A Thing of the Past

"Well, that went well," Helena surmised after Irene left. She leaned over to play with a strand of Myka's hair as Myka looked at her wife in amazement.

"Helena, we completely misread that whole situation," the lawyer couldn't help but point out.

"She gave us mixed signals, but in the end, I think it's important for Irene to consider the idea that we can't always have our worlds revolve around her," Helena said, thinking she had done a good job.

Myka shook her head. "Sweetie, you more or less just told her that she's too wrapped up in …..," and Myka wanted to say 'you', but hesitated. "…..All of this." Myka was getting a glimpse of the bigger picture and she didn't think it was on a channel Helena was going to like at all.

"Myka, you and I are talking about having a family. We want to do things. We're making plans about our futures. Don't you think it's fair that we at least warn Irene so that she can be ready?" Helena asked sincerely.

"Oh, honey," is all Myka could say because she couldn't get through to her wife, who thought she had the upper hand and clearly didn't. "I promise to be there when this happens."

"Well, of course," Helena said, wondering why no one was making sense today.

Irene was on her way back to her office when she decided to deal with Claudia. Seeing her at the end of the hallway, Irene approached saying; "Ms. Donovan, I think it would behoove you not to listen to your boss when it comes to matters of the heart. Specifically mine," Irene said and only then did she notice Claudia actually had a guest. "Oh, I do apologize."

"No problem, Mrs. Frederic," Claudia said, glad not to be in trouble. "We just finished."

"I'm sorry," the gentleman said. "Are you…..Irene... Frederic?"

Irene looked over at him, trying to place the face. There was something very familiar about his eyes. Claudia pulled back just a little to watch what was transpiring. 'Get down here,' she texted into her phone that was in her pocket.

Studying the quizzical look on the HR Director's face, the man laughed and said; "Oh, Irene! Was I that forgettable?" and it was the kind of infectious laugh one does not forget easily.

"James?" she said and his smile told her she was correct. "Oh, gosh. How long has it been?"

"Professor Erhart's Abnormal Psych class. We all thought we were suffering from psychosis, while there you were in the front row, taking copious notes that we all later begged you to copy," the caramel skinned man in glasses reminisced.

Irene held her arms open and hugged the man, just as Eileen moved alongside Claudia who had inched her way back. "Old friend," she whispered to Eileen.

"What are you doing here?" Irene asked in a tone that neither of the younger women had ever heard her use. It was almost…girlish.

"I own a software company that I was hoping to convince Ms. Donovan over there that she cannot do without," James said grinning.

"You were always good at math," Irene said fondly and Claudia nudged Eileen.

"Are you seeing this?" the techie asked her girlfriend who simply replied, "Mmm,"

"No, I was good at partying, but I finally grew up, learned a thing or two about computers and well, here I am," he explained. "But you, you wanted to become a psychotherapist. What happened to that?"

"She's Helena's shrink!" the techie said as she covered her mouth and Eileen twisted her lips to stifle the laugh.

"Oh, I decided to use it in business. I actually use a lot of those skills in sort of a private practice kind of way," Irene laughed and touched his arm.

"She touched his arm!" Eileen said, a student of body language.

Then, silence hung over them for a minute.

"I was sorry to hear about Marcus. He was a good man," James said of her late husband. It was a long time ago.

"He was always fond of you," Irene remembered. They had been teammates and friends. "We were sorry we lost touch."

"Awww," Eileen said. This serendipitous meeting was out of a movie, she thought.

"Can you get…coffee now?" James asked and Irene apologized and said she had a workshop to conduct.

"I could do it, Mrs. H," Claudia shouted and then realized she was the last person who could give it.

"Thank you, Ms. Donovan," Irene said and realized they were being watched...intently.

"Then dinner?" James pursued and Irene almost said no, but something told her to say yes.

"I'll pick you up at 7?" James asked and Irene explained that she would still be at work and that would be fine.

