Dinner for Two (Helena Cain/Gina Inviere Femslash) Fanfiction
Title: Dinner for Two
Author: coexist_love
Rating: PG
Pairing: Helena Cain/Gina Inviere
Summary: Gina plans a surprise dinner for Helena, but things don’t do so well when one of them ends up in sickbay.
When Helena opened the door to her quarters, she was surprised to see Gina standing inside the doorway with a bottle of wine in her hand. Cain stepped inside and smiled at the blonde woman wondering exactly how long she had been planning this moment.
“What is this?” Helena asked.
“I made you dinner,” Gina said as she led Helena over to the table for two she had set up. “…and I found some wine. From a good year.”
Cain turned to face Gina and smiled, “What did I do to deserve you?” Gina said nothing, just smiled back at the brunette and planted a kiss on her lips. “Thank you,” Helena whispered.
“Thank me after you’ve eaten my food,” Gina said as she pulled one of the chairs out and waited for Helena to take her seat. Helena watched as Gina walked over to the counter and took two salads off of the island. “I know it doesn’t look like much, but its salad and its healthy, you can use all the nutrients you can get.”
Cain looked at the food on her plate. “It’s looks delicious Gi.”
“Thank you,” Gina said as she picked up her fork. “So how was your day?”
“Alright,” Cain nodded as she started to pick up tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, and carrots with her fork. “How’s the network upgrade going?”
“Great…Kendra and I are very efficient team. Who assigned her to your ship anyway?”
“The Admiralty,” Helena stated as she drover her fork into a tomato. “She’s come a long way. We’re lucky to have her on the ship.”
Gina looked down at her food for a minute. It had been less than a week since the attack and she knew that Helena hadn’t slept much in those days, she didn’t want to speculate how much she had eaten. She seemed to be eating the salad as if it was the first real meal she had seen in the last few days. Gina wished she had prepared something a little heavier that would give her more energy. She was the Admiral after all, she needed her strength.
Suddenly Helena coughed and Gina snapped to attention. “Helena? Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I think so,” Helena rasped.
“Are you coming down with something?”
“No, of course not. I’m the Admiral, I can’t get sick. That last sip of wine must have gone down the wrong pipe,” Helena coughed again, but this time the cough was followed by wheezing.
“Helena are you sure you’re okay?”
“No,” Helena gasped. “The dressing.”
“What about it?”
“What did you put in it?”
“It’s raspberries, vinegar, and walnuts,” Gina stated as she watched Helena bring a hand to her neck. “Why?”
“Walnuts,” Cain muttered. Upon a closer look Gina could see the raised bumps on Cain’s hand and wrist and panic struck her. “I’m…allergic…”
“Oh gods!” Gina exclaimed as she stood up from the table. “What can I do?”
“Ana-kit,” Helena gasped. “In the…desk.”
Without another word Gina got up and went over to Helena’s desk, where she began riffling through drawers trying to find any box that contained a syringe. How could she have been so stupid? Helena had told her she was allergic to tree nuts before. Why the hell had she used them in the recipe? Finding a yellow box clearly marked Ana-kit she brought it back over to Helena.
She opened the box and watched as one of Helena’s shaky hands removed one of the cartridges from the box and removed the cap. She then watched Helena swing her arm back and jab it into her thigh. The click that came from the cartridge had to be one of the sweetest sounds Gina had ever heard in her life. She watched Helena hold the injector.
“Call…doctor…” Helena whispered.
“Shouldn’t this…?” Gina began to question but stopped when she saw Helena shaking her head.
“No…buys time…could…come back…” Helena gasped. “Please…call Dr. Prine.”
Gina just nodded and headed to the wireless. She dialed Life Station and waited for one of the staff to pick up. “The Admiral is having an allergic reaction. She’s in her quarters. We need someone here. NOW!” Gina rattled off before hanging up the phone and moving back to Helena who had removed the needle and was now massaging the area.
Gina kneeled down next to her, gently rubbing both Helena’s thigh and back. “I’m so sorry,” Gina whispered in her ear.
“Was…an…accident,” Helena gasped.
“No, I should have remembered that you were allergic.”
“Could…happened….anyway…” Cain panted.
