A/N: Just to let everyone know, this is a major expansion piece based on 'That's Not How It Happened', which appears in an extended form in Chapters 2 and 3. I'm a novice on this site at multi-chapters, so have been having some trouble getting this up, but I'm there. It should be 9 or 10 Chapters, tops, and everything is done but the ending, as I have yet to define the definitive place to stop. I try to keep the Chapters under 4000 words, but I know one goes over, and I don't see how to cut it, so I probably won't. It's a definite M, again not too graphic, but with a couple surprises, especially if you have yet to read the base story, contained elsewhere under the M category for this movie, this wonderful, crazy, lovely movie!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, but if the ones that do want a dirty sequel, I'm there!

Caned & Disabled

Veronica kissed Balthazar again once the necklace was in place, it looking incredibly beautiful on her, better than it ever did before, not that that was surprising. And then they heard a huge CLANG and turned, each with an arm around the other. She gaped in surprise as she laid her eyes on the steel eagle, her hand tighter on Balthazar's shoulder, and he shrank slightly from pain.

"Sorry, beloved," she said quickly, easing her grip, watching his face as David and his obvious girlfriend took off. "What is that?"

"It's a gargoyle from a structure called the Chrysler Building." He was frowning slightly. "I animate it when I need to travel quickly. Maybe we'll ride on it together soon." He shook his head, and they began walking, "But obviously not tonight."

"Where are we going?"

"We can take my car—"

"Car?" His hand tickled her side in amusement. Veronica was exhausted and overwhelmed, her eyes constantly wide orbs as she tried to take everything in.

"It's a ridiculously common form of transportation, now," he said, waving his hand in the direction of a line of them parked nearby. "And that one's mine," he pointed to the gleaming black, gray and chrome machine parked by the iron fence.

"It's not like the others," she noted, somewhat intimidated.

"It's much older," he grinned. And then he heard Rebecca screaming, his head whipping towards the sky. "Do you hear Dave's girlfriend, Rebecca?" he wondered tensely, his hand up, fingers waving, ring glowing.

"I don't think so," she replied, "but I don't know what she sounds like."

"She's screaming like she fell off the eagle—"

"I don't hear that," and then she paled as she did. Balthazar's eyes were fixed on the sky, unblinking. "She couldn't've fallen off; it's going on too long," the woman winced.

"No." The answer was in a monotone. He was concentrating so hard that perspiration started to bead on his face, and he wiped it off absentmindedly.

"What about David?"

"He's on it." But that's all he was sure of. His right hand's fingers were curling successively over and over, pulling. The girl was only slightly less hysterical, not at all sure what was happening. If he'd been stronger, he might have been able to reassure her, but it was taking everything he had just to steer it from such a distance.

"How could they have gotten so far away, so soon?" Veronica was frustrated, her eyes also searching the sky where he faced.

"Because I'm good." She eyed him in shock, the corners of his mouth up slightly. She should've been relieved that he was joking, but she was too aware of his injuries, and his sheer exhaustion. He was in bad shape, but he wasn't showing it. Yet.

Finally, the eagle was in view, and within seconds, it landed. Balthazar broke his concentration, staggering backwards, and Veronica might have been able to steady him if Rebecca hadn't tackled him in gratitude, and he fell back hard onto the gray setted street. He laid there, holding the girl as she clung to him, openly crying. Dave had passed out, and it had taken all she had to keep him from falling off. Commanderless, the eagle had started to pitch wildly before the man had heard her cries. Veronica tentatively climbed aboard to check the unconscious lad. He was definitely out, and he had a high fever.

"Let me guess: Magical exhaustion?" Balthazar had prodded Rebecca up to a sitting position, but she still clung to him. She wasn't exactly crying, anymore, but she was shaking badly.

"Yes." He and Veronica eyed each other, and he sighed.

"This'll definitely go down as one of the dumbest things he's ever done—"

"Why?" the girl asked in a tiny voice.

"He defeated Morgana, and he brought me back from the dead." The man paused, wondering if Rebecca had known all that, but it really didn't matter. "That's a huge energy drain. He probably should've collapsed sooner, but you made him so high that he wasn't aware of the consequences until it hit him like a ton of bricks."

