A/N I do apologize for creeping you out with naming Pete's love interest Jane – a real faux pas. That character was based on the Prime Suspect (American version) character of Det. Jane Timoney. I changed the last name because that character worked in homicide, and even though I know many of you want Jeffrey dead, I needed a detective who worked in a different department. This was the only character I could think of who would be ballsy enough to stand up to Helena. Maybe we can give her a nickname? (New contest!)
Thank you for all the posts -even those that made me blush.
Slow Burn
Eileen often read the local paper on the forty-five minute train ride from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn to the City. It was with a mixture of pride and angst that she scanned the gossip pages. After all, she worked for the woman who often appeared in the headlines and yet, the headlines were so often wrong or made up. Eileen knew the man in the kitchen right now was not her boss' fiancé – even if he hinted by saying he and Helena were somewhat engaged at a period of time. She texted Claudia that he was there and the techie shot up to the 17th floor instantly to visit.
"I love me some fireworks with my coffee," she said to herself on the elevator. The doors opened and she was facing Myka. "Are you okay?" Claudia asked Myka who was covering up her chest with the arms.
"Yes," Myka lied and rushed onto the elevator. She had moments before just left Helena alone with Irene when she emerged into the waiting room – and Jeffrey. He was like gum on the bottom of your shoe – he was showing up everywhere and you couldn't get rid of him.
"I got terribly bored at the townhouse so I thought I'd pop over here, get those papers, and sign them so we can complete the transaction," Jeffrey smiled like it wasn't a big deal.
"I'll go draw them up immediately," Myka said and was still smiling from having pulled one over on Helena. "Maybe you should come to my office," Myka was suggesting, but Jeffrey insisted on seeing Helena.
And that should have been the end of it, but the man noticed something was askew.
"Ms. Bering, I do beg your pardon," Jeffrey said as they parted, "…but your buttons seem to be mismatched."
In her haste, Myka had in fact buttoned the blouse erroneously. Now, there was the logically explanation which was that she put it on in a hurry when Eileen brought it back to her and then there was the real reason and that is what made Myka's face burn with red again.
"Thank you," Myka said and held her blouse close to her and faced the elevator.
"What's up with her?" Claudia asked Eileen and then looked into the kitchen. "Is that the guy? He looks different when he has clothes on," Claudia whispered. There wasn't a New Yorker alive who didn't see Jeffrey's front page display when he was arrested. Jeffrey was waiting for the tea to steep and when it was ready, he fixed two cups.
"Could you tell me ….oh hello," he said to Claudia as he emerged from the room.
"Hey," Claudia said putting a face with the body.
"I am sorry to interrupt, but could you tell me where the sugar is?" he asked politely.
Eileen shot up from her desk and got it for him, but Claudia noticed something. Was Eileen – annoyed? It would be hard to see it because the woman was so good at being ultra-polite, but Claudia could detect it in the quick fade of her smile and the less than gentle way she put the sugar down. She watched Eileen return to her desk.
"Oh my God, you have tea envy!" Claudia said to her friend grabbing her shoulders to comfort her.
"Don't be silly," Eileen said and the fact that she was the only person Claudia knew who actually used the word silly melted her heart.
"Let me tell him no one makes tea for Helena but her tea barista extraordinaire," Claudia said, but Eileen stopped her.
"It's okay," she said even though it wasn't. "As long as she has her tea. He's probably better at it," she whispered, "he's English."
"Oh my God, if Mattel came out with a Mother Theresa doll, it would look like you," Claudia said and Eileen told her not to say that.
"Scuze me, Mr. English person, could I just see Ms. Wells for just a second. I promise not to ruin the surprise," Claudia said and Jeffrey put the tray down.
Claudia knocked but went in before Helena had time to say anything.
"Ms. Donovan?" Helena asked of the intrusion.
"Yeah, sorry about that. I just need a second. Listen boss, in about a minute, someone is going to bring you a cup of tea and you're probably going to like it, but I need you to – you know – not share that ok?" the tech director said in one breath.
"Excuse me?" Helena asked because she didn't understand the instructions.
"Someone besides Eileen made you tea and when you drink it, I'd like you to – well, I'd like to spit it out and call it disgusting, but if that's too much, could you just not rave about it to Eileen?" Claudia explained.
