A/N – Due to wonderful support and a bit of prodding, the story shall continue! Thank you for the kind and constructive reviews, they made my day! Sorry about the delay, but I learned never to write on no sleep; it leads to funny (A.K.A. not so funny) things :).

Also, no beta. Any mistakes are mine. If you're interested in beta reading for this story (or any others in the future), send me a message.

(Information)

By the next afternoon, the effects of the pocket watch had worn off. He was still to embarrassed to face the rest of the team though, especially Claudia. After last night's interrogation, he was seriously considering never leaving the confines of his room ever again. Luckily, with no artifacts to chase, he didn't have set foot outside the safety of his room unless he absolutely had to. But that didn't stop people from trying to get him to. Even the offer of cookies couldn't entice Pete to face everyone, which was actually causing a bit of a panic. How often does Pete turn down cookies?

After an intense discussion and drawing straws, it was decided that Claudia would go up and see if she could figure out what was wrong. She already knew, but that was between her and Pete, and nothing would get her to spill. She was just glad that Jinxy wasn't looking at her when he asked if anyone knew what was wrong with Pete. That could have made for a very awkward conversation.

Claudia walked up the stairs and knocked on Pete's door. After a short wait and several minutes of begging on Claudia's part, Pete finally unlocked the door and let her in, closing it quietly behind her.

"Hey man, listen, I'm really sorry about last night," She said, looking supremely uncomfortable. "When I asked what your most embarrassing moment was last night I was expecting an answer along the lines of getting you pants pulled down in the middle of gym class or something." She shifted her weight from one foot to the other and back again while Pete just stared at her. "Trust me, that's one I'm taking to the grave, that is if I can't find an artifact in the warehouse to scrub it completely from my mind."

Pete sighed and walked over to the bed, flopping down on it with a sigh. "If you do find an artifact that can do that, let me know. I want to do the same," he said, running his hand through his hair. He pointed a finger at Claudia and said, "You owe me big time for that by the way."

"Oh most definitely," she agreed quickly, nodding her head. "But I do have another question for you," she said hesitantly, walking over to the chair next to the bed and dropping down into it. She looked at him expectantly, obviously waiting for permission this time.

Pete looked over at her and sighed heavily. "Well I'm not being forced to tell the truth anymore, so go ahead." he said with a wave of his hand.

Claudia smiled and leaned forward in her chair, obviously excited about asking this. "When did you realize you were in love with Myka?"

Pete smiled and stared over her shoulder at nothing for a moment before starting to tell her about the fashion show in Manhattan and what he told her just before she took the runway.

A little under an hour after Claudia went to talk to Pete, he and Claudia walked down the stairs, laughing hysterically, immediately drawing everyone's attention. "Looks like you managed to cheer him up Claud," Myka smiled. "How did you do it?"

"I asked him something and bribed him with ice cream and comic books later," Claudia said with a grin. She grabbed Steve's arm and dragged him out of his chair. "C'mon Jinxy, we need to talk," she said, pulling him out the back door behind her, completely ignoring his protests.

Myka looked at Pete and asked, "What did she ask you?" She was really confused and just a little bit upset. She had tried for well over an hour to get Pete out of his room and could barely get him to talk, let alone open his door. Claudia had managed to not only gain entrance to his room, but got him out and somewhat back to the old Pete.

"Nothing," Pete answered, a bit to quickly to be true. If Myka didn't know Pete so well, she would have believed him. "I smell food," He said, turning and walking into the kitchen. The sudden change in subject and subsequent retreat of Pete left her feeling a little hurt.

"Don't worry about it Myka," Leena said softly, giving Myka's shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "It's really nothing to get worked up over." Leena stood and started clearing the table with Myka following suit.

"I just don't understand why he won't talk to me," Myka replied quietly as she followed Leena into the kitchen. She looked around for Pete, and not finding him in the room, she continued. "He used to tell me everything." She sighed and set the dishes on the counter next to the sink. "Now I can barely get him to joke with me. I miss our bickering." she whispered softly.

"It's nothing to worry about Myka," Leena replied. "It's just going to take a little bit to get completely back in to your rhythm. You missed a lot while you were gone," she smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry. Everything will be back to normal before you know it."

