Five Hours in Ye Old London
Chapter 2: The Child That Is
"Mommy?" a small child's voice called out.
Helen whirled around and was shocked to find a small child standing just inside the doorway. She was dressed oddly, as if she were in her undergarments with a short, very full crinoline around her waist. The child's hair was very odd too. What in the world was this half dressed little one doing in her home? None of her servants had a child of this age.
"Hello," she cautiously saluted the child.
"Mommy!" the child called and ran to her, throwing her arms around the lady's lower body, and almost knocking her off balance. Helen's right hand caught the side of the fireplace surround to steady herself as her full skirt swayed haphazardly.
Helen was taken aback. Why was this child calling her mommy? Where did she come from?
She looked down at the same time the child looked up. Their eyes locked and the strangest sense of familiarity hit Helen. She couldn't put her finger on it but for some reason the child looked familiar. Felt familiar.
"Hello," she greeted again. "Do we know each other?"
The child's face wrinkled up in confusion. "Mommy?" she asked again.
"I think you have me confused with someone else," Helen said gently and gave the child a small smile. She was a very beautiful child with straight, blonde hair, big bright blue eyes and a little bow of a mouth.
The child pulled away. "You're not my mommy," she said in confusion and looked at Helen with a worried expression. The woman sounded kind of like her mommy, although her accent was much stronger, and looked like her mommy, but her hair was the wrong color and she was dressed really funny.
"No," Helen agreed. "Do you live nearby?" She judged the child's age to be between 5-6 years old. The girl was thin, tall and her eyes… there was something about the child's eyes that caught Helen's attention. They were so familiar.
The child shook her head. "I don't think so." She squinted her eyes and then widened them at the lady in the big dress. "Are you a princess?"
Helen laughed. "No, why would you ask that?"
"You're dressed like one," the child said, pointing at Helen's voluminous plum gown with cream trimming. The woman's golden hair was pinned up regally on her head. She gave the funny lady a serious look. "Except you need a crown. Do you have a crown?"
Grinning, Helen replied, "No, I'm afraid not. The Queen of England is the only one who would have a crown."
"Does she live here too?" the child asked eagerly, glancing around the room as if she expected the queen to burst out from one of the shadowy corners. Her ponytails sailed in the air as she turned from one side to the other.
Helen laughed. "No, she lives in Buckingham Palace. I would hardly call my home a castle." She was finding this inquisitive little creature quite entertaining. Helen generally liked children though she was often too busy to really spend much time with one. She recalled the conversation with John that just took place and wondered briefly if their child had been this lively.
"I live in a castle," the child told her proudly. "My mommy is the queen of the castle and my daddy is the king." She looked around the room again, her little face falling into a frown.
"A castle? Really? That must be very exciting," Helen commented, amused. She gave into her urge to touch the little girl, softly patting her head as if to ensure she was real. The timing was ironic. She had been talking to John about their child only minutes before this unknown one showed up.
The child nodded, this time looking back at the door. Her mommy wasn't here. Maybe she was in another room.
"If you do not mind my asking, how did you get here?" She couldn't stop smiling at the little girl and reached down to stroke her head again.
The child stepped back, dodging the strange lady's hand. "I followed my godfather here." She frowned and started to walk towards the door.
"Wait!" Helen called and moved to catch up with her. "Where are you going?" She couldn't have the child just wander about her home. The Sanctuary was below and that was definitely not a place for a small child.
"I have to find my godfather. He went to get my mommy." The child started to look upset and moved to go through the door.
"Wait!" Helen called again and grabbed a hold of the child's shoulder. She knelt down so that she was eye level with the upset little one. "What is your godfather's name?" she asked kindly. "Perhaps I know him and can help you find him."
The child sniffled and said, "His name is Nikola. Do you know him?" Her eyes started watering up. She was getting tired and she still hadn't found her mommy or godfather.
Helen's eyes widen in shock. "Nikola? I…" She stopped and stared harder at the child. She wondered who in the world would name Nikola Tesla as their child's godfather. As far as Helen had observed, Tesla was not that fond of small children. He had a long list of things he did not like. She was pretty sure children were fairly high on that list. He thought they were carriers of germs and even once proclaimed loudly that the Black Plague was probably spread by germy little children who did not wash their hands enough. "I do have a friend who is named Nikola. Perhaps he is the same person. I might even know your mother. What is her name?"
