Disclaimer: No ownership rights to Warehouse 13 etc. If they did I wouldn't be sitting here.
A/N:Thanks to those who have reviewed. Please bare with me. I'm stumbling around in here. Constructive criticism welcomed.
"Whatch'ya do'n?" Myka asked, coming up behind Helena on the sofa, wrapping her arms around her. She pushed the soft, dark hair over before nuzzling the back of her neck, deeply breathing in her scent before looking over Helena's shoulder to see what she was reading.
Helena dropped her head forward. "Mmmm… You, dear, play dirty." Helena loved feeling Myka's touch on the back of her neck. It would, quite simply, make her melt and she knew that Myka was very much aware of this fact. The younger woman had used it to her advantage many times in the past when she wanted something from Helena.
"Yep. So, whatch' ya do'n?" In one fluid motion, Myka managed to roll over the back of the sofa and flop down on it, landing on her back with her head in Helena's lap.
"Myka," Helena chastised her, "I cannot believe you just did that. That cannot be very good for the furniture. You have spent far too much time with your partner." Taking advantage of Myka's position, she started to run her fingers through the curly mane, softening the effect of her words.
"Mmmm… now who's playing dirty?" Myka closed her eyes, enjoying the attention. "I thought it was a pretty good move. Pete would have jumped over the back and landed on his ass. I, gracefully landed in your lap and I don't hear you complaining too much."
"So, once again, what are you doing?"
"Oh, yes. Well, since we decided Wednesday would be game night when possible, I decided to familiarize myself with tonight's game."
"What is it this time?"
"Scene it. I'm not sure I understand it completely. You will probably have to guide me through some of it at first. Games never seemed this complicated during my previous life. I don't quite understand how one uses a DVD as part of this game?"
"That's okay, I don't think Claudia or Steve have played it very often either. It's more of a Pete thing." Myka knew who the mastermind behind this one was and to whom the advantage laid. "I thought Claudia wanted to play Uno? Our options are starting to get a little thin. Let me think...poker was banned, because Steve is the living lie detector, and Pete kept complaining it would be better if it was strip poker." Myka shuddered, "Ewww, the thought of Pete without a shirt on just gives me the creeps. You were banned from scrabble…something about you having an unfair advantage and a certain argument over some word that started with 'X'."
"It was a valid word!" Helena defended herself indignantly.
"Maybe, but you threatened bodily harm when it wasn't in the selected dictionary." Myka laughed, looking up at her girlfriend. They thought Pete was going to literally be thrown through the window. The woman apparently still held a grudge over that one. "Helena, Claudia was ready to get the fire extinguisher!"
"It was not a proper dictionary! Anyone with common sense should have known that."
"Okay, fine. None of us have any common sense," Myka conceded. She closed her eyes, sighing as Helena's hand worked their way to her face, casually exploring its contours, and enjoyed what she knew would be a short-lived solitude. The others would be getting back from the warehouse shortly for dinner.
Ten blessed minutes of heaven came to a halt when the door banged open. "Honey, I'm home!" Pete announced as the three agents traipsed through the door. "Mmm, do I smell spaghetti and meatballs, and garlic bread? I hope it's a lot of garlic bread."
"You are so not getting near me, dude, if you smell like an anti-vampire artifact," Claudia warned. Seeing Helena on the sofa she called over to her, "Hey, H.G. How did you get back so early?"
"Hi, Claudia. Artie likes us best and gave us shorter inventory lists," Myka replied from her hidden spot.
"Oh, hi, Mykes. Maybe he did to you, but I can't really see him doing that to H.G."
"Thank you ever so much for that reminder, Claudia. His ever so warm attitude towards me is something I occasionally manage to forget while he is yelling at me." Despite her sarcasm, she smiled at Claudia's correct assessment. The man just didn't give in.
"Sorry, H.G., I'm just saying. I'm going to get cleaned up. I had a little issue with some goo. Don't forget tonight is game night," she threw over her shoulder, heading up the stairs two at a time.
"I think I'm going to go take a shower, too." Myka looked up at her girlfriend expectantly. Helena was still focused on the game rules. "Sweetie, did you hear me?"
"Of course I did. Enjoy your shower."
"I'd really like to enjoy it. Let me repeat myself…I…am going…to take… a… shower." Myka just stared up at her with a devilish grin on her face, eyebrows raised. It amazed her how dense such an intelligent person could be. She tapped Helena's chin to get her full attention. "Hel-en-a?"
