"Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow ripening fruit." -Aristotle
It struck Jane Tierney-Lattimer, recently appointed Chief of Detectives, that she and the fellow visitors looked more like the usual suspects file than actually invited guests. She looked at the other four women seated on the long couch and couldn't imagine why she had been summoned there.
"Now, Myka is baking…," Helena began in almost a hushed tone even though several yards and several thick walls separated them, "… something with the children; so you'll have to act quickly." Then, she looked down at them as if that was all the information they needed. She raised her eyebrows and gave her head a slight nod as if to say – GO!
Bridget had carefully chosen her seat right next to Jane. Of all the women in the room, the good Detective was the one who had the most combustible relationship with the genius. Neither suffered fools well and both thought the other high on that list. They made for pure entertainment, Bridget felt.
"What the hell is this about?" Jane asked, her voice terse.
"Here we go," Bridget smiled and Irene gave her a slight jab with her elbow because she knew exactly what the woman was up to. "Seriously?" she said to the older woman.
"Perhaps a little more information?" Irene suggested to Helena.
"Pardon?" Helena asked, her tone indicating they were wasting time.
"About what you're hoping to accomplish?" Irene prompted.
"The gist, Helena," Jane elaborated. "What are we doing here?"
Helena took a deep breath, truly amazed how they could not pick up on the knit of her brow to indicate her concern over something. But she was about to admit to a group of mere humans that she needed their help, and that was never an easy task. She looked at Irene for confirmation that she should carry through. The woman nodded. She encouraged any opportunity for her friend to practice being mortal.
"It would seem there's a mystery to be solved," the genius began and Jane leaned forward to get the details. "Myka is a very astute individual," she began her soliloquy. "And therefore, we must take it with extreme confidence what she says is true."
"Oh, for the love of…," Jane sighed and sat back.
"She's getting there," Bridget whispered.
"Myka feels with some urgency that there is something… wrong… with me," Helena put it poorly.
"What?" Gloria was the first to respond with surprise. "Is it her temper?" she turned and asked Irene. "Are you invading her space, Helena, because they can get annoying."
"No, it's… more," said Leena who had an uncanny ability to detect atmospheres in people. She had been so busy at the HG Wells Museum and her own life that she didn't get to visit as much as she would have liked to. But now that HG pointed it out, she did notice it. "There are dark blue spikes…in your aura," Leena shared.
"In her… what?" Jane bellowed from the other end of the couch.
"She sees things…," Bridget whispered because she believed in the woman's sixth sense.
"There!" Helena said, pointing to Leena. "What is it?"
"Well, I don't know," Leena said hesitantly. Just because the woman could verify the change in aura, didn't mean it came with instructions on how to fix it.
"She sees people's auras?" Gloria asked because this was a first for her. "Okay, sure," she said, thinking there were stranger things in this household to believe.
Leena looked at the nurse and smiled. Gloria had a gorgeous one. "Helena, I'm sorry, but only you can answer what might be causing it."
"Then, what are the lot of you doing here?" Helena asked and yes, this made sense in her head.
"You invited us," Bridget took the opportunity to highlight that. "Well, demanded… we come… actually," she clarified, feeling safer with an armed woman next to her.
Helena stared down so hard at her, causing Bridget's throat to close. "You're carrying, right?" she whispered to the detective.
"As if that would stop her," Jane pointed out.
"Let's start again, shall we?" Helena said, thinking she had more patience than saints at the moment. Irene bit her lip because she knew at that exact moment; Helena's biting of the lip was the telltale sign of her trying to figure out how to dumb down her inquiry. "There is no question that there is something there; Myka sees it and that is all the proof we need. So, regardless of its color or shape or temporal reading, we must address it. Now, Bridget here has shared after having some marital strife, a therapist was of some help."
"That wasn't a secret, by the way," Bridget said to Irene, pointing out that she was okay her friend just blabbed her personal life to everyone.
"You want to go to a therapist?" Gloria asked because she knew none of them were qualified.
"You're kind to volunteer," Helena misconstrued, "…but I think someone actually licensed in the profession would be ideal."
"I wasn't… never mind," Gloria stopped herself.
"Are you sure this isn't a job for…?" Bridget asked and tilted her head, jerking it in Irene's direction.
