Disclaimer: I own nothing blah blah blah you get the picture

AN: A chapter in which I quote Joanne Kelly, gold stars to anyone who finds it. And I have no idea what happened to this chapter, but the green eyed monster makes an appearance. And, as I promised, this is the longest chapter for this fic yet.

Chapter Ten: A Ping, Darling?

Helena quirked an eyebrow at her roommate as they stood outside the door of Myka's apartment. They could clearly hear music playing and laughter coming from inside. Claudia rose a hand to knock, but froze, instead moving to open the door herself.

There was at least twenty people standing around the apartment, scattered in the kitchen and living room. Helena recognized only four of them initially, the three roommates and the guitar player that Claudia had flirted with the week previously at the dorm party.

HG felt her smile grow wider as she shook her head, this clearly had grown from what Pete had originally intended. There was more alcohol then Helena remembered there being before, and there was a leaning tower of pizza boxes on the counter, so at least the last minute additions had brought stuff with them. It was on the chaotic borderline of a hang out with friends and a full blown party, and the air was electrified with the possibility of the scales being tipped soon.

As they walked through the crowded home, Helena was greeted by people she vaguely recognized, but she only had eyes for one person. And she was currently standing in the kitchen with her arms crossed and an uncomfortable smile on her face.

Pete had told Myka that he invited a few people. She should have had enough sense to remember how kickbacks at Pete's usually ended in high school. It wasn't a real party if you could name every person in attendance.

Well, if that were the case, Myka could classify this as a party. She recognized Kelly and Liam aside from her friends, and that was it. She had no idea who anyone else in her home was. She'd had the good sense to lock her door, but now that meant she couldn't retreat to her books. She was determined to not be that person anymore. She didn't want Helena thinking she was a recluse. Though she supposed standing apart from everyone, her arms crossed, wasn't making her a social butterfly either…

"Hello, darling," the words curled around the accent so beautifully, Myka was smiling before she looked up from the boots that entered her field of vision as she stared at the floor.

"You came," Myka was embarrassed at the way her own voice sounded in her ears in comparison to Helena's and she cleared her throat.

Helena shrugged, "There was nothing exciting happening in the dorms, so I thought I might check in here."

"I'm glad you did," Myka faught a smile as a blush crept over her face.

"Mykes!" Pete's voice pulled Myka back, forcing her to realize, yet again, how close she and HG had gotten, "Mykes! Help me out here!"

Pete waved her over to a long table that he was struggling to set up. Myka rolled her eyes back to Helena, but whatever warmth there had been was replaced yet again by a polite mask. Myka was really starting to hate the mask that hid from her the woman she was beginning to know.

Myka slid over the counter, not wanting to have to shove her way past two of Pete's friends who were shot gunning beer. If she hadn't taken her eyes off HG, she would have seen the flash in the inventor's eyes at the sight of Myka's shirt rising to reveal her torso as she pulled herself up on the counter top.

It took Helena a few moments to regain control of her thoughts. When she did, she pushed her way past the boys leering suggestively at her. If she noticed it, she didn't give it away. Helena had long since grown used to the effect she had on people.

She noticed Claudia wasn't with her then, but before she could get frantic, she found her roommate standing at the opposite end of the table from Myka and Pete, laughing and turning to beckon her over.

"What is this?" Helena inquired as she watched them arrange groups of red cups full of beer on the table.

"Beer pong," Claudia's tone suggested that this should have been obvious as well as exciting, "Pete and Myka want to play doubles, be my partner in crime?"

"I don't know the rules," Helena admitted as she moved to stand beside the redhead.

"It's easy," Myka rolled her eyes from the other side of the table, and Helena sensed a challenge arising, "Ping pong ball," she held up the small object, "Cups of beer. The goal is to try and throw it into one of our cups. If you make it we drink that cup. If we make it, one of you has to drink the cup."

