Deep breath, here we go...
As always, I'm nervously excited to finally be posting again. Continued support for this story had been amazing and much appreciated. Thank you for sticking with me this long!
Notes:
I made a minor alteration to the last chapter of The Bridge regarding the amount of time HG and Myka have been married when Christina wakes from her long sleep in bronze. (Eight, not seven years.) There may or may not be a short honeymoon segue-story to explain this in more detail ;-) but I'm getting way ahead of myself as usual!
As promised, this part of the saga will be mostly fluffy but (as with the beginning of this chapter), will have teasers here and there to keep the plot moving along. At least, that's how I planned it to work. It picks up right after the end of The Bering Strait. Let me know how it reads!
I was going to blab a bit longer about plot and crap, but if you're anything like me, you just want to get on with reading already so... Ready, teddy, GO!
Chapter One
Univille, SD
"What have you discovered?"
A gruff, impatient voice came through the receiver, making the agent's neck hair stand on end.
Before joining the Warehouse, the set tasks had seemed simple enough; drop an item here, pick up an item there, make oneself part of the furniture. Be open to information coming from the undesirables. They had to be vigilant if they wanted to fulfil their family's vendetta and purge the system of their enemies. It was their duty, their blood oath. Their ancestors would be avenged.
In reality, it proved more complicated. The agents of the Warehouse were likeable, surprisingly so. No amount of reciting the family's oath could make demons of angels. They were simply ordinary people living extraordinary lives.
Since recruitment by Mrs Fredrick, motivation had waned. What was the point in a centuries old grudge? This age-old slight had governed the direction of their life since birth, the word 'family' becoming something of a joke as they were bounced around from one foster home to another in an attempt to keep their association to blood relatives a secret. 'Raised by wolves' was a preferred answer whenever asked about the subject. In reality, the eyes of blood were always watching, scrutinising, demanding. There was no escape.
Expectations had been set and there were severe consequences for failure.
"Christina Wells has been showing some emotional instability. She is having regular sessions with the new therapist. So are Agents Wells and Bering. It's all confidential though so I haven't heard what their issues are," the agent replied defensively.
An unforgiving query followed, "Are you making excuses?"
"No, uncle," the sullen agent answered. "Relations seem strained. We may be able to use that to our advantage."
A hum of agreement was the only concession to that nugget of information. "And the drop?"
Feelings of inadequacy made the agent's voice tense. "Security in the bronze sector is tight since they put the anomaly to sleep. No one is getting close to her without an escort, and just asking could blow my cover. It's practically impossible to make the drop but I'll keep waiting for a chance." A small pause heard a frustrated sigh. "They'll have detectors too no doubt."
"We have been patient this long. It is not essential," the unimpressed voice drifted through the receiver again. "We will continue to set things in place. You know what is expected of you. Maintain a low profile but be sure to keep your ear to the ground; we need as much ammunition against these parasites as possible. When our time comes, we will be rid of them once and for all."
The agent's eyes rolled in their sockets. Was the Dr. Evil laugh real or imagined? The call ended and the surroundings of the cafe once again became a focus.
A hand reached up to rub at a furrowed brow as it habitually did after one of these calls. There had to be a way out of this life but if so, there was no answer readily available.
They had a job to do and they were trapped... For now.
Cloaked by rising steam, enclosed by glass and oblivious to the woes of the world for the time being, two agents embraced beneath the steady flow of hot water.
Showering together was a logistical challenge with the dwindling space in the cubical but the morning following their intimate reunion begged for continued closeness. Myka worried that having her fiancée help her wash would feel too clinical and humiliating but she needn't have worried. Helena made concessions for her decreased flexibility but otherwise treated her just the same; as someone she desired.
Having woken with the dawn to a full bladder, Agent Bering had climbed clumsily back into bed and watched as Helena mumbled in her sleep, turning to throw an arm her way. There was a moment when she thought her fiancée was awake, the inventor's eyelids fluttered for a moment, but then she sighed and seemed to drift off again. Myka smiled to herself and settled in to enjoy the moment of peace.
