FF: Time After Time | Warehouse 13 | HG/Myka | NC-17 | Part 11
Steve Jinks was no stranger to sleepless nights, but insomnia became a silent partner when he worked undercover. So when someone knocked on his door at nearly three in the morning he was wide awake and ready for them, his .9mm on the coffee table in front of him. He checked the safety then walked to the door, double checking the peephole.
The middle aged woman with glasses didn’t seem threatening, but working for the Warehouse, you could never be sure.
“Steve? Steve I know you’re in there. You need to open up, I have to talk to you. It’s an emergency.” Okay, so the crazy lady knew his name… that didn’t mean much. “Steve, I know you used to work for Warehouse 13, I know you’re best friend is Claudia, and I know you nearly died after reading Shakespeare’s lost folio. Now will you please open the door?”
The crazy lady knew more than his name, she knew top-secret information only six other people in the world knew. He opened the door and leveled his gun. “Who are you?”
“Steve… it’s Myka.”
He looked for the lie but it wasn’t there. Nothing but truth pinged as he stared at the woman that couldn’t possibly be Myka Bering. “You’re… you’re lying.”
“Steve, you know I can’t lie to you. Please, just let me in and I’ll explain everything okay?”
Reluctantly he opened the door but kept his gun trained on her. “Come in, empty your purse on the table.”
Myka did as asked, admiring his thoroughness if slightly annoyed at the waste of time. “My license says I’m Molly Davis… but I’m not, Steve. I’m Myka Bering, I’m an agent at Warehouse 13. My partner is Pete Lattimer. I work with Artie and Claudia. I live at Leena’s Bed and Breakfast. Mrs. Frederic is the Warehouse guardian and Jane Lattimer is the regent who helped you go undercover to find out what Sykes is planning.” Steve’s mouth hung open, the gun all but forgotten in his hand. “Believe me now?”
“But… how… but…”
“Something awful happened,” Myka began gently. “People died Steve… and I used HG Wells’ time machine to come back and try and fix it. Stop it from happening.”
“But I thought… Artie said we can’t change the past.”
“Change it, no… manipulate it? Yes. I think so.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Then let me explain it.”
And she did. Every detail. Steve needed to know them all in order for her plan to work, even the most gut-wrenching of them all.
“I died!”
“Steve…”
“That just… totally blows.”
He sounded so much like Claudia right then Myka couldn’t help a tiny smile. “That’s why I came back.” She took a breath, steeled her resolve. “HG… she died saving us in the Warehouse.”
“Oh, man, Myka I’m so sorry.” Steve hadn’t had the chance to meet HG Wells but Claudia had filled him in on the gist of her brief tenure, including her and Myka’s relationship that everyone knew about but no one mentioned. It was no wonder then that she’d jumped at the chance to travel back in time to try and save everyone, him included.
“I think I’ve figured out a way not to change the timeline, or at least our perception of the timeline and still manage to fix things. But I’m going to need your help, and it’s not going to be easy, not by a long shot.”
“What’s my alternative?”
“Well, we could completely alter the timeline somehow, but I’m vaguely concerned that might rip a hole in the fabric of the universe… or, we don’t change anything, and you die.”
“Okay, not really happy with either of those options, so we’ll go with your plan then.”
“That’s what I figured.”
As Myka explained the plan Steve realized just how dangerous all of it was going to be. She told him about getting the drop on her at the apartment complex with HG and Pete, of tracking them off road and getting the Janus coin, of chasing Claudia into the woods and revealing he was undercover. All this was easy enough to handle, and Steve took it in stride, right up to the part where he got back to the airplane hangar.
“This is where it gets tricky,” Myka warned, fully aware of the understatement. “I don’t know exactly when Sykes has you killed, but you’re upstairs in the office of the hangar. They give you an injection of potassium to cause a heart attack.” She reached in her bag and pulled out a syringe. “This is a very powerful sedative, it will slow your heart rate down to the point it can barely be detected. I’ve mixed it with a paralytic. You won’t be able to move at all. For all intents and purposes you will appear dead. You’re going to need to somehow switch this syringe for the one Marcus kills you with.”
