"What really matters is what you do with what you have." H.G. Wells


Myka was almost afraid to ask what the search process for a therapist had to do with their five friends. But she knew that Helena couldn't have found it easy to ask for their help. She stared across the dining room table as she helped Pete Jr. cut his waffle in equal parts.

"Each piece is one eighth," Cate announced and her friend stared back at her. "Of the total," she tried to elucidate.

When everyone seemed occupied, Bridget took the opportunity to lean over to Irene and whisper:
"Far be it from me to tell you how to do this interview process," she said softly.

"But you're going to…," Irene smiled.

"I think she's wearing off on you," Bridget said of Irene's slightly sarcastic response. "Anyway, I think it's important to keep one thing in mind when you're finding HG's guru."

"Oh, only one thing! Good, for a minute I thought…," Irene teased.

"Okay, okay," Bridget said, knowing she was getting a bit of her own back. "This is important. You have to pick someone that will never, under any circumstances, real or otherwise, suggest that this has anything to do with Myka."

"I'm sorry?" Irene said, unsure of the message.

"If a stranger comes into this house and even looks at Myka the wrong way, Helena will be all over them. So, you might want to put that fact in your disclaimer. Next to – who do we contact in case of death?" Bridget highlighted.

"Don't be…," Irene was dismissing her claim when she looked over at Helena who was staring dreamy eyed at Myka.

"Mummy! You did it again," Cate pointed out with a scrunched up face.

"What, darling?" Helena said, her attention slowly coming back.

"You stopped talking as soon as you looked over at Mommy," Cate explained; finding her parent's habit annoying.

"You can thank me later," Bridget said to Irene.

The children and adults enjoyed their brunch and afterwards, set out for their tasks at hand.

How hard, they all asked themselves; could it be to find Helena G. Bering-Wells a therapist?


Gloria was the first one to try. Sitting at the nurses' station, while filling out some paperwork, she asked the resident therapist if they knew anyone in private practice who would be a good fit.

"What are we talking here? Marital issues? Anxiety? Depression?" she asked, to narrow it down.

"No, no, none of those, I don't think," Gloria said cautiously. "More…," and she hesitated because putting her friend into words was not an easy task. "Tension of some kind."

"Tension? Between them?" the astute woman asked.

"No, more inside one of them," Gloria smiled as if that was all the information she needed.

"Are you sure she doesn't need a masseuse?" the therapist laughed.

"No, definitely not that," Gloria said, thinking Helena would never let anyone touch her.

The hospital coworker listed off a couple of names and said she thought they might be a good fit. Gloria thanked her and passed the names onto Irene.


Bridget was a tad clearer in what she thought would be an ideal candidate. As she explained to her wife, Sarah, when she got home that day; "I need someone who does not intimidate easily; does not bleed easily; and who will be astute enough to get around the roadblocks the genius is going to put up.'

'So, you want a therapist who is part Mr. Rodgers, part Bill Gates, and part The Rock?" Sarah asked.

"Exactly!" Bridget said, thinking her wife hit the proverbial nail on the head. "Know anyone like that?"

"Those are hard to come by," Sarah acknowledged and her wife told her she was of no help.


While the friends did their best to get names for Irene; Irene had decided it might help to get an idea of what the couple were looking for.

"Naps are for babies," Cate protested as she put her head down on the pillow and dozed off.

Then, after tucking her in, Myka joined her wife and Irene in the study to go over what they thought would help.

"Well, I'm open to anything," Myka said, because she was just so happy that Helena was okay with them getting professional help. "Someone who will be intuitive and kind."

Her wife was more direct in her wishes. "No one with obvious features that will distract me," was her first statement.

"Features that will distract you?" Irene repeated in amazement.

"Like blue eyeglasses or too tall; no one with annoying hand gestures or an irritating laugh," Helena pondered.

"Expecting to be a lot of laughs, are we?" Irene retorted.

"Myka has to like them," Helena added.

"Myka is not the one I'm worried about," Irene pointed out.

"That's very sweet," Helena misconstrued, "… but I can handle my own with these people."

"Helena, the fact that you refer to them as 'these people' – concerns me already," the HR Director shared.

"Not to old; not too young. I do not wish to educate them any more than I will have to, but I don't want someone who hasn't learned anything new in the last decade," Helena continued.

"This gets easier and easier," Irene sighed.

Myka bit her lip and smiled at Irene. She knew the woman already knew that Helena would be a challenge no matter who the therapist was.

Irene decided to go about this another way. "Do you wish to have the sessions here?" she asked, thinking the couple might not want to travel to the office of a person.

"Oh, is that possible? That would be good, I think. Right, Helena?" Myka was asking when she realized her wife's face was contorted.

"You incorrectly used the plural," Helena pointed out.

"Which plural, Helena?" Irene groaned.

"Sessions. You said sessions, with an s. That's plural," the genius painstakingly pointed out.

"Helena, you don't think this can be accomplished in one…?" Irene was asking when the expression on her friend's face told her she absolutely did.

"Irene, so much of the time is spent fishing around and getting to the heart of the matter. I shall cover that in the first thirty seconds," Helena shared.

"And in the next thirty seconds, will you tell them you are the original Time Traveler and have a history that stretches back to the 19th century?" the exasperated interviewer pointed out.

"Don't be ridiculous," Helena chastised her friend.

Irene looked pensively at Myka for help. She got it immediately.

"Sweetie, I think what Irene is trying to point out is that sometimes the things that are under the surface can be related to things in our past, right? And, and… if that proved to be the case, well, we have a lot of history to cover in one sense. And we might want to go slowly and decide how much to share. But… it could take us more than one session to get at the heart of it," Myka gently pointed out; persuading her wife.

"Fine," Helena agreed tentatively. "But keep in mind; the more qualified a person you send me, the faster this should go."

"That's not how this works, and you know it – Miss 'I knew Freud and told him a thing or two'," Irene replied.

"Well, that's how it should work," Helena decided.

"Well, I'll try to make it as close to your fantasy as I can, then," Irene said sardonically.

"That will be a first," Helena said out of the side of her mouth.

Irene stood up, smacked Helena's leg, and winked at Myka.

"And I shall use some of those minutes to discuss the abusive relationship with my employee," Helena yelled to her friend as she left.

"Oh, Helena; I think you'll have enough material to discuss without covering how mistreated I am," Irene teased her friend.

Having successfully one-upped her brilliant friend, Irene took her leave to start the arduous task that lie ahead. She was certain she had won with that last quip because she heard Helena exclaim:

"I don't know why I continue to employ that woman!"

To which Myka softly reminded her wife:

"We've been over this, sweetie; she's retired."