Chapter 10

Darkness was all around, and there were no sounds other than faints gasps of air. Nikola groaned as he forced the collected metal away from him and the small child in his arms. He was not fond of children but this one had been used and needed the Sanctuary. The blast was worse than he expected, but that is what you get when you have to work in secret… The Psi shivered in his arms; it seemed odd that one so small could be so dangerous. Nikola slowly rose to his feet with the girl and began to walk towards a small opening.

They were probably long gone by now thanks to John. He wondered how she was; was Helen okay? How was she handling the explosion? Was she being comforted? Did she miss him? The thoughts were endless and depressing. Are warm thought came to his mind. It was puzzling how it came to him before he looked at the child sleeping child. She was exhausted no doubt from what though he was not sure. The child stirred as he stepped into the sunlight.

Panic struck the child as she opened her eyes. "Shhh…I am not going to hurt you." Nikola attempted to sooth the fearful being.

"H…hur…t me…no?" The child stammered in broken English.

"I will not hurt you, you are safe now." He said looked down.

"Safe." Her small voice came again.

"Do you have a name?" Nikola asked. She understood parts of English, this much was clear. That and whoever was teaching her sucked.

She shook her head and looked away.

"Can I call you Lily?" Nikola asked stopping once he was on the hill overlooking the blast site.

"Lily." She repeated her lips curling up into an almost smile.

"Yes Lily." Nikola repeated his hand stroking the pale blonde strands of hair from her face.

"Me…Lily." She agreed looking up at him with brilliant greyish blue eyes.

Helen lied in her bed clinging to her pillow. He was gone…really gone. Her heart felt as if it were about to combust into a million pieces. Losing Ashley was the hardest lost she ever took and Nikola took second to that. John took Will to go searching to see if Nikola was there either dead or alive. Helen buried her face into the pillow and started to cry again. 'Of all the times he chose to play hero!' Helen thought mournfully and bitterly.

"Helen…you look so lovely." Nikola accent was thick and heavy.

She and James were arguing a lot. This chasing after Worth was putting a strain on their relationship. Helen was so happy that Nikola agreed to stay the night with her. He had been gone for a long time. She didn't realize how much she missed him. She loved having him around, because she could cry to him and he never judged her.

She hugged him, "Thank you."

"No problem Ljubavi." He said holding her with one arm as the held two bottles of the best wine in London.

She smiled taking a bottle and opened it; she poured herself a glass and started to drink. "So where did you get this from?"

"Your father's cellar." He chuckled as she rolled her eyes. "Did you roll your eyes at me?"

"And if I did?"

Nikola pulled her to him and grabbed her sides tickling her. He smiled continuing his assault on her. They ended up on the floor laughing. Nikola straddle Helen who was gasping for air. Nikola leaned down and kissed Helen. Helen stared at him before kissing him back. Nikola's hand tangled themselves in her hair. Her arms wrapped around Nikola's neck; her fingers trailed along the bottom of his hair line.

"Doc?" It was Henry's voice that pulled her from her warm memory.

Helen closed her tears tight, "Yes…" She choked trying to fight back the emotional strain in her voice.

"Doc it's been two days…" Henry's voice was low and calm. "He wouldn't want you like this."

Helen turned on the bed to face him. Her cheeks stained from the many tears, "How would you know?" The bitter words came out before she could think. "I'm sorry Henry."

"It's fine doc." He said moving to sit on the edge of the bed. "But I do know because…I know he loved you. I spent days with him in a lab before, and even when he was bitching and moaning the only thing that made him smile was you." Henry wiped a tear from her cheek. "He would want you to open your best bottle of wine and drink to his memory and all the good times."

Helen sat up pulling Henry into a hug. It was the first hug she had given him in a long time. The memories the Psi brought to surface stood out now. She lost Ashley and she slowly distanced herself from others. The other suffered from her lack of emotions; Henry, the boy she raised since he was eight still saw her as a mother. She turned not only her back but her heart on him and everyone else. She would have had time to explore a real relationship with Nikola, had she taken the time. Ashley would have known the depth of her mother's love for her, had she taken the time to take her out and do the mother daughter things. It all came back down to time.

There was a long silence as Henry sat in the embrace. He pulled back slowly and there were tears in his eyes. "Henry what wrong?" Helen asked as she wiped her own eyes.

