Not long now til the end of Part Two. Thank you for those of you who continue to review. I've been trying to get started on Part Three, but it's slow going! Apologies if I haven't replied individually to feedback - I appreciate every comment; they truly do keep me going, especially when I'm stuck for ideas!

Hope you enjoy this chapter.

Chapter Ten

Helena ran a fever for most of the following day, but since she managed to sit up in the afternoon to eat, drink and talk for a bit before falling back to sleep, Myka wasn't worried enough to declare a state of emergency. After calling Claudia from her Farnsworth, relaying their situation and getting an update on the weather and their rescue plan, she settled close to her companion and watched her sleep. It was a long, tedious day, lying awake by herself, but it gave her the time she needed to think about the future and make plans for when they arrived home.

There was no need for them to strip down to their underwear the second night and Myka had to laugh inwardly at the disappointment that hit her.

As day three dawned, Helena woke to find green eyes keeping careful watch over her and couldn't help the gratified smile that crept onto her face. "Good morning," she greeted huskily. Yawning and stretching, she allowed herself to bask in the awareness of her stiff muscles and sleep-encrusted eyes. Neither sensation was particularly pleasant, but after a day or more of near oblivious existence, she was glad to be feeling human again. "What time is it?"

"Early," Myka replied with a restrained smile. She had an inexplicable urge to laugh but managed to rein it in. Something was happening to her. Ever since she'd accepted that she wanted to be more intimate with HG, she'd become restless and almost giddy with anticipation. Her thoughts were dancing around like she was fifteen years old again and newly in love. It made no sense. Or it makes complete sense and you just don't want to admit it, her inner voice teased. "You've been asleep for the best part of thirty-six hours, it's good to see you properly awake."

"So much for a forty-eight hour mission," Helena grumbled lightly. Something in her companion's voice grabbed her attention and she looked across the bed. "Did I scare you?"

"A bit," Myka admitted.

"I'm sorry, darling," HG responded softly. "Myka, I mean," she corrected as she realised that she'd slipped back into a habit of using terms of endearment. "My brain appears to need a little longer to wake up."

"It's ok," the brunette replied. For a moment, they gazed at each other and she felt a flush suffuse her body. She coughed. "I'm going to make us some breakfast. Do you want to take a shower while you're waiting?"

The raven-haired regent watched with curious amusement as her wife scrambled out of bed and began to fuss around the room, deliberately avoiding eye contact. As she sat up and tried to tame her wayward hair, Helena wondered at the source of Myka's awkwardness. There was a cup of tea in her hands before she connected the brunette's current behaviour to what it had been before they first became lovers.

This realisation brought a teary smile to her face and she raised her cup to her lips to hide any hint of the joy that filled her. She took her time in the shower and knew as soon as she re-entered the main room that it'd been the right thing to do. The bed was a sofa again and most of the sheets and blankets were folded in a neat pile atop the chest of drawers. Myka sat cross-legged with steam rising from a bowl on her lap and glanced up at Helena with a smile ghosting her lips.

"Feel better?" Myka asked before she raised a spoon from her bowl and blew on the contents.

"Much, thank you." HG crossed the small space as she continued to towel her hair dry. "You've taken great care of me, Myka and I appreciate it, but it is surprising how a simple, warm shower can make one feel whole again." Spying a second steaming bowl, she picked it up and moved to sit on the opposite end of the couch before tucking in.

"Cleanliness is next to Godliness?" Myka teased after too long a pause.

Helena's eyebrows rose in acknowledgement. She was delighted by the subtle change in the brunette's demeanour and chalked it up to the action-packed adventures of the past few days, but she was careful not to push too fast. In fact, if she was entirely sensible of their dynamic, she wouldn't dismiss the topic that had put them at such odds in the first place. It would be up to her to broach the subject. "I had a nanny who used to tell me that almost daily," she responded after taking her time to eat a little. "To be fair to her, it was usually after she'd found me up a tree and covered in debris from the garden. My mother charged her with the unenviable task of keeping me in line and teaching me to behave like a lady."

Myka chuckled as she imagined a young HG running circles around her governess. She ate the last of her food and returned the bowl to the kitchen, leaving a growing tenseness in her wake. She could almost taste it in the atmosphere but didn't know why it was there. Not until HG's next hushed words hit her.

