A/N: Please keep in mind that I had the idea to use the Pipes after seeing them in one of the films and after seeing them on Jenkins board in Fables. Long before they showed up in season 2 promos.

Thank you! Happy reading!

angellwings

...And the Possibilities

Episode 05: ...And the Call of the Wild

by angellwings

Act 02: The Big Picture

"So, what exactly are we supposed to be doing?" Natsuki asked Ezekiel as they searched through the stacks of the main Library.

"Looking for more information on the Magical Pipe of Hamelin," Ezekiel said with a sigh. "Boring stuff."

"Magical Pipe of…What is that again?" She asked him as they walked.

"The pipe played by the Pied Piper that lured all the rats out of town and then all the children when the town refused to pay the Piper," Ezekiel told her. "That's where the expression comes from, you know. To 'pay the piper'?"

She blinked at him in surprise. "You just sounded like The Librarian."

He stopped and his eyes widened. "Oh God, I did didn't I?"

She chuckled at him. "You don't exactly seem like the type," she told him honestly. "I mean, no offense, but I've met a lot of Librarians over the last 299 years and you are pretty much the complete opposite of them."

"Yeah, well, in the past few months I've met several immortals and supernatural beings and you aren't like any of them either," he told her with a smirk as he motioned to her outfit. "None of them have worn that."

She looked down at her combat boots, cargo skinny jeans, and black leather bomber jacket and then back up at him with a knowing grin. "I've always been a bit of black sheep."

He gave her a brief serious glance as if he wanted to say something else but quickly looked down at the note in his hand. "According to Jenkins, what we need should be right here." He turned to face one of the seemingly unending shelves and scanned the book spines.

"I thought Librarians did a lot of running," she said with a bored huff. "I mean we did last time."

"Last time was more your job than ours," he reminded her. "Unfortunately, I've discovered that this job is equal parts research and running."

"My job is a lot punching and kicking. And dodging projectiles. And, you know, containing evil spirits," she said as he began to pull books and hand them to her. "We know everything we need to know typically. How do you guys find anything in here?"

Ezekiel chuckled and shrugged. "I don't. Jenkins does. Flynn does too. I can't find anything in this place. Unless it's an artifact. I can find those. But books? I'm totally lost."

He took the last few books and then led her to a nearby work table.

"What are we looking for in these books?" She asked as she set them down and scanned the titles.

"Symptoms of the Pipe being used. Anything that would indicate someone's using it or anything that would eliminate it," he told her.

"Thrilling," she said sarcastically.

They looked through the books in silence for a few minutes before Natsuki huffed and slammed her book closed.

"This is a waste of time," she said irritably. "I should be out there searching for her." She threw the book down on the table with a loud thud and then began to pace next to the table. Ezekiel looked up from his book and watched her curiously. "She would never sit around and research if I were in trouble. Of course, if this situation were reversed I wouldn't have been in trouble at all because Sakura would have stopped whatever this was before it happened. Because she's perfect. And I'm…"

She froze as she remembered she wasn't alone and gave Ezekiel a hesitant glance.

"The screw up?" He asked reluctantly. "You think you're the screw up? Am I right?"

"Well, let me put it this way, I'm here begging for help instead of busting down doors and doing everything it takes to find her," Natsuki said as she crossed her arms over chest and leaned against one of the shelves. "She always covers my ass. I mess up, she makes it work. That's how this goes. This time it's on me. What if this all goes bad because I'm not ready to repay the favor?"

Ezekiel nodded in understanding and then stood up to join her by the shelf she was leaning against. "Before this place. Before The Library…I worked solo. Never really wanted to be a part of team. I thought I could handle anything on my own. It took me a while, but eventually I realized…asking for help isn't a weakness," he told her. "Especially, if it isn't easy for you to do. And seeking help actually is doing something. Sometimes, you need people who see more of the picture than you. And that's what we're here for, to help you see the big picture. Besides, she's your sister right?" He asked. Natsuki nodded thoughtfully. "You'd do anything to keep her safe, wouldn't you?" She nodded again before he continued. "Then you'll be fine. Somebody recently helped me realize that caring about people actually helps in these situations. You clearly care about her so I have no doubt you'll get her back."

