"Helen, I don't want to invade your private life, but as your friend I'm a little concerned about…" Will made a face.
"Nikola?" Helen asked. They sat in her office on opposite sides of her desk with a tea tray between them looking at resin and acrylic-based electrical components catalogs.
"I'm glad to see you happy, but you know he's…borderline psychopathic." Will said patiently.
"Borderline is still better than her last boyfriend." Henry said frankly from the door. Both doctors turned to him with frowns. He held his hands up in surrender. "It's true!" He said plaintively. He walked into the room, propped a hip on her desk, and snatched a sandwich off the tray. "Hey, speaking of Tesla. He's looking for you. Some major breakthrough? I got sent as message boy."
"You're working with Nikola?" Helen asked incredulously. Her expression immediately cleared in understanding. "Prisca's here." She said. Henry coughed, glancing at Will, whose eyes narrowed slightly.
Helen stood and said. "Will you excuse me please?" She headed out the door. Will and Henry were left behind in her office.
"So you and Tesla's grandma? Is anyone here not hooking up?" Will asked in exasperation.
"You." Henry said, with as much brashness as his humble nature would allow. He took another sandwich and spoke around a bite. "Obviously."
Will shrugged. "I'm not the one setting himself up to get Tesla as a step-son."
Henry choked on his sandwich. He recovered and said. "I haven't even actually taken her out on a first date, man. Tap the brakes."
"I'm only saying, man, even without the fangs he is one creepy guy." Will said frankly. "Can't figure out what Magnus sees in him."
"He really loves her." Henry said with a shrug..
"Is he even able to love anybody as much as himself?" Will said with a lift of his brows.
"Yeah." Henry said, frowning at Will earnestly. "I mean, he's totally kill-for-her and, more importantly, die-for-her in love with her. Probably as long as he's known her. You can't see that?"
Will stood and rolled his shoulders. "I see a lot of things." He said vaguely. "I gotta make my rounds in the Shoe – want to come along and say hi to Sally?"
"Sure." Henry hopped off the desk and the two men made their way into the depths of the Sanctuary to have a telepathic chat with the resident mermaid as if it were a perfectly normal thing to be doing on a Tuesday afternoon.
Helen could hear Nikola and Prisca snarling at each other even down the hall from Nikola's lab, but when she entered the room, both turned to greet her with matching brilliant smiles. Helen couldn't decide whether to be exasperated with them or thank her lucky stars that the one person they seemed to agree they liked was she.
"Helen." Nikola said with a beguiling smirk. "I take it my messenger arrived?"
"Henry said you needed to see me?" Helen said in a brisk tone.
"It's so hard to train them, but once you do…" Nikola began a smug monologue.
"Less nonsense." Helen said archly, cutting him off. Prisca looked warily between the two geniuses.
Nikola sighed and turned to her. "Don't worry; mommy and daddy aren't angry at y…" His favorite sneer of late was cut off midsentence as he reconsidered it. "That's going to need some work." He muttered to himself. "Anyway!" He said, clapping his palms together in almost manic glee. "Look at this!"
He grabbed Helen's arm and propelled her toward the computer monitors, shooing Prisca out of the way in a careless manner as he did so. Prisca looked provoked, but was quiet as she stepped aside. He gestured with a flourish at the screen. "I give you permission to be impressed. I'm a genius." He said with a superior air.
"Good Lord, Nikola, you are a genius." Helen said.
"I…what?" Nikola said, baffled by her acquiescence.
"It's so simple, it could work." Helen pointed to the formula on the screen.
"It will work. I thought of it, didn't I?" Nikola said, smirk firmly in place again. "I'm…"
He was cut off from launching into a self-aggrandizing speech by Helen's palm over his mouth. His eyes goggled at her audacity then immediately narrowed, promising retribution. Helen turned to Prisca. "You're okay with this?"
The girl shrugged, acting nonchalant. "What's a few months out of five hundred years? Plus this might help me with…my problem."
Helen removed her hand from Tesla's mouth. "It would have to be somewhere secure."
He sighed. "The Shoe?"
"Can you think of a better place?" Helen asked.
"Barbados? Portugal? Anywhere but the Shoe?" He said hopefully. "You don't happen to have a private island do you?"
Helen smiled at him. "No."
"I used to." He said, moping. "1929 was a bad year."
"Where did you come up with this?" Helen wanted to know.
"Yesterday, during the course of events…" Nikola cleared his throat and slid a glance at Prisca. "You mentioned adolescence, you'll recall?"
Helen blushed. "I recall vividly. I didn't think you were paying attention."
"I always pay attention." Nikola said. He gave Helen a gleaming look. "I thought, what if this 'adolescence', as you so unpleasantly termed it, were allowed to run its course? Then I thought, is there a way we can predict its course? So, taking what I know about electricity and electromagnetic energy…" He pointed to Prisca.
"Which is a lot." She said grandly. Nikola grinned. Helen rolled her eyes, suspecting this portion of the speech had been rehearsed.
