CHAPTER SEVEN
As promised. Here is the next chapter.
Myka spends the next few days in her hotel room with Helena while Pete and Claudia return to the Warehouse. She tries to put it off for as long as she can but eventually Myka has to fly out to Denver. Helena decides to go to the Warehouse and Myka needs to tell her parents and Tracy and that is not something she wants to do over the phone.
Myka had almost asked Helena to come along with her but the British woman's incessant hovering would have worn her out even more. Myka tries to pretend that nothing is different but inevitably has to admit that she can't keep up with the fast paced nature of Warehouse 13.
Leaving the airport, Myka is already weary. She wonders if she would have felt it if she had not known yet. But now that she does every waking moment is intruded with its rude presence and even most nights are clouded with nightmares that won't quit.
The Bearing household is the same as she remembers it. She pauses outside, her revelation will change everything. Her father much like the Warehouse team with fuss over the potential cures that they all know do not exist. Her mother will cry about parents not having to bury their children. Myka almost shudders at the drama. Maybe it hasn't quite sunk in.
"Myka!" Jeannie Bearing throws her arms around her daughter as she steps over the threshold. "It's been so long, you should visit more often. Oh, look at you, so skinny. Aren't they feeding you there in South Dakota?" she trails on as she leads Myka into the living room.
"Jeannie, give the girl some room to breathe," Warren looks at his daughter. She does look skinny.
"What brings you here, Myka?"
"Why, can't a girl visit her parents without a reason?" Jeannie cuts in.
"Actually, I do have something to tell you," Myka finally speaks up, "But I'd rather wait for Tracy"
Her father looks at her confused.
"Oh, I asked her to come over, I can't keeping doing this over and over"
"Myka is everything alright?" He asks.
Myka gives him a short smile and nods.
Tracy arrives shortly after her mother manages to overstuff her with lunch. As her family settles around the coffee table Myka paces back and forth. This is it. There is where she does it.
The clock ticks loudly in the silence that is wearing her father's patience thin. Myka doesn't know how to start, or where. When she finally finds the words her voice is weak and throaty, almost unwilling to come out.
"I'm sick,"
No one says anything. They wait for her to go on.
"I have cancer," She sees the shock register on their faces but continues. She wants to get it over with. "It's too far gone to treat, I have excellent doctors who are looking for experimental trials but I don't want that. I don't want to be sicker and prolong the inevitable before I finally die"
And there it is. She has laid it all out. Myka leaves the room to get a glass of water. Die. The initial shock has worn off. Everyone knows now. She is going to die. Her days are numbered. Myka tries to gulp down the water but instead has to spit it into the sink where she stands dry heaving with tears slipping away.
Her mother comes up from behind and pulls her into an embrace. Myka lets go. She cries into her mother's arms both woman allowing the tears to run freely.
When they return to the living room Myka's eyes are dry her face washed clean. Her father's forehead is etched with a frown. Tracy is still in shock, sitting stunned. Her mother keeps crying.
"You're my little girl, you can't be dying" The look in the woman's eyes makes Myka want to almost lie and say it isn't true.
"What have the doctors said? What are their names?" He doesn't wait for her to reply, "What stage is it? What type?"
"It started out as ovarian, now it has progressed. There is no miracle cure." Myka's voice is controlled.
Tracy gets up and hugs her sister. She squeezes tight and doesn't let go, maybe she is afraid to.
After several rounds of questions and even more tears Myka is finally allowed to retreat to her room. She falls back on the bed and pulls out her phone.
"Hello, darling" The voice on the other side is all that she needs right now.
"I miss you"
"Come home soon then"
Myka chuckles.
"You're already calling it home"
"Once you're alright you are going to marry me and we are going to find a cozy little place right here in the middle of nowhere and we fill it up with joy and laughter until we are both old and it is our time to go"
Myka smiles at the possibility but it is laced with the bitter edge of truth, this is never going to happen and the sooner Helena accepts it the better it will be for both and them and the potential fate of the world as they know it. No matter how much she loves the other woman Myka cannot forget her tendency to take her pain and cast it outward.
Myka pauses. "Wait, did you just propose to me? On the phone?"
Helena's laughter fills her up with a warm feeling.
"No, love. The proposal is going to be grand. Nothing short of what you deserve"
Thoughts?