Chapter 5: Eyes Wide Open

After receiving word from Henry that they were back, Helen and the others agreed to meet them outside the Sanctuary's front doors. They decided it was best that the Big Guy stay inside for the time being since they didn't want to frighten Charlie with too much, too soon.

"I still don't know how I feel about on FBI agent knowing I'm alive," Nikola Tesla said rather flippantly to the group of four.

"Oh, would you quit with the drama," John Druitt remarked, clearly annoyed with Nikola's behavior.

"Here we go again," Will Zimmerman said, rolling his eyes.

"Can you two stop bickering for more than five minutes? Please, more important things are at stake!" Helen exclaimed.

Meanwhile, on the car ride to the Sanctuary, Charlie & the two remaining members of his "rescue" team were attempting to regain their composure: Duncan & Henry enough to give the news of Watson's passing and Charlie enough to look presentable. Than again, how is one supposed to look when meeting someone who was likely around the same age as Watson, and running some secret facility that Charlie still wasn't quite sure what went on behind its doors? As they got out of the car and walked towards the Sanctuary, Charlie could only gasp. "Damn! Gothic, castle looking thing was not at all what I had in mind," Charlie said as he tried to take in the full scope of the large building.

"Not quite the look you were expecting," a tall bald man with a British accent inquired, giving Charlie a piercing intense look.

Nikola, a slightly smaller & much thinner man with brown hair & eyes noticed Charlie's reaction to the other man's unnerving glare. "There you go again with your intimidating glares. You always were good at scaring innocent people."

"Gentleman! Where's James?" Helen asked, giving both men stern glares.

"He um, he didn't make it back," Duncan replied with downcast eyes. "He is very sorry that he couldn't make it back to say his own goodbyes."

Upon hearing the news of their friend and colleague's death, both Helen and Will leaned against the front door for momentary support, while Druitt and Tesla could only stare, too shocked to move. This was particularly difficult news for Druitt to absorb. It was only recently that he and James had begun to put their difference beside them. The trip to Ba'alesom the Cabal had set up, started the healing process. Sure time had played a role as well, however it wasn't until they were forced to work together to retrieve the Source Blood that any real healing had begun.

He had told James that his actions as "Jack the Ripper" were not of his free will; that a force so powerful it simply took him over propelled those crimes he had committed so long ago. James had also told him it was not that he hadn't been able to solve "the Ripper" case, but the mere fact John himself was the "Ripper" that had hurt the most. John vividly recalled the pain in his now gone friend and once lover's eyes. 'Why couldn't we have been there?' John thought to himself as silent tears began to fall. At Ba'alesom, he seemed to be the only one who noticed James' distress and gave him any assistance. He almost thought it better if James had died at Ba'alesom, as it looked like he might have. At least, the remaining members of "the Five" would have been there then.

His tears fell not only for himself, but for Helen as well. Of the original members, James, Helen, and himself had been the tight nit core of the group and now they'd both lost him. He stood there transfixed, trapped between wallowing in his own sorrow and helping Helen with hers.

Nikola wasn't in much better shape than John was. Though he'd never really admitted it to anyone else, he was rather fond of James. James had reminded him of his older brother, Dane. Dane was the one person who Nikola thought might have been capable of truly understanding him. Dane had also possessed the ability to visualize thing so intensely, that he had trouble telling the difference between them and what was real.

After James had been injected with the Source Blood, he seemed to have gained the same ability that Nikola and his brother had once shared. Once Nikola had discovered this, he confided in James his own ability of vivid visualization and the event of Dane's untimely death, but requested that James keep this between the two of them. That was the main reason he put up a front of annoying brat towards James in public; he didn't want the others starting to ask questions for fear he would have to relive that horrible moment once more. In private however, Nikola sought out James' friendship and worked on many projects with him. Despite the loss, Nikola was almost glad he hadn't been there to witness Watson's death. It would have been like watching his brother die all over again, and he wasn't sure he'd be able to hold it together. He had barely held thing together at Ba'alesom when they all thought he just might die. Thankfully they had gotten him back to the Sanctuary in time to re-charge the machine Watson and him had built and designed to extend his lifespan. 'This time he wasn't so lucky,' Nikola thought as his eyes started to water.

Charlie, even with his own grief to work through, noticed the reactions of the two bickering men and the woman who had come outside to greet them. He presumed the woman was the mysterious and yet somehow familiar, Helen Magnus. She looked like she was somewhere in her middle to late thirty's; however Charlie had a feeling she was much older than she looked. If she could answer his questions as James had promised, than this Helen was probably around James' age as well. Charlie wondered how she managed to stay so young looking if she was, in fact, somewhere around 160 years old.

After having taken a few moments to regain her composure, Helen took a deep breath and looked at the one person she did not recognize right away. It wasn't until she had gotten a good look at his eyes that she realized the grown man staring back at her was the young werewolf, James had brought here almost thirty years ago. There eyes locked for a moment of recognition. 'He's beginning to remember,' she thought. "You must be Agent Francis, Dr. Helen Magus," She introduced herself whilst offering a hand.

"I gathered that. FBI Special Agent Charlie Francis, pleased to meet you. I only wish we could have met under more pleasant circumstances," Charlie answered, taking Helen's hand.

"I see you've met my technology expert & lab assistant, Henry Foss, as well as James' second in command, Duncan Wilson," Helen said, pausing a moment to caught her breath. "This is my psychologist on staff, Dr. Will Zimmerman," Helen continued, motioning for Will to step forward. Will did as Magnus instructed and nodded to Charlie in recognition.

