A/N Sorry for the angst, but it was needed.
Disclaimer: I own nothing of Syfy.
"So have they settled on what the little rugrat's name will be?" Claudia was fluffing the pillows after she had polished the old wooden floors, her bending over to place the books back on the coffee table.
"Let them tell us, in their own time" Leena was saying as she hurried to finish cleaning the kitchen, "I mean, really?" she huffed, coming down from the step ladder, "How the hell do you splatter peanut butter on the ceiling?"
"Have you ever been witness to HG in a kitchen?" Claudia walked in, still 'fluffing' the couch pillow in her hands as she leaned against the wall frame that separated the dining room from the kitchen.
"Do I want to know?" Leena smirked as she stalked her way toward the young red-head, tossing the soiled rags over her shoulder, gently pushing her girlfriend against the kitchen counter as the cushion fell from Claudia's grip.
"This place was once a former Bordello, must be the vibes" Amanda's face switching from a sudden frown to a lecherous grin as she dropped the pile of fresh linen on the dining room table with a loud thud.
Claudia jumping out of her girlfriend's arms, her blush could have lit the entire Eastern seaboard as she rushed to pull down her vintage, 'Runaways', t-shirt.
"Stalk much, Pete's wife?" she mumbled as her arm reached around to her back, trying to adjust her bra strap.
"Not that I am aware of, Leena's little …"
"Okay, enough you two!" Leena then putting herself between the two women, Claudia peering over Leena's shoulder as she stood behind her girlfriend, a smug look on her face as Leena took the sheets from Amanda. Leena shook her head as she turned, "You will have to tell me about the history of this place," smiling as she faced her girlfriend.
"And you, my little soul, go make sure the sheets are clean in the baby's room, okay?" Leena leaning forward, her hand cupping Claudia's jaw, giving a quick nip to her lips after she handed the neatly folded linen to her.
"She is a real firecracker," Amanda chuckling as she crossed her arms, watching with a side-eyed look as Claudia rushed up the stairs. Her eyes rising up to meet misting, brown ones.
"Helena has been at their side this whole time," Leena raising her hand to halt Amanda's retort, both women then leaning against the kitchen counter.
"I know, all too well, all those days and nights bringing them both fresh clothes, trying to make them eat." Amanda then turning around, Leena watching as Amanda reached up into the cupboard for the bottle of Irish whiskey stashed behind the hoard of baby food jars that she had bought weeks ago.
"The least we could do is make an inviting home-coming for them," Leena sighed, setting two glasses down on the counter.
"Sorry," Amanda whispered as she went in front of the sink, turning on the faucet, watching the water swirl down the drain.
"I have not the first clue as to how HG is holding up. If it was my little Janie, hooked up to all those … things," Amanda started to sob as her hand rushed over her mouth, trying to push down the tidal wave of emotions.
"Hey," Leena pulling Amanda closer into a deep hug. "All we can do is be here for them, when they need us?" Leena smiling as Amanda pulled away from her embrace.
"Here, let me," Leena said as she torn a paper towel sheet from the rack above the sink, dipping it in the still running water.
"When was the last time someone tended to you?" Leena asked as she dabbed the cloth under Amanda's eyes.
"Pete," Amanda shrugged, her fingers gripping at the towel, turning her head as she dabbed under her eyes. "He has been great with all of this, taking care of the business during the day for HG."
"Yeah, Claudia has said that Pete has been running things while HG spends her time at the hospital," Leena was saying, her eyes staying trained on her hands as she cleaned the two glasses, then watching as the amber liquid was poured, "Three weeks they have been there, never leaving her side," she whispered.
"You?" Amanda turning her head to meet clear, brown eyes.
"Helena," Leena turning around as she shut off the tap to the sink. "Everytime I tried to reassure her when we were in the hospital, she would turn things around and hold me when I broke down, at seeing Elizabeth in that ..."
"Really? I thought for sure it would have been Myka," Claudia had come in, stealthily moving behind the two women, popping the top of the beers she had pulled from the fridge.
"That time when Myka had been hurt, she was like, all mother hen with us." Claudia shrugging as she handed the bottles to the two women.
That day had been long, grating at all the women's nerves. Claudia had worried at how HG would react to Myka being hurt, more so if Leena was okay. But through Myka's haze from that day of the bank robbery and them crashing over a year ago, it was Myka comforting them all.
"Mykes will be a great mom, no matter what she has said about kids,"
The three women leaned against the kitchen counter in silence, sipping on their libations, all lost in their own thoughts.
XXX
"Darling?" Helena sighed, for the umpteenth time as she stood by the door of Myka's private room in the hospital, her knuckles white from gripping at the 'baby' bag and wheel chair, her fingers tangling in her hair with the other as she watched the shadow of their OB GYN leave the room.
"Elizabeth has just received the 'Queen's' approval for release from this place," Helena leaning back against the door, the bag dangling from her as she crossed her arms.
"You have the proper, legal baby seat?" Myka looking down at their daughter, never raising her eyes as she got up from the bed.
"Yes, my darling, DOT approved," The baby secure in her arms as she nodded her head, then leaning in to give a grateful peck on Helena's cheek.
