A/N: Once again, I'd like to thank all of you awesome people for taking the time to review, or even just favoriting/following this story. It means a lot to me! :D
As always, starserendipity was so kind to beta this chapter. :)
Chapter 4
An awkward silence descended over the small group still sitting around the table in the dining room, after the final distinctive sounds of the two women's activities faded away.
"Well," Steve began, clearing his throat, "that certainly didn't sound like Myka was being tortured to me."
Claudia, her face nearly as red as her hair, studiously avoided eye-contact with any of her companions. "That was like listening to your sister having sex. There are just some things I do not need. No, siree." She frowned. "I think I might be scarred for life."
"How do you think I feel?" Pete complained, a mixture of unease and excitement on his face. "She's my partner and now I don't think I'll ever be able look her in the eyes again. At least not without her knowing that I'm most likely having dirty thoughts."
That earned him a punch from Claudia. "Dude, not cool. Respect the ladies!"
Pete rubbed the sore spot on his arm, glaring at her. "I am respecting the ladies! I'm all about respect!"
Steve smirked at him, "Sure, that's why you were sticking your nose in Myka's business in the first place. Because you were respecting her privacy."
"Hey! I was just being a concerned partner! I was having her back, that's what I'm supposed to do!"
"There's a fine line between having your partner's back and snooping around in things that don't concern you, man." He looked at Claudia, who seemed to sink further into her chair with each passing second. "Same goes for you, Claud."
"I know," she mumbled, playing with the chipped polish on her nails. "I already apologized, okay?"
"No, you apologized to H.G for giving her a scare, you didn't apologize to Myka for calling in the first place."
Claudia just glared at him. "Well, I can't very well march up there right now, can I?"
"Nope, you can definitely save the apologizing for later." Steve said ruefully.
"Yo, man, what's up with that holier-than-though attitude? We didn't hear you attempting to stop us earlier!" Pete was stung and trying to cover, flipping the blame.
"Because I know that there's no reasoning with either of you, if you've already put your minds to something."
"Yeah, right." Pete groused, angry that suddenly all of this was Claudia and his fault. If Myka hadn't been so secretive, none of this would have been necessary. At least that's what he tried to tell himself, to make the niggling feeling of guilt go away.
Laying there in Helena's arms, curled up under rumpled sheets, sated and sleepy, Myka thought that this was the best feeling in the world.
Nuzzling her forehead against the crook of the other woman's neck, she smiled. Yes, she could quite happily stay in this moment forever.
Like all perfect moments, however, it couldn't last. Helena's thumb stilled against Myka's hip where it had been drawing idle patterns for the last few minutes and she squeezed the soft skin under her palm softly.
"As much as I would like to stay here forever," she murmured, unknowingly mirroring Myka's thoughts, "I can't. Unfortunately, I have to leave your bed soon, or I will not make it back to my safe-house in time before dawn breaks."
Myka's arms involuntarily tightened around the vampire's waist, unwilling to let her go just yet. "Can't you stay here?" she asked, already knowing the answer, before the words had left her mouth.
Playfully toying with Myka's hair, Helena shook her head. "I'm sorry, love. Maybe another time." If your family is a little bit more welcoming towards me. She left that part unsaid, but it echoed loudly in the stillness of the room anyway.
Myka just nodded, her hair tickling Helena's arm in the process. Wanting to treasure each last minute to its fullest, she propped herself up on her left elbow, and gazed down at her lover adoringly. Trailing her fingertips over Helena's forehead, her cheek, her nose, her lips, she soaked everything in, not knowing when they were getting another chance to just be like this.
Helena gazed up at her, contentment radiating from her every pore. Her forefinger gently caressed the soft hairs at Myka's temple, trailing down to her neck to find the two marks resting there. Helena's brow furrowed slightly and she bit her lip in a rare show of uncertainty.
"What is it?" Myka asked.
Helena hesitantly met soft green eyes. "You don't regret it? I have marked you and everyone will know what we have done."
"Yes, everybody will know. That I am yours. And you are mine. I will never regret that." Myka promised her, cringing inwardly at how cliché it sounded, but knew in her heart that every word was true.
Helena beamed at her, cupping both of her cheeks in the palm of her hands and gently pulling her down for a sweet kiss.
"How did I ever get so lucky to find you?" She wondered, awe in her voice.
