Friday has become the new Thursday? Don't ask me, I have absolutely no structure during the summer. Anyway, read, enjoy, and review if so inclined.

Artie returned with file boxes just as her nerves were about to snap. She shot up as soon as she heard the front door opening. She met a surprised Artie at the door. Helena took the two files boxes he was carrying and smiled before walking back into the library.

She plopped down the boxes in the place she had designated and walked back out to intercept more boxes from Artie. With the two of them working all of the boxes were in the library in a few minutes. Helena had seen the two boxes the Myka had said they had worked through in the other universe and set them aside.

Artie walked in the room and surveyed everything that she'd set up so far and nodded. "Looks good."

"Yes, well, the scanner still needs testing, but when it's completely up and running it should help things run much more smoothly." She uncapped one of the two boxes and started to dig through the files, looking for a rhyme or reason to the organization system, but she found none. She frowned and started pulling files at random and searching for the artifacts that Myka had mentioned.

"What are you doing?" Artie asked, shuffling forward to peak over her shoulder.

"This is one of the boxes that Myka's group has sorted through. I'm looking to see if the box is the same here as in the other universe."

"Ah, right."

Helena sorted through a few more files before glancing up at Artie. "Did you test the pen?"

"Yeah, yeah, it came back as an active artifact, but it's not actively whammy-ing anyone else. It's quite the odd case."

Helena's brow scrunched. "That is quite odd. Any headway on how it would work to get back?"

"No, but if I had to guess you touching it again might be enough, but I'll look into it some more to be sure."

Helena nodded. "Jolly good."

She finally opened up a file that Myka had named in her list. Helena set the file on Henry VIII's pendant aside and set off in search of the others that Myka had mentioned. Even though she was only checking the title page there were enough files that it made the job quite time consuming. Eventually, though between the two boxes she managed to find all of the files that Myka had mentioned. It appeared the boxes were the same in her universe and Myka's but five data points made her a little reluctant to call the evidence truly conclusive. Perhaps she'd ask Myka for a list of more files later just to double check, but for now she set the two boxes to the side and set to work on the pile of others.

"How go the repairs?" Helena asked, switching around the boxes so they were in numerical order.

"No real progress since you asked last. Testing everything is taking a while, but I'm going as fast as I can."

"Righty-ho then. I suppose I'll just work out the scanner's kinks with blank paper since the files won't really be going anywhere."

"Sounds good. I'm sure your little Frankenstein will have more than a few problems to fix."

Helena looked over at Claudia. "Do you doubt my abilities?" she asked, teasing.

"No, but you know, machines never cooperate the way they're supposed to the first five hundred times."

She laughed. "No, they really don't. You should have seen how many things I had to fix on the time machine before it would work properly."

Helena set to work running blank pieces of paper through her scanner and slowly finding all of the snags the paper hit. It took a few hours to get the paper flowing through at the right speed in order for it to scan fully. Now all that was left was to know if they scans were coming correctly into the database and then everything would be ready to go. But since Claudia was still repairing the database that was a task for another day.

She stood and stretched, back popping in the most gratifying way. Claudia was still typing away furiously. Helena walked over and draped herself over the arm again.

"You know darling you can take a break for a meal. It's almost dinner time and I don't recall you eating that much at breakfast."

"I'll be fine. Leena will drag me off the couch when dinner's ready, don't worry. With her around I never forget to eat."

Helena laughed. "Alright then. I'm done with my end until everything on the mainframe is running so I'll leave you to it."

"'kay."

Helena wandered out of the library and up to her room.

Later that night after dinner had been served and everyone had drifted off to their respective corners of the B&B, Helena found herself in the library once more. It looked quite different than it had back in her universe, especially since all of the files boxes and wires for the scanner were strewn about. It was still familiar enough, though, to warm and comfort her. Myka had first revealed that she might feel the same way if given the time to sort her feelings in this room. That memory alone was enough to make her smile. How far they had come since then.

Helena laughed once. All it had taken to truly drive them together was getting sent to two completely different universes. With how stubborn they both were she was quite sure nothing less would have worked, or at least worked so quickly to cement their budding relationship.

