Hey all. Thank you for all the wonderful reviews and PMs, they keep me smiling when I'm feeling the pressure, and right now there's much pressure! Am updating early this week because, as one or two of you already know, I should be moving house this weekend and most likely will be much too busy to write for a while.

Only a few chapters to go to the end of The Bump. Look out for my little Bering and Wells family in the next part. Something beginning with B probably. I haven't decided yet.

Chapter Thirteen

Cold, dark mornings crept slowly closer as December took full effect and the buzz of a new holiday filled the air. A jolly Santa and his traditional menagerie usurped the shop window turkey, while soft flakes of crystallised vapour covered the land, filling the young and young at heart with the joy of the season.

Pings for the Warehouse remained conspicuous by their absence. With Christmas just over a week away however, and the odd behaviour of certain agents still causing concern, no one felt the need to complain.

At her usual punctual time, Myka reluctantly left for the Warehouse. She didn't feel well at all, having not been able to keep her breakfast down and dreamt strange dreams again. Artie had wanted HG to join them for observations, but the inventor, though uncomfortable with her girlfriend leaving, still wouldn't step foot in the Warehouse if she really didn't have to. She was convinced that somehow, her blissful new life would explode spectacularly if she did. Therefore, with a long, emotional goodbye, the taller agent kissed her family and left for work.

Sitting sullenly, throwing a tennis ball at any and every surface, Pete looked like he'd just been given a month's worth of inventory and filing. He glanced up as Myka entered and spared her a ghost of a smile before nodding across the room and rolling his eyes at the two people sat there.

Artie gestured wildly, perched beside Claudia while she tapped at her keyboard and mostly ignored their steaming kettle of a director.

"I guess we're still at a loss as to what's causing this then?" Myka asked her friend, glancing at their colleagues as she took a chair next to him.

"Yup," Pete muttered, non-committal.

"Well aren't you just a ray of sunshine today," Agent Bering grumbled as she picked up a book close by and leant back in her chair. His propensity to be somewhat childish was getting more on her nerves lately and she found her patience waning. From the corner of her eye, she watched her partner, eventually taking pity on him, remembering that he was experiencing the same thing that Helena was. "Pete, I'm sorry for being sharp; we're all on edge at the moment. How're you doing?"

Swivelling on his chair, the usually chipper agent sighed and sank further into his semi-depression. "I don't get it Mykes. One minute I'm on top of the world, then the next I can't relax and I feel like I've just drunk a vat of coffee; I'm on edge, I feel sick and I can't sleep."

Pete's last two missions had been with Steve as Myka had taken a few days of personal time, so the slender book-worm hadn't really been around to see her partner suffering. "Do you feel that way now?" She wondered, her pre-law training beginning to make an appearance as she felt a spark of inspiration and finally began to put together her case.

"Yeah!" He blurted with irritation and then immediately looked contrite. "Sorry," he mumbled.

"It's ok," Myka reassured him while her deductive skills kicked in. "It's interesting though. We all assumed that it was because of me; we've been spending a lot of time apart, on different grabs, but Helena feels better immediately when I'm around and after about ten minute she's back to normal. You don't seem to have the same trigger."

Pete frowned and then sat up straighter as he felt the beginning of some tentative understanding. "Yeah. My head's been so all over the place, I didn't see it before. We haven't spent much time together recently, but I'm really not feeling any better right now."

"So the question is, what, or rather who, is your trigger... and why?" She continued to gently interrogate her partner as to his whereabouts at different times and took a mental note of the people with him when he experienced a bought of prolonged angst. As he talked, her mind moved the pieces of the puzzle around and eventually, she came to a logical conclusion. "It's Lila," Myka declared with almost complete certainty. "She's your link."

Scrunching his face up with intense concentration, Pete reviewed the same information and slowly nodded his agreement. "That makes sense. She's been kinda 'off' this last few days, really snappy, kinda like you recently." He noticed her narrowing eyes and continued hastily. "Anyway, we had a falling out last night and she wanted to spend some time alone. So now she's gone and I feel all icky... Except that neither Lila nor HG have been in the Warehouse recently. Or ever in Lila's case."

"It has to be something we've come into contact with that we've passed on," the curly-haired agent hypothesised.

"So why is it me and HG, and not her and Lila? Or me and you?" He queried.

Myka's eyebrow rose as she took in the unusually astute question. "If we can figure that out, we may be able to solve this entire mystery."

Artie eventually tired of badgering Claudia and approached his other agents. His demeanour was the usual grouchy impatience, but Myka detected an underlying nervousness that wasn't usually there unless he had something to hide. "I didn't think I'd be saying this in a hurry, but Agent Wells should really be here."

