InsaneJournal

Who: Myka and Helena
What: It is their six month anniversary and Helena is proposing.
When: This evening
Where: Pardoe Theatre in downtown New Creandi, then the castle
Warnings: Fluffiness.
Status: Complete



Today was an important day. It marked six months since Myka and Helena had first admitted their feelings for each other. As such, they were celebrating by going to the theatre, which was showing Myka’s favorite Shakespeare play A Midsummer Night’s Dream. There was also dinner beforehand as well. However for Helena, this evening had another layer to it for she was proposing to Myka. Somehow she had been able to keep it a secret and kept the ring from being found by Myka. Though Helena’s nerves could potentially give her away if she didn’t do her best to keep them in check.


When she had been thinking of how to propose, Helena had initially thought of going to a scenic part of town and just popping the question there. But as she began to put more serious thought into it, she realized that while a scenic part of town may give a good atmosphere, it wouldn’t necessarily mean much. Being the writer that she was, Helena wanted every part of the proposal to have some meaning behind it for them both. So she settled on proposing at the theatre. It wasn’t going to be some large arrangement with the workers there in on it. No, it was going to just be them. Helena didn’t care who bore witness to it because all that mattered was Myka and their love.


Helena was going to propose after the performance was complete if only because if she proposed before the performance, she doubted either her or Myka would be able to sit through the performance silently. Of course during the performance, this only caused Helena’s anxiety and nerves to grow and be worn thin. Logically, she knew what Myka’s answer would be, they’d all ready had a discussion about marriage after Myka’s sudden proposal when she’d been ill several months prior. But logic flew out the window as the time grew closer to propose. There was a part of Helena that was convinced she’d have a stroke before being able to voice the question. This thought was only solidified a bit more as the play drew to a close and the actors all took their bows. Once the lights came up on the house, Helena drew in a steadying breath and looked at Myka with a warm smile.


“I do hope you enjoyed the performance, love,” she said, going for making conversation in hopes that Myka wouldn’t pick up on the underlying nervousness she was feeling. And the fact that her heart was pounding so hard she feared it might break through her chest. But she needed to make it to the lobby, or at least somewhere where she could kneel, though that would be difficult given the dress she was wearing. But she would do as well as she could. Even if it meant she ended up on her face in the process.


6 months. 6 months had passed since she had been brought to the Land of Make Believe and she had officially admitted to her feelings for Helena. Since then they had been through a lot. Some good and some bad. In these last few months Myka had grown out of her shell. Helena was the one who mostly got to see the difference. Especially as they had been living together. Since early January she had been thinking of proposing. They’d discussed marriage briefly when she had been ill months ago and it seemed they were on the same page. And though she had been ill she had been sincere. For Myka had been sure then and was even more sure now that she would never find someone who loved her and knew her as well as Helena did.


All throughout the performance, the ring that Myka had purchased around Valentines lay heavy in her coat pocket. During her breaks between teaching she often found herself sitting there staring at the ring. Trying to envision the perfect proposal; but every option she came up with was not good enough. Myka knew that Helena wouldn’t say yes based off of how she proposed but she wouldn’t settle for anything less than perfect. At most she had narrowed it down to proposing on their 6th month anniversary. With everything that had happened as of late, with Clint and James having died not that long before and being returned, Myka never once truly noticed Helena’s nerves. Most of the little things that she had noticed being unusual she had attributed to the nightmares that she had been having because of Clint and James death and the overall experience with the Reavers.


Myka herself closed off even more after the experience with the reavers. For awhile she had been losing herself in teaching and neglecting friendships. Due to living with Helena their relationship stayed the strongest and the Victorian woman wouldn’t let her pull away. But others had begun to suffer. Myka knew that she needed to go about fixing them and it would take time until they had been built back up to what they were. In closing herself off, Myka kept to herself her plans to propose. Masking the nerves and stress she was feeling about it whenever she was around Helena or anyone else that might approach her about it. This was something that she felt that she needed to do on her own without guidance. No one here would try and talk her out of it but it was still a fear that she had. That someone would say something to try and break them apart and Myka had already lost her once she couldn’t survive losing her a second time.