"I think we both know that I'm the last person who should be attempting to emulate God."

Myka turned to find HG placing her mostly empty bowl on the floor. Automatically, her arms wrapped across her ribs and she sank into herself. "You want to talk about that? Now?" she challenged, half hoping that the inventor would drop it.

Helena spread her hands out in front of her. "It does us no good to ignore the elephant in the room indefinitely," she answered. She watched green eyes roll and sighed. "Myka, there was a time that I would have happily avoided any notion of discussing my foibles, but that person – that version of me was entirely too arrogant. I am not without weakness but I hope you still believe that I've changed."

The younger regent shuffled slightly on her feet as she listened. Jaw set stubbornly and eyes staring into space, she mulled over the Brit's words. She considered the last few months and the way her feelings had evolved during that time. Slowly, her expression softened. "You have changed," she agreed with a glance at the figure on the couch. A deeper sigh punctuated a change of heart and she trod lightly across the living area to retake her position next to the inventor. "And you're right, we can't avoid talking about Egypt forever."

Helena smiled sadly, tucked her feet beneath her body and spread the leftover blanket over her knees. As it was big enough to stretch between them, she offered the other end to her companion, who took it without much hesitation. "We took the children to see the pyramids once, you and I. About three years ago." She checked green eyes to make sure that Myka was comfortable listening to her talk about their life together before continuing. "We had talked about going back several times beforehand but it has never been a subject that we could face with ease. It will forever be a period in our lives that fosters ill-feeling and the fault for that lies with me."

"Why did you do it?" Myka blurted abruptly, as if the thought shot from her without permission. Since it was out there now, she decided that she needed answers after all. "Why didn't you just talk to me and let me help you?"

It was this point that tormented the American most. They had been lovers and she had felt a connection that went deeper than anything she had felt before. From her point of view, they were heading towards a committed relationship, and then everything had fallen apart so suddenly and she was forced to question everything she'd thought she'd known. Now, those thoughts festered in the background and much as she didn't want to analyse them, she knew that Helena was right to insist that they talk about it.

If her recent thoughts were anything to go by, she wanted them to be an item again. Wanted to be a part of the family as a permanent, present fixture and not a transient figure who visited solely to see their children. Now that her question was out there, she studied the Victorian closely and waited for a response.

Helena gazed at her hands for several seconds before looking back up and capturing the brunette's gaze. "I wanted to, Myka." She recalled their time at the bed and breakfast, feeling a residue of the melancholy that had imprisoned her from time to time. "Every day, I looked at you and I wanted to fall. I knew that you would try to catch me."

I wanted to fall, Myka repeated to herself, finding the phrasing interesting. "So, why didn't you? Did I do something wrong?"

"No, love," she answered, unaware this time of the familiarity in her address. "You did everything right." Helena gathered her thoughts and a cleansing breath before pushing forward. It helped that they'd had a similar conversation once before, but that had been long ago and, as she'd already noted, this was a subject that remained difficult to approach. "On the rare occasion that I stayed until you were asleep, I watched you. I considered a future where we might be more than lovers. I knew that I could open my soul to you and that you would accept everything that I am. But therein lay the problem." She watched surprise turn to confusion. "I knew that I would love you so completely that I would have to risk being broken again. Of course, I wanted to believe that I had recovered somewhat from losing Christina; the pain was at least not so raw, but opening my heart to you meant opening it to that loss too and I was afraid."

"Afraid?" Myka repeated, though she thought she knew what the inventor was referring to.

"Of being hurt again," Helena clarified. "I told myself that you would not suffer. That what I planned to do would cleanse the world for all innocents. I told myself that it was an act of mercy, but it was an act of cowardice, of weakness." She smiled through her gloom as she added, "I am fortunate that you were strong enough for the both of us."

"You weren't in your right mind," the brunette summed up, using words that the Brit had once thrown at her in a graveyard.

HG nodded dejectedly. "Nor had I been for a very long time. I could not see the wood for the trees."

Myka thought she understood. Though she didn't know her children as well as she should, after months of getting to know them, she was livid at the thought of someone stalking and attacking her son. That didn't mean she was prepared to murder billions of people. "Are you in your right mind now?"

