For those of you who have read Behind Secrets and Sacrifice, the end of this chapter should be familiar.
I am trying harder to answer personally to all of your lovely reviews. Any guest reviewers though are equally appreciated.
Chapter Three
"I'm definitely not ready to have another one yet," Tracy commented after hearing that her sister and Helena were looking to try and get pregnant. "I mean, I think I'd like a baby brother or sister for Danny but Kev and I are so busy these days, I don't know how I'd cope."
Myka frowned as she thought about her little sister's workload. "You know, if Helena's putting too much pressure on Kevin to get her project finished, just let me know. I'll talk to her."
Tracy waved the concerns away with a flick of her wrist. She ushered her sister towards another area of the department store and began pulling items off the racks to shove them into the now blushing regent's arms. "His best work days are the ones he spends with your fiancée. If she wasn't so obviously head over heels for you, I'd worry. Besides, it's for your safety. We'll all be happy once it's finished." She lowered her voice slightly as she turned to face the older woman. "I know last time wasn't planned but do you think you'll be going down the same route? Would you even be able to get access to the same... equipment?"
The ex-agent pictured the incident with Pete and Inanna for a moment and considered the likelihood that she would be allowed to use the artefact again. "I don't know yet and probably not through official channels," she answered both questions after checking that nobody was watching them. "We'll talk to the right people and see what's possible. Nothing is going to happen until after the wedding though." She looked down at the scant garments in her arms and had a sudden urge to be elsewhere. "Speaking of which: can we get this over with? I don't want to spend more time here than I have to."
Rolling her eyes, the younger sibling muttered under her breath, "It's a wonder you have any kids at all."
Myka flushed with a mixture of embarrassment and offence at the slight dig. "I'm not a prude," she insisted. "I just like to keep my private affairs private. It's not as if I've never bought anything racy. I just usually shop online. It makes no difference to Helena where I buy my underwear," she hissed.
"Fine, fine," Tracy gave in. She removed her selection from the regent's arms and placed them randomly back on the rails. Before her sister could attempt to reorganise the rejects, she grabbed the taller woman's hand and led her towards yet another section of clothing. "I'm not leaving if you don't buy something today though. If I can't convince you to get some scandalous lingerie, I'll settle for some nightwear. And NO flannel pyjamas!"
Myka agreed to the terms, already feeling more in her element surrounded by enough body length clothing that she didn't feel naked standing next to the occasional silk and lace chemise.
Once Tracy was satisfied that her sister wasn't going to spend her honeymoon garbed in a baggy t-shirt and lounge pants, she allowed Myka to make her purchases and dragged them to the nearest bistro for lunch.
Glad to be done with the worst part of their shopping expedition, Myka tucked her shopping bag between her feet and began to enjoy the time she had with her only sibling. They had returned to their hometown to visit with their parents and take a trip down memory lane. Although the paths they walked were the same, their experiences were very different and stories shared gave each of the sisters a deeper understanding of the other.
Having assumed that the ever popular Tracy Bering had it easy in every social situation, Myka was appalled to discover that her little sister was terrorised for an entire term by a lad in her form, who took a liking to her and didn't want to take 'no' for an answer. She remembered the kid; she'd seen him at the shop on occasion and felt sorry for him and his obvious crush. Had she known then that he attempted to assault Tracy one night after she'd been to the movies with her friends, she would have lashed him with her foil until he bled. For once, Myka was immensely glad that the younger woman had had so many friends. She hated to think what might have happened had half of the football team not been passing that night.
"Did you ever tell Mom and Dad?" Myka wanted to know as they drove back to the bookshop a couple of hours later.
Tracy shrugged, as if it wasn't a big deal, but her eyes had hardened. "You know what their reaction would have been like. I valued my social life. I'd have gone mad, locked away with no one but you and a thousand books." She glanced at her elder sibling and her gaze softened. "No offence, Myka. I just knew they'd never let me out again. Either that or they'd have forced you to chaperone me everywhere. Neither of those options appealed to me and you'd have been miserable too."
"Weren't you scared?"
"Sure. But I made sure that I was never alone after that. York and his buddies took it upon themselves to 'teach him a lesson' and they took turns guarding me." She scoffed at the memory. "If anything, it did wonders for my image. It must have looked like I was royalty with so many big guys following me around."
