"Hey Mom. Do you think we could talk about this summer? I'm done with class at 4, can you guys Skype tonight?"

Myka closed her phone and waited for her fellow students to be done talking with Professor Nielsen by starting a second draft of her notes.

"Myka!"

His voice was like the harshest bell in the belfry being rung right in her ear every single time he did that. She would never get used to the way he yelled her name.

"I was expecting to hear back from you yesterday." He walked out of the room, assumedly expecting her to follow, so she drew all of her belongings in her hands haphazardly, and dashed to catch up.

"Yes, I know, I'm sorry about that, I wanted to wait until I saw you in person."

"And…?"

Oh God, did he always look this scary? Myka had seen him look annoyed or bothered before, but now he kind of looked unhinged. Didn't he? She must be projecting. Screw your courage to the sticking-point, right Bering? Wait, no. Maybe not Lady Macbeth. Maybe she's not the go-to in this situation.

"Myka!" Another clang. She set her things on the only uncovered surface she could find, which unfortunately happened to be the only chair to sit in as well, so she continued to stand.

"Right. Professor Nielsen, while I am honored that you would ask me to assist you on your work, I don't think I can go to Italy with you."

There. The words were out. The damage was done and she could stop thinking about it.

"Myka, I'd like to remind you that you are a first year. This is an opportunity that I do not offer to everyone."

She nodded. She knew that. Of course she knew that. Which is why she hadn't taken him seriously when he had said it in the first place.

"You are an exceptionally gifted student, I'd like to have you on my team." No longer clanging, Professor Nielsen was resolute.

Was this an opportunity that she'd never have again? Rationally, she had another three years at this school. Meaning she had another two summers before she graduated wherein she could travel and study. Like he said, no other first years were being offered this chance, it wasn't like she'd be missing out on much…

Helena told her that she should go. That she should take the trip. But they knew each other well enough at this point to tell when one of them was falling on a sword for the other. And that's exactly what Helena had been doing. So, they talked about it and talked about it and talked about it and had come to a decision together that didn't include Italy.

Life was full of hard choices, right? This would just be one of many.

"I will gladly be on your team, Professor Nielsen. But I have to do it from home. I will research and write and study and do whatever you need. And believe me, I want to. I just can't do it in Italy."

"I'm sorry to hear that. You should know that I have a number of students waiting to be asked. This is your only chance to change your mind."

"I know." Now it was she who was resolute.

He nodded his head, conceding to her wishes.

She gathered her things back into her arms and stepped into the hallway, turning back for a moment. She had hoped that Professor Nielsen would have some parting words of acknowledgement. Possibly some advice for how she should be handing the influx of difficult situations that had been thrust before her lately. Maybe even some encouragement to keep moving forward. But he was already sitting at his desk, absorbed in a formidable text. No, this one was on Myka and Myka alone.

She was already second-guessing her choice when her phone buzzed in her pocket.

"Does 6 o'clock work for you?"

"Perfect. Thanks Mom." She put the phone away and started the walk to her next class.

Myka checked the time and rushed across campus, realizing she was running late. She had stayed after her class to start preliminary talks about a group project and they had gotten carried away.

She pulled up recent calls and clicked on the first one.

"Hello."

"Are you in the dorm?"

"I am."

"My parents are going to Skype me at 6. I don't want to reschedule because then my dad gets all annoyed, but if they call and you answer, then they'll have to stay on until I get there."

"Because they feel sorry for me?" Helena chuckled grimly.

"No, because my dad doesn't mind being rude to me, but he for some reason minds being rude to perfect strangers."

"All the more reason to keep me a perfect stranger then, at least for the time being."

Myka didn't have the energy for this.

"I'll be back in like ten minutes," she huffed impatiently.

"Honestly, I have no idea what I'd say to them, can't you just reschedule the call?"

"Helena, please. Could you PLEASE do this one, very simple thing for me?" Myka hadn't meant to raise her voice, but she was rushing and running out of breath and didn't want to keep wasting it having a stupid argument about a Skype call. And flashes of Professor Nielsen's disappointed face kept interrupting her train of thought.

"Fine. I'll see you when you get here." And Helena hung up.

"That sounds very interesting." Myka heard her mother's falsely upbeat voice as she burst into the room, immediately moving to lean over Helena's shoulder.

"Sorry, sorry guys, I just got caught up in a group discussion."

Her father was in the background reading while her mother sat in the foreground, now following Myka with her eyes.

