I had to take the Sanctuary episodes slightly out of order from season 3. Events from s3e16 and e18 are described as proceeding e8, not coming later. Nikola is already back to being a vampire, Helen is back from Carentan, the fight with Adam has already happened, and she is still sick from the radiation.

**********Old City**********

Helen Magnus, Head of the Global Sanctuary Network, was tired. But then, to say she was tired would have been an understatement of epic proportions. She was so mentally and physically exhausted that words could not do justice to the level of fatigue she was feeling.

A lot had happened in the few weeks following the abnormal retrieval that resulted in Ashley having to kill the creature to save Will's life. She and Nikola spent almost a week chipping away at the map in the library. That resulted in them finding the location of what they thought was a Praxian stronghold in East Africa. A few hours later, they were airborne on a hastily prepared mission.

That excursion had almost cost Nikola his life.

When they returned to the Sanctuary, they found that Ravi had been missing for five days, which meant no rest for the wicked and a trip to Carentan, France. She and Will dragged Nikola off with them to prevent him from returning to the vampire stronghold and doing something stupid.

That excursion did cost Ravi his life. She and Nikola were trapped in the time-dilation field for 119 years before receiving the materials needed to bring the dome down. Given their longevity, it wouldn't have been a bad way to spend some time if it were not for the devastating repercussions of turning off the field around Carentan.

After arriving home, she went on one last mission as a distraction to push past the trauma of the previous few months in Carentan. An abnormal wanting to come to the Sanctuary, but he would only talk to her, and it was a one-time chance. Not only did she discover that Adam Worth was still alive, but she was trapped in another time-dilation field of his making.

That excursion could very well still cost her her life. She had unknowingly given herself three weeks to live, having been diagnosed with radiation poisoning, thinking she was looking at Adam's blood and not her own. This is how she came to be in the one refuge left in the Sanctuary.

It was located on the lowest level in one of the farthest corners and out of prying eyes. It was almost invisible if you didn't know it was there and inaccessible to anyone but her, even if you knew where to look. She used the north tower when she needed time to reflect; this area was used for the same purpose, but when she did not want to be disturbed. There was never a break from the Sanctuary; something was always happening or needed to be done. But this area was exclusively hers and included a small office, a fully equipped laboratory, and a kitchen. It wasn't linked to the central Sanctuary systems, meaning she could have complete privacy whenever needed. Now was one of those times.

This was the first time since Will had joined the team that she felt the need to visit this place.

The laboratory was an exact copy of where she worked with her father in the London Sanctuary, offering much-needed comfort. Her father would spend hours educating her about the existing abnormals and what they could learn from them. Although the Sanctuary was primarily a refuge, there were instances when the creature(s) in question couldn't be rescued, and they had to be put down. The unfortunate responsibility then fell on her to dissect them to understand them better and to learn what she could.

Ashley named the abnormal Chuck after Chucky, the homicidal possessed doll. According to her, the abnormal was deceptively strong and fast, given its size. Other than a few additional appendages, the body type was that of a six-year-old male. Small enough not to see the attack coming, and by the time you did, it was already almost over; the victim was down and dead in under fifteen seconds. The method he employed to kill was brutal but effective. Ashley said it was why she had not hesitated to kill it instead of trying to save it. It already had Will down and was about to go in for the killing blow when she used one of Henry's new creations to take it out.

The single shot destroyed a lot of the creature, but she had been able to salvage enough to learn something from the remains, hopefully. One of the upsides was that there was so much destruction to the body that it no longer resembled a child, which gave her some piece of mind. She didn't know any medical examiners who liked working on children, even if the so-called child was a brutal killer.

With a single-minded determination, she began the autopsy of the abnormal, making detailed notes as she went. It was almost an hour later as she was cutting through a layer of fat to get to the internal organs when a tremor in her hands almost made her cut herself.

After hesitating, she set the scalpel on the tray with the rest of the equipment she had already used. She inhaled deeply and firmly squared her shoulders, displaying a sense of readiness and resolve to face the issue head-on. She refused to let this be her downfall. All of them out there looking at her with pity. They just needed more time to figure out the map because, according to Adam, the cure was in Hollow Earth. Time, she humorously laughed to herself. Time seemed to have a new meaning for even her after being stuck in a time-dilation field for so long.

