Two Steps Forward, One Step Back (4/4)
Myka had been calm the entire trip, but now when they were in the outskirts of Univille she was nervously twirling a lock of her hair and chewing on her lip. She looked surprised at Helena when she pulled the car over by the side of the road.
“Darling, if you’re not ready, we don’t need to do this. We can go away for a little while to sort things out.”
Myka shook her head. “No, I need to do this. I want to do this. I’m just really nervous.”
“They love you sweetheart. They forgave you a long time ago.”
“Did Artie tell them?” Helena shook her head. Myka chuckled. “I’m going to freak their freak by showing up like a Jack-in-the-box,” she said.
“Perhaps. Mostly I think that they are just going to be absolutely delighted to see you.” She leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. She unbuckled her seatbelt and gave Myka a hug. “Just in case they monopolize you for the rest of the day,” she said and smiled. Myka smiled and nodded.
“Okay, let’s do this.”
*** *** ***
“I’m back!” Helena shouted as she entered the inn. Scrambled noises from the library alerted them that someone was coming to greet them. Myka stepped back, hiding around the corner as Claudia’s smiling face appeared a second later.
“Dude! Where have you been? It’s been like ages! Are you getting so old that you take twice as long to retrieve a stinky little artifact?” she teased as she threw her arms around Helena and hugged her until the woman squealed.
“Claudia, I can’t breathe.”
“Sorry man,” Claudia said and backed off a little, but still kept her arms around Helena. “I missed you.”
“I missed you too sweetheart.”
“Hi Claudia,” Myka said softly behind them. Claudia jumped and her eyes got large. She stared at Helena and then peeked around her. Myka smiled at her.
“She found you,” she whispered and let go of Helena. She took a tentative step towards Myka. “She really did it.” Tears started to roll down Claudia’s cheeks as she ran to Myka and threw her arms around her. “It’s really you,” she whispered and burrowed her face against Myka’s shoulder.
Helena smiled at Myka over Claudia’s head. I told you, she mouthed to her.
“Yes Claudia, it’s really me.”
Claudia pulled back and looked up at her. “I missed you so much,” she whispered. “Please say that you’re home to stay. Please? Or just lie to me and say it.” Myka laughed at her words. It was so typical Claudia.
“I’ve missed you too little sister,” she said and hugged her again. “And yes, I think I’m home to stay. If I’m still welcome.”
“Still welcome?”Claudia blurted out like it was the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard. “Of course you’re welcome. This is your home.” Myka smiled and nodded.
Claudia suddenly realized something and took a step back, but refusing to let go of Myka’s hand. She took a deep breath.
“Pete the ice cream truck is here with free cookies!” she yelled at the top of her lungs. Myka and Helena winced. Five seconds later they could hear the sound of someone running across the upstairs floor and then bounce down the stairs only to come to a complete stop on the landing.
“Hi Pete,” Myka said softly and smiled at him. She tried to push all her insecurities away, and muster up as much happiness she could.
“Myka? Myka!” he said loudly and took the last couple of steps in three before he wrapped her in a bear hug and swung her around. He kissed the side of her face and her hair and finally put her down on the floor. He grinned at her like a lunatic. “You’re back. If I didn’t know that Lady Coco here would Tesla me in a second, I’d kiss you.”
“I would,” Helena confirmed calmly behind him while inspecting her nails. She smiled sweetly when he looked at her.
“As I said, I won’t do that. But it doesn’t mean that I’m not glad to see you.” He patted her pockets. “Did you bring any cookies?”
“Pete!” she said and laughed. He winked at her.
“What’s all the noise about out here?”
“Hi Leena,” Myka said and smiled at her.
“Oh Myka,” she rushed across the hall and touched her face before pulling her close for a hug. “Thank you for coming home. You are the missing piece.”
“Thank you.”
“This calls for cookies,” Pete said and rubbed his hands together.
Helena chuckled. “I would’ve said champagne myself.”
“You stick to that; I’ll stick to my cookies and milk. Everyone is happy.”
