Author's notes. It's been years. Autistic regressions, another baby, a couple more novels that don't sell well, and a job writing health articles for actual money. But enough people have bugged me for the ending that I was inspired to try and wrap this up. It's not very good, but it's an ending. I suggest you go back and read the rest or it won't make any sense.

Super fast summary: There are three realities that merge here due to an abnormal called a multimet. Our canon 'verse, a universe where Helen married Nikola in the 1880s, and a universe in which Nikola returned to Helen when she was pregnant with Ashley. Now, everyone needs to be sorted back to their right places.

Again, I don't have a beta. I hope to go back and fix all the egregious errors in early chapters (really, blue hairs?) but I'm not sure I will have the time. Thank you for reading!

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Helen Magnus held the hand of the man who was and was not her husband. He seemed to understand her need for silence, and he let her stare out the window at this strange new world and let her mind spin moonbeams of could have, would have, should have.

When the air car got back to the Sanctuary, Nikola took charge easily, naturally, like he was born to command. It was more than a little arousing. He was the same as her Nikola, but so very different. He was every bit the partner of which she'd barely dared dream.

He took it upon himself to explain to the team - their daughter Anya, Henry, a hired gun named Safir and Biggie - that Helen was not quite herself. It was critical to keep the information quiet, given the fame and power of the Magnus-Tesla name. She had to claim illness and avoid the dedication of a hospital, an opera gala, and a holographic speech at the opening of a UN conference on economic empowerment for women.

Instead, she sat in on a holographic conference call with her counterpart's son Dmitri. Nikola and their son spoke in a rapid fire mix of Serbian and English about technology so advanced her mind could only flirt with the edges of understanding. Dmitri was taller than Nikola, more obviously muscular, his hair a dark red and his smile wide and infectious. He had the same manic energy, but obviously a bit more of her patience. He was working at Moon Base Gamma, a half a million miles away, on a teleportation system to bring supplies to the moon to expand from three colonies to six. Her heart thudded with pride for a child that wasn't hers, but could have been. He was magnificent. He also was able to convince Nikola that there was little they could do – in truth all she could do was stay in physical contact with little Marko and hope that her Nikola, the Nikola who might have loved her from afar for over a century, could lure Marko back to the right reality and bring this world-shaking Nikola Tesla back his wife.

She had talked all day to him. Told him of the mortal condition of her version of Nikola, of her team, of the history of her world. He seemed fascinated by her tales of the elemental that possessed her John Druitt – wondering if that was somehow a solution to their own plight in this reality. She hoped it was. She hoped this crazy adventure would somehow turn a benefit beyond the secret knowledge growing in her heart and a longing for the impossible.

Late in the evening, she spoke with Sophie, the baby of the Tesla family, working on her second PhD at MIT. Sophie was full of curiousity and sympathetic sadness and silly jokes. The girl was so close in age to her own Ashley that Helen wept at the end of that holo call – Sophie had the same shade of blue eyes as Ashley, the same shade as Helen's own mother.

As though he could read her every mood, Nikola had once again held her in his arms and let her cry into the hollow of his throat. He'd carried her to their bedroom and held her until she'd fallen into a restless sleep. Her dreams were full of a roller-coaster mix of terror and exultation – one moment she was naked on a moonlit hill, riding her fiancé to a brilliant climax as he smiled up at her, eyes black with need. The next, she was in labor with Ashley, staring into his blue-gray eyes as she crushed his hand with each contraction. Then she was pinned beneath him, nightgown torn to shreds and blonde hair a riot on blood stained damask sheets, his cock impaling her as his teeth sank into her neck, her blood keeping him alive as pleasure burned into her soul. She was fighting, the recoil of her handgun slamming into her already injured wrists, her lungs burning for breath as pain erupted into her back, curling around her spine as talons tore into her spinal cord and she choked back a final scream, the faces of her family – Ashley and Nikola, fading into smoke…

