First off I want to say thank you to those of you who reviewed the last chapter! Reviews always make me feel good, but I also really appreciate your opinions. There were a few people that said they had a hard time imagining Will saying those things to Magnus. And, if I'm being honest, I have to agree. I may have gotten a little carried away. The thing is, I'll start out with an idea but once I start writing I don't always know where its going to take me. I tend to just let it flow. Maybe that makes me a bad writer. Or at least not a very organized one. But it is what it is. I must be doing something right though if y'all keep coming back to read more. :) Please continue to review and share your thoughts...good, bad, or just random.

Oh and to AnthropologistGirlInTheMakin g, I tried to make this chapter longer. I hope it earns your approval. ;)


"What are you going to do about this, Helen?" Nikola asked hotly.

"I'm not sure," she admitted truthfully.

Nikola watched her carefully as she pulled in her bottom lip and chewed it absently. He could see the guilt written all over her face.

"Don't do that, ljubav."

"Do what?"

"Blame yourself. This isn't your fault."

How could she possibly think she'd done anything wrong? It was that petulant, ungrateful, jealous protégé of her's that was to blame. He was still fuming from Will's outburst. He would've loved to kill the little brat for what he said to Helen and he was fairly sure that Henry would have helped him, judging by the way the young HAP had reacted earlier. The only thing that had saved his worthless hide was the fact that Helen was there to stop them both.

She'd done a quick examination to make sure he was breathing and then the big hairy one had hauled him off to the infirmary. Henry, realizing he was naked, had scurried off rather quickly, which just left the two of them. He helped her right the sofa before sinking into it and pulling her down with him.

"If you don't do something, I will," he threatened.

"Nikola! You will do no such thing. Don't you dare lay so much as a talon on Will or so help me god."

She squirmed around in his arms so she could face him and took his face in her hands, forcing him to look her in the eye.

"Promise me you will not hurt Will."

He growled. He tolerated Will's continual jabs at him, but he would not allow him to speak to or about Helen like that.

"Nikola, promise me. Let me deal with this."

"Fine, I promise not to lay a hand on him," he finally conceded.

"Thank you." She leaned in and gave him a quick peck before getting up. "I should probably try to get some work done while I decide what to do."

Taking that as his cue to leave, he got to his feet quickly. He had someone he wanted to have a little chat with anyways. He'd promised he wouldn't physically harm Will, but he hadn't said anything about verbal abuse.


Will woke in the infirmary. His neck felt like it was on fire. He sat up slowly and grimaced at even the most minute movement of his sore muscles. He tried clearing his throat, but that only sent spikes of pain through his stiff neck. Biggie was sitting quietly by his bed, watching him carefully.

"What happened?" Will choked out, grimacing at the pain it produced.

"Tesla," the big guy grunted as way of explanation.

Will nodded, not willing to risk speaking again. He remembered the vampire tackling him and pinning him to the wall, he must have passed out after that. His cheeks burned red at the memory of what had caused him to react so violently.

He couldn't believe he'd gotten so out of control. It was like all his pent up anger from the last year and half had come rushing out all at once. He had told her coming in that he didn't want secrets, that he wanted full disclosure of everything. But all that had gone to the wind. He felt like he'd been lied to at every turn and then when she finally came clean to him and they'd finally moved underground she dumped the majority of the work load on him so that she could run off and screw with the vampire. It was frustrating to say the least. And the fact that he had more than just a little crush on her didn't help things. It was infuriating to see her with such an arrogant ass like Tesla. He could've dealt with anyone else, maybe, but of all the people she could have chosen why did it have to be the one guy he hated more than anyone else?

None of it was an excuse for his behavior, of course, but that was the only explanation he could give for his actions. He was lucky Tesla hadn't killed him over it. He certainly wouldn't be surprised if he no longer had a job.

"Magnus?" He croaked out.

"Cooling off."

That was probably for the best. He debated going and finding her to try to apologize, but figured it would be better for her to come to him when she was ready. He knew she would be angry no matter when they talked, but he'd rather not deal with a totally irate Magnus. Plus it would give him time to think. Even if she didn't fire him, he wasn't sure he wanted to stick around and watch her and Tesla play house. He had some decisions he needed to make before facing her again.


By the time he'd made it down to the infirmary Will wasn't there anymore. He checked his office and his room, but he wasn't either of those places either. Taking a stab in the dark, Nikola headed out on to the grounds in the direction of the waterfall. He knew that was where Helen always went to think and if the protégé was as enamored with her as he suspected that was sure to be where he was. Sure enough, he found the young man standing on the rocky ledge of the cliffs above the falls. It was the highest point of the complex and offered a perfect view of the facilities. He hadn't heard Nikola approaching, or he just didn't care, because he didn't acknowledge his presence.

"I'd tell you not to jump, but you'd be doing me a favor if you did so I'll keep my mouth shut," he quipped, making his presence known.

The poor man nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of his voice. His eyes were wide with a mixture of shock and fear. Nikola smirked, glad that the stupid boy realized how much trouble he was in and just how much physical harm he could inflict on him. The already black and purple hand print around his throat was testament enough to that.

"Relax Huggybear, I promised Helen I wouldn't hurt you," He figured it was better to lead with that. "I simply want to talk."

The young man looked skeptical, but seemed to accept what he was saying considering he relaxed slightly and turned his attention back to the view. Satisfied that he was going to listen, Nikola launched into the tirade he'd been working on in his head.

"Listen up, kiddy, cause I'm only going to say this once. If you ever say anything like that to Helen again, I don't care how much she pleads with me, I will rip you from limb to limb."

He let his inner vampire come out to emphasize his words with a more threatening tone. Will turned his head to glare at Nikola, but didn't say anything so he pushed forward.