"You have guided my moral compass for many years now, love. Or, the thought of your approval has at least. Much as I have considered avenging you and Fredrick, I decided that my energies were better put to use in showing you that your trust was not misplaced, and in helping our children to find strength in the face of these attacks." She looked at Myka hopefully. "Does that count for anything?"

Myka had thought about and expected a more threatening reaction from the other woman. Though considering how long HG had waited before enacting her 'ice-age' plan, she hadn't ruled out the possibility that the inventor was simply biding her time again and waiting for the ideal time to strike. She didn't necessarily believe Helena when she said that she had no intention of seeking revenge, but since the other woman was willing to discuss her thoughts this time around, she had to give credit where it was due. Perhaps she was being honest and had learned to control her darker urges.

Biting her lip, Myka tried to process Helena's explanation of the events leading up to Warehouse 2. It didn't change the hurt she'd felt at the time but there was a sense of closure in knowing the thoughts that had driven her lover to betray her. As for the rest – the present and future – considering either made her suddenly restless.

She pulled the blanket from her legs and put some distance between them before turning a conflicted gaze on the raven-haired woman. "I want to believe that you've changed for good, Helena. I do." A hand rose to her neck to squeeze out the tension there. "I want to believe that you've given up on crazy vendettas and retribution against the worthless few, but…"

"You don't trust me," HG finished calmly, if a little downheartedly. "It's ok," she added as she calmly folded the blanket, followed the brunette across the room and stood close enough to reach out and place her hands on the other regent's forearms. She recalled the first time they'd been intimate after they'd found Christina, the brunette's distrust had been present then too, but they'd managed to work through it. "Myka, after the regents imprisoned me, we worked together on several cases, through life and death situations – such as we've experienced this week – and eventually, we rebuilt trust between us. Enough that we could begin exploring 'us' again." She let her thumbs trace what she hoped was a comforting pattern over the brunette's skin. Scepticism remained behind green eyes, but she didn't let it discourage her. "Even then, a lot of time passed before that trust was truly strong."

Myka's skin tingled beneath the inventor's touch. A stubborn voice in the back of her mind insisted that this speech was all part of a ploy to make her vulnerable again, to take advantage of her again, but it was no more than a whisper and its influence on her had weakened considerably. She could no longer deny her attraction to this woman. After many weeks of seeing Helena as a mother, a friend, a granddaughter and a regent, she'd found her anger difficult to hold on to and somewhere along the line, she'd begun to feel that carnal pull again. If she understood the inventor correctly, then maybe it was time to put her thoughts into action and see where it took them.

"I can't promise anything," she cautioned carefully. Despite everything, she was sensitive to HG's situation and didn't want to hurt her, either with rejection or unreasonable assurances.

"I know, love. I'm not going anywhere," Helena replied. "I am your wife, Myka," she added, surprising the brunette. "I'm yours. Always. So, take as much time as you need."

Whether it was the absolute sincerity in Helena's eyes, the timbre of her voice or their close proximity, Myka found a grain of courage crawling through her body. This was the closest they'd been in months and the pull was intoxicating; without conscious thought, her lips touched the corner of the inventor's mouth and her body livened. Time seemed to slip away as her hands found the curves of hips, her digits closing around borrowed clothing and dragging the inventor closer. Fingers burrowed into her hair and the taste of Helena's tongue invaded her mouth, making her feel simultaneously weak and invincible.

As her fingers re-explored pale, flushed skin, images of HG at the bed and breakfast – in various stages of undress – flooded Myka's mind. With Helena's reassurance that the progress of their relationship was in her control, she felt suddenly free to take that leap and allowed her desires to control the direction of her hands, letting them stray from hips to waist and over ribs that rose and fell excitedly.

In spite of the green light and the conveniently isolated location, a torrid reacquainting was not on the cards; a rapid knocking at the door broke into their embrace and forced them apart. Dazed and a bit apprehensive, Helena looked to Myka and searched flushed features for a reaction. Had she wanted too much; pushed too far? As a crooked smile grew from the corner of the brunette's mouth and a heated gaze found her from beneath lowered lashes, HG relaxed and returned a shy smile of her own.

