A/N: I hope you will be familiar with the canon of Warehouse 13 and how the previous Warehouse; Number 12 was located in London. If any of this is confusing ... please PM me and I'll do my best to explain.


"You see, at the end of the day, my most important title is still 'mom-in-chief'. My daughters are still the heart of my heart and the center of my world." Michelle Obama


Helena was less concerned about not receiving her promised designation, than she was about her wife, who was about to upset the entire royal household with her outburst.

"Is this… how they do things?" Myka turned in horror to her wife. "In your beloved England?!"

"Okay, they're sending her to the Tower. We're going to need a lawyer," Pete said, of his friend's impending arrest.

"She is… the lawyer," Jane whispered to remind him.

"If I hear – 'off with her head," Pete worried out loud, "I'll wet my pants. Oh my God! I'm not wearing pants!" he said, practically twirling around.

"O…kay; let's not make this any worse," Jane begged as everyone watched what was going on in front.

Eileen tried to put her hand on Myka's arm to calm her, but it was so tense, Myka never felt it.

"So, all hell is going to break loose in the castle! They're never going to agree to put the Yankee game on later, are they?" Claudia worried. Eileen put her arm around her wife. They didn't need anyone else losing it.

This was not the first time the longest reigning royal had seen someone upset by a decree. Palace guards stood ready to intervene, but the woman never lost control of the situation.

Bridget turned to Millie, Myka's former assistant and amazing cook. "We're gonna need a file in a cake soon," she whispered. "You can do that, right?"

Sui Generis, who stood next to Millie, watched the royal's calm demeanor. "At the risk of royal arrest, I think we should wait to hear what she has to say."

"Good, logical. We need someone logical right now," Bridget agreed, trying not to panic that her best friend was about to be dragged out of the palace.

And then, the Queen spoke:

"Helena, I am acutely aware of your service to the Crown," she began and Myka tried to calm down, but was finding it hard to do. "No one has done more for us in so many different fields. Your…," and the woman paused because there were people in the room unaware of just what the Queen knew about her guest, "… long years of dedication forbid me to issue anything less than the title you deserve."

"Damn right!" Myka yelled and then, nearly passed out because she swore she only said those words in her head. Helena's strong arms caught Myka as her eyes pleaded with the Queen to understand.

"Do you wish to sit for the rest of the ceremony, dear?" the Queen asked compassionately.

Helena squeezed her wife's hand, hoping she heard that there would be a ceremony.

"No, I'm good," Myka said, straightening herself up.

"Go get 'em, Bering," Bridget whispered and Sarah begged her not to encourage the irate woman.

"Please come forward, Helena," the woman in charge beckoned, and added; "Alone." She emphasized that last word, for fear the entire crowd would move with Helena.

"Oh, she wants you. Just you. Okay," Myka said, shaking her head to get back into listening mode.

Taking the ceremonial sword, the Queen touched Helena's right shoulder and began saying: "After much consideration and consultation, Helena, it gives me great honor to bestow upon you, the title – Duchess," the woman smiled and touched the other shoulder.

The crowd's collective eyes widened as they listened to the change.

Then, a very stiff gentleman approached the Monarch with a red pillow. "From this day forward," the Queen announced, taking the tiara from the pillow and placing it on Helena's head: "You bear the formal title of… Helena George Bering-Wells…Duchess of London."

"Duchess? Damn! That's way better than Dame!" Claudia said, even though her hands were over her lips.

"Do we clap? Do we… I'm clapping," Pete said and did – the rest of the guests following him, mostly because no one read up to the page that said: DO NOT APPLAUD.

The Queen gave Helena a careful stare, but Helena swore the woman's eyes were filled with sympathy.

"I am not done," the Queen announced and everyone stood back at attention. Then, turning to the pillow again, she removed a slightly smaller tiara and motioned for Myka to come forward.

"OHMYGOD!" Bridget thought she whispered. "That's it! I'm crying."

"I am so sorry," Myka said and then remembered you do not speak unless spoken to. "I'm sorry…for saying sorry," she said, apologizing for her apology.

"Bless you," the Queen smiled to Helena. The woman did not touch the sword, as Myka's title was a result of her being married to Helena. "From this day forward, you shall bear the title – Duchess Myka Bering-Wells." With that, the Queen placed the jeweled tiara on Myka's shaking head.

Gloria handed Irene a tissue as tears streamed down the woman's face. "This is just beautiful," Irene whispered.

Then, as if any more protocol could have been broken, someone tugged hard on the Queen's dress. All eyes stared as she looked down at Cate. The child bowed her head and moved forward, in an obvious gesture to receive her headpiece.

The Queen got quite a chuckle out of that.

"And this… is for you," she said, taking a ring of flowers and putting it on Cate's head. "From this day forward, you shall be called – Lady Catherine Elizabeth Irene Bering-Wells."

"Okay, but remember? Call me Cate," the child repeated once the crown of flowers was on her head. "I told her to call me Cate, Mummy."

