Will woke up to the sound of a man sobbing. He sat up and saw Tesla seated on the floor amid what looked like wreckage. On closer inspection, he saw that Tesla had demolished a number of the metal vehicles they had been playing with the evening before, and used the pieces to disassemble the laptop.

But why was the man crying? He said something in an anguished voice that Will didn't understand. Was he upset because he had destroyed the toys, or the laptop, or what? Will called Helen, and hoped she would be able to make sense of the situation.

When she came to the door, he moved the cot and let her in. Immediately Nikola began talking to her.

Zao mi je. Oprostite, Dane" Nikola said, miserably.

"Oh dear, we've reached that" Helen said.

Will threw his hands up and said "What? What's going on?"

"He's remembered his brother's death. We're going to need the ability to communicate more than my bits of Serbian." She got on her cell and called Henry. "Henry, can you cobble together a voice translation program, English/Serbian and Serbian/English?"

Henry replied smugly "Been working on it since yesterday. The grammar may be a bit rough still, but if you need it now . . ."

"Yes, now please. In the detention room, and bring another laptop, I think this one has had it."

"What? What happened to it?"

"Never mind, you'll see when you get here. And please get here quickly."

Will dressed while Helen picked her way through the debris to Nikola, sat down on the floor next to him, and put her arm around him. Nikola said something to her quickly, but she shook her head. "I'm sorry, Nikola, I didn't get any of that." Nikola frowned and tossed another spate of Serbian at her; she just said "Sacekajte!" He subsided, and they sat in silence, Nikola looking at both of them sadly and picking aimlessly at the rubble around him.

Henry showed up with two more laptops, left one on a table and set the other one up in a clear space on the floor near them. He picked up a couple of pieces of the disassembled laptop, shook his head and dropped them again. "Maybe I can use some of it for spare parts" he said uncertainly.

"Never mind that now, we need to be able to talk to Nikola; deal with the rest of this later."

"Yeah, okay. Just hit this to start the program, and hit that to stop it. You'll have to speak up, and try to enunciate. It's not going to be perfect, if something comes out weird, try to rephrase it."

"Thank you Henry. Please go start working on whatever we're going to need tomorrow."

Henry looked blank and then laughed. "I'll check my crystal ball." He and Will exchanged a fist bump, and he left.

Helen reached over and hit the key Henry had indicated. She said slowly "Nikola, tell me what you wanted to say, but say it slowly and clearly so the computer can translate for us."

Nikola spoke in Serbian, but the machine translated "I . . . I killed my brother. Dane, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean it."

"You didn't kill him Nikola, it was an accident."

"Papa thought it was my fault, and so did . . . are you my mother?"

Caught off guard, Will laughed. Both Helen and Nikola glared at him. Will said "Sorry. Tesla, she's not your mother. We're both your friends."

Nikola gave Helen a troubled look. "But I remember, you lifted me up and had me kiss Dane, in the parlor. You said it was my fault."

Helen said gently "Nikola, that never happened; it's a false memory. As you remember things, you're going to encounter several memories that were put in your head by a bad woman." Helen had seen the scenarios in the computer data they had gotten from the lab, but without Nikola's inputs.

"Why did she put memories in my head?"

"She wanted to hurt you, and she wanted to hurt me too. I'll help you identify the bad memories when they come up, and you can ignore them, okay?"

"Okay" Nikola said uncertainly, in a small voice. "Did I run at the horse and scare it?"

"You tell me."

Nikola thought for a while, and then said "No, I wasn't there when Dane rode the horse, just afterwards when he was brought home. But I did kiss him in the parlor, but it was a different parlor, the real parlor. I remember how it smelled, with all the flowers. The parlor you were in didn't have any smell. Is that how I can tell the difference?"

"Possibly, in some cases, but it may not hold true for all the false memories."

Will cleared a space and sat down on the floor with them. "Did your parents act differently towards you afterwards?"

"Mama blamed me, sort of. Papa was just sad. My sisters were sad, I was sad. I tried to be good like Dane for them, so they wouldn't miss him so much, but I couldn't. No matter how hard I tried, or what I did, it wasn't enough. I just couldn't do it."

"How did that make you feel? Will asked.

"Like I had to try harder, I had to be perfect, so they wouldn't be so sad."

"Were you perfect?"

"No" Nikola said, dejected.

"Is anyone perfect?"

Nikola shrugged, but then said "Maybe not, but Dane was close."

"Human beings aren't perfect, they can't be. Not being perfect just means you were human."

"It's okay that I wasn't perfect?" Nikola asked uncertainly.

Will reached out and put his hand on Nikola's shoulder. "Yes, it's okay. You weren't responsible for how your parents felt about Dane; you tried to be the best Nikola you could be, and that's all anyone can do."

