Solace

Based on Sanctuary, created by Damian Kindler

Set during around Vigilante and Hollow Men.

. . . ~ ~ . . .

Helen sat at her desk in her office, trying to work. Trying being the optimum word. As of late, she had had trouble concentrating on anything and everything. John was sitting on one of the couches with a novel in his hand. Since she released him from the infirmary, he spent as much time with her as she would allow. Which was almost the entirety of the day.

When it was only the two of them, he was quiet, calm, reserved, very much like the man he was so long ago. It was when he was around others that the rage inside boiled, especially Tesla. As much as she hated to admit it, his presence calmed her as well.

Helen hated to admit it but, even now, she wanted him. Even in all his murderous glory. He wasn't trying to hide it, or fight it. He was who he was. Yet, when the rage was calm, he was every bit her John as he ever was. The John she studied with, played with, loved with . . .

They had made plans, so long ago. Plans that included a cottage in the country side and simply, ordinary life, with a few children. How things had changed.

But she still wanted him, even now; perhaps especially now. For the first time in over a century, she truly felt vulnerable. She was no longer immortal. It wasn't that she was in a life or death situation, she had done that often, it was that she was going die in a long, drawn out, unpleasant manner.

She hadn't faced the reality of mortality since she was young

She thought of her daughter, their daughter; so like her father in so many ways. Far more like mother than Helen would care to admit. She could remember a thousand or more moments, every single one of them more precious than the last.

"You're staring," a deep voice brought her from her thoughts.

John looked up to make eye contact.

"Was I?"

"You were," he answered simply, turning his book facedown in his lap. "Where were you?" he asked, referring to her train of thought.

"The past."

"A delightful place, I've found refuge there myself, from time to time." He offered her the briefest smile. "They were good times."

She nodded slowly. "The greatest."

"A long time ago."

"Very long," she agreed.

"A lifetime," he breathed in that dark, almost lustful tone of his.

"And more."

"Too long?" he asked, holding her gaze carefully.

The world fell away as she considered the answer.

"I know you're jerking me around here," Will's voice interrupted her thoughts. Helen looked up to the doorway where she heard his voice.

"Why would I lie about this?" Nikola asked.

"Why do you do anything? World Domination?"

Will entered the room with Nikola on his heels. "Once again, not the most important thing on my plate right now. I can bide my time," Nikola responded, taking an arrogantly comfortable stance in the center of the room.

Helen looked past him to John, who was now noticeably agitated.

"Magnus, will you tell this," Will said, gesturing to Nikola. He paused midthought, no doubt picking up on her pensive - to say the least - demeanor. "Are you alright?"

She gave him a quick smile. "Fine," she answered, taking her eyes from John and turning to Nikola with that look she liked to give him. "What is it you want to do?"

As Nikola started to prattle, she glanced back at John, who met her gaze for a brief second. His question hadn't been answered, and Helen didn't know is she knew what that answer was.

. . . ~ FIN ~ . . .