Title: Have a Happy Warehouse Holiday
Disclaimer: Warehouse 13 does not belong to me, if it did Artie would not have been an idiot and broken up with Vanessa.
"Deck the halls with boughs of holly…." Pete sang at the top of his lungs as he helped his partner Myka decorate the large evergreen tree that was in the center of the living room at Leena's bed and breakfast . Pete and Steve had brought it home for Claudia to try and cheer her up.
He stopped and looked at Myka. "wait a minute." he got a thoughtful look on his face. "what the heck is a bough?"
Myka sighed as she set a large box of decorations on a nearby table. "it's a tree branch, Pete." she explained.
"well then why not say tree branch?" he replied, throwing tinsel in big handfuls on the tree.
"cause then it would sound weird." Steve said as she came into the room carrying a plate of cookies. " besides Bough is what they called it back in ye olden days; when boss man was just a wee little boy." he smirked.
Since the day that the plague had been unleashed and Claudia had had to stab Artie to save him she had been un Claudia like. The junior agent had spent every single moment with Artie at the hospital, waiting for him to wake up. She took it upon herself to look after Artie.
The team had wanted to call Vanessa but Artie had made them promise not to; he still thought that staying away from her would protect her.
Not wanting to upset him, as he was very weak, his family had begrudgingly agreed to not call the good doctor.
Pete looked longingly at the cookies. "um… cookie?"
Myka rolled her eyes and Steve smirked. "Go ahead, I know they might not be as good as Leena's or even Artie's but I gave it a shot."
Pete snatched up a cookie. "chocolate, chocolate chip." he took a bite and tried his best to hide his gag reflex.
"mmmm, good." he lied and swallowed.
Steve wasn't fooled. "I bet if we let you make the cookies they wouldn't have made it to the oven." it wasn't said in anger just in a friendly jest.
"hey, I wait until my cookies or fueled baked, any other way is just wrong." the other man replied.
"stop arguing children." came a voice from the top of the stairs. The team looked up to see Vanessa head down to join them.
Claudia had invited the older woman; going against Artie's wishes.
Vanessa finished tying the warm looking forest green scarf around her neck. "I don't think I'll ever get used to this cold."
Myka nodded. She was about to say something when the door opened and the wind howled outside. "would you stop rushing me." Artie told Claudia as she tried to usher him into the waiting warmth of the B&B.
Claudia closed the door behind them. "well I don't want you to get worse, your still recovering."
Artie knew she was telling the truth, he didn't feel like himself; even after these past months. "I feel so old." he said to no one in particular.
"Uh, ya kinda are old." Pete chimed in.
"Pete!" Myka berated him and elbowed him in the ribs. "ow."
Artie scowled at the younger man and shooed Claudia's hand away as she tried to help him take off his coat. "I'm a grown man, I can take off my own coat, Claudia."
Claudia made a face. "well excuse me for wanting to help, Mr. Grumpy Greybeard." she replied as she hung up the coat she'd gotten him two father's days prior.
"Artie." Vanessa stepped forward.
"Vanessa!" said a shocked Artie at seeing her standing in the middle of the B&B's living room.
"Vanessa didn't have any plans for the holidays so we invited her here." Claudia supplied.
Myka could see that Artie was going to blow his top; she decided to try and deflect his anger.
"We thought having Vanessa here would help you."
"You invited her here after I told you I didn't want you to?" he said to the girls angrily. Steve and Pete had left back into the kitchen.
Vanessa came to the younger women's defense; stepping between Artie and Myka.
"Don't you get angry with them." she told him sternly.
The senior agent was taken aback by her reaction. "I…I …didn't" he stammered
Vanessa reminded him of a mother bear protecting her cubs.
Artie sputtered a moment. "Vanessa.. I stand by what I said before."
Anger and just a little bit of hurt flashed in her eyes. "so do I."
"Uh, lets go help the guys in the kitchen." Myka said pulling Claudia with her towards the kitchen.
Artie couldn't take his eyes away from Vanessa. He's missed her so much and had wanted to call her so many times but he was just to afraid that somehow he would hurt her.
"Artie." her voice softened and she placed a hand on his arm. "lets talk."
Artie shook his head.
"it wasn't a question." there was that flash of anger again.
Artie obliged and sat down next to her on the couch.
"Artie." Vanessa said calmly "if you don't talk to someone about what happened, your pain will destroy you."
Artie swallowed hard. "destroy, thats a rather harsh word." he joked.
He fidgeted with his hands. "Ok, your not laughing."
Artie let out a frustrated sigh.
"Vanessa, the things I did….I don't deserve to heal…I don't deserve all of you." tears welled up in his eyes.
"It should have been me, I could see what I was doing but I couldn't stop myself." the tears fell freely down his cheeks.
Vanessa hugged Artie and tried her best to comfort him. "It should have been me, not her, it should have been me." he sobbed into her shoulder.
The rest of the team poked their heads into the living room, surprised and concerned about their boss. Vanessa shooed them away with a flick of her hand.
"It's ok Artie, everything is going to be ok." she told him; tears welling up in her own eyes. "It will be fine, I promise you that." she broke their embrace and looked at him, wiping the tears from his eyes with her thumb.
"your family will help you Artie, we will all be here to help you through this."
The old man shook his head. "No, it will never be the same. Brother Adrian was right along, I will live the rest of my days with that evil..knowing that I killed a sweet, young woman and almost wiped out half of humanity."
Vanessa placed a hand on his cheek. "Leena would want you to move on, she loved you, we all love you."