It had been six months since their wedding and Myka and Helena were still gently riding the newlywed high, even though not much in their day-to-day lives was different than it was before they were married. They still spent their days chasing artifacts or working different assignments in the Warehouse, they still spent their evenings with their family, and they spent their nights together. Perhaps the biggest change was the fact that they no longer spent their nights in Myka's room, the one down the hall from Pete and Claudia. Several rooms on the third floor had been renovated and converted into a small apartment to give them space, privacy, and room for their growing family. Though they hadn't talked about it lately Myka was starting to hope that the growing part would be happening soon. A recent mishap with an artifact had finally dispelled any lingering doubts she might have had about Helena being ready for this.

When Claudia accidently came into contact with a wrongly shelved wristwatch that had belonged to Dr. Benjamin Spock, the world-renowned baby expert, she'd been turned into a toddler. Since Helena was the only one with any experience with small children she took on most of the responsibility for looking after Claudia while Pete, Steve and Artie went about looking for a way to undo the whammy. Apparently the watch was a bifurcated artifact, and the boys needed to find Dr. Spock's ring before they could neutralize it. They spent three days looking after Claudia together and as Myka watched Helena with the tiny redhead she knew Helena really was ready.

Myka bit her lip for a moment as she watched Helena gently rubbing in the leave-in hair conditioner she used once a week. Myka had often wondered, before she started sharing a bathroom with Helena, how her love managed to keep her hair raven strands of silk. Helena had teased her when they were "just friends" about using unicorn tears, to which Myka would roll her eyes and smile. Now that she knew the truth she was a little disappointed that it wasn't something as mythical as Helena herself was. Her wife, she loved the sound of that, had just gotten out of a long hot bath and was relaxed and calm, and Myka felt it was a good moment to say what she had to say. "It was nice wasn't it?"

"Hmm?" Helena asked as she looked up to catch Myka's eyes in the mirror.

"It was nice, ya know, having a little version of Claudia around." Myka said with a smile.

Helena returned the smile and nodded, "It was. Though I'm sure Claudia is much happier being back to normal."

"You were really good with her." Myka said as she continued to watch Helena closely.

"It was just a matter of keeping her busy." Helena said as she wiped her hands on her face towel before retreating into their bathroom for a moment. When she reemerged she continued. "She might have been all of four years old but she was still Claudia, still brilliantly clever and in need of some activity or another."

"It was more than that." Myka said as Helena slipped into their bed beside her. "You knew when she was scared and trying to be brave, you knew when to comfort her, and how. You knew when and how to scold her, and when and how to encourage her. You made her feel safe, and you made her believe everything would turn out alright."

Helena thought about it and then said, "I guess those are skills one never truly forgets."

Myka bit her lip again before asking, "Do you think you're ready to use them full time and for real again?"

Helena's dark eyes widened a little. "Are you asking if I'm ready for us to proceed with having a child of our own?"

"You lit up, Helena." Myka said honestly. "When Claudia would hug you around the neck, or smile up at you from her lego Warehouse, or as you read to her, everything about you lit up."

"It was nice." Helena said after taking several long minutes to think. Over the last three days she had once again experienced what it was like to be a mother. She'd forgotten just how much she loved it. As miraculous as her work was, as extraordinary as it was to be Myka's wife, there really wasn't anything that quite compared to being a mother. There really was no greater blessing or responsibility than that of raising a child. "It was nice to feel needed that way again."

"When I was showing little Claudia how to make teddy bear pancakes, and when she was asleep between the two of us, I had just a flicker of a feeling, a really good feeling, I want to have that feeling again." Myka said softly. "But I don't want to rush you into anything."

Helena couldn't deny that while she was looking after Claudia her mind would wander to what it would be like to be doing the things she was doing with a little boy with Myka's hair and smile or a little girl with Myka's eyes and laugh. It had taken her awhile to get to this point, and one of the hardest things she had to do was answer a simple question. What would Christina want for her? The answer of course was that her daughter would want her to be happy, and she liked to think that Christina would want her to share the kind of love Helena had in her heart for a child, the kind of love that Christina had been given. Helena had finally come to realize that having another child didn't mean she was replacing Christina, and that by living this second chance at life to the fullest, it was in a way honoring her daughter because all that sweet girl ever wanted was for her Mummy to be happy.

"You aren't rushing me into anything, love." Helena said honestly. "If we're both ready, and I think we are, then we should proceed." Reaching out Helena cupped her wife's cheek and smiled as she said, "Lets make a baby, Myka."

"Really?" Myka asked with bright excited eyes.

Helena chuckled softly. "Really."

