Hunnigan had managed to doze off for a couple of hours but her sleep was light and interrupted easily by the slightest noise Charlie made as he moved around the apartment. At least Helena seemed to be fast asleep, exhausted from everything that had happened that day. Hunnigan stayed in bed until six a.m. before slowly slipping her arm from underneath Helena and sliding off the bed.
"I love you," she whispered, leaned over to press a soft kiss onto Helena's cheek and went to get dressed then. Roughly an hour later she was at the DSO offices, making a detour to the kitchenette for coffee before heading to her office.
"Oh, good Lord, what the hell!" she exclaimed, dropping her coffee mug due to being startled by walking in on someone already in her office, the woman dressed in a black pinstripe suit and a red silk collared shirt sitting casually on the edge of Hunnigan's desk.
"How did you get in here!" Hunnigan demanded and dug out a small packet of tissues from her bag, pulled out a few sheets and attempted to soak up the spilled coffee with them, rather unsuccessfully.
"The same way I get anywhere, Ingrid," Ada Wong shrugged, casually bouncing a leg that rested over the other, a black leather high heel with a vivid red sole hanging from her toes as she made lazy circles in the air with her foot. While Hunnigan wasn't the type who paid much attention to fashion and trends, she just knew that pair of shoes had cost more than her monthly rent.
"What the hell do you want?" Hunnigan narrowed her eyes and Ada smiled, standing up straight.
Hunnigan didn't even want to think about how Ada had known she'd be here today, it was a Saturday after all, and since there was no emergency —not one that involved the DSO anyhow— Hunnigan wasn't scheduled to be at the office. Ada knowing to turn up here to meet her could only mean Ada was keeping tabs on her, and that was a rather unsettling thought.
Hunnigan hated realizing she'd neglected to pay attention, had let herself be lulled into the false sense of security an officer of her stature should never assume; she'd need to attend a refresher course of counter surveillance tactics. Not that she believed for a moment that anything she could do would be a foolproof way to avoid being followed by Ada Wong, who certainly knew every trick in the book and had probably written a few chapters of her own.
"I would've thought that after all the time and effort you've put into investigating me over the last decade or so you'd be happier to finally meet me in person," she said and Hunnigan scoffed.
It was true, she had dedicated considerable amounts of time and resources to figuring out who Ada was and who she was working for exactly (her investigation never yielding anything real as Ada Wong was surrounded by a wealth of disinformation, her personality skillfully fleshed out and extremely detailed but ultimately fake, a nice and clean facade for those too blind to see it wasn't real), but she'd never imagined a scenario where meeting the woman would be a good thing.
"I'll give you three seconds before I call security and have you detained," Hunnigan said and Ada rolled her eyes at that. It would take a lot more than a DSO security detail to detain her.
"I'm not a bad person, and if you know what's good for you, you'll stop treating me like one," she said.
"Is that a threat?"
"It's a statement."
"Two seconds," Hunnigan continued her countdown.
"As I understand it, you need help, rather desperately so. Are you really in a position to ignore me?"
"What makes you think I would ever trust you?" Hunnigan quirked an eyebrow and Ada mirrored her expression.
"When have I ever given you reason not to trust me?" she asked. "Not to mention that you don't really seem to have a choice either, now do you?" she added after a short pause, and Hunnigan sighed deeply. As much as she hated having to agree, she had to.
"What do you want?"
"For crying out loud, I'm trying to help you! Considering how much effort you put into trying to find someone who can, I'd expect you to show a little more gratitude or at the very least stop being so hostile."
"You intercepted my emails or calls?" Hunnigan snapped, outraged at the mere implication that someone would have the skills and opportunity required to violate her privacy in this way.
"I didn't need to, someone you contacted knew someone who knew someone who knew someone...and so forth, you see where I'm going with this."
"So someone forwarded my request for assistance with an unidentified bioweapon to you and you turn up to help, just like that, out of the goodness of your heart? Forgive me for doubting it's that simple," Hunnigan scoffed.
"Oh, please, let's not insult each other by pretending either one of us expected my reasons to be completely selfless," Ada rolled her eyes. "But the truth is that right now...if you lose, I lose."
"What do you mean?" Hunnigan frowned and Ada sighed.
