Oh wow. It is actually almost one year to the day since I started posting the first in this series and here we are at the end of number two! Wow. Thank you so much to all who have stuck with this crazed story, I honestly can't believe I found people who actually like Rose! Or her stories. Whichever. I'll take what I can get :P

Anyway, up next is the third story of the series, 'Anything Can Happen'. It will be up sometime before the new year though I can't promise when just yet. It will have SUPER regular updates. As in, like two a week, minimum. It will be marked as a Helen only story though it's not. Fear not, there are so many Teslen-y undercurrents that all my favourite people (who are you) shall be happy. I'm thinking, sometime in the next few days, I'll post the first chapter on tumblr or something to get an idea for reactions to it so stay tuned for something like that.

Sorry about the paragraphs of waffle, I'm in a waffle-y mood tonight!

Thanks again for the read and review love, it's insane and makes me feel all warm and squishy!

xx

"John's tucked up in the back room," Rose said, not looking away from the sunrise. "He should be fine for the trip back to the Sanctuary. Any damage will by psychological, not physical so he'll make a quick recovery."

She took a deep breath and toed the ground.

"If he wakes up during the flight, make sure he has something to drink. I think it's been a while since he's eaten so a little food might be a good idea too. I doubt he'll hand around either. His pride is more than a little dented."

"I take it you're not coming back with us?" Helen cut in, her voice cold and Nikola wanted to flinch. He didn't like the idea of Rose taking off anymore than she did but he certainly couldn't blame her for wanting some space.

"Not today," Rose replied calmly, stepping of the last rung and finally turning to give them both a serene smile that Nikola knew would do more harm than good.

Helen growled next to him, animosity bristling from her in waves.

"This is your mess," she began, her voice low and dangerous but Rose's eyes flashed in warning.

"He is not my mess," Rose bit back, her tone clipped and hostile. "He is a problem you have failed to solve time and time again. More than that, I did not request your help with this problem, you took it upon yourself to pack up and come with me. I was perfectly capable of figuring out a solution to the threat that Kre'anta posed."

"Oh please," Helen scoffed. "If it wasn't for Nikola and I, you'd have been long dead and she'd have been out on the streets killing indiscriminately."

Rose opened her mouth as if to retort but thought the better of it, gritting her teeth as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

Nikola watched as she pulled herself back, distancing herself from Helen's outburst which was clearly the by-product of exhaustion and, to Nikola's mind at least, hormones. He wished he could do the same, to wrench himself away from her explosive anger and give them both a chance to breath but his entire life he'd never been able to do that, not with Helen.

Placing a hand on her shoulder, Nikola hoped to hell she wouldn't shoot him.

As it was, she shrugged out of his grasp with a dark look for him before crossing her arms tightly and shifting slightly.

"You know what," Nikola said rashly, frustrations getting the better of him. "I think I'll go too. I'm really not up for a verbal bashing from you again."

Helen looked between them for a second and Nikola regretted his words immediately.

"If the two of you want to run off and make out like teenagers, don't let me stop you," she sneered. "Shall I move John from the bedroom so you can have a romp too? Or would you prefer the bathroom? Like that time we were going to London."

"This has nothing to do with Rose," Nikola spat, stepping forward and barely restraining the urge to grab her by the arms. "Though right now she's a whole lot more appealing if only for your newfound immaturity."

Fury flashed through her eyes and he noticed her arm twitch as if preparing to hit him but before either of them could react, Rose sighed heavily.

"You two are ridiculous," she muttered under her breath and they both turned just in time to watch her walk away.

"Fine!" Helen called after her. "Run! It's what you do!"

Rose snorted in amusement, turning on her heel to grin almost manically at them.

"Do you really want me to stay?" she asked cynically. "Really Helen? Because if you want me to hold your hand I will. I'll follow you back to the Sanctuary and call you on your developing idiocy in front of your little ragtag team."

Helen scoffed but Rose held up a hand, laughing humourlessly before grinning back to them.

"You are such idiots," she continued empathically. "The both of you though I'll allow that Nikola's a fair whack less messed up than you and that's saying something."

"What on earth are yo-."