She had not expected their conversation to end so well, especially considering how reluctant Myka had been to talk. Though her body thrummed with need, she knew she should be grateful for the interruption – jumping so quickly from one extreme to the other would only hinder the progress they were making. She was in for the long haul and was determined to win her wife over.

A second knock encouraged Myka to move to the door where she peeped quickly through the spy hole before unlocking and letting two snow-speckled figures into the cabin. "Hello, sweetheart," she greeted the second figure and pulled the young woman into a hug.

Christina ripped the hat from her head and returned the gesture, her eyes flicking between her parents for any sign of injury or illness. "Are you guys alright?" she asked frantically as she pulled away. "The weather's been crazy!"

"Not as crazy as those wily wolves," Claudia added as she tugged at her scarf and collapsed onto the couch. "So, you managed not to kill each other then? Bonus!"

Myka snorted while the Brit rolled her eyes. "We managed to restrain ourselves. It helped that Helena slept for almost two days," she teased and, still high from the kiss, threw her cabin-companion a look that melted the inventor's legs. Smirking to herself, she wandered over to her backpack and pulled out the static bag that she'd tucked inside. "I wouldn't recommend chasing wild animals or their artefact possessed humans up a mountain any time soon," she advised as she held the bag out to the caretaker, "but here's what you were looking for."

They returned to Denver and then Boulder later that day, grateful to have been rescued and even more grateful to be embraced by their children and to relax in the luxury of the Wells-Bering house. Given another day or two at the cabin, HG would have been rested enough to bear the hike back to their car, but as the weather had taken a surprising turn for the worse, it had made more sense to wait for Christina and Claudia with their snow-mobiles.

In the entrance hall a figure waited, her hazel eyes shifting between her parents as if looking for signs of something different.

While Freddy had bounded out of the door seconds after greeting his parents, Catherine wrapped her arms around Myka when the regent stepped closer and sighed into the adult's shirt. She'd been worried when her sister had told her about their mothers needing to stay in the woods in Montana for a couple of days and had wanted to send helicopters and rangers out instantly to bring them home. A few words of reassurance and a few more words suggesting that the time alone would benefit their mothers, was enough to stop the panic and settle her mind. Still, it was difficult having them both away from home and in potential danger. She hadn't slept much and the relief at seeing her parents at home was enough to make her want to crash onto the nearest horizontal surface.

Recognising the signs, Helena approached and began to stroke the girl's hair. "You look tired, love." She frowned and shared a look with Myka, communicating her concern without words. "Did you not sleep well?"

Myka felt the eleven-year-old's head move back and forth across her collar bone and started rubbing soothing patterns over the girl's back. It was the middle of the afternoon and the younger two had not long returned home from school. The regent looked down into a sleepy face and had to wonder whether her daughter had learned anything at school since she and HG left for their mission. "Why don't you go and get some rest for an hour or two, hmm? Your mother or I could come and read to you for a bit if you want?"

"I'm too old for stories," Catherine decided in that moment, but she regretted the words the moment they left her mouth.

"I have it on good authority that your Mum still likes it when I read to her," the brunette whispered into the girl's ear and glanced up at the inventor with a playful smirk.

The pre-teen glanced up at the precise moment that her mothers' eyes met and caught the lingering gaze between them. Her heart leapt and a grin pulled at her mouth. "Ok," she answered, her grin widening at the almost startled look that caught her parents – like they'd forgotten for a second where they were. "Just this once."

The regents returned from their daughter's room twenty minutes later wearing matching expressions of maternal adoration and met the rest of their small team gathered around the breakfast bar.

"So, what do we know about this artefact then?" Myka asked as she moved across Helena's kitchen a few minutes later and set a cup of tea down in front of the inventor. They shared a brief glance, which was enough to make her heart flutter in her chest, and she suppressed a pleased smile before busying herself with making coffee.

After a short journey on the back of the snow-mobiles and reaching their hire-car, they'd discovered that Bradley's was gone. The caretaker explained – to their relief – that the moment he returned to town and used his card at a cash machine, she'd been able to locate him. Believing that he could still be a danger to them, she'd advised local law enforcement to detain him for questioning and left him for Adwin Kosan to deal with. As Myka thought back to the moment that she'd hesitated between arresting him and searching for her partner and the alpha wolf, she realised that she no longer had the authority to detain anyone. It was something she definitely needed to remember – citizens' arrest for possession of a tooth-totem was not something that the constabulary would have looked lightly upon.

