Helena sauntered into the precinct and headed over to Myka's desk. Myka immediately made herself look busier than she actually was. "Your file is upside down." Helena whispered as she lowered herself into the chair adjacent to Myka's desk. Myka's face reddened and she flipped the papers without looking at Helena. "Have we a murder?" Helena asked.
"No. You don't have to be here." Myka responded curtly. Helena bit the inside of her lip and tried not to be hurt by Myka's demeanor. "I mean...I didn't..." Myka sighed. "I mean, if you've got other stuff to do...I can call you if we get something."
"I don't mind hanging around I could help, do some paperwork." Helena lifted a file off Myka's desk and tried to stifle a groan.
Myka finally looked up and gave Helena a small smile. "You hate paperwork." She reminded her.
"That I do." Helena agreed and dropped the file back down on the table. "But I could keep you company."
Myka's lips pinched as if trying to suppress a grin. "You mean distract me and be annoying while I try to actually get some work done? No thank you. I actually have a boss to answer to, it's called a real job."
Helena dramatically clutched her chest. "You wound me."
"How will I go on?" Myka asked sarcastically. She stood up and grabbed her empty coffee mug, heading over towards the break room. Helena followed her. Myka struggled with the espresso maker for a minute or two before Helena finally sighed and pushed her out of the way. "I can make my own coffee HG." She protested.
"Darling, I cannot stand by and watch you destroy the espresso machine I ever so graciously donated out of the goodness of my heart."
"You mean attempted to buy your way into the Captain's good graces?"
"Ah well, that too." Helena admitted as she passed over a perfect cup of coffee to Myka.
"You made a face out of the foam."
"A smiling face." Helena pointed out.
Myka looked up at her and smiled a little shyly before stepping back from Helena slightly. "Um, so I'll call you if we get a case." She promised and walked quickly back to her desk. Helena sighed, she debated going back over and pestering Myka some more but decided against it. However, going home and facing the blank page on her laptop was not how she intended to spend her afternoon. Instead she headed over to find Pete and Claudia to entertain her.
"HG!" Claudia yelled excitedly. "Come look at this!"
"That is ghastly." Helena grimaced. "What is it?"
"A sandwich Pete forgot about from the beginning of summer." Claudia said, horrified. The thing that was growing in a drawer in Pete's desk didn't even partly resemble a sandwich.
"It's November." Helena glared at Pete. "That smells worse than some of the dead bodies down in the morgue, get rid of it!"
"You gotta admit, it's kinda cool though." Pete said. Helena only continued to glare at him. "Fine." He stood up and exaggeratedly put on some latex gloves and jammed his hand into the desk drawer. Helena and Claudia jumped back as he proudly produced the remains of his sandwich. Unfortunately, he had chosen the worst possible moment to finally clean his desk as Captain Neilsen walked by; and Pete hit him in the face with the moldy sandwich. Helena gasped and Claudia covered her mouth in shock as Captain Neilsen froze in place. "Oh shit." Pete whispered. He dropped the sandwich in the nearest trash and tried to wipe the Captain's face.
"Stop. Touching. Me." Captain Neilsen growled. Pete retracted his hands immediately and backed away.
"I was cleaning." He explained.
Captain Neilsen looked down at the trash can. "Get. Rid. Of. That." He ordered. "And get back to work!"
"Yes sir!" Pete saluted. Captain Neilsen ignored him and stalked off. Claudia reached over and punched Pete's arm. "Ow!" He yelled.
"You idiot!" Claudia whispered harshly.
"Me idiot? You're the one who told me to clean it!"
"Clean it, not whip it around and smack people in the face with it!" Helena explained.
"Oh, oh! Don't you start yelling at me."
"What did I do?" Helena asked.
"I think you know." Pete made a kissy face at her and Helena's face reddened on it's on accord. "Oh yeah, I know alllll about it." Pete smirked.
"Know all about what?" Claudia asked, looking back and forth between the two of them.
"Nothing." They both responded at the same time.
"Me being the youngest doesn't mean you guys get to keep crap from me." Claudia pouted.
"You'll find out soon." Pete promised.
"No she will not!" Helena insisted.
"Will too!"
Helena narrowed her eyes at him.
"Probably." He amended. "Maybe."
Helena continued to glare.
"I'm gonna go get rid of this." He said and scampered away.
"I demand to be told." Claudia stood in front of Helena and crossed her arms, attempting to look more official. Helena merely smiled and kissed her on the cheek before walking into the elevator. Claudia dropped her arms to her sides and slumped back down into her seat. "Nobody tells me shit."
Myka and Pete raised their guns as they walked slowly down the dimly lit hallway. Myka had promised HG that she would call if they got a case; but she hadn't been able to bring herself to. In all fairness, there wasn't actually a dead body. Captain Neilsen had told them to go check in on the wife involved in a previous case. It had just been a routine follow up, something to get Pete out of the Captain's hair and Myka to stop doing his paperwork along with her own. That joyous task had fallen to Claudia.
