Helen had known going in there would be problems to deal with, things to overcome – including steering the government cleanly away from their path. She knew they'd comb through the remains of the Old City Sanctuary to try and find proof that she'd died in the blast, and Helen hadn't had time to fabricate enough evidence in which to convince them. So they would be looking – which, in turn, meant that her teams on the surface weren't safe. But she'd come up with a way to finally fabricate it, and an elaborate scheme to go along with it that would permanently likely lead Addison and his goons away from her team while they made final preps and got the last of the abnormal settled from above ground – which meant breaking out the others that had managed to get captured by the government, including ones locked up at SCUI.

While Will and the others took care of that, Helen was going to do something she hadn't done in a very long time: run.

Giving them the tip had been easy. They'd scrambled around, but Helen was already long gone, leaving quite the lovely trail of figurative breadcrumbs for them to follow.

"Nikola, I swear I'm going to cram that toy down your throat."

"You can't keep me cramped in a car forever and not expect me to get bored, Helen. It's why I don't travel by anything other than plane."

"You could have stayed at the Sanctuary."

She received no response and knew she had won, well aware that he'd be holding true of his statement of staying involved, and making sure she wasn't about to go away and off herself for real. He'd gotten the power stabled in the Sanctuary to the best of his abilities before tagging along with Helen, who had snagged one of the Sanctuary cards and was currently twisting this way and that across Canada and the United States in a path of back roads and small towns, making sure they could be traced, but not so easily that it didn't give Addison and friends a challenge.

Map spread out across the hood of the car, her finger traced a route, calculating, gaze briefly slipping to Nikola as he leaned against the side of the car and fiddled with the rubix cube he's managed to get his hands on somehow. She knew he didn't like being in a car for hours on end, but he was suffering – for her. She lingered at pull-offs and old gas stations (their current stopping point) for as long as she dared to give him time to stretch his legs, but he never ventured far. Her lips curved into a faintly amused smirk.

"Something funny?" He cocked a brow, pushing away from the car and straightening his vest. The smile quickly disappeared from her face.

"Not at all." Helen turned her attention back to the map on hand. "There's a smaller town just over another hour and a half from here. We should be safe staying there for the night. I don't trust you enjoy in a vehicle to drive and I'm too exhausted to attempt much further." She spoke. He scoffed.

"Please. At least I've never wrecked one."

"Because you've never driven one. And I don't want to hear it, because that wasn't my fault."

"Accident reports beg to differ."

She tossed the wrapper from her granola bar at him. He chuckled, watching her fold the map back into some form, moving back around to the driver's seat. He slid in smoothly before she'd even opened the car door. Being cramped up and driving for ages hardly bothered her – she just wished it were under different circumstances. She tried to push the negativity from her mind as she pulled back out onto the road they were currently following, passing the map over to Nikola with a quiet request of navigation.

He was still playing with the blasted cube.

"You know, this reminds me of Egypt." He said a few more miles into their journey and Helen cast him a look, having been wrapped up in her own thoughts of the Sanctuary, Addison, and Nikola himself (he seemed unable to not always occupy some little corner of her mind most days now).

"How so?"

"Driving in the middle of nowhere, just the two of us – except far less sand in unmentionable places. And proper air conditioning."

"You weren't complaining of the heat at the time." Helen quipped.

"Not until you had me out digging in the dirt for your fancy little tomb. I'm sure you and Carter could have found it all on your own." He muttered, not looking up from his current task of aligning the coloured squares.

"If I was suffering, you were suffering with me. You were eager to go."

"Only because you enticed me, you desert vixen." He reached over and caught the hand that had been resting in her lap, curling cool fingers around her own. He let their joined hands rest on the center console of the car while he continued to work out his little rubix cube. Helen blinked, somewhat startled by the action – since when had Nikola ever been a hand holder? He made no notion that it was out of the ordinary when she glanced at him again, but she did not pull her hand away. Instead, she rubbed a soft circle across the back of his hand with her thumb, returning her attention to driving.

At least he hadn't distracted her with a hand on her leg like earlier that morning.

The drive continued in companionable silence – a feat she hadn't considered Nikola capable of, really – until they reached the town Helen had mentioned on the map. It was dusk, the sun setting behind the large forest of trees that seemed to encircle three fourths of the quaint place. It would due for lying low for the evening, and they would be out before they were noticed before morning light.

Room key in hand for the small hotel, Helen shoved open the door to room three and almost immediately sat on the edge of the bed with a heavy sigh. Exhaustion was prevalent in her features; with good reason. She'd slept very little the past few days. Nikola shut the door and locked it, drawing tight the curtains that had likely been thrown open earlier in the day. With only a vague wave of his hand, the nightstand light clicked to life to cast the room in a soft glow. Not the most enjoyable of surroundings, but it was a bed and Helen wasn't going to be picky.

