Friends, and Frenemies

A/N: Helena's POV again. I will try to keep these swaps to a minimum. And once again my brain has misfired. I am so sorry for swapping these back and forth like a lunatic.

I smiled softly at Myka, "As you wish." I rode the lift down, with each ding of a floor I came to a new conclusion, "Myka, she is my one."... Ding, "I am hers."... Ding,... "She is my home."... Ding.

I returned to Nate's home for the purpose of packing up my suitcase, and found him sulking in the living room. He followed me upstairs to give me grief about my decisions.

"Packing up your things already?" Nathan snarks, "You're moving in with her now. Typical lesbos, first date dinner, second date the u-haul." Nate says as he paces around the room.

"Nathan, really, I know you hurt, but can we be adults about this." I said, wishing he would stop acting the petulant child, I zipped up my bag. "Nathan, you lost your wife, I lost my daughter, we clung to each other to help ease the pain, I have been trying to work through my grief." My voice was cold, calculated to point out how little effort he had put into letting go, if anything, he had grown clingier over the months. "For the record, I am not moving in with Myka."

Nathan waves reluctantly to my other things around the flat. "Well, what about your stuff, what do we...what should I do with it?"

I stopped at the front door, ruck-sack in hand, "I will be picking it up later in the week, I think it would be best if you are not here. It would be less painful, for the both of us." I gave him a final kiss on his cheek, "We both know this was a temporary fix to our problems." His eyes swelling with tears, watching my exit through the front door.

Settling in to my new abode didn't take long, While I was examining the room bequeathed to me by my friend, she popped her head in, "Hey, got everything you need HG?"

Pacing the room, I looked at my friend, "I feel...Need...Bloody hell...I want to crawl out of my skin right now, I need to hit something!" I felt like I was trying to rip my way through a brick wall I had built for myself. In truth, I was, after Christina had died, I cut myself off, moved to America, and with Myka, I did not want to be closed off. I wanted to share everything with her.

"Well, I have just the thing you need." Amanda said as I raised an eyebrow, "Come on, get your sweats on, we are going to beat up TED." Amanda commanded. I came out of my new room with an eyebrow quirked, "Pray tell dear, do you think, 'TED' would mind two women attacking him?" A slow grin grew on my face "Oh yeah, it will be the highlight of his day." Amanda smiles as she sets up the punching dummy up in the spare room.

Sweat poured down my brow, arms weak from exerting all my excess anxiety, and aggravation. "You know darling...I don't..Think..Your Ex would be.. Too happy... to know you named this after him." Amanda, trying to catch her breath, watched me beat TED senseless, "What Ted doesn't know, won't hurt him... HEY, what the hell is this?!" Amanda exclaimed, spotting the raw flesh mark on my shoulder, "What happened? Did Nate hurt you?"

"No, no it was from..." I hesitated, turning my head, a fierce blushing rising up to meet already flush skin. It was something I begged for, but I'm not going to really tell her that. We were close, but I didn't usually tell my dear marine everything. "From what? Helena., whoever did this, I'm going to kick their ass." She warns, running her fingers over the mark, "Teeth?"

She raises an eyebrow. I smirked, "Lets just say, Myka, can keep up with me." I winked at her and walked over to the window, imagining Myka standing below as I guzzled my water.

"Myka? Hmm and who might this Myka be?" Amanda asked as she sits next to me, eying the bite mark, "No..Wait..Is She.." Amanda shook her head, "Really HG, that teacher you were going on about?" Amanda got up, "Look I know Nate was... Well… Eye candy and we all know candy eventually melts, but this Myka.." Amanda stops dead in her tracks, "Wait, she is your teacher, are you sure about th-" I raised my hand to stop Amanda, "First of all 'She' is a professor, not a teacher and I think she might be my one..." I looked back at the window, wishing she really was there.

Amanda rolls her eyes, "I thought you did not believe in all that..how do say..pish tosh"

'Is that even a word?" Amanda wonders aloud as she towels the sweat off her neck.

Her distant tone reminded me of days passed. Amanda had just been stationed in London, her prim and proper uniform made it obvious. No one in London dressed up to go to a seedy pub. She had smiled brightly at her friend, drawing my attention away from my listeners, something about the" Invisible Man" drew people in, though most promised it was the way I told the story. I finished up quickly and called out amiably to the tall, fit blonde, "Hey there soldier, may I buy you a drink in honor of your great duty to protecting us helpless Brits?" Her appreciative smile was not lost on me, but she leaned away, "Sure, but I warn you, I don't swing that way." As if I needed to buy someone a drink to curry their favor. I waved my hand dismissively,

"Pish tosh darling, join me for a drink anyway."

We continued to hang out during the evenings when Christina was with friends, and Amanda had leave, and when Christina died. Amanda was the first person I looked to, and has been my first post to lean on. She was always willing to talk, and work things out with me. Moving here to America, within such a short distance of Amanda really felt right, and she helped me remember all the good times at home, without nearly so many of the bad.

Fingers snapped in front of my face, "Hey, Helena, wake up, you've got class in twenty minutes."

"What?" I glanced at the clock, and she was right, I had zoned out again, off in my own little world. I patted Amanda on the shoulder as I raced past her, searching for my purse and backpack . I walked to campus every day because those horrid little tin cans give me the.. What are they again? Heebie Jeebies? I snatched up the bag of textbooks I kept by the door, and jogged out to meet the evening. Classes were trivial as always, only the most basic questions asked and answered, I longed for a deep discussion of Machiavelli or Freud, hell, Aesops fables. Instead I received instructions on how to write an essay, proper grammatical construction, basic maths. I hoped that the latter years would be worth the boring subjects inflicted on me today.

When the second to last lecture of my day rolled around, I nearly raced down the crowded sidewalks to the Kipling building. Myka was writing names on the chalkboard when I arrived. I always came in right on the dot, because I knew she would not be looking. The look of surprise on her face when she finally found me in the crowd was as amusing as it was endearing. The sense of belonging I felt when she looked at me was amazing. I saw her eyes flick away every time they met mine, at first I was concerned that I had made her uncomfortable, until I started paying attention to her lecture. She was talking about the relationship between J.R.R. Tolkien, and C.S. Lewis, but every time our eyes met, she would lose her train of thought. She left her hand on her notes this time, following along with what she was saying so that when she lost her train of thought she could pick right back up.

I would have laughed to see her struggling so hard if I weren't the cause of her struggle. Once I knew she wasn't unhappy, I settled back in my seat to watch her lips move, let her voice fill my ears with new knowledge, I found myself wishing to kiss her again. It was a solid five minutes before I realized that the lecture was finished.