This fic is one of many I've started as a 'what if' after the whole Boone thing, and it deals with the idea of parallel universes. I know there are loads of fics out there with this concept - whiskeyadams' "Dream a better dream" springs to mind. (You should totally read that fic if you haven't yet – I can't recommend it enough. It's awesome.) But this is my take on the idea. Oh, and this is a gift for sistersin7, to remind her that life is full of infinite possibility.
Helena had chosen Nate. She had chosen Nate, and Adelaide and a life of obscurity and mediocrity over endless wonder and saving the world. She had made her choice, and now Myka was sitting in her room at the B&B, ignoring Pete's voice from the other side of the door as he pleaded with her to come and watch a movie with him, Claudia and Steve.
She sat at the foot of her bed, her signed copy of "The Invisible Man" in her hands, turning it over and over. How had Helena, the adventurous, fearless author of this and so many other books, the defiant, strong woman, turned into that… whatever she had been, yesterday? A soccer mom? With a boyfriend or maybe even a husband who just had to be an accountant or a claims adjuster or something. How could she have changed so much in such a short time? The last time she'd seen Helena, it was outside the Warehouse, and the Regents had come to take Helena away for questioning - never mind that Artie had spoken up for her or whatever – they still wanted to make sure she wasn't going to try to destroy the world again. Helena had turned, and Myka could have sworn that she mouthed "I love you," before they cuffed her and took her to the car.
Myka was sick to her stomach at the thought of it all. She wished in some ways that she'd been brave enough to tell Helena how she felt, yesterday in Wisconsin. But she was also glad that she hadn't, because the way Helena looked at her when she was standing on that driveway – the look on her face was something like a mixture of guilt and pity. And pity didn't exactly shout "I love you too, Myka," now, did it?
When she was sure that Pete and the rest of the gang were absorbed in their movie-watching, she crept down the stairs and out of the B&B, driving to the Warehouse. When she was this wound up and upset, only inventory could soothe her mind. It always had when she had worked in her dad's store, and now the Warehouse offered her the same respite when she needed it – and often when she didn't.
A few hours later she was beginning to tire, so she decided to go back to the B&B to sleep. On the way back she passed the HG Wells section, and seeing the name was like a physical blow to her solar plexus. She opened the gate to the section and stood there, her heart thumping. Helena's presence lingered here, like a whisper of perfume in the air. Her sense of humour, that smirk, that sense of adventure, of slight volatility. It was almost palpable in the air, and Myka wondered again how Helena had gone from who she used to be to who she was now. The way she had looked at Myka when they first saw her in her lab... Myka choked back a sob as she looked again at the inventions and the manuscripts that Helena had left behind. She had always meant to read the original manuscripts of Helena's books, but now she wasn't sure she'd ever be able to. She slammed the gate shut behind her as she left, the metal rattling loudly in the vast silence of the Warehouse. She jammed her hands in her pockets and touched a piece of metal – Helena's locket. She had meant to give it to her in Wisconsin but it had completely gone out of her head when she saw who – what – Helena had become.
She leaned against the gate for a second, breathing deeply, and wondering what the hell she was going to do now. It had been what – eight months, since Helena had disappeared with the Regents? And all that time, Myka had been hoping. Hoping that Helena was being treated by a psychiatrist or whatever, being looked after, so that she could come back. Back to the Warehouse, and back to Myka, so they could finally talk about that "I love you," about Helena sacrificing herself when Sykes' bomb had gone off in the alternate timeline. She would have told Helena that she loved her too. She had wanted to tell her for so long, had hoped and wished and dreamed that Helena felt the same way, that it wasn't just her imagination that Helena had mouthed that to her.
She sighed out a heavy breath, and as she did, her vision started to blur, and she could hear Helena's voice distantly.
"Myka? Myka darling, are you okay?"
The voice sounded like it was coming from miles away, and her vision was tunnelling, suddenly. She felt her knees give way underneath her and she slipped down, back against the fence, before passing out.
She woke in her bed. Well, it was almost her bed. It was her room, certainly, but with a certain amount of redecoration. There was an extra door that was half open, displaying a section of the small bathroom beyond. There was steam coming from the bathroom, which meant that Myka wasn't alone. She tried to sit up, but was hit with a wave of dizziness so intense that she had to lie flat again, breathing deeply to avoid vomiting or passing out.
She lay still for a long time, taking deep, long breaths, and wondering what in the holy hell had happened. When Leena knocked on the door and came in with some tea and toast, however, she scrambled back, almost falling out of the bed.
"Myka, are you okay?" Leena asked, her face creased up in concern.
"You're…you're dead…" Myka said, voice trembling. She had found Leena on the Warehouse floor, seen the blood. What the hell was happening?
"I'm fine, Myka," Leena said, reaching over to place her hand gently on Myka's forehead. "You don't have a fever. Did you have a nightmare?"
Myka shook her head mutely, and as she did so, the shower shut off. Myka saw a long, shapely leg extend from the shower cubicle before she closed her eyes tightly. That leg, if she was not very much mistaken, belonged to Helena. Helena, who was in her bathroom – a bathroom that didn't exist – and Leena – dead Leena - was here. She must be sick. It was a fever dream.
"Myka, darling. What's wrong? Are you sick?"
It was Helena's voice, and she was touching Myka's face. Myka tried not to, but she leaned into the contact, drawing in a sharp breath.
"It's okay, Leena. I'll take it from here. Thank you for breakfast, you are wonderful," Helena said quietly but authoritatively.
Leena murmured that it was no problem, and Myka heard the door close behind her. Then the bed dipped next to her.