*** *** ***
Artie noticed Helena’s car in the driveway and quickly parked next to it. He hurried across to the front entrance and stormed inside.
“Where is she? Wells!” he yelled.
“In here,” Helena called out from the library.
He walked through the door and stopped. Helena was sitting on the couch with Myka in her arms. Claudia was sitting on Myka’s left, holding her hand in a tight grip. Pete and Leena were at the table where Pete was busy Hoovering up the last crumbs from the cookie plate. His eyes returned to his missing agent and he smiled at her. To his delight she smiled back.
“Welcome home Myka,” he said and the smile turned into a grin. She disentangled herself from Helena and Claudia and crossed the room. When Artie opened his arms she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him. She laughed and cried at the same time. “All right, that’s as much of this mushiness I can take,” he said and gently pushed her away. She laughed and grabbed his face kissing him on the cheek. “Arhg, cut it out,” he said and swatted at her, but the twinkle in his eyes gave away his happiness of having her back. Myka returned to Helena’s side.
Epilogue
Claudia glanced out the window as she passed by. Once her brain managed to interpret what she had just seen, she stopped so quickly she almost fell over. She ran back to the window and looked out. Her jaw fell as she watched the two women by the swing. Myka was sitting on it with Helena standing between her legs. Myka had her arms around her while Helena’s were invisible to Claudia’s eyes buried as they were in Myka’s hair. But it wasn’t the women’s hands Claudia was watching it was what they were doing. They were kissing. And kissing. And still kissing. She heard a noise behind her and saw Pete enter the room chewing on a cookie with another couple of cookies in his other hand.
“Pete,” she hissed and waived for him to hurry over. “Come here. You have to see this.”
“Muat?” he said, mouth full of cookie crumbs. He glanced out the window looking for whatever it was that had Claudia so entranced. His eyes almost popped out of his head when he spotted the two women. He inhaled deeply and started to cough as he got a cookie crumb down the wrong pipe. Claudia whacked his back as he wheezed and coughed. “Enough,” he finally managed to say and her hand stopped midair.
“Things are going to be fine now,” Claudia said and smiled at him. They looked at the two women watching as Myka got up and held Helena in her arms. She kissed her again, her hand gently cradling her head, dark hair spilling through her fingers.
“Better get some new headphones Claud. I believe some loud screaming lesbian sex is about to happen in this house,” he said and leered at the two outside. “Ouch! Claudia!” he yelled as she whacked him in the stomach.
“You’re disgusting,” she muttered. “Myka’s like my sister. I do not want to think about her having sex.”
“Okay, but she’s still hot, and so is Helena. Two hot women going at it naked does things to me,” he said and grinned. He stepped away when he saw her raising her arm again.
“Pig,” she muttered. “Okay, they’re coming back inside. Away from the window,” she hissed as she quickly sat down on the couch and turned on the TV.
Pete sat down on the other end still munching on his cookies. Realizing that he’d forgotten his drink in the kitchen he got up. He slowly strolled down the hall towards the kitchen, stopping at one point to assess that he had a hole in his sock, finally looking up as he was about to enter the kitchen. He stopped in the door opening and just gaped. Helena had Myka pressed up against the counter kissing her neck and her hand was… whoa! He coughed. They froze and Myka’s eyes met his. Pete started to back away.
“I didn’t see anything,” he said quickly and fled.
Claudia looked at him funny when he came back without a drink. “I thought you were getting drinks? What happened?”
“Nothing,” he mumbled.
“Well I still want a drink,” she said and started to get up. He grabbed her arm and yanked her back down again. “What?” she said annoyed.
“Just wait a bit okay. Kitchen is sort of off limits right now.”
She frowned and then grinned when she figured it out. “No way? You walked in on them? They were actually doing it in the kitchen?” she laughed so hard she had to grab her stomach.
“Not funny Claud. I think Myka might want my eyeballs in a cup. She looked really scary.”
“She might scoop them out with a spoon while you’re sleeping,” Claudia said and laughed. “So, are you happy now that you got your live lesbian sex show?” she teased.
