

They'd been reluctant to move her from the sunlit room but after three days with no change, Helen had insisted on moving her down to the infirmary for a few hours if only to run a few tests. Nikola had protested but Helen had stood firm, saying she couldn't help unless she knew what the problem was. The results, or lack thereof had been frustrating beyond belief for everyone.

"So?" Nikola had said, striding into her office.

"So what?"

"What have you learned?" he asked, standing on the other side of her desk and while Helen had expected anger and belligerence, all that stood before her was a cool, calm and collected man. Nikola had always been a master at hiding his emotions but this was something else. This was blatant denial of feeling anything.

"Nothing," she told him with a sigh. "I can't tell what's normal so I don't know what to look for. From what I can tell, she's basically human but some of these results I've never seen before in my life. From a human or abnormal."

Nikola had said nothing, simply waiting for her to continue.

"The only thing I am certain of is that she's not going to die, I think she's simply asleep," Helen said as a flicker of something passed through Nikola's eyes. "Are you familiar with the stages of sleep?

"Vaguely," Nikola replied, finally taking a seat. "There are what? Four stages and then REM."

"Exactly. Now, from what I can tell, Rose seems to be stuck in the second stage," she explained, leaning forward. "I measured her brain waves and while there are no delta waves to speak of, they're definitely slower than I'd expect plus there's evidence of sleep spindles though I can't say for sure if that's an abnormality for her or not."

"So she's asleep?" Nikola asked, confused. "Surely you could just give her some kind of stimulant to wake her up then?"

"But that's just it," Helen said, shaking her head. "I can't find a single trace of tryptophan, serotonin or melatonin in her system. She's asleep but she's not asleep."

"So what are you going to do?" he asked, face carefully blank.

She could see the fear in his eyes, the fear that they'd lose Rose or, worse, that she wouldn't wake up and Helen felt a strange pit open within her stomach. She couldn't lose Rose, not after all they'd done but she couldn't lose Nikola either.

"I'm not sure," she began slowly. "I really don't know if there's anything we can do. The only thing I'm certain of is that she requires huge doses of vitamin D to remain as alert as she is now. We've already tried giving her a boost but it had no effect."

"And?"

"And what Nikola? I'm at a complete loss here," she said, starting to get angry. Why couldn't he show at least some kind of emotion? Did he have to be so cold about the whole affair?

"So what?" he asked smoothly. "She's stuck like this? Forever?"

From there she'd gotten steadily angrier and angrier until he'd simply walked from the room, not saying a word. Of course she'd apologised quickly but his cool acceptance of such words with a bland smile had her on edge.

Now, sitting on either side of the large bed, Helen felt that fear again. His voice was carefully smooth, betraying no hint of emotion as he watch Rose breath in and out, long slow pulls of air that passed between chapped lips. Rose sighed, shifting slightly under the blankets, drawing their attention but unlike the first time she did as such, neither stood up in excitement. Now they simply watched as a small frown played on her lips, a tiny line appearing between her brow as she sighed once more.

Then Helen felt that tell-tale prod in her mind and she sat up straighter.

"Rose," she rushed, leaning forward. "Rose I'm here, we're both here."

I.

"Rose."

Know.

"What is it Helen?" Nikola all but snapped, leaning over to grab Rose's hand. "What did she say?"

"She..." Helen started, staring at her sleeping friend. "She knows we're here."

Nikola scoffed, dropping her hand and leaning back, his face finally showing some emotion.

"Are you ever going to help her?" he snarled, lounging in his chair with a look of haughty indifference on his face.

"Nikola," she started but he held up a hand.

"No Helen, I'm serious. I know you like to pretend to be God when you mess with people's lives but surely your relationship with Rosie-."

"I do no such thing," Helen ground out, trying hard to keep her voice even. Nikola was angry at her lack of results, much as she was but she knew his anger wasn't directed at her, not really. "I'm doing everything I can but this isn't easy. I have no platform from which to base any-."

"Oh do shut up," he snapped, standing up and straightening his suit. "To be honest, I'm sick to death of your explanations that come to nothing. Why bother telling us anything if all you're going to say is that, once again, you haven't got a clue what you're doing."

He strode to the door, only pausing once he reached the threshold. Turning back he swept a critical eye over the room, finally landing on Helen, scorn in his gaze.

