"Myka! Just leave it alone already!" Claudia exclaimed as she dislodged herself from her place on Pete's bed where she had been curled up against his side. Silence could be heard as she stormed out the door and across the hall to her own room. The sound of her door slamming reverberated throughout the inn. The two agents shared a shocked and confused look before Myka moved to go after the younger girl, but found herself gently restrained by her partner's hand on her arm.

"Let me," he said softly, but she could detect a warning edge to his tone that was foreign to her. Before she could respond, Pete had already walked out of the room and was knocking on Claudia's door. She could see his lips moving as he talked through the wooden door but she was unable to make out what he was saying. Whatever it was must have appealed to the spirited girl because the door opened and Pete walked inside the other room, shutting the door behind her and effectively cutting off Myka.

Pete gently rapped his knuckles against the solid wooden door and hoped against hope that it would be enough to get the feisty redhead to let him in. When all he got was a muffled "Go away" as a response, he knew that it wouldn't be that simple. "Come on Claud, let me in." When he still got no response, Pete leaned closer and spoke in a quiet voice. "I'm not Myka, Claudia; I'm not going to judge you, I'm not going to push you. Come on, you know you can trust me." When his pleas garnered no response, Pete began to walk away, only stopping when the door swung open seemingly on its own accord. When he looked into the room, he could see Claudia laying on her back and staring at the ceiling with a large remote in her hand. As he walked into the room, Pete couldn't stop the smile from forming on his lips. Only Claudia would rig a remote control to her bedroom door.

Without saying a word, Pete walked over and climbed onto the bed next to the younger girl, assuming the same supine position. Claudia didn't immediately acknowledge his presence, but, after a few minutes, Pete felt her shift towards him and rest her head on his shoulder. A smile formed on his face again as he raised his arm and wrapped it around Claudia's shoulders, drawing the redhead closer and dropping a kiss on the top of her head. As she settled in against his side, Pete began to gently stroke her short hair, slowly lulling the girl into a light sleep.

Half an hour later, Pete felt Claudia begin to stir, her head subconsciously leaning towards the hand that was still gently running through her hair. Her eyes slowly opened and as she looked up, Pete was struck by how unguarded her expression was. For the first time, he realized that, while she always appeared so unbelievably free and open, she always had a barrier up, which he never noticed until he was allowed to see her without it.

"Hey, feeling better?" He asked when she was fully awake. She nodded, almost shyly, a shocking look on her. "Do you want to talk about it now?" when she shook her head, Pete shifted and gave her a stern look that he really hoped worked quickly because he didn't think he could hold it for long. Luckily, Claudia caved and sat up to lean against the headboard.

"What do you want to know?" She asked, still hoping to skirt around the topic.

"What do you want to tell me?" Pete replied quickly, trying to stay true to his word of not pushing her.

"I just got sick of Myka pushing me to go out with Todd. That's it."

"I highly doubt that's it, Claud. Myka teasing you alone wouldn't have put you over the edge like that. I mean, people have had to tease you about boyfriends before, right?" He said with a sly smile that quickly fell off his face when she noticed the evasive look on the younge4r girl's face. "Claudia?" he asked in an almost unsure voice.

Claudia turned away from the loose thread with which she had been playing and graced Pete with a sad, almost self-deprecating smile. "What boyfriends?" she said with a laugh.

"Okay then, teased you about a date." He said, covering up his mild shock quickly. He figured that the guys she dated just weren't good enough for her to consider boyfriends- not an unreasonable thing since she was clearly much too good for anyone her age.

Claudia laughed that meek laugh again and responded with a soft "What dates?"

This time Pete wasn't as adept at schooling his features; the shock and confusion were obvious in his expression. He sat up quickly and stared at the redhead that was usually so sure of herself it was almost unnerving and now all he could see was a shy and unsure girl, and he didn't quite know what to do. "You mean you've never…" He trailed off, still not completely sure how the beautiful twenty-two year old next to him could possibly be telling him that she'd never gone out on a date.

"It's not like I've never dated, it's just that I've, you know, never dated." She said as she swung her legs over the edge of the bed to stand up.

"And the difference would be…?"

By then Claudia was standing in front her dresser, fiddling with the odds and ends that she had thrown there over her year at the warehouse. "Well, one is a conscious decision to not date and the other is the unfortunate result of never being asked." She said, still facing away from him.

Pete slowly got up from the bed, walked over to her and placed his hands on her shoulders, gently squeezing them as he did so. He once again kissed the top of her head and then rested his cheek where he had just kissed. Claudia sighed and leaned back in his hold, her eyes locking with his in the mirror. "How could no one have asked you?" he asked in a whisper. "Why would anyone ask me out, Pete?" She said in a slightly irritated tone. She pulled out of his hold and crossed to the other side of the room before spinning around and almost glaring at him. "I didn't develop this freaky tech-girl thing recently, you know. I've always been a little, shall we say, eccentric, but add on to that the fact that I was in foster care when I was going to high school? I was a freak, Pete. I spent most of my time trying to find my brother, my clothes smelt like garbage bags because that was all they would give us to keep our possessions in, and I definitely wasn't hot enough to make it to the other side of the crazy/sexy scale."

"What's that supposed to mean? What crazy/sexy scale?"

Claudia let out a sarcastic laugh before answering. "Come on Pete, you know what I'm talking about. There's a certain amount of crazy that a guy will forgive if the girl is hot enough. For example, Myka could have killed a guy before and no one would care because she is that attractive. I, on the other hand, can barely get away with eating something strange before a guy says 'yeah, she is so not worth it."

Pete walked over to the feisty girl and grabbed her shoulders, forcing her to look at him. "You are gorgeous, Claudia. Gorgeous, okay? And don't let ANYone tell you differently. And as for Todd, if he was smart enough to realize how amazing you are, than maybe, just maybe, he's good enough for you. Call him, ask him for a cup of coffee and just see how things go." He let go of her shoulders and started for the door. Just before he closed it behind him, he stuck his head back into the room. "By the way, if you would have been in my high school, the 'crazy/sexy scale' wouldn't have been a question because all I would have been thinking about was 'How do I get this goddess to go out with me because she is quite obviously way out of my league." With that, Pete finally walked out, throwing a "see you at dinner" over his shoulder.

Claudia still stood completely still in the middle of her bedroom, starring at the door and wondering what the hell had just happened.