He shot her a dark look.
“Just shut up you.”
“Pete!”
He flinched at the steel in Myka’s voice. He looked up at her a little apprehensive.
“Yeah?”
“Hall, now.”
He sighed and shot Claudia a murderous look when she laughed again.
Myka grabbed his arm and pulled him over to the stairs. “Did you tell her?” she hissed.
“I might or might not have told her that you and Helena were doing the dirty in the kitchen,” he mumbled.
“Pete! How could you?”
“She was about to walk out there to get a drink. I had to tell her not to!” he said in his own defense. She sighed.
“Can we please pretend that this never happened?” she mumbled as her cheeks turned pink again.
“Sure. Perhaps you can tell your girlfriend not to jump you in public places?” he suggested with a grin. “Ouch!” he said and grabbed his arm where she had punched him. “What is it with you girls and your need to hit me?”
She grinned at him. “If you weren’t such a pig you‘d be safer.”
“Myka,” Helena’s soft voice sang from upstairs.
Pete grinned. “I think someone is in the mood for sexytimes.” He jumped out of her reach when he saw the fist coming at him like a cobra.
“If I didn’t have more fun things to do right now I would chase you until I could beat the crap out of you,” she warned him.
“I’ll tell Artie,” he threatened. She stopped and just stared at him. He saw the insecurity in her eyes and got serious. “I’m sorry Myka. I was just joking. Of course I would never do that.” He took a step closer to her and put his hand on her shoulder. To his surprise she hugged him.
“Thanks Pete.”
“For what?”
“For just being the same old you, for not changing around me.”
He kissed her head. “You’re welcome. Now I need some milk and another cookie. I’ve just had something traumatic happen to my eyeballs. I need comfort food.” He smiled at her as she took a step up the stairs. “Hey, you didn’t do anything kinky to the cookies right?” He ducked as she reached for his hair. “Sorry, just kidding.”
“Pervert,” she muttered and quickly ran upstairs. He grinned after her.
“Keep it down,” he said loudly to her back. He laughed at the non-flattering hand gesture she granted him.
*** The End ***
“Darling, if you’re not ready, we don’t need to do this. We can go away for a little while to sort things out.”
Myka shook her head. “No, I need to do this. I want to do this. I’m just really nervous.”
“They love you sweetheart. They forgave you a long time ago.”
“Did Artie tell them?” Helena shook her head. Myka chuckled. “I’m going to freak their freak by showing up like a Jack-in-the-box,” she said.
“Perhaps. Mostly I think that they are just going to be absolutely delighted to see you.” She leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. She unbuckled her seatbelt and gave Myka a hug. “Just in case they monopolize you for the rest of the day,” she said and smiled. Myka smiled and nodded.
“Okay, let’s do this.”
*** *** ***
“I’m back!” Helena shouted as she entered the inn. Scrambled noises from the library alerted them that someone was coming to greet them. Myka stepped back, hiding around the corner as Claudia’s smiling face appeared a second later.
“Dude! Where have you been? It’s been like ages! Are you getting so old that you take twice as long to retrieve a stinky little artifact?” she teased as she threw her arms around Helena and hugged her until the woman squealed.
“Claudia, I can’t breathe.”
“Sorry man,” Claudia said and backed off a little, but still kept her arms around Helena. “I missed you.”
“I missed you too sweetheart.”
“Hi Claudia,” Myka said softly behind them. Claudia jumped and her eyes got large. She stared at Helena and then peeked around her. Myka smiled at her.
“She found you,” she whispered and let go of Helena. She took a tentative step towards Myka. “She really did it.” Tears started to roll down Claudia’s cheeks as she ran to Myka and threw her arms around her. “It’s really you,” she whispered and burrowed her face against Myka’s shoulder.
Helena smiled at Myka over Claudia’s head. I told you, she mouthed to her.
“Yes Claudia, it’s really me.”
