Oh my gosh... This is the end. The end? The end. I don't even know how I got here. I honestly never expected I'd even publish We'll Meet Again, it was just a silly bit of fun I did for me and me alone but here we are, at the end of a bloody trilogy. How? (And that is a hint at the titles of this and the last chapter :P)

Anyway, the how aside, I just want to take a moment to thank the beautiful people who have told me to keep writing this even when I was certain you were all sick to death of Rose.

My wonderful girls, most especially Emmy1512 (who has disappeared somewhat though I love her regardless) who was my biggest support for so long (and was particularly good at begging me for more and suggesting smutty alternatives). We don't talk so much anymore and I know I never say it often enough, but thank you from the bottom of my sometimes shallow heart.

And a big thank you to all who have read this over the past two years, I hope this ending, as open as it may be, satisfies you in some way. It means so much to me to see that people have followed this saga, despite my shitty update schedule and my often shittier OC. Thank you for liking Rose and thank you for letting me plague you with her stories.

With all my love, Teslen and moustache cookies,

Erin

xx


"How do we get in?" John asked, looking up at the imposing building. It was just as Helen remembered, tucked away and untouched by the devastation that had rocked Old City after the homeland debacle. It was comforting in a way and Helen smiled as she readjusted the wide-brimmed hat she wore to capture all her hair. Tucking an errant curl back beneath the hat, Helen walked forwards calmly. The trip first to the surface and then in the car had given her the chance to rest her legs and now she felt far better. And less likely to snap at her companions.

"We'll use the elevator," Helen replied, tucking her hands into the pockets of her coat. There was a slight chill in the wind and it was enough to make her thankful for the scarf Nikola had pressed into her hand before the left. She'd said it was unnecessary but, as she was tending to find was the case most of the time, Nikola was right.

She could almost hear their unvoiced reluctance at the plan and, in all honestly, Helen didn't blame them. Just coming to the surface was a big enough risk, considering the rather public bloodbath that had occurred at a ball held in her honour not too long ago but it hadn't been enough to sway her to stay home. She needed fresh air and, seeing as Helen wasn't one to just wander without purpose, she needed to give herself reason for fresh air too. This was really just killing two birds with one stone. Or something like that...

Before she could reach forward to push open the grime-covered door to the apartment building, Nikola darted ahead, opening it for her in a rather gracious show of gentlemanly behaviour. Helen rather pointedly avoided meeting his gaze as she strode past, making a mental note to give him a proper talking to about not treating her like she was an invalid. Though, considering his almost silent presence most of the time, Helen thought it far more likely she'd end up sending him an email or muttering it as she left a crowded room.

Wincing at her own inner cowardice, Helen moved swiftly towards the elevators, tapping the up button once before turning and watching the others as they hurried towards her. John and Ashley were hanging back slightly, leaving Nikola to take point after her. They all wore carefully blank expressions but she could see curiosity getting the better of Ashley in particular. None of them had yet asked where exactly they were going but Helen doubted Nikola was in the dark. He wasn't one to forget so quickly.

As the elevator doors opened, Helen ushered the others in, stepping in last so that she would have better access to the control panel. Nikola was already bent over, inspecting it with the clear intent of opening it once more but Helen brushed his hands away.

"Let me," she murmured, brow creasing as she tried to concentrate on the information she knew was in there somewhere.

Press level 1, then the emergency stop.

"I," Helen breathed to herself, pressing both buttons as instructed.

One.

"One."

Eight.

"Eight."

Five.

"Five."

Six.

"Six."

Ten and seven at once.

And with a deep breath, Helen pressed down upon the last two numbers, hoping beyond hope that she wasn't actually crazy. Part of her suspected it wouldn't work but, just as she had begun to resign herself to a life of voices in her head, the lift made a soft little beep and began to rise rather quickly.

Nikola was watching her curiously, lips pursed.

