Chapter 3: and promise no love is like our love

The noise broke quietly into Myka's dreams, making her think it wasn't there, until it became too insistent to ignore. Her mind lurched forward to realize that it was her alarm, God she felt like she just fell asleep. Helena remained unstirring in her arms, she unwound her arm from her waist, trying to move as little as possible as she reached for her phone to make the incredibly annoying, unrelenting noise stop. She curled back into Helena's back, not wanting to acknowledge reality, and it's beckoning them out of this place, where everything felt perfect and still. She breathed in the smell of Helena's hair, coconut mixed with something deeper, something distinctly Helena that she couldn't place. She felt Helena's fingers beginning to stir, trying to find purchase on her hand, as it rested around her waist. She moved just slightly enough to nudge Helena's hair away from her neck, and began tracing small, slight kisses down it, barely urging Helena to wake. Finally, she heard her name barely audible as a question on Helena's lips.

"I'm here," she whispered back. Helena, sleep addled, rolled to face her, making sure to keep Myka's arms firmly around her. She didn't open her eyes, but rested further into the crook of Myka's collarbone. Myka pressed a kiss into her hair. The words Helena spoke were hardly a whisper spoken against her skin, but Myka heard every word clearly, "There was part of me that worried I'd wake up and all of this would have been a dream." They were words that were so laced with vulnerability that Myka was almost shocked to hear them, but instead of expressing that shock, she just pulled Helena closer, and whispered into her hair, "Not a dream, I'm right here."

Helena finally emerged from her exhaustion enough to open her eyes, and press a small kiss to Myka's lips. "Bloody hell, I do not want to get up."

Myka couldn't hold back the laugh that escaped from her lips, "I know, but it would seem we have to. I'll tell you what, you stay here, I'll grab a shower first, then go downstairs and try and find us some coffee, that way when you get out of the shower it'll be here waiting."

"That sounds like perfection."

It took every ounce of strength to pull herself from Helena's arms, but the sooner she was up, the sooner there would be coffee, which would do worlds for the headache slowly pulsating behind her eyes. She knew when they went to bed that she was most likely going to pay for the amount of gin she drowned herself in last night, but thankfully, it wasn't nearly as bad as she expected, and even more thankfully, she had kept her promise to Helena, she remembered each and every second of last night, every word that passed between them, and that fact alone was worth the headache. She showered quickly, making sure she left enough of all the hotel amenities for Helena, seeing as neither of them had any of their usual morning things. When she got out of the shower, she blushed to see a dark mark along her collarbone, relishing the memory of Helena's teeth biting against her skin, and smirked to think that Helena would find a few of her own, when she took a shower. It made Myka wobbly just thinking about everything that had happened last night, and even wobblier still thinking about what would hopefully happen once they got home and were settled, caught up with everyone at the B&B, and what their plan was to get Sykes. She toweled off, and slipped back into her clothes from last night, anxious to get home and into clothes that didn't smell like a bar, yet enjoying the fact that there was a hint of Helena's perfume mingled in as well. When she emerged, Helena was awake, but still curled in bed. She had turned on the TV, but didn't seem to be paying any particular attention to what she was watching.

Helena's breath couldn't help but hitch in her throat when Myka came out. It was completely amazing to her that even in day old clothes, wet curls dangling along her shoulders, and not an ounce of make-up on, Myka still looked unbelievable. Myka came over to the side of the bed, and leaned in pressing a kiss against her forehead, "Coffee or tea?"

"I believe I am exhausted enough to actually require coffee, plus that bagged tea most places usually have is atrocious."

"Sounds good. Grab a shower, and I'll be back soon." Myka grabbed one of the room keys off of the dresser, slipped it into her back pocket, and with a quick look over her shoulder at Helena, was out the door in mere moments.

Once she heard the door click behind Myka, she climbed out of bed, stretching muscles that ached from the oddity of dancing and from one too many arches of her back against Myka's touch. She slipped into the shower, and was quick to notice the tenderness rising from the skin near her hip. She looked down to see a mark left by a combination of Myka's teeth and lips. It somehow felt like a mark of ownership, and Helena relished it. She soaked in the heat of the water cascading over her body, and let her mind play back last night in slow motion. Myka's hands in her hair, the feel of Myka's hips beneath her fingers, Myka's teeth gently biting into her skin, her tongue running against the inside of her lips. God, just thinking about it made her skin tingle. Somehow, she still couldn't believe they were here, that it had happened, yet it had. She just prayed that the return to the reality of the Warehouse, their daily lives, and the crushing weight of what drove them here didn't ruin what could exist between them. She shut off the water, toweled off, and emerged running a towel through her hair at the exact moment that Myka returned with their coffee. The aroma filled the room, "God that smells heavenly."

