Title: The Curious Tale of the Serbian Babysitter
Fandom: Sanctuary
Warnings: Little evil Sanctuary Staff members abound!
Word Count: 5'971 words
Pairings/Characters: Nikola Tesla, Helen Magnus, Will Zimmerman, Henry Foss, Kate Freelander, Big Guy, Wee!Helen (oh and one very cross Serbian Babysitter i.e. Nikola)
Summary: Listen up my friends, it's time to hear about "the Curious Tale of the Serbian Babysitter." Otherwise known as "How Nikola Tesla went from being known historically as being a crazy old man, to actually being a crazy, partially electrified and semi-drowned vampire."
A/N: This is all down to some fantastically random comments on the count-down to the Return of Sanctuary and most especially to; Icarus_Chained, Shadecat and Maccadole :)
Enjoy Kasey
The Curious Tale of the Serbian Babysitter:
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Prologue:
There was once a strange, confounding event that occurred many hours prior to this tale being wrote down for the curious and stalker-like eyes of thousands of fan girls, and boys, in desperate need to receive this tale as soon as possible so as to ensure the maximum number of 'awws' and 'lols' could be brought about before the tale lost it potency. In short, someone was kind enough as to make a detailed account of the entire situation as best they could and then pass it on to me, the story teller, so I could tell you all.
So listen up my friends, it's time to hear about the Curious Tale of the Serbian Babysitter. Otherwise known as How Nikola Tesla went from being known historically as being a crazy old man, to actually being a crazy, partially electrified and semi-drowned vampire.
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Part One:
It was sunny in Old City, a rarity really since the weather had been all over the place for the best part of a month, and most of the Staff of the Sanctuary had decided to take advantage of the presence of the great, burning mass of chemicals up high in the mid-day sky. All but two people in fact decided to flee outside the walls of the Sanctuary into the gardens and surrounding city for the day. One of these people was, as is no surprise to most who know her, Doctor Helen Magnus. The other was Nikola Tesla, who had holed himself up in the Sanctuary for the last month after there was a renewed interest in the old Vampire's technology, and himself.
As is per for Doctor Magnus, she was busy tinkering away, either in her office or in her personal laboratory where she was testing various chemicals in various orders to see what she got – in reality she was trying to create an exact replication of the non-toxic venom which is produced by a new addition to the Sanctuary whom was quite reluctant to supply her with a decent amount for study; quite frustrating for her really but Doctor Magnus understood the reluctance of the abnormal. Well, she didn't but she respected the abnormal's choice nonetheless.
Tesla however wasn't doing anything incredibly important, not for the Sanctuary at least, and was mostly playing with large coils of copper-plating and a fairly high current whilst sipping away at one of the most rare wine's in existence; Helen's personal concoction.
Neither of them sought out the others company, not knowing that either of them remained within the Sanctuary, and so the Sanctuary was mostly silent and empty for the majority of the day until...
The rest of the Sanctuary staff returned in the most spectacular fashion of falling through the doors into the lobby as they desperately tried to get in out of the rain as quickly as possible; the sun had betrayed them and they had been caught unawares by the sudden rain-storm that was now accosting Old City.
"Oh man! I hate the rain!" Henry whined as he side-stepped Kate who shook her hair to get it out of her face. "And I thought I was the HAP that transformed into a werewolf." He deadpanned as Kate, without looking at him, punched him in the arm; hard! "Ow!"
"Careful pup." Kate grinned as she shot him a look before hurrying off towards her room to get cleaned up.
Will, ignoring the conversation, hurried up after her as he tried to see three feet in front of him; there were times he hated not wearing his glasses, as water dripped from his hair into his eyes making him blink profusely. He was wet. He was cold. He was tired. And damnit, now he was blind because of the bloody rain!
Turning to the left on the corridor he was walking along, Will stepped out on to the small landing where his room was located, away from Kate and Henry's thank God, and made his way towards his room. He knew that Magnus hadn't left the Sanctuary; her coat had still been hanging on the coat-hanger in the corner of the lobby by the stair case, so he knew that if he was quick he could find out what she'd been spending the day doing. He was meant to be the protégé afterall.