Myka nodded in understanding; she felt like it would be easier to have everyone together where they could investigate the circumstances more easily, but then she would never make her lover do something that she didn't really want to do, not if the alternative wasn't life threatening. "I think she'll warm up to the Warehouse again eventually, but for now it's just too big a step. We've only had Christina back for a little over three months Artie; Helena needs time to adjust and realise that this life we have together is really real. Can you imagine existing a hundred years with the knowledge of your child's death and then suddenly have all that change?"

"Yes, yes, it's all very complicated," he grumbled with limited sympathy. "That doesn't change the fact that this would all be much easier with her here."

"We think we might know who my trigger is," Pete piped up to try and break the tension he could see building in his fellow agent. He really had to talk to her; she was much more irritable than usual. "HG gets all twitchy when Myka's not around and I'm the same when Lila's not around."

Artie looked Agent Lattimer over with a speculative eye, his expression darkening ominously. "That actually makes sense."

"What does?" Myka enquired further, sensing a piece of the puzzle emerging.

"We've been looking at this all wrong. We've been investigating artefacts that Myka has dealt with recently, thinking that she was the link for you and Agent Wells, but last night Claudia came across some disturbing information from a snag you both handled recently." Gesturing for them to follow, the director led the pair over to where the young red head was still typing away and pointed to the screen. "That village you visited in Sri Lanka; they've reported a recent three hundred percent increase in pregnancies, compared to the same time period last year."

Claudia's posture was stiff in her chair and she threw Myka a searching look, waiting to see how long it would take her sibling-like colleague to reach the same conclusion she had. "Sri Lanka is where you snagged Inanna, the patron of prostitutes and goddess of sex, war and sometimes fertility. With powers like that, we could be rich in a month if we hired her out – like an x-rated version of a bouncy castle."

Artie scowled at his protégé for even thinking of misusing an artefact and gestured toward the screen, telling her to switch to a different graph. "This is the percentage increase in crimes of passion and retribution acted out by the fathers of those offspring, though not necessarily the spouses I might add."

"They correlate," Agent Bering whispered, refusing to let her thoughts wander toward the obvious conclusion, ignoring the sudden mental connection between her fatigue, nausea, irritability and late cycle.

"Whoa, hit the brakes Artie. Dude, are you seriously trying to tell me that I knocked my girlfriend up?" His hands leapt to his head before he even had an answer and he fell into a nearby chair. This certainly explained Lila's odd behaviour recently. "Wait. How does that relate to HG and Myka?" He pointed to his partner. "She's not the one acting all over-protective and I'm ok with her going away. We didn't... y'know... so how come they're affected too? Unless..." His verbal musings came to a halt as he took in the awkward silence and the expression of horror on Myka's face. "Oooh, Mykes. Did I accidentally make you pregnant again? My bad," he flinched in reaction to the punch that he imagined was coming his way, but all the brunette did was stand and stare at him.

"Dude, I think you broke her," Claudia finally piped up from her chair.

Artie cleared his throat, his gaze wary on the lanky agent as he continued to share his suspicions. "Your clumsiness put you both into contact with a very powerful artefact," he reminded Pete disapprovingly. "But with how the evidence appears, you're not the father..."

Myka felt her head swim and her legs turn to jelly as she finally let her brain come to the same conclusion. "Helena is," she muttered before losing consciousness.

Having recently discovered the wonders of modern construction in the guise of children's toys, Helena sat with Christina, ostensibly helping her to build a Lego castle. A jarring noise interrupted the adult's fascinated concentration and she grumbled to herself at the unwelcome interruption. Rising from her daughter's bedroom floor, HG made it out onto the landing to pick up the phone before the fourth ring.

"Wells and Bering residence," she said in greeting, smiling to herself as she pictured the playful scowl that was usually thrown her way. She almost expected the reply to be a scornful 'Bering and Wells'.

"Helena? Erm, or is it Emily again?" came an unsure voice that she immediately recognised.

"Nate! Hello," she hesitated, wondering at what her response should be. "It's still Helena, darling."

"Right," he mumbled, his tone sounding slightly sceptical.

Ignoring this, she decided to get straight to the point. "I assume that Adelaide gave you this number. Is she alright?"

"Yes, she said that you stay in touch via e-mail and that she could call this number in an emergency?"

"You did say I could keep in contact and I did promise her." Her voice was cautious, still wondering why he was calling and hoping that he wasn't taking his resentment out on the girl. "I had to put all of those computer lessons to good use somehow."

"Right," he repeated, sounding increasingly reluctant.