Was it her imagination or was Helena more restful than usual? The last few weeks had had its share of stress and it wore on both of them, but dealing with Christina's emotional transition had been the tip of the iceberg for the inventor. Myka knew instinctively that their reunion last night had lifted a great weight from her lover's shoulders, and seeing the free, peaceful expression on Helena's face confirmed that.
Climbing out of the shower, they dried off quickly and returned to the bedroom to dress. Eyes wandered often over exposed skin until they were both dressed for the day. Despite the temptation, they managed to arrive in the kitchen before either of them could distract the other.
Helena popped the kettle on as Myka reached for the decaf coffee and started the percolator going. The inventor popped two slices of bread into the toaster, knowing that her partner wouldn't last another hour or so without something, and then splashed some milk in her tea.
Myka took her coffee to the dining room and checked her e-mail while she waited for her pre-brunch snack. She smiled to herself at how much her lover enjoyed looking after her and tried not to feel uncomfortable with having someone wait on her. The moment the Brit entered the room, she placed her tablet to one side and looked up to meet the kiss that came with her breakfast.
"Thank you, Helena," she said gratefully, before folding a slice in half and devouring a third of it ravenously. "Mmm, I love this spread," she added, not for the first time. "Y'know," she continued with her mouth half-full and then, remembering her manners and blushing, she chewed quickly and swallowed. "I never did ask you how you discovered it. I wasn't patented until the early twentieth century."
Helena coughed nervously. "Well, I was briefly acquainted with one of the founders of the company."
"Meaning?" Myka asked as she slowly pulled off a sliver of crust and popped it in her mouth. Having met more than one of her fiancée's former lovers, they had become more tangible to her and she quickly assured herself that the majority were in fact now ghosts.
"I was searching for an artefact at the Bass brewery in Burton upon Trent and he assisted me." HG watched her lover pick apart her breakfast with less gusto and reached across the table to place her hand on Myka's forearm. "I was an opportune fling, darling. Nothing more."
Agent Bering nodded her understanding but there were questions lurking at the back of her mind and she knew they wouldn't go away easily. "When was this?"
Knowing what her partner was really asking, the inventor wished she had a better answer. "1895." She watched green disappear behind eyelids and feared that they were about to take a step back from the progress they'd made. Then, Myka said something she wasn't expecting at all.
"I'm sorry I couldn't be there with you." There was no guilt in her tone but a soft, regretful sadness. Her baby would have been four years old in 1895. Slowly, Myka willed away the air of melancholy and returned to her first question. "So, are you claiming that you helped to produce this stuff?"
Relieved at the tone of humour in Myka's voice, Helena smiled. "I merely advised where the dark, yeast based by-product would be best placed within the food industry. It was only when you and Pete were searching for me in London that I discovered Marmite and realised that it was the developed result of something I had tasted years before."
Myka's smile was easier this time as she shook her head and finished the last morsel. "Well, in that case, thank you for encouraging him." She sipped her coffee and sighed at her renewed enjoyment of the beverage. She eyed Helena over the rim of her mug and felt the same bubbling sensation that had appeared frequently the night before. She had been too preoccupied then to really think about it but as she continued to drink, the feeling intensified and her hand flattened automatically over her stomach.
The moment Myka's eyes left her and stared into the middle distance, Helena placed her cup on the table and leant forward. "Darling?"
Myka felt a hand on her arm again and looked up from her inner thoughts. "Hmm...? Oh." She looked down at her belly and sat further back in her chair. "I keep feeling this strange sensation. Like... bubbles?"
Helena was out of her seat and kneeling beside her fiancée before she had completely processed Myka's words. Her body remembered that feeling vividly and reacted on instinct. Both hands surrounded her lover's bump and waited to feel something.
"You think he's moving?" the brunette asked, catching on to the inventor's sudden excitement. Her own hands surrounded Helena's and she waited with bated breath. Anticipation flashed in her eyes and she found herself gazing longingly into dark orbs. However, when a minute passed and there was no indication of movement from within, she felt her excitement wane.
