Myka wasn't very fond of stating the obvious, but to unexpectedly run into Helena in the hallway of the B&B wasn't really a catalyst for deeply considered words.

"You're back."

Helena looked as startled as Myka felt by their almost bumping into each other. Her voice, however, was calm as she replied, "Yes. But in a different capacity."

"That's an understatement. A Regent!? Somebody changed their mind big time."

That morning in the Warehouse, Helena had appeared in the company of a very big bodyguard and Mr Kosan, who, as they breezed by, announced to anyone and no one that they were there to retrieve an artefact. It had been clear that Helena was there not as a prisoner, but as an equal. Not least due to the tattooed eye of Horus that Myka had glimpsed on her wrist.

"Indeed."

Myka searched Helena's eyes for answers that weren't there. Instead they mirrored her own, full of questions and uncertainty.

"Will you live here?"

"Yes…and no. When I can."

Myka frowned at the vagueness and stubbornly continued, "Where are you going with that artefact?"

"It does not matter." Helena's voice remained calm, but she looked away in apparent fascination of the wooden stairs.

"How long will you be gone?"

Meeting Myka's eyes again, Helena replied sincerely, "I do not know."

Resignation had settled in Myka's voice when she replied, "Secrecy is part of the job description, eh? You'll be like the rest of them, never telling us enough."

"I'm afraid so."

"I don't like it."

Helena didn't reply, but suddenly looked calmer and more certain. She kept her eyes locked with Myka's, the hint of a smile slowly lighting up her face.

Myka went on, "but I'm really glad they have this faith in you. I do too. And so does Artie, though I'm not really sure how and when he changed his mind."

"It does not matter." Helena repeated.

Myka raised her eyebrows. "You're starting to sound like a Regent already. But you're right, it doesn't matter."

Helena smiled fully at that, and then Myka was smiling too, and they were staring into sparkling eyes while the stairs and the hallway observed in silence.

"Can you at least tell me why you're here? I mean, at the B&B."

"I came to see you. And the others. To…non-explain." Helena rolled her eyes and chuckled dryly, frustrated with the keeping secrets part already.

Myka nodded. "I'm glad you did."

Silence stretched out between them. They each had a hundred questions, but few could be answered and most were all too frightening to ask.

Finally, Myka settled for, "Do you remember Emily?"

"No. A part of me wish I did. " She paused. "Although, in a sense, she was never real."

Myka worried at her lip. "Wasn't she though? I wonder about the people in her life. What they were told."

"Thinking too much of it frightens me, to be honest." Helena smiled without humour. "It is apparent that my body was well taken care of. But I have no idea what it has done during the past months. I feel almost…violated."

Myka mentally slapped herself. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to push the subject."

"No matter. I will have to peruse the details at some point. Perhaps we can do it together, there should be no objections since you've already been taken into the Regent's confidence regarding this."

"Any time."

There was silence again.

Helena looked around the room. "Perhaps you can fill the others in. I should be leaving soon."

"Of course."

Myka drew in a breath as if preparing to say something, but didn't. Helena looked at her expectantly until she stepped closer, reaching out to caress Helena's upper arm through the thin fabric of her shirt.

"I'm going to miss you." She said simply. "Just like I missed you all the time you weren't here."

Helena knew then. Oh, she'd always suspected, more or less, but this was different. This wasn't a feeling or a hope she clung to. This was real. And she suddenly felt exceedingly nervous. But she wasn't the H. G. Wells for nothing, and despite not knowing when she'd be back or if she could make all the promises she wanted to make, or perhaps because she didn't, Helena reached out to slowly trace Myka's cheek with her thumb while reciting softly,

"We never do what we wish when we wish it, and when we desire a thing earnestly, and it does arrive, that or we are changed, so that we slide from the summit of our wishes and find ourselves where we were."*

"I never changed", Myka breathed.

"I know."

Myka didn't know when tears had started forming in her eyes, but it didn't matter – nothing mattered except the feeling of Helena's hand moving from her cheek to slide through her hair, and her own hand, gripping at Helena's shirt to bring her closer, closer to her lips, closer to them. The touch of lips was everything, but also not enough, and they pulled each other closer until the air was banished from between their bodies.

"O-la-la-LA! Little chum, give us back the preciousss!" Pete's voice was like ice-cold water, and both Myka and Helena jumped at the interruption.

"Pete!" Myka hissed, turning around to face him. He ignored her, looking expectantly at Claudia who in turn stared at Myka and Helena with a blush creeping across her cheeks.

"Oi, Claudster! This is about me, not them."

Claudia seemed to realise she was staring and quickly averted her eyes. "Nu-uh. I said today!" she protested.

Pete grinned. "No. You specifically said in less than three hours. My brilliant moi said in the afternoon, between four and five. It is now four fifteen. So I win.

Helena stared bewildered at the conversation going on in front of her. Turning to Myka for an explanation, she couldn't help but laugh at the extremely annoyed expression the woman wore. She had crossed her arms and was eyeing them angrily, while a foot tapped at the floor.

"Whatever you two are up to, it stops now." Myka wasn't really angry, but her tone was such that none of them could be really sure.

Pete smiled goofily at her, "Well, we got what we came for, didn't we Claude?"

Claudia mumbled something to the floor and then, as if realising whom it was that stood in their hallway, she looked up at Helena with a big grin. "I'm really glad you're back, HG, are you moving back in?"

"In a manner of speaking. I'll spend as much time here as I can."

Claudia looked from her to Myka and blushed again. "Great! Umm… I have to go…have some things to take care of…good luck with the Regent stuff!"

She was out of there in the blink of an eye.

"Aaaaw…look at that. The little chum is embarrassed! I remember long ago when I used to get embarrassed…." Pete laughed at his own joke. "Oh no, who am I kidding, this man doesn't do embarrassed!"

Myka's glare hadn't wavered during his little speech, and Pete seemed to finally realise this because he smiled sweetly and turned to leave, throwing a "Looking good there, ladies" over his shoulder.

Myka turned to Helena again and was momentarily thrown back by the happiness radiating from her. She looked more relaxed than Myka had ever seen her.

I want to make her this happy my entire life, Myka thought, quickly followed by: hold your horses, Bering!

Helena grinned, "Well, this spared us the need for explanations."

Chuckling, Myka replied, "It seems they already knew."

"You'd think they could have told us." Helena faked disappointment. "We could have started this sooner."

Myka briefly thought that she was relieved they hadn't. Dating a wanted, revengeful, or holographic woman wasn't exactly a recipe for success. Not to mention her own unresolved issues with Sam.

Letting go of those thoughts, she closed in on Helena again, allowing love and desire to have free reign on her face as she whispered, "Ah, but we already knew, didn't we?"

Helena's yes against her lips surged through Myka's body and settled in all the right places. "Come back to me soon", she whispered. "In one piece".

"I promise. Stay safe, Myka."

Helena couldn't stop smiling as she closed the front door behind her. Where she was right now, when she was, couldn't be more unlikely. And yet it felt like the most natural thing in the world.

This was their time. And she was not going to waste it.

~Fin~

*quote by Mary Shelley