Now, if you read this a certain way, you might go "AHH! SHE'S TURNED INTO A MAGNITT SHIPPER" which is just not the case. I am pointing out a friendship that we all know existed and am not implying that anyone is going to be jumping anyone else's bones. Alright? Alright.
Now, this chapter is dedicated to starrynight398 because she is not only visiting a tre cool place but also because I'm a bit dud and have been neglecting to update the Should Have series. I'm trying, I promise but uni is mean.
Thank you those reviewing. I sound like a message recording with that, I know but honestly it is amazing to get feedback :)
xx
The drive was long, slow and bumpy. No one spoke, a strange tension descending over the group. Normally, just before a mission as big as this, Henry was babbling nervously, Will pretending like it was no big deal while Kate became even more snarky than normal. Instead, they all sat silent, crammed together on one side of the van, Nikola and John on the other. Rose, it seemed, had very little idea of where she was going and, while they may have thought she had little experience driving a van like that they were in, Helen knew better. Considering the back routes they were taking, she was grateful for the other woman's skill, well aware that anyone else probably would have had them rattling around like sardines on the pockmarked roads.
Just as the last vestiges of sun disappeared over the horizon, Rose began to hum softly, a melancholy tone that Helen didn't recognize.
"I didn't pick you for a Top 40's kind of girl," Kate called out after a few moments and Rosie chuckled.
"After my shown affinity for Lady Gaga? How could I be anything else?" Rose called back and suddenly, the mood lifted.
"I don't suppose you brought some CD's or something?" Kate asked.
"Even if we did, we don't have any means to play them," she called back as they hit yet another pothole, making them all bounce violently in their seats. "Though I could sing, if you'd like."
"God no, anything but that," Nikola deadpanned and John chuckled.
"Can we not antagonize the driver please?" Helen called back to them as they hit another rough patch.
"I'd listen to her if I was you," Rose called as they swerved around the corner.
"Bloody hell," Helen muttered as she grabbed the dashboard. "Are you sure you know where you're going?"
"Well, right now I'm taking us to the inn just over that hill," she said as the swung around another corner. Helen tried to speak again but, as the road became even more formidable, she gave up on the idea. They were all silent for the next few minutes as they slowly navigated their way towards the tiny inn.
Pulling up outside, everyone gave a sigh of relief, glad that they hadn't wrapped themselves around a tree as they clambered out into the chilly night. Rose skipped ahead of them all, knocking on the unremarkable looking door at the front of the building. The door opened and Rose began bouncing up and down slightly, rubbing her arms as if for warmth as she began to speak in rapid Serbian to the old woman in front of her. The woman originally looked unimpressed but, as Rosie began to speak more emphatically, gesturing to the van behind her, the old woman softened, wiping her hands on her patchwork apron before pulling Rosie into a hug, patting her back soothingly as she looked over at the others with sad, pitiful eyes. Rose pulled away, sprouting a few more rapid Serbian phrases before turning around and bounding back to the group.
"Grab the bags, we've got rooms," she whispered proudly, winking as she grabbed a handful of gear before turning back to the old woman. Sharing looks of confusion, the others did as she instructed, hauling their gear inside, dumping in where Rose had. As the door shut behind Kate, the little old lady began babbling away, hugging and stroking everyone in a gesture of comfort.
"Et. Es. Vurry. Sad. Abut. Yor. Frunds," the woman said haltingly, smiling broadly before sighing heavily. "I. Vull. Gut. You. Fooood," she promised before turning on her heel and waddling from the room.
Everyone looked at Rose.
So I may have told her that our friends went missing a few weeks ago and we're here to find them, she said mentally.
Rose! everyone heard Helen scold.
"Well how else was I going to explain all our bags and gear," Rose hissed under her breath, rolling her eyes before turning and grabbing a few of the offending bags. "They're a little short on rooms tonight, I'm afraid," she continued as everyone else grabbed the rest of the gear.
"I take it that means there'll be bed buddies involved," Nikola said scathingly as they began to climb the rickety stairs in the corner.
"Yes Nikola," Rose sighed, shaking her head slightly. Eventually, after a rather precarious journey up what appeared to be a staircase held together by determination and nothing else, the emerged on a dark landing.
"Kate, Henry, you take the one down the end," Rose instructed, flicking a key towards them. " And Will, you and John can take the room just here," she continued, rapping her knuckles on the door to her left.
"Woah, wait!" Will began to protest with an uneasy look towards Druitt. "I mean, no offence or anything but couldn't I bunk with Henry?"
