Well, what can I say? I've finished reviewing this and over 10,000 new words later here I am. I still haven't managed to fit the timeline correctly so don't dwell much on it. Anyhow, here we are again, nice to see you all around.

Enjoy!

M.

Chapter XXXIV

March 27th, 2004

Conference room

SGC.

It took Sam all of ten minutes to find them topside after Hammond called her to give her the news. She ran towards her acquainted family and didn't even noticed her friends coming behind her.

"Mom!" She called as she was near enough to be heard by them. Helen didn't need much more to stop dead in her tracks. She turned around with a bright smile. Once that Jack had managed to see a few times coming from the woman he loved so much.

"Samantha? What's wrong?" Helen frowned.

"I have some leave," she panted.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Helen frowned.

"I asked Hammond to give me a few days off."

"Dense doesn't suit you, darling." Tesla grinned over Helen's shoulders. "Do we need to stop by your home, Samantha, dear?"

"Yes, please. I could use some of my own clothes," Sam beamed at Tesla.

"Oh! Do you mean? You are coming back with us?" Helen grinned, and Sam nodded. "Excellent. What about your friends?"

"Huh?" Sam turned around following Helen's gaze.

"Ah, I'm here to say goodbye for now." Daniel grinned. "But Jack, he had something to ask."

"Daniel!" Jack complained. "Ah, Doctor Magnus; I was wondering if you wouldn't mind if," he trailed and Helen grinned.

"Well, there's room in the other SUV, Colonel. Will can make a stop at your house, while we make one at Samantha's." She offered, and Jack nodded. Helen turned towards Will and placed a kiss on his cheek. "See you in the embarking area. If you reach it before us, call me before you go down."

"Better safe than sorry," Will grinned winking at her making her shake her head. Helen watched as Henry, and Will jumped inside the SUV, and O'Neill sat in the back. While Nikola, Sam, and Ashley were already waiting for her.

"Will he be okay with them?" Sam asked as Will backed his car out of the parking spot.

"Don't worry, sis. Everything will be okay. If not, mom can always move one or two strings."

"Will I ever get used to it?" Sam sighed.
"To Helen pulling strings? Not that I know of; however, she's welcomed to pull or play with strings on me whenever she wants to," Nikola wriggled his eyebrows looking at Helen.

"Yuck! Vlad… keep your hands out of my mother, will you?" He turned to Ashley.

"I wasn't touching her, dear. I would," Nikola grinned with darkened eyes, "but she won't let me."

"Why I think that you being their daughter is making him more abrupt in his ways?" Ash huffed.

"I think you are in the right path there, Ashley," Helen grinned. "How long do we have you, Samantha?"

"A couple of weeks to start with," Sam blushed as Helen looked at her through the rearview mirror. "I have over a year of accumulated leave."

"Definitively their daughter." Ashley huffed, shaking her head amused.

"Huh?"

"Mom? When was the last time you took a holiday?"

"You mean besides the 113 years of it?"

"That so wasn't a holiday."

"I am scheduled to take one in a few months. Will and I have plans on going to the Villa."

"Oh, Capri? With William?" Nikola added in dismay.

"Thailand, actually," Helen grinned looking at him from the corner of her eyes.

"We have a Villa in Thailand?" Nikola frowned. "Why I didn't know about it?"

"Because I have one, not you. And excuse me if I don't want you disappearing up-world and creating havoc on yet another of my cellars."

"And how long are these vacations?" Ashley cut their discussion before it went too long.

"Four days, which one is it?" Helen said pointing to the row of houses.

"That one," Sam said leaning forward to point her house. "Four days? That's not much of a holiday." Sam frowned. Helen raised her eyebrow looking at her through the rearview.

"And pray tell how exactly you got more than a year worth of leave?" Helen asked as she parked the SUV in front of Sam's house.

"I'm pretty sure one only gets to accumulate leave days by not using them, but hey, I've only worked for a couple of weeks topside," Ashley grinned opened the door.

"Oh well, you are right, I haven't taken a real vacation in a while. I'm taking one now so what's with the drilling squad?"

"Welcome to family 101," Ashley grinned, before they all went inside. "Nice house," Ash left out. "It doesn't look quite lived through." She finished as they looked around. Sam blushed. "But hey, you've been down there for a week." Sam rolled her eyes.

