Fire and Rain (Nikola)

[Dr. Walter Everett Burkhardt]

Walter had seen it all, of course. The two Victorian ladies in the painting continued to take turns coming to him and telling him what they overheard. There was a part of it that they hadn't heard, which annoyed him... but he expected it. Siobhan and Nikola had always had their ways of defying surveillance, and he was not surprised to see that their instincts hadn't changed.

When the second of the two women, whom he referred to as Martha, popped in to tell him that Mrs. Rockham had started to sing "Anything Goes," Walter's smile spread. Any moment now, would come the explosion...

And sure enough, it did. Siobhan began to scream, then she launched herself at the poor old woman. Walter's only regret was that he had to get up and make his way into the room, instead of watching the violence unfold. But then something happened that he did not expect, and for a moment, Walter sank back into his chair to watch. Nikola got to his feet, went to her, and wrapped his arms around her. He whispered something in her ear, and she went still. And then she seemed to come back to herself, realizing what she had done.

It was disappointing, and yet fascinating. Nikola had a counter trigger for her. Somehow, the two of them had found a way to counter their own programming. Now this was very interesting...

Slowly, he rose from his chair and walked down the hall to the room. He opened the door smoothly, without force, and stepped into the room.

"Siobhan," he said calmly, focusing on the girl first. "We've talked about this. Do I have to put you in the isolation room to cool down?"

[Siobhan O'Hurley]

Siobhan felt a stab of fear as the doctor entered the room. She knew what she had done was wrong, and she felt horrible about it. She just didn't understand why she had done it... and she hadn't been able to control it. "No... no, Dr. Burkhardt, please don't. No, please.... I don't want to go to isolation. I didn't mean it, I swear. I'm sorry. I just... I'll lay down on my bed and I won't move a muscle, I swear. Don't make me take a potion, I'll be good..."

She wanted to cry, but her eyes still stayed dry. She had just started to have hope that she would get out of here with her new friend, and then this had to happen. He probably thought she really was crazy now... maybe she really did belong here.

But... He had stopped her. She could still feel his arms around her waist... and they felt nice. How was it possible that his arms felt like home?

She began to relax against him, allowing him to keep protecting her. It felt natural, like it was how it was supposed to be. Calmer now, she spoke again, focusing her clear green eyes on the doctor.

"Please. I'm better now. I'm sorry."

[Dr. Walter Everett Burkhardt]

This connection between them... it mystified Walter. They had been separated nearly 15 years, and still, they seemed to know each other as instinctively as they remembered their triggers. They had counter triggers. They spoke a secret, wordless language that only they seemed to know. Nikola was willing to risk his anonymity to protect her, and his embrace could calm her when nothing else could. For a split second, Walter was infuriated by it. He wanted to snatch Siobhan away from Nikola, drag her off to isolation by her hair, if necessary.

But as always, reason prevailed with the doctor. He simply smiled at her in a condescending manner. "Very well," he said at last. "You can stay in here. But I want you to lie down and get some rest. Do your deep breathing exercises, like I taught you. I will see about getting Mrs. Rockham transferred to a private room. But Siobhan... if it happens again, I will put you in isolation."

He nodded his dismissal of her, but before he turned to leave, he turned his gaze on Nikola. For a long moment, nothing seemed to happen, as their eyes locked. Then, slowly, Walter smiled. "We'll talk soon," he said. And then he was gone.

[Nikola Vlcek]

Kola just felt right holding her, and he felt good that she had calmed in his arms. He knew before she even launched herself at the old woman that it wasn't her doing it. Not really. He just wished he understood how he knew it.

When the doctor stepped in, Nikola decided immediately that he didn't like the man. His quiet, observing ways had made him an excellent judge of character over the years, and gut instinct told him that this man was not his friend. Instinctively, especially when he mentioned putting his knew friend in the isolation ward, his arms wrapped tighter around the small girl in front of him. It helped that she relaxed into him. There was no way on Salazar's green earth that they were taking her away. He would fight them all off and away from her if he had to.

The interaction went smoothly though, and Nikola relaxed, but only just.

And then the attention was on him. Nikola watched the doctor's piercing eyes shift from Siobhan to himself, and he noticed first that it was an intense look. As much as he hated, no, abhorred, having attention on him, he refused to break the gaze between them that felt like it lasted an eternity.