Gina took Helena’s hand, covered in red bumps and squeezed it. She leaned her forehead so that it was against Helena’s and whispered, “I still think I should have been more careful.” She continued to rub Helena’s back as the brunette’s breathing continued to come in short gasps. “Hang in there Hel. The med team will be here shortly.”
Helena nodded, unable to say anything, but Gina could see how rigid the Admiral’s posture was becoming and she noticed how the glands in her neck were swelling. She wanted to cry, but wouldn’t. Not while Helena was panicking.
Helena felt a wave of nausea hit her. “Need…lay…down.”
Gina placed a hand on her back and helped her seated lover out of the chair and onto the floor. “It’s okay Helena, everything is going to be fine.” Gina’s hand suddenly moved to the top button on Helena’s jacket. All that Gina could think of was keeping Helena comfortable. The jacket’s too tight…loosen it. Make sure that she’s warm.
“Cold…” she muttered.
Gina placed the back of her hand on Helena’s forehead and she could feel how cold and clammy it was. She looked around for a blanket she could use to keep her warm, but there weren’t any in the room. She ran to the adjoining bedroom and grabbed a blanket off of Helena’s bed and returned to find that Helena’s eyes had closed.
“Helena! Helena!” she called as she ran back into her. “No! Helena!” She gently shook her. She watched as Helena’s eyelids fluttered open. “Helena you can’t sleep now,” Gina stated as she laid a blanket over Helena’s body. Suddenly there was a knock at the door. “Come in!” Gina shouted.
The medics immediately came running through the door. “Ms. Inviere, we’re going to have to ask you to step back,” one of the medics stated. Gina took a step back and watched as the medics gently lifted her off the chair and onto the stretcher. Immediately they placed an oxygen mask over her nose and mouth, attempting to make her breathing easier. “What was she reacting to?”
“Walnuts…” Gina stated. “I forgot about her allergy when I prepared the food. I am so sorry.”
“Don’t be,” the medic said. “It’s good that you were here, her reaction probably would have been worse.”
Gina said nothing, she just watched as the medics inserted an IV tube into Helena’s arm while another took her blood pressure. How could he say that? She made the meal. She put the walnuts in the dressing, and she was the reason Helena’s throat almost swelled shut! How should she be happy that she was there to give her the medicine to correct something she was responsible for? Gina watched as Helena’s chest rose and fell with her shallow breaths.
The medics raised the metal bars on the side of the stretcher and began to push it towards the door. She followed them, vaguely registering the vitals they called out as they rushed her to Life Station. When they finally arrived the doctor met them. He immediately began to bark out orders and medications that needed to be pushed through the intravenous line on her hand. Gina could hear Helena wheezing faintly through the mask. She saw the doctor take the mask off and call for an intubation.
She watched as they intubated Helena, her heart heavy. Helena shouldn’t be here. This was all her fault. She could have killed her. Why hadn’t she remembered that Helena was allergic to tree nuts? How could she have been that stupid? She waited until the doctors stabilized her. When they came to get Gina she was ready to run to Helena’s side and apologize for the umpteenth time, but she restrained herself.
“How is she?” Gina asked.
“She’s going to be fine,” Dr. Prine assured Gina. Almost immediately the blonde woman let out a sigh of relief. “She went into anaphylactic shock. I am sure I don’t need to tell you how severe it was.”
Gina shook her head. “No, I know…”
“We did stabilize her and we put a tube down her throat so that she could breathe easier and protect her airway. We want to keep her overnight for observation but provided she doesn’t have a delayed reaction, she should be ready to leave by tomorrow night,” Dr. Prine reported.
“Okay…” Gina nodded. “Can I see her?”
“You may. She’s a little drowsy but she should be coherent for a few minutes.”
“Thank you,” Gina said as she stepped towards Helena’s bed. She was resting in her tank tops, her jacket placed beside her bed. Gina wondered why they hadn’t given her a gown but then again she guessed that Helena’s pants and tanks were comfortable enough for one night in Life Station. She placed a comforting hand on Helena’s head and gently played with two of the short locks that framed her face. Her skin looked pale, if Gina hadn’t touched her she would have sworn that she was a ghost in the bed. Her skin was so transparent, void of any color. She smiled regardless as she reached for one of Helena’s hands and squeezed it lightly.
