Eventually Paul fell asleep in Wil's arms, despite his worry about Jo. The waiting room was right next to the main foyer, with a clear view of the entrance. Wil cradled his lover protectively, watching the various people coming and going. After a few hours, even he was beginning to doze off, when a familiar face passes through the hospital doors.
"Rich!" Wil called out, trying not to be too loud, as he didn't want to wake Paul. Richard turned around to see who was calling him, and spotted Wil sitting on the bench, Paul cradled in his lap. With a smile he walked over to greet them.
"Hi Wil," he said with a grin, peering down at the still sleeping Paul. "What're you guys doing here?"
"I could ask you the same thing," Wil said, avoiding the question.
"Kym's a regular blood donor - and so am I," Rich replied. "We pop in the first Monday of every month. I'm a bit late today because of a dentist appointment."
"Oh." There wasn't much Wil could say to that.
"So why are you here?"
"Um�" Wil sighed. He didn't really want to lie to Rich, but it was such a delicate subject. If Jo did live, he was sure that she wouldn't want him to go around telling people that she'd tried to kill herself.
"A friend of Paul's is staying here," he said vaguely. Rich frowned slightly.
"So why are you in the waiting room, and not visiting him?" he asked curiously. Good question, Wil thought.
"Um�he had to get some rest," he blurted. "So the nurses kicked us out."
"Oh," Rich said. "So why are you still here? Why didn't you go home?"
"Why didn't we go home?" Wil repeated. Rich nodded. Wil glanced down at the still sleeping Paul, looking for an answer.
"Paul wanted to see him again. So we decided to wait. Paul fell asleep, and I didn't have the heart to wake him." Great save, Wil congratulated himself.
Rich chuckled.
"That is so like Paul!" he said with a grin. Wil nodded, a smile on his face.
"So who were you visiting?"
The smile quickly disappeared. "Huh?"
"Who were you visiting?" Rich repeated. "Anyone I know?"
Wil shook his head violently. "NO! Um�it's someone Paul knew in College," he added by way of explanation.
"Really?" Rich asked, interested. "We went to the same College! Who is it? Is it Frank? I was always telling him that he'd end up in the hospital." Rich chuckled.
"No, it's�" Wil racked his brain, trying to think of a name.
"Beth," Paul piped up. Wil looked down in surprise to see Paul gazing back at him.
"Beth?" Rich asked, a furrow appearing on his forehead. "I don't remember a Beth."
"You wouldn't," Paul said simply, sitting up slightly so he could talk to Rich better. "She was in my sculpture class."
"Oh," Rich replied, the smile reappearing on his face. "That would explain it then." He glanced at his watch.
"Oops. I gotta go - I'm late as it is," he waved as he began to hurry down the corridor. "Bye!"
Wil and Paul both breathed a sigh of relief as he disappeared around the corner.
"That was not fun," Wil said grumpily. Paul smiled and snuggled closer.
"Thank you for covering for her," he said softly. Wil looked embarrassed.
"Yeah�well, she would've done the same for me if the situation was reversed," he finally managed. Paul raised his eyebrow and starred at Wil for a moment.
"You have an unbelievable faith in people Wil," he said eventually. Before Wil could decide if that was a good thing or a bad thing, a doctor approached them.
"Are you the two gentlemen who brought in Joanna Fahey?" he asked, glancing at a clipboard in front of him. Wil and Paul glanced at each other and nodded.

The doctor's face was grim.
"I'm afraid Miss Fahey has lost a great deal of blood," he began.
"So?" Paul demanded, his voice slightly panicky. "This is a hospital, right? Don't you have blood on stand by? Use that!"
"I'm afraid it's not that simple sir," the doctor explained. "Miss Fahey's blood is very rare. I'm sorry, but we don't have any on standby. There's nothing we can do except make her comfortable."
Wil and Paul starred in disbelief at the doctor.
"What�what blood type is she?" Wil asked shakily.
"She's Ob2 positive," the doctor informed him. Wil shook his head as he looked down at Paul.
"I'm A negative," he said.
"And I'm B positive (hold the positive jokes please!)," Paul said quietly, his eyes filling with tears as he buried his face in Wil's chest.

