A/N: … and here we go!
This is my half-nano 2011 that was later on continued and edited for numerous times, published in Finnish, and then forgotten. That is, until recently I fell in love with the show again and started re-writing/translating this piece to English.
I currently fantasize updating once in every other week, or once in a month depending on the chapter length, timetables and such. Remains to be seen how that will go.
Beta and editing: by ellymelly, whose input greatly improved this in some many levels I can't even begin to tell 3
Time line: after Trail of Blood, before Awakening. I may have taken some freedom about when Abby and Will started dating and when Henry will meet Erika (meaning: Will is dating, Henry isn't)
Chapter 1
The ever-present rain in the British Isles left the road riddled with potholes. The Toyota's tire fell into one and Will, traveling shotgun to get some rest, hit his head against the car's window. He was too tired to bother opening his eyes. At the moment he wanted little but a warm mattress and comfortable bed – preferably his own.
The flight from New York to Leeds was long and tiresome at best. Commercial airline, economy class no less... Crying children, bad food, uncomfortable seats clearly ill-suited for sleep and now this road.
How much farther they were driving? Will didn't know. Judging by the condition of the road, they were getting close. No remotely sane person would choose a route like this over a well tarred freeway.
"I'm gonna puke if this doesn't end soon," Kate complained, from the backseat.
Henry, who was currently sharing Will's hobby of attempting sleep, startled awake.
"Not on me! Open the window," he growled.
"Blimey..." Helen eyed Kate warily. "We're almost there but if you need a break – take it. There's no hurry."
"No, it's okay."
Will sighed in relief. Kate's motion sickness was one of the few things that would have made the trip more miserable than it already was. He mulled over other such options. A broken tire in the middle of English countryside or meteorite striking directly into the car.
On the bright side, Will realized, such events would have brought an end to his prolonged suffering.
He was thinking fondly of that meteorite when the tires found another pothole...
"Bloody hell!" Helen cursed, in both alarm and amusement as the car made some unhealthy sounds.
Her humor was unaffected by the long transit. Will felt a small sting of envy. His boss was annoyingly energetic for someone who hadn't napped in two days. She was unusually beautiful too, wearing coral lipstick that made her smile curve more dramatically and eyeliner that mirrored volcanic sand against an ocean, glinting in the glare. In combination with a tight bun and fitted pinstripe skirt, she looked quite the part of a naughty secretary.
Curiously, Will noticed her change clothes in Leeds, presumably to keep this particular outfit as fresh as possible. At then Will started thinking he was missing something important.
His suspicions were heightened further when Helen had checked on two crystal glasses and a bottle of wine, inspecting them after the flight to ensure they'd survived unscathed. He couldn't guess what she was planning but it was obvious who all the fuss was for.
"Ow!" Will mumbled, when one of the tires sank into another dusty void. He was temped to ask something like 'What the hell are we doing in here?', or, 'Why did I let you to talk myself into this mess?', but he remembered the answers.
It was Wednesday morning, not unusual in any way. Will had performed his early rounds and now wandered the Sanctuary corridors on his way to morning the briefing. He was early and in a good mood. Life had been rolling nicely, job-wise, and the weather had been most pleasant. Summer was making room for Fall and he'd felt a few of those promised crisp mornings already. While the days were still sunny Will planned to call Abby and spend a lazy afternoon out with her.
His plans faded the moment he entered the meeting room and saw Helen's face. She was far too enthusiastic.
"Good news?" Will asked, while pouring a cup of coffee. When Helen looked like this, good practice was to make sure blood caffeine levels were higher than normally recommended.
She nodded. "Curious, if nothing else."
Will emptied his cup in one huge gulp, burning his mouth in the process. He grimaced at the taste of black, unsweetened coffee. 'Curious news' was usually the worst.
"It seems like we've been offered a bit of field work, for a change," Helen baited him.
Will felt a sudden desire to add some cognac to his next coffee."What's it this time?" he asked as he poured another cup. "Vampire squids, mermaids?"
"Please, sit down and finish your coffee. Henry and Kate should arrive soon."
Will sat sipping his drink in a comfortable silence. Kate and Henry arrived together. Will had stopped believing this to be a coincidence.
Kate was always irritable in morning briefs. The undisciplined young woman was sleeping too much and working too little, in Will's opinion, but Arabica generally improved her mood. She went for it without saying a word.
"Morning," Henry said for both of them. "Doc, is there something going on? You look excited."
"I fear I have become easy to read in my advanced years," Helen replied with a smile. "Though you are correct, Henry. Something rather fascinating has happened. Last night I received a message from one of my contacts in Europe. He believes he has encountered an abnormal, and, although his description is a bit sketchy on the details, he thinks it is an unknown species."
"This you count as good news?" Kate sighed, clearly still annoyed at being dragged out of bed. "You're just going to take Will and the plane and go – wherever it is that you're going and leave Henry and I here to do the routine stuff. Then you'll show up, half eaten and hold up in bed for a few days during which Hank and I do all the leg work at the Sanctuary. Yeah, sounds exciting to me."