She was awarded with a gentle squeeze of her hand. She looked down and saw Helena’s obsidian eyes staring back at her, two beautiful orbs that held the key to the depths of Helena’s soul. Gina could get lost in those eyes, the unexpected kindness that hid deep within. Gina could see it all right now, everything that Helena felt, all in those eyes. She brought her other hand up to Helena’s face and tucked stray hand of hair behind her ear. She smiled at her as the ventilator pumped air into her airway.
“It’s okay Hel,” Gina comforted. “Dr. Prine says you’re going to be okay, but you need to stay for observation.” She waited to see if Helena reacted to the news but figured that she must be exhausted and just continued on. “He said you can probably go back to your quarters by the end of the day tomorrow.”
There was a lull in the conversation before she finally sat on the edge of Helena’s bed and spoke again. “Helena, I am so sorry. I should have remembered that you were allergic to nuts,” Gina began as tears started to well in the blonde woman’s eyes. “Your reaction scared me to death. I thought I was going to lose you Hel…”
Helena gestured for Gina to come closer, and Gina collapsed into her bosom and started to cry. Helena wasn’t sure how long the blonde had been sobbing in her arms but she did know that shortly afterwards she had fallen asleep.
When Helena woke up the next morning Dr. Prine was standing over her, Gina strangely absent from the scene, she opened her mouth to speak but quickly realized the tube was still down her throat. “Good morning, Admiral? Would you like me to take the tube out?” She nodded. “Take a deep breath in.” He told her before he disconnected the oxygen tank. “Okay, now on the count of three, cough. One. Two. Three.”
At that moment Helena coughed and Dr. Prine yanked the tube out from her throat and set it aside as she took a deep breaths, trying to regulate her breathing. Dr. Prine handed her a glass of water and Helena took a shaky sip before lying down again.
“Gina?” she asked, her voice hoarse from the ventilator.
“She went back to your quarters. She needed to get a few things and I told her to get some rack time before she came back to see you. She was here all night.”
“How long ago?” Helena whispered.
“A couple hours. I assumed she was taking my advice and getting some sleep.”
“When can I be released?”
“We’re still watching you for a delayed reaction, so far you haven’t had any, so possibly by this evening.”
“Did Gina say anything?”
“She apologized profusely for giving you walnuts.”
“I told her it was an accident!”
“She still feels responsible.” Dr. Prine commented. “You really gave us a scare. She was afraid she was going to lose you.”
“I know…she told me last night,” Suddenly Helena yawned. “Wake me when she comes back.”
“Of course, Admiral.”
“Thank you,” with that said, Helena adjusted her position on the bed intent on going back to sleep, but she kept replaying last nigh in her mind. She should have asked Gina if she had put walnuts in the dressing before she had taken the first bite, why hadn’t she thought of it. She should have been more responsible for her own health. It wasn’t Gina’s fault that she’d had a lapse in her memory, there were days when Helena couldn’t remember the names of her crewmen because of the stress, how could she expect Gina to remember such a minute detail about her health. Okay, maybe it wasn’t so minute, but it still wasn’t Gina’s fault.
Helena lay awake for fifteen minutes, hoping that Gina would come walking into the door dressed in her work uniform with that cute blonde ponytail swinging on the back of her head. But she didn’t come and the doors didn’t open, and soon Helena was fast asleep again.
***
Dr. Prine gave Helena the okay to go back to her quarters around evening mess and told her to take light shifts for the next couple days. Helena merely nodded and got dressed in the new uniform that she was told Gina had dropped off for her. For a moment Helena wondered why she didn’t stay. Why she didn’t wait to see if she was okay. However, she once again shook off the thought and began walking back to her quarters.
Surely, Gina would be there, it was after her shift and the spare quarters Gina kept on Pegasus had become a formality since most of Gina’s things were now in Cain’s quarters. She had spent every night there these past couple weeks, bust as Helena opened the door to her quarters she didn’t see her beautiful blonde girlfriend waiting for her, she saw her empty office, an empty table, and an empty couch. In fact there was no sign that Gina had been there since this morning. The dishes where washed and dried and put away, but there was no other indication that anyone had been there all day.
