Thanks to Aimofdestiny for the beta. I hope everyone enjoys that they are now finally there.
Also: We're halfway through the story.
"Hey!" Sarah nuzzled closer to Steve's arm and tried to ignore Claudia's voice. "Hey! Hey... uhm, Ferret?"
"No." The girl mumbled and tried to shift away in her seat. Now the caretaker poked her repeatedly in Steve's back. "I found it! I found the Raven! Let's go! Ah, goddammit, Sarah, wake up!"
The time traveller sighed and opened her - well, Steve's, really - eyes, turning to the car's door, finding Claudia. The redhead stood on the sidewalk, holding two paper cups full of steaming hot coffee in a cardboard holder and eyed the man in the front passenger seat. "You fell asleep in the last hour. I found Munin!"
Taking the coffee from Claudia, Sarah looked out of the car at a tall building. Munin, the raven sat on its roof and glared down at both of them. "You sure it's him?" The writer asked drowsily, sipping her coffee.
The women's drive had taken four hours to Sioux Falls as anticipated, but then Claudia had lost track of Munin. She had still been sure he was sending her messages to find the artifact. She had said she was seeing pictures inside her head. So they had spent the last two hours searching Munin in Sioux Falls, which hadn't been a pleasant experience, because on top of everything else it had been rush hour. The caretaker had cursed a lot while driving around the town and yelling at people. At some point, Sarah had fallen asleep. And there was this problem she had figured out now: Steve was tired. His body was tired. Claudia, who seemed to be able to derive enough energy from coffee, had mentioned that he had been doing overnight research with her. The time traveller could feel that he wasn't as good as her at thriving on coffee and catnaps.
Sarah really hoped that she could work with this tired body. She took another gulp of her coffee, feeling her tired limbs slowly waking up.
"Of course it's him. I mean, have you looked at him? Have you ever seen such a big raven in South Dakota? I mean..." Claudia spun on her heels, looking up at the bird. "Munin?!" She loudly asked and earned a caw from the animal.
Again, the caretaker looked at the girl. "See? It's him!" She stated in a proud tone of voice.
"And he found the artifact?" Sarah climbed out of the car, still not taking her eyes off the roof. She hit her forehead again getting out of the car, cursing loudly. This had to stop! It was far too tall in Steve's body.
"Actually, I don't know." Claudia replied. "At least he thinks this building is important, so hey, why not take a look inside and do some good old artifact investigation? I mean, we'll probably find it, right? Since you were sent to this particular time, am I right?"
"Paul?" Sarah asked loudly and heard the noise of rustling paper inside her head.
Been reading. Her brother quickly replied. Everything's cool. You... did you find the raven?
"Yeah, we have. Time?" His sister weakly demanded to know.
Oh, you've been there for twelve hours now. That probably means our mothers just checked into their hotel in New York and you still have ten hours for the artifact, so maybe there isn't even a reason for a drop or something. He sounded like he was deeply in thought.
"Ten hours. Then maybe round two if it's not enough." Sarah looked at Claudia, who simply nodded in reaction. They walked over to the building. Reading the signs on the bells, the caretaker sighed. "Couldn't we find a building with less people in it?" She asked, sounding annoyed.
"'Harris and Harris attorneys', 'McKenzie delivery service', 'Huston tailoring' and 'Koester dry cleaning'." Sarah read out loud. "So what are we going to take first?"
"Hm, hm, hm." Claudia made and then randomly used the attorneys' bell. "I'll stick with the lawyers. Because an artifact that gives you random euphoria? Sounds absolutely like something yuppies would use if not cocaine... Or chainsaws."
Sarah raised an eyebrow at her.
"American psycho? Oh come on, Sarah! I hope I'll raise you better than that!" The caretaker sounded horrified. Slightly calmer, she continued: "We have to catch you up on all the good stuff. I managed that, too. Pete helped me. I mean, I spent my life focussed on my brother. But when I was finished with that... Warehouse and pop culture."
There was another screech from Munin, who rose into the air again and then flew off into the sunset.
"See?" The caretaker asked and smiled. "He agrees with me. Hope they are still there, because it's getting late."