Those words might have annoyed Myka once upon a time, but now she could hear the underlying depreciation in the younger woman's voice and it sent a surge of protectiveness along her nerves. "I'll ask Claudia to look him up. I'd like to know where he is."
A painstakingly shaped eyebrow rose in surprise as Tracy turned sharply in the passenger seat. "Myka, leave it alone. It was years ago, he's long gone."
"Trace, he was obsessed with you for months, possibly even years." Her hands gripped the steering wheel until her knuckles turned white. She paused a beat and released a long breath. "I'm not going to do anything to him. It won't hurt to check though."
Mrs Littlewood rolled her eyes. She'd been doing that a lot today. Thoughts of her temporary stalker hadn't bothered her for years and she wasn't about to start dwelling on them again. Some ghosts were best left in the dark. If Myka wanted to settle her own mind though, she wouldn't stop her. "Fine, do your creepy Big Brother thing."
The regent chuckled at her passenger's attitude, the sound serving to break some of the accumulated tension. "Big Sister," she corrected.
With it being a Sunday, the bookshop was closed to the public and the two siblings had to unlock the door as they let themselves in. After securing the front of the shop, they followed the faint sounds of life up the stairs and found their children and parents congregated in the living room.
Stretched out on the couch were two slumbering boys, their cherub-like faces innocent as they slept, hiding any notion of the chaos they might have created. The mere fact that they were not fighting over cars or chasing one another around was evidence enough though. Not to mention the sight of Warren Bering passed out in his armchair.
Myka spotted her daughter curled up with her mother and a book on the opposite couch and made her way towards them. "I guess you've had a busy morning," she observed through an amused smile. "Bet Dad's not so disappointed that he had girls now," she joked.
Jeannie glanced over at her husband and chuckled quietly. "You had your moments," she told her daughters. "But no, you weren't as energetic as those two," she nodded fondly towards the boys who had passed out mid-play. "Did you have a nice time?"
"Did you buy anything interesting?" Christina added with an extra a spark of hope in her gaze that her mother might have bought something extra for her.
Tracy opened her mouth to tease her sister about her aversion to publicly admiring anything remotely sexy but stopped at the hard look she received. "We had fun buying birthday presents for my niece and nephew," she amended.
"Really?" Christina jumped, her excited tone drawing a louder snore from her grandfather.
"Yes," Myka confirmed. "But since your birthday is still a couple of months away, you'll have to exercise some patience." Noting the slight pout, the regent smiled and shook her head. "If you want to choose something from downstairs however, I'm more than happy to indulge you."
The ten year old appeared to think about it before cocking her head to one side. "Can Aunt Tracy help me to choose?"
The regent looked at her sister, who seemed pleasantly surprised by the request. "Sure, why not." She watched as the girl slid off the couch, linked hands with her aunt and began tugging her back towards the stairs.
As they reached the doorway, Tracy winked at Myka. "Don't worry, sis. I'll steer her away from the bodice-rippers."
"You'll spoil her," Jeannie warned her eldest once the room became quiet again.
Myka nodded and sighed. "I can't help it. I missed the first eight years of her life. Sometimes I feel like I have to put in extra effort to make up for that."
The older woman squeezed her daughter's hand in sympathy. "I understand, Myka, and I know that you also think about her difficult future. Giving her everything she wants won't make any of that easier though."
"I know." A thoughtful silence fell on the room as the brunette considered the times she struggled to say no to her kind, caring daughter. She wasn't quite as bad as Helena though, and she just hoped that the other lessons they attempted to instil in their little princess went a ways to balancing out the occasions that she went overboard with her indulgences. "You can never have too many books though," she eventually joked.
Jeannie chuckled. "I suppose I can't disagree with that."
Feeling rested from their shared nap, Daniel and Fredrick managed to stay awake during the entire return trip to Boulder. Christina cheerfully conducted every game and sing-along until the car pulled into their driveway. As soon as the engine quieted and the adults began to disembark, she unbuckled and scrambled through the partition, jumping over the passenger side seat to free herself from the vehicle. Her Mama's protests about feet on the seats followed her as she grabbed the most bags she could carry and made a beeline for the front door.
Dumping her cargo in the living room, the ten-year-old secured her back-pack on her shoulders and breezed through the house, her tree-of-solitude at the forefront of her mind. She paused by the basement stairs to shout a quick 'Hi, Mum!' before exiting through the kitchen door, out into the garden.
Myka and Tracy entered just in time to see the whirlwind whizz away and each looked at the other with raised eyebrows.