They hugged goodbye and James thanked Claudia for her time and said he would get her the additional information she asked for.

"Old flame, Mrs. F?" Claudia immediately asked because she had never seen the woman act like that with anyone.

"Aren't you in enough trouble?" Irene asked, but didn't mean. She just didn't want the incessant questions that were going to happen if she encouraged them.

"He's very handsome," Eileen said.

"He…always was," Irene said, looking down the hallway as the man disappeared.

Claudia couldn't help but squeeze Eileen's arm. Irene suddenly became aware of the fishbowl she was in. "Do either of you have any work?" she asked, walking back to her office.

"Mrs. F's got an old flame! Did you see the way he looked at her?" Claudia asked.

"And the way she touched his arm," Eileen said, practically swooning. "How sweet was that?"

Irene opened her door quickly and both women yelled and scampered away. "Children," she shook her head.

When Myka and Helena got home that evening, the Brit could see that Myka was bothered by the pile of boxes still there in the hallway. She went into the kitchen and asked Leena to call Irene to take care of this immediately, if not sooner.

Helena was truly surprised that they were still there after the couple finished dinner in the dining room. Leena assured Helena she called and explained the issue to Irene. "Did you tell her it was urgent?" Helena asked. "Yes, I did," Leena reported back. "But she's not here," Helena said, genuinely confused. "Yes, I can…...see that," Leena replied sympathetically. It always fascinated her when her resident genius couldn't figure out things.

Helena was thinking that if you want a job done right, you do it yourself, when she dialed Irene's phone and it rang.

"Oh, I better take this," Irene said, sitting across the table from James at the restaurant. They were on their third cup of coffee. "Hello, Helena," she said and smiled.

"Hello? Where are you? You're not here," Helena said, flustered and keeping her voice down.

"Yes, I know that. I'm…out," Irene said and wondered how long it would take Helena to process that. Helena couldn't figure that one out at all.

"Those bloody blue boxes are still in my entry way and Myka is upset," Helena shared.

"I left them there so the two of you could decide what to do with them," Irene said as James couldn't help but listen.

"Yes! And I decided you should figure out what to do with them. Myka says I can't give them out at Halloween so you have to come up with a better alternative. Did you hear me say their presence is upsetting Myka?" Helena reiterated.

"Helena, I have to give this some thought. I truly don't know what to do with thousands of dollars of fine jewelry. So, could I suggest that Leena just move the boxes into the library, out of sight, for the time being?" Irene suggested.

Helena stopped and thought about that. It actually made sense. "Oh," she responded. "Yes, well, okay," Helena said, agreeing even though she didn't get exactly what she wanted.

"Good night, Helena," Irene said and hung up. She was looking down at the phone and smiling when James asked her if everything was okay.

"For now," Irene said, because she was always thinking ahead when it came to Helena.

It was obvious that neither Irene nor James wanted to end the dinner, but it got late and both realized that they had too much coffee. James insisted on taking Irene home in his car and walked her to the door. When Irene unlocked her front door, both she and James were greeted by two things - Bandit growling fiercely and Sui who greeted them warmly.

Irene made the introductions and James wondered if this was Irene's adopted daughter or roommate. He totally understood the dog's reaction. Irene gave Bandit the command to sit and he did, but he didn't like it. James even tried to speak to him, but the dog continued to show his teeth.

"He's quite the protector," James said of the dog and foolishly thought that was the biggest hurdle he might have to get over to see Irene again.

Foolish, foolish James. He had no idea what was coming his way.

"I had a really nice time, Irene. I hope we can do this again, soon," James said from the porch.

"Bandit, hush," Irene tried as the low audible growling continued. "I did, too."

James said goodnight, placed a small kiss on Irene's cheek and left.

'Who is that? Who is that? We don't like him. Oh, Helena is not going to like him. You, Sui! Do you know how to call Helena because all hell is going to break loose when she hears about this.' Bandit was saying, but the women were too busy talking.