"If you recall she put us all through hell with her secrets and manipulations after her little jaunt through time. We were all just as in the dark as you. But you don't see the rest of us getting our panties in a wad. We've accepted that she did what she had to, but for whatever reason you seem to think that you're better than the rest of us and therefore deserved to know above everyone else. Despite what you think, you are not her equal, none of us are, not even me. You may think that she's been riding you hard since we moved down here, but that was only because she trusted you. She thought you were capable of handling things. It was an honor not a punishment. But you're obviously not what she thought you were. Protégés are easy to replace, William, she's had several over the years and she's more than capable of finding a new one now. There are tons of people that would jump at the chance to experience and be a part of all of this. It would be wise for you to keep that in mind. And I'll end with this; you may harbor some sweet little school boy crush on her, but I have loved her for over a century. Now that I have her, I'm not going anywhere. If you can't accept that, then I suggest you leave."

It wasn't quite what he'd rehearsed in his head, but he supposed it was good enough. Having said his peace, he turned and returned inside, leaving the younger man to his own thoughts.


She had expected Will to have a negative response, but it had been so much worse than she ever could have imagined. His words had stung and cut straight to her heart. She knew she'd been pushing him hard for the last 18 months; keeping secrets, making demands on him with no explanation, placing more responsibility on his shoulders. She'd been so wrapped up in Nikola that she hadn't been paying attention to how Will was doing under the stress of it all, hadn't seen how close to the breaking point he really was. Despite how out of line his outburst had been, she couldn't help but feel partly responsible. She had pushed him too hard and not seen it until it was too late.

Nikola was right, she had to do something; the question was what? She couldn't let him stay here if he continued to act in this manner, but she couldn't exactly send him back to the surface either. His affiliation with her had left him just as much in the cold as she had been before faking her death. She couldn't in good conscious force him to return to all of that. Subsequently, she wasn't going to end things with Nikola just because Will had a problem with it. And she absolutely would not tolerate his behavior. The whole thing was a headache.

Resting her elbows on the polished surface of her desk she rubbed her temples, trying to relieve some of the tension she felt. It didn't work. She hated the corner she'd been backed into. She was very much between a rock and a hard place. There was really only one solution she could think of and it wasn't what she wanted. As much as she loathed Will's behavior and attitude as of late, she really did depend on him. She let out a frustrated sigh, resigned to the fact that this would be the best solution for the time being. The only thing left now was to deliver the news to Will.

She found him in his room, drawn by the steady thump of a baseball hitting the wall. She knew it was something he did when upset. The direction in which she had approached his room meant he was unaware of her presence. Taking a deep breath, she stepped into the door way, catching the baseball deftly before it could slam into the wall once again. The multitude of dents in the wall were evidence enough of just how much frustration he'd been feeling sense arriving at the new sanctuary. His eyes widened in shock at seeing her and he jumped to his feet from the chair he'd been sitting in.

"Magnus! I-"

"Don't Will."

His brow furrowed, but he sunk back down into the chair when she gestured for him to do so.

"What you said to me earlier was not only uncalled for, but unprofessional and extremely disrespectful. I could fire you for it…but I won't."

Relief washed over his face at her words and he let out a giant breath she hadn't realized he'd been holding.

"You are perhaps the most promising protégé I have ever had and I consider you a friend as well, but you are still my employee and you don't get a say in my personal life. What you said and how you acted is inexcusable. As mad as I may be at the moment, I cannot send you out into the cold. But you can't stay here anymore either, at least not for the time being."

"I don't understand," he croaked out, his brow furrowing in confusion.

" I'm sending you to the London sanctuary. I've already spoken with Declan. You leave first thing in the morning."

"But-"

"No buts. I will not have you in my house any longer. I do hope that eventually bridges can be mended so that you may return. I've come to rely on you quite heavily, William. I'd be lying if I told you things won't be more difficult once you're gone, but this is the best solution I can think of at the moment. You can either go to London or you can quit, those are your only options."

He was silent for quite some time while he thought it over. She meant what she'd said, things would be more difficult after he left. The extra burden would fall on her and the added stress was probably not what she needed at the moment, but she'd gotten on fine without help for years and she knew she could do it again. Him staying here just simply wasn't an option at the moment not with everyone's emotions running so high. He needed to be punished for his actions; he needed to know that what he'd said was not ok and that his words had serious consequences. She knew that sending him away might only serve to anger him further towards her, but she hoped that he saw it for what she meant it to be, a second chance. She was hoping the time apart would allow everyone's heads to clear, emotions to settle, wounds inflicted to heal. Her plan, if everything went well, was to have him return when the baby was born. She would like to have someone to take over temporarily to allow her to recover and adjust to having a newborn again. If he still wasn't ready to return, or if he decided he didn't want to, well she would cross that bridge when she got there.

"I'm sorry, Magnus. For what I said." His voice was barely above a whisper and his eyes were downcast, not meeting her's. It was so different than the forceful, aggressive nature of his previous outburst.

"I know, Will. But the damage has already been done and it can't be taken back. Now we all just need time to heal."

He nodded silently, still not looking at her. She tossed the baseball lightly onto the bed before reaching into the pocket of her coat. She'd arranged for his flight to London. She laid the tickets on the nightstand before turning to leave.

"London or the surface, either way, I want you gone by morning."


Ok, like I said before, sometimes when I get to writing things take a turn and go a totally different direction than I was originally thinking. I'm hoping that this chapter maybe explains/justifies Will's reaction. It was a bit of a minor detour in the story line, but I think I effectively got us back on track. Let me know what you think! I promise the next chapter gets back to the fluffy preggo Teslen goodness. :)