()I edited the story to make it that Helena and Piers had met before the whole C Virus incident, not knew each other very well, but had met a few times before, were just aquaintances. it's actually plausible, with him being in the military and her being in the Secret Service.
Part 4
Helena opened her eyes to see Piers, still asleep, with his arms wrapped around her. She smiled, feeling content for the first time in a long time. She remembered the time they had seen each other again, in China, during the confrontation between Leon and Chris when they were pursuing Ada Wong. Helena ran up to Leon, Chris, and Piers with her weapon drawn. Chris and Leon had their weapons aimed at each other as they talked, and Piers had his weapon drawn and aimed, ready to fire on whoever he needed to. As soon as Helena got to them, there was a moment where hers and Piers' eyes met, staring at each other for a moment before Piers let his guard down slightly and almost started to lower his weapon. Neither of them could believe the other was there. She remembered it clearly, as if it had happened recently rather than a year ago. Piers opened his eyes to see Helena, her eyes meeting his as she looked over at him. Looking into those eyes reminded him of the time they had seen each other again, in China during the C Virus incident. It was something that he still remembered clearly, as if it had just happened, the memory of the beautiful woman who had made him let his guard down, just for a moment, something that not many things could do to him during a mission. He kissed her on the forehead.
"Good morning." he said. Helena smiled.
"Good morning, Piers." she said. Just then, Delta the dog jumped up into the bed. Helena and Piers sat up and petted the German Shepherd.
"This is one hell of an alarm clock you've got." Piers said, grinning. Helena laughed.
"Yeah. One hell of a good guard dog, too." she said, "Well, at least, I hope. I've never actually had to put it to the test. I guess it doesn't matter. She's nice company to have when you live by yourself."
"Yeah. I know what you mean. I live by myself, too. I wouldn't have time for a dog, though." he said, "With my job in the BSAA and everything."
"Well, I guess we'd better get up." Helena said. She got off of the bed, yawning and stretching her arms. As she reached her arms in the air, her the tank top she had with to bed (along with a pair of grey shorts) rode up slightly, showing a little bit of her back. Piers watched for a moment, but made sure not to let her see him when she turned around. He got off of the bed.
"I better go get dressed." Piers said, getting off of the bed.
"Yeah." Helena said, smiling at him before he left the room. As she walked out into the living room, followed by her dog, there was a knock at the door. She walked over and answered the door, opening the door to see Chris and Leon. She wasn't surprised to see Leon. He would often visit her. But, she was taken a bit by surprise that Chris was there, though she figured that he was probably there to see Piers.
"Hey, Helena." Leon said.
"Hi, Leon." she said, smiling slightly at her friend.
"Hello, Helena." Chris said, smiling warmly at her. Though he still didn't know her very well, Chris was a generally friendly person, something that he and his sister, Claire had in common. And Chris appreciated Helena letting Piers stay with her and taking care of him. Chris always thought she seemed a decent girl, but he always somewhat felt sorry for her. In his opinion, she usually seemed more sad than anything else.
"Hi, Chris. Are you here to see Piers?" she said. Just then, Piers walked into the room.
"Captain, what are you doing here?" he asked.
"I just came to check up on you, see how you were doing." Chris said, smiling at his friend. Piers smiled.
"I'm good. Helena has been taking good care of me." he said, glancing over at Helena, smiling at her before turning his attention back to Chris again. Leon noticed this glance between the two of them, and Chris might have, too, if he wasn't so naive.
"That's good to hear. Thanks for taking care of him, Helena." Chris said.
"No problem." Helena said, "It's nice having him around."
"Helena, do you want to have lunch with Claire and me later? It might be good for you to get out of the house." Leon said. Helena looked from Leon to Piers and back again.
"Is it alright with you if Piers comes, too?" Helena asked. Leon was taken slightly off guard by this, and Chris was again oblivious. But Leon had no problem with Piers. He seemed a decent guy. Leon didn't see any harm in him coming to lunch with them.