Jack's House

Same time

"Are you sure you want to do this, Colonel?" Will asked as they got down of the car once they parked in front of his house. Henry whistled.

"Nice house man. It totally goes with your lonely man slash grumpy Colonel façade," Jack raised his eyebrow. "And I'm shutting up now."

"How come you are afraid of me?" Jack asked Henry as they walked inside his home and he pointed them the living room. "As far as your boss said, you could rip the Doctor and me here in less than 5 seconds."

"That's an exaggeration, but man. You have the scariest look! Well, the second one behind the one Magnus can give. That one," he shuddered. "You don't want to be in front of that one. I mean it! The one she gave to General Hammond is not even half the glare."

"Right, I'll go pack. You can check if there's something edible or drinkable in the kitchen if you want." He said pointing the kitchen before he disappeared down the corridor.

"You never answered, Colonel," Will told him as Jack joined them in the living room a duffle bag in his shoulders. O'Neill raised an eyebrow while Henry looked away.

"I forgot you were a shrink."

"Forensic Psychiatrist, yes. What does my profession have to do with anything?"

"You are doing the 'are you sure?' questions," Jack pointed. "If you were asking the 'how do you feel about it?' questions then I would've said you are a Psychologist." He finished turning around towards the door.

"Well, I am what I am. However, it still doesn't answer the question, right?" Jack huffed and turned towards Will who hadn't moved.

"It's not like I have much of choice, Doctor. I screwed up with one of my best friends, who happens to be my subordinate and one of the greatest minds I know. And she is feeling uncomfortable around me, and that can lead to mistakes, huge mistakes that can affect the whole world. So, excuse me, if I feel like I need to mend it." William smiled and shook his head amusedly; he walked to the SUV.

"Yeah, and it doesn't have anything to do with you being in love with her. Let's go, Henry. I'm pretty sure Erika will be happy to see you."

"What is it with you all trying to pair me up with Carter?" he groaned. Henry grinned, looking at him from the front of the car.

"It's not like you don't want to, Colonel," Henry pointed. "If there's something we know at the Sanctuary is that no life is endless, well, maybe Tesla's," he rolled his eyes. "Anyhow, people come and goes and whenever the second happens it hurts like a bitch. Especially if you haven't had the chance of telling them how much they meant to you. In the short time we've met Sam, she became important to us, even if I never knew her secret," he squinted to Will. "She is nice, and smart and caring and for some reason she likes you, she like-likes you. I would love to see that happening."

"Working relationships are complicated when you are in love with someone in your team and can't do much about it. How did that work out for you? Especially when your jobs come with life and death threatening's every time you cross that gate." Will asked looking at the Colonel from the rearview.

"Weren't you on the same situation at some point, Doctor?" Jack asked.

"Helen is tough to kill, even when I have done that myself before." Will grinned. "It took us a while, but we got there. To tell you the truth, I was scared to death when I found her the night our relationship started to change towards the one we have now."

"Why?" Henry asked he knew for sure when things changed for them due to the way both smelled one morning. But he never asked how they had gotten to that point.

"Ashley," Will said and saw Jack frown behind him. "You saw them fighting, Colonel. Ashley is controlled now, but back then."

"There was a point when fighting her required all three of us at the same time," Henry explained.

"I found Helen after one particular hard fight, and her speed healing wasn't kicking properly."

"She went in without having food first?" Henry asked surprised. Will nodded. "Why would she do that?"

"Something kept Magnus behind, and she barely reached Ash on time. They fought, but by the time Ash collapsed, she was in such bad shape that couldn't get to her room. I found her, and I helped her, and things started to change after that," Will smiled at the memory. "I knew what I wanted, but if I'm going, to be honest, it scared me. She's older, more experienced and I was just another person on her list. For weeks I worried about the what-ifs, but she was there reassuring me every step of the way."

"Huh," Henry shook his head and grinned. "She's subtle, isn't she?"

"More than you might think, Henry. That night she asked me to stay with her because she didn't want to be alone and my insomnia couldn't be happier. She convinced me that, for both of our sakes, sharing a bed to sleep was the best idea. Then it became the only way I could sleep. We found our rhythm I suppose, and then, she kissed me," he smiled

"Yeah, you can stop now. I don't need more info." Henry grimaced.

