A/N: Today's chapter title is from Linkin Park's 'Burning in the skies.' Yes, I use a lot of song lyrics. There are some within the chapter, and since they're so close to the top, I'll cite them here.

The sentence Nikola says in Serbian is a line from Night Shift's song 'Nikada,' and it means, "I will never admit to myself that you're the only one I wanted, it kills me," or something to that effect. Listen to it on YouTube or whatever. It's very good.

Disclaimer: I still just own my time travelling girl.

Chapter Five: I'm Losing What I Don't Deserve

When Tesla awoke, he was lying in a bed in the infirmary. His mind felt sluggish and the pain in his shoulder had faded into a dull ache. He surveyed the room through half-open eyes. Helen stood with her back to him, looking at something on a table in front of her.

"Nikada neću priznati sebi da si ta jedina koju hteo sam, to me ubija," Tesla muttered.

Helen spun around. "What?"

"Nothing," Tesla replied, closing his eyes for moment. "Did I miss anything interesting?" he asked, looking at her again.

"Like me taking your clothes off while you were unconscious?" Helen asked innocently.

Tesla looked down. He was indeed no longer wearing his own clothes, but was dressed in a loose white shirt. He gave Helen a disappointed look. "At least tell me it was good."

Helen simply smiled at sat down on the edge of the bed. "How are you feeling?"

He smirked as he decided how to answer. "Not so much violated… more left out."

"Well, you should try to stay awake next time," Helen replied without missing a beat.

"Care to give an encore?" Tesla asked, grinning.

Helen smiled flirtatiously, leaning down until her face was inches from Tesla's. "No," she said, sitting back up and standing. "I hope I can trust you to stay here," she said as she was leaving the room. "I don't need you injuring yourself further."

"Of course," Tesla replied. The moment Helen was out of sight, Tesla sat up and looked around for his clothes. If Helen wasn't going to fawn over him, there wasn't really any point in staying in the infirmary when he had work to do. He located his clothes on a nearby chair. The shirt had a massive bloodstain on it, but it would do for the moment. Once dressed, he snuck out of the infirmary and upstairs to the room where he had been staying. Clad in a clean, blood-free shirt, he leaned his head out of the doorway and looked both ways down the hall. Seeing no one, he headed in the direction of the lab, avoiding any approaching footsteps by dodging into alcoves and empty rooms.

He knew that the whole Sanctuary was equipped with security cameras, and there was no way he would get where he was going completely unnoticed. But that didn't mean he wasn't going to try. He was within sight of the lab, when the protégé William came on the intercom.

"Magnus, your… patient seems to have left the infirmary."

"Damn it!" Tesla shouted at the ceiling.

Then Tiny Tim had to put his two cents in. "I've got him on the security camera outside the lab."

"I can hear you, you know!" Tesla shouted.

Helen appeared at the end of the hall. "I thought I told you to stay put."

"Actually, you said you hoped I'd stay there," Tesla pointed out.

"Semantics, Nikola!" Helen said glaring at him. "I can't have you wandering around, getting into trouble, and bleeding to death!"

Tesla pointed to the door that was his goal. "I'll be here, not wandering around. You can even keep an eye on me if you like." He started walking towards the door. "I have a time machine to fix."

Helen scowled and shook her head, but made no move to stop him. He entered the lab where he found Alice sitting on a stool, staring at the time machine.

"I think she's a bit mad at you," Alice said flatly.

Tesla headed straight for the table where he had been working. "She's been a bit mad at me for over a hundred years. At this point I'd be surprised if she wasn't."

"So are you… okay?" Alice asked, gesturing vaguely at his shoulder.

"I'm fine," Tesla replied. "I just need to finish this."

"You know, I really appreciate you helping me out, after... everything," Alice said.

"You mean after you shot me?" Tesla asked without looking up.

"That, and everything in New York in 1890," Alice said.

"I can't say I wouldn't have done the same," Tesla replied.

An uneasy silence fell over the room for nearly an hour, before Tesla turned to Alice, triumphantly holding up the power source in his right hand.

"Is it finished?" she asked.

"No, I just thought I'd show it off a bit. Of course it's finished," Tesla replied. He turned to the time machine and placed the power source back in the pedestal, reconnecting wires as he went. Finally, he made a few adjustments and stepped back with a nod. "There. You can be on your way."

Using a pulley system, they moved it off of the blocks and down onto the floor. Alice ran a hand over the controls, lightly caressing the dials with her fingertips. There was nothing she would rather do than leave this place behind, to strike off for new times and places. She stepped away from the machine.

"You should probably tell Helen you're leaving," Tesla said. "She likes to know who's coming and going."

Alice looked him straight in the eye. "I'm not going anywhere yet."

Tesla narrowed his eyes at her. "Why not?"

"Because I owe you. Not just for fixing it, but for everything before," she said. "You wanted one trip, and I denied you that then. Not anymore."

"Wait," Tesla said. "You're going to let me use your time machine?"

Alice nodded. "Maybe you can find a cure for your mortality."