Myka felt a bit like she was sleepwalking, shoving clothes at random into her bag. Picking a couple of books off of her bookshelf for her carry-on, instinctively grabbing The Time Machine and throwing it on the pile. She couldn't help it, it was the book she always travelled with, regardless of how odd it seemed when she was also travelling with its author. She could hear Claudia's music still pumping through the walls, and the occasional shuffle from Pete and Helena's rooms as they prepared for what the morning would bring. Finally, after triple-checking that she had everything she could possibly need she collapsed onto her bed. Her mind was racing, confused and jumbled over disparate thoughts, Steve, Hong Kong, Claudia's music, Helena being right across the hall, not wanting to sleep alone when it felt like the world might end tomorrow. It was a strange mash of sadness, desire, anxiety, and determination, none of which were going to allow her to fall asleep anytime soon. As though her thoughts had called out through the walls, there was a small tap at her door, and when she opened it, there was Helena. She didn't even care at this point if Pete saw her pull her into her room, all that mattered was that she was standing in front of her, with a look in her eyes that was at once haunting and beautiful.

There was no need for words, not now, not in the dark of the night, with an uncertain morning looming. Instinctively, they both realized that tomorrow would hold probably more dangers than they could ever anticipate, and there was no way they were getting on that plane without making the most of the night. Sleep be damned, they could sleep on the plane. Myka pulled her in by her wrist, quietly shutting the door behind them, and sliding her hand through the space between Helena's arm and her body to lock the door. Myka closed the slight gap between them, pressing Helena gently up against the door. Helena's lips were parted in anticipation of a kiss that wasn't going to come, at least not yet. Instead Myka leaned down into her neck, tracing small kisses from the tip of her earlobe down to her collarbone. She felt Helena tilt her head against the door, giving her more room to maneuver, and letting out a small hum at Myka's touch. "It would seem that despite my previous protestations, you're going to get your way." she whispered into Myka's hair.

"And which way is that?" She breathed into her neck, not being able to stop herself from making Helena actually say the words out loud.

Helena gave a small, throaty chuckle, "Well, I believe that I have just come to your room in the middle of the night, in order that you might, how did you put it? Have me in your bed…"

"Hey, I said it was negotiable, you apparently just couldn't wait long enough for me to come to your room. You must want me desperately, if you were willing to let me have my way." She playfully nipped at Helena's pulse.

Helena reached down to lift Myka's head level with hers, giving her a look that made Myka swallow hard, feeling the desire welling up in her throat, "You have no idea," and before Myka could take another breath, Helena was pulling her into a kiss that made her forget what she was doing for a the briefest of moments. They lost themselves in a tangle of hands and lips, teeth nipping slightly, tongues easing over the pain. Helena's hands were lost in the jumble of Myka's curls, wishing that she could just drown herself in everything that was so inherently Myka, her perfume, the way her lips every so often curled up into a smile when she kissed her, the feel of the callouses along her fingers from years of holding a gun, her attentiveness, her kindness, her gentleness, all the things Helena never felt she was herself except when she was by Myka's side. This woman was completely intoxicating, and in these moments with her hands lost in her hair, she didn't know how she had gone so long without telling her how much she felt for her.

Myka felt like no matter how much she touched her it would never be enough. She no longer knew how it was possible that she lived for the tiny moments and the briefest of touches, when Helena didn't think anyone was watching. How she managed to survive with just those small connections without her heart exploding, because now that she actually had Helena underneath her fingertips, she didn't know how she'd ever stop. She grabbed onto Helena's hips, allowing her thumbs to drift underneath the fabric of her shirt to run against the smooth skin over her hip bones, savoring the contact, until she needed more, and ran her fingers up her sides, pressing into her back, causing it to arch and thus press their stomachs together. She ran her fingers down Helena's back, only slightly raking her nails against skin, but it was enough to make Helena hiss against her lips, and whisper, "I've been imagining your hands on me all day. It was terribly distracting."

"Now you know how I felt every single time you would touch me, and catch me off guard. I was shot for the rest of the day. It's a wonder I get any work done with you around." As she breathed out the last sentence, she slowly, tantalizingly lifted Helena's shirt over her head. She doesn't know what compelled her to do it, but she found herself reaching down to wrap her arms around Helena's thighs, and before she knew it she had lifted her up, Helena obliging her in the sexiest way possible, wrapping her legs around her waist. Helena's hair was all over her face, but she still managed to maneuver them onto her bed, easing Helena down slowly, but before she could crawl up with her, Helena was sitting up, looking utterly determined.

