"Nosce te Ipsum" - Chapter 2
Title: Nosce te Ipsum
Author: Shannon - shannyfish
Disclaimer: I do not own "Sanctuary" or its characters, Syfy and other people do. This is merely for entertainment purposes only.
Rating: PG-13
Summary: To trust someone after such betrayal is hard and Magnus finds it almost impossible to be able to trust Will after such pain and deception. Nevertheless, they have to push forward and pursue the leads they have and pray that they can save Ashley.
Takes place after “Nova Vita”.
Warning: Season 1-3 is fair for sure, if I have spoilers for 4, it’s by complete accident.
Author's Note: Reviews are glorious! Okay, took a little while to get this first chapter going! Had to write my Sanctuary Secret Santa Fic first! Which will be posted after the first of the year! :D Plus, you know…holiday and travel and family drama…
. . .
Chapter 2 - “Brought Together”
She was still unconscious. It worried her slightly, but Helen knew that they’d drugged her on purpose. Ashley was still genetically the Cabal’s experiment. They couldn’t have her conscious and possibly causing mass havoc. They’d been through that before. It was almost unreal. Things had fallen somewhat back into place, but it still felt so wrong…
“She looks so small,” John spoke up.
Everyone had originally gathered to see Ashley with their own eyes, but eventually most had left them alone. John was right, she did look small. She was sure it was because she was so vulnerable. “She’s going to be better…” Helen said as she just stared ahead. She wrapped her arms around her, wishing she had Olivia, but instead she had handed her baby off to Halia who was nearby.
It was odd to her; this was close to the family that she’d seen in the alternate universe they’d landed in. She and John had little Olivia and they had Halia and Ashley back. Things were falling into place. It was just going to take time…
It always took time…
She should be used to it, right? Time passing by and things taking time… But she wasn’t. She felt like being selfish in this moment. Helen wanted Ashley back to normal and she wanted to be able to just hug her daughter. Her first child was just lying there and at that moment, she couldn’t do anything to help her.
“She’s going to be okay though, right?” Halia spoke up. “That one guy…Tesla…he seemed pretty confidant that she was going to be okay.”
Helen turned to bright blue eyes staring at her. Two pairs. Halia and Olivia. She took in the similarities between them. They had certain features from John, and those were mostly the ones that they shared with Ashley as well. “We’re going to work as hard as we can to get to that point,” she told Halia quietly and then reached out to put an arm around the girl and pull her closer. “We all need sleep, though. Emotions are running high. We all need the time…Ashley isn’t going anywhere. The sedation should last and we’ll start things tomorrow…including…you and Henry figuring out what you want to do for schooling,” Helen told her, trying to change the subject.
“There’s a few programs I can do online in order to get my associates,” Halia told her. “I could do a lot of the more basic classes from here…in Old City…and then go to the actual campus later for the other stuff…or just wait until I’m ready to get my bachelors…” She cringed a bit. “I honestly am not sure how well I’ll do going back to school…”
“I’m sure you’ll do brilliantly,” John told her.
“You have a family here…and enough of us with a variety of backgrounds. It’s practically a whole set of tutors for every subject,” Helen told her. “And if all else fails, there’s the library…”
“I’ve seen your library,” Halia told her. “Not sure I’m too keen on having to go through all the books in there…”
“Fear not, I think that Henry and the Big Guy have been cataloging them all in the computer’s database,” Helen said with a smile. She turned to John. “We should go… She’s going to be fine. It’s set to release sedative in a timely manner. She’s safe.”
John nodded a bit reluctantly. “And you can see her with your cameras?”
“Yes, from any of the computers in the Sanctuary,” Helen told him. She turned to Halia; she tried to keep a smile on her face. “What do you say to figuring out if anyone has decided if we’re going to have dinner or not? Dinner and then bed I think is in order for everyone,” she said, trying to change the subject.
She didn’t need to dwell on things and neither did Halia or John. Helen knew that Halia wasn’t a child that was scared off quickly, she’d learned that. Halia had been on her own for a time and though that was admirable, Helen believed that the girl deserved a bit of an end to her childhood. She didn’t need to be stressed out. Soon enough, she’d have an older sister to talk to…and Helen was sure that Ashley would be all about teaching her little sister things she thought were important in life.
. . .
The night went on slowly.
She had wished that it would just whisk her off to the next morning. How she desperately wanted to go down to the SHU and work on analyzing what the Cabal had done to Ashley and to work towards a way to reverse it. Helen had tried to leave and break what she’d promised three times already and it wasn’t even four in the morning yet. The first time, John had felt her move. He’d been sleeping next to her; Olivia wasn’t far away safely tucked away in her crib. That’s why she’d felt okay leaving her infant behind, John was right there in case she woke up.