"It wasn't like that, she kissed me on the cheek, right here," he said placing three fingers right where the corner of his mouth ended and towards his cheek. "And for a few days, I only wanted the night to arrive so that I would feel her lips on my skin."

"Dude! You got it bad!" Henry chuckled.

"I know, despite all that I wanted was to kiss her, and more," He blushed. "For days I didn't dare to turn around and kiss her. All these ideas of how I would screw up our friendship, our work relationship, how I could put her in danger or how she could put herself in danger to save me weighted on my mind and she knew this. And one day, I turned slightly around, and we kissed. She smiled against my lips and then I knew she was taking baby steps with me because she too was scared." The Colonel snorted.

"What?" Will frowned as they finally entered the building.

"I can't believe your Doctor to be scared of something like a relationship, nor I can think of Carter being afraid of it."

"What about you, Colonel? Aren't you scared of screwing the relationship you have with Sam? I mean, you are a tough air force officer with a lot under your belt. But are you not scared?" Will said as they stopped. "You don't need to answer that to me, but you should find out the answer for yourself. Call Helen."

"William?" Helen's voice resounded in the car.

"We are here."

"Great news then. Wait for us; we are five minutes away."

"Okay, I'll contact them to let them know we are about to be on our way. See you soon."

"Toodles!" came in Nikola's voice before the call ended. Shaking his head, Henry unlocked the gloves compartment and took a radio out.

"Sanctuary, this is Henry," he said

"Good to hear you, mate. Are you all coming home?" Declan answered.

"Yup, five of us plus two outsiders," Henry announced.

"Should we prepare a safe environment?"

"Nah, just two guest rooms. Pretty sure the boss will point to which ones when we arrive."

"Okay, see you soonish."

They got down of the car, and a few moments later, Helen parked her SUV next to them.

"Hey, are we taking these to the garage?" Will asked.

"Yes, we should. Ashley, after the scan, can you take Henry and Nikola to their labs?"

"Sure."

"Colonel, you might want to join me here. So I can answer your questions as they appear," Helen smiled.

"You can go first, I'm going to confirm we are getting these to the garage," Will said, and once Jack and Sam entered her SUV, Helen drove to the elevator. Ashley, Henry, and Nikola walked to it and waited outside. And they started their way down. Once movement stopped, the checking started, again green lights took over space as they were all scanned.

"Welcome back," a mechanical voice said. "Helen Magnus, Ashley Magnus, Nikola Tesla, Henry Foss, Major Samantha Carter USAF, Colonel Jonathan Jack O'Neill USAF. No changes reported since exit. Please proceed."

"Ashley," Helen said lowering her window and moving the car forward.

"I'm on it." She grinned before she grabbed Henry and disappeared on blue light before she did it again for Nikola.

Helen drove turning right on what seemed a cavern; it didn't look like it had many miles left until she stopped altogether.

"Where are we?" Sam frowned.

"Oh, we need to wait for William. The screen indicates he announced a full return. Therefore we need both cars to open the road to the city," Helen explained.

"The city?" Sam frowned.

"Yes, haven't you seen the city before?" Helen turned around to look at her.

"No, I didn't," Sam frowned. "I've seen your building, the medical bay, general labs, Nikola's lab, Henry's lab. The visitor's wing, your wing, dining room, library, your office," Sam started citing. Helen raised her hand to stop her from continuing.

"Sorry, you've been to the garage before. I thought you were aware of it," Helen frowned. "How exactly did you reach to the garage?"

"Ashley."

"Oh, that makes sense. I thought you might have reached it by rail; silly me." William parked behind her then.

"I'm right behind you, Helen," Will said trough the connected radios.

"Great, allow me to start the procedure then." She punched some buttons on the screen, and that language Sam had seen before on the spheres appeared on the screen. As if it was plain English, Helen just kept going until the rock in front of them started to move. Turning the engine on again and she began to drive slowly as boulders in front of them slid to the sides making them a path to follow.

"This is the reason why it took so long to get the Tretonin from the outside. This road will take us close to the city and straight into the garage. But it does take almost an hour to reach it." Helen grinned turning left when the rock in front of them didn't move. And then right again, they could see only rock and more rock and the lights of Will's SUV behind them.

