In the morning, Helena moved around the kitchen, hastily trying to get everything ready for the day. It was easier when she had Mark, and it'd taken her a good while to figure out how to deal with a two and a four year old all by herself.
But, now, they were a well-oiled machine.
"And there we go." Helena announced, as she finished packing up the kids' lunch, then moving to kneel by Cara. "Two lunch boxes down, getting your shoes on to go."
"Os sapatos." The girl repeated, in her mother's tongue.
"That's right, pequenina. Good job." Helena smiled up at her, as she began putting the little sneakers on. "But you have to remember what we talked about yesterday, ok? I know you really love speaking portuguese, but the daycare workers need you to speak English."
"Why?" The small girl whined.
"Because there are many wonderful languages around the world, and no one understands them all. In the daycare, they only understand English." She explained, finishing up in getting the girl's shoes on. At the pout the blond toddler gave her, she smiled. "Hey, Cara? It's like our own little secret, mine, Ali's and yours. Isn't that cool?"
"But I want Portuguese!" She tried once more.
"Then why don't I make you a deal?" Helena suggested, getting up and drinking the final gulp of her morning coffee. "You can say whatever you want in Portuguese, all of the time. You just also have to say it in English after. Deal?"
"Ok, mama." She agreed.
As Alice came down the stairs, she announced. "Look, mama! I got dressed all by myself!"
Smiling up at the brunette girl, Helena let out. "Good job, honey!"
However, as the girl came closer, the mother noticed her jacket was inside out. Not wanting to discourage the girl, she tried. "Hey, pequenina?"
"Yes?"
"Why don't I teach you something, so that you can become even better at it?"
——
"You're still not talking to Amelia?" Helena asked, as she and Meredith walked down Grey Sloan's halls.
"No." Meredith shook her head.
"Ok." Helena nodded, the two falling into silence for a moment. "So, Penny starts today. Do you want to talk about that?"
"No." She repeated.
"Ok. Then, when you want to, I'm here. Or if you don't want to, I'm here, too." Helena offered. "I'm just here."
"Thank you."
——
Later that day, Helena carefully covered a premature baby in the NICU, as April vented to her.
The redhead had brought to the hospital a little boy she'd met in Jordan, to try to get Jackson to operate on his tumors, on his hands. Problem was, she had lied about the severity of the case.
"And now Jackson wants to amputate." April told her. "He won't even try. He said it was hopeless. He- he asked me why I even brought Kamal to him." At that, Helena tilted her head, lifting a brow. "What?"
"April, come on... the scans were so bad you had to lie about them. You pretended they got lost. You lied. About a little boy, April." The brunette muttered, softly.
"I'm s- wh- what are you saying?" She narrows her eyes.
"Nothing..." Helena shook her head, walking out of the NICU and taking off her pink gown. Then, she took in a breath, before telling her friend. "I'm saying that I get it. I get what it's like when you feel like everything around you is falling apart, and you just need something to pull it together. Maybe not in the same way as you, but I get it. I just... if that's what you're doing, don't do it by giving a little boy false hope."
——
"Hey." Helena let out, finding Meredith at the hospital's church, Alex with her. "We were looking for you."
"Leave me alone..." She muttered.
"Since when do you pray?" Alex asked, each sitting on one of the blond's sides.
"I'm not."
"Or talk to God, or whatever." Alex shrugged.
"I'm not talking to God." She told them.
"Well, either way, I'd say it's a level up from talking to tequila." Helena judged her softly.
"I'm talking to Derek."
"Oh." Helena let out. "We'll go, then."
As they started to get up to leave, the general surgeon stopped them. "I'm trying. I've tried to rise. I've tried to teach her. But I just... don't think I can. I thought he might know what I'm supposed to do with her. Why she's here. I thought maybe he could tell me. So, I'm just gonna sit here and wait for some divine intervention or whatever."
"Ok." Helena nodded, moving Meredith's head closer to press a kiss to the top of it. "Ok."
——
"Gary, this is Dr. Campos." Owen introduced, DeLuca following her to the ER bed.
"Uh, Gary Walton, 14. Complaining of abdominal pain." The intern presented, handing the attending a tablet.
"Hi, Gary. I'm Dr. Campos, but you can call me Dr. C." She smiled, opening his file on the device. "How are we doing today?"
"This ball looks like a cherry." The kid pointed out, raising a small, red ball. "Do you like cherries?"