"That's exactly it!" she nodded emphatically, somewhat steadier. "We were kissing, and he dropped like a stone."

"Can you stand?" he wondered, suddenly anxious. "New York City is never this quiet this long."

"Oh!" she realized, stumbling to her feet, and then she and Veronica were helping him stand. Immediately, he was distracted again, turning towards the fence, fixated on the park behind it.

"Balthazar?" Veronica questioned as the girls eyed him. He and Veronica could hear the sirens, but Rebecca couldn't, not yet. He held up his hand: His ring was glowing brightly, but he wasn't doing it. Something was calling him. The woman didn't like it one bit: "Balthazar, it could be a trap." He shook his head as he staggered away from them.

"Get on the eagle—"

"No!" Becky protested, suddenly clinging to Veronica. And they hadn't even been formally introduced, yet. Not that it mattered. Thanks to him, and fate, the woman had two new instant companions: David, and Rebecca.

"I'm sending it to the lab," he explained. "It'll drop you off, and go back home," and then he winced at his choice of words: The last thing Rebecca needed to be told right now was that she was going to be dropped off. But he was impatient, and she hadn't seemed to notice, regardless. The girls were more upset that he was moving off by himself.

"I'm not leaving you alone," Veronica protested. It was a miracle he hadn't collapsed, yet. He stopped, frustrated, and looked back at her.

"It's Merlin's ring, and I'm going to get it," he insisted, and she immediately understood. "Get on the eagle before the cops arrive. I'll be there in a little while. My car's right here." He touched it with his right hand, and it vanished from sight, and the girls both jumped. Rebecca heard the sirens, now, and freaked out, pulling Veronica, who was eyeing the man despairingly.

"You can't last much longer."

"I'll last as long as I have to."

She shrugged away from the girl, and the couple moved towards each other, meeting in a wild embrace:

"I love you."

"I love you."

And then she was back with Rebecca on the eagle, and he staggered back toward the fence. He glanced up as the steel bird took off, and smiled as the girls both screamed.

Horvath's cane had flown right back into the main, gated park, soaring high over the fountain to a far side, and Balthazar sprinted along the iron fence until the heat from the glow of his ring felt like it might burn his finger. Not that he cared. It was right here, somewhere, but he couldn't see it, and he scanned the fence wildly, looking for another gate. Nada.

The gate was all the way on the other side, but he didn't have time for that, scaling the fence the way he had before, ages ago, it seemed. Only this time, one of his shoelaces caught the top and held his foot back, the ankle twisting severely, but he barely made a sound as the bone snapped, running on pure adrenalin. He disintegrated the shoelace before he got any more contorted, and hit the grass face first. Heart racing, he used his good foot to launch himself forward desperately, crash landing on top of Horvath's cane.

"Bravo!" the man's voice thundered from somewhere above and behind him, laughing and clapping. Balthazar turned on his back instantly, spitting out grass, the cane clutched in his left fist as he glared at his former friend, barely three feet away. "I haven't seen you put on a show like that since we were teenagers."

"You're awfully jovial for a powerless sorcerer," he retorted.

"Well, what have I got to lose, now?"

"Your life, for one thing."

"You won't kill me, Balthazar; you're too good for that."

"Pity."

"Veronica's right, though," the older man sneered. "You won't last too much longer." Blake was surprised, but he shouldn't have been. "I saw everything, of course. You were too busy being the hero to notice." Suddenly, the grass felt sinister, and Balthazar was instantly standing, the cane keeping the weight off his left foot, which was bent oddly. He'd widened the distance between them, but Horvath closed the gap again, surprisingly bold. The lighter man brushed his fingers over his lips to make sure no grass blades remained.

"So, you used me to find the cane," he sighed in resignation.

"You already knew that; that's why you went after it like you did. I almost had it." He laughed again, taking a step closer, "But it was worth it to lose it for that display."

"Was it?" he asked tiredly, and the darker man was testing him again. They were barely two feet apart.

