Helena opened her front door slowly, not wanting to wake up her mother or daughter. The front room was dark. She set her bag down and tip toed into the kitchen. She had woken up in the Hamptons around 4pm and decided to drive home. She knew that she wouldn't get home until late, but the silence of her loft was disarming.

Upstairs, Helena found her mother asleep in her room, half falling out of her bed. Helena sighed and gently pushed her mother into the middle of the bed, removed her reading glasses, tucked her in and shut off the light.

Her daughter of course had tucked herself in. Helena smiled and tip toed inside, placing a light kiss on Christina's forehead before going back down to her study. She wasn't tired yet. She would probably regret sleeping all day, but she was still geared up from the drive. Surprising herself, Helena sat down at her laptop and began writing again. Despite struggling to finish Heat Wave, once she had gotten into it, the ideas hadn't stopped. She had practically outlined the entire second novel in her head as she drove home. Helena knew to write when the mood struck, knowing there would be a time when nothing would come to her later.

Her mobile buzzed and Helena glanced at the text message from Gina.

Thanks. Four days late.

Helena sighed and simply typed out, "you're welcome" back before continuing writing.

"Mom?"

Helena's first thought was, what was that searing pain in her neck?

"Mom?...MOM...Mother, wake UP!"

"What?" Helena jerked up right and immediately regretted it. "Bloody hell!" She screamed, grabbing her neck.

"Mom, it's 7:45." Christina said.

"Wonderful darling, I can't seem to move my head."

"Mom! I have to be at school in fifteen minutes!"

Helena turned her head awkwardly and looked at her daughter. She was dressed in her school uniform, her backpack slung over one shoulder, hair pulled back into two plaits. "Have you eaten breakfast?" Helena asked as she tried to twist her neck, horrible idea, she stopped immediately.

"Yes I had cereal."

"Wonderful, have your grandmother take you today. Mummy can't seem to move this morning." Helena tried to turn her head the other way, if possible that hurt even more. When was she going to learn not to fall asleep writing?

"Grandma left twenty minutes ago." Christina said impatiently. Helena froze and twisted her torso around so she could see Christina properly.

"What?"

"She had something to go to, I stopped listening, Mom, I'm going to be late! I have a perfect attendance record, hurry up!"

"Darling, you need better priorities. We can play hookey today!"

Christina glared at her.

"Or not." Helena sighed. "Just let me jump in the shower, perhaps the hot water will fix my neck."

"Mom!"

"I'll be down in ten minutes, twelve at the most, watch tv."

"It takes more than three minutes to get to school! I'll still be late."

Helena walked around the desk, her body bent in awkward positions and placed her hands on Christina's shoulders. "Darling, I love you and I love that you are such a studious, mature young woman, but you simply must relax and realize sometimes, you will be late." Helena kissed her on the cheek and moved as quickly as she could upstairs. The hot water didn't do as much as she would have hoped to make her neck feel better, but at least she could stand up all the way now. Helena pulled on some new clothes, tugged her wet hair back into a low bun and ran downstairs where Christina was waiting impatiently by the front door with a piece of toast and a mug of coffee to go for Helena.

"You are truly a beautiful child." She said taking them both and kissing Christina on the cheek.

"I might become a murderous one if you don't hurry."

"Oh, wonderful, you'd make a very creative murderess. Be sure to let me help solve the case darling." Helena said with a grin. Christina only glared as they rode the elevator down and bolted to Helena's car. Helena was a little worried that her daughter was this distraught over being a couple minutes late. She was bouncing up and down in the backseat the entire drive to her school. Helena barely had time to pull the car to a complete stop before Christina jumped out and ran into the school. "Have a good day love!" Helena yelled out the window. She sighed and took a very large sip of her coffee before trying to turn her neck all the way again. Still sore. Helena's mobile rang and she smiled at the name that popped up on its screen. "Hello darling, tell me there's been a murder. I'm dreadfully bored."

Myka rolled her eyes as she hung up with HG. "She's on her way, she'll meet us at the crime scene." Myka informed Pete. Her best friend only grinned and made an obscene gesture as he followed Claudia outside.

HG had only been gone for almost a week and Myka was thoroughly confused at her reaction to the raven haired woman's absence. It wasn't missing her, Myka was sure of that, rather, she had simply gotten used to having the annoying author around and was bewildered at the pleasant silence. At least that's what Myka was going with for now. It was much less terrifying than Pete's theory.

Now that Pete had said that he thought she liked HG, Myka was having trouble not thinking about it. The entire time Leena went over the details of the young woman's murder; Myka was highly aware of HG's every movement. The shorter woman was standing oddly, bouncing up and down on her toes and turing her head back and forth from time to time. As they walked away from the crime scene Myka caved. "Okay, what is wrong with your neck?" She asked as HG winced for the forth time in the last few minutes.

