FIC: "Two Days Only," Helen/Charlotte, Sanctuary
Title: Two Days Only
Author: geonncannon
Fandom: Sanctuary
Pairing: Helen Magnus/Charlotte Benoit
Word Count: 2,134
Category: Romance, established relationship
Spoilers: Monsoon
Disclaimer: They don't belong to me!
Rating: Teen and Up
Author's Notes: My lovely Sanctuary Santa story ignited my Helen/Charlotte love, so I came up with this fun little thing for them. Enjoy!
Summary: Charlotte and Helen find themselves regretting their agreement.
Charlotte's alarm clock was set to play music to wake her, so she woke to the sound of U2 singing about New Year's Day. She stayed under the blankets until the song was over, and then forced herself to sit up and put her feet on the floor. She pushed her hair out of her face, looked out the window, and struggled to wake up after that very, very nice dream. She turned off her alarm and padded barefoot into the bathroom.
Shower, toothpaste, makeup, back into the bedroom to get partially dressed. Slacks. Undershirt. Stopping at the front door to retrieve the paper and then to the kitchen. She yawned as she started the coffee, leaned her hip against the counter, and started cooking oatmeal for breakfast. She closed her eyes and slipped back into the dream.
A deadly virus, monsters, people with extraordinary abilities. A man impervious to bullet wounds. A woman with a voice like a siren. Explosions and gunfire. And one woman walking confidently through the flames like a phoenix or a valkyrie.
But it wasn't a dream. She opened her eyes and looked down at her mundane breakfast. As bizarre as it all seemed in retrospect, it had all really happened to her. Up to and including the kiss. She blushed at the memory. She'd been so frightened of being rebuffed that she was totally taken aback by how enthusiastically Helen returned the kiss.
Helen. Even the name was mythical. The woman whose face could launch a thousand ships. But Helen Magnus only had to whisper, and every one of those ships would come back home again. Their relationship had been confined to one room, two days, and then the world needed its secret savior again. She still remembered tearfully telling Helen to go, and the words Helen whispered in her ear.
"I'd stay for you. Let someone else deal with the crises." She kissed the palms of Charlotte's hands, and Charlotte urged her to go. How could she compete with the world and all its problems? But she knew Helen's offer to stay was sincere, and that was bigger than all the declarations of love in the world.
And now she was home. Standing barefoot on the cold tile of her kitchen with the coffee percolating and the heater humming. It was real-life, and monsters didn't exist.
Except she'd fought some.
She had temporarily been a gun-wielding sidekick to a real life superhero. She had been lover to someone born before her great-grandmother.
When her food was ready, Charlotte poured a cup of coffee and carried them both to the table. Through the window she could see the bare branches of the oak tree in the building's courtyard. She ate slowly, read the front pages of the paper, and then checked her laptop for overnight emails. She responded to a bit of personal correspondence, including a note from a friend who knew of a job opening she might be interested in.
After breakfast she finished getting dressed and left the apartment.
#
Helen woke to the chiming of the intercom system. She sat up and reached for the button, speaking even as she pushed the blankets aside and swung her feet onto the floor. She let herself luxuriate for a moment in the post-slumber confusion, blinking at the window as her brain woke up. She finally had to face the fact she was at home, and Africa was many weeks and many miles away. She ran her fingers through her hair and answered the intercom call.
"Yes, Henry."
"Hey, Doc. Sorry to bother your jet-lag recovery, but I thought you might want to check out the new intakes. Fresh off the boat from... somewhere. I'm pretty sure the shipping label was in English."
"Thank you." Helen smiled. "I'll be down in a bit."
"Take your time. The little buggers are still sleeping off the sedative they were given for transport."
Helen disconnected and went into the bathroom. She took off her pajamas - the luxuriant silk ones that felt like water on her skin - and changed into something lightweight and free-flowing. She didn't have time for a bath and she balked at the idea of a shower. She would take care of bathing once her guests were situated. She looked in the mirror to apply her makeup and paused with her hand near her face.
Charlotte's fingers were long and slender. They had touched the lines near Helen's eyes, bending to kiss them and smooth them away with her tongue. In Charlotte's arms, Helen had finally allowed herself to let go of the rage and anger and frustration of spending over a century doing nothing. Helen remembered how patient Charlotte had been with her. It had seemed so simple, but a gentle hand smoothing down her hair made all the difference.