"But since I am abstaining from alcohol for the evening," Pete seemed proud of his usage of a three syllable word, "Myka will be drinking all of our cups. So, since Claudia is the furthest from 21, HG, you get to drink the cups made on your end."

Neither woman was particularly thrilled about this rule, but their pride wouldn't let them back down now.

"There are some other house rules," Claudia interrupted the stare off Myka and HG seemed to be having, "But I'll let you know when they come up."

"You guys go ahead and start," Pete rolled the ping pong ball across the table, and Helena caught it just as it rolled off the edge.

"Aces," she smiled wickedly.

Looking back, Pete figured challenging two engineering students to beer pong was not his brightest idea. The only advantage that Pete and Myka had over the other two was their familiarity with the game. But when it came down to Myka and Helena each with one cup left, Helena was the only one to sink it.

The hadn't realized the audience they gained, people wandering over at the sound of the witty remarks being thrown back and forth across the table by the two attractive girls locked in what could have been perceived as an intense competition.

"Yes!" Helena shot her fists in the end, turning to give Claudia a double high five. Groans and exclamations of victory rolled through the crowd, a bet had sprung up on which side of the close game would end up the winner.

Myka smiled and nodded, conceding her defeat and HG winked at her. They lost each other, moving out of the way for the next quartet playing. Myka had done her job as co-host by starting the rounds of beer pong, mostly grateful that left Steve to play kings cup*. Myka still had flashbacks to when she played last.

Before she had a chance to find Helena, a boy stepped in her path. Well, not a boy, she discovered as she looked over his handsome face. Because sure, the messy hair and heart throb grin were cute in a boyish way, the stubble and smoldering look in his dark eyes labeld him a man in Myka's mind.

She pulled up short for a moment when he smiled at her, "You're Myka, right? Pete's roommate?"

"Yes?" her voice squeaked and she wished a refrigerator would fall from the ceiling and crush her on the spot, her death would save her from embarrassment. She wondered if she would ever be able to talk to attractive people and keep her normal tone of voice.

"I'm Jeff Weaver," he held out his hand, his smile dimpling, "I'm in Pete's political science class. He's a big help in class."

"Pete? Lattimer?" Myka quirked an eyebrow as she looked over her shoulder at the boy in question, "I'm sorry, the guy's my best friend and everything but I'd never describe him as a big help in class."

Jeff's laugh was so carefree it pulled a smile from Myka, and she began to relax, though that may be due to the amount of alcohol her game of beer pong lead her to drink, "No, but he makes the class bearable most days."

"He is good at that," Myka agreed, "He makes the most boring classes fun."

"Funny, he said the same about you," He smiled, "So are you two, ya know, together or whatever?" he seemed to have a tough time choosing his words now.

"No," Myka laughed, waving her hands in front of her, "He and I are just friends. Why does everyone always think we are dating?"

"Maybe because it's hard for us to believe that a girl as beautiful as yourself is still single." He said it so charmingly and earnestly that Myka actually giggled.

"And what's your excuse for being single?" Myka challenged, "Surely a guy such as yourself has had his fair amount of opportunities."

"Maybe I'm waiting for the right one." He retorted, crossing his arms in false indignation.

"Oh? Any candidates?" She wondered where her sudden self-confidence came from, whose voice was that and whose words? Surely they weren't hers?

"There might be." He allowed, his grey eyes sparking.

Myka laughed again, but shook her head, "Excuse me, I think I need a drink."

He nodded, "I'll be here if you get bored of talking to all the cool people."

Myka bit a laugh back at his self-depreciating humor as she made her way to the kitchen. She was pulled up short as she grabbed a Smirnoff from the icebox when she heard a distinctive laugh.

She looked over the counter, standing five feet from where Myka had just been talking to Jeff Weaver, was Helena, heavily flirting with a frat boy. He was grinning broadly as his eyes racked over HG's body, she was touching his chest and speaking low, too low for Myka to hear, but she could guess the words that went with the tone and look in her eye.

