I changed my username. I am so sorry if it affected any notifications or links. I used to be 12wallflower, I'm now celaenos, nothing else is getting changed. No more chapters, names etc. Sorry for any confusion, hope you enjoy:)
"My mother took me to see the Phantom of the Opera when I was ten." Myka told Martha as they walked into the lobby during intermission.
"Ah, a lovely musical, I've seen it eight times."
Myka laughed.
"Favorite song?" Martha asked her.
"Um...I think I liked the one he sings while she's falling asleep, when they go into his lair or whatever."
"Music of the night." Martha supplied.
Myka nodded. "Yeah I think that's it."
"Was your mother a theatre lover?" Martha asked.
Myka smiled. "Yeah. I think her mother loved musicals, she liked the music. We didn't go see a lot of plays, but she played the records a lot when I was little."
"Well, then she must have been a wonderful woman. You can always judge a person by whether or not they enjoy a musical."
The lights flickered on and off.
"Ah, let's get back in, I've been told from reliable sources that Elizabeth has to squeeze her body into spandex for part of the second act. I've a much better body than her, I would have looked better in them for sure."
Myka chuckled lightly. Somehow, Martha came off as more endearing than catty while she spoke of her friend. Perhaps it was because Myka paid attention to Martha watch her friend preform; she enjoyed it. The bitterness had little to do with the other woman herself.
When the play was over the two of them had decided to walk home rather than take a taxi. An idea they scrapped after only three blocks. The chill of fall had well and truly set in and neither of them were exactly dressed for the occasion. Myka stuck her arm out to hail them a cab and the two of them climbed in quickly to avoid the cold.
As the cab pulled up to HG's building Martha handed Myka cash for some of the cab fair despite Myka's attempts to deny it. "I had a lovely evening dear, we should do it again sometime." She said as she gave Myka's cheek a small, loving pat. Myka nodded and waved as the cab pulled away. Her phone lit up as she fumbled with her keys but she ignored it in favor of getting out of her tights. She picked it up and typed in the passcode to get into her phone, smiling as she saw the text was from HG.
'My mother says you make a lovely date.'
Myka ran a glass under the tap and downed it in it's eternity before replying. She never drank anything when she went to the theatre or the movies; cursed with a small bladder, she was always forced to run out to the restroom and miss something otherwise.
'She's wonderful, I don't know what you are constantly complaining about. She's much better company than you are.'
Myka set her glass next to the sink and pealed her dress off as she walked into her bedroom. Changing into some pajama pants and a loose t-shirt, she washed her face and brushed her teeth before seeing another message from HG.
'Lies. I am extremely pleasant company.'
Myka turned the overhead light off and crawled into bed with her phone. 'Pleasant isn't quite the first word that comes to mind.'She responded.
'And what is?'
'Annoying.' Myka answered immediately.
'Rude'. HG said not even a second later. 'I might just have make Claudia and Pete like me better than you. This isn't the words of someone who likes me best. You did promise if you do recall. You had the biggest piece of cake, even above Christina's.'
'I think Pete is incredibly annoying and he's my best friend.' Myka typed back. 'Annoying doesn't necessarily mean I dislike you. Besides, you'd never really be able to turn them to your side.'
'I could get Claudia in a matter of minutes.'
Myka bit her lip. HG was probably right there; the young redhead practically worshiped HG as it was and she wasn't even trying. If she actually tried to win the girl's friendship, Claud might hardly give Myka a second thought. 'You'd never get Pete.'
'You underestimate me darling.'
'I'm coming to realize that.' Myka answered. Yawning, she sunk deeper into the covers and glanced at the clock, she needed to go to sleep now. 'I'm exhausted, tell your mother thanks, I'll call you if we get a case.'
'Goodnight darling.' HG answered. 'Sweet dreams.'
'Yeah, you too.'
Myka gently tossed her phone onto her nightstand and made herself comfortable. She was a little surprised at the easy nature she had with HG, but part of her had to admit, banter with the woman had always felt natural. She was infuriating, and Myka was angry at her for longer than she had anticipated; but something about her was comforting and Myka was done worrying about it.
Helena placed a whipped cream smile onto Christina's pancake and presented it to her daughter with a flourish. Christina was not quite as impressed as she had hoped.
Helena glanced at her mobile for the third time that morning. She had been back working with the NYPD for almost two months now and her friendship with Myka and the other detectives finally seemed to be solid again. Claudia had never actually stopped talking to her, neither – technically – had Pete, but during the months that she had been away his communication had been reduced to the odd text message here or there. Now, Claudia spoke to her as often as she had before, only now Helena was aware that she wasn't going out of her way not to mention Helena to Myka or anyone else. Pete flooded her mobile with random text messages and phone calls, and Leena spoke to her regularly as well. She was aware that the surge in communication was mostly due to the fact that Myka had seemed to have forgiven her.