A quick shower, a fresh set of clothes and his glasses – which for some odd reason he'd found in a sock hiding behind the books on the third shelf beside the fire-place – and twenty minutes later Will found himself standing in the elevator which was trundling downwards towards the main laboratory of the Sanctuary in Old City. He tapped his foot impatiently on the steel flooring as he leant against the side of the elevator and waited for the elevator to come to a jittering stop before stepping towards the slowly opening doors; looks like he'd have to point them out to the Big Guy later.
"Magnus!" He called out as he walked into the centre of the laboratory and spun slowly in a circle. "Magnus!" He called again but the only responses he got was his voice echoing around the large room and Sally swimming towards the glass of her enclosure.
"Great." He muttered as he ran a hand through his hair and set off towards the lesser visited, smaller laboratory's which he'd once seen Magnus using when she was testing new compounds and such. "Hunt the Magnus it is then."
He sighed as he briskly walked along the corridor's of the underground section of the Sanctuary, coming to a stop outside Laboratory One. He didn't know Laboratory One was ever used, normally Magnus was found in Labs Three and Four, so it made him curious as to what she was doing that meant she was in Laboratory One – of course, the whole thing could be as simple as the Big Guy was doing a spring clean and Labs Three and Four were full of cleaning materials...
"Magnus?" Will questioned as he turned the knob of the door and opened it slowly, fully expecting Magnus to shout out to him in welcoming – or in reprimand. "Magnus? You in here?" He stood in the door way and looked around the room but he couldn't see Magnus; he could see the steel desk she'd obviously been working at, he could see what she'd been working with and a couple of background programs running on the terminals on the left-hand side of the room. He couldn't see Magnus at all though. But he could hear something...
"Hello?" He said cautiously as he took a step into the room, closer to the steel desk and he peaked around the side of it. "Hel- What the-"
A small figure let out a high-pitched shriek of fear and scrambled past him too quickly for him to stop it. "Hey!" He shouted after it as he followed the small figure that was running down the corridor towards the main laboratory; and damn, for something so small it sure could run fast! "Stop!"
He reached the main laboratory and spun around looking half-crazed as he tried to spot the small figure again. He turned suddenly at the sound of the elevator doors opening. "Wait!" He called out as he dived in the direction of the elevator, trying desperately to reach out and grab one of the doors to stop them closing, but he missed and he smashed into the closed doors with an loud crash.
"Ow..." He muttered as he turned around slowly and rested against the doors. "How did you get the doors open?" He wondered aloud as he realised quite suddenly that the only way for someone to open the elevator doors was if they had access to it; meaning they had to have used the finger-print recognition software.
"Who are you?" Will whispered as he stood up fully and looked at the finger-print scanner and blinked. And then he blinked again. And a couple more times for good measure because that had to be wrong. "No. Way." He said in disbelief. "That's... no way..."
Looking towards the main laboratory in surprise Will took off towards the consoles in the centre of the room and reached for the communicator on the steel work-top; it was Magnus' but he didn't think about that for long as he jammed it into his ear and called for Henry to pick up.
"Henry listen. No. Shut up for a minute and just listen. It's about Magnus..."
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Part Two:
Nikola sighed as he leant against the wooden worktop in the laboratory on the third floor, above ground, in the East Wing of the Sanctuary. He liked his solitude, Heavens knew he'd had to like it when he'd been a mortal – and foreign – in Oxford, and then when he'd become a Vampire and watched people he knew and cared for wither away and die – except for Helen and James, because of the suit, and John unfortunately. But sometimes he didn't mind being bothered by people asking him questions; even the young Heinrich was a good way of side-tracking his attention from loneliness – and he'd never admit to anyone, not even Helen, that there were times when the young HAP reminded him quite strongly of himself a hundred or so years ago, back when he hadn't been too tainted by life and death and power...
Deciding that his experiment could survive without him for a while, Nikola sipped the last of the wine in his glass and set it down on the worktop before slipping out of the room and locking it behind him with a old, heavy key which he pocketed. So it was Helen's home but it was his experiment and he wasn't going to have any of the children come across it in their pointless wanderings and fry themselves; they might damage his equipment.