"Gary was born with some intelectual disabilities." The mother explained, behind him.
With a nod and a soft smile, Helena pulled a bench for herself. "I have to say, I'm more of a strawberry girl myself. Do you like cherries, Gary?"
"I love cherries!" He showed her the ball, excitedly.
"Loves these stupid things. That's probably why he ate one." The father looked up from his cellphone.
"Joel!" The blond woman reprimanded, then turning to the doctor. "He did, actually. He swallowed the other one. Is he gonna be ok?"
"Here it is, on the X-ray." The intern pulled up the image.
"I can show you where it is. Hey, Gary, do you wanna show Dr. C what you showed me?" Owen suggested.
At that, the boy chuckled, lifting his shirt to show a blinking red light in his stomach.
"Whoa, Gary." Helena giggle along. "Why did you do that for?"
"It looked like a cherry."
"I bet it didn't taste like one, did it?" The brunette smiled, narrowing her eyes playfully.
"Does he need surgery?" The mother asked.
"Well, Gary's body has it own exit strategy. With smaller objects, we usually try to avoid surgery and the unnecessary risks that can come with it." She told the parents, then facing the boy. "Gary, I think we'll try to have you poop it." Helena nodded, making the boy chuckle, amused.
"Oh, that is going to hurt." The father chuckled along.
"Joel!" The mother let out, again.
"Well, maybe it will keep him from doing crap like this." He shrugged.
"We'll just keep him here overnight, and we'll make sure everything comes out ok." Helena nodded. "What do you say we have a sleepover, Gary?"
"Yeah." He nodded, in excitement.
"Can I stay with him?" The mother asked.
"Of course. We'll just have him transferred to the peds floor."
——
That night, Meredith, Amelia and Helena sat at the kitchen island, Alex putting the food he'd gone to pick up down.
"Oh, finally. God, what took so long?" Maggie walked into the kitchen.
"Whoa, relax. This was nice of me, remember?" Alex tried, as Helena reached for her cardboard box.
"I didn't know you were gonna make the food." Maggie sassed, sitting by the younger girl.
"She's cranky. Bailey hired a new cardio guy without telling her." Amelia informed.
"That's jacked." Alex nodded.
"Who is he?" Helena asked.
"Nathan Riggs." Meredith informed.
"It just means I'm gonna have to train another alpha male not to pee all over the place." The curly haired woman shrugged.
"I hate it when they pee." Meredith looked up from the clothes she was folding.
"Derek peed a lot." The man's sister nodded.
"Oh, come on. We're not like that." The man scoffed.
"When you got here, you peed everywhere. It was disgusting." The blond told him.
"True, you did. But then we trained you." Helena nodded.
"Nobody trained me." He furrowed his brows.
"We trained you." The brunette insisted. "It was subtle. That's the art of it."
"Is that why you made me get the food?" He asked, making the short girl giggle.
"Not even that. It's the patients. It's the way that they always look to the man in the room first, no matter who is talking to them." Maggie let out, making Amelia agree.
"Yes!"
"That's a thing?" Alex asked.
"Not for you." The blue eyed brunette told him.
"And then there's the whole other thing." Maggie took a bite of her food. "You know, I just- I thought I was done with that here. This guy just comes in. He's taking consults without even talking to me about it."
"What whole other thing?" Amelia asked, making Maggie shoot her a look. "That? Come on... is that a thing?"
"Of course it is..." Maggie sighed.
"Here?"
"Yes. Here. Anywhere. Ask Edwards. Ask Bailey."
"I can't believe that..." Amelia let out, a bit shocked.
"That's cause it's not your thing." Helena told her. "It's not mine, either. My other thing, besides being a woman, is the accent."
"Seriously?" Amelia asked.
"Yeah." Helena chuckled, a bit dryly. "Do you know how many times I've been told to go back to my country? Or been called something along the lines of 'alien'? Or how much more often it makes people assume I'm a-a nurse, or in the cleaning team?" The short girl took a bite of her food. "And then there's the other thing. The sexuality thing. I've had some privilege, because I married Mark. But, when I was in med school, the fact that I had a girlfriend was a whole thing. One of my professors said it made me look promiscuous, and patients wouldn't trust me if they knew. And then, in one of my clinical rotations, a patient heard me on the phone with said girlfriend, and refused to let me examine him. It's ridiculous, but it's true. These are all things. They're just not your things."
