Walking into the common room of the B&B Myka and Helena, fresh off a taxing snag and bag, found Claudia sitting cross-legged on the sofa staring at the television. Their young friend had been over the moon when they'd told her about their engagement and she hadn't stopped smiling since. In fact everyone had been absolutely thrilled for them, even Mrs. Frederic who they had feared would be against it for some reason. They were still waiting to hear if the Regents would sanction their marriage or if they would be forced to choose between having a real life outside the Warehouse and the Warehouse, but Pete kept saying he was having good vibes about it so they weren't to worried, just worried enough for Myka to have chewed her thumb sore. Each of their friends had been called in and interviewed by the Regents, and according to Claudia one of their biggest advocates was Jane Lattimer, along with Mrs. Frederic, and of course herself, so everything would be fine.
While they waited for official word they went ahead and began to plan their wedding. It would be small, a getaway style wedding at a desert resort in Arizona, which is why it was a little odd that Claudia was watching My Fair Wedding. "Claudia." Myka said in that older sister tone of hers as she and Helena sat on either side of the younger woman. "You know every thing is being handled by the planner at the resort, right?"
Claudia had been kind of disappointed that they wouldn't let her throw them the most kick ass wedding ever, one closer to home, but she understood the need to keep Myka's family as far from the Warehouse as possible. Any hurt feelings had quickly been soothed over when Myka and Helena had asked her to stand up for them, along with Pete, during the ceremony. It also helped that Myka and Helena had agreed to allow her, as Maid of Honor, to plan their Hen Night as Helena called it. "I know." She finally replied. "But I can't seem to stop watching this show, it's like tv crack, and besides, it's giving me ideas for Jinksy and Liam."
Steve's head shot up as he made a very Pete like sound that kind of had hints of confused Scooby-Doo thrown in. "Wait, what?"
"Nothing, go back to whatever you were doing." Claudia said with a sweet smile.
Before Steve could response Artie's voice bellowed through the house. "Myka!"
"Uh-oh, sounds like Dad's mad." Claudia said with an amused smirk.
When Artie found them he was carrying two large accordion folders under each arm, which he set down in front of Myka. "Do you know how far behind you are on file reports and paperwork?" He asked her with a fatherly glare. "I expect Pete to get behind, Claudia, even little Ms. I can invent a whole new genre but I can't keep up on my reports," Helena huffed and crinkled her nose like a five year old. "But not you. Get them done."
After Artie left Claudia turned to Myka and said, "He just hates dealing with the Regents. It makes him extra grumpy."
"I know." Myka said with a soft smile before gathering her work and heading for the library. Since Helena was part of the reason she was behind it didn't surprise her when her fiancée didn't follow. Now that things were almost settled in her life, and it was kind of slow at the Warehouse, she could focus on something as mundane as paperwork. After flying out to Arizona with Helena and Claudia to check out the resort, and back to back to back cases, Myka actually welcomed the quiet steadiness of it. Myka worked until she was caught up and then carried it up to her room to hold onto until Artie came by for the morning meeting. As she was coming out of her room she heard voices and video game sounds coming from Pete's room, that wouldn't normally be unusual but one of the voices she heard was Helena's.
Creeping down the hall Myka peeked into Pete's room and smirked. Pete was sitting cross-legged on the floor beside Helena who was sitting in his gamer chair. She had his black XBox controller in her hand, and on the television screen was one of Pete's role-playing fantasy games. Myka smothered a laugh as she listened to Pete trying to backseat play while Helena's character was in the middle of a battle.
"Bollocks!" Helena swore as she played. "Bollocks bollocks bollocks! Go down you stupid templar tosser! Sodding Meredith!"
Pete was cracking up. "And you thought Loghain was bad."
"Have you ever noticed that Flemeth kind of sounds like your mother?" Helena asked while mashing the buttons on the controller and swaging in her chair as if her own motion would help the characters.
"I have and it's creepy as hell." Pete answered. "Watch out for the statues!"
Myka stood quietly in the doorway watching and at the end of the game ending battle when Helena had defeated her foe Myka looked on with such love and awe in her eyes as Helena gave a cheer. Helena was so full of contrasts that Myka knew she would never grow tired of being around her, you weren't ever really sure which side of Helena you'd seen in any given moment.
Pete beamed in pride as he announced, "Next we take on Mass Effect."
"Does it have the same storytelling style?" Helena asked as she handed Pete the controller and then accepted his hand as he helped her out of the gamer chair.
Pete smiled. "You'll love it I promise."
