'Just' Coffee
QuimbyCub
Bering and Wells K+/T
3400 words
Myka gets a text from an unknown number and goes to check it out, what does she have to lose? (Contains spoilers for Instinct and What Matters Most especially.)
AN: Thanks to Michelle (aka OldFashionedIndeed) for beta'ing and for everything.
It was nearing ten pm on Friday night. Everyone was slowly turning in: Abigail had finally accepted that she was in charge of the second 'b' in B&B, so she had taken to going to sleep much earlier. Pete and Steve had been exhausted from a long day of artifact searching and barely made it through dinner. That left Myka and Claudia as the only ones up in the utterly silent house (save for the occasional sounds of Myka turning a page in her book and the constant clicking of the keys on Claudia's laptop). Myka was just starting to think it may be a good idea to head up stairs when her phone chirped.
The device had been abandoned on the floor by her shoes when the agent had settled onto the couch. She stretched stiffly and retrieved the phone, unlocking the screen so she could see who had messaged her. She wasn't expecting to hear from anyone, especially at this late an hour. She cocked her head and reread the text. It said:
Main & 5th. 2200.
It was neither from a number Myka recognized nor was it signed. Curious. She thought.
Claudia glanced up from the blue glow of her computer and saw Myka's confused look. "Everything okay?" The younger woman asked.
"No...I mean," Myka kept staring at the phone as if she could make an explanation reveal itself. "I'm sure it's nothing."
"Hm," Claudia replied without really looking up from her work.
"I-I think I'm gonna" Myka stood, eyes still on the phone. "I'm going into town for a bit."
Claudia looked up. "Why?"
"I got a text." Myka said as if that explained everything. "I'm supposed to meet...someone."
"Who? Where?" Claudia questioned. It was unusual for Myka to leave this late for no reason. It must be really important. Claudia reasoned.
"I-I'm not sure." The taller agent shook her head as she pulled on her shoes and collected her keys. "Don't worry."
"You're just gonna run off in the middle if the night because a mysterious text message from who knows where tells you too?" Claudia set her laptop down on the chair beside her. "I'm coming with you."
"No." Myka answered in a stern voice. "I'm going alone. If it really worries you that much, you can wait up." She assured the red-head, fully aware that Claudia would likely fall asleep before she returned.
"Fine." Claudia succeeded. "But text me when you get there and let me know it's not a psycho murderer."
"Deal." Myka nodded, putting her tesla in its holster and heading for the door. "Don't worry, Mom, I'll be home by midnight."
She could almost hear Claudia roll her eyes before she was out of the house.
There was a 24 hour diner in Univille on the corner of Main and 5th less than a ten minute drive from Leena's. Myka pulled the truck to the curb and looked around expectantly. Now what? She picked up her phone and texted back to the number:
I'm here.
It took less than thirty seconds to receive the reply:
Well, come in, then.
This was the weirdest invite she had ever received. The thought crossed her mind that perhaps this was a meeting called by the regents, or maybe Jane wished to speak with her without Pete's knowledge; but why the secrecy?
With great trepidation, Myka exited the car and walked up to the front entrance of the restaurant. The diner was much warmer than the South Dakota night air, but Myka didn't remove her jacket. She was not sure why she was there yet. She searched the counter and then let her eyes sweep across the booths. A few patrons were settled with plates of greasy food and mugs of weak coffee. There was nothing unusual except...There.
Her eyes landed on a woman in the back corner booth, away from the windows and doors (it was a good table, she would have picked it). When she laid eyes on the raven haired woman, Myka felt her heart sped up, just a little. A secret regent meeting would have been better. HG waved from her seat: Shyly, apologetically, and (most interesting to Myka) with a look akin to guilt. Myka's approach was quick, but deliberate. She slid into the booth and removed her jacket before either of them spoke.
"Thank you for seeing me." Helena began.
"Well, you didn't give me a whole lot of choice; not telling me who you are in your texts." Myka tried to sound as if she wasn't over-the-moon excited to see HG. She was, but their last meeting didn't end well, and she didn't want to get her hopes up. "I thought you could have been someone hurt or in trouble." She shrugged then "You aren't are you?"
Helena shook her head. "No, I'm alright. But I wanted to see you, to speak with you."
"I figured, seeing as you drove here from Wisconsin. That's, what, a fifteen hour drive?" Myka asked incredulous.