"I'm saying, Helen that you're an idiot. That you are stupid, thick, nonsensical. You spent your first life time fighting, fighting every truly natural urge your body had. You fought tooth and nail and now... now you're standing here, more than a hundred years later with the knowledge of how you truly feel in the front of your mind and you're fighting again. Before I could almost understand it. You didn't quite get it then but... but now?"

She let loose a bark of laughter, throwing her arms wide as she spun in a circle.

"It's so easy you daft woman, so god damned easy! But you're fighting. You're yelling and ranting and accusing because you don't do easy!"

Groaning, Rose stepped back towards them, arms outstretched as she rolled her eyes and Nikola was entranced. She was furious, positively furious and it was something he hadn't seen in a great many years. There was a passion running through her that he admired even if he hadn't a clue what she was talking about.

Helen stood by his side, perfectly still but he could hear the rapid beat of her heart.

"I get it Helen, I really do. Of everyone you've ever met, I'm probably the only person who actually gets it but... God! You are just such an idiot."

"If you don't want to come home with me, fine," Helen snapped, patience wearing thin. "And I'd appreciate it if you'd refrain from verbally abusing me because of an incorrect fear that I pose some threat to your twisted relationship."

The words were said with such venom that Nikola cracked, barely holding back a snarl.

"Fine," he spat at her, spinning on his heel to glare down at her. "If you think we're both running off to go screw in the nearest hotel room as opposed to avoiding your newfound scorn for us..."

He trailed off, looking towards Rose fiercely. Her eyes were aflame, her jaw set and it was the work of a few moments to cross the distance between them and sweep her into his arms. Their lips met angrily and Nikola clung to her, surprised that she didn't fight and push him away. He kept kissing her, almost attacking her mouth with everything he had. There was a desperate sadness to the action that cut through Nikola, his traitorous mind bring up the few memories he had of kissing Helen. The feel of her hair sliding through his fingers, the way she sighed as she gave in, the brazen way she would press herself to him.

Nikola pushed through the images, willing his mind to think of the woman in his arms, of the unbridled passion he had so loved to indulge in in the past.

It was no use and he knew the second Rose picked up on his thoughts, her body stiffening slightly as she gasped into the kiss.

Nikola prepared for rejection, prepared to be shoved away roughly but was surprised when just the opposite happened. Rose, after a moment of passiveness, threw herself into the kiss with all she had. Her body crushed itself to his, her tongue sliding sensually against his own tongue, hands sinking into his hair as she filled his mind with images of Helen, of the way she murmured in her sleep, of the sweet scent of her freshly washed hair and even an image or two of exactly how it felt to kiss her.

It was almost too much for Nikola to take yet not enough. He let his heart take control and he kissed her fiercely, wrapping himself around her even tighter in case she even thought about running. Not that it seemed particularly likely considering the hunger he could taste on her lips or the now almost indistinguishable stream of images she was feeding his passions with.

Finally, when the need for air was a desperate ache in his lungs, Nikola pulled back to gulp down some air, his eyes wide as Rose did the same, her chest rapidly rising and falling as she carefully extricated herself from his arms. At that, Nikola almost stumbled, the reality of what had just happened washing over him.

His gaze flicked back to Helen involuntarily, alarmed to see her frozen, eyes tracked on him with some undefinable emotion swimming in her gaze.

That dear Nikola, is heartbreak. Perhaps now she'll put her pride aside and come to her senses.

Looking to Rose, he was alarmed to find her looking so composed, her body completely relaxed. He felt a pulse of anger towards her for deliberately hurting Helen but she apparently ignored it, stepping towards Helen before flashing an uneasy smile.

"Don't be a stranger Helen," she said softly. "I'll see you again but let's try for less trying circumstances next time, yeah?"

She chuckled softly, turning and smiling warmly at Nikola before strolling easily from the hanger.

They both watched as she made her way across the tarmac, her tiny figure disappearing inside the terminal before they turned to each other again. There was something new in Helen's eyes, something he was certain he'd just seen in Rose's as she'd turned to walk away though, again, he couldn't label it.

For a long moment, Helen simply stared at him and Nikola didn't have the guts to break the silence. Their combined breathing was the only noise in the hanger aside from the creaking of the metal as the rising sun warmed the structure.

