A/N: Had this done since the episode aired. Just didn't feel like posting it till now. Also, ugh since when did I write long one-shots? I thought I was more a 500 words kind a gal.
Steve had to be wrong, it must have been a strange coincidence. He kept telling himself that as he followed the team out of the hospital.
"Do you see anything wrong with this Jinksy?" Claudia asked holding out her finger for him to examine. Steve shook his head.
"No Claud." A coincidence and so was the scratch and he supposed the sore arm too. Steve sucked in a breath. That was far too coincidental, especially by Warehouse standards.
"Man, must not be a good day for me then." She shook her head and ran to catch up with the others. Steve stayed behind, his head swirling with this new information.
It wasn't a coincidence, Claudia felt his pain. It was the exact opposite of what he wanted. He was supposed to protect her, not this. What happens if something worse happens to him? What happens if he's shot? Will Claudia feel that too?
Steve wished he'd of asked Marcus more about how that worked, because now it mattered. Before, he could care less about the downside of the metronome, that wasn't his mission. His mission was to find out what Sykes wanted so he could protect the Warehouse, protect Claudia. But now his partner and best friend's life was on the line and he had no idea what to do about it.
He watched her climb into the car and soon followed the suit. For a while they drove in silence apart from the music that was playing softly in the background.
"Hey, Claudia," He started. Claudia's gaze shifted over to him for a second before moving back to the road.
"Hm?" Steve leaned back into his seat.
"How's your neck?" She rolled her eyes and scoffed.
"It's a scratch, it stings but I'll deal. How are you holding up? First big case after your…well you know." Steve watched Claudia's knuckles whiten, gripping the steering wheel as she finished her sentence.
"It didn't really seem much different." Jinks said, thankful she couldn't tell when he was lying.
"That's good. Good…" Claudia trailed off and Steve couldn't help but notice how relieved she seemed at his answer.
She sat, eyes on the road humming along to the song that was drifting quietly out from the speakers of the car. She had risked everything to bring him back, and she had, he was alive because of her actions. Steve would always be grateful for that.
They pulled in to the diner parking lot next to Pete and Myka. Pete hoped out of the car the instant it turned off and ran towards the door.
"Come on guys! Pete hungry now." Pete clapped his hands and Myka jogged up to join him. Claudia turned off the car and stared out the windshield before turning to face Steve.
"It's good to have you back Steve." With that she unbuckled her seat belt and jumped out of the car. Steve joined the team shortly and they were seated in a booth. A few minutes after they were given a table, a middle aged waitress came up and introduced herself as Britney or something. Steve wasn't paying much attention to the conversation that had started between Pete and the frizzy haired woman, he was more focused on the unusually quiet Claudia. She sat directly across from him staring blankly at the menu. Steve's focus was redirected when Pete nudged his arm.
"Hey, Earth to Jinksy, you going tell the lady what you want to drink?"
"Oh sorry, I'll just take a water." Steve smiled apologetically at the waitress who simply laughed and said that he reminded her of a Josh. Not exactly sure what she meant by that, Steve turned back to Claudia who seemed to have snapped out of the trance she was in earlier long enough to order a glass of water herself. Worried he leaned forward and whispered to her.
"You okay, Claud? You've been pretty quiet." She shrugged.
"I just…" She trailed off for a moment. "No it's stupid. Never mind" She shook her head and leaned back in her seat.
"Come on, tell me."
"It's just, I keep having these injuries out of nowhere and the Warehouse agent in me wonders if there might be something other than bad luck behind it. I don't know, I'm probably just paranoid." Steve felt his throat tighten. He hated this. He hated seeing her, worried and vulnerable. He hated knowing that taking a bullet for her wouldn't exactly save her.
Steve knew he couldn't tell her now about the downside of her actions. He'd seen the look on her face when he told Artie about being dead before the artifacts were moved. He had watched her purposely avoid using the word many times. If she knew the side effects what would she do?
Eventually the truth would come out. The truth had a nasty habit of doing just that, but now was not that time. So Steve sat across from his best friend, a person he now knew would go to the ends of the Earth for him, and lied.
"Probably just stress. I get that a lot, phantom injuries you know, pretty common." Claudia smiled hearing this.
"Well then I guess I should let it go then." Steve nodded and Claudia joined Pete and Myka's conversation.
Claudia had broken several rules to bring him back from the dead.
Now Steve wondered at what cost.
Another A/N: Yes, if you are my cousins, that waitress was who you think it is.