"Architecture should speak of its time and place, but yearn for timelessness." Frank Gehry
Helena had just announced that there was a shortcut to Gloria's apartment; one that neither Myka nor Irene knew anything about. The obvious question of – "Where are we?" escaped Irene's lips first.
"Did you…?" Myka asked, because she already figured out the passage way was about to lead them into the nurse's apartment.
"It was… easier," Helena explained, with a flip of her hand. She forged ahead, opening the door that led to the back of their neighbor's clothes closet. "In my defense, she told me to use this rather than the front door, even though I didn't break the lock upon entering."
"There is so much in that sentence we need to talk about," Myka said, but she was too busy stepping over shoes.
"This is insane," Irene uttered.
"I know!" the Brit agreed, stopping to look around the space. "Who allows their wardrobe deteriorate to this level?"
"That's not what I mean, and you know it," Irene said, but it was too late. Helena was opening up the closet door.
Fortunately for all members involved, Gloria was not in her bed.
"Where the devil is that woman when I need her?" Helena asked, with great sincerity.
"We'll have to speak to her," Irene said facetiously, but Helena thanked her for doing so. "I should know better," she said to Myka.
"Helena, does Gloria know… about all this?" Myka asked, waving her hand at the closet entry and feeling very uncomfortable about being in the woman's bedroom.
"She does; and she is contemplating sealing it off," Gloria announced as she entered the room, her hands planted firmly on her round hips.
"From a fashion standpoint, that might not be a bad idea," whispered the Brit who couldn't let it go.
"Gloria, I'm … we're sorry to barge in like this," Myka said and Irene nodded.
"We wouldn't have even entertained it, of course, if we'd known…," Irene was explaining when Helena raised her hand to show the wound.
"Is this something you can handle?" Helena asked.
Gloria stared at the gash, and then looked at Myka. "That is… awful!" the nurse assessed.
Helena turned to her former Human Resources director. "Have you thoroughly checked her credentials?"
"If you sass me one more time, that gash will be the least of your problems!" the nurse informed the outspoken uninvited guest. "Come here!"
Helena looked at Myka for a split second, as if to ask if she heard how brashly the woman had spoken to her, but Myka was pushing her gently to the other room where the nurse could look at the wound.
"Do I even want to know how?" Gloria asked and put on her glasses to get a closer look. "Does it hurt?" she asked, because the woman was amazingly calm for such an injury. "Do not compare it to having come through my closet," she warned her and Irene put her hand over her mouth to stifle a laugh.
"Not as much as this conversation," Helena resorted to. "Could you remove it?"
"It?" Gloria asked as she got out a large tweezers and gauze. "There are several splinters in here. Are you sure you don't want to take her to the Emergency Room?" she asked Myka.
"If you think it would be best," Myka said, but the patient huffed and explained that she had a house full of people waiting on her for instructions on a project and she didn't have time.
"I'll get out what I can, but if I can't get it all, you have to promise me to go as soon as your big meeting is done," Gloria compromised.
Helena didn't exactly agree, but she motioned for the woman to start.
Myka immediately took Helena's other hand and held it. The nurse meticulously pulled at each of the splinters to remove them. Dark shards of wood had pieced the very center of Helena's hand when she insisted on grabbing a piece of wood.
"The thing is, you might as well come back with us," Helena explained, and moved her hand. "If you see who is on our team; you'll understand why your presence will be necessary."
"Can you speak… without this hand?" Gloria asked and Myka instinctively stroked Helena's dark locks to keep her focused.
"Does this project involve wood?" Gloria asked, as she peered closely and pulled at another sliver.
"Brilliant deduction, and yes, the base will be wood," Helena said.
"And the rest of it?" Gloria asked, to keep Helena's mind occupied, but it was Myka and Irene who were really interested in the answer.
"Well, I wanted it to be a surprise. Do you think you can wait?" Helena asked sincerely.
Gloria smiled and looked at Myka. "Sure, seeing how I'm part of the team now."
"So, you're signing on before you know what it is?" Irene asked the usually cautious woman.
"Do you think for a moment, I will have a choice while the woman has access to my house?" Gloria asked seriously.
"Good point," Irene had to agree.
"I'll just tell work that Her Grace has requested my presence at a top secret project and I'll be back in a few months," Gloria teased, except Helena didn't get the joke.
"Oh, it shan't take that long," the Brit said seriously.
Gloria had to laugh out loud. "I do enjoy the way you say that," she said of the accent.
"Everyone does," Helena said and wasn't boasting; she was simply stating the truth.
"There!" Gloria said, satisfied that she was able to remove all of the fragments. "I'm going to put an ointment on this, but please watch it, Myka. For any swelling or redness."
"Should she soak it?" Myka wondered.
"That's a good idea, yes. If you can get her to sit still and stop talking with it," Gloria suggested.
"Can we get down to business?" Helena asked and moved her hand as Gloria tried to bandage it.
"Good luck," she said sympathetically to Myka.
"Let's go," Helena said and started towards the closet.
"Helena, shouldn't we…?" Myka was pointing to the front door; the longer way home.
The intruder looked at Gloria, her eyes asking if she really was going to be so unreasonable as to ask them to take the less convenient way.
"Fine!" Gloria said, throwing her hand up.
"We really can go out the front door," Myka restated.
"And listen to her whine the entire time? No, this is less painful actually," Gloria remarked.
"Easy for you to say," Helena blurted out as she touched another one of Gloria's outfits in the closet.
