Sweet Surrender

"I just don't know why you're going through so much trouble!"

Nathan rolled his eyes, leaning against his car; he had been explaining to Elle, for the past five minutes, why he wouldn't be home for a while.

Not that he could go into detail. He still wasn't up for trying to explain that one- that he was giving up blood for a Vampire?

No.

He had simply settled for saying his friend was very sick and the doctor wanted him to donate blood. He thought it sounded good.

Though Elle could be randomly unpredictable...

"How long will this take?" Elle asked after a while of silence. Nathan shrugged slightly, momentarily forgetting that she couldn't see him.

"Not that long. It's some blood- not a physical or something." he mumbled. He heard her sigh loudly, rubbing the back of his neck.

No matter what she said, in the end he'd be at the hospital.

"... Fine. I'll see you later. Try to be home for dinner." she said. Smiling widely, Nathan hung up, shoving the phone into his pocket before getting in the car and speeding down to the hospital.

It took roughly fifteen minutes thanks to an accident, but he was sure it wouldn't make too much of a difference. Well... he hoped.

Walking up to the counter in the main lobby, he cleared his throat, getting the attention of a short, middle-aged nurse.

"Um, I'm here to donate blood? Requested by Dr. Nhik?"

The nurse stared momentarily before nodding her head in a decisive manner, motioning for Nathan to follow her down the hall to a small room, with a few chairs and some shelves.

Closing the door behind Nathan, the nurse walked back to the counter, leaving him alone to glance around. He'd never had blood taken before. Pushing aside any form of nervousness (needles didn't particularly sit well with him) he sat in one of the chairs, waiting for someone else to come in.

After about five minutes, a younger woman did walk in, going over to one of the shelves, grabbing some things and turning her back to Nathan. "Ever given blood before?" she asked

Nathan cleared his throat, sitting straighter in the chair. "Uh... no. Not really."

The woman laughed, walking back over with a long needle and putting his arm on the armrest, laying it flat.

Oh shit...

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Dr. Nhik was bent over his desk, anxiously waiting for the arrival of Nathan. Time was short as it was.

"Grant?"

Jumping, he lifted his gaze to see Nurse Gale poking her head in. "I'm sorry, didn't mean to startle you," she apologized.

Dr. Nhik smiled softly. "It's fine, did you need something?"

"Nathan just checked in sir. He's waiting in the donation room."

Getting up quickly, Dr. Nhik had to grab the edge of of his desk to steady himself as bright dots exploded in his field of vision.

"Dr. Nhik! You alright?" Nurse Gale asked, quickly walking into the room.

"Just a little shaky from earlier, don't worry about me," he said, waving her off.

"That was some impressive Soul. I thought Changed vampires couldn't use it anymore?" Nurse Gale said.

Dr. Nhik sighed. "Certain types, fire types, can. The root of the flame is lodged within soul. Now if you'll excuse me," he said, slipping past Nurse Gale and heading quickly down the hall and stairs to the donation room.

Taking a moment to calm himself, Dr. Nhik opened the door and walked inside, noticing a young, tall and slim boy sitting in a chair with a nurse that he didn't know setting him up incorrectly. The boy was blonde, and had an interesting shade of eyes.

He turned to look at Dr. Nhik, looking him over before turning away.

"I'll take it from here nurse, Nathan and I have some things to discuss."

The nurse stopped what she was doing and left, nodding in relief. Nathan on the other hand, recognized his voice then and went a little wide-eyed.

Setting his clipboard on a nearby counter, Dr. Nhik walked over to where Nathan sat.

Seeing the nurse's set up, he could see why Nathan was a little nervous. He sighed, shaking his head.

Nathan frowned a little bit before glancing away from Dr. Nhik.

"Have you donated blood before Nathan?" he asked, trying to be personable.

Nathan looked back at him before shaking his head no.

"Alright. It's a little scary the first time, and the nurse didn't help any by setting this up wrong."

"... Oh..." Nathan responded.

