Wow! Talk about your reactions - I don't think Helena would have been safe with some of you after the last chapter.
Some understood that it was the circumstances - but I think overall - we can all agree - no one wants Myka take advantage of.
So let's see how Helena does on making amends...again. Does Myka forgive her? Survey to follow...
Clean Up In Aisle Wells
Pete followed Helena's instructions to gain access to the Penthouse carefully. She did not want him spotted. He was to go to the residence and ask Jeffrey if he could help him in any way, but to make it clear he was to leave. Pete entered the building through a side entrance, made it upstairs undetected. Believing Helena must have put the fear of… well, Helena into him, Pete noticed the usually tidy room had things strewn all over. Maybe he left quickly?
Then he noticed a man's suit was draped across various steps going up to the bedrooms. Helena's master bedroom door was locked, but Pete followed the trail of clothing to a guest bedroom which was completely disarranged. It was obvious someone had slept in the bed – but not very well because the pillows and sheets were tossed everywhere. There were champagne glasses on the nightstand and more than two bottles of the expensive bubbly on the desk.
"I do not envy the maid," Pete said out loud. Then he saw what looked like packed leather bags with JT monogrammed on them. He called out to see if the unwelcomed guest was there, but no one answered. He texted Helena to ask what she wanted him to do and she told him to return to the office. The packed bags were a good sign that Jeffrey was keeping his word. Pete thought he would wait till he got back to Wells Corp before mentioning the mess the man left.
Myka was already at work and on her second Starbucks when Helena arrived upstairs. Myka was hard at work preparing for the meeting with the investment bankers while Helena was holding her emergency meeting. She hadn't slept well and spent the night thinking about Helena. She knew being with her would present challenges, but each one seemed to come out of left field. "So you are a descendant of HG Wells? No –you are HG Wells. So we're around the same age? No – you're a hundred and forty seven. So you're an entrepreneur? But you used to be a secret agent for a secret agency. You've had your share of one night stands. Oh one of them is your fiancé?" Myka dialogued in her head. And when she was done, even though she felt annoyed, she smiled thinking of how she was looking forward to seeing Helena that day. She pulled herself out of that reverie and decided that she would tell Helena – no more surprises – she had to tell her the truth. Even if it pained Myka to hear.
In the meantime, Helena was putting her thoughts into action. Nothing made Helena feel like she had a grasp on things than when there was a plan in place.
"It would seem that I have an issue of a rather delicate nature," she said walking into the conference room where they gathered. Helena sailed through the door in a stunning Elie Tahari mélange pencil skirt and blouse in brilliant blue with stiletto heels. There was slitting on the hem, sleeves, and back, with leather detailing on the collar. She chose it with Myka in mind.
"Good morning to you, too," Claudia said under her breath.
"In spite of my skills of …persuasion," she continued, "I have run into the rare situation where they are not working."
"What did you do?" Mrs. Frederic asked with a knowing tone. Wrinkles appeared across the Brit's forehead as she tried to decide if she should defend herself.
"It …matters not…what the specifics are," she finally said.
"Oh oh," Claudia said.
"The point is you are charged with the task of providing me with solid steps to rectify the situation," Helena said.
"But you can't tell us what the situation is?" Steve asked.
"Correct," Helena answered.
"How upset is she?" Irene asked having lived long enough to know lovers' angst when she saw it.
"Who?" Eileen asked.
"Ms. Bering," Irene answered.
"Well… I didn't say …. Very," Helena finally conceded.
"So you want us to patch things up with her ….for you?" Pete asked and now this wasn't turning out to be as simple as Helena planned.
"I just would like to procure some possible solutions from people whom I thought might know a thing or two about bungling things up ," Helena said exasperated.
You could have heard crickets if there were any in the executive suite.
"No offense," Helena finally said and they all chorused – 'oh sure, no none taken. Are you offended? No, not at all'.
"Boss, I think your best bet is to go with our resident romance expert," Claudia said jerking her head towards Eileen.
"I'd be happy to help in any way I can, Ms. Wells," Eileen said.
"And we're outta here," Claudia said collecting her IPad and waiting to be dismissed.
"Thank you, Eileen," Helena said and was annoyed that she didn't know to start with the youth herself.
Pete and Steve were especially happy to be released from this assignment, although Pete asked if he could speak to Helena after the romantic patch up meeting.
Irene stood up, but before she left she shook her head at Helena and chastised her without saying a word.
