Disclaimer: I do not own Warehouse 13 or any of its Characters. But man I wish Idid.Just playing What If? with them.

Rating: Still K+ but may change next chapter.

Falling

The door opens and as he hears her voice whisper the ever-familiar "Hey, Jinksy." he knows that he has leapt over the precipice. The only question now is: how far does he have to fall?

Steve's mother had once told him "The heart knows no boundaries of time or distance, there is no rhyme nor reason for the love we feel. The heart wants what the heart wants and no amount of struggling or rationalization on our part will change that."

He had not believed her then.

He believed her now.

Especially now that he is currently gazing into the soft brown eyes of the person his heart wants and truth be told, Steve is more terrified than he can ever remember being.

His heart feels like it is trying to beat its way out of his chest, his brain is screaming at him to turn around and run, except his feet are nailed to the floor. Steve realizes he had been caught the very second his nickname had left her lips, and now that the lamplight is playing over her face, he can see she's been crying.

Then, before he knows how it happened, Steve wraps her in his arms, holding her close to his aching heart. With his cheek resting on the top of her head, he can feel the sobs wracking her slender frame and he silently curses whatever it was that made him choose this night, of all nights, to break down and confess how his soul yearns for her.

After several minutes of her tears, soaking the front of his shirt Steve had gathered his courage and convinced his vocal chords to work. Even as his hands gently smooth her hair and caress her back, he speaks to her in a quiet tone.

"Claudia," he murmurs into her bright copper hair, "Why are you crying?"

Steve hears her breath hitch and feels the motion as she tries to shake her head 'no' while keeping her face buried in his chest. As much as he wants to stay in this exact position, until he is old and needs a cane to walk would be fine, Steve knows he has to discover the source of his, normally bright, angel's pain.

Moving back ever so slightly, Steve cups her face gently between his palms, his thumbs wiping away the tears flowing down her cheeks.

Ignoring the horrid pangs radiating through his body, Steve tilts her head upward to meet his searching gaze.

"Tell me, Claudia.," he croons softly.

Claudia's shoulders shudder and her eyes close tightly in an attempt to stem the flood of tears as she answers him.

"He lost a bet." she mumbles.

"What?" Steve asks, certain he misheard.

"Derek," she responds forlornly, "The only reason he asked me out on a date tonight was because he lost a bet."

Steve's mind raced as he recalled how earlier in the week Claudia had returned to the boardinghouse excited and nervous because a young man from town had asked her on a date. She had bubbled about it all week, while Steve had smiled and done his best to conceal the agony he'd felt from everyone, even Leena.

As he leaned down to lightly brush his forehead against hers, he regretted more than anything else not speaking up sooner. If he had known his profession of adulation would have spared her even one second of misery, Steve would have poured the words out the instant he'd found out about the date. Now all he could do was patch up her broken heart and put his own back behind the shields he used to hide it from the world.

"Please don't cry anymore, Angel." Steve whispered, "He doesn't deserve your tears or you."

"I thought, actually believed, that he asked me out because he was interested in me." Claudia stammered as she angrily swiped the tears from her face. "I should have known better, I should have known that a nice, normal guy would never be interested in me."

Steve lifted his head and stared into her hurt filled eyes. Desperate to stop the downward spiral he could sense looming close, Steve softly brushed several stray hairs from Claudia's face before he said what he hoped would make the hurt lessen.

"That's not true Angel.," he stated firmly, holding her gaze. "I know for a fact nice guys find you irresistible."

Claudia sniffed, her eyes imploring as she said, "Yeah right, Jinksy. Name one nice, normal, guy that finds me, ME, irresistible."

Okay, I meant this story to be a two-shot, but it's not working out that way. One more chapter ought to do it. Anyway read and review(s) pretty please. Thank you and Warehouse 13 rocks!