So this is the edited version because I realized I was writing Helena as a really passive character and that is not H.G. Wells.
Waking up next to Pete, Myka rubs her throbbing head and tries to remember what happened the night before. Memories come in bits and pieces and she is relieved to know that both she and Pete are fully clothed, even if they are under the same covers. She remembers talking to Helena. Well, talking at Helena but that conversation is bleary much like the rest of the night. What she doesn't remember is meeting Pete, why is he in Wisconsin anyway?
Myka nudges the man sleeping in her bed and after a few minutes of grumbling Pete finally comes awake.
"Well, look at you, sunshine" he says his voice tired and half sleep.
"What are you doing here?" she demands with a raised eyebrow.
Pete turns to the side table and grabs the aspirin and bottle of water he put down there after Myka fell asleep.
"You'll want this"
"Thanks" She accepts it before returning to her previous question, "So what are you doing here, Pete?"
"You've had a rough night"
"So it seems"
"You had a blowout with H.G. after which she called me and I came to your rescue just in time, by the looks of it you would have bitten off the receptionists head if I hadn't gotten to you in the nick of time. And she's a pretty one. I'll have to get her number. Remind me to do that."
"That still doesn't explain why you're here"
"Oh you mean here as in Nowhere, Wisconsin as in the place where your psychotic kind of ex-girlfriend lives as in the place you ran to and then ran away from completely freaking me out mind you!"
"Okay one, she was never my girlfriend and never will be. Two, did she call you?"
"Yes she called Claudia. And about the girlfriend bit, we've been over that last night but you, drunkey, probably don't remember a single word of it"
Myka raises her eyebrows inquiring further.
"You looove her" Pete mocks making googly eyes, "And you promised to let me watch"
Myka's cheeks color, embarrassed. "What? No! I never said that. I do not love her. And Pete, grow up"
Pete smirks. "You're meeting her at one for lunch"
"What? I don't remember agreeing to that!"
"Yeah, and how much do you remember exactly?"
"Wait, Claudia is here?"
"Yes, she's at a hotel a couple of blocks over"
"Oh" Myka doesn't want to ask the next question because she already knows the answer "Does she know, Pete?"
"Yes"
"Did you tell her?"
"I would never, Myka. I said I wouldn't and I didn't"
"So she did hear us then?"
"She's a sneaky little one. Speaking of, what went down between you and Lady Cuckoo last night? You were wasted!"
Myka bites her lip. "I yelled at her"
"Oh?" He waits for her to go on.
"I said things"
"So she knows then?"
A flash of confusion crosses her face before she remembers what triggered her to come here in the first place.
"No"
Pete finally lets go of his light-hearted mocking and banter and allows his fear to come forth.
"Myka, please just tell me how bad it is"
"Bad"
"As in it looks pretty bad so you'll have to take more time off than expected but you'll be just dandy?"
"No, Pete"
He takes a hint and doesn't inquire any further. He can probe her about the prognosis later, for now she doesn't want to talk about it and he doesn't push.
"Is that why you're here?"
"Yes"
"I'm here for you, whatever you need. You know that right?"
"Thanks, Pete"
"Do you want me to be there when you tell her?"
"No, I have to do this on my own"
"Myka, before you go, I just- don't push her away just because you're afraid"
"Jeez Pete, sappy much?" she tries to break the tension and avoid the issue she is going to have to deal with soon enough.
Pete doesn't say anything else, he is afraid that if he will he won't be able to hold back the tears that are clouding his eyes. Without thinking he grabs Myka and pulls her in for a hug. Startled for a moment Myka is taken aback but gives in to the embrace allowing tears to fall down her cheeks.
"I can't lose you, Mykes. We're supposed to go out together? Don't you go back on your word"
"I don't want to die, Pete"
"Don't worry we'll find a way. Endless wonder, remember? There has got to be something that can cure you"
"What if there isn't?"
