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Helen nodded, sliding her hand down to take his and squeeze it. Maybe it would just be best to spend some time together and let Will process what he'd received and if she could help, she would. Just as it'd been last year after Halloween, Helen wanted to comfort him, and she hoped she was equipped to do a good job at easing his anxiety even though she wasn't trained to do so.

She was quiet on the walk there, just keeping close, and she let them into the hut before nodding toward where she'd laid out her pajamas.

"Should I change for bed, you think? I doubt we'll be going anywhere."

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Will put his pile of books and the papers he'd found on the bookshelf Magnus made for him (it was almost full) and nodded. "Let's stay in for the rest of the evening," he said, and though he wasn't too keen on getting up in his own head that often, he knew eough about himself to know that he was in of those moods where he'd be better off without company other than Magnus for a little bit.

"We'll have a bit of a cuddle. You'll have to keep it secret that I'm a softie," Helen said, winking at him. Truthfully, it hardly mattered, but she hoped it would lighten the mood.

"Do you want me to rub your back or anything? Sometimes it helps."

"I might take you up on that in a little bit," Will said, pulling off his shoes. He was still in that weird, thoughtful mood, and that didn't really change even after he checked on Roy (sleeping in his box, Will always made sure to check often because even though the little sloth was slow he would sometimes crawl away) and pulled off his jeans and t-shirt for bed.

"He wasn't around a lot," Will said. It was kind of out of the blue, because they'd sort of drifted away from the topic, but suddenly Will had something else to say. "Even before my mom died, he wasn't there a lot. I was just thinking about how all the things I remember with my mom are just of her. Not the two of them together with me." He sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed his palms against his knees, kind of dispersing nervous energy.

"My mother died before I could even remember her. Did I ever tell you that? It's something we have in common, in a way, though I'm so far removed from my life growing up that there's things I can barely remember."

Helen changed into her pajamas, opting for a set with little blue flowers on them instead of something more inherently sexual and settled on the bed next to Will.

"I'm sorry he wasn't there for you, Will. I truly am."

"The thing is, I'm not sorry, not exactly," he went on. "It wasn't great, but it didn't kill me and maybe I wouldn't be who I am now if it wasn't for the way things were. I"m just thinking about it because I don't want to be like him. And I'm not even talking about the fraud and the scams," he clarified. That wasn't him, and he'd never be like that. "I mean how he wasn't there for my mom, at least from what I could tell. I don't want to do that to you."

"If anything, Will, you're too affectionate," Helen said, shaking her head a bit.

"I don't think you have anything to worry about there. I suppose...I suppose I could see where the concern is, though. You've never been anything but good to me since we got sorted out."

Edited 2011-11-20 08:13 (UTC)

"Too affectionate?" He nudged her with his elbow. "Is that a bad thing?" That was just the way he was, and he knew it made him kind of a dork but he couldn't imagine not being that way with someone, especially Magnus.

"No," Helen said, laughing lightly. She smiled, though, and flashed her dimple at him before gently nudging him back. "But you know what I mean. You aren't neglectful of me."

"Well, no," he said. "But I just want to make sure I never get that way, you know? I never want other things to get in the way of what's important." Even if his father hadn't been there as far as Will could remember, he couldn't imagine that it had always been like that. There had to have been something that brought his parents together in the first place, and at some point things had changed. He never wanted it to be like that for him and Magnus.

"And what's important then, Will?" Helen asked softly. She was a bit more sober now because this seemed to be something he'd been thinking about, at least since his father's evidence had shown up. If it was something she could help him with, she'd do so whole-heartedly.

"Our relationship, I presume?"

Will nodded, and shifted a little on the edge of the bed so he was more like facing her. "Yeah." He reached over to take one of her hands and held it in both of his, squeezing lightly. "I never want you to think that I'm taking you for granted, or taking us for granted. You are the most important thing, the best thing that's ever happened to me, and I want you to know that."

"Darling, I don't have any doubt in my mind that that's true," Helen promised him. She imagined he was just shaken from having received a reminder of his father, yes, but if there was any lingering question in his mind that he hadn't made her happy, well...

"You are the most affectionate, considerate and loving man I've ever had the good fortune to know. I love you, Will, and we're better together than we ever were apart. You have nothing to worry about, I promise."

Will rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand for a minute, just thinking, just being there with her in that moment. There was something he'd been thinking of for a while, ever since Juliet disappeared--he'd been tossing it back and forth in his mind, wondering if it was the right time, wondering if it would only make things worse if one of them left the island and the other didn't or if it would make them stronger and better for having it.

"I love you, too," he said. "And we're definitely better together than when we weren't."

"That applies to you as my protege and not just as my boyfriend, Will," Helen clarified, wanting him to be certain that she'd valued him and thought he made her a better woman long before they were together the way they were now. "And I still think the word boyfriend is patently ridiculous for people of our age but there you have it."

That earned him a little smile, dimple flashing, and a blush. "But boyfriend, I suppose, is the best word. Paramour, maybe. Lover? I could go on in about fifteen different languages, if you'd like."