Ulyana glanced at Nigel, who shook his head knowing what she was thinking.
"We can't interfere directly Ulz," he told her, his voice showing his reluctance.
"We've already interfered directly!" Ulyana protested. "Why stop here? We can save her Nigel. Please?" Nigel turned to face her, gazing into her desperate, pleading eyes. He sighed.
"I want to save her as much as you�" he broke off.
Ulyana waited patiently, knowing not to push him into the decision.
"Fine. But just this once, you hear?" Nigel said sternly. Ulyana's face broke out into a huge grin. She leaned over and hugged Nigel tightly.
"Thank you!" she cried, before promptly disappearing in a puff of smoke. Nigel chuckled and shook his head, and turned back to watch the scene unfold.

The doctor watched them for a moment, then turned to walk away.
"Excuse me, doctor?" a voice behind him made him turn around. A young woman was standing in front of him, looking at him expectantly.
"Yes? What can I do for you?" the doctor asked politely.
"I would like to make a blood donation," she told him. "Could you show me where to go please?"
"Sure," the doctor said with a smile. "Can I ask what your blood type is?"
"Ob2 positive."
The smile fell from the doctors face, and he starred at her in shock. Recovering quickly, he grabbed her hand and all but yanked her towards Jo's hospital room. There was no time to explain, and no time to use the normal process. They would have to make a direct transfusion. He only hoped it wasn't too late already.

Ulyana watched curiously as the doctors bustled around the room, preparing both her and Jo for the transfusion. She hid her smile - they looked like chooks running around with their heads chopped off. She turned her gaze to Jo, and sighed.
"Jo, what are you doing here?" she whispered to herself. "You've got more important things to do." The doctor who had dragged her into the room came up to her, and wiped her arm with an anesthetic cloth.
"This might sting a bit," he said absently, taking a large needle from a nurse beside him. Ulyana watched, unflinching, as he plunged the needle into her arm, and began to draw blood. Moving quickly while the blood was still flowing, he replaced the needle with a tube that was attached to Jo's drip at the other end. The nurse secured the tube to Ulyana's arm.
"Now all we can do is wait," the doctor said, stepping back. The nurse turned to him.
"You'd probably better inform those two men who brought her in," she told him. "They were looking very distressed."
The doctor smacked himself in the head. Oops! He quickly raced out of the room to find Paul and Wil. Luckily the two hadn't moved from the waiting room.
As they saw the doctor coming towards them, Paul jumped to his feet.
"At least can we see her?" he begged. "You know, before she�" he broke off, unable to finish the sentence. The doctor regarded him silently for a moment.
"I don't want to get your hopes up," he began, "but we've found a donor." Wil and Paul's jaws dropped open. "It might be too late already for the transfusion, but at least now she has a chance.
"Can�can we see her?" Wil asked shakily, glancing at Paul.
The doctor shook his head.
"I'm afraid not. She's having the transfusion as we speak." Turning, he left to do his rounds. Paul looked up at Wil.
"I have to see her," he told him quietly. Wil nodded; he understood. Grabbing his hand, Wil lead Paul down the corridor the doctor had just come from, with frequent glances over their shoulder to make sure no one saw them.
"How're we going to find her?" Paul asked. "This is a big hospital."
Wil spotted a conveniently placed nurse's tray, complete with doctor coats. A grin lit up his face.
"We ask someone," he told Paul, pointing to the coats.