Claudia pulled back and looked up at her. “I missed you so much,” she whispered. “Please say that you’re home to stay. Please? Or just lie to me and say it.” Myka laughed at her words. It was so typical Claudia.
“I’ve missed you too little sister,” she said and hugged her again. “And yes, I think I’m home to stay. If I’m still welcome.”
“Still welcome?”Claudia blurted out like it was the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard. “Of course you’re welcome. This is your home.” Myka smiled and nodded.
Claudia suddenly realized something and took a step back, but refusing to let go of Myka’s hand. She took a deep breath.
“Pete the ice cream truck is here with free cookies!” she yelled at the top of her lungs. Myka and Helena winced. Five seconds later they could hear the sound of someone running across the upstairs floor and then bounce down the stairs only to come to a complete stop on the landing.
“Hi Pete,” Myka said softly and smiled at him. She tried to push all her insecurities away, and muster up as much happiness she could.
“Myka? Myka!” he said loudly and took the last couple of steps in three before he wrapped her in a bear hug and swung her around. He kissed the side of her face and her hair and finally put her down on the floor. He grinned at her like a lunatic. “You’re back. If I didn’t know that Lady Coco here would Tesla me in a second, I’d kiss you.”
“I would,” Helena confirmed calmly behind him while inspecting her nails. She smiled sweetly when he looked at her.
“As I said, I won’t do that. But it doesn’t mean that I’m not glad to see you.” He patted her pockets. “Did you bring any cookies?”
“Pete!” she said and laughed. He winked at her.
“What’s all the noise about out here?”
“Hi Leena,” Myka said and smiled at her.
“Oh Myka,” she rushed across the hall and touched her face before pulling her close for a hug. “Thank you for coming home. You are the missing piece.”
“Thank you.”
“This calls for cookies,” Pete said and rubbed his hands together.
Helena chuckled. “I would’ve said champagne myself.”
“You stick to that; I’ll stick to my cookies and milk. Everyone is happy.”
*** *** ***
Artie noticed Helena’s car in the driveway and quickly parked next to it. He hurried across to the front entrance and stormed inside.
“Where is she? Wells!” he yelled.
“In here,” Helena called out from the library.
He walked through the door and stopped. Helena was sitting on the couch with Myka in her arms. Claudia was sitting on Myka’s left, holding her hand in a tight grip. Pete and Leena were at the table where Pete was busy Hoovering up the last crumbs from the cookie plate. His eyes returned to his missing agent and he smiled at her. To his delight she smiled back.
“Welcome home Myka,” he said and the smile turned into a grin. She disentangled herself from Helena and Claudia and crossed the room. When Artie opened his arms she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him. She laughed and cried at the same time. “All right, that’s as much of this mushiness I can take,” he said and gently pushed her away. She laughed and grabbed his face kissing him on the cheek. “Arhg, cut it out,” he said and swatted at her, but the twinkle in his eyes gave away his happiness of having her back. Myka returned to Helena’s side.
Epilogue
Claudia glanced out the window as she passed by. Once her brain managed to interpret what she had just seen, she stopped so quickly she almost fell over. She ran back to the window and looked out. Her jaw fell as she watched the two women by the swing. Myka was sitting on it with Helena standing between her legs. Myka had her arms around her while Helena’s were invisible to Claudia’s eyes buried as they were in Myka’s hair. But it wasn’t the women’s hands Claudia was watching it was what they were doing. They were kissing. And kissing. And still kissing. She heard a noise behind her and saw Pete enter the room chewing on a cookie with another couple of cookies in his other hand.
“Pete,” she hissed and waived for him to hurry over. “Come here. You have to see this.”
“Muat?” he said, mouth full of cookie crumbs. He glanced out the window looking for whatever it was that had Claudia so entranced. His eyes almost popped out of his head when he spotted the two women. He inhaled deeply and started to cough as he got a cookie crumb down the wrong pipe. Claudia whacked his back as he wheezed and coughed. “Enough,” he finally managed to say and her hand stopped midair.