"I'm going to lower your chair so you're lying flat, so relax." Dr. Nhik instructed.

"... Sure..." Nathan mumbled.

Using the small compressor to gently lower Nathan's chair, Dr. Nhik waited until he was settled to comment again. "Is it the fear of needles or the fact that Varian and I have had a past that's making you so quiet?"

"... Both." Nathan replied.

Walking to where the nurse had put the needle, he picked it up and turned to Nathan. "One of those I can fix. The nurses are a little nuts and like to scare newbies like yourself. This needle is used for injecting pain killers into a joint of the shoulder or the hip. The other on the other hand, is something I can't fix." Turning away from Nathan, Dr. Nhik showed it into a bio-hazard box and went back to getting preparations done.

"I know that. There's just a very large part of me that doesn't like being in the same room as you."

"Are there any questions that you have? About anything?" Dr. Nhik asked, setting up a bag and getting a rubber tourniquet out.

"... About the needle or you and Varian?"

"Whichever, both, neither. I don't have any particular problem with random questions."

"... I do have one... Concerning Varian..." Nathan said hesitantly.

"What is it?" Dr. Nhik asked, putting on the tourniquet and getting out a globe foam ball and handing it to Nathan. ''Squeeze that a couple times."

Nathan squeezed the foam ball a couple times before answering. "... Why did you leave him?"

Dr. Nhik paused as he went to get the iodine and cotton swabs. "I met him at the same time I met my wife now, Leslie. Though I was enamored with Varian, and he even more so with me, Leslie wasn't satisfied with just being friends," Dr. Nhik sighed. "Ever since I was young I always wanted to have children, and being with Varian obviously wouldn't have helped. Eventually Leslie convinced me that a family was more important than some lonely farm boy. I had to break our bond if he was ever to heal."

Nathan glared and stubbornly said, "You could have adopted."

"Adoption to gay couples isn't as easy as you'd think," Dr. Nhik said, opening the iodine and getting ready to smear it on Nathan's arm. "This is just to keep an infection from happening."

"Still though. Just leaving him like that was a bit asshole-ish."

Dr. Nhik stiffened then, Nathan's words hitting a little to close to home for comfort. "What I did to Varian is far worse than that pathetic insult. But so you know, the separation hurt me as well. We were bonded," he said, being careful to spread the iodine evenly and glance at Nathan's arm just below the tourniquet. "Would you squeeze the globe five more times please?"

Nathan sighed and squeezed the globe again before shaking his head.

"Now just keep squeezing, you might feel a little bit of pressure, but focus on squeezing the globe," Dr. Nhik said, grabbing the needle placed out of Nathan's line of vision and preparing to insert it into the skin.

"Yeah..." Nathan mumbled unsurely, glancing down to his arm.

Gently, but easily Dr. Nhik inserted the needle into Nathan's arm, breathing once it was secured and blood began to flow through the tube. "I need you to squeeze every five or ten seconds now, it should be over soon."

Nathan nodded distractedly, glancing around the room, occasionally squeezing the globe.

"Any other questions?" Dr. Nhik asked.

"Not at the moment."

Dr. Nhik took a moment to steel his nerves before deciding to ask one himself. "You and Varian...how did you meet?"

"... School. My friend Justin met him first, in science. And at first, he wouldn't leave me alone. Guess he kinda grew on me." Nathan said, mumbling the last part mostly to himself.

But Dr. Nhik heard it. "He's not the type to fling himself at others, what was wrong with you? And we're about half way done, you're doing great."

"Gee. Thanks for making me feel like a freak." Nathan mumbled, then sighed and shrugged slightly. "I don't know. It might have been that I didn't know anything about vampires and whatnot. I remember him telling me that I was Mortal, and me just staring at him like he was high or something."

Dr. Nhik couldn't help but chuckle. "So he has changed then..." he paused and looked at Nathan. "How much has he told you?"

"... About Vampires?"

"About anything. Himself, his family, his emotions, his past," Dr. Nhik clarified, though not really. He might have just confused Nathan.

