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"Would you please stop pacing, Heinreich?" Nikola took another long drink of the wine that he had personally stocked the safe house with. He was growing as concerned as his companion at the unnerving lateness of one Helen Magnus.
"She should have been here by now." Henry bounced on his feet, punched at the wall, and continued his journeys around the tiny apartment.
"She'll be here." She should have been here by now. His words betrayed his thoughts, but centuries of hiding secrets made lying as natural as breathing.
"What if the jacket didn't work?" Henry questioned his mentor. If it hadn’t activated, if the power source became disconnected, hell, if the damn thing didn’t fit her properly it would have been as effective as an umbrella in a hurricane. “There were too many variables! I should have never agreed to let her do this!”
"She'll be here." Please tell me that your little force field worked. Nikola took another long drink of whine, never taking his eyes off the door, willing her to walk through it.
"What if she's not?" Henry sat roughly on the coffee table in front of Nikola, effectively blocking his view.
"Then we do what she wanted and carry on with Plan B." Nikola rose from the couch and leaned against the arm. Once again he was staring at the door.
"Plan B? What's Plan B? There was no Plan B." Henry was jumping again much to the annoyance of the Tesla.
"Yes, Henry, there was." The use of his given name was not lost on the HAP. "If she's not here within 24 hours we proceed to the new Sanctuary, contact young William and carry on as planned." Nikolas was matter-of-fact, almost smug. It was a practiced defensive art not to fall apart, but Helen Magnus had always been his greatest weakness.
"Carry on? Dude! You seriously want to carry on without the Doc? Business as usual? She is the Sanctuary! Are you really that egotistical that - "
Nikola's eyes blacked. Claws and teeth came out as he shoved Henry into the wall with near enough force to put him through it. "Don't you dare," the vampire growled, his hand drawn back to strike as Henry began his own transformation.
"Honestly, can I not leave you two unsupervised for more than an hour?" Helen stood in the door way, leaning heavily on its frame. She was a mess of soot, sweat, and blood.
The two men stood frozen, relief evident on both of their transformed faces as they slowly came back to themselves. Henry was across the room as soon as Nikola released him. He pulled Magnus tightly to him, giving no sign of letting go. She winced from the sudden contact. "Henry," she gasped out. "Pretty sure I broke a couple ribs getting out of there." He lessened his
hold on her waist, but would not relent the contact. It was then that Helen felt his face wedged in her neck and his hot tears pooling on her shoulder. "I'm okay, Henry.” Her arms circled around his back, her hand cupping the back of his neck. “It worked brilliantly. I'm okay."
Nikola hung back, not daring to come between the two. Helen had been the only mother Henry had known and he had no intention of taking this moment from the young man. He stood against the wall content to keep his eyes locked with Helen’s. Their centuries of friendship negated the need for physical contact or conversation. For now.
~*~
Nikola tried to give her space, which was not an easy task in the one bedroom apartment that was acting as their current safe house. She had retreated to the shower after Henry had finally given in to his exhaustion and passed out on the couch. He could sense her relief that the boy’s hovering over her was at an end. Nikola sat at what passed for the dining table, drinking more whine, flipping through the endless stations of idiotic programming on the television and listening to Henry snore when he decided he had given Helen enough space. That, and she had to be out of hot water by now.
Henry had been all too willing to trust her assurances that aside from a few minor burns and a bruised ribcage she was truly fine. Nikola knew better. He suspected wolf-boy did to, but he was wisely not pressing the issue. Nikola was decidedly not so wise. “Fine” was Helen’s code for “not-at-the-moment-but-don’t-you-dare-ask-me-about-it” and over the decades he had heard it all too often.
He made his way to the bedroom, 3 steps across the apartment, and was not surprised to find the door unlocked. She trusted them both to respect her privacy. Too bad. He casually let himself in only to find and empty room, her burnt clothes marking a path to the bathroom door. This one was locked. Cheeky. “Helen, have you drowned?” he lightly thumped the door. No response. “I only ask because this hovel hole you have chosen to hide out in is certainly not up to code and I fear you may have fallen through the floor.” Still nothing and he could no longer hear the shower running. Nikola tested the knob again; he could easily break through if need be. “Helen if you don’t answer me I’m coming in.” His heart raced when he was met again with only the sound of silence. He stepped back in preparation to go through the door when the knob slowly turned.
“I’ll never get my deposit back if you go around trashing the place, Nikola.” Her voice was muffled but he could hear the tremble nonetheless. He took the cracked door as an invitation to enter. The small room was overly lit with harsh fluorescents. Helen stepped further in, sitting on the edge of the bathtub, so that he could enter. She looked to small wrapped in the towel, goose bumps covering her pale skin. She had a pair of scissors in her hand. Nikola thought for a moment how on earth she knew she would need them, before noticing her dark hair covering the floor.
“Helen,” he breathed. He was on his knees in front of her taking the scissors from her shaking hands.
“It was time for a haircut anyway,” she said to nonchalantly. “Just took off the singed bits.” She looked at the floor, the wall, the door: anywhere but his eyes.
“Helen.” Tesla laid a hand on her knee. At any other point this would have been heaven for him. The cat and mouse game they had played at for over a century moving to the next level. He would have made some lewd remark about seeing her nearly naked, or her lack of decorum letting strange men into her private chamber. But not today.
She didn’t react to the contact. He touched her cheek, tucking a newly trimmed lock behind her ear in the process. “Helen, look at me.” She stared vacantly at the bath mat until he turned her face to him.
“I destroyed my home,” she said after a long moment. It was barely a whisper, but Tesla heard every word. Judging from the horror stricken look on Helen’s face, it was the first time she had heard it as well. “Nikola, what have I done?” Her head fell to her hands as her bare shoulders began to shake. “What have I done?” she asked again.
He pulled her close. She came willing into his arms as the weight of her actions finally settled in. The urgency and adrenaline of the last few weeks finally had gone leaving her raw and drained. He held her tight as she sobbed and screamed into his chest, letting out all of the doubt and pain she’d kept locked away. Helen pulled herself tighter against his chest seeking out the contact. Nikola obliged, pulling her off the ledge and into his lap. He shifted slightly as she wrapped around him and began to give in to her exhaustion. She was, in fact, drowning, Nikola realized and he was content to be her life raft for as long as she needed him to stay afloat.
It was some time later that Nikola caught Henry’s eyes in the mirror. Of course he had heard her cries, Nikola was sure the entire building had. Henry nodded approvingly to Nikola’s reflection then turned away. Nikola watched the mirror as the HAP pulled the blanked off the bed. He entered the room silently and covered both Helen and Nikola with it. Another long look was shared between the two men before Henry again left to get the sleep they all desperately needed.