Disclaimer: Tragically, Warehouse 13 is still not mine.

Chapter 2:

The church was beautifully decorated - a mixture of lace and violet flower arrangements. Simple, but beautiful. From the balcony, Helena watched as the guests started to find their seats. She stepped back, making sure she was far enough in the shadows to avoid being seen - she had already spotted Arthur and Vanessa among the guests below. The soft scuff of shoes against the stone floor caught her attention.

"Turn around. Slowly."

Helena sighed but obeyed the command. The woman pointing the Tesla at her was clearly not a Warehouse agent. The shorter woman held the weapon tightly, arms fully extended. Her stance was reminiscent of the one Myka preferred, but it was a very sloppy imitation. The glare, however, was pure Myka. Helena lifted her arms slowly. "I do hope you don't treat all the guests this way."

"Who are you, and what are you doing skulking around up here?"

"I'm here for the wedding, of course." There were a number of similarities between this woman and Myka - likely her sister, Tracy. Meeting at gunpoint… the woman was definitely a Bering.

"Right, that's why you're up here. Did you wanna try that again?"

Helena shrugged. "I don't really care for crowds. Really, darling, if you must point that at me, at least shift your left leg back two inches and slightly to your left. Relax your arms a little and settle back on your heels. Good, that's much better. Your stance is much more stable now; you're far less likely to render yourself unconscious if you decide to use that device."

Tracy rolled her eyes, "Hiding from Myka is more like it."

That caught Helena off guard. "I beg your pardon?"

"British accent, cocky, charming, and gorgeous. H. G. Wells, I presume?"

"Does this look okay?"

"It looks fine, Pete."

"Are you sure?" He tugged nervously at the collar of his shirt. He only ended up making his bowtie lopsided.

Myka sighed and walked over to adjust the bowtie. "It was fine. Just leave it alone." She caught his hand when he reached for his collar again. "Pete." He caught her gaze, and she could see the nervousness in his eyes.

"I just don't want to mess this up," he said quietly.

"You're gonna be fine," Myka smiled. "You won't mess this up. You're not that guy anymore, Pete."

Pete pulled his hand out of hers and pulled Myka into a hug. "Thanks, Mykes." She didn't answer; she just smiled and held him tightly.

Myka pulled away with a slight frown. Over his shoulder, she could see her duffel bag on the chair where she had left it. She hadn't left it half-open, however. "Pete," she stepped around him, "has anyone else been in here recently?"

It looked like someone had searched through her bag. Some of her clothes were scrunched to the side and some looked like they had been pulled out and shoved back in carelessly.

"Uh, Steve and Claudia were in here earlier, Artie,"

Nothing seemed to be missing though…

"My mom, your sister, Abigail."

Nothing… except her Tesla. Out of all those people, Myka could only think of one who had a habit of taking her things without asking. Tracy. "Pete," she turned back towards him, "I'll be right back."

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah," she lied. Myka was starting to get a bad feeling about this. In Myka's experience, nothing good ever came from Tracy borrowing her things. "I just need to find Tracy. You stay here, and try not to get cold feet while I'm gone," Myka said as she stormed out of the room. She didn't need to look back to know he was reaching for the tie once again. "Pete! Stop touching!"

Helena couldn't help feeling smug at that description. "Myka has spoken of me?"

"No." Helena's smirk faltered slightly. "Myka doesn't talk about you. Ever. Pete and Claudia, on the other hand… Claudia practically idolizes you. She's got this idea of an almost fairy tale romance between you and Myka -" Tracy smiled, a cynical half-smile. "Love conquers all, and sometimes heroes get lost, but true love always wins in the end.

"Pete's version is anything but a fairy tale. Myka's superwoman, and you're Lois Lane, Lex Luthor, and Kryptonite all rolled into one. You sweep her off her feet, but you always hurt her, and you destroy a bit more of her every time you do."

By the end of Tracy's rant, Helena looked as if she had been struck. She hadn't quite understood the Lois Lane, Lex Luthor, Kryptonite references, but the rest was all too clear. "I apologize for the intrusion," her voice sounded hollow, even to her own ears, "I should leave." She should have never come back. Helena knew she only brought misery to those she cared about. How could she have ever let herself forget that?

"What?" Tracy lowered the Tesla slightly in her confusion. "Why?"

"Because I always end up hurting her. She deserves better than that - better than me."

"Wait a second, you came all this way here, and you're going to just leave? Why did you even bother showing up if you weren't going to stick around?"

