Henry opened the front door of the Sanctuary to find a small dark cloaked figure standing before him. He watched as she reached up slowly with her gloved hands and pulled back the hood of her black wool traveling cloak.

"Henry," she said softly with a big grin on her face.

"Laura." he replied slightly surprised to see her.

Henry allowed her in and quietly shut the door behind her, she only had small bag of things with her.

"We weren't expecting you for several more weeks."

"Dr. Magnus asked me to come back a few weeks early, said she had some new work for me." she paused "Is she in?"

Laura removed her traveling cloak to reveal her trendy attire, although every inch of skin from her neck down was covered. She reminded him a lot of Kate.

"She is out running errands . . . " began Henry.

"Who's Kate?" asked Laura.

Laura quickly picked up on his reaction.

"I'm sorry, old habits die hard, but I am getting better."

Henry picked up her small bag and headed towards the grand staircase.

"How are you? " asked Henry after a few a moments as they started up the stairs.

"I'm well and yourself?"

"Staying out of trouble." said Henry.

Laura knew there was more to at the story but she wouldn't press, Henry was a close friend and those were few and far between for someone with her gift. She had burned far too many bridges over the years, those that she had left she worked hard to keep in tack. She had not spoken to Henry since her departure nearly three years before. She had so much she wanted to say to him but she did not have the strength. Henry slowed to allow Laura to catch up with him, he noticed that she was taking the stairs one at a time. Her limp was worse than ever.

They continued in silence.

"You must be Kate?" said Laura as she and Henry a turned the corner in the upstairs hallway.

Kate was clearly confused. Laura assumed that by the fact that she was freely walking the hallways of the Sanctuary she was use to the abnormal world.

"Telepath?" she asked turning to Henry.

"No, much worse." he replied.

Kate looked shocked. Laura focused on keeping from reaching out to read her mind, so she focused on Henry.

"Just think of her as a really powerful mermaid with legs." said Henry.

Laura elbowed him in the leg, it was all she could reach at her slight stature. It was an apt description of her power but not one that she liked. As far as she knew she was unique in her gift, most telepaths could only read the conscious mind, but not her she could do more, much more.

"Ouch." said Henry weekly, it didn't really hurt he just want to make Kate thinks it had, and it made Laura feel better.

"I can not only read the conscious mind, with contact I can read the unconscious mind and project my own thoughts into your mind." said Laura answering Kate's unspoken question.

Kate became very nervous with this knowledge. Henry grabbed Laura by the elbow.

"Goodnight Kate." said Henry.

Laura pulled her arm away from Henry, he was thinking of all the things that Laura would do to Kate if he let her. But his heart was in the right place, he didn't want Laura to make the wrong impression with Kate. Laura caught on quickly that she was a very important person to him.

"Henry, I am not that person anymore, let me show you."

Laura could feel that he didn't believe her but she wasn't going to argue with him, she knew the only way to regain his friendship was to show him with actions rather than words. She walked with him to her room.

"Everything should just as you left it. " said Henry unlocking the door.

"Thank you." said Laura opening the door. "I really do want to show you that I am not that person anymore."

"I know." he said quietly.

"Ask her out Henry?" said Laura shutting the door to her room.

Henry had to wonder was this one of Laura's mind games or had three years of working in intelligence made her more humane. Laura had come to the Sanctuary after Helen had rescued her from the hands of the church in her small rural community in the mountains of Virginia. They accused her of being a witch and were going to burn her at the stake, she had been only 12. Learning to control her gift had left her with few friends. He knew what gone through as a child and he couldn't blame her for it what she did she did out of survival. He pushed her comment to the back of his mind, he had work to do.

"Hey Henry." said Will. "Is Laura here yet?"

"Yeah, she is up in her room, got here about an hour ago." answered Henry.

"That girl gives me the creeps." added Kate who had appeared out of nowhere. " and what is with those gloves, those are so last century."

"Those are for your protection." said Henry. "Think Rouge from x-men."

Kate hated it when he used comic books references.

"That was a good movie."

"How did she look?" asked Will.

"A bit tired, but she just flew in from god knows where so." he paused. "She just asked if Magnus was in, why?"

"Magnus asked me to talk to her, something about her not being herself."

"She seemed fine but then Laura had always had two sides."

"That girl is screwed up in the head." said Kate.

"Well you would be to if you have seen the hell she had seen in her life."

"What is with that limp?" said Kate.

Will got curious about that comment. Will noticed that Henry got very uncomfortable, he knew something.

"What happened?"

"About twelve years ago she and I go into a bit of a tussle and I pushed her off the balcony. Both her legs were broken."

Henry left it at that, the details weren't important any more. He still regretted what he had done, there little spat over something so minor had changed them both forever and left her with an eternal reminder.