HG sighed and tried to turn her head toward Myka, gave up and turned her entire body instead. "I fell asleep writing last night. A laptop does not a good pillow make."

Myka nodded. "No, I wouldn't imagine so." HG turned her entire body forward again as they resumed walking down the street to Myka's car. "So, did the Hamptons help you finish your novel?" She asked as they reached the car.

"It did indeed. That and threats from Gina, last night was a bout of inspiration for the second novel."

"More?" Myka asked. "How many are we talking here?"

"I'm not sure yet Detective, why, getting sick of me already?" HG smiled. It faltered quickly as she tried to maneuver herself into the passenger seat. Myka couldn't help but let out a laugh.

"A lady shouldn't laugh at another's expense." HG chided as she finally managed to get into the car.

"Well, I wasn't raised to be a proper british lady." Myka answered as she pulled the car out of the driveway. "Did you eat yet? I'm starving."

"I only had toast, I could eat again; and if you remember correctly – which I know you do – I wasn't raised to be a proper british lady either. I was raised by an american actress."

"It's a marvel you have the little manners you posses then."

HG laughed, then winced at the movement. "That was rude." She pouted. She continued to pout all the way to the diner and kept it up as they ordered breakfast. Pete and Claudia were running the police databases for a match to their Jane Doe and until Leena finished her autopsy, there wasn't much Myka and HG could do. Myka was indeed starving, she ordered a large stack of chocolate chip pancakes, some bacon and some coffee. HG grinned as they handed their menus to the waitress. "I've never been to this establishment before it's...charming. What do you call them? Mom and Pop shops? Retro fifties diner?"

Myka bit her bottom lip to keep from smiling. "Yeah, it's been run by a couple since it opened in the fifties. I don't think they ever bothered redecorating. My parents and I used to come here for breakfast on sundays when I was a kid."

"Really?" HG asked, seeming interested.

"Yeah. I haven't been here in a while. My...my dad and I started coming back here a couple of years ago. He'd pick me up after AA, but we haven't done it in a long time."

Myka staunchly kept her gaze away from HG's, choosing to play with her straw instead. HG was silent for a few minutes and Myka didn't dare look up at the woman. She wasn't quite sure why, opening up about herself was never something Myka enjoyed, but something about HG made it feel...Myka didn't have a word for it.

"Why haven't you two eaten here in a while?" HG finally asked.

Myka sighed, pulling her straw apart into tiny pieces. "He fell off the wagon for a while, we sort of stopped talking much."

"Why?" HG prodded.

Myka swept the pieces of paper out of the way and into a little pile on the edge of the table before looking up. "Because I told him I didn't want to talk to him again until he got sober."

HG stared at Myka for almost a full minute. It felt like a dare and Myka refused to look away despite an overwhelming urge to do so. "And now?" HG finally asked softly.

"Hum?"

"Is he sober now?"

"Yes. Almost a full year."

"You say that warily." HG noted.

"I do."

The waitress came back with their food, and Myka took advantage of the pause in conversation. Thankfully, HG seemed to for once, take the hint and not prod. They ate in comfortable silence for a few minutes, then began discussing the case. Once they had finished eating, they paid the bill and headed back to Myka's car.

"Thank you." HG said as they pulled out of the parking lot.

"For what?"

"For telling me about your father and taking me to the diner, it was a wonderful breakfast."

"You're welcome." Myka smiled. She was grateful HG wasn't pushing for anymore information, frankly, it surprised her a little. It shouldn't, underneath her bravado, HG was actually a decent human being. An annoying one, but a decent one.

HG was finding it difficult to get comfortable and Myka was trying very hard not to laugh at her. If HG could be decent and not pump her for information, Myka could not laugh at her awkwardness. They headed back to the station and spoke to Leena, getting the identification of their Jane Doe from her dental records. They spent the rest of the afternoon hold up in the station with Pete and Claudia gathering as much information on her as they could. Myka was astonished when they brought in her boyfriend and he confessed in only a matter of minutes. It was the fastest solve she had ever had. HG was disappointed.

"That was far too easy, we didn't even get to interrogate him properly! I wanted to be the bad cop this time!"

"Wells, you're not a cop at all." Myka reminded her.

"Completely irrelevant." HG snipped and flipped her hair over her shoulder. She instantly regretted it and winced at the motion to her neck.

"You might want to ice that, or put a hot cloth on it, I never remember which. Try both. Or no...hot I think." Stumbling over her words was not something Myka was used to and it pissed her off. The only thing that bothered her more was the grin slipping onto HG's face as she did so. "Night Wells, hope you feel better." She said quickly as she stood up, grabbed her coat and all but ran away; ignoring the grin she knew was widening on HG's face.

"Until tomorrow darling!" HG called after her. Myka rolled her eyes and jumped into the elevator.