"Yes, darling, I heard…Oh!" Realization dawned on her when she saw the expression on her lover's face. "You're going to go take a shower. That sounds like a marvelous idea." She dropped the instructions to the game, quickly grabbed Myka's hand and forcibly pulled her toward the stairs.
The sounds of laughter came from the dining room as Myka and Helena entered later after their friends. Myka had blow dried her hair somewhat. Not wanting to waste more time and hold up their friends longer than they already had, Helena opted to simply towel dry her hair instead of waiting for the blow dryer. Hungry, they quickly took their places at the table and started to dish up the heavenly smelling spaghetti.
"Where have you guys been?" asked Pete,"We're almost done here and I want to get tonight's game started."
Myka avoided looking at him as she grabbed some garlic bread and casually answered, "We took a shower."
Claudia and Steve exchanged knowing looks, letting Pete bury himself on his own. "Man, what did you do, use up all the hot water?"
H.G. looked at him with a glint in her eye and very proudly announced, "I got a gold star."
Claudia and Steve coughed and cleared their throats as Pete dropped his fork making a loud clang.
"Actually, I distinctly remember more than one gold star," Myka said straight-faced as she took a bite of her bread.
Claudia snorted.
"Ah, yes, that's right. How could I possibly forget? Thank you." Reaching for the bread, Helena managed a chaste kiss on Myka's cheek. Myka continued to calmly eat her dinner.
"So, about the game..." Claudia began, wanting to change the subject, but Myka leaned over and whispered in her ear. Claudia nodded and proceeded to do the same with Steve. Steve looked at Pete and vigorously nodded his head in agreement.
"Hey, hey, hey…no whispering. What are you guys up to?"
Taking the initiative for the group, Steve spoke up. "It's about the game Pete. We know why you choose this particular game. We appreciate that you really like movies and want you to enjoy this game, but it's pretty obvious it is also a set up against H.G. We propose that we play in three teams to make it more fair; Claudia and me, Myka and Helena, and you."
"No way. That is so not fair. This is a straight forward game with five players. We would have had six if Vanessa wasn't in town." Everyone, except H.G., glared at him as he began to gripe. "Oh, come on guys."
"Grow up, Pete and stop whining" Myka rolled her eyes at him. "You are the closest thing to a walking moviepedia I know. Helena has watched maybe ten movies with us and probably only paid attention to two of them at the most."
"I can hear you, you know?" the object of discussion noted.
"Sorry, honey. We want game night to be fun. It shouldn't matter if we play in teams or not. It'll be more fun if we are all on a more equal footing."
"Oh, like Scrabble? She's a freaking walking dictionary…and may I stress the 'freak' part?" He accused pointing at H.G.
Getting aggravated H.G. interjected, "Once again, I can hear you."
"Scrabble's been banned," Claudia mumbled. "Let's not make this about the scrabble incident."
"Okay, fine." He finally conceded, "But, I want more garlic bread first."
Steve passed the bread.
"Ugh, Pete," Steve complained as he sat down on the sofa to start the game, "Just how much extra garlic did you add to your bread? I swear it's seeping through your pores. Don't expect good night kisses from any of us."
"Yeah, dude, you are so sitting alone over there." Claudia pointed to the far corner chair. She sat down on the floor in front of Steve offering to control the game play since the board was closest to her.
"Garlic is the food of the Gods." Pete grabbed the remote and plopped on the armchair.
"Trying to quote my writings are you?" Helena smirked. "I commend you, Peter, on trying to expand your knowledge of literature beyond that of comic books." Myka just shook her head laughing at his expression. He really had no idea what H.G. was talking about, and she had no intention of getting involved. Thankfully, this time H.G. let it go.
Mimicking Claudia, Helena sat down on the floor, but instead leaned back into the comfort of Myka's legs, momentarily wrapping her arms around each one on either side of her, before running her hands up and down her shins. Their shower earlier had only served to increase her need for physical contact. Myka having a similar need rested her hands on the older woman's shoulders, caressing her back with her thumbs, and then moved so she could idly play with the still damp hair.
"So, does everyone know how to play the game?" Pete asked the group.
"I made a point of familiarizing myself with the game earlier," Helena confirmed.