"Don't look at me," Tracy chuckled. "When two bookworms breed..."
Myka rolled her eyes. Later, she would have a word with her daughter about her manners, but secretly she was proud and amused by the girl's enthusiasm and single-mindedness when it came to cracking open a new book. With a family that revered the written word, was it any wonder that the pre-teen displayed such traits?
A distant sound of movement came from the basement door and by the time the Bering sisters had their sons settled in the playroom, their significant others had appeared above ground, both of them sweaty and dirt smudged.
Myka took one look at her fiancée and did a double take.
Inky hair fell in messy tendrils from the inventor's ponytail, the strands clinging to damp skin and accentuating the length of a sinuous neck. A smear of dirt sat high on a collarbone, drawing ravenous green eyes to the hills and valleys hidden beneath a skin-tight grey t-shirt. Work clothes should not look so good, the regent thought as she tried to ignore the sudden pull in her lower regions.
Helena and Kevin were still engrossed in conversation when they wandered in and didn't focus on the returning pair for several seconds.
It took an elbow to her ribs to drag Myka from the fantasy beginning take root in her mind and she turned to her sister with an expression that was trapped somewhere between grateful and murderous. She watched a smirk climb over the younger woman's features and felt trepidation clamber through a forest of thought. Holding her breath, almost certain of the teasing heading her way, Myka waited. Yet, when Tracy opened her mouth, it wasn't to laugh or ridicule...
"Sounds like you're making good progress down there. Is it ready for visitors yet?"
HG grinned smugly as she thought about the project and how far they'd come. "Would you like a tour? We finished the shell and the supports today, so it's quite safe."
"I think I'll wait 'til it's finished, but I know Myka can't wait to see how you put your skills to work." Tracy's expression was so earnest, so innocent, that no one thought more to the undercurrent in her words besides her sister.
Kevin fished a cloth out of his pocket and began wiping his hands as he watched the boys play, none the wiser to the sharp flow of energy in the room, while Helena frowned as if searching for some hidden meaning, before she let it go and gestured for her fellow regent to follow her.
Myka let her partner talk all about the construction as she followed the Victorian down to the basement and through the tunnel, knowing at the same time that she was only half paying attention. Meanwhile, her mind debated over the question of whether or not she was actually going to take the opportunity to seduce her lover even as she was aware that her sister had set it up.
As they walked, she couldn't stop her eyes from wandering over the inventor's figure, her mind appreciating the sight of Helena's rear in a pair of fitted cargo pants. She thought back to the 'Lara Croft' outfit that she'd admired during their time at Warehouse 2 and began to wonder if she could convince the woman to have another go at dressing up as a fashionable British archaeologist. Feeling her throat run dry, she tried to swallow, her tongue reaching out to wet equally deprived lips.
By the time they came to a halt, she estimated that they'd walked almost the entire length of the property and low-and-behold, in front of them was a ladder leading up to a trapdoor. She looked at the Brit to find shrewd eyes scrutinising her and had to rewind to recall what had been said.
"I think an emergency supply room is a good idea," she answered quickly, though from the way Helena held herself, arms crossed over her chest, she knew her partner was not buying her act.
HG glanced down at her shoes to hide her amusement as she thought back to Tracy's words and the startled look in her fiancée's eyes when she'd gone to welcome them home. Her suspicions abruptly clicked into place. "Darling, I'm beginning to consider the possibility that we are down here, not so much to marvel at my genius but rather, for you to admire my posterior." A glance at Myka's face was all the answer she needed but she spied an opportunity to tease her future wife and grasped it with both hands. Guessing that her toiled appearance was likely the cause of this heightened attraction, she raised a hand to the back of her neck, deliberately flexing muscles along her arm. "Would I be correct in that assumption?"
Knowing she was caught, Myka considered her options for all of a nano-second. Take offence, feel embarrassed and scarper, or admit her weakness, give in to the pounding in her veins and feel Helena's warmth against her own? She was more confident about her desires these days. They were alone and there were no children likely to disturb them; it was hardly rocket-science.
Helena chuckled as eager lips met her own. She felt the cool plain of anodised metal against her back and pulled Myka closer to experience the contrast of heated skin against her front. Hands slipped beneath her t-shirt and she gasped as the tips of her lover's fingers came into contact with her abdomen, each one sending a shock of desire through her.