"You don't even bloody hell know what happened," Helena reminded her.
"I don't need to," Irene said with a deliberate tone and annoyed her boss. "And I need to speak to you about your latest hires, when you have a chance," she said as she left. Helena had no idea who her latest hires were. She'd been known to hire people off the street if they struck her as a good fit for a job.
"So on a scale on one to ten, how upset is Ms. Bering," Eileen said taking out her IPad and tapping the glass.
"It's very hard to say with Ms. Bering. She does not exactly….. emote," Helena said bothered that this was so difficult.
"So can we go with seven?" Eileen said.
"Ms. Sullivan, you are presenting me with a sliding scale without any benchmarks," the Scientist complained. Helena had a point.
"Well, when my mom forgot to deposit money in the bank, and the checks bounced, that was a four. When my dad forgets their anniversary, it's a five. When he invites my Nana over without telling my mom, it's a six," Eileen said trying to come up with more examples.
Helena was getting frustrated in trying to measure finding out about a fiancée against bounced checks and uninvited relatives. Eileen could see the frustration mounting so she thought she'd try a different tactic.
"What do you think Ms. Bering really wants?" Eileen asked.
"How the bloody hell would I know?" Helena snapped. "Sorry dear, but Ms. Bering is not giving me a lot of information to go on."
"Well without knowing what is upsetting her, it seems hard to undo whatever it was," Eileen thought out loud.
"Oh it cannot be undone," Helena said thinking of Jeffrey in a towel. Myka would not soon forget that.
'What does your father do when it's a six?" Helena said taking a stab at a number.
"Flowers sometimes or dinner out. Once when Nana stayed a week and he lost the dog, he bought her a bracelet." Eileen said.
"Jewelry! Perfect. Get Jacques from Tiffany up here. We'll order a diamond tennis bracelet," Helena said who rarely step foot in a retail store. It felt so good to have that resolved.
"Hmmm, I don't know," the romance consultant said hesitantly.
"What?" Helena asked unable to fathom how that didn't solve it.
"Diamonds? Don't get me wrong, they're beautiful and all, but… cold," Eileen said looking up at the ceiling.
"Cold? Dear child, do you never hope to get engaged," and Helena was sorry she chose those words.
"Oh yes, I meant …too cold for Ms. Bering…for this situation. There's a time and a place for diamonds. For this, I think she would appreciate something more personal," Eileen said and Helena felt like she had just been delivered back to square one.
Helena hated square one.
"Egyptian cotton sheets then perhaps?" Helena said and then realized this was the tone she took with Irene who could handle that degree of sarcasm.
"Let me ask you this. What does Ms. Bering like most about you?" Eileen asked.
Helena stared back. "Most is difficult," her boss admitted.
"OK, name one thing," Eileen rephrased the question.
"She thinks I'm charming," Helena said because it was absolutely true. Myka had told her she was. Eileen smiled and thought – 'who doesn't?'
"So how about a charm bracelet?" Eileen asked and Helena thought this was getting complicated. "Ms. Wells?" Eileen said and brought Helena back to focus. "This is today's Page Six news," and the assistant turned her pad around to show the digital view of The Daily News gossip page that read:
Wells' Fiancé Back in Town with a picture of Jeffrey dancing it up in a club last night.
Helena closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I will bloody kill him," she said in a low voice.
"I'll get Jacques to come up and you make a list of things that remind you of Ms. Bering and we'll have him make it into charms," Eileen said trying to save her boss.
"Thank you," Helena said. "Could you get me Irene?"
"Of course," Eileen said.
Eileen went straight away to get the jewelry designer to come to the office. Then she asked Irene to come up and had the cup of tea ready for her to bring in.
"How bad is she?" Irene asked.
"She's not curled up on the couch …..yet," Eileen said wondering if Myka saw the news.
"I have to see her," Pete said and Eileen asked if he could wait until Irene came out. He paced the floor until he decided to get Claudia to help him.
"Tell her I'll be back," he said racing to the Teckie's office.
He asked Claudia to check flights, trains, rentals – anything that might confirm that Jeffrey was gone, but she found nothing. "He could be just staying in the City," Claudia said.
"Irene, I don't know what to do?" Helena said pacing the floor. She was so upset, she couldn't even drink the tea.
"What did you do, Helena?" the HR Director asked.
"Jeffrey was at the Penthouse last night," Helena started and that was all the woman needed.
"Did you know he was going to be there? Did Myka know about him?" she asked.