It was the simple pleasure of being with someone who had no expectations of her. With Charlotte, Helen was able to just be Helen for the first time since 1886. She wasn't the leader of the Sanctuary, and she wasn't the figurehead of a worldwide war against Abnormals and various governments. She had almost forgotten what it was like to just... be.
She finished with her makeup and looked away from the reflection before it made her cry.
Two days. They agreed to two days, and that was what they had given to each other. To ask Charlotte for more, to bring her into the madness that was the life of Helen Magnus, would be cruel and selfish. It was best to enjoy the time they had together and part on good terms. It was safer. And easier. Charlotte's life would be unaffected by her madness, and Helen wouldn't have to suffer through the pain and heartbreak of their eventual and inevitable parting.
Helen stepped into her high heels and went to deal with the new arrivals.
#
Charlotte did the crossword puzzle on the bus. She tapped her pen against her chin and gazed out the window. Her mind wandered as the bus trundled through the city streets. There was a woman on one corner waiting to pass, and she wore a shawl similar to Helen's, which had been destroyed during their adventure. She twisted her neck to watch the woman as the bus continued on, certain it wasn't Helen but forcing herself to look anyway. She sighed as she settled back against her seat and looked at the next clue.
"To feel remorse."
She smiled sadly as she filled in "REGRET."
#
"So that's okay?"
Helen looked away from the window and blinked. "Sorry? Ah. The intake forms." She looked down at her tablet computer and nodded. "Yes, the new format should work just as well."
Will glanced at Henry. "Right, and that's why we decided to keep them. Fifteen minutes ago."
"You okay, Doc?"
Helen scrolled on to the next topic. "Yes. Just a bit distracted is all." She cleared her throat as she spotted a small saved photograph on the display screen. She enlarged it and saw Charlotte's smiling face, a photograph taken on their last morning together. She minimized it and went back to the bullet point list of priorities for the morning briefing. "Give me a moment and I'll catch up."
#
When she got home, Charlotte took out the garbage. She stood next to the dumpsters and eyed the apartment windows visible from the alley. She could see spinning ceiling fans, window-mounted air conditioners, photographs, a random cat peering down at the street, and people moving like phantoms behind the glass. It was homey, but it was normal. Helen Magnus would never be happy here. She sighed and walked back inside.
#
"Will someone please shut off that blasted ala--" The alarm stopped and Helen sighed as she stepped forward. "Thank you, Henry."
Will put down the stunner and met her in the middle of the habitat area. A pair of celenestria had somehow bypassed the security measures of the SHU. They went on a rampage that culminated in a buffet of Abnormals in the regular habitats. Fortunately Helen and Will managed to subdue them before they inflicted anything other than a few superficial nibbles. Helen looked at the creatures lying unconscious on the floor and closed her eyes.
This wasn't even a bad day in her world. How could she possibly bring Charlotte into it?
"Clean this up would you, Will?"
"Yeah, no problem." She started to walk away. "Magnus. Are you sure you're all right? You seem a little... depressed lately."
Helen smiled sadly. "Live as long as I have, Will. You'll be amazed how often the blues hit you. I'll be in my office if you need me."
"Okay." He didn't sound convinced, but he was smart enough to know when to let things drop.
#
Helen was surprised when the phone beside her bed rang. It was an older model, with a base heavy enough to stave in someone's skull (although it had only been called on once for that duty) and a receiver that looked as if it had been carved from ivory. It was a work of art, and it was her most private of lines. Only a handful of people still living had the number, and she answered on the third ring.
"Ahoy-hoy?"
Charlotte's laughter filled her ear, and Helen smiled. The sound was a salve on her soul. She closed her eyes and closed the book she had been reading. "I love that you answer the phone that way."
"Well, it was Edison that suggested hullo. He was a bitter enemy of a friend, so I... adopted the other. Hello, Charlotte. Oh, I have missed hearing your voice."
"I was afraid I'd be disturbing you."
"Never." Helen opened her eyes and looked out the window. "You remind me there's a world out there, and that I can be a part of it. I spend so much of my time trying to keep it spinning that I forget I can just... enjoy it. You make me feel normal, Charlotte, and I treasure that. You've no idea how much."
