Chapter 7
Magnus was drawing up a dose of medication when Henry entered her office.
"Whoa, what's that?" he asked, staring at the vial and syringe in her hands with wide eyes.
"Modafinil," she told him.
"Yeah, you want to say that in English?"
"It stimulates the production of monoamines and hypothalamic histamine."
"Ah, that explains everything," he answered, still staring at the needle like he had found her in the process of injecting herself with arsenic.
"It's a wakefulness promoting agent," she clarified. "Did you need something, Henry?"
He frowned. "You're shooting speed?"
"I am doing no such thing," she answered, finding a vein. "They aren't even in the same chemical family."
"Uh, right… Is it safe?"
"Of course it's safe, Henry. This country's military has been using it for years."
"Yeah, that's… not remotely comforting."
She shook her head, giving herself the shot. "Did you need something, Henry?" she repeated.
"Uh, yeah." He approached her desk, handing her a folder. "Hacked into a couple of spy satellites like you asked. Have three locations just outside of the city that look good as possible Cabal facilities based on the amount of security."
"Well done, Henry," she answered, scanning the print-outs.
"Ashley's already on her way to check them out."
"Very good." She nodded. "See if you can't improve the image resolution so we can read the license plates, maybe find a match to the van observed taking Will."
"Already on it," he assured her.
"Wonderful." She flashed him a smile. "Are you holding up okay, Henry?"
He shrugged. "Worried about Will."
"As are we all. If you should need to talk about it, you know where to find me."
"Thanks, Doc. And ditto. You know, if you need to talk or anything."
"I'll bear that in mind, Henry. Thank you."
"I'll get back to work now."
She watched him go, shaking her head. He hid it well, as Ashley did, but she knew that both were deeply affected by Will's absence. In a very short time, the young psychiatrist had insinuated himself into every aspect of life at the Sanctuary, touched lives and hearts. Especially hearts. Henry had grown close to the young psychiatrist, one of his few males friends. For that matter, one of his few friends, period. One of Ashley's few friends, too, come to that.
She made a mental note to keep a close eye on both until Will's recovery, then went back to reading the CCs of the documents the Rome Sanctuary's administrative team had complied so far. Her answer was in here somewhere. All she had to do was find it. In a virtual sea of paperwork…
0101010
"How long have you known you were an abnormal?" Alice asked Will. They were sitting in a small room, empty except for the table between them, and Alice was leafing through a folder as she spoke.
He shook his head. "I'm not an abnormal."
"These are the PET scans I took of you this morning," she answered, placing several films before him.
Will stared. "That's me?"
She nodded.
He looked again. His brain was lit up like a Christmas tree. "That's… not normal."
"No," she agreed. "I won't repeat the old fallacy that the average human only uses ten percent of their brain, because we both know it's bull. However, your brain shows considerably more activity and considerably more intense activity, even at rest. Will, you are an abnormal. It's time to accept that."
He nodded slowly. "How am I going to break this to Helen?" he wondered.
"You think she doesn't already know?" Alice scoffed.
"If she'd known, she would have said something."
"Would she have?" She shook her head. "Will, the woman's the world's leading expert on abnormals. And, try to remember, she approached you. I think it's fair to say she knew who, and what, she was signing on."
"No. Magnus wouldn't…"
"Wouldn't she?" She smiled and patted his hand. "You're upset, Will. Hit the button."
He picked up the button attached to his IV line and absently obeyed her, delivering another dose of… something into his bloodstream.
"Let's look at these scans, see what they suggest," she directed.
"Neuroanatomy was never my strong suit."
"Then allow me to explain. See this area here? Ground zero?" She pointed to the area of greatest brain activity on one of the scans. "That's your frontal lobe. Problem solving, sequencing, attention. It doesn't tell me everything I need to know, but it's a good start."
"I don't know. So much of the brain is so overactive I don't see how you can begin to guess where any activity originated."
"Well, for the time being, guessing is going to be exactly what I have to do. I'd appreciate it if you didn't share that, by the way. It helps if the powers that be think I know what I'm doing?"
"Do you?"
She shrugged blithely. "Not particularly, but there's plenty of time to learn on the job." She climbed to her feet. "Look, I need to go make my report. You want a book or something?"
"Could do with a snack."
"That's the drugs talking, Will. But I'll have something sent in. You be a good boy while I'm gone. I'd hate to have to restrain you. It would really make our work less pleasant for both of us."
"Can't have that. Magnus always says that we should avoid any unpleasantness with our patients."
"Doctor Magnus sounds like a wise woman. See you later, Will." Grinning at him, she gathered together her papers and left him alone.
Alone, Will sighed, bored. They could at least have left him a TV or a radio or something. Well, he supposed he could always take another nap. One of the few unpleasant side-effects of the drugs they had him on was that he always seemed tired. Shrugging, he went into the other room and climbed back into the hospital-bed, turning down the lights and closing his eyes.
He opened them again almost immediately. "She wouldn't have lied to me," he said to no one in particular, his voice wavering and breaking just a little. "She wouldn't have," he repeated more firmly.
But a little voice in the back of his mind wanted to know, Wouldn't she have, Will? Why not? She's all about secrets, isn't she? Really? She's only ever told you about herself what you've already figured out. Why should she be more open with your secrets?
0101010
"Henry," a quiet voice entered his awareness, waking him up.
He moaned and sat up, feeling guilty. A satellite print-out stuck to the side of his face as he straightened and he pulled it free irritably.
"Uh, sorry, Boss."
"No, Henry, don't be," Magnus answered gently, taking his arm and helping him to his feet. "Let's get you to bed."
