Will looked around the room quickly trying to figure out exactly where the blast had come from. He couldn't see a lot, but he definitely knew the room was empty save for the unmoving form of his lover hanging limply by her hands. Will flung around to see the other's still holding weapons high and raised. "No one's—" he saw the tiny movement too late. The finger twitched on the trigger. Leaping in front of the woman in a vain attempt to help her, the second bullet blasted through the night and grazed his cheek and most definitely sliced into the body behind him.

Falling to the ground in a heap he was only beginning to stand when he saw Declan flip quickly and pull his own weapon on the man standing behind Kate. Thank God Will had not been the only one to see it. Declan pushed the weaker man against the wall and wrenched his gun filled hand behind him. Jephthah dropped the gun and it clattered to the ground. He pulled out a zip-tie from his back pocket and Will moved towards Helen. Checking a pulse he was absolutely relieved when he felt it, even the faint beat meant she was still alive.

"Kate, give me a hand." Will wrapped his arms around Helen's waist to relieve the pressure on her shoulders and arms enough for Kate to pick the lock. By the time Will had laid her down against the cold cement floor Declan had tossed Kate the key and she was unlocking the woman's feet. Declan dragged the man in question to the SHU and placed him in isolation.

Helen woke up slowly to the sound of beeping in her ear. She recognized it instantly as a heart monitor. Her entire body ached, from head to toe. She tried to move, but her attempts were slow and took a lot of effort on her part. Her wrists and ankles were burning and she had to take shallow breaths otherwise the sharp pain in her side and chest forced her to cough. Her shoulder was sore and stiff and she couldn't really move it, but she could wiggle her feet, which was a good sign. Drawing in air slowly she opened her eyes, finally adjusting to the bright light that was her infirmary.

"Hey," his voice was music to her ears. She felt him slide onto the bed next to her, his fingers caressing her uninjured shoulder and arm. His hand was cold against her warm flesh and she was thankful, painkillers usually gave her skin a flushed feel and she undoubtedly was on many.

She managed one word, "Sara?"

"She's fine, found her before we found you. She wasn't hurt at all, just scared. Henry's with her now, although she really wants to come see you."

"How long?" were her next words, she really wished she could touch him, but her arms were not cooperating.

"You've been out for about two days. The swelling on your face is almost gone; it's just black and nasty now." She snorted what she could before grimacing in pain. "I'll ask the Big Guy to increase the morphine."

She shook her head, "No, don't. Not necessary."

He leaned over and kissed her lips then. "Want some water?"

"Yeah," she rasped out and waited for the straw to grace her lips. He held a hand behind her head to help her drink. After she finished he sat her up a bit. "Thank you." Pressing her head against the pillow she looked over his face, noticing the small bandage of butterfly stitches on his cheek for the first time. "Bring Sara tomorrow, when I have more energy."

"Alright," He was leaning over her, one arm on each side of her body to hold him up. "Want me to leave you to rest?"

"No, tell me what happened."

He nodded and looked down at her hospital gown clad stomach before drawing in a deep breath of his own. "I'll keep it as brief as I can."

"That would be appreciated."

"Ok, first things first: Dana Whitcomb is dead and apparently has been for years. Jephthah worked for her during the Cabal reign where Whitcomb and started a plan 'B' in case plan 'A' with Ashley didn't work. After Whitcomb was killed by none other than Johnny 'dearest' Druitt, Jephthah decided to join the Sanctuary Network in order to gain better access to you and to continue on the Cabal's work in secret.

"Apparently, they have been cloning Ashley's DNA since before her capture and transformation, but it was the after her transformation that they needed to make plan 'B' succeed. All of the clones died within one year of their creation. They thought that with the source blood, this little problem would be fixed, but apparently it wasn't. So they continued researching until they thought the problem was solved and that's when Jephthah contacted Sara Whitcomb, posing as her mother.

