Companion piece to the 'Unexpected' thread Warning: Parts of this are heavy on the medical terminology. With the exception of the 'Obyri strain' of hormones—which I created—and the references to vampirism, the terms and functions described are accurate. I researched it thoroughly before having it checked by someone in the medical field.

EDITED TO ADD: Fanfiction apparently deleted quite a bit of this story, so I am reposting it in its completion. I really wish they would fix the glitch that keeps screwing up what authors enter. -_-

Izolda Olendzki had always been a bright girl, excelling at her studies from a young age. At only twelve old she had far surpassed her peers, doing the school work of someone many years her senior. Her scholastic achievements were so outstanding that when news of her high intelligence reached the Queen's advisors ears, Izolda was abruptly pulled from Alder and taken to Court for further testing. At the Queen's insistence, the young Moroi girl remained at court and was assigned a slew of private tutors, earning her diploma at the seemingly impossible age of fifteen before being gently nudged towards a career in medicine by Tatiana Ivashkov.

The Queen envisioned young Izolda making medical breakthroughs that would change their world. Her primary focus was intended to be Sandovsky's Syndrome, but the disease was so rare that as the years passed, she branched out, determined to find out all she could on her race and how it differentiated from humans. She poured over records obtained from the Alchemists and whenever possible dissected cadavers—Moroi, Strigoi and dhampir, searching for clues.

She learned much more than any of her colleges, due to the generosity and favor of the queen, and as a result, she could speculate—oh how she hated that word… she wanted concrete proof, not asinine assumptions—that the Moroi had originated as a mutation, although whether it was due to a quirk of nature or by divine intervention, she had no clue. She didn't like to waste time pondering on things she couldn't prove, so she focused instead on the things she could back up with carefully replicated data and meticulously recorded facts.

It was almost too easy for her to ascertain the differences between Moroi and humans; in a remarkably short time frame she understood why her race needed blood—for one thing, Moroi kidneys did not produce enough erythropoietin (epo), a necessary hormone required in the production of blood cells. The result was something similar to what was a hematological malignancy—blood cancer—in humans. Slight differences in their genetic makeup were why Moroi's required feeding onblood to live—while their kidneys did not produce epo, evolution had made certain their internal systems filtered the epo out of the blood they consumed at feedings and distributed it throughout the body.

She'd discovered other things about her race that had always been shrouded in mystery; the thalamic regions of the brain were larger, producing additional hormones that humans had no names for—she named these hormones the 'Obyri strain' as a tongue in cheek reference to the vampiric legends of the Slavic people. The more she studied the Obyri strain, the more she theorized that the hormones were what gave them access to the elemental magic that humans couldn't access. Dhampirs—who did not suffer from the kidney malady—had an enlarged hypothalamus as well, but it appeared to affect them in an entirely different way. Their thalamic regions still produced the hormones that comprised the Obyri strain, but that particular part of their thalamus appeared to be stunted due to their inherited human genes, making them unable to access magic but at the same time increasing their strength and immune systems. Unfortunately, the same genes that stunted their magic also seemed to be what inhibited their ability to reproduce with their own kind. The additional hormones that would have enabled magic use had they been Moroi appeared to adversely affect their reproductive systems, afflicting both the male and females of their species—resulting in a recessive gene that counteracted with their half-human DNA. She surmised that was the solitary reason that dhampir couplings, or dhampir human pairings were essentially sterile—without access to the elemental magic, the hormones increased and mutated, becoming a type of gonadotropin-inhibitory peptide, thus making conception completely impossible when reproduction was attempted with a partner that had human DNA.

Strigoi—in her opinion—were the most fascinating of all. There were no significant changes in the majority of their organs, since they were essentially frozen in a suspended state at the time of their transformation. The problem she faced was that their brains decayed far too rapidly for proper formulation of a definitive hypothesis. She had ascertained that the entire Hypothalamus was enlarged, and that the mysterious hormones were present in the areas that controlled regulating hunger and thirst, levels of pleasure and sexual satisfaction, anger, aggressive behavior and satiety—in fact there were five times as much present than there was in a Moroi brain. The same was true for the area that was responsible for emotional circumstances and responses. When coupled with the fact that dhampirs had increased levels most of those areas as well, she couldn't help but wonder if being cut off from the elements somehow boosted the hormone production in Strigoi the way it did in dhampirs—something that would actually counter the common belief that Strigoi were essentially dead.