"You must be tired, if coffee is actually appealing to you."

"Desperate times and all that I suppose."

"The hotel had already put all their things from breakfast away, but luckily there was a coffee shop right next door." Myka's eyes flicked to the clock, they had fifteen minutes before they absolutely had to be out of the room.

Helena followed her eyes, "It seems it would be almost that time."

Myka playfully nudged against her fingertips, loosely entwining their fingers, "I don't want to leave. It's selfish, but I don't want to go back to the world."

"I know…but we have to. Duty calls, but…before we go." She set her coffee down on the dresser, and removed Myka's from her hand, placing it next to hers. Ever so gently, she pressed Myka back against the wall, almost identical to where she had done so last night, her hands slid underneath Myka's shirt, running them up her sides, and she kissed her, kissed her with fervor and intensity, passion and wanting, not hesitating to open her lips to Myka's welcome advances. Myka's hands were in her hair, gently tugging, pulling her forward, deeper. It was only when a moan emerged from the back of Myka's throat that she allowed herself to pull away, short of breath, flushed, heart pounding. Myka's eyes were still closed, lips still parted, and into her ear she whispered, "Just a reminder of what you promised me would come when we get home. I'm going to hold you to that."

Myka's voice came out raspy and short, "You better…because that…that was just cruel."

"Only cruel?" Helena smirked.

Myka's eyes opened with a spark of desire, "Incredibly sexy, but yes cruel. You are a mean woman Helena Wells."

"Yes, I'm quite good at that," and she pushed off the wall, leaving Myka with her fingers still gripping into the paint.

Helena grabbed her phone and the car keys, patted her back pocket to make sure that her credit card and license were still there, pulled on her shoes and then turned back to Myka, "Well, are you ready to go?"

Myka sighed in exasperation, but grabbed the rest of her things, "If we must."

Helena opened the door for her, "I believe we must."

They stood waiting for the elevator, but it seemed that what happened last night in the elevator was playing through both of their minds, and in an effort to not torture themselves more, they turned to each other and asked almost in unison, "Stairs?"

They both chuckled, and Myka grabbed Helena's hand, turning them towards the stairwell. They made quick work of checking out, Helena silently grateful that the man who checked them in last night appeared to no longer be on duty, not wanting to have to deal with the look he would have most likely given them. Once they were in the car Helena suggested calling Pete to let him know they were on their way back.

"Mykes, how ya feelin' this morning partner? Headache? Staying away from any LOUD noises? How hung over are you?"

Myka rolled her eyes, "I actually am fine Pete, just a small headache."

"That's my girl, no lightweight hangover for Myka man no way."

She couldn't help smiling at what was Pete's apparent way of displaying relief that she was ok. She knew him well enough to know she probably had him scared out of his mind last night, and in that instant she felt guilty for putting him through all of that. "Pete, hey listen, I'm sorry I bailed last night. I know you must have been worried."

"Mykes, don't worry about it. We all deal in our way, you just dealt with it in a very pre-Warehouse Pete kind of way. I'm just glad you're alright. You guys on your way back?"

Myka smiled a warm smile at him and his kindness, "Yeah, we should be home in…what do you think Helena, a half hour?"

Pete could hear H.G. off the screen saying that should be about right. "Hey Mykes, turn me towards H.G. would ya?"

"Sure."

"Yes Pete?" She asked, keeping her eyes on the road.

"Hey, just thanks again for…for last night. I appreciate it."

"No thanks needed Pete." Helena tried desperately to keep the smirk off of her face, thinking that if Pete had volunteered to go get Myka things would have been quite different this morning. She would be the one anxiously worrying and waiting for Myka to get home safely, rather than sitting here next to her, feeling a gorgeous long-fingered hand sliding along her knee.

"Alright, drive safe you two. Stay out a trouble. See you in a bit."

Myka turned the Farnsworth back to her, "Bye Pete."

"He was quite worried about you, you know?"

"He does that; it's what makes him a good partner. I kind of hate that I made him that worried though."

"Pete loves you darling, he sounded like he understood quite fully why you did what you did."

"I guess so."

"Remind me to thank Claudia when we get home though…"

"Why?"

"Because if she hadn't fallen asleep on Pete's shoulder last night, he might have insisted on being the one to come get you, and if that had happened, where might we be?" Helena shot her a side long look, with a gentle smile on her face.

