Will finished business and wrapped everything at the UK Sanctuary fairly quickly, he knew that Magnus wanted to leave as soon as possible. He had been able to pack his bag rather hastily, making his way to her rooms he found her slowly placing clothes into her bag, her movements were calculated in every sense of the word. "Want some help?" He said after holding the door open for a moment and watching her.
"No, but thank you William, I believe I can manage on my own."
"Ah," coming into the room he sat on the bed and rocked his feet back and forth when he realized his toes didn't touch the floor. "Talked to Declan, he's fine, just worried about you is all." He didn't dare look at her face, knowing it wouldn't tell him much in way of what she was thinking.
"And what did you say to him?"
"Nothing really, I just went to make sure he was ok, since I figured you wouldn't believe me otherwise."
She nodded thinking to herself and remaining in her own world until she zipped her small bag. "I will write him a letter when we get home."
"I'm sure he'd appreciate it."
Again she nodded looking sorrowfully at her bag, "Is it time yet?"
"Any time you want, we can leave." He followed her line of sight until it reached the black leather. "I got it." He picked it up and started walking toward the door. He stopped when he realized she wasn't following. Magnus was still standing, rooted in her spot next to the bed and her eyes were staring out the window. "Hey, you ok?" He came back to stand next to her.
"Hmmm? Yeah." Her eyes flicked over to his face before turning back. It was a few more minutes before she looked at him again, "I stopped thinking about fighting when he took Ashley from me. After I got her back, I was all the more determined to keep him from her."
Something about the way she phrased that made him think, "Did John ever see Ashley, before I met you?"
"Hhe knew of her. It was right after she was born; he came and found me in my study. That was the last time he…" she paused and started again after taking a steadying breath. "That was the last time he raped me."
The inside of Will's head was shouting "Yes!" very loudly and jumping for joy. Her admitting that was a gigantic feat he wasn't sure he would ever see. The outside of him remained calm and steady as she continued to watch his face.
"He found out about Ashley that night, but he didn't see her and I didn't think he would ever come back. I told him if he did I would kill him."
"But you didn't?"
"No," her eyes swept to the floor, "I didn't."
He waited minutes before speaking again, "Come on, let's go. The plane's going to leave without us." He ran a hand down her arm until she started to move. They would have more time to talk on the flight, but he was sincerely hoping that she would sleep during it and take some pain medication. She was no doubt in a lot of pain.
She followed him out of the room, down the hallway and out of the Sanctuary that had once been her home. They were seated in her private jet and he had handed her two pills which she had blindly taken before resting her head against the back rest. "James never understood why I needed to move. He actually thought it was because of him."
He waited for her to continue and when she didn't he spoke up. "Magnus…has anything like this ever happened before?"
She nodded with her eyes shut, unwilling to admit that almost exactly this had happened before. Only then she had been able to solve the problem by moving almost halfway around the world and completely ignoring the situation by focusing on her newest addition to the network. Obviously it had worked then, but she would not be able to get away with doing similar now. She drifted off into a light sleep as soon as the plane leveled out in the sky.
Magnus' old friend was dusting her office when he heard the fax come in. Picking up the paperwork he read over the form quickly. Noting the obviously forged signature, bad penmanship and Declan's approval he grunted to himself. A vacation request for two weeks for one Helen Magnus Director of the Sanctuary Network was filed away in a cabinet.
Taking the initiative he finished cleaning the office, changed the locks, and asked Henry to put a key code lock on each door. He changed all notices on her phones and her email accounts to respond automatically that she would be out of the office. She would not be happy with him, but he was sure that if Declan had seen the need than it was a necessary sacrifice.