"Pete." Myka said in a playfully sharp tone. "Have you turned Helena into a gamer?"
"Trying to." Pete admitted with a roguish smirk. "She's more fun to play with then Steve. She yells at the games, and swears a blue streak."
Myka laughed as she walked into the room and over to where Helena was standing.
"The storytelling it rather good." Helena said with a bright and playful smile. "It reminds me a bit of the stories I would tell Christina." The fact that Helena was willing to freely talk about her daughter around Pete said a lot about how far she'd come over the years. "The choices she would make during the story would direct the course of how I told it."
"Did you tell her stories about knights and dragons?" Pete asked.
Helena thought for a moment and nodded with a warm smile. "Her knights were always women and the dragons were always true loves under a wicked curse."
"She must have had a wonderful imagination." Myka said as she slipped her hand into Helena's.
"She did. She loved good stories." Helena said. It was becoming easier to remember her beloved Christina, and Helena was grateful for that because remembering her, sharing her memories of her, kept Christina alive in a way. "She was particularly found of Arthur's stories and had the most adorable little girl crush on Sherlock."
Of course bringing up Sherlock led to Helena and Pete arguing over who was the best television Sherlock. Helena's choice was Benedict Cumberbatch while Pete favored Jonny Lee Miller. Myka smiled as the three of them made their way downstairs for dinner. She loved seeing how close two of the most important people in her life had become to each other. When she'd become sick, when she'd been facing the most terrifying moments of her life, Pete and Helena had banded together to be there for her, and it had resulted in a strong bond between them, one that had actually started forming following the nightmare with Sykes.
Several days later Jane finally arrived to let them know what the Regents had decided. She said that one of the many factors behind their agreement to allow Helena and Myka to remain was that they really didn't want to look for five new agents.
"Five?" Myka asked.
Jane nodded. "For the most part the Regents took into account your work with the Warehouse, as well as the sacrifices you've made for it. They can't ignore the fact that with the current group of agents the Warehouse has never worked so well. Nor can they ignore the positive changes the two of you have brought about. There were times in history when the Warehouse was to be feared, but you've all brought a sense of compassion to things, and that is in part because you've all become a family of sorts."
Myka and Helena were both smiling. They had seen the results of the Warehouse's past mistakes, and they took pride in knowing that they'd had even the smallest part in making it better.
"And the reason Mrs. Frederic would need to find five replacements?" Helena asked.
Jane's thoughts drifted back two weeks to the oak walled room where a specially selected panel of Regents had gathered to interview everyone on the matter. She was there as Myka and Helena's advocate, not to vote on the matter, and as such she'd been able to sit in on the interviews.
"As much as I want to become Caretaker, and I really really want to become Caretaker, if you force Myka and Helena to leave just because they want to share their lives together and have a future, then I'm out to. The Warehouse gave me my family and I will always be grateful for that, but if I have to, I'll choose my family over the Warehouse. Well, no, that's not right. The Warehouse wants them there, so I'd be choosing them over you, the Regents, and your need to control the lives of people you don't even really know."
Her colleagues had been surprised that Claudia would make that kind of sacrifice, but she wasn't. She'd seen Claudia's devotion to the people she loved.
"I can't do this without Myka, I won't, and I'm not willing to loose H.G. again either. We've all been through too much together to be broken up now. So if you decide they can't remain with the Warehouse because they want to get married and have a kid, then you might as well replace me too."
Jane had always been proud of her son, but in that moment he was so much his father's son that she raided pride like the sun giving warmth to the earth. The Regents could have, and would have, chalked Pete and Claudia's declarations up to the fact that they'd all come in together and had formed a sentimental attachment. They could have refused to let their statements of loyalty have any weight, but that option was taken away from them when Artie, a seasoned long standing agent who'd devoted his life to the Warehouse knocked them all on their asses.
"I have given my life to the Warehouse. I have given up everything and devoted myself to it, and as much as I've loved every moment, I don't want that for my people. I want more for them. I think this group can handle both the Warehouse and personal lives. They showed me that life can be and should be more. If you don't think so, then it's time for me to retire."
"They did what?" Myka said with wide eyes.
Jane smiled at the young woman. "For the first time in a long time the Regents were force to face the fact that the people we ask to work for the Warehouse are people, and people need more then what the Warehouse, as remarkable as it is, can offer."
It was a huge relief to know that they wouldn't have to leave the work and people they both loved so much. Jane warned them that there were still concerns about bringing a child into the Warehouse's atmosphere, but those were concerns they could tackle later. For now their wedding was front and center, and they were both excited about it all.
