Pete leapt to his bed after everyone had gone back to trying to play Settlers of Catan after his most recent outburst.

"Hey, this is important!" His shouting and jumping up and down was, in fact, enough to get their attention back.

"Let's review why Soundwave is the best tv robot of all time."

A collective eyeroll circled the room, "Oh my god, why is this happening?" Claudia turned back to the coffee table, which was actually just a couple of glorified tv trays they had set up to play games.

"Number one, he sounds cool, number two, he looks cool, number three, his non-robot form is a boom box, number four, he has a PTERODACTYL."

"Why would a boom box have a pterodactyl?" Myka thought it was a legitimate question.

"And how exactly do robots and dinosaurs exist in the same universe?" Helena was on the same page as Myka.

"Number five…"

"Oh God, there are more?" Steve slumped over onto Liam who laughed. He was the only person listening who had any idea what Pete was talking about, so he was enjoying both sides of the little show.

"Unlike Starscream, who's all 'Give me poooower noooow,'" Pete imitated the tinny, robot voice, which made Myka cover her ears, "He is patient and waits for his moment, chooses it, and successfully takes over Decepticon."

"He sounds like a political genius, Pete, will you please sit down now?" Myka encouraged him to join the circle, but he wasn't having it.

"NUMBER SIX. He and his cassettes, cause, you know, he's a BOOM BOX, took out the Destructicon mega bot Devastator within like twenty seconds…"

"Pete! No one knows what you're talking about!" Claudia stood up and tried to pull Pete off his bed, though he just jumped away from her hand.

"Fine! I'm just saying, there are a bunch more reasons and I'm right."

"Literally no one was arguing with you." Claudia gave up and rejoined the circle.

"And I don't want to play anymore! Myka keeps putting the robber on all my stuff and setting up her roads so Helena can win!"

"I am not!"

She was.

She peered at Helena from the side of her eye and saw that the girl had a small grin on her face. Obviously she too had figured out that Myka was trying to strategize in her favor. Not that Helena needed the help. But, just for extra insurance.

Her eyes flicked down and she noticed that Helena's right hand was clinging to the edge of the sweater Myka was wearing that was loosely pooled between the two of them. Helena did this now. Whenever Myka was next to her, she would instinctively make sure she was tethered to some part of her, even if it was just the edge of her clothing. Having a grasp on anything connected to Myka was Helena's own form of extra insurance. Insurance that Myka was there and real and not going anywhere.

Every time Myka noticed Helena holding on to her, she all at once felt special, like she was the linchpin in Helena's life, and guilty. Guilty for feeling triumphant about something that was obviously keeping Helena from being whole.

They hadn't much talked about Helena's fears in the passing months, but Myka knew they were there. They made themselves known periodically. When Helena would say Myka's name across the room and Myka wouldn't respond right away. When they hadn't seen each other for most of the day and Myka was too busy to check in. When Myka got out of bed before Helena was awake. There were flashes of fear. The flashes didn't always appear, but when they did, Myka noticed them. She saw the subtle tensing of Helena's jaw and the quick jerk of her neck. She heard the extra air behind Helena's words, as if she had been holding her breath until it spilled out, all at once.

"Pete, if you finish this game, you can pick the next one." Steve offered, ever the diplomat.

"NO!" Everyone else in the room started talking over one another.

"He'll make us play that stupid version of Scene It? where it's all sports clips!"
"I swear to God, if you try to play Celebrity with him, he will fill the hat with comic book characters and then pretend he didn't."
"I'm fairly certain Pete's favorite game is just to see how many croissants he can fit in his mouth at once. I'd rather not be exposed to that for a second time, if at all possible."

"Jeez, thanks guys, I love you too." Pete stopped jumping up and down, looking dejected.

They all immediately felt guilty for coming down so hard on him and Myka was the first to speak up. "Pete, we were kidding! We…." she looked around at everyone for reassurance. "We'll play whatever you want to play, I'm sure it'll be great."

Still standing on the bed, he turned toward the wall with his hands on his hips. Was he… was he crying? For a tense moment they thought that Pete was going to walk out on them.

Until he jumped down from his bed pointing his finger at the lot of them. "Haha, suckers! That's what you get for being jerks. Now you're all gonna watch me play Skyrim!"

Steve lunged for the Playstation at the same time that Myka and Claudia went for Pete, all three landing on the ground with a soft thud and peals of laughter filling the room.

They were all finished with finals and most of them would be moving out of the dorms the following morning, so nearly their entire day had been spent together. Pete would be starting his internship with the Cleveland Field Office for the Secret Service, Steve, his own with the ATF Field Office in Trenton, Claudia was spending her summer in Switzerland with her older brother, and Liam was going home to intern in his dad's law office where he worked as a criminal defense lawyer, an irony that Liam found funny, since he planned to go into law enforcement.

At least someoneelse was going to have a summer full of family time other than Myka. She had spoken to her mother not long after their all-too-honest Skype conversation. Jean told her that they didn't need to look for a place to stay – she could stay in her bedroom and Helena, the guest bedroom. Her mother had been quick to point out that her father was the one who thought it best they stay at the Bering home. Of course, even if he had actually said that, which Myka didn't even truly believe, he couldn't have called to tell her himself. The man ran more hot and cold than the showers across the hall.

After they had exhausted the shelf of games in Steve and Pete's room and Pete had, in fact, begun to play Skyrim, they decided to call it a night. Hugs and punches were shared before Steve and Liam returned to Liam's single (how he had gotten a single as a first year was still one of Pete's enduring questions) and Claudia to her dorm.

"To get across campus without running into any drunken frat boys… it shall be the challenge of a lifetime. Wish me luck, kind friends." Claudia dramatically put her hand forward as if she were marching into battle and disappeared around the corner.

