Another Bingo prompt to share. I did an AU for my wild card. Takes place end of SFN2

notes:

Dragi - beloved in Serbian
Agapatos - beloved in Greek
mališa - little one in Serbian

Italics text is quoted from the ep.

Dana is named after Nikola's bother, Dane, who died when they were both children from an accident.

"No secrets," Helen smiled as she heard her protege rounding the corner, "I broke our deal. Can you ever forgive me?"

Will shook his head, "I wish it were that easy."

"What if I offered you a chance to explore a world you've been trying to see since you were a child," Helen clasped her hands tighter behind her back, her smile growing, "oh right, you already have a job."

"Had a job," Will corrected, "I quite SCUI last week."

"Well then," Helen gave Will her back and started to walk away, "you might want to see this."

Will was too curious not to follow.

His mouth dropped open, "Magnus..."

"Do you like it?" Helen asked as he stepped up to join her.

"I get a raise, right?" Will had to ask.

"Absolutely, not," Helen grinned.

Will shook his head again as they exchanged glances.

"Shall we begin?" Helen asked, as if it were the most simple statement ever.

Will just sort of nodded as he walked down the path to the huge new Sanctuary.

Will was hoping Magnus wasn't talking for the moment, he was still too stunned to really take in anymore input. The path was flanked by water on either sides, he quickly noticed fresh water bound abnormals moving freely around them.

"How... I mean, when?" Will looked up, how far up did it go? It was big enough to need its own transportation system? "Okay, I know when but, wow," he sort of continued, half talking to himself.

Helen smiled and shook her head.

"Mommy!" was heard down the path. A small child with long, dark brown hair pulled into a ponytail was racing towards them. She was dressed in black and dark purple, her shirt had a glittery mermaid and little silver birds clipped in her hair to hold her bangs back.

"Huh?" Will blinked.

"Dana!" Helen laughed and scooped up the small person, "I told you to wait in the playroom."

The girl, that Will was getting was Dana, wow she had such bright blue eyes and, uh, wait, fangs? Did he see fangs?

Anyway, the girl giggled, "I know, we couldn't wait!"

"We?" Will sort of asked then looked as he heard more running, "Tesla?"

"See?" Dana pointed.

Nikola stopped in front of them, "sorry, Dragi, she tricked me into hide-and-seek."

"I didn't trick, daddy," Dana giggled, "I asked nicely."

"D-daddy?" Will stuttered.

"I'm sure you did, little one," Helen hugged her daughter tight.

Dana blinked her blue eyes at Will, "are you Dr. Expendable?"

Nikola winced, he was busted.

Helen gave Nikola a look that said they'd talk later.

"Ah, I'm Dr. Zimmerman," Will held out his hand, "I work with Dr. Magnus."

"Huh?" Dana blinked, "oh you mean mommy?"

"Yes," Will nodded.

"Oh," Dana grabbed Will's hand and shook it briefly, "I'm Dana Ashley Tesla."

"Nice to meet you," Will gave a wave. He blinked as Dana seemed to wipe her hand off on her shirt for a moment.

"Dana, dear, will you go back with Daddy, I need to finish showing Dr. Zimmerman around," Helen asked.

"Okay, mommy," Dana hugged tight then reached over for Daddy to take her.

"We'll see you later, dragi," Nikola kissed Helen's cheek then headed off with his daughter holding onto his shoulders.

Will couldn't help it, he saw some sort of ring on Tesla's hand but didn't get a good look.

"See you soon, Agapatos, little one," Helen promised.

Will had to look, he just had to, and there it was, a very modest silver band with three tiny sapphires inlayed so they were flat over the top, on Helen's ring finger on her left hand.

"So, apparently the secrets haven't stopped yet?" Will asked with a sigh.

Helen closed her eyes and took a breath, "I couldn't tell you about her for the same reason I couldn't tell about all this. And this wasn't exactly how I planned on introducing you to our daughter."

"So, you and Tesla, married?" Will asked.