She walked towards her office, leaving the sterile room made of concrete and steel; the room was cool enough to preserve the remains until she could have them transferred back up to the central lab. However, instead of going to her desk, she chose to sit on the couch and poured herself a cup of tea. It was a thoughtful present from her dear friend, who had given it to her before she got on the elevator, knowing where she was headed. After all these years, he had learned to anticipate her needs usually before she knew them herself.

She was not too worried about the radiation poisoning yet; she was still hoping that the vampire side of her would kick in and start repairing the damage. There were several times in her life that she should have died, but she made a miraculous recovery in the end. But if she were being honest with herself, after everything that happened in Carentan, maybe her dying wouldn't be a bad thing. Will was showing promise at running the Sanctuary in her absence, the team following his lead just like they did with her, and humans were not meant to live forever.

Logically, she knew she had to discuss what had happened with someone, and Will was seemingly the only option; it was one of the reasons she had hired him, after all. As a profiler and with his ability to see what others could not, Will was aware that more had happened in Carentan than she had admitted to, and he was extremely frustrated that she refused to discuss it. His constant looks and backhanded remarks about keeping secrets were getting on her nerves, which had caused her to snap at him in the morning meeting. She quickly ended the meeting, moved up her scheduled briefing with Declan, and went to the lab, intent on getting out of her head for a while.

Her issue with discussing what had happened with Will was due to Nikola's involvement in the mission. Will had made his feelings about Nikola clear on several occasions, and even though she believed that he would attempt to keep his personal emotions separate from his professional ones, it would eventually impact how he viewed her, given what she had done. She did not think she could endure losing him after everything. So that left her to deal with the torrent of overwhelming emotions alone.

She thought back to when it all started. A phone call from Declan informing her that Ravi had gone missing near Carentan. She could have easily forgone the mission since they had just returned from East Africa. But she had, in the end, decided to go and look for her missing Head of House.

Knowing Nikola as she did, she knew he would use her absence to go back and learn more about the history of vampires from the newly discovered vampire stronghold, or worse, attempt to remove the crystal from around the single vampire they had found. She was unwilling to let him into the vampire stronghold without supervision due to his history of trying to revive the vampire species. As the only option available, he was added to the mission roster.

Once they arrived and had their first run-in with the security at the barricade, she felt Will and Declan were more suited to dealing with the private security force in her absence than Nikola would have been, which meant that Nikola would go with her to investigate the area after finding the tunnel left over from the war. That last-minute decision saved Will's life, even if he didn't know it. Had he been with her, he would have died long before she was finally able to collapse the field, which she may not have been able to do without Nikola's assistance.

At first, she had attacked the problem head-on. Find out who or what was causing it, then disrupt the field's energy and collapse the bubble. She and Nikola had been overconfident and underestimated the complexity of the problem, arrogantly believing they could succeed in days when Ravi had failed for decades. Days turned to weeks and weeks into months as they evaluated the scientist's work that had come before them. They took readings measuring the dome's energy levels and investigated every square inch they could, finding no device or direct cause to help them shut it down. They were both becoming short-tempered and snapping at each other at every turn. Neither was used to the lack of mental stimulation or failure to this degree over such a prolonged period.

Three months had passed when Nikola came to find her—telling her that they had a new challenge that demanded their attention. At first, she was excited to have something, anything else to do. Until she found out what the problem was.

Nikola had almost completely depleted the serum that had been created to sustain his vampire side, which allowed him to abstain from consuming human blood even though they had made significant strides in the late 1800s; producing more under these conditions required specific chemicals, animal plasma, and a lab to synthesize it, none of which they had.

She had flatly refused to allow him to use the people of Carentan as his own personal blood bank; there had only been one available option: she would use her blood to ensure his survival because she would be damned if she was going to go through this hell alone.

Nikola spent much of his time helping to store up the energy reserves for the coming 'dark times,' as the locals called them. According to Ravi, as the sun set on the outside, there would be three years of dark times inside the dome. The power in the generators stored by the solar panels was the first thing to go, followed by food stores.

She did not react well when Nikola told her she needed to stop working on the computer. She remembered the conversation.

"I just need more time to figure this out." She had noticed the reddening of the sky from the sunset but refused to acknowledge what was coming.