"1856," he murmured. "July 10th. Typical..." He shook his head on the last word, a ghost of a smile lifting his lips.

It took her a moment but then Helen was chuckling softly too. Typical Rose.

It wasn't a date I was likely to forget.

"Typical?" Ashley echoed.

"It's Nikola's birthday," John replied, his voice soft but still edged with something strange. Ashley looked to the vampire and blinked slowly, reminding Helen once more how much her daughter had missed in the years since her death. Though the idea of Rose and Nikola was commonplace to Helen, she had to keep reminding herself that not once had Ashley seen them together. It was odd and a little unsettling but, as the elevator doors slid open once more Helen let it go.

The bare, white room was exactly as she remembered though this time the coat hooks were empty and the door didn't open to reveal a bemused woman wearing a silken dressing gown. Instead Helen was forced to walk forwards herself and open the door. It gave way easily under her hand, apparently unlocked and before she could think to try and steel herself, Helen found their small group standing just inside the door, waiting in silence as if pre-empting an attack.

But the room was quiet.

Nikola was the first to move, stepping forwards tentatively, his footsteps echoing around the living room. It looked... normal. It wasn't perfectly clean and nor was it a messy disaster zone. It was just... a home. An empty home but a home none the less.

I don't know why you always think that I'm some kind of slob.

She watched as Nikola ran a hand across the back of one white couch, fingering the dark blue throw before turning back to them.

"Why are we here?" he asked, voice tight. Helen felt a brief stab of regret at bringing him to a place that obviously held a great many memories for him and bit her lip. It was unfair of her to endanger their lives for a foolish whim.

"I..." she began.

"How did you know how to get in here?"

"I..."

"How, Helen?"

"Leave her be," John growled, stepping in front of Helen protectively. It made her bristle and so she pushed him aside, pursing her lips as she stepped towards Nikola.

"Rose told me."

"When?" Nikola half breathed, not meeting her gaze. His shoulders were tense, body half vibrating with either anger or fear, Helen couldn't quite decide.

Helen swallowed and tried to come up with a logical reason she should divulge what seemed to be a posthumous connection with their friend.

She couldn't come up with one.

But she wanted to tell him anyway.

"When we got into the elevator," she huffed in reply.

Nikola's jaw went a little slack and his eyes widened a fraction but he said nothing. She heard John mutter something and Ashley replied to him quietly but their words did not fully reach her ears. For some reason, Helen only needed Nikola to believe her story.

After a moment he swallowed and shook his head slightly. He turned and walked calmly towards one of the windows and Helen got the distinct feeling he was angry at her for concealing such a thing from him. Part of her wondered if it was because of his reluctance to believe his lover truly gone or because she'd hidden something from him. Perhaps both.

Definitely both.

It was only when she saw Ashley's startled look that Helen realised she'd rolled her eyes at the mental chastisement.

Giving Ashley a look that came as naturally as breathing (and rather effectively told her to keep her mouth shut for the moment), Helen took a step forward, watching Nikola carefully.

"I don't understand it fully," she tried, her voice sounding thin in the otherwise quiet apartment. "She... she says it won't last. It will fade. It is fading."

Nikola nodded but didn't turn back to face her.

Tell him I love him.

Helen would have laughed if she hadn't been so worried. She could tell it was a joke and a poor one at that but it did little to relieve the tension that ran thick through the room.

Tell him I want him to pine over me for the rest of eternity.

Helen outright snorted at that, unable to keep the involuntary reaction inside. Of course, it didn't help her try and prove she wasn't insane but there was nothing she could do for it. Ashley and John seemed startled by the outburst but, with a tight smile and a little shrug, Helen dismissed them.

"Apparently, you... you're expected to pine," Helen tried once more, taking another small step forwards. "For an eternity."

"Sounds about right," John muttered from behind her but Helen's eyes were still fixed on Nikola's back, waiting for a response.