"Sure, it's not like we have things to do or anything." Myka tried to make eye-contact with Helena, to commiserate over her dad's sarcasm, but Helena stood up from where she had positioned herself at Myka's desk, and without looking up, crossed back to the bed.

"Right. Well, thanks for your patience, Dad." Myka worried that her own lack of patience tonight wasn't going to set a good foundation for a constructive conversation.

Jean cut in before Warren could respond and unravel the whole thing. "What was it you wanted to talk to us about, sweetie?"

"Any more requests for thousands of dollars?" Jean turned around in her chair and Myka knew well enough what look she was shooting at her husband, even if Myka couldn't see it. He came and sat next to her with his mouth shut.

Myka inhaled deeply and continued. "Actually, Dad, it's funny that you mention that," It wasn't funny, it wasn't funny at all, he was being a jerk, "because Helena and I would both very much like to pay you back for that loan."

And that was true, they did. This had been part of their conversation as well. Figuring out a way to pay her father back for his momentary lapse in judgment.

"I told you that I'd come home for the summer, to work in the shop, and that's still the plan. I'll work every day. I told Professor Nielsen that I'd do some research for him as well, but other than that, you can use me whenever you want. I plan to pay you back in full."

"Good." Warren stood up to walk away.

She rushed the next words. "And Helena would like to do the same. Helena would like to come to Colorado for the summer and work in the store."

Her father was only half in the frame, but she saw him stop moving. Jean had nothing to say either, she just looked back and forth between the screen and her husband. Myka had no way of knowing that he wasn't going to react well to this. She had no way of knowing that it was only her mother that had kept him from calling and berating her weeks before. Jean herself actually had no idea what he was going to say. With Myka, he was always such a loose cannon. He turned slowly and returned to his seat in front of the computer.

"Myka, what in the hell do you think you're playing at?"

Even Jean was taken aback at his tone. She put a warning hand on his forearm, which he immediately shrugged off. "Warren…"

"No. Myka, you are nineteen years old. Nineteen! You are basically still a child, yet you're flying halfway across the world for some girl" he said girl like it was the worst four-letter word he could get out of his mouth, "some girl, that you barely know, and that I don't know at all, and now you are expecting me to have her as a guest in MY house for the summer?" He was sitting so still, but Myka could tell he was full of rage.

And it was pissing her off. She was just so angry at him and this day. She was sick of his condescension. Sick of the fact that at every turn he chose to be intransigent, regardless of circumstance or anyone's feelings other than his own.

Hearing the door open yanked her out of her head and when she turned around, she saw Helena leaving the room. "Stay here, Helena. If you're going to come home with me for the summer, you should see what he can be like."

"What I can be like, oh you have…."

"Yes, Dad. What you can be like." She continued on, "Now, to your first point, yes I am nineteen. Correct me if I'm wrong here, but I'm not, you and Mom started dating when you were our age."

"Myka, your mother and I have nothing to do…"

"Yes you do. You started dating at this age, and she's your wife now. If something bad had happened to Mom, even when you were nineteen, even when you barely knew her, as you so lovingly put it, you would have wanted to protect her, right? You would have wanted to take care of her and do everything to make her happy, right?"

"That's different."

"It's not, Dad. It's not. It's exactly the same. Because she's the person I'm going to spend the rest of my life with too."

Jean gasped out of surprise. Warren was too stunned to say anything.

"Mom was still the person you were going to marry when you were nineteen, it's no different. She's not just some girl, Dad. She's never just been some girl." She looked behind her to see if Helena was still in the room. She was, but she was looking at her feet.

"To your second point, I am not expecting you to have us in your house, I am asking you to. If you don't want us there, I'm sure I could find some place to rent for the summer while we work off our debt to you. Of course, then it would take us longer to pay you back, but if that's how you want it, then we can do that."

She had never been this antagonistic with her father. She had always just let him bully her, but she felt a new wave of confidence. It was a good thing he hadn't been expecting it, because his shock had kept him quiet, for the most part.

When she was finished, she finally looked back at her father and seeing him sent a pang of guilt through her. Of course she was angry with him. He so easily disregarded anyone else's feelings, especially Myka's, and now he had dragged Helena into his games. But he was still her dad. She still wanted to be close to him. She wanted for him to be on her side, their side. And even though he had come out of the gate swinging, she thought he looked a little sad at her newfound demonstration of a spine.