“Things are going to be fine now,” Claudia said and smiled at him. They looked at the two women watching as Myka got up and held Helena in her arms. She kissed her again, her hand gently cradling her head, dark hair spilling through her fingers.
“Better get some new headphones Claud. I believe some loud screaming lesbian sex is about to happen in this house,” he said and leered at the two outside. “Ouch! Claudia!” he yelled as she whacked him in the stomach.
“You’re disgusting,” she muttered. “Myka’s like my sister. I do not want to think about her having sex.”
“Okay, but she’s still hot, and so is Helena. Two hot women going at it naked does things to me,” he said and grinned. He stepped away when he saw her raising her arm again.
“Pig,” she muttered. “Okay, they’re coming back inside. Away from the window,” she hissed as she quickly sat down on the couch and turned on the TV.
Pete sat down on the other end still munching on his cookies. Realizing that he’d forgotten his drink in the kitchen he got up. He slowly strolled down the hall towards the kitchen, stopping at one point to assess that he had a hole in his sock, finally looking up as he was about to enter the kitchen. He stopped in the door opening and just gaped. Helena had Myka pressed up against the counter kissing her neck and her hand was… whoa! He coughed. They froze and Myka’s eyes met his. Pete started to back away.
“I didn’t see anything,” he said quickly and fled.
Claudia looked at him funny when he came back without a drink. “I thought you were getting drinks? What happened?”
“Nothing,” he mumbled.
“Well I still want a drink,” she said and started to get up. He grabbed her arm and yanked her back down again. “What?” she said annoyed.
“Just wait a bit okay. Kitchen is sort of off limits right now.”
She frowned and then grinned when she figured it out. “No way? You walked in on them? They were actually doing it in the kitchen?” she laughed so hard she had to grab her stomach.
“Not funny Claud. I think Myka might want my eyeballs in a cup. She looked really scary.”
“She might scoop them out with a spoon while you’re sleeping,” Claudia said and laughed. “So, are you happy now that you got your live lesbian sex show?” she teased.
He shot her a dark look.
“Just shut up you.”
“Pete!”
He flinched at the steel in Myka’s voice. He looked up at her a little apprehensive.
“Yeah?”
“Hall, now.”
He sighed and shot Claudia a murderous look when she laughed again.
Myka grabbed his arm and pulled him over to the stairs. “Did you tell her?” she hissed.
“I might or might not have told her that you and Helena were doing the dirty in the kitchen,” he mumbled.
“Pete! How could you?”
“She was about to walk out there to get a drink. I had to tell her not to!” he said in his own defense. She sighed.
“Can we please pretend that this never happened?” she mumbled as her cheeks turned pink again.
“Sure. Perhaps you can tell your girlfriend not to jump you in public places?” he suggested with a grin. “Ouch!” he said and grabbed his arm where she had punched him. “What is it with you girls and your need to hit me?”
She grinned at him. “If you weren’t such a pig you‘d be safer.”
“Myka,” Helena’s soft voice sang from upstairs.
Pete grinned. “I think someone is in the mood for sexytimes.” He jumped out of her reach when he saw the fist coming at him like a cobra.
“If I didn’t have more fun things to do right now I would chase you until I could beat the crap out of you,” she warned him.
“I’ll tell Artie,” he threatened. She stopped and just stared at him. He saw the insecurity in her eyes and got serious. “I’m sorry Myka. I was just joking. Of course I would never do that.” He took a step closer to her and put his hand on her shoulder. To his surprise she hugged him.
“Thanks Pete.”
“For what?”
“For just being the same old you, for not changing around me.”
He kissed her head. “You’re welcome. Now I need some milk and another cookie. I’ve just had something traumatic happen to my eyeballs. I need comfort food.” He smiled at her as she took a step up the stairs. “Hey, you didn’t do anything kinky to the cookies right?” He ducked as she reached for his hair. “Sorry, just kidding.”
“Pervert,” she muttered and quickly ran upstairs. He grinned after her.
“Keep it down,” he said loudly to her back. He laughed at the non-flattering hand gesture she granted him.
*** The End ***