"Here's the thing. The US is being led by an imbecile and the majority of the population is so fanatic and stupid you could get them to commit suicide by stating that breathing is against their constitutional rights as American citizens," she began, and slowly made her way across the room toward Hunnigan.
"Europe is imploding thanks to all the infighting over finances and useless bureaucracy, and don't even get me started on the Middle East."
"Yeah, the world is fucked up, that's not news to anyone," Hunnigan muttered and took a step back to put a bit more distance between herself and Ada.
"Exactly, and it's not news to anyone that these aren't the kinds of issues that can be solved by making nice in a boardroom, so someone came up with the idea of imposing a new world order by forcing everyone to agree. Agree about what exactly, I don't know and I don't want to find out because in my experience, when large groups led by old, rich white men get to decide how things should be done, it ends badly for anyone who isn't an old, rich white man," Ada smirked. That at least was a statement Hunnigan could get behind.
"So, what are we talking about, mind control?"
"In a manner of speaking."
"Isn't that a little... CIA circa 1960?" Hunnigan quirked an eyebrow.
"Sadly, we're talking about something far more serious than a bunch of idiots lacing each other's drinks with LSD and calling it an office prank," Ada laughed.
"Fine. So, tell me what you know and I'll decide if I believe you or not."
"I know that there is a group that devised a bio-weapon capable of turning enemies into allies by means of mind control. The goal was to infiltrate enemy forces...in this case your agency and through that the government...and take control of them using a parasitic fungal organism."
"The mold," Hunnigan muttered and Ada nodded.
"The weapon was developed over a decade ago but it wasn't until recently that they were able to produce genetically engineered humans to control the mold and command the people under the mold's influence."
"Helena was right, Patel was a trap, sent here to be captured by us," Hunnigan breathed and pinched the bridge of her nose when she felt a headache begin to form in her brow.
"What better way to infiltrate an enemy camp than to let yourself be captured," Ada shrugged, obviously speaking from personal experience.
"So, who is responsible and what exactly does this 'new world order' of theirs look like?"
"I wish I could tell you," Ada said and Hunnigan didn't think for a second that it was a sincere wish, and she seriously doubted Ada didn't know, but she didn't bother pressing her about it, she wouldn't tell her anything she didn't want to.
"Well, what can you tell me?" Hunnigan sighed in exasperation.
"That this was just a test run that has been considered a failure, so you'll have time to coordinate with your allies and study the samples in your possession, maybe you'll figure it out by the time they try again and you'll have means to combat it."
"I don't have the time for that, Hawke is sick and needs the help now!" Hunnigan said agitatedly and Ada shoved her hand into her pocket. She pulled out a shiny metal case and handed it to Hunnigan.
"Take two of these and call me in the morning," she jested but Hunnigan wasn't amused. "This is a fungicidal serum that'll cure the infection, it'll save your agent unless she's already in the final stages of the infection."
"And if she is?" Hunnigan asked as she accepted the case, opened it and looked inside. It contained two syringes filled with a light green liquid.
"It'll kill her, but at that point she's already dead anyway, so you have nothing to lose here," Ada shrugged.
"Ada...I don't know what to say."
"How about 'thank you'?"
"Thank you," Hunnigan said, closed the lid of the metal case and held it against her chest like a precious treasure. Ada simply smiled a little and nodded.
"Oh, and don't waste too much time studying the serum, it's only effective against this particular type of mold; each are unique and require a unique serum produced from their specific tissue samples. Makes it harder to mass-produce a cure," she said.
"That is really smart. And...terrifying. Very, very terrifying."
"Yes, yes it is," Ada agreed. "All right, I think I'm done here."
"Ada, wait," Hunnigan said just as Ada was about to walk out, confidently and like she belonged here. Hunnigan supposed that was the only way Ada went anywhere, especially places she wasn't supposed to be at.
"Where did you get all your information from?" Hunnigan asked, doubting Ada would tell her but knowing she'd regret not at least trying since the opportunity was here.
"You wouldn't believe what intricate details men will volunteer if you play dumb, get them a little drunk and make them believe you'll have sex with them if they convince you that they're an important, big, powerful man involved in dangerous games. After a while, you can't shut them up," Ada laughed.