Helena sighed. The Tesla hung limply by Tracy's side, forgotten in her surprise. Helena looked into the eyes that reminded her so much of Myka's in that moment. "I suppose I had hoped… It was foolish really - I had hoped to make amends-"

"Then do that! Stop being-"

"That's enough, Tracy." Myka stormed into the room and stood between the two. Myka had noticed the stricken look on Helena's face - all too similar to how she had looked just after Adelaide had been kidnapped - and refused to allow her to be berated. "First of all, I don't know what you've been told about Helena, but this stops now. I know what you were trying to do, and I appreciate the thought, but you don't know enough about the situation to get involved."

Myka reached forward and pulled her Tesla out of Tracy's grasp. "And second, you don't go through my things and take my Tesla!"

Tracy rolled her eyes. "Alright, I get it. I'll go downstairs and leave the two of you alone to… talk." Tracy smirked as she met Myka's glare.

"Tracy!" Myka's jaw was clenched firmly. "Go."

"I'm going," She raised her hands in an attempt to placate her sister as she slipped past the two to go downstairs. "Just, for once in your life, Myka, don't spend all your time over thinking things. You wouldn't want to keep Pete waiting." Tracy kept the smirk off of her face until Myka couldn't see her. She hadn't been able to resist that parting shot. From Pete's story, she hadn't gotten the idea that he and H.G. were in any way close.

When she was sure Tracy had left - not just hidden around the corner to eavesdrop like when they were younger - she slowly turned to face Helena for the first time in months. Helena looked exhausted and more disheveled than when she had been taken away by the Regents - the only time Myka could recall Helena looking less than meticulously put together. The look in Helena's eyes, made Myka wonder how much of the confrontation she had missed. What had Tracy said to put that look of distress in Helena's eyes? "Um," Myka hadn't been expecting this. She'd lost the hope of seeing Helena again months ago when her calls went unanswered - the few times Myka had gathered the courage to make the attempt. "This is a bad time to get a coffee, if that's why you're here."

"No, I-" Helena shook her head gently. "I was invited." She looked even more uncomfortable. Myka clearly hadn't been aware Helena had been invited.

"Oh, I hadn't realized…" Myka trailed off awkwardly. "Pete never said anything about inviting you."

"I thought you invited me.' Helena shifted, almost awkwardly, from one foot to the other. "Would you like me to leave?"

"No!" There was a desperation in Myka's eyes that surprised Helena. "Why would you think that? Was it something Tracy said? If she did, I'll-"

"Myka." Helena pulled Myka's hands into her own. "It seems," she sighed and pulled her attention from their hands. Helena stopped tracing the ridges of Myka's knuckles and looked up, meeting the agent's gaze. "that I always end up hurting you, regardless of my intentions. Maybe I shouldn't have come here, but I needed to know if there was even a chance for us."

"Helena?"

Helena held up a hand to stop her. "Please, Myka, let me finish. If you decide you want me to leave, I shall abide by your wishes, but please, allow me this?" Myka nodded. "I know that my timing is horrid, and I have no right to ask this of you… You were right. I was hiding. When I had the Astrolabe, all I could think about was everything I had lost - everything that I had lost because of the Warehouse, and everything that I had lost because of my actions. You are the one thing I couldn't bear to lose, and yet you are the one thing I never deserved to have. I thought that if I stayed away, I could be content with the knowledge that you were safe - safe from me."

Helena scoffed at how ridiculous her reasoning sounded at this point. "I had forgotten that I'm really not that noble. All it took to dissuade myself was the realization that I would lose you if I did nothing," Helena's last words were muffled by the sudden descent of Myka's lips upon hers. Deft fingers brushed against Helena's cheek and toyed with the edge of her coat before slipping beneath the leather. Myka's hand wandered around Helena's waist to rest against her back, pulling Helena impossibly closer.

Helena recalled reading a novel in which one culture had placed a great deal of significance on breath. One could, through a kiss, take a person's final breath as he died, or one could impart the breath of life. With a kiss, one could take or give life - such an intimate and sacred act. That was how Myka kissed her. Myka stole her breath away only to breathe life back into her being. Myka took from her everything Helena had to offer - possessed her very soul - and gave back just as much of herself.

Helena couldn't get enough. Her hands clutched at Myka's coat desperately, conveying without words her inability to relinquish this new closeness. All too soon for Helena's liking, Myka was pulling away. Helena tightened her grip on the coat. "Myka." The single word, a breathless protest, was all she seemed to be able to manage.

"Pete!"

Helena's eyes flew open. The breath froze in her lungs as she took in Myka's wide-eyed expression. Helena looked around. There was no sign of Pete, but her relief was short-lived as she suddenly noticed the music that had begun playing below.

"The wedding! I'm late. I've got to…"

"Myka, wait-"

"Helena, I can't. I'm supposed to be down there. It's starting, and everyone's going to be wondering where I am."

Helena caught Myka's wrist, keeping her from rushing away. To Pete. "Myka," her voice cracked, "Please, don't."

to be continued...