Steve looked absolutely horrified but he managed to ask calmly, “Then what?”
“Artie and Mrs. Frederic came, they put you in a body bag to take back to the Warehouse. This is very important: the paralytic and sedative should wear off in a few hours, but it may take longer than that.”
“So what do I do in the mean time?”
Myka shrugged. “Enjoy the quiet?” Steve blanched. “Look, all I know is that after that we find the video in your lighter, we leave for Hong Kong. Things get pretty crazy after that.” She explained the chess lock, the Regents sanctum, and Sykes back door into the Warehouse. If possible, Steve’s face got even paler. By the time she told him about the artifact bomb, he looked ready to pass out.
“HG found a way to direct part of the shield over us in the ovoid room to protect us from the blast… I need you to do the same thing… for the entire Bronze section.”
“And just how am I supposed to do that?”
Finally, Myka smiled. “With a little help from our friends.” She pulled out a sheaf of papers and spread them out on the table. As a Regent, Molly Davis had access to the Warehouse’s database and, even better, its entire schematics. Including the upgrades to the power systems Claudia had made. Artie, being Artie, had made her spell out in crystal clear instructions how all of the upgrades worked. At the time Myka had assumed it was a form of punishment but now she wondered if it was a way for Artie to fix or undo what had been done should something have happened to the young agent.
“You see these junction boxes here,” Myka pointed out, “I think these are for the main power feeds that the run the shield. HG was able to redirect part of that energy into a sort of bubble around us. If you can do that on a larger scale over the Bronze sector, and maybe more-”
“-Myka, I’m an ATF agent, I’m not an electrical engineer,” Steve muttered helplessly. “There’s no way…”
“Look, Steve, I know this is a lot to ask-”
“-No, bailing a friend out of jail after they’ve gotten arrested for being drunk and disorderly on Fire Island is ‘a lot to ask.’ This… this is light years away from asking a lot.” He got up, pacing back and forth. “You come in here, tell me you’re Myka, time travelling in a different body, telling me I’m gonna die, HG Wells and Mrs. Frederic are gonna die, and the entire Warehouse is going to be destroyed unless I can somehow avoid being killed and redirect a massive energy shield over the Bronze sector. Oh, and you want me to somehow save HG as well. At the last second - right before a massive bomb goes off in the middle of the Warehouse and incinerates everything inside.”
“You’re right,” she said softly, not quite looking at him. “It’s more than a lot to ask. It’s an impossible task. But that’s our job, remember? We do the impossible. We believe the impossible. Think of everything you’ve seen while you’ve been a Warehouse agent, Steve. If you can believe in hats that can read dog’s minds, or spray paint that can destroy entire buildings, or cursed Shakespearean folios, then why in the world can’t you believe that the Warehouse sent me here for a purpose. It sent me here because you are the key, Steve. You’re the one who has to see this through. I’m fading, I can feel it. Time is slipping away from me, I’ve got a few hours left in this body, maybe. But you are meant to do this, because you’re the only one who can. Everything I’ve done over the last few days will be worthless if you back out now. You might as well write a will and say your goodbyes.”
Steve sighed heavily. “Writing a will is too much work. The only thing I have that anybody would want is my Prius, and you know Claudia’s just going to snag it before any of you have a chance.” He grabbed a beer out of the fridge and tossed another to Myka. “Okay, let’s go over this again…”
~*~
Myka reached for her beer, forcing herself to remain steady even as her hand trembled. It wasn’t fear causing the reaction, she knew, but the pull of time. The minutes seemed to be ticking away faster and faster, the edges of her vision blurring, darkening, even as she fought to stay present, to keep working through the plan and every contingency with Steve.