"Jephthah has been the organizer of this whole thing, using his contacts and privileges within our network to complete everything from the video feeds to the emails from all over the world, to setting up Sara Whitcomb at our front gates and the bombs in her. Declan will be moving him to a safe house outside of London for the man's foreseeable future."

She nodded and her eyes locked with his, "I want to see him, before he is transferred."

"We'll talk about that later."

"I'm serious, Will."

"So am I, Helen." He mimicked the pointed look she had given him and threw it right back at her. "I promise I will not let them leave before we discuss this, but we will discuss this before you see him."

She readily agreed, "How did you find Sara?"

"Actually, she found me. Apparently she can teleport, but she doesn't quite have control of it so far. Don't worry the EM Shields are down so she won't get hurt." He leaned down and kissed her again letting his lips linger this time as long as she wanted. "I'll let you rest now and be back in the morning with Sara. She's been waiting to see you like crazy. Asking every time she sees me if we can come see Mommy."

"Did you explain this to her?"

"She already knows. Telepathic, remember? She hasn't seen you so I'll talk to her about that a bit first, but she knows you were roughed up good." Helen's lips upturned at his vernacular and quiet humor. "Come on, let's get you comfortable again." He lowered the back of the bed and pulled a pillow out from behind her head so she could rest more peacefully in sleep. Luckily the drugs would act like a sedative and let her slumber without nightmares.

"Will," she started as he began to move away. He pulled back to her and her fingers found their way to the hem of his shirt. She grasped the cotton tightly. "You'll tell me tomorrow how that happened?" She indicated the wound on his cheek. He nodded and she continued, "Well then, kiss me properly."

"With pleasure," He took his time and let her set the tempo, not wanting to do anything further to injure her in anyway, even if it was just drawing in sharp and rapid breaths. Her entire body didn't move, simply because she couldn't make it move, but the feeling of his mouth on hers was heavenly.

Stopping she opened her eyes and waited until he did the same, "I love you."

He grinned against her, "I love you, too." Kissing her chastely once again he left the room and turned off the lights so she could sleep. After all, that morning he had been talking about, it was in about four hours. Will didn't sleep the rest of the night; he had been waiting patiently for the woman to wake and had thus fallen behind on everything else. Catching up would be a good idea because he was sure the Network would want a quick and detailed update.

Sara had eaten breakfast and dressed by the time she moseyed on into Will's office. "Hey," he said and she came over leaning against where he sat in his chair still half asleep. Will pressed his lips into her hair, "Ready to see your mom today?" She might have looked eleven or so, but her mind was nowhere close to that of a pre-teen. She nodded against him and he rubbed a hand up and down her arm. "I don't want you to be surprised by how she looks, ok? She was hurt pretty bad and so she can't move easily and her eye is hurt."

Again the girl nodded. "Can we go see her now?"

"Yeah, let me just make sure she's awake," he pulled up the video camera on his monitor so he could see if the woman had roused from her medically induced sleep. Noting that she had, he grabbed the girls hand and began his way down to the infirmary.

Helen was sitting up and sipping at the tea her old friend had brought her. With one arm in the sling and her other still sore from being strung up for so long she was having difficulty bringing the cup to her lips. She struggled through the motion several times savoring the flavor and heat as it washed away the last dregs of sleep from her system. The door opened tentatively and Helen was able to look and see her daughter's hand on the handle. She watched as Will followed closely behind the girl, her other hand grasping his tightly. Helen smiled and beckoned her daughter to her side.

Sara was too afraid to hug her and held tightly onto Will. He took the empty cup at Helen's behest and set it next to her on a tray table; picking up the girl he set her gently on the bed next to her mother. Helen ran fingers over her daughter's leg in an attempt to comfort the obviously shaken up girl. "It's ok, sweetie; it's ok." Helen moved her fingers to the girl's cheek as Sara brought her head down against Helen's breast, sighing deeply at the security it provided her. Helen continued to softly stroke Sara's hair when she curled against her side.

Will leaned down and kissed Helen's forehead and lips tenderly, "She wanted to see you as soon as she could."