Helena saw the disappointment in Myka's expression but wasn't yet deterred. "Give me a moment, love," she instructed and disappeared into the kitchen for a minute before Mendelssohn's Spring Song filtered through the wireless speakers and Helena returned with a glass of ice-water. She handed Myka the glass before resuming her position on the floor. "Changes in temperature and sound can sometimes encourage movement," she explained, indicating for her fiancée to drink.
Following the suggestion, Myka took a large gulp of the chilled water and returned her hands to her bump. She felt the liquid hit her stomach and the effect was instantaneous; tiny flutters of movement from within. She immediately caught her fiancée's gaze again and saw her own tears of joy mirrored back at her.
"Oh my God," Myka whispered reverently. "That's what it was?" She asked in awe.
HG barely felt the tiniest of tremors through her lover's body but it was enough to know that Myka could feel their baby. "That's our son, Myka."
A strangled sob of uncontainable emotion erupted from the American's throat and Helena quickly pulled a dining chair closer so she could wrap both arms around her fiancée. The moment Myka's tears subsided, she grabbed Helena's face, sank fingers into raven hair and crushed their mouths together, pouring every overwhelming feeling into the kiss.
"I love you so much," Myka murmured several minutes later against swollen lips.
Helena held strong, trembling hands in her own and pulled the brunette back into a longer, softer kiss. They stayed this way for some time, whispering fervent words of devotion and reaffirming their bond.
They were almost running late by the time they were pulling on shoes and costs; Helena insisting that Myka shouldn't be embarrassed for needing help to reach her laces, even as she found the heightened colour in the American's cheeks endearing as she knelt in front of her.
Leena was the first to see the couple walk into the bed and breakfast and smiled to see them both looking so content again. She watched the way Helena took every opportunity to touch Myka; kissing her hand as they closed the door behind them, fingering an escaped lock of hair from Myka's pony tail, and helping Agent Bering to remove her coat. She only looked away from her fiancée when a young figure came careering round a doorframe and collided solidly with her.
Helena's smile beamed down at her daughter and that seemed to indicate to Christina that she should bounce around and chatter non-stop about her evening away from home. Myka calmly hung their coats up and tried to pay attention to everything the eight-year-old was saying. The trouble was, the moment Christina started talking, movement that had dissipated during their walk over to Leena's suddenly intensified. It seemed like she and Helena weren't the only ones who had missed the girl.
"... After, we decided to make cookies and Aunt Claudia accidentally tipped the sultanas all over the floor! So, we had to have mostly chocolate chips instead," she concluded from the long list of activities. "They're not as tasty as the sultanas but I think Uncle Pete will like them."
"Uncle Pete would like them even if they were a week old, stale and plain. I'm sure he will love your cookies," Myka assured the energetic girl. "It'll be hard not letting him eat them all before brunch!" She took the small hand that reached for hers and allowed herself to be led into the living room where she was directed to the couch.
Christina positioned her parents so there was enough room for her to squeeze between them and promptly scrambled up once they were seated. "Can I stay over with Aunt Claudia again?" she asked sweetly as she tilted sideways and leant against her Mama. "Not tonight," she clarified quickly. "But possibly in a week or two?"
Myka kissed the top of her baby's wavy hair as she ran her fingers through its length and gazed lovingly at the expression of wonderment on Helena's face. "As long as Claudia is happy with that arrangement, it's fine by us. We're glad you had a good time." She felt firmer movement from within, like a cry for attention. She lifted her t-shirt a little and reached for Christina's hand to place it against her bump. "I think someone would like to say hello to you." She watched excitement rise into the girl's features and added, "I think he missed you."
Helena pulled Christina further into her lap so she could scoot closer, and placed a hand where there was space. This was how company found them as people began to arrive and make their way into the living room.
The sound of irritated voices reached the small haven before bodies appeared. Lila was one of the first to join them, her tense frown softening into a smile as she spotted the trio and made her way over to a single sofa. Pete barely offered a 'hello' as he smothered Myka's belly with his large hand and tried to feel how active his nephew was.
"Lila's been feeling stuff too but I can't feel it yet," he complained.
