Disclaimer: I do not own Warehouse 13, or any of John Walter Bratton's teddy bears. I wish I did.

Hope you guys enjoy as much as I enjoyed writing this - I love this ship. And most of the stuff actually happened in the first bit of the chapter. That's the thing I love about subtext. If you look for it, it's always there. This is my first W13 fic, and definitely not my last. SPOILERS: 1x08 Duped.

oxoxoxo

"What's this?" Leena frowned at the vast covered artifact. She was breathless. Claudia sighed and watched as Artie uncovered the mirror bumbling profusely about the mirror. He was almost apologetic.

"Artie, what happened?" Leena's eyes shifted to Claudia who was shifting hesitantly on each foot.

Artie sighed. "Yeah…Optical divagation, I think."

"Wait, what?" Claudia frowned. He didn't mention that bit. He just continued to babble.

"Pretty lively shadow," Leena said quietly, a strange, slightly excited look on her face as she stared at Myka's reflection.

"Yes but is it?" Artie pointed a finger.

Claudia was close to throwing up her hands. "Is it what?"

"Alive," Leena muttered back. Myka's image thumped at them, her fist pressed against the 'glass' and her lips mouthing out 'Help me.' Claudia's eyes were fixed on Leena's face. That strange look still remained and she looked at Artie with a flirty simper. "Do you wanna?"

"Sure," Artie shrugged. Claudia scowled as the innkeeper rolled up her sleeves with a grin and flipped up the back of her top revealing her shapely backside.

The redhead's eyes nearly popped out of her head. "Umm…what's that about?" She couldn't help herself. She was jealous, and her mouth was moving before she had the chance to stop it.

Artie groaned. "I'm gonna pull her back if she falls in, get your mind out the gutter." He took a tighter hold to Leena's belt and gripped hard. Her jeans came away slightly from her body and Claudia's eyes darted from the mirror back to the woman's jeans and the pair of light pink panties that peeked out. Leena caressed the mirror gently, trying to sense Myka's aura. Sadness. She sensed a little sadness - but nothing much.

"Thanks," she said calmly when Artie finally released her.

"So?" He asked expectantly.

She shrugged, "Nothing," and glanced at Claudia who looked more than a little disconcerted. They conversed some more about what it could be, until Artie practically told her to get lost. She sighed and walked off, not missing Leena giving her a gentle brush to her side. She knew that gesture. It meant ''we'll talk later.'

oxoxoxo

"He's fine, so is Myka." Artie said as he shut the Farnsworth. Leena had to stop herself from rolling her eyes. The man was so damn stubborn. But something was wrong. She knew it - something wasn't quite right. She would have followed Claudia. She would have, but after getting into yet another argument with the man, she looked up after an hour and a half to see Claudia trundling in with a ridiculous contraption, pride evident on her face. Leena immediately stood up to help the young woman set the equipment up.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm opening a line of communication," the redhead grinned. "The CIA uses laser mics to read vibrations off windows to hear what's going on the other side, righ-"

"No, wait… wait wait." Artie shook his hand. There he goes again. Claudia came to a halt and tried to persuade him. She even wrestled with him a little to get to the mirror, but he still refused to let her help. Myka was in there. Claudia grit her teeth. She knew it was Myka. And she knew her friend was sad, and lost and she knew that she needed to come home. Sidling up to Leena, she turned her back to the man and lowered her voice to make sure the warehouse supervisor wasn't listening.

"It's Myka…" Claudia's voice nearly broke.

Leena gave her a thin-lipped smile. "I know…"

"Talk to him." The younger woman sighed. "Please…"

"I will. I'll try." Leena nodded. Claudia cleared her throat and broke away from Leena's gaze before scuttling off to complete her set up of her invention.

After begging, Leena had finally gotten Artie to let them try to hear Myka through the mirror. "Say something," she said gently.

Myka looked uncharacteristically shy and somewhat bruised. She shifted on her feet and opened her mouth. "Artie when I get out of here I'm hugging her and I'm kicking your ass."

Leena and Claudia shared a wide smile. That was, until, "Well that won't be happening." Artie swivelled angrily in his chair and turned his back from the mirror.

"Artie it's me," Myka whimpered.

"No, no," Artie scoffed, refusing to look at her. "You're just a reflection. The real Myka is in Las Vegas on a mission with Pete."

"No, I'm not… Artie!" Myka raised her voice. Both women stared at the mirror in anguish.

"Turn that thing off," Artie sighed. Claudia was still frozen. She couldn't move, and she just watched as the man she'd come to love as a father switched off the gadget angrily. Myka continued to scream, but they couldn't hear a thing. She had been successfully silenced. "Whatever that thing is, it's never getting out of here." Claudia growled and threw the rest of her invention onto the floor before stomping off.

"Claud-" Leena was quick to catch her hand.

Claudia waved her off. "I can't. Not now. You sort it out," she sighed. "He'll never fucking listen to me. Ever," she hissed. She still felt jealous. She needed space, and fresh air, and she needed to get away from the both of them. "You sort it out." Her voice finally broke.

"I will," Leena promised quietly.

oxoxoxo

Claudia hadn't gone far. Leena smiled to herself, seeing the redhead's head poking up out the window, the blinds half shut. The innkeeper tried to persuade Artie that it was Myka once more, which instead brought out an irate rant about the 'real' Alice and her mental instability.

"There are a lot of loose ends here, so I'm not gonna… Hey, that is why Claudia," he raised his voice to the morose figure sat outside the office, "taking inventory is so important!"

Claudia closed her eyes. Why was he being so damn harsh? She skulked off and did as he asked. Leena waited a beat and sighed, verbalising the possible reasons as to why "Myka" was stuck in the mirror. Artie just grumbled and looked over the paperwork. The innkeeper slowly slipped out of her seat and tiptoed out of the office. "Hi."

