Title: Neutiquam Erro

Author: Shannon – shannyfish

Disclaimer: I do not own "Sanctuary" or its characters, Syfy and other people do. This is merely for entertainment purposes only.

Rating: PG-13

Summary: I didn't like the season opener (4x01 – Tempus), so I've decided to write my own opener for it! It's more Fringe-ish. I think that having a bigger effect on the timeline would have made things far more entertaining.

Warning: Season 1-3 is fair for sure, if I have spoilers for 4, it's by complete accident.

Author's Note: Reviews make me happy :D And I'll write faster too! So, keep that in mind!

. . .

Chapter 1 – "The Mistake I Make"

London, 1898

Helen arrived in the streets of London. A London she remembered fondly. It was her time, her original time. People gawked at her as they passed by. She wasn't dressed period correct. She needed to fix that, so she wouldn't be sticking out. Right now, though, she knew she wasn't too fair behind Adam. She needed to see if he was close. Maybe she needn't stick around for long enough to need to find appropriate dress. Helen wasn't sure how she'd get back home, but she was hoping that Adam had thought of that before he'd come back to save his daughter.

Moving off the streets and towards an alley, she was cautious and had her gun at the ready. Adam Worth wasn't to be trusted, especially not the future version. After a couple of minutes, she spotted something. She moved through the alleyway and then saw him. "Adam!" she called, her gun at the ready.

Gunshots echoed through the alley. His and hers. It was quickly answered by whistles. She knew these whistles. She needed to get to Adam and then they needed to get off the streets and to somewhere safe until she could figure out what they were going to do. She was about to suggest this when there was the sound of breaking. She looked upward towards where the sound emanated from. Falling debris was headed her way. She didn't have time to move. Helen covered herself and crouched a bit to try to protect herself as much as possible.

She felt the weight of the building debris a moment later. She was pressed against the cobblestone. Helen sucked in breath and tried to fight the darkness that was pushing to take her over. The darkness won…and she allowed the breath to be released.

. . .

This world, it wasn't her world anymore.

It was quite apparent from her waking up in a cell. If she'd been in her time, the time she'd grown to adopt as her own…she'd be in a hospital (sure, if they found a weapon it would be handcuffed to a bed possibly) and most likely surrounded by her friends and colleagues. Not here. She was in a cell and her head was pounding. How long had she been there? How much time had she lost?

The door opened and she was about to ask questions when the person who appeared shocked her. She hadn't called for him. Perhaps word had been sent out? How would they know her name? Helen thought of everything that had been on her person when she'd jumped through the portal. This morning, she'd never thought she'd find herself back in London in 1898.

"Are you sure, Sir?" a voice asked.

"Yes," he said with a positive nod. He entered the cell and held out his hand to her. "This is Doctor Helen Magnus." She took his hand and he helped to pull her to her feet.

He had questions; she could see it in his eyes. Though when did he not have questions? Could she reveal things to him? Would he be able to hold onto those secrets? Was it even fair to him? She allowed him to guide her where he wanted. She had to trust him. There was no one else that she knew for sure she could trust.

It took them several minutes, but eventually they made it out and back to the streets of London. He'd collected her things and had her wear his jacket. It was sweet and yet she had so much to do. She had to find Adam.

"Are you going to tell me what is going on?" he asked. "Why you're dressed like you are? What possessed you to do that with your lovely hair?"

A small smile pressed forward. "Thank you, James. For…rescuing me," Helen said. How she'd love to just spend an hour more with her friend. She still mourned his death. Yes, James Watson lived a full life, more than a normal one, in the timeline she'd come from but how she missed him. He'd always been there for her.

"Helen—"

"James, I—"

"You're bleeding," he interrupted and stepped forward. He swept stray strands that had come out of place away. "You're going to need that looked at."

"I can tend to it."

"I have to at least insist on walking you home."

Helen thought for a moment. In this whole world, who could she trust more than James Watson? Of The Five, he was always the one that had been there for her and was the most dependable. Of course, James Watson in 1898 could right well commit her for telling him the insane reality that was currently going on. Suddenly she felt sick, she stopped and bent over a bit. Was this why she was feeling so off? Were there side effects? If she was dying, there was no Praxis to save her this time.

"Helen?"

She waited a moment and though it didn't pass…it got better. Her head was still pounding and she was fighting snapping at James. She knew that a lot rested on her, but she needed this friend. She needed this alliance. She needed James to be her rock as she remembered him. "I think I'm okay now," she said as she straightened.

James pulled her closer now. He put one arm around her back and held her arm with the arm that crossed in front of him. "Now there is no getting rid of me until I know that you're safely home."

"Thank you, James."

"Anything for you, Helen. You know that," he said as he started to guide her in the right direction.

"I have a story to tell you," she spoke up after a moment. Helen knew that this would change things forever. Especially for James and her past self. She was putting him in a curious spot. She trusted him to tell her to stop telling him the reality of his/her future and to tell her the truth of being able to help. She was sure that James could be that forward with her. He cared about her deeply; she doubted that it mattered to him what time she was from.