"I wish I was as confident as you seem to be," she said with a sigh.

He scoffed and smirked at her. "No one's ever as confident as I seem to be."

Her tortured expression lightened for a minute as she chuckled at him and shook her head. He felt a little bit of pride at brightening her mood. Even if it was only for a moment. As quickly as she'd brightened it was gone again and she stepped away from him to go back to the work table. He tried not to sigh as the moment passed and hoped he'd actually helped. It was hard to tell with her.

She cleared her throat as he sat down across from her again and then gave him a sheepish smile. "Hey, Jones?"

"Yeah?" He asked in response.

"Thanks," she told him briefly.

He nodded with a small grin but said nothing. There was a lingering moment that he couldn't seem to describe before they both went back to their research.

Well, he thought, that was different.

"The last reports of Aesop's Lyre were where?" Flynn asked as Eve and Jenkins flipped through various books and journals.

"Illinois, 2004," Eve said as she read off of an article she found. "A professor researching dialect translations of the fables had, what was considered to be, a nervous breakdown and claimed animals were seeking him out to speak with him. Students claimed to see him around campus with a, quote, u-shaped harp."

Jenkins nodded from his podium. "He and the Lyre both vanished without a trace."

"That was ten years ago," Flynn said with a sigh. "Would the lyre be able to turn someone into more of a beast, though? Yes, it can make animals seem more human, but would it work the other way around?"

"I wouldn't dismiss it," Jenkins told him. "There's no precedence for it but that doesn't mean it's not possible."

"Precedence would be helpful though," Eve said with a huff. "So would having some trace of it passed 2004. But I've come to learn that the information available in this job isn't always helpful."

Jenkins smirked slightly and nodded in agreement.

The went back to reading, to try and find more clues. When suddenly Jenkins looked up from the monitor he'd been watching.

"It's not the Lyre," He announced firmly.

Eve and Flynn looked curiously in his direction and Jenkins responded by pointing to the monitor he was watching. They gathered behind him.

"Weather radar?" Flynn asked.

"You ran into Natsuki and Sakura here," Jenkins said as he pointed to particular portion of Georgia. "Half an hour ago, there was no storm anywhere near Georgia," Jenkins told him. "Suddenly, there's a massive thunderstorm brewing."

"Signs of Nature's Wrath," Flynn said with a nod. "Of course."

"The Lyre would not result in a thunderstorm," Jenkins reminded him.

"No, but we know what would," Flynn said just before the Clippings Book rattled on the other side of the room. "The Pipes of Pan."

"Looks like we're finally getting some help," Eve said as she crossed the room and stood in front of the book. "It's a flyer for a circus. Looks like it stopped in Valdosta, Georgia."

"Just a few miles from the storm. A circus, of course. What better place to practice control over animals?" Flynn said with a quirked brow.

"Is that what they do?" Eve asked. "Control animals?"

"Yes," Flynn told her. "Similar to the Magical Pipe of Hamelin that Ezekiel and Natsuki are researching. But the Pipes have the ability to inspire aggression as well as submission. Used properly the Pipes have their purpose, but in the wrong hands you could raise a wild and vicious army."

"Just what we need," Eve said sarcastically before she turned to Jenkins. "Okay, we'll go check it out first. Let the others know to research The Pipes of Pan. We need to know how to reverse whatever control it has over Sakura."

Jenkins nodded. "Of course."

"Let's go, Librarian," Eve said with a grin as she motioned to the back door. "Dial it up."

Flynn dialed up Valdosta, Georgia and Guardian and Librarian stepped through immediately after. Eyes peeled for danger or signs of their target artifact.

Since splitting off to research The Pipes of Pan, Cassandra had barely said two words to him. He was reading up on the myths and the first hand accounts of the Pipes the Library had while Cassandra reviewed weather maps and current Doppler readings. She had the idea of trying to get ahead of any weather anomalies that might result from someone using the Pipes. She wasn't happy with him. That much was clear. He hadn't stuck up for her in front of Baird.

He shut the book he'd been reading when he couldn't take the silence any longer. "Cassie."

"Quiet," she said in a snippy tone. "I'm doing math."

"We need to talk about this."