"Myka, what on earth is going on? We were in the Warehouse, about to go home, and you collapsed. Dr Calder checked you over, but she couldn't find anything wrong."
Again, she touched Myka's face, and Myka almost whimpered. It was too much, way, way too much. After Boone, after Nate, after all of it. This last few months had been such a nightmare, with Steve dying and coming back, Leena dying… and Helena touching her like this – it was too much.
"Please, don't…" she said in a whisper, and Helena came closer. Myka could feel Helena's breath against her neck.
"Don't what, darling? What's wrong? Please, look at me, love," Helena said, her voice gentle. She had her hands on either side of Myka's face, fingertips gently touching her cheek and jaw.
Myka opened her eyes, to find Helena sitting on the bed next to her, wrapped in a grey silk robe. Her hair was wet and her eyes wide, her lips slightly parted as she looked at Myka intently in concern.
"What are you doing here? Why aren't you in Wisconsin?" Myka asked, her face creased in confusion and pain.
"Why would I be in Wisconsin, love? I don't think we've ever even been to Wisconsin. Have we?" she asked, her forehead wrinkling as she thought. She ran her hand through her wet hair and as she did Myka noticed the white gold wedding band on her left hand. Her heart twisted and at the same time intense rage welled up in her.
"So you are married," she spat. "Why didn't you tell me? I thought we were friends, at least, Helena. You couldn't have told me you were married, and saved me from hoping for… Goddammit, Helena. Just go, will you? I don't know why you came here but I'm fine."
She turned away from Helena's confused face and gentle fingers, tears beginning to leak from her eyes. Married. Of course she was married. Because why wouldn't she be? She was beautiful, she was smart. She certainly didn't need to be tethered to Myka Bering, Secret Service and Warehouse Agent with no personal life worth speaking of.
"Myka, I don't know what the hell has gotten into you, but you know I'm married. Since you were there on my wedding day, and played quite a significant part in the ceremony yourself. Did you hit your head or something, love?" Helena asked, softly but with an edge of irritation in her voice.
Myka turned her tear-streaked face to Helena's.
"I didn't know, Helena. You could have told me. I wasn't there. I don't know what you're talking about."
Helena stared at her.
"Oh, for Pete's sake!" she said, shoving her hair back again in an impatient motion. Then she leaned forward and kissed Myka, moving to place herself in Myka's lap, straddling her. She grasped the hair at the back of Myka's neck and used it to angle her head as she dipped her tongue into Myka's mouth. At first Myka was frozen, but when she felt Helena's tongue against hers she couldn't hold back. She returned the kiss, whimpering, with tears still running down her face. How could Helena be kissing her? Helena was married, to Nate whatever-the-fuck his name was, and Helena had left her. Helena had left her behind and moved on with some fucking asshole and his annoyingly smart kid, without a fucking word.
Her rage made her grab at Helena's hair. She bit on Helena's bottom lip, hard, and was smugly pleased at the sharp gasp that came from Helena's mouth.
"God, Myka," Helena murmured, before biting Myka's lip just as hard. She slid her hands underneath Myka's thighs and pulled her down so that she was on her back, before moving back on top of her to straddle her again. Her hair curtained either side of Myka's face as she leaned down to kiss her again.
"Helena, what…" Myka managed, before Helena was kissing her again, pulling at her curls, grabbing a handful and pulling her head the way she wanted it. She was moving in Myka's lap and things were edging towards the point of no return. Myka couldn't work out where this had come from, and while she didn't want to, she knew she had to stop it. She wanted this so, so much, but it wasn't okay. She had waited until Sam had been separated from his wife for months before she made any move towards him, and she wasn't about to cheat with a married woman. What they'd already done was bad enough. She pushed Helena away gently, wiping her mouth absently and shaking her head.
"No, Helena. We can't do this. You're married. Please, move away," she said firmly, taking a deep breath, trying to calm her pounding heart and racing pulse.
"Myka, what are you going on about?" Helena began, but Myka pushed at the centre of her chest again, and Helena moved off her, looking baffled. Just then there was a knock at the door.
"Mykes! Are you okay?"
Thank God. Pete would know what to do.
"Pete, come in!" she yelled, and Helena made a loud huffing noise before adjusting her robe to cover more of her long legs. Pete ran in wearing a suit and coat, clearly just returning from a mission. When had he had time to go on a mission?
"Mykes, what is going on? I got this really weird vibe, like not bad, exactly, but weird, and I came back from the snag right away. Steve's gonna kill me, but I knew you needed me," Pete said, all in a rush. He came to sit next to her on the other side of the bed from Helena and took her hand.
"Pete, thank God you're here. Why were you on a retrieval with Steve, anyway? Nobody told me you were going anywhere! We only got back from Wisconsin yesterday morning!" she said, indignant.
He looked confused, and looked from her to Helena a few times. Helena shrugged, looking just as confused.
"Mykes, we weren't in Wisconsin. We haven't been out on a retrieval together since – when was it, Helena?"
Helena thought for a moment.
"Well, there was that one in Delaware when I was in London finalising the transfer of my belongings and my Visa. Was that the last one?" she asked thoughtfully, tapping a finger on her lips.
"Yeah. Delaware. That was like, nearly two years ago. Did you fall over, Mykes? Or did you touch Dr Alzheimer's stethoscope? I did that once and ended up in a nursing home for nearly a month…" he said, trailing off at her confused expression.
"I don't understand, Pete," she said. "You're my partner. We've been partners for three years."
"No, Mykes. We were partners for over a year, and then Helena here arrived from the Bronze, and you and her have been partners since. Don't you remember?" he asked concernedly.
"No," she said, and she could feel her bottom lip beginning to wobble.