Myka felt her heart fluttering in gratitude that it was, in fact, Helena that had shown up last night, and not Pete. "Then, yes, thanks all around for Claudia. Pete probably would have come in guns blazing, punched someone in the face, and hauled me out over his shoulder."

"If I would have had it my way, I would have preferred getting in a good shot or two at some of those men last night, but you didn't give me much of a chance."

Myka tried to hide the blush coming into her cheeks, "I..I can't believe I was acting like that, it's not really my thing ya know?"

"Alcohol tends to have that effect on people." Helena could tell Myka was sinking into guilt for something she had no reason to feel guilty about. Each and every one of them had made mistakes, some far worse than the ones Myka barely made last night, she attempted to make light of things for her. "Listen Myka," she placed her hand over the one that was covering her knee, "We all, each of us, have done some insanely stupid things when we're hurting. No one is immune to that sort of reaction. Do I wish you would have told someone where you were going? Sure, but you're ok, everyone is ok, it all turned out ok…much better than ok I would say, actually."

Even with her face turned towards the window, Helena could see the smile returning to Myka's face. She gave her hand a squeeze, "That's my girl."

"I should apologize to you too though…"

"Why on earth do you need to apologize to me? Unless of course, you want to apologize for how horrendously out of joint my back felt when I woke up this morning."

There was that blush again, she could get quite used to making Myka look that way. "No, not for that, that I will not apologize for. For making you for any second doubt that I didn't know what I was doing last night. For making you worry at all that it might have been the alcohol talking and not me. I don't want you to have to worry that that was the case."

"Myka," she was trying so hard not to sound exasperated, but at the same time, she was kind of aching to know if Myka's mind was at all fuzzy about how they got to where they did last night, "is there anything about last night you don't remember?"

"Honestly? No…I remember everything from the second you walked into that bar. It's like my brain clicked into focus, and I just knew that I had to memorize everything that you did last night."

"Then there is absolutely no reason to apologize."

"I just wish I would've told you how I felt sooner, that I.."

Helena couldn't take it, cutting into her sentence, "Myka, please, don't do this. Don't circle around all the reasons why last night should or should not have happened, or why it should have happened before or later. It happened, and it was blissfully perfect, and there's nothing you can say or do to make me wish it had happened any differently than it did. Can't we just appreciate that right here, right now, we have each other, for as long as you'll possibly have me?" One small tear chased down Myka's cheek, and Helena pulled her hand up to her lips, placing a gentle kiss against her knuckles.

"You're right. You're always right, I kind of hate that," but she was smiling and Helena knew she was going to be ok.

"I can be quite brilliant at times can't I?"

"Oh God, is this the life I signed up for last night?" Myka's words slipping through the laughter coming from her lips.

Helena finally turned her eyes away from the road, only for a second, but long enough to give Myka a smile that said more than most words could, "Yes, my darling, it is."

They drove in companionable silence for awhile. Myka relishing the feeling of having Helena's hand covering her own, every now and then feeling her thumb rubbing across her knuckles. Helena focusing on the road, yet acutely hearing every single breath that Myka took, until finally a thought occurred to her. "So, what exactly are we going to do when we get back to the B&B?"

"Do about what?"

"Well, it doesn't seem entirely appropriate to come home all happy go lucky, look at us, considering the circumstances…I don't know. Do we conceal ourselves? Keep it quiet for awhile do you think?"

"God I don't think I can even process what we're going home to, not really. Though I think you're right, again I might add, we keep it quiet. Just act normal, until there's a better time to actually say something. Plus, I kind of like the idea of just having you, us all to ourselves for awhile."

"Our own little secret then?" She gave Myka's hand a little squeeze. "Besides, I highly doubt there will be much time for anything other than work once we're home. I'm sure we're going to walk in the door and immediately be put straight to work. Artie isn't going to let Sykes make too many moves without us right on his heels."

"True. I'm sure that he's been up all night trying to figure out some sort of lead, for all we know he might have one and we're going to get home and get straight on a plane."

"I would hope Pete would have said something if that was the case, but you never know. We shall see when we get back, after all we're almost there."

They were only a few minutes away from the B&B, and as they were getting ready to make the turn onto the lane that led them there, Myka asked Helena to pull over, right before the car would become visible to anyone looking out the B&B's windows. She put the car into park, with a questioning look to Myka, "What's wrong?"