Her eyes snapped opened, the aftertaste of gunpowder and blood fading from her lips as she gasped in a breath of electric-scented air. Nikola lay on his side, his eyes closed and brow furrowed as he rested in the half-doze that passed for vampiric sleep. One arm was wrapped loosely around her waist, her leg curled over his calf and their hips were pressed together – giving her a wealth of evidence that one trait was shared in the morning hours by man and vampire alike. She swallowed thickly, trying to suppress her body's very natural reaction to the virile evidence of a man who could be her mate. His eyes opened as she watched his face, and a smile flirted with the edges of his lips. His hips rolled slightly, pressing against her center with a hard insistence that made her whimper softly and blush hard. He moved toward her to capture her lips, then he stilled and breathed out a puff of air against her lips that made them tingle with longing as though she was an untried and desperate youth.

"Not my Helen, but still so very very lovely." He whispered, then changed his trajectory to press a chaste kiss against her cheekbone. Her womb clenched in frustration and she willed her hormones to cease their wicked control of her mind and body.

Alas, her tongue was still not quite under her command, "Is it like this every morning? To wake up this?"

He pushed himself up on one elbow, a study of artfully rumpled grace as he looked down at her with bright eyes. "Yes. Although there are far fewer clothes and sometimes the wake up call is even more…climatic shall we say."

She closed her eyes and grit her teeth as her skin flared brilliant red with another blush – how could she blush so much at her age? He chuckled, but didn't press his victory. As she opened her eyes he rolled off the bed. "I'll leave you to your ablutions, Doctor Magnus. But hurry along. Although I estimate it will be at least another fourteen hours before I could come up with a tachyonic amplifier, your Nikola in all his sexual frustration might be even faster than I am. Better get ahold of Marko to catch your ride back to that idiot."

"He's not a…" She stopped, laughing to herself at her instinctive need to defend her version of Nikola. "If he is an idiot, than I am even more so. I was the one who…"

He pressed a finger to her lips, "I would have found a time. I would have found the courage to tell you, to show you what we could be together. If he didn't, he is an idiot, and he's suffered for it for a century. Will you let him continue to suffer?"

She stared into those familiar eyes and bit her lip, knowing the answer and yet terrified to lose her heart again, to risk the walls that protected her for so long. He smirked at her, that wonderful familiar twist of a smile, and swept out of the room. She was just taking off her blouse, standing in a black lace bra when he popped back in, a leer on his face. "Oh, in case you are interested in getting your own vampire back intact, there's a repository of vampires on ice outside of Khartoum. Good place to blow up when you get the chance. You might be able to extract a blood sample from the queen, Afina. But don't wake her up. Boring in her treachery and a bad dresser to boot. Fortunately we had the right demolition equipment to ensure that there wasn't going to be another dark age of humankind. I really didn't want the competition for our progeny."

He ducked out of the door way and left her standing gobsmacked and half dressed. Infuriating fellow.

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Nikola blinked exhaustion from his eyes as he secretly swallowed another caffeine pill. He'd been up for over 30 hours, but had to finish this before the damned creature decided to jump somewhere else and strand his Helen in another reality forever. The curved metal tubes bent around the large room, engulfing it in a circle of metal and plastic that crowded out every other project. All else was gladly sacrificed – it wasn't everyday he got to build a miniature supercollider.

"You'll push yourself too far and collapse, Nikola. You don't want to make a mistake. I won't bother asking you to sleep, I know you better than that, but at least stop and eat something. You are mortal for now at least." Helen Tesla, the woman he could have had if he'd not been such a blithering coward, perched on a lab table, swinging her legs back and forth gently as she looked at the huge device he was cobbling together from the equivalent of dental floss and paperclips.

Ashley and Henry had aided him in the beginning, for the heavy lifting and scavenging the components from throughout the Sanctuary – the basement lighting system and upper SHU secondary containment would need substantial repair at some point. The two young people had talked while he'd listened, learning more and more about this young woman he'd claimed protection over. She was brilliant and tough, but somehow softer than he'd remembered this world's Ashley, more vulnerable. He didn't know how he was going to take the place of the father she'd lost. She'd been close to falling asleep on her feet when he'd sent Henry and her off to rest for a bit. He was confident that the boy would return in perhaps an hour or two to be a technical sounding board and another pair of somewhat competent hands. The HAP was perhaps one of the finest assistants he'd ever had – not that he'd ever admit that to his face. But right now, he needed time to work on his own.

