A/N: This is a sequel to the sequel! lol. This is a sequel to Cresting Waves which is a sequel to Changing Tides. Highly suggest you read those two first. But, with no further ado, Rip Tide is at your door. Please enjoy, I love reviews they make my day and keep me motivated so review away! lol now...onto the story. ~~Arones
Helen made her hands into a fist, one heel pressing into the other, fingers straight out and not laced. She began to press down on Will's chest. His ribs bowed under the pressure and followed her fingers when her body lifted back up. Ten times she did it before looking at his face again. She moved her hand to his wrist and felt nothing. His neck and the result was the same. Her eyes wandered over the monitor to her left and there was still no change. "Damn it Will!" She pressed down again, her body moving with the action. "After…all…this…No." Ten more times and she lifted up again, her fingers curling around his wrist.
She fisted her hand in frustration and pounded it down on his chest until it rested. "Damn it!" There was a beat. Her body jumped back before her hands flung once again to his wrist and neck one after the other just to be sure. She felt the pulse beat gently, slowly but firm under her fingertips. A sigh of relief escaped her lips and she began to check over the rest of his body. Her hands rolled over his skin and body checking every inch of it to make sure that nothing had happened. She changed his IV just to be sure Nikola hadn't done anything else to it. Her body was still filled with tension, but she didn't care. She changed everything: his gown, his sheets, his blankets, the machines. Anything that she could think of that might have been tampered with.
The color was slowly returning to his body; his cheeks had a hint of red to them that hadn't been there before. She leaned over the mattress and cupped his face feeling the warmth under her fingers. That was more reassurance than she could ever imagine. She didn't know how long she had been watching him, but she turned her head when she heard her old friend shuffle into the room.
The look she pinned him with was fraught with raging emotions. "You. Stay here." She licked her lips, standing and turning toward the Sasquatch. She rolled up her sleeves and clenched her jaw. "No one sees him except me; you make sure of that. I have something I need to take care." She didn't wait for a response before powering out of the room letting the anger and tension follow in her wake.
She stalked down the hallways, residents gladly stepping out of her path and not bringing any conversation up to her. She was on a rampage. She swung into the lab where she knew he would be, waiting for her. And there he was sitting at the metal desk watching the door, wine glass loosely held between two fingers, halfway full with dark liquid and a smirk on his face.
"I take it Junior lived?" He took a sip and set the glass down.
"What were you thinking, Nikola? How dare you…" She took a deep breath, calming her frayed nerves and toning down her voice yet still letting the vehemence through, "What exactly did you inject him with?"
He stood up and walked over to her, "Just something I've been working on at the request of your late boyfriend. Something I agreed needed to be created, a solution to your little problem of one rogue sex demon."
Her jaw tightened and her teeth rubbed against each other. She must have stood there for a full minute before finally speaking, "Do you know how irresponsible that was? You could have killed him!"
"Junior lived," he leaned forward and grabbed the glass again taking a sip. "Though I wouldn't have minded if he had died."
She huffed, "Get out."
"Sorry?"
"Get out of my house, Nikola. I don't want to see you back for a very long time." His eyes trailed over her body again, making no move to hide the fact that he was enjoying this. He finished his wine and sauntered out of the room.
"You'll want me back before you know it."
She muttered under her breath after she was sure he was gone and out of earshot. "Doubtful." Biding her time she cleaned up the room and set everything back in order for the next time that the man decided to grace her presence again. She needed to debate how she was going to confront John. When either of their tempers raged words would be said that neither could take back and with Jack gone, she really hoped for some change in that aspect of their relationship.
Taking a deep breath and holding it in her lungs for longer than normal she began her journey to her study, where she knew John would still be waiting. She didn't even pause before she spoke. "Why did you do that?" So much for using a nice tone.
"There was no other option."
"The energy being was dead John; you didn't have to take away his abnormality as well."
"He was affecting your judgment." He stood and they were toe to toe.
"My judgment was perfectly sound."