Ulyana absently hummed to herself as her gaze roamed the small hospital room. She sighed, fiddling absently with the tube sticking out of her arm. This was boring.
"Hey Nigel," she said to the air in front of her. "Come and keep me company." There was a brief silence, then a puff of smoke, and Nigel appeared next to her. He leaned over to inspect the tubing.
"Getting bored?" he asked with a grin. Ulyana poked her tongue out at him.
"Yes I am as a matter of fact. Saving people's lives isn't as thrilling as its cracked up to be." Suddenly Nigel frowned, spotting the colour of the blood coming out of Ulyana's arm and going into Jo.
"You're not using a human body!" he cried, turning to face her. Ulyana dropped her gaze, and studied her shoes.
"You can't give her YOUR blood!" Nigel squeaked, trying not to yell.
"I didn't have time!" Ulyana protested. "None of my hosts were even remotely in range! There was no way they would have gotten here before it was too late!"
"Do you have any idea what this is going to do to her?!" Nigel cried, his voice rising despite his efforts to keep it down.
"Yes," Ulyana said quietly. "But it's not guaranteed! It might not happen."
"Might not�" Nigel began to repeat, but stopped as the door opened. Paul and Wil walked in, hesitating slightly when they saw Nigel and Ulyana.
"Just checking up on her," Wil said in his best doctor's voice. Nigel sighed wearily and rubbed his temples.
"It's alright boys, we're not going to tell on you."
Wil and Paul blinked.
"I need to sit down," Nigel muttered, ignoring their bewildered expressions. Ulyana decided to fill them in.
"Perhaps if I said that I'm Ulyana, and that's Nigel?" she said with a grin.
Paul stared at her, and Wil stared at Nigel, who sat on the edge of Jo's bed, his head in his hands.
"You didn't seem so stressed out when you were just a voice," Wil pointed out. Nigel glared at him.
"That's cos things weren't so complicated then," he snapped.
"Are these your real bodies?" Paul asked, going over to Ulyana and gently poking her arm to see if she was real. "Or are you just in someone else's?"
"Our own," Ulyana said with a smile.
"Unfortunately," Nigel added, glaring at her. She glared back.
"I told you, I didn't have time!"
"You could've MADE time!" Nigel cried, his anger resurfacing.
"You can do that?" Wil asked curiously.
"Yeah, but we're not meant to," Ulyana replied, looking pointedly at Nigel, who sighed and flopped back on the bed.
"Fine, fine," he amended, albeit grudgingly. "But you're going to be the one to tell her when she wakes up."
While Paul and Wil exchanged a confused glance, Ulyana turned her gaze to Jo. She looked very pale lying in the white hospital bed, her face still tearstained.
"If I have to," Ulyana whispered quietly.

"What do you have to tell her?" Wil asked curiously.
"Nothing you need to know," Nigel said firmly, sitting up and looking at him.
"It's private," Ulyana told him, by way of explanation. "No one else can know, unless she decides to tell them."
"You can't even give us a hint?" pressed Wil. She shook her head.
"Sorry, but it's actually physically impossible. I'm programmed to only be able to tell her - no one else. She's the only one who can tell you."
"Programmed?" Paul repeated, raising an eyebrow. Ulyana blushed.
"Not programmed!�uh�" she looked to Nigel for help, but he was busy inspecting his fingernails. She sighed.
"Alright, yes programmed," she admitted.
"Just what are you anyway?" Paul asked, pulling up a chair and sitting beside her, mindful not to bump the drip. Wil came and sat on the floor beside him.
"It's kind of hard to explain," she said, floundering for the right words. She stopped for a moment, absently playing with the tube in her arm as she collected her thoughts. Nigel decided to help her out.
"You know how there's 3 dimensional, and 2 dimensional?" he asked. Paul and Wil both nodded. "Well, there's another dimension as well. A sort of 4 dimension, only infinitely more complex."
"That's where we come from," Ulyana butted in.
"Imagine there's someone in there," Nigel continued, glaring at Ulyana for interrupting. "Someone really powerful. Powerful enough to change the universe if She wanted."
"A sort of God if you will," Ulyana interrupted again. Nigel glared at her.
"Fine. Let's call Her a God. This God is watching the universe going about its business, twiddling Her thumbs etc."
"Only it's a bit more complicated," Ulyana said. "Because She's in the other dimension, She can see all time at once. She can see everything that's happening, everything that's already happened, and everything that's going to happen, all in the one instant."
"And what She sees isn't good," Nigel took up from where she left off. "Some really bad stuff is taking place."
"Like human wars," Ulyana supplied. Nigel nodded.
"And inter-galaxy destruction."
"So this God was naturally upset," Ulyana went on.
"Well, I don't about upset," Nigel interrupted, looking at her. "She's not really capable of what humans see as emotions."
"It's close enough. They won't understand otherwise," Ulyana informed him, before turning back to Wil and Paul.
"So She gets upset. She knows things can't go on like this. She has to do something."
"So She does."
Ulyana nodded. "She creates us."
"Not us specifically," Nigel elaborated. "But our race."
"We're nature's butter-inners," Ulyana says proudly.
"We interfere with things that need interfering," Nigel added.
"Sort of like guardian angels?" Wil asked. Nigel and Ulyana glanced at each other.
"Yeah," Nigel nodded. "Basically."
"So why is there still world hunger? And disease? And poverty?" Paul asked. Ulyana sighed.
"As much as we hate seeing you guys suffer, all the disasters in the world do serve a purpose," she told him. "The human race will learn from these experiences, and you will come out better for it."
"It'll just take a long time to get there," Nigel added with a wry smile.
"So why Jo?" Paul asked, glancing over at her. "Why help her out of the millions suffering in this world? Surely there are other suicides you could be preventing?"
Nigel and Ulyana glanced at each other.
"Jo's�special," Nigel said slowly.
"We need her," Ulyana said simply. Wil and Paul looked at each other. "Or rather, you as a human race need her."
Wil opened his mouth to ask why, but Nigel cut him off.
"We can't tell you."
"You keep saying 'she'," Paul pointed out. "Are you saying this�God�is female?"
Ulyana grinned.
"In human terms, yes."
"I always knew God would be a woman," Wil muttered.
There was a brief silence as Paul and Wil allowed everything they had just heard to sink in.
"Wow," Wil said finally.
"Yeah," Paul agreed.
"So, now that we've shared the secrets of the universe with you," Ulyana said lightly, "feel like getting me a cup of coffee?"
"Oh!" Nigel's face lit up. "Me too!"