The moment the two of them arrived at the run down apartment building, both of them could sense something was awry. It was eerily quiet for a building known to have a large number of children. School day or not, this area was generally much more alive. Myka didn't even need to glace over at Pete to know that he had unholstered his gun at the same moment she had. The two of them moved in sync – years of practice under their belt – they didn't need words to communicate between each other. Instinctively, they fell back into step and made their way to apartment 2B. Myka pressed her ear up against the door and listened. Muffled sounds came through, it could have been the tv but from the look on Pete's face; he had one of his gut feelings. Myka was not a superstitious person, far, far, from it in fact, but she had learned early on to trust Pete's 'feelings'. She rammed on the door twice with her fist. "NYPD! Open up!" She yelled. There was no answer, but the muffled noises rose slightly. Myka looked over to Pete, nodded to him and pointed her gun at the door, taking a step back. Pete braced himself and slammed the door open, immediately putting his gun up as he followed Myka into the room.
Myka hardly had time to process what she was seeing. A woman – clearly dead – was laying on the kitchen floor with her head violently bashed in. Myka heard cries and turned to see two small boys huddled together in the corner, dirty and crying. Myka stepped towards them without clearing the rest of the room. She heard Pete yell and turned, her gun raised a second too late and felt a hot, intense pain in her side before firing two shots at the man standing in front of her.
She watched his body fill with more holes and fall to the ground as if in slow motion. Confused, she turned around and saw Pete lower his gun and start to run to her. "I'm fine." She said, and moved towards the children. Myka hadn't noticed them screaming before, but they certainly were now. She tried to tell them everything was alright but as she moved forward, she lost her balance and fell to the ground. Utterly confused, she pressed her hand to her side, why it hurt so badly she didn't know. As she lifted her hand she saw it was covered in blood. She had no idea where that had come from.
"We need a medic, I repeat officer down." Pete said into his cell phone. "You're okay kids, you're okay. Stay right there. It's okay." Pete lifted his arm under Myka's neck and pulled her onto his lap. "Hey kid, can you hand me that towel?" Myka watched the taller boy hand something over to Pete, then winced as he pressed it hard into her side.
"Shit!" She hissed.
"You're gonna be fine Myks, look at me! Hey Myka come on now talk to me okay?"
"Be quiet." Myka groaned. She just wanted to go to sleep; to sleep and to catch her breath.
"No! No come on now Myks, stay awake! The medics are on their way, hey...Myka! MYKA!"
Myka closed her eyes. He was being too loud. Her chest hurt, her stomach hurt, everything was starting to hurt and she was exhausted. Didn't he know she had insomnia? He should just let her take a nap.
"MYKA STAY AWAKE!"
Helena ran through the hospital ignoring every single person who told her to slow down. When she turned the corner and saw Claudia, Pete, Leena, Captain Neilsen, and a few cops in uniform she sped towards them. Claudia looked up and saw her and stood, running over and throwing her arms around Helena's neck. "She got shot in the chest." Claudia whispered through tears. "They're in surgery, she was dead for like a whole minute."
Helena clung to Claudia and spun her head around to Pete. His eyes were tearful and he only managed to nod sharply before he continued pacing.
"What happened?" Helena asked. Myka had been filing paperwork, Pete had been getting rid of moldy sandwiches, she didn't understand how on earth Myka had gotten herself shot.
No one answered her. Claudia clung to her crying openly, while Pete paced back and forth not looking at anyone. Every time a tear fell onto his cheek he wiped at it furiously. Leena sat down next to Captain Neilsen, staring off silently at nothing. The beat cops all were in various states of agitated to discomfort. Only Captain Neilsen looked up at her.
"I sent them to check up on a woman involved in a pervious case. We had a call earlier expressing that she might not have been safe but it didn't seem like much. Apparently it was, the woman was murdered when they got there, her sons were in the apartment with the murderer. Myka took a bullet. She got him though, they both did, he's dead and the boys are okay." He explained.
Helena felt her knees give out slightly. Claudia noticed and loosened her grip, pulling Helena down into the seat next to her. Claudia's hand remained clutching her own, but Helena hardly felt it.
It seemed like hours had passed by when a doctor finally came out and walked over to them. Captain Neilsen stood up and shook the man's hand.
"It was touch and go for a while, the bullet was just below her heart. She's stable now, and I'm confident that she's going to make a full recovery. She hasn't woken up yet, her body needs to rest. I'm sorry but I can't allow any visitors right now."
"Thank you doctor." Captain Neilsen said looking more gracious than Helena had even known he was capable of.
Pete practically collapsed into a seat and Leena immediately reached over to him and began to rub his back while he sobbed with relief. Claudia had launched herself into Helena, hugging her tightly before jumping up and hugging almost everyone else in the room. Helena still felt numb. She couldn't quite comprehend how just a few hours ago she had made Myka coffee and joked with her and now there had been a bullet in her chest. Helena stood up and walked over to Captain Neilsen. "I need to see her." She demanded.