"She kept saying that I should have told her I was married, Pete. And she's obsessed with bloody Wisconsin."
He looked at Helena with his mouth open for a moment, and then turned to Myka again.
"Mykes, what is going on with you? Of course you knew Helena was married. You've been married to her for a year now, partner. You guys pretty much U-hauled as soon as she came out of the Bronze. You called a family meeting last week at breakfast to tell us all that you were pregnant, Mykes. What's going on with you?"
Her mouth fell open. Married – to Helena? What parallel universe was this? How the hell…
"Myka? Are you okay?"
Helena was peering at her worriedly.
"I'm fine, but this isn't real. None of this is real," Myka said, putting her head in her hands. This was crazy.
"Agent Bering," Mrs Frederic said, and all three of them jumped. The woman was in the corner, about as far from the door as a person could get. Not that the door was even open, anyway.
"Yes, Mrs Frederic?" Myka said, sitting up straighter. Maybe Mrs Frederic could explain this.
"You need to get to the Warehouse, where Dr Calder can examine you. Immediately, please. You too, Agent Wells. You might as well come along too, Agent Lattimer. Something very strange has happened here."
They turned to exchange looks, and when they turned around again, Mrs Frederic was gone.
"Okay. Off to the Warehouse it is, I guess," Myka said, pushing off the covers and getting out of bed. She realised quickly that she had no idea where her clothes were, so she started opening drawers and cupboards randomly. Helena stood smoothly and opened a closet that wasn't even there, in Myka's real room. She took out one of Myka's suits, handing it over wordlessly with underwear and a pair of boots. Myka went to dress in the bathroom, looking around her at the fixtures and fittings. To be fair, she reasoned, the B&B did need another bathroom. But she didn't understand when this bathroom had sprung into being. The whole room looked different – larger – but it was still her room. She shook her head and tried to wrestle her curls into some semblance of order, finally giving up and going back into her room to find a fully dressed Helena waiting for her.
"Do you really not remember anything about us, Myka?" Helena asked, her eyes downcast.
"No, I don't. I'm sorry," she said, in a whisper.
"It's not your fault, darling," Helena said softly. "Shall we go to the Warehouse and find out what's going on?" she said, in a carefully neutral tone. Myka nodded, and they made their way downstairs and into Pete's car. He drove them there in silence, giving Myka the occasional concerned look.
When they arrived at the Warehouse, Myka was flanked by Helena and Pete, who took her through the umbilicus and straight to the small office where Dr Calder worked when at the Warehouse.
"Hi, Myka," Dr Calder said. "Mrs Frederic tells me you're having some problems with your memory. Let's see if we can get to the bottom of it."
"Okay," Myka said. She looked at Helena and Pete nervously, and Dr Calder looked from her to the other two agents.
"I think I'll need to see Myka alone, agents," she said, in a crisply professional tone, and Pete went to leave immediately. Helena, however, lingered.
"Myka, are you sure you want to do this alone? You usually like me to stay with you for appointments and the like," Helena said, her eyes appealing to Myka to let her stay.
"I… I guess," Myka said, shrugging a little. She didn't mind, as long as Helena didn't see her naked or anything. That thought made her blush slightly, so she turned her attention to Dr Calder briskly, putting it out of her mind.
"What's the last thing you remember, Myka?" Dr Calder asked, while attaching a blood pressure cuff to Myka's right arm.
"I was in the Warehouse. Sometimes I like to do inventory late at night when I can't sleep. It helps to calm me."
Helena nodded, as if confirming that this was something that Myka did. Myka looked at her uncertainly for a moment before continuing.
"I was in the HG Wells section, and I was thinking… about Helena. She disappeared about 8 months ago, after the Warehouse almost exploded. I had just seen her for the first time, on a retrieval in Wisconsin." She was blushing, and her head was starting to pound at the memory of finding Helena in Boone.
Dr Calder shared a long look with Helena, whose eyes were wide and confused.
"Go on, Myka," she said, after checking the blood pressure monitor and removing the cuff.
"Okay," Myka said, sighing. "So, I met Helena in Wisconsin. She's living with this guy, Nate, and his daughter, Adelaide. There was an artefact there, a prehistoric hyena jawbone, that induced primal fear in the victims. Helena called us to deal with it. It turned out that it was one of the local police detectives who was using it to scare people into giving confessions. I… I tried to talk Helena into coming back, coming home, but she wouldn't listen. She stayed there with the guy and the kid and Pete and I came back to the Warehouse. So I was doing inventory, and I stopped in the HG Wells section. I was ready to go home, and I closed the gate, and then I put my hands in my pockets," she said, employing her eidetic memory to recall exactly what she had done. "I touched Helena's locket – it was still in my pocket. I meant to return it to Helena but it slipped my mind, with… everything," she said, trying to hold back tears. She still couldn't believe it, couldn't take it in. Helena didn't love her, and Helena wanted to stay in Wisconsin as a soccer mom.
"What happened when you touched the locket?" Dr Calder asked, taking Myka's pulse and looking at her watch.
"I started to feel dizzy, my vision got blurry around the edges, like tunnel vision. I heard Helena's voice, and then I fell on the floor and passed out. I woke up in bed in my room – or at least, it looked like my room. Only my room doesn't have a bathroom and it definitely doesn't have a Helena in it," she said.
Helena laughed, a laugh that sounded akin to a sob.
"Okay, Myka. Can you look at this light, please?" Dr Calder asked, checking her pupils carefully with a pen torch.
"Well, physically you check out, Myka. But your recollection of recent history – particularly Helena's history – is off. The Warehouse didn't almost explode, Myka. And Helena hasn't left the Warehouse - or you - since she was released from the Bronze Sector," Dr Calder explained.
