The angst in this shower scene is dedicated to crazycat9449. No, I didn't forget how lazy you are. And yes, it's important for the plot, I swear.
Thanks to Aimofdestiny for the beta.
2014
Myka woke up with the feeling of Helena's lips gently pressed against her forehead. The older woman held her closely, long limbs wrapped tightly around her. It was like the American was cuddled up in her own HG-shaped sheet that had a heartbeat and breathed rhythmically.
She smiled and nuzzled into the writer's neck, feeling the vibration of her chuckle against her own skin. "So at least one of us got some sleep tonight." The Victorian whispered, kissing her forehead again.
"You didn't?" Myka asked, worried. But Helena just sighed. "I got something better: watching you sleep. Which is utterly delightful."
"Oh." The younger woman wasn't sure if she should be embarrassed, or not. So she just shifted downwards, hiding herself under the bedsheet.
"Myka? Are you alright?" The inventor lifted the sheet up slightly to look down at her. "No." Myka replied and reached up her arm to pull it down again. "It's early in the morning, I haven't had any coffee yet, I should probably brush my teeth before I face you properly... and also we have got to go back to the Warehouse today. Which is the thing that bugs me most, because, well, I really like this bubble made of this hotel room... and the fact that you're naked down there."
Myka leaned forwards to softly kiss the inside curve of Helena's breast, hearing the other woman chuckle. "I am?" HG asked, faking surprise. "Let me check on that." The writer joined the younger woman under the bed sheet. "Good morning, love." She whispered, smiling brightly and pecking a kiss on Myka's cheek.
"Good morning." The younger woman replied and held a hand in front of her mouth.
"So, you're still here." She murmured, muffled.
Helena raised an eyebrow, tilting her head slightly. "Yes, indeed I am. Is there something that surprises you about that, Myka? I thought-"
"Oh god, no. That came out differently than I wanted it to... It's just... well...I'm pretty sure I have morning breath and my hair is all messy and-" Myka was interrupted by Helena, who started crying out:
"Oh my god, Agent Bering! Did you know that we are both in fact women with normal bodies which don't look and smell all nice in the morning?" The Victorian's eyes widened.
"Don't laugh at me. That's also not what I meant." The younger agent rolled her eyes.
"So... then tell me, please, after I quickly express that I am very fond of your messy morning hair." The Victorian smiled and brushed the back of her hand against Myka's forearm.
"It's this sudden normality with you, Helena." Myka replied, still with her hand in front of her mouth. "It's... in between all that saving of the world and H.G. Wells is a woman and time travel, it's actually nice to have some sort of normality with you. Not that we are normal, we aren't normal at all, which is a good thing. But it's nice to wake up in your arms, to have messy hair and morning breath like a normal couple."
Helena studied her for a short moment. "So what you're trying to say is that we are two extraordinary woman who can have some slight normalcy in their relationship with each other?"
Myka shrugged. "Maybe. I don't know what I am saying anymore. Right now I am facing you naked in front of me and I'm babbling..."
Helena leaned forwards to brush her lips against the younger woman's shoulder. "I'd say that I am also enjoying waking up with you in my arms, morning breath and messy hair, Myka. And from what I got from your speech, I would say we're both enjoying that we can now be comfortable around each other." She turned her head to kiss Myka's cheek. "Even though you still won't kiss me with with that morning breath, am I right?"
The younger woman nodded, still pressing her hand to her mouth.
"Alright." Helena lifted the sheet to slip out of bed. Myka poked out her head as well, facing the other woman, who stood next to the bed completely naked, with her hands on her hips. "Then you should probably brush your teeth before you join me in the shower. Because I plan on kissing you there... a lot. Among other things." With a impressive sway of her hips, Helena turned around and walked into the bath room.
Myka's head fell back on the pillow. She closed her eyes, smiling. This was just... easy. Communicating with Helena was actually easy!
She laughed before rising from the bed to follow the other woman into the bathroom.
"What do you think that receptionist would say if she knew you haven't used the other room at all?" She asked, but then yelped loudly when, all of a sudden, Helena pulled her close into the corner in the bathroom.
Neither of them heard the Farnsworth ring because they were busy with each other in the shower.