"Fatigue doesn't suit you, Balthazar," he noted in a soft, mesmerizing tone. But the other shook his head:

"You're not boring me into a confrontation with the police, Maxim." The cops had been in the fountain area for a few minutes, but they were spreading out, and getting nearer. "I'm through amusing you." He started backing away slowly, this time towards the gate, limping heavily even with the cane. "Take a couple days to collect your thoughts, and then we can talk. You know where I am."

"Did you fuck her yet?" the man demanded, trying to get a rise, but he only shrugged.

"You tell me; you saw everything." He smiled as the man's face reddened: "Fatigue doesn't suit you, either, Maxim. Goodbye." He waved his right hand and vanished.

"What was that?"

"What was what?" the second officer demanded.

"I thought I heard a car door slam."

"The only cars here are ours." But the two men paled as a powerful engine started, everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

"Come on, baby, get me back to the lab," Balthazar whispered softly, stroking the steering wheel of the phantomed Phantom. It had been a long hobble back to this side of the park, and he was beat. "I'll caress your clutch when my ankle's better, I promise." The car purred in response, and he finally relaxed as it pulled away from the fence. The two officers heard the engine slowly fade away, looked at each other, and shook their heads: They were both overdue for a vacation.

Veronica and Becky had barely gotten Dave off of the eagle when it took off again, and they carried him down far into the lab, into a back room with two sparse cot-like beds.

"This will be an excellent sickroom for our men," the woman announced with inevitability, as they laid Dave on the one nearest the door. They positioned the other bed about three feet away, and found a nightstand and lamp to put between the two. The room was way too bright with the overhead light on, but the lamp was perfect. Becky covered her boyfriend with a comforter and got a wet washcloth for his burning forehead, while Veronica got a chair for each bed before freshening the one that would be her beloved's. "I'm going outside to wait for Balthazar," she informed the girl, who nodded.

"Call me if you need help with him."

"Thank you," she smiled sadly, gently touching her shoulder as she left the room. She paused at the foot of the Merlin Circle, tears forming in her dark eyes: Balthazar had called it up beautifully. He was even stronger than she remembered. She'd annoyed him no end by telling him he was about to collapse; he'd collapse when he was damn well ready, thankyouverymuch. David's Encantus was on a lab table covered with white candles, as was the schematic for the fusion spell, and she gasped, shook her head, and finally headed up the stairs to the outside, needing air, nomatter how cold, or busy. New York City had not existed 1300 years ago, but it sure existed now.

The car appeared not 15 minutes later, and she watched it pull up to the curb with fascination. The engine shut off, and then . . . nothing. Veronica had watched a few people get in and out of various cars while waiting, and wondered if Balthazar was just . . . different. As if the car wasn't different enough: She had certainly noticed that everything about it was backwards from every other car she'd seen, like it had gone through a mirror world, and stayed that way. But she could deal with that: She stepped up to the passenger door and gently pulled on the handle. Apparently, it was locked, because it didn't open. Anxious now, she went into the street and pulled on the driver's door handle: Not that, either. She leaned up to the window, and started: Balthazar had his arms folded over the steering wheel with his head down in them, either asleep or unconscious, but either way, the woman didn't like it, knocking on the window:

"Balthazar?" Nothing. "Balthazar!" He didn't even move.

Trying not to panic, Veronica thought of two possibilities as she continued to study him. Most likely, since it was his, it was enchanted, bringing the exhausted sorcerer home and protecting him from intruders, such as this strange woman trying to break in. Or, someone had poisoned him, and trapped him in his own car to die while she struggled to free him with her currently non-existent magic. She shuddered, and then saw Horvath's cane, the base near his left foot, which was twisted oddly, the shoelaces gone from the dress shoe. And then she really shuddered.

"Baby," she said softly, caressing the driver door handle and trying to think like her beloved. "Thank you for bringing Balthazar home safe to me. You may not know me, because I was trapped in the Grimhold for over a thousand years, but I'm sure he's talked about me." She swallowed nervously; she hoped the car wasn't jealous, or it might never let him out, and finally continued: "My name is Veronica, and it's a pleasure to meet you." She heard a soft click, and gently pulled the door handle, but she needn't have bothered, as the door practically opened itself. "Thank you," she smiled now, touched.