It had taken a considerable amount of focus, and a quick primer on electrical engineering courtesy of Google, but she thought they’d cobbled together a decent enough plan. Steve, bless him, never got around to asking why it was so important to save the Bronze sector, and had just accepted that it was.
Myka stood up, hoping to get her blood pumping a bit. Daylight was peeking through the curtains, offering the promise of a new day. A day she knew would be drenched in blood if things didn’t work out as planned. She just needed to hold on a little longer…
Steve looked up from the bowl of cereal he was downing while reviewing the stacks of Warehouse schematics and instructions for diverting the energy flow. “You okay? You look pretty pale.”
She took an unsteady breath, fighting a wave of nausea. “I’m going to get some air. I’ll be right back.”
Outside, she managed to make it to her car in the parking lot before the world started to spin and shift. She leaned against the truck for support, begging, “Please, no, not yet...”
“I know what you’re trying to do.”
Myka lurched back, her eyes finally coming back into focus on the always imposing figure of Mrs. Frederic. “How… can you…” Her stomach twisted, turned, and dropped. Myka groaned and fell against the truck.
Mrs. Frederic moved quickly, cradling Myka to her as they both sank to the asphalt. “You still don’t understand my connection to the Warehouse, Agent Bering. At times, I don’t even understand it. What you’ve done is a remarkably foolish, very brave thing. But you can’t save all of us.”
“I had to… I had to try,” Myka panted, the world a kaleidoscope of colors and sound now without substance. She could hear the steady beat of Mrs. Frederic’s heart beneath her ear, felt the responding pulse of her own, and slowly began to relax into the lull.
“Thank you,” Mrs. Frederic whispered.
“Help him… change the rules…”
Mrs. Frederic nodded. “Tell Claudia… anything but Stairway to Heaven.”
Myka had no idea what that meant, nor did she have time to ask as her body shook, convulsed, the nausea a tsunami now, plowing through her, ripping her open from the inside out as the world went to black.
Molly Davis gasped and coughed, her heart pounding as she opened her eyes and stared into the implacable face of Mrs. Frederic, the Warehouse guardian.
“Irene… what’s… what happened? Where am I?”
“It’s a very long story,” Mrs. Frederic answered, helping them both up. “But I know someone who wouldn’t mind a visitor this time of the morning.”
Confused, Molly followed along as Mrs. Frederic walked toward Steve’s apartment.
~*~
Though love may break, it never dies
It changes shape, through changing eyes
What I denied, I now can see
You always were the light inside of me
At first there was nothing. No sound, no light, no feeling. Myka drifted, floated, rocked gently by the waves of the universe carrying her through the dimensions.
In the distance, pinpricks of light came to life, blossomed, and grew. The universe moved more swiftly, the gentle wave now a swift current pushing her along on the endless pulse of energy spreading around her. Stars were born and died, planets swirled, galaxies formed and spiraled in and out of control. And against it all she saw echoes, shadows, memories of her life and all of the lives that she might have had.
Here, she was protecting the President, taking a bullet to save his life…
There, she was married to Sam, two small children with his eyes dragging her through an amusement park full of laughter…
With Claudia, the two of them Warehouse agents and partners…
Standing beside Pete at his wedding to Kelly…
Images, scenes, sometimes just overwhelming feelings rushed at her in a cacophony of sound and sight that saturated every sense.
Against the backdrop of stars she saw the Warehouse… saw Steve running through the aisles… opening the junction boxes…
The Warehouse exploded, the heat burning her face…
The Warehouse stood, empty and serene…
Steve running, running through the aisles…
Sykes standing over HG’s dead body…
Pete and Artie trying to disarm the bomb…
Myka wanted to scream, but no sound came. She watched her friends die, she watched them come back to life. She saw their childhoods, their children. All the possibilities and none.
