DISCLAIMER: The characters herein are used without permission. No infringement intended.
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
SPOILERS: Assumes some events of season 2.
FEEDBACK: To winter156[at]gmail.com
Watchman, What of the Night?
By winter156
Chapter 2
Sunrise found two figures huddled together wrapped up in a light blanket. The fire had long since burned out, and with its demise a chill and darkness had permeated the room. The light from the rising sun dispelled the darkness and illuminated the women on the couch. Helena rested her head on Myka's shoulder, allowing Myka to rest her cheek on her head with her arms wrapped around the inventor. Both women were awake but silent, neither wishing to disturb the peace of the moment (Myka unconsciously drawing circles on Helena's lower back with her fingertips). But, with dawn came the responsibility of preparing for what was to be the difficult task of infiltrating Warehouse 2.
"What's wrong, Helena?" Myka asked softly, feeling the sudden tension coming off the other woman's body. Helena pressed her ear to Myka's chest, listening to the steady beat of the younger woman's heart. She let the strong, slow beat lull and relax her. Myka waited patiently as Helena contemplated how to answer.
"Do you remember the first time we met, Myka?" Helena's question was muffled against Myka's breast but still audible.
The younger woman furrowed her brow in confusion, not understanding the motive of the question, or where it had even come from. Slightly shaking her head, half smirk forming on her face, Myka answered into Helena's hair, "How could I forget? You were all bluster, confidence and grace." Helena chuckled and looked up at Myka, something akin to hope flashing in her eyes. Myka still confused as to the question- and now Helena's reaction to her answer- continued with her explanation. "You had Pete at gunpoint. After which, you proceeded to leave both me and Pete stuck to the ceiling of your room while you strutted out…" her voice petered out at the crestfallen look that momentarily overtook Helena's features. Though the inventor quickly schooled her features, Myka felt her heart sinking at the long suffering sigh that Helena released. Now more confused than before, Myka tightened her arms around a retreating Helena, "No more running, Helena. What's going on?"
Frustrated and cornered, Helena responded before thinking, "I do believe running seems to be more your specialty, not my own." The barbed words pierced Myka's heart and brought a flush of shame to her face, but she did not loosen her grasp on the other woman. Helena struggled for a moment longer against Myka's sure grip before giving up and fiercely returning the embrace. She was practically sitting in the younger woman's lap, their upper halves flush and desperately pressed together. Her face buried in the crook of Myka's neck. "I am sorry, Myka," she whispered on a sigh, her breath hitching. "I keep expecting you to miraculously remember something you cannot; and become someone you are not."
Bringing her hand up to cradle Helena's head while simultaneously burying her own face in the crook of the other woman's neck, Myka took a deep breath (taking a moment to just breathe Helena in) before releasing it slowly. She still did not understand what Helena meant, but she wanted to remove the weary, defeated tone from the older woman's voice. "You have nothing to be sorry about, Helena," her own breath hitching dangerously, Myka mentally braced herself for what she was about to admit. "I was wrong." She unconsciously tightened her grip, trying to get impossibly closer to the inventor. "I was wrong to walk out; to try to run from this. There's no excuse for that, and I'm not trying to give you one. But, I'm sometimes terrified of what I feel for you. It's not like anything I've ever felt before."
Myka paused to collect her thoughts and better explain herself to the woman she had obviously hurt. "I've been in love before, Helena." She felt Helena stiffen at the statement, so she quickly continued, "But, what I feel for you is so much bigger, deeper and stronger than anything I have ever felt before. You make me illogical. You strip control from me without even lifting a finger. You tilt my world on its axis by simply being. You transform my tidily ordered life to chaotic rush and feeling. You rob me of my common sense. And, the scariest part is that I wouldn't change a single thing even if given the opportunity. I love you so much that it overwhelms me." She felt relief rush through her at finally saying the words out loud to Helena. "That night, I was so scared of you rejecting me. I reacted out of that fear and walked out before I could be thrown out. Because I could never handle rejection from you, I let my fear lead me out that door. I'm so sorry." Myka's relief was short lived as she felt drops of wetness land on her neck. Her heart momentarily forgot how to beat as she rushed to finish, "I'm so sorry I hurt you, Helena. Please forgive me."
Wetness continued to fall softly on her neck. The knot in Myka's stomach eased slightly when she become conscious of the fact Helena had not tried to escape her embrace. She shakily released a breath she had not realized she was holding when Helena started speaking after a seemingly interminable silence, her heart skipping a beat for an entirely different reason.
"I cannot recall a time when I have not loved you, Myka," Helena began nuzzling Myka's neck as she spoke. "What I do to you, you also do to me. And while it is new to you and overwhelming, it has sustained me for far longer than you can imagine." Helena paused, knowing she was confusing Myka yet again, but needing to explain some of her behavior. "That night you did absolutely nothing wrong Myka." She reinforced her statement with a kiss to Myka's neck. "In fact, you were utterly perfect. I think that was partly what gave way to the tears," her tone incredulous as she slightly shook her head. "I pride myself on my control as much as you do, darling. But there is something about you that just unhinges me. You wrest control from me, as I do from you." Helena smiled through her waning tears at that. "After all this time, when I never expected it, I finally found you, and that overwhelmed my sense of equilibrium." Helena finally moved her head to look Myka in the face, but did not relinquish her embrace to the young woman. "I did not intend to scare you. Nor did I intend to reject you. I love you with everything I am, Myka Bering." She looked into Myka's eyes and saw a hunger she recognized. "I just hope that you loving me, and me loving you is enough," she whispered to herself as she slowly closed the distance between their lips, enjoying the anticipation of the moment.