"She is what? 15 or 16?"

"Try 28." said Will.

"Damn." said Kate.

"And she is no more screwed up than the rest of us." he added.

"Come in." said Laura before will even had a chance to knock.

He opened the door slowly, Laura was curled up in a chair looking out the window. Her short blond hair was spiked, if you did not know better she would pass for a teenager at only four foot six.

"Hi Will." said Laura without taking her eyes off the window.

"Laura, how are you?" he said approaching slowly.

"Happy to be home, happy to be in a place that is safe and calm."

"You okay?" asked Will sitting down in the chair across from her.

"No." she said flatly.

"How much do you know about what I have been doing for the last three years?"

"Magnus told me that you have been working for the NATO forces, aiding in their war efforts."

"That is a very diplomatic way of saying it but yes. For three years I have been using my gift as a weapon in war. I have seen too much, done too many things I wish I had never done, and watched too many people that I cared about get hurt or killed all in the name of war." she paused. "I am done, I don't want to hurt anyone else."

Will could see that although she put on the image that she was well it was not there was something tormenting her. He had only met Laura for a brief time. like five minutes, before her departure but he had read Magnus' file cover to cover a couple of day ago. Laura's history before arriving at the Sanctuary was vague but what was known was not the kind of thing a child should have been the victim of. Laura knew and understood what had happened to her but it had left scars that shaped who she had become.

"If you want to talk about it you are always welcome in my office."

"I know."

"I will leave you to rest."

Will went on his way, Laura needed to rest, she looked awful, the make-up didn't hide the bags under her eyes and it would take some time before she would talk openly about what was going on.

Laura walked the hallways of the Sanctuary trying to pass the time, she couldn't sleep yet again. Although her leg throbbed she didn't want to stay in her room, she needed to move. Between the time change and the insomnia she didn't even try to push the idea of sleep on her body, there was something she could find to do, she had not read a good book in a while so she headed to the library maybe she could find something there to keep her mind off the memories she carried. When she arrived in the library she found another sleepless individual. Tall slim his hair as dark as his suit. She wanted to reach out with her mind but pulled back knowing that it was a not the best way to start a conversation. She approached slowly in her stocking feet, she wanted to see what he was working on.

"Hello" said Laura.

"Where did you come from?" asked Tesla looking her over.

She had to work hard not to reach in to his mind, it was like it was calling to her at full volume.

"I live here." she replied to the stranger. "Laura Blackwell."

"Tesla, Nikola Tesla." he said taking her out stretched hand and placing a soft kiss on her gloved hand.

"Wow, " she was taken aback, there was something different about him, she could not help but read his thoughts it was like the moment he touched her no barrier would stop the passage of his thoughts to her. "I'm sorry."

He looked at her thoughtfully. Only a few other people in her life had given her such a vivid image without contact, Magnus, Ashley, and James Watson. What was it about them that brought her to her knees with their thoughts.

"Telepath?" he asked.

"Cognitive Telepath." she said.

Normally she did not share that information with just anyone but there was something about him that made her trust him. Plus he was alone in the library in the middle of the night so he was either another resident or a friend of Dr. Magnus. He carried this air about him that said that he was a very powerful abnormal but Laura was not sure what he was, he had to be powerful because he was one of the few abnormals on earth that she could read with just a look.

"You?" she asked.

"Ex-vampire.". He said almost like he was trying to hide it.

"Source blood."

He was taken aback, how did this young woman know about the source blood, that was a dark secret even among those intimate with the sanctuary network. He nodded uncharacteristically calm about a complete stranger knowing his history. Laura decided that she was too tired to remain in the presence of this man, he was too easy to read in such close proximity and it was hard to keep his thoughts at bay. She continued through the library and headed for the catacombs, it provided a large area to walk alone. Walking had always been calming for her, it was when she could be alone with only her own thoughts for company.

Helen rose early as she did each morning, she took her morning meal at her desk. She was sipping at her cup of tea when Will arrived.

"How is Laura settling back in?" asked Helen.

"Well, I expect. She was not in her room when I went to check on her a few minutes ago but last night she seemed well enough."

"Has she shown any interest in talking about what happened?"

"No, she looked exhausted last night so I just left her to sleep. I didn't want too push too hard, she had been thought a lot."

"Good," Helen paused. "Did she say anything to Henry?"

"Not that I know of." Will paused. "Henry didn't seem to want to talk about her actually."

"That's not unexpected, Henry still doesn't trust her after some things she did when she was a teenager." she paused. "She and Henry were very close, she, Henry and Ashley were always getting in trouble at school. I imagine that looking her reminds him of Ashley."

That is when the phone on Magnus' desk rang.