Steve ran through the aisles, a dark cloak in his hands…
HG stood on the other side of the energy bubble, smiling at Myka, that terrible, heartbreaking smile…
A star burst in front of her, the heat of a thousand suns scorching her body, destroying her and reforming, pulling her into the heat, into the darkness, and then there was nothing.
Myka opened her eyes.
Once more she stood in the Warehouse. Its shelves were no longer empty. The looming wall of flames was gone.
“Helena?” Myka’s voice echoed through the Warehouse, but there was no answering response. “Helena? Helena!”
She ran, searching the aisles, sprinting down rows. She turned to the left into what should have been the Ancient Greek section only to find herself in the Bronze corridor.
Helena stood before the only two statues in residence: one of herself, and one of her daughter.
Myka stepped hesitantly forward, afraid with each step Helena would disappear. When she finally stood side by side, she let herself breathe.
“You saved her,” Helena whispered.
“I tried,” Myka answered, her voice just as soft, just as reverent. “Did it… did it work?”
“I don’t know, darling.” Helena turned, smiling through tear-filled eyes. “No one has ever… what you’ve done, what you tried to do… If I had paper the length of the earth and ocean’s full of ink, I could never express what this means to me, my love.”
Myka reached up, cupping Helena’s cheek, her thumb brushing away her tears. “How could I do any less… for my daughter?”
Helena leaned forward, resting her forehead against Myka’s. “I thought I’d loved two people in my lifetime, but I know now, all along, it’s always been you.” She brought her lips to Myka’s, a gentle, soft kiss. “You have to go back now, love.”
“Can’t I stay here? Please?” Now it was Myka’s eyes that filled with tears as she clung to her lover desperately. “What if it didn’t work? What if this was all for nothing?”
“Not nothing,” Helena admonished softly. “We will always have this. And it’s more than I have ever had.” Helena kissed her again, swiftly, and then stepped back. “I love you, Myka.”
The tears fell freely down Myka’s face as she reached for Helena but couldn’t touch her. “Helena… I love you.”
“We changed the rules, didn’t we,” Helena asked with a watery smile.
“Every single one.”
“Myka…”
“I know,” Myka smiled back. “I smell them too.”
“Apples.”
Part Twelve
The middle aged woman with glasses didn’t seem threatening, but working for the Warehouse, you could never be sure.
“Steve? Steve I know you’re in there. You need to open up, I have to talk to you. It’s an emergency.” Okay, so the crazy lady knew his name… that didn’t mean much. “Steve, I know you used to work for Warehouse 13, I know you’re best friend is Claudia, and I know you nearly died after reading Shakespeare’s lost folio. Now will you please open the door?”
The crazy lady knew more than his name, she knew top-secret information only six other people in the world knew. He opened the door and leveled his gun. “Who are you?”
“Steve… it’s Myka.”
He looked for the lie but it wasn’t there. Nothing but truth pinged as he stared at the woman that couldn’t possibly be Myka Bering. “You’re… you’re lying.”
“Steve, you know I can’t lie to you. Please, just let me in and I’ll explain everything okay?”
Reluctantly he opened the door but kept his gun trained on her. “Come in, empty your purse on the table.”
Myka did as asked, admiring his thoroughness if slightly annoyed at the waste of time. “My license says I’m Molly Davis… but I’m not, Steve. I’m Myka Bering, I’m an agent at Warehouse 13. My partner is Pete Lattimer. I work with Artie and Claudia. I live at Leena’s Bed and Breakfast. Mrs. Frederic is the Warehouse guardian and Jane Lattimer is the regent who helped you go undercover to find out what Sykes is planning.” Steve’s mouth hung open, the gun all but forgotten in his hand. “Believe me now?”
“But… how… but…”
“Something awful happened,” Myka began gently. “People died Steve… and I used HG Wells’ time machine to come back and try and fix it. Stop it from happening.”
“But I thought… Artie said we can’t change the past.”
“Change it, no… manipulate it? Yes. I think so.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Then let me explain it.”
