SUMMARY: Helen is in danger of losing more than her daughter - can she and John get a second chance? S2, Post-Eulogy.

DISCLAIMER: If I owned Sanctuary...Season 2 would be going very differently. But I don't, so it's not.

DISTRIBUTION: Sure, just let me know where first.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is my first Sanctuary fic; I fell in love after watching the Season 1 finale. The story came from an idea I had after seeing Eulogy, and then I started getting more ideas and it just kept growing and evolving... When I began working on the plot, I realized I had no storyline for Kate (Freudian, maybe?) so I just didn't include her at all. Make up whatever rationale you want for where she went.

Helen Magnus sank into her chair in her office and just took a moment to breathe. She and Will had just returned from a rather…interesting trip to bring a new abnormal back to the Sanctuary. They both had bumps and bruises and had gone a couple days without sleep, but their newest resident was now secure in the Shoe.

She looked up at the sound of a knock on her door and smiled as Big Guy came in with a tea service. "You always know," she told her friend.

He set the tray down on her desk and poured a cup for her. "Are you hurt?" he asked.

"Nothing that a good soak in a bath won't cure," Helen replied. "How were things here while we were gone?"

"Quiet."

"Glad to hear it."

"Do you need anything else?"

Helen shook her head. "No, thank you. Have a good night." Big Guy nodded once before leaving.

She turned to her computer once she'd had a few sips of her tea and logged into her e-mail account. There were a few status reports from the other remaining Sanctuaries; she quickly went through those and made notes for who Henry should talk to about security upgrades and who she and Will should contact about logistics. The last message in her inbox was a surprise.

It was from Nikola.

What pray tell would he be writing me about? she wondered as she clicked on the e-mail.

HELEN, I'M SURE YOU'VE RECEIVED WORD OF OUR SUCCESSES WITH THE CABAL NETWORK. MY ATTENTION IS CURRENTLY REQUIRED ELSEWHERE, BUT JOHN IS STILL ON THE HUNT. I THOUGHT YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT I'M A BIT CONCERNED ABOUT HIM.

That immediately had Helen's attention. In order for Telsa to become even slightly 'concerned' about anyone besides himself, something had to be terribly wrong.

HOPEFULLY YOU'LL FIND HIM BEFORE HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF. I LAST SAW HIM IN BERLIN. ~ NIKOLA

Helen read the message again as she finished her tea. She'd had her own concerns about John's behavior even before he left on this quest. In the weeks between Ashley's disappearance and her death, they had spent a great deal of time together searching for her. As she noticed his temper grow shorter and his personality change, she'd tried to tell herself that it was simply the situation that was making him behave that way, but she'd really been deluding herself. She knew the signs of his downward spiral better than anyone else. Just like the first time, she'd refused to admit the truth. At the time, she had needed him too much to allow reality to interfere. But now…

Now he needed her. She could not allow him to become the Ripper once more.

She got Henry and Will to help with her search, combining detective skills and technical genius. "We started off tracking the latest rumors about the Cabal's demise," Henry explained as all three of them stood around a computer in his lab. "The bodies were like breadcrumbs."

"Leading where?" Helen asked. Henry pulled up a map with markers of the different incidents. If connected like a trail using dates, they led through northern Italy, into Germany – as Telsa had reported – and then westward, ending in England.

"There hasn't been any activity in two days," Will told her. "So either someone finally figured out a way to fight back, or…"

"No, he's there," Helen affirmed. "Where was the last killing?"

Henry zoomed in on the map to give a better view while looking through the notes he'd made on a pad of paper. "The last body was found in – "

"Oxford," Helen said at the same time that he did, having recognized the area on the map.

Henry looked up. "Um, yeah."

Helen started to walk away. "Thank you, gentlemen."

"Where are you going?" Will asked.

"I need to book a flight."

"You can't go alone," he protested, but she just smiled slightly.

"I'll be fine. Henry, can you…?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I'll pack you a bag."

"Thank you."

Will glared at the other man once she was gone. "What?" Henry asked.

"We're just going to let her go, alone, to confront a man who's possibly just re-become one of the most notorious serial killers of all time?"

Henry shrugged. "She's the boss. If she says we are then, yeah, we are."

There was no doubt in Helen's mind that John knew she'd be coming. For all she knew, Nikola had warned him before sending her a message. Depending how far into madness he had fallen, this could likely be a trap, or at the very least it would be a difficult encounter. Nonetheless, she owed it to him – owed it to the man she'd fallen in love with – to do everything she could for him.

She wasn't sure what possessed her to go to the Botanic Garden once she arrived. They had spent so much time there during their courtship. John had been a different man then, a man who would enjoy going with her to the theater or surprise her with a midnight picnic in the gardens after they finished their lab work.

"So very predictable," a voice said behind her. Helen reached into her bag and pulled out the gun Henry had gotten for her as she spun around. John stepped out from behind a tree, a nasty little grin on his face. "I'd say that I expected more of you, but…"

"We both know why I'm here," Helen softly told him.

He nodded. "Indeed we do. You've come to save me like one of your poor little house pets. Shall I let you fasten a leash around my neck and lead me away?"

"Please, John. This has gone quite far enough. I can help you."

"And if I don't agree, are you going to shoot me again? Put a matching scar on the other side?"

She changed her grip on the gun slightly. "I can't let you hurt anyone else."

He scoffed. "Now you suddenly have a conscience? It's alright to kill 37, but 38 is going too far?"

Helen slowly shook her head. "I should have stopped you before."

"Spare me. You wanted them dead just as badly as I did," he asserted.

"Not at this cost…Come back with me, John. Please. Let me help you."

"You're going to have to shoot me first," he replied, but wasn't expecting that she would instantly pull the trigger. A beam of electricity caught him before he could teleport away, and John fell to his knees as his nervous system was overloaded with energy.

Helen fought tears as she watched him, knowing there was no other way. The shock was extremely painful, similar to the device Nikola had used to experiment on/torture his former colleague when trying to develop his vampiric army. If she couldn't get John to be John (instead of Jack) then she had no hope of getting him back to the Sanctuary, of finding a cure.

He lay on the ground, gasping, when she finally released the trigger. "Kill me," he choked out.

"What?" Helen asked as she knelt beside him, though she still had the gun trained.

John brought both of his hands over hers, moving them so that the weapon was aimed at his chest. "Please, Helen. Kill me while you have the chance."

Her tears spilled. "I can't."

"I don't want to put you through this again."

She shook her head, still refusing. "I can't, John. I can't lose anyone else. You have to let me help you; you have to hang on."

After a moment of hesitation, he finally nodded. "We haven't much time." A single shock would only be a temporary fix.

"I know."

"Do you trust me?" Helen wasn't sure why she nodded, but she did. John still had a grip on her hands, and therefore took her with him when he vanished, teleporting away from Oxford and back to the Sanctuary.

TBC...