"I hope so," Myka answered quietly. "I think I'm going to go for a run. Clear my head a bit," she said, turning and heading up to her room to change.

"Why don't you see if Steve wants to go with you," Leena called up after her. "Give you both a chance to get to know each other a little better."

Myka thought for a second before agreeing. At the very least she wouldn't be left alone to stress out about Pete's current behavior. She went out back to find Claudia and Steve huddled together, whispering excitedly. Whatever was going on, it was good. She walked up to the duo as quietly as she could, hoping to catch part of the conversation.

"So you'll help," Claudia asked quietly. "We need to know if this even has a chance to work before we can move on to phase three."

"Yeah, I'll see what I can do," Steve replied. "I'll let you know what I dig up."

"Awesome!" Claudia was practically bouncing up and down. Myka didn't have the faintest idea what was going on, but she was close enough to be noticed, and getting caught eavesdropping wasn't going to get them to tell her anything.

"Hey Steve, I'm going to go for a run, Care to join me?" Myka asked. She was really hoping he didn't ask if she was listening in on their conversation. He really was a human lie detector, and she had already tried to fool him, and failed every time. She didn't know how he did it, but it was really disconcerting.

"Sure!" he smiled, obviously excited about the prospect of getting out of the B&B for a while. "Meet you out front in ten?"

Myka nodded and headed up to change into her running outfit. She stretched a bit and met Steve out front ten minutes later.

Neither talked during their run for the first few minutes before Steve finally looked at her and broke the silence. "So how did you and Pete end up together?" he asked with an innocent smile.

Myka's head whipped around in surprise. "Oh we're not- I mean he's- we're just-"

Steve interrupted with a small laugh. "I meant how long have you two been partnered together."

Myka paused a second before answering. "About 2 years," she said distantly, mentally going over all their time together. She started thinking about the fashion show in Manhattan and what Pete told her and smiled softly at the memory, a slight blush creeping up her neck and into her cheeks.

"What's that smile for?" Steve asked innocently. Myka hadn't really been in a good mood all day, and anything that could cause her to smile and blush that quickly had to be a pretty good thought.

Myka shook off the memory and looked at Steve. "I have no idea what are you talking about," she said briskly, snapping her head around to focus on the path in front of her. She was hoping she could write off her blush as just exertion from the exercise. She didn't have any feelings for her partner. She couldn't. It was against regulations, and if there was one thing Myka never did, it was break the rules. She was really hoping Steve wouldn't ask if she did. That would be bad. Very bad.

"That's a lie," Steve said, poking her in the shoulder. "But I'll let it go," he paused dramatically for a second before adding, "for now." They continued running in silence for a while before Steve asked, "So what all do I have to look forward to working here?"

Myka gave a small humorless chuckle and looked at Steve. "Almost dying on a weekly basis, getting affected by artifacts on a monthly basis unless you're Pete, he gets hit by something what feels like every other day, Getting shot at, thrown around, hallucinations," Myka started listing all the things that could and had happened before stopping suddenly. She leaned in a bit and looked at Steve, saying, "Actually, why don't I tell you what most likely won't happen. That list is much shorter."

Steve had a slightly worried look on his face. He had figured he was going to be doing something dangerous when he was offered such a secret assignment, and the scary lady wasn't lying when she offered it to him, this was definitely a world of endless wonder. He was wondering a lot of things, especially if he could survive it. "Sounds good," he agreed.

Myka looked at him with such an expression of seriousness it almost startled him before saying, "Nothing. If you can imagine it, it can probably happen here." her expression suddenly turned sad and she looked down at the ground. "Pete's already died once working at this place." She sighed and looked back at Steve with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes before adding with a startling finality, "But we don't want to be anywhere else."

"Not a lie," Steve said with a small smile. They continued running in a peaceful silence before he looked at Myka with curiosity and asked, "So do you have feelings for Pete?"

Myka tensed up and almost stumbled. She forced herself to relax and thought before she answered as innocently as she could manage, "He's my best friend." She really hoped this line of questioning would stop. It could get very awkward, very fast.

"Not a lie, but it's a yes or no question," Steve said with a smile. This was getting better and better. "And evading a question like that would indicate a positive answer," he added.

Myka glared at him before turning forward and focusing on the path ahead.

There was a long, awkward pause before Steve whispered with a grin, "So does silence."