How odd it was, if she’d been told five years before that she’d been in this same position she would never have believed it. Montague John Druitt had been a past nightmare and though he’d helped her with her work here and there when she’d called over the last four years, John was still very much a reminder of Whitechapel and the past. But now, she found herself quite comfortable having him by her side, tucked away in her bed. He wasn’t the John Druitt that he had been after the source blood had been injected and he’d been infected by the energy elemental. No, this John Druitt was quiet and gentle (for the most part anyways) and very much like the man she’d fallen in love with.
The father of both of her children…and the child she gladly thought of as hers. She knew that she could wish for things to be different, better in some ways, but right now…it was pretty close to being perfect. Helen knew that she could wish for her father and James Watson to be returned to the land of the living, she’d be overjoyed to have them back in her life…but this was getting so much closer to the life that she’d been jealous of.
Helen sighed, there was no breaking rules tonight. After waking John, she’d run into Bigfoot and then Nikola on her attempts to make it to the SHU. They’d sent her straight back, even with her protests.
“You should sleep,” John spoke sleepily. His voice was quiet and he reached out with a hand and ran it along her cheek.
“I know,” she whispered. Helen didn’t sleep as much as others did. She just didn’t need to, but ever since she found out she was pregnant with Olivia, she’d been far more fatigued than normal. She knew her body was still recovering and all the emotional trauma hadn’t helped. Honestly, she really needed to take this time to bond with Olivia and to just have mommy and baby time, but right now she just couldn’t. Ashley needed her. She needed to be there. She needed to be part of it all. Helen couldn’t just sit back and allow Nikola, Declan, and the others to work on it without her. She needed to be part of it. She’d just have to ensure that she could spend time with Olivia too. Helen was sure that John would help with that aspect.
“Ashley’s fine right now,” John said. “You said so yourself.”
“I know I did,” she told him.
“You’re not going to do anyone any good if you don’t get any sleep,” John pointed out.
Helen sighed and turned to him. He was staring at her, his eyes just barely open. “I should have found her… I should have known,” she told him quietly. Those were the thoughts that had haunted her. She’d lost hope and she’d moved on. Of course, they’d humored her with running scans and such, but there’d never been anything conclusive. Nothing had said, in cold hard facts, that Ashley was indeed dead. She’d just been forced to move on after finding no proof that she was alive. So, they’d had her memorial service and then John and Nikola had gone out and taken care of Cabal leaders all over. None of it had given them answers about Ashley and none of it had given them clues that she was still alive.
“I told you to let her go,” John pointed out as he opened his eyes a bit more. He sat up a bit straighter. “Blame me for losing hope that she was alive.”
“I don’t blame you, John,” she whispered and shook her head. “If I hadn’t allowed it to be closed then…then where would we be now?”
“Then allow yourself to rest now…” he told her as he pulled her closer. John gently pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Ashley will understand…”
Helen pulled in a deep breath and then slowly let it go. She allowed herself to relax in his embrace and leaned her head back against his chest. She closed her eyes and tried to calm down, to get her mind to stop from racing. “She may not even remember…” she whispered.
“She may not.” John was quiet for a moment and then spoke up again. “Would that honestly be so bad?”
“No, I suppose not,” she replied.
Helen tried to think about the girls. All of them. Ashley and Halia and Olivia. She’d seen Ashley and Halia in the alternate universe she’d ended up making. Ashley and Halia had seemed happy. She hoped that they were happy here. Though Olivia wasn’t present in that universe. That Helen had been married to James and had two beautiful children with him, Charley and Lucas, and were expecting another. They were so happy there…so she tried to think of how happy they’d all seemed and tried to bring that to her girls and herself. Happiness…this emotion that existed on so many levels.
Was she happy?
Did it matter?
Helen was sure that the better question was: would she be happy? She hoped so. Right now, she was still trying to come down from the rollercoaster of emotions, but her level of happiness could be thought about later… Right now, she needed to sleep. Snuggling closer, she breathed deep and tried to think simple thoughts. Eventually, the blackness of sleep overtook her.
. . .
“At least you were diligent,” Tesla spoke up as he looked over results on the tablet he held.
Helen frowned a bit. Honestly, she didn’t feel like they were getting anywhere. It was mainly just her and Nikola in the lab. Declan would drop by to make sure there wasn’t anything he could do, but with a background mainly in combat medicine it wasn’t his field. Henry and Erika had dropped by to make sure they couldn’t help; the two were already working on changing around security systems. Halia was spending time with John and Olivia, which she thought was for the best. She was fairly certain that Bigfoot was attempting to fix things he’d been making a list of throughout the Sanctuary, that and avoiding Nikola…and at this moment she couldn’t blame him for that.