Charlotte laughed quietly. "You make me feel important. You made me feel like I'm changing the world and not just occupying a space in it. So I guess we balance each other out."
"It would seem so."
"Are you busy? If you're in the middle of a disaster--"
"No. No disasters today. In fact, I'm in bed reading."
Charlotte made a noise of approval. "I'm on my couch. I just got back from a job interview."
"I wish you luck with it." She wound the phone cord around her finger. "Cha--"
"I want to see you." Helen laughed and Charlotte sighed. "Sorry."
"Don't apologize. You merely beat me to the punch. I want to see you, too."
"When?"
Helen glanced at the clock and wondered if it was too late to prep the jet and fly out immediately. Her mind betrayed her, reminded her of obligations and responsibilities. But the knowledge of a visit with Charlotte at the other end would make waiting slightly more bearable.
"This weekend. I'll fly out to meet you, and we can have two days together."
"Just two days, right?" Charlotte said.
Helen smiled. "Exactly. We never said two days period... I think we just meant two days at a time."
"Right. That's what I meant, anyway."
Helen reached out with her spare hand to turn down the lamp. The shadows in the rest of the bedroom darkened, making the area around her bed brighter by comparison. "Do you have time to talk? It must be terribly late where you are."
"I couldn't sleep anyway. I kept thinking about what... what I'd..."
"I know."
She listened to the hum of silence on the line. Somehow just knowing Charlotte was on the other side eased her mind. She gathered the blankets around her hips and leaned back against the headboard. She was in no rush to begin the conversation, happy to just share the time with someone so far away.
Eventually, Charlotte did break the silence. They didn't speak about anything in particular... Charlotte talked about looking for a new job ("preferably somewhere without deadly genocidal viruses in production") and Helen told Charlotte what she could of the Sanctuary's latest adventures ("Not technically a shapeshifter, but he could disguise your perception of him").
The phone call had to end eventually, and they quietly said their goodnights. Both of them were smiling, both their minds put at ease. In the morning they would get up and go about their business with a certain spring in their steps.
The weekend was just around the corner, and there were so many possibilities in living life two days at a time.
Author: geonncannon
Fandom: Sanctuary
Pairing: Helen Magnus/Charlotte Benoit
Word Count: 2,134
Category: Romance, established relationship
Spoilers: Monsoon
Disclaimer: They don't belong to me!
Rating: Teen and Up
Author's Notes: My lovely Sanctuary Santa story ignited my Helen/Charlotte love, so I came up with this fun little thing for them. Enjoy!
Summary: Charlotte and Helen find themselves regretting their agreement.
Charlotte's alarm clock was set to play music to wake her, so she woke to the sound of U2 singing about New Year's Day. She stayed under the blankets until the song was over, and then forced herself to sit up and put her feet on the floor. She pushed her hair out of her face, looked out the window, and struggled to wake up after that very, very nice dream. She turned off her alarm and padded barefoot into the bathroom.
Shower, toothpaste, makeup, back into the bedroom to get partially dressed. Slacks. Undershirt. Stopping at the front door to retrieve the paper and then to the kitchen. She yawned as she started the coffee, leaned her hip against the counter, and started cooking oatmeal for breakfast. She closed her eyes and slipped back into the dream.
A deadly virus, monsters, people with extraordinary abilities. A man impervious to bullet wounds. A woman with a voice like a siren. Explosions and gunfire. And one woman walking confidently through the flames like a phoenix or a valkyrie.
But it wasn't a dream. She opened her eyes and looked down at her mundane breakfast. As bizarre as it all seemed in retrospect, it had all really happened to her. Up to and including the kiss. She blushed at the memory. She'd been so frightened of being rebuffed that she was totally taken aback by how enthusiastically Helen returned the kiss.
Helen. Even the name was mythical. The woman whose face could launch a thousand ships. But Helen Magnus only had to whisper, and every one of those ships would come back home again. Their relationship had been confined to one room, two days, and then the world needed its secret savior again. She still remembered tearfully telling Helen to go, and the words Helen whispered in her ear.
"I'd stay for you. Let someone else deal with the crises." She kissed the palms of Charlotte's hands, and Charlotte urged her to go. How could she compete with the world and all its problems? But she knew Helen's offer to stay was sincere, and that was bigger than all the declarations of love in the world.