"Look around you, Helen. We have plenty of time; we need the power going to those machines to be routed back to the storage cells. I know you have buried your head here, but the sun is going down out there. I think I've managed to jerry-rig the system to get us farther into the dark times, but the last few months will be total darkness."

"I know, Nikola! You think I haven't been paying attention?"

"No, actually, I don't think you are." He slammed his hand down on the papers in front of her, "You're barely eating; you don't leave this room unless I drag you out kicking and screaming, and you are completely oblivious to what is going on around you. You will not fix this problem right now. But, you can help the rest of the town prepare for what is coming."

"I know, and I will, but I need you to do one thing for me first."

"And what's that?"

"I have rigged the motherboard in this computer to the radio to send a transmission to the outside world. With time in here going so much faster, I just needed to stretch the signal to more than a nanosecond and send it to the Sanctuary; someone there is listening, I'm sure of it."

"First, you risk frying the motherboard doing this, and second, any transmission you send will take weeks to get through. We can't spare the uninterrupted power that would be required."

"Ah, true," she said, "but I think this laptop battery can work with the radio and hold a charge long enough to be useful. It's not big enough to be of any help out there, but in here, it should keep this going." Nikola started to interrupt. "Yes, I know it is not designed to hold a charge for that long, but what if you charged it every day until the message got out?"

"You mean?"

"Exactly"

"It may work if it doesn't overload it."

"It always was your favorite parlor trick." She smirked at him.

"You want to use me for a battery. You know there are many more interesting ways to use me, right?"

"Really? Now?"

"You're right; I have three years of darkness to wear you down. Now's as good a time as any to start getting on your good side." He laughed. "Shall we see if I'm electric enough to charge your battery?"

"Nikola!"

"Okay, okay! Just stand over there, will ya?" He made a motion across the room. "Things are about to get a bit sparky, and if it blows up in my face, I would rather have you out of harm's way."

"You really think it will just blow up?"

"I don't know, Helen. Did you connect all of the wires correctly?"

"I guess we will see, won't we?" She said, stepping across the room, using the wall of an alcove as a shield if the need arose.

Helen remembered that conversation like it was yesterday. The transmission got out, and they let everyone know it was a time dilation field. It didn't take long for an all-hands announcement to go out to all of the Sanctuary's looking for assistance.

It was halfway through the dark time when the care packages started to arrive. The first one contained a note from James:

Helen,

It seems like time has a knack for whisking you away on much-needed vacations! I can't say I blame it - everyone deserves a break once in a while – Yes, Helen, including you.

JW

PS. Enjoy what we have sent; more will follow as it arrives at the staging area.

She didn't understand the first part of the message. But she did understand the rest. There was no need to ration the food; more was coming. Knowing James as she did and how quickly he would recognize the severity of their situation, she knew there would be scientific equipment, food, and, most likely, books. Still, the amount of stuff that kept arriving over the years was surprising but very much needed.

After they had been in the bubble for almost fifteen years, Ravi passed away peacefully. She spent much of the next few weeks alone, barely eating and most certainly not taking care of herself. Ravi, like Declan and Will, was not an abnormal. She had hand-picked him, and he spent years working alongside her as her protege before eventually becoming head of house. He tried to convince her he was happy and had a good life here, but she felt cheated and a bit guilty for the part she played. From her point of view, his life was cut short by decades, and the potential that had initially brought him to her attention was wasted. It took a gentle reminder from Nikola that she had spent the past fifteen years getting to know the real person, not someone who worked for her, but a friend. She would have missed that opportunity if they had stayed in their own time.

That moment marked a significant change in her relationship with Nikola. It was also about then that people in the dome noticed that she and Nikola were not aging along with the rest of them. It took some fancy footwork to explain the reason; they couldn't very well tell them the truth, but in the end, the people in the dome took it in stride and made Helen the town historian.

It would be another three years before James sent another note in one of the care packages. In it, he suggested having Nikola attempt to use his electric power at the point where the field began to see if maybe he could overload whatever was causing the field. After several days of attempting to anticipate the possible repercussions, Nikola agreed to try it. From their perspective, nothing changed initially, at least not that they noticed, but readings after that indicated that their little experiment sped time up even more in the dome. The days and nights were now lasting fifteen years each. One day on the outside was now thirty years in dome time.