“I tried to keep samples as best I could for everyone in the Sanctuary,” Helen told him. “I was hoping at the very least we could use my DNA and John’s.”
“I thought about that as well,” Nikola spoke up.
I was going to take time.
Time.
How she hated it right this moment.
“The best base would be from her previous results though,” Helen said. She picked up a tablet nearby and brought up an inventory of every bit of DNA she had on file, procedure that had been conducted, and test result and then handed it over to Nikola. “There has to be something…”
“Have you compared Ashley’s DNA with Olivia’s?” he asked as he looked over the tablet.
Helen thought about it for a moment. There had been so much back and forth. She honestly didn’t know if there were blood samples or DNA profiles on the computers there. “No…” she said quietly. She should have thought of that, after all, Olivia had the same mother and father as Ashley.
“You know how it works,” Nikola said. “Blood relative is always good. Parents always hope to be helpful, but in the end siblings end up being far more helpful. Even though Halia’s only a half-sibling, she may even prove helpful in this.”
“Halia’s information should already be on file,” Helen told him.
“I searched under Druitt and all I found was information on John,” Nikola said as he looked back over at her. “You do realize that Ashley, Halia, and Olivia are all his children, right? Traditionally-“
“Ashley didn’t know about John until Rome…so she’s listed in there as Ashley Magnus,” Helen said quickly. Nikola was pushing buttons and she honestly didn’t want to play games right now. “Halia is under Halia Tallis. She went by her stepfather’s surname. I didn’t think it necessary to change it. It’s on all the legal paperwork that was sent here.”
“And Olivia?”
“Nikola, since Olivia’s been born…do you think I’ve had time to put her into the database? I honestly don’t think there’s even record of her blood type as of yet.”
“Slacking…”
She pulled in breath and tried to remind herself that this was just how Nikola was. He liked to push buttons and she was sure that in ways this was uncomfortable for him. He was always one to help when it was really needed, but he’d much rather further his own agendas. “Nikola…how about I go and get Olivia? I’ll get the necessary scans and blood samples and then we can work from there?”
“Fine, take the easy job,” he huffed and then glanced back down at the tablet.
Helen was going to reply, but decided it was a better idea to just say nothing and to leave it at that. Sometimes Nikola got a bit bitter about his immortality and how it affected his ability to sleep and the effects of alcohol on his system.
She left her work area and headed upward into the Sanctuary. Upon leaving the elevator, she found herself being stopped by a very familiar voice. Smiling, Helen turned towards him.
“You look exhausted.”
“I’m fine,” she said and waved her hand.
“You should sleep.”
Helen sighed. Everyone wanted her to sleep. “We’ve barely started on finding some kind of cure or treatment for Ashley,” she told him.
He grunted. Biggie continued to dust, but would look over at her. “Is he really being that insufferable?” he questioned.
“Nikola?” she asked, but knew the answer already. “He’s being…well, Nikola. My nerves are just more so frayed than normal, I think. My level of patience isn’t where it usually is.”
Nodding, Biggie shook his head. “Shouldn’t let him wear you down so much. You have enough stress right now trying to help Ashley and trying to be a new mother to Olivia.”
She smiled. He was so sweet to be so concerned about her. “I know,” Helen said. “John and Halia are with her right now…”
He nodded and then looked down at the watch on his wrist. “If you hurry, you could probably make it to feed her. It’s about time for her to be hungry,” he said. He looked up with her with his big blue eyes. “Good time to spend with baby. Tesla can survive down there without you for a while longer.”
He was right. And right now, she needed some quiet time. She needed time away from Nikola and away from the stress. It was heavy and she didn’t want to bear it anymore. “Thank you,” she said and looked down at her own watch. She hadn’t even realized what time it was.
“And you need to eat too before you get back to work,” he told her.
“Yes,” she said with a slight frown.
He grunted again. “I’ll make sure you get something sent to you.”
“Thank you, Old Friend,” she said sincerely. Helen flashed him a smile again before turning and heading in her original direction. She just hoped that John and Halia were still in her room. She wanted to be able to feed Olivia and maybe have a few minutes of silence.
She sucked in deep breaths as she walked, trying to push away the irritation and frustration that was building up inside of her after dealing with Nikola. She was sure that there would be more irritation and frustration with him, but right now she needed some peace. Peace was something so simple and often it seemed so unattainable. She would have it though, Helen told herself. She tried to force herself to calm even more as she headed down the hallway and kept an eye on her destination. The door was shut, but that meant nothing. Behind it, she just hoped that things would fall into place as she hoped.
Peace.
Silence.
That’s all she wanted.
Just a little time…
. . .
TBC..