Myka lay in bed on her stomach, feeling a little drowsy. She could feel Helena's fingertips on her back, softly drawing lazy circles and writing words Myka couldn't figure out. They'd stayed like this for long minutes, enjoying the silence they could share with each other before they had to talk.
Now, the Victorian shifted, leaned forwards and covered the younger woman's back with gentle kisses, moving up to the back of her neck. Myka quietly moaned as she felt HG's soft lips and tongue tracing a path along the soft skin behind her ear.
"You have no idea how much I've been longing to do that." The writer whispered breathlessly into her ear. "And for how long."
The younger agent smiled sheepishly as she turned her head to face other woman properly. "I... kind of have an idea?" She quietly stated. "But I'm really glad you're doing that now. And you can do that as much as you want."
"That does sound like an invitation." Helena grinned mischievously and leaned forwards again to cover Myka's neck with more kisses, moving over to her cheek. Then, the curly haired woman turned around fully to wrap her arms around the writer's neck to pull her close. Their kiss was chaste, but full of love. After covering Myka's neck and collarbones with a few more pecks, Helena rested her head on her lover's chest and cuddled closer. She sighed deeply, sounding utterly moonstruck. Myka closed her eyes for a second, wetting her lips before she replied:
"London." Helena furrowed her eyebrows, confused.
"Pardon?"
"Well, considering your face back then, you've been longing to kiss my neck since London. Even though it might have been only attraction." The American's index finger roamed along HG's upper arm. "Eidetic memory with an eye for detail? You should have seen your face."
"Oh, god, you should have seen yours. I was utterly delighted by it." A small laugh escaped the writer's mouth. "And by you. Your strength..."
"Yeah, thinking about it now, I get that." Myka replied happily. "I just didn't really get it back then. And all those other touches after London. Hands stroking over hands..."
"Certain Americans always rubbing the back of their neck." There was this tone in Helena's voice that showed Myka that she was grinning.
"That you noticed that..." The curly haired woman sighed.
"I noticed a lot." The Victorian replied hesitantly. "But, well, it didn't change anything about what happened afterwards, did it?" The younger woman could hear the tremble in Helena's voice and this was when she moved. She propped herself up a little to cup the artificer's face, to flip them both over gently and look at her. To look at Helena with all her love.
"Don't." She whispered, pressing her lips on the Victorian's. Pulling back again, she spoke louder. "Don't start blaming yourself again. I said it once, I'm gonna say it again: you are not the bad one. And you don't need to punish yourself for what happened back then. Helena, I love you. And you love me and I think, now that we have confessed that, we can be this honest with each other." She gently traced the older woman's lips with her thumb, recognising how HG's eyes darted to a certain point in the room. Next to the desk, there was still the artifact. Myka knew what that twitch of Helena' eyebrows meant and she leaned forwards to cover her lips with her own again.
"Everything I have said under its influence was the anger in me," She breathed the words onto HG's lips, "revealed by that artifact. And yes, there was anger in me, maybe there still is. Look, you once told me I was the woman who knows you best. You struggle so hard with your loss. And I... I hoped you would let me help you with that. Finally, after everything that happened with Sykes in the Warehouse. I thought that was the time." The younger woman brushed a wild strand of hair off the Victorian's forehead. She could feel how Helena's hand clung to the sheet that was covering them. Myka smiled and reached down to take that hand in her own and cover its knuckles with her lips, one after the other, before she continued speaking. "That was where I was mad at you. Where I was hurt, because you decided to leave instead of trusting me. I felt hurt because you don't trust yourself enough to trust me, Helena. Running away from yourself meant also running away from me. That was Boone. Where I had to learn that you needed time for yourself, uncomplicated time to recover."
The writer nodded simply in reply, her eyes filled with tears which Myka wanted to kiss away.
"When you came back, I hoped that you felt better, because you finally allowed yourself to come back to the place you belong, to the family where you belong. But I felt betrayed of this hope realising that you were avoiding me. Because you still didn't trust yourself enough to trust me with this. And that was what the artifact made me say. I was mad at you because you trusted neither me nor yourself enough for your recovery. And I was mad at myself because I couldn't find a way to help you with that. Because I struggled with my inner demons myself."