When the performance was over Myka turned and smiled before responding to Helena’s question. “I did, it isn’t the best performance of it I’ve seen but I enjoyed it nonetheless,” she said watching as people began filing out. “Did you enjoy it?” Small talk. Myka could do small talk. It might diffuse the nerves that were bubbling beneath the surface. Dinner and a show had been a lovely idea for an anniversary. And now all Myka wanted to do was to coax her girlfriend to head back to the castle as she had planned to propose beneath the stars down by the lake. There was a distinctive chill in the air and a dampness to the ground but there was something about proposing beneath the stars that had all but screamed perfection to her.


Even having known that Myka wanted to marry her, Helena was blind to the fact that Myka was planning to propose to her. As much as Helena may have liked to propose to Myka under the stars, she was wanting to propose to her here. The theatre was one of their many common interests. That and, well, Helena doubted if she kneeled on the ground outside she would make it back to her feet without falling over in her current clothing. She wasn’t precisely certain she wouldn’t fall over indoors here, but the even ground inside gave her a distinct advantage in such matter.


Lifting a hand, Helena brushed aside a few strands of hair that had fallen loose from her updo. The pearl bracelet Myka had given her for Valentine’s decorated her wrist. In fact, she wore it nearly constantly, only removing it at night and when she showered. Otherwise, she wore it as often as she wore the locket that was around her neck. The locket which now also carried a picture of Myka within it. Christina and Myka both held Helena’s heart, and with her locket, she would always keep them both close to it. Even for the Victorian author, she was truly at a loss for accurately putting her love for Myka into words. There were no words she knew that could properly convey what she felt in any language known to man.


“I did enjoy it, yes. One can rarely go wrong with Shakespeare.” She did agree it wasn’t the best performance she’d seen, but she had seen a few atrocious performances in times long past. “Nor could I think of any better way to spend our anniversary,” she added with a warm smile as she looked at her lover. She still didn’t understand what she’d done to deserve Myka, but whatever it was, she would do it again if she had to. Helena was fully aware of how lucky she was to have Myka’s love, and she was not about to let the younger woman slip away from her. She had noticed the change after what had happened with the Reavers, but she would be damned if she simply just let Myka stay closed off.


Reaching out, she took Myka’s hand in hers and raised it to her lips, pressing a kiss to the back of it before lacing her fingers through Myka’s. “Are you ready to go?” Voicing that question only made Helena’s heart pound all the harder in her chest. She was only a couple minutes from popping the question, after all.


Myka returned the warm smile that Helena had sent her way. As her lover took her hand and placed a kiss on the back of it a faint blush could be seen in her cheeks. It was rare that they spent an evening out. Most of their evenings were in fact spent within the confines of the castle and their sitting room. Public displays of affection were still something that Myka was getting used to. Around their family it hardly phased her but out in public around complete strangers it was a different matter all together. Squeezing Helena’s hand, Myka nodded that she was in fact ready to go. All she had to do now was get the older woman back to the castle and carry out the rest of her plan. By the evenings end she hoped that she would have a fiance in the woman who had stolen her heart and brought her so much happiness in the last few months.


Just before standing, Myka leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss against Helena’s lips before pulling away and standing. With their hands still clasped together Myka pulled her lover up with her gently and said, “I love you. Happy anniversary, Hel.”


The blush didn’t go unnoticed, and Helena couldn’t deny loving the fact that she had put it there. While public displays of affection were still a bit new to her, she wasn’t scared of displaying her affection for Myka in public. She didn’t care who saw them. She loved Myka and that was all that mattered to her. Opinions that strangers may have never even crossed her mind.


