Helena sat at her desk, going over some files for the case that she was working on. A teenage boy found shot to death on the side of the road, she hoped that she could find some fingerprints on the bullets but there no such luck. She knew that it must have been gang violence of some sort. It always pained her to have such a young person with so much potential end up on her table. She always felt that distraction was the best thing when she was having a tough time at work.
Going out to dinner with Nate and the girls was nice. She really only said yes to him out of pity; he was a good man, not bad looking either but he was also incredibly boring. All he talked about was his work and the fishing trips he would take with his friends, which Helena really had absolutely no interest in. But the girls had fun which was enough for her.
"I had a great time tonight mummy." Christina said from the back seat of the car as they drove home.
"As did I darling." Helena answered. "Uncle Charles wants to know if you're enjoying the toy castle that he sent you. Have you started building it yet?" She asked changing the subject.
"No not yet. I'm waiting until Aiden and Pierce come over again. I want to do it with them, especially Aiden he's very good at building things. He's got lots of legos in his room. When are we going to see them again mummy?"
"I'm not sure darling but I will ring Myka and ask her if she want to come over this weekend, alright?" Helena smiled at the young girl.
"Alright but don't forget! You always forget!"
"I won't, I promise."
/
Myka and her parents took the kids out for breakfast before they had to fly back to Colorado. They decided to go to a nice waffle house close to airport.
"I'm sorry that we can't stay longer." Her mother apologized. "But we do have the bookstore to run."
"Oh no it's okay mom, it's good that you came." Myka said as she fed Seren some eggs.
"Boy's why aren't you eating your waffles?" Mr. Bering asked.
"I don't like them." Aiden said pushing his plate away.
"Why not?" Myka ran a hand though her son's dark brown hair.
"They're not good." He sighed. "Helena's were better." Pierce nodded in agreement.
"Who's Helena?" Jeanne asked.
"A friend mom." Myka answered.
"She made the best waffles ever after we spent the night!" Aiden bragged. "But we had to be quiet and not wake mommy."
"It was fun." Pierce chimed in.
"All of you spent the night?" Jeanne asked confused.
"It's a long story mom." Myka waved off. "A really really long story."
"Well you've just never mentioned her before I assume she must be a really close friend if you allow your children to sleep over at her house for the night."
'If only you knew.' Myka though to herself.
"She has daughter that the kids like to play with." Myka said. "She's really great with the kid's mom."
Jeannie opened her mouth to ask more about this mysterious woman who suddenly popped up into her daughter's and grandchildren's lives but much to Myka's relief the waitress decided at that moment to come and bring them their check.
After she dropped parents off at the airport and they said their goodbyes Myka took the kids to the park. Aiden didn't have any school that day because apparently there was something wrong with a few of the pipes in a couple of the bathrooms and they had to do some digging so they allowed the kids to stay home for a day or two until they could get it all situated. She figured that she might as well let Pierce stay home from school too, mainly because her parents wanted to see him before they left.
She thought about breakfast earlier and the way Aiden had talked about Helena and she realized how close her family had gotten to the Wells. Obviously to Myka Helena was more than just a close friend. But to the kids she really had become an adult figure that they looked up to. And Christina was like a sister to them.
Myka knew that she and Helena couldn't be careless, they had gotten a little carried away on Saturday and if Sam had caught them..she didn't even want to think about what he would have done. She couldn't be selfish, other people were involved.
If she was going to leave Sam she was going to be smart about it. She was going to get a job first and save up some money so she could get a place for her and the kids. She knew that Sam was not going to take the split easily but this was what she felt was right. She had been thinking about leaving him for a while, Helena just gave her the push that she needed.
/
Myka was cutting up the carrots for dinner when her phone rang.
"Hello." She answered.
"Oh good I do hate voice mail." Helena joked on the other line.
"Hi Helena." Myka chuckled.
"Hello darling. I was calling because Christina and I were wondering if you and the kids wanted come over to our house on Saturday?" The britt asked. "That is if you don't already have other plans."
"Um no I don't think we do." Myka washed dried her hands. "I'm sure we can come."
"Aces! Christina will be so excited." Helena said. "Oh but isn't Sam back won't he-"
"Sam's going out with some of his buddies." Myka said as poured the carrots into a pot. "This is the first weekend that they've all had off so they're having a guy's day or something."
"Oh, well okay. Um be at my house at let's say…four?"
"Yeah four sounds good. Do you need me to bring anything?"
"No you and the children will be more than enough."
