Chapter Seven
"Artie says that the 6 fire-capable artifacts that were found in Warehouse 12 are all accounted for…" Pete announced as she entered the motel room.
He hadn't thought to knock but now he wished he would have, Helena was sitting on the bed across from Myka. Her hand was resting on Myka's and the two appeared to be sharing a much-needed moment. Concerned about how it must look, Myka quickly sat back in her seat leaving Helena's hand to fall limply down.
A look of disappointment showed across Helena's face resulting in Pete apologizing, "Oh sorry, I just thought you might want to know what Artie had found, or not found… or found, I mean they were there. I mean it's not the artifacts." Pete stumbled along the last part not sure of himself anymore.
"Perfectly fine, Pete. Thank you for the update. Myka was just assuring me that I was in good hands. Figuratively speaking, of course." Helena joked, "Oh god, is that the time?" Helena gasped when she realized that it was nearly two in the morning.
Pete needed no convincing, "well I certainly could use some sleep. Beauty like this DOES happen over night." Pete grinned and turn towards the door.
"That's a good idea." Myka responded as she gathered her pen and paper and followed after Pete.
"Agents, aren't you forgetting something?" Helena called after the two.
Pete and Myka turned slightly to look around the room but found nothing. Their blank looks confirmed that Helena would have to spell it out for them.
"Fires do tend to start when I'm left alone…" she purposely didn't finish the thought.
Myka and Pete turned to look at each other and then to the extra bed in the room, they both remained silent.
"…so one of you might like to stay with me if you truly wish to avoid another barbecue." Helena said slightly irritated at the agent's lethargic response.
"If it's alright with you ladies, I'm going to sleep in the car. Myka snores and I could really use the rest." Pete joked as he patted Myka hard on the back and left before she could argue with him.
The door closed behind Pete and the two women stood staring at each other. Helena thought she saw a flicker of worry in Myka's eyes, "I suppose it's Wells and Bering once again" Helena said breaking the silence as she shifted her weight forward.
"Bering and Wells" Myka combated with a hint of a smile on her lips.
Myka excused herself from the room to retrieve her belongings from the car. Pete was already asleep in the drivers seat, she would decide how hard to punch him in the morning. When she returned to the room, Helena had moved into the bathroom to change leaving Myka the bedroom. Nervously Myka changed out of her clothes and into an oversized University of Colorado t-shirt and a pair of shorts, and her glasses. Worried that it may seem like she was waiting for the other woman, Myka took a book from the bottom of her bag and climbed into bed pretending to read. Her heart had nearly calm and her breathing nearly settled until the hinges on the bathroom door creaked announcing Helena's presence.
Helena couldn't help but smile at the scene playing out in front of her. She had been faced with 'Agent Bering' so much that day that it was almost humorous how human Myka now appeared.
Noticing the book, Helena saw her opportunity, "Good to see that one made it to print." Helena said nodding at the book in Myka's hands, "I had left stacks of manuscripts for Charles before I was bronzed. I had hoped they would obtain him some sort of financial security in my absence."
Myka hadn't even noticed which book she had picked up and quickly glanced at the pages in front of her for a clue. Recognizing the passages Myka replied, "It appears I forgot to take it out of my bag from my and Steve Jinks' last trip to London. He insisted on visiting your home and brought me back a souvenir. " Myka lied hoping to look less pathetic than she felt.
Helena took in the tattered binding, bent pages, and recognized the lie for what it was but left that secret to herself.
"Ah, Agent Jinks I believe I remember him from my run-in with a certain Janus coin." Helena offered, "I was told that Claudia managed to bring him back?" Helena asked, goading Myka into conversation.
"Yes she did, they've been inseparable ever since. I think it's good for Claudia to have someone, they are a good team." Myka replied, setting down the book on her lap and folding her hands on top of the pages.
"A good team, I've heard that before." Helena said sitting down on the edge of Myka's bed.
For the first time, Myka noticed Helena's silk camisole and matching shorts and her eyes stayed there a moment too long, "Yes, I believe you have. We once made a great team." Myka quickly replied allowing Helena this single opportunity to dwell on the past.
"Before…" Helena began to complete the thought.
"Before, things didn't work out for us." Myka finished.