"I told you you were exhausted," Veronica whispered as she leaned in close to him, moving hair back and kissing his temple. He stirred at that, but when he opened his eyes and looked at her, she almost wished he hadn't.

"Where are we?" he demanded, flinching six different ways at the same time, all the pain of his injuries coming at him in a rush. Before she could answer, he looked wildly around, completely agitated, "Veronica, you're in the middle of the goddamn street!"

"I realize that," she huffed, standing straight, now. "Now, do I have to get Rebecca to help carry you—" but he was already out, slamming the door, and she cringed as he stalked inside the turnaround, using the cane, but still grunting furiously with each limped step, muttering something about 'stupid old man shoes'. "I'm sorry, baby," Veronica apologized to the car, running her hand along the hood as she walked around it. Balthazar had been using his exhaustion to mask his agony, but that little nap had shattered that defense. He hadn't meant to fall asleep that soon, and he was angry at himself for being angry at the world at that moment. He got to the top of the stairs, and froze, turning as the woman entered:

"Did you ward the entrances?" She looked at him strangely: He'd been here before, many times, apparently, so why hadn't it been warded previously?

"My magic isn't strong enough for that yet, or for almost anything else, for that matter," and he sighed sarcastically,

"Of course not." Veronica looked hurt, and he averted his gaze, "Look, I'm sorry—"

"I know why, so don't apologize." She was staring at his left foot, which looked like it could spin around. "Take your time, set the wards, and then we'll figure out the stairs." She smiled as he stared at her with his mouth open: "Be careful, beloved, or I'll be forced to put my tongue in there."

"Maybe later," he enthused, eyes sparkling just briefly before bringing his fingers up to his temples to concentrate on the wards and try not to get a headache. He was hoping that Horvath wasn't already stalking them, or out finding another ally, but it was probably inevitable. Pain in the ass. Veronica had disappeared into the lowest cavern of the turnaround: Apparently, she and Rebecca had done some domestic duties, and he suddenly wondered how Dave was.

Balthazar had probably made the wards unnecessarily complicated to rectify his sheer reckless carelessness of earlier, when he had dared believe Dave that they would be safe from Horvath down here. Of course they were for a while, but then the inevitable had happened. The man had nearly killed him then, before Dave had stopped the daggers. The memory was making him perspire. He leaned back against the wall, lifting the cane up with his left hand, leery of holding it with his right. No, he definitely wasn't feeling well, the cane back to the floor to steady him as he slid down the wall until he was sitting. He was thinking of hiding the cane, and the Grimhold in his coat, but his battered body was protesting: His strength was dissipating rapidly. Too much; way too much. It wasn't magical exhaustion; Balthazar didn't think he'd ever had that. It was his ribs, and his damned ankle, and everything else. Life had almost been easier when he was alone; he'd helped nearly everybody today, and there was no way he was going to be able to get back up.

The other 'jewelry' needed to be separated from the cane, and he brought it close to his face to study it: Merlin's ring, of course, but also Drake Stone's ring, and Abigail William's pentagram necklace. Balthazar frowned: Were they dead? Or just severely depleted? Sorry kids; I can't help anyone else today. The cane was suddenly too heavy for his hand, and he dropped it, it rolling across the landing as he watched dully, too weak to do anything about it, it bouncing down the stairs to the mid-level catwalk. The hyped-up Morganian castor rolled under the railing of the catwalk and fell through the air, its base hitting the edge of the Merlin Circle. The Circle burst into green flames as it vacuumed off and reclaimed the Dragon ring, and then there was a small explosion as the Circle expelled the offending Morganian object, the cane shooting across to the farthest end of the lab and clattering against the wall before finally landing on the stone floor. Balthazar would've laughed hysterically if he were still coherent.

"Balthazar?" Veronica called out anxiously, the first lady to emerge in the lab, wondering just what the hell had happened. She finally spied the cane on the floor, smiled at the glowing ring in the happy Circle, Its flames now rainbow-colored, and relaxed completely, calling out to the girl, "It's safe, Rebecca; Balthazar just dropped Horvath's cane, and we definitely need to go get him."

"Wow!" Becky exclaimed as she immediately entered the lab to follow Veronica, never having really noticed the Circle or seen it aflame before. "That's really pretty!"