Claudia sighed and looked up at the woman. "I do not understand that man."

Leena smiled gently and bent down. "Neither do I." She held out her hand. "Come on…"

"Where are we going?" Claudia stared at the outstretched fingers and cautiously took them.

Leena smirked. "Inventory." She twined their fingers and pulled the young woman up. Claudia sighed again, staring at her feet as she walked but she didn't let go - she couldn't. It was like the black woman had put some spell on her and she followed her blindly until they were brought to aisle 379-B.

"What are we doing?" Claudia began to smile as she saw John Walter Bratton's picnic blanket laid on the floor already. The innkeeper had planned this. "Leena… come on, even you know this is just asking for trouble."

"All the bears are asleep." She tugged on Claudia's hand until they were both sat down on the blanket. Plush bears were scattered on the old blanket and a stumble nearly caused the small redhead to sit on one. Her eyes widened when one teddy bear sat up and offered her a teacup. "Seriously?"

Leena just smiled with a small shrug and picked up her own cup, pressing the rim to her lips. "Drink."

Claudia sighed and took a sip. Her nose wrinkled. "That's not tea."

"What did you want?" Leena quirked her lips into yet another grin.

The young woman spluttered a little and wiped her mouth. "Well... this seems to be vodka."

"Vodka?" Leena seemed impressed. "You've done this before."

"Sure, Leena, I've sat at a teddy bear's picnic and wished for vodka." Claudia rolled her eyes. She stopped suddenly and casually took the other woman's cup, taking a cautious sip. "Wait…this is tea."

Leena frowned, "I like tea." She looked down to see a small teddy bear yawn suddenly as he 'came to life' and rolled over. She grinned and scratched his tummy, watching him stretch and go back to his slumber. Her eyes darted up to Claudia's face, watching the glee shimmer across her eyes. Claudia blinked, realizing she'd been had.

Claudia rolled her eyes. "Okay, he's cute. This is cute."

"It's my favorite." Leena was practically bubbling with happiness. "One of the most harmless artifacts here."

"I used to be scared of this song as a kid." Claudia shuffled a little closer to the woman.

Leena shrugged. "I think it's the threat. Don't go down to the woods-"

"Or you'll trip the fuck out and get served by Winnie the Pooh." Claudia began to giggle. "Can I change this?" She held up the cup.

Leena smiled and poured the woman another drink. "You sensed it too, like I did. The readings I've been teaching you. You could tell."

"That it was Myka? Of course I could," Claudia sighed. "That wasn't because I was reading auras. She just looked sad."

Leena shrugged. "Artie's a clever man, Claud. He had no idea. He still doesn't."

"That's because he's paranoid." The redhead grumbled.

"But you have the gift." Leena smiled, feeling Claudia unconsciously move even closer. She cleared her throat and took a sip of her tea. "You uhh.. You were jealous."

"What?" Claudia closed her eyes as she took a sip of her… beer. She rolled her eyes. "I think my subconscious is an alcoholic."

"It's the id." Leena smiled.

Claudia tried not to laugh and pointed a finger. "Don't go all Freudian on me."

"Don't change the subject."

Claudia sipped on her beer. "What was the subject?"

Leena's eyes twinkled. "You were jealous. When I inspected the mirror. Who were you jealous of?"

Claudia flopped down onto the blanket and cuddled one of the sleeping bears. The bear turned in her arms and yawned, nuzzling close. "Why are we talking about this?"

"Can you just… can you answer the question?" Leena went a little quiet.

"Artie. I was jealous."

"You like Artie?" Leena frowned. Well this was…new. They probably had an age gap of about 40 years. Stranger things had happened, right?

"Leena," Claudia chuckled. Leena was obviously trying to be okay with this. "Leena…" Nope, the woman was still thinking introspectively.

Artie didn't think of Claudia like that - did he? No, no… Leena shuddered. He definitely thought of her as a daughter, no matter how much he tried to convince himself otherwise. Leena's eyes opened suddenly when she felt a fluttering sensation against her lips. Claudia pulled away from the brief but emphatic kiss. "You, you goof."

"M-Me? What me?" Leena frowned.

Claudia rolled her eyes and chuckled the woman's chin with a thumb. "I like you." Leena just stared back at her, her eyes wide.

"Y...You like... You like me?" Leena's voice was small. Claudia gave an embarrassed nod.

"Claudiaaaa, Leeenaaa!" Artie's distorted voice filtered through the nearest speakers. "I think you guys need to come have a look at this." He held the papers in his hand, feeling remorse. They were right. The reflection was Myka. Alice was in Las Vegas. Of course, he wouldn't admit that just yet. Not yet.

"We gotta go have a look at this… whatever this is," Claudia shrugged. Leena was still a little breathless and she nodded mutely. She held out her hand. "Come on…" Leena nodded again and took the younger woman's hand. Claudia…Claudia was nearly 20. And she was… well, she was older. The redhead hastily cleared the picnic away and tugged on the dazed woman's hand. One kiss and Leena was in a trance. Claudia grinned and her head began to snoopy dance.

Her mind drifted to Myka. They had to save her. They had to think of a way to get her back. Her hand tingled when Leena let go, and she smiled confidently. They would get her back. They'd get her back. They'd get her back, and then Leena and she would talk at home and get rid of some tension. Woaaaah scary thought. Claudia closed her eyes and then opened them, watching as her friend snapped out of her trance.

"We can talk about this later..." She paused. "At home, I mean... That cool?"

Leena nodded. "Sure."

"Alrighty then," Claudia nodded and cleared her throat again and climbed the stairs back up to the office.

TBC