"And Leena is alive," Myka murmured.
Dr Calder looked a little startled at that. "Yes, Leena is alive. We'll get to that later. For now, I think we ought to check on the status of your baby, just to be on the safe side. If you're under the influence of an artefact, we need to be sure it's not affecting the baby."
Baby. Pete had said that too – that she was pregnant. What the hell was going on?
"Fine," she said, shaking her head. "How much crazier can this day get?" she asked, half to herself.
She went behind the small screen in the doctor's office to strip off her clothes and put on the stupid-ass hospital robe that Dr Calder insisted on, even though she could have just pulled up her shirt, surely? She came out from behind the screen and settled herself on the couch with a slight huff.
"Okay, Myka, just a little cold now," Dr Calder said, putting the freezing cold gel on her lower abdomen. She moved the wand around a few times, then more carefully, staring at the screen in confusion. She did this a number of times before replacing the wand on the sonogram machine, and leaning back, looking thoroughly confused.
"What's wrong, Dr Calder?" Helena asked, her face falling.
"This woman is not pregnant," Dr Calder said eventually. "There are no signs that she was ever pregnant."
Helena looked from Myka to Dr Calder, her mouth open.
"How can this… she was pregnant a week ago, Dr Calder. We heard the heartbeat," Helena said, in complete confusion.
"I know, Helena. I was here. But this woman, whoever she is, is not pregnant. I can only conclude that she's not Myka – or at least, she's not our Myka."
Helena turned to look at Myka, her face suddenly blank and set. She suddenly resembled the Helena who was ready to Trident the world into a new ice age.
"Who are you? If you've hurt my wife, I will kill you myself, do you hear?"
"Calm down, Helena," Dr Calder said quickly. "Whoever she is, she's as confused as we are. Let me take some blood, if that's okay, Myka, and we'll see if we can get to the bottom of this."
Myka nodded and extended her arm, watching Helena cautiously from the corner of her eye. It made her feel oddly better that she wasn't the only one who was completely confused by this; even if it had turned Helena slightly homicidal.
Three hours later, she had told her story four times; to Artie, Mrs Frederic and Claudia, and once again, in more detail, to Pete, Helena and Dr Calder. They were all now sitting in the Warehouse's main office in a circle, discussing where they should go from here.
"Do you still have the locket, Myka?" Dr Calder asked. "I believe it might hold the key to whatever is happening here."
"I don't know," Myka said. "I was touching it and then I passed out. What was your Myka doing, Helena?" she asked, turning to Helena whose eyes were still dark and unyielding.
"We were kissing," she said shortly.
"Is it possible that she touched your locket?" Myka asked, thinking. If she and the other Myka had touched the locket at the same time, perhaps it switched them between worlds. Because this was clearly not Myka's world. She had discovered during her conversations with everyone that Walter Sykes had been apprehended before he could do any damage, Steve had never gone undercover, and Leena was alive. And Helena had never left the Warehouse, or tried to destroy the world. Pete was married to Kelly Hernandez and they had a kid, for the love of God. This was not Myka's world. Plenty of bad things had happened here too, in the course of dealing with artefacts, but not the major events that had happened in her world. So a parallel world was the only possible explanation.
"I suppose it is," Helena said, thoughtfully. She fished her locket out from under her shirt, peering at it.
"Fetch me a static bag," she said, imperiously, to Pete. He made a face behind her back but did as she asked. She placed her locket in the bag carefully, and it did shed a few feeble sparks, but nothing happened. They all looked at Myka, and she shrugged.
"Sorry. Still me," she said, apologetically.
"Okay," Artie said sharply. "Clearly, the artefact is the locket, but what it does and how it works – well, we just don't know. Artefacts are formed in their own way and with their own logic. We need to study this one and work out what has caused it to become an artefact. Clearly it is twinned with the one in this Myka's world somehow, if it swapped them across universes. Claudia, I need you. And Mrs Frederic, if you sense anything about this artefact, please let us know."
He held his hand out for the static bag, which Helena passed to him, clearly reluctantly.
"I'll make sure it gets back to you in one piece if at all possible, Helena," he said, more gently than was his normal habit. She nodded curtly in acknowledgement.
"Everybody else get back to work. Myka and Helena, you go back to the B&B. I want you out of the Warehouse for now until we know what's going on."
Myka nodded, and Helena did too after a moment, but she did not look pleased at the decision.
"Come on," she said shortly, gesturing for Myka to follow her. Myka sighed and stood, following Helena to Pete's car. They drove home in silence, and it grew thick as Myka tried to think of something – anything – to say. She couldn't work out what to say to this woman, who was the same woman she loved, but not, at the same time. So they drove home in silence, and Myka closed her eyes, wondering what could possibly go wrong next.
Myka Bering-Wells woke up in what looked like her bed, but there was something different about the room. There was no bathroom, some of the cupboards were missing – it looked like it had when she'd moved here, before Helena came along. She looked around her in complete confusion. Had she travelled back in time? Her hand went to her abdomen automatically. Whatever had happened, it better not have affected the baby.
She was alone, so she got out of bed carefully, noting that she was still in the same clothes she'd been wearing at the Warehouse last night, where she and Helena were doing some research on a possible artefact in Arizona. She remembered kissing Helena, and then feeling strange, and that was it. Nothing.
She pulled on some boots and went to the old bathroom to use the toilet and wipe her face. She brushed her hair, sighing as the curls sprung out in every single possible direction. It was clearly going to be one of those days.