A long, silent minute passed before he sighed heavily and turned his head just enough that Helen could see a hint of a cheek bone.

"Do you ever think it's funny?" he asked quietly, voice devoid of any real emotion. "She teased us for our fleeting, accidental immortality. She lived so long yet... yet it was us that killed her. Like a self fulfilling prophecy. It feels..."

Helen's heart rate picked up to dangerous heights at his words though it was not her own reaction, it was that of the remnants that lingered in her mind. She could feel Rose's desperation, her virulent need to tell Nikola not to blame himself but Helen managed to quell the idea. Nikola didn't blame himself, no more than he would have if Rose had been hit by a bus but Helen understood the strange sense of loss.

She was gone. An immortal who had lived longer than any creature on earth, the very last of her kind, gone. It seemed...

"Unnatural," Helen breathed and Nikola finally turned, his conflicted gaze falling on her for a fraction of a second. Understanding passed between them before Helen was forced to turn away, her own emotions making her head spin.

She needed to focus on something else, do something other than wallow.

Or reach for Nikola on an impulse she couldn't explain.

Top draw on the left side of the television the small voice supplied.

With a deep breath, Helen walked towards a small cabinet that sat in one corner. John could believe she was crazy all he wanted, she thought as she opened the draw. As if on cue, he stepped forwards.

"Helen?" he asked. She turned, opening her mouth to come up with some kind of dismissal when suddenly, with a tiny click, music started to float through the apartment.

Day, has begun
And I stumble to the front
There's no real control
Of a random event

The others looked to her in askance but Helen could only shrug. She had no more of an explanation for where the music had come from than they did.

And I will take my chances
'Cos anything can happen
I don't believe it's over
'Cos anything can happen

"She always had crap taste in music," Ashley muttered with a smirk, startling Helen a little. She watched as her daughter shook her head before wandering towards one of the giant windows, a hand trailing along the top of a sofa as she went, humming softly to the music.

I could never
Give it up
I could never relent

It was still so strange to Helen to see her daughter. After her passing, Helen had seen glimpses and flashes of her everywhere, ghosts in memory only but this was almost as unsettling as it was joyous. Part of her wanted so desperately to believe that she had indeed been given this second chance while another part wanted to throw something at Rose for doing so. It was wrong, she knew that. Death was supposed to be permanent, the one guarantee in life but this...

This is a miracle. Take it, Helen. Take it as a goodbye.

Helen bit her lip. She couldn't. If the question had been posed to her, if Rose had offered this option, she knew she would have turned it down in a heartbeat. Which, she allowed, was probably why Rose had left it until Helen couldn't argue. That and the whole self sacrifice thing was very much her style.

Rose had, in bits and pieces, explained how it worked, how the DNA from both Helen and John had allowed Rose what should have been impossible, how Helen's blood a few years earlier had unlocked the key to bypass the source blood elements that would have killed her otherwise. But it still made no sense to Helen, on a biological or psychological level.

And I can't
Wait to see
What will happen
To me next

Helen continued to watch her daughter for a few moments before turning back to the draw, running her fingers gently along one edge as she tried not to listen too closely to the poignant song. It was one she could vaguely remember Rose dancing on a table to it during a very drunken evening when Ashley had been only young.

Their girls night out, Helen recalled. Supposedly a break away from a three year old child who needed supervision at all times but, at the time, Helen had been so afraid of leaving her daughter alone that the night had been a little tense.

Which was what led to the table dancing. It had done the trick and Helen had found herself enjoying the evening more than she'd though possible.

I will take my chances
'Cos anything can happen
I don't believe it's over
'Cos anything can happen

Frowning, Helen pushed her hand further into the draw, certain it would have to contain more than just a secret switch to turn on a CD player. Rose meant for Helen to see something more, she was certain of it. The song, while poignant enough to possibly prompt melancholy thoughts that Helen refused to dwell on, could not be the end of the message.