Overall, she understood the differences between the vampiric races, and she knew what made them tick, but she longed to attempt to replicate the hormone boost in a live Moroi brain to see what might happen. She wondered if their fertility be affected, or would they just have a boost in their elemental magic, but unfortunately, testing on living subjects would be completely unethical. Those unanswered questions played through her mind continually, teasing and taunting her even after she had been relocated to Saint Vladimir's Academy. Even though she was instructed to focus on other tasks that the Queen set before her, she didn't complain about the new assignment, mainly because it promised to be invaluable to her primary research. After all, what better place to run a blind study than on a campus filled with students that would depend on her for all their medical needs—and who would reach maturity while under her care?

For years she kept meticulous records, discovering nothing new; on the side she continued her studies on cadavers in the fully equipped lab that Tatiana had installed in the campus medical center, and while she obtained plenty of data to back her theories, she found nothing new to advance it. As time passed her enthusiasm and hope slowly ebbed away, and although she still ran all the same tests out of habit, she stopped reviewing each and every one, because the results were always the same. For the first time in her life, she was stagnating, because there was absolutely nothing to challenge her sharp, quick mind or answer those haunting questions that ate away at her subconscious.

That is… Nothing to advance it until Vasilisa Dragomir and Rosemarie Hathaway were involved in a car crash—although she didn't realize it until much, much later, when the runaways were captured by the Guardians.

At first there was no noticeable difference—in fact, both girls were remarkably healthy for two teenagers who'd been living on their own, although Rosemarie seemed a bit more headstrong and prone to angry outbursts of temper. After a brief checkups, she declared them fine and moved on to research her benefactor's latest request—why some Moroi failed to specialize in an element at puberty, and why those select few seemed prone to insanity as they matured. It wasn't until Vasilisa's depression came to light that she realized the girl hadn't specialized, and even then she never stopped to consider that it might somehow relate to her secret project—in fact, her brain didn't catch the similarities until the news of the strange bond between the Dragomir princess and the dhampir reached her. That was when something clicked into gear and the puzzle pieces finally began to slowly slide into place. She didn't know how the girls were connected, but some sixth sense told her that once she found out, she'd have the information she'd been missing for seventeen years.

Immediately she pulled up the girls records, going all the way back to when they'd first been admitted to the academy, reviewing the charts meticulously, searching for the slightest sign that might indicate she was on the right track. There was no change from one to the next, and she was on the verge of giving up when something caught her eye—something that had her furious with herself for not reviewing the test but at the same time grateful for her compulsiveness in habitually running them.

The year the girl started her menses, the Obyri strain levels skyrocketed.

As she flipped through the tests performed over the following years, the surge of hope she'd felt at the discovery slowly drained away, giving way to frustration. After the initial surge, the levels had plateaued, never increasing again, making her wonder if it had been an error. Disinherited, she flipped through the dhampirs chart—just to be thorough—even though she told herself it was a complete waste of time. And it was, right up until she reached the time of the accident—when the Obyri strain in Rosemarie spiked to an alarming level. Staring down at the chart, she flipped to another test run around the same time, and then she let out a loud string of curses that would have made a grown man blush. Throwing the chart across the room in an uncharacteristic burst of anger, she leaned back in her chair, staring into space as her fingers drummed out a furious rhythm on her desk, lost in internal self-condemnation over the information she'd just read. If only she hadn't given up—if she had continued to review each and every test that had been run on the students, she would have been one step closer to the information she'd needed three years before. She would have known she was on the right track, and she'd have known that the Obyri strain was capable of much, much more than she'd ever dared imagine.

As impossible as it was to believe, according to the tests results, the mystery hormones had altered Rosemarie Hathaway's genetic makeup, albeit in a miniscule amount. If anyone else had glanced at the papers, the changes would have gone unnoticed—but then, most people hadn't devoted their entire lives to the study of Moroi and dhampir genetics. If she had caught the differences at the time the tests were performed, she would have run them again to double-check the results, but after three years there was no way to confirm the strange readings—and that was something that drove the meticulous scientist completely mad.

She cringed at the thought of the two years' worth of irreplaceable data that had been lost when the girls had been on the run. She had no way of knowing if—or how often—the hormones had increased, or what physiological changes might have occurred because of it. Sighing, she stood and walked around the desk to gather the chart and the scattered papers that had been strewn across the floor by her outburst, then reclaimed her seat, reaching for the phone. It was time to give the hot headed young dhampir a complete physical so she could update her records and attempt to make up for lost time.