Myka's emerald eyes twinkled down at her. "If I remember correctly, I found you."
"Hmm, yes, and then you pointed a gun at me."
The brunette rolled her eyes. "You will never let me live that down, will you?"
"Never," Helena promised and sealed it with another kiss.
Regrettably breaking the kiss a long moment later, Helena glanced out the window, where it was still utterly dark, but her instinct to move, to run, to hunt, was growing stronger every moment.
"I'm sorry, love," she spoke, still cupping Myka's cheeks, her thumbs caressing the skin softly, as if to take the sting out of her words. "It is time for me to go."
Myka's face fell, but swallowed and then nodded bravely.
"When will I see you again?" she whispered, her breath grazing Helena's palms.
"I do not dare to predict the future, but I know nothing could keep me from you for very long."
"Good," Myka husked, before pressing her lips to her lover's again, never quite getting enough of the feel of her cool skin against her own warm one.
Then it was over and Helena got up off the bed, her gloriously nude form walking around the room without any sign of self-consciousness. Collecting her clothes from where they had been thrown haphazardly, she slowly got dressed, and Myka got the sense that Helena was dragging it out solely for her entertainment. Myka grinned, and propped her chin up on her knees, hugging her legs to her chest, simply enjoying the show.
Helena turned to her, slowly dragging her silk blouse up her arms and starting on the buttons, from bottom to the top. Her dark eyes searching out Myka's gaze as she arched her eyebrow teasingly.
"Are you enjoying the view, darling?"
The agent smirked. "What's not to enjoy?" Then her eyes dropped to the last bit of creamy skin still visible, and her mouth watered. Sighing heavily, she watched as Helena's hands fell away, leaving the top two buttons undone. Her dark jeans were pulled up endlessly long legs and her feet vanished inside stylish boots. Myka nearly pouted when she was done, missing the sight of her skin already.
Helena laughed at the sight, loud and cheerful and the sound alone lifted her spirits again. "Darling, don't pout. It's not very becoming of a lady," the vampire teased, and the way the word 'lady' rolled off her tongue was making Myka shiver with another sudden bout of desire.
She groaned and fell back onto the bed, hands pressed to her eyes in frustration. "How can you reduce me to a shivering, wanting, mess with just one word? It's not fair!" Her complaint was muffled behind her hands. A cool breeze swirled over her skin and then gentle hands were grasping her wrists, tugging slightly. Letting her hands fall away, she peeked at Helena through one half-opened lid.
"What word?" Helena asked, curious.
Myka shook her head. "Nuh-uh. Nope. I'm not telling you, or you'll just use it against me."
Helena grinned, her expression slightly feral. "You may be right about that. My lady."
Myka bit her lip to suppress another groan, and squeezed her thighs together in a futile attempt to stem the arousal. She glared at her girlfriend in exasperation. "Don't tease, if you don't plan to do anything about it."
"Oh, I do plan to do something about it. Just...not tonight. So sorry, dear, but I couldn't resist. The look of desire on your face may just be one of my new favorite things. I need a good memory to tide me over until I see you again." Helena's voice trailed off.
Myka's face softened again at the softly spoken words. Still, she added one last complaint: "Damn your silver tongue!" she said with a smile.
Helena's right eyebrow lifted towards her hairline once again and her eyes danced in silent amusement. "In more ways than one, I would dare say."
Giving her silk-clad shoulder a gentle shove, Myka laughed. "There you go again! Stop it, or I'll find a way to ravish you again right now."
"As much as that idea delights me, I'm afraid I really must leave now."
Stealing one last kiss from Myka's soft lips, she was by the door in the next second, leaving the curly haired woman no time to deepen the kiss at all.
"Usually, I act with more mystery and vanish out the window, but I do believe it wiser to actually let your friends see me leave." She let out a long-suffering sigh, and then threw a wink in Myka's direction. "Until next time, my love. Stay safe."
And then she was gone, in a whirl of raven locks and a cool flurry of air.
Sighing, sad to see her go, Myka decided that she needed another cup of tea before going to sleep, not having gotten to enjoy her first one. Not that she was complaining about the sudden, pleasurable turn of events.
Hurriedly getting dressed in sweatpants and a t-shirt, she made her way down the stairs towards the kitchen, hoping against hope that the others were already retired to their own rooms for the night, and also hoping to catch another glimpse of Helena.
Of course, she had no such luck.