A small smirk appeared on Helen's lips as she felt a sudden change in the grain of the wood deep within the draw. She pressed down lightly until it gave way with a tiny click, the entire base of the draw withdrawing slowly to reveal yellowing papers piled high beneath.

It doesn't matter
What we did wrong
Makes no difference

Carefully, Helen picked up the one on top, feeling the fragile weight of the old and paper folded into what seemed to be a hand-made envelope. Across the front, in a very familiar hand, was scrawled a single name; John. Helen resisted the urge to look back over her shoulder to where John was standing, instead looking back into the draw that she now realised, was full of hand addressed letters.

Laying John's on the top of the drawers, Helen reached back down for another. This one seemed newer, the paper less brittle and, on the front, it read 'Will'.

To me
I see the light in your eyes
And you're dancing free

The next was fat, fatter than many of the others and Helen was surprised not to see her name scrawled across the front but that of her daughter. Below the name was a single date, written in a different, more modern pen with angry strokes that fitted the saddening day it marked. It was not the day Ashley had died, but in fact the day Helen had buried an empty coffin. It made her skin tingle to think Rose had watched, or at least known about it.

As she flipped over the envelope, a single sheet fell loose, falling back into the draw. Helen snatched it back up quickly, eyes drinking in the elegant handwriting across the page.

Darling Ashley,

Today you turned 16 and I don't believe I have ever seen your mother so proud. You look so much like her some days it makes my heart ache for all those who shall come under your spell. And for the fact that this shall not last. Today was not the first day I was presented with the vision but I am fearful it may be close to the last. I wanted to speak to you so badly, to explain to you the danger you will one day put yourself in but, not only do I not understand it enough to do so, I fear you wouldn't listen. You're like your mother in that respect too.

Helen's breath caught in her throat and she shoved the paper roughly back into the envelope, unwilling to read more.

And I'm coming down today
To gather in the pieces
Give in to the mystery

Placing Ashley's letter with John's, Helen once more delved into the draw but this time with purpose. She wanted her letter. It would be somewhere in there, she knew it, it was why Rose had led her here. She sorted through familiar and unfamiliar names alike, pressing the ones with dates of death to one side to be dealt with later until finally, at the bottom of it all, tied together with red string, she came across the largest parcels of letters in the entire draw.

With a small smile, Helen pulled it out eagerly, turning it over to read the name.

Nikola.

And I will take my chances
'Cos anything can happen
Don't believe it's over
'Cos anything can happen

"Helen?" the vampire in question said suddenly, breaking her concentration. Helen started and turned, blinking at him. "Is everything all right?"

She swallowed and thrust the parcel of letters out to him.

"These are yours," she told him, unable to keep the slightly bitter note from her voice.

He looked cautiously at the pile before stepping forwards and accepting the parcel. Casting one last wary look up at Helen, he traced a finger over his name, frowning.

"From..." he trailed off, looking up at her for confirmation.

Helen merely nodded.

One day, I
Someday, I

She couldn't watch him as he marvelled over the collection of letters that obviously dated back to when they'd first met so instead she went back to the other letters littering the draw. Perhaps she had missed one with her name...

Anything can happen
Yeah, anything can happen

Helen once more looked over the letters, taking care to read each name slowly but, still, there was nothing. Of course, Helen had no need for letters, really. Their connection aside, Helen had never been one for goodbyes and, really, neither had Rose. What could they have to say to one another that had not already been said?

But it didn't stop her heart seizing up at being left out. For a brief moment she felt alone, totally cut off from anyone who could give her support. Her knees trembled with the force of the sensation and she barely managed to choke back a sob that racked her body when suddenly a warm hand was on hers.

She looked up to see Nikola staring down at her, a frown on his face.

He didn't speak, didn't ask her if she was all right. Instead he just took her hand, fingers threading through hers.

And just like that, she wasn't alone anymore.

Perhaps she never would be.

~FIN~