"It's just…Doc seeing you like this is really…hard. You know, you're like the mom I never had…and I hate seeing you in such…" Henry stopped and looked down. He never spoke of his feeling to her. He always thought she knew.

"You have always been a son to me." Helen cupped his face and gave a weak smile. "I assume you came in here to ask me to eat?"

Henry nodded. "Will thought you might listen to me. He keeps calling and texting" He said.

"Okay give me a minute and I will be down."

Henry agreed and stood. He grabbed his phone from his back pocket and began to text Will that she agreed to eat. Henry sighed with a heavy heart. Sure he and Tesla argued a lot but he knew he could trust him to take care of Magnus. He always made it clear that Magnus was the most important thing to him. He wondered if she knew that. Truth be told, Helen Magnus was one of the most important people in a lot of people's lives. There was no straddling the fence with her. You either hated her or you loved her.

Will walked through the debris again. In the holding room something seemed off; he just couldn't put his finger on it. Besides there being no sign of Nikola, there was a pile of scrap metal in the left corner. It reminded him the parlor trick Nikola did in the old hidden Cabal facility. His eyes lit up; that was it. Nikola set the explosion off and was able to use the flying metal to shield himself from the blast.

Will turned to John who was very quiet. The ominous feeling he gave off was frankly freaking Will out. And Helen willing traveled with this man! Will shivered; he approached the spot that had been sheltered from the blast. He stood back to the wall and looked for a direction. There was an opening to the right bur he could have also went out the way they came in.

His phone buzzed in his pocket and he took it out.

The Doc is finally out of bed. Big Guy is making food she agreed to eat.

"Thank God." Will muttered and headed to the small exit. 'This would have been easier yesterday.' He thought. Nikola would have been within reach had they came. He was not going to complain, he was the one wanting to stay and make sure Magnus was okay.

"Will." John said from behind him, "There is no sign of him here."

"I know." Will said before explaining how Nikola use his magnetic ability to protect himself.

"Then why hasn't he made contact?" John spoke doubtfully.

"I don't know." Will sighed. "But with him you never know."

John nodded agreeing. "Have you heard about Helen?"

"She is up and eating." Will informed. "John, there was a child with the man." Will said remembering the girl. John's eyes focused on Will. "She an abnormal…what if she is the reason?'

John thought about it. "If she were powerful enough Nikola would use her for his own agenda."

Will frowned; it was possible, but he didn't know. Nikola really cared for Helen; he doubted that John truly knew just how much Nikola loved her. He could only conclude that he loved Abby more than life and he would do anything to protect her, so Nikola has loved Helen more the any human has ever loved someone and longer in fact, he would never put her in harm's way without being able to protect her.

Nikola sat in the early morning light fixing his phone. Lily was still curled up asleep next to him. His mind wandered to Helen. He wished he was there holding her. His face buried in her soft hair. Lily jolted in her sleep pulling him from his thoughts.

Lily needed to be brought to the Sanctuary and soon but he had no idea how Helen would react. The child clearly had no choice in what she did. He could only hope that this would work out. He felt tired and drained. His thoughts began to bounce to the darker side of his mind.

"Lily no!" Nikola growled at her as he took notice to her open eyes.

"Hung-eee" Lily whimpered continuing to gaze at him.

"You can feed soon I promise but not now." Nikola tried to explain.

Lily frowned and slowly moved away from her once cozy sleeping spot. Nikola sighed and picked up the phone. There was a dial tone. With a small leap in his heart he dialed Helen's number.

"Hello?" It was Henry who answered.

"Hein-… Henry?" Nikola replied disappointed it was not Helen.

"Tesla?" Henry paused. "Dude you're alive."

"Yes Heinrich, I am alive." Nikola blurted out before he could stop himself.

"Dude-"

"Look Henry where is Helen." Nikola interrupted.

"She's asleep, I was checking on her."

Nikola said nothing for a moment. "Don't wake her, but let her know I'm okay."

"Sure." Henry said before the dial tone sounded.

Nikola stared at the phone. Helen was fine, she had wolf boy and the others; this put him at ease. He stood walking to Lily. His arms stretched out to her and waited for her to come to him. Lily eased her arms around him.