X
Myka sat in the wheelchair just inside the double doors of the hospital, her eyes transfixed on the small bundle in her arms.
In all her years, even as a child, she had never wished for children. Secretly hiding Tracy's 'baby dolls' away from her through their childhood years.
"Stop being a brat!" Myka would say.
"Stop hating my babies!" Tracy would yell back.
"I wish you a hundred kids!" Tracy would yell, running down the stairs of the family's home.
Myka would chase down after her, "Not going to happen!" them running around the shelves of the bottom of the bookstore.
"Poopy diapers!" Tracy yelling over her shoulder.
"All for you," Myka would tease as she reached with her long arms, pulling her younger sister against the bookcases.
"Never, in a million years, any magic or wizard will ever make me want a brat!" Myka pushing her sister down, tickling her.
"Take it back!" Myka said, holding back her true thoughts as she watched her sister wiggle under her.
"Never, ever," Tracy hissing, Myka sitting back on her heels, her sister perching herself on her elbows as she glared at her big sis.
"Your baby will hate you, just like I do!" Myka stilled at her sister's words, her hands stopping their torture on Tracy's ribs as she gulped down the lump in her throat.
"What the hell is going on!" their heads turning to the roar of their father's voice. Myka instinctively pulling Tracy up, shielding her behind herself as their father came storming out from his small office. His yelling that this was a business 'and not a playground' caused both young girls to shake. Myka tighten her grip, pulling Tracy closer to her back as she bent her head, whispering apologizes.
"Take it back," Myka had said as she closed the door to Tracy's room. Her head pressing against the cool wood as she listened to her mother argue with him about them being young girls.
"Take what back?" Tracy huffed as she crossed her arms, falling onto her bed.
"Nothing, Trace, just ... let's keep it down while dad calms down, okay?" Myka turning to face her little sister who was pouting on the bed. Tracy tilted her head as she watched Myka dig around the back of her closet, pulling out an old shoe box out from behind some books.
"Here," Myka tossing the box on Tracy's bed, the lid falling off as it fell on its side, her baby dolls coming into her sight.
"You hid them in my closet?"
"Yup, because I knew you would never look behind those books," Myka grinned, plopping down on the floor, leaning against her little sister's bed with a book in hand.
"You are such a nerd," Tracy was saying as she pinned over her dolls.
"And you are a brat,"
'I am never having kids'
X
"What, my love?" Helena asked, after her parking the work truck in front of the entrance, her rushing around after she secured the baby seat to set between the two of them in the front of the cab. Helena just coming up as Myka shook away the words from Tracy that day, so many years ago. She never told her sister how much that word, 'hate' had affected her, tore at her heart.
"Do you think she hates me?" tears falling down her cheeks as Helena wheeled her girls to the truck.
"Why would you ask such a thing?" Helena stopped, bending down in front of the wheelchair her girls were seated in. Her hand gently caressing Myka cheek, her fingers brushing over the fine, soft hair of their newborn.
"Postpartum depression?" Myka shrugging off the thoughts of her childhood memories.
"Nonsense, darling." Helena kissing the baby's head as she double checked the seat belt straps around the baby seat.
"But what if I'm not …" Myka whispered into the soft hair of her daughter, her arm cradling around the baby seat. Her then raising her eyes as Helena shifted the truck into park on the shoulder of the road.
"I couldn't even carry her to term," Myka's hand covering her mouth, the tears streaming down her cheeks.
"My love," Helena leaning over, clasping her wife's hands together, gently brushing Myka's knuckles against her lips.
"You would lay your life down for our girl, yes?" Helena holding back the tears as she stayed strong for her family. Myka nodding as she pressed her forehead against Helena's. Her hand never leaving the touch of her girl as she sniffled.
"As would I. Our girl will feel, know, of our love for her," Helena tilting Myka's chin up with gentle fingers, their eyes meeting. "Even when you ground her for staying out too long after prom,"
"Oh, and I am going to be the bad guy," Myka laughed a soft breath, wiping under her nose as she pulled away, her eyes dancing between those two sets of eyes.
"Yes, love." Helena smiled as she stole a quick kiss, "After all, you are the one who wears the gun in the family," Helena smirked, driving them home.
X
Myka had thanked the three women for all their effort at readying the house for them, leaning in to whisper to Leena as the other two stood on the porch, "How bad was my kitchen?"
"Not bad at all," Leena shrugging her shoulder, crossing her fingers behind her back as she winked at Helena who had come up next to the two women talking.
"You owe me," Leena saying into Helena's ear as she was being pushed out the door. Myka looking over her shoulder at Helena leaning against the door talking to the women, her walking up the stairs with their precious bundle.
"You coming?"
"And with that, Ladies. I must take my leave," Helena winking at the three as she closed the door to her family's home. Double checking the locks, parting the curtains as she watched her friends drive away.
Helena shrugged her shirt off as she walked up the stairs, her fingers halting on the third button of her 'button fly' jeans. She leaned against the door frame of their bedroom, their daughter's crib next to Myka's side of the bed, empty. The little girl curled in Myka's arms next to her in the bed, her wife's other hand holding up the duvet on her side of the bed.
"Care to join your family?" Myka's exhausted face just able to light the room with her smile.
"With all my being,"
