Ugg…. I feel so bad! I feel like I've been neglectful to my fic and to everyone who's been reading! Bad me… I've been scouring other fics because I wanted to read! Sorry for the short chapter.. I felt guilty that it's been so long since I posted..

Ice

Chapter 6

"Why do I need to take off my clothes?" Nikola whined as Helen started to tug his jacket off. "Don't I need them to stay warm?"

"Nikola…" Helen sighed. She hadn't needed to explain so much to anyone since Ashley was little. Part of her wondered if he was doing it deliberately to keep her in the tent with him. "As you warm up, the snow and ice on your clothing will start to melt. The last thing I need to happen to you is for you to be wet, and cold. You need to stay dry."

"Alright," he protested, allowing Helen to help him out of his jacket. Next his boots were off and his pants. He stood in the middle of the tent in nothing but his thermals.

"I fail to see how this is going to keep me warm," Nikola said as he wrapped his arms around his body to try and stop from shaking.

Helen placed one of the blankets on the floor next to the door. She looked over at Nikola, his eyes were closed, teeth were chattering, and he was shaking uncontrollably. She was trying to be patient with him, she really was, but the others were out there. She didn't know their condition, she was afraid for them, afraid to find them and discover she was too late.

Helen took off her jacket and her boots and walked over to her back pack. She pulled out her emergency medical kit to see what she had in it.

"Nikola, I'd like to give you something to make you feel a little less on edge, is that ok?" Helen sat in front of her pack eying the sedative.

"I trust you Helen, I know that I'm sick, and I hate admitting it, but it's frightening. I felt fine and then from out of nowhere…" he trailed off as he sat down on the warm blanket beneath him. He sat with his knees drawn to his chest and his arms wrapped around them. "Anything you can do so that I don't have to go through that panic again," he said as though it disgusted him, "would be preferable."

As he talked Helen prepared a syringe full of the sedative. She got up and walked over to him. She placed the syringe on the ground next to them and pulled the second blanket over his shivering form. Feeling how bad he was quaking she put her arms around him in a hug. Nikola leaned into her embrace.

"I'll stay here with you until it starts working. Most likely it will put you to sleep." She heard him inhale sharply as he turned his head to look at her. "It's alright Nikola, I won't be far, and I'll come back to check on you every 5-10 minutes."

Helen picked up the syringe and expertly slid it into one of his veins. Nikola winced slightly as the needle entered his skin. He could feel the liquid being emptied into his body, it had a welcome warm sensation.

"Helen, thank you for taking care of me, I am sorry I'm such a burden though," his words started to slur slightly, and his eyes drooped, "I love you Helen." It came out as a whisper as he lost consciousness and fell into her.

Helen sat for a moment with him in her arms. "I love you too Nikola." She said as she felt a few tears slide down her cheeks. She gently laid him down and fixed the blanket around him. He looked so at peace right now. God only knows how he will be once he wakes. Helen leaned down close to his face, watching him breathe. Her eyes were still being uncooperative and she had to wipe her tears from his cheeks.

"I do love you, you infuriating man. Maybe once you stop being such a cocky bastard we can give it a try." Helen captured his lips in a kiss. "Until then, the only willing kisses you'll get out of me are when you're asleep."

Helen thought her eyes were playing tricks on her as she looked down at his sleeping form. For a split second she thought she saw a small smile grace his lips. Her fingers started to trace the outline of those lips and then cupped her hand to his temple. She didn't want to leave him alone. Helen sighed and stood up putting her jacket and boots back on. She cast one last look at him before exiting the tent. Now where were the children?

There was devastation everywhere in the immediate vicinity. Helen walked closer to where the camp had been to resume looking around. Helen heard an ear piercing scream rip through the air. Her heart fluttered momentarily with shock, but it was soon replaced with a flood of relief. It meant at least one of them was alive. She couldn't tell where the scream originated from, so she started yelling herself.

"Hello! Kate! Will! Henry!" she belted out into the sky. "Where are you?"

Helen heard the sound of running and stumbling in the snow, she turned in that direction. Not long passed when she saw Kate stumbling towards her trying to run as though the devil was on her heels. Helen didn't like what she saw. She'd seen Kate disheveled before, but she almost looked crazed. She had a gash on her forehead above her eye that spanned about 4 inches. It looked like it stopped bleeding a while ago.

Helen being alarmed at the sight of the normally unnerved Kate, ran the last few feet to her.

"My God, Kate….. what happened?" Helen said as she reached her.

Kate threw her arms around Helen and started to cry.

"Doc.. I don't know what happened! We were fighting then I was suddenly waking up in the bitter cold. I can't find them! I can't find either of them! I don't know if they're ok."

Kate looked like she was about to start hyperventilating. Helen grabbed the sides of the woman's head and made her look in her eyes.

"Don't you dare start to panic on me Miss Freelander. You're not alone anymore. We're going to find them." Helen smiled at her.

Kate observed Helen's face for a moment and took a deep breath. "You found Magneto though didn't you?"

"I did," Helen paused, "I'm afraid he isn't doing well."

Helen looked away from the younger woman as the last part of that sentence came out. Helen didn't know what had gone wrong. Then a thought occurred to her that she decided to keep to herself. She would need to make sure she kept her eyes a bit more open than she had been if her hypothesis was correct.

"Kate, let's get to your old camp and see what we can salvage." Helen said as she wrapped an arm around Kate's shoulders, "Oh, and you dropped this." Helen handed her the scarf she'd found on the ground.

Kate smiled slightly and took the scarf. "Thanks Doc."

Helen and Kate trudged through the snow cover ground towards the camp site.

"Dear Lord!" Helen exclaimed when she saw the wreckage. There was blood everywhere inside one of the tents. "Did they ambush you while you were asleep?"

"Yeah, they caught us with our pants down." Kate said as she kicked a piece of the broken tent. "This one was Will's," she said in a whisper.

Helen sighed, "Collect what we can use, especially blankets. I don't know how long it'll take Declan to get out here, so I want to be prepared in case it's going to be a while."