Warehouse 13
Bering and Wells
Angst, much angst
I own nothing
Inspired by the IYOTP prompt: Imagine your OTP lying in a hammock together, watching the stars under a cloudless sky as well as the song She Keeps Me Warm by May Lambert
-oOo-
She used one hand to hold the woman in her arms tightly against her as the other was raised to point at the sky. Names of the stars and stories of the constellations were whispered in the darkness.
Not that Myka particularly cared about what Helena was saying. She just enjoyed the way her accent soothed her constant headache; the way her chest moved with a regularity Myka could no longer maintain herself; the way her body provided some warmth against the constant chill. The sway of the hammock had settled Myka into a state of semi-consciousness, turning her entire world into a lull.
Some part of Helena knew that Myka wasn't truly listening to what she was saying. Still, she let the words slip from her lips. She named the stars. She mapped out the pictures. She told the stories behind them.
A warm gust of wind blew over them. Myka shivered, and burrowed further into Helena, who responded by lowering her arm, and wrapping it around wasn't cold in any respect. They had actually left the B&B in order to escape the arctic levels the air conditioner was kept at. Yet, Helena could feel Myka shaking, chilled despite the warm summer night and the thick blanket that was constantly wrapped around her.
Helena pressed her lips against Myka's temple. She wished her lips encountered warm skin and brushed against soft curls instead of the cool silk they met.
She held her tears back.
Myka's first brush with cancer had been bad enough.
Compared to this, it really had been just a brush.
Helena still wanted to know how the doctors had missed the migration of the cancer cells. Myka had been fine for the first few years after the surgery to remove the ovarian cancer, then the headaches had set in. It hadn't been until the lapses in her memory had started that they had been able to convince Myka to get it checked out.
A tumor in her brain, infecting both the muscle and the bone that protected it.
They had found it too late.
The doctors had kept Myka in the hospital for a short period, then had let her return to the B&B for comfort. Myka's room had been turned into her own hospital room. Doctor Calder had moved into the room next to hers.
Helena started talking again. Aimlessly this time. She moved from the stars to why the sky was blue. To why clouds looked the way they did. And on and on. She jumped from topic to topic, rambling just to keep talking. Just to give Myka something to cling to.
Her voice started to crack as she felt Myka's breathing grow labored. Her shivering deepened. Her face pressed further into Helena's neck. Chapped lips lightly brushed against skin.
"I was so cold for so long," Helena whispered. "Even before I was bronzed I was frozen to the core. I could feel nothing, and, in all honesty, I refused to feel anything. You were the only person who even tried to get close, to break through the ice around my heart and warm me."
Her next words dissolved on her lips when Myka stilled in her arms. For a brief moment, the idea that Myka had simply fallen asleep crossed her mind. But, no.
It wasn't the stillness of unconsciousness. It wasn't just that the shivering had stopped. It wasn't that her breathing had calmed.
It was that there was no movement.
She held Myka even tighter, and tears fell freely. When she was able to speak, her words were tense as she tried to hold the deep sobs at bay.
"I just wish you hadn't given me all of your warmth."