But Helen, Helen in any form was always welcome. She set fire to his mind in every way. He was so much more when he was around her.

He set down the gold-tipped tweezers he held and pushed away from the lab bench. He stretched his arms above his head and grinned at this visiting Helen. "I thought you were monitoring Ashley?"

She smiled at him sadly. "I think she finally drifted into a real sleep. Your promise meant a lot to her. And I know you will fulfill it, even if you yourself aren't sure you can."

He chuckled, "You do know me too well. How can I be a father? I'm renown for my utter disdain of the domestic. Biographers have waxed poetic about my asexual, obsessive-compulsive tendencies even before I officially died. Not a paternal bone in my body."

She laughed loudly, the sound ringing through the lab, "Asexual? Oh my lord, that is…" she clutched her stomach and practically rolled into a ball with the strength of her laughter. She was utterly bewitching, her cheeks flushed and eyes bright, rather how he imagined she would be during other activities. She finally recovered and stated unequivocally, "You are a magnificent father, Nikola. Perhaps a bit inept with discipline at times, but you love your children with a fierceness that is unequaled. They are your little scientists – able to enjoy discovery and curiosity with a passion you understand instinctively. You even put up with snotty noses and petulant tears in the face of your love for them. Be yourself, perhaps with a bit of effort to not be self-centered, and you will be just fine."

He stared at her with his heart in his eyes, her ferocious smile one that he loved so much. He wanted to stride across the space between them and pull her into his arms. He envisioned laying her out on the lab bench, losing himself in her body, the swell of her pregnant stomach rising between them…he shook himself, remembering once again that this woman in the tight black trousers and green silk blouse was not his Helen. The vision was so vivid he wondered if he had fallen asleep over his work and was dreaming.

He was so distracted with the erotic vision in his mind that he missed the click clack of her heels and she approached. She cupped his cheek, brushing her thumb over his chin and smiling softly. She said nothing, and he closed his eyes, leaning into her touch like a cat in search of a scratch.

"You missed this, Nikola. I know how much you love me to touch you – no one else. How long has it been Nikola, since someone held you? Since you felt fingertips on your skin, held a hand in yours? You thrive on this, Nikola. How much hurt has your soul hidden in a century without?"

He shuddered slightly, closing his eyes against the sudden onslaught of tears. He sucked in a breath.

"I managed. I always survive. I plotted how to bring back a great race. And I will succeed someday and rule this planet with a wise and benevolent hand."

She drew away, as had been in intention. Helen always was disgusted with his plans of world domination. But this Helen merely laughed softly. "Oh Niko, you wouldn't much like the world they would make. We ran into the last of the vampires a few years ago. Frozen in time outside of Khartoum. A whole army, waiting for their turn at ruling an empire, and betrayed by their own. They planned on treating this Earth as their pantry, and to destroy humanity's independence with a ruthless hand. And you, my Nikola, you were a mongrel meant to be crushed under heel. Your great vampire culture is a bunch of fascists that you would be first in line to fight, as you know what evil such creatures can do, what knowledge they can destroy."

He opened his eyes and stared into hers, then spun away, clutching the edge of the table, nausea causing his stomach to roil. He'd known. He'd known on some level that was the truth. That he was never going to belong to the great vampiric race. That he was an outcast, always. Arms folded around him, embracing him with warm comfort. Her voice whispered in his ear, "You wouldn't want to belong, Nikola. You are better than them, in every way."

He whirled in her arms, slamming his lips into hers, kissing her with a hunger that had boiled in him for a lifetime. She returned the kiss at first, before pulling away, leaving him to remember that she wasn't his Helen. His Helen wouldn't have…

"She would say the same, Nikola. You wouldn't be here in her Sanctuary, drinking her wine and cluttering up her labs with your brilliance. She wouldn't keep one of your cravats in the drawer with her stockings if she didn't think you were magnificent, Nikola, even without an empire to offer her."