She made her way downstairs, finding Pete half-asleep at the breakfast table along with Claudia, who was engrossed in something on her iPad, and Steve, who looked like he was maybe meditating while sipping chamomile tea and eating fruit salad.
"Morning, pardner," Pete said, tipping an imaginary hat at her.
Partner? Since when did he call her partner? They hadn't been partners since…
"Morning, guys. Where is Helena?" she asked, before raising any other issues – like what the hell was going on with her bedroom.
"Er… in Wisconsin?" Pete said, confused. "Where we left her?"
Myka sat down.
"What?" she said, with a slight snap in her voice. "What is my wife doing in Wisconsin? I'm pregnant, and she's taking off on retrievals without me?"
Pete, Claudia and Steve all exchanged looks.
"Uh… Mykes, what are you talking about?" Claudia asked gently.
"I am talking about my wife, Helena Wells. What are you guys talking about?" Myka asked, thoroughly confused.
"They're also talking about Helena Wells, who is most certainly not your wife, Myka," Artie's voice came from behind her, and it was gentle.
"What do you mean, Artie?" Myka said, turning in her chair to look at him. "Helena and I got married a year ago. You were there with Vanessa, and Pete was my best man, and Claudia stood up for Helena since she hasn't got anyone. What's going on, guys?"
"I don't know what's going on, Myka, but it is definitely something strange. Can you all please make your way to the Warehouse? Dr Calder will meet you there," Mrs Frederic said, from a previously unoccupied part of the room.
Myka turned to the Caretaker, nodding. Something really strange was happening, and she was going to get to the bottom of it and get Helena back from Wisconsin as soon as possible. Things didn't feel right without her here. How could she have left when they had a baby on the way? Something seriously hinky was going on.
They all made their way to the Warehouse, Artie with Claudia and Steve and Myka with Pete. When they entered, Dr Calder was waiting.
"Myka, could you come with me, please?" she asked, and Myka nodded, following the physician to her small office. She sat in the chair next to the small desk, and Dr Calder sat in the desk chair, swivelling to look at her searchingly.
"Myka, what's the last thing you remember?" Dr Calder asked.
"I was in the Warehouse, and I was kissing Helena. We were about to go back to the B&B – we'd been here late researching. We were kissing and I felt faint, and then… nothing. I woke up in bed at the B&B, but my room is all wrong, and everyone keeps saying that Helena is in Wisconsin and we're not married. I don't understand what's going on, and I'm trying not to get too stressed because of the baby, Dr Calder, but it's really hard to stay calm when my wife isn't even here and everyone is acting so strange…" she said, trailing off and putting her head in her hands.
"Okay, Myka. Honestly, I have no idea what's going on here, but I want to do some tests just to check on your health, okay?" Dr Calder said, her voice low and soothing. Myka nodded without looking up.
Dr Calder did the usual tests – heart rate, blood pressure, blood tests, urine.
"Well, by all accounts, Myka, you're in perfect health. Did you say you're pregnant?" Dr Calder asked gently.
"Yes. About nine weeks," Myka said, her hand going to her abdomen automatically. Dr Calder asked her to strip and change into the robe behind the small screen so that she could do a sonogram. Myka changed, cursing the need for it when all she had to do was pull up her shirt. But doctors will be doctors, she thought.
The baby's heartbeat was loud and steady, and Myka smiled to hear it.
"You really are pregnant," Dr Calder murmured. "Who is the father?" she asked.
"An anonymous donor. Helena and I chose from a sperm bank," Myka said. Dr Calder looked at her carefully for a long moment.
"Okay, Myka. You can get dressed now. I'm going to speak to Mrs Frederic. I'll be back in a moment."
Myka nodded and wiped the goo off her belly with some disposable tissue paper. She knew from the last sonogram that she would find more of that goo everywhere later. She changed behind the screen and when she returned, Dr Calder was there along with Mrs Frederic and Pete.
"Myka, I've asked Agent Lattimer to join us, since he seems the most likely… candidate," Mrs Frederic began.
"Candidate for what?" Myka asked, confused.
"For… well, you're pregnant, Myka," Dr Calder said patiently.
"Yes, I know. I told you that, Dr Calder," Myka said.
"But Myka, you and Helena are not in a relationship. Never mind married, which means that this pregnancy must have happened differently to how you've described," Dr Calder said, tilting her head sympathetically.
It was Pete, oddly, who caught on first.
"Whoa, Doc – you have the wrong end of the stick here. I don't know how Myka ended up pregnant, but I can tell you straight that nothing – nothing like that has ever – will ever happen between us. Myka's like my sister, man," he said, looking visibly distressed at the idea.
"Oh my God!" Myka said, realising what Dr Calder was insinuating. "You think I slept with Pete?!"
She sputtered, completely speechless at the idea.
"Doc, you couldn't be more wrong, seriously," Pete said firmly, and Dr Calder sighed.
"Fine. I believe you. But we have a bit of a mystery, now. So far as any of us knew, Myka was not pregnant before she fainted last night. And her memories of her situation certainly don't match up with recent history," Dr Calder said. "I think it's time we had a proper talk with everyone."
The "proper talk" consisted of Myka relating the details of her relationship with Helena (within the bounds of decency, of course) and the recent past – specifically, since Helena had arrived in their lives – to everyone, bar Leena, who did not appear to be around.
During the course of their chat, Abigail Cho emerged from the umbilicus.
"Excuse me, but why are you here, Abigail?" Myka asked, confused.
"I came to do some inventory." said the woman, looking at her in complete confusion. "Did someone get whammied?"
"Myka did, we think," Claudia chimed in, looking at Abigail adoringly.
