Chapter 7 V Day

"If you obey all the rules you miss all the fun." Katharine Hepburn


Helena woke up ready to greet the day with only one challenge – keep her surprise a secret.

"Happy Valentine's Day, my love," she said to Myka when the younger agent finally opened her eyes.

"Happy Valentine's Day to you, too," Myka said.

Helena reached into the nightstand on her side of the room and pulled out an envelope. Myka always enjoyed Helena's cards – always made by hand with sentiments written in HG's beautiful script. This was a puzzle purse, a piece of paper folded geometrically into little squares and triangles, and then folded over until it was one small square.

As Myka opened it, each page had a drawing or a saying on it. Helena had spent days sketching little red hearts and flowers with green leaves. Sayings such as; I am blessed to have you in my life and the heavens are missing an angel for she is right here by my side adorned the boxes. Myka looked like a child on Christmas morning as she gently opened each flap and read the contents, until she reached the center box.

"Mon coeur t'appartient pour toujours," she read and tears welled up in her eyes. (My heart belongs to you forever).

"It's beautiful, Helena," Myka said as HG wiped a tear from her cheek. No one had ever treated Myka as kindly as Helena.

"Now yours," Myka said as she opened the drawer on her side of the bed. She took out a small package, wrapped in tissue paper stamped with pink and red hearts and tied with pink ribbon. Helena sat up in bed and opened the gift hurriedly. Inside was a leather journal with a leather string to bind it. In the small box was a fountain pen, the only kind of instrument worthy of Helena's fine script, Myka thought.

"They are lovely, Myka," HG said as she ran her hand over the soft leather with her initials embossed on the bottom.

"I want you to write, Helena," Myka said softly.

"What shall I write, darling?" the Brit smiled.

"Anything," Myka said and meant it. Anything out of that woman's head interested Myka.

"Shall I write all the things I intend to do to you when you return from your dinner?" HG teased, running her tongue over her lip, but not looking at Myka. Myka's body reacted instantly.

"The HG Wells Manual on Lovemaking? Hmmm, I like it," Myka teased. "Although you might want to make sure you perfect your techniques before you publish," Myka said before pulling HG into her.

"That's a good point, Myka, but perhaps I will need more test subjects?" HG taunted Myka's brain as she rendered her body useless.

"This is not one of those open relationships, darling," Myka said, emphasizing HG's term of endearment.

The phrase struck Helena.

'I have a very open relationship with my husband, Helena', is what the doctor had whispered in her ear.

Helena never did get back to that though. Myka distracted her for much of the morning. She insisted on bringing HG what turned about to be more lunch than breakfast in bed since they would not be having dinner together.


Myka didn't want to spoil the surprise that she already knew about, so she went along with HG pouting about not being able to spend dinner with her. "I know, it really is a shame," Myka said almost convincingly. She knew Helena would not allow anyone to win that bid – and she wasn't surprised that it was a timid tech guy who placed the bid for Helena.

"Will you be up when I get back?" Myka teased.

"Of course I will, and if he gets fresh Myka, I want you to call me," HG said sounding serious.

Myka played her part – asking HG if she didn't think the red, tight-fitting dress was too much – but HG insisted she needed to wear red on Valentine's Day.

"I don't want to give him the wrong idea," Myka said looking at her figure in the full length mirror.

Helena asked Leena to ask Myka to drop her off at her dinner destination so that she could see Myka off and then rush to the restaurant first. She wanted Myka to be escorted to the table, expecting to see young Clark, but HG would be there instead. If Myka didn't know Helena and her jealous streak so well, she might have been able to pull it off.


Right on cue, Myka and Leena walked out the door at 7:30 and HG shot up the stairs to change. She put her new black dress and high heel shoes. She knocked on Pete's door to come out because he was dropping her off at the restaurant.

"Mr. Lattimer!" HG said having never seen him look so handsome. Pete was in a black tuxedo, white shirt with a red bow tie.

"I don't want to disappoint the ladies," he said beaming.

"Oh you shan't, I am certain of that," HG complimented him as they walked downstairs.

"Come on Claudia," he yelled and the young agent appeared decked out in red dress and black jacket, no boots, but shoes. HG and Pete stared as she descended the steps.

"You look….," Pete said taken aback at how mature she looked. "…..Beautiful," HG finished the thought.

"Oh thanks guys," Claudia said blushing. "Not too much?" she said sticking her foot out.

"No, you look …..," HG said.

