"My god, Helen" Nikola said aloud to himself, incredulous if not outright stunned. How could she have done such a thing? He was never going to let her live this one down.

Nikola had been going over Helen's research into the artifact tirelessly since the night she had confronted him. Prior to that, during the day he had made himself available to Helen whenever she wanted to talk about the past, needed minding in the lab or infirmary(she seemed to retain quite a lot of practical knowledge when it came to medicine, but she couldn't give them answers when they asked her for particulars on any diagnoses), or when he deemed she needed a break for a bit of fun.

And when Helen retired for the night, Nikola would go to his lab and stay there until dawn some nights. His vampire physiology made it easy to skip sleep for a night or two. Or six.

When she had started to avoid him, he began spending all his time in the lab and the days had started to blur together. He was definitely starting to flag, however. He could feel how sluggishly his body moved but refused to stop until his thoughts slowed down as well. Only then would he sleep. And shower. Until he was no use to anyone, he would put his personal brilliance to the problem at hand.

He had just decided with a sigh that it was back to square one. None of the avenues he had pursued were bringing him any closer. It was time to take a step back and try a different direction.

If Helen were herself (and not furious with him), he could brainstorm and bounce ideas off her. Some of his most inspired ideas had come from a tiny nugget in the back of his brain formed by some chance point of conversation with her. He'd never dream of admitting it, some people might take the opportunity to doubt that Nikola was 100% of the reason for a new invention or technique or bit of scientific knowledge. But the truth was that Helen had been his muse since the day she came to Oxford.

He painstakingly combed through her research notes twice before he noticed the discrepancy in translation. Then his sharp eyes examined the pictures of the original map and noticed symbols faded to near invisibility. It took time and another review of her notes to translate the text but when he did Nikola jumped to his feet when he realized what must have occurred. He didn't have all the answers but if his suspicions were correct, the amnesia was reversible. Fighting his urge to tear out of the lab and find her immediately, he forced himself to reread the entire file. All the while pacing in agitation. He had to make sure he had it right. He couldn't be wrong, not with Helen's mind at stake. But everything seemed to check out.

Right then, he thought as he tossed the finished file on the table and marched out in search of Helen, time to put an end to this. For better or worse.

By the time he found her, Nikola was annoyed again. From now on, he was going to call before he went tramping through the entire building looking for someone. So undignified, this rushing around. But he felt an odd need for haste. Like he needed to fix Helen before he lost his nerve. Which was ridiculous. He wanted Helen back, almost desperately so. But with the return of her memories would come a return of her true feelings for Nikola and he had never been able to sort out exactly what those feelings were.

For better or worse, Helen must be Helen and Nikola must be instrumental in the return of her poor opinions of him.

These thoughts had plagued him throughout his search, no matter how he tried to smother them. It had done his temper no favors and when he finally came upon Helen, he could not be stirred to the effort of words. She was seated in the media room with the children strewn about her. Henry was narrating the home movies that were playing on the television, recounting stories of his childhood with Ashley, Will sat beside him asking questions and laughing at the antics of Young Wolfie and Ashley. Seated on the floor at Helen's feet, Kate competed for her attention with a laptop stocked with pictures from various Sanctuary shenanigans. He had to step over Kate to reach Helen. The younger woman rolled her eyes and scooted back.

Helen's eye's were wary. She didn't know how to reconcile what she had learned with the man in front of her. Nikola had been so kind and attentive to her. He was charming and she truly enjoyed his company and brilliant conversation. Helen was very grateful to him for his friendship while she was out of commission, so to speak. Will had confirmed the truth of everything Nikola had told her. Indeed, he had seemed surprised by some of the details Tesla had admitted to. Will would have expected the vampire to shy away from mentioning anything that cast the immortal man in an unflattering light. Helen had to acknowledge that would be an easy way to manipulate a woman without her memories. Her trust in Nikola had been nearly immutable until she read that damning passage in her diary.

So despite what she had learned, she didn't question him when he leaned over to snag hold of her hands and drew her to her feet. Without a word, he fixed her with a look she was sure she wouldn't understand even if she had possessed a functioning eidetic memory. Then he turned and stalked off, a hand still in hers to draw her along with him. There was a chorus of objections from Will, Henry, and Kate at Nikola's abrupt shanghai-ing of Magnus. The "where are you taking her?" and "geez, rude much Lestat?" reached through his determination and inner turmoil just as he and Helen reached the door.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I have a Sanctuary head to heal." He tossed back over his shoulder, sounding absolutely not sorry at all, for the interruption or for the weak play on words. "By all means, continue with the reminisces. I'll let you know how it goes."

He was unsurprised to hear the three scrambling to their feet and racing into the hall to follow.