Will dropped his hand and Helen hugged Nikola and said "You were an amazing, brilliant boy, Nikola, who grew up to be an amazing, brilliant man. Your parents, your family just missed your brother, that's all."

Nikola leaned into her and hugged her back. Then Nikola broke the hug and looked around him. "I wrecked the trucks, and I wrecked the . . ."

"Computer" Helen supplied.

"Computer. Are you mad at me?"

"No, but next time you want to take something apart, let me know. We have tools for that, and I'm sure we can find some less expensive things for you to experiment with."

"Okay. Can I go out and play now?"

"I think you'd better get dressed first. Let's go get you some clean clothes, okay?"

Helen turned off the translator, took the laptop along and led Nikola back to his suite to clean up and select another outfit. Once dressed, Nikola asked "Gde ye Biggie?"

Helen turned the translator back on and said "Why don't I show you the lab? That's where Henry works, you remember Henry?" She thought Biggie could use a day to recover from the grunchuk game; Nikola of course was fine and ready to play again. But it might be wiser to steer him toward Henry; Henry was patient and could find numerous things in the lab to occupy him. Besides, it would be good practice for Henry, for when Angelina was a little older.

Nikola smiled and nodded, and she took his hand to lead him, but he pulled it back and said "You don't need to hold my hand, I can walk by myself."

"Of course" she acquiesced; my boy is growing up she thought. At the lab, Henry was not at all pleased to see them, but that didn't deter Helen. She put the translating computer on the table and said "Henry, I thought you might like to show Nikola a little science."

"You want me to teach . . . " A grin spread over Henry's face. In the past, Nikola had always dominated their relationship, treating Henry somewhat disdainfully as an assistant rather than a colleague. Now it was Henry's chance to be the dominant one, to reverse their roles and have Nikola Tesla as his assistant.

"Okay, I guess I can do that. Anything in particular you want me to show him?"

"Use your own judgment; just don't give him access to anything too expensive, remember, mentally he's about six or seven."

"Okay Doc. How long do I have him for?"

"All day if you can manage it. Call me if you need help, I'll be in my office."

"Will do." After Helen was gone, Henry looked at Nikola speculatively. What demeaning task could he have him do first? But at the eager look on Nikola's face, Henry realized he wasn't going to get the revenge he had expected. Right now no task would be demeaning to Nikola. In his current mental state he couldn't handle anything complicated, so no matter what Henry had him do, Nikola would have no reason to resent it or complain about it later. Henry was just going to get to babysit.

Henry looked around. He picked up a small electric motor that he had been going to fix, and handed it to Nikola. Buying a new one wouldn't be expensive, and it should keep the vampire busy for hours trying to figure out not only what was wrong with it, but what it was, what it did, and how it did it. Croatia in the 1860's didn't have electricity, so in his current state Tesla would have no idea what he was working on. "Why don't you take that apart and see if you can figure out what's wrong with it. There are hand tools in that drawer."

Nikola took it eagerly, opened the drawer and looked at the tools one by one. He finally picked up a small flat-head screwdriver and started trying to open the casing. Henry watched him surreptitiously; Nikola wasn't even sure how to hold the screwdriver, and he had to concentrate fiercely to actually use it with untutored, clumsy hands.

It would take him hours to disassemble the unit, and then Henry expected he would give up. Children often liked to take things apart, but rarely could they put them back together again, especially with no previous exposure to tools or equipment. Still, this was Tesla, even if he was in kid mode. Henry was curious to see how far he could actually go in repairing the motor, and how long it would take.

Henry did his weekly security scan of all the sensors and cameras. It took two hours, but everything was operating properly. When he looked over to see how Nikola was coming, he was amused to see the motor completely disassembled and scattered all over the table.

No, not scattered. Nikola had laid it out methodically piece by piece like an exploded diagram. He was looking at it, head cocked to one side. He noticed Henry watching him and asked "What makes it go?"

"Electricity. Do you know what that is?"

"Yes, I think so. It is this, yes?" Nikola reached out a hand toward Henry and a spark jumped the gap and gave Henry a mild shock. Henry jerked back and said "Ow. You remembered how to give people shocks, huh? Well, watch where you're aiming that, will you?"

Nikola gave him an impish grin and picked up the plug. "This goes in the wall there?"

"That's right" Henry said, impressed that he'd made the connection from the shape of the plug to the socket.

"There is electricity in the wall?"

"Sure, in the wires that connect to the socket."

"Show me?"

Henry looked around for something harmless. The electric pencil sharpener should do. Henry took Nikola over to a desk, and put a pencil in it and let it run. Then he turned the desk light on and off. Nikola was fascinated, and Henry let him sharpen the pencil and turn the light on and off a few times. Nikola pulled the plugs out, tried the sharpener and lamp, plugged them back in and tried them again. Eventually he was satisfied, and went back to his motor.

