Sorry for the delay folks. I wrote the first 3 chapters all at once, and immediately wrote myself into a block. But I think I'm good, and will try to update once a week. Questions/comments are very welcome. Here we go!

Claudia and Fargo walked side by side down the aisles, swapping war stories about their respective places of business. They bumped shoulders, and their hands occasionally brushed which caused one to shyly smile at the other. Fargo noticed Claudia starting to slow down, eventually leaning on his shoulder with her arm wrapped around his to keep her walking upright. Keeping her head on his shoulder, she looks up at him.

"Dougie? My buzz is officially dead. I need a caffeine booster."

"Okay, there's got to be something in here we can use to wake you up."

"No no. Don't need a repeat of the rom-com coffee. Let's go up to the office. We have a normal, boring coffee pot that won't make me call you my lobster," she pinched her hands at him and led the way to the front of the Warehouse.

After getting lost twice, passing the one of the original slabs from Stonehenge at least three times, and one embarrassing trip over her own feet, Claudia finally found the stairs leading up to the main office. Using the handrail to physically pull herself up the steps, Fargo nearly choked when he realized just how short her skirt was. She turned her head to peer down at him, saw where his eye line was, and bolted up to the landing.

Claudia hoisted herself onto the desk and swung her feet back and forth while she waited for the coffee to brew next to her. She studied Fargo as he wandered around the office, silently trying to figure out how she felt about him being there. On one hand, she was thrilled to see him again and have him here for her birthday. On the other, there's always been a sense of unresolved.. tension between them that seemed to spark at the slightest of looks. She didn't dislike this feeling, in fact it gave her a case of warm fuzzies just thinking about it. But they were both in committed relationships to their careers, and the two states separating them were daunting. However, if she could figure out how he got here tonight, that might be a game changer. Speaking of..

"Hey Doug, what were you doing right before you showed up in the Warehouse? Were you touching anything?"

Fargo looked up before answering, "I haven't found any more artifacts, if that's what you're thinking. I was just about to check my phone, then get dressed."

Claudia tapped a finger against her mouth, staring at him while she thought. He was just starting to fidget when the last of the coffee dribbled into the pot, causing Claudia to hop off the desk and make her way towards the mug shelf. After moving a few around, she found two that she deemed were appropriate. She handed Fargo a mug that had "Fail Safe Activated" printed around it in a type writer font. Peering over Claudia's shoulder, he saw the mug she was filling with coffee for herself had an eerily familiar land mine printed in red across it.

"Did you make these?"

"Heh, yeah. I started printing t-shirts with artifacts that tried killing us, and handed them out as Christmas gifts a few years ago. It's turned into a running theme with us. I made these," Claudia paused to raise up her mug in question, "after our time traveling rendezvous in Eureka. I had planned on sending you one, but.." she lifted one shoulder in a half shrug, "Better late than never?"

She offered the mug to him. His fingers brushed against hers when he accepted it from her.

"Well, now I can think about you every morning, too," he watched her from over the lip of the mug as he took a long drink of the hot beverage.

She raised her eyebrows at him, daring him to continue that thought. When he stayed quiet, she gave a small laugh and hopped back onto the desk to enjoy her caffeine. They sat in companionable silence while they concentrated on their drinks.

"So, Dougie. You beam here often?" Claudia winked at him, then continued, "Unless you've suddenly harnessed the power of teleportation, ahem, quantum particle entanglement, I'm guessing an artifact snagged you."

"I would say that's a fair guess, but which one?" Fargo finished his coffee and set the mug down next to Claudia, "Don't let me forget that."

"Wouldn't dream of it," she smiled at him, "We should retrace my drunken steps from earlier. Since you've.. been on my mind tonight, I'm willing to bet I fiddled with the wrong artifact at some point."

Easing down from the desk, she pulled the chair out from under the desk and paused. With a mischievous twinkle in her eye, she rolled the chair off to the side. Putting her weight on one leg and bending the other, she leaned over to start tapping away at Artie's wooden keyboard. Doug's eyes widened slightly as he cocked his head to the side in an attempt to see more of her pale, freckled thighs. He was vaguely aware that she was speaking, probably about something important. He saw she was pointing at the computer screen, but was having trouble concentrating when there was so much bare skin just begging to be touched.

Claudia turned her head to look back at Fargo, who was starting to list to the side with his gaze locked on her backside. When she cleared her throat, his eyes snapped up to hers and he gave a bashful grin as he quickly straightened his stance. The momentum of his movement caught him off guard, and he went tumbling ungracefully to the floor. Claudia's laugh died in her throat when she heard his head thud on the hardwood flooring. Scrambling to his side on her knees, she ran her fingers through his hair to make sure he wasn't bleeding. Satisfied that he'd live, she looked down into his dazed eyes. He pushed himself up onto his elbows, and shook his head to clear his vision.

"Ow," Fargo's bottom lip stuck out in a small pout.

"We have got to stop meeting like this," Claudia's hand skimmed over his hair one more time, but didn't seem intent on searching for injury. She hesitated before moving forward and pressing her lips against his. Not so quickly pulling away, she rested her forehead against his and gave a happy hum. Pushing herself to her feet, she extended a hand down to the fallen Fargo.

"C'mon, Fargonator. Let's solve this mystery."