No.... they certainly would not be talking soon. Nikola was taking Siobhan and making a break for it tonight. As soon as the doctor was gone, Nikola unwrapped his arms from her body, though he guided her to his own bed, rather than hers, and urged her to sit, or lay down, however she was comfortable.

He couldn't shake the cold feeling in the pit of his gut from the way the doctor had looked at him. It wasn't menacing or dangerous in any way... Nikola just didn't like it. Though he didn't show it, he was anxious.

He looked over his shoulder to make sure no one was watching them, and then looked back to her, taking her hand in his again. "It's okay," he said, his voice at a normal volume. His free hand ran over his short hair. It was as though he'd just transformed into a human from some unfeeling robot. "You're okay."

[Siobhan O'Hurley]

Siobhan breathed a sigh of relief when Dr. Burkhardt left the room. She hated when he gave her that look... it didn't even feel like he was disappointed in her, like she would have expected. It felt oddly... triumphant. It made her feel sort of dirty. But at least he hadn't punished her by sending her to isolation or making her take a sedative. She could stay with Nikola.

She allowed him to guide her over to his bed and she laid down, curling her feet up to her stomach. "I don't know why I did that," she whispered. "I mean... she's annoying, but I don't want to hurt her... I don't even remember doing it. I remember showing you my scar, and then I was standing over poor Mrs. Rockham..."

She looked up at him with desperate eyes, afraid she would see judgement there. But she didn't. The calmness, the gentleness of her voice made her ache inside. "It's why I'm here, you know. I get these... spells. I don't remember doing it. I was working in a shop and all of a sudden, I had a fit and... I don't remember doing it, but I tore the shop apart. You must think I'm crazy now, don't you? But... you stopped me."

This last part puzzled her. She might have killed poor Mrs. Rockham if he hadn't stopped her. In the past, when she had fits like this, it had been difficult to stop her. It had taken three muggle policemen to take her down when she trashed the clothing shop where she had been working. But Nikola stopped her with just a few words.

[Nikola Vlcek]

"I know." What he knew, exactly, wasn't quite that easy. He knew she hadn't meant what she did. He could tell without a doubt that she would never intentionally hurt anyone. He trusted his judgement, so even after seeing her attack the old bat, he didn't question this.

And he believed her that she didn't remember it. "Stay here," he practically mouthed. With that, he got up and left.

He came back a couple minutes later, a slight smile on his lips as he pulled up a chair and presented her with a hair brush. He'd stolen it out of Mrs. Rockham's drawer, but she didn't need to know that. The woman had bigger concerns at the moment.

The brush was just the only way he knew to make her smile. Seeing her like this made him ache, and he was desperate to make her feel better. He couldn't tell her yet what he was planning, but it wouldn't be long now, Just a couple more hours before everyone was going to be asleep. He was pretty certain he could slip past the night watch, having observed over the last couple weeks. But she wasn't crazy, and she needed to get out.

"I helped because you let me."

[Siobhan O'Hurley]

Siobhan still felt sick inside at the memory of the old woman's glazed-over expression and the blood dribbling from her lips. Most of the time, she was the girl who wouldn't even hurt a spider when it walked across her path. She wouldn't hurt anyone deliberately. So why had she blacked out the way she had? Why had she done it? She remembered being annoyed with the poor woman, but honestly, who could blame her for that? It didn't mean she wanted to hurt her.

She felt cold when Nikola got up, and she curled her body tighter, as if trying to make herself feel warm and safe. But when he returned with the brush, her eyes lit up and she straightened up. "Thank you!" she said, touching her nose once again. She didn't even know why, it just felt like what she was supposed to do.

As she began to run the brush through her hair, she tilted her head and looked at him. "It felt like you were supposed to help me. Almost like.... like you'd done it before. But that's not possible, right?"

[Nikola Vlcek]

There was that smile. It even caused a hint of a smile on Kola's lips. Not that he remembered this, but when they were children, after they found each other after every attempt at keeping them apart, he would do anything to make her smile. It always gave him hope, like maybe things weren't do bad as long as he could make her happy.

The same applied here. "No. It's not possible," he affirmed, using his logical mind to come to this conclusion.

He wasnt going to tell her about his escape plan. He couldn't risk anyone hearing. "What does that doctor talk to you about?"