And she did. Every detail. Steve needed to know them all in order for her plan to work, even the most gut-wrenching of them all.
“I died!”
“Steve…”
“That just… totally blows.”
He sounded so much like Claudia right then Myka couldn’t help a tiny smile. “That’s why I came back.” She took a breath, steeled her resolve. “HG… she died saving us in the Warehouse.”
“Oh, man, Myka I’m so sorry.” Steve hadn’t had the chance to meet HG Wells but Claudia had filled him in on the gist of her brief tenure, including her and Myka’s relationship that everyone knew about but no one mentioned. It was no wonder then that she’d jumped at the chance to travel back in time to try and save everyone, him included.
“I think I’ve figured out a way not to change the timeline, or at least our perception of the timeline and still manage to fix things. But I’m going to need your help, and it’s not going to be easy, not by a long shot.”
“What’s my alternative?”
“Well, we could completely alter the timeline somehow, but I’m vaguely concerned that might rip a hole in the fabric of the universe… or, we don’t change anything, and you die.”
“Okay, not really happy with either of those options, so we’ll go with your plan then.”
“That’s what I figured.”
As Myka explained the plan Steve realized just how dangerous all of it was going to be. She told him about getting the drop on her at the apartment complex with HG and Pete, of tracking them off road and getting the Janus coin, of chasing Claudia into the woods and revealing he was undercover. All this was easy enough to handle, and Steve took it in stride, right up to the part where he got back to the airplane hangar.
“This is where it gets tricky,” Myka warned, fully aware of the understatement. “I don’t know exactly when Sykes has you killed, but you’re upstairs in the office of the hangar. They give you an injection of potassium to cause a heart attack.” She reached in her bag and pulled out a syringe. “This is a very powerful sedative, it will slow your heart rate down to the point it can barely be detected. I’ve mixed it with a paralytic. You won’t be able to move at all. For all intents and purposes you will appear dead. You’re going to need to somehow switch this syringe for the one Marcus kills you with.”
Steve looked absolutely horrified but he managed to ask calmly, “Then what?”
“Artie and Mrs. Frederic came, they put you in a body bag to take back to the Warehouse. This is very important: the paralytic and sedative should wear off in a few hours, but it may take longer than that.”
“So what do I do in the mean time?”
Myka shrugged. “Enjoy the quiet?” Steve blanched. “Look, all I know is that after that we find the video in your lighter, we leave for Hong Kong. Things get pretty crazy after that.” She explained the chess lock, the Regents sanctum, and Sykes back door into the Warehouse. If possible, Steve’s face got even paler. By the time she told him about the artifact bomb, he looked ready to pass out.
“HG found a way to direct part of the shield over us in the ovoid room to protect us from the blast… I need you to do the same thing… for the entire Bronze section.”
“And just how am I supposed to do that?”
Finally, Myka smiled. “With a little help from our friends.” She pulled out a sheaf of papers and spread them out on the table. As a Regent, Molly Davis had access to the Warehouse’s database and, even better, its entire schematics. Including the upgrades to the power systems Claudia had made. Artie, being Artie, had made her spell out in crystal clear instructions how all of the upgrades worked. At the time Myka had assumed it was a form of punishment but now she wondered if it was a way for Artie to fix or undo what had been done should something have happened to the young agent.
“You see these junction boxes here,” Myka pointed out, “I think these are for the main power feeds that the run the shield. HG was able to redirect part of that energy into a sort of bubble around us. If you can do that on a larger scale over the Bronze sector, and maybe more-”
“-Myka, I’m an ATF agent, I’m not an electrical engineer,” Steve muttered helplessly. “There’s no way…”
“Look, Steve, I know this is a lot to ask-”
“-No, bailing a friend out of jail after they’ve gotten arrested for being drunk and disorderly on Fire Island is ‘a lot to ask.’ This… this is light years away from asking a lot.” He got up, pacing back and forth. “You come in here, tell me you’re Myka, time travelling in a different body, telling me I’m gonna die, HG Wells and Mrs. Frederic are gonna die, and the entire Warehouse is going to be destroyed unless I can somehow avoid being killed and redirect a massive energy shield over the Bronze sector. Oh, and you want me to somehow save HG as well. At the last second - right before a massive bomb goes off in the middle of the Warehouse and incinerates everything inside.”