Helena wondered if she was simply working late, if she would be home soon. Or maybe she met up with a friend and they had decided to eat together, they were both perfectly ordinary excuses, but she still needed to see Gina. To tell her that it wasn’t her fault. With determination she walked over to the wireless and picked up headset, dialing Gina’s room.
“Inviere,” came her soft voice.
“Gina, it’s me.”
“Helena?”
“Yes, Dr. Prine released me from sickbay. We need to talk.”
“Hel, I…I’m really tired. It’s been a long day.”
“Well we need to talk, it won’t take long. Now do you want to come here or do you want me to go there? Either way we’re having this talk!”
“Okay…I’ll come to you,” Gina said, give me ten minutes.
“Okay, see you in ten” Helena said as she hung up the headset.
Helena waited patiently until the door to her quarters opened and Gina entered. “Is this because I didn’t come to see you in LifeStation?” Gina questioned immediately.
Helena took a step closer to Gina, “It’s not that you didn’t, more of why you didn’t.”
Gina hung her head, “Helena I feel like an idiot! I didn’t need all the doctors and nurses looking at me with their faces telling me the same thing and I didn’t need to see you surrounded by machines to remind me of that.”
“Gina, I am just as much to blame as you are. You put the nuts in the dressing but I didn’t think to ask you. It’s just as much my fault that I went into anaphylactic shock as yours,” Helena said as she touched Helena’s chin and pulled her face up to face her. “I don’t want you blaming yourself for this, okay?”
“It’s not that easy,” Gina said.
“Gina, I have had reactions before and will probably have them again! I am still here! I am still breathing!” Gently Helena leaned in and kissed Gina’s lips softly. “I don’t want to lose you because of one mistake.”
“Then you won’t,” Gina answered.
“Okay,” Helena said. “Then how about tonight I make you dinner?”
“You can’t cook!” Gina exclaimed.
“I can make the dehydrated noodles they give us when we leave port!” Helena defended.
“You actually eat that cardboard! I just assumed they were garnishes! No! Helena if anyone’s going to cook tonight it’s me.”
“Oh so you’re going to start hogging my kitchen now?”
“You barely use your kitchen, besides I owe you for causing that death defying scene last night!”
“As long as nothing blows up!”
END
Author: coexist_love
Rating: PG
Pairing: Helena Cain/Gina Inviere
Summary: Gina plans a surprise dinner for Helena, but things don’t do so well when one of them ends up in sickbay.
When Helena opened the door to her quarters, she was surprised to see Gina standing inside the doorway with a bottle of wine in her hand. Cain stepped inside and smiled at the blonde woman wondering exactly how long she had been planning this moment.
“What is this?” Helena asked.
“I made you dinner,” Gina said as she led Helena over to the table for two she had set up. “…and I found some wine. From a good year.”
Cain turned to face Gina and smiled, “What did I do to deserve you?” Gina said nothing, just smiled back at the brunette and planted a kiss on her lips. “Thank you,” Helena whispered.
“Thank me after you’ve eaten my food,” Gina said as she pulled one of the chairs out and waited for Helena to take her seat. Helena watched as Gina walked over to the counter and took two salads off of the island. “I know it doesn’t look like much, but its salad and its healthy, you can use all the nutrients you can get.”
Cain looked at the food on her plate. “It’s looks delicious Gi.”
“Thank you,” Gina said as she picked up her fork. “So how was your day?”
“Alright,” Cain nodded as she started to pick up tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, and carrots with her fork. “How’s the network upgrade going?”
“Great…Kendra and I are very efficient team. Who assigned her to your ship anyway?”
“The Admiralty,” Helena stated as she drover her fork into a tomato. “She’s come a long way. We’re lucky to have her on the ship.”
Gina looked down at her food for a minute. It had been less than a week since the attack and she knew that Helena hadn’t slept much in those days, she didn’t want to speculate how much she had eaten. She seemed to be eating the salad as if it was the first real meal she had seen in the last few days. Gina wished she had prepared something a little heavier that would give her more energy. She was the Admiral after all, she needed her strength.
Suddenly Helena coughed and Gina snapped to attention. “Helena? Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I think so,” Helena rasped.
“Are you coming down with something?”
“No, of course not. I’m the Admiral, I can’t get sick. That last sip of wine must have gone down the wrong pipe,” Helena coughed again, but this time the cough was followed by wheezing.