"Thank you," Helen glanced down at the girl before looking back up at the man, deciding to ask her question cryptically. "Did you speak with Declan?"

"Yes, but we'll talk about that later I promise this time. Would you like some more tea?"

"Yes, very much so, thank you." When he leaned over to grab the cup next to her he pressed lips against hers one more time. Helen didn't move her hand from her daughter even though she desperately wanted to hold his head. Instead she opened her mouth and swiped her tongue out to taste him. Will breathed in deep and complied with her wishes, pressing harder against her to entangle his tongue with hers. She pulled away first and smiled, "Thank you, I think…I think I really needed that."

He gave her a loud and wet kiss, "Anytime, love, anytime." Picking up her mug he left the room thinking that he heard her mutter cheeky under her breath.

Helen felt the tiny head on her side rub against her, "Mommy?"

"Yes sweetheart?"

"I know that Will's not my real dad, but…do you…do you think he would mind if I called him dad?"

Helen dearly wished Sara would look at her, but sadly the girl did not. "I think he would love it if you called him that, but you might want to ask him first. I'm not sure how your father would feel about it, though."

"Can't you ask him?"

The woman smiled to herself, "No, sweetheart, that's a conversation you need to have with Will. By the way, how are your studies coming along? I hope Will hasn't let them slide in my absence."

"Um…" Sara raised her head then to look at her mother.

"You haven't worked on a single thing have you?" Sara bit her lip in quite a good mimic of her mother. "Well, we'll just have to—" Just at that moment Will walked back into the room with a hot cup of tea in his hand. "William…" her voice crooned over to him. "Just what have you been teaching our daughter?"

His movement only faltered slightly when he stalked towards her. Firstly, 'our daughter' and secondly, that tone in her voice did not sound like this was going to be a pleasant conversation for him. For her, yes, but no way was he going to enjoy it. "Sara, what have you been telling the poor woman?"

"Nothing, I promise, I haven't told her anything. She figured it out on her own."

"Figured what out?" Sara was now sitting cross-legged next to the woman in question. Will moved around her and handed the warm mug to Helen before sitting on the stool that had yet to move its vigil.

"That someone has not been keeping up with her studies and another someone has not been keeping her up with her studies." Helen raised her eyebrows in his direction before taking a long sip of the hot water.

Will rolled his eyes in her direction, "I think there were mitigating circumstances, but since the woman wants study time the child will get study time." His eyes moved to Sara and she nodded in understanding. Kissing her mom on her cheek quickly she whispered a goodbye before leaving the room. Will waited until he was sure the girl was gone, "'Our daughter'?"

Helen only shrugged and easily changed the topic at hand, "Did you speak with Declan? I want to see Jephthah before he is moved."

"I did. They'll be leaving tomorrow morning, so you'll have to be quick if you want to see him. I don't want you to talk to him though."

"I have no intention on speaking with the man. That will only result in me harming him." She calmly took another sip of tea glad she had gotten her way.

A month had passed and she was still recovering from the beating she had taken. She still woke startled to Jephthah's cold eyes staring at her from the isolation room window. Will had seen it every time she sat straight up in the bed, but she ignored it and his reaction. Instead she would turn into his warm body and feign sleep until he was forced to leave to begin the work day.

One week prior, Helen had been allowed back into the research labs to continue her work, and she found that if she stayed up as late as possible working she would be too exhausted for dreams and nightmares. John had said she had a cure to Sara's rapid growth and Helen was determined to find it. If only she had gotten the bloody man to reveal the cure before she had kicked him out of her life once again. She was two days into not sleeping when Will showed up at the door to the lab and watched her in silence.

Her eyes were slipping closed and her head bowing down lightly, bouncing up suddenly as she caught herself falling into slumber. "Helen." She didn't turn at his voice; she knew exactly what he was going to say and she absolutely did not want to hear it. Instead she ignored him and looked back into her microscope. "Helen." His voice was more forceful this time and he planted hands on her shoulders turning her on the slim metal stool to face him. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong." Her skin was no longer bruised but her body was still broken in many places. Will, however, was more concerned with her mental state.