"Mommy. Her name is mommy," the child answered and started crying. "I want my mommy," she whimpered. She tried to pull away from Helen, who grabbed both the child's shoulders with her hands.
In a soothing tone, Helen tried to calm her down. "Oh, it's alright, little angel. Don't cry. We will find your mother, I promise, okay?" She tried to give the child a reassuring smile and reached up to wipe the tears away from one of her cheeks. She did seem to be a rather sweet child.
Nodding, the child sniffled hard and rubbed at her other eye with her fist. "Can we find her now? I want my mommy."
"Of course," Helen told her. "But before we go, can you tell me your name?" She was surprised when the child shook her head. "No?"
The child clumsily wiped her nose on the long sleeve of her orange undershirt and shook her head again. "I'm not supposed to talk to strangers," she explained. "Can we go now?"
"Okay," Helen said, thinking again what a strange little one the child was, and stood up. She took the girl's hand and together they left the room. "Maybe you godfather can clear this up. Let's go see him, shall we?" She looked down to see the girl nod and swipe at her eye again with her fist. Sniffles could be heard down the hall as they made their way to the hidden doorway in the ladies' parlor.
Helen opened the door to a shallow closet and started to enter. The child halted, pulling on Helen's hand, and gave the adult an incredulous look. "Why are we going into a closet?" the skeptical child asked.
"It's not just any old closet," Helen informed her, before reaching and pushing up on one of the wall hooks. The back of the closet wall swung backwards, revealing a wood staircase to the lower level.
The child peered up at her in surprise. "Cool," she said softly. Helen took in the child's appearance again and decided she would need to find her a sweater or wrap soon. If the child was cold here, the lower level was generally even colder. Helen flipped a switch and light flooded the staircase.
Side by side they walked down the stairs. Helen found that she liked holding the child's hand and the way the little girl leaned close to her. So this was what it would be like to be a mother, she thought. Helen smiled to herself. She was going to enjoy being a mother someday.
As they reached the small foyer at the bottom of the stairs, Helen moved a little ahead of the child, just in case there was a problem once they entered the Sanctuary. There had been a few incidents involving escapes by a few of the residents, though luckily they had not involved any of the more dangerous ones.
Her full skirt hid the child from view as she entered the large main room just in time to hear James proclaim, "You're all insane, you know that right? You do not know for certain if this will work!"
"We're here, aren't we?" John inserted. James, as the most cautious member of The Five, was always such a worry wart.
"What happens if it does not work?" James argued. He was really concerned with this idea of Tesla's.
Helen cleared her throat to get the group's attention. They turned to look at her as Nikola cheerfully said, "Then we all go boom and have to wait until our old selves catch up with current time." Really, James was such a bore at times. Tesla had no concern that his plan wouldn't work. Well, maybe a little bit but not much. He was the great Nikola Tesla after all.
Younger Helen opened her mouth to tell them about the child but never got the chance. The little girl yanked her hand free from her grasp, calling, "Uncle Nikola?" and peered around the plum skirt blocking her view.
What she saw made her eyes go wide. "Mommy!" the child shrieked and ran towards the Helen Magnus wearing the dark brown leather dress.
"Ashley!" Helen gasped before being tackled by a blur of orange and pink. The impact of the unexpected weight, coupled with Helen's heavy clothing, caused her to fall backward into John. His sturdy frame was able to steady them from toppling backward as his large hands grabbed a hold of Helen's shoulder. "Oh, my God, Ashley?" Helen said again in shock, throwing her arms around the little bundle clutching at her waist.
She looked down as her daughter looked up at her. Ashley's eyes were red and her cheeks were tear-stained. "Oh, mommy, I found you!" the child said and hugged her mother tight. Helen heard a large gasp and looked up to find her younger self with wide eyes and a hand clapped to her mouth in shock. She glanced quickly to her left to see James having an equal reaction and Nikola looking paler than normal.
She felt John abruptly let go of her shoulders and whirl towards Nikola, who cringed when he saw the murderous look on Druitt's face. "You brought her with you!" he bellowed in rage and moved to throttle Tesla.
He was almost able to grab hold of the vampire when Helen turned and barked "John!" at him.
Fuming, Druitt growled to Telsa, "Why did you bring her here? What were you thinking?"
Tesla's denial of "I didn't!" was drowned out by the child's sudden sobbing. "John!" Helen hissed before turning her attention back down to her daughter, whose face was buried in her mother's stomach as she cried. "It's alright, darling. Don't cry. Your father isn't going to harm Nikola. He's just a little upset." She stroked Ashley's head, finding her daughter's hair do to be rather strange, while her other hand rubbed calming circles on Ashley's small back.