And then there were three. Neither of the girls were really ready to say goodbye to Pete, nor he to them. Theirs was a bond formed out of strange circumstance, but he had become like a brother to both of them, in their own ways.

"So… you guys gonna come visit me at my fancy job? Bet I can introduce you to the President!"

"It's Cleveland, Pete, I highly doubt the President is going to be making any appearances in your office." Myka grinned.

"Hey, hey, hey, now, I hope that's not you knocking the Rock and Roll Capital of the World and my lovely hometown."

"Wouldn't dream of it."

Pete and Myka chuckled until the hallway was silent. As he moved to pick the conversation up again, Helena quickly put one arm around his shoulder and the other around his mid-section and pulled him into a hug. He caught Myka's eyes behind Helena's back and she looked as surprised as he felt. After a moment, he tightened his arms around Helena and gave a firm squeeze.

When she released him, she stepped back and waited for Myka and Pete to say goodbye, which they did, Myka assuring Pete that they would call and Skype regularly and it wasn't actually that long until they'd be back for fall semester. He nodded his head, putting on a front, but Myka could tell how sad he was. It was almost funny to her – she had found these two people, two people who she never would have thought would even give her the time of day, and now she felt closer to them than anyone else. And somehow, she was their port in the storm. She was the calm sea for both of them.

She gave Pete a quick kiss on the cheek, "See you soon, Lattimer." He beamed back at her before they too disappeared around the corner.

Myka and Helena had packed themselves into just a few suitcases. Mrs. Lattimer had agreed to store most of their things in her basement, so they would be able to travel lightly. It had pained Helena to pack up all of their books. Myka remembered hearing her coo over their texts and had responded by laughing and playfully reminding Helena that they were going to work in a bookstore. And it wasn't a very busy bookstore. There would be plenty of time to read.

After they settled themselves into their seats on the plane, Helena rested her head on Myka's shoulder and entwined their fingers.

"I wonder if my dad's gonna be there at the airport when we land…"

"Have you spoken recently?"

Myka shook her head, which shook Helena's resting head along with it and she kissed her hairline in apology. Helena nudged her with her own shoulder so she would lift her arm and burrowed in more tightly.

"Well, I suppose if he is, that's a good thing because he wants to see you. If he isn't, that is also a good thing, because you won't be anxious about it. Correct?"

"Excellent use of conditional reasoning, Wells." Myka teased Helena. "But it unfortunately doesn't keep me from being anxious on the plane."

Helena leaned forward, reaching into her carry-on, "Lucky for you, I seem to have some stowaways." She pulled out a stack full of books and set them on her lap - none too large, but still, more than Myka would have expected.

"Helena! I told you not to bring these!"

"Darling, I simply couldn't leave all of them there. And knowing the way you read, you'll need every single one for the plane ride anyway."

Myka narrowed her eyes and tilted her head while Helena looked back, politely waiting for Myka to respond.

"If you don't want any of them, I can just put them back in the bag…" Myka wordlessly, and without taking her eyes off of Helena, took a book from the middle of the stack. She then stuck her tongue out before turning her attention to the words in front of her.

"Just to clarify, that rather childish display means I won this argument, yes?"

Myka ignored the statement completely. Which meant that yes, yes she did.

When the plane landed, Myka felt her nerves surge up again. Would Warren Bering choose to come to the airport to pick the girls up? Could they put the latest of their disagreements behind them?

Myka rushed toward baggage claim, just wanting to know one way or the other.

And the moment of truth came quickly. No dad. No mom for that matter.

Tracy was standing by baggage claim when they made their descent down the escalator. Myka saw her sister twirling her key-ring, looking around absent-mindedly until she saw them. Her already-enormous eyes got even wider and her mouth opened slightly. Myka looked down at her clothes to see if she looked strange. "Does my hair look weird?" she asked Helena.

"What? No, it's as rambunctious and lovely as ever." Helena put a hand to said hair, gave it a quick pat-down, and finished her action with a kiss to Myka's lips. When Myka looked back at her sister, her mouth was hanging wide open.

Oh. Right. That. That was what Tracy was staring at.

When they reached the floor, Myka introduced Helena and Tracy and the two exchanged pleasentries, though Tracy never did seem to pull herself together to act like a human being.

"I'll go wait for our luggage, let you catch up." Helena tugged on Myka's belt loop before she walked away. Both of the Bering girls followed her with their eyes until she turned back, giving them an awkward wave, which snapped them out of their haze.

"Tracy, what the hell?" Myka stood so that her back was to Helena, placing her hands on her hips, and giving Tracy her very best older-sister staredown.

"Myka. How? HOW? Did you get a girlfriend that hot?"

"I'm going to take that as a compliment, say thank you, and move on." Myka crossed her arms, "Where are Mom and Dad?"

"I don't know, they called me like an hour ago… they were planning on coming to get you, but Mom said something about an acquisition… I don't know, I wasn't listening, they just told me to come get you." She was barely paying attention to Myka and was staring at Helena again.

"Oh my God," Myka rolled her eyes and joined Helena at the luggage carousel, When she settled, she had her arms crossed and her lower lip pulled in so only her top lip was showing. Patented "I'm annoyed right now" Myka stance.

"Myka, what's wrong?" Helena questioned.

"Nothing, it's fine, my sister just has a crush on you. It's no big deal."

"Oh," Helena grinned slyly, "I'm two for two then, very good." Myka begrudgingly smiled back at Helena. She hadn't seen that distinct Helena Wells ego in quite some time. It didn't mean she wasn't still kind of annoyed.

"Yes, you're very likable, I'm aware. But Tracy's easy. You haven't had to talk to my dad yet."

"Oh, I'm sure I'll figure something out." Another sly grin.

Their bags came around the carousel and they each pulled one off of the belt before following Tracy to her car.