Title: Cross that bridge
Authors Note: This is a missing scene… I'm not overly happy with it… I felt uncomfortable writing in the present tense… But I wanted to try something different. I hope it's not too awful. Let me know what you think? Any feedback will be helpful, thank you.
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He nestles his head between her shoulder and breast and takes a deep breath. He can smell salt water, and is dimly aware of a slightly vanilla-like smell of Magnus beneath that somewhere.
"Will," he raises his head slightly and looks down at her. Never, ever would he do this again. He wouldn't get in a submarine again and he wouldn't kill her again. That moment when he thought... But no. She's alive and she's breathing - that is all that matters right now. "Could you help me up?" He feels a blush rise to his cheeks. Of course. She's lying on the hard floor and her heart has only just begun beating once more and here he is lost in his own thoughts.
"I'm so sorry Helen," he reaches down and gently supports her back and helps her up into a sitting position. Her head hangs wearily. For a moment he expects her to look up again, that crazy look in her eyes that he had seen thanks to that damn parasite.
"No need to be sorry," she says huskily, her voice still rough at the edges after all she has just been through. She raises her head to look at him but he feels her body trembling beneath the arm he still has resting against her back.
"Wait here," he rushes to the cabin to retrieve dry blankets and once back at her side he gently brushes a wet lock of hair from her face. "We need to get you out of these wet clothes," she looks at him and to his surprise she winks. Still humoring him even after all she has just been through... Amazing. He unbuttons her blouse and gently slides it off her shoulders trying to look at the black of the top and not the white of her breasts as they are revealed. She chuckles.
"It's okay Will," she says and snuggles into the blanket he then wraps around her shoulders. "Help me to my feet, will you?" He gently takes her hand and heaves her to her feet. She doesn't have a lot of strength and leans into him. She slides down her pants and they lay in a puddle on the floor with her blouse. He leads her to the bunks in the cabin and she lies down almost collapsing in exhaustion.
He turns away from her bare legs sticking out beneath the too short blankets he had given her. Suddenly uncomfortable and unsure what he should do… He just killed Helen Magnus!
"Make me a cup of tea Will, I'll get changed." She seems to recognize his uncertainty. He agrees gratefully and leaves the room. A breath he didn't know he was holding escapes and he closes his eyes against the images assaulting his brain all of a sudden. Magnus - her eyes - that crazy look in them... Everything he never expected from Magnus he just saw. He turns the jug on automatically and sits down at the table in the kitchen.
"Thank you Will," she enters the room a short time later, the blankets still pulled around her like a shawl. He knows she was thanking him for more than the tea. He hands her the mug across the table and feels a smile light his face.
"I'm never doing that again!" He tells her and their eyes meet for the first time since the incident and he knows instantly they will make it through this despite how traumatic the past hours had been. He also knows that if it came down to it she would expect him to do the very same thing again… But for now…? He would leave that in the "cross that bridge when it comes to it" column.
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The End