[Siobhan O'Hurley]

Siobhan wasn't so sure she believed that. There seemed to be a connection between them that she couldn't explain. The silent language they both seemed to understand, the way he had talked her out of her rage with just a few quiet words... even the depth of his blue eyes seemed painfully familiar to her, like something out of another lifetime. And if she couldn't remember anything about her life before she was found in Hogsmeade at age 10, then anything could have happened before that. Her sessions with Dr. Burkhardt still hadn't managed to uncover the secrets of her past, at least as far as she knew. He said she was "resistant to hypnosis," but Siobhan found that sometimes she left therapy sessions not remembering a thing that happened in them.

"He teaches me breathing exercises," she said. "I talk to him about the times when I... well, when I freaked out like i just did, and he teaches me how to breath through it. It's weird, though, because they come on so suddenly that I don't know when to start the breathing exercises. And I seem to fall asleep sometimes in sessions, because the breathing exercises make me so relaxed. I'm sure they would work if I just knew when one was about to start."

[Nikola Vlcek]

That all sounded innocent enough to Kola. Maybe he was overthinking this, but he was on high alert as it was. Since going to her when she had drawn all attention to herself, he was now a presence here. They knew he talked, was reactive. It made him feel restless and antsy, and the feeling that they were being watched was intensified for him. It was driving him crazy, and quickly at that.

"Does it help? Talking about it, I mean," he asked, figuring this was as good of a follow up question as any. But before letting her respond, he reached out and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. "You should rest," he decided. "I'll be here."

He could at least promise her that, that he would keep an eye on her while she slept. Just in case anyone tried to slip her a sedative while she slept, or anything like that.

[Siobhan O'Hurley]

"It sort of helps, I guess," Siobhan said. "I mean... it doesn't seem to get better, because things like this keep happening. But it does help to have someone to talk to... someone who will listen and not judge. Sometimes I just feel so lost... like something's missing. And it helps to talk about that."

It was funny, though... she hadn't felt that "lost" feeling in a little while. Not since he first came in here. She didn't think that he was the reason she felt better... or that he was what she'd been missing, but it was a curious thing, all the same.

Siobhan smiled at him. He was taking care of her now, and she liked it. It was hard to imagine that only a few minutes before, she had been wondering if he could even talk at all. "I'm glad you're here," she said softly, and allowed her eyes to close.

[Nikola Vlcek]

"What if.... you talk to me instead? You've already figured out I'm a good listener." His voice felt rough to him. Unused and dry. But after what just happened, he couldn't revert to not talking again. Besides, they just had a couple more hours here. Otherwise, he would have fallen asleep and woken up "unresponsive." There were ways around this.

But his whole body stiffened when she told him she was glad that he was here. He hated hearing things like that. It went against his very nature to stay there with her. He was trained to be unnoticed, not missed, not wanted. He was supposed to be invisible, and even with her, who he trusted innately, he felt extremely vulnerable.

And there was that feeling of being watched again. Instinctually, Kola lifted his eyes, looking directly into a hidden muggle camera, though he didn't know it was there. It just felt like the eyes were in that direction.

Sitting in the chair next to her in his bed, Kola pretended to fall asleep, though it evaded him. Instead, he listened, waiting, biding his time.

It was nearing 3 in the morning, when Kola knew the nightwatch and the nurses switched shifts, that he sat forward.

For a moment, he just watch Siobhan. What would They do when they left here? He supposed they could figure that out later. He just knew, deep in his soul, that he needed to take her out of here.

He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Siobhan... wake up."

[Siobhan O'Hurley]

"I like talking to you," Siobhan murmured just before she went to sleep. She couldn't explain why, but she felt like he understood somehow. Dr. Burkhardt seemed to understand, too.... but sometimes she had the feeling that he was...teasing her. And not in a good way.

But she slept peacefully for a while, almost as if she knew she was being watched over. She didn't have one of the nightmares that frequently woke her in the middle of the night. After a while, she felt a hand on her shoulder and a soft voice in her ear. Her eyes fluttered open. It was dark and quiet in the room, and she wasn't waking up to Mr. Frankenheimer's crowing. Realizing what was happening, she sat straight up and looked at Nikola.

"We're going, aren't we?" she whispered.

[Nikola Vlcek]

Nikola nodded once... slowly, subtly. He could have predicted that she would have known what was going on. Her eyes were alert, not sleep hazed, and for a moment, he just gazed at her, once again trying to decide if this was the smart thing to do. Well, no. It wasn't a smart thing to do at all. But he felt it in his gut that it was the right thing, and though it went against everything that was ingrained in him, this is what won out.

