This is my first fanfiction and english is not my first language. I didn't use a beta so all mistakes are mine. I'm a total Myka/HG shipper but after season 3 finale I had this idea after wondering "what if they don't bring HG and Steve back from the dead". I start writing this fic some time before season 4 premiere so I didn't include events from season 4. It took me some time to finish but now it's done.

Chapter 1

Days were tough for everyone after they get the warehouse back, but tougher for Myka and Claudia since the pocket watch and the metronome failed to resurrect HG and Steve. The warehouse came back as it were before the explosion. Well, not totally as it were before. Only the exterior was the same, inside you had the awful impression that the warehouse had been turned upside down. Not a single artefact was at its original place and most of them were causing a lot of disturbance. So the first task Mrs Frederic - freshly brought back from the dead thanks to her powerful link to the warehouse - gave them was the biggest inventory they ever had to do.

Falling into this new routine of intensive inventory helped them to free their mind from the loss they suffered. Pete rapidly found back his man-child behaviour, hoping that it would bring back smiles to Myka and Claudia's faces. But it hardly worked and the girls were silently grieving. Even during the few missions they had to retrieve an artefact, Myka barely spoke. When Pete or Artie tried to approach the subject they simply shut down and left the room, so they decided to just let them deal with it on their own for some time but let them know they had friends to rely on whenever they would need it.

One night of insomnia (one among a lot since Helena's death) Myka decided to go sit in the patio and look at the stars. That night Claudia decided to do the same thing. When she saw Myka was already there she stopped and started moving back to the stairs when she heard her friend, still staring at the stars, talking to her.

"You can stay Claudia, I could enjoy a little company right now."

Not saying anything the young girl sit beside Myka, and for a moment none of them said a word. They just stared at the stars, thinking about their missing friends. Claudia was the first to break the silence.

"I miss them Myka. How are you dealing with her dea… disappearance? I wasn't in love with Steve but still, I feel so empty without him."

Myka turned to face her friend.

"Wait… You think I was in lo…"

Claudia gave her a look that say 'I'm young but not stupid' and Myka stared back at the sky.

"-Is it so obvious for everyone?

-Dude, you left the Warehouse because of her, and the way you looked at her, the way you lighted up each time you saw her… Yeah, you couldn't fool anyone. And I totally understand why you fell in love with her, she was beautiful and even in her most insane phase she had such a captivating mind and personality. Did you tell her?

-No… I wanted to but… Before Yellowstone it was still confusing me and after that I couldn't resolve myself to say it while she was trapped in that sphere, it wasn't fair. Then, with Sykes and the bomb…

-I'm sure she knew, and she clearly loved you too.

-I think she did, I saw it in her eyes… before she… before the explosion."

Myka lowered her head and dried some tears.

"At least I had the chance to say goodbye. Claudia, you know I'm here for you whenever you need to talk, or not talk."

Without answering the techi crossed her right arm with Myka's left and laid her head on the taller woman's shoulder. They stayed like that for a long time before they decided to go back to their rooms to try and find some sleep.

The days after that night saw the two girls getting closer. They spent more time together during inventories, at the B&B and even sometimes for some minor missions. At first they were mostly talking about Helena and Steve but progressively they moved on and the mood at the warehouse visibly lightened.

One day, while Pete and Myka were having a break from the inventory in the Pete cave recently restored, Pete with a comic book and Myka with some sci-fi novel, Claudia suddenly barged in making Pete fall from the chair he was swinging on.

"Ouch! Whoa Claud, what's happening?" Pete said while rubbing his head to ease the pain.

"Guys, I have some great news I can finally tell you." Right there she clearly had some difficulty not to spill it right away.

Intrigued, Myka closed her book and put it aside.

"-Finally?! Claudia what did you do?

-Don't worry, there's no artefact involved. It's just something I didn't want to reveal until I was sure about it.

-What is it? What is it?" Pete asked, now impatient.

"-Myka, you remembered the brochure you gave me two years ago for university?

-Yeah… Wait, you graduated?

-Yes, but that was the easy part. Took me only two years, but hey, I'm a genius after all." The girl said, stating the obvious. "The real news is… I passed some tests and I just had an interview with the Regents and I am now officially a certified Secret Service/Warehouse agent."

Myka jumped from her chair and took the young girl in her arms.

"Claudia, I'm so proud of you. But why didn't you tell us that you were about to graduate? And for the Secret Service tests? And that the Regents scheduled an interview?" The older agent let her friend go so Pete could give her one of the biggest hug she'd ever received.

"Well, actually, I was pretty nervous about all that and I went a little superstitious." Claudia lowered her head shyly and added "And if things went wrong I didn't want to disappoint you. Especially you, Myka. You pushed me to do it, you believed in me, you were so sure I could do it that I didn't want to have to tell you that I had failed."

The brunette took a step towards the new agent and lifted her head to force her to make eye contact.

"-Look at me Claudia. You couldn't have disappointed me because if you had failed I would have pushed you to try again. But this couldn't have happened because here at the warehouse, and during missions you proved your abilities to be a good agent more than once and the Regents know that.

-All right girls, let's go announce the great news to Artie."

Pete entered Artie's office followed by the two girls, Myka with her arm around Claudia's shoulders.

"Hey, hey Artie, guess who's officially an agent now."

The man turned from his computer and looked at Claudia.

"-Good, and right on time 'cause we just had a ping. That artefact led to some of the biggest wars, so I will ask you to be very careful while retrieving it, and it will be safer if the three of you go.

-Wars? What is it and where are we going?" The youngest agent asked, apprehending a little to be part of such an important mission but eager to go at the same time.

"The Apple of Discord has been spotted in Athens, it's a piece of an exhibition about the greek mythology at the National Archaeological Museum. For now it hadn't been activated but it could happen at any time so you'll have to do the exchange very quickly. Now go pack, your flight is in three hours."

Artie gave them the documents they need for the mission and turned back to his computer. Just before Claudia entered the umbilicus he turned his head and smiled at her.

"Hey kiddo… I'm proud of you." She ran to him and gave him a quick hug. "Yeah, yeah, go. Go."