She had barely entered the kitchen, when Claudia and Pete, both of whom were looking a bit uncomfortable, ambushed her.
"Yes?" Myka asked, not taking her attention from the process of preparing her tea, her tone more snippy than she had intended.
"Uh...I...we...came to apologize," Claudia started, her nervousness making her stumble over the words.
"Oh? Whatever for?" The taller woman asked, an obvious amount of sarcasm coloring her voice.
"You know what for, Mykes," Pete said, arms crossed in defiance.
"Why don't you spell it out for me, partner?"
He groaned. "Mykes, c'mon."
She'd reached her limit of endurance of his childishness for now. Throwing her teaspoon onto the kitchen counter, she finally whirled around to face them, brunette curls flying wildly around her face.
"No, Pete, you come on! What kind of apology is it, if you clearly have no concept of what it is you did wrong? When you clearly don't feel that you did anything wrong in the first place?" Myka gestured broadly at her two friends. "You know, usually, I appreciate your concern, but this concern becomes really irritating when it seeps from being truly worried to just being nosy. If you were so concerned about me, you could have just asked me if I was all right. But no, instead, you went snooping and put your nose where it didn't belong, and quite frankly, I am disappointed that you have no respect for my privacy!"
"Partners are also not supposed to keep secrets from each other," Pete shot back, still not giving up his view of things.
"Did you ever think of the fact that maybe I wanted to keep this to myself for a while longer, because I wasn't ready to share her with anyone yet? That I wanted to enjoy the feeling of simply being in love for a little bit longer, without having to endure judging glances and teasing comments?"
"We wouldn't have-" Pete protested.
"Don't, Pete. Don't lie to my face; I'm not that stupid. We all were present for that disastrous dinner, weren't we?" Myka sighed, rubbing her forehead for a moment to alleviate the impending headache. "Just, think about it, and we'll talk in the morning. I'm too tired to go through all of this again right now."
Grabbing her tea, she moved to return upstairs to her room, but was halted in the doorway by Claudia's voice. "I really am sorry I called H.G. like that. I know I shouldn't have and I am sorry for the trouble it caused you. Also," the girl paused for a second, nibbling on her thumbnail, clearly debating whether to say anything else or not. Then she grinned happily and flung herself into Myka's arms, mindful of the hot beverage in the older woman's hand. "Dude, I am so happy for you! H.G. Wells, man, you rock!"
Myka laughed, relieved. "I accept your apology, Claud. And, oh God, I know! At first I had so much trouble processing it, but then she became only Helena for me, really. And she's so much more than that!" Myka's whole face lit up.
Claudia looked up at her, a happy sparkle in her eyes. "Dude, you got it bad!"
"I know," she laughed.
The young techie stepped back, giving her a gentle push towards the stairs. "Go sleep, after the last few hours you certainly need it," she stated slyly.
Myka blushed and then hurriedly followed the advice.
Claudia watched the woman she considered a sister vanish up the stairs, then she turned towards Pete, who had been watching the scene, arms still crossed across his chest.
She gave him a disapproving look. "Dude, that is not how you apologize!"
"Don't start, Claud, I'm not in the mood."
"Well, duh," she answered, and then pushed her way passed him, leaving him to stew.
The next morning came much too early for the occupants of the B&B, all of whom where not quite ready to face the day just yet.
Bleary eyed and sleepy, one after the other stumbled down the stairs, where the only cheery person in the house greeted them. Leena was waiting for them with breakfast on the table, like most days, a smile on her face.
Myka was the last one to join them, dragging her feet while getting ready, dreading another confrontation with her friends. Eventually, though, she could not put off the inevitable any longer and slowly made her way into the dining room. Putting on her poker face, or trying to at least, she called out a "Good morning", before sitting down in her usual seat. They each returned the greeting before diving into their food, not wanting to let the still-warm pancakes go to waste.
After his first two, Pete finally got up the courage to look at her. "Mykes," he began, and Myka had a hard time trying not to wince, dreading what was coming next, "I'm sorry."
She blinked. That was not what she had been expecting, a softly spoken, honest apology. Emerald eyes glanced up at him, waiting for him to continue. He took a deep breath in preparation. "I spent a good portion of last night thinking about what you said, and I realize now that my behavior was wrong and rude. I should have talked to you about my suspicions and not gone snooping around in your proverbial underwear drawer. For what it's worth, I'm happy that you're happy, no matter who you're happy with. I hope you can forgive me for how uncool I've been about all this."