Temper quickly fleeing, John dropped to his knees by his daughter. "Forgive me. I did not mean to lose my temper and shout."
After a few more sniffles, Ashley turned toward her father, keeping her teary face pressed against her mother. Her little bottom lip protruded out as she murmured, "Aren't you glad to see me?"
"Of course I am, my pet. I was just surprised. I thought we had a deal, you and I." He briefly glanced up to find Helen looking at him with one eyebrow raised in question before returning his attention to his upset child. "I said I would go and find mummy and you agreed to stay at home where you were safe. Remember?" he gently prompted her.
Ashley sniffled and nodded.
"Why didn't you stay where I left you?" he asked seriously. Now that his temper had abated, John tried to calm down his heart's racing beat and the pounding of his head. The idea of Ashley wandering around Victorian England alone and possibly getting lost or worse, hurt, terrified him. He wanted to crush her to him to calm himself but was worried he would frighten her more than he already had.
Ashley had stopped crying and let go of her mother's skirt, though she still remained in her mother's arms. "You were taking too long," she pouted. "When I walked into the Library, I saw Uncle Nikola go through the funny circle," referring to the time portal, "and followed him. But when I got to the other side he was gone and I was in a strange house."
She pointed across the room to the other Helen, who was now leaning against Watson, who had an arm protectively around her shoulders. He had moved to her side during Druitt's conversation with the child. He could feel her trembling against him and squeezed her shoulder reassuringly.
"Then that nice lady found me and brought me here," Ashley explained. "She said she knew Uncle Nikola."
Helen and John looked over at her younger self and Watson. None of them said anything. They were all in too much shock.
"See, it's not my fault," a voice squeaked behind them and John resisted the urge to reach behind him and strangle the vampire. Such a move would set his daughter to tears again.
He sighed. "You shouldn't have wandered off like that, luv. We left you at the Sanctuary to keep you safe," he reprimanded gently.
Ashley looked up at her mother as she said, "I agree with your father. You need to stay where we put you, darling. We only want to keep you safe." She tried to give a stern look but, like John, her nerves were too frayed by the thought of their small child lost back in time. Had Ashley not made her presence known they might not have discovered her missing until they were back in their own time era, when it was too late. That overwhelming thought caused Helen fall to her knees and crush Ashley to her chest as her eyes welled with tears.
"Mommy," came the muffled cry as Ashley struggled against her mom. "I can't breathe!"
Helen released her tight hold on her daughter and sat back on her heels, taking a deep breath to clear her head. "I'm sorry, darling."
Now calm, John finally took a good look at his daughter and frowned. He caught Helen's eye and held up three fingers in question. She shrugged. She didn't understand it either.
"I'm not three, daddy. I'm six!" Ashley corrected, holding up six fingers.
Smiling, Helen stroked her daughter's cheek. "I think your father is referring to your hair do. It's, um… unusual," she remarked, staring at her daughter's three pigtails. There was one on each side and one in the middle of the back of her head. Ribbons of sherbet pink and orange adorned each ponytail. They matched the orange long sleeved top and pants and the frilly pink tutu around her waist. Ashley was wearing the little ballerina play outfit Kate had purchased for her upcoming birthday.
"That's one way of putting it," John piped up dryly. Two ponytails he could understand but three like this was simply weird.
"Kate did it. Do you like it?" Ashley asked her father, finally pulling free from her mother and going to hug John.
Relieved that she was comfortable with him again, John wrapped his arms around his child and touched his head to her forehead. "It is most certainly interesting," he smoothly replied, garnering a smirk from Helen, who was still kneeling beside him. She was trying hard to resist the urge to reach over and correct her daughter's mishap of a hair do.
"I think it's adorable," Nikola quipped and waved at the little girl over Druitt's shoulder. "Hello, my sweet."
Ashley waved back at her godfather and grinned. "Hi, Uncle Nikola!"
A deep clearing of a throat caught all of their attentions. They all turned to the man and woman staring at them strangely. The woman was paler than when she had entered. The man still had his arm around her shoulder and looked as discombobulated as she.
"Perhaps introductions are in order?" he asked in a hoarse voice.
Helen cut John off, announcing, "I don't think that's a good idea" as she shook her head.