"Isn't this path a bit too tricky?" Jack asked as she swerved again.

"Yes, that's the whole idea. The entrance we took isn't the only one that leads to this path. There are natural exits. And of course, we don't want people leaving without us noticing nor topsiders entering. We used a mix of Praxian and Akhkharu technology, and along with a great study on how to move them without causing any structural damage to the top side, Nikola and I created this path you are seeing. Keeping us hidden in plain sight." She chuckled. "Actually, there was one time where we were making tests on the path, and we came to a stop because we heard noises coming from the other side of the rock. It turns out there was an excavation going on close to one of our entrances. They never figured the rock they deemed as the end of the way was just one we had finished placing a week before."

"When was that?"

"Oh, a couple of decades ago, I believe. It was before Nikola had to die and a bit after we lost contact. He was excited with this idea of mine and helped me test it. He never knew what I would use it for or why I wanted it. He figured I wanted a way to keep an abnormal I couldn't contain. When he met my real timeline self he was on a difficult situation and needed to disappear, so his days helping me with this weren't brought forth," Helen shrugged.

"I don't get it; why would you need to go this far?" Jack asked.

"I've mentioned there are millions of species living down here, haven't I?" Helen said not taking her eyes from the lack of road in front of her.

"Yes." They both said.

"Well, the city is where the ones that are not dangerous live. There are schools, factories, sports clubs, stores. Anything that anyone would need to have a fulfilling life. The city of New Praxis, or New Eden, or Sanctuary city, depending on who you ask. We've never quite managed to figure just one name for it." Helen grinned. "Is one of many that are part of the network. As Samantha already know, all the Sanctuaries are interconnected with what we call the spheres systems, while all cities have their rail systems. This one also has several transport bays."

"Transport bays?" Sam frowned.

"Yes. Several years ago, using Ashley's father skills we theorized the duplication of his transport skills by technology, a few years later, thanks to some creatures you might have encountered out world, we finished our version of it. I believe people who have encountered them call them the Roswell grays."

"The Asgards?" Sam wondered.

"Yes, exactly. They have come to help us several times during the creation of this Sanctuary."

"Wait, the Asgards gave you beaming technology?" Jack frowned. "They are reluctant to give us communications stones," he huffed annoyed.

"Oh, they said they couldn't interfere with our workings. However, they've agreed to help us with details if we needed them as for them some of us seem to be advanced enough to be helped with technology without causing massive destruction."

"They have never mentioned you," Jack commented.

"I'm sure they wouldn't, as they didn't comment you with us. The Asgards won't disclose who they visit unless their visitors knew about the others. I knew there was some contact but when I asked they told me they couldn't disclose more information than what I've already told them."

"Is that why having access to my DNA they never say anything about me being an abnormal? They only mentioned Colonel O'Neill as being one rather advanced human."

"I can only assume that's the reason. A few of the Asgards that have approached us have seen your DNA before, and the structure alone doesn't allow them to call you human, thus for their analysis, you aren't an advanced human but a rare version of an Akhkharu. While Colonel O'Neill does present a gene that makes them part of the race I believe we mentioned as the Ancients."

"You know about the gene?"

"Yes, it is not rare among the few human civilizations that grew on these sides of the Earth. Although humans, they are descendant of the ancients. Quite like Nikola is not an Akhkharu but a descendant of them. We believe that, just like the ones who escaped this place after the Ori had, some of the humans along with mostly humanoid abnormals did manage to move topside. And just like Nikola's Akhkharu gene was passed through generations, so did the Ancient gene. Both are dominant genes, although it is rare that, as in your case, they are actives and not dormant." And then after going for forty-five minutes, the path ended abruptly. It seemed there was no more way to go.

"Did you do a bad turn or something?" Jack frowned.

Helen smiled. As soon as Will car stopped behind them, a rock slid closing the way they had come leaving them trapped. Another set of lights turned on, and more scans were made, before the stones in front of them started moving slowly, opening to a white light coming from the fake moon shining softly on their sky. When the path was free, Helen began driving forward.

"This entrance has one of the most beautiful sights of the city, another great view appears when you move from my building towards the garage by rail," Helen said.

As they came down the hill, they could see on their left the bright lights of a city at night, on their far right they noticed another mountain. Helen grinned, stopping at what seemed a viewpoint. Behind her, Will continued the way down towards the garage.