"Okay." Myka laughed. "Until then."
"Until then."
/
'We're here.' Myka texted Helena. For some reason Helena had told her that when she arrived at her house for her not to get out from her car and just let her know when she arrived. When she asked why the britt merely replied 'it's a secret.'
"Christina darling they're here! It's time to go!" Helena called for her daughter.
"Coming!" Christina yelled. "Where are we going?"
"It's surprise." Helena answered as she led her daughter out of the house and closed the door behind them.
Myka rolled down the passenger window when Helena walked over.
"Hello." Helena greeted.
"Hi Helena!" Pierce waved to her from the backseat.
"Hello sweetheart, how are all of you good?" She asked. The two boys nodded. "Good!"
"So are you going to tell me what's going on or not?" Myka said playfully.
"Well it wouldn't be a secret if I told you now would it?" Helena teased. "Just follow me." With that she put on her sunglasses, turned and headed for her car.
Myka shook her head and grinned at the other woman.
About twenty minutes later they pulled into a shopping mall parking lot.
"What are we doing here mommy?" Aiden asked.
"I have no idea." Myka said as she put the car in park.
"Helena!" Pierce sang out as he ran across the pavement to the woman. Helena swept him off the floor and kissed him on the cheek. "I missed you."
"I know my dear boy, two weeks away from each other is far too long don't you think?" She nuzzled his face.
"Guess what?" Pierce grinned.
"What?" Helena implored.
"Aiden lost a toof!" The boy exclaimed.
"He did?!" Helena gasped. She turned to the other male Martino, who was talking to Christina. "Aiden did you lose a tooth?"
"Mhm! See?" He smiled and showed that one of his front teeth were missing.
"Oh my!" Helena laughed.
Just than Myka walked over, pushing Seren in the stroller.
"You showing them your too missing tooth bud?" She countered.
"Yep." He turned back to continue talking to Christina.
"So now can you tell me what we're doing here?" Myka pleaded.
"Nope." Helena shook her head. "Not yet." She began walking, she could hear Myka let out a frustrated sigh behind her. "Come along, no dawdling!"
After a few minutes of walking into the mall they stopped in from a of a Halloween store.
Helena knocked on the entrance door.
"Helena what are you doing they're not open for another week?"Myka pointed to the big Grand Opening sign hanging in the front.
Before Helena could answer the door opened revealing a spunky looking young girl with short red hair with a streak of purple in it.
"Hey guys!" She said excitedly.
"Claudia!" Chistina yelped and hugged the other girl.
"Hey munchkin." Claudia responded. "Come on in." She moved out of the way so that the rest of the crew could enter.
Claudia quickly closed the door behind them a locked it.
"Wow." All kids gasped as they scanned the store. There were costumes and props everywhere.
"Thank you so much for letting us do this." Helena hugged the younger woman.
"Oh of course how could I say no?" The girl joked.
"Oh um.." Helena took Myka arm. "Myka this is Claudia Donovan. She babysits Christina for me and she also works here, that is when she;s not in school."
"Hi." Myka stuck out her hand for girl to shake, which she did.
"Nice to meet you." Claudia smiled down at Seren. "Oh my god you are so fracking adorable. What's her name?"
"Seren." Myka answered.
"Hi Seren." Claudia gently ran her finger over the girls small, soft cheek.
"So Claudia can we uh-" Helena pointed to the giant store.
"Oh yeah! Ofcourse! Go!" Claudia waved her arms. "Just let me know if you need anything and when you're done I'll ring up your stuff."
The first thing Pierce set out to look for was his Buzz light-year costume, it took him a while but he eventually found it.
Christina was absolutely ecstatic when she found the perfect Athena costume. It was white and turquoise dress with a gold belt.
"So what do you wanna be Aiden?" Myka asked.
"I don't know." The boy shrugged. "Oh what about that?!" He pointed the costume that was right next to Christina's. "It's a gladiator!"
"It's better than that. It's Achilles!" Myka excalimed as she reached up and took the costume down from the rack.
"Who's that?" The little boy questioned.
"He was the greatest warrior in Homers the Illiad which is like Greek mythology. He fought in the Trojan War. But he was killed because he was shot in the one place that wasn't blessed, when he was a baby his mother washed him in this magical river but the only part that didn't get washed was his heel, which is where he was hot, hence why we call this," She touched the back of her sons foot. "the Achilles heel."
"Cool." The boy gave her a toothless smile.
"So you wanna get it?" She held up the costume.
