Disclaimer: I do not own nor claim to own any rights to Sanctuary or the characters of Sanctuary. I am merely borrowing them for my own creative amusement. The story and original characters in this work of fiction are the sole property of the author.

Spoilers: This story assumes the reader has knowledge up to Season 3 Episode 17. From there on out it diverts into AU.

Warnings: This story is rated M. I will not offer more specific warnings about content, so please keep in mind that anything can happen. This story is still a work in progress and I do not want to censor where the story may naturally lead to make it fit a more general audience rating. I did classify this as horror/romance so that should give you a clue that it may head into dark territory at times. If your sensibilities are in any way offended, I make no apologies as you have been warned.

A/N: Sorry to have been gone for so long. Life has been very greedy with my time. Sorry to do this to readers who've been following this story so far, but chapters 1 through 6 are now revised versions. I have been fiddling with chapter 7 lately, which should hopefully be ready soon, but since it's been a while revisited my previous work and found it lacking in certain places. The revised content is not all that different, but it does flow much better in my opinion. This story is my first and is therefore my baby. I just want it to be the best it can be. Please keep in mind that I have no beta, so if something slips past my radar it is all my fault. On that note, if anyone is interested in betaing for me, please let me know. It is always helpful to get outside feedback and definitely speeds up the writing process in my opinion. Thanks. Enjoy!

Chapter 1

Dr. Will Zimmerman sat at his desk tapping the cap of his black, ball-point pen irately against his blotter and tried to force his mind to focus on the stacks of paperwork before him. He wasn't quite sure why he was in such a foul mood today, but ever since they got back from France two weeks ago he'd been in a funk. Who was he kidding? Bipolar was more like it and he wasn't the only one. Both he and Magnus had been greatly affected by what happened. The reality of the situation was just too incredible for his mind and body to handle. Worst of all, there was no one who could understand how he was feeling, except one. He knew she was still grieving for Raavi and the townspeople that never were. She didn't talk about it but he knew she was still blaming herself. For the past two weeks she'd spent most of her time holed up in either her office or the library trying like mad to come up with a new theory as to who could have created the time dilation field in Carentan. She was killing herself trying to figure out what she possibly could have done to prevent it. Will hated to be witness to her daily masochism and it only added to his own anger to think about it.

The rhythm of Will's pen tapping against the blotter sped up to an exuberant drum roll and he nearly flung it across the room when he was startled out of his thoughts by the sound of his cell phone ringing. Instead he accidentally smacked the cap of the pen squarely across his thumbnail sending forth a roar of anger that, even to him, seemed entirely overdramatic. Will grabbed for the offending device cleverly hidden under a manila file folder. He flashed his eyes to the screen and saw that it was Abby calling. It had been very awkward between them lately. The constant guilt of nearly having given up all hope of ever seeing her again, although understandably human, still weighed heavily on Will's conscience. He took a deep breath and stared at the phone in his hand for another second before deciding it would be best not to answer it. He was too worked up at the moment to have any sort of real conversation with her anyway. He decided he would call her later when his cooler head returned.

Will sat silently for a minute anxiously running his eyes over the contents of his desk. His left leg began to jiggle, foot mimicking the previous tap dance of his ink pen. His eyes finally rested on a framed picture of his adopted family. It was taken in Magnus's office and they were all holding up copies of 'The Adjuster', a comic book Walter had written about his exploits with the abnormal super suit. It felt a little silly, but Henry insisted that they needed to document such a 'momentous occasion in literary history'. Magnus just smiled at that and shook her head as they each opened up a copy of the comic to a page that contained their characters, or as Walter put it the characters 'loosely' based on them, and held them up proudly for the camera. Thinking about that day brought a crooked little smile to Will's lips as he remembered sitting next to Magnus on the couch giggling over Walter's interpretation of the Sanctuary team. He loved it when she laughed. Somehow everything seemed right with the world when Helen Magnus laughed.

His trip down memory lane soured instantly when it suddenly hit him just how long it had actually been since he last heard her laugh, or had even seen her smile for that matter. Agitation took hold on his body as his mind involuntarily flashed back to Carentan once again. He couldn't escape it. Starting to feel like the walls were closing in around him, he practically burst forth from his desk chair and aimlessly paced around the office. He tried to stop himself from thinking about the young, dark-haired girl that cared so much for him. The look on her face, the terror in her eyes, as the time dilation field disintegrated around them would forever be burned into his memory.

"Fuck!" Will swore as he kicked a small, metal waste basket across the room, stubbing his big toe in the process.

"Jesus, Will. Get a grip" he said aloud to himself.

Will knew that he needed to purge this anger somehow. With that thought he headed out of his office and to the elevator.