"We exchanged vows, yes," Helen answered and resumed walking. She wasn't having this conversation on the entryway.

"I mean, Tesla? Is this why you fought me all those times?" Will followed.

"No," Helen had to count, "myself before I followed Adam back in time knew none of this. And before you start judging myself or Nikola, he had to live the last four years away from here so I couldn't influence the timeline further. He didn't even know if he would live to get back to see our daughter so you can stuff your judgment on that right now."

"So what happened?" Will asked as they entered an elevator and they headed up.

"I ran into a problem that I needed Nikola's help for," Helen explained, thumb spinning her ring absently a few times, having missed it the last so many months, "I went and retrieved him from India and brought him here. The last I myself got to see him is before I sent him up six months before my previous self met him in Rome."

"He must have known that Ashley would die," Will scrambled out after Helen as she exited and headed down a hallway.

"He wasn't sure how long it would be before my timeline linked up," Helen set her hand on a panel and a door unlocked. She gestured for Will to walk in first, "for all he knew, he would die before she did."

"You didn't tell him anything?" Will walked in and realized this must have been Helen's office. The furniture was much more modern and the room was a bit brighter than her old one but the layout was damn familiar.

"I told him only what little he had to know," Helen sighed, "and that is the end of what I will explain about my personal relationship with Nikola for the moment."

"Fine," Will grabbed a seat, "so, this place..."

"It's the way I always wanted the Sanctuary to be. Allowing non-dangerous abnormals to be free, to enjoy their culture, raise their families, to have this be a home," Helen walked behind her desk and sat in a rather comfy looking chair.

"Guess this will take some getting used to," Will nodded.

"I'm sure you'll do fine," Helen smiled, "Now then, your questions?"

"Well," Will shifted to get more comfortable, "let's start with what in the hell I'll be doing."

"Of course," Helen smoothed her skirt then began to answer what she could of Will's inquires.

"Daddy?" Dana walked over to where her father was paging through one of the storybooks.

"Yes, mališa?" Nikola set the book down.

"Why is Dr. Zimmerman here?" Dana climbed up onto the sofa next to Nikola.

"Mommy needs him here," Nikola set his hand on top of her head a moment.

"Why?" Dana asked, "she wasn't happy when he was asking stuff. I could tell."

"I don't have an answer, little one," Nikola responded honestly.

"Oh," Dana sat back to think on this a bit.

After a good two hours of explanation and then showing Will around, Helen was finally finding her way back to her family.

"Look, daddy," Dana smiled as she held up her drawing.

"Nice drawing of a supercollider, mališa," Nikola smiled.

"Daddy!" Dana giggled, "it's not a collider!"

"Oh?" Nikola tilted his head, "reactor?"

"No!" Dana giggled harder, "daddy!"

"Okay okay," Nikola crouched down to Dana's level, "let's see," he examined the paper again.

Dana gave Nikola's arm a poke, "come on, daddy, it's your lab!"

"Oh, is that what it is?" Nikola pretended to be surprised.

"Yes!" Dana point, "that's you, that's the workbenches, and your computer, and that's the big window!"

"That's me?" Nikola took the paper, "aren't I taller?"

"No, that looks right to me," Helen chimed in from the doorway to the playroom.

"Mommy!" Dana scrambled from her little table and ran to Helen who hugged her tight.

"Hello, little one," Helen kissed Dana's cheek then picked her up, "sorry that took so long."

Nikola walked over, "thought we'd have to mount a rescue."

"Almost wish you had," Helen gave Nikola a quick kiss.

"Mommy," Dana tried to get Helen's attention again.

"Yes, Dana?" Helen looked at her as the three of them went to sit down.

"I asked Daddy why Dr. Zimmerman is here and he didn't have an answer, do you?" Dana's blue eyes were as inquisitive as her father's and as bright as her mother's.

"I need him here," Helen set Dana between herself and Nikola.

"Yeah, but, why?" Dana asked again.

Helen bit her lip because right at that moment, she didn't have an answer either.