"Do you think husband is a ridiculous word?" It wasn't the way he'd meant to phrase it, but it was just how it came out, so he went with it. Maybe he was patently ridiculous for thinking Magnus would be inclined to marry him--it wasn't like anyone else had managed it in her very long life, so what made him think he was anything special enough to make it happen? Maybe she'd say no, and while he was strangely okay with that, because what they had now was way more than he'd ever dreamed, he wanted her to know he was committed enough to make this permanent.

"What? Well, no, but it hardly applies here," Helen said, staring at him with no small measure of shock. "We're not married but I suppose, if we were, husband wouldn't be a word I found ridiculous. It's certainly more mature than boyfriend and isn't nearly so sterile as partner. Paramour sounds like something Nikola would use and lover just sounds sordid. Husband in and of itself doesn't have any ridiculous...Will?"

He grinned a little, though it was a nervous grin, because Magnus babbling made him a little anxious--but now that he'd said it, he felt a little braver about actually finishing what he'd started. "We could get married," he said. "Then we wouldn't have to worry about what to call each other."

Was he actually saying this? Yes. Yes, he was.

"No, no we wouldn't. We'd be husband and wife, two appropriate titles for people of our age and station," Helen said, grinning wide. "Let's get married, Will. Let's not make a big deal out of it and just go down to the Council office and get married. It's just a matter of signing a register anyway, I suppose, and it's not like we couldn't ask Sookie to officiate."

"You mean you're saying yes?" Not that Will had asked, technically, but still...he couldn't quite believe that Magnus...Helen Magnus, the best thing that had ever happened to him in his entire life, was actually agreeing to marry him.

Ho. ly. crap.

"You really want to marry me?"

"Well, yes," Helen said, taking his hands in hers and lifting them to her lips to kiss each one in turn. Perhaps it would have been shocking to everyone back home, Helen Magnus not only taking a protege for a lover but conceding to marry him when she'd never married in a hundred and sixty years of life but, truly, they could all sod off.

She loved Will, she wanted to marry him, and now that he'd proposed, the only proper answer was yes.

"I, Helen Magnus, want to be your wife, Will Zimmerman, with all the benefits, titles and responsibilities that the title implies."

Will laughed a little, softly, more of a nervous relief laugh than anything, but a little of it was affection for how formal Magnus was about it now. "You did a better job of saying yes than I did of actually asking," he said.

"Victorian," Helen reminded him, smirking a bit. "Comes with the territory. I'm afraid we're overly verbose at even the best of times."

She licked her lower lip lightly, nervous. "Do you want to be my husband, then?"

"I wouldn't have asked if I didn't want to," he said, and nudged her a little with his elbow. "I kind of didn't plan to do it right now--I didn't have a plan, really, I just wanted to wait till it felt right. And it did. To me, anyway." He hoped it felt right to her, too.

"For me as well," Helen said, nudging him right back. "Do fiances get kisses, perhaps? I'd rather like a kiss if you have it in you to give me one."

Will liked kissing, from what Helen could tell, so she imagined her asking for it was simply pro forma.

"Now I don't know why you'd think I want to do something like that," Will said, and his laugh this time was less nervous. "C'mere."

When he kissed her, it was like all the nervousness he'd had about asking just faded away--of course she'd say yes. They loved each other. They'd beaten stupid odds together. It was the next step, the right step for them.

"This is dreadful," Helen deadpanned, coming up for air just long enough to wind an arm back around Will's neck and kiss him again, deeper, and put all of her passion and love into it.

"I'm a terrible liar, aren't I?"

"Right now? Totally crap," he teased, easing her back onto the bed. Will felt stupidly giddy right then, still on the high of Helen Magnus said yes, giddy enough that he felt like jumping on top of the compund and screaming it across the island.

"Oh, now what are you after?" Helen asked, blushing a little. It was teasing, mostly; it wasn't like she didn't have a reasonably good idea where this was headed considering he'd just proposed but a lady liked to play hard to get.

"I love you, Will."

"Love you, Magnus." He still felt like yelling it from the top of the compound, but he wasn't yelling it now; for the moment his voice was soft and gentle. "Always."

"Always," Helen repeated quietly, rolling onto her side to face him and sliding her hand along his side. She loved him so very much and while this step had been one she'd wanted to take, he'd knocked her for a complete loop by asking. She hadn't expected it at all.

"I'm so glad that you asked me, Will. I wasn't expecting it at all."

He laughed softly. "I wasn't expecting it either," he admitted. "I mean, I knew I wanted to eventually, but I didn't plan to do it right now. I didn't really have a plan at all, honestly. But it just suddenly felt right." He grinned at her and lightly tweaked her nose. "I'm glad you said yes."

"Why would I ever say anything but yes?" Helen asked, laughing a little at the mere thought of it. "You're all I want, Will, and all I can ever imagine myself with. Of course I want to marry you."

It wasn't so much that he thought Magnus would say no, so much as he wasn't entirely sure she'd say yes, but it wasn't an distinction he wanted to make right now and possibly ruin the moment. It wasn't important now anyway, because she'd said yes. "Then that's all that matters."

"I suppose we're lucky we already have a tropical getaway for a honeymoon," Helen said, mulling that over. "Perhaps I should cancel my classes through the weekend and on Monday. Hmm. Something to ponder, anyway."

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