"Grown up," Pete finished.

"Oh good, maybe I won' get carded," Claudia said. This admission prompted Pete to go into parent mode.

"OK, now listen to me young lady, no ….. ok ….. anything," he said unprepared to give this speech. Helena had to smile as he tried to remember all the warnings.

"No funny stuff," Pete said, and Claudia purposely asked, "You mean like jokes?"

"No, I don't mean jokes. I mean no hanky panky," he tried. This made Claudia spit out her next laugh.

"Hanky what?" she laughed.

"HG, help me out here. Oh look who I'm asking for help," Pete said a little too loudly.

Helena stared at him. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do," HG smiled mischievously, walking out to the car.

"Oh great, right like that really narrows it down," Pete complained as joined them in the SUV.

Helena smiled all the way as Pete continued his pseudo lecture and Claudia tripped him up each step of the way.

"What are telling me to be careful for? You're the one going out with a bunch of nurses, for peats sake! Pun intended," Claudia said back.

"I am a little more experienced, I can handle five ladies. I'm used to the ….attention," Pete tried.

"Oh well, if this is about attention and experience, I think I'll ask HG," Claudia shot back.

Pete caught Helena's smile in the rear view mirror. "You're only encouraging her," Pete admonished HG.


He pulled up outside the fancy restaurant at 7:45. "Here you go, my lady," Pete said as he got out and opened the door for Helena.

"Thank you, kind sir," HG kidded him. And just before she was about to leave, she turned back to him.

"Pete?"

"Yeah, HG?" he asked fixing his tuxedo jacket. The sight of Pete all dressed up… and happy… was a sight to behold, she thought.

"Those are five very fortunate women indeed," she said.

"Thanks, HG," Pete said, and wanted to show her how much he appreciated all she did to make this night happen. If it were Myka, he would have kissed her on the cheek, but he was less certain what to do with Helena. He started to move toward her, but changed his mind, and then awkwardly grabbed her hand, bent down, and kissed it. Helena smiled at the gesture, bowed her head slightly in response and waved goodbye as they left. She was pleased to see her friends so happy, and delighted that she has something to do with that in some small way.


Myka had just dropped Leena off at the ice skating rink where her date, Kenneth had asked her to meet him. "Do you ice skate?" was what he asked her, and when she said yes, he said he had the perfect place to meet. She didn't want to say no, but ice skating was not what she thought of when she thought of a Valentine dinner. She walked into the rink expecting to see dozens of couples and families, but the rink was dark. The only light was on the ice itself, off in the distance. Leena started to get nervous and wondered if Myka had left. Just then, she was approached by a man dressed like a waiter.

"I'm armed," she lied. The man looked at her as if she wasn't speaking English.

"Miss Leena?" he asked, as he offered his arm. Leena accepted it, but only after she decided she could take him. The closer she got to the rink, the more she could hear the violins playing off to the side, and realized the music was live. Four musicians were located off to the end of the ice rink on what appeared to be a circular platform. Leena looked to the other side and there at the end of the red carpet was another round platform, complete with dinner table and chairs. Kenneth walked the length of the runner to take Leena's hand.

"When you said you liked ice skating, I thought the least I could do was make it fun," he said as he walked her to the table.

"Well, actually I said I liked to watch it," Leena said, amazed by the set up.

"Yes, I know," Kenneth said and nodded his head. The waiter put a warm blanket around Leena's shoulders and Kenneth sat on the same side of the table. A spot light went onto the ice and the musicians played and suddenly appeared the littlest ice skaters gliding onto the ice. They skated across the ice clumsily, but never lost their balance. Then they were joined by two older girls who twirled and did figure eights with ease. Two teenagers joined them and they all skated together to the music. When it was over, they rushed to the platform, stopping just in time.

"How was that Uncle Kenneth," the youngest asked. "That Clare was wonderful. Everyone, this is Miss Leena. Leena, these are my wonderful nieces who agreed to perform for you tonight," he said beaming. Leena said hello and thanked each of the girls.

"You sure know how to impress a woman," Leena said smiling.

"Them? No, cheap labor," he smiled as he poured wine.

"This is really ….lovely," Leena said, amazed that she didn't feel a bit cold.

"It's just the beginning," Kenneth said.


Pete pulled up to the restaurant and there in the window waved his five lovely dates. Each one was dressed with some article of clothing in red. He grabbed the five roses from the back seat.

"Ah Mr. Lattimer, your party has been waiting anxiously for you," the maître d said to him, winking at Pete.