"No," Helena said.
"Why were you there?" Irene asked.
"Pardon?" Helena asked stalling. Irene started to get up to leave. "I needed a key," Helena said knowing the HR Director would not put up with anything.
"A key for what?" Irene pressed.
"I…locked myself in handcuffs after the dinner and …I needed a key that was at the Penthouse," Helena said hearing how lame it sounded.
"And?" Irene asked.
"And while we were there, Jeffrey came out of the guest bedroom. I had no idea he was back, let alone staying at my apartment," Helena said sitting down in her chair.
She watched the woman she knew like one of her own. It wasn't Helena's words that told Irene – it was her body language. Helena could not contain real guilt.
"What is the one thing Myka really wants?" she asked leaning across the desk to stare at Helena.
"If I bloody knew that, would I be asking the lot of you?" Helena said. Irene was impervious to Helena's jabs.
"Think Helena," the older woman said because she already had a full time job. She knew giving Helena the answer would rob her of the opportunity to learn for herself. Irene was that wise.
Helena's mind flooded with thoughts about Myka…and then it came to her.
"The truth….she wants the truth," Helena said slowly.
"Then that is what you should give her," Irene said – her work done. "I'll be back later."
Helena thought about it – the truth and a bracelet? She had everything she needed.
Her emailed bleeped and she looked. It was a message from Steve. "I thought about it. Cook her dinner," it read.
Truth, bracelet, dinner. It was a failsafe plan for sure.
She texted Leena and asked her to come up with a recipe that she could handle. Leena read the text and thought maybe she should just leave the take out menus on the counter top. Then she came up with the simplest menu she could think of.
The artistic jewelry designer was on his way when Pete ran in first.
"Boss, I gotta talk to you," he said ignoring Helena was on the phone.
Helena finished and beckoned him to sit down. "Did you bid Mr. Tesla farewell?" she asked.
"He never showed, but his bags were definitely packed like I told you," Pete said.
"Good, thank you," Helena said.
"But boss, the place was a mess," Pete said, but Helena was only interested in whether or not her guest was gone.
"The maid will clean it up and find his ring," Helena said off onto the next project.
"I think he had company. There were champagne bottles and handcuffs dangling from the bed," Pete and that caught Helena's attention.
"Handcuffs?" Helena asked to make sure she heard him correctly.
"Yeah," Pete said. "What kind of person…,"
"Thank you, Mr. Lattimer," Helena said uncomfortable with the subject matter. In spite of the fact she was annoyed he probably brought his date back to her apartment, she felt confident Jeffrey had taken her seriously and was on his merry way.
The jewelry master came into Helena's office and she explained what she wanted. She had made a list of things that reminded her of Myka and asked him to create charms that would represent those things. He set out to have his team complete the task by the afternoon.
Then Helena went to invite Myka to dinner. She took the elevator to the 16th floor and asked Millie, Myka's administrative assistant, to ask if she was free.
"You want me to ask her ….?" Millie asked as if someone in their right mind would say they were too busy to see their boss.
"Yes, I don't wish to disturb her," Helena said and waited until Myka opened the door.
"I did not wish to disturb you," Helena said standing until Myka asked her to sit. "I would like to invite you to dinner. I'm cooking," Helena said and Myka's mouth opened ….but she was unsure of what to say next.
"You're cooking? What's the occasion?" Myka asked teasing her.
"Myka, I do not like it when things are not okay between us. I do not like guessing at what you're thinking or feeling. And I know last night was hard for you. So I want to make it up to you, by cooking you dinner," Helena explained.
Myka was absolutely right. As soon as Helena shared the same space with her, staying upset was close to impossible. She was that charming.
"Dinner... with no surprises?" Myka asked.
"Well, maybe one surprise, but a nice one I promise," Helena said flashing her smile.
"OK, I'd love to come to dinner," Myka said.
"Good," Helena said and content that everything was going according to plan.
"911 Dispatch, what is your emergency? Missing persons? When was the last time you saw him? You have to wait 48 hours ma'am, before…. Oh the Mayor said to call, well then sure we can look into it," the dispatcher said sarcastically. "What's the missing person's name? Spell it please. J-e-f-f-r-e-y . And the last name? T as Tom, E as in Edward, S as in Sam, L as in Larry, A as in Andrew? Is that right ma'am?"
Is Myka being too understanding? Does she fall too easily under Helena's spell?
Can you imagine NOT?