Sophie was two by the time Helen had gathered enough courage to get Ashley's old toy-box from the storage unit. It was high time to rummage through her memories and see what could be placed in the child's hands and what she simply couldn't bring herself to risk being lost or broken. Although she had to admit that Sophie handled things very delicately. She treated every object as she would have a butterfly. There was no violence in her whatsoever. She had never thrown a tantrum or flung a toy to the ground. She would always put items down very gently; checking the stability of the surface she'd place them on, as if to make sure nothing would fall.
Sophie was the exact opposite of Ashley in that sense. The little blonde had always been loud, vivacious, running around and trashing the place, teaching her mother to let go of material possessions and enjoy the moment. On the other hand, Sophie was rather quiet. She contented herself with what she was given – and shewasrather spoilt. She was meticulous and she seemed to enjoy building rather than destroying. She never looked bored. You could leave her in a corner and she would build piles with every small object she could find, leaving monticules behind her everywhere she went.
So in the spirit of taking a step further in making her peace with Ashley's death, that Sunday afternoon, Helen was in the living space of her apartment with Henry, dusting off a big cardboard box, trying to slow her heartbeats down.
Henry sneezed violently. The poor man was getting more sensitive to dust since they had relocated to Hollow Earth, it seemed. Either that or their cleaning rotation was not as efficient as Biggie had been singlehandedly, she thought with a sad smile.
"I swear this box is covered in my age's worth in dust." Henry declared, his eyes red and slightly watery.
"Well, it's been sitting in the storage room for about ten years now." Helen explained, handing him the tissue box she kept on the coffee table.
"Ten…" He began before realization hit him. "You know what? I still feel violated that you took advantage of my being a junior tech to sneak into the Sanctuary to steal from yourself." He confessed.
Helen huffed, sending him a sorry smile. Ten years had passed but she still had the vivid memory of the longing she had felt, while making her way through her old home, to get in Henry's and Ashley's rooms, just for a peek. But the peek would have turned into a few steps inside, and the few steps into a caressing hand on their brows and from there her whole plan would have been put at risk.
"If that makes you feel any better, it was not all that easy to get through your security." She said soothingly.
Of course, it was a white lie, but she was trying and it did him some good.
"Hey, do you have some of my stuff in there too?" He asked, suddenly quite excited at their trip down memory lane.
"Ha… Whatcouldbe in there, I wonder." Helen teased, caressing the box.
"C'mon, Doc, open it already." Henry answered.
She nodded and proceeded to open the box.
The smell which escaped the safety of the cardboard made her close her eyes. It smelt like the old walls of the Old City's Sanctuary, a mix of more than sixty years of memories. Some good, extremely good, and others less so, even terrible.
She was interrupted in her reminiscing by Henry's excited gasp.
"Booyakasha, myMichaelangelo!" He exclaimed, fishing for a ninja turtle plastic toy that he brandished, smiling just like he had when he was nine, opening his Christmas present.
"There was a small pizza box with him, I wonder where it is." He went on, slightly more focused.
Helen cringed.
"I'm sorry to say Ashley fed it to one of our inmates." She confessed.
"Ugh." Henry said, making a face and then he addressed his toy "I'm sorry I forgot about you, bro. But you're going home with me now."
Helen caught sight of a small, cherry-red jewelry case and she took it gently in her hands, wondering if she could stand seeing what was inside. Once she had touched every pore of the leather with the very tip of her index finger, she could not take it any longer and she opened it. For the first time in two decades, the jewel saw the – admittedly artificial -- light of day. It was a small medallion, made of gold, engraved with a waterlily, Ashley's birth month's flower. It was a gift from James, always the romantic type, still using the language of flowers a century after it had gone out of fashion.
"I want this to be burnt."
At that, Helen looked up to see Henry brandishing a small wooden crossbow and she chuckled. That weapon had been confiscated from Ashley's hands quite a few times as she would ambush Henry way too often for their liking. Of course, the projectiles that went along with it were quite inoffensive, Helen had made sure of that, but it was still very annoying to feel like a prey in your own home.
"We're not giving that to the girls, obviously." She stated.
Henry's offended face turned into one of interest, and for a second, Helen wondered what stupid idea he was about to come up with.
"I could use it to defend my lab against Tesla though." He declared, a wicked smile on his face.
Helen snorted.
"Beware the retaliation. I don't want a war on my hands and I won't pick a side." She retorted, taking the crossbow from his hands to put it away with the medallion on the table.
"Not fun." Henry concluded.
He thus proceeded to take the next item out, just as the door opened on none other than Sophie, back from her walk around the garden with Nikola.
"Oh, that's Barnie!" Henry exclaimed, taking out a worn out plush monkey with long arms and legs out of the box.
The thing had been fluffy when Biggie had gifted it to Ashley, but after years of adventures with its human friend, the toy looked almost scary, in its own way. Helen had sawn back countless of scratches at the end of its paws, and made a few stitches to fix some tears, or combat wounds as her daughter would proudly call them. The whole thing was long passed the garbage deadline, but Helen could not bring herself to throw it away now.
When Sophie saw the monkey, she stopped dead in her tracks for a few seconds. But then her eyes lit up and she ran for the toy, her arms extended and joy written all over her face.
"Barniiiiie!" she shrilled, as Henry presented it to her.
"You can give him a new name if you want to." Helen explained.
She could have taken it back. After all, it had been Ashley's all-time favorite and maybe, if she sniffed it in the right place, she would be able to smell her scent again, just one last time.
Yet, Sophie looked over the moon with this discovery, and Barnie needed a sound retirement plan. She doubted very much his first choice would be to sleep on an old woman's bed.
Sophie shook her head.
"I don't want to change his name. His name is Barnie."
She looked so offended that both Henry and Helen had a hard time trying to suppress a laugh.
The toddler crushed the toy against her heart, looking very pleased with her acquisition. And suddenly, a smile lit up her face and she looked at her mother and "uncle":
"I've got to show him to daddy!" She realized.
With that, she scratched Barnie's arms around her neck, tied his legs around her chest, and with the toy as a backpack, she stormed out in search of her father.
Helen felt as if she had swallowed a fistful of rocks, and when she threw a look at Henry, she saw what she guessed looked like her own expression.
Of course it could be pure coincidence. Tons of kids probably had carried their monkey the same way Sophie did.
Still, both Helen and Henry had just witnessed a scene that had unrolled thousands of times before: Ashley using Barnie's scratch to secure him to her back like a koala to its tree before running to her next mischief.
Henry cleared his throat.
"I mean, clearly, we would have done the same, right?" he said, shrugging, his voice sounding far less confident than he had wished.
Helen nodded and flashed himthatsmile she used each time she had to be polite but had no wish to be agreeable: way too forced, obviously reluctant.
"I'm sure we would." She confirmed.