Helena returned the kiss, a wider smile crossing her face as Myka helped her to her feet. “I love you, too. Happy anniversary, My.” The slightest smirk curved one corner of her mouth for Helena still couldn’t get over the possessive nickname Myka had. Grabbing her coat and clutch purse, she started to make her way out of the theatre and towards the lobby, her hand still holding Myka’s. As they moved, Helena was keeping an eye open for where to propose. Knowing the lobby was no doubt crowded, she was thinking on her feet. Well, trying to because that was hard when about the only sound she heard was the pounding of her heart.


There were still people in the theatre, but there was no doubt more room there than the lobby. Not to mention if Helena fell on her face, there were less people in the theatre to laugh than there were in the lobby. So upon spying a nice open area under the balcony, which was rather ironic considering Romeo and Juliet had a balcony scene and they had just seen another Shakespeare play, Helena decided that was the spot. So she stopped, though she didn’t let go of Myka’s hand.


“Myka,” she said to get the other woman’s attention. Licking her lips, Helena drew in a breath and looked at her. “There is a star that outshines all the others in the sky, and also guides truer than the North Star. This star alone burns brighter than a thousand suns, and nothing can chase away the night better than this star. It is a light that one would travel the expanse of time in order to find, and it is a light that is treasured beyond all the riches of the Earth. One can spend a lifetime searching for it and not find it, yet it will come when it is least expected. It comes with a healing light and gentle warmth. All that its light touches begins to heal and grow anew, reviving with a renewed vigor. Many a dreamer have searched for this star among all the rest, but it was not until I turned my eyes to what was right in front of me that I found this star.” Helena let go of Myka’s hand then so she could open her purse and pull out the small box that contained the ring she had bought for Myka. Letting her coat and purse fall to the floor, Helena drew in another breath, steadying herself as she knelt down on one knee and looked up at Myka, her dark eyes full of love. “You are the light of my life, you are that star that burns brighter than a thousand suns in my sky. Here, in this antithesis of the balcony scene, I pose to you a question.” Helena opened the box, revealing the ring as she held it up to Myka. “Myka Ophelia Bering, will you do me the honour of becoming my wife?”


Myka's coat was hung over her opposite arm as hands clasped they began to make their way out of the theater. It hadn't escaped her notice the smirk that had appeared on Helena's face when she had used her shortened name. My. So short but so possessive at the same time. And Myka knew just how much her lover enjoyed the possessiveness of her nickname.


As they stopped beneath a balcony, Myka grew confused. Why were they not leaving? Sure the lobby was undoubtedly crowded and it would take them some time to make their way out but that didn’t mean they had to wait. The two of them could push through and begin their journey back to the castle grounds. All Myka wanted to do was get the Victorian woman back to the castle and down by the lake to propose before her nerves are her alive. Though as Helena began to talk, Myka couldn't keep the tears from welling up in her eyes. It was beautiful. When Helena pulled a box from her purse and dropped her own coat and bad to go down on one knee it all made sense. Tears began to spill down her cheeks as she watched the woman she loved with her entire being propose to her. From what she could tell the ring was gorgeous in its simplicity. Helena could have presented her with a brass ring and she would have cherished it.


Not even caring that it had grown quiet in the theater around them, Myka smiled through her tears. A small laugh escaped her lips. They’d both had the same idea for how to make this anniversary that much more special. She should have known that this was what Helena had been planning but she’d been so busy worrying about getting all her details right she had been blind. Knowing that Helena was waiting for her answer, Myka slipped her hand down into the pocket of her coat and pulled out the ring that she had purchased for Helena. The ruby in the enter signified love and healing and that is what Helena had done for her. The Victorian woman had loved her and healed the broken pieces of her soul and Myka knew the same could be said vice versa. Opening the box she knelt down on one knee just balancing herself enough so that she didn’t go tumbling face first into the ground.