Charlie nodded back in return. "And the other two men would be?"

"Oh, John Druitt," the bald man with the British accent from before said.

"So, you're a special agent. What's you're specialty?" the skinny, pale man asked Charlie.

"Are you always this rude? I work with the FBI's Fringe Division," Charlie replied

"What, I was just curious. Nikola Tesla," the man said, finally introducing himself.

'Great more smart-asses,' Charlie thought while assessing Nikola's behavior and noticing the smirk on John's face.

"Wait, didn't you die sometime in the forty's?" Charlie questioned Nikola.

"Most would say the answer to your question is yes," Nikola answered.

"Well how can you be who you say you are than?" Charlie asked again, clearly perplexed.

"You're the FBI agent; I trust you're smart enough to figure it out," Nikola replied, having way to much fun annoying the hell out of Charlie.

"Nikola enough! Let's get inside," Helen demanded. She had enough of Nikola's antics for the moment. "Fair warning, Agent Francis, you're about to leave the world you know behind," Helen told Charlie as she opened the front door and headed inside.

The others followed her lead, but Charlie lingered a bit, thinking about Helen's last statement. "Fair warning, Agent Francis, you're about to leave the world you know behind." The statement was stuck in his mind. There was something about the way Helen said it, that gave Charlie a gut feeling that she was right. Not that he hadn't left much of the world he knew behind when he become an agent, but he had regained some of that world upon joining the Fringe Division. There was no doubt in his mind that he had been recruited into the Division because of his earlier, more controversial and unsolved cases. He had come to like working with the Fringe Division and wasn't sure he wanted to leave that world behind. However, he knew the difference between his wants and potential needs in this case. He knew he might need to leave that world behind whether he wanted to or not. He went through the front door Will was holding open and walked with Will and the others to the elevator shaft. Once the elevator stopped and the doors opened, Charlie stepped out into the open space and looked around.

"Welcome to the Sanctuary," Helen told him, as she and everyone else followed him out of the elevator.

All Charlie could do was gawk, open mouthed at what he saw. He had come across many different oddities while working on cases within the Fringe Division, but even those somehow didn't compare to what he was seeing now. He felt amazed yet uncertain, wonder yet fear. He saw a wide variety of 'things', was the best word he could of at the moment, everything from mermaids to upright walking lizard people! Considering his experience with the "monster" in the park, Charlie wondered how many of these 'creatures', yeah that was maybe a better word to use, were genetically created by Helen and her staff.

"He's the last of his kind. I was lucky to find him when I did," Helen told Charlie, noticing where his gaze fell.

"Find!? You mean none of these, creatures, were man-made?"

"Yes. I know that maybe hard for you to believe. Much of even your division FBI refuses to believe in these creatures existence. It makes their life much easier if they deny it." Helen said.

"So let me get this straight, you run a Sanctuary for freaks of nature?" Charlie asked, still having a hard time believing all of this, despite the familiar feel the place had.

"I wouldn't call them freaks unless you are willing to call yourself one. Also, I'd rather you call them abnormal," Helen replied sternly.

"It's one thing to admit psychic abilities exist; it's a whole other to admit mermaids are real! And not just real, but natural!" Charlie replied, clearly unnerved.

"We understand your reluctance and frustration. We were once in a similar position ourselves," Duncan finally spoke-up again. It was hard to believe this man was the youngling he & James had dropped off at the adoption agency so long ago.

"Perhaps Helen's office would be a better place to discuss this?" John suggested.

"Actually I was thinking we should let Charlie get settled into a guestroom first?" Will asked, looking to Helen for agreement.

"I agree. Will, Henry meet me in my office in 30 minutes. John, Nikola we have test results to analyze. I trust you won't try to kill each other. Duncan, would you help me get our guest situated?"

All nodded in agreement and went their separate ways. Once everyone else was out of the sight, Charlie felt comfortable enough to ask, "I've been here before, haven't I?"

"I could see that you were starting to remember," Helen answered as she started walking towards the guestroom.

"I don't really remember being here. It's more the familiar feel this place has," Charlie answered, following Helen to his guestroom.

"Once they reach the guestroom Charlie would be staying in, Helen opened the door and handed Charlie a spare key. Charlie walked into the room, placed his suitcase on the full size a soft bed, with two pillows & a nice comforter as the top layer. There was a moment of silence before Charlie noticed Duncan had taken a seat next to him on the bed, while Helen had sat down on the lounge chair next to the bed.

"You look tired. Perhaps you should turn in for the night and we'll resume this conversation in the morning," Duncan suggested.

Charlie thought about Duncan's proposal for a moment. Although he had many questions to ask; he was tired and felt he would better digest the answers after a good night's sleep. "I think that would be best."

"Do you need anything? Perhaps a cup of tea or a glass of water?" Helen asked as she and Duncan got up to leave.

"No thanks, I've got my water bottle right here," Charlie told her.

"See you in the morning then."

Charlie watched both of them leave as he took a drink and pulled out his cell phone to call Olivia as he had promised. It turned out she must have been busy with another call, so he left a message on her voicemail saying he'd gotten here safely and that he was alright. Charlie took off his shoes and changed into something comfortable to sleep in. He let out a sigh as he turned back the sheets. Tomorrow he would get the answers he needed.