Not one to waste an opportunity, HG took her cue and began blindly manipulating buttons through holes until she was able to pull apart the lapels of her fiancée's shirt to gaze at the perfection beneath. Lips fell against supple flesh and traced a path along every nerve, encouraging a delicious moan from Myka's throat.
"I do hope you enjoyed your shopping trip today, love," Helena murmured against the brunette's clavicle. "Tell me, is there any chance of allowing your wife-to-be a sneak peek at your purchases?"
A husky chuckle bubbled out from the American. "You know me," she whispered as she leaned back to admire the heat in dark, chocolate eyes. "I'm useless at shopping in store. But I have a few things arriving via online-order and no, you can't peek."
HG pouted while her hands absentmindedly tugged poly-cotton from the waistband of Myka's slacks and reached for a zipper. "Mind if I borrow your laptop tomorrow, dear?" she teased.
"Sure," the brunette agreed, seeming nonplussed at the request.
Helena paused abruptly, an eyebrow raised in suspicion. "Really?"
"Yeah," Myka smirked and raised a hand to clasp the inventor's jaw between fingers and thumb. "Claudia taught me how to wipe my search history, so I know you won't find what you're looking for."
Flushing with a combination of arousal and frustration, Helena turned her head to wrap her lips and tongue around a long digit before caressing its entire length and then releasing it with a slight pop. "I'll show you mine if you show me yours." She smirked at the answering groan and twisted their bodies so that she was the one leaning over her lover.
"N-no," the curly-haired regent insisted haltingly. She felt her resolve wavering and knew that she had to find some way to derail their flirting conversation and render both of them incapable of speech. Before the Brit could voice another thought, Myka wriggled out of her shirt and reached behind her to unclasp her bra.
HG choked on her next words and swallowed thickly. Her gaze devoured the vision in front of her as her hands rose to explore in earnest. "Well played, Darling," she eventually managed to say before her mouth became occupied with more important things.
By the time they had exercised their passion for one another and finally come back up for air, both were completely dishevelled and breathing erratically. HG's clothes were wrinkled in several new places and she wasn't entirely sure whether her t-shirt was salvageable after Myka, in her haste to remove it, had pulled several stitches out of the collar. Some pleasures are well worth the sacrifice though, she thought as she basked in the aftermath of their lovemaking.
With no opportunity to curl up and snuggle however, as their surroundings were hardly what one could call cosy, they fixed their appearances as best they could and made their way back to the basement, hand in hand.
Myka directed her fiancée towards the stairs to the first floor, suggesting that the inventor finally scrub off the remaining grime from the day's construction. Then, as she passed by the front door, she snagged a hair-band from her coat pocket and pulled her wild locks into some semblance of order. A quick check in the mirror reassured her that she didn't look as completely ravaged as she felt, and with a deep breath, she walked back into the living room to face her sister.
As predicted, Tracy's triumphant expression paved the way for a barrage of poorly concealed innuendoes, the majority of which had Myka cringing. She couldn't tell whether her brother-in-law was politely ignoring his wife's teasing or if he really did take each comment at face value. When he soon excused himself to join the boys in the playroom and closed the glass doors on them, she suspected the former. Though Tracy's audience was gone, the regent was mightily relieved when Helena eventually made her way back downstairs and temporarily interrupted Mrs Littlewood's flow.
HG noticed her lover's discomfort the moment she joined Myka on the couch and leaned into the lanky regent's tense body. Undoing all of my hard work, she complained inwardly. While she appreciated that siblings were wont to push each other's buttons on occasion, she recognised when her partner had had enough and decided that it was time to knock her future sister-in-law down a peg or two.
"Tracy, I must thank you for the opportunity to show Myka the progress your husband and I have made downstairs." She began with an air of innocence, taking her cue from her guest's earlier comments. "It really is a challenge to find time away from the children. Much as we adore them, they do monopolise every hour of the day, and as I'm sure you know, Fredrick is at that age when he simply cannot be left to his own devices for more than a minute or two. You take the title of paranymph very seriously it seems."
"Erm... I..." Tracy faltered, her mind wrapping around the unfamiliar word. 'Nymph'though sparked thoughts of half-naked woodland creatures that frolicked while men drooled over them. She saw a spark of amusement in her sister's gaze and narrowed her eyes at the pair.
"Yeah thanks, Trace," Myka picked up the hint and decided to run with it. "If I'd realised you had such an interest in that area, I might have thought about tying the knot earlier."