Helena was sure that she could hear another voice in the background, but it wasn't clear enough for her to make out. "What do you need, Nate?" Straining her hearing, she knew she heard it that time, a begging 'please Daddy'.

Nate sighed his defeat into the phone. "I have to drive to Michigan for a series of conferences. I can take Adelaide with me, but she'll probably be bored the whole week so she wanted to know if she could stay with you?"

Helena paused with her mouth slightly open. "For the whole week?" She stopped again and then quickly realised that her comment could have been taken the wrong way. "Really? I can have her for a whole week? Nate I..." Hesitating again, she thought of her situation and knew that she wouldn't be able to explain anything adequately. "Of course, she's welcome to stay anytime she likes. I think I should inform you though, that my circumstances have changed somewhat, and as most things in my life, I can't explain the hows and whys. I do work at home now though, so childcare will not be an issue. When were you thinking of dropping her off?"

"What do you mean your 'circumstances have changed'? Did you find another family to infiltrate?" His voice lowered, becoming accusatory. He wasn't about to leave his child with a bunch of complete strangers, no matter how much she wanted to see Helena again.

HG bit her tongue to prevent the sarcasm that hovered on the tip from escaping. "Nate, I know you think I deliberately deceived you, but I intended to do that. I needed a friend who knew my pain. I'm sorry that I thought I could be more for you. I cared for you and Adelaide, that was never a lie, and it still holds true." She let her words sink in for a moment and then continued in the same calm tone. "I live with Myka now."

He was quiet for a long time and she guessed that he was finally beginning to see the truth of her words. "Agent Bering? Why does that not surprise me?" He commented eventually in a marginally more pleasant tone.

"She's trustworthy," HG assured him, knowing that he had to be thinking of his daughter's safety. "She'll be fine with Adelaide."

He scoffed slightly. "Honestly, having met her, I think I trust her more than I trust you, and I know you would never hurt my daughter."

"Well then." The inventor concluded brightly, attempting to hide the minor hurt in her voice. "I can't discuss anything else now, not on the telephone; walls have ears. When will you be arriving?"

"We're at a rest-stop on the road to... Uni-ville?"

"Un-i-ville," she corrected. "It took a long time for you to decide to call me," she concluded.

"Well, I had my reservations, but nearly nine-year-olds have their methods of persuasion," he grumbled to himself.

Helena looked towards her daughter's bedroom door. "Don't I know it," she thought aloud.

"You remember, huh?" He huffed a short sound of amusement, thinking that she was recalling her time with his daughter. "Just try not to give her everything she asks for. She needs some boundaries."

"Not to worry, I'm sure she'll find ample entertainment to keep her occupied. Since you're passing through anyway, you may as well stop by. I can explain in more detail when you're here and you can decide once and for all if you're happy leaving her with me." She used her practiced 'no nonsense' tone and he agreed almost immediately.

After hanging up the phone, HG returned to Christina's room and lowered herself back to her previous position. "Love, we may be having a visitor to stay for the week."

Dark, expressive eyes focussed on her. "Who, Mummy?"

"A young girl about your age. Her name is Adelaide. I lived with her and her father for a while. Before I brought you to America." Since the complex details of Christina's re-animation were still unknown to the child, HG didn't elaborate any further.

Her daughter took it in her stride though. "She's going to stay with us and sleep here for an entire week?"

"If her father approves, then yes, love." HG chuckled at the adorable excitement that faced her.

"And we can play together every day?"

"Around your studies, yes."

"Smashing!" The eager girl jumped up and began to survey her room. "She will sleep in here, won't she, Mummy? We can make room," she began rearranging the furniture before she even had confirmation. "I shouldn't like to think of her being alone at night."

Helena gazed at her child with an expression of pure love. Adelaide held a special place in her heart and she cared deeply for the girl, but nothing could take Christina's place. To have the chance to see both girls together was an experience she had never thought possible. She hoped Myka could overlook the awkward association and feel the same way.

Half an hour gave the pair just enough time to pack away their tools of play and learning and make enough space to pull out a sturdy futon. HG placed folded linen, pillows and a duvet on the mattress, ready if their guest-to-be was allowed to stay.

She gently briefed her daughter regarding what she should expect from their visitors and then led her downstairs to await their arrival.

A rapid beep-beep caught the time travellers' attention and HG opened the front door with building enthusiasm. Nate pulled up alongside the curb and glanced towards the house speculatively before killing the engine. There was a moment of prolonged anticipation as father and daughter conversed in private before both were stepping out of the car and moving towards the house.

"Helena!"

HG's smile was wide and welcoming as Adelaide ran up the path towards her and jumped into her arms. Limbs, that were longer than she remembered, wrapped around her hips and neck and she breathed in her surrogate daughter's forgotten scent.