White hot jealousy shot through Myka at the sight. She was insanely envious of the boy leaning over her, and before she could do anything she may regret, like make a fool of herself by shoving him away from her, Myka twisted the top of her drink off and downed the contents, flinching at the slight burn before grabbing another bottle.

It was then HG looked up and saw Myka's darkened eyes on her. Helena simply winked before laughing at something her companion whispered to her.

She was doing it on purpose! Or was she? That didn't really make sense to Myka, why would Helena be flaunting her flirtations to get under her skin? More importantly, why was Myka jealous? Hadn't she decided that afternoon that she had no grounds to be jealous?

But Myka's intoxicated brain wasn't having any of that logic nonsense, instead, she took her drink and went back to find Jeff, Helena wasn't the only one who could flirt with cute boys, and she was determined to prove it.

Helena had noticed Myka talking to Jeff the first time, and the sound of her laugh and easy giggles had translated to a twisting feeling behind her rib cage. And she reacted in the only way she knew how, by manipulation. She had never had trouble getting what she wanted, but Myka seemed to throw her off her game without even trying.

So HG grabbed the nearest boy and started laying it on thick, ignoring the look of indignation she received from the girl she stole him from. She was good at making people like her, her confidence, good looks and quick wit serving to destroy pretty much anyone she decided to focus on. And of course the accent didn't hurt.

When she noticed Myka staring at her from the kitchen, a shocked look on her face as she gripped the neck of her bottle tightly, Helena felt a vindictive joy at finally getting the girls attention, she was quickly growing bored of the boy in front of her- Thomas or Timothy? Something with a T- and she wanted to turn her sights on Myka now.

But the brunette had marched back to where she was standing previously. Helena watched as Myka leaned closer to the taller boy, holding on to his arm as she laughed lightly. When he tucked an errant curl behind Myka's ear, Helena saw red.

Myka turned to look over her shoulder, a mischievous glint in her eye as she smiled slowly at Helena.

Was she trying to make her jealous? Helena ignored the fact that she had been doing the same exact thing moments earlier, only angry now that Myka had started.

Well, She thought as she left Thomas/Timothy to find another target closer to where Myka stood, two can certainly play that game, darling.

Steve noticed what was happening and nudged Claudia. He had stuck close to the techie for the evening, trying to avoid talking to Liam, not wanting to have another "for old time's sake" moment with his ex. Claudia looked up from Dwayne, he had been in the middle of trying to explain his band's admittedly awful name when Steve poked her.

"Do you see what's happening here?" He asked, repeating their earlier conversation.

Claudia's quick eyes scanned the crowd of college kids until she found her roommate, draped over some pour shmuck that probably thought he was actually going to get lucky that night. Then, a few feet away, she saw Myka laughing drunkenly and touching a seriously attractive kid. But what made her groan was the fact that the girls were obviously playing it up for each other, trying to incite jealousy.

"This is getting ridiculous." Claudia shook her head before turning back to Dwayne, "Give me a moment would ya? I have to go do damage control before there is bloodshed in the living room."

She pat Steve on the shoulder as she stood, "Don't you try and steal him from me, I'll be right back."

"Not my type, Claud!" Steve said to her back as he tried to hide his blush.

"I'm not your type?" Dwayne feinted hurt as he looked up at Steve with exaggerated puppy dog eyes.

"No because I'm his type, right Jinksy?" Pete punched his shoulder as he walked up.

"I'm going to kill Claudia." He swore, both for the awkward situation and for introducing the nickname to his friends.

Claudia yanked HG away from her current toy. Normally, Claudia wouldn't have had the strength, but she caught her roommate off guard and was able to get her to the kitchen.

"What the bloody hell?" HG demanded, yanking her arm out of Claudia's tight grasp.

"Yeah I could ask you the same thing, HG," Claudia put her hands on her hips, "That was some high school bull shit back in there, what do you think you're doing?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," HG grit her teeth, eyes turning hard as she looked away from the redhead.