For a moment, Myka was stunned speechless. She didn't think she had ever heard Pete sounding so mature before, in all their time working together. Noticing the anxious look on his face, she gave him a small smile. "Just...don't do it again, alright?"
The anxious look melted off his face and turned into a grin. "You bet!"
And that was that. As much as Myka would love to hold a grudge at least for a day longer, she was just glad that the tension had been broken and everything seemed to go back to normal.
That was, until they heard the front door opening, alerting them that Artie had arrived to join them for breakfast.
Entering the room, he huffed a short "Morning" at them, in his usual don't-talk-to-me-before-my-first-cup-of-coffee way, and then proceeded to ignore them while filling his plate with a couple of pancakes and fresh fruit. Then he eagerly sipped at the coffee Leena had provided for him.
Another tense silence settled over the group, awaiting the inevitable outburst from their boss. He spent another few endless moments drinking his coffee and eating his food, before deeming himself awake enough to face them.
Looking around the table, his eyes finally settled on Myka's. "So you're still alive," he stated and Myka's eyebrows furrowed with the beginnings of annoyance. "Not sure how you managed to do that, but that's good. Good," he grumbled and took another sip of his coffee. Myka was tempted swat the cup out of his hands, but that would leave a mess on the lovely rug and she didn't want to take her anger essentially out on Leena. So instead, she took a deep breath and slowly breathed out again, letting the air escape in a quiet rush. Doing the mature thing. Her hands had clenched into fists in her lap, and she willed them to relax. Pushing her hair behind her ear to give her hands something to do, she then took a sip of her own coffee and ignored the grumpy man sharing the breakfast table with them.
The silence stretched between them, and it was becoming clearer by the second that Artie expected some kind of reply from her, making him even more irritated. She smiled inwardly that she had managed to retaliate, even if it was in such a small way. She counted it as a small victory.
Myka then saw the look on Artie's face and realized what exactly he was staring at and her inner victory dance came to a screeching halt.
"I know you are many things, Agent Bering, but I would never have suspected that being stupid was one of those things."
"Now, hold on just a minute, Artie, man-" Pete started, aghast at the other man's words.
"Artie, what the frak?" Claudia also exclaimed, surprised at her mentor's words and even more surprised at the look of disgust on his face.
He glared at them and they fell silent, unsure about what to do. Then he turned his attention back towards Myka, pointing at her neck where two tiny marks where now clearly visible.
"Please, prove me right and tell me that that is not what I think it is."
"I wouldn't presume to know what you think, Artie." Myka said calmly.
"Oh, cut it out. Insolence does not look good on you."
"And who said that I always have to look good and be the good little girl that always does as she is told?" Myka fired back.
Artie's bushy eyebrows raised in confusion. "Is this what this is all about? Rebellion? Aren't you supposed to do that when you're around sixteen? No offense, but I'd say you're a little bit late for that."
"No! That is not what this is about! This is about you being ridiculous!"
"You are way out of line, Agent Bering!"
"No, Agent Nielsen, you are! You have no right to judge my personal life, no more than anybody else does. You have no right to condemn the woman I love simply because of what she is, what she has become, due to the unimaginable pain she went through!" Myka stood, her agitation making her voice loud. "She was just like us, an agent of the Warehouse, fighting the good fight and then her daughter was ripped away from her. Helena did what any mother would do and tried everything in her power to bring her daughter back. None of us can imagine what it feels like to lose a child, so don't judge her for things you know nothing about! If you would just take the time to get to know her, you would learn that she is not like others of her kind which obviously have you so scared. Helena has never hurt me, and I know that she never would. These marks," she said, gently touching the twin marks Helena's teeth had left behind, "they prove that I trust her with my life, and all I ask is that you trust me." She took a deep breath and pushed back the tears that were threatening to burst free. "And if you can't do that, then I don't know if this is the right place for me. We are a team, and if you can't trust me, then neither of us will ever feel safe again in the field."
With these words, Myka pushed away from the table, needing to escape the room that seemed to become steadily smaller. Grabbing her keys and a jacket, she went to the one place she had always considered home.
She knew the Warehouse would not judge her.
~tbc
As usual, I would love to hear what you think! Thanks for reading! :D