And now she was home. Standing barefoot on the cold tile of her kitchen with the coffee percolating and the heater humming. It was real-life, and monsters didn't exist.
Except she'd fought some.
She had temporarily been a gun-wielding sidekick to a real life superhero. She had been lover to someone born before her great-grandmother.
When her food was ready, Charlotte poured a cup of coffee and carried them both to the table. Through the window she could see the bare branches of the oak tree in the building's courtyard. She ate slowly, read the front pages of the paper, and then checked her laptop for overnight emails. She responded to a bit of personal correspondence, including a note from a friend who knew of a job opening she might be interested in.
After breakfast she finished getting dressed and left the apartment.
#
Helen woke to the chiming of the intercom system. She sat up and reached for the button, speaking even as she pushed the blankets aside and swung her feet onto the floor. She let herself luxuriate for a moment in the post-slumber confusion, blinking at the window as her brain woke up. She finally had to face the fact she was at home, and Africa was many weeks and many miles away. She ran her fingers through her hair and answered the intercom call.
"Yes, Henry."
"Hey, Doc. Sorry to bother your jet-lag recovery, but I thought you might want to check out the new intakes. Fresh off the boat from... somewhere. I'm pretty sure the shipping label was in English."
"Thank you." Helen smiled. "I'll be down in a bit."
"Take your time. The little buggers are still sleeping off the sedative they were given for transport."
Helen disconnected and went into the bathroom. She took off her pajamas - the luxuriant silk ones that felt like water on her skin - and changed into something lightweight and free-flowing. She didn't have time for a bath and she balked at the idea of a shower. She would take care of bathing once her guests were situated. She looked in the mirror to apply her makeup and paused with her hand near her face.
Charlotte's fingers were long and slender. They had touched the lines near Helen's eyes, bending to kiss them and smooth them away with her tongue. In Charlotte's arms, Helen had finally allowed herself to let go of the rage and anger and frustration of spending over a century doing nothing. Helen remembered how patient Charlotte had been with her. It had seemed so simple, but a gentle hand smoothing down her hair made all the difference.
It was the simple pleasure of being with someone who had no expectations of her. With Charlotte, Helen was able to just be Helen for the first time since 1886. She wasn't the leader of the Sanctuary, and she wasn't the figurehead of a worldwide war against Abnormals and various governments. She had almost forgotten what it was like to just... be.
She finished with her makeup and looked away from the reflection before it made her cry.
Two days. They agreed to two days, and that was what they had given to each other. To ask Charlotte for more, to bring her into the madness that was the life of Helen Magnus, would be cruel and selfish. It was best to enjoy the time they had together and part on good terms. It was safer. And easier. Charlotte's life would be unaffected by her madness, and Helen wouldn't have to suffer through the pain and heartbreak of their eventual and inevitable parting.
Helen stepped into her high heels and went to deal with the new arrivals.
#
Charlotte did the crossword puzzle on the bus. She tapped her pen against her chin and gazed out the window. Her mind wandered as the bus trundled through the city streets. There was a woman on one corner waiting to pass, and she wore a shawl similar to Helen's, which had been destroyed during their adventure. She twisted her neck to watch the woman as the bus continued on, certain it wasn't Helen but forcing herself to look anyway. She sighed as she settled back against her seat and looked at the next clue.
"To feel remorse."
She smiled sadly as she filled in "REGRET."
#
"So that's okay?"
Helen looked away from the window and blinked. "Sorry? Ah. The intake forms." She looked down at her tablet computer and nodded. "Yes, the new format should work just as well."
Will glanced at Henry. "Right, and that's why we decided to keep them. Fifteen minutes ago."
"You okay, Doc?"
Helen scrolled on to the next topic. "Yes. Just a bit distracted is all." She cleared her throat as she spotted a small saved photograph on the display screen. She enlarged it and saw Charlotte's smiling face, a photograph taken on their last morning together. She minimized it and went back to the bullet point list of priorities for the morning briefing. "Give me a moment and I'll catch up."
