Disclaimer: I own nothing relating to Warehouse 13 etc.

Cats do have Nine Lives

Chapter 1

"Claudia!" Artie yelled bursting through the umbilicus door. "Will you please make that racket stop? How many times has this happened this week? What is setting off these alarms? I thought you were working on this problem."

"Whoa, someone put on his grumpy pants today. I have been. We just can't seem to catch it. Whatever it is keeps on moving. Every time we get to the location that triggers the alarm, there's nothing there. Absolutely nothing." She had to yell to be heard over the alarm. "Pete's on his way to the last area now." The alarm stopped. "There, I got that off. Oh, my head…I feel like it's been hit with a bat." Claudia dropped her head into her hands, a grimace on her face.

The Farnsworth blared at them. "Why is everything so noisy here?" Artie complained. Flipping open the device he barked at Pete on the other end. "What did you find?"

"Well, good morning to you too, sunshine." Pete said with a goofy smile on his face. He couldn't resist the jibe. "There's nothing here, but …"

"But what?" Artie demanded.

"I'm getting a weird vibe, but not a bad one. Actually, it's kind of good one, but it's not like one I've ever had before. I had the same feeling last time I was following this ghost down here, but I didn't really think much about it. Damned alarm was blaring in my ear." He stuck his finger in his ear trying to shake out the ringing, making his point.

"Fine, Pete. Get up here. We need to regroup on this thing. Something is messing with my warehouse and I want it stopped. Claudia, call in Steve, Myka and HG."

"Already a couple of steps ahead of you. I called them before you even got here. They should be here soon. Myka's just trying to find HG."

"Something is in my warehouse and I want it out. NOW!" Artie started. He looked around and noticed one missing body. "Myka, where is she?"

"Uh, in the garden…"she trailed off.

"The garden? Since when do my agents get garden privileges in a crisis?"

"She's having a bad day, Artie. She was really off this morning. I'll fill her in, okay? Just give her a little time, please?"

"She's having a bad day? No, I'm having a bad day. I will repeat myself for those of you who didn't hear it the first time. Something is in my warehouse!" The veins in his forehead were quickly pooping out. "It seems to be eluding us. It is invisible, very smart, or very quick. It's most likely a combination of these, or all of them. I can't take one more alarm trigger. So, we need to figure this out, children. What have we got so far Claudia?"

"Not much more than we already had. The really loud thingies make a really painful clanging when they are set off from different areas of the warehouse. All of us have gotten to the trigger point and there is nothing there. No new artifacts have arrived recently prior to the unknown activity. The only thing new today is Pete says he's getting a weird vibe that he's never felt before, but it's also a good vibe, so most likely it is not a malicious ghost."

"Ghost?" Artie and Myka exclaimed at the same time. Steve smiled.

"Yeah, well that's what Claudia and I have called it for obvious reasons. Can you think of a better name?" Pete added, clearly unable to think of anything better. "But, I think it's a good ghost….it's just really annoying now." He shook out his other ear with a finger again.

Artie sat and muttered to himself in thought while the other three agents patiently waited for him to run through his thoughts. "Has anyone taken Trailer with them?"

"No," they all responded at once.

"How about Helena, Myka?" Artie asked reluctantly, and then added his dig in "Of course, if she was here we'd already have the answer."

"I think spending time with a dog is the last thing she'd be doing now, Artie." Myka snapped back.

"Fine. We'll meet tomorrow morning. Claudia, keep working on the alarms and whatever else you've done. Pete and Steve, take Trailer through the warehouse a few times. He might sense something we're missing. Myka, start researching the most recent artifacts brought in. Helena can help you instead of sitting in the stupid garden."

Claudia stood up glaring at Artie with that last dig. With a low, menacing tone in her voice she confronted him. "Artie cut her some slack. She's had a hard time over losing Dickens. Remember this well, one day that will be you when Trailer moves on. We're all upset over him, but she's taken the brunt of it. He was her cat and Myka's."

Artie was taken aback by the outburst Claudia dared to direct at him. He just stared at them all and left without another word.

"Thanks, Claudia," Myka choked out as she fought the tears forming in her own eyes. She too, left abruptly hoping to gather Helena and start doing the research.

In the warehouse below, the shadow bounced from one place to another enjoying this new-found playground. What endless wonders lay here? Never before had it had so much fun before, at least not that it remembered. Now, if only it could stop all those alarms the real fun could begin. The shadow knew time was limited to become acquainted with this new existence. It wasn't all fun and games and soon this form would change. The fun and games would not be over, but it had a purpose, as all things did. Soon it would be found and the work would begin.

Myka found Helena on the bench in the garden under the old maple tree. It was difficult to see the normally vibrant and constantly moving woman she loved sitting silently on the bench alone. She would normally have a book with her under this tree, but not today. She hasn't read at all in the past few weeks.

"Helena?" The woman turned at the voice calling her name and gave a weak smile. Myka sat down next to her, taking her hand into her own and leaned into her and sat silently for a long time. "Honey, I know losing Dickens has been hardest on you, and we all know that. It's been hard on all of us. He was a part of our family. Together we are going to get through this." Helena squeezed her hand. "We still have a job to do though, and you know that. You can't just not show up at a meeting. Artie was pretty pissed. You should have seen Claudia, though. She stood right up for you. We just need to take it day by day, and that means we have a lot of research ahead of us starting today. The alarms are still going off and none of us has seen anything at the location."

"I have." Helena said quietly.

"What? Why didn't you say anything?" Myka said incredulous.

"I thought it was my imagination at first. I kept seeing things out of the corner of my eye and when I look it's not there. I didn't want anyone to think I was going crazy again."

"Oh, Helena, why didn't you tell me? You know you can trust me. Besides, it's the warehouse. Anything is possible."

"I wasn't sure until last night though. I kept seeing shadows. They're quick, but very real. I've been sitting here trying to figure it out. I cannot do that very well with Artie honking at me like an angry goose."

"We need to tell Artie." Myka started to get up.

"No, Myka," Helena grabbed her with a strength around her wrist she had not experienced from Helena since their early meetings. She stared into Myka's eyes with an intensity she'd never seen. "Myka, it's for me. Those shadows are for me. That's why no one else has seen anything."

"Pete said today he's getting a weird vibe. One he's never felt before, but it feels really good to him, too. We really need to tell the others," Myka implored.

"Pete's vibe would make sense. I just don't know what the shadows are. They are definitely getting more distinct though." Helena stared in front of her not actually focusing on anything, but more focusing through whatever was in her sight. "This is completely out of the realm of science Myka. It is not something I am familiar with, nor can I even begin to understand. It is just something I know."

"Okay. What do you want to do then?" Myka could never refuse her. She knew if Helena felt so strongly about something, there was no putting her off, and most likely was right.

"I wish for you to come to the warehouse with me. I believe from what you've said about Pete's vibe and with our strong emotional connection, that we may attain more information. Is Trailer around? He may sense something on another level, too. One of the things I learned from Dickens…animals have a very fine tuned sense for things we do not." She gave Myka a sad smile, tears forming in her eyes. "My feet still get cold at night." She broke into tears and dropped her head on Myka's shoulder, burying her head in her neck. Myka held her and shed her own tears just one more time. When do the tears stop? Myka wondered once more as they sat in the garden, a sweet breeze rustling the leaves above them.