. . .

She'd stopped Adam Worth. His daughter would die…again. Helen honestly wasn't sure what she would do if she could go back to the point where they had injected Ashley and experimented on her and stopped them. Tears formed in her eyes at the thought of holding her daughter in her arms again. It felt like yesterday when she was small and running around the grounds of the sanctuary.

"James, what if I told you that I know why John's changed?" she asked.

So far, her friend had done a spectacular job keeping her past self from seeing her. She was just hoping that everything that she was doing wasn't weighing too heavily on him. He'd been shocked when she'd explained about Adam Worth and how she'd almost already died because of him. She hadn't brought up John until now… What if she owed it to John to try and fix things? That's what he had wanted to do. To go back before they'd taken the source blood and stopped them all. How would things be different? How different would the world end up being? She'd been angry at him before, but as she'd lived in that time again…she understood what he meant. How would things have been if none of them had taken the source blood? Would she have been married? Would she have been happy? Would she and John had a family?

"Please don't make excuses for his bad behavior, Helen," James spoke up.

"The source blood, it caused John to have the ability to teleport," she stated. "But that's not all that happened… An abnormal, one that's being as based and only existed as energy has taken control of him… That's where his violent tendencies come from."

"If that's true, then how can we save him?"

"I'm not sure that can be achieved in this time," Helen admitted. "Before, we had to shock John with a lot of electricity…and I mean a lot."

"And that fixed him?"

"The abnormal stayed present, but it hibernated during this time," Helen explained.

"It's not something we could generate now?"

Helen shook her head. "I don't think so. Not unless we were to tie him to a lightning rod during a storm."

"No storm coming soon that I know of."

She smirked. "I doubt John would really appreciate that."

"If it spares you from spending another moment crying because of him then I don't care what it takes. I'll track him down and tie him to some lightning rod myself," James told her.

Helen smiled brightly at him and found him smiling back at her. "You've always been such a sweetheart."

"Flattery...will get you everywhere with me, Helen," James told her as he beamed at her. "How about some tea? We can discuss things then?"

. . .

It was innocent enough and at first, Helen thought that maybe there wouldn't be a huge impact on the future. Adam had managed to save his daughter. She'd formulated a plan to end Imogene's life in a way that would look like her condition had returned, but James had stopped her. He had been passionate and upset with her. It was an odd thing, seeing that James…the James that she had been friends with so long ago. She and James had grown old together and with it…they'd both changed in her time. He'd asked her, "What harm could a little girl do?" And she didn't have a valid answer. If she'd been able to go back and save her daughter, would that be so wrong? What harm would she do?

She and James talked a lot. It seemed like everything and yet…she had to remember that she couldn't spoil the future for him. Not completely anyways. She'd brought up her concern about John and wondered if they really should try to interfere in things. What would happen if John had led a more normal life? She was pretty sure she knew and right now Helen just really couldn't fathom the thought of that life. But did she deserve the continual heartbreak? Did Ashley deserve being lied to and to grow up without a father? Would John's positive continued presence help better the Sanctuary Network?

"You have to make the decision and then just hope for the best," James told her. "For all our sakes."

"It's not that easy," she argued.

"It is," he insisted. "If you over think everything, then nothing will ever be accomplished."

She shook her head. "You don't understand. It's more than a hundred years of history that I would be impacting…for better or for worse with any change."

"Adam Worth's future self cured his daughter...she didn't die," James pointed out.

"And I still can't be sure what the future outcome will be from that tampering," Helen told him. "Lives are at stake here, James. A whole century of lives…"

"Helen," he said.

She turned and found him staring at her. She looked into his eyes. "What?" she asked. Helen waited as patiently as she could as James remained silent for a long moment.

"Stop thinking. Just make the decision. Cure John or allow your future to replay."

"It isn't that simple!" she shouted this time, getting quite worked up over how easily James seemed to think these decisions were.

James sighed. "Would your decision to keep the future how it is result in my Helen's happiness?"

"No," she said simply.

"Would he hurt her?"

"In different ways, yes."

"And if you changed things…if John were…unaffected by this Abnormal?" James questioned. "Theoretically…the change in his demeanor would be for the better?"

"Absolutely."

"Then why is it such a hard decision?"

She shook her head and began to pace. "Why do you think these are such easy decisions, James?"

"Helen, I have been your friend for some time. I do not wish to see you so unhappy…my Helen so unhappy… So, for her sake…and yours, I would say to take the more joyous life."

"James…"

"It's not easy for me to tell you this, Helen," he told her quite seriously.

She stopped pacing. "I know it's not."

"Did we…ever…?"

Helen smiled. "Not really… I mean, don't get me wrong. You were…are…my very dearest friend, but I really couldn't commit to a relationship after John… It was too hard." She paused for a moment and looked down at her hands. "And maybe…in truth," she said quietly. "It was too scary to open myself to such a chance again."