He walked along the corridors in silence, even his shoes didn't make a sound and his clothes didn't make the fair 'swishing' sound that most people assumed they did – that was actually him, crackling and bursting with electricity which was trying to reach out and touch things and discharge. He wondered where he could go and decided that going to see Helen wouldn't be too bad an idea, he did so enjoy her company afterall – and though she said otherwise, she obviously enjoyed his company also else he wouldn't be here now would he?
Pausing momentarily he gave the air the slightest of sniffs and pin-pointed Helen's location in a second – one of the perks of being a Vampire; his sense of smell was almost like his own personal locator – and with an impish smile on his lips, he set off in the direction of Helen's office...
"Helen I- What the hell!" Nikola shouted out in alarm as he walked into Helen's office only to be accosted by a small mass of blonde curls. "Get it off!"
"Helen!" Will calls as he hurries into the room. "Helen... let go of Nikola's leg now."
The mass of blonde curls attached to Nikola's leg shakes its head and a mumbled "No" comes out as Nikola starts to shake his leg.
"Get off- Wait, did you just call this... this thing Helen?" Nikola asked, gaping at Will who nodded solemnly. "Oh you've got to be kidding me!"
"I don't know how it happened... I found her in the labs like this..." Will explained as he knelt down and reached out to grasp mini-Helen. "Come on Helen... you're scaring Nikola."
"I don't like children alright!" Nikola pouted as he looked down at the mass of blonde curls. "Get. Off. Me. Now."
Again mini-Helen shook her head as and Will tried to pull her off of Nikola but she screamed loudly and began to wail like a damned Banshee. "Arrggh! Get off her! Let go! Let go Damn it Protégé!" Nikola shouted as he clapped his hands over his ears.
As soon as Will let go mini-Helen stopped wailing and snuggled up against Nikola's leg. Nikola sighed in relief and looked down at mini-Helen just as Will pulled out his phone and snapped a shot.
"Blackmail." The Protégé said shrugging and smiling impishly as Nikola growled at him. "Look after her would you? Henry's trying to figure out what she was doing to cause this." Will said as he began moving towards the door.
"What!" Nikola exclaimed in disbelief. "You're leaving me with a child-Helen! Are you insane! I can't be trusted! I'm 'doctor hidden-agenda' remember!" His face was so comical that it took everything Will had in him not to burst out laughing.
"That was last week." He replied calmly as he left the room. "This week you're the Babysitter."
Nikola cursed quite spectacularly under his breath in Serbian as his hearing picked up the sound of young William cackling away as he moved along the corridors. "Damn Protégé." He muttered darkly as he looked down at the small child attached to his leg still. A Small child which was looking up at him with piercing blue eyes that were water-logged and looked incredibly upset.
"Tears don't work on me." Nikola said quietly, trying to believe what he was saying, but he reached out gently and placed his hand on the top of the mini-Helen's head and stroked her hair softly. "So stop with the tears missy."
Mini-Helen clung tightly to his leg and he sighed as he watched a tear trickle down her left cheek. "Don't cry." He said softly, his external defences which had kept him safe from emotional torment for so long crumbling to dust as he stared down at the adorable mass of curls and big, blue eyes attached to him still. "Please don't cry. I don't know how to stop people from crying." He added a little bit desperately.
Mini-Helen removed one of her small, but incredibly strong, arms from around his leg and wiped away the tears in her eyes as she smiled slightly at him. He smiled back, a soft and genuine smile before looking around the room to see if there was anything in there that he could use to occupy the small child. It was Helen afterall and he knew Helen, knew her so well that he had memorised some of her favourite poems to recite to her when they'd attended Oxford... but uh... those poems wouldn't be appropriate for a such a young child. No. Certainly not.
Spotting Helen's desk Nikola smile widened as he looked down at the mini-Helen still attached to his leg. "Helen." She looked up at him again and he smile kindly. "Have you ever played a video game?"
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Part Three:
"I don't know what to tell you Will! I can't figure out what the Doc was doing down here!" Henry almost shouted as he tried desperately not to hit Will with the heaviest item he could find. The other man had been mithering him for the last half hour as he'd picked his way through the doc's records. "The only thing I've got is that she was trying to figure out what was in the venom of a new abnormal and that she discovered something else... but she didn't say what in her notes and there's no record of her having done an analysis of anything past 12:48!"
