Thank you guys for the comments! And now we are beginning to deviate from cases a bit. They will still be in there, but much less. Hope you enjoy, let me know what you think.
Myka walked down the street ignoring the man jumping around like a child behind her. HG had been ordered by her ex-wife (and editor) to stay in her house at the Hamptons until she finished her first Nikki Heat novel. She had left the morning before and Myka had been surprised to find that the precinct felt a little empty without her. The fact bothered her. Myka prided herself on her abilities to work on her own; a little over a month with the cocky author and Myka felt lost? No thank you. She had offered to buy Pete lunch, missing spending time alone with her best friend.
"Myka! Myka look at this!" Pete yelled, holding up a hot dog dripping with toppings. Myka grimaced.
"I thought I was buying you lunch?" She asked.
"This is just pre lunch." Pete mumbled as he came up to her. She made a face as he stuffed half of the hot dog into his mouth in a single bite.
"You're disgusting you know that right?"
"Yet you love me."
Myka sighed and bumped her shoulder with his. "Come on, it's cold I want to get inside." As they walked up to the restaurant, Pete hurriedly shoveled the rest of his hot dog into his mouth and opened the door for Myka. They headed over to their favorite booth in the back corner and ordered their usuals. Back when they had been rookies, the two of them had spent many nights in this booth going over cases and talking about anything other than Sam or Myka's mother, Joanna. They hadn't done it in a while what with Pete's girlfriend, Kelly and their extra casework now that they were detectives. "So, how's Kelly?" Myka asked as she sipped her coffee.
"Good. I really like her Myks." Pete smiled and grabbed the crayons on the table. He began coloring on the paper mat and Myka rolled her eyes. "What about you?" He asked without looking up.
"What about me what?"
"You and HG."
Myka's eyes widened. "Me and HG what Pete?"
Pete looked up confused, holding his crayon in mid air. "Well...you guys are all...ya know making sexy eyes at each other all the time."
"What! No we're not." Myka insisted.
"Whatever you say Myks, but if a woman looked at me the way I've seen HG lookin' at you..." Pete whistled. "My clothes wouldn't stay on very long ya know?"
"You are a pig Pete." Myka threw her balled up straw at his forehead. "And seriously? First of all, I'm not gay. And second of all, even if I was, I can assure you I would never be interested in HG Wells."
"What, why not?"
The waitress arrived with their food. Pete dug into his burger and helped himself to part of Myka's chicken sandwich. "Why not? Pete, she is...she is incredibly full of herself, cocky to the point of endangering herself and others, and she bounces back from one person to the next. I mean the number of times I've seen her on page six with a different man or woman..."
"So you check up on who she's dating?" Pete asked with a smirk.
Myka glared at him and reached over angrily swiping ketchup off his face. "No Pete." She said calmly. "I do not check up on her. I read the newspaper like an intelligent human being and she her in it."
"Hey! I read the paper." Pete insisted.
"It only counts if you read more than one section. You can't just read the sports page."
"Sometimes I read the horoscopes."
"Horoscopes? Really?" Myka raised her eyebrows.
Pete sat up straighter. "Yes Myka, the horoscopes." He stuck his tongue out at her.
"How can you seriously think I'm interested in HG?" Myka asked after a few moments of silence.
Pete sighed. "I dunno Myks maybe I've never seen you work so well with anyone before..."
Myka interrupted him before he could go on. "That's not true Pete, you and I work together better than any partners I know."
Pete shook his head. "Nah...I mean yeah, but it's different with you guys. I don't really know how to explain it but it is trust me." Myka shifted uncomfortably and took another bite of her sandwich. She didn't like the idea of Pete not being her best partner. If she was honest, she had gotten used to working alone once she made detective. She didn't want a partner unless it was Pete; but Captain Neilsen had given Pete the responsibility of partnering with Claudia when she came new to the team and Myka had been alone. Pete knew without her ever mentioning it that she was a little jealous of Claudia initially. She hadn't liked him having a partner that wasn't her but the three of them eventually became this weird little trio and Myka got used to it. The fact remained they were now partners and Myka was on the outside. She would be lying if she hadn't enjoyed having a partner again. Especially on their last case, having HG to bounce ideas off of had really helped. Myka would never admit that to HG.
"Well try." Myka said.
"It's like...well, she's crazy smart, and you're all crazy smart with the whole pre-law, pre-med turned cop thing; so listening to the both of you gets a little tiring and sometimes I tune it out."
Myka kicked his shin under the table.