Claudia closed her Farnsworth, a loud curse escaping her mouth. She looked anxiously at the trembling and shaking body in front of her in the car seat, Steve's body with her friends' daughter in it... or not. The redhead wasn't sure anymore. It was terrifying to watch the seizure they were having. And of course the only persons of whom Claudia knew they knew something about time travel, especially that time machine Sarah was using, weren't taking her call.
The caretaker was just about to teleport directly in one of their hotel rooms as Steve's body suddenly reached out their hand, gripping onto her coat. Claudia yelped surprised and took a step back on the street, just to inch closer to the car again immediately.
And then Steve was taking a deep breath, sounding incredibly sick whilst doing it, but he looked directly at her, coughing.
"Sarah?" Claudia asked, worried. "Steve? Sarah?"
"Sarah." The person in the car in front of the redhead replied breathlessly. "Sarah... and oh my god!"
Sarah fell back into the seat, her eyes closed. Quickly, Claudia held a hand on her forehead, checking if she was running temperature or anything, because... that just had been frightening.
"What the hell just happened?!" The caretaker was sure she had lost the ability to keep her voice quiet along with her cool on the street when she had gone around the car to help the the time traveler.
"Give me a few seconds. I have to adjust myself to what just has happened and currently, there are rather a lot people shouting at each other in my head." The writer sighed deeply.
"More people than just your brother?" Claudia's question was rewarded with a weak nod from Sarah.
"Adelaide." She whispered, still out of breath. "And my best friend Julia."
"So..." Claudia tried to handle the information that she wasn't on this artifact hunt with only Sarah and Paul but also with this child asked Abigail to watch and a mysterious fourth person.
"Paul tried to send me back after the first 22 hours and 19 minutes were up, Claud. And well, it seems his program has caused a kind of seizure in combination with the fact that I'd fallen asleep and..." Sarah listened up for a moment, then she looked like she was amused about some information she just had heard. "That my body is dehydrated."
For a second the girl looked like she was in pain. "Uhhh, Julia just slapped Paul. I really wish I could have seen that. Anyway... it seems Julia has saved me and now my best friend knows about my secret life in Univille." There was a bitter smile on the time traveler's face.
"I'm just glad you're fine." Claudia let go a breath of relief.
"Well, we're figuring that out at the moment. Yes, Julia, I'm well... and hi there." Sarah looked up to the upper left while talking, clearly showing she was currently communicating with those people inside her head. "Yes, I live in Crazytown, South Dakota. Listen... Julia I'm sorry, I really wish to describe this further to you, but currently, I'm busy, I think, because I'm trying to un-mess this situation with my family upstairs frozen in stone." She sighed loudly. "Yes, I promise to explain everything properly to you when I'm done. Could you just check on my condition and then tell me if I'm allowed to carry on?"
Claudia's eyes widened. Had Sarah just really implied going on with the artifact hunt after what had happened? In this condition? "Sarah, is that a good idea? I mean..."
The other woman looked at her, raising one of Steve's eyebrows. "So, you do know that I'm the daughter of two workaholics who would carry on as well?"
The caretaker huffed as she saw Sarah jolting up from her seat, leaving the car. "I don't know if I can agree with that, Sarah. It's also Steve's body." She tried but was rewarded with an excessive shake of the time traveler's head. "My family's still in danger. So let's go interview those lawyers."
Claudia wanted to reply something to make sure the other woman really was alright, but then she was interrupted by the ring of her own Farnsworth.
Myka gently scrubbed Helena's back with body wash and then let the hot water run over it. The Victorian moaned softly in reaction to the younger woman's gentle touches.
Then, the writer spun around on her heels to cover the American's neck and shoulders with gentle kisses. But then, HG stopped her motion to regard a certain point on Myka's right shoulder carefully.
"Myka." She asked interestedly. "Tell me, that scar? What happened?"
Looking up into her eyes, Helena found the American conflicted. Myka chewed on her lower lip and then pulled the writer closer.
"It's a gunshot wound." She replied and pressed her lips onto Helena's temple.
"A gunshot wound?" The Victorian cupped Myka's cheeks to look into her eyes. "When did you get shot? I didn't know you did."
The younger woman pulled back, took the body wash and started soaping herself. She looked extremely nervous. Avoiding the older woman's eyes, Myka started speaking:"I... I never did, Helena."