"Um... Not very much. I know his parents left, and I've heard a few things about you, and... I think that's about it."

"His parents left him?!" Dr. Nhik asked, outraged.

Nathan froze and remained quiet for a minute. "Uh... yeah... him and his sister."

Dr. Nhik forced himself to calm down. Then it clicked. "Because of me."

Nathan decided not to comment on it, rather, he focused on squeezing the globe a few times.

Checking the bag, Dr. Nhik was extremely glad it was full now. "Alright, you're good. I need you to tighten your hand into a fist and hold it. I'm going to remove the needle."

Nathan nodded and formed a fist with his hand.

Quickly removing the needle, Dr. Nhik swabbed the puncture point and pressed a cotton square to it. "Hold this down with your other hand," he instructed.

Nathan moved his other hand to hold the square. "So that's it? I can go?"

"Not yet, I need you to hold your arm up in the air for a little while I get you a bandage."

"Oh..." Nathan mumbled, holding his arm in the air. "Can I ask what exactly your 'theory' is if you needed my blood?"

Removing a bandage from a drawer on the chair, Dr. Nhik very carefully placed it over the cotton square, pressing it down firmly, careful not to touch Nathan anymore than necessary. "My theory is, like all victims of Rejection, his body needs blood. However, giving him Changed blood would worsen it because it's tainted, and the body will literally destroy itself from the inside out until all traces of it are gone."

"Oh... So you're giving him my blood instead?" Nathan asked.

"I'm not replacing it, if I did that he'd no longer be Changed but Mortal. Rather, I'm giving his blood something else to feed off of instead of itself. His body wouldn't have stopped killing itself until he was dead. That's what Changed blood does, it kills the Mortal and taints it, turning or Changing it."

".... Oh..." Nathan mumbled, frowning slightly.

"In essence, I'm hoping Mortal blood will allow his body time to heal. Once it's able to start, he'll regenerate back to what he was. The blood you saw was his body trying to heal itself, only in the process, it actually sped up the Rejection. The nose bleeds had blood run down his throat, inevitably making him swallow it. That's why he threw up so much."

Nathan nodded and glanced down to his feet "... And if it doesn't work?"

Dr. Nhik hesitated but decided to be honest. "Then he's gone. You can sit up now, but do so slowly."

Nathan sat up carefully and sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "... How long will it take? If it works, I mean? For him to get better?"

"I can't really say. For a normal Rejection victim it'd take about three days. However, with the blood of a familiar, it could be anywhere from hours to a day or so."

".... Alright. Is.... is there some way you could give me a call? If something happens? Good or bad?" Nathan asked.

Dr. Nhik sighed sadly. "Hospital code prevents me from giving out personal information from a vampire patient. Technically I could have my license stripped from calling you even. So no, I can't call you. But I will send him your way if he pulls through."

".... Alright. Thank you." Nathan mumbled and rubbed his forehead before he stood. "Am I fine to just go, or is there something else I need to do?"

"Drink this," Dr. Nhik said handing Nathan a plastic water bottle. "Your body will replace any fluids lost by donating within twenty four hours, so keep hydrated. And eat some salty foods. I have some pretzels for your trip back," he finished, giving Nathan the bag.

Nathan nodded and glanced at the pretzels before sighing. "... Thank you. You've been a lot of help," he said sincerely before walking out of the room, and leaving Grant alone.

"You have too," he said softly.

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Nathan had been too tired when he got home to ask when Venerra had gone to bed, stopping by the shop on the way from the hospital.

He had work tomorrow. Which only added to his growing list of stressful things, but he figured it might take his mind of Varian for a while.

Plus Venerra got to see Millie, which was bound to make one of them happy.

"Nathan. You said you'd be home for dinner." Elle began from the living room, sitting on the couch with a cup of tea. Nathan slowly turned to her, shrugging slightly.

"I had to see if I had work. It ran a little later than expected. Sorry."