Briefly, Myka's eyes darted away, then she looked back at Helena, smiling fondly and finally wiping away the tears on the older woman's cheeks.
"I just want to help you, Helena. You need to recover, that's a valid need. An utterly valid need. And I want to help you with that."
The Victorian reached up her hand and brushed it over the younger woman's cheek. Myka leaned her face into the touch, kissing her palm. "I love you, Myka Bering." Helena whispered. "You're far too good fo-" She stopped when Myka shook her head.
"No, Helena. I'm am not far too good for you. I am good for you, if you allow me to be. And you are good for me, because you are good. You are Helena Wells, the person I love. A good person, and I have always seen that you are. That's why I always trusted you. Even back in Yellow Stone." Helena's sharp intake of breath caused Myka to lean over and kiss her again, soothingly, protectively.
"I wish you'd let me help you trust yourself again. I wish you would allow yourself to be Helena Wells for me. And not Emily Lake or anyone else. Because I only love Helena Wells."
The Victorian's eyebrows darted up.
"Emily Lake died the moment Walter Sykes put that Janus Coin back in your hand." Myka stated in a serious tone of voice. She suddenly felt sad. "She was a good woman,... she was appreciated, but she was not you. I'm not interested in Emily Lake. I'm only interested in who you really are, in Helena Wells, in you. I want Helena Wells to be part of my life, and to not run away from herself by hiding behind a dead woman's name. And for that, I need Helena Wells to trust herself again. I need you to trust me when I say that you are a trustworthy person."
The older woman smiled bitterly. "I think that would be a long and rocky road."
"Which we will walk together, Helena." The younger woman's face showed a fond smile again. "Because that's what couples do. Solving problems together, supporting and loving each other."
"Couples?" HG looked surprised. She earned a snort from Myka.
"Bering and Wells? Being madly in love with each other and finally becoming a couple?" The curly haired woman grinned.
"And you told me I'm overusing that phrase." The Victorian raised her eyebrow indignantly.
"Oh, sometimes overused phrases are good and appreciated." She pecked a kiss on Helena's cheek. "And I think there are a lot of people who really wished to hear this particular sentence. For example, everyone in the Warehouse, including Pete, Claudia, Abigail, with her king sized beds. Oh, and of course Adelaide. Don't try to tell me she wasn't trying to set us up with that Scrabble game."
"Oh, Adelaide. I absolutely forgot about her." The writer placed a hand over her forehead.
"Well." Myka turned around to look at the neutralisation bag on the ground. "We have snagged the artifact, if you want to go home, we could-"
She felt how Helena pulled her down to whisper into her ear. "No, I don't want. And talking about Adelaide and her Scrabble strategy in particular: what do you think she'd tell me if I'd interrupt this moment right now with you to go home to play Scrabble with her?"
The younger woman's eyes widened, but she still smiled as the Victorian's lips brushed across her neck. "I don't know... she seems to have an interest in our relationship."
"She made me call you three months ago, after Nate and I... after we broke up." HG's lips wandered further down, nipping at Myka's pulse point.
"She did?" Myka asked breathlessly and ignored HG's mention of Nate on purpose. There was nothing about him she wanted to talk about.
"Oh well, let's put it this way: maybe I needed someone showing me a rocky road." The Victorian smiled against the younger woman's skin.
"What an intelligent girl." Myka chuckled loudly. "We should let her win the next round of Scrabble."
"So, you're okay with Adelaide?" Helena asked, sounding a little worried. "And our relationship. That she will still be a part of my life?"
The American froze for a moment, and then looked down at her lover, finding her eyes. She smiled and kissed her. "I'm okay with everyone you think you need to actually walk that road with me."
"Oh, thank you, Myka." Helena's face brightened as well. "I... I really..."
Myka leaned back on her pillow, pulling Helena close and holding her. "It's okay. If you need her, you need her. And she's an intelligent kid. We'll get along."
She gently stroked Helena's back. "So, what do you think about cuddling and sleeping? That's what couples do... I heard."
Suddenly, she felt the older woman's hand brush against the skin on the inside of her thigh. "Maybe later. There are far more interesting things couples do that I really wish to explore further with you."