"You're making no sense. No one makes me tea except Ms. Sullivan. In spite of its simplicity, tea is not a drink any American can prepare I have come to realize," Helena said sadly.
"Yeah- yeah, we got it. Ever since the Boston Tea Party you guys have looked down on our tea skills unfavorably," Claudia said spilling what history she could remember.
"Well really, you threw it in the water!" Helena said as if that was the point of this discussion
"OK… can we get back to my topic here? Listen to the bullet points - Someone other than Eileen is bringing you in tea and - you will probably like it but - you're not to share that with the woman who lives to make you tea. OK?" Claudia said exhausted by the exchange. "Geesh, this is exactly why I like dealing with computers. I could have written a program about this in less time," she complained as she walked out.
Helena shook her head, grateful the computer whiz was leaving. She had to get her mind back on business. Irene was right – she had created a mess by allowing the Frederic men to believe she had authorized things that others had fought for and never received. Helena adhered to strict policies about finances and production and in matter of minutes, threw them out the window. Thinking about that brought her back to the moment and she was lost again in the sweetness of Myka's touch. This is why she didn't hear Eileen knock and open the door for Jeffrey. She was expecting the assistant to be standing there and then came face to face with the tea bearing man who was supposed to be confined to her apartment.
'Oh bollocks," was his greeting. "I thought I told you…"
"Yes love, I know, but please just sit down and here, I made you tea," the man said offering Helena the cup. He did make good tea; Helena had to admit, even if it was his only good quality.
"Jeffrey, what are you doing here?" Helena said sitting back down.
"I was awfully bored. Your domestic engineer or whatever he title is would not allow me entry into any room other than the kitchen and I tired of that quickly. So I thought I'd come here and sign those papers," he said. "Oh and I made you tea," he repeated.
"Jeffrey, you can't just show up wherever you please," Helena protested.
"Well, it would be wise for me to settle up that debt post-haste and then I will be on my way," Jeffrey said.
"I have heard that before," Helena said and called Myka on the phone. "Ms. Bering, could you bring the papers for Mr. Tesla to sign?" she asked her.
"She'll be right up," Helena said and then there was dead silence.
"Oh did I mention how much Ms. Bering loved the letters?" the man asked sipping his tea. Helena took hers as well.
"What letters Jeffrey?" Helena asked.
"The ones Nicola and Helena wrote each other," he explained. "They are the loveliest love letters."
"What the bloody hell are you talking about?" Helena asked and then remembered.
Yes, they had exchanged letters when he traveled to the US in 1884. Helena was a wide-eyed eighteen year old who had fallen in love with the older man when he visited her father seeking out advice on financing his ideas. She could not get the foreigner out of her mind. Against her father's wishes, she continued to write him letters and her mother had to hide the ones the Nicola sent back. She believed to it be a teenage crush until years later, when Helena insisted on going to the World's Fair in Chicago in 1893. By then, Nicola was obsessed with his work and Helena saw she would always be the second most important thing in his life. She would not stand for that, so they parted as good friends.
"The letters that Helena Wells and Nicola…" Jeffrey started to say.
"I know what damn letters you're talking about. How did you get them?" Helena said getting up from her desk. Those were her letters.
"Good lord, Helena. They've been in Nicola's collection for years," he explained.
"That's impossible. They were in my…. in HG's collection," Helena said of the inventory.
"Not these, love. HG sold his sister's letters to Nicola back in the 1930s I believe it was," Jeffrey explained.
"That dolt! What purpose would Charles have?" Helena said of her brother.
"I don't know darling, but I do know that Nicola paid dearly for them. Well, when you read them you can understand why. HG's sister was quite the little writer," Jeffrey said making Helena's blood boil.
"And you shared them with Ms. Bering?" Helena said.
"Yes, this morning. I must say it was in an attempt to get on her good side. She does seem the romantic type, does she not?" Jeffrey stated more than asked.
"If it weren't for the deep affection I feel for your great great grandfather, Jeffrey, I would do you bodily harm right now," Helena said.
"Helena, you speak so coarsely for a woman who just had – well, let's call it a heightened moment, shall we?" Jeffrey said sipping his tea.