It would take almost another seventy years to devise a new plan. The downside was that they couldn't recreate the Cerrelium from Adam's time node. By the time they got another message out and the material was passed through the barrier from her Sanctuary, roughly thirty years had passed.

Their lack of foresight in anticipating the possible outcomes of the test proved to be a costly mistake. Consequently, people began to disappear. At first, there was an air of blissful ignorance about the reason, but it didn't take long to grasp the devastating reality. All those born after the field's creation would cease to exist. Because, in the real world, they had not been born yet. She faced an impossible decision, one that no one should ever have to make. Doom the planet or doom the people of Carentan, including her son.

She and Nikola spent almost a year trying to change the outcome. Ultimately, they didn't have the resources to make anything work, and oddly enough, time was finally running out. They had waited until the last possible moment before the dome was to expand. When she woke in the hospital later, Will told her that they narrowly avoided having several Starstreak missiles dropped on their heads. When they arrived back in the Sanctuary, Nikola tried to talk to her, but she pushed him away. She didn't see him again until she returned to the Sanctuary with Adam a day ago.

A knock on the door suddenly awakened her. Glancing at the mantel clock, she realized four hours had elapsed since she had stopped working on the abnormal in the lab and sat down with her thoughts. The cup of tea, forgotten in her lap, had fallen to the floor, unbroken. She reached down and picked it up, placing the saucer on the table, and eyed the cup wearily; she added a bit more tea and inhaled deeply. She could faintly smell the sleeping herbs.

"Bloody hell, they drugged me!" She said with indignation.

Whoever was on the other side of the door seemed impatient with her lack of response because they knocked louder this time. She could hear raised voices through the door, clearly yelling at each other. She debated ignoring the whole thing; they couldn't get in without her opening the door, and they might eventually get tired and go away. She was startled out of that thought by a significant impact against the door, most likely a body.

Helen stood up, looked at the cup still in her hand, and threw it as hard as she could across the room—a seething rage just below the surface due to the interruption and realizing her staff felt the need to drug her. All she wanted was time to herself to process what happened, and they couldn't even give her that. The anger bubbled up with every step toward the door. She gripped the handle and ripped it open.

"What. In. The. Hell. Do. You. Want?" She now had targets for her anger.

"Sorry, Doc, I tried to get him to leave you alone," Henry said, dusting himself off.

"I told you, Heinrick, that I needed to see her; it's not my fault you stood in my way. Guess we know who wins now, vampire over the werewolf."

"So not a fair fight; I didn't even get a chance to.."

"ENOUGH!" Helen took a breath and slowly let it out. "Henry, thank you for trying to protect my privacy; you can go. I will deal with Nikola."

"Yes, run along; let the adults talk." He said with his trademark smirk.

"I don't know, man; I wouldn't want to be in your shoes right now," Henry said as he walked away. He lived with her since he was a child and noticed things. Right now, her body language had a red neon warning light flashing above her head, and you ignored that at your peril.

"We need to talk."

"Yes, so you've said." She had firmly put herself in the doorway to prevent his access to the room.

He waited until Herery was around the corner and out of view before he moved closer to her, standing almost toe to toe; it had not been this difficult since the early days in Carentan. "Please, let me in." He whispered, unsure if he meant in the room or back in her life. This was the Nikola that she had just spent over a century with, not the arrogant ass that he was when others were around. This close, she could not deny that something was wrong. The pallor of his skin, dark circles under his eyes, and ordinarily immaculate appearance was rumpled just slightly. "Please, Helen." And that was her undoing.

"What could be so important and couldn't wait that you had to come here of all places to find me?" She asked, moving to the side to allow him to walk in.

He took a familiar glass bottle containing the serum from his pocket and set it on the desk beside her hip.

"And?"

"It's not working."

"Nikola, you have used that for over a century."

"Yes, I know." He interrupted. "And now I'm telling you, it's not working."

"For how long?"

"Since we got back. I assumed that I was reacting to the grief of the last few months."

"You've since changed your mind? Why?"

"The smell of fresh blood when Ashley arrived back from a mission was almost enough to cause me to attack her. I realized then that this serum was no longer fulfilling its intended role."

"Is Ashley all right?" The concern was evident in her voice.

"Just a few scrapes and bruises; she's fine; most of the blood belonged to her unfortunate target."