"Dad. I'm…" No, she wouldn't say she was sorry, because she wasn't. "You said at Christmas that if I was happy, then you were happy."

"If this is you happy, then maybe I was wrong."

Myka had to resist yelling at him again.

"Dad, I am trying. Can you for once, for once. Help me try?"

The silence meant that they were at an impasse.

"All right, well, we'll find a place to stay then. And don't worry, we'll pay for the travel. I wouldn't want you to have to spend any more money on us."

Warren walked away without another word.

Jean turned toward her daughter and tried to explain him, like she always did. "Sweetheart, your father…"

"Please stop making excuses for him, Mom."

Jean nodded her head, "We'll talk soon."

And they hung up. Myka turned back to check in on Helena.

"And that's a Saturday night in the Bering household." Myka laughed gently. She was tired of playing the strong one.

"Myka, I'm sorry."

Another deep breath. Keep trying. "It's funny, I used to be the one to say that all of the time."

Helena stepped in. "It's not fair that I dragged you into this, it's not fair…"

"It's not, you're right. But, one of my dad's favorite phrases is 'life's not fair.' So. There it is. And I didn't exactly drag you into a bed of roses covered in cotton candy and butterfly kisses."

Helena formed a mental image of what that might feel like, just as Myka did the same. "That doesn't sound very comfortable."

"No, you're right, it doesn't."

Helena sighed, "You should have just let me break up with you all of those months ago, then at least you'd be free of my mess." There was that grim chuckle again and it cut into Myka's core.

"Please don't say that. Even if you're joking. Please don't."

Helena realized the weight of her words and crossed the rest of the room to Myka. "Oh, darling, I didn't mean that. I didn't."

Myka's breath hitched. Darling. Helena hadn't called her darling in… well… Myka actually couldn't remember. Suffice it to say, it had been a while. Helena stood above her, having pulled her hands close.

"I can't believe you told your parents you're going to spend the rest of your life with me." Helena's smile had turned less grim.

"They were going to figure it out eventually."

"Well, I wish you would have said it to me first."

Myka stood in protest. "What? I did! I have! When you…" Myka started to pull back, realizing that she was referencing that time when she had almost lost Helena to her own pain.

Helena grabbed her waist and pulled her up from her chair. "When you saved me, yes, I remember, it wasn't all too long ago. But you weren't quite so clear about it then. It's nice." She brushed the stray curls from Myka's forehead, running her fingernails across her scalp. Myka closed her eyes and pushed her head forward, into Helena's palm, and eventually landed it on Helena's shoulder.

"I miss you, Helena."

"I miss me too."

They held each other in the middle of the room for a few minutes, Helena playing with Myka's hair and Myka rubbing circles into Helena's back.

"You're very brave, Myka."

Myka snorted and pulled her head back. "I'm what?"

"I know you don't see it, but you are. It's maybe not the first thing I noticed about you," Helena grinned and Myka rolled her eyes. That story was literally never going to go away now. "But it didn't take me very long to see it."

Myka kissed Helena's temple and made her way over to the closet to pull out some sweatpants.

"Thank you for that, Myka. Thank you for your strength. I… I don't know what I would have done without it." Myka turned back to see a genuine, though still somewhat anxious smile on Helena's face. "I don't know what I would have done without you."

"Something tells me you would have been fine, Helena." She started to undress, trying to downplay the situation.

"Well, my brain tells me that I wouldn't have been. So thank you."

Myka just smiled and started to walk back to her desk when Helena stopped her, pulled her close, and kissed her in a way that she hadn't since before they had gone to England. She pulled back and rested their foreheads on one another. "I mean it, Myka. Thank you for… everything." They kissed once more, Myka lightly grasping onto Helena belt-loops while Helena lifted the back of Myka's shirt, grasping onto the bare skin tightly.

"Always, Helena." She shivered at the girl's hands on her back and stepped away. "Now, care to join me in the boudoir for some cuddles and light homework?" She asked as she gestured toward the bed.

Helena laughed. "Anything more than cuddles? Maybe a little of that 'second base' action that you're so fond of?"

Myka's eyes widened, not having expected the playful turn of events. She hadn't wanted to push things, but it was true, she missed Helena. In every way. "That I'm fond of? You mean that you're extremely fond of."

"I didn't say I wasn't."

"Yes, fine, if you insist." Helena started toward the bed when Myka stopped her. "But… homework first."

Helena rolled her eyes and placed a light kiss on Myka's lips. "Fine. Homework first."