"I missed you," the blue-eyed girl murmured into the inventor's ear, her arms tightening their hold.

"Oh my dear girl, I've missed you too. It's so wonderful to have you here." She took her eyes off the bright child to glance over at Nate. His expression was cautious and perhaps a little envious, and HG thought it best to release his daughter, for now.

As she was lowered to the ground, Adelaide finally took in her surroundings and spotted a figure hovering in the doorway. "Who's that?"

The raven-haired woman looked back over her shoulder and held her hand out to her uncharacteristically shy daughter. "This," she entwined her fingers with smaller ones and knelt down so she was at eye-level with the two girls. "Is my Christina. She's been very excited by the idea of having you stay with us."

Shaking off the feeling of unease that had overcome her the moment her mother embraced this unknown girl, Christina pushed back her shoulders and extended her free hand. "Christina Josephine Wells," she greeted the new comer with a touch of pomp and circumstance. "Pleased to make your acquaintance."

Adelaide's eyebrow shot up at the unexpected change but she quickly decided that she liked the straightforward manner."Likewise," she answered and shook the offered appendage.

Giggling, the two girls quickly became lost in their own world of childish things and with a parting 'Mummy, I'm showing Adelaide my room!' they tore off into the house.

Helena rose from her crouched position to meet Nate's confused and annoyed expression. Before he could begin to question her, she held up her hands and fixed him with a firm stare. "I know it's confusing. Will you hear me out before you get on your high horse and drag Adelaide away?"

"Fine," he conceded roughly, gesturing for his ex to lead the way into her house.

Pete gave up trying to engage Myka in conversation about halfway between the Warehouse and Univille. Once she'd woken from her fainting spell, she had insisted on going home, but as no one would let her drive, she'd been forced to accept her friend's chauffeuring services.

His head was full of thoughts of diapers, sleepless nights and nine months of irritable women surrounding him; he couldn't begin to imagine what was going on in his friend's head and he felt another pang of guilt for being the catalyst for their current predicament.

Myka's focus was still on the hands sitting in her lap when they pulled up behind a silver people carrier, her mind still searching desperately for a way to disprove the conclusion they'd all come to. The moment the humming of the engine stopped however, she returned to reality and looked up to find herself at home.

Thinking that her day couldn't get any worse, she glanced through the windscreen, instantly recognised the number plate of the car in front and gritted her teeth. A scowl darkened her already grim features and with jerky movements, she released her seatbelt and exited the car, slamming the door behind her and leaving Pete to catch up hurriedly.

"Whoa, Mykes! What's with the sudden rush?" Agent Lattimer sprinted ahead of his partner to cut her off at the door; suddenly worried for what she might do.

Myka levelled a hard stare his way, wishing she could smack the gormless look off his face. She really needed to take this feeling of helplessness out on someone. "That's Nate's car," she informed him, pointing accusingly at said vehicle.

She went to step round his hulking form but he moved to block her again. "Ok, yeah I get why that would get your panties in a twist, but just take the pedal off the metal for a minute and breathe. Are you breathing?" At her irate glare he backed up a bit. "Ok, maybe that wasn't the most sensitive thing to say considering..." he looked down at her stomach and then swiftly continued before she could make the connection to what he was thinking. "HG loves you. There was all sorts of weird vibey wrongness when she was with him, but you two are double-rainbows all the way. Unicorns forever. So, whatever brought him here has nothing to do with them in a couply way." His air-quotes hung for a moment between them before falling plaintively to his sides.

Barely mollified, but conceding that her friend had a point, Myka poked a finger in the centre of his chest and pushed until he moved out of her way. She let herself into the house and stalked with determination towards the living room, needing to see for herself where her lover was in relation to the man she'd once lived and shared a bed with.

HG sat in the single-seater, her hands folded in her lap, looking very serious as she tried to explain to her confused ex how her deceased daughter had returned to her. Since she wasn't really allowed to go into detail about most of what had happened, she had to settle for generalisations and half-truths that had Nate coming up with more and more questions.

He at least seemed to be content in the knowledge that she and Myka were raising her daughter together, and despite the odd circumstances, they were a happy family that was capable of caring for his own precious child for a week.

Hearing the commotion outside felt like a blessing until the door opened and suddenly Myka was stood in the doorway, her death glare centred on Nate for a moment before she visibly pulled herself together and fled upstairs.

Helena barely had time to stand from her chair and step into the hall before long legs were disappearing round the top of the stairs. "Pete?" She looked desperately towards the sheepish agent, worrying over her lover's bizarre behaviour. She had expected Myka to be irked with the idea of Nate in their home, but this over the top display of emotion had taken her completely by surprise. "What happened? Is she ok?" Her imagination began to get the better of her as she considered the reasons for Myka's intense reaction.

