A/N: Hey folks :) Thanks for all your lovely reviews! I've said it before and I'l say it again: they really are like writers' catnip...mmm :) Anywho, prepare yourselves for a bit of a fluffapalooza in this chapter, and I have a feeling it's going to spill over into the next one too, but we all need a good dose of fluff from time to time :) ...you know, outside the context of fanfiction, that would sound reallllly weird...
Disclaimer: Unfortunately, it is still the case that none of Warehouse 13 actually belongs to me
Chapter 7
"Are you ok?"
I smiled as Myka's arm wrapped itself firmly around my waist, her fingers gripping my hip.
"Yes, darling; the spinning seems to have diminished significantly."
"Ok, well," she smirked slightly, "I'm going to keep hold of you anyway, just in case."
"Good plan," I smirked back at her, enjoying the feeling of her hand on me. "Wouldn't want to risk anything on those stairs, would we?"
"Absolutely not," the smirk broke into a wide grin and she pulled me tighter against her, pressing a quick kiss against my temple before we exited my room on our great quest to the sitting room. It had been a few hours since my fainting spell now and we'd passed the time in the most wonderful fashion: talking honestly with each other, sharing intimacies as yet unreached, exploring some of this new physical dimension to our relationship. However, we both knew we were still too emotionally stressed to throw ourselves into the deep end of said physical dimension straight away, even if our bodies tried to tell us otherwise. We had both in that short time found ourselves clawing at each other for things we desired but knew we weren't ready for, so in order to prevent unwise escalation we had decided to leave the temptation of being alone together on my bed and seek out the 'family friendly zone' (to use Myka's words) of the sitting room.
"H.G.!" a small chorus of welcoming cries drew us as we reached the bottom of the stairs.
"You ok there? Need a hand?" Pete jogged over to offer his services.
"It's ok," Myka waved him off, gripping me tighter, "I've got her." She blushed a little and I spectacularly failed in my attempts to not smirk as Pete's eyebrows rose significantly.
"Yes, thank you Pete; I'm quite alright really. Myka just doesn't quite trust me to stay vertical by myself yet."
"Alrighty then," he grinned at us, the smile only widening as his eyes glanced down to take in the fact that Myka's fingers were laced intimately together with my own where she held my hip. "I think there's a sofa free for the two of you if you want to come and watch me giving Claudia a master class in kicking ass at Mario Kart?"
"Hey!" Claudia's protest met us as we entered the room. "Who's giving who the master class, Lattimer?" She softened as her focus shifted instead to me. "Good to see you up and about, H.G.; you had us all worried for a while there."
"Indeed," Abigail chimed in from her chair, also smiling as her observant eyes took in Myka's hold on me. "I'm glad to see Myka's been taking good care of you." Myka seemed to choke a little on the air.
"Are you alright, darling?" I murmured, rubbing her back gently as she regained her ability to breathe.
"Yes, I'm fine," the amused and flustered expression on her face was ever so endearing. "Just, uh, choking." She wrapped her choke-displaced arm back around my waist, reclaiming my hand as she did so. "Let's grab that sofa." I smiled my assent and allowed her to lead me toward the vacant sofa. I turned a slightly confused face to her as she deposited me there and stood up again; she smiled reassuringly, keeping hold of the hand she'd held. "Anybody for tea? Coffee?"
"Oh yes, darling; that would be divine. Honey and vanilla chamomile, please?"
"Of course," she smiled, squeezing my hand gently before turning an enquiring face to the others.
"I'd love a peppermint tea, thanks Myka," Abigail chuckled as I reflexively made a face. "Yes I know you hate the 'vile substance' H.G., but some of us find it refreshing."
"Yes, well that only speaks to poor taste," I shot back, grinning as Myka gave me a reproving look.
"Cream soda for me," Pete sang out.
"Me too! Oh no you don't-" Claudia leant frantically over, squealing before letting out a yell of triumph matched only by Pete's caw of dismay. "Yahaa!" she cackled, as Pete grumbled about students and teachers and rematches. I felt Myka's eyes on me and met them, sharing a fond smile.
"Ok," she summarised, "two cream sodas, a peppermint, a honey and vanilla and whatever I'm having."
"You need a hand?" Abigail offered, beginning to rise before Myka stopped her.
"No, I'll be fine but thanks." To my surprise, she bent down and pressed a soft kiss to my temple before she strolled off to the kitchen. Abigail, who was sat across from me, raised an eyebrow, her already wide smile widening. I was grateful for a moment that Pete and Claudia were too absorbed in the next race to have noticed.
"What are you reading?" I asked, partly to deflect the coming questions, partly out of curiosity as I noticed the book resting in Abigail's lap.
"Oh," she grinned, recognising the deflection but allowing it. "It's a thriller by Harlen Coben, Tell No One. Have you come across any of his books yet?"
"The name isn't familiar." I still found it a strange mixture of frustration and excitement that there were such gaps in my literary knowledge: frustration of ignorance, but excitement of wonders still to be discovered.