“You’re right,” she said softly, not quite looking at him. “It’s more than a lot to ask. It’s an impossible task. But that’s our job, remember? We do the impossible. We believe the impossible. Think of everything you’ve seen while you’ve been a Warehouse agent, Steve. If you can believe in hats that can read dog’s minds, or spray paint that can destroy entire buildings, or cursed Shakespearean folios, then why in the world can’t you believe that the Warehouse sent me here for a purpose. It sent me here because you are the key, Steve. You’re the one who has to see this through. I’m fading, I can feel it. Time is slipping away from me, I’ve got a few hours left in this body, maybe. But you are meant to do this, because you’re the only one who can. Everything I’ve done over the last few days will be worthless if you back out now. You might as well write a will and say your goodbyes.”
Steve sighed heavily. “Writing a will is too much work. The only thing I have that anybody would want is my Prius, and you know Claudia’s just going to snag it before any of you have a chance.” He grabbed a beer out of the fridge and tossed another to Myka. “Okay, let’s go over this again…”
~*~
Myka reached for her beer, forcing herself to remain steady even as her hand trembled. It wasn’t fear causing the reaction, she knew, but the pull of time. The minutes seemed to be ticking away faster and faster, the edges of her vision blurring, darkening, even as she fought to stay present, to keep working through the plan and every contingency with Steve.
It had taken a considerable amount of focus, and a quick primer on electrical engineering courtesy of Google, but she thought they’d cobbled together a decent enough plan. Steve, bless him, never got around to asking why it was so important to save the Bronze sector, and had just accepted that it was.
Myka stood up, hoping to get her blood pumping a bit. Daylight was peeking through the curtains, offering the promise of a new day. A day she knew would be drenched in blood if things didn’t work out as planned. She just needed to hold on a little longer…
Steve looked up from the bowl of cereal he was downing while reviewing the stacks of Warehouse schematics and instructions for diverting the energy flow. “You okay? You look pretty pale.”
She took an unsteady breath, fighting a wave of nausea. “I’m going to get some air. I’ll be right back.”
Outside, she managed to make it to her car in the parking lot before the world started to spin and shift. She leaned against the truck for support, begging, “Please, no, not yet...”
“I know what you’re trying to do.”
Myka lurched back, her eyes finally coming back into focus on the always imposing figure of Mrs. Frederic. “How… can you…” Her stomach twisted, turned, and dropped. Myka groaned and fell against the truck.
Mrs. Frederic moved quickly, cradling Myka to her as they both sank to the asphalt. “You still don’t understand my connection to the Warehouse, Agent Bering. At times, I don’t even understand it. What you’ve done is a remarkably foolish, very brave thing. But you can’t save all of us.”
“I had to… I had to try,” Myka panted, the world a kaleidoscope of colors and sound now without substance. She could hear the steady beat of Mrs. Frederic’s heart beneath her ear, felt the responding pulse of her own, and slowly began to relax into the lull.
“Thank you,” Mrs. Frederic whispered.
“Help him… change the rules…”
Mrs. Frederic nodded. “Tell Claudia… anything but Stairway to Heaven.”
Myka had no idea what that meant, nor did she have time to ask as her body shook, convulsed, the nausea a tsunami now, plowing through her, ripping her open from the inside out as the world went to black.
Molly Davis gasped and coughed, her heart pounding as she opened her eyes and stared into the implacable face of Mrs. Frederic, the Warehouse guardian.
