Out of the Rain Part II
Slight spoilers for Nevermore, Duped and MacPherson
Standing at the window of the motel room, Myka watches the rain continue to fall. Every few moments the thunder rumbles and lightning lights up the sky allowing a brief glimpse of the small lake across the street. Fog creeps in giving the area an eerie feel. Myka shivers, noticing that the temperature in the room seemed to have dropped quite a few degrees since they had arrived. Another flash of lightning lights up the sky, this time Myka sees the sillouette of a man that looks very much like MacPherson standing in the parking lot. Myka does not bother putting on her shoes or jacket. She grabs her gun, runs out the door and across the parking lot in the direction of the where she saw the man, but the parking lot is empty, not a soul in sight. With her heart pounding, she is sure of what she saw, but cannot figure out where he went. She races around behind the back row of cars. A stray cat hisses and dashes out from behind a bush, causing Myka to jump aside. Then, a car pulls into the lot traveling toward her. The lights are bright and she can't see the driver. She raises her weapon and the car slows to almost a stop before pulling into the space beside her. At that moment, she realizes that it is Pete returning with dinner. He cuts the engine and quickly jumps out of the car and races to her. By this point, she has lowered her weapon and is just standing in the rain soaked and freezing.
"Myka, are you ok? What happened?" Pete asks but does not get a response. Myka is still standing there shaking. Pete carefully reaches for her hand and takes the gun in one hand then drapes his other arm around her and gently steers her toward their room.
"MacPherson…I saw MacPherson. He's here Pete." Myka whispers through her shivering
"Where did you see him" Pete asks as he begins to run his hand up and down her arm in attempt to help stop her shaking
"I was in the room, looking out the window when I saw him standing in the parking lot. I ran outside, but could not find him. Pete, I know he was here. I know what I saw, but how could he just disappear?" Myka pleads, "We have to find him. I will not be able to sleep knowing he is out here watching us."
"Hey, it's ok. You are tired and the darkness can play tricks. Let's go inside get you warmed up before you catch pneumonia and we will figure out what happened," Pete says trying to calm her
They walk into the room and Myka immediately freezes staring ahead at the bathroom mirror which could be seen through the open door. Pete stops and looks at Myka, then follows her line of sight to what caused her to stop. There is a message written in black marker on the mirror.
Come out of the rain
Sleep well my friends
For when you wake
The game begins
-M-
Myka and Pete quickly scan the room to check for the intruder. The room is empty. Pete walks back over to the door and leans outside taking a quick survey of the parking lot. He does not see any movement at all. He steps back into the room, locks the door and pulls the curtains closed.
"I know it was MacPherson. We need to call Artie and let him know what has happened. Do you have the Farnsworth in your bag?" Pete asks Myka who is now looking through her purse.
"I can't find it, I know it was here. He took it Pete, he took the Farnsworth ." Myka yells
"Hey, hey, it is ok Myka. It will be ok. We can just call Artie. We will call the main line at the Bed and Breakfast. It is going to be ok. This is what he wants, to confuse us and throw us off of our game. We can't let him do that. We are Latimer and Berring, right?" Pete says with a small smile
Myka can't help but smile at Pete's attempt to console her; he once again is chipping away at that wall. "Yeah, but you mean Berring and Latimer, don't you?"Myka jokes back
Pete pulls her into a hug and realizes that she is still shivering. "Myka, you go get a hot shower before you freeze and change into warm clothes. I will take care of calling Artie".
Myka pulls away and walks over to her suitcase and pulls out some pajamas. She is thankful that she packed warmer night clothes anticipating the colder weather. Pete picks up the phone to call Artie, but he can't seem to connect to an outside line. He dials the front desks and is told by the night manager that there seems to be a problem with all of the phones. After hanging up, he tries his personal cell phone, but can't seem to get a signal. He realizes that MacPherson is obviously blocking phone signals out of the area. He has a bad feeling about this. A feeling much the same as the one that he had the morning that his father died in the fire. But this time he senses that something will happen to Artie. Then the feeling is gone before he can make sense of it, and he realizes that Myka is standing in front of him with a hand caressing his face asking him if he is ok. He looks at her and smiles.
"Pete, you were scaring me. I called your name several times and you seemed to be in a trance. Are you ok? Did you sense something?" Myka asks with her hand still on his cheek
Pete stills her hand with his own hand and looks into her eyes, "It is ok, I had a brief vision of Artie, but then it was gone. I don't know what else to say. It was there and then it was gone. I don't understand it myself. It makes me feel helpless when I can't figure it out. What if he needs us right now? "
"Were you not able to get through to Artie", Myka asks
"No, the phone lines are down and we can't get a cell signal. I am sure he has blocked all the lines." Pete sighs
"Hey, we can't do anything tonight. I am sure he is fine. Like you said earlier, we need rest. We can get an early start in the morning. He is just trying to through us off our track. We won't let him do it. "
Pete leans in and kisses Myka on the forehead gently, then pulls back and looks her in the eyes, "Thank you."
"For what," Myka asks genuinely confused and a little surprised. She can feel the heat rush to her face.
"Choosing to stay and be my partner when you could have chosen to go back to Washington."
"How did you know?" Myka asks even more confused than before, then, it hits her, "Leena? She was there when I got the call. You weren't supposed to know."
"It's ok. I really don't mind that I did not get called back. It was almost a relief. I love what we do, as crazy as that may sound. I love the Warehouse. I love tracking down artifacts and I love having you as a partner."
"You are not so bad a partner yourself," Myka smiled and leaned in giving him a kiss on the cheek much like the one he gave her moments before, "now how about some sleep?" she then turned and crawled into bed leaving a stunned Pete standing there thinking about what he had said a few weeks ago to "Alice/Myka" about how Myka would never kiss him even if her life depended on it.
I guess I was wrong. Sometimes being wrong isn't so bad. With that thought Pete crawled in on the opposite side of the bed and turned off the lamp.
"Goodnight Pete"
"It is a good night, Myka. Sleep well"
Myka rolled over and smiled realizing the effect she had on Pete. They did not know what tomorrow would bring. But they had each other, and for tonight it was enough.