Chapter 4: Helen

For the first time in a long time, a really long time – Helen couldn't place the feeling that had risen inside her the moment she learned the truth. She knew she felt anger, she felt sadness, and she felt betrayal… another feeling still hovered there too though, and she tried her best to ignore it.

"Take of your shirt," she said, keeping her voice neutral. She kept her exterior calm and ignored the maelstrom of emotions fighting their way to the surface and found the thermometer. She watched as Will painfully removed his long-sleeved shirt his red and swollen knuckles looked broken at first glance but she had a lot more to worry about than that. Once he had lain the shirt aside she put the digital thermometer in his ear and waited for the beep.

"I'm sorry," she didn't answer; she just looked him in the eyes and then removed the thermometer.

"Have you had any headaches or nausea? Anything unusual…?"

"No," he answered, seeming a little put-out at her response – or lack of – to his apology.

"Your temperature is fine." She took the plastic of the end and threw it into the bin. "I need to do some blood-work." She worked in silence, taking his blood, and giving him a thorough check-over. She then tended to his broken knuckles and gave him a shot of painkillers.

"Can I go back to my room?" Will asked, glancing up at the clock which said 4.00am.

"No, wait here while I check your blood for any abnormalities."

..

"Doc," she glanced over her shoulder. She had just put Will's blood into the centrifuge as Kate and Henry entered the room, and spoke simultaneously.

"Something is wrong with the Retta," Henry said, glaring at Kate (albeit good-naturedly) as if it was her fault for speaking at the same time as him.

"What is wrong with her?" She tried not to let the bitterness enter her voice. She had been ecstatic to have such a rare specimen and be able to care for her… but all of a sudden she felt angry. The Retta had bitten Will. It may have been Will's own fault for all she knew, but she still felt anger and her eyebrows drew together in frustration.

"She has become lethargic; the alarms went off and woke me because her heart is slowing." She sighed. Ideas of what could be happening flitted through her brain as she followed the young staff members to the Retta's room. The anger she felt towards the abnormal diminished when she entered the room and saw the small cat-like creature lying limply in the Big Guy's arms. She pulled the stethoscope from around her neck and placed the buds into her ears. She took the Retta from his arms and sat on the floor draping the limp body across her lap. After listening for a minute or so and watching the ticking clock she looked up at the eager faces of Kate and Henry.

"I believe she's dying." The Retta looked up at her, the green eyes seemed to be fading and it couldn't hold up its head for long. "Could you get me my kit?" They knew what she meant and Kate hurried to get it. They needed to run some blood tests and figure out what had gone wrong. For all she knew the reason they could catch this Retta (as they seem to be rather elusive in all the research she had done) was because it was old and weak.

"Magnus," she turned at Will's voice. He looked pale and drawn at she couldn't tell for sure but she thought she could see perspiration beading on his forehead. She looked at the Retta and back up at him.

"Henry, take the Retta for me, please get Biggie to help you take blood." She turned just in time to see Will collapse to the ground.

"Doc, what's going on?" Henry asked, wide-eyed and almost comically looking from the Retta to Will.

"I'll explain later. Just help her." She crouched next to Will and felt for a pulse – again reigning in her emotions and trying not to let Henry see how terrified she was. Her heart leaped in surprise at the steady throb of a heartbeat beneath her fingertips. He was alive! She took a limp wrist in her hands and looked back up at the clock, checking his heart-rate. Next she checked his breathing.

"M-magnus…?" Just as she finished he woke, looking disorientated.

"We need to get you back to the infirmary." She told him. Kate had arrived and she took one look at Will on the floor and dropped the kit next to Henry.

"Do you need help?" She asked. Helen shook her head.

"I can get up," Will slowly pulled himself into a sitting position – rubbing his head which he had hit on the floor when he fainted.

"Time is of the essence, Will." She reached out a hand and helped him to his feet – and wrapped an arm around his waist supporting him. He leaned heavily into her and they headed to the elevators, leaving the Retta in the capable hands of Henry and Kate.

..

"What symptoms do you have?" She asked the moment he was back lying on the hospital bed. His breathing had become obviously laboured now.

"Hard – hard – to breath." He managed and rolled onto his side. "H-hot and c-cold." She placed a hand on his sweaty forehead and once more took his temperature. It remained the same as before.

"Is it hard to breathe because you are in pain?" Will nodded, his eyes glazing. "Where are you in pain?"

"Acid – in – my – veins." She was at a loss; she really needed to finish his blood-work so she would know what she was dealing with.

"I'll give you some morphine," she gave him a fairly high dosage as obviously the pain was intense. Will had a high pain threshold she had noticed before.

"T-thank you. I'm so-so s-sorry." He stumbled over his words and looked at her pleadingly. She knew what he wanted and her heart melted. He was dying, and he wanted her to forgive him. She might not understand why he kept the knowledge of the Retta bite from her – but she did forgive him.

"It's okay Will," she told him. "Everything will be okay, you will see." She bent down and kissed him on his clammy forehead and brushed a piece of hair from it. She had lied, she really didn't think everything would be okay… but he needed some false hope right now…

…

She didn't understand. There was nothing obvious in his blood. His temperature was fine… his breathing laboured and agonising pain… but nothing in his blood. Was it his brain? Did the venom affect his brain? She slammed the heel of her hand into the desk in frustration.

"I'm going to get you a CT scan," she told him as she returned to his room. She unlocked the wheels on his bed and began wheeling it out the door. He nodded, but seemed to be in too much pain to answer her. She wheeled him into the CT room and helped him onto the bed inside the machine. He wasn't much help as he kept twitching in pain and almost hit her in the face at least twice. Just as she seated herself in front of the monitor Kate and Henry appeared in the doorway – their faces flushed as if they had been running.

"She died," Henry told her.

"What's wrong with Will?" Kate asked. Before she had time to respond to either of them Will began thrashing in the CT machine, a lot more than he had before.

"Will," she all but pushed Kate out of the way to get to the machine hurriedly pressing the button on the remote in her hand which rolled the bed back out into the open. His eyes were rolling and froth had appeared at the corners of his mouth. She reached for him but as suddenly as it had begun, his body slumped and he laid still his head lolling to the side.

TBC.