The rest of their evening was spent packing up the few belongings they had there. Jonathan didn't have as much to collect as Lady Ashbury did, she had a few old keepsakes that seemed to appear from various parts of the decrepit mansion. When she was all done, he thought about joking about fitting it all in the vehicle but it was such a small amount of things compared to the life that she had lived that he decided to keep his mouth shut. Instead, as they prepared for bed he asked.

"What do you plan to do with this estate?"

"The fiery part of my heart says to burn it to the ground, but that seems a bit impulsive doesn't it?" she glanced at him and Jonathan didn't respond, unsure of what to say. She sighed and continued. "It would be far kinder of me to pass it on to Charlotte, let her do with it as she would. Make a museum of it, or sell it, whatever she wishes." she twirled a piece of hair around a finger. "I know she's a woman grown at this point, that she doesn't actually need me, but I miss her, is that strange?"

"Not strange at all, I miss my mother, every day it seems she slips farther and farther away from me." Reid confessed, thinking with sadness back at the last time he'd seen his mother, the lost look she'd given him, confessing that she thought he was already dead and simply visiting as Mary and his father did. They both sat quietly for several minutes, just enjoying the quiet. Jonathan stood to stoke the fire before they went to sleep.

"May I ask you a personal question?" he said, appreciating the task at hand to not need to meet her eyes.

"You may but I do not guarantee an answer." her voice floated back from behind him.

"Why adopt a child?" he asked. He couldn't see her face but he could see the smile in her body language.

"I may say that keeping attachments minimal is for the best but… I am terrible at taking my own advice. Life is long and lonely. You start to get… lost in the passage of time…" she said. "And a child, a child is life. We can't make life of our own, but that hasn't stopped anyone since the dawn of man…" Elizabeth smiled at him and it was genuine, short lived but reaching all the way to her eyes.

"I know the two of you have your differences and your quables and I hope that I'm not overstepping my bounds, but I'm certain she misses you too. You should speak with her when we return." Jonathan said, returning to the bed and removing the house slippers from his feet.

"Perhaps you are, but you're right all the same. There is plenty more time to speak come nightfall, we can talk more tomorrow."

-Face your Fears-

The following night found them both packed into Reid's car and for once, he was thankful of the cold winter months and the longer night hours they had to make the journey to London. Most of it passed amicably, but by the end of it they were both irritable and silent so as to not snap at one another. The sun was just barely beginning to rise when they made their way into Lady Ashbury's estate. Jonathan would've liked to go home, or to the hospital but there was no time left. Instead he took to the spare room, returning to the rest of the dead as the sky turned light.

When he rose and put himself together, he felt more alive, more relieved than he had in some time. The doctor realized that for the first time, he didn't have fate, or war hanging over his head, he could relax and think about what he wanted for the first time in a long time. What did he want to do now? He was going to work on the cure for the Blood of Hate, that much was decided, but after that? The doctor went down the stairs to the parlor, where Elizabeth already was, a cup of tea cradled between her hands.

"Decided to sleep in?" she asked pleasantly. She didn't look as though she'd managed to sleep herself. Jonathan didn't know if insomnia was something that vampires were actually capable of, and he didn't want to find out.

"To take my time." he said. "A small pleasure that I haven't been able to have for many years now."

"I can only imagine." she poured him a cup of tea without asking, handing it over and he warmed his hands on the porcelain. "What will you do now? I know you said that you had some loose ends that you wanted to wrap up."

"I do." he said, inhaling the steam as he settled into the armchair. "I need to decide what to do about my employment with Pembroke. I left rather abruptly to chase after you and with Edgar no longer there… well my goodwill with them has probably run dry."

"I still provide funds, I could pull a few strings…" Elizabeth started, Jonathan shook his head with a laugh.

"I appreciate that you're willing to blackmail in my favor, but I've made this bed, I'm man enough to lie in it." he said. "I got on with some of the other doctors and nurses, but I'm afraid to say that I've seen little of the day shift, I hardly know their names, let alone have any sort of reputation with them. One of them is probably the head administrator now, and who knows what changes have been made."