Sighing, Elle put her cup on the table. "I won't allow you to go out anymore if you keep disappearing like this. What's going on, Nathan? How much linger will that little girl be here?"

Nathan squeezed his eyes shut, pinching the bridge of his nose. "They're at a critical stage right now. If she's not gone within three days, then..."

Nathan was giving it some leeway with three days. Nhik had only said a day or two. While he doubted a third day would do anymore than make Varian even more dead, if possible, he wasn't against giving himself false hope.

Elle shook her head, sighing. "... Go to bed. You look exhausted." She mumbled. Nodding once, Nathan shuffled up the stairs to his bedroom, preparing for what would most likely be a sleepless night- no matter how tired he might be.

*************************************

"You look like shit."

"... I know." Nathan sighed in response. It was lunch; all day he'd been worrying and debating and nervous and excited (and zoning out through most of his classes) because he couldn't seem to keep his mind of Varian.

What if Nhik's idea didn't work? What would happen to Venerra? Or the farm? Or Cana?

What if it did work? And while the idea of Nhik and Varian suddenly saying "screw Leslie let's get back together" was nearly impossible, it doesn't mean Nathan's brain didn't rule it out completely.

Or what if Varian was mad at Nathan for trying to save him? Maybe it was all intentional? After all, if you know somethings wrong, normally you'd go to the hospital yourself, right?

Shaking his head, Nathan sighed. The thinking was pointless- all they could do was wait and see. If Varian didn't show up in three days, Nathan could go be a nervous wreck for a day or so, and everything would... Go back to normal. Well... Normal before Varian.

Nathan found himself hating the idea of it. 'Normal before Varian'. It would mean days on end of being stuck with the twins and pretending he knew nothing about Vampires. Work would be a struggle. Varian was at work since Nathan's first day.

No, Nathan decided, it wouldn't be normal. It would be depressing.

"... Any chance you would like to, oh, I don't know, hop into this conversation?" Justin asked suddenly. Nathan glanced over to him, staring for a minute before shaking his head.

"I think I'm gonna go to the library actually." he mumbled, standing from his seat and ignoring their stares as he walked out of the cafeteria and down the hall.

Nathan managed to miss sixth period, complaining about not feeling good and such. And with him being nineteen, they didn't really do much protesting when he said he wanted to go home.

He had dropped off his bag, changed, and was sitting in the parking lot of Venerra's school, five minutes before she got out. He was curious to know how things went yesterday, but his mother wasn't home. He doubted it went badly. If Venerra acted so well for him, she was bound to be even better for Elle.

Stopping outside her classroom door just as the bell rang, Nathan waited for Venerra to pop up as she usually did, grabbing her hand and walking back to the car.

"... Hey Nathan..." she said suddenly. Glancing down, Nathan raised an eyebrow in question. "Why did you leave me with your mommy yesterday?"

... Well damn. He hadn't expected that.

"Um... I had a few things to do... Like make sure I had work today, and helping a friend with something..."

Not a complete lie. Venerra must have decided not to question him further, instead climbing into the back seat of the car before they went down to the store.

"You're... Early... Why are you early?" Millie questioned as Nathan and Venerra stepped into the store, Venerra going over and hugging her legs.

"Good timing I suppose. I was actually aiming to be late." Nathan responded with a smile as Millie rolled her eyes, turning her attention to Venerra instead.

Going back to the storage room, Nathan grabbed his apron, putting it on and heading for the cash register.

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"Split the pint in half. Part of it for his stomach, the other for his veins," Dr. Nhik instructed.

"Yes doctor," Nurse Gale said quietly, connecting an IV to Varian's still arm, all the while Dr. Nhik carefully inserted a tube down Varian's throat, running it to his stomach.

"Ready?" he asked, lifting his brow to meet Nurse Gale's gaze. She nodded, pushing the switch on the IV and they all stood stock still, barely breathing as they watched the precious blood run down the IV, and up the tube to Varian's stomach.

Both crimson lines disappeared into his body at the same time. And now they had to wait.