Lesser woman might have been offended but not Helen. "It is a new species, Kate. Every time we face one we have a unique opportunity to learn and improve our knowledge of the abnormal world. Findings like these have immeasurable scientific value. Besides, this time I'd like to take you and Henry with me. His skills may prove useful and we could you use you in the field."
Henry moved restlessly but let Helen continue.
"As I said, the message came from Europe, Ukraine to be more exact. The person who sent it works in Chernobyl powe plant and has done a great deal to catalog abnormal species and bring them to the Sanctuary network for observation when needed. He wrote that many workers have seen an unusual animal and its droppings in the vicinity of the fourth reactor sarcophagus. After he saw such a shadow slipping under the fence, he took its presence seriously enough to contact me."
Her colleagues all stared but Kate was the first to speak."They've made a fool out of you, Doc," she huffed. "The whole place went boom like, ages ago. They're fried."
"In 1986," Henry specified as Helen shook her head.
"The catastrophe happened in April 1986, of that you are absolutely correct but that was not the first, nor the last accident that took place at the plant." She was thumbing through some files on her desk. "Even an accident of that magnitude does not mean that everything stops, not even when it comes to nuclear power. Only one of four reactors was destroyed while the others temporarily shut down. The last unit finally went dark in 2000. Old though it may be, nuclear power plants need to be taken care of. Restoration and decommissioning work is ongoing."
"You mean there are people working in that death trap?" Kate asked, in obvious surprise.
"More importantly, you want us to go there?" Henry added.
Amusement in his boss' eyes told Will that their reaction did not come as a surprise to her. She'd planned for this.
"Don't look so worried." Honestly, of all the expeditions she'd been on with them, this wasn't the most dangerous by far. "We're not about to go tenting next to the sarcophagus or start a campfire on the slopes of a radioactive ruin. We'll be transiting in and out to monitor the creature and asses possible danger. All of us will carry Geiger counters and if it gets too hot, we'll tap out. We can always come back later to mount a rescue for the abnormal if we believe it is in or of danger."
Will noted that both Henry and Kate seemed relieved. He waited for the true meaning of the words to sink in. It did and horror crept over Henry's face.
"You want me there to judge if the abnormals is a safety threat for the plant!"
Helen's smile developed an apologetic overtone. "Maybe."
"No," Henry said with vigor, shaking his finger pointedly. "No. This is where I draw my line. I will not, repeat, not take any responsibility whatsoever on Chernobyl nuclear power plant safety! My nuclear physics ended in high school. I'm an electronics guy which, by the way, the radiation will bugger up."
"In fact, Henry, the main responsibility won't fall on you. We'll take a specialist with us this time around."
At this point Will's quiet suspicions were pretty much cemented.
"Tesla," he sighed in dissatisfaction.
Henry shared the feeling. Kate verbalized it: "You sure this is a good idea?"
"Nikola has his quirks but I'm not worried. Henry will be watching him."
Henry looked at his boss incredulously."What makes you think I can?"
"That aside, where'd he get to?" Will remembered the storm of emotions he had witnessed when Helen and Nikola last said their goodbyes. Nikola had not taken the loss of a certain centipede as well as Helen had hoped.
"He is staying in England, and he will help us. We'll fly tonight. Pack well but light – and no sharp objects. The target may be evasive, meaning this could take several weeks. I don't want our plane to fly back empty, it is not good for the environment. We'll use commercial wings."
Which was how Will ended up in a cramped economy class flight to Leeds only to discover that his suitcase had been sent to Gambia. He watched no less than three air-fresheners rattle about under the rear-vision mirror barley masking smell of old vomit, and felt sorry for himself.
"We going in there?" Will heard Kate ask. The landscape hadn't changed much since the last time he'd bothered to look. It offered little more than rickety fences on the both side of the road and behind them sheep doing whatever sheep liked to do when no one was eating them. There were no cars that Will could see. Then he saw what Kate had. An old mansion.
Assuming Nikola hadn't developed an inexplicable love for Old English manors, deep-fried food or woolly creatures behind the fences, he couldn't figure out what had drawn the ex-vampire to a place like this. Maybe it was the rain.
"'bout time cos I'm going to hurl for real if this doesn't end soon," Kate huffed. "And that won't be a pretty sight, I ate beetroot salad at the airport."
Will didn't doubt that.
Mansion's appearance improved as they drew closer. There was even a certain elegance about its early stage of decay that Will couldn't help but notice as Helen parked the car in the yard while Will peeked in on the vast garden. Old trees still bore apples though most had been picked while the ornamental shrubs dotting the grass had been carefully pruned. Next to the cobblestone walls were roses and lilies, some of them still clinging onto their blooms. A few meters from where they'd parked the Toyota was a fountain surrounded by more flowers. By all accounts, it was rather beautiful.
The younger members of Sanctuary staff stared their surroundings in surprise.
"What is this place?" Will asked.
Helen was too busy changing her shoes and pretending that lacing sandals took all her attention to reply.
"Could you pass my purse, please," she asked instead, checking her make up with the rear-view mirror. Finally she turned back to them and offered them something. "This is halfway house Bluebell – or, as many still say, Skiptonmoore's psychiatric hospital."