"That also explains how you've managed to dodge my attempts at finding you out, I bet you can make Leon sing like a little baby nightingale."
"Maybe," Ada shrugged innocently.
"Okay...one more thing, and this one I really dread to ask, but...what is it that you want in return for this?" Hunnigan held up the case with the serum in it.
Ada pursed her lips, tapped her fingers against the side of the door as she took a long moment to think about it. Or acted like she was thinking about it, the exaggeration in her gestures making it obvious she was pretending.
"Nothing right now. Let's just say you'll owe me a favor," Ada smiled sweetly and exited before Hunnigan could argue that she had no intent to agree to such terms.
"Fuck it. Fuck it, just fuck it, fine," Hunnigan muttered, dug out her phone and called Doctor Cassia, not caring if she woke her or not, and not caring that it was Saturday because this could not wait; she needed to get the cure to Hawke now.
"Oh, my God, you suuuck!" Helena yelled agitatedly and threw her baseball cap at the television when her favorite team essentially lost the game, the volume of her voice and the slight slur in her words giving away her drunken state. That, and the empty bottle of wine accompanied by another that was missing two thirds of its contents on the coffee table.
Charlie jogged across the living room, picked up the worn baseball cap and brought it back to Helena, his tail swaying from side to side as he expected her to throw it again. Helena chuckled, ran her hand over Charlie's head and threw the hat again, harder and further this time.
"What the fuck, Helena!" Hunnigan exclaimed when the hat suddenly impacted her face, the hard edge of the brim peeking through a tear in the fabric smacking right in the middle of Hunnigan's lower lip.
"Shit, I'm sorry! I didn't see you!" Helena apologized as Charlie picked up the hat and returned it to her.
"It's okay, I'm not hurt, it just surprised me," Hunnigan said and put her laptop bag on the table by the door before making a short whistle to get Charlie's attention. "C'mon, boy, pull," she encouraged and Charlie bit on the sleeve of Hunnigan's jacket, pulling it off her. "Attaboy," she said, scratched his head and put the jacket away.
"Hey," Helena finally managed a proper greeting as she went to Hunnigan who put her arm around Helena. She instantly leaned into Hunnigan, pressing the side of her face against her shoulder and put her arms around Hunnigan's waist, squeezing her tightly but still minding the injured arm between them.
"Hey," Hunnigan responded and ran her fingers through Helena's hair, leaving her hand to rest on the back of Helena's neck as she pressed a kiss on the top of her forehead.
"How was work?" Helena asked and Hunnigan smiled a little, aware of this being Helena's way of indirectly inquiring about Hawke's status.
"It was a good day, Hawke is going to be all right," Hunnigan said.
Poor Hawke would be spending another four weeks in quarantine but at least she was alive. Doctor Cassia had performed some quick tests on the serum to make sure it was legitimate because Hunnigan hadn't disclosed the source where she'd gotten the serum, just that she trusted the source. Doctor Cassia didn't share this trust, and Hunnigan couldn't argue with her over it, she made a valid point when she argued that perhaps this unnamed helper had delivered a serum which would kill Hakwe and eradicate all evidence of the mold in her body afterward therefore destroying what little chance the DSO had investigating it further. Hunnigan had pointed out that surely they'd know the DSO had taken plenty of samples of it and that they had been forwarded to the CDC, BSAA, and WHO already.
"Thank goodness. And more importantly, thank you," Helena said quietly.
Thank Ada Wong, Hunnigan thought but didn't say it out loud. Not because she didn't believe giving credit to where it was due but because the inconvenient fact was that Helena was no longer a DSO employee, Hunnigan shouldn't have shared any of what she'd said just now.
"So...I take it your team is losing," Hunnigan changed the subject and slowly pulled back from the hug.
"They sure are," Helena confirmed with a nod and placed the baseball hat crookedly onto Hunnigan's head. "Also, I'm sorry I drank all your wine, I didn't feel like going out but I wanted to get drunk and the bottles were there...I'll reimburse you for them."
"Yeah, those were pretty expensive, you just drank like...eight hundred bucks worth of red wine," Hunnigan smirked and returned the hat onto Helena's head as Helena's eyes widened when the extent of her indiscretion dawned upon her.
"Oh, shit. Shit, fuck, cock," she cursed and Hunnigan laughed.
