This is what I think was needed at the end of the episode about the Renaissance Faire.
There are major *spoilers* in this- so if you haven't seen the episode, please don't read.
Ok- spoilers start here-
This is after Pete and Steve went to the Faire, and Claudia found Claire, then put her back, and Artie had his emotional speech about being a family and not doing anything alone. This starts the day after that happened.
After all of the emphasis on family, I thought that it was about time that they started acting like it, starting at the top.
The old Warehouse supervisor was lost in thought. Artie's intelligent brown eyes reflected his thoughts. They were normally as over active as his quick mind, but now they blankly stared off at nothing. Long seconds passed with his brain wrestling with the handful of major issues that he had at the Warehouse before he finally stirred.
Artie sighed. He had to admit that no solutions were coming to him today. He straightened his green jacket, then his glasses and checked his paper agenda on his desk. A little grunt of surprise escaped his when he saw that the Energy Bowl of Calypso was due to be drained. With all of the work replacing the Dark Vault, and then with the chaos of Claudia's sister, Claire, being woken up, he had gotten behind. Artie shook his head ruefully. That was an adventure that almost ended badly when Myka absorbed the artifact energy that Claire had and almost killed him and ruined every artifact in the dark vault. If only Claudia had asked him first. His eyebrows bunched with self-doubt; maybe if he had told her about Claire sooner, the result would have been better.
The old man ran his fingers through his hair and rubbed the back on his neck, trying to relieve the stress that he felt collecting there. The bottom line was that no matter what he did or didn't do perfectly, he still had work to do. He signed again, preparing himself for the dangers that draining the bowl presented. Artie stood and went to his roll of maps on the side wall. Pulling down a rolled map showed him a world map and energy lines that ran through the globe. He reviewed the most powerful collection sites; Machu Picchu in Peru, Serpent Mount in Ohio and others, then let his fingers trace over the man made lines in the earth that help to channel the globe's energies to those sites. He went from Machu Picchu, through the Nazca Lines to the midwest of the US, then north through present day Canada and east to Stonehedge, then down south to the Great Pyramids in Egypt. Artie searched his memory, his clever eyes darting back and forth. He let out an, "Oh." and grabbed for a marker. Practically jogging across his office, the portly supervisor scanned his bookshelf and grabbed a seemingly random ancient looking book off of the shelf. He flipped through it as he darted to his white erase board.
"No, no..." He mumbled as he roughly flipped through the pages of the book. "No." A little more forcefully as he grew frustrated. But the next page was what he wanted. "Ah! There you are. Now..." Artie referenced the book as he scribbled out a formula on the white board, filling in the numbers as he went. He rubbed his eyebrow as did a quick calculation in his head, wrote out more numbers, crossed one out, carried the one, then reduced the result. His graying head tilted a bit as he stood back to view the results through his round glasses. Artie mentally converted his result to a calander day, looking to the side and taking a breath as he did his mental math. His untrimmed eyebrows jerked up when his mental figuring calculated that the bowl was actually over due to be drained.
As if confirming his suspicions, the Warehouse itself trembled. Artie looked up at the dust falling from the rafters. "All right, all right, I hear you. I've been busy lately!" He griped to the building that was so much more than a normal building.
Artie snapped the cap back on the marker, tossed it to the side, then grabed his bag, and started throwing supplies into it. He circled the office once before grabbing his Farnsworth from his desk. Suddenly, he hesitated. Memories of the recent conversation with Myka and Claudia came back to him. They both hid things from him and, as a result, they both went through things that he had hoped to spare them. The truth was that all three of them did things on their own, when they didn't have to. The old man's eyes started to moisten when he remembered his emotional stance that he took stating that no one was to do things alone any more.
Blinking away emotions that threatened to bubble up within him, Artie opened the Farnsworth but hesitated. He ran his fingers through his hair, debating hard about involving anyone else in this touchy task. His eyes harded in resolve only a second later. Decided, Artie punched the black button on the Valdo device.
The annoying buzz sounded and sounded and sounded. Artie threw his tesla into his bag before glaring at his unanswered Farnsworth. He punched the button again, ending the call. Artie turned the dial and punched the button again. The device buzzed twice before Myka's face appeared on the little round screen.
"Yeah Artie?"
"Where's Claudia?" Artie snipped. He realized that he sounded more aggressive then he intended, so he licked his lips and tried to relax.
"I think she's in her room." Myka said, looking up the stairs at the B & B. "Want me to get her?"
Artie's eyes squinted, showing him thinking again. He reasoned that Claudia was involved in her music; headphones probably on, and that's why she didn't hear her Farnsworth. After she and her sister sang when they returned Claire to her coma, he reasoned that they shared a common interest with music. Didn't he remember that one of Claudia's guitars belonged to her sister? Artie figured that she might be playing it, trying to keep that connection with Claire. After all, he figured, it was a lot to handle for the kiddo. Not only finding out that Claudia's sister was still alive, but also the discovery that an artifact, through her sister, killed her parents. The old man's eyes turned sad. He tried to protect Claudia as long as he could from all of that heart ache, and yet, in the end, he couldn't spare her from it.
"Artie?" Myka's said, seeing her boss get thoughtful. She knew better than to think that he was distracted, only considering things that she coudn't see.
He snapped back to the conversation. "Yeah." He saw Myka looking at him with concern. "Oh, just, Claudia. She's- been through a lot lately."
Myka face showed compassion for him. "She'll be ok Artie. Claudia's tough." Artie gave her a quick nod. "And she knows that she has us. We are a family after all, right?" Myka had a slight smile on as she restated Artie's own point back to him.
In responce, Artie sighed heavilly. After spending years along in the Warehouse, he never considered that he would be considered part of a family, or that anyone would consider him part of theirs. Even so, Artie didn't want to show emotion in front of Myka. His gruff personna wouldn't allow it, even if he was shedding tears on her shoulder just yesterday. "Right." He managed to grunt out.
He adjusted his glasses that didn't need it and scratched his eye as a distraction or maybe to wipe the moisture suddenly there. Artie wondered when he became such a softie. He briefly considered an artifact effect, anything to help explain his sudden attachment to his agents, but he knew that wasn't what was happening. He cleared his tight throat and quickly changed the conversation, "Are Pete and Steve back yet?"
Myka looked beyond the screen of her Farnsworth. "Um, no. Not yet."
"Ok, ok. Go get Claudia, then you two get down here to the Warehouse. I have to-" He hitched up correcting himself. "WE have work to do. Together." He emphasized the last word, referring to his resolution to do things together, as a family.
The meaning wasn't lost on Myka. "Right. I'll get Claudia and be right there Artie."
The old man nodded then clicked his Farnsworth closed.
