Friar Laurence (L,H,T)

Some time after Stella had left the Arrow cottage with the gift from Helena, Luna knocked on the door. The sound was louder than she’d expected, echoing off the glass.

Hazel came to the door and silently let her in, and Luna followed her down the hall towards the bedroom. She felt her shoes clack on the marble floor. The Trident and her own Pomegranate cottages were highly themed, but they still felt homey. The Arrow felt more like an art museum than a house. The two of them walked past the tiles that danced around them and entered the bedroom.

Helena was waiting there in one of the glass chairs, one leg crossed over the other. A manilla folder was in her lap. Her left hand was rubbing at a choker Luna had never seen her wearing before.

“Is that new?” Luna asked, gesturing to her own neck as Hazel walked past her to stand behind her boss.

“Yes, it is.” Helena didn’t expand beyond that.

“Where’d you get it?”

“Genet.”

“She’s not forcing you to wear that, is she?” Luna pressed. As annoying as it was that Hel was giving her nothing to work with, she still wanted to check that Hel wasn’t getting the short straw as had been happening all week.

“No. She offered, and I made the choice. I like it, it’s just something I’m still getting used to.”

Luna decided to change the subject, accepting that she wasn’t going to get much more context. “Good job with whatever you did yesterday to break the curse. If you’re ever interested, my offer stands.”

“That would be your offer to sleep with my stepbrother and I together?” Helena asked dryly.

“It doesn’t have to be together, but yes." Luna half-joked. "I’m sure you feel the need to blow off some steam with everything going on.”

“I’d probably need to discuss that with my girlfriend.” Helena said, reaching a hand to her side that Hazel took. If she’d been facing Hazel she may have noticed her partner’s slight surprise before regaining her composure.

“Your girlfriend.” Shit. Hazel was never even on my radar. “Good for both of you. How long has this been a thing?”

“Only a day, but I think we’ve both been thinking about this for a long time.” Hazel answered. She stepped slightly forward to stand closer to Helena in her chair. “We’re still working out precisely what this will look like. The power dynamic would’ve been difficult to navigate even without her having to share me.”

“That isn’t something I really care about. Before I knew how you felt about me, your date with Richard was the one good thing about the show. I knew you two would be able to make each other happy.” She looked up at Hazel, who’d come into view.

I honestly don’t know what to say here. “Is this what you asked me to come over for? I’ve been in some poly relationships before I could try to give advice from, though I’m not sure how helpful stories from the summer I spent in Seattle back in undergrad would help.”

“No, I’m sorry. That was us getting distracted. What we asked you to come here for was to read this.” She handed the file folder to Luna. “I promised Richard that I would be more honest with everyone, and this is the first step towards that.”

“You two made a file on me?” Luna said, seeing her own name.

“We made a file on everyone either Richard or I have ever had to spend a significant length of time with. I wanted to make sure that no one became a danger or was in danger themselves.”

“Did you find out anything ‘dangerous’ about me?” Luna muttered as she started reading through. There’s a chapter here on my parents. Wait a minute, there's a chapter here just giving a timeline of who I’ve slept with. Did she tell Dick about any of this? If he found out about the softball team alone…

“Everything notable I found was good.” Helena assured her.

“Have you told your brother any of this?” Luna asked as she skimmed through.

“My step-brother knows nothing other than the fact that the file exists. He’s only known that part for three days, and when he found out he asked that I show everyone.”

“Good.” Luna stopped flipping through as she found a section she hadn’t expected to see. “Why is there a chapter on Uncle Jim?”

Jim was not, strictly speaking, her uncle. Uncle Jim was a friend of her mothers. He was “uncle” Jim because when Mom and Amá had wanted to have a kid, they’d asked Amá’s friend Jim at the computer company they both worked at to be their sperm donor. He’d stayed around as she was growing up and at a certain point “Uncle” was the least awkward thing to call him.

“Go ahead and read it if you’d like.”