They didn't have an endless supply of male-Myka's sperm so they needed to be mindful of how they went about the baby making. They agreed to try three attempts at artificial insemination before moving on in vitro fertilization. While Myka worried about the risks and the statistics, decreased fertility, increased risks for miscarriage and birth defects, Helena marveled at the science behind it all. She devoured everything she could get her hands on, including the research being done with using stem cells to create reproductive cells. The new break through would be their cover story so she and Myka had to be as knowledgeable about it as possible. It was a little overwhelming to see thoughts and ideas she'd imagined over a hundred years ago actually turned into reality. It was astounding to see humanity achieving the things she'd always hoped it would, the things she wrote about, but just as she'd foreseen the advances in science and technology and written about them, she also wrote about the negative things and those thoughts could be kind of scary.

Dark thoughts were far from Helena's mind now as she applied her scientific mind to charting her ovulation so they would know the perfect times in which to try. She was precise about it, keeping notes and creating formulas. She was actually starting to worry Myka because as the months went by Myka started to think that Helena was putting things off, that she was having second thoughts or doubts. Helena did her best to reassure Myka; even confiding in her wife that Christina's conception was no accident. Everything had been planned right down to the seduction of Christina's father.

"While I had a scientific and literary mind, I was hopeless when it came to the more refined arts." Helena had explained. "Christina's father was a talented artist with some minor musical ability." She laughed gently at the look on Myka's face. "It was a common practice back then, darling. Very few in the higher echelons of society ever married for love, they married for resources. Surely that isn't surprising to you? Didn't the handsome Earl on that show you adore marry his American wife for her money?"

Myka looked slightly insulted. "Robert loves Cora."

Helena laughed. "Yes, now, but love so often comes later for those types. Love had not been a requirement when my Father was trying to marry me off to all those low level nobles. He simply wanted me respectfully married, and if he were lucky, to someone who would help his social standing. I however knew that if I were to ever marry it would be for the kind of epic love the poets wrote about. And since you weren't to be born for another century, marriage hadn't seemed likely for me."

"So what does all of that mean for the romance of the Victorian era?" Myka asked.

"How well would a story about an upper class girl married off to improve her family's standing have been when the women buying the story were that girl?" Helena said honestly. "They bought the books because they romance, the young girl falling madly in love with her beau, gave them a little hope."

Myka thought about that and nodded. "You're not as likely to read something that's close to your actual life. Where's the fantasy in that?"

Helena smiled and began to slowly move in for a kiss. "And if true love were as common as pigeons it would not be nearly as sweet when it happens in reality."

And just like that Helena had made Myka forget all about her worries and concerns about wither or not Helena was stalling, which she wasn't. When Helena was absolutely sure of her dates, and she was positive she'd done all she could to prepare, she told Myka the when she had so desperately been waiting to hear. Now they just needed the how. Not so much the how, how, because they knew the technical how. Helena had even procured a needless syringe that she said was the exact length to reach what her notes called the sweet spot, the perfect location to deposit the sperm to ensure the maximum number of the strongest candidates reached her egg. The how they needed to work out was of the more romantic variety. It was important to them both that this be done as naturally as possible. They wanted the memory of creating their child to be a happy one, a sweet one, and hopefully not one that included doctors and medical equipment and cold sterile rooms.

So Myka made them dinner in the little kitchen of their little B&B apartment, they listened to music, shared a bottle of wine and Helena showed off the Dream Angel embroidered bustier set she'd picked up at Victoria Secret the last time she was in Sioux Falls.

The DVD Myka had in her hand clattered to the floor as her bright green eyes widened and then began to darken with desire. "Wow."

"Do you like it, darling?" Helena purred.

Myka simply nodded her head. How could she not like it? Honestly Helena could make burlap sexy, and there she was standing in their bedroom doorway wearing lingerie, her dark hair sweeping over her shoulders, her dark eyes burning right into Myka's soul.

Helena was smiling as she closed the distance between her and her wife. "Shall we forego the movie and skip right to doing all the delicious things that make you blush so prettily?"

She didn't quite have the skill Helena had but Myka was learning fast how to charm and flirt with more confidence and ease, and there were times, like now as she leaned in close and began to whisper in Helena's ear, where she could make Helena blush. "Or you know we could do that."

"It would seem," Helena began, her voice cracking a bit with lust. "You are still set on having me work under you."

As the rising sun painted the sky in shades of orange and yellow Helena slept peacefully in Myka's arms. The now empty medical syringe sat on a paper towel on Myka's nightstand waiting to be disposed of now that it had fulfilled its duty in this endeavor. Its content was where it needed to be, actively making an effort deep inside Helena's uterus. Now all they could do was wait, and hope despite knowing that statistically first attempts never, or hardly ever worked.