Claudia barked out a laugh. "Is that what you called it back there in the day, old lady?"
"Really, Claudia. Such disrespect you have for your elders." She patted Claudia's knee affectionately to assure the girl she was just joking.
"But, you still love me."
"Can we get this game started, please?" Pete was getting impatient. He had looked forward to this family time all day. The anticipation had even made inventory not seem so bad. He looked around the group making sure he had their full attention. "Good. We'll work out the kinks as we go along."
Things started out a little bumpy. Both Steve and Claudia had only played once, and Helena was still unclear on some of the choices despite reading the pamphlet provided earlier. Myka was coerced by Pete into playing so often she sometimes thought she knew all the questions already.
When they were about midway through the game, Pete was in the lead close to the finish. Helena was getting agitated with her inability to answer any of the questions, but Myka's knowledge placed their game piece half way around the board, leaving Steve and Claudia closely behind.
"Okay, Pete, here you go." Claudia saw the question and groaned. "What did Humphrey Bogart say to Ingrid Bergman at the end of Casablanca?"
"Who the bloody Hell is Humphrey Bogart?" Helena interrupted. "And what sort of silly name is it anyway?" Helena exclaimed in disgust. Myka squeezed her shoulder in warning.
"You really need to brush up on your present day culture there H.G." Pete taunted.
"I'd like to see you catch up on a century worth of knowledge, Mr. Latimer. You don't even know who wrote Food for the Gods and how it Came to Earth, nor do I believe you've actually heard of it." Helena was on her feet now.
"Whoa, what's up with those two tonight?" Claudia was getting anxious over the sudden tension between the two.
"Oh, Mr. Latimer is it now. And, for your information Food for the Gods was a 1976 cheesy horror flick. So there." He stuck his tongue out at her. He had no idea what she was talking about, but he knew his movies. It was rare that he was able to one up H.G. and he was going to soak up every second of it.
"Pete…" Myka had that warning in her voice. "That movie was based on part of her book."
"What?" Helena exclaimed "A horror film, of my story?"
"I'll go get the fire extinguisher," Claudia jumped up quickly to retrieve the object.
"Oh, like it's my fault she's a poor loser. It isn't even her question," he whined.
"Helena, honey, let it go and come back here in front of me. My legs are getting cold."
Placated, Helena resumed her former place and Myka started to rub the tension from her shoulders.
"The answer is, by the way," Pete added his own imitation of Bogart, "'Here's looking at you, kid'."
Helena sat stewing over the confrontation. It was not unusual for the two to bicker, but their exchange had been more intense than was customary. She leaned more into Myka's legs, resting her head against one of her knees. She just wanted more Myka and less Pete.
"Why don't we just continue with the next question?" Steve suggested trying to dampen the building fire.
"Yeah, it's the ladies' turn," Claudia pulled out the card after rolling the dice. "What movie's main character is Lara Croft?" she snorted out a laugh. "Oh, H.G. you should totally have this one in the bag from what I've heard." Everyone was laughing at the innocent comment that burst out of Claudia's mouth. H.G. was obviously confused, but concentrated on the question.
After allowing Helena a chance at the correct answer, Myka leaned down and whispered into her ear. The older woman's face distorted with distress, then confusion and finally her eyes opened wide, pupils dilating. She turned her face with comprehension toward Myka, a sly smile growing on her face. With a devilish grin on her own face, Myka nodded to her and Helena turned to the group with her answer, proudly exclaiming, "Tomb Raider!" Everyone, including Pete, clapped at the almost child-like enthusiasm in which Helena answered her first correct answer.
Helena stood up abruptly and grabbed Myka's hand, pulling her up off the sofa.
"Hey, where are you two going?" Pete asked surprised by the sudden movement as Helena continued to pull Myka out of the living room. "I'm about to beat you."
Myka stopped their progress and turned to their friends, face flushed. "You win. You guys fight it out. Playing Tomb Raider sounds like more fun."
Helena started to pull Myka away again and shouted over her shoulder, "I've been promised another gold star!"
Steve grinned as the other two agents gawked at the retreating women. "God, I love them."
"Great, I forgot to charge my i-pod," Claudia lamented, tipping over on to the floor in dismay.
"That's alright, Claud," Steve said, still smiling, "You can have a pair of my ear plugs. We wouldn't want to deny anyone a gold star now would we?"