"Nineteen. I don't like to drive more than four hours at a time." Helena smiled weakly.
"Right, I'd forgotten about that." Myka nodded, picking up the coffee Helena had waiting for her when she arrived. "Flying would have only taken three." Myka smirked.
"You know I don't like to fly." Helena sighed.
"Yes, but I still don't know why." This had been a fairly common argument between the two women. "You know how it works, you know it's safe, and you know that you have no control over it, so there's no use in worrying."
"I could learn to pilot, then I could fly us where ever we need to go without having to rely on anyone else." The older woman smiled over her own hot beverage. "I don't like having to depend on someone else's abilities."
"I know." Myka sighed. "Thus why Dr. Calder had to give you Xanax every time we flew anywhere." She shook her head, the only thing harder to deal with than HG Wells having a panic attack was HG Wells heavily sedated. "I wouldn't trust you to fly a plane; you're barely capable of driving a car."
Helena let out a pure, honest laugh. "Myka! I assure you..." She let her voice trail off.
Myka exhaled sharply. "So nineteen hours on the road? You left Wisconsin around 3am, then? You must be exhausted."
Helena nodded. "I've been drinking caffeine all day. Seems to do the trick." She held up her mug as an example. "It wasn't that bad of a drive really, I have a global, erm..."
"A GPS?" The agent offered.
"Yes. It's brilliant!" She went on. "It promised me that the route I took was the most efficient, if not the fastest. Still, I was hoping to get in closer to dinnertime." She shrugged.
"I'm glad you made it here safely." Myka added, more of reflex in the conversation than actually meaning it. "Helena?" Myka asked, her voice low.
"Yes, darling?"
"Why are you here?" Myka finally voiced her concern.
HG opened her mouth to answer but was interrupted buy the waitress: an older woman with short permed hair. "Can I get you ladies anything to eat?" She asked with an accent Myka couldn't place, southern, maybe.
"No, we're fine, thank you." Myka answered for both of them.
The woman nodded. "You're sure? We have a great lemon meringue." She offered.
"No, it's quite alright." Helena replied.
"Just gimme a holler." The waitress said as she walked away to see to the other patrons of the restaurant: an older man (not un-similar to Artie in appearance) and a small group of teenagers who appeared to be out past curfew.
"I left Nate." Helena cut to the point.
Myka's eyes widened. "You-you wha-?" She stammered. Then over her shoulder she called. "I think I will have some of that pie!"
Helena raised her gaze to Myka's and searched her friend's face. Shock? Concern? She couldn't tell.
"I left Nate." Helena repeated. "You were right about...everything. That wasn't who I am." Helena smiled. "When you told me to fight, for him, I realized how badly I wished I'd fought for you, for us."
Myka was still processing. Helena Wells was the most complicated woman she'd ever met, and was only getting more so. "You left Nate to come here?"
Helena nodded.
"But you left at three in the morning? Does" Myka found herself lowering her voice. "Does he even know you're gone?"
HG's eyes flicked down. "I," she swallowed. "I left him a note. I explained that I couldn't endanger him and..." There was a painful pause in her voice. "Him and Adelaide, again." She shook her head. "I know it was cowardly of me not say something but I just," Helena finally raised her eyes to meet the agent's. "Myka, I couldn't stay there."
The curly-haired brunette was still speechless. Did Helena really choose her?
"Do you remember when I told you that you can't walk away from your truth?" Myka nodded. "I decided to take my own advice."
"But," Myka began. "What about Nate? Didn't you say he was your solid, normal, kind man? Didn't you say you wanted a life far away from artifacts? Didn't you sa—"
"I know what I said, Myka!" Helena snapped. "Sorry, just, can you let me explain myself?"
Myka shrugged. "You can try."
HG's voice rose. "Are you being intentionally difficult?!"
"I think I have a right to be." Myka wanted to yell, to scream. "You left, Helena. No note, no call, no text. You left us, me."
"As I told you previously; I had no choice. I was under strict orders from the regents—"
"Oh, and since when do you listen to the regents?" Myka set her mug on the table and wrapped her hands around it to keep them from shaking. "Helena, I can't help but think you used that as an excuse. I can't help but think that you got scared and you ran."
"Myka," The Brit almost whined. "That's not what happened, okay?"
"Then tell me what did."
