I, like many others, am very glad HG is back. However, I think it would be nice if Myka (and HG for that matter) could know of the ultimate sacrifice HG made. So I decided to try my hand at at. Comments and criticism are welcomed and appreciated.
Nothing belongs to me. Not the warehouse, not the characters in it.
The aisles of the warehouse seemed oddly quiet, as if waiting for something. As if even the artifacts, even the shelves that held them, even the very walls of the warehouse, were watching them. Expecting something. Listening for the first word.
So much had been said, so much had happened. In the forest. That chess game. They had saved the warehouse, and in the process had been laid bare. Exposed. And now were unsure.
Trying to keep busy, trying to talk fast about facts and figures and plans and theories and anything but what they felt.
This morning Artie and Pete had left.
Myka had protested. "I'm coming! You can't honestly think that I would let you look for Claudia without me – she's my friend, she's my family, too!"
But Artie had stood his ground. "You – the two of you – are staying here. I need someone to shelve some new artifacts and…" He looked from one woman to the other. They stood close, but avoided each other's eyes. How he wished they knew. How he wished they could appreciate what had happened. He wanted to grab them by the shoulders and shake them. You are both safe. You are both here. Myka, if you knew what I knew you wouldn't waste any more time. You would show HG just how much – "…and I need two strong agents back here in case Claudia comes back and isn't…herself."
"That's ridiculous, we'd be more useful-" "You can't honestly think we're helping by just sitting here waiting for something that might not even-" "We're agents, not housesitters. We're coming and we're-"
"That's enough. You are both staying here." He paused. He had their attention. Mind as well – "And if I remember correctly, Agent Wells has recently spent a lot of time trapped in a black ball as a holograph, so you probably have a lot of catching up to do."
A look of sorrow passed over his face as his eyes saw HG standing there in adamant opposition to him while in his mind he saw HG being carried away by flames, focused in her last few moments only on Myka.
With that he left them, telling them that he and Pete might not be back by that evening.
And so the day had begun, and continued, with talk of artifacts and worries about Claudia. Whenever their eyes met, they froze, asking each other silently Is it okay now? Can we… but neither knowing the answer.
They had only one more artifact to catalog. Myka reached out to pick it up, then stopped. She took off her gloves and ran her fingers through her hair.
"Helena."
She looked up from her clipboard. "Yes?" Please let her love me please have her tell me that
"I've been thinking a lot about the forest. About saying goodbye."
"I've thought a lot about it, too."
They stared into each other, knowing, feeling, how the other felt, but somehow the words were getting caught, getting trapped somewhere.
Myka's eyes began to fill with tears, and all she managed to say was a very quiet "I'm glad you're still here."
HG's eyes glistened and she nodded. "Me, too." Then, to lighten the mood, "And this time, fully corporeal."
Myka laughed and reached for the artifact, still focused on HG. Trying to pick it up, she found that she could not until HG's hand joined hers on the hard metal pole of an old shovel. Together they lifted it and brought it to its new place on the shelf, the clipboard tucked under HG's arm, purple gloves forgotten.
HG read from the clipboard. "A Female Stranger's Shovel. Used to bury a woman whose identity was kept a secret, even after her death. It is still unknown who she was or why she kept her identity a secret."
"Why do you think it was so heavy?"
"Probably full of secrets," HG responded in a stage whisper, her eyes twinkling, Myka's stomach fluttering.
They smiled at one another, lost in each other, but growing tired. It had been a long few days.
As the two women walked off, the new plaque switched on, blinking in red letters Unearths secrets. Activated by touch.
Fun fact: The female stranger is a real thing. Google something along the lines of "female stranger grave" if you're curious and want to know more about it.