Disclaimer: I own nothing
It wasn't unheard of to see Will or Magnus up all night doing work in their offices, so when an influx of paperwork came from the other Sanctuaries, the two decided that they would probably get it done faster if together. They met in Magnus's office in the early afternoon, on a rare quiet day, to get started hoping it wouldn't take all night.
"You know I will never get how much paperwork is involved in running a Sanctuary," Will said while barely making a dent in his stacks of paper. "Well, seeing as I am the Head of the Sanctuary Network I have to sign off on everything. Even this request for more paperclips from the Sydney Sanctuary," Magnus replied holding up an invoice from Sydney making Will laugh.
"At first I thought it was going to be all running around capturing abnormals, but now I spend most of my time sitting at my desk filling out reports, invoices and insurance forms," Will said with a sigh. "Yes, sorry about the insurance, I could never rap my head around those," Magnus answered with a guilty look. He responded with a chuckle and shaking head. "We better get back to work otherwise we won't get anything done," "agreed" Magnus replied.
They sat in silence for the next few hours with the only sounds being pens scribbling and paper shuffling, then suddenly a strange sound occurred that appeared to come from Will's stomach. He looked up slightly embarrassed, "sorry" he said, "it seems that I need a break and food." At the mention of food Magnus's stomach made the same sound, making them both smile and chuckle. From behind the door a faint knock came, made by the Big Guy bringing in a large tray of food. "Well it's a good thing I ordered in," she said with a grin. They shifted all the paperwork off the coffee table and enjoyed their Mac 'n' Cheese. It wasn't an elegant dinner but it was full of laughs, stories and wine (which was hidden under a loose floorboard in Magnus's office, which Nikola never knew).
Long after they finished eating they still sat there laughing at stories, ". . .and that is how I ended up naked and strapped to a flagpole with only a sock to let me keep a little bit of dignity," finished Will who was looking at Magnus finally give in from suppressing the tears from laughing so hard. It had been a long time since he had seen her laugh like that, he missed it. "I never saw anything like that while I was at university" she said through the gasps for air and drying her eyes, "how was your reputation affected?" she asked trying to sound slightly serious. "Well a very rude freshman decided that he would pull the sock off as someone was untying me," he stated in all seriousness, "and the next day I came back to my room and found phone numbers slipped under my door by quite a few young women, some I had never heard of. As well as some male students," he continued. She couldn't continue holding it in and burst out laughing, even doubling over from laughing so hard. He could clearly see the tears streaming down her cheeks and he couldn't hold it in and joined her in laughing at the American college system. When it died down to smiling and chuckling Magnus asked, "did you call all those numbers?" "No. I felt they only wanted me for my body," he said with honesty, from this their smiles couldn't help but get wider and their giggling to get more pronounced. "Oh crap!" Will said in shock, "we've been talking for over an hour and a half," "we better get back to work otherwise we won't get any sleep," Magnus replied with her stern voice but knew they were having more fun talking then doing paperwork.
After a while of concentrated silence, Magnus shared something that Will never thought he would hear, "I wanted Ashley to go to college."
"Magnus -" Will started, she raised her hand and said to him "you told me something personal so I felt it only fair." He wanted to reply with comforting words but all he could say was "what was she like at school?" He knew saying that was lame but it was all he could think of. "She was excellent at the sciences: biology, chemistry and physics but was exceptional at psychology. I expect it to be because she grew up with abnormals around so she could feel when their emotions changed and when they were about to attack." She replied not really thinking about what she was saying but more remembering what she knew about her daughter. The one person she would give everything up for. She knew what she was saying was shocking Will but he was so open about himself she felt she owed him something.
"Where would she have gone if she went to college?" Will asked breaking up her thoughts, "she told me University of California but I suspect she said that to throw me off. I saw her reading some brochures from Old City University in the library once, just reading the psychology section," she replied. "She would have been a freshman on my last year while I was getting m doctorate," he said in one of the seats in front of her, she didn't even notice he had moved from the couch. "I know, she changed her mind last minute and wanted to help out more here. I didn't tell her but I wanted her to go, to get away for a few hours a week and act her age. I wanted her to have the option of working away from the Sanctuary, to not feel that she had to stay." Will sat there quietly for a few minutes, unsure about what to say, the only thing he could think of was, "she loved it here, I could see the pride in her eyes every time we caught a deadly abnormal or helped one mot be afraid of themselves." She smiled knowing he was telling the truth, she had seen it herself.
Magnus was remembering the first time that Ashley had captured an abnormal by herself. She was 17, Magnus always made sure that when going on a mission there was always two people but that didn't always happen, so she had Ashley pick up a common abnormal that was known to be antsy but always came willingly. That time it wasn't the case. It had been in a recent fight and had been badly hurt causing it to be unsure and reluctant to go with her. But as her daughter usually did, Ashley brought the abnormal in anyway, acquiring a few new scratches and cuts for her effort. When she saw her mother, Ashley lit up with pride showing how much she loved being in the Sanctuary and helping Magnus.
He could see it in her eyes, the pain and anguish every time she thought about Ashley. Will couldn't think at the moment, mentally cursing himself for drinking so much wine, all he could say was, "if she had gone you never would have hired the handsome and dashing Doctor William Zimmerman. Think of how normal your life might have been without me. On second thoughts don't, this place might have been running more smoothly." He tried to make her laugh but he only got a smile. Will was still happy with that.
They finally got all the paperwork done, but when they looked up at the window the sun was starting to rise. "I guess that we won't get any sleep today," Will said while trying to hold back a yawn. "I'm used to it now, I've been doing it long enough," Magnus replied, "go have a shower and get changed, we're bound to be getting a call to pick up an abnormal or have more work sent in." "Yay. More paperwork," Will said, and just as he was about to leave her office, he turned to her and said just loud enough so that only she could hear and not have the camera's pick up, "maybe next time there's loads of paperwork we could do this again, and I could tell you how I fell in love with your daughter." Will turned and left, gently closing the door behind him. "Damn him, now I have to wait until next week to find out," Magnus said to herself quietly, "why does Ashley always make the men she meets fall for her."
She looked up and saw the devilish smile of her protégé just inside the doorframe, "well she is your daughter Helen," he said. Will quickly left before he heard her usual reply of "cheeky monkey".
He never calls me Helen. It must be the lack of sleep, Magnus thought.