Myka meets Helena at the place Pete setup for them to meet at. She finds the older woman already waiting at a secluded table. Helena doesn't meet her eye when she sits down across her, she doesn't know if she ever will be able to.
"Helena"
"Myka"
The silence that creeps in is cold and almost makes both women shiver. They are both afraid that the weight of the words said in Myka's drunken haze has cracked what is left of their relationship beyond repair. They both stay as still as possible and if they could they wouldn't breathe for the fear of breaking what little that is left between them.
"Are you quite alright, Myka? You said some things last night…" Helena is the first to break the stillness.
Myka waits to consider this, she does not want to lay it all on her, after all they haven't talked in a long time. She isn't even sure if they are still friends, only she is. They were never friends, always more.
"Myka?"
"No," she finally says and upon seeing Helena's alarmed face she continues "But that isn't important for now. Helena, I know I said hateful things last night. It would be a lie to say that I didn't mean them because every word is true. But I've decided to let go of that. I have hated you for so long now I forgot how much you meant to me- mean to me. It was your choice to leave. It was your choice to start a new life, I can understand that. At least, I can try. You were never my girlfriend, we were never together, all we had was one kiss and that doesn't give me the right to hold leaving against you, no matter how much it hurt" her voice drops at the last bit.
"It is wrong to say that there was nothing between us, Myka darling. There was so much that I was terrified of being consumed in it. I am not too proud to admit that I was scared that you would not reciprocate the feelings I had toward you."
Myka laughs dryly. "Helena, I don't know what else I could have done to show you how I felt. If that's your reason then you're not just lying to me, you're lying to yourself"
"Maybe I am and really I don't know what to say to that except Myka, I am sorry. I just wanted to get away from the Warehouse, from that life. In that place I was H.G. Wells woman from the past with no place in the future, H.G. Wells traitor to the warehouse, woman to tried to destroy the world and bring about an ice age because she could not deal with the pain. I just wanted to be someone else so I could stop being the woman who held a gun to your head, maybe that was the worst crime I have committed."
"I don't really know why I came here. Well, I suppose I do. But Helena, you need to stop being a martyr. That isn't the woman I feel in love with. The woman I remember is brilliant and feisty and crazy and beautiful"
Helena tilts her head as if considering what Myka just said while biting back a smile. "Yes, that she very much is"
"Well I'm glad I left out modest"
"Well, darling modesty is a trait for the trite"
"And that is something you are most definitely not"
"So Myka, what brings you here"
"Maybe this was bad idea"
"Nonsense. I am glad you are here regardless of last night but I am glad that you got it off your chest"
"You have a life here, you are happy, you are happy, right?"
"I have a wonderful partner and a beautiful little girl. I go to work. I talk to people. You'd think that would be enough for a woman who has been alive for over a century."
"That doesn't answer my question"
"No it doesn't"
"I want you to be happy, even though I said things before, that's I really want. It's all I've ever wanted. It just hurt that I wasn't the one to make you happy"
"Who says you weren't, love. Maybe it was me who did not deserve you"
"And yet you're the one who left"
"So I did"
"I am not here to disrupt your life, Helena. You deserve to be with someone who can be there for you for a long time to come and that's more than I can say for myself"
"Myka darling, you're worrying me. What's wrong?"
Myka smiles. She has missed the woman sitting across her and more than she ever realized. Helena is the only person Myka can surrender herself to, no matter their history Helena's British charm still makes Myka weak in the knees.
"I'm sick"
Helena's face contorts with shock.
"Dying really"
She sucks in a sharp breath.
"What?" she attempts at a laugh but fails, surely this is some kind of joke. Myka's way of getting back at her?
"Cancer. Ovarian. Well, it started out as that. It's everywhere now really" Myka is still smiling but it doesn't meet her eyes, she does her best not to cry but tears slip out anyway and she quickly wipes them away.
Helena shakes her head refusing to believe it.
"No, but that's silly! I was supposed to come back to you. We were supposed to be happy. There was supposed to be a forever."
Okay I need advice. Is this still a good storyline?