She flopped back against the bed, staring at the ceiling, half debating the pros and cons of falling asleep then and there. Whether she wanted to get up and get a shower or not, too. The overwhelming urge to just lay there was far too ideal.

Something tugged on her boot and she looked down, finding Nikola pulling away her footwear. The sound of the shower reached her ears. The protest she'd been about to make died on her lips as the clasp of her jeans seemingly undid themselves.

"We both need showers. And you need sleep." Nikola spoke. "I'm still in the phase where I'm taking care of you."

"I'll let it slip by this once." Helen muttered, too tired to argue with the fact that she could very well care for herself. Rolling to the side and to her feet, she shoved her jeans down and began to strip the rest of her layers, just the same as Nikola was. It was important to conserve water, after all.

The moment the hot water hit her tension filled muscles, she was certain she'd briefly died and gone to heaven – though, considering her last few brushes with death, quickly amended the thought into something more pleasant. It was at least the best thing she'd felt in the past few days – at least until Nikola's hands were suddenly on her shoulders from behind, massaging out rough knots and constricted muscles. Her chin rested against her chest as she braced a hand on the wall of the shower, willing herself not to pool at the bottom of the tub with the rest of the water swirling about the drain.

But damn; the amount of things the man could do with his fingers were endless.

Helen's head resting against the wall, she reached for the small travel shampoo the hotel kept stocked in the bathrooms, but he'd already grabbed it and was massaging it into her scalp, the generic scent flooding her nostrils.

"You're spoiling me, Nikola."

"Isn't that what boyfriend's do?"

She made a noise between a snort and a chuckle. The term didn't seem right, applied to Nikola. Far too juvenile. And she was certainly no one's 'girlfriend'. It was all the more odd hearing him say it.

"Yes, but not lovers." She corrected and he chuckled, pressing a kiss to the back of her neck.

"They do now. Just accept a bit of TLC right now. You can go back to being your independent self tomorrow when you're not dead on your feet. Better watch out or I might carry you to bed."

"Save it, Niko."

He chuckled again and ran fingers through her hair, tugging out the knots and the last of the shampoo. Conditioner followed, and as it rinsed away down the drain she turned toward him and ran a hand down his chest. He gave a low growl.

"Tease."

She leaned up and kissed him, water and all, tangling her other hand into his hair. He responded eagerly, burying his hands in the ends of her hair and tugging lightly as he kissed her in return. Somehow even still, he tasted of wine. Something permanent, apparently; Helen decided instantly she liked it. Only pulling away when the need for breath made her lungs burn, she gave a tired smile.

"Thank you."

"I'll do it far more often if I get rewarded with kisses like that." He smirked. She rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"You're incorrigible."

"You wouldn't love me otherwise."

After being thoroughly tended to by the vampire, Helen dried herself off and changed back into her under things. Her other clothes were in the car and she couldn't be bothered to fetch them. Blankets turned down, she was all too happy to crawl between the sheets, curling up almost instantly next to Nikola the moment he joined her.

"Can you imagine living like this, on the run, forever?" Helen inquired quietly with a soft yawn, damp hair fanned out across the pillow as she faced him on her side.

"Yes and no. I can't imagine it'd be a fulfilling life."

"You wouldn't run away with me?" She gave a half grin, eyelids slipping closed.

"I would pack my bags the moment the words left your mouth if you wanted me to." Nikola pressed a kiss to her temple, pulling her close into his side. "But you deserve more than a life on the run."

"Perhaps . . ." Her voice grew softer, another small yawn escaping as she resettled against him. Within moments her breathing had changed and she'd given in to the exhaustion pulling her under, drifting away into a gentle sleep.

Morning came too quickly, but hopefully it would be the last day of 'running' and they'd be returning to the Sanctuary soon after. They had stopped at a long stretch of highway that wasn't busy in the slightest, pulling off near an embankment. Another part of the ridiculous, elaborate plan that Nikola had complained about since they'd first started. Helen knew it was ridiculous and would have much rather remained safe within the Sanctuary, but Addison had not relented as expected. Perhaps true evidence would convince him.

Two of Helen's friends in the area had met up with them, bringing along two bodies – a male and female both that looked remarkably similar to Helen and Nikola themselves. The records on both of them had been destroyed so they never existed, really, as Helen and Nikola had never existed within a government computer either. They would find nothing comparing teeth – if they could find any left – or any other sort of thing. Perhaps DNA, but that had been taken care of as well, with the bodies drained of blood and replaced by samples of Helen and Nikola's, so that if they managed to pull something, they could test for the abnormalities of the source blood; it wouldn't be enough to extract anything but mere confirmation that it had been them in the car.