He grinned widely, determined to discover where his Helen had obtained a piece of his neckwear for her private fantasies. This Helen cocked her head at him, "Don't get too smug, Nikola. I trusted you with this knowledge of my other self, and I expect you to be responsible with the use of this intelligence."

His heart pounded in his chest. Any confirmation that Helen might think of him as more than an annoying old friend was enough to revive him completely.

"Tell me again what the particle scatter ratio was in that damned creature's blood sample. As much as you can remember, Helen. I need to get you back before you combust from sexual frustration."

Her laugh rang out again, a sultry bell echoing through his mind. "It's the other you I'm worried about. He'll be hungry soon enough."

He frowned at her. "Easy enough to remedy, if he swallows that damn medication with a decent Merlot."

Her eyes widened. "Oh you poor, poor thing. That stuff is vile. My Nikola insists on taking it when I'm expecting, as he doesn't want to overtax my system but…oh, you don't know. You've never…oh Nikola." She gripped his arms, her eyes bright and demeanor no-nonsense. She was breathtaking. "If you ever manage to pull your head out of unmentionable places and win your Helen, remember this – you won't hurt her. She's made for you. She'll sustain you. Take from her what you need and it will reward you both. You will quench each others hunger. Don't be afraid of it."

He pulled away from her, eyes dark, lust screaming in his veins at the vision of Helen in his arms, her blood on his tongue, her satisfied smile, his mark at her throat.

He had to finish this; he had to get her back. They had their whole lives to begin.

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Helen sat in a hammock chair in the walled garden, the scent of plumeria and ginger teasing her with visions of tropical lagoons and Nikola powering through the water with unerring grace, swimming up to meet her on the shore wearing naught but a smile. Damn it, this world was far too seductive. She opened her eyes and stared down at the multimet curled in her lap, wondering how she was going to be able to return home and keep her distance from her own Nikola, when she'd finally unlocked the walls in her mind to every last fantasy she'd had of the man.

"Then don't. Don't resist."

Her eyes snapped up to see this world's Nikola Tesla stroll into the garden, his eyes bright and smile a familiar wry grin. He was relaxed, his cravat absent, his shirt unbuttoned and the seductive length of his neck visible, a dark red scar staining the pale skin of the right side of his throat. A scar that she was uncomfortably aware matched the span of her own teeth. What on earth did the pair of them get up to, if her avatar had left such scars on a vampire!

"How did you know what I was….oh you cheeky arse."

"You like that cheeky arse, Helen." He spun around and looked down at his shapely backside. "Unless the other me has grown lax and fat as a mortal. Perhaps I'm drooping a bit in your reality?" He looked so dismayed at that possibility that she laughed, causing Marko to shift and chitter in discontent on her stomach.

"Perhaps that is how to get you back to your Nikola, sweet Jelena. Make you laugh until that creature returns you to your world in displeasure."

"You'll be happy to know that your bottom remains just the same in my world, Nikola. And no, I would rather not risk ending up in a completely unknown reality by scaring this little one. It has been very educational to see another world, but I'm not sure my mind could quite handle another such jaunt without breaking down."

He sat down in a wicker lounge, looking regal even in relaxation. "You can handle quite a lot in my experience, Helen. Saving the world, nursing an infant vampire, and planning your son's wedding all in the same week. That was quite an exhausting year actually." He grinned at her. "But the celebration afterward was memorable. At least Sophie let us sleep – or not sleep – through the night."

She shivered again as vivid images crowded her mind, visions of naked skin and the taste of blood on her tongue, the glide of him inside of her, the scent of electricity and sex. She blew out a breath and willed her nipples to relax their painful tightening. Nikola winked at her and she embraced annoyance as an antidote to desire.

"All this inactivity is tiresome. Is there nothing I could do that's useful while I wait here with Marko?"

"Helen, I know you. You will not take a break unless I tie you down and force you to relax." Bugger, he was not helping, and by his smirk he knew it.

"And I'm sure you are no better, vampire. There are ballistic grade plastic handcuffs in the bedside drawer that your Helen must need to keep you from spending every hour in your lab."