"Don't lie to me."

"I'm not lying, William." She leaned into him then and planted lips against his. She pulled his body squarely into hers and ghosted her fingers over his chest.

He lost his thoughts in the essence and flavor of the kiss until he realized exactly what she was doing—she had, after all, done it plenty of times before. He was quiet when he pushed her back and away from him, although he left his hands in place on her shoulders, "Stop." Her body took a moment, but it started shaking then and she refused to let their eyes meet. "Helen, tell me what's going on. You're exhausted and purposefully not sleeping or taking care, please, let me help."

She forcefully shook her head against his body when he dragged her face into his chest. Soothing a hand over her hair he almost missed her words, "I'm afraid."

"Of what?"

"That this will never end, that she'll always be in danger because of me. It's Ashley all over again."

"Yeah, I know. But, Jephthah is in custody and he's not getting loose anytime soon. The Cabal are totally wiped out, I don't think there's any lingering remnants of it this time around. Other than that, we just have to take it all step by step."

"I know, but I can't help feeling that this is my fault."

"It's a hard feeling to avoid."

"Yeah," she pulled back and wiped the few stray tears that had released off her face and stood. Planting a smile on her features she held out a hand to him, "Take me to bed, William. I'm dreadfully tired."

"Yes, milady."

"Cheeky."

They made it almost the entire way to their room in silence before he spoke again, "I want you to take tomorrow off." The look she gave him was a glaring warning, "At least half a day and since technically I'm your boss now, I can force it."

"Fine, I need to take Sara shopping to get more clothes anyway. She grows so fast that it's hard to keep up."

Hours and hours later, Helen found herself waiting outside the dressing room for Sara in the junior section of the store. She certainly was growing quickly. She had pairs of jeans and shirts in her hands when she thought she saw something out of the corner of her eye. Turning to the large window fully she looked out at the people walking along the street. It couldn't have been Jephthah; he was in London under constant supervision. Yet, she was sure she had seen him walking along with the other tourists.

It was just then that she heard the large and loud thud behind her in Sara's dressing room. Through the bottom slit in the doorway she could see her daughter lying on the ground convulsing sharply in the midst of a seizure. "Sara!" Helen dropped the clothes and ran to the door finding it locked. Shoving hard the mechanism loosed and the door fell open.

Helen's knees were on the dirty carpet and her face was over Sara's body holding her head so she wouldn't bang it recklessly against anything sharp. Someone yelled behind her for help and to call 911, but Sara's body was already beginning to slow in its convulsions. Helen removed a hand from the girl's hair and pressed fingers to her throat, her pulse was weak and slowing. "Damn it, Sara. You cannot do this to me."

In minutes Sara's face was relaxed and unmoving; her heart no longer beating by the time the paramedics arrived and shoved Helen out of the way.

She wasn't ushered into the ambulance, and everyone kept giving her pitying looks. Police were talking to her and she was barely answering their questions. God, what was she going to tell Will? "Ma'am, is there anyone we can call for you?" Call, yes, she needed to call Will; she needed him here, with her, right now. She nodded in an answer and pulled out Will's card from her purse, silently handing it the man. He moved off and pulled out his cell phone when she saw Sara's small form on the gurney. She watched it as they placed her in the ambulance. She had been told the girl would be taken to the city morgue for a proper autopsy, even though Helen knew the cause of death. So long as they didn't run a DNA scan, they should be fine.

Her arms were wrapped around her body, shielding herself from the cold that was threatening to take over her skin. She refused to cry. It would only make her head hurt and she couldn't—there was no way that her daughter had just died. Sara couldn't be dead—she couldn't have lost two children. The cop came back over and moved her to sit in the open door of his vehicle. He had a worried look on his face, probably because she wasn't responding to anything. Nothing was penetrating her thick exterior. "Ma'am, the man I called said he would be here as soon as he could." She nodded. She hoped Will wasn't worried about her, that wouldn't do him any good.