"Talk about what?" She asked. "How you obviously don't want me out in the field anymore? Or how you totally didn't have my back in there? Natsuki had to be the one to say something. Natsuki. She barely knows me and you're my—" She stopped and sighed. "We have work to do, Jacob. This is not the time."

"I love working with you, you know that," he told her as he slid his chair closer to hers. "It had nothing to do with that. And I couldn't stand up to Baird because I…well I don't disagree with her."

Her jaw clenched and she turned to face him with a glare. The heat in that glare was like nothing he'd ever seen from her before.

"High stress is not what brought on Vivien's possession!" She yelled at him with frustration on her face. She stood from her chair and began to pace next to him. She kept her glare focused on the floor as she vented at him. "Vivien knew the threat better than we did. Vivien had the control to get us all through it safely. I let her take over because of that. Yes, Jacob, she asked for my permission and I said yes. You and Jenkins and Ezekiel were all at risk. Not to mention, the entire world if Dulaque had gotten that staff. I made a decision. Me. I had a choice in it! Vivien told you that. Yet, everyone here seems to think she just steam rolled me in the heat of the moment. Like I was too weak to fend her off. And I can't decide what's more offensive: the both of you assuming it's your job to tell me what to do or the both of you completely underestimating me. I graduated too. I have a book. I do not have to work with the team. And, really, if you all think I'm too weak to be in the field why should I?"

Okay, this was spiraling way out of control. Now she was thinking of leaving the team? Of leaving him? So maybe he should have actually heard Vivien when she told him Cassandra had given her permission and maybe he should realize by now that Cassandra is stronger than any of them know. But he wasn't trying to hold her back. He just wanted…

"I'm just trying to keep you safe, Cassandra," he said softly he leaned forward in his seat and placed his elbows on his knees. "We've got time now. You've got time. But if Morgan gets a hold of you or Vivien decides to take control that time is gone. You're gone. We just found each other. There's no way I'm going to lose you. Not for a very long time." He stood up then and stood in the path of her pacing. "We just started whatever this is and I want to keep it going. I want to keep you around. What you're facing now-whatever this is…I can't fight it for you or with you even. I can't see it. I can't protect you from it. I'm helpless. And I hate being helpless. Especially when it comes to protecting the people that I lo—that I care about."

That's when she finally noticed how tense he was. His hands were clenched so tight his knuckles were white and the way he was standing in front of her was too…stiff. Too straight. Like if he didn't stand up straight he'd fall over. Her glare immediately softened as the worried and upset image of him clicked in her brain. Oh her poor Jacob, she thought as her eyes began to water and she bit her bottom lip to keep from crying. She slowly approached him and took his fisted hands in hers. She brought one hand to her lips and placed a soft kiss on his knuckles. She felt his fists relax in her hands as she did so and then released his hands to wrap her arms around his neck.

"I care about you too," she told him softly as she met his eyes. "But if I'm going to be here then I want to be an equal. And I know you worry about me. I know everyone worries about me. But I'm not as fragile as people think. I know the risks of having Vivien in my head and it scares me too, but it's worth it if it allows us to save the world on more than one occasion. I appreciate that you want to have me around for a very long time, Jacob Stone. I'd like that too. But keeping me at the Annex is wasting my skills and my time."

"I know," He agreed in hoarse voice. "I just wish I could do something about…any of this. You don't deserve to have to worry about Vivien or any of the other things you face because of this," he said as he brought his hands up and gently grazed his thumbs over her temples. "I want to help you fight it."

She smiled warmly at him. "You do help. You help by just being here. I've never really had that. I've never had that one steady person who sticks with you no matter what. Having that after all these years…having you. It helps. It helps more than you know."

He placed a soft kiss on her forehead and then smiled apologetically at her. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to be so overprotective."

"I'm sorry too," she told him. "I would never leave. I shouldn't threaten you with it. That was a low blow."

"Yeah, that kinda hurt," he admitted.

"I'm sorry," she repeated as she leaned in to place a quick gentle kiss on his lips. "I won't do it again. I hated it the minute I said it."

"Well, just remember that if you ever actually do leave…I'm following you," he told her honestly. "You're stuck with me now, Cassie. You know that, right?"

She nodded and kissed him again. "Ditto."