Myka noticed the exhaustion on the blonde's face and had to wonder at her best friend's chipper expression. Something wasn't right. He wouldn't normally be upbeat when there were so many negative vibes in the air. "Well, we do have a three week difference now, you know. It's not a competition." She caught a very slight eye-roll from across the room and felt Helena's hand begin to rub in small, comforting circles. "Besides, I didn't even know what I was feeling until this morning. I just thought it was indigestion or something like that."
Claudia entered behind Steve and Jason, looking tired but rather pleased with herself. Myka knew that look. It said, "I just spent a day taking care of a minor and nobody got seriously injured". An afternoon nap was likely in the offing for the young trainee caretaker.
Eyes scanned the couch-cuddled family and enquired after their well-being but nobody took liberties like Pete by attempting to touch the expectant mother.
Christina conversed quietly with her parents, Steve drew Lila into his conversation with Jason about the merits of living in the middle of nowhere verses living in the city, Claudia collapsed into her beanbag and Pete disappeared in the direction of the kitchen, mumbling something about hearing baked goods crying out for attention.
The only three missing were Artie, Meghan and Abigail. The director refused to leave the Warehouse completely unattended, and considering who they had residing there, HG and Myka were more than relieved with the man's dedication. Getting out of the bed and breakfast for a while, Abigail was trying very hard to work through Agent Coombs' many issues. The woman was turning into a fair agent, but her people skills required polishing and the Regents wanted them all to do their part to help her along.
Brunch was a noisy affair, almost topping the chaos of Christmas day, but where everything had been relaxed and effortless on that occasion, most of the adults slowly became aware of an underlying current of tension between the passing of bagels, butter and bacon. When the mini-feast eventually ended and all hands worked together to begin the clear-up, Myka not so subtly suggested to Christina that Pete might enjoy taking her to the park with Helena, conveniently leaving her to talk with Lila in his absence.
It didn't take much to persuade the overgrown boy to go out to play. HG kissed her fiancée and wished her luck before stepping back into her shoes and following her daughter and Pete out the door. Within minutes, grass and trees surrounded them. Christina waited all of thirty seconds before looking pleadingly at her mother and running off towards the play area.
Pete began to follow but didn't advance more than a step before being tugged back. He did a double take between Christina and the inventor. "Am I missing something?"
HG rolled her eyes. "Does that intuition of yours only work on people other than yourself?"
"Oh," Pete's voice came out at half the volume as he finally realised that he'd been sussed out. "Did Myka tell you something was up?" He slipped his hands into his pockets and stared at his toes.
"You truly must be distracted. Pete, the tension between you and Lila was quite obvious to all at that table." As he raised his head, she saw the pain in his eyes and squeezed his forearm. "Do you want to tell me what happened?"
"I take it Mykes is having this same talk with Lila?" He watched the inventor nod and shook his head.
Helena took the gesture to mean that he wasn't happy with the arrangement. She could empathise with how he must feel. "Take it from someone who is apparently 'as stubborn as the day is long', it helps to talk to others and listen to advice. You do not have to battle through solely by yourself."
Agent Lattimer scratched at his unshaven chin and dug around in the dirt with his heel. "I wasn't. We've been talking, it's just going in circles all the time." He scratched the back of his head and let his gaze wander. "You and Mykes have had your own problems; I didn't want to burden her with this. Abigail's been busy, Steve is always off on adventures with Jason, there's no way I'm talkin' to Artie or Meghan, Claude's fixing to become the next Warehouse Whisperer and I never seem to see Leena alone anymore." He sighed a very un-Pete-like sigh. "I'm really excited about having a family, y'know? I'm gonna be a dad! That's awesome. And Lila? I want to do right by her. I don't want to mess it up like I did with Amanda."
"However?" HG prompted.
"I think I already have," he admitted soberly.
HG waited a few beats but nothing more was forthcoming. "As useful as it might be to be able to read minds, I do not have that ability I'm afraid. You will have to elaborate."
Pete stared at her. "We're gonna have to get you some shorter catch-phrases." Holding his hands up in surrender, he continued quickly, "Alright, alright! No death-stares, ok?" He paused briefly and kicked a stone across the ground. "I asked her to marry me."