Jo slowly drifted back into consciousness. Opening her eyes all she could see was white? Where was she? How did she get here? Her breath caught in her throat as she realised she didn't know. Who was she? She sat up quickly, looking around frantically for an answer.
A woman sat beside her, watching her silently.
"Who are you?" Jo asked, panicking slightly. Her eyes dropped down to the tube sticking out of the woman's arm. Following it, she saw it was linked up to a drip above her, and in turn down into her own arm. She frowned slightly. Why was she linked to a drip.
"My name's Ulyana," the woman said. Her voice was soft and pleasant to listen to, and her eyes were kind. Jo hesitated.
"Do I�know you?" she asked timidly. Ulyana blinked.
"You don't know if you know me or not?" she asked in surprise. Jo shook her head.
"I�I don't even know my own name," she whispered, her fear creeping up on her.
"You don't remember how you got here?" Ulyana asked slowly. Jo lowered her gaze and shook her head. She felt a bit embarrassed. What if this woman was her sister or something?
Suddenly three men came in through the door, carrying cups of steaming coffee. They stopped when they saw her.
"Jo! You're awake!" one of them cried, rushing over to her side. Jo smiled uncertainly at him. He was short for a guy, but quite good looking. He seemed to know her well.
"Paul," the other woman spoke to the man by her side. He turned to look at her. The woman beckoned him over.
Jo stared down at her quilt, feeling very embarrassed. She knew what the woman was going to tell him. She glanced up curiously to study the other two men.
The one on the left was quite tall, with brown hair and brown eyes. He was quite good looking also. The one on the right was slightly shorter, and not as cute as the other two, but there was something in his eyes that captured and held her gaze.
He studied her, looking deep into her eyes, and she couldn't help but get the feeling he was looking right into her soul.
Eventually he broke the spell, turning to face the other woman.
"We need to talk," he told her. Jo closed her eyes and let his voice flow over her, even though it wasn't directed at her. It was deep, yet soft and thoughtful. She opened her eyes and found him watching her again. Who was this man? Did she know him?
Jo's eyes flickered briefly to the other two men, before returning to the man who's gaze held her own. Did she know any of these people?
Nigel led Paul and Wil outside of Jo's room, Ulyana following a moment later.
"She's lost her memory," she stated.
"Oh no," Paul whispered, his eyes filling with tears.
"How bad is it?" Wil asked, putting his arm around Paul to comfort him. Ulyana shrugged.
"I don't know," she replied. "But it doesn't look good. She can't even remember her own name." She turned to look at Nigel. "What do you think?"
"I think it's perfect," he replied.
"Huh?" Paul stared at him. "How do you figure? She doesn't even know who I am!"
"Or what you did to her," Nigel added. Paul dropped his gaze. "She won't even remember what she did to herself."
Ulyana was staring thoughtfully at the ground. "You think maybe She did this on purpose?" she asked him. He nodded. She turned to Wil and Paul.
"Alright fellas, here's the test. You have to go back in there and pretend none of this ever happened. Nigel and I can cover the rest, but you have to pretend your just her friends."
Wil and Paul exchanged a glance.
"I�I don't know if I can do that," Paul stammered.
Nigel looked him straight in the eye.
"You have to."

