This chapter is kinda short so I will be uploading the next one in the next day or two. Until then, enjoy.

~~~~ Chapter 4 ~~~~

"No, no, no," Artie started to laugh but his smile faded at the sight of Claudia's serious face, "it's 2009."

Claudia shook her head ever so slightly, not keeping her gaze off of her former mentor.

"What- but how? There's no way," Artie finally broke his gaze and looked to the ground, thinking hard and started rambling mostly to himself, "not even with an artifact. Err- I've never heard of an artifact that could- well I probably wouldn't hear of such a thing anyway – but something that can send you to the future? C'mon, I mean--"

"Artie!" Claudia unfolded her arms and took a step toward him. Her expression had changed during his ramblings. It was more familiar to him now; it was the look she had after they would collectively figure out what the big bad artifact of the week was just in time to save the day. A mixture of surprise, happiness and relief. "It really is you?"

Artie looked up at the girl who, for that split second, let her old teenage personality through, and nodded. He stood up, keeping his gaze at the girl, "Yes. Claudia, I don't know how but it really is me." When she didn't move, he continued, "You have to trust me."

She nodded and started toward him but stopped a foot short as if second guessing her feelings. "How- how can I know for sure it's really you, Artie?" Her eyes were starting to water, she'd already lost him twenty years ago, she didn't want to get her hopes up again for a fraud.

As if her inner thoughts were said aloud, Artie nodded in comprehension. "Um, well, you kidnapped me when you were nineteen because you thought I was responsible for Joshua's disappearance." It was the first thing that popped into his head.

"Artie, everyone knows about that." Claudia said, eyes narrowing, her suspicion increasing.

"Uh, right, um," Artie racked his brains for specifics, "when we were in the inter-dimensional field with Joshua you figured out the combination to open the compass was Thomas. And um, you figured out that electricity stopped the Spine of Seracin and saved Pete, and you built a laser pointer thing that we used to hear Myka when she was trapped in Louis Carrol's Mirror. You renamed the neutralizing processing center the 'gooery,' um, you –"

Artie cut off when Claudia jumped at Artie, wrapping him in a tight hug that lasted for a good minute. Artie would have liked to think it was all because she missed him but halfway into it he heard a small sniffle and realized she was trying to hold back tears. When she finally let go, she quickly uncuffed his wrists and then he wrapped his arms around her. She tensed at first, thinking he was going to try something but soon relaxed realizing he just wanted to return the hug, and to her surprise, she let the tears fall.

"I missed you Artie," Claudia whispered into Artie's shoulder and he squeezed her slightly to let her know, he is here now.

***

Artie sat in one of the comfy chairs that replaced the hard, plastic chairs from his time as he watched Claudia order the two other men to do inventory. After putting down their protests, she then turned back to her computer at her desk, the same one and in the same location as the one from twenty years ago, and began typing just as fast as he remembered.

"Shut up." Claudia didn't even look up from her screen.

"I didn't say anything."

"No, but I can feel you smirking at the familiarity of the situation." She looked up with a small smile of her own creeping onto her face. Artie attempted to straighten his face to feign innocence and raised his hands in surrender. His efforts were easily put to waste as Claudia started laughing, which he then copied.

She stood and walked over to where Artie sat, "Yes, I didn't think it possible either old man, but, I'm you. And they," she waved a hand to the door the two whining men had exited, "are me. Except change the sex."

"Ah, you better watch the 'old man' jokes. We aren't that much different in age anymore." He raised an eyebrow.

Claudia folded her arms, "hey, I'm only thir— crap… you're right."

"Usually am."

"Huh, well, we may be closer but you are still like great-grandpa age, and I'm barely mom age," Claudia teased, "and besides your reflexes are starting to fail you, geezer, I mean, you went and messed with some artifact that brought you here." She opened her arms to indicate the here and now.

Artie looked around, then asked the question that was burning a hole in his head, "Claudia, what happened?"

Claudia's smile faded and she sighed, "I was waiting for you to ask." She walked back over to her desk and sat down on her chair. "You missed a lot Artie. What was the last thing you remember?"

"Um, it was Christmas Eve, 2009. Pete and Myka were in Akron, Ohio looking for the Grinch's Santa's hat. Nothing special happened, it was after midnight so we went back to Leena's and went to sleep. When I woke up I –"

"--Was here," Claudia concluded in unison with Artie. Claudia looked to the ceiling of the office for a few seconds as if trying to decide where to start, before returning her gaze to Artie. "I remember that day like it was yesterday."

Artie's brow furrowed in confusion, it had been twenty years, and even with Claudia's amazing memory he hadn't actually thought she would remember such a random day. Unless – "what happened Claudia?"

"Should I be even be telling you this? Doesn't the whole 'the more you know, the more the future changes' concept apply somewhere in here?"

"Claudia." Artie stared at the not so quite young girl, "you don't want me going into all the physics behind time travel. And everything is already changing as we speak. Besides, think about everything that happened in the last twenty years. Is this really what you want?"

Claudia considered his question for a second. But then commented in a sly voice, "well I guess I could always use the memory wipe on you if necessary." She smirked.

Artie couldn't tell if she was kidding or not but he decided to overlook her mischievous grin and leaned forward in his chair. "Just tell me what happened."

"Alright, but if the universe explodes, it's your fault." She cracked a small smile before sighing. She contemplated fighting him on this for a few more moments but ultimately decided against it. She gazed into her former mentor's eyes, "Artie… you died that night."