"Pete." Helena's crisp voice caused his head to snap up in the lobby. She rushed towards him, quickly invading his space. "Peter! How is she?" He forced himself not to look away, to look into her worried eyes. She took in the fact he look absolutely shattered, the dried tear marks down his cheeks, the ways that his eyes filled when she asked. She felt like she had been punched in the gut.

"No… no HG, Myka, Myka's ok." He said quickly, cracking a small smile that seemed wrong in on his sad face. "She has a ways to go, but she made it." Helena took Pete's arm leading him to the hard plastic chairs that adorned all hospital waiting rooms. She grabbed his chin in a maternal fashion forcing him to look at her.

"Then what is it?" She asked, even though every fibre of her being was screaming at her to find the woman she loved.

"I screwed up HG. Bad." She waited patiently for him to continue. He quickly filled her in with what they had been dealing with since they left her in Wisconsin, leaving out the fact that Myka's heart was broken and they hadn't made it more than a couple blocks before he had to pull over to wrap his arms around his crying partner. "I thought I could save her, I really did." He continued, taking a deep breath. "So that is how I let Paracelsus trick me." He waited for HG to start screaming, and when she didn't he went on. "Claudia had to take over as Caretaker, and fight him alone. We still don't know if she is ok or if Mrs F is going to ok, we are locked out of the Warehouse."

"Oh Pete."

"I know, I am an idiot. Claudia is the one person I would do anything to protect, and I put her life at risk because I am an idiot."

"You made a rather rash decision based on love. I have done far worse for far less noble reasons."

"You did it for love too, in a whacked out sort of way. And I refused to understand" HG ignored the guilt tinged comment and continued on.

"Claudia is strong and being Caretaker was her destiny long before she entered the Warehouse for the first time. She will make it through this, and if anyone understands tearing apart the world for the people she loves, it's her. I am absolutely sure that she not only forgive you but understand." HG grabbed his hands, her long slender fingers gripping tightly. "Now what do you say we go badger the doctors until they let us see our girl?" Pete nodded, immensely comforted by her words, but not so much he wasn't going to protect his partner. Instead of getting up to follow her, he pulled back on her hand, so that she would sit down.

"Helena." She gave him a confused look, he never used her full name. "First, thank you, I don't deserve your kindness." She was about to protest but he stopped her with his other hand. "But I need to know something." She nodded.

"Are you here just to check up on Myka and then run back to your white picket life in Wisconsin, because if you are, then I am not letting you see her and I am not going to let her know you came by." There was a trace of steel in his shaky voice, and just like him releasing a madman in hopes of saving Myka, she was utterly sure he would use his last breath trying to destroy her if she hurt Myka.

"I am back. I will have to on occasional assignments for the Regents, but my life in Wisconsin is over, my place is at the Warehouse."

"Did she ever tell you about Sam?" She blinked at his non-sequitur.

"He was her partner in the Secret Service. I know that he died, but she would never talk much about it."

"Sam was also her lover, her first love. She was much more impulsive before he got killed. She trusted her gut. And then he died, and she believed it was her fault. She was still dealing with that when she came to the Warehouse. The guilt was consuming her as she was mourning him. When you were still locked inside the hologram thingy, we found out he died because of an artifact. We stopped the guy who was using it and I think Myka was able to gain some closure, even though it made it seem like the Warehouse had been controlling our lives from the start" She was looking at him, trying to discern why this new story about her love was relevant, even as she was filing it away. "Myka didn't love after anyone after him, didn't let herself anything but fleeting crushes. Except you. I think she believed that after you were free from the hologram, free to make your own decisions, that you two would find each other."

"Oh God." Helena muttered, fingering her locket.

"Yeah, so showing up and seeing your perfect little life that you chose crushed her. She was so shattered when we got back, I didn't immediately catch onto the fact she was sick, because there was always this lingering sadness. If you are here, it better not be just for the Warehouse. Or even mostly for the Warehouse. You better be here because you love her."

"I do Pete." His eyes lit up and she was sure that if he wasn't worried about Myka, Claudia, Mrs. Frederic and the fate of the world, that he would probably be making obnoxious kissing noises or something similar.

"Okay then. I am going to go see her first." There was that firmness again, he was not going to risk Myka feeling any heartache on top of being sick. Despite the fact that things were falling apart, Helena felt a peace. She was back where she belonged, and she was going to get the woman she loved.