“Helena are you sure you’re okay?”
“No,” Helena gasped. “The dressing.”
“What about it?”
“What did you put in it?”
“It’s raspberries, vinegar, and walnuts,” Gina stated as she watched Helena bring a hand to her neck. “Why?”
“Walnuts,” Cain muttered. Upon a closer look Gina could see the raised bumps on Cain’s hand and wrist and panic struck her. “I’m…allergic…”
“Oh gods!” Gina exclaimed as she stood up from the table. “What can I do?”
“Ana-kit,” Helena gasped. “In the…desk.”
Without another word Gina got up and went over to Helena’s desk, where she began riffling through drawers trying to find any box that contained a syringe. How could she have been so stupid? Helena had told her she was allergic to tree nuts before. Why the hell had she used them in the recipe? Finding a yellow box clearly marked Ana-kit she brought it back over to Helena.
She opened the box and watched as one of Helena’s shaky hands removed one of the cartridges from the box and removed the cap. She then watched Helena swing her arm back and jab it into her thigh. The click that came from the cartridge had to be one of the sweetest sounds Gina had ever heard in her life. She watched Helena hold the injector.
“Call…doctor…” Helena whispered.
“Shouldn’t this…?” Gina began to question but stopped when she saw Helena shaking her head.
“No…buys time…could…come back…” Helena gasped. “Please…call Dr. Prine.”
Gina just nodded and headed to the wireless. She dialed Life Station and waited for one of the staff to pick up. “The Admiral is having an allergic reaction. She’s in her quarters. We need someone here. NOW!” Gina rattled off before hanging up the phone and moving back to Helena who had removed the needle and was now massaging the area.
Gina kneeled down next to her, gently rubbing both Helena’s thigh and back. “I’m so sorry,” Gina whispered in her ear.
“Was…an…accident,” Helena gasped.
“No, I should have remembered that you were allergic.”
“Could…happened….anyway…” Cain panted.
Gina took Helena’s hand, covered in red bumps and squeezed it. She leaned her forehead so that it was against Helena’s and whispered, “I still think I should have been more careful.” She continued to rub Helena’s back as the brunette’s breathing continued to come in short gasps. “Hang in there Hel. The med team will be here shortly.”
Helena nodded, unable to say anything, but Gina could see how rigid the Admiral’s posture was becoming and she noticed how the glands in her neck were swelling. She wanted to cry, but wouldn’t. Not while Helena was panicking.
Helena felt a wave of nausea hit her. “Need…lay…down.”
Gina placed a hand on her back and helped her seated lover out of the chair and onto the floor. “It’s okay Helena, everything is going to be fine.” Gina’s hand suddenly moved to the top button on Helena’s jacket. All that Gina could think of was keeping Helena comfortable. The jacket’s too tight…loosen it. Make sure that she’s warm.
“Cold…” she muttered.
Gina placed the back of her hand on Helena’s forehead and she could feel how cold and clammy it was. She looked around for a blanket she could use to keep her warm, but there weren’t any in the room. She ran to the adjoining bedroom and grabbed a blanket off of Helena’s bed and returned to find that Helena’s eyes had closed.
“Helena! Helena!” she called as she ran back into her. “No! Helena!” She gently shook her. She watched as Helena’s eyelids fluttered open. “Helena you can’t sleep now,” Gina stated as she laid a blanket over Helena’s body. Suddenly there was a knock at the door. “Come in!” Gina shouted.
The medics immediately came running through the door. “Ms. Inviere, we’re going to have to ask you to step back,” one of the medics stated. Gina took a step back and watched as the medics gently lifted her off the chair and onto the stretcher. Immediately they placed an oxygen mask over her nose and mouth, attempting to make her breathing easier. “What was she reacting to?”
“Walnuts…” Gina stated. “I forgot about her allergy when I prepared the food. I am so sorry.”
“Don’t be,” the medic said. “It’s good that you were here, her reaction probably would have been worse.”
Gina said nothing, she just watched as the medics inserted an IV tube into Helena’s arm while another took her blood pressure. How could he say that? She made the meal. She put the walnuts in the dressing, and she was the reason Helena’s throat almost swelled shut! How should she be happy that she was there to give her the medicine to correct something she was responsible for? Gina watched as Helena’s chest rose and fell with her shallow breaths.