"We believe that it once belonged to Sitting Bull and that his success in uniting the Sioux tribes imbued it with the spirit of the wolf," Christina informed her parents. "Since Sitting Bull was born in what is now South Dakota, we think that Chapman might have been in the area to check out the new Warehouse when it moved and came across it. Or else…" she hesitated and glanced at the redhead for encouragement.

Claudia shrugged, offering an apology as she took up the explanation, "Or else he might have known Sitting Bull personally."

"You think he was in Custer's army?" Myka wondered aloud. "The Sioux wouldn't have let a white man so close to their tribes, would they? Not after being deceived so many times by that point."

"Not likely," the caretaker confirmed, "but then we don't know what Chapman looked like at the time. Which nationality did his body conform to at that time? He might have looked just different enough to give him access."

"Or he might well have fought for Custer," Christina blurted, breaking the increasingly tense atmosphere. "Or been a spectator."

Helena had a sudden image of her enemy over hundreds of years, picking his way through the debris in the aftermath of history's victories and blunders. "Having survived for so long, he might have developed a habit of loitering near to places of significance in the hopes of finding useful artefacts."

"Like carrion scavengers," Myka added grimly. "You said that he manipulated his lineage to keep his blood pure though. Isn't that what the regents told you?" she asked the inventor, who'd finished her tea and was now just playing with the handle of the cup.

Myka found her gaze unwaveringly drawn to those hands and felt a shiver of something suppressed tingle against the back of her head and base of her spine. She swallowed passed a lump in her throat as phantom fingers explored neglected nerves. Someone coughed, yanking her out of her head, and she looked up to find knowing darkness gazing back at her with the same depth of wanting. She swallowed again and pressed her nails into her palms to break the grip of those memories and desires.

HG bit back the pleased smile that wanted to invade her expression of dutiful attentiveness and focussed on the question. "We were all of the opinion that his pursuit of 'purity' would negate, for the most part, his crossing cultural boundaries. Though we cannot be entirely sure of his definition of pure. Yes, we established that, like royalty, he appears to always chose a woman of familial connection to carry his progeny. However, humans tend to migrate to all corners of the globe and nature being what it is, children become the products of varying cultural partnerships. From what little we've researched about Heracles' rise through the ages, I rather think that he defines 'pure' with more emphasis on his mate's attributes and accomplishments."

"More like an instinctive Darwinian drive than a cultural distilling process?" Myka wondered, her thoughts taking her to dark and disturbing places. All lustful thoughts dissipated as she glanced at her daughter and then back at her wife, a collective fear rising between them.

"Precisely." Helena nodded gravely.

Christina ignored the looks, feigning ignorance. It was a terrifying concept to consider – the possibility of an archaic entity considering her as a prospective mate – but since they had no way of knowing Chapman's plans, there was little point in dwelling on it. She thought of Catherine though and found a strong resolve settle in her stomach. If he lays a hand on my sister… She shook off the thought and straightened in her seat. "We could speculate all day. I think the thing to remember is that we have the artefact that enabled him to amass large groups of followers and we should consider guarding against a reprisal or an attempt to retrieve it."

"I don't think we have to worry for a while," Claudia informed them with a shrug. "It seems that whenever he's popped up in the last century and a half with a bunch of fanatics at his back, it's not long before he goes to ground again. I think he's disbanded for now. Whatever he needed, he's got and if he's true to his habits, he won't resurface again until he has to."

"What was Bradley doing with the tooth then?" Myka frowned, feeling her thoughts tying themselves in knots.

"Recharging is my best guess," the caretaker shrugged some more. "The power of the tooth comes from the 'wolf spirit'. Sitting Bull probably had that strength already through his faith in the animals, but Chapman would need to seek it out."

HG ran her fingers through her hair and sighed. "More conjecture."

"'Fraid so, HG. He's biding his time and though it's as frustrating as waiting for Artie to conquer a flight of stairs, we've got to wait him out." The caretaker drained her mug and slid off her stool. "On the bright side, it gives us more time to prepare."

"But for what?" Myka pushed.