"What?" The confusion not at all hidden in Myka's voice.

"You may get to have me in your bed, but tonight, I get to be the one that crawls on top of you. You got that privilege last night."

"So we're keeping score now?" Myka smirked.

"Absolutely not, I'm just taking what I want. Now, darling, take your shirt off." Helena's voice was dripping with lust and control, and something uncoiled in Myka's stomach, hot and melting, relishing the thought of for once not being the one in control at all. With painstaking slowness, she unbuttoned each of the buttons of her shirt, and let it drop to her feet.

"Any other requests?"

Helena reached up and grabbed her by the wrist, pulling her swiftly onto her back on the bed, her knees nestled around her hips, before Myka could even blink, "Not at the moment, no, but give me a little more time, there might be." She slid her hands up from Myka's hips, tracing along her sides, nails scraping against skin ever so slightly, she watched as Myka's eyes closed from the contact, and not for the first time Helena was shaken by how beautiful she was. She lowered her lips onto hers, and as Myka's tongue rolled over hers, Helena fought back an odd sense of nervousness, something she had never quite experienced in this situation before, and allowed her hands to graze over Myka's breasts, barely covered beneath light black fabric. Myka moaned into her mouth, at contact that they hadn't allowed themselves last night. Helena lightly pinched her nipples, reveling in the increasingly louder seductive whimpers that came from the back of Myka's throat every time she increased her touch. Wanting to hear Myka without her own lips dampening the sounds, Helena traced her lips down to the hollow of Myka's throat, running her tongue along the delicate skin of Myka's collarbones. She lightly bit against the skin where collarbone and throat met, and almost melted in the noise that came from Myka's mouth. "You have no idea what those noises are doing to me…"

"Really? Because they're kind of embarrassing me…"

Helena looked up at her, devilish smirk playing at the corners of her lips, "Why embarrassed darling?"

She saw the blush start creeping up Myka's neck, "It's just not usually…my thing."

"Apparently, I must bring it out in you…I kind of like that actually."

The blush was deepening in Myka's cheeks, "Ok, less talking, just kiss me already."

Helena raised one eyebrow, "Now whose giving orders? Rather sexy…" and she crashed into Myka's lips biting ever so slightly on her bottom lip before pulling away. She edged herself up and away from Myka's body.

"What are you doing" the disappointment dripping from Myka's lips.

"Sit up."

Myka propped herself up on her elbows. "That's not quite all the way up darling…but I suppose I can work with that."

"Well I can't exactly give you everything you want all the time can I?" This time it was Myka's turn to smirk, as she watched Helena's eyes darken and dilate, reveling in someone actually fighting back against her for once.

"I suppose not no, but from this position I can still get what I want darling," and she slid her arms around Myka's back, deft fingers making quick work of the clasp of her bra. She pressed her hands against Myka's back enough to lift her off her elbows, giving her enough room to remove the fabric from Myka's body, laying her back down by running her fingers over the newly freed skin. She settled herself back onto Myka's body, lower than before, bringing her lips level with Myka's chest. She felt Myka give an inhalation of breath before she had even touched her, the anticipation alone making goosebumps appear on Myka's skin. Running a light circle around Myka's nipple she asked, "What do you want me to do?"

With a sharp intake of breath Myka answered, "I thought you were the one giving orders?"

"Oh well I'm willing to bend the rules every now and then," Helena never once stopping her fingers moving over Myka's skin.

Myka was thankful that Helena couldn't hear the thoughts running through her head. She had a small tendency to be incredibly shy in bed, hesitant to talk, let alone say what she wanted. Yet somehow, Helena brought something out in her she couldn't describe, except to realize that maybe for once in her life she was actually with someone that she could feel comfortable letting her walls down around. Maybe for once, she was with someone she wanted to be uninhibited with. Just one word escaped, whispered through her lips, her walls crumbling only a few bricks at a time, "Tongue."

Helena could sense Myka's hesitation to being overt with her desires, so she was impressed that she actually was able to elicit any kind of response from her. She smiled as she replaced her fingers with her tongue, running circles around her nipple, while continuing to massage the other. She sucked ever so slightly, and when Myka moaned, she allowed herself just one more moment of pulling Myka out of her shell, "Is this what you wanted?"