——
"Hey." Arizona greeted Helena, the next morning. "Come out for a drink with me, tonight? It'll be fun. It's trivia night."
"Oh, trivia night is not fun. It is stressful, that's what it is." Helena nodded, looking up from her charts.
"Come on, broaden your horizons. Plus, I really don't want to go alone. You know, women don't tend to buy loners drinks, and I really need to get back out there." The blond pleaded.
"Fine..." Helena sighed. "But you're paying for the sitter for our girls."
——
"Dr. Campos, right?" Nathan Riggs asked, entering the elevator she was in.
"Yes." She smiled.
"Well, yours is easy to remember. I watched your Harper Avery speech." He told her.
With a smile, Helena let out. "You're Dr. Riggs, if I remember correctly?"
"That's me." He nodded. "Hey, I've been meaning to ask someone, what's the story behind the hospital name? You know, Grey Sloan?"
"Oh, that's a long story." Helena smiled politely.
"Grey is the chief of General's last name, I've noticed that much. Who's Sloan?" He asked.
"My husband." The short girl nodded. "Mark Sloan was my husband's name. My kids' name, too."
"Oh." He let out. "I'm sorry,"
"Not your fault." She shook her head, as the elevator plinged. "Have a good night, Dr. Riggs."
——
"There you go." Helena smiled, that night, handing Arizona her drink. "So, what are we looking for?"
"Sorry?" Arizona asked.
"Girls. I'm being a wingwoman. So, what are you looking for in girls?" The brunette asked.
"It's been a long time!" Arizona let out. "And I'm rusty, and nervous, and I feel like I've lived an entire lifetime since the last time I dated. I don't even know where to start."
"Ok." Helena nodded. "Do you like glasses? Oh, Cardigan over there has a pretty laugh. Are you into tattoos?"
Looking over her shoulder to the girl Helena and spotted, Arizona let out. "Not that many tattoos."
"Fair enough." The short girl nodded.
"Glasses is cute." Arizona noticed.
"Alright. I'll be back. And then you'll flirt, and I'll make sure we win trivia night." Helena smiled, jumping up from her seat.
——
"Owen won't say what it's about." Amelia told Meredith, Alex and Helena, as they shared a lift. "And nobody knows this Riggs. Except Kepner. Maybe Kepner knows."
"She doesn't know." Helena shook her head. "She would have told me."
"She would?" The woman asked.
"She would." The brunette nodded. "She tells me things. People tell me things."
"That's why she knows so much." Meredith pointed out, making Helena chuckle.
"True."
"They just keep circling each other. I keep thinking one of them is gonna pull out a switchblade." Amelia sighed.
"It's about a chick. When two guys hate each other it's usually about a chick." Alex shrugged.
——
"You know they're saying it's about you." Arizona let out, walking between April and Helena.
"What?" The redhead asked.
"You and Riggs had a torrid affair in Jordan."
"That's- oh, no! That is not..." April started.
"Don't worry, I shut it down." Arizona reassured.
"God, thank you. Jeez." April sighed.
"Oh, you just have to ignore it." Helena told her. "You wouldn't believe the things I've heard about me. Apparently, the interns think I'm somehow imortal? And that's one of the nice ones..."
"I mean, it does make some sense." The redhead shrugged. "A bomb, a shooting, a plane crash..." As the pediatric surgeon giggled, she added. "You know, I think it goes back further than that, because I worked with Riggs and he never even mentioned knowing Hunt."
"Oh, my Gosh!" Arizona let out. "Hunt and Riggs. What- what if they had the torrid affair?!"
"Come on..." April chuckled.
"Oh, don't contribute to the gossip mill." Helena urged.
"No, just think about it. Wartime, no rules, men in uniform, kissing..." The blond tried.
At that, April tilted her head. "Uh."
"You're picturing it. Don't picture it!" Helena smacked her arm. "You're gossips. Both of you. Almost as bad as Mark was, though he was pretty unbeatable. Don't be gossips."
"Oh, we're not being gossips. We're... harmlessly speculating." April tried.
——
Later that day, Amelia and Helena stood outside of a patient's room. Inside, Owen talked to his mom, her boyfriend being the patient in question.
"We don't think Riggs and Owen's mom...?" Amelia asked, as Meredith joined them. "We don't think that's the thing?"