"For as many eventualities as we can," the redhead replied, her expression apologetic again, knowing that she wasn't helping much. "At the very least, we need time to regroup and work at not being so fractured." There was a hint of a glance between the two regents but it was gone before either could dwell on it. "Speaking of – I need to get back to my boys and see how Poopy-Pants is holding up."

Helena finally pushed her tea-cup away and moved to embrace her friend. "Thank you for rescuing us," she said with energy before lowering her voice significantly. "Though your timing could have been better." She pulled back her eyes twinkling to show that she was teasing. "Give our love to Steve and Jason."

Only half surprised by the whispered revelation (she and Christina had unnecessarily drawn out their search for snow-mobiles for that very reason), Claudia smirked back and fist-pumped the inventor's shoulder. "Will do. Take care, you guys." She moved to hug Christina and then Myka. "Christmas is only a couple of weeks away, so make sure you get me something good! A quad-bike would be nice – all the off-road fun without the snow."

"You'll just have to wait to see what old St. Nick decides you deserve this year," Myka joked before beginning to gather the cups and mugs to drop them in the sink.

As Claudia left and Christina excused herself to retire to her room, Helena suddenly realised that she and Myka were alone again and tensed for an entirely new reason. She turned to watch her wife pull on rubber gloves and reach for the dish-soap and felt a sense of sad-contentment at the simple, domestic image. "You need not worry about the dishes, Myka. I will clean up before I retire for the evening."

The brunette kept her gaze on her task as a smile pulled at the corner of her mouth. "Maybe I just needed a distraction."

HG's eyebrow rose incrementally and she side-stepped closer to lean against the counter. "A distraction from what, might I ask?"

Myka clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth and then bit her lip to stop from smiling too much. How was it so easy to fall back into this pattern of flirting when they were alone? Had she really only needed to hear a few words of explanation for everything to be ok between them again? No, it wasn't that easy, but she couldn't deny the comfort that accompanied the effortless banter either. She scrubbed the last cup, rinsed it and sat it on the draining board before pulling off the gloves and hanging them over the side of the sink to dry. The menial task gave her just enough time to calm her libido and remind her that they needed to take their time now that they'd begun down this path again. "I think you know, Helena."

While Myka's tone wasn't admonishing, HG took the hint that was so obvious in the brunette's posture and smiled sheepishly. "Do you plan on returning to the shop tonight?"

"I don't think it would be a good idea to stay," the younger regent cautioned. "I don't want the kids to assume that I'm moving back in. Unless you're still not feeling well?"

Helena shook her head, masking her disappointment with a teasing smile. "I could fake an illness if you'd like?" She watched a blush climb along the brunette's neck and chuckled at the glare that came her way. "Well, if you change your mind, the guest room is always open to you."

"I'll keep that in mind."

An awkward silence ensued, though the tenseness had very little to do with the inventor's mistakes or Myka's anger. The excitement of their mission was still warm in their veins and in times gone by they would have sat down with a celebratory drink and chatted at length about the Warehouse, or literature, or history, or any number of topics. But since neither regent seemed prepared to suggest the option, there was very little left to do.

"Claude mentioned Christmas," Myka noted with a sudden spark of inspiration. "I guess that you and the kids have traditions that you'll want to keep to?"

Helena's expression softened in thought, her brow furrowing for a fraction of a second. "Fredrick has started to spend longer in bed in the mornings, but Christina and Catherine still like to wake up early. The last couple of years, they've joined you in the kitchen, preparing any number of things to eat throughout the day."

"And you?" Myka smiled more readily again. "You become a lady of leisure for the holiday, do you?" she teased.

"Would that you would allow me the morning in bed," Helena huffed good-naturedly. "Fredrick and I might happily snooze til midday and exist on mince-pies for the rest. As it is, I ensure that the fire in the living room is crackling, the stockings are stocked, that the presents are present beneath the tree and a little tidying here and there when needed. Years gone by, I might also have been responsible for cleaning up after the yuletide, red-robed chimney-shuffler."

A chuckle rose from the depths of the brunette's stomach but as she remembered their current situation, it fizzled away. "How do you see that going this year?"

The inventor sucked in a lungful of air and sighed. "Traditions can be wonderful things, Myka, but we are adaptable. We have to be. I'm open to any suggestions that you have."