"Can't. I still about fifty pages of grant information to go through, and--"
"No, Henry," she interrupted, shaking her head. "I insist. You're useless to us all if you collapse from exhaustion. It's only a few hours to dawn. You need some sleep. I've already sent Ashley to bed. I want you to get at least a little sleep before you start again."
"But, Will…"
"Is probably asleep himself at this hour. I seriously doubt that whatever the Cabal wants with him and his abilities involves sleep deprivation. Come on, Henry. I'll walk you upstairs."
Henry let himself be led knowing that, even when she was acting all gentle, Helen Magnus was not a woman to take no for an answer.
"I must be more tired than I thought," he yawned as they walked. "I thought I heard you say something about Will's abilities?"
"We'll discuss it at the morning briefing," she promised. "Suffice it to say for now that we've all known since the beginning that Will was special, perhaps even unique."
"True," he agreed, giving another yawn. "Damn, Boss, I'm sorry."
"Don't be. Being an abnormal doesn't mean that you don't have needs. You should heed the messages your body sends you."
"The way you do?"
"That's quite enough from you, young pup!" she countered, opening his bedroom door and steering him inside. "Now, do I need to stay and tuck you in the way I used to?" she teased.
"Thanks, Boss, but I think I'm good."
She nodded and turned for the door again, stopping in the threshold. "Henry?"
"Yeah?" he asked, pulling off his shirt and turning down the covers.
"I shall know if you haven't slept, so don't get any ideas about sneaking down to the lab after I've stopped moving around up here. I already told Ashley and now I'll tell you. Recovering Will is important. It is also most likely if we are all in peak condition. That means getting sleep when we need to. If it becomes necessary, I will sedate one or both of you before I'll let you work yourselves to the point of exhaustion."
"This from the woman I caught injecting stimulants earlier tonight?" he demanded, turning to stare at her. "Come on, Doc! How is that fair?"
"I've been doing this kind of thing for over a hundred years now. I think I know my own limits better than a pair of infants like you and Ashley know yours." She frowned at him, taking a step closer. "Do you doubt me, Henry?"
He took a hasty step backwards, but there was nowhere to go because the bed was there. He landed on it with a startled cry, staring up at her with wide eyes. The last time he had seen that look in her eyes was the time in upstate Maine when a Wendigo threatened a then-teenaged Ashley.
"I don't doubt you, Boss," he answered honestly, willing his heart to slow down. "Scared of you and for you, but not entertaining the slightest shadow of anything resembling doubt."
He reached for the bottle of valium he kept on his bedside table and helped himself to a couple to make sleeping easier than it would have been if he were just laying there in the dark worrying about Will and thinking of the things the Cabal had done to him the last time.
Her expression softening, she walked over to the bed and lightly touched his cheek. "We'll get him back, Henry, I promise you. He's family now and, strange though this particular family is, we do take care of our own."
"I know," he whispered, nodding. "I trust you, I do. I'm just worried about you is all."
"Less worrying about me, if you please," she answered, bending and kissing his forehead. "I promise you, I know what I'm doing. When I need to sleep, I shall. I'm no fool, and I certainly won't undermine our chances of recovering Will by risking being out of commission at some vital moment."
"Glad to hear it." He smiled up at her. "I don't say it a lot, but I think you know how important you are to me."
She smiled and nodded. "Lay down. I'll tuck you in."
He obeyed, allowing Magnus to pull the covers up and smooth them down around him. "How's Ashley holding up?" he wanted to know.
"She has a lot of anger, Henry, but there's nothing new there. I gave her something to help her sleep. It might have been a little stronger than she was expecting," she added with an innocent expression. "We probably won't see her until noon."
Henry chuckled. "That won't help her anger issues, Boss."
"No, I imagine not. But it will hardly be the first time Ashley and I have fought. She did ask me for a sedative. It's not my fault if she's wasn't dreadfully specific. I may not trust you much more than I do her, but the Valium will do a reasonable job of making sure you get some sleep." She touched his forehead. "Better still, it will keep you from worrying so much."
"Aw, come on, Doc. Worrying's what I'm good at."
"Too good at it, sometimes. Try to lay it aside for one night. I need you to have a clear mind come morning."
"I'll do my best. Wake me up if anything new develops."
"Naturally," she agreed. "And no more valium for six hours," she reminded him, giving his shoulder a light squeeze then leaving him alone in his room.
Alone in the darkened room, Henry sighed. The alarm clock told him that it was four in the morning, which made today Friday. He and Will had a standing date on Friday nights to watch old science fiction, of which both men had an extensive DVD collection. Tonight, they had planned on Stargate. Both men agreed: not only was it a great show, but that Carter chick was hot. Strangely familiar, but undeniably hot.
It seemed unlikely to Henry that Will would be home in time for it. There was always Doctor Who on Saturday to look forward to, but it wasn't really about the Sci Fi at all. It was the company, the friendship. The fact that a guy who had never ever seen a decent abnormal less than a year ago had accepted Henry as an honorary brother, and at a time when he had still been having difficulty accepting himself.
Henry bit his lip, not even bothering to wipe away the tears flowing freely down his cheeks. When he had been a boy, torn between two worlds but not really belonging to either, Doctor Magnus had told him a secret:
Tears cleanse the soul, my love.
Well, the way he was feeling right now, his soul would be as clean as the fresh-driven snow by morning. Having never known what he was missing, he found himself terrified at the prospect of being without it, even for the few days that were probably all it would take to recover Will. He wanted his best friend back, needed to know that he was safe. And, in the absence of that, all he could do was weep like that confused, frightened child.