She watched as Myka bit her bottom lip, in that way that she had, that was at once endearing and arousing, and gave her a slight nod of the head. Good enough Helena thought, there will be plenty more nights like this for getting Myka to open up more. She lost herself in lavishing Myka's body with loving attention, every once in awhile being struck over again by the fact that she was actually in this position. She left no part of Myka unexplored, reveling in discovering the small, unexpected places that elicited gasps and whimpers, the soft skin on the inside of her wrist, the birth mark right below her left ribs, the skin that delicately divided her defined stomach muscles.

As she allowed herself to explore lower and lower down Myka's body, she suddenly felt like her fingers were going numb. They were hitting a line that they hadn't crossed last night, and as it got closer and closer, Helena couldn't help but feel a bit light-headed. She fumbled to find the right angle to pull loose the belt that was hugging against Myka's hips. Her anxiety, evident in her shaking fingers, shook Myka out of the haze of desire that had surrounded her as Helena had worked down her body.

"Is it possible…that the great H.G. Wells is nervous?"

Helena placed a small nip at Myka's hip bone, "Hush," but she couldn't stop her eyes from betraying the nerves that were settling into her stomach, mixing in with the unrelenting desire she had for Myka.

"Hey…Helena, look at me."

She allowed her eyes to rise up to meet Myka's, green glinting with more emotion than she felt able to process. Myka crooked a finger at her, with a small smirk playing across her lips. Helena could do nothing but respond to being summoned back to the top of the bed. "Yes darling.."

"Kiss me." There was something dark and unknowable in Myka's eyes, overwhelming in the way that they somehow conveyed desire, longing, love, and reassurance all at once. Helena allowed a small smile to splay across her lips as she lowered them to Myka's. Myka was soft, yet insistent, strong, yet somehow vulnerable, one hand holding Helena tight to her with a hand on the back of her neck, the other resting against the small of her back, pulsing confidence into her with every second that she stayed close to Myka. When Myka broke away from the kiss, she couldn't help but give voice to what she thought might be evident from Helena's shaking fingers, "We don't have to do this tonight, we don't have to do anything if you don't want to." She was calm and collected, not allowing the aching that was pulsing inside of her for Helena's touch to come across, wanting to make sure that Helena wanted this as much as she did, and that they weren't going too fast.

The kiss had breathed new confidence into Helena, "I assure you that there is nothing I want more than you, right here, right now." Her last words coming in clipped breaths, punctuated by her fingers now deftly flicking the button of Myka's jeans open, and ever so slowly dragging her zipper down.

Myka's breath caught in her throat, as she felt Helena's hands trace onto skin that hadn't been touched in far too long. Her grip around Helena's neck could do nothing but slacken as every muscle in her body weakened under Helena's touch. She felt Helena slither back down her body, hands deftly crooked into her belt loops to pull her jeans off her body. Fingers and kisses traced their way up Myka's inner thighs, making her entire mind go blank, and when Helena finally lowered her tongue onto her, and she felt her fingers inside of her, Myka ceased to be able to think. It wasn't until she felt her entire being coming undone that her mind even came remotely close to returning to her. She was powerless to stop the moans that came out of her throat, spilled against whispers of Helena's name. She wasn't even sure when Helena actually had moved back to her side, but suddenly there she was, propped up on her elbow, fingers tracing down Myka's arms, feather-light kisses grazing against her neck, whispering against her skin so quietly that Myka almost didn't hear it, "You are perfect…"

Myka turned her head to face her, hazy eyes meeting Helena's steely, dark ones soaked with happiness and passion, "Hardly."

"Perfect to me…"

Myka gave a soft chuckle, "Ok, that I'll accept." She traced a finger along Helena's jawline, unable to contain the look that overtook her features, "I love you."

Helena grasped Myka's hand, placing light kisses along each of her fingertips, "I…love…you…too." She clasped Myka's hand in her own, placed a kiss along the back of it, and drew it up to rest against her heart. "I just wish I had had the courage to tell you sooner."

"What did you just tell me this morning? It doesn't matter how or when it happened, what matters is that it did. We're here, right now, together, and nothing is going to change that, and now we have a whole future ahead of us, so there's no point in looking back. I am much more interested in looking forward," Myka released her hand from Helena's grasp and lightly pressed Helena back against the bed. She swung her knees around Helena's hips, and raised Helena up by her elbows, sliding her hands around her back, making slow, tantalizing work of the clasp of Helena's bra. She slid the fabric away from Helena's shoulders, tossing it aside with the rest of their clothes, and lowered Helena back down to the bed, following her down to meet her lips as her head hit the covers. She traced her tongue along Helena's bottom lip, body tingling at the moan that escaped from Helena's throat.

