Disclaimer: The characters that appear in this story belong to SyFy.

A/N: If the summary has lulled you in this far then that's all the 'spoilers' you need to know. You'll just have to read the story if you feel inclined to do so since that's what you're supposedly here for. One final note, this is written in H.G's POV.

-{-}-{-}-Our War-{-}-{-}-

Myka asked me to accompany her to her room and I agreed. Why wouldn't I? I've known for a while now that this moment would have to happen, but I only chose to acknowledge its immediacy recently. The first item I knew for certain when all of us walked out of the Warehouse-after we disposed of Walter Sykes-was that my accounts with Myka Bering would need to finally be settled. The sound of her locking the bedroom door next seemed finite and I turned to address the one person who I've hurt more than any other. She is also the person I've grown to admire and love; those accolades would appear to be mutual considering the expression on her face.

"Why would you want to die, Helena?" Myka says while walking away from the locked door to her bedroom at the B & B. This isn't how I supposed this conversation would begin. "I mean was it because you weren't in your body and you knew it wouldn't hurt? Noble sacrifice or not it wasn't okay for your consciousness or whatever to stand there in that clearing by the road and tell me it was!"

Myka's impassioned words are choked off in a dry sob. I can see quite plainly that she is trying with all her might not to cry as hard as her body is demanding. The history between us has brought us here and I know exactly why she is hurt. I can't decide if our recent entanglements are the best place for me to start or if I should address our not so distant past again since I have an actual body this time. I have so much to answer for; atone for.

"I was simply trying to be selfless for once in my life and it was for a dear and worthy cause." I reply with determination, for if I do not hold onto my wits I will be an even bigger emotional mess than I already am. I want to tell her that she's worth sacrificing everything for. "Please don't be angry with me; none of the awful things that could've come to pass did."

I could say so much more since I too could've easily been forced to watch her die sitting in the chess lock chair. Without much effort I can easily see her under that crude and bloodied blade again that would've pierced her skull with one more wrong move. To add further insult, I could also say I will never forget the look of deep anguish upon her face that day in the forest for as long as I remain on this earth. I won't though because Myka sees this as my time to get it all sorted.

"Sure, you can say that now but it's been one crazy thing after another. Steve is dead and I can't lose you too, not now, not after everything." Myka says as she pulls off her black leather jacket that is marked on the upper sleeve by a bullet I fired at her; she tosses it on her neatly made bed. "Actually, I thought I would lose you twice in less than sixty-three hours and we haven't even..."

Her voice trails off again, only this time her dulcet tones are colored by anger and resentment. I dare to move closer to Myka who has stopped pacing about her bedroom to stand at the foot of her bed. Her gaze is not quite on fixed upon me as it was, rather the floor is her preferred audience at the moment and her lower lip is being held captive.

"Do you think death is all you deserve?" Myka says lowly while she crosses her arms over her chest. "I told you when we were trying to figure out that damn chess lock, to reopen the portal that I wish you'd stop with all this. It's not fair to keep doing this to me." Her eyes widen marginally from blurting out a clear and uncensored thought but it only fazes her for a second. "Then the second time around all I can keep thinking about is: What if we hadn't figured out that the damn bomb was tied to Sykes? What would you have done?"

This conversation is a veritable collision in a minefield. That being said though, I have no wish to safely step around the presumed danger but that doesn't mean I'm not afraid.

"Made sure you were safe." I say while nearly choking on the effort it takes to hold my tears in. "At any cost even if said cost was my life."

Her lip quivers between her teeth and then her arms drop form their closed off position to hang by her sides. Being honest is widely praised but it causes the some of the most deep, wounding hurts.

"God...H.G." Myka says in such a lost and vacant tone. "I wouldn't survive that. How could I?"

All she's ever done is see the good in me; something that I thought was gone from me. I have openly flirted with her for many reasons; most of them for less than honorable intentions, but it was never a bother for me to do so. I have always been attracted to her. But through our stretch of time it became so much more than an attraction for me, and I've held a small hope for some time now it was the same for her. I thought I had ruined my chances though due to my actions at Yellowstone. It would appear that I'm wrong.

"What are you trying to tell me, Myka?"