She traced the spines of a few books, inhaling the scent of old paper. A sigh escaped her lips. The smell had always comforted her, now was no exception. Helena made her way to the shelf that she knew should hold 19th century literature. Her finger hit the spine of Great Expectations and she smiled once more. She pulled the book from the shelf and thumbed through the pages. She wondered just how far Myka had gotten in the book before they had been called on the mission that had left.

Helena closed the book and put it back on the shelf. She wanted to feel closer to Myka, but she drew the line at literature that she did not enjoy. The book would probably end up halfway across the room at some point. She'd rather not startle anyone in the middle of the night because she was miffed at a particularly convoluted sentence.

She wandered around the library for a few more minutes, picking up books that she loved and starting to read the first few lines, but none held her attention for more than a page or two. Helena eventually gave up and walked back to her room again. She wasn't particularly tired, but she wasn't in the mood to join Pete and Claudia in front of the TV either.

The Brit changed quickly into pjs and curled up under the covers. The bed felt wonderful, the sheets cool against her skin and the pillows cradling her head perfectly. Still, though, sleep was outside the range of possibility. Why she didn't know. Usually her mind jumped at the chance to get to see Myka, but even that wasn't enticing her to bed tonight.

The fears she had regarding Myka's status with Artie and the complications the tests on the pen came to the front of her mind. It was a complication they didn't need, and she didn't know how she could help Myka from the other side. Her mind went in circles trying to figure out something, anything that she could do to help.

Frustrated, hours later she sat up and ran her hands through her hair. She wasn't going to get any sleep like this. She wasn't going to get any sleep until she figured out a way to help or she collapsed from exhaustion. She shrugged on a light jacket over her pjs and slipped on a pair of shoes and let herself out the front door quietly.

The fresh air helped clear her head some. She stood on the porch and took a few deep breaths. Her thoughts stopped circling around the possibility that Myka might not make it back home because of the Artie in the other universe. They were two of the most intelligent women on the planet. They would figure out something.

Still, even with this revelation the tension in her body only dissipated slightly. Helena set off, hopping off the porch lightly and started walking down the road, bathed in silver moonlight. She always had liked this part of the night the most, right after everyone had finally quieted down for the night and she had the world to herself for a couple hours before morning came.

After a few minutes her muscles warmed up enough to ward off the chill in the night air. Everything was utterly silent except for the occasional gust of wind and bird call. Sometimes living in the middle of nowhere had its advantages. It gave her the space to think as she needed to, or perhaps not think as she needed to. She could hear her every foot fall on the gravel road below her, every rustle of grass.

Finally, finally, after what seemed like a long while and a great distanced she felt the first threads of exhaustion. Helena turned around and started to walk back to the B&B, eyelids starting to droop, listening to the grass blow around her. It was such a relaxing sound.

By the time she made it back to her room she fell into bed, not even taking time to straighten out her covers before curling up and closing her eyes. It had sunk in that they would think of something to make sure Myka would get home safely. She would do whatever it took. Myka would too. Artie could not stop the both of them. She was certain of that.

She drifted off to sleep with a small smile on her face.

This time when she arrived in the dream world she woke up alone. It wasn't a surprise to her, she had fallen asleep quite late after all. She stretched and sat up, looking around for Myka. Her side of the bed was rumpled, but she was gone. Helena got up and started to wander the halls of the dream B&B.

She found Myka sitting at the kitchen table, sipping a cup of tea quietly, flipping the pages of Great Expectations. Helena smiled and sat down beside her.

"Hello, darling."

Myka looked up at her and smiled. "Took you long enough."

"Mmm, yes, but as it was I was have quite the time getting to sleep. I practically had to walk half way into the countryside in order to tire myself out enough to rest." She poured herself a cup of tea from the pot Myka had left on the table.

"Why were you so restless?" Myka put down her cup and leaned forward, forehead creasing in worry.

"We started the search of the Warehouse files, and while I was setting everything up with my universe's Artie he mentioned that running tests on artifacts that hadn't pinged was standard procedure. I thought of you and your Artie and was worried of the implications of that if he did the same tests."

Myka ran her hands through her hair. "Yeah, well, it may or may not be standard procedure here, I haven't really figured it out, but Artie ran the tests anyway. I have a feeling he's trying to invent some sort of test to "prove" I'm lying about the pen. He's been hiding away in one of the unused B&B rooms and working with God knows what."

"You have to figure out what's in there. Perhaps we can figure out what he's up to and counteract it."