The kiss started off soft and slow, but quickly escalated to a hard and desperate exchange between two souls that needed the reassurance of passion to reaffirm their love. They only separated when they heard the telltale signs that the other occupants of the Bed and Breakfast were waking and making their way down the stairs.
Helena quickly dipped her head to capture Myka's kissed bruised lips once more in a hurried kiss that left both agents breathless. Sounds from the kitchen alerted them of their need to get ready to leave for their mission. Reluctantly the women disentangled from one another and stood to make their exit.
"Duty calls I'm afraid," Myka stated looking at Helena as if duty was the last thing on her mind.
"Mayhap we can continue this later, then?" Helena asked, a wicked smile gracing her features as she sashayed her way out of the room.
"Later, yeah," Myka dumbly replied as her eyes followed the shapely curves swaying out of the room. Shaking herself out of her stupor once Helena was completely out of the room, she let out a soft laugh, "This is going to be one very long trip."
Awe radiated off the three figures walking through the ancient Warehouse. Wide eyes explored the expanse laid before them. Hands itched to touch the artifacts of centuries long forgotten. Everything gave off an essence of power that was thrilling as it was terrifying. Though silence permeated the atmosphere inside the entombed house of relics, the entire Warehouse seemed to be breathing in rhythmic cadence as if resting; only waiting to be roused.
"I'm getting wiggy vibes you guys," Pete said sweeping his eyes across the rows of ancient artifacts. He felt like he was at the top of the biggest drop of a rollercoaster, set on the precipice, ready to go over and be plunged down- only much, much worse. A cold chill run up his spine and his stomach flipped with worry as he saw shadows darting around just beyond his peripheral vision. "Ugh. Let's just keep moving alright." The three agents cautiously continued into the heart of Warehouse 2.
A whisper of voices caught Myka's attention. She could hear a murmur of sound like an incessant buzzing that she could not particularly place. A tendril of fear gripped her heart at the sound, but she nonetheless paused to listen while Pete and Helena continued cautiously down the aisle toward the center of the ancient Warehouse. "Hey," Myka called out, "do you hear that?" She cocked her head and turned to get a better gauge of where exactly the sound was originating from.
Not waiting for a response, she began walking toward the sound trying to make out the words of the unintelligible murmur. Uneasy but determined to find the source of the sound she continued forward. Following the murmur, Myka moved to the adjacent aisle. Here the murmur turned into distinct voices which seemed to be in heated conversation with one another. She tried to make out what the voices were saying, but a moment after listening intently to the conversation she realized that the voices were not speaking English, or any language she recognized. Completely immersed in her curiosity, Myka strained to pinpoint the origin of the voices. She continued walking down the aisle until she reached the end which was closed off by a sheer wall of stone inset with various statues.
She carefully studied the wall and statues. She recognized the likeness of Anubis and Osiris, so she assumed the other statues also represented Egyptian gods. The statues were beautifully crafted and radiated an energy that made them seem almost like resting beings instead of statues (much like the Warehouse itself seemed to be in a state of suspended animation and was not simply a dead tomb). So immersed was Myka in her inspection of the figures that she did not notice the sudden, absolute quiet that engulfed her. Still engrossed in her study, Myka noticed a pedestal between the statues. On the pedestal was a single white feather. It gave off an effervescent light that mesmerized her senses.
Enthralled, forgetting caution in her curiosity, Myka reached to touch the glowing feather. It looked like such an innocuous and pretty thing that she disregarded experience that was screaming at her that it was dangerous. Myka felt the physical pull to touch the feather and feel its weight and its texture. A hair breadths distance away from the feather, Myka heard simultaneous screams for her attention. Time seemed to slow as Myka looked over her shoulder toward Pete and Helena. They seemed to be running toward her in slow motion, twin faces etched in desperate concern.
Her training and common sense finally reasserting itself, Myka's eyes quickly cut back to the statues and the feather. Blood draining from her face, she realized her hand had already wrapped itself around the feather (she noted absently that it felt like what she thought a cloud might feel like). Whipping her head back around to Pete and Helena, she focused on Helena's distraught face. Locking eyes with the other woman, Myka let her eyes express everything that she innately knew she would have no time to voice.
Within the space of a heartbeat, she felt the feather go from a cool, almost fluffy substance to searing heat that somehow did not seem to burn her. She was momentarily disoriented as she found herself floating above something that looked suspiciously like her own body. Before she could ascertain what was happening, a blinding light erupted from the hand still holding the feather. It radiated outward until it encompassed everything. Myka suddenly felt the air rush out of her lungs as an invisible force pushed her into the sheer rock wall that held all the Egyptian statues.
Myka tried to fight the rushing force pushing her, to no avail. Unable to scream for lack of air, she curled into a tight ball and waited for the inevitable collision.