“Irene… what’s… what happened? Where am I?”
“It’s a very long story,” Mrs. Frederic answered, helping them both up. “But I know someone who wouldn’t mind a visitor this time of the morning.”
Confused, Molly followed along as Mrs. Frederic walked toward Steve’s apartment.
~*~
Though love may break, it never dies
It changes shape, through changing eyes
What I denied, I now can see
You always were the light inside of me
At first there was nothing. No sound, no light, no feeling. Myka drifted, floated, rocked gently by the waves of the universe carrying her through the dimensions.
In the distance, pinpricks of light came to life, blossomed, and grew. The universe moved more swiftly, the gentle wave now a swift current pushing her along on the endless pulse of energy spreading around her. Stars were born and died, planets swirled, galaxies formed and spiraled in and out of control. And against it all she saw echoes, shadows, memories of her life and all of the lives that she might have had.
Here, she was protecting the President, taking a bullet to save his life…
There, she was married to Sam, two small children with his eyes dragging her through an amusement park full of laughter…
With Claudia, the two of them Warehouse agents and partners…
Standing beside Pete at his wedding to Kelly…
Images, scenes, sometimes just overwhelming feelings rushed at her in a cacophony of sound and sight that saturated every sense.
Against the backdrop of stars she saw the Warehouse… saw Steve running through the aisles… opening the junction boxes…
The Warehouse exploded, the heat burning her face…
The Warehouse stood, empty and serene…
Steve running, running through the aisles…
Sykes standing over HG’s dead body…
Pete and Artie trying to disarm the bomb…
Myka wanted to scream, but no sound came. She watched her friends die, she watched them come back to life. She saw their childhoods, their children. All the possibilities and none.
Steve ran through the aisles, a dark cloak in his hands…
HG stood on the other side of the energy bubble, smiling at Myka, that terrible, heartbreaking smile…
A star burst in front of her, the heat of a thousand suns scorching her body, destroying her and reforming, pulling her into the heat, into the darkness, and then there was nothing.
Myka opened her eyes.
Once more she stood in the Warehouse. Its shelves were no longer empty. The looming wall of flames was gone.
“Helena?” Myka’s voice echoed through the Warehouse, but there was no answering response. “Helena? Helena!”
She ran, searching the aisles, sprinting down rows. She turned to the left into what should have been the Ancient Greek section only to find herself in the Bronze corridor.
Helena stood before the only two statues in residence: one of herself, and one of her daughter.
Myka stepped hesitantly forward, afraid with each step Helena would disappear. When she finally stood side by side, she let herself breathe.
“You saved her,” Helena whispered.
“I tried,” Myka answered, her voice just as soft, just as reverent. “Did it… did it work?”
“I don’t know, darling.” Helena turned, smiling through tear-filled eyes. “No one has ever… what you’ve done, what you tried to do… If I had paper the length of the earth and ocean’s full of ink, I could never express what this means to me, my love.”
Myka reached up, cupping Helena’s cheek, her thumb brushing away her tears. “How could I do any less… for my daughter?”
Helena leaned forward, resting her forehead against Myka’s. “I thought I’d loved two people in my lifetime, but I know now, all along, it’s always been you.” She brought her lips to Myka’s, a gentle, soft kiss. “You have to go back now, love.”
“Can’t I stay here? Please?” Now it was Myka’s eyes that filled with tears as she clung to her lover desperately. “What if it didn’t work? What if this was all for nothing?”
“Not nothing,” Helena admonished softly. “We will always have this. And it’s more than I have ever had.” Helena kissed her again, swiftly, and then stepped back. “I love you, Myka.”
The tears fell freely down Myka’s face as she reached for Helena but couldn’t touch her. “Helena… I love you.”
“We changed the rules, didn’t we,” Helena asked with a watery smile.
“Every single one.”
“Myka…”
“I know,” Myka smiled back. “I smell them too.”
“Apples.”
Part Twelve