Chapter 4: Leena

Leena thinks about how Myka and HG would get together sometimes. She can read auras and the way HG and Myka glow around each other means Leena usually has to shade her eyes and make an excuse to leave the room.

Myka and HG would be retrieving an artefact, a dangerous one, one of the ones that leaves dead bodies all over the town, and Myka would be running her hand over the mantelpiece in a suspect's house, would pick up something innocuous, a quill, probably, one of Sappho's, that would make sense. And then HG would walk back into the room before the home owner to give Myka time to finish her inspection of the room. Myka would catch her eye and put the artefact down, not knowing what she'd been holding. They'd have to stay in the town overnight again, and this time Myka would knock on HG's hotel room door after midnight. She'd quote poetry at HG, then kiss her and HG would willingly accept this because HG has been waiting so, so long for Myka to come to her. HG would close the door behind Myka, then be thrown against in, pinned between the door and Myka as Myka ran her hands over her. Myka would tug HG's pajama jacket open, the two buttons giving up and flying from the fabric. HG would raise her hands to Myka's face, hold her still a moment and see nothing but love and desire in the face of the woman she loved.

"I love you," Myka would say finally, hours later as she traced patterns on HG's bare back as they finally dozed off early in the morning. HG would stiffen, because something wouldn't feel right. She'd still echo the sentiment and kiss her favourite woman goodnight, because HG has always loved Myka.

The next day HG would bag the quill and watch as Myka's eyes went from soft and loving to dazed and confused. They'd fly back to the warehouse in silence, both feeling slightly violated. HG would apologise, just once with feeling, then detach and call Artie on the Farnsworth. He'd explain the artefact and HG would excuse herself to the tiny restroom and look at her face in the mirror, knowing that she should have known better but they didn't know it was a love artefact that bound people to do the will of the first person they saw. She should have known Myka was whammied; Myka would never love her. When she got back to her seat, Myka would be pretending to be asleep; HG now knows what Myka looks like asleep even though neither of them got a lot of sleep the night before. It's only HG that's been exposed; Myka now knows that HG's greatest wish is Myka and HG knows that Myka will not forget the words HG spoke last night, because she knows now what that uneasy feeling was; she knows Myka didn't mean it.

Myka didn't mean it, but HG did.

"You could have done a lot worse," Myka would say that night, as HG opened her bedroom door to Myka's knocking.

"I did the worst imaginable," HG'd say, turning away but leaving the door open. Myka would come in, close the door behind her, remembering the time Pete accidentally made her 9 months pregnant.

"No one died, and we'll be fine. You could have had me destroy the world," Myka would say, attempting to make a joke. HG would look away.

"I could not destroy the world that homes you." HG would say, sitting down on her bed and covering her face. "I violated you! I violated your consent, your trust because I was stupid enough to believe that you would come to me under your own free will. I should have known something was wrong. I did know something was wrong, when you said that..." Myka would stop HG with a hand on her shoulder. HG's hands would slip down from her face and catch on her locket, wrap themselves around the comfort they found there. Myka would sit next to HG and her hand would cup HG's cheek.

"You didn't make me do anything I didn't want to do," Myka would say, gently and slowly, as if explaining something very simple to someone very stupid.

"Under the influence of an artefact," HG would scoff. Myka would lean in and kiss her, soft, warm and forgiving. HG would pull away slowly, savouring what she was sure would be her last kiss from Myka, would look away and rest her hands awkwardly in her own lap. Myka would wrap an arm around HG's shoulder, tip HG's face to hers then cover HG's hands with one of her own.

"I'm not under the influence of anything but you. We would have got here eventually, I would have come to your door by myself once I'd got the courage, once I was sure I wouldn't be turned away." HG would find herself disbelieving but unable to pull herself away from Myka. Her hands would reach for Myka's, she would tangle their fingers together. HG would sigh and lean her forehead against Myka's cheek.

"You just think it's real because…"

"The night before last I paced outside your hotel room door, wanting to knock but with not brave enough to answer if you asked me why I was there. I've felt this way a while. Since Russia, at least. Maybe since the grappler. I've been whammied enough to know when I've been whammied, but the part of me that was watching didn't have any argument, didn't have any qualms about the way I touched you. I knew what was going on, and all I felt was relief, that this was finally happening, that I finally had the courage to step into you, that I finally knew that you felt the same way." Myka looks away, smirks a little. "Well, that's not all I felt."

HG would smile and seem to accept this at face value and let Myka kiss her, but for the next week she would doubt herself, wouldn't touch Myka first, would dodge away from Myka when she could get away with it until Myka finally showed her something she was hoping she wouldn't have to – a series of poems she'd written, dedicated to the author's beauty, courage and general dashing-ness dating back some months, some years. HG would revel in the words, soak them in one by one as Myka squirmed; the same way HG would squirm when Myka would read her works in front of her in reverse, then she'd look up and catch Myka by the chin.

"What did I ever do," she'd breathe, "to get this lucky?"

Myka would notice the difference in the way HG kissed when she was certain her affection was returned. HG wouldn't notice any difference at all, because Myka's loved her all along.

A buzzer goes off in the kitchen and Leena shakes her head, goes in to pull the vegetarian lasagne out of the oven. Myka is sitting on the counter eating twizzlers and HG comes swaggering in – there's really no other way to describe the way she struts toward Myka. She moves Myka's knees apart and stands between them, resting her hands on the counter either side of Myka's hips.

"I believe you owe me two of those," HG says, grinning, "I beat you fair and square." Myka has frozen, twizzler in her mouth. She catches Leena's eye and blushes deeply before pushing the rest of the packet at HG and jumping down from the counter – a mistake, she realises almost immediately as her body is pressed tight against HG's. Myka blushes deeper – Leena hadn't thought it possible -and Leena puts the lasagne on the counter to cool before leaving the kitchen as quickly and discreetly as she can. Their auras are glowing so bright it's a wonder the building hasn't caught fire.