“Nicholas Sparks wrote that ‘the emotion that can break your heart is sometimes the very one that heals it;’ and that’s what you’ve done for me Helena. You have healed the broken pieces of my heart and my soul. A ruby symbolizes love and healing and it is for this fact alone that I chose this precise ring.” Myka said gazing into Helena’s eyes. “The answer to your question is yes, yes I will marry you and become your wife, but only if you would do me the honor of marrying me and becoming my wife.” This wasn’t how she had intended her proposal to go and everything was being done on the spot. Not a single word was how she had rehearsed it but that made it even more special.

When it came to how she was going to propose, Helena hadn’t precisely been rehearsing it. She had an idea, running with a metaphor that Claudia had actually pointed out to her when she’d taken her ring shopping for a second opinion. Even with the fact Helena would always go all out and put her entire heart and soul into doing things she had great emotional stock in, she wanted the proposal itself to be simple. She didn’t want a large production, she merely wished to convey her feelings for Myka. The younger woman was the light in her life, the light to her darkness, and she wanted to convey that through the ring and the proposal itself.


Though when Myka in turn kneeled instead of giving a response, Helena finally caught on that Myka had had the very same idea. They really did know each other so well yet Helena hadn’t realized Myka was planning to propose as well. It was Helena’s turn to have tears well up in her eyes as she gazed at Myka and listened to her own proposal. In that moment, Helena completely forgot they were even in public. Nothing and no one around them registered. All that mattered was Myka. And again, the fact both of them had chosen symbolic rings only went to show how well in tune they were with each other.


“There is nothing I want more than to marry you and be your wife, so my answer is yes. Yes, I will marry you.” Her eyes glistened with tears, but also unbridled happiness and love. This was not a moment the Victorian woman had ever thought she would experience, but yet again Myka was proving her wrong. And she was more than happy to be proven wrong here.


Myka internally sighed in relief. She truly had no reason to think that Helena wouldn’t say yes but hearing the woman that she loved accept her proposal lifted a weight off her shoulder. Using her free hand to balance herself and push off the ground Myka stood and then reached down and pulled her lover up. Very slowly she switched the box in Helena’s hand with the one in her own and then slipped the ring out of the box and onto her ring finger. As she stood there admiring the ring she couldn’t believe that this was happening. The only other person that she had seen herself ever marrying had been Sam. Myka had thought it time and time again but Helena was the only one for her. And though it had taken a journey full of so much pain to bring them together, Myka would not change that for anything.


Looking over at Helena, Myka said with a smile on her face, “Helena Georgia Bering, has a very nice ring to it.”


Just as Myka was relieved, so was Helena. She felt all the anxiety and stress she had felt prior to asking the question drain away from her in a rush. Now all that she felt was happiness and a sense of peace. Peace was a feeling that had not been something Helena had truly felt in a very long time. But after Myka exchanged their ring boxes, Helena took the ruby and diamond ring out of the box and slid it onto her ring finger. As she did, that sense of peace was only solidified. That finger had always been bare, but now it would never be bare again. It would now be a constant reminder of the love her and Myka shared. Truthfully, Helena would never had married anyone else. If Myka had been a man, Helena wouldn’t have married her simply because in her mind, marriage to a man meant surrendering any and all freedom and authority over her own life, and that was not something she would allow. Even knowing marriage had a different meaning in this age, it would’ve taken far longer for those beliefs to have been broken down. But Myka was the only woman Helena could envision marrying. They both had a mutual respect for the other so there was no issue on that front.


Looking up at Myka, Helena quirked a brow at her, though she still had a wide smile on her lips. “Myka Ophelia Wells also has a beautiful ring to it.” Helena was not going to give up that particular spat yet. No doubt it would come down to the last minute to decide what name they took. Though before anymore time passed, Helena reached up and pulled Myka in for a deeper kiss. It felt right to seal the proposals with a kiss, and Helena didn’t really care who was watching. She was expressing her love for her new fiancé and nothing was going to stop her from doing just that.


