Thanks to those people who reviewed. And sorry for the length of the first chapter. I'll try to make this one longer. Beta'd by CMDonovann
Disclaimer: I don't own Warehouse 13. I don't make a profit on this.
Chapter 2
A Different Life
Claudia wakes up strapped to a bed this time, in a hospital. Oh great. she thinks angrily. If I ever find that bitch pretending to be my mother, I'll-
But her thought is left unfinished as the woman and man resembling her parents enter the room, accompanied by a doctor. Claudia pulls against the restraints and shouts at the woman. "Who are you?" Why are you doing this?"
The doctor approaches the bed and looks at Claudia with the simpering, 'we understand' kind of look she had grown to loathe during her time in the nut house.
"I'm Doctor Hanson. You're very confused, Claudia." She rolls her eyes.
"No, I think not. I'm not supposed to be here, I'm supposed to be in South Dakota, I-" The doctor cut her off.
"No, Claudia, you're not. You've been having the dreams again, haven't you? The dreams about the Warehouse?" Claudia glares at him.
"What are you talking about, dude?"
The doctor turns to her 'parents'. "It's part of her delusion. She thinks she works for a top-secret government facility in South Dakota." Claudia shrieks with mirthless laughter. "I don't THINK I work there, I DO work there. What is going on here?"
Miranda Donovan moves to stand beside the bed. "You're not well, Claudia. For the past three years you've been a patient at the state mental hospital."
Claudia's head reels. "For WHAT?" she yells.
"Delusions. Schizophrenia. Bipolar disorder." Gary Donovan says, joining Miranda by the bed. "You came home to visit, the doctors thought it would be okay, but..."
"That's bullshit! I got OUT of the bell jar three years ago! I found Artie and we saved Joshua." At the mention of the name the parents glance at each other. The doctor clears his throat. "You brother died eight years ago in a hit and run accident." Claudia spits in his face. "Joshua's FINE." she says in a dangerous voice. "He's working at CERN." Miranda starts to cry into Gary's shoulder. The doctor ushers them out and turns back to Claudia.
"Take this pill. Please, Claudia." he says in a tired voice. "No f-ing way." Claudia answers defiantly. The doctor rubs his forehead, like he's getting a headache. "Fine. We'll do this the hard way." He pulls a syringe from his pocket and injects it into her IV. She tries to stay awake and fails.
…
Several days pass in a similar fashion. Pretty soon Claudia stops dreaming about the Warehouse and starts remembering snippets of her life. Her mother and father, Joshua's accident and funeral, her best friend Angela. They let her out of the hospital. When she goes back to her house with her mom and dad, Angela comes to visit. They talk about Angela's upcoming wedding.
Life passes comfortably for a few years. Claudia gets a job at the local bookstore, more out of boredom than a need for money. The doctors won't let her within twenty feet of a computer, which she sometimes finds suspicious. But they all assure her it is perfectly normal paranoia, left over from the schizophrenia and that it will go away as long as she stays on the pills. She believes them and takes the pills wholeheartedly.
Then one day in early March, almost four years since she came home, Claudia forgets to take her noontime dosage. The nagging feeling of wrongness grows all day, and she purposely doesn't take her evening pill. That night she dreams of strange people. She remembers their names in the morning. Pete Lattimer, Myka Bering, Irene Frederic, Artie Neilson, Leena, and the last names MacPherson and Weisfeld. She goes to work that day and gets on the computer. Surprisingly, she finds she knows exactly how to get the information she's after. A little while later she starts typing in names on a government site.
Full Name: Peter Charles Lattimer
Date of birth: August 9, 1974
Place of residence: 1224 West Jefferson Street, Washington D.C.
Occupation: Secret Service
Special agent Peter Lattimer, husband of special agent Myka Bering-
Claudia stops and clicks on the name Myka Bering.
Full Name: Myka Opheilia Bering
Date of Birth: September 14, 1974
Place of residence: 1224 West Jefferson Street, Washington D.C.
Special agent Myka Bering, wife of special agent Peter Lattimer, lives in D.C. With their son Nigel Griffin Lattimer (age 6). Bering and Lattimer have been partners for seven years, married in November of 2010-
"So you guys DO exist." Claudia whispers softly. "Well, let's see if the rest do." She types in Artie Neilson. Nothing. She types in MacPherson and a long list of names come up. She scrolls through until she finds a picture that looks like the man in her dream. The information is blocked, but Claudia hacks around it and learns that MacPherson is real, the 'Warehouse' is real, and MacPherson runs it with the assistance of Irene Frederic. "Wow. No wonder they wanted me kept quiet. I somehow know of a top secret government program. Maybe I did used to work there." She types in Weisfeld and scrolls through, looking for a familiar face. Suddenly stumbling across a picture of the man she thought was Artie Neilson, she clicks on the link.
Full Name: Arthur Maximus Weisfeld
Date of birth: October 31, 1952
Date of death: February 19, 1970
Cause of death: executed for espionage against the U.S. Government
"Whoa. He's dead?" Claudia thinks for a moment. "Wait, how do I know this person? He died before I was born." She starts to wonder why she remembers this stuff, anyway. She looks down at the bottle of pills thoughtfully.
A few minutes later she's hacked into her medical records. The pills turn out to be memory suppressants. She's been taking them since the summer of 2009.
Hahaha! I love making up peoples birthdays and stuff! Artie's birthday is on Halloween, how ironic is that? Also, Claudia started taking the pills the same time she started working at the Warehouse, 2009. This is a crucial plot point and you should all pay attention to this fact.