The Queen's staff was all shocked; but the Monarch just smiled at the group.

It was announced that the ceremony had concluded and that dinner would be pushed back one hour. No one said it, but everyone understood that the Queen needed a rest after all of this.

"Oh, Helena!" Myka cried when she saw the tiara above her head. "Did I ruin it?" she worried. Helena grabbed her wife, and kissed her; let her know that nothing she did could have ruined this occasion. "Thank you," she said, looking into worried green eyes. "My protector," Helena whispered.

Pete was crying in the back, so Irene passed him her tissues.

"I'm so happy for you," Gloria said to the couple and hugged them.

"What are you doing?" Sarah asked when her wife whipped out her phone and starting dialing.

"I'm calling the London Times and giving them the headline. "DOUBLE DUTCH!" Bridget said, making everyone laugh.

"It was just so beautiful, and now they're both English," Pete wailed.

"No, that's not what … okay, sure, they're both English now," Jane comforted her emotional husband.

"Dude! A Duchess! Way cooler," Claudia said when she and Eileen congratulated their friends.

"Your Grace," Eileen said, curtsying and using the correct way to address Helena.

"Oh, no, that's totally unnecessary… No, I like it," Helena tried her title on for size.

"Thank you to all of you for being here with Myka and me," Helena said and there was a sharp pulling on her coat. "And Lady Cate, of course," Helena said, picking her daughter up and laughing.

"HG," Pete whispered later at the cocktail hour before dinner. "I'm pretty much caught up on the Crown and Victoria; so if you have any questions, about all this regal stuff, just ask, okay?"

"Indeed," Helena smiled with great fondness.


A man in regal attire approached Helena and Myka and asked them to follow him. Cate was playing with Shannon and Pete Jr. They followed him down a long hallway and climbed a long flight of stairs, before being allowed to step through a huge set of wooden doors.

They walked in and realized the Queen was sitting in a chair across the room.

"Your majesty," Helena said and Myka followed.

"Thank you, James," the Queen said and the man left the women alone in the room. "Please sit."

When Myka and Helena were seated across from her, the woman spoke.

"I was not at liberty to expand on your years of service, Helena. Not everyone is privy to the information about Warehouse 12," she smiled. The twelfth incarnation of the artifact depository had been in London before it relocated to South Dakota. "Of course, I heard such wonderful things," she smiled of the stories.

"It was magnificent," Helena said of her short time there.

"I tried to think of a way to thank you, Helena, on behalf of all our people. I wish I could tell them to rewrite the history books to give you the credit you are due. To this day, no one can solve the terrible mystery of Jack the Ripper; and yet we know it was you who stopped him. We possessed the first rocket, and yet the history books are void of it. Your brother's writings may have entertained us as a people, Helena; but your genius saved our nation more than once."

Myka couldn't hold back the tears and squeezed Helena's hand. But Helena held it all in. She wore her stoicism like the Queen wore her crown; with the greatest dignity.

"Thank you, Your Majesty," Helena said softly, bowing her head.

"I take it… she is in touch with you?" the Monarch asked gingerly. The odd correspondence to her direct line indicated that she was being contacted by someone in the know.

"She is," Helena said.

"I know it's strange, but I miss it being here, even though I was born long after it moved itself to America."

"Maybe it will return," Myka proffered and the woman smiled at that thought.

"Perhaps," the Queen said.

Myka turned to her wife, with pleading eyes. Helena's expression to the woman clearly indicated she was asking permission to speak.

"I welcome whatever either of you have to say," the Queen generously loosened protocol.

"I wanted to apologize for my outburst before," Myka began. "I was afraid that some rule would prevent Helena from finally receiving a small token of the gratitude she deserves."

"It's not really a small token," Helena laughed nervously. "They do everything big over there."

"No, Helena," Myka corrected her wife. "This woman has done so many things; created so many things that she will never get the credit for, and she accepts that with grace and dignity. So, I was afraid today was going to get ruined…"

"I understand, dear," the Queen replied. "Helena has been one of our most cherished national treasures for a very long time. I am glad we could finally express that in some way."

Myka instinctively grabbed Helena's hand, as if worried the Monarch was thinking of taking Helena back. "She will always love her country," Myka said, taking Helena's hand in both of hers now, "… but her heart is in New York."

Helena's heart swelled with a love she had never known before Myka.

Looking at these two women; so in love and devoted to one another, reminded the nonagenarian of what marriage looked like to her over these long decades. In fact, she wished that Helena and Myka could bottle what they had, so that she might give it to the young princes and princesses in her household.

"Of that, I have no doubt," the Queen smiled.

Just then, a very loud clanging noise came from the hallway. It sounded as if something metal was toppling over – again and again.

"What the devil…?" her Majesty let out.

Just then, the large door opened and two guards walked in on either side of Pete.

"He knocked down the suits of armor, your Majesty," they informed her.

"Whatever you do, Duchess Bering-Wells, please do not leave that man here," the Queen implored smiling.