A/N: Hi, so my co-author, Mystiquebluerose15 and I are writing this for the first time- Well, I'm writing something like this for the first time, so, I apologize in advance if it sucks. I usually don't write parings, but I happen to like this one pretty well. This is supposed to be in canon, yet I'll probably be adding and taking away somethings to fit the plot. I hope no one minds this. It's set somewhere between Ghost Town and Bite Club, I'm not entirely sure where yet.

Enjoy, and don't forget to review!

Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing. And if I did, I'd be rich and Oliver would be dead by now.

Chapter one

Claire was not looking forward to this morning's lesson with Myrnin. But she hadn't wanted to stay in the house, either. Being there meant seeing…him. Here, let me explain.

After Shane and Claire's last fight, Claire decided she just couldn't deal with it anymore. Neither, it seemed, did Shane. He broke it off with her, saying it would be far better if they just remained friends. That didn't make it hurt any less, even if Claire herself knew their rocky relationship wouldn't have lasted much longer.

Anyway, back to the original issue at hand. She was almost dreading seeing Myrnin, mostly because she was in a bad mood, and the last time she'd been there, he'd been trying to put her brain in a jar so…yeah.

"Ahh, Claire my dear," Myrnin said when Claire walked in. Myrnin looked up from what he was working on and gestured for Claire to come closer. Myrnin was dressed in his usual attire, Mardi gras beads over a suit jacket, shorts, and sandals, and glasses. Hmm, this is new, thought Claire, Myrnin doesn't normally wear glasses. In fact vampires don't need glasses at all.

"Nice glasses Myrnin," Claire commented.

"Don't be silly, Claire, vampires don't wear glasses."

"Myrnin, you have glasses on your face," she said, while pointing to them.

Myrnin touched his face until he felt for the glasses. "Ahh so I do. I must have found them in my pile of old junk and must have forgotten." Myrnin grinned.

Ahh, typical Myrnin, Claire thought to herself. Claire couldn't help but smile back. His smiles and grins always get to her. I love the way he smiles at me, she thought. Whoa, where did that train of thought come from? Well, it was true. It was rare for Myrnin to smile at her, a genuine smile, not the usual sardonic, smug smiles. And when he did smile at her, she liked it. A lot. It was only making her feel all warm and fuzzy today because it had been the first real smile since her breakup with Shane that she'd seen. Eve had tried, but Claire knew that Eve wasn't surprised by this sudden change; she'd told Claire from the start that Shane was a "bad-seed." So, it was just something to cheer her up, not any 'other' reason.

Claire shook her head. What the hell was she thinking? Why was she trying this much to give a reason for why Myrnin's smiles made her happy, or whatever? Maybe she just needed more sleep; she hadn't been getting much since her finale fight with Shane.

Myrnin noticed her silence and said, "Are you alright, Claire?" He was suddenly in her face, peering down at her as if she were an ant slowly being burned by a magnifying glass.

Startled, Claire took a step back, "Uh, no, I'm fine, Myrnin."

Still he persisted. "Is everything all right with that boy, Shawn, you're-what did you call it?-dating?" he asked, not quite sure if the name or title was correct.

"Shane," she gritted out through clenched teeth. "And we're not together anymore."

Why did she just tell him that? It wasn't any of his business whether or not she was dating Shane anymore; but she wanted to tell Myrnin. It wasn't like he'd really care, anyway.

"Oh, what a shame," he said with no infliction in his voice. He then clasped his hands behind his back, and spun away from her. "Excellent, now that has been cleared up, let's get on with today."

Claire rolled her eyes, but didn't take any offence by what he'd just said; she was used to it by now.

"What are we doing today, anyway?" She followed her over to where he was now standing.

"New schematics," he answered simply.

On the table in front of them were a bunch of wire, ripped, torn and one even sparking slightly. It kinda looked like the remains of the computer. Or of just a computer, Claire couldn't tell.

"For what?"

"As much as I think," the word think came out dripping with sarcasm, "a real brain would do better, I will try to make it work without one." She could tell he didn't like it, but Claire was glad she respected her suggested enough to try.

She smiled-her second one that morning because of him- and said, "Thanks, Myrnin."

He said nothing but, "Come. I want you to try something for me."

Claire went to her chemistry class later that day, happier than she had been all week. All thanks to Myrnin. He acted pretty much the same per usual, but he was perhaps…nicer than normal. He probably knew something was wrong with me and Shane, she thought as she went through the rest of her classes. I don't know how, but that's Myrnin for ya, he notices these things.

She was glad he didn't act on it-whatever 'it' was- and instead they had a normal lesson, and they might have even found a substitute for the 'brain' of the computer. Albeit not a permanent solution, just one that may last until they could find one. She was thrilled about this, so once she reached the Glass house, she said a quick hello to Eve-when she found her, that is- and then she raced up to her room. She had the concept of the substitute, but she really wanted to know how it ticked.

She stayed hauled up in her room until dinner.

Dinner was still a bit awkward for Claire. Even though it had been nearly a week since she broke it off with Shane, that didn't mean everything was going to return to the way it was. The two would sit next to each other in silence while Michael and Eve tried to hold a conversation: they both knew it was in vain, that it would be a while till things were normal again. But the odd couple tried it anyway.

"So, Myrnin having you doing anything weird yet?" Eve asked.

"Define weird, Eve," answered Claire, the mention of Myrnin reminding her of her good mood early that morning. "This is Morganville, what isn't weird?"

Eve laughed, "True, but just to make sure, I won't have to go down there and kick his pale vampire ass for making sexual advances, will I?" She was trying to lighten the mood; it only sorta worked.

Claire laughed. "Shut up, Eve, Myrnin's not like that." The idea of Myrnin ever making any kind of advance toward her that wasn't meant to kill or harm her (not that that happened much anymore) was just outlandish in its own right. Besides, she so wasn't his type. He liked the pretty, brainy ones, like Ava had been, not geeky and short.

Wait, why did Claire care anyway? This is Myrnin we're talking about here, she thought, he doesn't date.