"So what will you do?"

"If they'll have me, I'll stay on for research, make use of some lab space and equipment when they can spare it, if not, I'll submit my resignation. Despite what I've done for the city, the influenza is still running strong, I'm sure they could use the hands." He rolled the warm cup between his fingers, looking down into the dark tea. It was steeped longer than he usually went for but it wasn't as though he was actually going to drink it.

"Well then, you best get going, whomever the current administrator is, I don't think they'll take too kindly to a later visit."

"Of course." Jonathan set the cup back on the saucer and got to his feet, looking for were he'd placed his coat yesterday. Once prepared he nodded to Lady Ashbury, hand on the doorknob.

"I should be back before the night is up." he said

"You're a man grown Jonathan, and I've been an independent woman for longer than you've been alive. You needn't look after me. If I see you before the night is up, it will be a pleasure." she said with a sharp smile. Reid chuckled and headed out into the cold London night.

The walk to Pembroke was familiar but frigidly cold. It had been a long time since the wind had felt this biting in the city. He shoved his hands into his pockets as he walked, not that he'd noticed it helped much anymore since his change, but the thought was still there. Reid wasn't surprised to have to dodge past a few patrols along his way, the guardsmen laughing and joking with one another as they made their way through the streets. He didn't pay much attention to their words, it was just general talk back and forth. They did seem more relaxed than the last patrol that he'd seen on his way out of the city. That alone was a nice change of pace, a good sign that the fight that he'd been through only a few scant days ago had been worth it.

Soon enough the hospital rose out of the buildings among it and the doctor had to pause to take it in. He hadn't been working here long, but so much had happened in the time that he'd been there that it felt longer than it actually had been. He took a deep breath, pushed aside the worries beginning to gnaw at the back of his mind and plowed forward. Some of the tents outside had been taken down, those that remained emptier than when he'd last seen them. Hopefully that meant that the number of ill patients was going down, not sheer luck or even worse, that one had blown down in the wind. Nurse Branagan noticed him on his way in and stopped to peer at him critically.

"Nurse." he said in way of greeting. She frowned, though for the nurse that could be any number of emotions.

"Doctor Reid." she said, she glanced at the patient she was tending and asked them for a moment to spare her. They acquiesced weakly and she turned her full attention to him, frown even more firmly in place than before.

"You best be here to apologize." she said this time, lower than full volume, likely to not disturb the patients in the tents. The doctor nodded, glancing at the true entryway to the hospital.

"It… was a family emergency, I know the timing was terrible."

"You don't have to explain to me!" she huffed. "But to leave without a word… and so soon after…" she paused, and Jonathan could smell the anxiety rolling off of her. That was something that he was still picking up, the nuances he could discern with his new senses of someone's mood and health.

"I know. That's why I'm here, who took over as administrator. I'd like to speak with them, or to at least set up an appointment." he said. Branagan continued to glare at him for a long moment more and he considered speaking again when she sighed and said.

"You know where the office is."

"Thank you Nurse." he said and continued into the hospital. Jonathan was glad that the invitation stipulation didn't extend to seemingly public spaces, it was enough of a nuisance without that. He'd asked Lady Ashbury about it at one time and she had just shrugged, it wasn't something that she understood very well either. Now that things were calming down, perhaps he'd take some time to do some research into the matter.

Standing outside the administrator's office and knowing that Swansea was not inside was a strange feeling. Even more so knowing that he'd held the man's fate in his hands. It wasn't something that he liked considering, but it had been too much of a risk and after what had happened to Mary… he couldn't bring another vampire into the world, not like that.

He didn't even raise his hand to knock when the door opened and an unfamiliar face looked up and started at his presence.

"Oh, I, I'm sorry, you startled me." the shorter man said, backing away from the door and giving him an appraising look. "What may I do for you sir?"

Jonathan gave a closed smile and held out a hand, Swansea must've been replaced with one of the day shift folk whom he'd never had the ability or opportunity to meet.