They arrived at the resort on Thursday afternoon. After checking in and settling into their beautiful room with it's stunning mountain view, they met with the wedding planner to go over the last minute details and to make sure everything was just the way they'd arranged it. Following drinks with the woman who would be officiating, Helena surprised Myka with an evening out and tickets the to the opera. It was just the calm enjoyable one on one evening they both needed before things went crazy.
Friday morning Pete and Claudia arrived, and then the Berings, Warren and Jean first followed quickly by Myka's sister Tracy and her husband Kevin. Myka's parents liked Helena but her sister was still on the fence, she didn't understand this seemingly sudden change in her sister, but more to the point, and it hurt Myka to admit this, Tracy was worried about what people would think of her once word got out back home that her sister was married to another woman.
"Are you alright darling?" Helena asked after Tracy and Kevin went up to their rooms to freshen up before the bridal shower luncheon they were having that afternoon.
Myka gave Helena a soft reassuring smile. "I'm fine. She'll get use to this, to us, and until then I'm not going to let it bother me."
"Good, I'm glad." Helena said with a loving smile before pressing a kiss to Myka's temple.
They were just about to leave the lobby when a loud and excited voice called out, "Helena!"
Helena turned and her whole face lit up. "Adelaide!"
The girl rushed over to Helena and threw her arms around her in a tight hug. "I'm so happy you invited us."
She had, as promised, kept in contact with Adelaide and Nate. Helena had so few friends, fewer still outside the Warehouse, and it meant a great deal to her to have them remain in her life. "I'm so very pleasured you both could come." While she hugged Adelaide tightly to her she looked and smiled at the girl's father. "Hello Nate."
"Hi." Nate said with a warm smile. "It's good to see you both again."
Myka smiled as she shook Nate's hand. "Thank you for coming. It really does mean a lot to Helena, and to me as well."
While Nate checked them into the hotel Helena and Adelaide talked as if they didn't write to each other all time or speak on the phone every couple of weeks. Once Nate had them checked in he and Adelaide headed up to their room to freshen up, as did Helena and Myka. The look on Helena's face made Myka smile. Helena was beautiful but she was even more beautiful when she was happy.
The luncheon was in a beautiful room that opened out onto a deck that over looked the beautiful landscape of the resort. As their guests gathered and mingled one of the resorts chiefs was outside preparing the gourmet grilled lunch menu that Myka and Helena had chosen. It was a little nerve racking as everyone chatted and introduced themselves, since there was a vastly large difference in knowledge when it came to the Warehouse. Artifacts had affected Myka's parents and sister but they didn't know Myka risked her life everyday chasing those things down or about the magical warehouse in Nowhere South Dakota. Amanda knew a little more than the Berings, but knew better than to ask for details. Myka had been a little leery of inviting Amanda given the resent loss of her husband, but as she watched the tall blonde Marine with Pete and Jane she knew she'd done the right thing. Joshua had the most knowledge of the Warehouse for a civilian, but he knew how to watch what he said so they didn't need to worry about him too much.
"I think Adelaide is in awe of Mrs. Frederic." Helena said as she came up behind Myka and gently slipped her hand onto Myka's hip. "And Mrs. Frederic is surprisingly good with children."
Myka smiled. "Good to know. Maybe we can get her to babysit."
Helena laughed. "That could prove rather amusing."
The meal was delicious, even Pete stopped complaining that there were no burgers and hot dogs after polished off two helpings of everything. The meringue and macaron cookies were delightful, so good in fact that Myka was positive if Helena ate one more salted caramel macaron she wasn't going to fit into her dress tomorrow, so she made Claudia hide the rest. They were given a variety of gifts including a beautiful leather bound book from Myka's parents. "To write the story of your life together in." Warren explained before brushing off the sentiment by asking why Lulu and Trailer were present.
"Claudia!" Myka yelped as she opened their young friend's gift only to slam the lid of the gift box back down.
"Oh come on!" Claudia said teasingly. "Don't be a prude!"
"They're lovely, Claudia." Helena said sweetly, refereeing to the Victoria Secret lingerie in the box. "But perhaps a gift best not given in mixed company?"
After what appeared to be all the gifts were opened Claudia gathered up just their tiny little Warehouse family to give them another. "I know she would have wanted you to have this."