"Left to her own devices, I'm certain Myka would not have tended to her needs so well," Helena added in the same tone. "But then, she is a glutton for punishment."
Myka's snort of amusement finally brought a hint of heat to her sister's features and the younger sibling relented. "Ok fine, you two. I give in." She turned to the younger regent and asked, "You know I was only teasing you because I'm happy for you, right?"
"Yes," Myka answered with a calmer voice. "But you need to learn when enough is enough."
"Just making up for lost time," Tracy shrugged. She shook off any lingering discomfort from being made to feel ever so slightly stupid and stood up.
"Where are you going?" Myka wandered as she worried for a second whether she had taken the teasing too far as well.
The younger Bering smiled to ease her sister's predictable guilt and simply said, "To consult Google."
Claudia mumbled to herself as she paced the length of her personal study. "Trust your instincts. Fourteen thinks it's time, so do it," she told herself firmly, thinking of the vibes she'd been getting from the newest incarnation of the Warehouse.
She danced lightly on the spot, pushing off from one foot and then the other, like a boxer preparing for the fight of their life. Tilted absurdly into the room, the bookshelf in front of her opened into a lit passage way, creating an image like something out of an old B-Movie. Pete's Young Frankenstein impression sprang to the forefront of her mind and she shook her head with a smile.
"Wish you could do this with me, guys," she whispered into the ether. She pictured Pete and Myka bickering behind her, letting the image offer comfort as she finally stepped forward and pulled the secret door closed behind her.
The short passage curved into what was the 'eye' of her little island sanctuary, where she alone was permitted access. Her fortress of solitude, as she so liked to call it, housed her super-computer, a bed/couch, en-suite facilities, a kitchenette and, in pride of place, her guitar. These were her living quarters most of the time. She had another apartment back in the States that, for outward appearance, was her official place of residence. However, other than when she stayed with Myka and Helena, this was the only place that felt like home anymore.
She missed the days when she could wander across the hall and ask any of her friends some random question, and the nights they would grab a bowl of popcorn each to eat in Pete's room as they watched some awful reject movie that he liked. Breakfast wasn't the same without her surrogate family and she sometimes just needed Artie to yell at her about something, but everyone had moved on in their own way and plenty of the changes in her life gave her a sense of purpose that she had never felt before.
Her feet carried her to where she'd safely stored her latest acquisition. The Cronus Stone stood on a tall pedestal in pride of place, surrounded by a shimmering, purple force field that Claudia dissipated with a wave of her hand over a built-in sensor. Pensively, she cupped the rose quartz between two hands and stepped into the centre of the room, making sure that she had ample space in front of her.
"Right, Claudia," she whispered into the silence of the room, preparing yet another pep-talk. "You've got girl-power. You're Hermione Granger: super-brain, self-believer and all that jazz... Alohamora..."
For a moment, she closed her eyes and took several steady breaths. Once her thoughts were clear and her intent fixed, her lids fluttered open and hazel eyes focussed solely on the stone, willing it to life.
A minute passed with no result but her concentration didn't waver. Two minutes... Three... A bead of sweat gathered at her temple but still she pushed on. Just as she teetered on the point of allowing doubt to creep back in, the stone moved. A tiny vibration juddered into a steady rocking, until a halo of light emanated all around it and lifted it into the air where it began to spin in tight circles.
Daring not to make any sudden moves, the redhead painstakingly lowered her hands and took a tentative step backward. She watched in awe as radiant beams arched through the air and towards the ground. The moment they touched the hardwood floor, energy split and swirled upward in two helical columns.
It became too bright for the caretaker to keep her eyes open and she had to cover them with both hands even as they closed. Hearing her own heart beat a rapid rhythm; Claudia peeked cautiously through her fingers and then squealed slightly in shock at what she saw.
"It worked," she gasped.
Not five feet away, two people stood; their expressions curious as they gathered themselves.
"So it would seem," the female spoke after nodding to her light-beam companion, assuring him that she was ok. "Are we to take it that you are Claudia Donovan?"
The young computer whizz gave a timid little wave, feeling under the woman's gaze, as if she was ten years old again. "That's me." There was a lengthy pause where no one ventured another thought and the redhead began to twitch between awkwardness and excitement. Eventually though, a giggle rose from deep inside and she skipped a little on the spot. "I'm so hyped: HG is going to shit a brick."
A/N: paranymph – a groomsman or a bridesmaid