In the few weeks following Christina's birthday party the two of them had fallen back into a sort of routine at work that Helena relished; and they seemed to end most evenings with the odd text message or phone call with one another. After Myka had gone to the theatre with her mother, Helena had been waiting up – not purposely – for her mother to get home.
Martha had gone on and on about what a lovely young woman Myka was and how she couldn't believe that she put up with Helena on a daily basis. Helena had pouted at that, which only caused her mother to laugh and kiss her cheek. "She is far too good for you darling." Martha had whispered.
"Mother!" Helena began to protest.
"Don't screw this one up." Was all Martha said before heading off to sleep.
The next morning, Helena had gone into her mother's room after taking Christina to school. "What exactly do you mean by, 'she is too good for me' you are my mother, you're supposed to be on my side."
"Are you pouting?" Martha asked.
"I...no!" Helena insisted, fully aware that she was in fact pouting.
"Darling, I merely meant that you aren't one to settle, neither am I; I doubt I led a particularly good example for you and I apologize for that. You've never quite seemed...fully happy with anyone, not with Martin, not with Gina, not with any of the others you've dated over the years; I would like to see you happy. That doesn't make me not on your side, that makes me know how you tick and darling, this woman is wonderful."
"I know that." Helena said softly.
Martha sat up fully in her bed. "Helena, you...you truly feel for her don't you? I can see it in your eyes."
"Don't be silly Mother..."
Martha cut her off. "Don't deny caring about someone, if I die please for the love of god have me at least instilled that in you. "
"Mother, no one is dying." Helena scoffed as she climbed onto the bed and made herself comfortable next to her mother. Martha protested a little, but Helena yanked over a section of the covers and stuck her cold, bare feet against her mother's leg for good measure. Martha squealed and slapped Helena lightly on the arm.
"Why do you always do that?" Martha asked. "Put on a pair of socks!"
"I enjoy the way it bothers you."
"You're a horrible child."
Helena reached up and kissed her mother on the cheek in response. Then, for good measure, pressed her cold toes against Martha's legs once more.
"What should I do?" Helena whispered a few moments later.
Martha set the newspaper she had been reading down and looked her daughter in the eye. "About Myka?" She asked. Helena nodded. "You're more than smitten aren't you?"
"Mother..." Helena whined as she shoved her face into a pillow.
"Darling, I don't know if I've ever seen you react quite this way. Perhaps with Martin, but you were young and he was vapid and I love my granddaughter but thank heavens that didn't last long."
"Mother!" Helena groaned.
"I mean really, who would have guessed that between the two of you that you'd turn out to be the responsible parent?"
Helena lifted her head from the pillow and glared.
"What you should do darling is take her on a proper date and pray she doesn't realize that she is far too good for you. What you should do is act like the adult you technically are and fast; because Helena, that's not one you let get away if you can help it."
Helena flopped her head back down into the pillow.
"But first what you should do is get out of my bed and make me some coffee." Martha said as she raised her paper and slid on her reading glasses.
Claudia looked over towards the elevator and frowned. HG was making some sort of ridiculous hand motions and jumping up and down like a child who needed to pee. Claudia strolled over and got her arm yanked roughly for her troubles.
"What took you so long? Did you not see me waving you over? Did I look like I just wanted to have a casual chat darling?"
"Umm... no you looked insane. Oh shit, is your kid okay?" Claudia asked worriedly.
"What? Oh yes, Christina's fine, she's at school; I need your help." HG said, looking around as if to make sure they weren't overheard. Claudia had noticed her acting a little...weirder than usual the last few days, but she mostly chose to ignore it. HG was a weird lady. It was part of what Claudia liked about her.
"Help with what?" She asked as she hopped up onto the counter in the break room. Captain was constantly on her ass about sitting on things that weren't chairs, but Claudia chose to ignore that too. She chose to ignore quite a lot of things come to think of it.
HG glanced around again before leaning forward and dropping her voice to a whisper. "With Myka."
"With Myka what?" Claudia asked in a normal and appropriate tone of voice. HG smacked her and shushed her all the same. Claudia stuck her tongue out and nabbed a cookie that appeared to be part of the Captain's lunch. He had four, he wouldn't miss one. In fact, she was doing him a favor, four cookies might kill the man. She was single handily saving his life by eating this cookie; actually, she was gonna save his life by eating two.
"I...well I was wondering..." HG paused and fiddled with the coffee machine.
"Oh make me one too! You make them the best."
HG beamed. "Why thank you darling, tell that to Myka would you?"
"Yeah sure, that's all you need? You make way better cappuccinos than Myks. Hers are kind of terrible actually."
HG grimaced. "She hasn't quite gotten the hang of it true; which frankly, is a little surprising considering I bought this for you all over a year ago." HG handed Claudia a steaming cup of delicious smelling coffee and Claudia sipped it immediately, burning her tongue. "Claudia!" HG chastised as Claudia almost dropped the coffee. "I literally only just made it!"