"I'm just teasing you. I mean, they were ridiculously expensive but I didn't buy them, Nolan gave them to me for Christmas. I don't really even like wine that much, I prefer bourbon," Hunnigan disclosed.
"Don't tease me like that!" Helena scolded and exhaled in relief. "How does your family take it? I mean, the heiress to one of the biggest rum families in the world preferring bourbon, what a scandal," she teased back and Hunnigan's eyebrow arched high.
"Well, my mother has repeatedly called me a tall disappointment...and I'm not an heiress to anything significant, do you have any idea how many children and children's children Isabela Black had? There's thousands of people sharing the 'family fortune', so it's peanuts by the time any of it gets to me, but...how did you know about the rum?" she asked and Helena's smile fell from her face to be replaced by a look that Hunnigan had often seen on her son's face when she'd caught him doing something he shouldn't be doing.
"I may have kind of looked you up online and through some twists and turns found out quite a lot...also there was like an entire series of books about the family history at Nolan's apartment in New York," Helena confessed after stammering and stuttering for a long moment.
"You stalked me online?"
"No! I just Googled you."
"I'm flattered," Hunnigan smirked.
"And if you didn't want people to do that, then you should...well, tell your ex-husband to make his Facebook-profile private for one," Helena went on and Hunnigan chuckled.
"I have, but I think he likes the attention."
"So, you're not mad?"
"Why would I be mad?"
"I don't know. Fuck, this is awkward," Helena sighed.
"Would you believe me if I told you that almost no one knows I'm Lee Del Rey? It's not like I'm actively hiding it, but no one's ever made the connection, or if they have, they haven't mentioned it to me."
"It's the glasses, worked for Clark Kent for years," Helena said and Hunnigan laughed.
"Good point," she agreed.
"Why do people call you Lee anyway?"
"Because my family is very self-important and love naming their female children after the more famous foremothers, so almost everyone is named Isabela or Ingrid. I was called Lee as a kid to distinguish me from grandma-Ingrid, and I kept using the name later in life. Of course, nowadays everyone calls me Hunnigan, so it hardly matters. I mean, my name isn't even officially Hunnigan anymore," she explained with a chuckle.
"Really?" Helena's eyebrows rose and Hunnigan nodded.
"Oh, yeah, I changed it back to Del Rey a while back but fuck if anyone got the memo. Not that I really care either way, but I do admit that there are some perks to being able to drop my mother's family name around some places. That said, it goes both ways, it's not like everyone's a fan," Hunnigan smiled.
"I think that's kind of a cool tradition," Helena said. "Maybe I should take my mother's maiden name. Then again, after a quarter of a century being called Harper it would take a lot of getting used to being Helena Bailey," she chuckled.
"I know what you mean, believe me," Hunnigan said. "Now...is there any of that wine left? I could use a drink."
"There's maybe like one glass left," Helena smiled sheepishly.
"Not to worry, I keep a stash in the closet like any decent drunk would," Hunnigan smirked, opened the storage closet's door and went to retrieve a bottle from the rack mounted to the wall in the far back.
"Wow, you weren't kidding."
"Only about the being a drunk-part, I didn't have room in my kitchen for the rack, so," Hunnigan chuckled. When she turned back, she noticed Helena staring at something and followed the line of her gaze to the shadow box Hunnigan had stashed in the closet when she'd moved Helena's belongings from her apartment to storage. She'd forgotten to take the frame back with them. She told as much to Helena.
"Deborah put it together for me," Helena said with a rueful smile. "Personally, I never really cared much for that stuff."
Helena just stared at the shadow box for a long moment and Hunnigan noticed the way she slowly tensed up the longer she stared. When Helena squeezed her hand into a tight fist, Hunnigan grabbed her wrist firmly barely in time before Helena managed to smash it through the glass.
"Don't do that...don't do that," Hunnigan said quietly.
"Sorry, I just..." Helena sighed. She put the shadow box away and held up her hands a little. "I'm okay, I'm fine," she then assured.
"Okay. So...what do you say we open this bottle, huh?" Hunnigan suggested and Helena smiled.
"Sounds good."