The medics raised the metal bars on the side of the stretcher and began to push it towards the door. She followed them, vaguely registering the vitals they called out as they rushed her to Life Station. When they finally arrived the doctor met them. He immediately began to bark out orders and medications that needed to be pushed through the intravenous line on her hand. Gina could hear Helena wheezing faintly through the mask. She saw the doctor take the mask off and call for an intubation.
She watched as they intubated Helena, her heart heavy. Helena shouldn’t be here. This was all her fault. She could have killed her. Why hadn’t she remembered that Helena was allergic to tree nuts? How could she have been that stupid? She waited until the doctors stabilized her. When they came to get Gina she was ready to run to Helena’s side and apologize for the umpteenth time, but she restrained herself.
“How is she?” Gina asked.
“She’s going to be fine,” Dr. Prine assured Gina. Almost immediately the blonde woman let out a sigh of relief. “She went into anaphylactic shock. I am sure I don’t need to tell you how severe it was.”
Gina shook her head. “No, I know…”
“We did stabilize her and we put a tube down her throat so that she could breathe easier and protect her airway. We want to keep her overnight for observation but provided she doesn’t have a delayed reaction, she should be ready to leave by tomorrow night,” Dr. Prine reported.
“Okay…” Gina nodded. “Can I see her?”
“You may. She’s a little drowsy but she should be coherent for a few minutes.”
“Thank you,” Gina said as she stepped towards Helena’s bed. She was resting in her tank tops, her jacket placed beside her bed. Gina wondered why they hadn’t given her a gown but then again she guessed that Helena’s pants and tanks were comfortable enough for one night in Life Station. She placed a comforting hand on Helena’s head and gently played with two of the short locks that framed her face. Her skin looked pale, if Gina hadn’t touched her she would have sworn that she was a ghost in the bed. Her skin was so transparent, void of any color. She smiled regardless as she reached for one of Helena’s hands and squeezed it lightly.
She was awarded with a gentle squeeze of her hand. She looked down and saw Helena’s obsidian eyes staring back at her, two beautiful orbs that held the key to the depths of Helena’s soul. Gina could get lost in those eyes, the unexpected kindness that hid deep within. Gina could see it all right now, everything that Helena felt, all in those eyes. She brought her other hand up to Helena’s face and tucked stray hand of hair behind her ear. She smiled at her as the ventilator pumped air into her airway.
“It’s okay Hel,” Gina comforted. “Dr. Prine says you’re going to be okay, but you need to stay for observation.” She waited to see if Helena reacted to the news but figured that she must be exhausted and just continued on. “He said you can probably go back to your quarters by the end of the day tomorrow.”
There was a lull in the conversation before she finally sat on the edge of Helena’s bed and spoke again. “Helena, I am so sorry. I should have remembered that you were allergic to nuts,” Gina began as tears started to well in the blonde woman’s eyes. “Your reaction scared me to death. I thought I was going to lose you Hel…”
Helena gestured for Gina to come closer, and Gina collapsed into her bosom and started to cry. Helena wasn’t sure how long the blonde had been sobbing in her arms but she did know that shortly afterwards she had fallen asleep.
When Helena woke up the next morning Dr. Prine was standing over her, Gina strangely absent from the scene, she opened her mouth to speak but quickly realized the tube was still down her throat. “Good morning, Admiral? Would you like me to take the tube out?” She nodded. “Take a deep breath in.” He told her before he disconnected the oxygen tank. “Okay, now on the count of three, cough. One. Two. Three.”
At that moment Helena coughed and Dr. Prine yanked the tube out from her throat and set it aside as she took a deep breaths, trying to regulate her breathing. Dr. Prine handed her a glass of water and Helena took a shaky sip before lying down again.
“Gina?” she asked, her voice hoarse from the ventilator.
“She went back to your quarters. She needed to get a few things and I told her to get some rack time before she came back to see you. She was here all night.”
“How long ago?” Helena whispered.
“A couple hours. I assumed she was taking my advice and getting some sleep.”
“When can I be released?”
“We’re still watching you for a delayed reaction, so far you haven’t had any, so possibly by this evening.”
