Riley felt like she'd been punched in the stomach. Swallowing past the lump in her throat, she quietly offered, "Oh. I'm sorry for your loss."
Helena's gaze locked with the younger woman's and her tone was almost desperate as she said, "You have to understand something. I didn't know that you survived. None of us did. Otherwise I would have done everything, everything to get you back where you belong. With your family."
Riley nodded in understanding. "Because I'm your step-daughter?"
Helena flashed a sad smile at the young agent. "No Riley, because you're my daughter. Myka gave birth to you, but I was your biological mother."
Riley felt like her head was going to explode. "What?"
Sighing, Helena leaned back against the couch. "I think it would be best if I start from the beginning. It will give Claudia time to find some answers, and you will be able to fully grasp the concept of how you were created."
Riley frowned at the words. "You say that as if I were made in a lab… Like I'm one of Dr. Frankenstein's creations."
Shaking her head vehemently, Helena replied, "No! Nothing like that, I promise."
For the next three hours, Helena told Riley everything there was to know about Warehouse 13, who she was, and where she came from. She told her about Myka; the love of her life, about Pete, Claudia, Steve, Artie and Leena. She told her about the artefacts, what they could do, and how the warehouse agents protected the world from them. Then she told Riley about how she was conceived.
Smiling at the memory, Helena began, "It was an accident really… Myka and I were doing inventory of objects from Warehouse 3 not long after our wedding and we came in contact with a statue of the goddess Inanna the..."
"The Sumerian goddess of fertility."
Helena couldn't help but feel pride at the knowledge that Riley exhibited.
"That is correct. We touched the statue at the same time and we believe that's what made me impregnate Myka with my DNA. We're still unsure of how it works precisely. We were quite a bit shocked when we learned the news, but we were delighted. When Myka was about seven months pregnant, she and I decided to go on vacation in Vancouver. That's where we were kidnapped by a religious cult who believed Myka was carrying the antichrist."
Riley was surprised. "Vancouver? That's where I was adopted!"
Claudia joined then at that moment. She sat next to Helena and held her hand as Riley asked, "Why did my mother give me away? Why didn't you look for me?"
Helena wanted to continue her story, but the resentment she felt from Riley was too much for her. Claudia squeezed her hand and picked up the story where she had left off.
"The cult members decided to separate Helena from Myka and brought her to a little village in Texas where they beat the crap out of her repeatedly. They thought she was responsible for the antichrist and that she was a witch. They were a bunch of nut jobs, I'm telling you that. But they were very well organized nut jobs, and it took me three months to find her. She was barely recognizable and conscious. When our team finally got to her, she said one thing before she passed out. 'The baby.' We almost lost her right there and then, but our doctor managed to bring her back. She stayed in a coma for two weeks. One of your mothers is HG Wells, kid, she would never give you away."
Struggling to process the information, Riley demanded, "What about Myka? You said she died while giving birth to me."
Helena looked at Claudia. She was the one with the missing puzzle pieces.
"The cult kept her hidden in Vancouver, heavily sedated. Too heavily. They gave her too much during the delivery and she… she died." Blinking against the sudden moisture in her eyes, Claudia continued, "They burned the body and were planning on killing you during a ceremonial sacrifice. One of our teams got there, but it was too late."
Helena looked horrified as she turned to confront her old friend. "What? That's not what you told me happened! You told me Myka died while giving birth to our daughter, after she had fought with everything she had to escape! That she was severely injured and bled out! You told me the baby was stillborn because she had been choked by the umbilical cord! You lied to me! All these years you lied to me!"
"I was lied to!" Turning to face Helena, Claudia defended, "I had barely become the new caretaker and my mind was a mess with all the information! Kensington fed me that story and I accepted it because I was devastated by Myka's death and worried sick about finding you! Kensington lied, not me! Come on HG, you know me better than that!"
The two women stared at each other for a while, trying to calm down. Riley's head was spinning with all the new information she had received in the last few hours. Breaking into their silent stand-off, she questioned, "So if it was too late, how come I'm here? And why didn't the sedatives kill me?" she asked.
"Because Ms. Kensington had been told a lie as well. The Regents thought it would be best if you didn't know that your daughter was alive, Helena. They wanted leverage in case you decided to try to blow up the world again. There was a baby who had been sacrificed, but there was not enough DNA for a confirmation. They all just assumed it was your daughter. But they recently apprehended a cult member named Campbell, who told them it was his baby who had been killed and sacrificed. He said that the baby had been protected from the sedative by an artefact which created some kind of protection bubble around the fetus, and that it filtered the sedatives." Turning her gaze to meet Riley's, Claudia added, "He said that he heard a message from God to save you and sacrifice his daughter instead, and that he had taken you outside of the compound just before the raid. He's the one who left you at the orphanage. And that's where you were adopted by your parents. There were no records of your birth, no DNA, nothing that would allow me to find you sooner… Wait a minute, how did you find us? Find out about Myka?"
Riley passed a hand through her hair to shake it. "It would seem like there was a record after all, because my partner found it. It was heavily classified and sealed, but he's the best at what he does. When I asked him to look into it, he found me a name and an address to come look for some answers."
Claudia looked almost ecstatic. "I really have to meet this guy. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a head Regent to go yell at some more, and I'm sure you have plenty of things to talk about. HG, call me if you need anything. It was a pleasure to meet you Riley. We'll talk again. Soon."
Riley looked at Helena for a second and when she turned her head to say goodbye to Claudia, the redhead was already gone. Almost as if she had disappeared into thin air. Frowning, she pondered, "How does she do that?"
"With great pleasure, believe me." Helena massaged her head, trying to calm her migraine. This was too much for her old heart.
Noticing the woman's actions, Riley moved closer, asking, "Are you alright? Should I call a doctor?"
"I'm fine, Darling. Just a headache." Forcing a smile onto her face, Helena offered, "I'm sorry you had to learn all this like that."
Riley offered her own wry smile. "It's quite a story."
"And you don't believe a word of what you've just heard." Sighing, Helena added, "I can assure you that it's true."
Riley thought about it for a moment. "Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth," she said.
Helena looked at her once again with pride. She reminded her very much of Myka. "I see that you are very well educated Ms. Neal. It runs in the family."
Riley smiled at her. "From ten to fifteen, I tried to escape as much as I could through books. I love books. When I was a little girl, my best friend Belle and I could spend hours in the library. My favorite story is Little Red Riding Hood, but I don't know why. And I'm babbling..."
Waving her hand, Helena answered, "No please! Tell me about your life. I want to know everything about you."
Nodding, Riley countered, "Only if you tell me how you can be HG Wells, and about my... Myka."
The two women got comfortable and Helena started her tale.
"The first time I really met your mother, she held me at gunpoint..."