Pete held his hands out in supplication. "She'll be fine HG, but I think you should give her a few minutes alone." He glanced at his friend's guest and shrugged. "I guess this just takes the trophy for 'worst timing ever'."

Helena made her apologies to Nate, assuring him that there was still no problem with Adelaide staying the week, before excusing herself and heading off after her girlfriend. Despite Pete's reassurances, she still couldn't just leave Myka alone when she was obviously so distressed.

Upstairs, the lanky agent had left a trail of clothes through their bedroom door to the en-suite entrance. Helena tapped lightly on the door, hoping that the other woman wasn't too upset to answer. She hated this feeling of having hurt Myka, but somehow it was worse when she wasn't entirely sure what she'd done wrong. Yes, having Nate around was bound to cause tension, but she had the impression that her lover's mood stemmed from earlier in the day; namely, from the Warehouse. That thought scared her more than anything.

"Myka, love?" She tested the handle and wasn't surprised to find it locked. "Is everything alright?" What an absolutely idiotic question Wells. Of course she's not alright. You wouldn't be talking to a door if she were! "Darling, could you open the door please?"

Agent Bering half listened to her girlfriend's pleas, tears brimming as she stood in her underwear in front of the bathroom mirror. She began her self-inspection at her breasts, now noticing the slight tightness of her bra that hadn't been there a couple of weeks ago and the soreness of her nipples. She touched them experimentally and winced. It didn't hurt per-se but the fact that they were extra-sensitive put another check in the 'positive' column. Her hands travelled down her torso to her stomach and there they stayed. Having been pre-med at one time, she knew logically that there would be no noticeable difference yet, but she stared hard at her midsection anyway, turning this way and that, trying to envision her body expanding to make room for another life form.

Oh God, she thought despairingly. How do I handle this?

Babies were loud and smelly and needed bucket loads of attention and energy. It would be nothing like having Christina, who understood when her parents needed a few moments to themselves, or had to be patient and resilient when things weren't quite going her way. The occasional tantrum was short lived and (if she were to believe popular TV) bland in comparison to children of a similar age. A baby would demand and scream until its needs were met.

Oh God, her inner voice repeated as she lowered her head to the cool porcelain of the sink.

On top of these turbulent thoughts, she now had to deal with Nate. On a normal day, she could have tolerated his presence and even managed to be polite and understanding, but not today. Just recognising his car had set her stomach churning and seeing him in the flesh brought on an irrational impulse to punch him in the face. Any reminder of his arms around her Helena, of his body being anywhere near the Victorian inventor's, tore at her civility and demanded that she end him.

HG's continued efforts to get her attention finally registered and she decided to take pity on the other woman. It wasn't Helena's fault that they were in this mess, but the unsuspecting woman was going to be thrown into the deep end soon enough, and Myka didn't want to torture her unnecessarily.

Opening the en-suite door, she came face to face with her lover and, through the spark of interest that ignited at her half-naked appearance; the concern on those classically beautiful features drove Myka into supplicating arms.

They held one another for long minutes; HG's hug bringing relief and giving comfort, while Myka's offered an apology and asked for patience.

Helena's hands stroked calming circles on the other woman's lower back as she pulled away slightly to look into green depths. "I'm sorry for the surprise visitor, love. He only called about an hour ago, wanting to know if Adelaide could stay while he went out of town for a conference."

Myka bit her lip, not wanting to say anything she would regret. "I don't mind Adelaide being here. I know you miss her sometimes," she told her partner honestly. With a long breath, she leant into her lover's body again and, inhaling her lover's scent, she hesitated for a few seconds before continuing, "Can you please make him leave though?" she asked, her voice apologetic even as it was entirely serious.

HG frowned, but didn't question the out of character request. Instead, she nodded and placed a parting kiss on warm lips. "You will explain yourself when I return?" She asked, though in a tone that was more of a gentle command than a question.

"Adelaide is staying?" HG nodded slowly. "Then I will, when the girls are in bed." She pulled the inventor into a long, loving kiss, pouring her heart and soul into every caress of her lips against Helena's and hoping against hope that what she had to confess would not ruin the life they'd built for themselves.

Hope Nate's appearance seems feasible enough. I find it hard to imagine Helena not finding time for Adelaide. From the parts of the show that we see her with either Christina or Adelaide, HG looks like she's in her element. So, although we know she kicks ass and is a genius, she strikes me as a dedicated and natural mother figure. What thinks you?