“Did Gina say anything?”
“She apologized profusely for giving you walnuts.”
“I told her it was an accident!”
“She still feels responsible.” Dr. Prine commented. “You really gave us a scare. She was afraid she was going to lose you.”
“I know…she told me last night,” Suddenly Helena yawned. “Wake me when she comes back.”
“Of course, Admiral.”
“Thank you,” with that said, Helena adjusted her position on the bed intent on going back to sleep, but she kept replaying last nigh in her mind. She should have asked Gina if she had put walnuts in the dressing before she had taken the first bite, why hadn’t she thought of it. She should have been more responsible for her own health. It wasn’t Gina’s fault that she’d had a lapse in her memory, there were days when Helena couldn’t remember the names of her crewmen because of the stress, how could she expect Gina to remember such a minute detail about her health. Okay, maybe it wasn’t so minute, but it still wasn’t Gina’s fault.
Helena lay awake for fifteen minutes, hoping that Gina would come walking into the door dressed in her work uniform with that cute blonde ponytail swinging on the back of her head. But she didn’t come and the doors didn’t open, and soon Helena was fast asleep again.
***
Dr. Prine gave Helena the okay to go back to her quarters around evening mess and told her to take light shifts for the next couple days. Helena merely nodded and got dressed in the new uniform that she was told Gina had dropped off for her. For a moment Helena wondered why she didn’t stay. Why she didn’t wait to see if she was okay. However, she once again shook off the thought and began walking back to her quarters.
Surely, Gina would be there, it was after her shift and the spare quarters Gina kept on Pegasus had become a formality since most of Gina’s things were now in Cain’s quarters. She had spent every night there these past couple weeks, bust as Helena opened the door to her quarters she didn’t see her beautiful blonde girlfriend waiting for her, she saw her empty office, an empty table, and an empty couch. In fact there was no sign that Gina had been there since this morning. The dishes where washed and dried and put away, but there was no other indication that anyone had been there all day.
Helena wondered if she was simply working late, if she would be home soon. Or maybe she met up with a friend and they had decided to eat together, they were both perfectly ordinary excuses, but she still needed to see Gina. To tell her that it wasn’t her fault. With determination she walked over to the wireless and picked up headset, dialing Gina’s room.
“Inviere,” came her soft voice.
“Gina, it’s me.”
“Helena?”
“Yes, Dr. Prine released me from sickbay. We need to talk.”
“Hel, I…I’m really tired. It’s been a long day.”
“Well we need to talk, it won’t take long. Now do you want to come here or do you want me to go there? Either way we’re having this talk!”
“Okay…I’ll come to you,” Gina said, give me ten minutes.
“Okay, see you in ten” Helena said as she hung up the headset.
Helena waited patiently until the door to her quarters opened and Gina entered. “Is this because I didn’t come to see you in LifeStation?” Gina questioned immediately.
Helena took a step closer to Gina, “It’s not that you didn’t, more of why you didn’t.”
Gina hung her head, “Helena I feel like an idiot! I didn’t need all the doctors and nurses looking at me with their faces telling me the same thing and I didn’t need to see you surrounded by machines to remind me of that.”
“Gina, I am just as much to blame as you are. You put the nuts in the dressing but I didn’t think to ask you. It’s just as much my fault that I went into anaphylactic shock as yours,” Helena said as she touched Helena’s chin and pulled her face up to face her. “I don’t want you blaming yourself for this, okay?”
“It’s not that easy,” Gina said.
“Gina, I have had reactions before and will probably have them again! I am still here! I am still breathing!” Gently Helena leaned in and kissed Gina’s lips softly. “I don’t want to lose you because of one mistake.”
“Then you won’t,” Gina answered.
“Okay,” Helena said. “Then how about tonight I make you dinner?”
“You can’t cook!” Gina exclaimed.
“I can make the dehydrated noodles they give us when we leave port!” Helena defended.
“You actually eat that cardboard! I just assumed they were garnishes! No! Helena if anyone’s going to cook tonight it’s me.”
“Oh so you’re going to start hogging my kitchen now?”
“You barely use your kitchen, besides I owe you for causing that death defying scene last night!”
“As long as nothing blows up!”
END