"Should the worst occur," Rose said sternly, hands on hips, "Henry can transform and protect Kate while John is perfectly capable of doing the same for you." Her glare, though muted through the dark was effective in silencing Will's protests.
"So that just leaves us," Helen said uncertainly as she looked between Nikola and Rose.
"I can't tell you the things going through my head right now," Nikola said with a saucy grin and both Helen and Rose rolled their eyes.
"I don't need to sleep, Nikola and you need very little so you and I shall take turns standing guard for the others," she explained patiently and Nikola pouted.
"My idea was more fun."
"Nikola," Helen said warningly, casting a glance towards a very tense looking John.
"We aren't here to have fun," Rose snapped, turning on her heel and marching towards her door. "I suggest you all get cleaned up before the caretaker comes back to take you to dinner," she ordered before stepping through, shutting the door firmly behind her.
Will, Henry, Kate and Nikola all shared confused looks but Helen seemed saddened by something while John remained stony faced, staring at Helen.
"She's right," Helen said a after a pause, "we need to go get cleaned up. Nikola, can you take Henry and Will down stairs now and see to dinner. Kate, John and I will get our gear unpacked and meet you down there." Everyone murmured their ascent before quickly dispersing and heading to their assigned rooms. Nikola had just reached the door to what would undoubtedly be a very cramped room when Helen caught up to him, laying a hand on his arm.
"Let me," she said. Nikola made a face but nodded and sighed, pulling away to stalk angrily down the corridor. Shaking her head, Helen pushed open the old wooden door and stepped through, unsurprised to find Rose sitting on the edge of the bed, back ramrod straight in a way that Helen had never managed to perfect.
"Thank you for that," the younger looking woman said softly.
"My pleasure," Helen joked, walking towards her. "I always enjoy putting Nikola in his place."
"Don't do that," Rose spat, standing up and spinning around, glaring at Helen through the weak light from the bedside table.
"What?" Helen asked, taken aback.
"Don't pretend that you enjoyed that. You're pissed that not only did you have to make Nikola leave but now you're stuck dealing with my 'childish behaviour'," Rose said mockingly, daring Helen to disagree.
"That's because you are acting like a child," Helen countered, hands on hips.
"So now I'm not allowed to be upset by Nikola's ridiculous innuendo?"
"Not when you've shown aversion to it in the past, no," Helen said firmly, taking a few steps towards Rosie.
Shooting Helen a dirty look, Rose spun around to stalk over to the window, muttering under her breath.
"What was that?" Helen demanded, feeling more and more like a mother.
"I said what's the bloody point!" Rose roared, turning around. "What's the bloody point of being good and doing the right thing when it feels this bad?" she asked fiercely, gesturing wildly. Helen felt a peculiar mix of fear and pity, knowing exactly what the furious woman was talking about.
"Hmm?" Rose prompted mockingly. "Come on Helen, you've got all the answers so tell me, what's the point of all this if, ultimately, it's going end in heartbreak?"
"Rose, please," Helen said softly, surprised when the other woman crumpled, falling onto the window sill and burying her face in her hands.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, swallowing audibly. "I know I've been an absolute pain."
"Understatement," Helen said quietly and Rose laughed softly. "But, to be honest Rose, I just want to know why?"
There was a beat as Rose stared up into Helen's face, eyes searching for something. Helen braced herself for the odd sensation that always accompanied Rose's adventures into her mind but the gentle probing never came.
"Can we just not?" Rosie asked, sounding defeated. Her eyes were guarded and, as she stepped back, Helen could see that this was not a conversation that was going to go anywhere. Shooting Rose an exasperated look Helen turned on her heel, stalking from the room, unsurprised when Rosie followed quickly on her heels. Silently the two walked out of the room, down the stairs and right into the midst of their rather bemused looking travelling companions.
Despite the tension from upstairs, Helen found herself almost laughing at the scene in front of her and she could even hear Rosie's muffled giggles. Nikola, it seemed, had made fast friends with the elderly woman who had shown them in and she was now hugging him tightly, speaking in rapid Serbian. Nikola's arms were all but flailing as he tried to keep up with what was going on. He was replying to her in rather halting Serbian although that could have had something to do with the fact that he seemed to be having a hard time breathing despite the fact that he required very little oxygen. And the idea that he could throw her across the room if he so desired seemed to have slipped his mind.
