Knowledge is Power

Myka found the world in Helena – she found all the missing pieces she needed and all the parts she craved. She never trusted anyone the way she did Helena. When Myka thought back to it, Helena excited her from the moment they met. Even when Helena tried to intimidate her and succeeded, a part of Myka was attracted to that power.

Myka still took guilty pleasure in how Helena danced with Sam for the sheer purpose of marking him with her perfume. Myka may have fought it – but she knew from the start – Helena wanted her. Myka had been needed all her life – to serve a purpose as a daughter, sister, or girlfriend.

Now – she was desired by someone she had always held in the highest regard.

Much like Eileen who was challenged with being a part of two families, Myka was facing her old self and new self when Tracy was there. How could she possibly get her sister to understand all that Helena was to her?

Myka pulled herself together, got dressed again and Helena unlocked the living room door. Tracy reiterated that Eileen said she should spend more time with Helena and Myka, and so they invited her into the library for tea. Helena sat at the end of the long couch, Tracy sat in the oversized leather chair next to the couch, and Myka sat next to Helena. There was a table in front of them with the three cups of tea. Tracy took a moment to look around the oversized room with walls filled with bookcases. She knew Myka liked books so maybe this was the attraction?

Tracy talked about some of the sights she saw that day. Helena and Myka listened politely, but both were hoping Tracy would tire soon after her long day. Myka excused herself to go to the bathroom, leaving her sister alone with Helena. Silence befell the room and the only sound was the crackling fire in the fireplace. Tracy's mind raced to think of something to say.

"You're a big tea drinker. Is that because you're English and all?" Tracy asked.

"Oh yes," Helena said, "English and all."

"How do stand Myka's snoring?" Tracy wondered and so she asked.

"Myka doesn't snore," Helena said truthfully.

"No, she does. She's a loud snorer," Tracy said thinking Helena was covering for her.

"She does not," Helena said firmly.

"I grew up with her in the same bedroom. She snores," Tracy said. Who was she to tell her about her own sister?

"This would not be the first affliction Myka has cured herself of since moving here," Helena said, smiling and not meaning a centimeter of it.

"How do I know you haven't just charmed Myka?" Tracy said, going onto her next question. She had made a mental list of them in the taxicab.

"Do you find me charming?" Helena asked, enjoying the game.

"I've read…," Tracy started to answer.

"That's not what I asked. I asked if you find me charming," Helena repeated.

"I…don't know," Tracy said hesitating. There was no denying that Helena was strikingly beautiful with flawless skin. And Tracy had never seen anyone with hair like Helena's. She was less taken with the Brit's eyes that seemed threatening most of the time, but did soften when they gazed upon her sister.

"I do admire your attempts to protect your sister," Helena finally said.

"Well, she is my only sister,' Tracy said, glad Helena understood.

"I find that when we feel compelled to guard another adult, it's often because we feel we weren't guarded against something," Helena said, watching her guest carefully.

"What?" Tracy said, confused and unaware of the verbal web she was falling into to.

"I was just wondering, if your valiant efforts to protect Myka aren't born out of a sense that you were not protected. Did the boys try to take advantage of you?" Helena asked bluntly, because the shortest distance between her question and the answer - was to barge through the front door.

"Did they? No! How would you know?" Tracy stammered all at once, giving Helena her answer. Tracy's social status in high school didn't come without some compromises. She was never forced to do anything, but she did regret some of her choices.

"Human nature," Helena said, sipping her tea and smiling when Myka reentered the room.

Myka looked at her sister's expression which was nothing short of the look you have sitting on the examination table in a doctor's office in a paper gown. Tracy felt that exposed. Helena's phone beeped and she looked at the name.

"Well, why don't I give you two a chance to do….. what sisters do," Helena said smiling. Myka said ok, but wondered what was drawing Helena away. Before the door closed she heard Helena say – "Seriously, Ms. Cummings, how much money will it take?"

This struck Myka funny because she usually knew every business transaction Helena was conducting at some point, because she had to look over the financial documents of whatever the purchase was.

Now alone with her sister, Myka gently approached the subject of Tracy's job search and offered to help her with her resume. Tracy's phone beeped and Myka urged her to take Kevin's call, after avoiding him since she came the day before.

Myka went out into the hallway and heard Helena speaking in the living room.

"You do know I have great difficulty understanding your accent? What do you mean my accent? Ms. Cummings, regardless of your poor command of the language, I am sure you can convey to them that I am willing to pay whatever the cost. "

Myka suppressed the smile that bubbled within at Helena's lack of decorum when mortals annoyed her.

"Oh!" Helena said, coming back into the hallway and seeing Myka.

"Tracy got a call – from Kevin," Myka said.

"A man I have yet to meet and still, I feel for him," Helena shared.

"Helena!" Myka said, gently pushing into Helena with her hip to get closer.

"Well really, Myka," Helena started, but Myka leaned in and mocked her. "Well really, Myka," Myka said and Helena laughed.

"You do a terrible imitation of me," Helena said, leaning into Myka in return. The two were enjoying this tete-a-tete when Tracy appeared in the doorway.

It was only for an instant that Tracy saw her sister standing there smiling with Helena, but she knew she had never seen Myka with that same look on her face. Not in all the time she saw her with Sam, did Myka's eyes light up the way they did when there were looking at Helena. She may not have understood the relationship, but she was starting to understand that Myka was happy. Very happy.

"Kevin wants me to come home," Tracy said softly.