This was going to be hard on him, harder than Ashley had been. He had only known both for little under a year, but Sara had wheedled her way into his heart. This was going to be very hard on him. Lost in her thoughts she hadn't realized that much time had passed but it obviously did because she saw Will talking to an officer who pointed at her. He moved to her quickly, his steps fast but not quite urgent, after all things tended to always go pear shaped in their lives and this could be anything. He ducked his head down so he could look at her properly, but she didn't move her eyes to meet him. Deciding it was necessary; he kneeled down and took her hands in his, looking at her face. "Want to tell me what's going on? The officer just said I needed to come down here right away."

Oh God, she thought, he had absolutely no idea. She did look at him then and he saw everything in her face and unshed tears. They began to pour over her cheeks and he suddenly stood up. "Where's Sara?" She only shook her head sharply in response, "Helen, where's Sara, what happened to her?"

She sniffed in, still trying to hold back the wave of grief that was going to burst forth in any second, "She's gone." Her voice was so small, so depressed that he stared at her in shock. "She's dead."

"What?" He tried to move but Helen had stood and collapsed against him. There was nothing he could do except wrap his arms tightly around her and hold on as his world came crashing down.

"There was nothing I could do. She had a seizure and there was nothing…" He kissed the top of her head looking around for Sara; he had to see her, to confirm that what Helen was saying really had happened. It was then he saw the open doors of the ambulance and the covered prone form in the back of it. He pressed his face into the woman's neck and let the tears begin to flow out of him. They held each other like that for a very long time before the cop who had questioned her before had come over and tried to talk to them again. He took down some more information from Will specifically, before he told them they could go and that he'd be by the next day to talk to them some more.

The following week had flowed quickly and yet dragged on and on. They held a service as soon as the girl's body was released: luckily they had run into few complications in the entire process. Sara's body had lovingly been placed next to Ashley.

Helen had dove into work, taking over for Will as he struggled to rise each morning and stay each day. She was running everything once again and avoiding the lab like the plague lived there. She turned in late most nights and never spoke a word to him when she slipped under the covers. The distance between them grew with each passing night to the point where it was tangible and others were beginning to notice. Their world had become one of silence and evasion.

She woke up to him crying for the third night in a row, but this time his sobs were so deep that the entire bed shook. Giving in, she turned to face him and pulled his emotionally exhausted body into hers. Helen rubbed hands over his back and face, wiping the salty droplets away and kissing his reddened cheeks. She held him until he calmed, but the tears were still in his eyes although no more fell. Finally she whispered, "I found a cure for her rapid growth…that night before, I'd actually found it. But it wouldn't have made a difference."

"What was it?"

"My blood."

He nodded in understanding, "She asked if she could call me dad." His voice broke as he finished the sentence.

Helen smiled, "I know, she talked to me about it first."

"I just…I never thought I would fall that hard for her."

"I know; me neither. But that's love in its strongest form." Her eyes began to leak and she pressed tightly into him. "Hold me tonight Will, I need to be held." And he did. They fell asleep that way, waking late the next morning to begin another grief filled journey.

A/N: I hope you all enjoyed this and yes this is the last chapter…no more. Don't kill me because of the ending please! I know it's sad, but that's me. A few things I should mention.

No I did not plan on having 12 chapters for the 12 months of the year…it was purely coincidence because this piece was actually only supposed to be like 3 chapters when I started it.

Jephthah…I know it's a hard name to pronounce, but there is a reason why I chose it. He is a biblical character and goes to fight this war. He says to God that if he wins this war he will kill whoever walks out of his house to greet him first as a sacrifice. When he wins the war, Jephthah returns home and his one and only daughter walks out of the door and he's now gotta keep his promise to God and sacrifice her. He does, he kills his daughter. (See the connection?) So if you were biblically minded or in my biblical studies class you would have known who it was the entire time lol.

Please review, I want to make sure I didn't kill any of you in the writing of this…or that you didn't lose faith in me and my humanity. lol