themusemanor | PSL - Will Zimmerman | Helen Magnus ---> I can feel your sorrow

After nearly a day of being stranded in the Gulf, Helen and Will were finally rescued and taken back to the Sanctuary. Helen had spent most of the remaining travel time very quiet. Coming up with a believable lie as to what they were doing so far off their flight plan and how they'd gotten down there in the first place, she'd had to deal with the helicopter rental place. Those encounters had taken her remaining strength and stability. She no longer had it in her to converse.

She barely even paid attention to what Will was doing during their plane ride back to New City. Her Old Friend picked them up at the airport and soon enough, they were back in the Sanctuary. Helen didn't even say more than a handful of words to anyone, telling them all that she needed to rest before she turned and strode for her office.

That had been two days ago. Ashley's birthday was two days from now and the closer that day came, the more Helen felt her heart tearing itself out of her chest. So much had happened in such a short period of time. She'd asked Will to stay with her for this and she knew that her seclusion would worry him. If Will knew her at all, and if she knew him, he would soon come to poke at her and that was likely for the best. She needed a friendly, supportive, and unbiased face as her own was none of these things.

And the memories hurt too much to endure alone.

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A tiny smile followed by an actual laugh; soft as it was, it still make her smile widen. This what what she'd needed. "Oh, good. I daresay mine may need a good washing soon."

Her expression turning thoughtful for a moment as she took this joke and ran with it. "What about floors? Do you charge extra for those?"

"Lucky for you, I remembered to pack my squeegee. Never leave home without it." He motioned with his thumb over his shoulder, as if the said cleaning tool was sitting somewhere nearby.

Will folded his arms then, pretending to think about it. "Oh sure, floors are my specialty. And since you're the boss, I'll give you a decent discount."

"You're always so prepared. What would I ever do without you on my staff?"

And she meant that in a double way. If she didn't have Will, if he hadn't been there for her when Ashley was killed and again now, she wasn't sure how she would have made it through. He was her emotional compass and she was so grateful he was willing to help ground her.

"You wouldn't have nearly as much fun, I can tell you that much." Will leaned forward at that and plucked a potato chip from the plate he'd brought her. Popping it into his mouth, he sat back and regarded his boss with the same thoughtful expression he always had when he was mulling something over.

"But seriously, if there is any other work I can do to make things easier on you, you know I'll get it done. If not, we'll think of something else."

Helen chuckled softly and ducked her head momentarily, her eyes on the chips. They did look a little appealing and Will was right: she did need to eat.

"You know burying myself in my work helps keep me occupied, Will," she told him, slowly reaching over to pick up one of the chips. By now, everyone in the Sanctuary, even Kate and Will, knew her well enough to know that when something upset her, she tended to dive into her work and never surface. Eating and sleeping schedules were tossed until whatever was on her mind stopped eating at her. Often this took weeks, sometimes months, but eventually she would calm down enough to fall back into her routine.

She hadn't found that tranquility for this event yet and likely wouldn't for a very long time.

"Besides, I don't think you want me giving you all of the paperwork that involves speaking different languages." A teasing smile played across her face as she propped her elbow up on her desk and leaned on it so she could finally look at her protege again.

He'd known that Magnus would never take him up on the offer, but he'd given it anyways. Seemed like the responsible thing to do anyways, as a member of the Sanctuary staff. "How could I forget?" He just smiled at that, watching her pick from the plate. Hey, this was something at least.

It would take a while for Helen to fall back into the right rhythm, he knew that. All he could do was make sure he did what he was best at, keeping her on track and emotionally stable. It was tough to be sure, he found himself getting a little choked up now and then when he passed places that reminded him of Ashley. Though he had not known her that long, she had indeed become family. That much had been clear only a few weeks after he started working here.

But this, right here and now, was the perfect set up. Just talking, nothing heavy. Friends enjoying each others company and making jokes about work. "Oh God no, that would be awful. I'd offend half the globe in a single night." Ah, eye contact. This was even better.

Helen just gave him a smirk that clearly said, "How indeed?" before she lifted the chip to her mouth and actually took a bite out of it. Small, but at least it counted for something.

She knew that in order to find peace with everything, she had to accept Ashley's death, and the only way to do that was to finally pay a visit to her daughter's room. The door had been closed after the Cabal had taken her and Helen had silently banned everyone from entering the room. Most of them knew better than to even imagine it and Kate valued her life far more than to press about the room after the initial question that told her it had belonged to Ashley. Helen didn't want anyone intruding on the last piece of her daughter she had left and she wasn't certain when she would be able to face that room. At times, she was able to walk by it while ignoring its existence, but more often than not, she avoided that hallway completely, even going as far as to take a path that was well out of her way to bypass it.

Helen Magnus was the queen of denial and avoidance. She knew she needed to face that room, but she didn't want to and doubted she ever would.

Will's answer snapped her from her thoughts and she smiled in response. "Lucky for you that's my job. Learning how to say complicated phrases in Norwegian or any of the African dialects was difficult enough decades ago."

PSL - Will Zimmerman | Helen Magnus ---> I can feel your sorrow

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