At least, Helen hoped. It was a last resort. Addison would get the evidence he craved, hopefully, and then leave them alone for good. Move on to trashing other lives and bothering others instead of their own.

"Thank you, Jessica. And Seamus." Helen spoke quietly, waiting until they had wrestled the two bodies into the clothes she and Nikola had been wearing the day previously. "For doing this."

"Anytime, Helen." Jessica smiled, eyes flashing a brilliant yellow in hue; a shapeshifter, who normally wore sunglasses to hide the only visible abnormality about her. Seamus just gave a grin – a human that Helen had come across unknowingly tending to a series of abnormals. He'd been sucked into their world ever since.

Jessica glanced toward Nikola, who was standing a few feet away, watching with a troubled expression. Helen frowned.

"Is he all right?"

"I don't know." Helen replied quietly. "I've never seen that look before." Silently, she made a mental note to speak with him once they were safely away.

The smell of gasoline entered her nose and she wrinkled it momentarily, glancing over to where Seamus was dousing the entire car in a special substance he had come up with. Not quite gasoline, but something that would burn away and not leave a trace once it had all burned up – and anything covered in it with it.

"Step back." He warned and the girls did, distancing themselves from the car as he gave a small push and it began to roll down the small embankment, followed by a match that landed on the trunk. The car immediately flared to life in flames. Helen took another step back as she felt the heat lick her skin even from her distance away. Well, that was that.

Jessica and Seamus drove them into their hometown, dropping them off at Jessica's house where they were to stay the night before rendezvousing with a member of the Sanctuary team the next day. Nikola still did not speak, and when Helen shut the door to their guest room after Jessica had gone to take Seamus home, she spoke.

"Nikola, what's wrong?"

"You died. Again."

"No, I didn't. I'm right here." She said, frowning, stepping toward him. He'd gone to the window, watching out of it a moment. It was open wide to the small town streets below. He glanced at her.

"You faked your death again, Helen. And mine. We're both up to two now, I think. How many more?" There was a bitterness to his tone that she hadn't noticed before. "It's getting old."

"What's gotten to you so badly about this, Nikola?" Helen sat down on the edge of the bed, folding her arms across her chest. He turned away from the window to cross the room, pacing, and she had the strangest sense of Déjà vu from where he'd visited her at the safe house just after her last 'death'.

"Is this our lives for the rest of forever, Helen? Running, hiding, faking deaths here or there because someone is after us?"

"There's nothing left to do but go home. We'll be fine there. Safe. No more faking anything."

"Do you know that for certain? When you go back to the surface tracking down abnormal, how do you know they still won't be looking? That someone in some town will recognize you?"

"I'll take precautions –"

"And then you'll be faking your death again and again and eventually, Helen, it'll be for real."

"You're afraid I'm going to go out and get myself killed, aren't you?" She challenge, anger beginning. "My life is dangerous, Nikola. It comes with the territory. You've always known that."

"Things are different now." He said, suddenly turning to face her. "I finally have you, Helen, and I'm not willing to let you so easily sacrifice yourself for this work. You may be ready to die at any moment for anyone and while I admire your adoration and passion for your work, it's really getting out of hand." Nikola continued on his rant. "Because one day you're not going to come back. You said yourself just the other day you were tired of being alone, tired of losing everyone else – it works both ways, Helen. I'm not losing you to this work like I've lost everyone else. I will not be the last of the Five because you decide you really do need to kill yourself to right some wrong or protect this network."

Helen was startled momentarily by his anger. Apparently he hadn't let it all go from the first time she'd blown up the Sanctuary; and here she was hoping he'd had, if only to avoid such a conversation. Argument, rather, the way her own anger was struggling to be contained. Part of her wanted to argue that he had no right to try and tell her what and what not to do, but the more rational part was telling her that yes, he did, because he cared for her so much.

"So please," He continued after another moment, this time far quieter. He sank down to her level on the bed, taking her hands. "stop doing dangerous things for a while. You're going to give me grey hair and a heart attack. If anyone would, it would be you."

"I could say the very same thing about you." Helen quipped dryly.

"I've kept myself in line recently, thank you." He returned. "Let's just get home in one piece, and then I want to stay there. You and I both. Just for a while. You've deserved a break."

After a moment, Helen nodded.

"You're right. I have deserved a break." She conceded, pulling her hands away and digging into her jacket pocket. "But not at home."

She held up a finger to Nikola's puzzled look as she dialed Will's number.

"Magnus?"

"Will, do me a favor. Track our location, send the jet to the nearest local airport. Tell the pilot to pack for a lengthy flight."

"Are you coming back soon?"

"Not quite. I'm taking a vacation. Everything's over, and I'll be back next week. You and Declan can finish getting everything settled."

"But –."

Helen had already hung up, looking back to Nikola with an impassive face.

"I hope you like Italy."