"That's the city," Helen grinned proudly. "It took us a long while to make it happen.

"Whoa, this is larger than I expected," Jack left out. Helen chuckled.

"Well, now I understand why the borders are so ample," Sam grinned.

"That's the garage," Helen said pointing to what seemed a hill on the far side of the city.

"And, where were we?" Sam frowned. Helen pointed to a mountain on the right side, on top of it they could barely make out the contour of two buildings.

"One is my home; the other one is the labs. The containment area you've seen hides inside the mountain, while the distance there's between the city and us, allow us to block the city from outsiders if they reach my building like it was your case."

"So you showed us just what you wanted us to see?"

"No, I showed us what the most critical part of what we hold is. We never finished the tour."

"Mom? Rooms?" Ashley's voice interrupted them from the radio. Helen smiled.

"Give them ones with a view."

"Sure, will you take long?"

"No, we are on our way to the garage."

"Want me to drop by?"

"We will take the rail up. Can you pick their bags, please?"

"Sure. I'll pick them when I get the rail alert."

"Thanks"

She turned the engine on again and started to drive towards the hill she identified as the garage before, once they got close enough, Jack saw the structure for the first time. The left garage gate opened, and Helen started a way up.

"Huh, there's more than one floor?" Sam frowned.

"Ashley only ever showed you the floor of the bikes, I assume." Helen grinned, Sam nodded beside her, as she parked the car beside a series of black unmarked SUVs.

"There is a reason why it is a hill," Helen grinned, "it keeps enough unmarked SUV if we ever need to get several teams topside. Along with an extensive collection of cars I've owned during my life. We made the ground floor the bike one because it was fairly easier to modify the bikes to get to the speed we need for boundaries check than modifying cars."

Helen walked them to what seemed an elevator, and as they entered she pressed the side panel and marked the walls as untainted even before she touched the ground level button. The walls became what seemed like transparent glass, and Sam grinned widely when on a couple of floors down she saw a vast collection of cars going from vintage carriages to the last versions of almost every high-end model. Until they reached the level, she knew well, the bikes one.

"This way, please," Magnus said showing them the way out of the hill and towards the outside. For the first time since she came out of the garage, Sam noticed how the city was a few miles away from them in all its shiny glory.

"There's something I don't get. How come when I was this close to the city. I never saw it before?"

"Ah, remember the spheres? And the security dome?" Sam nodded as Helen started to walk not waiting for them to follow her. "There's also a dome structure around the city with the cloaking program. All cities have one; it's a basic security situation. Even the buildings you've seen before have it. In the unlikely situation that someone does manage to breach our external walls, the moment anyone not recognized or not allowed crosses the outer boundaries, the cloaking devices start to work. They were never down where you were here before because even if we lowered security for all of you, it was never fully taken."

"Why?"

"While your security was marked as full access when you were confirmed as my daughter, Samantha. Theirs wasn't because we never disclose the size of the city to anyone who comes here for the first time. As accepting as the person might be, we can't allow them to roam free, that can endanger the life of the others. I've been a spy for a while, and I know how that works, we can't afford it. Therefore, there are several security points that the person needs to pass before they can be granted full access as you two have now." She stopped in what seemed like a platform, and a metal cage uncloaked next to them.

"This is one highly secured stop for the rail system. Only drivers with access to the garage can reach this point. SUVs are configured and moved through the path and out to the extraction point needed before the teams can join their drivers. Quite like you've experienced going out. Shall we?" she said pressing her palm against a reader. The cube opened, it had enough space to hold four standing people each one safely secured with a four-point lock belt.

"I trust you both know how to use them?" They nodded and secured themselves against the walls as they saw her doing.

"Isn't this a bit too much?" Jack wondered, and then locks appeared to keep his legs and hands strapped to the wall.

"Contrary to the spheres the rails can move in any direction, the straps will keep you in place when that happens." Helen grinned.

"Final destination?" A voice asked.

"Home," Helen said.

"Voice recognized, Helen Magnus. Destination: Home. Will you like to see the views, Doctor Magnus?" Sam grinned eagerly.

"Yes, please." As before in the elevator, the walls of the cube became transparent, and they could see the garage they had come from and the lights of the city on the side. The hub started to move up, and then, it turned to leave them sideways, as it passed behind a cascade. Sam laughed.