"Given the radiation poisoning, I can't just offer you my blood. But there are several bags in cold storage in case a blood transfusion is needed. That should get you by for a while. If that's all?" She said with a motion to the door.

"That's not all, Helen; we need to talk about what happened?"

"About which part? The fact that I could likely be dead soon or that I killed our son?" She moved toward the fireplace, turning her back to him.

"You didn't kill him."

"Yes, I did. Even knowing what the machine would do, in the end, I turned it on and reset time in Carentan."

"This is why we need to talk; we both blame ourselves for something beyond our control. The only reason you did it and not me was that I was busy holding back the crazed townsfolk with their torches and pitchforks. I should have been the one to do it if for no other reason than to have spared you this pain." He said as he walked up behind her, touching her shoulders. "I'm the one that couldn't create a shield or anything to protect him." He exerted enough force to get her to turn around when she said nothing about the contact. "Come here." He said as he hugged her, needing comfort just as much as giving it. In that moment, words became obsolete, just two parents mourning the loss of a child. "I don't blame you, Helen." He whispered. "But I need you to fight this; you can't give up! I can't lose you, too."

"I think, after a time, part of me didn't want to leave. What we had there was simple; returning here is much harder."

"Regardless of how happy we were, you would not have left Ashley."

"We could not have stayed there forever, I know, but a few hundred more years could have worked. Couple of months out here, drop in the bucket."

"There were a few upsides to Carentan."

"Like us?"

"I won't deny that and say I regret it because I don't. What I do regret is that you are not comfortable enough with the thought of us to tell everyone out here."

She took a small step back to look him in the eye, "is that what you think? Nikola, I have loved you for more than a century; that doesn't just go away. For heaven's sake, we got married and had a kid, and you think, what? That I'm embarrassed by our relationship?" She reached up and put her hand along his jaw. "The more we tell them, the more questions they will ask. I wasn't ready for them to know about Gregory."

"You realize that because of him, we know how to activate the dormmate gene in Ashley so that she will have your longevity."

"Yes, but can I subject her to that? Living a life where she will lose the people around her?"

"I don't think we have a choice; either we do it at a time of our choosing, or it happens on its own as it did with Gregory. She is almost twenty-five; it's a good age to become immortal."

"Nikola, there is just so much going on right now," before she could get any further, the phone on her desk rang. Only one person had the number for that phone, so she knew before she even answered who would be on the other side. Stepping away from the much-needed comfort of being back in Nikola's arms, she walked to the desk and answered.

"What is it, Henry?"

"We have a problem, Doc; you'll want to get to your office ASAP."

Henry meet them at the end of the hallway leading to her office, looking very agitated. "What's going on, Henry?"

"Druitt pulled the Sanctuary Charter and claimed you cannot continue as head. He is trying to convince Will to let Adam look at the map."

"That's not Will's call."

She marched towards her office with a determined look, her colleagues trailing closely behind. The energy around her was palpable, and it was clear that she had a mission to accomplish. As she entered the room, everyone stopped talking and watched as she walked across to stand behind her desk. The symbolism was not lost on those in the room. This was her office, her sanctuary.

"Ran to mummy, did you?" Druitt addressed Henry a second later.

"Dude, you're trying to take control of the Sanctuary. Not cool!"

No one was paying attention to Nikola as he picked up the charter and began to read.

"I will say this one last time. Adam Worth is not getting his hands on that map, not on my watch; it gives him too much power. It's too risky."

"So back to square one then," said Will.

"Oh, Helen, what have you done?" Nikola piped up from his spot on the couch.

"You, too?"

"According to your own words, if the sanctuary head becomes physically or psychologically compromised, the second in command takes over. As much as it pains me to say this, Johnny is right. It's not your watch anymore; the question of whether or not to show Adam the map is no longer your decision." He turned from Helen and faced Will, "You're up, William; what will it be?"

"Dude, that is beyond cold." Said Henry as he crossed his arms.

"Will, don't do this," Helen said, not referring to replacing her but showing Adam the map.

"And if it's the only way to save your life?" He demanded.

"We'll find another way!"

"You don't know that."

Just as they were about to resume their argument, she was again interrupted by the jarring sound of a ringing phone. "Bloody hell! Is asking for just one day without a crisis too much to ask?" She glared at the phone; if looks could kill, it would have gone up in flames.