"She's not qualified," Helena pointed out.
"Maybe not is psychology, but she's got a Ph.D. in Wellsology," Bridget quipped.
"Hush," Irene said, even though a smile crept along her lips at the quick witted Bridget.
"So, we need to find you a therapist?" Jane asked, summing up the meeting.
"Yes," Helena said, relieved they got it.
"Well, the ones I know deal mostly with criminals and psychos, so I don't think you want them," Jane said seriously.
"Surely, you and Pete must have sought out some marriage counseling by now?" Helena ASSUMED.
"Oh, dear God," Irene said and Bridget pulled back into the couch to watch the impending fireworks.
"Excuse me?!" Jane said, caught off guard by her hostess' outspokenness.
"Well, I just thought by now, some of your more irritating habits would have caused Mr. Lattimer to seek…," Helena was trying to explain when Irene jumped up to stop her friend from shooting herself in the other foot.
"I think we understand what you're asking now, Helena. You want your friends to help you in this search for a possible therapist," Irene said, over emphasizing the words that might point out that it was not helpful to perturb people you were asking for help.
"Well, really… it's for Myka," Helena felt it necessary to point out, but Irene nudged her. "And me, yes, for both of us."
"Well, I know lots of shrinks," Bridget announced.
"There's a surprise," Jane quipped.
"When you work in banking, lots of people freak out with all the stress and they seek out therapists to help them deal with it," Bridget elaborated.
"Sounds like Bridget's got this covered then," Jane decided and got up to leave.
"I'm sure I could get names from my coworkers at the hospital," Gloria added because the woman was always helpful. "I'll get some numbers…"
"Numbers?" Helena asked.
"For you to check out?" Bridget said, being on the same page as the nurse.
"No, no," Helena said of the tedious task of screening them. "You… someone… must interview them and seek out their qualifications, etcetera, etcetera," she explained.
"Hmm," Bridget said, tapping her index finger to her chin, "… who do we know that is really good at interviewing people? Someone with years of experience in the art of weeding out the good from the bad. Someone skilled in the art of fielding the right questions to uncover the right candidate?" she continued.
Of course, everyone in the room knew she meant the former Human Resource Director who stood next to Helena.
"That actually makes perfect sense," Gloria concurred.
"I should have seen this coming," Irene chastised herself.
"Just helping Helena connect all the dots," Bridget said, and started to walk out with the quartet of friends.
Just as they were leaving, Myka opened the door, expecting to find her wife busy at work.
"Oh!" she smiled, seeing everyone there.
The trio of children all called out for their mothers as Pete Jr. ran to Jane; Cate ran to Helena, and Shannon jumped up at Bridget.
"We were making waffles, can you guys stay?" Myka politely asked.
"Sure," Jane, Bridget and Irene agreed.
"Thanks, Myka, but I have to go to work," Gloria declined because the hospital worked on shifts.
"Godspeed," Helena said and she meant – get cracking on those names.
"I have to get the museum ready for tonight's event," Leena explained.
Goodbyes were exchanged and the ones staying took their children by the hands into the dining room. Irene took Cate as she explained how waffles are made. "They're different from pancakes, Grandma," the child prodigy elaborated.
Myka smiled as she stood in Helena's way. "What was… that all about?" Myka asked of the impromptu meeting.
"That?" Helena laughed. "Just…," she started and caught the expression on her wife's face – the one that told her not to bother making anything up. "Right, then. I've asked our friends to help us find a therapist."
"A… therapist?" Myka asked.
"To uncover the tension that you sense in me," Helena explained.
"You… called all of them… here… to ask them to find someone to help us?" Myka asked, aware of how difficult her wife found it to do such a thing.
"Yes, and although they were of a predetermined limited help…," Helena was announcing, she found herself pushed up against the wall in the sweetest of kisses. "Oh," the Brit said, surrendering to the force and sensation of Myka's lips.
"Have I told you how much I love you?" Myka said, releasing Helena only when the two found it necessary to take a breath.
"Several times this morning," Helena smiled, as she gasped for air.
"Well, I will tell you several more times before the day is out, Mrs. Bering-Wells," Myka said, pulling on Helena's long stand of hair.
"I look forward to it," Helena said, as her wife grabbed her hand and pulled her into the dining room.