Henry was mildly awed by not very surprised when two hours later Nikola plugged the reassembled motor into the socket and it ran. The guy was a genius, even when he was mentally not quite all there. But then Nikola put his right hand on the motor and it started to run faster, and faster, the lights flickered, and then with a huge blue spark and a yelp from Nikola, the power in the lab went off completely. The only lighting was from the screens of the two laptops that were on.

"Okay, everything's okay, just stay where you are while I find the breaker." Henry found the electrical box and reset the switch. He'd blown the power in the lab himself enough times he literally could do it in the dark. The lights came back on.

"Nikola, are you okay?" Nikola was holding his right hand closed in a fist with his left, clutched to his chest. Henry gently moved his left hand away, and pulled his right hand out so he could see how much damage there was. Nikola suddenly opened his hand and laughed. It was perfectly fine, of course.

Henry shrugged a little and said "You got me." He unplugged the burned-smelling motor. "I think we should work on something else for a while don't you?"

"Okay. Can I take apart the horseshoe?"

"The what?" Henry asked, looking at the translating computer doubtfully.

"You know, the thing ladies wear on their head when it rains."

"Hold on a minute Nikola, there's something wrong with the translation program." Henry sat down and started checking the program. He couldn't find anything wrong with it, and when he looked up from the laptop fifteen minutes later, Nikola was no longer in the lab.

"Oh no, no, no, where did he go?" He grabbed his phone to call for help, but put it away again. He didn't really want anyone to know he'd lost Nikola; what kind of a father was he going to be, if he couldn't watch one kid for one day? Admittedly a very unusual kid, but still, he had to be able to do this himself.

Henry dashed out into the hall, but couldn't see Nikola. Where could he have gone; outside maybe? Henry trotted to the nearest exit and looked around. He ran through the gardens, calling for Nikola, but got no response. He couldn't have fallen in the water, could he? Henry ran to the edge of the pool at the foot of the waterfall, but saw no evidence that Nikola had been there. Henry didn't know if a vampire could drown or not; he knew Nikola as an adult could swim, but he had no idea at what age he had learned.

Maybe he was wandering through the Sanctuary main building somewhere. Henry had to find Nikola before he decided to go visit a dangerous Abnormal or something. Henry turned back toward the building; there was something unusual . . . a figure standing on the roof looking down at him. Henry shaded his eyes against the artificial lighting. Yep, Nikola was up there perfectly safe, petting a pigeon and watching Henry down on the ground run around frantically trying to find him.

"You stay right there; don't you move!" Henry called. Nikola walked back away from the edge, out of sight.

Henry ran for the building. He had to get to the stairway to the roof before Nikola got down it and ran off somewhere else. Henry arrived panting, charged up the stairs and threw open the door.

Nikola was calmly feeding the pigeons, and looked up and waved. Henry stood there, very angry and feeling like an idiot, but glad Nikola was safe.

"Don't you ever do that again, do you hear me? You don't go wandering off, you stay with me, do you understand? Henry scolded. Nikola looked at him blankly. Of course he didn't understand, Henry didn't have the translating computer with him, but Nikola ought to be able to tell how upset Henry was by the tone of his voice. Nikola shrugged and turned back to his birds.

Henry sat down in a chair and looked at Nikola miserably. What kind of father loses the kid he's supposed to be watching? If that happened with Angelina, he'd probably have a heart attack. At least Nikola was fairly immune to injury, or worse; but Angelina wasn't, how would Henry handle it when she started walking, then running?

The door to the roof opened again. Helen was there, with the translation laptop. "I saw you running down the hall; I thought you could probably use this. What happened?"

Henry just shook his head. "He tricked me. The little . . . the big . . . he tricked me, he said weird things so I would think the translator wasn't working right, and then as soon as my back was turned he took off."

Helen set the laptop down on the table and sat down too. "He is a handful, isn't he?"

"Yeah" Henry said in a strangled voice, "You could say that."

"Henry, being a parent takes practice. Fortunately, babies grow up one day at a time, not years overnight, so normally you get to practice a great deal before your child gets to this point."

Henry nodded. "I know, it's just, I thought I would be better at this. Erika just seems to know how to be a mother, and I'm just stumbling around."

"You're doing fine. Erika doesn't know any more about being a parent than you do, the difference is she has Biggie practically at her shoulder to turn to for advice. You're learning on your own, and Nikola is a far greater challenge right now than any real child."

"You're right. What are we going to do about him, anyway? We can't let him get away with pulling tricks like that, right?"

Helen laughed and stood up. "If you want to try to spank him, go ahead, but count me out. I don't like corporal punishment, and in this case I'm not sure who would end up spanking whom. Anyway, he'll remember more by tomorrow, so there's no real point in trying to teach him anything." She patted Henry on the shoulder as she passed. "Just three more hours, then you can give him back to me. I'll be in my office."