"Well I'd definitely recommend it, certainly if you want something so gripping you actually can't put it down the first time you read it, and still struggle to the subsequent times. Have you read any?" She directed this last to Myka as she re-entered the room with two cans of cream soda which she placed on the floor between Pete and Claudia to a chorus of "tha-anks".
"Harlen Coben? Yeah I've read a few; they're good if I'm in the right mood for it. Isn't that the one that had a film made of it?" she'd wandered back toward my sofa but stood behind it, leaning over and threading her fingers through my hair, the soft caresses making me close my eyes for a moment in bewildered delight.
"Yeah," Abigail replied through her gargantuan grin. "It's one of the few films where the book was set in the US but the film is set somewhere else," she shared a chuckle with Myka, but I was still too enraptured by Myka's fingers to understand the joke. "It's in French I think, but then I guess that's not really an issue for you, is it?"
"Not really, no," Myka's voice was warm, and I knew she was smiling. We were all jolted back to the room by the commotion from the floor.
"Wooohoo!" Pete sang out, even as Claudia began to attack him. "And order is restored to the world-"
"I was just about to win and you shot me-"
"Who's the King of Mario Kart? Pete is!"
"You cheating cheater-"
"How is that cheating to use a weapon that I rightfully and skilfully picked up for just that reason?"
"Because I was literally just about to win-"
"Pete's the King!"
"You are going down, Lattimer!" Claudia practically growled as she started chugging her cream soda. "Just give me a minute to rehydrate, thanks Myka by the way-" she turned as she spoke to Myka, but raised a somewhat suspicious eyebrow, taking another draught of her drink as she squinted at us. "My, my; you two are pretty handsy-handsy-touchy-feely today aren't you? Like, more than usual." Myka's hands stilled for a moment but I reached up for one of them which she gave me and the other resumed its movement across my scalp. I tilted my head back to meet her eye and we shared a quick smile and a nod. We had decided to just wait until the appropriate moment to tell everyone, but not to deny any direct questions. It seemed a fairly appropriate moment, and an awkward question to attempt evading.
"Well, darling," I began, searching for the right words, "I suppose that would be considered a fairly accurate observation, Myka's and my own actions being, perhaps, indicative of a shift in the status of our relationship. I was shocked this morning to discover that the height of regard that I hold for Myka is, in fact, reciprocated, and so the emotions that I had long and hopelessly suppressed came spilling out, and I have been thoroughly and repeatedly assured that there is no further need for or advantage in my somewhat instinctual suppression. So, forthwith-"
"We're together now, Claude; together together." I could hear the amusement in Myka's voice as she cut across me.
"Yes," I mumbled, "I suppose that would be a more succinct way of putting it." I leaned back again to meet Myka's eye as she smirked at me, squeezing my hand.
"Holy face-palm!" Claudia's face split into the most joy-filled smile I had seen on her in months. "Dudes!" She seemed somehow at a loss for words to express the elation that was suffusing her face. "This is- This is just-"
"Abigail Cho you owe me fifty bucks!" Pete crowed, putting a hand out with his demand.
"I never agreed to the terms of that bet-"
"Say what?! You can't back out just because-"
"I never bet you anything, I just said I thought it would take another day or two-"
"Same diff-"
"You guys were betting on us?"
"No, Myka, Pete bet on you, I apparently just underestimated your ability to get Miss Stubborn over there to let go of some of that baggage-"
"I beg your pardon! 'Miss Stubborn'? And how do you know I have baggage?"
"Honey, you have to admit to at least a streak of stubbornness in your personality, and everyone has baggage; it doesn't take a psychotherapist to work out that what you've been through will only make it worse, and she's a psychotherapist-"
"Well, when you put it like that-"
"Oh my god that's so cute! She called her 'honey'! Wasn't that just the cutest thing you ever saw?"
"Yeah, that was pretty cute, but I can't admit that without losing some serious man points-"
"Dude, what is your obsession with man points?"
"I don't have an obsession-"
Suddenly, the clamour was interrupted by the clanging of Claudia's Farnsworth.
"Hey, Claude, just could use a little technical input on this one-" Steve's query was cut short by Claudia's high pitched squeal of excitement.
"Steve! You won't believe the most exciting thing that just happened right here like two seconds ago: Mykes and H.G. are together! Like together together! Oh my goodness they are just the cutest thing you ever saw, but how did I not see this coming? I know hindsight is 20:20 and everything, but-"
"Did you really not see it coming? I mean, really really, Claude? My gaydar has been pinging about those two since the first time I saw them together and H.G. wasn't even corporeal then."
"Yeah, well your gaydar is evidently more finely tuned than mine-"
"Darling, what's a 'gaydar'," I whispered to Myka and she suppressed a chuckle.
"Uh, it's, uh, I guess it's like a sixth sense to tell if someone's gay."
"How peculiar," I mused, pondering yet again the perplexing and alien feel of some words in the modern vernacular as Claudia continued to squeal excitedly at Steve until he managed to calm her down enough to distract her with his technical questions.
"Ooh, I think I heard the kettle boil a moment ago," Myka started with remembrance. "I'll be back in a minute." I reluctantly released her hand, my skin tingling for long seconds after she'd left.