Realizing that they wouldn't be expanding on that topic, Helena took a deep breath "Well it seems as though I have a knack for realizing things far too late." She stood and crossed to her own bed.
"I suppose you do but it seems as though everything has worked for you regardless." Myka responded thinking about Helena's home with Nate and Adelaide.
Helena just nodded her head and climbed beneath the covers, she was tempted to tell Myka about what had happened with Nate and wanted to explain how hard she tried to make it work but how miserably she had failed. She wanted to tell Myka how much she had missed her and how in just the last twenty-four hours she felt happier and more like herself than she had ever when she was with Nate. The more she thought about it, the more she could imagine Myka's cold eyes and distant reply. It appeared that friendship was the only hope of a relationship she could have with Myka, if that. She curled up in the bed and reached to turn off the light.
After lying in the darkness for what seemed like a century, Helena found the last bit of courage she had in her, "I want to be a good team again."
Silence hung in the air and Helena made no attempts to pry a response from Myka. This was exactly what Helena had been afraid of. She waited too long, she realized things too late, Myka had moved on with her life and this was the price Helena had to pay. Lying there feeling exposed, Helena allowed the harsh silence to claim her and she fell fast asleep.
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"But you're…you're out there…" Myka noted, sadness filling her eyes.
"It had to be initiated from outside the barrier." Helena explained.
Myka's eye grew large with shock realizing that the woman had sacrificed herself for her. Helena looked on taking in every inch of the other woman's beauty. If anyone deserved to live, it was Myka; she had given so much to Helena. Myka had saved her life more times than she could count, she believed in her when no one else would, and now Helena had found a way to repay her. She opened her mouth to thank her but no sound left her body, her lips would have to carry the message. A smile interrupted the shock on Myka's face and Helena knew her message had been delivered.
Taking in her last breath of air, Helena could smell apples. A large explosion sent flames ripping through her, the sparks tore through her skin and the blaze destroyed her body, but Helena was still alive. The heat from the fire pulling her body higher and higher until…
Helena lurched up in her bed gasping for air. It was hot, burning hot. Her eyes struggled to adjust to the brightness of the room and flames consumed the walls and carpet surrounding her bed; they inched closer to her with each breath she took. Helena was growing rather irritated by constantly being surrounded by fires but she remembered she wasn't alone this evening. A horrified Helena looked beyond the growing flames, she could see Myka sleeping peacefully, the flames dared not touch her. This was personal, she realized, the fire wanted her and only her. Taking a standing position, Helena looked for a way out of her ring of fire but with each tried escape, the fire grew closer and with each attempted leap it grew hotter. Her body glistened in the heat, it was fighting but it had little left to offer. He lung had struggling to breathe in the hot air but smoke was now filling them. Her head swam, trying to focus on an escape but in the end knowing that the fire would take her. The lack of oxygen dropped Helena to her knees. She looked through the flames and smoke to Myka's sleeping form and said a silent goodbye; Myka shouldn't have to see this. She had tried to save her and for that, Helena was beyond thankful. At least she got to see the agent one last time. She closed her eyes and waited for the flames to take her, they attacked her knocking back against the bed.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING, HELENA?!" Myka yelled, she had woken up in time to see Helena's eyes close and her body about to give into the roaring blaze surrounding her.
Refusing to witness the surrender and defeat of such a strong woman, Myka threw a blanket over her body and made the jump onto Helena's bed, consequently knocking her over. Helena may be ready to give up, but she couldn't. Helena opened her eyes after feeling the weight of the other woman on top of her; she couldn't believe what she saw. Mykas eyes were wild, the veins in neck seemed as though they would burst, she grabbed the frail woman and began to devise a plan. The adrenaline coursing through Myka's body was evident to Helena as strong hands forced her up and onto her collapsing legs. The smoke didn't seem to be effecting Myka at all, Helena noticed as the room became hazy in her vision.
"Myka…" Helena began using up the last of the air in her lungs, "it's all right." Helena just got the words out before her eyes closed and her body fell limp against Myka.
"Losing you will never be all right." Myka said holding Helena in her arms.
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When Helena's eyes opened once more, the room was dark and quiet.
If this is hell, they certainly over sold it, Helena thought to herself.
She shifted her weight and strained her eyes to find depth in the room. The blinking of small lights led her eyes to find a form sitting beside of her.