"I," Helena licked her lips. "I saw a chance, an opening, to get away from the warehouse for good. And I took it. It was selfish, but you know that I have terrible impulse control, and I thought," Helena took a deep breath for the first time since Myka had sat down. "I thought I would come back for you. I had every intention of coming back and taking you away as well. Myka, I wanted to protect you. I wanted to build myself a life and then bring you into it.
"But...I was practicing kempo at a studio in Boone and I saw Adelaide." The confliction in Helena's eyes was easily one of the most painful things Myka had ever seen. "Myka...she reminded me of my Christina. Not in her looks, but in the way she spoke, the, the way she held herself. I couldn't stop myself. I don't know, well, I do know why, and so do you so that's not the point." HG breathed. "I overheard Nate talking to a friend when he picked her up from class, about cooking lessons. And I thought to myself 'well, Myka was always saying I should learn to cook, why not?' So, I went, and I spoke with Nate and he was very nice and after the class was over we had dinner a few times and he introduced me to his daughter.
"Myka, I am sorry. I hadn't meant for it all to happen. I just got caught up and it was…" Helena searched for the correct word. "It was easy, to be with Nate. No artifacts, no risk of death on a regular basis, no regents to work around. It was simple and safe and, while I do admit it was not a wise decision, when he asked me to move in with them I—"
"Did you love him?" Myka asked, voice barely above a whisper.
Helena leaned across the table. "What?"
"Did you love him!?" Myka demanded.
"I-I-I' Helena grasped for an answer. "Myka, I"
"Did you love him, like you loved me?"
"Myka," she trembled. "I still do love you."
Green eyes flicked up at HG. The older woman looked like hell, she hadn't noticed it before, but her face was pale, her were eyes accented by dark circles, and her hair unusually out of place.
"No, Myka," Helena finally replied. "No, I didn't love him."
The waitress brought up the slice of pie for Myka and set it softly on the table, and, sensing the nearly explosive tension between the two women, she slunk away quickly.
Myka pulled the plate in front of her and separated a mouthful of fluffy meringue with her fork. She placed it in her mouth and allowed herself a moment to properly reflect and ignore the woman across from her. When she opened her eyes Helena was staring at her, a smile creeping across her lips. "What?" Myka objected to being laughed at.
"Sugar." HG pointed out. "You only eat sugar when you're anxious." Then with a softer tone: "Do I make you nervous, darling?"
Myka rolled her eyes at the way Helena practically purred her inquiry. "Dragging me out of the house late at night and telling me you left your boyfriend and that you love me…that makes me nervous. You, Helena Wells, do not make me nervous." Myka looked her resolutely in the eye. "You have no power over me anymore."
HG quirked an eyebrow. "We'll see about that."
Myka ignored the woman's obvious innuendo and returned to her dessert. "Why are you really here, Helena?"
"I told you, Myka, I left Nate." HG responded.
Myka shook her head and swallowed another bite of pie filling. "That doesn't explain anything Helena! That doesn't tell me anything about why you texted me and asked me to meet you here. That doesn't tell me why I should even care."
"Myka…" Helena breathed. "I'm here because I love you, because I want to come back and be with you."
"You want to return to the warehouse?" Myka asked.
"No." The other woman corrected. "I want to return to you."
Myka had never been so suspicious of someone in her life. Not even in junior high when the popular girls told her Kurt Smoller had a crush on her and wanted to take her to the dance. At least, then she had known it was a lie. She suddenly found herself wishing she'd brought Steve along to tell her if HG was lying. This behavior was so antithetical from the woman she'd seen only weeks before. "Helena." Myka's voice was heavy. "We've been at this for years. Don't you think, maybe, if it was meant to happen it would have?"
"No." Helena answered too quickly. "Myka, don't you just," she reached across the table to hold one of the agent's hands. "Don't you just want to try? Just once?"
Myka stared at their joined hands. "HG, I can't. Okay, I just—"
Myka's phone rung. She dug it out from her bag and looked at the screen. Claudia. She held up a finger to Helena. "Hey, Claud." She answered in as much of a 'be cool Bering' voice as she could manage. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." She laughed. "No, Claudia, no one's making me say that."
"Did I worry her, darling?" Helena burred.
Myka held up a finger. "No, no, I'm just having coffee with…an associate." Myka laughed tiredly. "Yes, Claud, I feel fine."