"Ouch! Do you want me to explain or not?" Pete asked. Myka kicked him in the other leg. "Alright!" Pete yelled. "You gonna finish that?" Myka shoved the other half of her sandwich over to him and leaned back into the booth. "Okay, so like she comes up with these insane ideas, and you kinda fix them 'till they make sense."
"That's it?" Myka scoffed. "Pete, you come up with insane ideas and I always had to fix them."
"Well yeah, but like I said it's different with you guys. You have this...weird energy that you and I never had. I mean sure, you're a woman and when I first met you, I thought about what it would be like to sleep with you..."
Myka kicked him again.
"Ouch." He growled forcefully. "Myka I do that with every woman I ever meet. Chill." Myka shook her head and waved for him to continue. "Anyway, I knew almost right away that I was never gonna want to sleep with you and we would be friends."
"Why?" Myka asked, annoyed that she felt insulted somehow.
"Myks, it's a compliment. I like you too much to sleep with you. Do you really not think about dating people you meet?"
"Well...sure I guess, but I don't think about how sex would be with every man I come across."
"Well I do." Pete said as he shoved the last bite of food into his mouth. "Not men, women." He clarified with his mouth full.
Myka stood up and pulled her jacket on. "Same here Pete. Not women, men."
"I don't believe you."
"Why? Can you imagine dating a man?"
Pete did not immediately scream no like Myka had figured. Instead, he cocked his head to the side and seemed to honestly consider it. "Probably not, I like the ladies I don't think I would know what to do with a guy."
"There you see..."
"I'm not done!" Pete yelled.
Myka sighed as they walked down the street together. It was crisp and cold, fall had most certainly arrived. Myka almost smiled despite the odd conversation she was having with Pete. Fall had been her mother's favorite time of year.
"As I was saying...I'm pretty sure I'm totally into the ladies, but I figure people are just kinda like shells right? Our bodies aren't us, if I met some dude I had a weird sexy eye connection with, it would freak me out, but I could maybe get down with it."
"Pete, what the hell are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about you and HG and how maybe you are straight but she is your exception."
"What the fuck does that even mean? And no."
Pete frowned. "I'm just trying to help you don't have to get mean. What I mean Myks is you are different with her. You've been alone and sad for a really long time and as your best friend, I hate it. I haven't seen you smile or laugh or get so excited while solving a case in a long ass time. The only thing that's been different in the last month or so is HG coming to work. Plus, you have totally been a fangirl of hers for years, so don't even about not idolizing her. Unless, you starting dating someone and didn't tell me, in which case, I will complain like a five year old."
"I'm not dating anyone Pete."
"Which only proves my point about HG!" Pete threw his arms up in the air angrily. Myka grabbed him by the shoulder and forced him to face her.
"Pete." She began calmly. "I am not interested in HG in any capacity. I liked her books, not her. I didn't even want her shadowing me. I'm making the best out of an annoying situation, nothing more."
"What about all the eye sex?"
"What the hell is eye sex?"
"God Myka don't you ever watch tv? It's when two people are looking at each other in a way that they might as well just rip their clothes off and be having sex."
"That's stupid." Myka stated and walked away from Pete. "I definitely do not do that."
"HG sure as hell does." Pete said with a snort.
"Pete! That is half my point. Wether HG is a woman isn't actually the biggest problem. She is a complete player, jumping from one bed to the next. I don't want to be her latest challenge."
"Fine, don't marry her, but have a little fun Myks."
"God, you sound like Leena."
"Well, Leena's right, maybe you should listen to her."
"No. Pete seriously drop it okay?"
Pete sighed in defeat. "Fine Myks, it's dropped but for the record I approve. The two of you together would be so freaking hot I would..."
Myka elbowed him in the stomach before he could finish his sentence.
Helena stared at the blank page open on her laptop. She had been staring at it for over twenty minutes. In frustration she yelled out and pushed her chair back to stand up. Despite the fact that her house in the Hamptons was huge and beautiful and right on the beach, she felt closed in and claustrophobic. Helena poured come coffee into a travel mug and walked outside. It was late in the afternoon and there weren't many people who took vacations in early October; so the beach was relatively empty. Writing in the Hamptons usually helped Helena. There were less distractions. Often she would go there when she was getting close to being done with a novel, as she was now, but it didn't appear to be working this time. Helena couldn't for the life of her figure out why. It was infuriating. Not to mention Gina was ready to fly down and murder her in her sleep.
Helena sighed deeply and walked down to the water. She hadn't bothered with shoes and she stepped into the cool ocean. Shivering slightly, Helena pulled her sweater a little closer around her torso as she walked down the beach. She had all of the elements of Heat Wave and most of it written, she just couldn't seem to put together the ending. She didn't know why it was bothering her so much; her endings were usually not that difficult. She intended for the Nikki Heat books to be a series, she had no real reason to stress about the ending of the first novel. Her only problem was making sure the readers wanted to come back for more.
