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inabmovie in the_blank_slate

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Nov 15, 2011 16:54

Will found that teaching three classes in the island school was keeping him busy. That wasn't to say he didn't like it, because he definitely did. It was just kind of time-consuming coming up with enough material to keep the classes interesting. After all, people took classes here because they wanted to, not because they had to, and he didn't want ( Read more... )

kate mcnab, dr. will zimmerman, dr. helen magnus, item post, rachel grey, dr. greg house, sookie stackhouse

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lastof_five November 16 2011, 03:11:36 UTC

Admittedly, Helen had been a bit distracted of late. Election season was in full swing and while the official candidates hadn't been announced yet, she had her own signatures to present to the officials and would, presumably, need to have a speech prepared she hadn't exactly organized her thoughts and written anything out.

"Will, do you think you have a moment to help me with my..."

Helen paused and looked up, frowning a bit at the sheaf of papers he held. "Will? What's that?"

inabmovie November 16 2011, 03:28:28 UTC

Weirdly enough, as much as Magnus knew about his life, he wasn't really sure she knew anything about his dad, because they never, ever talked about him. This wasn't so much because Will was trying to hide it (he wasn't) as that he had zero interest in talking about him. So he wasn't quite sure how to explain it. "Oh, you know, one of those island things," he said, and handed her the stack of papers. It was pretty clear from the topmost paper what it was and who it was about. "The thing where it drops something from your past in your lap."

lastof_five November 16 2011, 03:53:10 UTC

"This was part of an official FBI file, based on the formatting," Helen said quietly, paging through the first few sheets of paper. "And evidence of multiple counts of fraud."

The name was familiar too, surname the same as Will's, and she looked up to meet his eyes.

"Will?"

inabmovie November 16 2011, 03:59:35 UTC

"My dad's file," he said, though he was pretty sure Magnus had figured that out already. "He was arrested when I was at Quantico. It was a long time coming, really. I was kind of surprised it didn't happen earlier."

It hadn't been too long after his mother died that Will had learned that "business" was a synonym for "scam" where his father was concerned.

lastof_five November 16 2011, 04:56:41 UTC

"I'm quite sorry, Will. I wish I had known...I would have taken you in."

It wouldn't be the same as it was now, he'd be more like a son than the romantic relationship they had now but Helen would trade that to ensure Will's happiness. No question.

inabmovie November 16 2011, 05:17:11 UTC

"No," he said, shaking his head a little. "It's fine. I mean, I guess he had a hard time dealing with losing my mom and did some stupid stuff as a result... we didn't get along at all and he was kind of a jerk but it's like... he was my last link to my mom. I wanted it to work."

It hadn't worked, but that didn't mean Will didn't wish his dad would have been a dad to him.

lastof_five November 16 2011, 05:25:09 UTC

"You deserved to have a parent...parents that loved you, Will," Helen said, crossing the room and touching his shoulder lightly.

"I failed you, in that, and I'm sorry. But I think he failed you too, perhaps in more ways than I ever could. Do you...did you still talk to him?"

inabmovie November 16 2011, 05:36:18 UTC

Will always got this weird, closed-up feeling any time he talked about or talked about his mom. Even though he was only eight when she died, there were some things about her he remembered very clearly, like the way she would use a wet comb on his hair to try make it lay down (but it never did and it always made her laugh), how she'd make him waffles on Saturday mornings while he watched Roadrunner and Smurfs cartoons on TV, and how she always tucked him in bed with a kiss every single night. His father was around then but somehow he was always missing from the most precious of the memories he had of his mother. He hadn't been abusive, but there was a kind of benign neglect that only became obvious after his mother wasn't there to take care of him anymore ( ... )

lastof_five November 16 2011, 05:45:10 UTC

It was times like this that Helen wished desperately that she was the psychiatrist. She simply didn't know what to do in these situations - first, Halloween last year and the letter and now this.

She settled for rubbing his back lightly in slow, soothing circles, hoping touch could make up for what words couldn't say right.

"I'm sorry, darling."

inabmovie November 16 2011, 07:10:12 UTC

"I just haven't thought about him in a while." He thumbed through the papers until he got to a specific page he'd been looking for.

"We argued, that last time I saw him. I was almost finished at Quantico when he was indicted. I went to see him in prison while he was waiting for his trial and it was like... I didn't need him. I was on my own and we weren't close. But I guess I thought if he went to prison for years that would be it. The little bit of family I had left would be gone and I didn't know if I'd ever get him back. You'd think I wouldn't care, we could hardly stand each other, right? But it was so important, it seemed so important then, that I try to help him even though I knew he was guilty as hell. So I went over his files, and there was this error, this little clerical error right here, just a mistake in filling out a form. I told him maybe I could take that mistake and make it bigger, enough to give him a loophole and maybe his lawyer could get the charges dropped or reduced or something, and he wouldn't have it. He ( ... )

lastof_five November 16 2011, 12:14:44 UTC

"It would have destroyed you, Will. You're not the sort of man to break your own morals for anyone...I daresay you wouldn't even break them for me. I'm so glad he could see that and wouldn't let you."

Would Will have even ended up at the Sanctuary, having made that choice? Helen couldn't say. She didn't want to think about the alternative at much length.

inabmovie November 17 2011, 21:14:30 UTC

"I guess it's better in the long run," Will said. "Just, at the time... I'd seen him make all these bad choices for years and there wasn't anything I could do to stop him. I guess I felt like I had to try, somehow."

lastof_five November 17 2011, 22:00:51 UTC

"He's your father. He won't stop being that just because he made poor decisions," Helen said quietly. "Perhaps even more than that, as a good man, you wanted to help him change, if you could."

inabmovie November 17 2011, 22:12:08 UTC

Will leaned back with a sigh, close enough to Magnus that their shoulders touched. "Maybe he's changed," he said. "Maybe spending time in prison taught him some things. I don't know, and the thing is, maybe I'll never know, because we're here." He wasn't entirely sure if he wanted to have a relationship with his father again, but whether he wanted to or not, being here made that an impossibility.

lastof_five November 17 2011, 23:43:50 UTC

"He might show, Will," Helen said. "After all, we've gotten Nikola, Kate and Declan all in the same year. Who knows what next year holds for us? Your father, your mother...Ashley. Clara? It could be anyone that comes next for us."

Helen wished for Ashley or James every single day.

inabmovie November 18 2011, 19:37:25 UTC

"Anyone, yeah." Ashley or Watson or Clara were all possible (and though he had mixed feelings about Clara, the idea of seeing her alive again would be... something, since he still felt responsible for her death) but it could just as easily be Druitt or Adam Worth or who knew who else that none of them would want to see. "The uncertainty of it is just..." He exhaled, shaking his head, trying to let go of some of the tension these papers and his thoughts were building up.

Then he hugged her, just because he needed to right then.

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