Once they were out of the water, the cube stopped and turned them around again, it went a couple of meters high again and then, it turned leaving Sam and Jack hanging from their belts, and Helen almost plastered to the wall as they slid in what seemed like solid rock. Since there was nothing to compare it they couldn't see how fast that part was done, and then they turned upright once more, and started to go up, the hands and feet lock retracted themselves as the view changed from solid rock to one that was breathtaking for the Major and Colonel.

The city shone below them, half hid under a layer of fog, while the moon reflected itself by the lake, they could see. On Helen's side, the view wasn't as exciting but watching Sam's childish gleam was more than she hoped. And then they stopped. On their left, a door opened giving space to a wooden door, and Helen released herself from the wall.

"Welcome to my home," she said, and the wooden door slid open.

"Welcome back," Ashley grinned. "Let me show you to your rooms. We will walk so you can make your way around this."

"All floors are opened for both of you, although I would recommend you to stay away from the safety rooms. If you want to see more of the city, we can arrange some visits tomorrow. And we can start your training and testing the day after."

"You do remember the library, yes?" Ashley asked as they passed the heavy doors of the library and they nodded. "Cool, so you will know your way to the dining room and all." They stopped by an elevator they hadn't used before." And Sam frowned. "Mom said to give you ones with a view."

"I hope you enjoy them, I need to meet Declan and see the status of the whole complex before dinner, I'll see you both tomorrow at breakfast," Helen said as the elevator doors opened. And as they entered the lift, she walked towards her office.

"We weren't here before," Sam frowned as they walked out of the elevators on floor three.

"Yeah, this isn't a visitors area. This is for staff who come visiting. Declan, Kate, Henry, they are the ones that use these rooms more often."

"I thought Henry and Erika lived here," Sam frowned.

"No, they have a cottage near the lake. These are your rooms," Ashley said pointing to almost joined doors. "I hope you like them. We left radios and tabs on both in case you needed help with finding your way, and your bags are also there. Dinner should be available in an hour if you want to come. See you later," she grinned before she puffed out. Sam shook her head at her sister's antics.

"You know, I can see something of you in her. As I can see something of her in you," Jack commented. Sam looked at him and smiled.

"I hope so, we are sisters," she grinned proudly.

There was an awkward silence; it seemed that until now they hadn't realized they didn't exchange words since the meeting earlier that day. Sam frowned, not quite knowing what to say or do, not even sure of how she was feeling. She could ask him what he was doing there and all but she didn't want to make things worse between them. So, she decided to turn around and opened the door. Jack didn't move, feeling a bit guilty she turned to face him and did the only thing she could think.

"See you in an hour? For dinner?" she asked dubiously, and Jack grinned.

"Yes." He whispered back this time he did grab the doorknob and twisted if before he pushed the door slightly open. "See you in an hour, Samantha." He said before he entered the room and closed the door behind him.

Sam blushed and chuckled to herself before she entered her room, she walked straight to the window that gave her a view of the city and placing a hand over her face she giggled.

"He called me Samantha," she blushed.

Later that night

Helen's POV

"Can we talk?" Will asks as I enter our room. He is pacing on the library, and I know what he is coming for before he voices it. I nod.

"What do you want to talk about?" I ask as I go out towards our hidden balcony and he follows me.

"About that thing, you are withholding about Nikola," he says, and I smile sadly. Now that the barriers are disabled, the city shines brightly on the valley below us.

"Are you sure you want to talk about it, William?" I ask without turning to see him. I hope that by the tone I've said it he doesn't. But I also know him better.

"Yes," he lets out joining me by the parapet.

"Very well then," I turn around and walk to the loveseat that takes most of the balcony. And then I pat the place beside me, but Will only turns around keeping his eyes on me.

"You've said to me that you were never a couple," Will trails, I believe he is searching for a confirmation of that.

"That is correct, yes," I agree.

"But you love him," once again he affirms but in a way that says he wants me to answer his doubts.

"That as you already know is also a truth." I sigh. "Where is it that you want to reach, William? You know fairly well we can play twenty questions for days before you reach to what you want to hear if you don't delve into it head first." I point.

"You weren't a couple, you love him," I nod at both. "But were you intimate?"