As a few more fast paced and tense words slipped through his lips, Rosie was unable to control her laughter any longer. All but snorting with laughter, she turned around, bracing a hand on Helen's shoulder as she bit her lip. Helen shot her a quizzical look and Rose looked up at her eyes dancing with merriment.
"He decided to elaborate on my story of lost friends," she whispered with a grin. "But telling her that he had volunteered for this mission in the hopes of rescuing his beloved's dying father was maybe not his smartest move."
"Most egotistical though," Helen quipped with another look over at the still flustered looking Nikola. The elderly woman had released him now and he was awkwardly straightening out his suit and blushing slightly as he shot a traitorous look at Rose and Helen.
"Don't worry Nikki, you look adorably crumpled," Rose said flippantly, spinning around and striding past him. "Plus, I'm sure your beloved can make up for your ruined suit." No one needed to see her face to know that she was smirking widely. Nikola for his part set his jaw before stalking after her and into the pub attached to the tiny inn.
In a matter of minutes, they'd all convened in the pub, huddled around a small, roughly hewn wooden table crammed into a corner. The room was dark and smelt vaguely of beer and cigarettes but the food put before them was warm and filling. Plus the bottle of vodka slammed down into the middle of the table made the strong flavours palatable after a nip. Not that Helen would let them have a drop more than that.
"I need you all functioning at your peaks tomorrow," she said curtly, snatching the bottle from where it sat between them all.
"Plus that stuff is just plain nasty," Rose said, wrinkling her nose as she stuck out her tongue. "Have some tea instead."
"Oh you two need to spend some time apart," Nikola whined, gesturing between Rose and Helen. "You aren't even British and you're pushing tea on us!"
"Hey! I got my citizenship," Rosie retorted.
"Really? When?" Helen asked, intrigued. Last she knew Rose wasn't even officially alive on most records.
Rosie looked confused for a second, as if Helen should have know the answer to that question but, as understanding dawned over her face, her partially opened mouth snapped shut. "I needed to buy a house and they wanted proof that I existed," she said with a guarded shrug of her shoulders. "After getting a birth certificate it just felt right."
Helen eyed her warily but before she could say anything, Rose slipped off her chair with a broad grin.
"I'm going to see if I can learn anything from the locals," she said with a wink, running a hand through her hair before sauntering over to an empty seat at the bar. One which was, rather conveniently placed next to the only mildly attractive man in the room. Even from across the room, the flirty smile and suggestive body language told a story Helen didn't really need to see. Turning her attention away from the young woman and her figure hugging outfit, she looked over her team. Henry, Will and Kate were all huddled in the corner, talking quietly amongst themselves. Nikola had his eyes trained on Rosie and the look in his eye made something in Helen's gut clench painfully. Pushing away the sensation without fully analysing it, she looked towards John, his imposing figure sitting slightly away from the rest of the group and she was not surprised to find his eyes trained on her. She smiled faintly before diverting her gaze to plate before her.
While she was glad he was here, something about his presence always gave Helen the chills. The conflicting emotions he brought out in her were frightening to say the least and, while she kept them all nicely bottled most of the time, seeing Rose's almost inability to stop antagonizing the man made her wonder what it would be like to truly let go and have at it. Probably not well, she acknowledged and she knew it had nothing to do with her British roots. The prudishness that was most often associated with her nationality and era of upbringing was something that, for the most part, she'd overcome. Well, not entirely but she had learnt early on not to let feelings get in the way of fact as hard as it may be. She'd never managed to have the ability to say it as it was but she was also incapable of sugar coating the truth when it really mattered.
Walking contradiction.
Helen smiled. Of course, you never can leave me alone, can you?
I like to multitask, what can I say? And Helen could almost hear the mental shrug. Plus you have a most alluring mind. Unlike that of any other human I've ever encountered.
That was new. Helen had always known that the way in which she was able to communicate with Rose was a little different to others but-
It's more your awareness to it that is unique, Rosie explained. But it's big and ephemeral and complex so we can discuss it later. Plus you're distracting me from my 'fact-gathering mission.'
Be careful Rosie, please don't provoke him anymore than you already have, Helen asked softly, shooting a quick glance at Nikola who seemed to be bristling with animosity. Rose said nothing and the silence was a little alarming for Helen. She could see the new level of tension in the girl's body but her flirty smile was still in place as she tittered away in Serbian. Sighing Helen turned once more to her barely eaten meal.
"She's trouble," John's silken voice cut in to her train of thought.
"Inevitably," Helen agreed and John chuckled.
