'You love my mother.'
The statement jerked Nikola Tesla out of his work, and he stared up at the young girl staring at him.
'You love my mother.' She repeated.
'What makes you come to that conclusion?' he asked cockily, smirking at Helen's daughter.
'She talks about you.' She said, flipping her blond hair over her shoulder as it got on her nerves, 'You, never Dad, always you.'
'Doesn't mean that I love her, just that I interest her.' Nikola said.
'You said that you loved her.' Ashley reminded him.
'I play a part, young Ashley,' Nikola smirked, 'And that part is of the best friend who flirts with the best friend.'
'She loves you.' Ashley's statement caused him to pause.
'What?' he whispered.
'She loves you,' Ashley repeated. 'She told me. After you tried to kill her in Rome. She said "He always saved me, even when I didn't realise that I needed saving, and I love him so much for that, it hurts Ashley",'
'We've always been like that Ashley,' her mother's oldest friend looked at her, 'Always. After Nigel and James left, she was depressed, I tried to save her from that, after it turned out John was Jack the Ripper, I saved her from that because Nigel and James didn't know what to do because they were close to him as well. I've always tried to save her Ashley, and I haven't always managed it.'
'You've saved her when she really needed it.' Ashley insisted.
'But she doesn't need it anymore.' Nikola snarled.
'She does, neither of you realise it.' Ashley said simply.
Nikola stayed silent, staring at the girl.
Ashley turned and walked to the door, turning back to look at him over her shoulder, 'Save my mom Tesla, please, just save her, even if it is from herself.'
And Nikola Tesla watched as she disappeared, fading into nothing.
He cast his eyes over the hollow map of the Earth, and thought of the one woman who made her happy.
'Helen.'