Will stopped pacing for a moment and realised that Henry was upset over his failure to find out what had happened. "Hey. That's fine. We'll just ask Magnus- uh.. Helen... and see what she remembers."
"The Doc's a kid right now Will and I don't think she's going to be much use to you." Kate piped up as she walked into the room with the Big Guy following behind her. "Where is she anyway?"
"With Tesla." Will answered as he looked at Magnus' hand-written notes and so he didn't notice the look that everyone levelled at him.
"What!" Henry exclaimed. "You left her with the scary Vampire!"
"What if he eats her?" Kate said worriedly and Will couldn't help it, he laughed and turned to look at them.
"Okay, first off. She wouldn't let go of his leg so I had no choice but to leave her. And he's not going to eat her Kate; he wouldn't do that." Will explained smiling in amusement as he pulled out his phone.
"How do you know?" Henry exploded as he glared at Will.
"Because he promised Magnus he'd never feed from a human, and besides; it's Magnus who's attached to his leg." Will showed them the photo he'd took of Nikola looking down at the mini-Helen and he saw them all soften slightly as he added. "Look at his face. There's no way he'd hurt her."
Henry blinked and blushed in embarrassment. "Yeah. Course. I knew that. I just uh-"
"Was extremely concerned for the Doc's safety?" Kate supplied helpfully.
"Yeah, yeah uh that." Henry nodded as he pointed at Kate who smiled at him in amusement. "Can we go ask the Doc and see what she remembers now?" He added as he shuffled his feet in discomfort.
"Come on." Will said as he left the room and he heard the sound of the others following him out.
When they reached the elevator Will paused and turned to look at the Big Guy. "Uh... it might not be a good idea for Magnus- Helen, to see you right now Big Guy. We don't know how she'll react to you."
The Big Guy nodded and said. "Fine. Go fix her." And he gave Will a head-slap before heading off in the direction of the cleaning closet for the main laboratory.
"I will. I promise." Will whispered as he stepped into the waiting elevator with the others. "Let's go see if Tesla's still alive shall we?"
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Part Four:
"Helen! No! You can't touch that!" Nikola exclaimed in tired frustration as he chased after the small mass of curls that was giggling manically and man-handling one of his most intricate creations. He dived towards her, missed and landed flat on his face on the floor. He looked up just in time to see Helen shaking the small device.
"Please! No! No! No!" He reached out hopelessly as Helen dropped the small gizmo on the floor and it shattered, the glass it was made of splintering and spreading out on the floor in a glittery mess. "No..."
Nikola's head hit the floor with an audible 'thump' and he heard the quiet sounds of Helen sobbing. "That was really, really hard to make..." He muttered as he raised his head and looked up that the small girl standing a few feet away from him crying. He winced and raised himself up to his knees as he said with a smile. "But I can always make another one. It's not the end of the world. Come on. There's no need to cry Helen." He opened his arms and titled his head to the side, still smiling, and waited for the young girl to come over to him.
She stared at him, her bottom lip trembling as tears continued to roll down her cheeks, and with a loud sniffle she hurried over to him and threw herself into his open arms and started to sob in earnest into his shoulder.
"There there. It's alright... it's alright..." Nikola whispered softly as he climbed to his feet, his arms wrapped around the sobbing mass attached to him, and moved over the couch. Sitting down he placed Helen on his lap and began to rock her back and forth, making quiet sounds of reassurance and stroking her hair gently.
After what felt like an age to him the sobbing finally died down and Helen peaked up at him, her blue eyes rimmed with red and he could see tear-tracked staining her face.
"Come on. Give me a smile you little monkey." He whispered as he wiped away the last few remaining tears from Helen's cheeks. He pulled a funny face and was rewarded with the childish giggle of a six year old Helen Magnus as well as the muffled laughs of three adults standing in the doorway to the office.
Nikola's face fell as he looked over at the door and spotted Henry, Will and Kate smirking at him. "Oh grow up children." Nikola said darkly at them and he snarled at them, fully intending to turn his snarl into a growl when he realised that Helen had burrowed herself into his suit jacket again, almost as though she was hiding.