Myka turned to her, with a glint of mischief twinkling behind her eyes. "Absolutely nothing is wrong, but if I'm facing potentially days and days of having to pretend that nothing is happening between us, I need a little something to tide me over." She undid her seat belt, and leaned over the center console, finger tracing up Helena's neck pulling her in for a kiss that made Helena forget how to breathe. For a few brief moments, all that existed were Myka's lips, her fingers, her tongue. No matter how long it had been, when Myka pulled away it was too soon, "Also," she whispered, "let that serve as payback for what you did to me before we left the hotel room."

Helena took a deep breath, letting it out in a long, drawn out sigh, "Point taken." Before she could even compose herself, Myka was back on her side of the car, buckled back into her seat, facing towards home.

One last deep breath, "Righty-ho then, home we go."

The crushing weight of Warehouse reality struck them from the moment they walked in the door. The B&B was quieter than it ever had been before. They walked into the dining room to find Pete, of all people, slumped over a stack of files, reading so intently he didn't even hear them walk in. Leena was in the kitchen cooking in near silence, an extreme rarity in this house, and Claudia and Artie were nowhere to be found.

"Pete?" Myka didn't want to scare him, but she had never seen him so intent on work.

He jumped, "Mykes! Thank God, you guys are home." He practically flung himself at Myka, pulling her into a bone-crushing hug.

"It's good to see you too. Pete where is everybody?"

He blew air out from his cheeks, "Claudia hasn't left her room since she woke up on the couch this morning and immediately fled up there. I haven't heard a thing out of her. I think Leena has checked on her, but she won't talk to anybody, and Artie, Artie has been at the Warehouse since last night. He came by this morning to drop off these files for me to look through, in the hopes of finding a clue about where Sykes might be going, but then he took off again."

"Have you made any progess on that front? Helena asked.

"No, Sykes is like a ghost. He disappears as quickly as he pops up, and with Claudia out of commission, Artie is doing his best to track his movements, but let's face it Artie's no Claud."

"Do you think it would be helpful if I went over there, Claudia has taught me a thing or two. I could be of some assistance," Helena offered.

"And Pete I can stay here and help you go through the files if you want, or I can go with Helena and see if Artie needs me to do anything else."

Pete stretched, "Why don't we pack up these files and we all go over there. I could use a change of scenery, and that way we can figure out what the hell Artie's plan is, if there is one."

"Sounds good, but at least give Helena and I a chance to run upstairs and change our clothes. I cannot stand being in these smelly bar clothes for a second longer."

Helena prayed that the look in her eyes went completely unnoticed, but Myka's words conjured images far too inappropriate for the current situation. Now that she knew exactly what Myka looked like underneath those, as she put it, smelly bar clothes, it was all she could think about. She gave a slight shake of her head to clear the fog, "Right, yes, I would like to change too, I've been in these clothes for 24 hours, and I believe that's quite long enough."

"Ok, I'll pack these files up, and meet you back down here in a few minutes, and we'll head over together."

Once they reached the relative privacy of the second floor landing, Helena grabbed Myka's hand, "I think I grossly underestimated how difficult this is going to be."

Myka gave her hand a light squeeze, "I know, but just think the sooner we get this whole Sykes mess figured out, the sooner that we can stop keeping it quiet."

"Now whose turn is it to be right," Helena smirked, and turned towards her room. As she walked away, Myka gave a low whistle in appreciation of the view. Helena turned around and gave her a quick wink and disappeared into her room.

Myka collapsed against the inside of her door, once it was closed behind her, "Jesus, this is going to be hard." She began to peel off her shirt, stopping only to inhale one more time the last traces of Helena's perfume that were still there. Whatever she had to do to close this case as soon as possible, she was going to do it, because being forced to keep her distance from Helena was just too much. She changed her clothes, grabbed two Tylenol from the bathroom, in an attempt to assuage the headache still pounding behind her eyes, and headed downstairs. Helena was already there, leaning against the door frame, as Pete balanced two boxes of files in his arms. "Your partner is maddening, do you know that?"

She smiled to hear the familiar feigned agitation in Helena's voice, "What did he do this time?"

"He's standing here like a fool, refusing to let me help him carry these boxes out to the car. Something insane about practicing his super strength."

"Hey, I am strong. Look at these guns."

Myka couldn't help but laugh, between Pete's flexing and Helena's eye rolling it was a little too much, "Alright macho man, just don't drop them on the way to the car. Should we check in on Claudia?"

"I asked Leena to let us know if she came down, but otherwise she said she'd watch out for her. I think the best thing we can do is go find that bastard and make him pay for what he did to Steve. Let's go."

"That's the partner I know and love."

Pete at least let Helena hold the door for him, giving Myka an incredulous smile as she did so. Myka shouted a good-bye to Leena, and followed them out to the car.