Helena's body already felt familiar underneath her fingertips, even from the small amount of time they had together last night. She loved feeling her twitch, hearing her gasp, watching her bite her lip, as Myka moved along the most sensitive areas of her body. The whole time that she explored, Helena's hands never left her hair, fingers tangled endlessly in her curls, ever so slightly guiding Myka along her body, slightly pulling when she wanted her to linger longer, fingers loosening when she wanted her to continue. She loved feeling like Helena was letting her know what she wanted, while also letting her take her time to explore. Myka decided that she could spend the rest of her days lavishing loving attention over Helena's body, and it would never be enough. This was a woman whose life had been filled with so much pain and hurt, Myka just wanted to give her the love, care, and tenderness she had deserved for so long. Yet, the hot bubble of desire burning in the pit of her stomach kept causing her to rush, wanting to feel Helena come undone in her arms. It didn't take long for Helena to solve the problem for her, "Myka…if you don't touch me soon, I may burst into flames."

Myka smirked against her hip bone, "So impatient…" she leaned up to linger one last graze of her tongue along Helena's breasts, as with her other hand she undid her belt and the clasp of her jeans. She felt Helena's hips buck forward underneath her, and she couldn't resist one last tease, fingers lingering on the edge of Helena's waistband, "Do you really want me that badly?"

She saw Helena's eyes roll behind her closed lids, "I'm not sure the words exist for how badly I want you."

"I've left the famous writer at a loss for words, impressive," and with a swift tug she flung the rest of Helena's clothes aside, no longer wanting to tease, to wait, but only wanting to lay Helena bare with passion. Myka didn't even have time to be nervous that she had never done this before, knowing how badly Helena wanted her, and wanting her just as badly made every other thought fly out of her head. With one arm draped across Helena's stomach, attempting to keep her movements as under control as possible, Helena it appeared was a horrible wiggler, unable to control her body's responses to her desire, she lost herself in Helena's body. It was a haze of tongues, kisses, and fingers exploring the vast and various ways to bring Helena to the brink. When she felt Helena's fingers clamp around her hand on her stomach, she knew it wouldn't take much more for her to lose control completely. She increased her pressure and her speed, feeling Helena's fingers tighten around her own, and in one blissful moment Helena's back arched underneath her, and her grip on her fingers was enough to make her hand go numb. She stayed where she was until Helena's body stopped shaking and her fingers loosened, to find themselves in Myka's curls again, urging her back up towards Helena.

It felt like hours that they laid there in the quiet. Legs tangled, hands loosely entwined, breathing slowing into exhaustion, it was perfection. In quick, quiet movements, Myka reached underneath them to free up the covers enough to allow them to crawl underneath them, neither bothering to put on pajamas. Helena nestled into the crook of Myka's shoulder, reveling in the firmness of Myka's arm around her waist, tight enough to let her know that this was where she was always meant to be. She lazily let her fingers lie across Myka's sternum, tracing small circles with her fingertips. Myka pressed a soft, yet strong kiss against her forehead, causing her to nestle even closer, if that was even remotely possible. The awkwardness, the questions of last night had vanished. How they felt right now in this moment was how they always wanted to feel, it was what told them that they were always going to wind up together, no matter what the universe might throw their way. The love, the peace that radiated from their bodies, spoke more than words could ever hope to express, and so they soaked in the silence, trusting that they would have days, months, years to say all the things they wanted and needed to say to each other. Finally, when she felt she was only inches from sleep overtaking her, Myka reached for her cell phone, making sure to set them an alarm. "Baby, what time do you think we need to be up tomorrow?"

"Well, Artie said he wanted us out the door by 8, so 7?."

"Ugh, that is so not enough time to sleep."

"Would you really have preferred I had let you sleep tonight darling?"

"Absolutely not. I would take no sleep over no you any day of the week."

With one last soft, slow kiss good night, Myka settled back into Helena's curves, hugging her closely to her side. Neither of them knew what tomorrow was going to bring into their lives, it could be the very apocalypse itself, but tonight, in this moment it didn't matter. They had each other. They loved each other, and for tonight that was enough. They would always be enough, and so with whispered "I love you's" pressed into hair and skin, they slept, knowing that in these moments, they had all that was good, right, and perfect in the world