"Okay," Myka said. "But why are you here?" She looked at Abigail suspiciously and Abigail seemed to realise, suddenly, why she was asking.
"Myka, I'm not here because of you. I took over the B&B when Leena died, and I was here for Artie afterwards. I came over today to see if I could help with inventory. I'm not here to psychoanalyse you, okay? I promise."
Myka looked at Steve involuntarily, and he nodded solemnly. Good. At least the woman was telling the truth. But…
"Leena's dead?" she whispered, tears filling her eyes immediately.
"Yes, Myka. I'm sorry," Dr Calder said softly. "It was to do with the incident where the Warehouse was nearly blown up by Walter Sykes. Do you remember that?"
"No," Myka said, with an impatient sigh. "Because it didn't happen. Walter Sykes? He was a low-league artefact thief who Helena and I caught a few years back. He was obsessed with the Collodi bracelet; Jane Lattimer took it from him as a kid. He's in jail."
"I think we're looking at something other than simple memory loss here," Artie said, his voice concerned. "I don't think this is the Myka we know."
"Parallel universe?" Claudia asked.
"I'm afraid so," Artie said, sighing heavily. "Which makes this all much more complicated."
Myka stared at him for a long moment.
"So where is this world's Helena?" she asked.
"Why don't you take Myka back to the B&B and explain that to her, Pete," Dr Calder said carefully, "while we do some research into what might have caused this. We'll need you to come back to the Warehouse after that – we need to talk about our Myka and her state of mind before this happened, okay?"
"Sure, Doc," Pete said easily, and he smiled at Myka. "You coming, partner?"
She smiled back. Pete was her salvation in all of this; he, at least, hadn't changed beyond all recognition like the rest of the world.
They drove back in easy silence and Pete went to make her some chamomile tea before sitting her down.
"Myka, Helena in this world – it sounds like she's a bit different from your… wife," he began.
"How so?" she asked. She began to wish she hadn't asked, after hearing about Helena trying to destroy the world. But she was heartened by the fact that Helena hadn't gone through with her plans, and that it was because she couldn't kill this world's Myka. That was a good sign, right? And she'd sacrificed herself in an alternate timeline to save the Warehouse – to save Myka.
Then Pete told her about Boone, about Nate, about Adelaide, and Myka's blood boiled.
"She's doing what?" she asked dangerously. "Shacking up with some accountant and his daughter? What on earth is she thinking? And why didn't I – your Myka, I mean – why didn't she drag her home?"
He gave her a sympathetic look.
"Myka told her to stay, to make the place her home. I didn't really get it, but now, with you, I do. She's in love with Helena and she wants her to be happy, so she told her to stay there with the dude and be happy. It explains why she was hiding away in her room since we got back from Wisconsin. I don't know why she went to the Warehouse so late at night though," Pete said, looking upset with himself for not realising sooner.
"She was probably doing inventory," Myka said automatically. "I do it sometimes when I need to calm myself down. If she's anything like me, that's probably why she was there."
"Yeah. She was outside the HG Wells section, too. That explains a lot," Pete said thoughtfully.
"Hmm. That makes sense, I guess," she said, tapping her lip thoughtfully.
"Listen, Mykes, are you gonna be okay here? I should get back to the Warehouse, see what they need to know about our Myka. You know where your room is, right? And the library is right down the hall. We'll be back in a few hours, I guess," he said vaguely.
"Sure," she said, her mind racing. She would be damned if she was going to let Helena stay living with some random guy in Wisconsin. She and Helena were meant to be together, and even if this was a parallel universe, she wasn't going to let it stand.
Pete went back to the Warehouse and Myka went to look at the driveway. Thankfully, the Myka in this universe had the same car that she and Helena shared. She went up to her room and used some codes Claudia had given her to hack into the Warehouse's mainframe, finding Helena's – Emily's – new address. She picked up her counterpart's wallet, keys, Farnsworth, Tesla and cell along with a jacket and some CDs – it was a long drive – and started the long drive. She had to stop once on the way for gas and snacks, but even so, she was in Boone, Wisconsin in less than nine hours. She had fielded two calls from Artie on the Farnsworth, and she had told him firmly both times that she had a personal matter to take care of, and she'd be back when she was ready. Even so, she wasn't expecting Pete, Steve and Claudia to be waiting for her when she pulled into the cul-de-sac where Helena's new home was located.
"What are you guys doing here?" she asked, surreptitiously taking her Tesla out of the car as she stepped out. She didn't want to shock them, but if they tried to stop her…
"Artie sent us to take you back. But we figured you might need a bit of moral support anyway, so we thought we'd come along," Claudia said with a smile.
"Yeah. So we told him we'd grab you and drag you home," Pete said, "but we also booked a couple of hotel rooms, just in case. Do you want to go in on your own, or should we come with you?"
She stared at them for a moment.
"You guys came here to help?" she asked.
"Yeah, why wouldn't we?" Pete asked. "You're Myka. Well, you're not 'our' Myka, exactly, but definitely 'a' Myka, and if you can convince Helena to come home, you'll make our Myka happy. And personally I like it when she's happy, so…"
She smiled at him, putting her Tesla in her pocket, and went over and gave him a quick hug.
"Thanks, you guys," she said, looking around at them all. "This means a lot."
"Anytime, Myka," Steve said sincerely.
They made their way to the door, the others standing back. Myka knocked, and the door was answered by a tall man who might have been described as handsome by some. She could only think, "He's touched my Helena," and therefore had to resist the urge to throttle him.
"Hi," she said. "Is Helena home?"
"Agent Bering?" he asked, confused. "Why are you here? Has something else happened? One of your… curiosities?"
"No," she said, shortly. "Is she here?"