I haven't felt like any real protests were needed from me yet, certainly not the most obvious ones that sprung to mind. I need her to give a voice to what has always been between us. What has always been between us even when she forced that gun into my hand at one of the worst moments of my life? Myka's stance softens more and she clasps her hands over her face. It's as if she's trying to push back her tears for a minute but then her usual determination forces her to look at me once more. I've thought that this long standing duel of ours would have 'causalities' as it were, given the day we've had and I'm ready as I'll ever be.

"As soon as I heard the words 'artifact' and 'bomb' when we were standing by that wheelchair I felt a fear that I hadn't had before." Myka says without hesitation. And I swear I can already hear the words I had only imagined her saying to me; this is finally our moment. "And it wasn't about losing my life, it was about the one person I...I didn't tell you," A tear runs out of her eye and she hurriedly brushes it away. "I never told you...oh, God. I love you Helena and I'm in love with you."

It's not utterly astonishing to hear those words. I've had some hints about how she felt about me when Mrs. Frederic informed my consciousness of her departure from the Warehouse. My betrayal of her trust was enough to drive anyone away, but for her to willingly step away from a place she loves dearly it had to have been at the hands of someone she loved more. I swallow roughly; it's not as though I don't want her. I haven't loved anyone back in over a hundred years and it feels as though such a thing is arriving too late for me. Perhaps, I'm still too damaged to appreciate such a gift.

"Did you hear me?"

Myka's voice brings me out of my thoughts and I look at her-thoroughly. Her lovely face is bare before me and questioning. Then I take stock of the wounded slant of her shoulders and those green eyes of her's are absolutely awash with countless unshed tears.

"How could I not? I've been waiting for you to speak plainly and now I must." I move towards Myka until I'm all but against her. "Before I address my feelings I need to..." My words fail when I feel her breath go out of her body in a gasp; she can't honestly believe I'm about to reject her. "Myka...I'm in love with you too and there has never been a proper time to tell you such a thing. There was never a 'right time' and even if there were my transgressions in the past wouldn't have allowed it. You would've only been hurt more."

Tears overfill her eyes until they have no space left and they spill and run down both of her cheeks. I find myself at a quandary, on one hand I want to boldly step forth and wipe them away with a gentle touch. While in reality I look away and end up fixating on her three stuffed bears that are arranged accordingly on the small settee next to her bed. One bear is rather a ginger color in my mind, one is a brownish-gray and lastly the largest one is off-white from age and I can tell it's the favorite among her favorites. Everything about her makes me feel light.

I have withheld nothing from Myka; barely even my feelings towards her, which were a surprise yet not. I close my eyes for a second when my lower lip begins to tremble, but a clipped sob forces its way out of me. Then in a manner of a few sweeps of a ticking clock I find myself suddenly engulfed in Myka's strong arms to which I return the gesture of comfort. I haven't been held nor have I been scarcely touched by another human being since I was freed from my bronze prison. It means so very much to me that Myka is the first and if I'm very fortunate she will also be the last. I experimented with numerous people in my past life; a fact I have no wish to repeat in this life.

"Our history is complicated but it doesn't change how I feel about you." Myka says as she pulls me tighter to her and its as though she's trying to merge us into one being. "I can't keep ignoring it; this thing between us anymore. I mean you scare the hell out of me and how I feel about you is more frightening than anything I've ever known. But I also keep thinking about how my life would be if I hadn't met you."

The last time I was this close to her was but a few hours ago courtesy of that accursed rigging rope. I wrap my arms around her waist eagerly and it's so wonderful that the feeling of hot tears on my cheeks takes me off guard.

"How do you imagine your life without my...'interference' shall we say?"

"I can't see my life or any life I would have now without you. It would be like a part of me would just be gone, only I wouldn't know about it." Myka says before her arms loosen from around me and she steps back a little. I quickly wipe the tears from my face. "I would do anything to keep you in my life Helena. But I won't force you or make demands of you. I don't expect anything from you right now but I..." Myka closes her eyes tightly but the steady supply of tears in her eyes escape through her lashes regardless.

"May I tell you something?"

Myka nods while wiping the tears from her face.