Irene gently swiped at her hand and told her to keep moving.
The four women emerged from behind the bookshelf, just as Pete was struggling with taking off his suit or armor.
"I don't know why I can't wear it a little longer," he was mumbling to himself and twisting around. Jane had suggested after he fainted that he might want to remove it. "This is the coolest thing… ever!" he said, when he made a half turn and came face to face with the quartet that weren't there a minute ago. He let out a blood curdling scream and lost his footing again; falling over the arm of the couch and crashing onto the floor.
Myka and Irene rushed to help him up. Helena simply observed it and asked the nurse; "And you're surprised your presence is necessary?"
Jane and Bridget rushed into the room, less surprised that Pete was on the floor than they were Gloria Brown was now in the room with the others.
"How…?" Jane asked, helping her husband up and sitting him on the couch.
"Chief… of Detectives," Helena whispered to Gloria.
"Hush," the nurse said back, because she had already surmised where the suit of armor came from.
"Couldn't you get him race cars next time?" Jane asked their friend.
"I'm keeping this," Pete said, as he removed the restraining breast plate. "I'm not giving this back."
"Okay, okay," Jane said, because she could tell her husband meant it. "We're really going to have to practice before Halloween, though."
"Could we…?" Helena asked, full of her usual impatience at getting things done.
The group reassembled in the dining room because Helena decided food might keep them focused.
"Boo-boo?" Shannon asked Helena.
"Yes, dear," Helena answered of her bandage.
"I want to see," said Cate.
"No," Pete Junior said, proving he had his father's nerves and ran to his dad.
Helena lifted the bandage and showed her daughter and friend.
"I'll kiss it and make it better," Shannon offered and put her mouth on Helena's hand. "There!" she exclaimed to Cate.
"Germs are serious business," Cate replied, although she appreciated the thought.
"I haven't even told Myka about this, because I wanted it to be a surprise!" Helena announced as she began her meeting.
"Oh… this should be good," Claudia said, covering her mouth and saying it to her wife.
Eileen smiled and nudged Claudia back. They were the couple who sat closest to each other; a fact Bridget noticed.
But the anticipation was building and when Helena proclaimed: "We're going to build...," – people thought it was a fill in the blank.
"… a second clothes closet for you!" Bridget said, because she was aware of what happened to the first one since the interns left.
"… a merry-go-round for the kids!" Claudia asked, thinking that would be so cool. "…but big enough for adults, too."
"… an… ARK!" Pete yelled out because he knew his friend never did anything small. "Two by two; the animals, two by two," he started to sing. "That's going to get smelly," he ran with his idea.
"… Oh, God, please let it be a bridge to Irene's house," Gloria contributed her suggestion.
Irene turned and shot her a look, even though she knew such a thing wasn't possible. Wasn't it?
"Are you quite done?" Helena had to ask. Mouths closed and heads bobbed up and down. "Good. We're going to build…. a replica of Manhattan," she said, her expression nothing short of – 'Bloody brilliant, ain't it?'
But the idea didn't quite come forth the way the genius intended.
"I think Lego has done that," Pete volunteered.
"Like a model set?" Irene inquired.
"Sweetie, where are we putting this?" Myka wondered out loud.
"Are there little people walking around?" Bridget asked, wagging her two fingers back and forth.
"I don't have to make outfits for thousands of little people, do I?" Sarah asked horrified.
"Oh, my God," the Brit groaned at the group; all except Myka.
"You want to build… a scale model of the entire island?" Myka thought through, knowing Helena the best.
"Yes!" Helena said, happy, but not surprised Myka got it. "Exactly!"
"How big is this going to be?" Eileen asked.
"The size of the ballroom," Helena said of her vision.
"The size of the ….?" Bridget was asking when Gloria blurted out – "You have a ballroom?"
"Yes, in the back somewhere," Helena dismissed the question.
"Wow!" Myka said, sitting back and trying to figure out how this was going to happen.
"And you want US to build it?" Jane asked, because she looked around and new not one of them was creative enough to do this.
"No, sadly what talents you have do not lie in the architectural design scope," Helena said sadly.
"What are we doing?" Claudia asked.
"Well…," Helena began excitedly, "…since this will be a true replica of the island, we need you each to take a section of Manhattan and provide us information about the buildings."
"Little Italy!" Claudia called out because the food was wonderful there.
"Oh, I wanted…I call China Town!" Pete called out, afraid of losing his second choice.
"Chelsea!" Bridget called out because she loved the eateries there.
Myka watched as their friends either jumped immediately into the deep end of Helena's ideas, or waited by the sideline and hesitated.
"Well," Sarah said slowly, wondering what this would entail, "… I guess I should take the Fashion District."
"I think we're going to need help," Eileen finally suggested.
"Now, that's the first thing I've heard that makes sense," Jane felt it necessary to point out.
"Claudia could write a program…," Eileen started and her wife caught on.
"We'll take pictures of every building and upload to a drafting program," the genius techie said.
"And then it can be projected onto castings," Eileen added.
"Brilliant!" Helena said, liking the sound of that.
"So," Irene asked cautiously, "… you want to make a replica of Manhattan with every building and structure accounted for?"
"Yes," Helena said plainly.
"That will be so cool to play with!" Pete yelled out and coughed, "… I mean, so educational."
Myka looked at Irene who returned to concerned look. Sensing there was more to this, Myka finally asked:
"What will we do with this model, once we have it?"
"Simple," smiled the genius there was nothing simple about, "… We're going to rebuild it!"