"Hell. No."

"C'mon." Pete keeps poking me and pleading with me. This has been going on for about 20 minutes now.

"I said hell no."

"C'mon."

"Fine." I put the animal head over my hair. Good thing Helena convinced me to pull my hair back today instead of letting the curls get everywhere.

"C'mon, Mykes."

"Pete, I said 'fine.'" Twirling myself around to face him, wherever it is he happens to be standing.

"Oh."

"I feel like a tool."

"You fit best in the costume."

"I hate you."

"Yeah, I know you love me." He's all smiles, all ignoring every word that I say. So typical of him. "Besides, it's the only way into the staff area."

It's about 90° here, the middle of the week, the middle of the day and I'm definitely not feeling any benefit to being here at a soothing, refreshing water park and theme park. Knowing Helena, she charmed her way into an air conditioned sanctuary somewhere on the property. I opted to stick with Pete today since Helena seemed feisty this morning; I think she just needs some space and quiet.

"Just point me in the right direction."

Pete turns me towards a doorway and I just start walking. Surprisingly, I don't hear any chuckles out of him.

A theme park with water park at the end of June, when the kids are out of school, in the middle of the week is a dangerous combination for me. Helena is overwhelmed with the masses of children under the age of 12 roaming around, laughing and screaming at every opportunity. Cases (and days) like today are difficult for her. At first (when I started noticing these reactions), I tried to get her to open up to me about it, but she got quiet and needed time to think things through thoroughly. Whenever life involves children is the only time I ever see Helena shy away from a situation and retreat into her own brain.

Complete in my furry costume, I trudge towards the employee lounge to look for this artifact that apparently is hiding out somewhere amongst lockers, showers and other equally horrifically smelling things. This is one day where I completely hate my job.

I quickly take off the giant cartoon head and place it somewhere it can be easily found by the staff. The artifact is placed in one of the staff's lockers - they won't even realize it's missing. A speedy drop into a static bag and all is neutralized.

Seeing as it's the middle of the day and nearly all of the staff in costumes and the like are wandering the property, no one is down here to check on me. At this point, I only want to wash away the horror that was wearing this stupid costume and head towards the shower area. I don't think anyone will mind if I take a quick hose down. I remove the furry lower portion of the outfit and only have on the clothes in which I came to this theme park. They are totally drenched, so I look around for at least a t-shirt or some shirt that I can "borrow." Wow, I've been hanging around with Claudia too much.

I quickly find a tank top (smells pretty clean) and head to the shower area. There already is someone showering in one of the stalls, so this needs to be a rapid venture before they start getting chatty with me. I strip naked and plunge into the cool water, eager to get all of this grime and cartoon character off me. For a moment, I stand in the stall and relish the cool water against my skin. In a matter of moments, I feel significantly better.

"Excuse me, do you have any soap?"

I know that voice. I know that terrible Midwestern American accent anywhere. I try to suppress my giggles.

"Helena?"

Pause. Pause.

"Myka?"

I leave my shower stall, completely naked, not caring if anyone else is out there (and there shouldn't be) and open hers. Helena is in the shower, trailing her eyes up and down my body.

"I thought you'd be looking for the artifact?"

"I found it." I say as I shut the door behind me and walk towards her. "What are you doing in here?"

Helena pauses and shyly tilts her head so it's directly under the running water. "I wanted to get away from everyone for a moment. It was getting to be too much."

"I understand. It's alright, just don't hide from me, okay?"

I pull her close to me, my front to her back, and we stay like that for a few minutes, just holding each other and not saying anything. The cool water relaxes us both as we cling to one another.

When I finally come to my senses and realize that we are taking a shower in the employee lounge area of a theme park, I kiss Helena's neck to get her out of the trance she's apparently in. She purrs and tangles her hand around to my own neck.

"Love you." She says as she turns to face me.

She'll - we'll - be alright.