"…I took the data from the Sanctuary's systems recording the magnitude of the surges I created the three times I had episodes here and…conducted an experiment to recreate the magnitude of the incident at the restaurant." His eyes shifted away from one of the lab's corners. Helen immediately turned to see an incredible mess of glass and huge puddles of water in that corner. She heaved a sigh. Nikola shrugged. "Scientific inquiry." He said innocently.
"You're cleaning this up yourself. Don't even think of asking one of the others to help." Helen said firmly. Tesla looked petulant, but continued his explanation, moving his hands gracefully as he usually did when he spoke.
"The worst episode, far and away, was the unfortunate incident with that girl…"
"Kate." Helen provided.
"Yes." Nikola pointed a finger at Helen. "That one." He steepled his fingers and turned to the monitor, indicating the mathematical formula with his hands. "After that incident the magnitude of my outbursts significantly decreased. Since we've arrested the incidents I can only predict that, based on the ratio of decrease in subsequent bursts, it would take me a minimum of six months to grow into my abilities. I can't test this theory while on the medication you formulated."
"So you'll be locked in isolation? Being monitored all the time?" Helen felt a sense of loss.
"With my antidote close at hand." Nikola indicated Prisca. "I've looked into her abnormality further. I think you could produce a serum from my cells to help neutralize her energy draw. But, until I'm stable we can't test that theory."
"So you'll stay here at the Sanctuary?" Helen asked Prisca.
"I'll stay in the Shoe by Nikola to make sure he doesn't damage the Sanctuary." Prisca said firmly. Helen looked between the two people in front of her. She saw the identical expressions of resolve on their faces.
"Prisca, may I have a moment with Nikola please?" Helen asked.
"Sure. I'll go find Henry. I don't think he was anticipating that I'd move in before our first date." Prisca grinned mischievously. She whisked out the door.
"Nikola, are you sure? Six months?" She said.
He cleared his throat and dropped his eyes. "Minimally." He said. He met her gaze again. "I'll be better able to pinpoint a specific timeline once I start…having episodes again."
"You could just keep taking your medication." Helen whispered, approaching him and laying a hand against his cheek. He closed his eyes and inhaled, pressing his cheek against her palm. He reached up and covered her hand with his and met her eyes. He drew her into his arms. She twined her arms around his neck.
"And be locked in at night? And wonder if all I needed was time? And…endanger you and the people you care about?" He said softly, his eyebrows drawn together. He drew a fingertip down over her eyebrow. "How can I sleep beside you not knowing if I'm a ticking time bomb?" He shuddered then shrugged, smoothing his anxious expression to a mild nonchalance. "It's only a few months. We'll survive it."
"We will." Helen said and it sounded like a vow. He met her eyes and his face sobered. He leaned and brushed a kiss across her lips.
"I'm not going to take my medication tomorrow." He said against her mouth. Helen's eyes flew open.
"Tomorrow? Oh, but..!" Helen protested.
"For sooner then shall I return." Nikola misquoted Wilde with a crooked smile.
"Oscar would be horrified." Helen said, smiling in return. "Tomorrow then."
"You'll visit me in prison?" He asked flippantly. "Stop me driving myself crazy?"
"Of course I will." Helen's face creased anxiously. "Are you quite sure you want to experiment on yourself like this?"
Nikola shook his head and chuckled. "My dear Helen, what else do you think we've been doing all these years?"
Helen raised her eyebrows and smiled.
A cleared throat at the doorway indicated Will's presence. Helen and Nikola stepped apart and turned to him. "Sorry." He said, holding out a hand. "Prisca tells me I'm getting two cells in Shoe ready for, uh…Tesla, party of two?" He looked to Helen for confirmation.
"That's right." Helen nodded. "Right away please. And…Will?"
"Yep?" Will paused, his face carefully blank.
"Try to make them…homey." Helen said. She glanced at Tesla and amended. "Non-metallic and homey."
"Got it." Will tapped twice on the doorframe and then hesitated before adding. "I think you're doing the right thing." To Tesla.
Tesla wrinkled his nose at Will and curled his lip. "So nice to know I have the support of Doctor Red Shirt." He said.
Will shook his head and smiled, refusing to engage with Tesla. "I'll go get things set up in the Shoe. Henry's taking Prisca home to pack some things and bring them back." Will left on his errands.
"Well, what should I do with my last night of freedom?" Nikola asked guilelessly, turning to Helen. She smiled and shook her head.
"You're honestly trying to kill us." She said.
"What a way to go." Nikola said fervently. He snatched her hand and hauled her toward the door.
"You have to clean up this mess." Helen said, looking back at the aftermath of his experiment.
"It'll still be there in six months." Nikola said dismissively and, with a strength that his slender frame belied, he hauled her over his shoulder and walked briskly to the elevator. She was gasping with laughter when he deposited her into the elevator cubicle, straightened his waistcoat and pressed the button for his floor then spun to pin her to the wall and kiss her senseless.