Jo looked up as her visitors came back into the room. She knew they had been talking about her, but she didn't know why. Were they asking themselves whether to tell her about her past, or to try and get her to remember by herself?
Jo's eyes automatically sought out the man from before. He captured her gaze. He wouldn't lie to her, she just knew it.
"We've talked to the doctors," the woman said slowly, coming over and sitting down beside Jo. "They think we should fill you in, and hope it'll jog your memory."
Jo nodded. That seemed reasonable. The three men came and sat down too, the short one and the tall one on one side, and the mystery man on the other.
"My name's Paul," the short man said, a smile on his face. "I've been one of your closest friends ever since you moved here to Sydney." The tall man beside him put a reassuring hand on his knee.
"I'm Wil," he said. "We met through Paul, but haven't really known each other that long."
"My name's Nigel," the man with the intense eyes and soft voice said, watching her. "I don't know you at all. I'm a friend of Ulyana's." He pointed to the woman beside him.
"I've already told you my name," Ulyana said with a smile. "I'm sort of your guardian angel." She proceeded to tell Jo what she had told Wil and Paul, with Nigel butting in every now and then with details.
Jo looked from one to the other.
"Okay," she said slowly. "So why am I in the hospital?" She fingered the bandages around her wrists. "Why am I bandaged?"
Ulyana glanced at Nigel. "I don't know if we should tell you�"
"Tell me please!" Jo begged. "I have to know."
Nigel sighed.
"Someone tried to kill you," he said softly. Jo gasped.
"Me? Why?"
"Because you've had an idea," Ulyana butted in. "You quit your job to work on it, but someone heard about it. They tried to stop you."
Jo frowned slightly. Wil and Paul tried to hide their confusion.
"What was the idea?" she asked. Ulyana shrugged.
"You didn't tell us," she said simply.
Jo thought about this for a while, until she spotter Wil holding Paul's hand. "Are you two�a couple?" They glanced at each other and nodded.
"Oh. Am I okay with that?" she asked, uncertain of the answer. They smiled and nodded again. "Good," she said, obviously relieved.
Just then the doctor walked in. He frowned slightly when he saw the crowded room. "I think we should Ms Fahey to her rest," he said pointedly.
"See you tomorrow," Paul said with a grin as they were ushered out of the room.

Jo was only in hospital 3 days. Paul and Wil helped her get settled back into life, and the three became very good friends, and grew increasingly closer over the weeks that followed Jo's 'incident'.
Jo finally 'remembered' her fabulous idea, and was the founding woman in the scientific breakthrough in the cure for aids. Paul and Wil supported her all the way.
Paul and Wil continued to see each other, although Jo and Paul pretended to still be involved to please the media.
Nigel and Ulyana left for the 4th dimension, but just before they went, Ulyana took Jo aside.
"Jo, do you remember how I gave you a blood transfusion?"
Jo nodded.
"Well, that was my real blood - not someone elses. Which means you now might have�special abilities."
"Special abilities?" Jo repeated. Ulyana nodded.
"There's a chance that�well, that you'll be able to fly. And you might just kind of be able to move things with your mind.
Jo stared at her.
"Don't get too worried," Ulyana reassured her. "It's nothing too drastic, and if you ever have any problems, me and Nigel will always be just around the corner."
Jo gave her a hesitant smile. Ulyana prepared to leave.
"Oh, and Jo?"
"Yeah?"
"Think long and hard about telling Wil and Paul. I don't think they'll understand." With a grin, she vanished.
Jo chuckled, and headed back to where Paul and Wil were waiting for her.