When they got to the Warehouse, Artie barely acknowledged their presence, simply giving Myka a quick, "Are you alright?"

"I'm good Artie."

"Good then everyone to work. Pete any luck with the files, yet?"

"No, but Mykes and I figured we both could keep looking, get through things a little bit faster."

"Artie, why don't you let me take a turn at the computer for awhile. Take a break, or do something other than stare at that computer screen more, your eyes look like they won't even blink," Helena offered.

"Fine, yes, everyone do what you need to do. H.G., try and see if you can trace Sykes' movements, if we can figure out where he might be going, we can try and beat him there."

They worked for hours, no one speaking, just the clicking of Helena's fingers across the keyboard, and the occasional flip of paper as Myka and Pete drowned in case files. Myka needed a break. Her back was aching, her head still hurt, and she felt completely powerless in the face of absolutely no leads. She stood up, braced her hands against the small of her back, and stretched. "I need a break. A walk or something, my eyes can't process any more words, they're all running together." She walked out the door of Artie's office, seeking solace in the endless rows of history and magic that lie before her. Somehow, no matter what was happening, the Warehouse calmed her, its enormity, its power, its, as Mrs. Frederic would say, endless wonder. She heard footsteps behind her, but didn't turn around, the cadence of the steps told her without looking that it was Helena. She felt her fingers slip around her hand, and the breath she didn't realize she was holding came out.

"We will figure this out you know? We always do."

"I know, it just seems hopeless, plus even if we find Sykes, it's not going to bring Steve back. The Warehouse is powerful, but even it has its limits."

"Maybe, but we owe it to Steve to find this man, and hold him accountable for what he has done to our family. We owe it to Steve, and we owe it to Claudia."

A few stray tears cascaded down Myka's cheeks, but she straightened her shoulders, wiped them away, and turned back towards Artie's office. "You're right. We can do this."

"That's my girl."

Before they came back into sight of the office, Helena released Myka's hand, aching at the loss of contact, but knowing now was not the time for them to be noticed. As they started to walk up the stairs, they heard a shout come from the office that sounded an awful lot like "Hong Kong!" They looked at each other and rushed up the stairs, wondering if finally some sort of progress had been made. Artie was sitting in front of the computer looking flushed, exuberant, and frustrated all at once. Pete was leaning over him, examining what looked like security footage.

"What is it?" Myka asked, taking up a space next to Pete.

"I had been running facial recognition in the background tracing through all the major airports in the country. We finally got a hit. Walter Skyes just booked a flight to Hong Kong, leaving out of Dulles International Airport in three hours."

"Why is he in DC? That doesn't make any sense." Leave it to Pete to voice the obvious question for them all.

"I don't know, but what I do know is this gives us an advantage. There's a flight leaving out of Cheyenne in the morning for LAX, where you can make a connecting flight to Hong Kong. Even leaving tomorrow morning, you'll still arrive before him. We can finally be a few steps ahead."

"So what do we do now?" Pete looked like he wanted to get on the plane right then and there, the waiting was never easy for him.

"Now you go back to the B&B, pack, get a good night's sleep, and be ready to leave in the morning. I have a few more things to figure out here, but I want you three out of here. Go, rest, we can't have anyone sloppy tomorrow."

"Artie, are you sure, we can stay and help," Myka felt like there had to be something more they could do then sit and wait.

"No. You all have had a long 36 hours. Go home. Sleep, eat, do whatever, just go, go, go." There was no arguing when Artie was this determined. So the three of them headed out of the Umbiliicus, out into the night air.

Helena didn't realize just how many hours they had spent in the Warehouse, but when they got to the car, it was dark out and all three of them couldn't fight off yawning. It was almost ten o'clock by the time they got back to the B&B. Leena made them all sandwiches, which they ate in relative silence, their minds consumed by what tomorrow would bring, and the fact that according to Leena, Claudia hadn't left her room all day, but would only respond that she didn't want to talk to anyone when Leena knocked, and then would turn her music up louder. They could hear the slight thump of the bass coming through the ceiling, and each looked towards it, offering their own silent hopes that Claudia would be alright while they were gone. Finally, Pete pushed away from the table, the bags underneath his eyes clearly visible. "Alright, I'm going to go pack, and then hit the hay. See you in the morning." He gave Myka's shoulder a quick squeeze when he walked behind her chair.

"Good night Pete," she gave his hand a light squeeze in return, happy that if they were going into a world of insanity tomorrow, she at least had Pete for her partner. It wasn't long before Helena stood up, "I suppose we should pack as well, it is getting late."

"I suppose so."