"Ah… yes, she's home. Come in, please," he said, looking uncertainly at Pete and the others.
"Helena!" Myka yelled, stomping into the house, looking for the woman who was, in her universe, her wife. She was mad as hell and while she wouldn't normally make a scene, she was pregnant and hungry and in a parallel universe. Helena was about to bear the brunt of all of those things.
"Myka?" Helena asked, confused, as she came rushing down from upstairs. "Is there something wrong? Did you find another curiosity?"
"No, I didn't find a curiosity. Not unless you consider you being here a curiosity," Myka spat. "What the hell are you doing, Helena? What on earth happened to you to make you think that this," she gestured around the house contemptuously, "was your only option?"
"What on earth are you talking about, Myka?" Helena asked, her eyes beginning to narrow. "We discussed this already. You told me to make this my home."
"I don't care what I said," Myka ranted, pulling her hand through her curls angrily. "This is not you. I don't know what happened to you, but this is wrong."
Helena stared from her to Pete and Claudia, followed by Steve.
"Hello, everyone. Could someone please explain to me what's going on?"
"Okay," Pete said, "but I think you're going to want some tea for this conversation, if previous experience is anything to go by. And Myka, you don't need to be running around in your condition. Will you sit down?" he said, leading her into the kitchen and onto a bar stool carefully.
"Fine," she said, her head drooping a little. She was really tired after the drive.
"Nate, maybe you could go and check on Adelaide, or whatever?" Pete said to the wide-eyed man in the doorway.
"Is this more of this stuff I don't want to know about?" Nate asked uncertainly.
"Definitely, man," Pete said, nodding emphatically. Nate looked around the room and then backed out, heading upstairs presumably to help Adelaide with her homework or Barbie dolls or whatever other adorable thing she was doing at that particular moment. Myka felt momentarily ashamed at thinking like that – it wasn't the kid's fault – but it soon faded in the face of her white-hot rage at Helena for running away, for doing this to her. Well, not her, but her counterpart.
Steve sat on one of the bar stools and Claudia sat next to Myka, taking one of her hands and squeezing it gently.
"You okay, Myka?" she said quietly.
"Yeah. Just a little tired," Myka said.
"Helena, could you maybe grab something for Myka to eat? A protein bar or something?"
"Of course," Helena said, taking out some cups from the cupboard. "Why?"
"She drove the whole way here, and she's a little tired."
Helena nodded, but her eyes lingered on the rapidly wilting Myka.
She made tea for all of them, sitting at the bar area with them before asking, once again, what was happening.
"Well, this might be a little hard to believe, but this isn't Myka," Claudia began.
"Of course it is," Helena said.
"Well, she is 'a' Myka, but she's not our Myka," Claudia said. Myka took the protein bar that Helena offered and tore into it, her blood sugar rapidly dipping after her long drive.
"And what's wrong with her?" Helena asked, staring as Myka demolished the protein bar.
"I'm pregnant," Myka said, through a mouthful of peanut and chocolate.
"What?" Helena asked, her face paling.
"Pregnant. Are you deaf, as well as insane?" Myka spat.
"I'm certainly not deaf, I can assure you," Helena said, looking extremely offended. "Can I ask where you've come from, then, if you're not 'our' Myka, as Claudia puts it?"
"I came from my world, where things make sense," Myka said, glaring at Helena.
"A parallel universe?" Helena asked.
"That's what we're guessing," Claudia said, taking a sip of tea and grimacing. "What the hell is this, HG?"
"Pomegranate and strawberry," Helena said, looking offended again. "It's Adelaide's favourite."
"Well, that's just great. Where is the little darling?" Myka said, practically snarling.
"She's upstairs, but I suspect her meeting you in this condition is a rather bad idea, Myka, if you don't mind me saying."
"Fine," Myka growled. She took a sip of the tea and winced. It tasted like boiled twigs.
"So, I understand that this isn't the Myka we know, but what does that have to do with me? I thought I'd made it clear that I wanted nothing to do with the Warehouse, Pete," Helena said, turning to him in confusion. Myka gritted her teeth.
"It wasn't my idea, Helena. Myka wanted to talk to you, and she made her way here alone. We took a flight when she realised where she'd gone so we could take her home. I figured it was probably best if you two spoke first. She's pretty mad at you."
"What could I possibly have done to annoy someone I've never even met?" Helena asked, looking from Myka to Pete and back again.
"What could you have done? Seriously?" Myka began.
Claudia stood up slowly.
"You know, guys, maybe we should go and chat with Adelaide and what's-his-face, let these two talk?" Claudia said, already inching towards the door. Steve shrugged and followed her, and Pete went to follow.
"Don't do anything permanent to her, Myka. And remember, you're pregnant. Don't get too worked up, it's bad for the baby."
Myka turned her glare on him and he backed out of the room, hands up in supplication.
"Well, Myka. What have I done to offend you from another universe, exactly?" Helena asked, sitting down next to her.
"What have you done? What are you doing, Helena? Why are you here, in this place, with this guy and his kid? Why aren't you at home with Myka where you belong?"
"Where I belong? What is that supposed to mean, exactly?" Helena asked, looking more curious than offended.
"You're my wife, Helena. This baby, it's our baby. So when I ask why you're not with Myka, that's what I mean. Why on earth are you here pretending to be a soccer mom when you could be with Myka? And don't tell me you don't love her, because I know that's a lie."
"I don't love her," Helena began, her expression closed. Myka simply stood up, hauling Helena to her feet along with her, and stood close to her, tilting her head down so that their lips were almost touching. Helena's breath caught, and her pupils dilated.