It was a painting of the two of them sitting together on the leather sofa in the library reading. A fire burned in the fireplace, there was rain on the window, and they each had a light throw over them, Helena around her shoulders and Myka's over her legs. Myka's free hand rested on Helena's thigh while Helena's played with Myka's hair. It was beautiful, and the signature in the bottom corner brought tears to both women's eyes and a small sob from Myka's lips. "Leena."
"You weren't even together yet back then but she still knew." Claudia said softly. "She'd be so happy about this, about you two."
"She'll be there tomorrow." Abigail said softly. "She and Christina both will be there to watch your most joyous moments together."
Artie gave them his gift when they had a moment alone. Pulling an envelope out of his pocket he handed it to Helena. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a place where you two haven't been?"
Helena slipped out plane tickets and hotel reservations. She and Myka were both wide eyed as she said, "A week in Moorea?"
"It's an island between Tahiti and Bora Bora." Artie explained.
"It's a honeymoon!" Myka said with a huge beaming smile and teary eyes.
Artie grumbled something about yes and it was partly Vanessa's idea too. He grumbled even more when both women hugged him and kissed his cheeks.
After the luncheon Myka and Helena got some time alone in their room to relax and talk about the wonderful afternoon they'd had with family and friends. They had been through so much in their lives that it was nice to have such a wonderful experience, and time to just be happy, to laugh and have fun, and to love every moment together.
"We should probably get ready." Myka said as she lay in Helena's arm on the bed.
"I must admit I'm a little worried about what Claudia has planned." Helena admitted with a chuckle.
"Given her gift I think we should be worried." Myka agreed.
"One thing is for sure." Helena said. "It'll be a fun night."
The evening started off tame enough. The first stop on Claudia's Hen Night agenda was a jazz club where they enjoyed live music and their first round of drinks. It was the second stop that caused a bit of an issue. As everyone, including Jean Bering, got out of the stretch Hummer limo Myka looked over the building in front of them. She was, as Pete would say, having a bad vibe about this place. "Claudia, where are we?"
"You'll see." Claudia said excitedly.
Just inside the first door in the lobby Pete, Steve, Liam and Josh were waiting. Most of the night would be girls only, but Claudia couldn't deny them this, it was going to be fun! Pushing open the doors to the main room Claudia waved her hand in a sweeping motion. "Let the fun begin!"
"Claudia!" Myka gasped. "It's a strip club!"
"Yeap." Claudia said proudly.
Everyone but Pete looked on in various degrees of shock.
"Is that an elf?" Amanda asked.
"Cos Play strippers!" Claudia confirmed. "This place is epic!"
"I've always wondered what these places were like." Jean said as she wondered off.
Myka and Tracy exchanged a look that asked, "Did our mother just make a b-line for a fireman stripper?"
Helena smiled as she took Myka hand and led her further into the club. "Come along, Bering. This could be exciting!"
Myka wasn't so sure, especially after some drunken fanboy asked if she'd ever been a Vampire in Chicago. "No, but I was a zombie in Ithaca once." She replied before picking up the drinks she'd been waiting for and quickly returning to the table where Helena waited for her. It took two vodka tonics before Myka relaxed enough to enjoy things. She laughed when Pete decided to show of his own lap dancing skills for Amanda, and blushed a bright red when he and Claudia insisted on getting lap dances for her and Helena.
"The naughty librarian is for Myka." Claudia announced.
"And the mad scientist is for H.G." Pete added.
Myka and Helena rolled their eyes and smiled politely as Claudia and Pete cracked up at their brilliant plan. Surprisingly it was Jean who had the most fun. As they made their way back out to the Hummer she looked at her daughters and said, "Will you two stop looking at me like I'm a dead nun. I can still remember how to have a good time ya know."
The final stop of the night was an 'authentic' English pub for more drinking and live music. With the exception of Pete no one was going back to the resort sober, but thanks to Claudia and Andre Rene Rousimoff aka Andre the Giant's beer stein, which she'd hidden in the Hummer no one would be waking up hung over.
"Oh no you don't." Claudia said when they finally returned to the resort. "H.G. comes with me."
"Excuse me?" Helena asked with an amused look.
"Night before your wedding, or well, morning before your wedding anyway." Claudia said. "This is where you two part ways. Helena's in my room tonight."
"And what about me?" Myka said with a drunken pout. "I don't wanna be by myself."
"You're staying with me." Abigail said.
Both brides pouted until Helena sighed and said, "Then I suppose this is goodnight darling."
Myka was still pouting as Helena kissed her goodnight.
"Until tomorrow my love." Helena said softly.
"Don't be late, Wells." Myka teased.