"Ah," I left out. "It's not quite like you are imagining." I start, and then I pinch the bridge of my nose. There's no easy way to explain this one.

"You and him, had sex, a couple of times in the past," he bluntly says, before he lets out a sigh.

"Oh, well if you put it like that, then it is quite like you are imagining." I shake my head, and once again I pat the place beside me, this time he joins me. Losing my shoes, I sit with crisscrossed legs towards him, and he does the same. My hand reaches his face, and I'm surprised he allows me to caress him softly. "Don't do it," I say knowing full well what's going on in that head of his.

"What?" He frowns, I raise my eyebrow before I can't stop myself.

"Try and picture it," I say.

"It's hard not to, Magnus." I flinch, I'm 'Magnus' now.

"I can only make it worse if I keep talking. But if that's what you want," I trail.

"That's what I want," he says.

"There are only three people who knew about this; you'll be the fourth. You'll join Nikola, me and my father."

"Your father?" He frowns in confusion. And I bit my lower lip and blush.

"Not exactly what you would expect, right? Telling my father about my situation with Nikola was necessary at that point," I explain.

"Which point?" he frowns.

"After he turned," I sigh. "I'm going to put it as simply as I can," he nods. "Nikola and I, we were never a couple. Nikola is my mate, and I'm his mate, William. We need each other to survive."

"What?"

"I'll try to be the less graphical as possible, for your sake," he nods. "When he woke up after his reset, without us knowing it, we became mates. We theorized it was something in my blood reacting with his newly awakened genes. We, hmm, we had sex." I stop, and he nods at me to go on. "It was more like a romp actually, but it ended up with him biting my neck for blood. I, I can't say I was thinking straight when he bit his wrist and offered it to me. It was more an animalistic reaction, but I took it and drank from it. And then every time I was close to him, we ended up like that. As if instead of two altered human beings we were horny beasts that couldn't start to think until we were spent, and this blood exchange was done."

"I," he opens his mouth, but I place a finger on him to stop him from talking.

"Not exactly what you imagined I suppose," I blush, and he shakes his head. And I know he is currently concocting images of Nikola, and I tangled together savagely. The faster I finish this for him, the faster I can try and take those images away from his train of thoughts. "Well, I couldn't allow him to go out without fully knowing what he was, and he agreed. And I couldn't risk any maid going to his room and end up in the same situation I was, making everything way more complicated than it sounded. After a couple of weeks of that rhythm of life, we agreed there was only one person who could understand what the hell was going on with us."

"Your father."

"It was one of the most awkward conversations I've ever had with him. When I described Nikola's new found features, my father knew he was changed into an Akhkharu, and since he was more informed about them than I was, he knew Nikola would need a mate. He asked who had fed him and I couldn't deny it was me. For the expression he made I told him it was I, he knew precisely what it entailed. He said the exchange of blood is similar to a ceremony, when it happens it binds the exchanging people."

"So? What does it mean? That you are mates?"

"Has he ever told you that I'm his drug?" Will nodded. "That's exactly what it means. He could bite anyone to feed, but if he wants to live he needs me alive. He needs my blood occasionally. Nikola hates it; he says he can't believe he can't overcome such a silly animal instinct. But he can't. He tries to separate the intakes of my blood, but sooner or later he needs it."

"You said you drank his too, and that you need him alive. What does it mean for you?"

"It goes both ways. However, since I'm not Akhkharu, and I don't need to feed myself from blood, I need his occasionally."

"And," he can't voice it.

"When I need it, it has to be part of the same ceremony we underwent unknowingly," I say.

"So, you have to have a quick romp and exchange blood?"

"Pretty much, yes."

"Has it happened while you and I," he trails, and I smile.

"No, it happens every eighty or ninety years, I get the taste of his blood in my mouth, and I know I need him. It's somewhat crazy, but when it happens, he always knows how to find me. I never quite asked how that worked." I shrug. "It might happen with you still around."

"Will you let me know?" he frowns.

"Will you want me to?" I see him deliver it with himself.

"I guess it won't be betrayal if I know it and it is a self-preservation thing."

"Maybe we should cross that bridge when the time comes."

"Sounds like the best."

"So," I grin at him. "What should I do to replace those mental images of you?"

"Make love to me, Helen," he says, and that's what I do.