"But I need you to be quiet, and follow me quickly. Do you need anything first?" He didn't imagine she had many, if any, posessions that she would want to bring along, but he thought it best to ask.

[Siobhan O'Hurley]

Siobhan smiled happily, but otherwise made no other response. She was all too aware of the danger of making too much noise. Often, when she had a nightmare, her cries would wake Mr. Frankenheimer, who would naturally assume it was morning and begin his rooster call, as he did every morning.

"I have a bag," she said quickly. She never always kept her clothes (which was all she had) in a bag by her bed. It was something she did instinctively and always had... you never knew when you needed to run. Grabbing the brush that Nikola had given her earlier, she slid off the bed and moved over to her own bed, pulling out her bag and stuffing the brush into it. "I'm ready."

[Nikola Vlcek]

Nikola stood up straighter when she slid off the bed to get her bag, his eyes mindful of everything around them, his ears listening down the hall for the night shift change.

But his eyes were drawn back to her when she was in front of him again, and he stopped just short of telling her that he was impressed. It was like she'd been ready and just waiting for the right time to make a break for it. He nodded once, and then simply turned, expecting her to follow. Assuming she would trust him enough to do so. And please Merlin, let her be quiet.

The plan was simple. The changing shifts would be too busy to notice them. And once they were out of the psych ward, it would be a piece of cake to get out of the hospital. Nikola would wrap her up in his jacket, and he was good enough at slipping away anyway. It didn't even feel like an escape to him... just another goodbye to a place he didn't need to be.

They were out of the psych ward within moments, just as easily as Nikola had planned. Time to go home... wherever that was.

[Siobhan O'Hurley]

Although Siobhan liked to talk, she was equally capable of being quiet when the situation called for it. This was clearly one of those situations. In the ward, Siobhan had to talk to keep herself sane. There was only so much singing, crowing, and laughing a person could stand before they became as crazy as the people around them. Siobhan was not ill, and she talked to remind herself of that fact.

But now... Now was the time to be quiet. Everyone was asleep, and any sound that was out of the ordinary would call attention to them. So not only did she not talk, but she walked softly, too, barely making a sound as she followed Nikola down the hall and out the door.

[Dr. Walter Everett Burkhardt]

Walter was expecting it. Even if he hadn't been monitoring them with the muggle camera and the reports from the two Victorian ladies, he would have been expecting it. He knew Nikola and now that he'd blown his cover as a catatonic patient, he would be anxious to get out of there. And since Siobhan had been the reason he'd lost his cover, it only stod to reason that he'd bring her along. For reasons that still eluded Walter, Nikola seemed willing to risk just about anything for that girl.

So even though the Victorian ladies in the painting were sleeping and the camera footage in the darkened room was fuzzy, Walter knew perfectly well what was going on. And he was ready for them. When it was just about time for the shift change, Walter slipped outside and was leaning against the wall by the back door, waiting for them.

[Nikola Vlcek]

"Too easy" was not a word in Kola's vocabulary. He had been slipping out of situations and places his entire life, and though he remembered none of it, the skills were instinctual. Evidently, they were for Siobhan as well.

He stopped only once, watching someone walk down the hallway across from them. They didn't"t even look in their direction.

It was a side exit that Kola chose... probably only used by the staff for smoke breaks and the like, and considering the shift just switches, he didn't expect anyone to need a smoke break just yet.

Even still, he was quiet as he glanced over his shoulder, glancing at Siobhan to make sure she was still with him.

It was easy for him. There were several times already where he should have been caught, but they weren't. He pushed the door open and slipped outside, keeping the redhead behind him, Just in case.

[Siobhan O'Hurley]

Siobhan, however, felt oddly apprehensive. She might not have said it was too easy, either... but she was expecting something to go wrong. Maybe it was just because she'd been there so long and the prospect of being free didn't seem quite real to her, but with every turn she expected to find the way blocked. Even when the way was clear, she kept looking over her shoulder, just in case.

But whatever happened, Siobhan somehow knew she'd be safe with him. She trusted him instinctively, knowing that he would protect her no matter what it took. She didn't know how she knew it, but she didn't question it.

Finally, they were out. She slipped out after him, and took a deep breath of the cool evening air. Merlin, it smelled like heaven. Finally, her doubts faded. She was free.

And that was when they heard the voice.