Pete greeted each of the ladies, handed them a rose, and sat in the chair they had saved just for him. Each one of them asked him questions and for a while, it looked as if he was at a tennis match. When he burned his tongue on the appetizer, the two closest grabbed ice, and a cold soaked napkin and placed it on his tongue. Yes, Pete liked dating nurses. He sampled food from each of their plates, mostly because they insisted and each gave him the sample on their folk. "Are you guys worried about germs," he asked seriously. That led to jokes about being dirty which led to the suggestion of dancing and the plans were made. Pete was going to work off that meal dancing.


Claudia had serious second thoughts about the whole thing when she walked into the Hard Rock Café, looking for her date. Why did she let HG talk her into this? It was a ridiculous idea. She didn't care if the Brit had the scariest cold hard look she had ever seen, she was going to tell her in no uncertain terms that this was l-a-m-e and her fault. She was about to walk out, the feeling of being stood up surging in her stomach, when Brandon walked in. He had the number '678' plastered to his forehead as he approached her. The gesture made Claudia laugh out loud and relax.

An hour later, she was arguing with him over the future of tablets and loving every moment of it.


Helena was escorted to the table she had selected because its location would prevent Myka was seeing her when she walked in. She told her maître d' that she wanted him to bring Myka to the table when she arrived, describing what she had on. Helena sat back, with the Cheshire grin on her face that at this very moment, all of her friends were enjoying themselves on Valentine's Day. It was one minute to 8 o'clock and Helena took a deep breath of excitement because she knew how prompt Myka was.

At that very same moment, Myka was walking into the restaurant and the maître d was escorting her over to the table. Heads turned as people looked to see this stunning woman walk through in a tight red dress with legs that didn't end. More than one man had his ankle kicked to get his attention back. Myka took a deep breath, and rehearsed her surprise look so that when she saw HG she would be convincing. She had to give it to Helena; changing the restaurant at the last minute to throw her off. She would give her A for effort.

Myka purposely didn't look across the table as the waiter held the chair for her. "I'm sorry if I'm late, Clark, " she said as her opening line, and looked up ready to be look shocked. And she really was, because there across from her stood the young man, beaming.

"Wow, you look smokin' hot," he said out loud and laughter erupted at the tables near them.

"Clark?" Myka said, looking around at the other tables. "What are you doing here?"

"Agent Bering, I won the bet remember," the young man said and handed Myka a bouquet of flowers.

"Thank you, Clark, but are you sure?" Myka asked wondering how she could have missed this.

"Oh yes, I am sure," he said boldly. "You said you wanted to go to dinner with me, remember?"

"Oh Clark, did you ..I mean …how did you?" Myka said, taking out her phone to see that the text was from his phone number. "How did you get my number?"

She had assumed HG fiddled with the phone to make it appear that the text from her phone had Clark's name on it. "Genius," she had thought.

"Oh Agent Bering, I'm a genius geek. Getting your number was easy. I hope you don't mind that I changed the plans. It seemed to me your friend was a little too controlling for my tastes," he said looking at the menu.

"Wait, did you and Agent Wells agree on this," Myka said pointing back and forth at them.

"Well not exactly. But she was very confusing. She gave me the money to bid on your, then said I didn't win when I did, and then she wouldn't take the money back. She told me to tell you that restaurant even though I hate French food, and then said she would get the money from me next week at the store. I have it here, so you can just give it to her. I'm paying for dinner. I didn't take any money out, I swear," he declared. "She offered to get me a date with the really cute agent, Claudia? But I would much rather have dinner with you."

Myka tried to smile back at him, but it was hard when his life was in danger.

"Clark, I think there has been a misunderstanding, a mistake," Myka tried, but the waiter was there telling them about the specials and Clark was starving. He was ordering appetizers and then their entrees which he told Myka he was taking the liberty of doing because he was part Italian.

"Clark, I have to text Agent Wells," Myka said pulling her phone out. She was pretty sure that HG was sitting at a table in a restaurant a few blocks away.

"You're not asking her to join us are you cause really, she's a little scary when she's mad," Clark said shoving a buttered roll into his mouth.

"Oh sweetie, you haven't seen anything yet," Myka said, slipping the phone back into her purse and glancing at the entry way.


Thank you to Ariel Hedgehog for allowing HG to write in French.
And to everyone who is reading along, thanks for doing so and posting your comments.
Always appreciate you taking the time to do that.