[Sanctuary/WH13] Such Tricks
Such Tricks
Sanctuary/Warehouse 13. Helen, Will, Helena. PG. Spoilers for season 2 of both shows. 639 words. For tamingthemuse monarch and hc_bingo's crossover mini challenge for April (insomnia, coma).
Will’s nightmares used to be caused by monsters, the things that went bump in the night. Now it’s the night itself that keeps him awake.
No one had ever bothered to ask him why this was. No one questioned the nights he spends awake or the 3am phone calls he answered from his desk. No one had asked him until tonight.
He takes a moment to prepare his answer, knowing that despite himself he’ll fumble for the words he wants.
“It seems unfair,” he finally sighs.
A low murmur of agreement as Will reaches to dump more cream in his cooling coffee.
“She’s perfectly capable of handling herself. It’s not that, it’s-“ He stops there because he’s still not sure how to put it, the unwavering loyalty, the sense of obligation, the need to ease her burden.
“She’s fond of the stubborn ones.”
“Yeah,” Will agrees with a smile. “I can see that.”
“If you’re-“
“I wasn’t referring to you. Although,” he teases, “From what I’ve heard you’re the most stubborn of us all.”
“Spreading rumors again, is she?”
“Nonsense, Helena,” Helen appears wrinkling her nose at the scent of coffee that fills the small sitting room.
“I wouldn’t put it past her you know.” Helena leans over as if to confide in Will, her voice carrying well enough that Helen, still standing by the door, could hear. “She snubbed the king a time or two in her day.”
“That’s hardly fair. He wasn’t the king then.” Helen wants to continue, but Helena had never seen King George crowned. It’s a conversation she’s dreading, the loss of a daughter, the madness it brought, Helena’s bronzing, Helen’s own potential destruction of the world, the ozone beetle, a coma.
Thankfully, Helena wasn’t here to reminisce. She was here to settle a dispute between the warehouse and her staff. Artie’s newest recruits insisted Helen was in possession of an artifact, Will and the rest of her team insisted their newest arrival was imbuing powers onto the object. In all reality, the matter was of little concern. Helena in typical fashion, however, had arrived that afternoon seeking a resolution to this dispute, settling in with her staff before Helen could do so much as protest.
She had hung around for a while as the argument had teetered back and forth. Eventually, she had tired of back and forth and left Helena with Will while she had seen to other household concerns. She hadn’t expected the small assortment of tasks to take as long as they had. Nor had she expected to return to find them both still up, grinning impishly at her.
“Helena may have let slip you were quite a hellion back in the day and here I was thinking you were a proper Victorian lady.”
“Really Will.” Helen can’t stop the grin that’s creeping over her face, not that she’s inclined to bother trying. “You should know better than to take a woman at her word especially one prone to such outlandish lies.”
“Coming from the woman found of tall tales and spilt coffee.”
“Now you’re baiting me.” Helen tries for serious as she suppresses another grin, stepping into the room to lean against the side of Will’s armchair.
“You never were one to fall for such tricks.”
“Perhaps things have changed.”
“Coffee?” Helena’s eyes dance as she holds out a cup of freshly poured sludge.
Helen raises an eyebrow. Will laughs. Helena sets the cup aside with a knowing wink. Helen wasn’t easily goaded, but she knew exactly which buttons to push. Will had been asking for the tale of the insulted prince since she had let it slip. He’d hear it before the night was out she was sure, even if it meant another lap full of hot coffee. It had been more than worth the trouble in 1895 after all.