Slowly, Nikola watched as the walls around Helen rebuilt themselves, her eyes steadily growing more and more unreadable as the seconds ticked past. Eventually, with a heavy breath, she turned and walked up the small stairs, her ascent slow and even, control evident.

He continued to watch as she stepped through the door, disappearing inside without even a word to him.

Nikola couldn't move, not that he had any idea where he'd move to but he was stuck none the less, staring at the door through which the woman he both loved and hated had just stepped.

Did she want him to follow? Did she want him to leave? Was he supposed to go and endure a flight of absolute silence with her and her ex-fiance? Did she expect him to chase down Rose and make them all play best buddies again?

Or, a small voice whispered in his head, did she want him to go and never come back?

Nikola Tesla was no coward by any stretch of the imagination. He never had been. It just wasn't in his nature but today, faced with the thought of Helen's utter hatred of him, he took the cowards way out and turned on his heel.

Nikola Tesla, he realised as he slowly made his way from the hanger and towards a terminal where his private jet could come and collect him, was no coward. Except for when it came to Helen Magnus.

Meanwhile:

Breathing out shakily, Helen tried to relax into her seat unsuccessfully. Her body was shaking slightly, adrenaline and anger making it impossible for her to stop shifting ever few seconds.

She had a plan, a stupid, reckless and dangerous plan but all this waiting was driving her insane.

How on earth was she supposed to throw herself at him if he didn't hurry up?

She tried a steadying breath but it didn't help any more than before.

This is stupid, a small voice told her. And she knew it was right. She was just angry and frustrated and exhausted. She wasn't thinking properly. Wanting Nikola like this wasn't logical. There was absolutely no reason to feel that sharp stab of possessiveness. He wasn't hers.

The realisation of that fact hit her hard, reinforcing the irrational drive that was waiting for him to get his sorry arse up here so she could... so she could... So she could do the thing she couldn't actually vocalise lest she lose it completely.

Taking another deep breath, Helen tried to assure herself her motives were as sound as they could be considering her lack of sleep in the last few days. It had nothing to do with Rose, she reminded herself. Their overt display was not urging her to claim him as her own. It was not the whole reason she needed to feel his body pressed to hers.

Groaning softly in frustration, Helen stood, unable to keep in her seat any longer but, before she could take more than a step, the pilot stepped through the door with a smile.

"We'll be heading off now Dr. Magnus," he said warmly, shutting the door firmly behind him before locking it. "Take a seat and have a nap, I'll have you back in Old City in no time at all."

"But..." she began, lurching forward. The man gave her a strange look before reaching out to her.

"Your companion," he said softly, eyes growing kind. "He went back to the terminal. Are we to wait for him?"

Swallowing heavily, Helen tried to quell the quickly rising fear in her gut.

He...

Nikola...

He was gone.

The thought made her feel hollow. It just... he wasn't meant to be gone. He was meant to be here, with her.

Suddenly there wasn't enough air in the room and her head spun ever so slightly. Oxygen was being ripped from her lungs, the dizzying and crushing sense of loneliness collapsing atop her with a great crash.

He was gone.

No claim staking, no heated trip home, no... no nothing.

He had offered her an out, the first person in decades to do so and she had said no. And now he was gone. She'd sent him away.

It was her fault, all her fault and the thought made it impossible to keep her hands from shaking.

She barely noticed the strange look the pilot was giving her as she waved him off. She collapsed into her seat, biting down on her lip until the slight tang of blood touched her tongue.

Before she knew it the plane was pulling away, rumbling up beneath her and, as the bright sun seared her eyes through the small window.

Drawing on every single ounce of strength she had, Helen shifted in her seat, sitting up as straight as she could. The air was chilled, goose bumps rising on her exposed skin but she ignored it, focusing instead on the paper work she'd have to do when they returned home, on how she was going to tell the others of John and what had transpired.

She was most certainly not thinking about the woman who had helped to rip out the heart she'd thought long dead, or the vampire that wasn't hers.

Oh no, Helen Magnus was most certainly not thinking of any of that just as she wasn't thinking about the fact that she'd cocked it all up so gloriously.

Not even when she finally closed her eyes against the evil tears that were snaking their way down her cheeks did she allow herself to think on how much she'd been looking forward to playing footsies with Nikola.

Especially not then.