"Sure." Leon said.
"We have to get going. We were just on our way by, so we stopped to check in on you." Chris said.
"I'll see you two later." Leon said before he and Chris walked out the door.
"You didn't have to do that." Piers said.
"I know. I wanted to." she said, smiling.
A few hours later, they began walking to the cafe where they were meeting Leon and Claire. It was a nice day, and the cafe was within walking distance from Helena's building.
"Hey, guys." Leon said as Helena and Piers sat down at the table. Claire looked at them for a moment, then back at Leon.
"Piers is here, too?" she said.
"Yeah. I guess I forgot to mention Piers was coming, too. I hope that's alright." Leon said.
"Sure. It's fine with me." Claire said, shrugging her shoulders, "I actually asked Sherry and Jake to come, too, but they had plans already." Then, she asked, "So, how have you two been?" She remembered how much Helena had struggled emotionally over what happened to her sister. Claire had always felt sorry for her. Not only did Helena grieve for her sister's cruel and unnecessary death, but she felt so much guilt, that what she did was wrong. But, Claire could understand more than most as, if she were in a situation like that, she would do the the same for her brother without hesitation. And, the last time Claire had seen Piers, he had been just leaving the hospital.
"I'm good. Thanks." Piers said.
"I'm good, too. It's nice having Piers around." Helena said. A small smile crossed Piers' face. Claire looked at the two of them, looking from one to the other.
"Oh my God. You two like each other." she said.
"What?" Helena and Piers both said. Both of their faces were bright red.
"Why would you assume something like that?" Piers said.
"Oh, come on. You'd have to be deaf, blind, and brain dead not to notice." Claire said. Piers and Helena looked at each other, wondering if they were just that obvious or whether Claire was just very intuitive. They said nothing, which indicated to Claire and Leon that what Claire was saying was true. Claire grinned triumphantly, satisfied with herself for figuring it out. Leon let out a chuckle. It made sense to him now, the way Helena and Piers had been acting with each other earlier. He wondered why he hadn't figured out before that there was something going on between the two of them. But then again, he figured maybe it was just Claire's women's intuition that was the reason she had realized it and he hadn't.
After lunch, Helena and Piers returned to Helena's apartment. She sighed as she walked over to the desk, picking up a piece of paper that was on it, and immediately upon looking at it, the expression on her face looked sad. Piers walked over to her.
"Helena, what is it?" he asked. She handed him the paper, and he began to read it.
"It's a note written to me from my sister, Deborah, when she was infected with the C Virus. It's her last words to me before she died. I've kept it all this time." she explained.
"It sounds like she really loved you." he said after he had finished reading it.
"But, that's no excuse for what I did. It doesn't make it right." she said, grabbing the letter from his hands and putting it in one of the desk drawers, "I said I would make it right somehow, or die trying. I probably will die trying, because nothing I can ever do can make up for what I did. I don't deserve this, don't deserve to be happy, don't deserve you, Piers. You're the best person I've ever met. You sacrificed yourself to save the world, and me, I had a hand in helping someone who wanted to destroy it." Piers placed his hands on her shoulders, looking her straight in the eyes.
"Helena, listen to me. What you did does not make you a bad person. You did what anyone would have done in your situation. I don't have any siblings, so I can't even imagine, but I'm sure I would do the same for someone I loved." he said. She stared at him.
"Piers..." she said, "Thank you." She wrapped her arms around him, burying her face in his chest. She had dealt with this guilt she had felt by herself for so long. It felt comforting to have someone to help her through it. It also felt comforting to know that Piers would have done the same for someone he loved. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her close. He couldn't imagine her dealing with this alone for a year. For everything that she was, Helena was a troubled person, even though she usually tried to hide it. She let go and looked at him again, and smiled, just a little. He looked at her for a moment, and then kissed her. She was surprised at first, this being the second time he had kissed her, but, she soon kissed him back.