Luna leaned against the wall, digesting it. While she’d been in undergrad Uncle Jim had left his job at Pear to start his own project working on virtual reality tech. He’d received an offer out of the blue from some angel investor who’d offered him fifty million to fund his research, in exchange for twenty-eight percent equity and an agreement that only Jim would ever have a bigger share. He’d been frustrated with how cryptic his business partner had been at times, only communicating through lawyers and tying their share to a shell company. But without the offer he never would’ve been able to start his research. This was the other half of his arrangement, laid out in black and white.

“You’re Friar Ideas?”

Helena nodded. “I found out about his designs when he posted online asking for someone to check his math. I showed it to my lead science advisor, Laurel, and after she followed his account for a few months as I asked her, she suggested that I get involved. I tried to mask my involvement to avoid it complicating your work with Richard. I promise, I didn’t do it just because of his ties to you. His work has been groundbreaking. Pear has had to pay him far more to use his patents than they ever paid him in salary before he quit.”

“How am I supposed to feel about this?” Luna asked. She was torn. This was a massive breach of trust and her privacy. But at the same time, her privacy being violated had changed Uncle Jim’s life. And it wasn’t like she hadn’t used the files before. Throughout her career, Hazel’s investigations had been one more tool she’d leaned on.

“That’s up to you. If you can’t forgive me for this, I understand.” Helena said.

“I… I can accept it, I just need you to agree to two things.” The younger latina stipulated.

“What’s that?”

“Don’t show this to anyone else. Especially the chapter on my partners.”

“I wasn't planning to. The second?”

“Seek therapy. Maybe not immediately, because Maeve needs some time to herself, but get help. I know you and Dick have experienced a lot of accidents in your family.” She missed Helena’s scowl. “But this sort of digging isn’t normal. I’ve always known you were paranoid, but this is too much, Hel.”

The billionaire shook her head. “Maeve said the same thing when I tried to recruit her for our escape attempt. I’m fine, really. But if that’s what it takes, then I can let Maeve check me out.”

“Good. I’d prefer to leave the folder here to prevent anyone else seeing it. I’m going to go meet up with the others, Ava was going to run another Gauntlets and Giants session for Aubrey.” Luna stood up to leave.

“Wait.” Helena called out. “Before you do, I wanted to ask something. I know what’s in their files, but you know their personalities. Who do you think would respond the best to finding out next?”

“Fuck.” I guess I’m part of this now. “Maeve or Stella probably. But Maeve is already balancing a lot, so choose Stella. Someone watching her might honestly be reassuring.”

“Thank you. I’ll show her the first thing next round then.”

Luna turned again to leave, and no one stopped her this time. After they heard the door shut, Hazel spoke. “Good job, Ma’am.”

“Thank you.” Helena sighed, leaning forward in the chair and burying her face in her hands. “I can’t believe we have to do this five more times. Stella Steward is supposed to be the easiest?”

“We’ve done harder things. I am proud of you, Ma’am.”

“I know you’ve heard the same question from Richard. Why are you still calling us ‘Sir’ and ‘Ma’am’?”

“Part of it is that I think it’s important to remember that I’m still your bodyguard, even with what else may come. I did like the sound of girlfriend earlier.”

“Good, I was a little worried that it might be too fast. What’s the other part?”

A hint of the same wolfish grin from when they’d been alone last night crept into Hazel’s face as she kneeled next to her boss. “I like the sound of it. Like this: I want to reward you, Ma’am.” She purred, sinking into a lower tone.

Helena shivered and blushed. “I see what you mean.” She lightly pulled on Hazel’s arm to bring her closer. They kissed once, then twice as the Indian woman leaned into the seat.

Helena wanted to keep going. But first, she wanted to make sure they didn’t forget what she'd mentioned to Luna at the beginning. She mustered her willpower to break from their embrace. “What will this look like? The two of us navigating this during the show.”

Hazel took a breath. “We’ll be together. Sometimes I’ll be with him. When I am, we can talk about whether you’d want to spend time with anyone else, like Miss Lopez.”

“You’re the only woman I’ll ever need.” Hel swore.

“Thank you, but you don’t need to promise me that. You’re going to be sharing me. As long as I’m yours, I don’t mind sharing you with someone else for a night.”

“That’s enough talking about sharing for one day. Take me to the bed.” Helena ordered.

“Yes, Ma’am.”