"Hey... hey... what's wrong?" Nikola asked gently as he titled his head at an almost impossible and completely ignored the three children at the door. He managed to catch sight of a blue eye for a second before Helen snuggled even harder against him and he winced slightly as she caught a slight cut on his forearm underneath his suit jacket – alright, it wasn't actually a slight cut it was more like a nine-inch laceration which was healing quite slowly because he'd kept tearing it open again and again throughout the night when he'd been playing around with some of his equipment.
"Helen..." Nikola said, his voice low and commanding. "I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong can I?" He waited for a moment before he heard a mumbled response from the small girl half-buried into his suit jacket. "And I can't hear you when your heads buried in my jacket either you know?" He added as waited for her to lift her head.
She didn't lift her head but turned it enough for him to be able to spy her face and to hear her words. "I don't like them... they're scary..." She whispered with tears threatening to fall from her eyes again. Nikola raised his eyebrows at her statement and looked over at the three of them in the doorway.
"Really? They're scary?" He asked curiously and she nodded furiously at him. "Why are they scary?" He asked and she snuggled into his jacket a bit further. "I won't let them hurt you. I promise Helen... but can you tell me why they're scaring you?"
"They're different..." She whispered, her words almost inaudible to even his hearing. "They're not like you Uncle Nicky..."
Deciding to ignore the 'Uncle Nicky' comment for the moment Nikola focused on the 'they're different' part of the response. "The Source Blood..." He said softly. "You're not afraid of me because you can sense the Source Blood in my system and it's in yours as well so you think I'm safe and they're not..."
He blinked and looked over at the three standing by the door. "Go away. You're scaring her." He said forcefully, his words commanding and he saw the three of them blink in surprise. "She senses that you're different to her so she doesn't trust you, that's why she's scared but she's fine with me so leave now. Talk to me through the comm. system."
"We came to talk to Mag- Helen actually." Will said slowly and he noticed that Helen tried to burrow deeper into Nikola's jacket as he spoke. "But I think you're right. We'll go now and keep in touch on the comms."
Nikola nodded his thanks at the protégé as he wrapped a protective arm around the mini-Helen and watched the three of them leave – he strained his hearing long enough to tell when they were far enough away to not hear anything he said, especially young Heinrich.
"Helen..." Nikola said softly as he pushed a couple of the blonde curls aside. "Helen they're gone now. It's safe." He waited a few moments and smiled when Helen looked up at him. "See. I told you they're gone." He added as he looked over to the door, Helen's eyes followed the direction of his gaze and she realised they had indeed gone.
It was like someone had flicked a switch, one moment the girl was burrowed in his jacket, the next she was hurrying over to the door and scarpering out of it before Nikola could even move. "Hey! Helen wait!" He called out as he dashed out of the room and followed after her, having to restrain himself from 'vamping-out' just in case he terrified her. "Helen!" He shouted as he watched her disappear around the corner of the corridor.
He tapped the comm. in his ear and began speaking. "Protégé! Helen's left the office. She's running through the corridors so I suggest you head down the to the sub-levels so she doesn't come across you."
"What? You let her get out the room!" Will's voice came over the comm. and Nikola suppressed the urge to snarl. "Why'd you let her out the room?"
"I didn't let her young William, she got past me! Now just do as I say because I don't want to have to hurt you just yet." Nikola snarled as he turned down another corridor, following Helen's scent. "Helen! Get back here!" He shouted down the corridor but he didn't really expect her to listen to him.
"Fine. Just find her Nikola. We don't know when she'll turn back." Will warned as he and the other two hurried towards the elevator. "Henry'll seal the Sanctuary to stop her from getting outside or into anywhere really dangerous."
"Good." Nikola said as he hurried down the steps on one side of the lobby and hurried over to the other set. "And I have a question; why did Helen's clothes shrink along with her?" He asked genuinely confused about that.
"We don't know. Henry's guessing that it's got something to do with the venom Magnus was working on earlier. Is there a stain anywhere on her clothes?" Will answered.