"I already snuck in there today. It literally just looked like the storage room it was before except some of the random junk wasn't as dusty. I have no idea what he could be doing."

"Try again, then. Something must be hiding in plain sight that would make everything fit together."

Myka slumped further forward. "That's the thing, he sort of caught me in the act. Then we had an argument about everything, the tests on the pen included. I'm not getting back in that room with the South Dakota National Guard backing me up."

Helena stirred the cup of tea in front of her, scowling. "Well then, that does present a little bit of a challenge. Perhaps one of the others could go for you?"

Myka shook her head. "He won't let anyone near it now. He doesn't trust anyone else at the moment."

"What do you remember? Perhaps I'll know something about what you saw that you didn't."

"Like I said it was just junk."

"So are most of the things within the Warehouse, but it's junk that has been imbued somehow with powers. Nothing around here is ordinary junk."

Myka sighed. "You're right, but still this didn't look like it had been stored in the Warehouse anywhere. It wasn't like someone had been keeping care of it like we do when we're taking inventory."

"Perhaps whatever is in there wasn't in the Warehouse. It's not like Artie is unaware of how to get artifacts on the black market."

Myka closed her eyes. "Alright." She called the image of the room up in her mind, looking around, taking every detail in. Sometimes a photographic memory was a blessing.

Everything still looked like normal everyday broken junk that piled up in storage rooms everywhere but she recited the list of what she saw to Helena. When she was done she sat back in her chair once more and looked at the other woman expectantly.

Helena sat back and thought for a long while. She'd seen many artifacts in her time, read about even more, but nothing Myka had described had rung a bell. Several things had come close, but their abilities would not have helped Artie in the slightest. She picked up her cup and took a sip of now lukewarm tea.

"I cannot think of anything at the moment that would help. Perhaps it will come to me later." She shrugged.

"It was worth a shot." Myka traced her left middle finger around the rim of her cup. "I'll get back in there sometime, hopefully, and take another look around."

"Just be careful, darling, I don't want you hurt nor do I want to give your Artie anymore reasons to try and sabotage you."

"I will be, don't worry."

Helena nodded once, holding Myka's gaze. "Good."

They sat in companionable silence for a few minutes.

"Honestly, though, I'm not exactly sure that my confrontation with Artie was the weirdest thing that happened to me today."

Helena tilted her head. "What do you mean?"

"Just as I was starting to get ready for bed tonight Leena just walked in and started talking about how I was the only one that could get Artie to stop all the madness. Somehow it seems that his love of McPherson really did a number on him when he betrayed both Artie and the Warehouse. Leena thinks that because I've lost people too that I'll be able to finally break through to him."

"What an odd thought. Why ever would she think that?"

"You've got as much clue as I do." Myka shrugged. "She just seemed to think that there was this magical combination of words that I could spew at Artie that would just fix the problem. Or if not fix it at least make it so that he didn't trap me here. And I have no clue what to say. None at all. How in the world does losing Sam help me talk to Artie and manage to say the right thing? How does thinking I lost you for those few days help either? I literally just do not know, and I don't want to screw everything up further by saying the complete wrong thing."

"Darling, I think you have more of a gift with words that you're giving yourself credit for."

"No, you're the one who has the gift with words. You're the one who wrote novels that lasted over a hundred years. I'm just the girl who couldn't keep her nose out of a book. Any skill I have with words is just a product of that. That won't help me when trying to talk to Artie."

"Authors start out somewhere, darling, and they start out by reading. You've read more than everyone I've ever met. Somewhere among all those words there must be something that you feel is adequate enough for this."

Myka shook her head. "I don't think there is. This is too important to just spout out whatever first pops into my head."

"Then think about it, darling. As out of left field as Leena's proposal is, perhaps there is some basis to it. Everyone else who works at the Warehouse isn't you. They don't know words as you do. They don't know their power to move people, to change things."

Myka sighed and lowered her head to the table. "I think in this one case I'd be much more comfortable with action instead of words. Shooting at the problem would be so much simpler."

The edges of the dream started to fade. Helena stood up and crouched beside Myka's chair. She stroked Myka's back and laid a gently kiss on the exposed skin of her shoulder.

"We'll figure it out, darling. We always do."

Myka turned to her, kissing her just as the dream ended and sent them back to their respective worlds.