There You Are
Pairing: Bering and Wells
Set sometime during Season 4.
Disclaimer: I don't own Warehouse 13. Title from Die Happy's song "There You Are", which I also don't own.
...
Kings Cross station was crowded. Myka made her way past the throng of tourists and students, white collar and blue collar workers, all bustling and rushing from one platform to the next, talking on their cell phones and paying little attention to anything but their destination. If they had, they might have noticed the unusual number of security guards and staff stationed around the wall dividing platforms 9 and 10, but most adults didn't concern themselves with such things. From time to time, a child would notice the odd grouping and stare with a look of wide-eyed wonder at the fabled gateway to the Hogwarts Express before being tugged along by a parent or nanny.
"Excuse me," Myka stepped up to one of the transit workers. "Do you know where I can find Mr. Ethan Collier?"
The worker glanced at his watch. "His shift doesn't start for another hour. Is there something wrong?"
Myka smiled. "No, nothing to worry about. He's expecting me, but I'm a bit early."
"I can take you to the main office. Mr. Collier usually stops by there at the start of his shift," he offered.
"That would be great, thank you."
"It's not a problem, ma'am," he smiles before turning to his coworkers. "I'm going to take her over to the office. I'll be back in 10."
Myka follows him as he guides her through an 'EMPLOYEES ONLY' entrance, through a series of tiled tunnels until they reach a door simply marked 'OFFICE'. He knocks twice sharply before opening the door and leading her into the office. It's a small dimly lit space with four old metal desks arranged in a grid. A couple people look up but quickly lose interest, returning their attention to the screens in front of them. At the back of the room, a clouded glass wall separates another office from the main area. Her guide leads her back to the other office and peers into the open doorway.
"Mr. Collier," he sounds surprised, "I wasn't expecting you to be in already, but there's someone here to see you. She says she has an appointment."
"Yes, yes, send her in, and Roberts, once the traffic out on the platforms dies down, I want your group to set up that construction barrier we discussed."
"Yes, sir." Roberts stepped out of the room to where Myka was waiting. "You can go right on in. Turns out Mr. Collier was in after all."
"Thank you, Mr. Roberts." He smiled and nodded to her before he turned and left the office. Myka stepped into the office and glanced around. The room was painted in the same drab green as the outer office. The fluorescent lights cast an eerie glow on the walls and old metal furniture, and the light above the desk flickered as though it would give out at any moment. The office was fairly neat despite it's run down appearance. There were a couple stacks of folders on the desk, but they were neatly arranged in spite of their number. A couple picture frames rested on one corner of the desk, and Myka could just see the smiling face of a young boy, no older than ten, from where she stood.
Mr. Collier had the look of a man who usually didn't pay much attention to his physical appearance. His uniform had a dingy, rumpled look about it even though it was clear the man had pressed the outfit earlier - he clearly didn't do it often. He was cleanly shaven, but his hair was in a state of neat disarray. He had clearly let it go past when he should have had it trimmed, it stuck out unevenly in places, but contradictorily, he had made an effort to make it presentable.
He studied her with a smile, just a slight upturn of the corner of his mouth that suggested his amusement more than friendliness or politeness, and the knowing look in his eyes left Myka with the uneasy feeling that he understood far too much - especially of her. "I tried for over a month to get a contact over there that could get us in to switch out the wall and nothing. Then all of a sudden, this man contacts me? No, something's off. I just can't put my finger on what it is, and he seems - seems! - to check out just fine. Just be careful." Myka frowned, eyeing him suspiciously as Artie's earlier warning came back to her.
"Agent Bering," he greeted her warmly and waved towards the chairs opposite his desk, "I thought you might arrive early. Come in, have a seat."
Myka studied him as she took a seat. He did seem genuinely pleased, not just mocking as she'd first thought - though there was still that amused glint to his eyes as if there was a joke only he was aware of.
He glanced at his watch and stood, moving over to the small electric kettle and tea set that sat unused on the corner file cabinet. "We've still got a bit of time until the platform will be quiet enough to proceed with the removal of the wall. Would you care for a cup of tea?" He glanced over his shoulder at her. "Or perhaps coffee?"
"That isn't necessary."
"Nonsense. You've had a long flight, and I'm sure you've had little time for such things since you landed. The least I can do is be a good host, especially since this will take a while."
"Coffee would be good," she conceded. "Thank you."
"Black?"
"Yes." Myka's eyes narrowed when he turned around. It had been posed as a question, but barely, like he was asking only because he shouldn't know the answer. Artie was right, something was definitely off about this whole thing, but she didn't think Collier was dangerous or even that he had bad intentions. He just seemed… off, somehow.