"Mhm!" He nodded his head.
"Here you go." She handed it over. "Now go find yourself a shield and Helmet."
"Okay!" He ran off to the props section. "Hey Christina guess what I'm gonna be?!"
"My you really know your Greek mythology." Helena commented from behind the other woman.
"Yeah well the story of Troy is my favorite." Myka smirked.
"So do you think Troy actually existed?" Helena asked.
"I like to think it did. But it probably didn't." Myka chuckled. "Thank you for this by the way. I always try to come here every year but they're always so packed and are out of stock of everything I need."
"Yes well you really have Claudia to thank."
"We aren't going to get into trouble if we're here right? With the owners I mean."
"No." Helena shook her head. "They owe Claudia a favor because she modified their computers and setup fire walls...or something like that. So have you picked your costume yet?"
"Yes I have." Myka held up a black bag. "But I'm not gonna tell you what it is. It's a surprise. What about you?"
"Claudia's holding it at the front desk for me."
"What are you gonna be?" Myka put her bag in the stroller.
"I'm not gonna tell you. It's a surprise." Helena mocked. Myka laughed and followed the other woman to the front desk.
"All right you guys, here you go." Claudia handed Myka the last bag.
"Thank you so much." Myka said.
"Oh please it was my pleasure. By the way your kids are super cute."
"Good jeans." Helena winked at Myka. "Thank you again Claudia. I'll see you soon."
"Yeah totally, have a good night guys." She waved at the kids. "So fracking cute." She mumbled to herself.
"That was fun!" Christina bubbled as they walked out into the parking lot.
"Well it's only five thirty." Helena checked her watch. "You guys could come back to our place, watch a movie or something."
"Oh can we?" Pierce asked looking up to his mother.
"Only if I can make dinner."
/
"Here you can put her on my bed." Helena said as she and Myka walked into her room.
Myka set a sleeping Seren on the middle of the mattress. They set up a little pillow fort around the infant so that she couldn't roll off.
"She's so beautiful Myka." Helena softly tucked one of Seren's curls behind her ear. "Just like her mother."
Myka smiled softly at Helena. The smaller woman put her hand on Myka's cheek and ran her thumb over her lips. Myka put her hand on Helena's stopping her movements.
"Helena," She whispered. "we need to be careful. Last time with Sam we almost-"
"I know." Helena nodded.
"We just have to be more responsible. I care about you and Christina and I see how much you guys mean to the kids and if we aren't careful things could end badly and I don't want anybody getting hurt."
"I understand." Helena put her hand in Myka's curls, she gently kissed Myka on her cheek. "Now you promised me dinner." She took the other woman's hand and led her out of the room.
"Okay so it looks like we're gonna have lasagna. I know the kids like that." Myka said as she was bent over looking through the freezer. Helena definitely noticed how the other woman's shirt rose, revealing the perfectly flawless skin underneath. "Do you have a pan?"
"Oh uh..yes I do." Helena walked over to the cupboard and pulled out a rectangular shaped pan. "Here you are."
"Thank you." Myka set the pan on the counter. "Okay so I need a spoon." She walked over and grabbed one out of one of the drawers.
Helena was absolutely mesmerized as she watched Myka cook. She was in her own in little zone, just effortlessly moving about the kitchen. She would hum to herself without even knowing she was doing it, which Helena thought was the cutest thing she had ever seen.
Myka looked up when she felt a pair of eyes on her.
"What?" She asked nervously.
"Nothing." Helena waved off. "You just amaze me."
"Why?" Myka tucked a hair behind her ear.
"What do you mean why? You just do. You're so beautiful and smart and you know how to do everything." Helena made her way over to where Myka was standing.
"Well you're not too bad yourself." Myka blushed.
Helena ran her hand down Myka's arm, she could barely stand the distance between them. All she had wanted to do the entire day, hell the entire week was kiss those incredibly soft lips. She slowly leaned in, their lips were only centimeters apart.
"Mommy! Mommy!"
The two women jumped apart, Helena slammed into the counter during the process.
Myka turned to see Pierce standing at the door of kitchen.
"What's up bud?" She asked, with a deer caught in headlights look on her face.
"Christina and Aiden want to know when dinner's gonna be ready?" He said.
"Soon." Myka answered. "Five minutes."
"Okay." He ran back out the door.
The two women sighed in relief.
"You don't think he saw us?" Myk asked worriedly.
"No I-I don't think so." Helena rubbed her thigh.
"Let's just get dinner ready." Myka sighed and opened the oven and took out the lasagna.