It was going to be a never ending battle to choose a name. Of that she was certain. Much like how they continuously argued over whether or not their partnership was Bering and Wells or Wells and Bering. They'd come to a decision at some point in time. Most likely right before the wedding if even then. A small laugh would have escaped from her at her fiances response had Helena not reached up and pulled her into a kiss. Immediately her hands went to rest on Helena's hips and she returned the kiss. Myka soon lost herself in the kiss. Kissing Helena was something she enjoyed doing though she still felt uncomfortable doing it around the Victorian woman's younger self.


When the need for air arose, Myka pulled back and placed a gentle kiss against Helena's lips; not quite ready to separate completely. From the corner of her eye she noticed people had gathered near them witnessing the moment. Myka couldn't help the blush from appearing on her face and she immediately buried her face in Helena's neck. After pressing a kiss to her neck she mumbled, "I think we have an audience, Hel."


This moment was not one Helena had ever pictured she’d ever have. Having a fiance and wanting to spend the rest of her life with someone in such a way. But Myka had proved her wrong on several things, so it was only fitting that this was added to that list. It was difficult for her to contain her happiness to be able to have this. She’d all but given up hope of ever finding someone who could love her. She’d been so broken and twisted from the woman she’d used to be she hadn’t thought anyone could see through all the blood-tinted darkness in her soul, to bother to find and pick up the broken pieces of her soul and put them back together. Yet here that woman stood, embracing her as eagerly as Helena embraced her.


When Myka broke the kiss, Helena couldn’t help the wide, happy grin that spread across her face. As her fiance buried her face in her neck and mumbled about the crowd, Helena’s gaze took in as much of the surroundings she could see without turning her head and she chuckled softly as she slid her arms around Myka’s shoulders.


“So I see, though I have to say, I do not mind. I love you and want to spend the rest of my life with you, so I don’t care who witnesses such expressions.” She pressed a gentle kiss to the area of Myka’s neck that curved into her shoulder and rested her chin there. Her gaze was then drawn down to the ring she now carried on her finger, her dark eyes glittering with unshed tears and unbridled happiness. And for the first time in what felt like several lifetimes, Helena felt truly happy right there in that moment. There was no pain, no darkness. Only happiness.


Myka felt and heard when her fiance chuckled. She couldn’t help it though. The audience that had gathered still made her embarrassed about the public display that they had made. And though from what she had seen they were all smiling it still brought up memories from when she was a teenager. Her thoughts trailed off when she felt Helena place a kiss against her neck and then rest her chin on her shoulder. Helena’s words only added to the calming effect needed for her to tune out the audience around them. For Helena alone she could handle an audience.


After a few moments of just holding one another Myka chose to pull away and looked at Helena. She had a look of pure innocence on her face before leaning back down to whisper into the older woman’s ear. “As much as I would love to stay here so you can show the world how much you love me and I love you...I would much rather celebrate behind closed doors.” When she was finished she pulled back and an innocent smile took hold of her face. However her thoughts were far from innocent.


An audience for such affection was also something that Helena was new to, but she didn’t care who saw them. She was not trying to maintain some Victorian facade. There was no reason to protect her reputation. Here, it didn’t matter who talked about them, at least not to Helena. What truly mattered was what her and Myka felt for each other. Other people’s opinions carried no weight for her. When Myka pulled back, that look of innocence did make Helena wonder what her lover was thinking. Though upon the whisper in her ear, it all became. That look of innocence was but a mask. The slightest of smirks curved her lips, one that only Myka could really tell was there due to the accompanying glint that passed through her eyes.


“Then I believe it is time we depart and return home to continue the celebration,” Helena responded softly enough so only Myka could hear. With that, Helena bent down, retrieving her clutch purse and coat, then stood back up. “Now shall we navigate our way through the sea of people in the lobby?” Putting her coat over her arm and carrying her clutch in one hand, with her free hand she took Myka’s, entwining their fingers before she began making her way out, a warm smile on her lips as she went.