Okay! We pick up where we left off. Bering & Wells, people! :)
As always, I don't own Warehouse 13.
Chapter Nine
They are lying on the sand, little space between them. The sun is doing its best to dry their skin, while they are resting after a long time of swimming and splashing water on each other, and – in Helena's case – several attempts to drag Myka into deep water.
"Helena, tell me about the G," Myka says, her thoughts back on one of their previous topic.
"Spot?" HG asks, and chuckles at Myka's a bit startled look, which she quickly tries to masks, rolling her eyes.
The younger girl clears her throat. "Tell me your middle name, please. I'm impossibly curious." She casts her a glance only to confirm that there still is a wicked smile on Helena's face, just as Myka suspected.
"It's always hard to resist a curiosity, but - no. No. Myka, I can't," she insists. "It's horrible."
"Come on. Tell me yours, I'll tell you mine," she offers.
"I don't think it's a good deal for me," HG says, eyeing her. "I'll tell you mine, and then yours is something like Emily or Joanne, and that just won't be fair."
Myka shakes her head, before admitting, "It's Ophelia."
"Is it?" Helena smiles. "It's beautiful. Although, maybe a bit unfortunate."
"See?" Myka catches her gaze. "It's a safe space, so you can tell me whatever yours is."
Helena sighs but then a twinkle appears in her eye.
"Righty-ho then. While your parents seem to appreciate Shakespeare, mine do-"
"HG Wells?" Myka cuts in.
"Yes, that too, obviously." She waves her hand. "Also, Arthurian legends-"
"Wait. No. Your middle name is not Guinevere, is it?" Myka's face is the definition of disbelief.
"Almost. Slightly different form. Ginevra."
Myka grins like crazy.
They talk about literature for a longer while, as it's a topic close to both of their hearts. They spend next two hours like that, lying under the sun – Myka on her back, arms under her head; Helena on her side, facing Myka.
Thick British accent filling her ears, Myka can't take her eyes off of the other girl. She remembers the moment she saw Helena for the very first time and how much of an impression she made on Myka. And now Myka can admire her features from little distance, witness cocky or gentle smiles that are all meant for her, observe how Helena's face lights up when she laughs, how her muscles then relax.
When HG stops talking and squints at her, Myka is suddenly aware of the fact that she got a little caught up. She's about to apologize, when Helena pokes her bare side.
"Am I boring you, Ms. Bering?"
"Of course not."
"I don't believe you," Helena says, but that teasing tone doesn't disappear from her voice, so Myka knows she doesn't mean it.
HG moves the same hand inches above Myka's body, tracing its curves without actually touching, until she reaches Myka's reddened cheek. She brushes it with her fingertips.
"We should get going, darling. I don't want you to get sunburns," she says gently.
Myka, who at one point held her breath, exhales and gulps.
"Ok." She sits up abruptly, looking around. "I need to find my shirt."
Myka could swear she heard Helena muttering happily "That's what she said."
# # #
After they find a table in a café and place their orders, Myka turns to her companion.
"Should I call you HG now? Do you prefer that name?"
"I do, indeed. But please, don't. I like the way you say my birth name." Before Myka can reply, Helena continues, "Funny thing with names, isn't it? Where did Myka come from? It's not a common name, quite the opposite, I'd say, special. It suits you well."
Myka rubs her neck before answering, "Thanks. I don't really know, it just is." She muses, "My sister got a normal name, Tracy."
"And just what normal means?" Helena tilts her head. "Common, boring, expected?" She sighs. "Safe. Not necessarily better."
"True," Myka agrees. "Though I have a feeling we're not talking about names anymore."
Helena smiles at that. "I have lots of thoughts on such matters." Myka nods in understanding. HG's look is burning, when she adds, "I simply feel I should warn you, Myka. I don't really do 'normal'."
"I never thought you did," shares Myka with a small smile. "I found you different – intriguing, right from the start."
"That's the best compliment a person could hope to hear," Helena says, reaching across the table to give Myka's hand a squeeze, as to thank her. "You also caught my attention." Myka laughs, because she finds that thought ridiculous. HG gives her a weird look. "I don't think you give yourself enough credit," she says.
Oh, here we go again. Don't be like my mom, Myka thinks.
Helena must have seen her facial expressions change, because she adds, in more playful demeanor, "We'll work on that, until you'll be as boastful as I am." She winks and Myka laughs, this time at ease.
"We'll see."
They turn their attention to food and coffee, enjoying their time together in comfortable silence.
# # #
When Myka gets back, Tracy's lying on a bed and playing with her phone.
Not looking up at her sister, she speaks up, "You were gone for long. Had a pleasant day?"
"Very. Where's mom and dad?" Myka places her book under a pillow, deciding to read the dedication later, before going to sleep. She's not happy to wait, but HG practically walked her to the cabin, so she hasn't had the time to do it just yet. And somehow Myka feels like reading Helena's carefully chosen words would be quite intimate and that she shouldn't do it in Tracy's presence.
"Don't know. Don't care."
Myka watches her sister closely.
"Well, what about you?"
"What do you mean?" Tracy finally looks at her. Myka shrugs.
"I don't know. Did you have a nice day? Why are you back already?"
"I'm not back. I never went anywhere."
Myka sits down beside her sister, not asking anything, but knowing that Tracy will tell her anyway.
And she does, "I didn't feel like meeting other people today."
"Even Joshua?"
Tracy glances at her before admitting, "His parents finally had time for Claudia and him, so, you know, they're doing something together."
"That's good. Isn't it?" asks Myka gently.
"Yeah, I know. It's not even about that. I don't know, I'm just in shitty mood."
"Do you want to watch a movie together or something?" Myka suggests, feeling for her sister.
"Yeah. Yes, I'd like that. No nerdy films tho, let's watch a comedy, ok?" Tracy stands up, getting ready to go out.
The DVD rental is near the library, so Myka grabs a book she ought to return, from a shelf. When was the last time when we did something together? Myka wonders, when Tracy gives her a smile as they're leaving the room.
###
Much later, while Tracy's still in a bathroom, Myka decides to go to bed already. As she slips under the covers and lies down, her head hits something hard. She remembers instantly. The book! She takes it from under the pillow and opens to the front page.
There, in Helena's elegant writing, is a quote that Myka recognizes at once. Helena signed it with the initials she shares with the writer, and added a few words of herself, words meant just for Myka.
"What really matters is what you do with what you have." H.G. Wells
I offered you an olive branch of peace, but I truly want you to take more – my friendship. What will you do with that? Helena.
Myka brushes her thumb over the question, directed almost like a dare. She really doesn't do 'normal', Myka smirks, inwardly accepting the challenge.