#
When she got home, Charlotte took out the garbage. She stood next to the dumpsters and eyed the apartment windows visible from the alley. She could see spinning ceiling fans, window-mounted air conditioners, photographs, a random cat peering down at the street, and people moving like phantoms behind the glass. It was homey, but it was normal. Helen Magnus would never be happy here. She sighed and walked back inside.
#
"Will someone please shut off that blasted ala--" The alarm stopped and Helen sighed as she stepped forward. "Thank you, Henry."
Will put down the stunner and met her in the middle of the habitat area. A pair of celenestria had somehow bypassed the security measures of the SHU. They went on a rampage that culminated in a buffet of Abnormals in the regular habitats. Fortunately Helen and Will managed to subdue them before they inflicted anything other than a few superficial nibbles. Helen looked at the creatures lying unconscious on the floor and closed her eyes.
This wasn't even a bad day in her world. How could she possibly bring Charlotte into it?
"Clean this up would you, Will?"
"Yeah, no problem." She started to walk away. "Magnus. Are you sure you're all right? You seem a little... depressed lately."
Helen smiled sadly. "Live as long as I have, Will. You'll be amazed how often the blues hit you. I'll be in my office if you need me."
"Okay." He didn't sound convinced, but he was smart enough to know when to let things drop.
#
Helen was surprised when the phone beside her bed rang. It was an older model, with a base heavy enough to stave in someone's skull (although it had only been called on once for that duty) and a receiver that looked as if it had been carved from ivory. It was a work of art, and it was her most private of lines. Only a handful of people still living had the number, and she answered on the third ring.
"Ahoy-hoy?"
Charlotte's laughter filled her ear, and Helen smiled. The sound was a salve on her soul. She closed her eyes and closed the book she had been reading. "I love that you answer the phone that way."
"Well, it was Edison that suggested hullo. He was a bitter enemy of a friend, so I... adopted the other. Hello, Charlotte. Oh, I have missed hearing your voice."
"I was afraid I'd be disturbing you."
"Never." Helen opened her eyes and looked out the window. "You remind me there's a world out there, and that I can be a part of it. I spend so much of my time trying to keep it spinning that I forget I can just... enjoy it. You make me feel normal, Charlotte, and I treasure that. You've no idea how much."
Charlotte laughed quietly. "You make me feel important. You made me feel like I'm changing the world and not just occupying a space in it. So I guess we balance each other out."
"It would seem so."
"Are you busy? If you're in the middle of a disaster--"
"No. No disasters today. In fact, I'm in bed reading."
Charlotte made a noise of approval. "I'm on my couch. I just got back from a job interview."
"I wish you luck with it." She wound the phone cord around her finger. "Cha--"
"I want to see you." Helen laughed and Charlotte sighed. "Sorry."
"Don't apologize. You merely beat me to the punch. I want to see you, too."
"When?"
Helen glanced at the clock and wondered if it was too late to prep the jet and fly out immediately. Her mind betrayed her, reminded her of obligations and responsibilities. But the knowledge of a visit with Charlotte at the other end would make waiting slightly more bearable.
"This weekend. I'll fly out to meet you, and we can have two days together."
"Just two days, right?" Charlotte said.
Helen smiled. "Exactly. We never said two days period... I think we just meant two days at a time."
"Right. That's what I meant, anyway."
Helen reached out with her spare hand to turn down the lamp. The shadows in the rest of the bedroom darkened, making the area around her bed brighter by comparison. "Do you have time to talk? It must be terribly late where you are."
"I couldn't sleep anyway. I kept thinking about what... what I'd..."
"I know."
She listened to the hum of silence on the line. Somehow just knowing Charlotte was on the other side eased her mind. She gathered the blankets around her hips and leaned back against the headboard. She was in no rush to begin the conversation, happy to just share the time with someone so far away.
Eventually, Charlotte did break the silence. They didn't speak about anything in particular... Charlotte talked about looking for a new job ("preferably somewhere without deadly genocidal viruses in production") and Helen told Charlotte what she could of the Sanctuary's latest adventures ("Not technically a shapeshifter, but he could disguise your perception of him").
The phone call had to end eventually, and they quietly said their goodnights. Both of them were smiling, both their minds put at ease. In the morning they would get up and go about their business with a certain spring in their steps.
The weekend was just around the corner, and there were so many possibilities in living life two days at a time.