Will had stood watching the snow fall for some time before turning and making his way back to the Sanctuary. Helen obviously didn't want him following her, didn't want him, period.
He lay awake most of the night listening for the sound of the front door, but never heard the hollow boom that would herald Helen's return. He dozed just before dawn and rose in a dark mood.
He put on his glasses as he usually did first thing in the morning. The contacts would wait until he got out of the shower. He scuffled down to the dining room in his bathrobe and slippers, something he rarely did. Helen, Ashley and Henry were already seated and half way through breakfast, not to mention being fully dressed.
"Whoa, look what the cat dragged in." Henry's way of announcing Will's arrival.
"Good Morning, Will," Helen smiled calmly at him. At least she didn't call him Dr. Zimmerman.
"Hey, sleepyhead," Ashley smirked over her cup. "Bad night?"
Will and Helen made quick eye contact as he shuffled over to the buffet. "Something like that." Helen, he noticed, was looking radiant this morning. That made his mood all the darker.
He lifted the lid on the silver carafe sitting amongst the breakfast offerings. "No coffee?" He muttered sourly.
"No, sorry," Helen answered. "Only tea this morning. It's First Wednesday."
Will grunted. First Wednesday of the month. Cleaning day. That meant all the restricted areas were on lock-down for the enormous cleaning crew that descended on them once a month. The Sanctuary was a big place and it needed an army of people to maintain it. The rest of the month everyone pitched in to keep the place maintained. The Big Guy always had the day off and made himself scarce on First Wednesdays, so Helen and Ashley were in charge of breakfast. Tea fanatics, both of them.
He pushed his way through the swinging door into the kitchen and went about making some coffee. At least there was a decent coffee maker—and coffee-- to be had, despite the preference for tea around here.
As the coffee brewed he leaned against the counter, cup in hand and thought that he needed to talk to Helen again. He needed to try and convince her that she was playing with fire by letting Druitt back into her life.
Just as he poured himself a cup, a blue mug with a yellow happy face appeared around him. A mug being held by a scaly hand and arm.
"Oh bless you, man. You made coffee. I can't survive on that tea stuff." Will turned his head and came face to face with Steve.
"Hey, help yourself." Will moved out of the way so Steve could fill his mug. "Sugar's in the cupboard over the stove, and milk's in the 'fridge."
"No sweetener? Gotta watch the weight, you know." Steve patted his belly in illustration.
Will withheld a snort. "Next to the sugar. Hey, shouldn't you be downstairs? Cleaning crew's due any minute."
Steve glanced at the clock. "D'oh. First Wednesday. On my way." He held up the mug in salute. "Thanks, dude." He quickly disappeared down the back stairs.
After adding milk and sugar to his cup, Will decided to take the back stairs up to his room. He wasn't feeling very sociable this morning.
*****
In the days that followed, he focused on the business at hand. They had their meetings and he did his research, but tried to keep a distance from the rest of the group, Helen especially. He'd catch her watching him occasionally, as if she were trying to assess his mood, but they hadn't spoken about anything on a personal level for a while and it was actually a relief.
He hadn't spoken with her yet, and found himself reluctant to do so—for the time being.
He didn't know if she went out at night to meet Druitt. He didn't want to know, but he suspected she did.
Then came the call from Danny's wife. Helen was convinced the man named Charlie they'd found in the fight club was her father, and he, Will, was consumed with trying to find Danny.
He went to meet the mechanic without the others and was grabbed. When they'd cut the notch in the back of his neck and let the scarab burrow into the wound, the pain was unimaginable. He could hear himself screaming as if it were someone else and then—nothing.
When he awoke in the cell with Danny he could tell he was changing. He tried to fight it but it was stronger than he was. He remembered tearing his shirt to accommodate his new physique.
Danny said he'd feel like a god and he was right. He felt better than he had in his entire life. He felt strong, powerful and he wanted to crush and destroy and kill. When they let him in the ring nothing felt better than taking down his opponents at the urging of the crowd. Nothing felt better than smashing his fists into the others over and over again. He wanted to smash everything and everyone in sight.
Then Henry had appeared in front of him, telling him this was not him, this wasn't what he was about, and part of him remembered. Part of him told him what Henry was saying was right.
"Henry." He growled. "Help me." He could vaguely see Ashley holding the crowd off with her guns, and Helen standing off to the side watching him.
Henry led him from the ring, and Helen and Ashley brought Danny.
All of Will's senses were in overdrive and despite his resolve, the beast still had control of him, so when Helen passed near him, he could smell her, could almost taste her.
"Helen," Before anyone could stop him he crowded her up against the wall. "Helen." The rage inside him made him possessive. He wanted to take her, mark her as his and destroy anyone who tried to stop him. He pounded the wall on either side of her head, causing her to flinch. "Mine." He pressed his face to her neck to breath in her scent. "Mine." He growled.
Helen put a hand on his massive chest. "Will, fight this. You know this isn't you." He could see she was slightly alarmed and he reveled in it, fed off of it.
Vaguely aware of Ashley and Henry shouting his name and trying to pry him away, he moved his face into Helen's so closely that he was nearly nose to nose with her. "Maybe it is. Maybe this is me." He grabbed a handful of her hair, then he felt a stinging in his shoulder, then another below that. He had just enough time to turn his head to see the Big Guy holding a tranq gun, then everything went black.
*****