Henry turned on the translation program and motioned Nikola over. He was done feeding the pigeons anyway, so he ambled over and plopped down in the chair Helen had used.

Henry said "There's really nothing wrong with the translator, is there. You were just fooling when you said you wanted to take apart a horseshoe."

Nikola looked puzzled. "I didn't say I wanted to smash a calliope."

Henry frowned. "Are you trying to trick me?"

Nikola looked shocked. "Don't call me bad names. It's not nice."

Henry opened his mouth and closed it again. What? Maybe the translator really was broken somehow. Then Nikola pointed at him and laughed. "I got you again!"

Henry closed his eyes and took a slow, deep breath. Don't kill the bratty vampire, no matter how annoying he is, don't kill the big brat. He opened his eyes, pointed at Nikola and said "Don't do that. It's not nice, and it's driving me bonkers. Can't we be friends?"

"Sure" Nikola chirped. "Can we play in the laboratory some more?"

"Yes we can. But stay with me, okay?"

"Okay, you're fun."

"That's me, fun Henry." They went back to the lab, and Henry managed to keep Nikola amused by ignoring his own work and building a small electric fan with him from scratch. They finished it just about the time Nikola was to go back to Helen, just as Henry planned.

Henry presented him and the translation laptop at Helen's office. "Here he is, we're both still alive and in one piece, and now I'm going to go be a daddy to a little girl I can still handle. See you tomorrow, Doc."

Helen reached for Nikola's hand, but then pulled back when she remembered he considered himself too old for that. "Nikola, shall we get you something to eat?"

Nikola nodded vigorously. "Can I have red wine tonight?"

Helen stopped, surprised. Surely he was too young to prefer one kind of wine over the other, or know much of anything about it?

Nikola continued. "We always had red wine for church services, and I like it."

Of course, his father had been a priest. "Yes, I have a nice merlot you will probably enjoy."

Helen noticed Nikola's coordination had improved quite a bit since yesterday as they walked down the hall, with him skipping ahead, running back to her, walking backwards, and generally going three times as far as necessary. At the detention room she gave him his animal plasma and the merlot in a plastic glass, and he drank it with no trouble. She was glad to see the broken toys and computer had been cleaned up, but the remaining toys in the room were likely too juvenile for him now.

Instead of trying to interest him in them, Helen found some classical music on the computer and let it play softly in the background while he gave her a long involved account of what he had done with the electric motor. When he finished, she gave him his pajamas to put on, and he turned away from her to change his clothes. Once in bed, she let him listen to the music for a while, and then told him stories until he went to sleep.

/

The Arrendulics drove a hard bargain, but they finally agreed on a price, with half the funds to be transferred to a bank account immediately, and the other half payable on completion of the job. They would arrive the day after tomorrow and expected housing and food to be provided. Renee agreed that she would have a map of the Sanctuary drawn up for them, so they could go over the details of the set-up with her, and come up with a plan of attack.

"Where are we going to put eleven big, armed lizards that no one will notice?" Bobby asked curiously.

Molly said "Tomorrow we'll go out to the country and find an isolated farmhouse to rent. I doubt they'll expect anything fancy, just private."

Renee nodded. "I'll need to finish putting in the details on the maps I've started, so you two will have to take care of that. Don't forget to pick up the meat for them."

"I wonder how they'll get here" Bobby mused. "I can't see them flying coach or renting a car, can you?"

Molly laughed at the mental image of the Arrendulics boarding a commercial airliner. "No, but they've been operating as a group for several years, so I'm sure they'll figure it out. I'd like to know what they do with the money. I mean, how many throwing stars and knives can they buy?"

Renee said "Maybe they're saving up to buy a tropical island somewhere, who knows?"

Bobby leaned over Renee's shoulder and looked at the map she was working on. He pointed to a red "1" with a circle around it. "What's that?"

"Helen Magnus' rooms. She's target number one, and as you can see, I have the top ten priority targets marked on the map- Tesla, Zimmerman, Foss, et cetera. If they can't get everybody, I'll say our money was well spent if they get those ten."

"And the gray area?"

"Captive Abnormal housing; hopefully they can free most, if not all of the imprisoned Abnormals."

Molly came over and peered over Renee's other shoulder. "Do you really think the Arrendulics can succeed?"

"Oh yes," said Renee, "I'm quite sure of it. And when the attack begins, I'm going to hack the Sanctuary's security system and watch the slaughter from the comfort of my living room."

A/N: Thank you, Chartreuseian and AnthropoligistGirlInTheMaking for your reviews/comments.

Serbian translations:

Zao mi je- I'm sorry

Oprostite- Forgive me

Sacekajte- Wait

Gde ye- Where is