"Don't pull that with me, I have seen the way you look at her HG," Claudia took a breath as she prepared herself for what she was going to have to do, "Look, I know you are into this girl, or whatever, but what I hear from Jinks is that Myka isn't gay."

"I like a challenge." Helena smirked as she looked over her shoulder at the now clearly inebriated Myka, but all she saw was her hand running over Jeff Weaver's arm.

"No, HG, bad." Claudia shook a finger at her, "You can't think of Myka like that. I see that she means a lot to you, but I can also tell that you won't be able to play her like you normally do."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" HG asked, taken aback.

"Okay, HG, here's the thing," Claudia felt like the older of the two of them for once, it was odd since HG usually did the whole mother hen thing to her, "If you like this girl, even as just a friend, you can't play on her confused feelings like this. It's just going to end badly if you keep doing this." She waved vaguely back to the party behind them.

"What do I do?" Helena asked, for once feeling out of her depth.

"For starters you could be the friend she thinks you are and save her from sleeping with Captain I'm So Ruggedly Handsome Look At Me," Claudia finally got a smile out of her friend.

"Righty-ho then," She turned on her heel, ignoring the boy trying to regain her attention and walking straight to Myka's swaying form.

"Helena!" Myka pulled back slightly, at the sight of the raven haired Brit suddenly at her side, a determined look in her eye, she tried to regain her balance, but was having difficulty keeping her eyes focused properly, she used the excuse of introducing Jeff to HG so that she could lean on the both of them.

"Yes, it's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Weaver," It took a great deal of self-control to keep up her tone of civility, "Myka, my dear, I'm afraid you have had too much to drink."

Myka could hear the concern in Helena's voice, but she was still mad at her. Though she couldn't seem to remember why, and staring into her warm brown eyes was not helping the situation. Myka realized she was expected to reply, but she wasn't sure how to, so she gave a vague shrug nod that caused her to become dizzy all over again.

Helena caught her before she could fall, "Alright, to bed with you, then."

Jeff looked sorely disappointed, "Could I at least get your number, Myka? I'd like to see you again."

HG cut off Myka's reply, "How about you give her your number and she shall call you?"

"Awesome," he nodded, "Yeah, hold on." He looked around, pulling a note pad from beside the phone and began writing madly, "Here." He smiled and handed Myka the paper with his number written on it.

Myka giggled as she pocketed the note, "Mkay, goodnight, Jeff, I'll call you."

HG's jaw hurt with how hard she was clenching her teeth. She smiled once more to the boy before leading Myka down the hall to her room.

"You are a way better wingman than Steve and Pete," Myka told her once they were alone.

"My pleasure," HG rolled her eyes. "Is this how we are going to spend every Friday night? Me pulling you away from some college boy, intoxicated beyond reason?" Helena huffed as she tried the door.

"Ss locked." Myka explained when HG couldn't twist the door handle.

She giggled when Helena rifled through her pockets to find the key.

HG deposited Myka on the bed gently, removing her shoes for her, then her shorts and sweater. She recited the Illiad in original Greek in her mind to keep herself distracted from the mostly naked and giggling Myka who was complaining about being tickled and cold hands. She rummaged through the girls dresser before pulling out pajamas and helping her get them on. She then gave a sigh as she pulled the blanket up around the brunette. "Goodnight, Myka."

As she turned though, Myka's hand shot out to grab her wrist, "Wait, hold on, I have to talk to you. I have to apologize."

Her drunken slurs were becoming more intelligible as she struggled to sit up. In the darkness of her room, Myka could only just make out HG's features, but she appeared to be very tired.

"Myka, you have nothing to apologize for," Helena protested, but allowed herself to be pulled onto the bed.

"No, I have to. I was being petty earlier, but I really like being your friend," Myka shook her curls, trying to think through the sudden urge to sleep, "Even though we've only known each other a week, I feel like I've known you my whole life."

"I find myself quite fond of you as well," HG smiled.