"Yes, on the cuff on the blouse she's wearing, it's not much darker than the colour of the blouse so it's hard to notice." Nikola answered as he paused for a moment and looked at where he was. "Oh you've got to joking..." He sighed.
"What?" Will asked confused.
"Nevermind. Just get down to the sub-levels and watch the video feeds for Helen. Track her for me."
"On it already." Henry's voice came over the comms and Nikola suppressed the urge to smile; trust Heinrich to be ahead of the Protégé. "She's in the-"
"East Wing on the third floor." Nikola finished as he moved towards the last staircase he had to climb.
"Yeah. How'd you know that?" Henry asked, his confusion clear in his words.
"Because that's where my lab is." Nikola answered as he ascended the staircase and noticed the door to his lab open. He patted down his pockets and realised that Helen had lifted the key out of his pocket. "Why you sneaky little-"
"What is it?" Will asked as Nikola stopped himself from snarling in anger.
"She stole the key to the door from my pocket." Nikola said darkly as his concern and worry began to increase. "Looks like she's still got all of her intelligence children." He added as he slowly pushed the door to his lab open and peered into the room.
"Is there anything dangerous in there Nikola?" Will asked as concern coloured his voice.
Nikola smiled slightly as he stepped into the room. "It's my lab protégé. What do you think?" He said sarcastically as his eyes took in the dim room; he'd forgot to turn the lights on earlier, but that could be remedied.
"Quiet. I'm busy." Nikola said softly into the comm. and was satisfied when he didn't get a response. He moved over to the light switch and placed the palm of his hand on it and sent a short electrical pulse through it. The lights above him flickered for a moment before two of them, just two, came on and the room was semi-illuminated.
"Faulty electrics. Always a nightmare." He sighed as he moved away from the light switch and in the direction of his equipment in the middle of the room. "Helen." He called out. "Where are you?" He listened for a response but he didn't receive one.
Stopping next to his equipment he strained his eyes and heard the sound of breathing to his right which he followed over towards the wiring he'd been using last week that he hadn't got around to cleaning up. Oops.
"Helen?" He asked again as he knelt down next to the wires and reached out to touch them. "Hel-" He fell backwards as the wires moved and a mass of blonde curls dived at him with enough force to throw him backwards onto his back.
"There you are." He said smiling tiredly as he lifted his head up enough to see Helen peering at him, her little arms wrapped around his neck quite tightly. "Why did you run off hmm?"
"They were scary... I didn't want to be around them." Helen answered quietly, her voice echoing around the room nonetheless. "This place is where you live right?"
"Ah, no." Nikola chuckled softly. "I work in here but I don't live here." He sat up and Helen let go of him. "Why do you think that?"
"It feels really strongly of you in here." She answered simply as she looked around and spied his equipment. "What does that do?"
Nikola stood up quickly as Helen moved over towards his equipment and hurried to stand in front of her. "It's dangerous." He said seriously. "You shouldn't touch it. You could get hurt."
Helen looked up at Nikola and asked. "Have you been hurt?"
Nikola blinked and his face softened as he realised that she was asking him with genuine concern; something that an adult Helen would rarely do because she was so afraid of her feelings. "I-" He paused and swallowed thickly before answering. "I have been hurt before. So it would be too easy for you to be hurt too. So please don't go near it. Promise me you won't go near it."
Helen stared up at Nikola for a long time before nodding and saying quietly. "I promise Uncle Nicky."
"Good girl." Nikola smiled and clapped his hands. "Now! What do you say to some Hot Chocolate?"
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Part Five:
It was well into the next day, approximately four-thirty-nine in the afternoon to be precise, before Helen turned back into Magnus and was completely confused over what had happened to her.
"What? I reverted back to a child-like state for over a day?" Magnus asked in disbelief. She looked at Will, Henry, Kate and the Big Guy who were standing opposite her bed in the infirmary.
"Yep. You were a mini-Magnus for a day." Kate said as she grinned madly. "Kinda cute as a kid weren't you?"
Magnus looked at Kate unintelligibly for a moment before shaking her head in disbelief. "Amazing. I didn't think the venom of the Comtunboke could have such properties."