"No." Meredith shook her head. "But do you think Owen's mom is Riggs' mom? Because that has happened to me before..."
"Well, but a whole lot of stuff has happened fo both of us that I wouldn't exactly deem likely." Helena smiled, amused.
As Owen left the room, Amelia left after him.
——
Helena had heard about how Owen had punched Riggs. And, even if she didn't have the most stable relationship with the man, she knew that she would take care of him. Like she had, many years before, done with Izzie Stevens.
So, as the man sat by the ambulance bay, she sat by him. "Hey. I heard about what happened. Bailey's looking for you."
"Ok." He nodded.
"You can't punch people, Owen. I don't care if it's Riggs. You have to pull it together, or you'll be in trouble." Helena advised.
"I know."
The two fell into silence for a moment, before the woman let out. "I know we haven't always been the best of friends, Owen. But we've been through so much together... we're family. And that means that I'm going to call you out when you're wrong, and that I'm going to get mad at you when you're being a jerk. And, look, we have pretty opposing opinions in some matters, so we're inevitably going to fight. But it also means that even when I don't really like your actions, I'll be there. It means I'll always be there, in case you need me. So, I'm here if you want to talk. Or if you don't. I'm here."
"I had a sister." Owen started.
——
"Meredith talked to Owen's mom. She talked to Owen's mom, and she won't tell me about it. She is more loyal to Cristina Yang, who's half away across the world, than to me." Amelia vented to Helena, at the end of the day.
"Look, Amelia, Owen probably asked her not to talk about it, either..." Helena urged, furrowing her brows in compassion.
"Either?" The neurosurgeon let out. "D-did you talk to Owen? Did you find anything out?"
"I... I did. I talked to him. But, like I said, it's not my place to tell you, Amelia. It's not my thing to tell. I'm sorry." The short girl tried.
"He's talking to you?" She scoffed.
"Not... h-he just... not everything. Just what he was ready to talk about, which wasn't much." Helena explained.
"W-why are you shutting me out of this, Lena?" Amelia raised her voice. "Meredith I get, we fight a lot. B-but we don't."
At that, Helena quickly guided her to an on call room.
"Amelia. It's not my thing. I don't get to tell people." Helena tried to explain, speaking calmly and clearly. "All I get to do is be there for him if he needs me."
"Oh, so you made a promise to Cristina too?" The older woman scoffed. "Is this some sort of four-way trust circle with Meredith, you, Owen and his ex-girlfriend?"
"No. Amelia, no." Helena shook her head, trying to explain. "I am taking care of him, because we're family. Doesn't mean I always like him, or that we get along, but he's family. Just like you are."
"Yet you're loyal to him but not to me..." Amelia nodded, pursing her lips. "And to some woman, half way across the word, who left you. I'm right here."
"God, no. Amelia, this isn't... this is not about loyalties." Helena grew a little irritated herself, raising a hand in front of her. "If anything, it's about me being loyal to my principles. It's about giving people privacy, if they need it. And it's about me trying to make sure everyone can hold their heads above water."
"I am seeing Owen! I-I thought we were sisters!" Amelia let out.
"And that does not make you entitled to every little piece of his life!" Helena exhaled, furrowing her brows. "You're worried. I know that, and I'm sorry. Truly. But that doesn't make you entitled to knowing his secrets, if he doesn't want to tell them. I have kept your secret. I will keep his. And it has nothing to do with emotions, or how much I like anyone. It has everything to do with respect, and with what I believe to be right. It would be wrong of me to go tell you. And I'm sorry, but I will not bend my morals." The shorter girl explained.
"Right." Amelia sniffled. "So it doesn't matter how I feel, as long as you do everything by the rules."
"You are not being fair, Amelia. You are not..." Helena shook her head. "I was there for you when Meredith left. I was there for you, during my own grief. And I've been there for you ever since, every single time you need to talk. And you know that. Right now, I am sorry, but what I'm doing has nothing to do with you. And it can't. Because, then, I would be breaking Owen's trust. If you need me, I am here. Like I am for him. But I cannot, and I will not, break his trust."
——
Word count: 3274
AN:
Honestly, as much I love both Amelia and Helena, they are pretty different in some aspects: as Amelia is usually driven by emotion, Helena tends to be generally more logical. So I think it makes sense that they saw this last situation very differently, even if there isn't a clear right or wrong.