The kettle whistled, and Collier poured the boiling water into the metal filters attached to each cup. The scent of the coffee quickly overpowered the scent of his tea as he let them steep for a few minutes while he cleaned up the kettle and tucked it away. He carried the tray back over to his desk and passed Myka the cup of coffee. He sat down with his own beverage and smiled at Myka over the edge of his cup.
"I thought we could have a bit of a discussion while we wait for the proper time to retrieve your wall."
The umbilicus door opened with a hiss and a groan as the heavy metal door swung on its hinges. Claudia looked up from her computer as Myka walked in. "Hey, so? How did it go? Did the shrinking charm work well on the plane? I thought it would, but I wasn't sure if the air pressure at that altitude would cause problems, and really, there was no other way to test it."
Myka smiled at her enthusiasm. "It worked just fine, Claudia. No problems at all with it." That got a proud grin from the younger woman.
"And the retrieval itself?" Artie prompted, glancing up from the files he had been paging through. "Were there any issues?"
"No," Myka shook her head and set the sealed static bag down on the desk. "You were right. Something was definitely off about Collier. He didn't strike me as dangerous, but he definitely seemed to know too much. I couldn't quite figure out what to make of it."
Artie huffed in irritation. "Did he mention anything about why he contacted us or how he even knew how to contact us?"
"He didn't give me much of an answer when I asked."
"Well, what did he say?" Artie asked impatiently.
"He just said that his wife was out of town for an extended business trip, and he was terribly bored and needed something to occupy the time with."
Artie frowned thoughtfully. Then, he was moving. He reached past Claudia - ignoring the annoyed "Hey!" - and began typing. He pulled up the file he'd made on Collier and skimmed through it, mumbling the words as he searched for… "You're sure he said 'his wife', right?"
"Yeah," Myka frowned. She hadn't noticed a ring or even a mark on the finger where one had been recently, but he'd smiled, almost wistfully, and unconsciously rubbed his finger where a band would be as he spoke about her.
"Ethan Collier has never been married or even engaged."
"A girlfriend maybe? He had a photo of a boy on his desk. Maybe he was talking about the kid's mother?"
"No," Artie frowned, looking over the file. "The boy is his nephew. He took him in when his sister died."
"So, he lied about that," Myka mused. It hadn't felt like a lie, and his behaviors had the subtlety of deeply ingrained habits. Then there was the way Collier had spoken with that conspiratorial smirk as if he were letting her in on the punchline of a joke. Maybe not lying, but there was definitely something they were missing.
"It appears so." Artie sighed and closed out of the file. "I don't suppose it matters much now, though. We have the wall and there doesn't seem to be any further trouble. Besides, we have another ping. Pete's still in Minnesota, so I'm going to need you and Claudia to tackle this one."
Myka flipped through the folder Artie handed off to her as he briefed her and Claudia on their upcoming mission, but in the back of her mind, her thoughts still lingered on the mystery that was Ethan Collier. As much as she tried to put it out of her mind, it had been bothering her since she'd met the man. It was how familiar he'd felt as they talked. All the little details that didn't quite add up - his appearance, the knowing looks, the wife he'd talked about - seemed to add up to so much more.
Four years later...
Helena hadn't heard the soft footsteps approaching as she made notations to the inventory sheet, but she smiled as she felt that familiar warmth behind her just before the hands slipped around her waist, pulling her back those last few inches until she was pressed flush against Myka.
"Hey," Myka pressed a kiss softly against the side of her neck. "Missed you."
"I missed you too, darling. How was your trip?"
"Chaotic. Two overlapping artifact hunts apparently make Pete extra hungry."
"Extra hungry?"
"I know," Myka sounded just as disbelieving as Helena. "I didn't think it was possible either, and honestly, I never even want to think about it again."
Helena chuckled as she felt Myka's face scrunch in disgust against her neck. "Understandable."
"So, what've you been up to while I was gone?"
"Oh, not much. Inventory, finding other things to occupy my time," she said evasively.
"Mmhmm. Sounds like you've been terribly bored," Myka said teasingly, drawing a quiet chuckle from Helena. "And for the record," she placed another kiss against Helena's neck before moving her lips right beside Helena's ear. "I knew it was you," Myka smirked.
Helena shivered as the warm breath tickled her ear. "I thought you'd know," she said smugly.
"I knew you'd think that," Myka said, not missing a beat.
End.