Her case was good. It had twists and turns people wouldn't be able to predict too easily but just enough clues spread about that they would have that moment of clarity as they realized how everything came together. Her problems weren't with her fictional murder, they were with her fictional leading lady. Helena was having more difficulty writing Nikki Heat than any character she had ever created. Perhaps it was the fact that she was based on a real woman. A woman Helena was having a bloody difficult time figuring out.
Myka Bering was nothing like anyone Helena had ever met before. Sure, she had met closed off people, work oriented ones, strong women, smart women, damaged women, protective, brave, goofy, but Myka...Myka was all of those and more. Helena was dying to figure her out, but she had a feeling that no matter how hard she tried; Myka Bering was a mystery that she was never going to solve.
Helena's cell phone rang and she groaned as Gina's name popped up. She had only carried it along out of habit. Christina usually called her before she went to bed. Helena knew if she continued to ignore Gina, the redhead would drive down and bother her in person. "Hello darling." Helena said releasing a calming breath.
"Don't 'darling' me Helena." Gina said. "It's October 9th. If you do recall your new book was supposed to be given to me on October 5th. If my math is correct, you've been dodging my phone calls for four days."
"Your math is correct. Congratulations."
"Helena!"
"Gina, I don't know what you want me to say, I'm almost done. You can't rush genius darling."
"Helena, you lost the ability to call me 'darling' when we got divorced. And I can rush genius; I can come down there and duct tape you to a chair. I've done it before."
"Hmm...that was an entirely different situation with a much better incentive to write quickly." Helena reminded her.
"Don't change the subject." Gina warned. Helena kicked at the cold water as she walked, not caring that her pants were getting wet. The cold was becoming just a bit much however and she walked back up to the sand. Her empty coffee mug dangling in her other hand as she walked up the beach. Gina was quiet for almost a full minute. Probably a new record. "How far behind are you exactly?" Gina asked.
"Give me two days..."
"No." Gina vetoed immediately. "You are already four behind."
Helena sighed. "Fine, give me until tomorrow, I'll have everything worked out."
"Tomorrow morning?"
"If I said yes I would be lying." Helena said with a smile.
"Helena!" Gina groaned.
"If I'm no longer allowed to call you darling – which by the way I resent, I call everyone darling – then you are no longer allowed to say my name in that way."
"You don't call everyone darling." Gina insisted. "You pretend you do, but really it's only some people. Unless it's someone you detest and you're trying to sound polite."
"Hmm, and which category do you fit under?"
"I'm well aware that it's the latter Helena there was a reason we got divorced."
Helena bit her lip and sighed. "Gina, please tell me you don't actually think I hate you."
"Hate is perhaps a bit strong, but it's not far off."
Helena pushed open her door and dropped her empty cup in the sink. Her stomach was growling and Helena was sure that there was no food she wanted to eat. She tuned Gina out slightly as she dug through the cupboards and the refrigerator. An apple that looked like it was from last summer, blueberry yogurt, pretzels and frozen chicken fingers. Helena turned on the oven and opted to dine as her eleven year old would; snacking on the pretzels while she waited for the chicken fingers to cook. Gina finished her rant and Helena quickly snapped back to attention. "I will email it to you tomorrow afternoon Gina, I promise. There are just a few things I need to tweak, I'm basically done. Also, hate is very far off, we may not have had the best – or longest – marriage but I in no way hate you."
"Um hum, get me that book and I'll believe it. You do know that if I can't get my work done on time, I get fired right? Because if you get me fired, I will most certainly expect you to start paying my bills."
"Well, we don't want that."
"Helena!"
"Yes darling?" Helena asked with her mouth full of pretzels. Gina only sighed again and said goodbye. Helena hung up and went to sit back down in front of her laptop. The blank page stared back at her. She groaned and moved over to the couch, turning the television on and flicking through the channels instead.
Ten minutes later, her chicken fingers were done and she called Christina to talk while she ate. Apparently, her daughter won an award for a paper she had written. Helena listened with pride as Christina excitedly went over every little detail. Once she had said goodnight, washed and put away her dishes, watched the news, and even resorted to folding some laundry, Helena couldn't ignore her laptop anymore.
She sat back down at the kitchen table and began to type not stopping until the sun was up. Tiredly, she sent the manuscript off to Gina – hours before the redhead would be expecting it – Helena would get to gloat over that for a while; and she flopped down exhausted into her bed.