"Ah," Helena said, assuming from his sombre demeanour that the answer hadn't been to his liking.
"She said no," he added unnecessarily.
HG gazed across the grass, watching her daughter play with a couple of children she was tentatively getting to know from their occasional visits to the park. She tried to imagine how she'd have felt if Myka had refused her. "Did you allow her the opportunity to explain her reasons?"
"We're living together, we love each other and we're having a baby," Pete answered, his brow furrowing as if he was completely bamboozled by the concept of refusing marriage.
Feeling a surge of irritation toward her colleague and friend, the inventor's head rose sharply and she placed both hands on her hips. "Peter Lattimer, do not begin to think that you can reason away your disappointment with some misogynistic idea that a woman must want to marry a man because she is carrying his progeny!"
Pete's gaze drifted momentarily out of focus as he tried to piece together her words. He was pretty sure that he understood the gist but any remaining confusion was out of his mouth before he could stop it. "...Huh?"
"Lila has every right to refuse you, regardless of how much she loves you. If that is her decision you must honour it," Helena told him sharply. A deep breath served to calm her ire slightly and her next words were somewhat gentler. "You have a right to your emotions, it is natural to feel disappointed, but if you love her, you will listen to her and respect her beliefs. She may have decided a long time ago never to marry, for reasons you cannot comprehend. That does not detract from her feelings for you."
Pete looked like a small boy standing in front of his irate mother. His bruised ego still hurt, but listening to his friend's lecture made him slowly realise that he might have overreacted.
"Stop sulking and start showing her reasons to change her mind. If you want to give her a ring, may I suggest a symbolic promise? Marriage is a state of being, not a name you can wave around and brag about." Seeing that he was taking everything in, HG decided that she was done talking. "As far as Myka and I are concerned, we are married by our desire to be together and our dedication to making it work. The rings and the ceremony will simply be the icing on the proverbial cake."
It took him a minute but eventually he shook his head and came to his senses. "Crud... I'm an idiot, aren't I?" Seeing the Brit's lip curling to one side, he quickly interrupted, "Don't answer that!" He thought back to the numerous hints his girlfriend had tried to give him and winced. "I guess I was just so excited about everything I didn't really stop to listen to what she was trying to tell me." Feeling his natural enthusiasm kicking back in, he wanted to head straight back to Leena's; this was totally fixable, but deciding to listen to a tiny voice of sense, something told him that his girlfriend needed more time. "So, HG," he began with a mischievous grin. "Since we're sharing, how did the reunion go last night? Y'know I don't mind sharing tips," he teased. "Help you get your mojo back. Bow-chicka bo-Ow!" His 'sexy-dance' turned into a hop as he grabbed the ankle she'd kicked.
"Oh dear, how clumsy of me." HG didn't even bother to hide the sarcasm in her tone as she pivoted and began a brisk walk toward the swings. With her task accomplished, she decided she'd had her dose of Pete for the day.
Back at the bed and breakfast, Myka followed Lila back to the living room and closed the door behind her. The blonde took a seat on the three-seater this time and looked up at the agent with a knowing expression.
"So, you got rid of Pete. What do you want to say to me? That I'm a terrible person? That I don't deserve your friend?" She crossed her arms over her chest, waiting for the inevitable.
Myka felt a pang of guilt for the misunderstanding and sat as close as she could without invading the woman's personal space. "I'm not here to yell at you. I'm here to listen. Even if you want to call my best friend a few choice names." She watched as Lila's posture sagged and tears sprang to her eyes. "I know he's not perfect. I thought I might be able to help you understand whatever he said or did."
"You're so sure he's the one who caused the problem?" Lila asked as she wiped at her tears.
"He always means well, but he doesn't always think things through," Myka explained. "I just thought you might want to talk about whatever happened while he wasn't around."
The blonde nodded and took several deep breaths. "I love Pete. He's such a big kid but where it counts he's sensitive and attentive, and surprisingly good at serious conversations when he's not hung up on super heroes and comic books. You know, when this all started," she gestured to their bumps. "I kind of resented you all for a while. Well, mostly you."