Helena's eyes grew wide with anger and frustration. "What the bloody hell are you talking about?" she demanded and shouldn't have.
"Helena, please I know the tell-tale signs of the office tête-à-tête – Ms. Bering's blouse misbuttoned and her face flush with color and you… in a perfectly wonderful mood. Nothing does that for you like …"
Jeffrey never did finish that sentence.
After discovering that she had no available weapons in her desk drawer, Helena took matters into her own hands and rendered her uninvited guest unconscious. Then she dialed the Mayor and told him in no uncertain terms that he was to send someone to collect Jeffrey and watch him until his business was conducted. Then she told him he best spend time with the man before allowing his daughter to go out with him.
"SEND SOMEONE NOW BEFORE I KILL HIM," Helena yelled into the phone. The only person to jump faster than the elected official of New York was Eileen who burst through the door to make sure Helena was okay.
She stopped when she saw the man slumped over in the chair. Helena's mind raced with how to explain this.
"Please do not ever let him make me tea again," Helena said trying to explain her tantrum and finally putting it together with Claudia's speech. "For that matter, Ms. Sullivan, let's make an official policy that only you are to make my tea. Would that be acceptable?" Helena asked.
"Oh yes, Ms. Wells. Of course," Eileen said beaming.
Myka appeared in the doorway as Eileen was carrying out the tray.
"Only I can make her tea," Eileen smiled as if she had just been given the keys to the City. Myka had to smile at what little it took to make this kid happy.
"I doubt she'd be happier with her Christmas bonus, Helena and why is Jeffrey unconscious? Helena, you didn't?" Myka said in one full sentence.
"Myka, this man is insufferable. He was to stay at the townhouse until the papers were delivered, but he got bored and decided to come here. He is so annoying – I couldn't take him anymore," Helena said in her own defense.
"So you knocked him out?" Myka asked looking around for the weapon. "With what?" she finally asked.
"I kenpoed him, darling," Helena explained and held up her hands.
"Is he…?" Myka worried.
"He's fine. He'll wake up with a headache which he richly deserves. I am sorry about those letters, Myka. I had no idea that Charles sold them to Nicola," Helena explained.
Myka had to smile that she was hearing an apology from her lover about people who were born in the 19th century.
"They were …beautiful, Helena. Especially yours to him," Myka admitted of the prose.
Then she recited;
"I cannot escape the sadness your absence brings. It is reflected in the shattered pieces of my heart that lie underfoot as I walk through the loneliness of the day."
"Oh yes, your eidetic memory," Helena said wishing she could erase those letters from her recall. "I was an impressionable young girl, with an infatuation for a scientist," Helena tried.
"You- my darling Helena," Myka said taking her hand and kissing. "Were never impressionable."
"There was a time when I was not so worldly, Myka," Helena declared.
"Those letters spoke of your love..," Myka blurted out. She had promised herself she would make light of it. It wasn't like Nicola was going to appear at their door the way his descendant did. Yet, the thought of Helena expressing those feeling for another – so poetically - bothered Myka.
"Those letters contained the words of a starry-eyed youth who thought she knew what she wanted. You my dear Myka, " Helena said placing Myka's hand over her heart – "…possess the very vessel of my feelings."
Myka could have swooned as she gazed at those words dripping from Helena's lips. The low groan of the man behind them coming to slowly made her refocus. Myka looked over at him.
"Can I tell you something awful about myself?" she whispered to Helena.
"I doubt that highly darling, as you have nothing to confess," Helena replied.
"No, this is really terrible," Myka said still keeping her voice down. Helena was truly at a loss about what could be troubling Myka.
"Oh God, I'm a terrible person Helena, but I find it …..completely…hot…when you subdue a person," Myka said and bit her lip.
Helena had to follow Myka's eyes to get the true meaning of what she was saying. Myka Bering turned on by physical force? Helena didn't see that coming.
Then she remembered that she still owed Myka for before.
"Well then in that case darling, you are going to be ablaze ….on Friday night," Helena said in her ear.
Don't you just detest the way Helena toys with ...oh let's not go there. Lots of people do it.
So if you want to keep QLB from getting queasy, submit your suggestion for the Detective's
nickname.