Even though she knew she should be focusing on the princess and ascertaining why the Moroi girl hadn't specialized with her peers, she just couldn't. The changes she'd noticed in Rosemarie's test had reawakened her lagging hope, and from that moment on, determining what had brought them about was first and foremost in her mind. She wanted to run tests on the young dhampir whenever the opportunity presented itself, which unfortunately wasn't nearly as often as she'd have liked—Rosemarie had an aversion to the clinic and seemed determined to avoid it at all costs, no matter how insistent she might be. Still, she managed to obtain a few more samples by claiming the first set had been lost—telling herself it was a necessary lie and that no one would be the wiser—but even then the results were inconclusive, the hormone levels remaining plateaued and her DNA the same as it had been after the initial, formative change.

She'd thought her luck was changing for the better a short while later when an extremely agitated Guardian Belikov appeared in the clinic with a groaning Rosemarie cradled in his arms. Thrilled with the prospect of having a legitimate excuse to thoroughly examine the girl, Izolda hurried to her office to grab her notes, returning to the room just as the Dragomir princess was leaving. Unfortunately, to her dismay, she didn't have the unlimited access to her patient that she'd planned on—how could she when despite her best efforts she couldn't budge Guardian Belikov from the room? Under the Russian's dark, worried gaze, she performed a quick, cursory examination, drawing a few vials of blood before administering something to ease the girls pain, then positioned herself between the bed and the man, blocking his view as she collected several swabs from the inside of the novice's cheek. The result from those swabs was everything she had been hoping for. Rosemarie's levels had spiked, and her DNA showed the same strange change that it had in the test three years before.

As time passed, the peaks and plateaus continued at intermittent intervals, and try as she might, she couldn't seem to find the cause of them—something that worried Izolda greatly. She'd become strangely protective of Rosemarie, no longer thinking of her as just a test subject but as a young woman with an unknown affliction that had the potential to harm her in the long run. When she found out about the visions she was worried beyond belief, convinced they were a side effect and proof that the Obyri strain was damaging her mind, but she couldn't voice her fears without disclosing her research. Instead, she tried her best to lighten Rosemarie's workload, concerned that the stress she was under might bring about another spike in her levels. Of course her anxiety over the issue was for nothing, and a short while later, when she learned about Vasilisa's strange element, she finally had the links she needed to answer the questions that had vexed her for so many years—that in Moroi the increase would boost their magic, producing a Spirit User—and she also had answers for the Queen questions about specialization and madness as well, but at that point she no longer cared. The time she had spent studying Rosemarie coupled with learning about the bond had raised new questions—ones that seemed infinitely more important because they might save lives of Spirit User's bond mates.

The girls graduated and her patron died, and for the first time since she was twelve years old, she was adrift, without a real purpose. She tried to focus on the students, no longer running pointless test, instead doing her best to simply care for their medical needs, but still, the questions and worries about the hormone she'd discovered vexed her. Every day she wondered what changes the Obyri strain might be making in Rose Hathaway, but she could come up with no legitimate reason to contact the girl, no matter how much she longed to. Eventually she realized the futility of waiting, giving in and boxing up all her research on the new queen and her guardian, afraid it might fall into the wrong hands—but even then, she just couldn't bring herself to store it away. It wasthe culmination of her life's work, after all. Those boxes sat in the corner of her office, slowly gathering dust for two long years, untouched—haunting her—and they might have remained there forever had she not received one very important phone call.

As she listened to the deep, musical accent of Dimitri Belikov demanding her complete confidentially and asking her to schedule an appointment for Rose, hope once again flared to life inside her and her eyes darted to the dusty boxes in the corner.

Against all the odds, a miracle had happened.

Rosemarie Hathaway was pregnant—with Dimitri Belikov's child.

A/N:

This is definitely not my best work. I had a hell of a time pacing it, and for some reason I just couldn't get into the piece no matter how hard I tried—probably because the tone is pretty clinical and that's not something I enjoy writing. It's been sitting untouched for months, but I finally had to buckle down and attempt to finish it because I feel it's important to get Dr. O's back story up before Rose and Dimitri meet with her in the Verse 3 'Unexpected' story. Please don't jump to any conclusions—the things outlined in this one shot only play a tiny part in how Romitri was able to conceive. A bit more will be disclosed soon in a companion piece to this story and in the thread itself.

Hope it didn't put you to sleep with all the medical necessities. ;o)