"Well I think we should call Dr. Calder," Myka said, in the same tone she used with Pete when she was confident in her own opinion.
Claudia followed behind him carrying his bag and doing her best not to rush him.
Artie huffed as he shuffled towards his chair. The fact that he waited until he sat down to respond did not go unnoticed by the rest of the team. "We will not be calling the doctor, I just slept wrong."
Claudia sat on the edge of his desk, taking advantage of his distracted state. Swinging her legs beneath her, she casually asked, "Slept wrong for three nights in a row Artie? Please, this is miserable even for you."
He didn't answer, instead choosing to rifle through the stack of folders he had been carrying. Artie had never been comfortable admitting his own weaknesses. It was bad enough that he had trouble keeping up with the younger, more fit agents on a good day, but this was slowing him down and drawing all their attention to him in.
Claudia smirked and continued. "Dude, I haven't heard you this huffy since the tunnel blew up and you had to use the stairs every day." Claudia continued to push his buttons, but sometimes the only way to get Artie to start talking was to rile him up first.
"Insolent child," he growled, shooing her off his desk. "I slept wrong, that is all. I'm sure Vanessa has a great many more important things to do than check on us with every cry of a sore muscle."
"For realz? It all makes sense now," Claudia teased, mischief in her voice. She caught Pete's eyes and nodded for him to pay attention. "Artie, you're using a cane to hobble around here like you're older than HG. You would never use a cane, as you reminded us constantly last year when you screwed up your ankle," she sing-songed, drawing her words out for emphasis.
"Because stumbling around and getting in everyone's way was impractical," he said, voice rising in pitch and volume. He pulled off his glassed and started wiping them clean on his shirt. "After all, we were on a very small boat and with little room." It was obvious he was trying to drop the subject.
Pete crossed his arms and looked at Artie. "It was a yacht man, there was plenty of room, and since when do you care about being in people's way?" Pete rolled his eyes as he continued, "You're in our way all the-"
"They're right Artie," Myka continued, cutting Pete off before he could get himself into too much trouble. "I think the reason you don't want us to call Vanessa is vanity."
Leena had stayed out of the argument up to this point, but even she couldn't help chiming in her thoughts. "You also haven't been working your meridians."
"That's it," Claudia announced, hoping off the desk and pulling her Farnsworth from her pocket. "We're calling. It's unanimous." Trailer left Artie's side, following Claudia as she moved around the room energetically.
"It's mutiny," Artie grumbled. Going back to his folders and choosing to ignore any further advice or 'help' his agents decided to offer.
Myka patted him on the shoulder gently, before heading to the filing cabinet to check on the origins of a suspected artifact they had heard about that morning.
She smiled to herself, shaking her head when Artie just huffed noisily and readjusted in his chair. She knew he was in pain, despite what he would let the others know. Calling Dr. Calder really was for the best.
"Vanessa? Hi, how are you?" Claudia greeted, as she walked into the other room, out of hearing distance and away from Artie's bad mood. There was no reason to let the good doc get too much of a taste of Artie's more persnickety side before she even arrived.