Green eyes fogged over in thought and focussed into the distance. It sounded nice, the idea of spending her first waking hours in the kitchen with her daughters and listening to the sound of HG pottering about and making sure that the Christmas spirit was alive and well in the house, while they waited for their teenaged son to drag himself out of bed. But it was too cosy, too perfect and she wasn't ready for something so intimate.

"How about Christmas at the shop this year?" she asked cautiously. "You made a good job of the reading area, we could have a family camp-out?"

"Hmm," HG made a non-committal noise and thought about it for a moment. "It has merit," she thought aloud. "Catherine will love it, I have no doubt – she might actually insist on pitching a tent in there if you mention the words 'camp' and 'out'. Fredrick may take some convincing, but I imagine that the novelty will be enough to interest him."

Relief and gratitude lit Myka's face. "And Christina?"

Helena's eyes rolled fondly. "So long as Thomas has an invite, she will be happy wherever we are."

"Shall we work on the details and put it to them in a couple of days then?" the brunette wondered, her gaze searching for anything in the inventor's demeanour that might tell her that this was actually a really bad idea.

"Yes, I think that would be best."

"You're really ok with this?"

"Ok is relative, Myka." Seeing the concern behind her favourite shade of green, HG closed the distance between them with two short steps. As she lifted a hand to touch lightly against a warm cheek, she didn't care if she was crossing a line this time; it was important that her wife understood how she felt about their situation. "You are alive and so is our family. Fredrick is fast healing; the girls are laughing again and you are learning how to trust me once more. Of course, I would rather none of you had been hurt by recent events, but such is life. And a life in connection with the Warehouse at that. If I've learned anything, it's that I cannot change that which has already past." She paused to study the features that she loved so much and leant in to place a gentle, but longing kiss against waiting lips. "We will be together, sharing the holiday. Little else matters to me."

Before she could register the slight panic that hit her, Myka recaptured HG's lips and sank into a deeper kiss. How can humble Helena be sexier than dangerous, rules be damned Helena? she wondered privately as a moan filled the back of her throat. Tasting the desperation between them, she dragged herself back and took a few calming breaths. It is so much harder to find excuses to stop when no one disapproves, she thought while her brain tried to find the words that would force her to leave. Thankfully, the inventor chose not to push and found the answer for her.

"Call me tomorrow and let me know what your proposed plans are for Christmas and I will bring the children over as usual so we can see what everyone thinks," Helena managed to say despite the pounding rhythm in her chest.

"Great!" Myka responded with an overabundance of enthusiasm as she backed her way towards the door. In the hallway, she continued to walk without looking where she was going and nearly tripped over her backpack when she reached the front door. "Right, ok… I need this and… keys, somewhere…?" She patted her pockets for several seconds before remembering that she'd dropped them in the bowl next to the coat-rack. Muttering to herself, she pushed her feet into her shoes, grabbed the top of her bag and reached for the handle. A gust of frigid air knocked her back into her senses and she stepped out onto the driveway amidst a cloud of frozen breath.

"Myka?" HG called gently as she stood in the doorway, the door half closed behind her in a vain attempt to keep the heat in the house.

"Mm-hm?"

"We will work everything out, in time. Concentrate on the road and drive carefully. Please?" she begged, fearing that her wife's distraction might be enough to put her in danger of a collision.

A soberer expression met the inventor's worried gaze and Myka nodded her understanding. "I will. I'll call later to say goodnight," she assured the Brit and slipped gratefully into her car.

Helena retreated into the house and shut out the cold. She contemplated the letterbox for a long moment before a noise drew her attention and she turned to find a figure hovering at the bottom of the stairs, looking at her with an expression of hope and mischief. "Sleeping Beauty awakes. What would you like for… oomph!" she exhaled in a gush as the eleven-year-old shot into her and squeezed the life out of her. "What's this for?" she asked in astonishment.

"Mama loves you," Cat replied and grinned up at the adult. "That means she's coming home soon." Seeing the reserved caution in her mother's gaze, she rolled her eyes. "I know, I know – be patient. But she will be coming home."

HG cupped her daughter's face between her palms and kissed the girl's forehead. Hazel shone with joy and she couldn't help responding with her own. "I think you're right, my love."

Worth the wait?