Agent Bering wasn't surprised but she had a feeling that her companion needed to get this confession out. "Why? It was as much of a shock to me as it was to you. Particularly considering the fact that I'm with a woman. Birth control wasn't high on my list of priorities. Though," she paused as she remembered the incident with the hockey player, Mike and the wish-granting dog-tags. "Pete did accidentally make me pregnant once. It only lasted a day but I was almost full term."
Lila shook her head, looking exasperated. "See? This is what I'm talking about. You're used to all of this artefact nonsense. Plus, you're already a mom and you're in a relationship that you know you want to be in for life." She tugged absentmindedly at her pony-tail. "I wasn't ready to be in so deep and I'm really trying to ease into this life, I don't want to go anywhere else, but Pete's just so far ahead and I feel like I'm constantly trying to keep up!"
Watching as Lila quickly worked herself into a frenzy of emotion, Myka realised that the blonde was another of her friends and family who had suffered through the recent crazy events. "I can't imagine Pete pressuring you into anything," the agent thought aloud.
"He proposed," Lila announced, deadpanned.
"Oh," Myka responded, suddenly understanding how the situation had come to a head. "Oh, Pete," she added, knowing that her friend's enthusiasm had likely blindsided him to his girlfriend's plight. "Let me guess, now he's sulking because you said no?"
Lila, who got up to fetch a tissue, nodded and slumped back onto the couch. "I love him but I'm just not ready to get married. I always thought that I would be with a guy a few years before we talked about marriage and kids. I wasn't so sure that I wanted to be a mom but I didn't want an abortion. We're making plans and I can see myself in a week, a month, maybe after the birth, but Pete's talking schools, tree-houses and little-league. I hate to crush his dreams... Marriage is a step too far." Her eyes were already red-rimmed as she stopped to rub the heels of her palms into their sockets. "I just... I love how bright his dreams are and he's so happy lately. I don't want to rain on his parade," she finished and sighed.
"Lila," Myka began compassionately. "I know Pete can be a little single minded when he has his heart set on something, but he'll move mountains for you if you give him a chance. He won't know what to do if you don't tell him."
"I know." Her tears had subsided but she still looked lost. "I tried to break it to him gently but I guess I was too subtle. I know I can't blame Pete. I am annoyed with him for springing the proposal on me though and making me feel like the bad guy for saying no."
"Try again," Myka insisted. "I suggest you have a plate of cookies between you and just shove one in his mouth when you want him to listen."
The image of Pete with his mouth full of food brought a reluctant smile to the blonde's mouth. She really did love the goofball. It wasn't the passionate, obsessive love she'd felt with boyfriends in the past. It wasn't that rare, almost effortless magnetism she saw between HG and Myka but it was strong and stable, both of which would hold them in good stead if they were to survive being parents. But looking into the distant future was too intimidating for now and she was afraid that she wouldn't be able to make him see that.
Hearing the front door open and the sound of feet on the mat, Lila took a deep breath and nodded in Myka's direction. A few minutes passed where they chatted briefly about unimportant issues before the door creaked open and Pete crept in with a plate of Christina and Claudia's cookies. He stood for a second gauging their expressions, his eyebrows rising to his hairline as both women burst into spontaneous giggles.
Myka stood, still chuckling at the inside joke. "Since Pete's come prepared, I'm going to leave you two alone." She squeezed her best friend's arm and smiled in reassurance.
Back in the kitchen, Myka met her fiancée and rosy-cheeked child and slipped into Helena's waiting arms. Barely half an hour had passed but she was already craving the Brit's touch.
While she sat at the island, Christina sipped her milk and nibbled one of the few cookies that were left over, watching her parents cuddle and mumble soft words to each other.
She watched Mummy leant towards Mama and kiss her.
She smiled into her milk.
Is it too early to say that I love you all for your feedback?! ... grins manically ... sits... waits...
PS. If anyone is interested in having higher quality images of the title-page artworks for this series, contact Duvetsnuggler, either by PM on FF, or at 'Duvetsnuggler at gmail'.