"I said I was sorry." Claudia said as she and Helena came up from the basement where they'd been working on a new project. "I shouldn't have messed with your calculations." Claudia continued as she shook out her hands. "If it makes you feel better my fingers won't stop tingling."

"Sometimes, young lady, the human mind is actually far survivor to the processors of your beloved computers." Helena barked at the girl. "When I said my formula was correct and your computer's was wrong, you should have listened. If you had your fingers wouldn't be numb, now would they?"

"Geesh, alright, I said I was sorry. You fixed it. It didn't blow up. So what bug crawled up your butt?" Claudia asked. "You've been bitchy for days. What are you PMSing or something?"

Helena huffed then whirled on Claudia to give her a piece of her mind, "No I am…" She stopped suddenly as all thought came to a dead halt. Claudia's question had caused her to take a closer look at her internal calendar, she did after all have a habit of becoming slightly grouchy just before starting her cycle so maybe it was that time, and that's when it hit her. Helena blinked dark eyes. "I'm late."

Claudia looked confused. "Late for what?"

Myka heard the two of them arguing. She came out of the sunroom to see what was going on when she heard Helena's comment. She understood it completely. "Are you sure?"

Just to be positive Helena pulled her phone from her pocket to check an actual calendar. After several long moments of staring at the screen she looked up at her wife and nodded. "I'm sure. I'm late."

"We should go to the store and pick up a test." Myka said with just a hint of a smile on her lips. She didn't want to get her hopes up but it was hard not to.

Helena nodded and then went to grab her keys and purse. "I'll drive."

"Where are they going?" Pete asked as he entered the room from the kitchen.

Claudia shrugged while still looking confused. "I think Helena was late for something."

Pete flinched. "H.G's been crabby for days. Poor Mykes. I bet she gets blamed for this."

Maybe she'd been around Pete to long but as they walked into the drug store Myka had a really good vibe about this. She was feeling so positive about this in fact that when Helena, who managed to make jeans and t-shirt look sexy, pushed her sunglasses up to hold her hair back as she knelt on the floor to examine the multitude of home pregnancy tests she took out her phone and after getting her wife's attention she took a picture.

"What are you doing?" Helena asked with a slightly annoyed look.

Myka smiled. "Documenting."

"Documenting what?" Helena asked.

"Everything." Myka replied.

Helena groaned, rolled her eyes, and then went back to reading the boxes of every test the store had available. She really was irritable and that wasn't like her. Yes, she got a little grouchy from time to time, but she was verging on bitchy. Clearly there was something out of balance. After she finally settled on two different brands of tests she and Myka headed for the checkout. Thankfully no one made any IRS comments or gave them odd looks for holding hands while they were out because Helena wasn't sure she wouldn't bite someone's head off. When they got home they used the backdoor so they could avoid everyone as they headed up to their apartment. The instructions said they would get better results if the tests were taken first thing in the morning when urine is more concentrated, but Helena didn't want to wait. Both boxes had two tests, she would use one each tonight and retest in the morning. So she stepped into their bathroom peed on the test strips, and then set the tests on the counter before returning to Myka to wait out the time. Waiting three minutes felt like waiting a lifetime in bronze again.

When the timer on her phone sounded Myka jumped. Neither of them moved after that. This was it. This was the moment where they discovered if their life was about to change for the better, or if they were facing another try at making it better. As much as she had tried not to get her hopes up, as much as she recited the stats in her head, Myka's hopes were sky high and if those tests read negative she was going to have a long way to fall and it was going to hurt like a bitch. After another motionless moment passed Myka finally took a breath and stood. She walked into the bathroom and over to the counter where those two white plastic sticks sat and she closed her eyes. She took another breath, said a little prayer, and then opened her eyes.

Helena watched Myka walk into the bathroom. She was petrified. She wanted those tests to be positive so badly that if they weren't, she was scared of just how badly the disappointment would hurt. Moments later Myka came back out and Helena stood up. Before she had a chance to read her wife's face, before she could open her mouth to speak, Myka had her in a tight embrace and was kissing her with such passion, such love, that it left Helena lightheaded.

Despite the odds, despite the statistics, despite all the factors against them, they'd done it. "Helena, you're pregnant!"

"I'm… are you sure?" Helena asked, still feeling a little woozy from that kiss.

"I will never doubt the brilliance of your planning again." Myka said with a laugh so full of delight that she was bouncing. "We're having a baby!"

Now Helena was feeling woozy for a whole different reason. A baby? A beautiful little baby with the best parts of them both, and another second chance for Helena to have the life that had been taken from her so long ago. It would be different this time, she promised. She would be a better mother for a start, and more so than that, she would not be doing this on her own. She would have Myka, and they would have their family. "We're having a baby, Myka.