"And the reactions she can cause are just as dangerous," he continued, subtly looking over to Nikola, raising an eyebrow in silent query. Helen smiled but said nothing, lest those conflicting emotions come to the surface again. She and John had always been collaborators, staying up late trading theories and ideas as to the true nature of people or their work or just of life in general. They rarely needed to even verbalise such thoughts and this was no exception. He knew the observations she had made just as she knew those he had made. The corner of his mouth lifted and she raised an eyebrow. His head tilted and her eyes narrowed. He looked towards Nikola's still full glass of wine and she pursed her lips ever so slightly. Simultaneously they both smirked ever so slightly before looking away from each other, discussion had, conclusions reached.
And all of a sudden Helen felt lighter than she had in while. This is what she had missed most about John, the almost complete synchronisation of their analytical minds. They had always been in tune, had worked together almost seamlessly. Of course, she'd experienced such an understanding with the others but, in their youth, there had been times when she'd only had to look at John to burst out laughing at an observation he'd pointed out to her. Sure she and James worked perfectly together in a lab, she and Nigel had moved around each other seamlessly in the field and she and Nikola always just knew what the other was about to say but it was the dual analysis that John was able to provide her critical mind with that had always been intriguing to her.
John, for all his evils, was and always had been her equal in a way that the others never really understood. It was what had attracted her to him in the first place. Well, that and the brooding dark looks she'd been partial to in her youth. Of course, the element of danger he presented had long since lost its appeal but the silent communication made her feel that spark of friendship for John she'd thought long since extinguished.
"Finished deciding how I'm feeling?" Nikola sneered, shooting Helen a dark look whilst pointedly ignoring John and she felt a tinge of guilt. She knew Nikola hated it when she began to read into his body language because, nine times from ten, she was correct in whichever assumption she'd made. As much as Nikola liked to believe he was some wild thing, she knew him by heart and could pretty much always make sense of how he felt at any given time. For example, now, he was furious and she recognized it to be a dual anger. A small part of his displeasure was directed at the way she reading his emotions in his eyes but the larger part was directed at Rose who was still giggling and simpering at every second thing the young man at the bar said.
Nikola's face softened after he searched her eyes for a second.
"Have no fear, love. I shan't take my frustrations out on you, as much as I'm sure you'd enjoy the fruits of such labours," he whispered, leaning across the table to pat her hand before winking salaciously at her. With a smirk to cover his anger Nikola stood up, straightened his jacket and crossed the now bustling pub. Coming to a stop at Rosie's elbow and shooting the young man receiving her attentions a dark look, Nikola laid a hand lightly on Rose's shoulder. He spoke curtly to the man though the exact words Helen could not make out over the din. Rose twisted in her seat, eyes flashing as she glared up at Nikola in a way that would have crippled a weaker man. But oh no, Nikola it seemed, was not to be so easily deterred. His hand slipped down her shoulder to grab her elbow, all but hauling Rose from her stool and Helen didn't need to hear what Rose said to understand the gist of it.
Her jaw was set defiantly as she glared up at Nikola. She shook off his hold and began to prod him in the chest as she threw what was undoubtedly a good talking to at him. Nikola it seemed, was taking it in his stride, cold eyes glittering down at her dangerously. As she continued to rant at him, Rose stepped closer, fisting a hand in his shirt, jerking him closer so that, as she continued to hiss what Helen suspected to be insults at him, their noses were almost touching.
Finally she paused to take a breath and Nikola took his chance, answering each of her barbs as his hands closed on her shoulders which only served to make matters worse. Rose gave him her most treacherous look before shoving him backwards roughly before spinning to speak curtly to the young man she had been flirting with who had watched the exchange looking confused. Then, before the man could respond, Rose spun back around, grabbing Nikola by the arm and throwing him in front of her, shoving him harshly towards the door. Not even looking over his shoulder, Nikola took the hint, striding from the room with an angry sneer on his face. Rose stomped out behind him, hands balled into fists, hips swaying as her head bowed slightly and, as she passed the table, a low growl slipped out.
They were either about to go off and indulge in passion filled evening or one of them was going to die, Helen decided as the door swung shut behind them.
"That was one hell of a lover's quarrel," Will commented, raising his eyebrows. Kate and Henry nodded in mute agreement as Helen caught John's eye. He smirked, reading her observation in her face before he took another drink.
"I'd think it prudent to wait for a few minutes before heading upstairs," he advised over the top of his cup.
"Agreed," Helen said, taking another bite of her rapidly cooling food.
DUN DUN DUN! Shiiii is gonna go down...