"Alright, and that's not only confusing, now you're also avoiding explaining it?" Helena tilted her head at the question. "It's... I thought..."
"Well, okay." Quickly, Myka washed away the soap and then pulled HG closer again, grabbing onto her hips. "You said you don't want to know what I've seen during my experience with the future, right?"
The older woman's eyes widened. "Oh."
"I'll try without mentioning it. Well, it wasn't that I'd only travelled to a future, seeing it. It was connected to a complete body swap. And older version of me came back in time and she was chasing... somebody in the present, I guess. I can only imagine what really happened, because I wasn't there." Helena watched Myka struggle with explaining confusing possibilities of time travel. During the time she did research for her time machine, the Victorian had experienced comparable situations. She sighed.
"There has been a conflict? Is it that what you are trying to say?" She tried to help the younger woman out.
"Yes, but then... there was a certain incident, I believe, in the distant future and while trying to undo it, the... person who was responsible for it also undid the time line in which I actually time travelled and got shot." Myka looked down into her eyes and tried a small smile. "It sounds so confusing when talking about it. But that's the conclusion I came to when I thought more thoroughly about it."
"Time travel is a rather confusing topic, I can only imagine." Helena smiled back. "But... then, if you're saying that the shooting never actually happened, why do you still have a scar?"
The American shrugged; she looked desperate, while narrowing her eyes and looking at the water running down their bodies. "I don't know. Well, Helena, it's difficult to explain. I was in a very unsettling emotional condition back then, because... it was shortly after I'd visited you in Boone, and... I was worried thinking about whether you'd ever come back. If we would ever... find the way to each other." She paused and kissed Helena's forehead again. "At first, before I knew to what other cirumstances this time travel was linked, I just thought this watch tried to show me a nice future with you. I know you don't want me to talk about it. But I thought it was all happening to make me feel better when I was anxious about you, to assure me everything was going to be alright. And after that was undone and never happened... I thought that the scar is maybe there to keep me from going insane."
Helena watched the different emotions on Myka's face and struggled with the urge to get deeper into the topic and to keep herself from having the emotions that would be linked to this discussion.
"So I could wait for you to come back without feeling bad myself." HG could hear that Myka tried to express these words as careful as possible. The younger woman really didn't want to hurt her.
Helena carefully brushed her hand across the skin on Myka's right shoulder. She smiled carefully, before looking again up into her eyes. "Scars remind us that the past is real, Myka." She whispered, feeling the tears swell in her eyes. "Maybe yours is there to remind you of the future?"
The other woman pursed her lips and lowered her gaze. "I... you don't..."
HG shook her head and interrupted the other woman's struggle for words by leaning forwards and press her lips onto the scar. She cared so much for Myka that - even though she wasn't sure if she could ever give Myka the future she had seen for herself or for them - she wanted to let her know that she wouldn't let her struggle with it all on her own.
Lips made contact with skin and suddenly-
Something cut through Helena's mind like a sharp blade, green eyes, looking into her own. A watch lying on a table, a spicy drink burning her throat, something was off and Helena tried to find out what had happened.
HG stumbled through the shower with her eyes closed and almost slipped. Her fingernails dug into Myka's skin desperately trying to get some hold. After exclaiming her name in an utterly horrified tone of voice, Myka steadied her. The younger woman led the Victorian out of the shower, gently pushing her down on the toilet seat. "Are you alright?"
There was this dizziness and nausea. Helena knew it, she had had it so often, back when she had travelled back in time excessively with her machine. But this was worse.
"I..." She pressed over her lips, trying to catch her breath. "I don't feel that good."
Myka knelt in front of her. HG looked at her. They were both dripping wet, the bathroom's floor flooded and the shower still running. "What can I do? You're completely pale."
"I..." Helena tried, but the nausea hit her again. She stood up quickly, turned around and only just opened the toilet before retching into it.
"Oh Helena." Gently, Myka rubbed her naked back. "What's going on? Suddenly, you're... Can I get you something?"
The Victorian looked up. "A towel maybe...?" She absend-mindedly clutched her locket. "And maybe glass of cold water. It's already...better...almost."
Helena tried to fight the new wave of dizziness and nausea but couldn't help it.