And it had been working so well. Dolly went from nearly normal to - well - to weaker than he'd ever seen her. She threw up over the side of the bed  - thankfully on Dominik's side - and Tapendra was next to the bed again, his hand firmly on her shoulder, as if that would help.

"No, Dolly, you did not!" He snapped, desperation in his voice - what could you say to that? He knew that feeling all too well - far too well. "You didn't kill her, Dolly. You didn't..." he repeated, his tone softening, lip bitten. He looked, yet again, at Dominik. "Wiedman, go an-" he started. 

Then he stopped; his hand still gently on Dolly's shoulder as she sobbed. He looked between the two of them for a few moments, and when he spoke it was in a soft, odd sounding tone. His face had gone to a careful mask, but when his eyes met Dominik's they were steady.

"I'll go get the Healer," he said, standing again and heading for the door.

Dominik put his head down as Tapendra went to comfort Dolores, feeling unsure of himself or his ability to care for her emotionally as she broke down at the onset of a sudden memory, into a cascade of sobs.  He glanced up momentarily and held his gaze on the taller man who, seemingly thought it best to hand the reigns over to Dominik.  He left the room.  For as much of an Alpha dog as Dominik Wiedman was, he was not at all confident in his ability to actually give Dolores what she needed.

He stood abruptly, though, quite aware that he needed to do something, and he leaned in toward Dolores on the edge of her bed, and hesitatingly put a hand on her shoulder to steady her.  He cradled her head gently in his arms and made shushing sounds quietly.  This was unbearably sad.

"It's okay," he said, "It's going to be okay."  He repeated the words, in themselves somewhat meaningless but having a reverberation of comfort that he hoped would do something to still her mind.  "You're not alone," said Dominik.  His voice was low, but practically right beside her ear. 

Dolly was lost now; trapped back in the maze of her own mind. The scene of Tabitha's demise, of falling, mixed in with the fever dream of the baby. What right did she have to any kind of happiness? Tabitha was dead, mangled, and Dolly hadn't kept half the promises she made when she hired her. They were supposed to go to Spain, to America, and a pleasure trip to Iceland just for Tabitha - because that's where she wanted to go. Something in Dolly broke loose. Molly hadn't been with them; but Merlin knew where she was. Would she blame Dolly? Would Tabitha's mother blame her as much as she blamed herself? She was vaguely aware of the "changing of the guards", Tappy leaving the room and Dominik cradling her head. His gestures were not unlike the man himself - the man as she knew him, clumsy and awkward.

She could feel how desperately he wanted to comfort her - and she wondered (very distantly) if this is why he'd given up on life for so man years. The thought of innocent lives lost at his hand, because of his choices. The circumstances were vastly different but suddenly the way he had recoiled from the universe seemed to make a sick kind of sense. How could you listen to the world, your friends, your family adore you when around your wounded heart you carried the heaviest chains of survivor's guilt. She could have gone herself and had them fix her drink. She could have been the one - and when she saw it why had she been so frozen by fear. She never reached for her wand, or rather she didn't remember reaching for her wand.

Without thought she cuddled as close to Dominik as her injuries would allow. She breathed in that familiar smell; the dragon hide boots, the smoky robes, the faintest strains of alcohol. She felt delirious from the effort of the memories, the crying, she looked up at him with swollen eyes, "Please don't ever leave me Niko," her voice was a weak whisper as Tappy and a Healer or Healer in training returned. She was still clinging to Dom, blue eyes focused on him as the new healer cast a sedation spell over her. In the moments it took for it to hold Dolly spoke in soft incoherent sentences - begging Dom not to leave her, something about finding Molly, and lastly with her crystalline blue eyes locked on his, voice weaker and weaker, something about "we've had a baby" and then she was gone; back to the mingled nightmares and dreams, body limp and seemingly much smaller than she'd ever been 'in real life'.

It had taken him a few minutes to find an unoccupied healer - in the attack's aftermath, the first floor was somewhat full. But in a way, he was grateful of the distraction. It kept him from having to think too hard or from having to let the stinging sadness hit him.

He'd been fighting it off since the tenth, when he and Ignan had talked; the news on the 11th of Dolly's injury hadn't helped him one bit, and now...well. Dolly was with someone who could make her feel better, and his logical mind told him that was what he should be concerned about.

Returning to the room and watching as she was carefully put to sleep also didn't help. When her quiet babbling finally faded into unconsciousness, he nodded to the Healer.

"Thank you," he said to the younger witch, though his eyes remained on the sight of Dominik and Dolly. After reaching over and absently brushing a few locks from Dolly's tear-streaked face, he shrugged his coat back on properly and spoke to Dominik without looking at him, Tapendra's voice slightly weak.

"Take good care of her, Wiedman. She needs you right now," he told him, then nodded stiffly and left, this time departing to the fireplaces to return to the school.

A sleeping potion would make him feel better. Maybe this was why Johann took them so much...

Dominik found himself again fixating on her soft, black hair, calming himself as much as he tried to calm her.  It was so suddenly different from his usual sense of suffering that he felt stung awake.  And she clung to him, fragile and clinging like the little beauty she had always been, the one who had always needed and depended on him, kept him in line.  She was always pulling him back to Earth.  She looked directly at him and voiced her attachment; it was so raw, he felt torn inside. 

Tapendra re-entered the room finally with a healer, and Dominik in his disjointed state felt relief that the other man had followed through, had helped....  He felt just as much that he was the one who should leave, in a sense; though he also selfishly wanted Dolly to himself.  It was especially selfish of him because he had never been able to commit himself to her in the way that she had wanted.  He felt sorry and inadequate, almost helpless as he watched the copper-headed man, who had really been such a gentleman, don his coat to leave.  An interference of authority was coming on, and Dominik instinctively pulled back as the blanket of magic pooled over Dolores, looking into her big blue eyes as her words became more and more sparse, and she said the strangest thing.

Staring at her from a couple steps back, Dominik watched her shrink back into heavy sedation, mortified.  It was impossible to look away from her in that state.  This was all wrong, bring her back, thought Dominik.  He turned his gaze to the healer, unable to form words, then looked at the taller man who was gathering his things to go.  Why were they all leaving him?  What had it been that Dolly had just said, that had rocked him so?  He looked down at her, confusion blooming on his face.  As he touched her shoulder, the diamonds in his ring sparkled, and he felt incredibly sobered.

Watching Tapendra leave, Dominik grew pensive.  He sat beside her again, this time considering himself again as the person who would wait her out.  She was going to be okay, he told himself.  She was going to be okay and they would be back in action in no time flat.  He'd stay as long as he had to, whether he had practice or not.