"Frankly, Helen, I'm not surprised you haven't made any head way."

And with that he was gone, the slap of his shoes on the polished floor boards echoing down the empty corridor until she was left in silence.

Turning back to face the window, Helen bit her lip, allowing herself a moment of self pity as she watched the sun.

What if he was right? What if she couldn't solve this riddle? What if Rose never woke up? She truly had no idea what she was doing, she'd tried everything she could think of yet nothing had had any effect. Rose had remained in her half asleep state for a week despite their best efforts. Helen had tried human remedies, abnormal remedies and, after seeing the similarities between Rose's blood and her own, all the treatments she could think of that had been effective on her. Not that she'd ever been stuck in a state between sleep and alertness but she was desperate. She'd run every test fathomable and while she was fascinated by Rose's unique physiology, Nikola was right, she'd made no headway. What she needed was to talk to Rosie.

"How is she?" a low voice asked from behind her. Turning in her seat, Helen nodded to John and he stepped into the room.

"No change," she said quietly as he moved to take the seat Nikola had left empty.

"How are you?"

Helen swallowed, unable to look at John. She'd stopped storming from the room when he entered but she was still having trouble remaining civil. He was such an easy target for her anger and no matter how many times she told herself to stop being so petty and childish, she was still having trouble looking him in the eye. Trying to reconcile the man who'd professed an urge to kill Rosie with the man who blindly followed her orders was difficult and, as of yet, she'd had no luck.

"Why did you do it?" she blurted out. He'd explained it to her many times, or at least he'd tried but still, hearing the words from his mouth calmed her, made it easier to focus.

"I'm trying," he said simply. "I'm trying to fight the beast so that I can be the man you deserve and part of that requires me to trust."

"But why?" she breathed, her eyes wide at his confession. Normally he told her he just did what he was told, that he followed her orders because Helen had always trust Rose so this change of track had thrown her more than a little.

"She's your friend," he began, eyes trained on the sleeping figure between them. "And you trust her with your life. She entrusted me with your life and..."

He looked up at her, pain clear in his eyes. "And I'm trying."

Both remained silent for a minute, not looking at each other as they tried to find common ground from which to begin again. Rose sighed again, shivering once before settling back into silence.

"Do you think I ought to be here?" John asked quietly after a moment. "All things considered."

"I think..." Helen started. "I think she doesn't hate you as much as you think."

John chuckled. "Wishful thinking my dear. She wants to kill me just as much as always."

Helen raised an eyebrow in silent question but John merely smiled, tapping the side of his head.

"She's been rather vocal this morning," she observed.

"Is that a good sign?" he asked, leaning forward to get a better look at her sleeping face. "Do you think it means she's waking up?"

"No."

The word was a whisper, barely audible but by some miracle they both heard it.

"Rose, we're here. What do you mean 'no'? What can I do, what do you need?" Helen asked hurriedly, shifting to sit on the bed. Grabbing the younger woman's hand, she bent close, determined to not miss anything she said.

"Blaa.." she whispered, wincing slightly. "Blood."

"What blood?" Helen asked, squeezing her hand. "Are you bleeding?"

"Nikola... blood... vam... vam... vampire... blood."

"Come on Rose, what are you trying to say?" Rose winced again, eyes still tightly shut but a low groan slipped between her lips. Whatever she was trying to say, Helen knew it was important but, by the looks of it, it was exhausting her further.

"Blood," she whispered from between clenched teeth. Her eyes fluttered open momentarily and she tightened her grip on Helen's hand, allowing a few images to pass between their minds. Helen gasped, eyes glazing over as she watched the slaughter of hundreds of people, vampires allowing open wounds to drip blood into the open mouths of terrified men and women. Shrieks filled her ears, the people writhing in pain as the vampires dropped them to the ground, allowing them to struggle with an unseen pain.

Suddenly the images stopped, Rose falling back to the bed limp and lifeless. She was still breathing but when John grabbed her shoulders, begging her to wake up he got no response, mental or verbal but Helen was barely paying attention.

Breathing heavily she leant back, trying to piece together the puzzle she'd been presented but try as she might, she couldn't make the answer anything different to the bone chilling option she'd been presented with.