Quote is from Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (what Myka was reading in a previous chapter). I've been busy with work but I will keep trying to update as regularly as possible. Thanks for reading!

Chapter 13

Myka woke up to the sun shining in her face, curled up and enveloped in comforting arms, which is something that hadn't happened in a long time. Helena was still asleep next to her. Myka smiled and placed a light kiss on her forehead before extracting herself from the other woman's embrace and sitting up. She found Pete leaning against the wall, snacking on some beef jerky, watching her with a smile on his face.

"What are you looking at?" Myka asked lightly.

"I knew it!" Pete exclaimed proudly. "I didn't say anything but I knew you two were hot for each other, and now you're all…" He made exaggerated kissing faces to tease her.

Myka rolled her eyes, "Ugh, shut up!"

"Do you want me to get lost for a bit? I can leave you two alone so you can—"

"That's it!" Myka jumped up, bounded over to Pete, and punched him in the arm.

Helena stirred in her sleeping bag and opened her eyes to find Myka attacking Pete. Still groggy from sleep and blood loss, Helena sat up and rubbed her eyes. "Did the zombies get Pete?" she mumbled sleepily.

Myka and Pete both stopped their fighting and turned to Helena. "No," Myka replied. "He's just being an ass."

"I wasn't being an ass!" Pete defended. "I was being courteous!" Myka glared at him and he shut his mouth.

"What time is it?" Helena asked. "Are we going to head out soon?"

Myka checked the time on her watch. "It's half past eleven." Helena's eyes widened at how late it was. Usually they were up and ready to go at sunrise. "But I was thinking, maybe we should stay put for a day," Myka continued.

"What? But we can't just sit here," Helena complained, suddenly awake. "We need to be out there! Fighting zombies!"

"Helena, you lost a lot of blood yesterday," Myka explained. "You need to rest."

"I don't need to rest, I'm fine!" And to prove her point, Helena quickly stood up…only to stumble and start to fall. Myka quickly jumped over and caught her.

"Rest."

Helena huffed, but obliged and reluctantly nodded. She let Myka lead her to the porch steps to sit down. "What are we even going to do all day?"

"You're going to sit," Myka said. Helena frowned, obviously not too happy with this idea. "And I should probably change your bandages at some point."

"Might as well do that now," Helena said, sticking out her arm. "It's starting to itch."

"Okay, but you can't scratch it," Myka warned. Helena nodded absentmindedly. Myka unwrapped the bandages that covered Helena's arm, stained with dried blood and dirt. As she went to get fresh ones out of the medical kit, Helena started to scratch at her stitches. Myka returned and saw what Helena was doing. She slapped the injured woman's hand away. "What did I just say?!"

"Don't scratch it," Helena repeated with a pout. Myka had to suppress a giggle at the adorable look on her face, and instead placed a quick kiss on her lips. That seemed to satisfy Helena and her pout turned into a smile as Myka replaced her bandages.

Most of their day of rest was rather boring. They sat around talking, mostly, and Pete got a deck of cards out of his backpack, but eventually they ran out of small talk to make and card games to play. Helena ended up falling asleep (after vehemently insisting that she was not tired at all), and Pete started to get restless so he went for a walk.

Myka was left alone with a sleeping Helena and nothing to do. She sat with her back leaning against the outside wall of the house and watched protectively over Helena's unconscious form. Eventually she got out her book and began to read to pass the time. She didn't know how long she was reading but when she reached the last page of the book, she noticed Helena stir and crawl over to lean against her side.

"Will you read to me?"

Myka tore her eyes from the page to meet the eyes that were looking up at her. "Well I'm almost done. I could read you the beginning?"

"No, no, it's fine, I've already read it," Helena assured. "Go from where you are. I just want to hear your voice."

Myka's lips quirked up into a small smile. "Okay." She turned her eyes back to the page and read the last words aloud to Helena.

"'And on either side of the river was there a tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month; And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. Yes, thought Montag, that's the one I'll save for noon. For noon. . . when we reach the city.'" It was only the last paragraph, but Helena seemed to enjoy it. Her eyes were closed as she smiled to herself and her fingers were laced around the locket she wore.

"Helena," Myka started cautiously. "Can I ask about your necklace?"

Helena opened her eyes and gave her a small, sad smile. She pulled the locket over her head and opened it, holding it out to Myka. There was a picture of a little girl inside. A child, maybe 8 or 9 years old. The girl looked remarkably similar to Helena.

"Who..?"

"That's Christina," Helena said. "My daughter."

"You have a daughter?" Myka asked, shocked.

Helena nodded. "She was remarkable." Myka picked up on the sadness in her voice and her eyes, the word was.

"What happened?" she asked.

Helena looked away and swallowed hard. It was difficult for her to recall that day. "The first day the zombies came, I was at work and Christina was home with a sitter. When I heard about the first attacks, I rushed home. The door was hanging open and I found what was left of both Christina and her sitter." Helena said it flatly, without emotion, as if she had become numb to the pain over time. But Myka heard the quiver in her voice. Helena just didn't want to show how much she was still hurting.

Myka wrapped her arms around Helena and held her. "I'm sorry," she whispered. Helena said nothing, she just sat in Myka's embrace, grateful for someone to share her story with. After sitting in silence for a while, Myka looked at the picture of Christina again. "She looks just like you," she said.

"People always used to say that."

Myka leaned her head against Helena's and silence took over once again. Eventually, Helena spoke up.

"Christina had always wanted to go camping," she started. Myka listened intently. "She always wanted to go camping, but we never had the time. So the night before, I set up a tent in the backyard, and we made s'mores and told stories and drew pictures in the sky." She turned to face Myka. "That's why I'm always looking at the stars. They remind me of my last night with my Christina. They make me feel like part of her is still here with me."

A few tears slipped from her eyes and Helena tried to blink them away, but Myka caught her face in her hands and wiped them away. "I know she is," Myka said, with a reassuring smile.

Helena leaned in and pressed her lips against Myka's, fitting perfectly together. It was a sweet, loving kiss. Helena pulled away to mutter a small, "Thanks." Myka just smiled and grabbed Helena's hand, lacing their fingers together. She was glad Helena trusted her enough to reveal her more she found out about this woman, the more she felt herself falling for her.

But for the first time, Myka thought that maybe falling for her wouldn't be so bad.