"Bravo Kevin," Helena said and Myka gently shoved her elbow into Helena's side.

"I can't go back until I have some questions answered," Tracy said and her body language said she meant it.

"Well then, I'll leave you two…," Helena was saying when Tracy put her hand up.

"I would like to ask you," Tracy said, looking directly at Helena. "Alone."

"Oh goody," Helena said sarcastically, and then lowered her head when she saw Myka's expression. "It would be my pleasure."

"Tracy, this is ridiculous. I would never march into your house and ask to dissect your marriage with Kevin before giving my unwanted stamp of approval," Myka said vehemently. Enough was enough, but Helena didn't agree.

"I don't mind, Myka. I think it will help put your sister's mind at ease. Then she can concentrate on her own affairs," Helena suggested, getting an idea in her head.

Myka looked at Helena and searched those eyes to see if she really meant it – and she did. Myka looked at her sister – "Ten minutes."

Helena walked back into the room with Tracy and closed the door.

"Helena, I know you don't like me…," Tracy started, but Helena was having none of this.

"I don't know you well enough not to like you," Helena answered.

"Maybe you were right," Tracy said walking over to the fireplace and looking at the flames. "Maybe I was running away from my own stuff more than I was rushing here to help Myka."

"Good job, Ms. Bering-Benson. Excellent analysis," Helena said and meant it. She believed all behavior could be reduced to its smallest components.

"That doesn't mean I didn't come here at all for Myka. She sees the best in people and people like that can get hurt," Tracy pointed out, now sitting back down on the couch.

"Your sister and I had a rather rough go of things at the start. It was entirely my fault. I was not very nice to Myka," Helena said cutting to the chase.

"Aha!" Tracy said - having found the confirmation she was looking for.

Helena's stare made her recoil. "I made things so difficult for her, that she left New York and when she did, I felt a void – the magnitude of which I had never felt before. I followed your sister to ask her forgiveness. And do you know what she did?" Helena asked.

"She fell under your spell?" Tracy asked because this is what she expected.

"She slapped me," Helena said, and put her hand to her cheek as if she could still remember the sting.

Tracy pulled back in surprise. "Well, she must have felt – threatened," Tracy said. She had never seen her sister get physical.

"She felt angry. I had treated her poorly and she wasn't going to stand for it. She slapped me, and threw me out of the store," Helena said - smiling now. "Myka was standing up for herself. Perhaps for the first time in her life, but that is what she was doing."

"So she didn't fall for you?" Tracy asked.

"I fell for her, darling. Harder than I have ever fallen for anyone in my life," Helena said and sighed her smile.

"Do you….. love her?" Tracy asked.

"More than life itself," Helena answered truthfully. The only reason she was going along with the Bering Inquisition was because of how much she enjoyed talking about Myka.

"I must be honest, Helena. I've read the stories they write about you. You're not at all what I thought Myka would end up with," Tracy confessed and was surprised when it made Helena laugh.

Then Helena's expression changed and she became serious.

"Tracy, what Myka deserves, does not exist. She deserves the very best in every possible way, but the person to give it to her would have to be as flawless as Myka, and there is simply no one like her. So Myka has to settle for someone who isn't perfect, but who loves and adores her. Who wants to go through life with her every waking moment because she is the air they breathe. My charm, though you are correct about its existence, is not why Myka is here. She is too clever for that. What Myka sees is someone who cherishes her and who works hard, every day to be the kind of person she deserves. I will always try to make life adventurous for her. I will always try to make her happy," Helena said with such sincerity that Tracy's eyes began to water. "Have no doubt; I am grateful every day that I am Myka's choice."

The author's poignant words pierced the emotions that welled up inside the younger sibling, and Tracy threw herself at a surprised Helena and hugged her. "God, you are so lucky," Tracy said.

"Indeed, I am," a softened Helena said, patting Tracy's back.

Myka's eyes were wide when a teary eyed Tracy came back into the hallway a few minutes later.

"Myka?" Tracy said.

"Tracy?" Myka asked back and looked at a very serene Helena who shrugged her shoulders and smiled.

"You are so lucky," Tracy sobbed into Myka's shoulder as she leaned into her. Myka caught the Cheshire like grin on Helena's face.

"Yes, I really am," Myka said, smiling back at Helena. She wasn't surprised that it only took Helena ten minutes to charm Tracy and win her over. If Tracy weren't so stubborn, they would have been out nine minutes ago.

"Why don't we throw a small dinner party tomorrow night before Tracy leaves? She can meet all your friends and go home assured that you are well taken care of," Helena suggested.

"I'd like that," Tracy said to Myka, who was surprised by the suggestion, and thanked Helena for thinking of it.

"Can people make it on such short notice?" Myka asked and drew that look from Helena that simply smacked of disbelief that anyone would say no.

Helena's phone beeped and she looked at the number. "I must take this," she said, trying to get back into the library before shouting - "Get them on the phone. Good God, Ms. Cummings, you are my banker," Helena tried to say in a hushed tone. Then the door slammed.

Tracy was beginning to understand the different sides of Helena Wells. The business woman who was not getting her way was curt and slammed doors. The woman who loved her sister tried to be patient and thoughtful.

"I learned a lot by coming here," Tracy said to her sister.

"Well, there is a lot to Helena to learn," Myka said.

"I wasn't talking about Helena," Tracy smiled and perhaps for the first time in her life, saw Myka for the amazing woman that she was.