Prologue
Myka and H.G where happy and going through the honeymoon faze, holding hands and kissing whenever the option was open. Claudia couldn't help but feel a bit left out, it was a bit gross but boy she wished for what they had, open and honest love. Claude had loved Leena that way once, they weren't official about it and when Leena died; Claudia lost a part of herself that she didn't know if she could get back. That was until she met Hazel. Hazel was like nothing she had ever seen before; she had H.G's hair and Myka's eyes and every bit as determined as the two combined. This made her all the more appealing to Claudia, along with her love of designs and inventing of course!
Chapter 1
"Argh get it off, get it off" Claudia whined shaking her hand viciously as Hazel tried to extract the artefact from Claudia's outstretched hand. They were off in Germany, chasing down there 3rd artefact this week. Jinksy had taken leave for his honeymoon in India, so Hazel had volunteered to be Claudia's new partner. Despite being a fully qualified agent back in her time Hazel was forced to redo all the rookie stuff for Claudia's sake, inventory and more inventory yay (not!). As much as it was annoying, after a few weeks Claudia agreed to take Hazel out on their first artefact bag and tag together.
Idi Amin's watch band, it caused the wearer to obtain the abilities of a reptile (extreme camouflage and invulnerability) but they also suddenly become very hungry for human flesh and power. Some poor young girl thought it would go well with her outfit and tried it on, and then it wouldn't come off. She robbed a purse store and a jewellery store taking bites out of some people and reflecting bullets like Superman. Eventually Hazel managed to bag and tag whilst the girl was threatening a local mayor, getting bitten in the process, bringing out the zombie jokes from Pete and H.G. Myka was worried sick but Hazel only laughed it off, loving the motherly affection Myka had managed to produce during the past 6 months of meeting her for the first time. Myka was really convinced that Hazel would get whammed by the 'love bite' she received from the crazed Prada lover, so she kept shoving alcohol wipes on the wound and dressing it at the same time every day.
Claudia only picked up the next case file not bothering to check to see if Hazel was recovered enough, she hadn't expected any special treatment but at least a day to rest before going out on another ping would have been nice. But she didn't complain, Claudia was too fascinating to be mad at anyway. Every time Hazel stood to close to her she felt like she was getting sucked in just from Claudia's perfume, juniper and a tangled mess of electricity and metal. It was intoxicating but dangerous at the same time.
After 5 weeks of practically non-stop pings, Artie had informed them that this was the last ping for a while, seeing as it was nearing the holidays; a lot of artefacts were stirring and he needed Claudia at the Warehouse to keep the artefacts in check with Hazel. Claudia didn't like that at all; she fought with Artie against the idea of being stuck at the Warehouse doing inventory, alone, with Hazel. She didn't know what was going on between them but until she found out, she wanted to steer clear of boring, mindless work that gave her over-active brain too much time to itself. It kept thinking about Leena and how much her body craved come contact again, possibly from her temporary partner.
Hazel wasn't like Leena, she wasn't kind and sweet and gentle and she was stubborn, strong and way too mysterious. But it still brought Claudia in like a moth to a flame.
Chapter 2
Claudia and Hazel's flight left early the next day for Germany, first class thanks to Claudia. But the flight still dragged on for 6 hours, Claudia fell into a fitful sleep about 4 hours in, dreaming of Leena and waking up with puffy eyes; Hazel was looking at her with a worried frown. "What?" Claudia mumbled straightening and sifting her hair with her hand, Hazel looked back to the front and asked "Who's Leena, Claude?" curiosity written in her words and a smidge of jealousy which Claudia didn't pick up on. "An old friend, why?" Claudia replied rubbing sleep out of her eyes, "you were mumbling her name in your sleep and… you were crying" Hazel said looking dead straight not wanting to look at the embarrassed agent.
Claudia hung her head a bit "She was the innkeeper before Abagail, we were really close", Hazel peeked out the corner of her eye at the raw emotion Claudia used when talking about this woman "where is she now?" Hazel asked, wondering what psychiatric ward she was holed up in. "She's dead, it was when Artie was under the astrolabes whammy, he accidently shot her" Hazel felt bad immediately not expecting the statement and patted Claudia's hand, really wanting to pull her close and kiss her. "Were you together?" Hazel inquired quietly, Claudia looked up at Hazel her eyes pooling with tears, not trusting her voice Claudia nodded. "Oh Claude" Hazel whispered pulling Claudia into her arms and hugging her, Claudia cried the rest of the way into Hazel's shoulder.
When the plane landed Claudia awkwardly untangled herself from Hazel, immediately missing her comforting arms and sat down in her seat, waiting for the attendant to allow them out. She didn't like that she had called to Leena in her sleep, in front of Hazel, but Hazel had been there for her. Claudia hadn't told anyone about Leena, not even Jinksy. It made Claudia feel better to tell someone, even better when Hazel had pulled her onto her lap and let her cry till there were no more tears left.
Germany was old and new for Hazel, like the Warehouse, it made her feel at home, letting her forget about Leena and Claudia for a while. The taxi pulled up at the Five Star hotel and they gave their luggage to the bellboy. Hazel looked at the ground for the most part, letting Claudia set up the rooms and guide her through the rich surroundings, she felt uncomfortable in such a large sparkling hotel, the pillars were made of marble and the floors looked polished to perfection. She was so engrossed in her surroundings that she realised too late that she was being guided into a room, with Claudia.