"My emotions were rather all over the place the day we met for the second time. But after administering the antidote to Claudia; when we were standing over her hoping for the best, I very much wanted to kiss you." I say while inadvertently fixating on said lips once again the way I automatically did that day. "However, I surmised such a display of affection would be unwanted. It was quite a surprise given the other thoughts I was masking at the time. I'm confessing this to you now because anything you ask of me I will give it, freely."

Myka smiles very briefly, "I saw you look down at my lips but I didn't think anything of it." She says and her glimmering green eyes fix upon me rather intently. "I kept the note you left with the grappler. I keep it pressed between the pages of my first edition copy of 'War of the Worlds'."

I smile, "Why that book, darling?"

"My dad used to read it to me." Myka say with a faint blush coloring her cheeks. "I can still remember how much I loved hearing him read your words to me."

Swiftly, I move in and gently capture her face in my hands. I'm giving her all the time in the world to change her mind. We are at the merger, the blending of lines until the drawn line blurs to nothing. The last thing I see before I close my eyes is Myka erasing what little distance remained. Our first kiss has finally happened; a poignant caress which took the equivalent of a small war to get. Where I played both sides and then I intended to destroy as well as conquer. Myka as it turned out was always my ally no matter what. The feeling of her lips upon mine searching for something halts all the turbulence of my thoughts to a degree.

"Kiss me like you mean it." Myka says against my lips. I promptly respond to the lady's challenge as requested by bringing my hands up to face to pull her back to me.

Deep breaths taken through my nose reminds me just how long it's been for me. My heart is being put through the paces while the rest of me is trying to keep my thoughts in respectable places. The sounds of our breaths mingling with the exchange of our lips pressing and releasing should be louder to my ears, but I can't hear anything save for Myka's frantic heartbeat. I hope she will understand that my intentions while they are becoming fueled by lust as of now, I also hope she will recall our devoted exchange not ten minutes ago. I do love her and expressing that is long overdue. A kiss after all this time isn't a start though; it's merely a single drop of rain after a lasting drought. I pull away from her while I can but not very far. My forehead rests against her's while my hands continue to hold onto a great treasure-Myka's lovely face.

I watch her eyes slowly flutter open and I take a deep breath, "I want you, Myka."

Modern insight and old-fashioned for that matter regards my request as a need to erase pain, to in essence trade one experience in for a better one. As far as I'm concerned though that does not apply to us. I've waited for someone like Myka my entire life and had I not been bronzed this wouldn't have been possible. If only Christina were alive I could say that I have everything I've ever wanted in my life.

"I know."

I smile at the shared look of desire on her face, "But I must warn you that it's been quite a spell since I've lain with someone and you are not just anyone."

"Helena, now isn't a good time. I don't want our first time to be...after."

"What would you prefer, darling?" I ask gently while caressing Myka's face. I love that I'm allowed to touch her now. "The type of romance that has pervaded our lives brought us here and it's not like other people. Don't you see it can never be what someone would foolishly label as normal."

Myka smiles and for me this isn't a case of 'doth the lady protests too much.' I've greater issues that stretch beyond something so basic as 'need.'

"I'm a hundred and forty-five years old Myka, would you really have us wait longer? Would my courting you for a while change our past?"

Myka swallows roughly, "Of course it can't be changed, Helena. We both know better than anyone that the past can't be undone."

"Myka, as I've said before you know me better than I know myself and I know you." I say while pushing some of her hair behind her ear. "So permit me to ask you this: You've said you love me but am I to conclude that it doesn't mean you in fact want me as I want you."

Clarity should be classified as a virtue; I had it in my plan that I carried into the bronzer with me. I tried my best to have it in every facet of my life in my past life and I intend to have now in my future.

"You're right, I do know you." Myka says and then I feel her hands at the base of my neck. "But you're mistaken to think that I don't want you, Helena."

The answer given swept all thoughts from me and left me as but a being comprised of nothing more than sensations. It has been too long since I was allowed to have this. I had thought from the moment I was introduced to this world such a thing as love would never happen and wasn't important anymore. I was wrong about so very many things but I'm more than prepared to fix what can be fixed. And with the time I have left in my life I aim to make things right and ultimately leave things better than how I found them.

Soundtrack: "Who Wants To Live Forever" by Queen

Parting Words: To be continued...