Sui made several observations about the interaction between Irene and her friend. Irene's breathing increased, her blood pressure went up, her eyes dilated, and there was a redistribution of blood flow to her face. She giggled when she talked which was something she had never heard Irene do. And there was the smile that didn't seem to leave Irene's face the entire time she was talking. All of this was very new to Sui. She would be most prepared to answer Helena's questions tomorrow.

As soon as Myka saw Helena's face, she knew something was up. "Are you okay," she asked as she got the bed ready. She felt exhausted for some reason.

"Pardon?" Helena asked, her mind still on the fact that Irene wasn't there. She decided it was late and perhaps that's why the woman didn't show up on her doorstep as she had anticipated.

"You seem distracted," Myka pointed out as Helena got ready for bed. Her nonresponse proved Myka was right. "Are you okay?"

"Me? Oh yes, fine," Helena said, because she wasn't quite sure what was bothering her.

The couple kissed goodnight and cuddled until they fell asleep. Helena might have been preoccupied, but she wasn't blissfully exhausted which is why her deepest thoughts found a narrow escape that night.

And Myka saw them.

Myka woke up the next morning to an empty bed; the worst way for her to start her morning. She was surprised that her shower was cold, as the hot water never seemed to run out in their house. The intern had laid out her outfit and Myka looked down at the black dress and dark stockings. She didn't even think she owned this dress. She went to tell the intern she wanted something else, but the young woman informed her – 'Helena wants you to wear this', and then rudely shut the door in Myka's face. The whole world needed coffee, Myka decided. She took the dress and went downstairs where the dark gray skies from outside, darkened the front hallway. Helena was standing with her back to Myka as she went downstairs to ask her about the dress.

"Helena?" Myka called and when her wife turned around, it was obvious to her that Helena had been crying. "Helena! What?" Myka rushed to her and grabbed her in her arms. Then Myka saw it – the door to the library was opened. The room was void of their furniture and the only thing in there was a coffin; a small white coffin. Myka pulled back, and tried to walk in the room. "Helena, who is that?" she asked, grabbing Helena by the forearms gently to face her.

"Christina," Helena sobbed into Myka.

"No, no, Helena, It can't be," Myka tried to reason because she was certain they were in the present there.

Suddenly, the young girl came up alongside Myka. "No, it's true, Myka. My mother wasn't there to save me."

The screams of fear and horror that Myka let out reverberated throughout the house and shook her body.

"No, it can't be, it can't be," Myka said over and over again.

"Then you have no idea," Helena said to her, tears welling in her eyes. "Myka, you have no idea."

Myka couldn't breathe and she ran to the front door to open it, to let light in. "Helena, look," Myka yelled as she swung open the door to prove this wasn't real, but there was nothing – only darkness. She couldn't imagine how this could happen and went to step out into the street, but instead spiraled down into the void until she hit the bottom hard.

Myka woke up with a start. Her heart was racing and her body was covered in sweat. She grabbed the bed to make sure she wasn't moving. "It was a dream, it was a dream," she repeated in her head, but her body still felt the effects and refused to move when she wanted to get up.

Her head snapped sideways to look at Helena who was sleeping soundly. Myka lay there, trying to take deep breaths and relax, but all she could hear was her heart thumping in her chest. It took a few more minutes, but finally Myka swung her legs over the side of the bed and sat there. The dream was so real that even now, she had to grab herself and keep looking around. She stood up slowly and went into the bathroom and splashed cold water on her face. She put her hand on the bathroom doorknob and hesitated. She was actually afraid of what she would see on the other side.

Myka finally opened the door and saw Helena sleeping in the large bed. Thank God, she thought, that Helena didn't sense what was going on. It was nothing more than a bad dream, Myka decided.

A bad dream that was just making its way into Helena's unconscious. It had been shut out for years, and like Pandora's Box, something had opened up its passage.

And now it was returning….…with a vengeance.