"Doctor Jonathan Reid, it's good to meet you."

"Doctor Peter Burke." the man responded, smiling in return though he barely contained a wince as he shook the vampire's fingers.

"Sorry, frightfully cold outside." Jonathan said. He had no idea what he was going to do when it became warm and he no longer had the excuse of the weather.

"Yes, I'm sorry you caught me at a rather inopportune time, I was just leaving. I understand you have likely come to talk to me about your position?" he said. So his name had made its way around the hospital, that really was no surprise, doctors and nurses gossiped more than most old women that he knew.

"Yes, I understand taking time, unannounced, was uncalled for and inappropriate but I would still like to be of service to this hospital." Reid said, standing out of the way so that Dr. Burke could leave if he so wished. The other man paused in the doorway, looking back at the office for a moment, the battle clearly visible in his eyes as he considered staying.

"I can come back tomorrow evening, give you time to think it over." Reid said gently, hoping to give the poor man some space to make a decision that wasn't right in front of the person he may have to reject.

"That… that may be best. Not that I don't think you do good work, of course, Dr. Reid, it's just…" he paused in his stammering to yawn, clearly overworked. Jonathan nodded pleasantly.

"No, I understand perfectly, I know, what I did wasn't acceptable, I'll give you time to consider, in the meantime, may I get some personal effects out of the office?" he asked, hoping that he wasn't going to have to mesmer the administrator just so he could grab a couple of personal belongings that he'd forgotten in his rush out of London.

"Oh! Of course, they would have been mailed to your home eventually. But, please, be my guest, I'm sure you know the way…" Dr. Burke paused in the hallway, clearly on the edge of leaving, but not wanting to leave Dr. Reid unattended when he hadn't come to a decision on whether he was going to give him his job back or not.

"Just my plant and a couple of books, that's all." Dr. Reid placated him, the other doctor nodded and turned once, glancing back at his office, nodding, probably to himself, and walking down the hallway with purpose. The Ekon had to stifle a smile when he heard the man get stopped again on his way downstairs, no rest for the weary it seemed.

Jonathan stepped into the lab that he had practically called home when he'd been here last and felt a tension that he didn't realize that he'd been carrying leave his shoulders. Others had been in here but his things had been merely pushed off to the side to make space, not rifled through like he'd been concerned might happen. He'd had a few samples remaining as well, but again they'd just been moved. He hoped that no one had taken too deep of a look at them if at all. It had been a risk to leave them here but he hadn't had a chance to dispose of them. They were likely no good anymore, he thought, as he began rinsing them down the drain.

Vampiric blood tidied away he gathered up the notes that hadn't been on his person, more grateful than ever that he'd kept his notes vague when it came to the particulars, if this had garnered anyone's curiosity it wouldn't have looked like the ravings of a madman. It didn't matter now, he supposed as he collected up the handful of pages that had worked themselves loose from the binding and tucking them into his satchel. Once he had his private documentation collected he looked over to the plant that he'd slowly nursed back to health. It had been nice to have something that seemed to be responding positively to his touch when everything else had been violence and blood. No one else had been paying Lisa any mind in his absence so it seemed perfectly fair to take her with him. Reid took one more glance around the office in case he never made it back here. He didn't think that sneaking around was ever going to be a problem but he wasn't about to press his luck on it.

Thus collected Reid made his way down the stairs, the bag at his side full and the plant tucked into his armpit. A couple of the nurses looked at him curiously but no one made a move to stop him and he made it back out into the night with far more time to spare than he thought that he would. For certain he needed to make it back home to drop off his things and to let Avery know that he was back in town. He wanted to see his mother but he wasn't certain that he was ready for the pain of seeing her either. He rounded a corner, not particularly paying attention to where he was going and nearly ran bodily into someone. Reid paused, blinking to register what he was looking at and the last thing he expected was to see Geoffrey McCullum glaring daggers at him, hand going toward his sword.

"You…"