Myka sat with her head down, wringing her hands in her lap and looking like a disciplined teenager. Helena stood next to her with her hand on the back of Myka's chair, her head held high as she considered Claudia with a vaguely amused expression. Claudia stood in front of the pair, arms crossed casually and looking only slightly uncomfortable.
"So are you guys going to explain, or should I ask? Or we could also pretend it never happened, that's always a viable option." Claudia tipped her head to the side.
"That last one sounds good," Myka said a little too loudly, and she stood up to head for the door. HG caught her by the wrist, though, and pulled her back. When Myka flinched away from the touch, a brief look of hurt drifted across HG's face before she regained composure and took hold of Myka's shoulders. She looked her square in the eyes.
"Darling," she said in a low voice, "I understand your discomfort. Believe me, I do… But what do you have to lose? She has already seen us," HG finished with a shadow of a lopsided smile. Myka's brow was furrowed in concern, but when she looked into HG's dark eyes she felt an inexplicable sense of confidence and calm overtake her. She nodded her agreement at HG, who smiled and caressed her cheek briefly before turning to face Claudia.
"As you have probably inferred by now," Helena said, "Myka and I have become– shall we say– romantically involved."
"Recently, Claude," Myka added hastily. "This is still really new."
"Cool!" Claudia threw her hands up in the air with a sense of finality. "That's great. And now that we're done with that, I'm just going to take this…" Claudia reached for a tape measure. "And I'll be off!" She turned on her heel to leave.
"Wait, so that's all?" Myka stood with her hand on her hip. "That's really it?"
"Yeah…" Claudia paused and turned back around. "Should there be something more?"
"Um… I don't know." Myka turned to HG for help, but she just shrugged unhelpfully. Myka blushed, embarrassed. "No, then. I guess that's it."
"Cool. See you later, dudes." Claudia turned to leave once more, but Myka called out to her one last time.
"Claude," she said. "I'd, um, appreciate if you didn't mention it to anyone yet… I think I'd like to tell them myself."
Claudia gave her the thumbs up. "Anything you say, boss," she said with a smile before clanking down the stairs and disappearing into the endless aisles of the Warehouse. Myka clasped HG's hand tightly until she heard Claudia's footsteps fade into silence.
"I'm sorry about today," Helena said to Myka as they lay together in her bed that evening. "I know that probably wasn't how you envisioned telling anybody about us. I should have been more careful." She sighed, stroking Myka's curls softly.
"No– it's okay, I think," Myka answered, her head resting on HG's shoulder. She ran her fingers lightly over HG's collarbone, marvelling at how smooth HG's skin was underneath her fingertips. "When I think about other ways I could have told them, having to bring up the subject would have been much more awkward than having someone just flat out see us."
"There is still Pete, though," Helena remarked with the slightest bit of trepidation in her voice. Myka nestled closer to HG and shut her eyes.
"I don't want to think about that right now," she said. "I want to go back to just being us tonight."
"Not a problem, love," HG said softly as she lifted Myka's face and placed a gentle kiss on her cheek.
"You know something, Helena?" Myka said, opening her eyes.
"What's that?"
"I can think of better places for you to kiss me than my cheek."