"But why?" Myka tilted her head, "Because you're so beautiful and lovely and sophisticated and- I'm like the opposite, 'cos I'm like fumbling and awkward and like, you know, that's how I feel, anyways, you know what I mean?"

HG shook her head with a small smile, "You do not see yourself clearly enough, Myka. You are one of the best people I have ever had the pleasure of calling my friend."

Myka smiled and seemed to waver a bit, a silent argument waging on her face. She seemed to give up though as she lay back against the pillow. HG rose to leave once more, but Myka held on to her hand.

"Will you stay with me?" Her voice was small as she asked, causing HG to believe she expected to be refused, "I know I drank a lot, and I'm loopy, but will you stay? Just until I fall asleep? Then you can go back out to the party?"

Helena was going to kick herself in the morning, but she found herself smiling and agreeing none the less, "Of course, darling." It wasn't as if she could ever deny Myka anything she wanted.

Myka smiled like HG had just made her whole day. She shifted herself over and tugged Helena down to lay next to her.

Myka gave a sigh of contentment, "I'm really glad I ran into that shelf in the library." She mumbled.

Helena chuckled softly as she slowly ran her fingers through Myka's curls, smoothing them back behind her ear. Myka smiled at the touch, unconsciously pulling herself closer to HG. The Brit continued the action of softly stroking her hair long after she had fallen asleep, hoping to erase the touch Jeff had put there earlier in the evening.

"I wish I had met you before…" HG whispered, "But I am so glad I know you now."

Helena fell asleep sometime after she heard Pete yell to his guests "Okay, three am, party's over. You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here!" he'd always wanted to say that and he shot a grin to Steve who just rolled his eyes.

Claudia ignored Pete ushering people out, apparently his girlfriend leaving lowered his tolerance to the others in his apartment, but he wasn't making her go. Pete liked the kid, and he knew both she and HG had been drinking, so she was going to be couch surfing for the night. Well, if she and Steve ever stopped talking in hushed tones.

"What's up?" Pete asked as he approached the sofa they were sitting on.

"Nothing," they said simultaneously with identical looks of guilt plastered on their faces.

Pete looked at them, glaring for a moment, before finally shaking his head, "I'm too tired for this." And walked to his room.

After they heard the door shut, Jinks and Claudia began speaking again, keeping their voices low.

"So, she's still in there?" Steve asked.

"Unless she went out the window, then yeah." Claudia nodded.

"You know we can't force them to recognize their feelings for each other." Steve sighed heavily. He had only known Myka two years, and HG for one week, but even to him it was becoming obvious the girls had something between them, though for now it remained unspoken.

"No, but we can give them a little nudge here and there." Claudia winked and Steve rolled his eyes.

Myka woke up, feeling strangely well rested, especially for someone who had been up half the night drinking.

It all crashed back on to her suddenly, and she brought her hands up to cover her face. She could feel the heat beneath her fingertips. She remembered what she did, but she couldn't recall her reasoning behind it, teasing Helena by flirting with Jeff in front of her, getting angry when she retaliated. Most of all though, she remembered how she had dressed her in pajamas before Myka had pathetically begged for Helena to stay with her until she fell asleep.

She groped the sheet beside her where Helena had been and found it cold. Disappointment flooded her, and for a moment she thought she might actually cry. But that's when she noticed the Yellow post-it note stuck to a glass of water and a bottle of aspirin.

Thought you might need this –HG

The script was beautiful, and it was difficult for Myka to believe that people still wrote like this anymore. She popped a few pills and downed the water before exiting her room, the smell of coffee drawing her out.

Even though it was still relatively early, Myka was the last one in the apartment awake. She was shocked to see Claudia on their couch, feet propped up on the coffee table, typing away on her laptop. Steve and Pete were deeply enthralled in some shooting game on the Xbox and she heard beautiful humming drifting form the kitchen.

"I'm still sleeping right?" Myka said allowed as she moved to where she expected to find the source of the music and coffee.