"When he was sleeping!" His timbre rose and the hairs on her arms lifted up in response.
She bit her lip to prevent the retort that was on the tip of her tongue. She couldn't really argue with him since he was technically right. "So what, you wanted me for yourself then? God, have you not gotten it through that thick skull of yours? We will never be together, John. It will not happen in either of our lifetimes. It cannot happen again and I will not allow it."
Pleading eyes greeted her and his voice was soft and gentle. "Helen…"
"No, John. I'll have none of it." He stopped, scuttling for words. "No. I want you out." He went to say her name, she was sure of it. "No. Out." She watched him leave the room before she leaned back into the desk and rested her taut muscles. It was ridiculous that the two of them had planned it.
After a few hours she traversed the hallways back to the infirmary to check on her patient. Will was awake and asking a million and one questions to her old friend who was staunchly sitting in the corner reading a book and ignoring the man. Helen smiled at the interplay between the two, knowing that he had no answers to give her young protégé and that would have been why he was ignoring him so. She dismissed her man servant when a nod of her head and sat on the edge of the bed that Will was occupying.
"How are you feeling?"
Will studied her face for some time before answering. "Achy and tired."
"That's expected."
"Care to fill me in?"
She looked at her hands that were wrapped tightly together in her lap. She didn't even know how to begin. "You were injected with a serum to reverse the effects of the Source Blood virus that you injected yourself with."
Will didn't speak for minutes on end and she was beginning to worry. He wasn't one to go quiet. Finally, words slipped from his lips. "So what does that mean?"
"I'm not exactly sure yet, I need to run some tests to be sure."
Time stretched on and the tension between them started to become permeable. Will reached out and gripped her hands that she hadn't realized were still sitting tightly together. He rubbed his thumb over the smooth skin. "The empathic bond…"
"Is gone, yes."
"Ah." The movement on her hand didn't stop and she found it rather comforting.
"I'm sorry, Will. I didn't know that they had planned it."
"Perhaps it was for the best."
She was taken aback slightly but his statement. "You're certainly taking this in stride."
"What else can I do?" She nodded her agreement and again the silence fell over them. She really should take a sample of his blood and begin to run some tests. Determine exactly what Nikola had done to him. Will was watching her again, her reactions as her thoughts ran rampant in her mind. He could almost hear the words twirling through her brain. He sincerely wished he could because they must have been something terrible from the look on her face. Patting her hand gently to get her attention, he asked, "Where are they now?"
"Gone. They'll be back I'm sure, but for now they're gone."
He nodded in understanding and squeezed her hand before trying to sit up. She moved to help him and he bumped his head into her shoulder. He smiled when she made sure that he laid back gently against the pillows she had propped up and diverted any other accidental disaster on his part. Walking across the room she reached into a drawer for a sterile needle. "Just need some blood."
"Yeah, I thought you might."
She turned and gave him a wry smile. "Sorry, but I need to know exactly what happened."
"So long as it's for a good cause." Pulling up his sleeve he held out his arm and let her draw the liquid from his body.
"I'll be back soon, alright?" He nodded and watched her leave.
He must have dozed off because to him t seemed that no time had passed when she reentered the room with a tablet in hand. "Seems back to normal, although some of the markers have changed I don't think it will mean much for what lays in store for you." She hadn't looked up at him once. His eyes skimmed from her stilettos up her long legs, over her curves and to her lips where they lingered far longer than necessary and was proper.
"So any idea as to when I'll get out of here?"
"Not sooner than a week I'm afraid."
"That long? Really?"
"Will you died twice within the span of a few weeks, I think that's hardly anything to ask from you."
"But…" He sighed and let it drop. "Fine." If he was down here that long it meant she would be coming down more than once a day to check on him.
She checked his vitals quickly and noted them on the tablet. "I've got some work to do, but I'll bring by dinner for you alright?"
"Helen?" He waited until she looked up at him. "We're going to talk, right?"
"Yeah, we'll talk." She went back to her tablet and walked out of the room.