"Ms Wells you heard the doctor, she can't have any visitors yet. She's still in ICU."
"I need to see her." Helena repeated.
Surprisingly, Artie Neilsen's face softened and he reached out and awkwardly placed his hand on her shoulder. "I know." He said. "But you can't, not yet. She's going to be fine, you heard him; and Myka Bering is one of the toughest people I've ever met. I've got no doubt she'll be up tomorrow morning, yelling at Pete and probably you too. Go on home, get some sleep and come back in the morning and pester the nurses until they let you in. You're good at stuff like that."
Helena felt herself nod and the Captain turned to his people and told them all to go home and get some rest. She heard shuffling behind her, but couldn't bring herself to move. After a few minutes, a hand was gently placed on her shoulder and she jumped. "I'm staying." Pete said. "Want to get some coffee?"
Helena turned around and met his face. He looked terrible. She nodded and allowed him to slip his hand into hers as they walked down the hall. She needed something to hold onto, something to prove that this was actually real and happening; and she suspected Pete needed the same. The two of them placed their orders and sat down. Helena sent a quick text to her mother telling her that she was going to stay longer.
"What happened?" Helena asked again.
Pete picked at the top of his paper cup. "We went in to check on Dana Kelly, she was the wife of this dealer that got shot a while back. Someone thought one of his buddies was hanging around, they were worried about her, Cap sent us to make sure she was alright." He paused and took a tentative sip of his coffee. "Something felt off the minute we got there, we busted the door in, started clearing the room. Dana was dead, Myka saw the kids they were crying and she stepped toward them before she finished clearing the room. I mean...I almost did it too, hell I've done it before. She didn't see him, I think I yelled. She turned around right as he fired, she fired back almost at the same time but she got hit." His eyes welled back up with fresh tears. "I...she wouldn't stay awake, I tried to keep her awake 'till the medics got there. She coded twice in the ambulance, once for a while. It felt like forever, she was dead like actually dead." He shook his head and wiped at his tears. "It was the worst thing I've ever seen in my life."
Helena stayed silent as he relayed the events of that afternoon. She felt like vomiting. The coffee was turning cold in her hands, but she couldn't quite bring herself to drink it. "When she wakes up I'm going to kill her."
Pete choked out a laugh. The two of them made their way back up to the ICU and sat down in the empty chairs. Nurses and doctors walked by and over and over again told them they wouldn't be allowed to go in to see Myka. Stubbornly, they refused to leave.
Helena woke up with a terrible pain in her neck. Awkwardly, she lifted her head off Pete's shoulder and rubbed her neck as she stretched. Glancing at her phone she saw that it was five in the morning. Pete curled into himself more and remained asleep. Helena stood up slowly, every part of her body ached from sleeping in the hard plastic chairs and she moved around to try and wake herself up. She caught the eye of one of the doctors who tried to get them to leave the night before and waved. He sighed and walked over to her.
"I..."
He cut her off. "You're not going to leave are you?"
"Not until I get to see her no."
He sighed. "My shift is over, I just checked on her and she's still asleep. I can give you five minutes and then you have to come back during visiting hours."
"Thank you!" Helena said happily. She quickly followed him down the hall and into Myka's room.
"Five minutes." He warned. Helena nodded and stepped inside slowly.
She gasped at the sight in front of her. Myka looked incredibly pale, and somehow so very small. Helena hated it. She forced herself to walked forward and sat down in the chair opposite the bed. "You scared me." She accused. Myka remained asleep. Helena scooted forward a little and tentatively reached out and took one of Myka's hand's. "Please never do that again, everyone was terrified. Pete will most likely never recover from what you put him through. I might not either. I...you promised you'd call me. You..." Helena wiped at the tears forming in her eyes. "Myka Bering, don't ever scare me like that again." She ordered. Helena leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss to Myka's forehead. "I love you." She whispered. "Don't do that ever again."
The doctor knocked lightly on the doorframe and Helena jumped back. "Sorry." He said. "Time's up. You can come back in a few hours, but I'll get in trouble if I let you hang here any longer."
Helena nodded. "That's alright, thank you very much for letting me see her." She followed him out of the room with one more glance back at the sleeping woman in the bed.
Myka shifted uncomfortably. Every muscle she had hurt, she had tried to open her eyes, but the light had been too intense. She focused on breathing, breathing she could handle. A voice that sounded familiar to her was speaking softly. Myka tried to focus on it, but she couldn't move or open her eyes, she only listened. "Don't ever scare me like that again." Myka felt someone press a kiss to her forehead. "I love you." The voice whispered. "Don't do that ever again."
Myka heard someone else come into the room. Listening to the two voices, she finally focused and realized the first one sounded like HG. Both of them spoke again, then walked out of the room. Myka was too tired to worry or think about any of it. She shifted around once more to get comfortable, then blissfully fell back asleep.