"I take it you are the one, then?" Helena asked through a raspy voice, her mouth was dry from the smoke.
The figure did not move, it simply sat there staring at her.
"I will not be held against my will and not know my captors face." Helena boldly insisted. Still the form remained stoic. Helena moved her hands along the bed she had been placed in. Her hands finding something she could use to protect herself, Helena pounced. The brittle woman sprang from the bed striking the form across the face, the form jolted in surprise towards her. She had already managed her way behind it and quickly wrapped attached chord around the form's neck as she pulled tighter and tighter as a gurgle escape the form's mouth.
"Now tell me who you are and I will choose the least painful way to kill you." Helena whispered in the form's ear as she loosened the chord.
The form gasped for air and replied, "No killing, you know Myka would be super pissed."
Helena recognized the statement from before and released the man, "PETE?!" she asked surprised.
"Uh, hi there H.G. if you don't mind me asking, what do you think you're doing?" He said rubbing his throat and standing up from the chair. Helena felt foolish but only more so when Pete flipped the light switch revealing a pristine medical room.
"I uh…" Helena scrambled to explain herself but each clarification sounded worse than the last.
Pete laughed at Helena's speechlessness, "Thought I was some big bad guy waiting to kill you in some dirty warehouse?" Pete asked humoring himself.
"Sort of?" Helena replied embarrassed.
"Well you got on part right." Pete said as he raised his arms into the air, "Welcome back to Warehouse 13. Artie insisted that you be brought back after the whole 'Days Innferno'."
Helena looked about the room but failed to recognize it, "Days Inern…what? Oh my god, Myka!" Helena remembered her standing there in the fire with her.
"Myka is just fine, H.G. She was able to carry you out of the room and into safety without a singed hair on her head." Pete offered.
"That means it must be an artifact." Helena replied putting the pieces of her memory back together, "the fire didn't want her, it sought only me."
Pete nodded, "Yeah, Artie said he'd never heard of any artifact like that though….Oh by the way! I'm supposed to ask for Nate's contact information so that we can let him know that you are safe." He said pulling out his phone.
"That won't be necessary, Pete." Helena replied flatly.
"Of course it is, he's probably worried sick that you've become some kind of roast duck by now!"
Helena took a moment and found the words she needed, "It won't be necessary because Nate and I are no longer together. Informing him of my whereabouts would only be more of a burden upon him and his family." Helena had spoken into her lap but looked up to see Pete's reaction, his jaw had dropped and his eyebrows were raised so high they nearly met his hairline.
"Oh!" Pete managed to reply, he tapped the phone against the palm of his hand a few times and asked, "Does Myka know about this?"
Helena had known this question was coming and she was still unprepared to give an answer, "No… she does not. Myka expressed little interest in catching up. I hardly think she would enjoy hearing about my failed engagement." Helena offered, lifting her left hand in the air for Pete to notice a small pale band across her finger.
Pete smiled but realized it was an inappropriate response, "You never know, Myka is full of surprises these days." With that Pete excused himself from the room leaving Helena with her thoughts.
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"Is it true?! Is H.G. back?" Claudia exclaimed as she bounded down the stairs to the dinning room, her eyes skimmed the room but found no such person.
"H.G. is being seen to by Vanessa at the moment. They should be joining us any time now." Artie explained as he took a seat at the table.
Myka was already seated and was eating a bowl of cereal with more determination than necessary. Noticing her efforts Artie felt the need to interrupt, "Myka, I'm surprised that you're not more excited to have H.G. back at the Warehouse."
Their eyes met and Myka set her spoon down into the empty bowl, "I'm happy Helena's here. Claudia seems to have really missed her." Myka said finishing with a smile.
"Yes, Claudia does seem happy, doesn't she? I only hope she doesn't take this time for granted. Who knows the next time a literary genius will grace us with their presence." Jinks commented as he came walking down the stairs.
Myka's eyes flew to Jinks and without another word he walked into the kitchen to join Claudia.
"He's right you know, I should really ask H.G. about a few of the artifacts she bagged for Warehouse 12. I'm almost certain one of them is causing mischief in the Machine Age Sector." Artie added as he picked up the morning paper form the table.
Is one of them a cross, Myka thought to herself, because I'm fairly certain she's still carrying that one around with her.
