Today must be a good day.

Helena and Steve had just returned from their latest mission, and Helena was glad to be back. Not only because this particular retrieval was especially difficult, but because for the last month she and Pete had been taking turns on their missions, and she was looking forward to spending the next little while at home, both resting, and exploring this new... thing with Myka.

Helena smiled the second she came in the B&B's front door. Home. It finally felt like she had one again, though it really wasn't so much the physical building she was in so much as the person who was calling her here. As if on cue, Pete and Myka's laughter floated from the living room, and she revelled in the sound.

Yes, today must be a good day.

She approached the entryway into the living room and was content to just watch them for a moment before she made herself known. Myka was curled up on the couch in a warm sweat suit and thick woollen socks, the ever-present fleece cap still covering her head, and her hands were wrapped around a cup of what must be tea. But her cheeks held colour and her eyes were bright – and again there was the wonderful sound of carefree laughter.

The next sound Helena heard was not as pleasant.

"...and then it'll all be, 'pip pip cheerio, 'bout that time ol' chap?'"

"Peter, is that atrocious sound you're making supposed to be mimicking me?"

She walked into Pete and Myka's sightline and she was happy to see that Myka's smile managed to grow just a little bit brighter, and she laughed again. "He's anthropomorphized my tumour."

Helena didn't quite know what to say to that, so instead she sat down next to Myka and kissed her gently before turning back to Pete. "And so, despite Myka being American, you've decided her tumour is English?"

He looked at her like she was slow. "Duh, HG. It's a foreign mass. It has to have an accent."

"Well, by all means, make the disease that has ravished her body come from my homeland."

"You're just mad because you want to ravish her body all on your own," Pete replied back with surprising speed while waggling his eyebrows.

Myka laughed again, and though Helena was throwing him her best evil eye, she knew it was softened by Myka's presence beside her. "Even so, I absolutely refuse to share my origin with something so sinister. Choose somewhere else, and never attempt to speak with an accent from anywhere in England again."

"Aye," he started again, and while he was now outside of England, he didn't go too far. "Then I suppose I can just talk like it's after me Lucky Charms."

Helena rolled her eyes but Myka continued to smile, and Pete must have found that enough encouragement to continue.

"Or!" he started in his normal voice, and then he quickly switched again. "A- Hon Hon Hon," he practically grunted. "Ze tu-more iz from ze land of qwaaa-sontz and ze bagg-etssss and ze best of all, ze craayyyypes!" He made a face, though, and then continued again in his normal voice, "No, that can't be right. Something so bad can't come from a place with such good food."

"Then according to you, that rules out most of the world," Myka pointed out, and Pete grimaced.

"What if it's from oot and aboot in Canada, eh?" Pete replied, this accent just as terrible as all the others.

While Helena didn't really have many experiences in Canada, the money still held the picture of the Queen and she felt sentimental toward any country that was still part of the Commonwealth. "What could you possibly have against Canada?"

"The cheese curds in poutine make me gassy."

"Peeeeeeeete," Myka whined. "Everything makes you gassy."

He shrugged. "Shrimp doesn't. Let's go throw that tumour on the barbie, mate?"

Myka protested the accent again, but Helena tuned out the rest of Pete's performance. She cared only about the woman beside her, who had put down the tea to settle one hand in Helena's and rest the other gently on her thigh. Helena curled her own arm around Myka's shoulders and smiled as she leaned in, snuggling into Helena's neck.

Even as Helena placed a light kiss to the top of the fleece cap, she could feel Myka's laughter vibrating through her. Yes, this was a good day, and Myka's good days were coming more often now.

The tight ball of stress and worry that had lived in the base of Helena's stomach for the past four months relaxed just a bit more, and she could feel some of the tension leaving her body. Myka leaned back up as if she could feel the change, and looked right into Helena's eyes. "Hey, are you okay?"

Helena could feel the breath catch in her throat and her eyes started to prick with her tears born of so many competing emotions. "Yes," she replied with a soft smile. "Everything is wonderful, now that I'm here with you."

Myka nodded as if she wasn't sure she believed her, but gave her a quick kiss anyway before lying down across the couch with her head in Helena's lap, and turning her attention back to Pete.

As Pete and Myka continued to banter, Helena traced random designs on Myka's arm and back, and took pleasure in Myka's weight against her. So much had changed over the past four months and not a lot of the changes were pleasant, but the path had brought them to this point.

Helena could feel the emotion welling up again, and so she turned back to the conversation. Pete was now attempting a farce of an Italian accent, but Helena cleared her throat.

"Upon reconsideration," Helena started, and then needed to stop when her voice grew thick.

Myka looked up at her with her eyes wide and questioning, and fully of worry. She cleared her throat again and continued. "I think it would be okay if the tumour was English. Even though it caused a lot of hurt and pain in the beginning, and even now still, it did allow me to see a sort of truth and – and I – I must believe that the truth that was revealed later can be seen as a sort of good and may offset at least a miniscule part of the pain."

The tone in the room was no longer jovial and Helena regretted saying anything, regretted ever thinking about her own parallels with the hurt that the cancer had caused Myka, but a moment later Myka took Helena's hand and pressed it softly to her lips, and then to her heart.

"No pain or hurt will ever overshadow the gift it brought to me. As sick as I am, it gave me you."

Helena could feel Myka's heart beat faster, and she had no answer other than a soft smile and a slow nod. "Okay," she finally said, when she was able to talk again. She took a deep breath and turned her attention back to Pete who was waiting patiently for them to finish.

"If this foreign mass is in fact going to be British, we're going to have to work on your accent."

He broke out into a smile. "No wait, I know this movie! The rain in Spain stays mainly on the plain."

Helena looked around the room as if it held an explanation for Pete's nonsense. "Right. I have absolutely no idea what that means."

"Yes!" Pete exclaimed. "It's time for another lesson in pop culture!" He bounded to his feet and started toward the stairs, presumably towards his bedroom, which had the biggest television. "You guys in?"

She looked at Myka who was smiling and gave a small nod at her, so Helena repeated the nod back at Pete, who left them behind to get the movie.

There was a moment of pause before Helena helped Myka back into a sitting position. When she was back at eye level, Myka brought up her hand to trace along the side of Helena's face. "I heard what you were saying, before. I did. But you have to know, having you here with me now is worth every bit of physical and emotional pain that I have ever experienced, whether it was from the cancer or from... before. You understand that, right?"

It took all of Helena's courage to nod, and she was rewarded with another soft kiss.

"Good, then help me up the stairs before Pete tries to carry me up. I actually have some energy today, and I'd like to use it."

Helena again nodded and they made it to the base of the stairs before she could no longer hold back the rising emotions. "I love you, Myka. I don't often say it and showing my emotions is difficult, but I do. Love you."

Myka smiled and answered, "I love you too," like it was the easiest thing in the world. And maybe it was.

Helena stared, transfixed by Myka's eyes, only to be startled by Pete calling down to ask what was taking them so long, and the moment was broken.

But when Myka curled back into her side when the movie started, Helena realized that the tight ball in her stomach that had eased earlier was now almost completely gone. Yes, perhaps even the most destructive of forces could still cultivate some good.

Even the foreign ones.