Chapter Text
Just under two hours later, Myka lay in a pleasant, sleepy haze. Helena’s arm rested around Myka’s waist, and Helena’s head rested on her shoulder. Myka couldn’t remember a time when she’d felt more relaxed. But, if Myka was to be completely honest with herself, she wasn’t just relaxed. She was at peace. There was no internal struggle. For the first time in a long time, Myka wasn’t resisting anything, wasn’t hiding from herself or those around her. Myka hadn’t realized how much energy that kind of hiding could take out of person until she stopped doing it.
Of course, it didn’t hurt that Myka’d just had nearly two hours of the best sex of her life with the single most attractive woman she’d ever laid eyes on.
Myka smiled to herself and pressed a lingering kiss to Helena’s forehead. Helena hummed and smiled against Myka’s shoulder.
“I thought you were asleep, darling,” Helena said groggily.
“Almost,” Myka said. “I like this though. I kind of don’t want to sleep.”
“I understand the sentiment,” Helena said. “Though you seem to have left me quite exhausted. I may have no other choice if I am to regain my strength.”
“You poor thing,” Myka teased. “I never realized you were such a delicate Victorian lady.”
“I am no such thing,” Helena scoffed. “It’s simply been decades since I’ve had the luxury of spending more than an hour in bed with a gorgeous woman. You’ll forgive me if it’s all a bit overwhelming. In the best possible way, of course.”
“Of course,” Myka said.
Helena smiled against Myka’s bare shoulder and snuggled closer. Myka thought it should surprise her more that Helena enjoyed cuddling so much, because it would certainly shock most other people.
But Myka’d always been the only person this side of the millennial to see the softer side of H.G., the part that craved companionship, approval, and even affection. So the fact that Helena was a cuddler felt like something that Myka already knew all along. That did not make having Helena in her arms any less wonderful though. On the contrary, it felt natural and normal, and like it should have been happening all along. And maybe it could have been…
Perhaps for the best, Myka’s thought process was interrupted by the sharp, loud buzz of a cell phone against the wood of Helena’s small bedside table. It was second nature for Myka to reach for the phone. Only when she saw it had no cell case and looked new, did Myka realize that she was holding Helena’s cell phone. And only then did Myka realize there was no possible way the phone could have ended up on the side table unless…
“Helena, did you leave your phone behind again?”
“I suppose I did,” Helena said. “I tend to find them quite useless when I am, by order of the regents, never to be left alone. Besides, we have Farnsworths anyway, and those always worked just fine before cellular phones existed.”
“But you have one for a reason, Helena,” Myka said. “I’d really like it if you stayed in one piece, and cell phones have been known to be useful for lots of different things. Like, say, in case we got separated and you were hurt.”
“You’re concerned about my health?” Helena asked.
“And your safety,” Myka said. “But I thought we already established that.”
“We had, but I wanted to hear it again,” Helena said. She lifted her head to look at Myka as she reached for the phone. “Let’s see what I’ve got there.”
Myka held it just outside of Helena’s reach. Helena couldn’t very well be so dismissive of the device in one breath and ask to use it in the next without getting at least a little bit of grief.
“Oh, so now you want it?” Myka teased. “I thought these things were quite useless.”
“Fine, they occasionally have a purpose,” Helena said. She sat up a little further, and Myka let her snatch the phone out of her hand.
Helena settled back down where she’d been resting and read the text. She grinned and typed out a quick message before placing the phone down beside her on the bed. Myka was tempted to sneak a peek, and would have if she wasn’t settled so comfortably.
“Who was that?”
“Claudia,” Helena replied. Myka waited as long as she could, probably no more than a few seconds before curiousity got the best of her.
“What was it about?”
“She was texting to make sure we’re both alive and well,” Helena said. “And she told me that she thought it was cute that we’re matching. I simply thanked her.”
Myka glanced down at the clothes scattered on Helena’s floor. Helena’d been wearing a red shirt, while Myka had opted for beige. They didn’t really match at all.
“What?”
“Our matching…marks,” Helena said.
When Myka still didn’t follow immediately, Helena propped herself up on her elbow and pulled some hair aside so that Myka could see her neck. There was a noticeable hicky just below Helena’s ear that Myka clearly remember causing that morning.
“You have a very similar mark on the opposite side,” Helena said, then reached for her phone and brought up the text. “Her exact words were, and I quote: yo hg congrats on the matching hickies with Myka, its super cute and about time. Pete’s smug n amused but not sayin anythin but jinksy confirmed it. Waited to txt in case u were getting busy.”
Myka might’ve found the fact that they had matching hickies mortifying if not for Helena’s amusing attempt to read Claudia’s text, complete with the punctuation, or lack thereof, and abbreviation. Instead of being completely mortifying, she just found it pretty embarrassing.
“Oh my god,” Myka said as she put a hand over her eyes. “I am never ever going to live this one down. Pete probably knew and let us walk around like that just so this would happen.”
Helena smirked.
“There could be far worse things to be constantly reminded of than the fact that we have corresponding love bites,” Helena said.
“I guess,” Myka said, although she was pretty unconvinced. She sighed and turned to look at Helena.
“You’re quite adorable when you’re flustered,” Helena said as she reached up to run a hand through Myka’s hair.
“I’m not flustered,” Myka said. “I’m just, I don’t know, easily embarrassed.”
“Well, Steve shouldn't be much of a problem, I should be able to keep Claudia in line,” Helena said. “And you must have something to hold over Pete in case the teasing becomes too unbearable.”
Myka looked at Helena. She did have the information from the plane ride, and everyone already knew embarrassing details of her encounter with Helena, so Myka really had nothing to lose. And Pete could be relentless. A little bit of blackmail it would be then.
“How did you know though?” Myka asked.
“Pete simply seems like a man with secrets,” Helena said. “Or at least the kind of secrets perfect for this kind of blackmail.”
Myka rolled her eyes and smiled.
“Pete’s right,” she murmured to herself.
“There’s not something I hear from you too often,” Helena said. Her wandering hand had come to a rest on Myka’s stomach. “What about?”
“We do make a perfect team. His words were ‘a scary match made in heaven’,” Myka said. “And here we are in bed hatching a plan to blackmail him into silence. He was kind of right after all.”
“We are a rather formidable pair,” Helena said.
Myka turned her head and smiled brightly at Helena. Then she pressed a kiss to Helena’s lips, because Myka would never ever tire of the heat and warmth and comfort that she found in every single one of Helena’s kisses. She pulled away to admire Helena, to marvel at her own luck at finding herself in such a remarkable woman’s arms. It took a few seconds before Myka spoke again.
“And I wouldn’t have it any other way.”