Nikola's grin just got wider, "Oh, she doesn't really need those. A come hither look and I'd gladly be distracted as often as she desires. And she does desire. Often."

She closed her eyes in almost pain. "Damn you, Nikola. You really are evil."

"Nice guys finish first, Helen. Bad guys finish once their women finish for the fifth time."

"Nikola!"

"Too much?"

She groaned. She was going to be a shivering basket case of hormones. If her counterpart was half as flirty and knowledgeable as this Nikola was, her own Nikola was going to be hard as a rock when she got back, and the slightest breeze would tumble them into bed together. She didn't know whether or not to be terrified at the prospect. They needed to talk first, or they were going to screw everything up – again.

"We found one of your elementals, by the way." Nikola said casually, examining his fingernails in the false sunlight of the gardens grow-lights.

"What?" Helen was disoriented by the change in topic, her mind too caught up in her own world's complications.

"We have a young Ripper under sedation and magnetic isolation in the Moscow Sanctuary. I had them run a scan for a separate sentience pattern in the delta-wave spectrum, and there are two distinct intelligences existing within the mass of that creature. One is solely electromagnetic. I believe each Ripper is possessed by an elemental. A child, or an aspect of a hive mind, I don't know enough yet to do more than theorize. I'm not sure the Rippers themselves have anything above a toddler's capabilities. They are simply puppets."

She blanched, disgust and sorrow roiling in her gut. "We didn't have enough time to try to capture John's elemental. He took it back in before it escaped into the power grid – he was afraid what kind of havoc it would create if he wasn't there to try and fight it."

Nikola sneered. "How noble. You must have been a good influence on the man, as you have been on me. The man who was once John Druitt lost his battle against evil long ago. I have to say, I thought that all of this was his work, his madness alone. To know that he was corrupted by some devilish abnormal that feeds on chaos itself – that goes some way toward restoring my faith in humanity. Perhaps there is a way out of this hellish stalemate we've fought so hard for."

Helen smiled at him, words on encouragement on her lips. But the world turned amber, and the words were never spoken. She fell into darkness, and hoped for home.

When she woke, she half expected to see the ceiling of her bedroom and the knowledge that all of this had been a wild dream. She did not expect to be on a gurney in the med bay, and to look up into a roomful of faces and see her daughter's blue eyes staring back.

"Ashley?" she whispered, sorrow piercing her like a knife. She wasn't home – she was in another reality. One that would hurt even more than the last.

"Mama?" tears ran down Ashley's cheeks, and the girl who looked so much like her daughter threw herself into her arms, a cloud of blonde hair smelling like sunshine and gunpowder smothering her as the girl pressed her cheek against her shoulder.

Helen tightened her arms around the girl and closed her eyes, savoring this as a beautiful last opportunity rather than heartbreaking temptation. She opened them, and saw tentative smiles on every face, Will and Henry and even her hairy friend, but Nikola – Nikola's face held need, hope, and a love unmasked. "Welcome home, Helen. How was your trip?"

She looked down at the top of Ashley's head, confusion clouding her mind. "How? Am I back? You know that I'm…Nikola, are we?"

"You never rewarded me with a kiss for inventing the wireless phone, Helen. And I'm insufferably mortal. So don't shoot me anytime soon, infuriating woman. And yes, that is not your daughter. That's our daughter from yet another reality. And I'm keeping her, so get used to the idea."

Ashley giggled against her shoulder, and the sound sent happiness bubbling into Helen's soul. Ashley Tesla drew back and looked at her mother with a smile and red-rimmed eyes. "Hi Mama."

Oh, her Ashley always insisted on Mom, ever since she was six. This was a different Ashley. She'd have to remember that.

"You died, Mama. Three years ago. I know you aren't the same. And I know you and Da are idiots about each other here, but…can I stay, Mama? I mean, Doctor Magnus…"

"Mama. Call me Mama. We'll figure out everything else, but you'll always have a home with me."

Ashley let out a sob and clung to her again, burying her head against her shoulder again. Nikola looked down at her with a soft smile that she'd never seen before – on this version of the man.