/
After dinner the kids stayed in the living room to watch Despicable Me while Helena showed Myka the library that she had in the study.
"Wow you probably have the best personal collection of books that I have ever seen." Myka said as ran her fingers along a shelf.
"Well thank you. My family's always collected books so most of them were given to me by my father." Helena sat down the couch that was in the middle of the room.
"That's nice." Myka smiled. "My dad use to read me books all the time."
"Who's your favorite author?" Helena asked.
"Okay now don't think I'm saying this to make fun of you or anything." Myka said as she turned around. "But HG Wells is my favorite author."
"Well it's understandable he was a remarkable man. My favorite book by him is War of the Worlds." Helena smiled.
"That's my favorite too." Myka beamed, showing off her beautiful smile.
"Well I think I have an extra copy on the third shelf." Helena got up and scanned said area. "Aha!" She said triumphantly. She walked back over to the couch and sat down. "Come on." She patted the cushion next to her.
Myka joined Helena, the other woman draped a blanket over them. The two women cuddled into each other as Helena began reading from the book.
Myka got lost in Helena's voice, she closed her eyes and all she could hear was Helena talking and the crackling of the wood burning in the fireplace.
She felt safe with Helena, just being this close to the her was enough for Myka. The smell of that oh so familiar perfume and the feel of her chest rising up and down slowly beneath her almost felt surreal. She didn't know why Helena made her feel like that but nothing these past couple of weeks had truly made sense.
Just as Helena was finishing the fourth chapter Christina came in.
"Hey." Myka smiled. "Is everything okay?"
"Yeah." She nodded. "The movies over. Dinner was really good Myka."
"Oh thank you." Myka said gratefully.
"Mummy next time can we go to dinner with Myka and kids to the same restaurant Nate took us on Wednesday?"
"Uh sure." Helena nodded.
"Who's Nate?" Myka asked.
"Nate's my best friend's dad." Christina said. "He's really nice, he taught me to shoot a basketball. He took us to dinner at this really nice restaurant, it was lots of fun."
"Ohh." Myka nodded.
"Christina come look at this!" Aiden called.
"Coming!" The girl ran out to the living room, closing the door behind her, leaving the women alone again.
"So..Nate?" Myka inquired.
"Now Myka," Helena began.
"No no it's fine." Myka pushed the blanket off of her. "I get it."
"Myka." Helena put hand on the woman's arm. "It was just dinner. We were getting to know each other better, our kids just enjoy each other's company. Okay two families together that's it!"
"Doesn't that sound familiar?" Myka gestured between the both of them. She stood up and began putting on her jacket. "Look it's okay, you can do whatever you want it's not like you belong to me anyway."
"No it's not the same!" Helena stood up and tried to block Myka from leaving. "And besides how can you be jealous? How do you think I feel knowing that you go to bed every night with Sam?!"
"Since this thing between us started I have not touched Sam because I would feel like I was betraying you; but I guess this means more to me then it does to you." Myka exclaimed.
"That is not true! And it's not all about you here Myka, I'm sorry that your husband's an asshole but you're not the only one suffering!" Myka opened her mouth to say something but instead she just pushed her way past the other woman.
"Myka!" Helena called after her and followed the taller woman into the room. "Myka please."
"Helena I don't want to talk about." She said as she picked Seren up from the bed. "You and I we just..I don't know what we were doing anyways. We rushed into everything too fast." She walked out of the bedroom.
"Myka I'm sorry I didn't mean that." Helena whispered, she didn't want to cause a scene in front of the children.
"Come on guys we gotta go home." Myka said to her sons.
"But I don't wanna go." Aiden whined.
"Aiden it's getting late, so please get your shoes on." Myka said sternly.
Pierce walked over to Helena snuggled into her side.
"Can we stay here tonight?" He asked, his big brown eyes staring up at her. "Please?"
Helena slowly bent down next to the small boy.
"Not tonight." She said reluctantly. "Another time." She kissed his cheek. "Now go, your mommy's waiting for you."
The little boy hung his head and took hold of Myka's outstretched hand. Helena stood in the doorway as she watched them drive off. She knew what she had said was a little harsh, she always had a way of always losing her cool when things got too serious. She was just getting so frustrated with the situation. It pained her to watch the woman that she cared for indebted to a man who wasn't worthy of her. Maybe Myka was right; they really didn't didn't what they were doing.
Thank you so much to Jess82x for all of your great ideas, I couldn't have done without you3