"It doesn't." Henry said and Magnus looked over at the young HAP. "Well, it doesn't when it comes in to contact with anything except you." He elaborated and Magnus' brow furrowed.
"I'm guessing it had something to do with your blood." Will said drawing her attention. "You injected yourself with Source Blood and maybe the venom reacted to something in it?"
"And caused me to revert back to my seven year old self." Helen finished as she nodded. "It makes sense."
"Really?" Kate said raising an eyebrow and Helen gave her a exasperated look. "No. Of course it does. You got covered with abnormal goop and it turned you into a kid for a day because your blood's weird. Makes perfect sense."
"Yes. Sarcasm is not appreciated Kate." Helen reprimanded but it seemed that her ability to intimidate her staff had disappeared, along with most of her memories of the day prior to her becoming mini-Magnus.
"What do you remember of being a child?" Will asked, as he leant on the railing at the end of the bed. He stared intently at Magnus and she had to check herself for a moment because he did so act like James sometimes.
"It's strange." She answered as she thought back to the previous day. "It's almost like a dream. I can recall it all but it's hazy and some of it is fuzzy."
"Well, we'll make sure you don't forget." Henry said smiling as he held up his laptop. "Every bit of footage of you I could find and any audio too." Magnus groaned. "And I've got Vlad on it too."
"Nikola?" Magnus' head shot up as she looked at Henry. She looked across at the others and Will could see the smallest trace of worry in her eyes.
"Yeah." He answered slowly as Magnus' eyes landed on her protégé. "You wouldn't leave him alone actually. Wouldn't come near any of us and kept on calling him 'Uncle Nicky'." He smirked at that and he could see out the corner of his eye that Kate was suppressing a laugh.
"He won't have been happy about that." Magnus said softly as she smiled and looked away from her staff.
Will noticed that she looked like she wanted to think things over in private. So he stood up and said. "Right. Well I guess we should give you some peace Magnus."
"Thank you." Helen said looking at them and smiling. "I am quite tired."
"I can't possibly imagine why." Kate quipped as Henry pulled her out of the room. "All that running around yesterday and torturing Vlad!"
Will and the Big Guy were the last to leave and once they'd shut the door, Helen heaved a sigh of relief. She lay her head back down against the pillow and closed her eyes as she thought over the events of the past day. She had been clinging to Nikola. She had called him 'Uncle Nicky'. And she'd been afraid of her own staff and not the vampire. How... odd. How... typical for her really.
"Helen?" A soft voice echoed in the room and she opened her eyes quickly as she looked around. She relaxed when she spotted Nikola standing by the door of the infirmary watching her from a distance.
"Nikola." She said as she sat up in the bed and waved a hand at him. "Come here." She said softly and without any hesitation, Nikola moved over to her side.
"Thank you." She whispered as she caught his hand and pulled him towards her and wrapped her arms around him. "Thank you." She felt him wrap his own arms around her and he rested his chin on her head.
"You're very clingy as of late Helen." He quipped but there was nothing behind his words as he held her tightly. "You might need to talk to someone about that."
"I don't need to talk to someone. I've got you." She answered without hesitation and, whereas she'd have normally frozen after making such a slip, she tightened her grasp around Nikola's chest. "You kept me safe."
"You clung to my leg like a leech." Nikola countered and she poked him gently. "Not that I was too bothered about it really." He added as Helen let go and looked at him.
"Really?" She challenged smiling as she said. "So why do I recall hearing you shouting 'Get it off!' hmm?" She laughed as Nikola pouted and slipped in to the seat beside her bed. "Oh Nikola..." She breathed quietly as she reached out a hand which he took in his own. "Nikola..."
"It's alright Helen." Nikola said soothingly. "You're perfectly safe. I promise." He smiled and held her hand in a gentle but firm grip. "Afterall, I'm the Babysitter; I'll keep you safe no matter what."
ŊĮĶŌŁĄ
ξ
ĦĘŁĘŊ
END
Well! That was certainly fun to write... if not a little long too :p
My first ever Wee!Kiddie fic and I think it's one of the best I've ever done in my life! :D
Comment/review and such and tell me your opinions and I might (I repeat, MIGHT) do a sequel where it's Nikola who gets kiddified! :p
Kasey