"Dr. Magnus," she answered briskly. Her physical exertion on the phone showed that she struggled to suppress her anger. She listened for several seconds. "Given my current circumstances, I'm doing as well as possible. How can I assist you today?" "No, I cannot take a trip to Colorado, Mr. President." She said with exasperation. That made everyone in the room listen a little more closely. "As you said, lives are not in any immediate danger, and I have been under the weather…" he cut her off before she could continue. "Thank you, sir. I'm glad you think I sound better, but that does not change the fact that I am not up for traveling right now." She listened to what he was saying for a few minutes, clearly getting angrier the more he spoke. "With all due respect, sir, I have fires to put out at the Sanctuary that are a matter of life and death, I don't…" He had cut her off. "Yes, sir, I understand. I'll prepare my team and arrange transport as soon as possible." "No, sir. My team is not negotiable." "Yes, I understand your threat very well, but let me clarify. I will not travel without my team. Threat or no threat." It didn't take long for her to respond, clearly cutting him off from whatever he said, "Relocating my New York Sanctuary would be unfortunate, but it can be done. But please remember that you are only in that office for four to eight years; when your successor takes over, I will still run the Sanctuary." "Yes, sir. I'll phone you when we are ready to go."

Helen slammed the phone down, "bloody hell," she said in a controlled rage. She picked up the phone and slammed it down a second time just for good measure. "Bloody, bloody hell." She said a little louder. She placed both hands in front of her on the desk and leaned forward slightly. She hunched her shoulders forward and lowered her head, taking a moment to process what had just happened. She desperately struggled to take control of her body as the pain almost overwhelmed her.

"Helen," Nikola said softly, closer than she expected him to be.

"I'm fine," she said without looking up. "Will, Henry, get your gear together, stop by the infirmary on your way, and let Ashley know to pack as well."

"You can't seriously be considering…" John started.

"That will be enough. I'm going, and they are coming with me."

"Magnus, are you sure that's a good idea in your condition? You should be resting."

"I can stave off the effects with antibiotics, biphosphonate, and potassium iodide; mix in some painkillers, and it should get me through."

"We have been on missions without you before; why can't we just send Kate and Asley?"

"You heard that conversation, Will, at least my side. Whatever he wants is specific to me, and he certainly was not happy that I refused to come alone."

"You ever think that this is a trap? That maybe he found out about your ability, and they want to try to find a way to replicate it?"

"Of course, that is always on my mind, Will; why do you think you all are coming with me? Besides, with John here, we can take a locater beacon and a panic button, and he can come to our rescue if we need it."

"Of course," John gave a slight bow, "whatever you need."

"You both are going to do whatever you want, regardless of my opinion," she said, addressing John and Nikola, "all I ask is that while I am away, you both try to remember that Adam has a plan you might have missed. Before you let him look at the map, consider every angle carefully. There is something here we are missing. He was counting on all of us concentrating on me being sick so that the cure would be our primary focus, not what is right in front of us."

"Which is what?"

"That's just it, Will. I have no idea."

"We will take every precaution." Said John.

"John, you can start by telling him that I am leaving the Sanctuary, going on an important mission that has nothing to do with Hollow Earth. Gauge his reaction; maybe he will let something slip in his anger."

"What a fantastic idea; I'll go rile the old boy up now." He made his way to the door with Henry and Will trailing him. She noticed that Nikola hung back without making it too apparent that he was not following them. He met her halfway as she exited from behind the desk.

"Please be safe. Find out what the bastard wants, just in and out. When you return, we will have the location of the entrance to Hollow Earth, and we can get you better."

"Nikola, I'm still not convinced that is what we will find there. You may have to come to terms with the fact that I may not survive this."

"And I told you I refuse to accept that."

"Come on, walk me to my room so I can get changed and grab a bag. I want to get this over with."

With a tender gesture, he reached down and delicately clasped her hand, bringing it to his lips. "As my lady wishes." He kissed the inside of her wrist, something he had taken to doing in Carentan.

Thirty minutes later, Helen, Will, Asley, and Henry were all in her office geared up for an unknown mission, and their bags either on their backs or on the floor. Helen picked up the phone and called the president's cell phone.