"Sorry." Claudia said while trying to inspect her tongue.
HG smacked her hand away and pulled at her tongue. "You're fine, wait until it's cool. You're more impatient than my twelve year old."
"I take back what I said about your coffee being the best. I'm telling Myka hers is, you don't get my help."
Claudia went to jump down and head over to her desk, but HG grabbed her around the waist and held her firmly in place. "That's not what I needed help with, though lying to Myka about her coffee skills would only be cruel. I needed something else pertaining to Myka."
"What?"
HG sighed and was about to answer before Claudia cut her off. "You need help wooing her?!" She yelled out.
"Claudia!" HG hit her much harder on the arm this time. "I do not! Don't yell that."
"I knew you had the hots for her. I've known for over a year."
"Claudia, be quiet." HG hissed as two squad detectives walked into the break room and nodded to them. Claudia only waved cheerfully as they got their lunches and walked back out, giving the two women odd looks.
"You know she's mostly straight right? So it freaks her out a little that she's into you, you're gonna have to approach her like a cat. Calmly, or she'll bolt." Claudia said once the men had left the room. HG only made a face at her. Claudia wasn't quite sure what exactly HG was trying to convey with that face, but it didn't seem like it approved of Claudia's advice. "I'm only trying to help, you said you wanted help." She protested.
"All I wanted to know was if there was a chance Myka might actually be interested. I'm not about to ruin our friendship over a crush."
Claudia raised her eyebrows in disbelief and sipped her coffee tentatively. It was just the right temperature. She downed half of it in one gulp. "Crush?" She scoffed. "It might have been a crush eight months and a book ago, it sure as hell ain't just a crush now."
"Regardless of however deep my feelings may or may not be, I am not willing to destroy a very good friendship over them."
Claudia set her coffee down and really looked at HG. The woman who never seemed to lack confidence in any way was shifting on her feet, nervously glancing around and totally and completely head over heels. It was adorable. Claudia started to make a squealing noise and HG slapped a hand over her mouth.
"Stop that." She insisted.
Claudia pushed HG's hand away. "You totally love her." She said with a grin. "I get to be your best man at the wedding, Pete's gonna get to be Myka's; it's only fair. I want to be a goddamn best man!"
"Claudia stop it! No one is getting married I'm talking about asking her for a meal of some sort, that is it!"
"Sure, a meal, then into her pants, then marriage and I call dibs on being your best man deal?" Claudia held her hand out for HG to shake.
"Guys?" Myka stuck her head into the break room. "We've got a case." She announced before walking away to find Pete.
HG turned around to Claudia and grabbed her hand. "Not a single word." She said before following Myka and Pete.
"Scout's honor." Claudia said to the empty room.
Myka shuffled over to her front door with a quilt wrapped around her body and greeted HG with a shiver and a smile. HG frowned and tilted her head at Myka's appearance. "My thermostat's broken." Myka explained. She ushered HG into the apartment to try and conserve all the warm air that she could. "My landlord said he'd come fix it, but he's out to dinner with his wife and they won't be back for a few hours. Which, I mean it's fine, but this is New York and it's late fall and it's gonna snow any day now and I don't seem to have as many blankets as I thought I did." Myka realized she was rambling from the look on HG's face and shut up. "Would you like a blanket?" She asked a second later.
"I...yes please."
Myka waddled over to her bedroom and pulled the extra quilt off the edge of her bed and tossed it to HG before dropping down onto the couch. Trying to walk and keep all parts of her body covered at the same time was a challenge.
"Myka if...I mean I have a spare room, this place is freezing!" HG said as she wrapped her own body up quickly.
"He said he'd be here by ten at the latest." Myka said with a shrug.
"And you're going to sit here wrapped in all the blankets you possess for the next three hours?"
"That was the plan yes."
"It's a dreadful one." HG said with a shiver.
"It is not one of my favorites." Myka admitted. "But I'm fine. What did you need?"
"I was going to see if you wanted to go to dinner sometime this week, but now I've decided I'm taking you to dinner right now. We're going to find a warm restaurant and stay there." HG stood up and grabbed Myka's hand, pulling her along as she shucked her blanket and opened the door.
"HG, I already ate."
"Coffee then, or a nightcap I don't care this place is freezing and we are leaving right now. Count to three and throw the blanket off."
"I don't..."
"It's like ripping off a band aid darling, do it quickly."
Myka braced herself and then threw the blanket off her body. She instantly regretted it, but HG shoved her out of the apartment and the two of them made their way downstairs, quickly hailing a cab. As Myka's body began to adjust to the warmth of the cab, she finally relaxed. Truthfully, she had been miserable in her apartment, she had just been about to ditch and go over to Pete's when HG showed up.
"Where shall we go?" HG asked.
"Anywhere warm."
"Have you ever played laser tag darling?" HG asked with a devilish grin.