A/N: just a short chapter about the aftermath of the breakup with todd.
Music blares out from the retro style headphones but the red-headed girl lying on the bed isn't really listening, her eyes are closed and her forehead is creased with worry lines. She looks like she is in deep thought and concentration, every so often; a finger would tap out a beat, only for a few seconds, as the thoughts fly in and out of the mind of the 19 year old girl.
Minutes pass without any sound from the young girl and a worried head sticks its way through the half shut door. "Claudia?" Artie's worried and confused voice floats across the small room but don't penetrate the ears covered by the headphones.
A few more minutes pass and still no sound or movement from Claudia, Artie begins to get even more worried. Suddenly, she sits bolt upright and shouts randomly into the air "I've got it." She leaps off the bed, tears off the headphones and sits at the desk with her laptop; she logs in and starts running programs without noticing Artie hovering over her shoulder.
"What are you doing? Are, are you hacking into Todd's computer?" the disbelief in his voice is evident as he figures out what the young rebel girl is doing. Claudia whips around in her chair, guilt written across her face.
"What? What are you doing in here Artie?" she demands to the older grey haired man. "a girl needs her privacy ya know, what if I was undressing?" her face is pink as she mentions taking off her clothes to her boss and mentor, but the blush fades quickly as he retorts with a snide quip.
"Then you shouldn't have left the door open," he walks over to the door and closes it for privacy, "I was worried about you, breaking up with Todd like that, I'm shocked you would even contemplate hacking into his computer," his hands are on his hips and Claudia gets up and mirrors him, "what do you think that will even achieve?" his despairing look sets upon her face and nearly makes her say sorry, but she sets her resolve.
"For the record, I didn't break up with him, he broke up with me. And I don't know why." Stepping closer to him, her words get fiercer and fiery. "Hacking is what I do; it's what I'm good at. I hacked into the secret government warehouse, Todd's computer is cake compared to that. It might give me some leads to why he broke up with me, I need to know what I did wrong, and he didn't even give me a reason. What sort of a guy breaks up with someone and then never tells them why?" she turns away, away from and towards her laptop, speaking quieter now she's calmed down a bit. "I was just gonna see what he was doing, it's nothing majorly illegal." She picks up the laptop, headphones and bag. "I'm going to the warehouse; I've got some inventory to do." Walking past the greying curls and glasses, she makes it clear the conversation is finished.
Artie is left in the now empty room, realising Claudia's possessions consist of her clothes, her laptop, headphones, bag, and books, he thinks about buying her something ornamental, not useful or practical like the rest of her things, but something to make the room look lived in. He walks out, closing the door quietly behind him.