"So, allow my Helen to find love with him…"

So, she and James worked together and found a way to pronounce enough energy to hit John with. It was tricky and there was some danger involved, but no more danger than she was used to. During this time, she'd found out that Adam Worth (the future one) had been killed, apparently in some alleyway. She really wasn't sure what to make of it. Who had actually done it, she and James had never discovered.

Luring John there had proved fair easier than she'd ever expected. He'd arrived with anger in his voice and hatred in his eyes. To look at him like that, she wondered how she'd ever fallen in love with him in the first place. She knew he hadn't always been like that, but to see him like that…

The time had to have been exactly right. They needed a storm. It was England though, so there was no problem with storms. It rained quite often and they managed to be lucky with the lightning that evening. Zapping John had been fairly simple in fact, but reviving him had scared her. She didn't admit it to James, but she'd been afraid that they'd really killed him. That she'd really killed him and something inside her died for a few moments. Even though she had such bad feelings for her John, something inside of her mourned his brief loss now. Why did he have to affect her so?

"Helen?" John breathed.

She kept back tears and just smiled down and softly touched his face. How innocent he now looked. "You're going to be okay, John. There was an energy inside of you that was making you do all those things…but you're safe now…" His eyes closed and she allowed a few tears to roll down her face. She turned to James. "He can't know that I was here…that he was helped… It'll only confuse things between him and your Helen."

"I can take him back to his residence," James told her. "I'm assuming he will probably sleep it off. He'll wake up in the morning and believe it was merely a dream."

"I hope they're happy," she whispered as she looked down at this past John that she'd originally fallen in love with.

"I hope they are as well," James echoed quietly.

She felt James' hand on her shoulder, trying to comfort her. She closed her eyes and reached up to squeeze the offered hand. "I just hope I did the right things…"

"What has happened to make you so unsure of yourself?" James asked. "I can understand why you are so bitter and think so much… I know a Helen that tells me her mind and then proves me wrong often enough."

She smiled a little at the memories she had with James…with all of them. She missed her dear old friends. They were The Five. In her timeline, could they even be considered The Three at this point? John was angry with the world and she was angry with him and he was unpredictable. Tesla was even more unpredictable and went back and forth between being helpful and wanting to take over the world with a vampire army. "I was so angry with him before I came here…" she spoke up softly.

"John? Why?"

"He'd told me he'd killed Adam. In our time. He hadn't. He'd actually made a deal with Adam, to go back…to before we took the Source Blood. He wanted to change things. He wanted to prevent us from injecting ourselves with it. He said he'd done it for me."

"That's…sort of sweet…considering how things have turned out thus far that I've witnessed," James told her.

"To me," she said. "At that time…" Helen breathed and tried to push all the emotions down. "It felt like he hated who I had become… That he just wanted your Helen back… All I could think of was all I had built." She looked over at her shoulder at him. "All that we had built. I couldn't imagine tampering with history…not like this…and changing all of that."

"Believe in us, Helen," James whispered. "Believe that what will happen will be better."

"I guess I have to," she replied.

It didn't take long to move John. She'd helped James; she'd felt compelled to see it through. But now that they were out in the streets of London, making their way back towards James' residence, she found herself feeling like she'd done what she'd come there to do. She just hoped that things worked out. "I think perhaps I've outstayed my welcome," she told him quietly.

"What will you do now?" James asked.

"I'm not sure, honestly," Helen admitted truthfully. "I feel like…I've lived my life. I've outlived dear friends and family… Maybe it's finally my time." In truth, this wasn't the first time she'd felt like just giving up. It had been hard to keep carrying on with all the loss and obstacles in her life. After Ashley… To have a child die before her parents was so tragic, she'd heard it before but experiencing it… The world had felt like it was shattering around her. She'd frozen her embryo and waited to actually have Ashley until she thought that the world would be safe enough for her daughter. It still wasn't safe… Would it ever be that safe? And then when she'd followed John to Cambodia, she'd found him finally and just laid there with him…in that moment she would have been fine to have never woken up again. It'd felt like old times, of more simpler and innocent times…times that seemed to no longer exist.

"Helen! You're not talking about—"

"No," she told him quickly. "But… Perhaps I will venture somewhere I have yet to visit," she told him. "Though I've done what I think are great works in my lifetime, I feel like perhaps I wouldn't mind if I didn't keep living on in this abnormal sense."

James nodded. "Just promise me you won't do anything rash."

"I promise, James," she told him with a smile. His concern for her welfare was so endearing. She stopped and hugged him and kissed his cheeks before bidding him farewell.

Of all the mistakes she'd made in her lifetime, Helen Magnus was fairly sure that she'd made a great number of mistakes while revisiting 1898 London. She'd gone there to retrieve Adam Worth and to keep him from changing the timeline. She'd changed so many lifelines. Adam's ability to save Imogene wouldn't go unnoticed and it wasn't the only mistake that she'd made…

. . .

TBC…