"Where's Marko?"

Nikola nodded at the floor, where the creature sat placidly in a Plexiglas box, staring up with large dark eyes as it munched on a large juicy leaf of spinach. It looked unhappy. With a slow blink, it disappeared with a soft pop, as though it knew it's job was done.

"Ah, he left after all the false advertising. Let's hope he finds his girl somewhere soon." Nikola's voice was lighthearted, but his eyes spoke a language of deep feeling.

Helen let out a long breath and wrapped an arm around her daughter. She held out the other hand toward Nikola, who took it without hesitation. She smiled at him with tears running down her face, a laugh barely contained in her voice. "So, what would you think about a trip to Africa, Nikola, for old times sake? Perhaps around Khartoum? There's some ruins there I've heard could prove very interesting. Dangerous, but interesting."

His eyes widened, and he smiled shyly, surprise and happiness writ on every feature. He knew then, what was there. It could be everything he once said he'd wanted, the rebirth of his terrible people.

"You trust me with that, Helen?"

She nodded, unable to form words. She'd seen what he was capable of, what they were capable of, and it was beyond her wildest imaginings. "You wouldn't like the competition, Nikola. I'll keep you busy with other projects."

He smiled at her, pure heat in his eyes, and she grinned back. "I'm sure you can keep me tied up, Helen."

She tried not to react, but her blush gave her away. He laughed, and in the background she heard the groans of the other people in the room, but her heart was too full to care. He was going to be insufferable, and she was going to have fun taming him.

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A week later, a week of letting this displaced Ashley adjust to a new world and letting the cracks in her heart mend just a little bit, Helen tossed and turned in her bed. She and Nikola were leaving for Sudan in the morning, after a week of long looks and random touches that edged into caresses but didn't quite cross a line into the blatantly sexual. She was beyond frustrated and worried that somehow they would still mess this up, that she would still end up a lonely ice queen and him a quasi-evil, solitary genius.

"Hello Helen." Nikola's voice rang inside her mind, and she was worried that now she was going insane after being transported through dimensions.

"No, you aren't insane, and you aren't dreaming either."

She sat up, looking around for him, despite knowing that the voice was inside her head - there was not a sound in her silent room. No handsome vampire in her bedroom, alas. Wait – could he be reading her…

"And no, I can't hear you Helen. I can broadcast my thoughts, but I can't receive yours. But I can imagine what you are thinking. You are thinking I'm the sexiest genius in this reality, aren't you. In fact, you can't wait to come give me a reward." She could almost hear him taking a deep breath as he paused, "Tell me, sweet Helen, did I disturb your dreams of me?"

She paused for a moment, wishing that she was once again in stays and petticoats rather than blue silk pajamas, but she threw back her duvet and clamored out of her bed, running across the room and throwing open her door, ready to run down the hall and find him. But he was there, standing at her door, wearing a ridiculous contraption on his head that made his hair stand up at odd angles between the pads and wires. She felt a flare of lust that was not her own as he set eyes on her, before he snatched the headset off his skull and stood looking at her with wide eyes filled with need and just a little bit of terror. That flash of his need was amplified quickly by her own desire as she looked at him, the long lean lines of him in nothing but trousers and button down shirt, feet in only socks, his collar unbuttoned to show the elegant lines of his unscarred neck. She was filled with the sudden need to bite into that flesh, to mark him as hers.

The silence grew, and just as his eyes began to shutter again and the moment risked being lost forever, she reached forward to tuck her fingers into the waistband of his trousers and pulled him into her room. She closed the door and spun around, wrapping a hand around the back of his neck and pulling him forward, closing her eyes and pressing her lips against his. His mouth opened under hers, his tongue coming out to press against her lips and she opened to him, welcoming him. He kissed like he did everything, with no holds barred. Before she quite knew what had happened, she was spread out on her mattress with Nikola pressing against her, his hands everywhere, her top being pushed out of the way and her nails digging into his buttocks through the cloth of his trousers. He moved his kisses to her neck and downward, and she smiled into the darkness, thanking the universe for second chances.