"I don't know whether you'll get this cultural reference or not," Pete said, squinting at me, "but, as Myka's best bro, I have to warn you that if you ever hurt her-"
"Don't worry Pete," I smiled gently at him, sensing his awkward seriousness, "I understand perfectly. I think you'll find that that desire to protect the ones you love transcends culture, and I can assure you that I will do everything and anything in my power to make sure that I never hurt her again, that she is never hurt again. And, if I were to fail in this regard, I would gladly welcome the harshest punishment you could ever think to mete out." I was glad when he relaxed back into his bean bag, smiling at me.
"I kinda thought so, but I would be failing in my duties as best bro if I didn't give you the warning." I met his smile with a grin of my own, half surprised at the relief I felt at having received Pete's blessing. I suppose subconsciously I had been concerned about the possibility of the protective nature of Myka's 'best bro' coming out to protest against her union with someone like me, but evidently Pete had schooled himself to forgive and move on better than I would have been able to. I caught Abigail smirking to herself as she observed us and was about to enquire as to what could possibly have entertained her when she was saved by yet another squeal from Claudia.
"Wooah, hold on a minute Steve," she abandoned him to interrogate me. "Your 'shock at discovering Myka's reciprocal regard' this morning, is that what made you pass out? Dude, did you literally swoon? Oh sweet holy motherfrakking cuteness, she made you swoon!?"
"Not exactly, Claude," Myka rescued me from my flustered inability to respond as she returned with a tray of steaming mugs. "I don't have quite that level of charm."
"I don't know, darling," I had to protest Myka's self-effacing ways. "If anyone would ever be able to make me swoon, it would undoubtedly be you." She blushed beautifully and I made a mental note that public declarations of my adoration could evoke such a wondrous result.
"Helena, you're not helping with defusing the Claudia-cuteness bomb right now." Myka's mutter as she handed Abigail her tea brought my attention back to Claudia who was all but bouncing in her bean bag.
"Ah, yes, well," I addressed the young agent, "much as Myka does hold such a sway over me, in this instance it was more the stress of being forced to confront and own up to my feelings." I paused, watching Myka as she approached with our teas. "I've never truly been in love before, so with 150 years worth of emotion in the making, it was apparently all just a bit much for me to process." Myka smiled as she settled beside me on the sofa, her eyes dropping bashfully to consider our free hands as they tangled together in my lap. I turned toward her, bringing our joined hands to my lips and pressing a soft kiss to her knuckles as I met her eyes, wondering again at the beauty within their green depths; so many different shades of green, each one a new and exquisite miracle of loveliness.
"I think I might swoon," Claudia's voice brought me back from my contemplation of the divinity before me to see her gazing up at us, eyes as big and round as a full moon, one hand held to her chest.
"Claude?" Steve's Farnsworthed voice crackled into the room, reclaiming her attention and freeing Myka and I from her intense scrutiny as she returned her focus to him. The interest of everybody in the room drifted away as Claudia left to find her laptop with which to demonstrate something to Steve, while Pete managed to cajole Abigail into joining him for a round of Mario Kart.
"I love you." Myka's soft whisper caressed my ear, bringing my eyes back to her from where they'd been observing Abigail's education into the world of the Wii. I still could not fathom the wondrous reality that I had found myself in, a reality in which Myka Ophelia Bering would say those three soft and small but monumentally significant words to me and further still she would demonstrate their truth for me, leaning in to press those unspeakably lovely lips to mine. She smiled as she slowly pulled away and I marvelled at the glowing happiness on her face; to think that she was glowing so because of me? I watched as she settled back down into the sofa, sipping appreciatively at her tea as she squeezed my hand and turned her attention back to Pete and Abigail's race, calling encouragements to Abigail as she surprised us all with her success.
"Hey, you have definitely done this before," Pete accused, unable to believe he'd lost what he had been sure would be an easy win.
"Of course I have," Abigail looked almost affronted. "Who hasn't played Mario Kart?" I shifted a little uncomfortably, aware of what was coming.
"Helena," Myka's sing-song voice rang out, highlighting my Mario Kart virginity to the room. Pete and Abigail whirled around to stare at us. "Helena has never played Mario Kart before; am I wrong?" She grinned as I glared at her. She knew that the prideful part of me was reluctant to give a public performance of something so totally outside my experience. Not even the endless wonders of Warehouse 12 had anything to vaguely resemble the strange phenomenon of the Wii.
"H.G.!" Pete's excited exclamation doomed me. "You've never played Mario Kart? You've lived here how long and never played Mario Kart?" And then in walked the reason for said doom.
"H.G.'s never played Mario Kart?" Claudia's incredulity almost made the mortification I was sure to endure worth it. "Oh how I have let you down in your cultural re-education! We must make amends, forthwith!" I heard Myka snigger beside me but was uncertain as to whether she was enjoying Claudia's quoted use of the word 'forthwith' or simply the fact that she had engineered this scenario in which I must play Mario Kart, untrained and unprepared; wicked woman. Divinely good and gracious, yes, the absolute love of my life, certainly; wicked, undoubtedly.