"'Associate?'" The Brit objected.
"What? …well, yes." Myka sighed into the phone and shifted it to her other ear. "It is. No, she won't be. I assume just for tonight." Her voice was increasingly bitter. "I wouldn't bother. Okay, Claudia? I'm fine can I go now?" Myka asked. "Yes, midnight still looks like plenty of time." She rolled her eyes. "Yes, I'm sure. Okay, bye." She hung up a little too quickly to give any impression other than that she was upset.
"Everything alright?" HG smirked.
"Yeah, fine." Myka cut. "Okay. So, let me just get this straight; you want to come back to South Dakota, you want to try to make this, us, work, and you want me to forget about the hell you put me through the last seven months?" Myka explained before HG started to speak. "I had no idea where you were, if you were even alive, I just knew you were gone. I thought you were dead, Helena."
"And I am sorry for that, Myka: I had no choice." HG insisted. "Look, I came back, right? Doesn't that count for…" She watched as Myka dug into her purse and threw a tenner onto the table. "What are you doing?"
"It's too late, Helena, okay?" Myka pulled her jacket on. "We're done." She stood and walked to the door.
Helena threw a few bills down on the table and chased after the fleeing woman. "Myka!" She caught up with her by the curb. "Myka, please."
"No, Helena. It's too late. I can't," She sighed and straightened her shoulders. "I can't do this anymore. I have…" She searched for the right word. "Stuff. Okay?"
"'Stuff,' Myka?" Helena scoffed. "Really?"
"I have a lot of personal stuff going on right now and I just don't have the time or energy to be doing this." Myka unlocked her car. "Goodbye, Helena."
HG jumped into the passenger seat before Myka could stop her. "I'm not leaving until you hear me out."
"Helena, please." Myka pleaded. "I mean it. Just…" She looked the other woman in the eye, and it hurt. "Just go back to Adelaide. You love her, and she and Nate, they love you. So go, be with them. You want a family, a daughter, go."
"I want that with you, Myka!" Helena's voice crept up.
"Well you can't have it!" Myka cried back.
"Why not?!"
"I'm dying!" Myka screamed. Then she softened. "Sorry, I'm, I'm not 'dying'. But I have cancer, please, Helena go back to Nate, just get away from here."
"You're sick?" The raven-haired woman asked, her eyes tempering. "How long have you known?"
"Not long." Myka shook her head. "I'm going to get treated and I'm sure I'll be fine but I'm not…I can't be wasting…" She let out a jagged breath. "I don't need this too."
"Myka, I'm your friend." HG stressed. "Why didn't you tell me?"
She shook her curls back and forth. "I didn't need to worry you." She glanced at the clock on her dash. "I have an early flight tomorrow. I should get back."
"Are you working?" Helena allowed the concern to color her voice.
"No, I have a few weeks off." Myka nodded. "I'm going to see my parents and tell them what's happening. I'll be getting surgery in Denver by the end of the month." It was easier to discuss facts and dates than feelings.
"Are you flying out there alone?" The concern had not left the (former) Victorian's voice.
Myka simply nodded.
"Let me go with you." Helena offered. Before Myka could object she insisted. "I'm not expected at work or anything; I literally have nothing to be doing. I may as well spend some time taking care of a friend."
"Helena," Myka sighed.
"Won't take 'no.'" The older woman warned. "Just let me book a ticket on the flight with you and I'll tag along. You said so yourself, Myka; I'm obviously very good at caring for someone. So," She pleaded with her eyes. "Like old times; Wells and Bering."
"Fine," Myka sighed. "You'll probably like my parents anyway. And if I get tired of you I can leave you in the bookshop." She smirked, but it didn't reach her eyes. "Thanks."
"For what?" Helena asked.
Myka leaned across the console and placed a hand on Helena's cheek, drawing her forward. "For coming back." She placed a soft kiss on the shorter woman's lips. "So, one more adventure?"
"I promise you this won't be our last." Helena smiled, at peace with the plan if not the recently received news.
Myka started the car and pulled on to the road. "One last thing," She cleared her throat.
"Yes, darling?"
Myka felt right, for the first time since she had received the news. Even if this wasn't the healthiest or the most stable relationship, she needed Helena. And for whatever reason, Helena needed her too. "'Bering and Wells."
"Righty-ho, then."
Thanks for reading. Please review, I'll love you forevers. Q