"Tell me again that you don't love me," Myka said huskily, her lips moving almost against Helena's. "Tell me you don't want me."
Helena closed her eyes, swaying slightly, her hands in fists at her sides.
"You can't, can you?" Myka murmured, moving her head so that her mouth was next to Helena's ear. "You can't tell me that you don't want me, that you don't love me, because that would be a lie. Do you want me to get Steve in here to confirm that? Because I can."
Helena shook her head slightly, her eyes still tightly closed.
"I guess if you don't love me, you won't want me to do this," Myka said quietly, taking Helena's earlobe into her mouth, and sucking on it gently. Helena's breath caught again, and she gasped.
"And if you don't want that, you definitely don't want me to do this," Myka said, kissing the side of Helena's neck and moving her lips slowly down her jaw. She slid one hand up into Helena's hair, tugging at the roots gently in the way she knew Helena loved.
"Please, Myka," Helena whispered, trembling.
"Please, what?" Myka asked, running her tongue along Helena's jaw. "Please stop, or please continue?"
"Please…" was all Helena could manage, so Myka took that as encouragement and she pulled Helena closer, their bodies touching from breast to hip.
"She loves you just as much as I do, Helena. I don't know what you're doing out here, but I know it's a lie," she continued, as she brushed her lips against Helena's gently, just once, before moving to the other side of Helena's face, kissing her jaw. Helena whimpered. Myka took both of her hands, still in loose fists at her side, and pulled them around her own waist.
"She loves you, and you love her. And you can't tell me you don't want this, because your body is giving you away right now, Helena," Myka continued. She moved her mouth to Helena's other ear, grasping the earlobe between her tongue and teeth, and sucking on it gently as she had the other.
Helena's arms tightened around her and she moaned quietly, dropping her head to Myka's shoulder.
"So if you want her, and you love her, the question remains," Myka said, kissing the side of Helena's neck. "What are you doing here, in the middle of nowhere? I had a long drive here, Helena," she said, pushing Helena's shirt slightly off her shoulder and kissing the newly bared skin. "It gave me time to think about why you would be hiding away from the Warehouse and away from me."
She kissed Helena's collarbone, and Helena gasped slightly again against her shoulder. Myka ran her hand up into Helena's hair again before continuing her speech.
"I figured it's probably a mixture of guilt, for this whole Trident thing that Pete told me about," she said, biting down on Helena's collarbone. Helena grunted.
"And perhaps the fact that this guy has a daughter around Christina's age," she said, and this time she nipped at Helena's neck sharply.
"Myka," Helena began, but Myka began to suck at the juncture of Helena's jaw and neck, and her words trailed off into a moan.
"So," Myka said conversationally, straightening up to speak directly into Helena's ear again, "I figure it's guilt, and the attraction of having a kid again. You know that there's no reason why you and Myka can't have kids together. Because that's exactly what's happening, where I live, Helena. In my world, you and I are married. Lovers. Having a baby. You can't tell me that you don't want that, Helena."
Helena just whimpered in response. Myka pulled at her hair again, small tugs that made Helena whimper a little each time.
"Do you want me to stop?" Myka said, softly, as she turned Helena's head gently towards her. "You just have to say, and I will."
Helena looked at her helplessly, lips parted and chest heaving. Myka leaned closer to her lips, looking at her incredible eyes, feeling all of the fire and attraction that she always felt when she was this close to Helena. Granted, this wasn't her Helena, but it wasn't right that they were apart, especially if it was just because of some misplaced feeling of guilt.
"Please," Helena said, and this time her meaning was clear. Myka leaned forward a few millimetres and touched her lips to Helena's. It took a moment for Helena to respond, but when she did it was all fire and passion, and this time it was Myka's turn to whimper. After a long, delving kiss, Helena broke away, resting her head once again on Myka's shoulder.
"Why are you doing this, Myka? You're not a cheater; I know you," she whispered.
"Ah, but you're forgetting, Helena. From my perspective, you're the cheater. You're my wife. We're having a baby together. This – whatever this is that you're doing here; this is the lie. This is the cheat. And don't tell me you love him, because we both know that's not true."
Helena sighed, her hands tightening around Myka's waist again.
"I don't love him. But maybe I could," she muttered, half to herself.
"You love me – her. You love your Myka. Why are you here, Helena? What drove you away from the only place you've ever called home?" Myka asked, exasperated.
"I ran away. You don't know what happened, Myka. You don't know what I did, and what they did to me in return."
"I don't, you're right. But tell me this – did Myka do those things to you?"
"No," Helena admitted.
"So why are you punishing her? And punishing yourself?"
"I… I don't know. I thought it was best. She deserves better than me."
Myka sighed heavily.
"No, Helena. She loves you, and she deserves you. Something tells me that her pain at losing you is at the root of all of this – it's the reason I'm here. So come home with me now, please. Bring her home, and help me get home to my wife. Please," she said, her voice pleading.
Helena lifted her head, and after a long pause, she nodded.
"I'm not staying, Myka. I'll help you get her back. But I'm not staying."
"That's up to you and your Myka, Helena. But I wouldn't bank on it if I were you," Myka said smugly. Helena stared at her.
"You're very sure of yourself, aren't you?" she said, her voice edged with irritation.
"I'm not at all sure of myself, Helena. But I am sure of one thing, and that's how we feel about each other. Apparently it's just as strong, no matter what universe we're in," she said, leaning down and kissing Helena again fervently. She noted with some satisfaction that Helena couldn't help but kiss back. Whatever she said, her actions said otherwise.
Myka moved away gently, turning to head into the other room.
"You comin'?" she asked, over her shoulder. She heard Helena swear under her breath before following her.