A/N: Today's chapter title comes from Breaking Benjamin's 'Crawl.' We're moving the plot forward a wee bit, and being unreasonably mean to poor Nikola. I do it out of love, I swear.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but Alice. Oh, and that wrench there. No, that's a lie. I don't even have a wrench. I have a sonic screwdriver, if that helps…

Chapter Four: Show Me Where it Hurts and I Will Make it Worse

Helen found Alice in a window seat in one of the upstairs hallways. The younger woman sat with her knees pulled up to her chest, with her arms wrapped around them as she gazed blankly out the window.

"Hello," Helen said softly as she approached.

Alice looked up and away from the window. "Oh, hey."

"You seem to have adapted well to modern speech," Helen observed.

Alice nodded absently. "I picked things up here and there. It's easier to blend in when you don't speak archaic English."

Helen decided to jump right in with what she wanted to know. "Why don't you want to go home?"

Alice shrugged. "There's nothing for me there. My parents are both gone. The scientific community laughed at my theories. I see no reason to go back there."

"So where will you go?" Helen asked.

Alice looked back out the window. "Around. I don't like to stay in one place for too long." She pushed her insecurities down behind her snarky façade and turned back to Helen. "So what happened to Nikola? I mean, with the whole vampire thing."

Helen considered how to explain. "There was an incident, and he… de-vamped himself."

The corners of Alice's mouth twitched into a slight smile. "How on earth did he manage that?"

Helen shook her head. "It's a long story."

Alice looked down at her knees. "So I imagine he's not doing so well with the whole mortality thing."

Helen's expression answered for her. Alice nodded slightly and abruptly stood and strode off down the hallway.

Tesla looked up at the sound of boots walking into the lab. When he saw Alice approaching, he looked back at what he was doing. He didn't look up when she stopped, standing across the table from him.

"How's it coming?" she asked.

"I've had to largely rebuild the power source," Tesla replied, still focused on his work. "It should be up and running in an hour or two."

"That's… fast," Alice said, taken aback.

"Genius," Tesla said, half looking up.

"Right," Alice said, picking up a wrench off of the table. "Even with one arm," she commented, tossing the wrench into the air so that it spun once before she caught it. She went to toss it again, higher, but as it reached its apex, it veered off course towards Tesla, colliding with his wounded left shoulder and sticking there.

Tesla dropped the part he was holding on the table, leaning forward on his right hand. His eyes squinted shut as he finally mustered a strained, "Ow."

Alice stared at him a moment in confusion before pointing accusingly at the wrench. "You're magnetic!"

"Yes," he replied flatly, not moving from his hunched over position. "That's a very…" he gritted his teeth, "astute observation." He took a deep breath and opened his eyes, staring determinedly down at the table in front of him.

Alice leaned across the table and firmly but gently pulled the wrench away from him, setting it back on the table. "Sorry," she said quietly.

"For hitting me with a wrench, or for shooting me in the first place?" Tesla asked.

"Both," she replied. She watched Tesla for a minute. "Are you okay?"

"Um…" Tesla said uncertainly. He squinted again and cast a glance at a dark spot on his already dark shirt. He pressed his right hand against his shoulder, and pulled it away with blood on his fingers. "No, not really. I think I should..." He grabbed at the edge of the table to slow his descent as he dropped to the floor, landing in a sitting position, leaning against the heavy leg of the table.

Alice knelt down in front of him. "Jesus, Nikola."

He looked at her with a slight smile. "It might be more than an hour."

She rose quickly to her feet. "I'll find Dr. Magnus," she said, hurrying for the door. She didn't have to go far, as she was met by Helen in the doorway. "We've, uh, had a bit of an incident," Alice said, gesturing back toward the table.

Helen crossed the room and knelt next to Tesla. "Can't you two play nice?" she asked. "What happened?"

"I… um, well, see, I had this wrench, and then… he's magnetic!" Alice stuttered out.

"Hello, Helen," Tesla said with a weary smirk.

"It looks like you've lost quite a bit of blood," Helen said, reaching out and unbuttoning his shirt to better assess the damage.

"It's not the setting I would have picked, but I can work with this," Tesla said, wiping the blood off of his right hand and reaching out and grazing his fingers across Helen's cheek.

"Nikola," she said in a warning tone, but he ignored her and leaned forward. When he was mere inches from her, his body went limp and he dropped heavily into her lap.