The next time she woke up she was more with it. She asked again where Will was and with the answer she received fury pulled straight from right between her eyes. She'd forced John to bring her a portable pole, transferred her IV and stalked barefoot through the hallways to her office to have a face to face confrontation with one Declan MacRae. She didn't say anything when she entered the room. She gave him a look of utter disappointment and moved to sit in a chair. He watched her, carefully, waiting for the moment when she would snap. He'd seen her yell and shout; he'd seen her take down an entire force of agents by herself during a fit of rage over indecency. So when she quietly and reverently watched him, his teeth started to itch and his nerves were on their wits end and his stomach was twisting into different kinds of knots that he didn't even know existed.

"I'm so sorry, Magnus."

"How did you not notice that they hadn't returned?"

"I don't think you understand what your disappearance has done to this place."

"That's no excuse."

He nodded in agreement. "I know. We have two teams out looking for them now and Henry is trying to get their last location based on Will's phone call."

There was a pause while she thought about all that was going on and all that she had missed. Three weeks. She should never have sent him on that mission. After just recovering from the ordeal of abnormality and the energy creature being excised from his body—she should not have done it. "Any news?"

"None."

Again there was a long pause while she thought through her next statements. "You will be put on report for this."

"I had hoped as much."

She raised an eyebrow and turned her head. "I don't know what the final decision will be." She waited until she saw his nod of agreement and understanding before continuing on. "I will be joining the search."

"Magnus…"

"No argument, Declan." She wasn't going to budge in her decision and she was John would rail against her but she didn't care. "I'll be leaving in a few hours. You are in charge until I return." Slowly she maneuvered her body to stand, grabbed the pole and made her way back down to the infirmary. She removed the plastic from her body and slipped on shoes before going to her room to change. She found John and grabbed hold of his arm waiting to be teleported to the cold November Rockies.

Upon arrival she pulled her hood over her head and shivered when the cold force of wind brushed against her cheeks. John did not pay mind to her instead looking around. He had landed where Declan's two teams had set up base in looking for the two wayward souls. She immediately took command of the situation and was filled in on what had happened thus far in the search. She was trudging through the snow that was up to her knees in the center of the roadway; she didn't want to think about how much snow had fallen in the mountains.

They had found the car about ten minutes before her arrival and were digging it out of a snow bank. Magnus glanced at John before shuffling onto the snowmobile and driving away. He was left staring at the monitors that displayed satellite readings of the weather patterns and of location of team members.

The car was rather unhelpful in finding their location as she suspected it would be. She found the maps in it and that was it, everything else was spick and span clean like it was still fresh from the rental agency. She pulled out the maps and opened them studying the trails and roads on it. Deciding on which one Kate would most likely have chosen she headed the team that went that direction. She and John were on one snowmobile teetering through the woods while two men were behind her with supplies. They followed closely until they came to a large clearing. She stopped the engine and stepped off her eyes scanning around. "This is where a lake is. I thought they might have stayed close by. Fan out."

Walking away to her right she glanced quickly behind her as each team member took another path. They were calling out their names and searching as best they could. Her radio flickered and she heard another team that had gone a little further south of their location trying to get one of the vehicles out of the snow that it had gotten stuck in. She called her own team back and took the snowshoes off the back of the second machine. Handing them out to each individual she sighed. "Be careful, I don't want anyone else to get hurt or lost." She slipped hers over her boots and started back the way she had come from. "Will! Kate!" She called out and listened to her voice echo and become distorted through the trees and snow.

She was about to turn back after walking ahead for three hours. She had no leads and she feared moving any further from her other teammates. The two that had followed her in had already headed back for their mandatory break and returned. She was pushing through. John remained out with her combing through the woods, but remained silent in his search. "Will! Kate!" Her voice echoed again.

"Doc?"

Helen's head snapped to the left where she heard the voice coming from. She started charging in that direction calling Kate's name out. She stumbled in the snow and almost fell forward, but caught herself before face-planting. Suddenly the woman appeared next to her, standing there leaning against a tree. Helen grinned. "Kate! I'm so glad to find you." She took a second to look her over. She had lost a lot of weight, her cheeks were gaunt and hollow, and her eyes were bulged with large purple circles underneath. She was holding her side carefully and putting little weight on her left leg. "Where's Will?"

Kate shook her head and nodded it in the other direction. "He can't walk. Tree limb fell and snapped both his legs."

"Take me to him."

The young Indian grimaced and began to move slowly down a path that Magnus must have missed earlier. It was partially worn into the ground, most likely by the local animals foraging for food. They walked another twenty minutes before Kate stopped and pulled aside a large tree branch. "In here." She let Magnus bend low and enter follow quickly. Looking around she saw many branches built up to create a stable shelter with a hole in the roof on the far side to let out the smoke from a small burning fire. Magnus turned and saw Will resting against the base of the tree trunk that had been his home for far too long. She moved over to him and began to assess his injuries running her fingers from head to foot.

"You had us so worried."

"We didn't think you were coming." His eyes locked with Kate's and she nodded at him. "It's been so long."

"We got held up." Magnus sat back on her haunches and cupped his cheek.

"No offense, Magnus, but you don't look too good yourself."

She hummed and bit her lip forcing the smile from her lips. "Yes, well, that was part of the hold up. But now I'm afraid, we need to get you out of here and I have just the solution." His head turned to the side in a questioning gaze. Magnus pulled her radio from her pocket and began to speak into the microphone. "John, would you come to my location please. I've found them."

The wait wasn't long before she heard the teleport outside the enclosure. The radio bubbled again with a question ringing in her ears. "Did you say that you found them?"

It was then that she did let her lips curl upwards. "Yes, I did find them. You can end the search John will be teleporting us back to the Sanctuary for medical care."

"Got it." The reply came as ominous and joyous. John pulled back the tree and looked in.

Magnus looked over her should at him to see his curiosity. "Take Kate first, she has some frost bite and could use a hot cup of coffee I'm sure. You can come back for the two of us." She waited until they were gone before leaning down on her knees and pressing her lips to his quickly. It was all that she could do before John returned and teleported them home.

Will was laid up on the infirmary bed with her checking him over. She was reticently quiet, as was he, and it was worrying him. Finally, when he was sure she must be finished with her poking and prodding and complimenting of Kate's resetting of the bones he got up the courage to ask. "What happened, Magnus?"

She sat heavily next to him after setting the clipboard aside. "Three weeks ago John arrived with intelligence on a shipment of abnormals that were being sold in Australia. It was the day that you were due to return. There was a complication and I was out of commission for the following three weeks. Somehow, in my absence and yours there was a mix-up and the dates of your mission were lost. No one was waiting for you to come back. I'm so sorry, Will. It's inexcusable."

"Well, it's been remedied." He looked over at Kate who was lightly dozing.

Helen bowed her head gently. "I'd hardly call it remedied, Will. You have two broken legs, multiple fractures, frost bite on all your toes, a bit on your fingers and nose, you're underweight, but luckily not dehydrated."

"Lots to drink when there's an abundance of snow."

She rolled her eyes and once again leaned forward to kiss him. Will took the opportunity for what it was and parted his lips. He hadn't known how much he missed her until this moment. His hands lifted and cupped her cheeks keeping her in place while his tongue slipped out to taste. He sighed and pulled away carefully. "What is it, Will?" She watched him like a hawk, noting every change in his demeanor.

"I never thought I would get to do that again." He caught the slight blush in her cheeks before she smiled and moved in closer to capture his mouth once again.