The first time, Myka asked.
She had woken to the sound of Helena screaming. She threw the covers back and ran until she was outside Helena's door. Not particularly far, their bedrooms were next to each other, but the added adrenaline of Helena screaming caused Myka's breathing to accelerate faster than usual. Myka couldn't hear a struggle, there was nobody else in the room with Helena, and the screaming had stopped now. She took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
"Helena?" there was no answer. "Helena, its Myka, can I come in."
"Myka? Yes, it's unlocked." Myka slowly opened the door and closed it behind her. She was not surprised to find main light switched on. Myka had the suspicion that Helena couldn't yet sleep in the dark.
Helena was sitting up in her bed, the sheets tangled, her hair a mess, her face turned away while she tried to compose herself. Myka swayed a little waiting for Helena to look at her. When she did, Myka had to physically restrain herself from throwing herself onto the bed and holding Helena until all the hurt was gone from her eyes.
"Are you alright, Myka?" Helena asked, Myka realised she must have been staring.
"Mmm. No." Myka decided it was better to let Helena be in charge. She knew it was the only way Helena would allow her to comfort her.
"What is it?" Helena asked beckoning to her to sit on the bed.
"Um, nothing really. It's silly." Myka shook her head as she sat beside her. Years of pretending to her parents that she didn't care that Tracy was the more popular was finally paying off.
"Really?" Helena pushed taking Myka's hands in her own.
"Just a bad dream but...I...it felt so...real." Helena squeezed Myka's hands
"Just a silly nightmare." Helena soothed. "I promise."
"Could I..."Now Myka had to be tactful, make sure that Helena didn't know that she had heard her. "I mean, would you mind if I..."
"Stayed here for tonight?" Helena finished, Myka nodded. "Of course not."
Helena fixed the sheets, and tucked Myka in. They lay side by side on their backs staring at the ceiling. Helena kept hold of Myka's hand and Myka squeezed it every now and then. Both of them knew the real reason Myka was in Helena's bed, but neither of them felt the need to address the issue. As long as they had each other's hands they knew Helena would be fine.
The second time, Helena asked.
Pressed against the door in Myka's room Helena could feel her legs starting to shake. If she kept hold of Myka she could stay up a little longer but when she felt one of Myka's knees hit her own she knew it was time to move.
The only tricky part was removing her mouth from Myka's long enough to make some sort of intelligible noise. Not at all an easy feat when Helena felt that she would happily asphyxiate to death as long she could keep kissing Myka.
She pushed at Myka's ribs and the taller woman had to break the kiss to be able to breathe. There was hurt and confusion in her eyes. Helena's heart broke with the knowledge that Myka could possibly imagine that she wasn't wanted.
"Darling, I-"
"No, no, you're right. We can't do this...I mean this is ridiculous. Hiding in the aisles of the warehouse practically asking to be caught. It's not...and you're...and I am so not..." Myka stopped when Helena pressed her palm against Myka's cheek.
"Darling, what I was going to say before you rudely cut me off was, I don't know how much longer I can stand, could we possibly move this to a more...horizontal location. Perhaps, your bed, for instance?"
"Oh," Myka gasped involuntarily. She took Helena's hands and nodded.
The third time, well, nobody was quite sure who asked.
Helena walked into her bedroom to find Myka packing her books into a box.
"What are you doing?" Helena asked
"Packing." Myka stated
"Yes darling, I can see that. But why exactly are you packing?"
"Moving things." Myka said walking past her, but not looking at her.
"I see. I'm afraid I'm going to need a little more than that, Myka."
Myka said nothing. She placed the last book in the box and carried the box out and into her own room. She placed the box in front of her own book shelf. Helena, who had followed her, looked around Myka's room and realised that a lot of her things, more than she herself had left here, were now in this room.
"Darling, why are my things here?"
"Don't you have more than this?" Myka asked completely ignoring Helena's question
"What?"
"More books I mean, I'm sure you have more this."
Helena chuckled and walked over to the book case.
"I do believe your collection is a little more expansive than at your last inventory." Myka looked at her bookshelves and realised that either she or Helena had left Helena's books on Myka's shelves.
"Ah." Myka said walking over to the closet. "You know then, that half of your clothes are in my closet as well."
"Seemed like the...sensible thing to do. I am so often here in the mornings, am I not?"
"Touche." Myka said smiling before walking back to Helena's room.
Helena stood in the middle of the room, an inkling of what Myka was up to creeping into the forefront of her mind, but her heart was still a little too shaky to allow herself to think it to be true.
When Myka came back into the room with more of Helena's clothes, she threw caution to the wind.
"Am I to understand that you are moving me into your room without formally asking me if that is something that I want."
Myka grinned at her, then realising the implications of her actions bit her lip a little.
"Do you not...want...to? I just thought...you're here so often anyway and...it was meant to be a surprise and then you came back early and...I can just put it back. If you want."
"I want nothing more than to share this room with you Myka. Nothing more except perhaps one thing." Helena looked at Myka and then at the bed.
Myka laughed a little.
"Close the door." Myka said. "I think I need to make love to you in our bed."