"No, but it's about time you woke up." Helena smiled as she sipped coffee from a mug, leaning on the counter as if she belonged there, "I was a bit surprised when Peter woke up before you did." She handed Myka a second steaming mug, prepared the way Myka liked it.

"Thanks," She hid her blush behind the cup, "I… is that my shirt?" she asked, when she recognized the blue button down HG had on.

"My apologies," Helena smiled, "I didn't expect to stay the night, so I had nothing with me to change into. I probably should have asked first…"

"No it's okay," This all felt so surreal for Myka. HG wearing her clothes, making her coffee… it was all rather domestic and caused a fluttering in her stomach.

When she finally took a sip from the cup of coffee she sighed like a true caffeine addict, "Beer pong, writing, inventing, making coffee… is there anything you're not good at?"

HG smiled and shook her head, "No, I don't think so. At least, I haven't had any complaints about my skills thus far."

Myka nearly spit her coffee back into the cup as she heard the double entendre she wasn't sure Helena meant.

A call from Claudia saved Myka from having to respond.

They joined the three in the living room, where Claudia was bouncing with nervous energy, clearly already over caffeinated.

"Okay, Pete, Steve, focus over here for a minute." Claudia kicked at the backs of their chairs, causing Pete to die a gruesome death by zombie.

He pouted for a moment before turning off the console and turning around.

"Okay, so you know how we figured the key we found, whatever it is, that there was probably more than just one of it right?"

They nodded for her to continue.

"So I built a program to track… weirdness." She made a gesture with her hand that no one could really interoperate, "But I didn't know what we would be looking for, I mean it's not like all of these… things shoot lightning bolts, right? So I programmed it to gather textual, visual and aural data from the internet via news outlets, crime reports, social networks and all that jazz. It tracks anomalies."

"Okay, and?" Helena asked, "Does it work?"

"Yeah," Claudia turned back to the laptop with a half surprised snort, "It gave me three pings in California alone."

"A ping, darling?" HG rose an eyebrow.

"Oh, yeah, that's the sound it makes when it finds a possible anomaly. Ya know, ping." She tried to imitate the noise.

"So you actually found three things that work like the key does?" Myka asked, looking over the girls shoulder and staring at the mess of code and satellite images on the screen.

"Yes, and I was thinking," Claudia's excitement and nervousness was growing, "Since we have the week off for spring break, why don't we take a little road trip? Do some Scooby Dooing and check it out?"

"Isn't that a little dangerous, Claud?" Myka asked, "I mean, one of these things already tried to kill us once."

"Oh, you're over reacting to a bit of static," the redhead waved her off, "Besides Mykes, where's your sense of adventure? Don't' you want to know if these things actually exist? That it's not just an isolated incident?"

Myka still seemed a bit torn, so Claudia fixed her gaze on the others.

"I'm game," Pete smiled, "Beats going back to Colorado Springs for the week."

"I guess it could be fun," Steve nodded, "Sure, why not?"

Claudia turned to her roommate, but she didn't have to worry, she could practically feel Helena's excitement at the possibilities rolling off of her, but she kept her passive mask up as she gave a shrug, "Not like I have anything better to do over holiday."

They all looked at Myka expectantly. If it had been just Steve and Pete, she was sure she would have said no, but the look in Helena's eyes let her know she was going to give in anyway. And besides, she really was insanely curious about the key and these other things Claudia had apparently found.

Myka made a big deal about sighing heavily, "Oh alright."

"Sweet!" Claudia high fived Pete.

Helena smiled excitedly at her, grabbing both her hands in hers, "This is going to be excellent."

AN: King's cup is a drinking game where everyone sits around the table, a deck of cards spread around and one empty cup in the middle. You have to do ridiculous things and drink depending on what card you draw. But if you draw one of the first three kings, you dump whatever is in your cup into the "king's cup" the last king drawn has to drink the whole king's cup.( I usually have the misfortune of pulling the last king)