A few moments later they were sitting on the couch, both with full glasses of wine, Charlie curled up and asleep at Helena's feet, the baseball game still going on the television screen. Neither one of them was paying attention to it at this point, Helena had already informed Hunnigan her team was probably going to lose the game anyway unless something incredible happened at the last minute.
"How's your arm? Have you been doing your exercises?" Helena then asked and Hunnigan bit her lower lip awkwardly.
"Uh...yes?" she lied unconvincingly and Helena rolled her eyes.
"Ingrid..."
"I know, I know, I just...forget to do it during the day when you're not around ordering me to do it," she said.
"I'll have to start sending you bossy texts and emails."
"Better yet, add it to my calendar."
"No time like the present."
"Honey, I'm not going to do it now, I'm holding wine."
"In your uninjured hand," Helena pointed out. "Did you just call me 'honey'?"
"...it...slipped," Hunnigan muttered awkwardly and took a long drink of her wine. Helena put hers away and turned to face Hunnigan, leaning closer and pressing her lips softly to Hunnigan's.
"I don't mind, I liked it," she said quietly before touching the tip of her tongue against Hunnigan's, gently deepening the kiss.
"Mmh..." Hunnigan hummed into the kiss, "I might end up making a habit of it then."
"I wouldn't mind at all," Helena said, slowly breaking the kiss and pulling back.
"What's wrong?" Hunnigan asked after noticing the troubled look on Helena's face.
"I just...okay, so, uh...I'm just...wondering if you...want to take certain things to the next level."
"I assume you're not just talking about cheesy terms of endearment," Hunnigan jested and Helena smirked.
"Sex, I'm talking about sex."
"Well, just blurt it out like that, why don't you," Hunnigan said in an exaggerated mock stun. They sat in silence for a moment, and Hunnigan exhaled deeply after studying Helena's concerned look.
"Listen...I'm not gonna lie, I masturbate about you a lot—"
"Now who's blurting things out," Helena stuttered through an awkward laugh and reached to grab her glass of wine, taking a deep drink from it.
"—but, I'd never pressure you into doing something you're not ready to do," Hunnigan finished softly.
"...what if...I'll never be ready?" Helena swallowed hard, refusing to meet Hunnigan's eyes. The taller woman took a deep breath, sucked on her teeth and shrugged one shoulder.
"Then I guess I'll just keep masturbating about you," she grinned.
"You just say these things," Helena let out an amused scoff.
"Honestly, I'm not sure what you want me to say."
"I don't know either," Helena chuckled uncomfortably and sighed then. "Look, I don't...I don't like sex. At all."
"All right," Hunnigan nodded, still unsure what she should say. What could she say? That she wanted Helena, wanted her to try, go on trying to convince her to change her mind, give it a shot with her, promise it would be worth it? Those were things a creep would say.
Besides, that wasn't what Hunnigan felt. Yes, she wanted Helena but at this point sex would be nothing more than an added bonus, not something she genuinely felt necessary to their relationship. She didn't deny she'd thought about it, that she would be more than happy to go there, but at the end of the day, it saddened her to realize Helena seemed to think not having sex would be a dealbreaker.
"But I can justify it," Helena hurried to add and Hunnigan frowned. She took Helena's hand into her own and leaned to press her forehead against hers.
"You don't need to, you don't owe an explanation about it to me or to anyone else for that matter."
"Maybe, but I...I want you to know," Helena whispered and stood up abruptly. She disappeared into the bedroom and returned a while later, holding a brown faux leather journal she'd dug out from her belongings.
"This is, uh...it's my journal from when I was at the mental hospital. It contains my trauma timeline. I want you to read it."
"Helena, this isn't necessary."
"I know. I know you're not dumb, you've put two and two together from what was said about Sergeant Good in the papers during the trials. But I...I need you to know...everything. Not just to justify my reasons for whatever, but because I don't want to keep these things from you. If anyone deserved to know the truth, it's you," Helena spoke quietly and handed the journal to Hunnigan.
"I'll...hold onto it for a couple of days before reading it, in case you change your mind," Hunnigan said as she accepted the book.
"Okay," Helena nodded.
"...maybe I'll write one of my own for you to read. Not that I have a trauma timeline really, but I do have a collection of awkward misadventures you wouldn't believe I was a part of," Hunnigan smiled a little and Helena chuckled.
"I would like to read that."