The healing has to start somewhere

Chapter 3

SIX MONTHS LATER…

"Artie we need…." Claudia came to a stop as she walked into the office to find Artie rushing around gathering his thing and throwing them into his bag

"Talk…"

Claudia finished trying to figure out what he was going. Artie glanced over to her as he was putting the last of his things in his bag.

"I can't now Claudia I have to go." Artie said as he put on his coat. Claudia shook her head no and threw her hands up in front of him.

"Wait…what…go?" Claudia put her hands on Artie's chest stopping him from moving. Artie took a deep breath in his hast to get his things packed after getting a call from Mrs. Fredrick's he had completely forgot to tell the team what was going on. Seeing the hurt and worry in Claudia's eyes, Artie gave her a warm smile and grabbed her hands.

"I'm sorry Claud, Mrs. Fredrick's called said there was some special mission that she needed me to go on with her, and she said it was argent, I was so wrapped up in getting the info and getting things together that I hadn't had a chance to tell you guys."

Claudia was even more confused now then she was two minutes ago.

"What mission? Where are you going? How long are you going to be gone?" Claudia was throwing out questions quicker than Artie could register.

"Shhshhh…" Artie placed a kiss on Claudia's forehead.

"I'll be gone a week, and Mrs. F said it was a need to know thing." Artie tried to reassure Claudia. Claudia was use to secrets put this one just didn't feel right.

"I have to go…" Artie tried to pull away from Claudia but she grabbed onto his coat and turned him back around to face her.

"Artie…don't go!" Claudia was almost begging him. Artie cocked his eyebrow at her.

"Claudia what is wrong?" Seeing that the woman he loved was scared of something. Claudia ran her hand up Artie's chest and rested her hand above his heart, taking a moment to just feel his chest rising up and down as he breathed.

"I got a vibe, something's not right." Artie kind of chucked.

"What are you taking after Pete now?" Artie started to dismiss the warning Claudia was getting. But seeing the tears start to build in her eyes because he wasn't taking her seriously Artie took a deep breath and set his bag down and wrapped an arm around her waist and tucked a few strands of hair behind her ear.

"Talk to me Claud…what's wrong?" Claudia honestly didn't know she just had a very bad feeling.

"I really don't know Artie, I just a feeling that this is not going to end well." Claudia rested her hand on the side of his face, her thumb trailing gently over his jawline. Artie took care to be tender at the moment, knowing that Claudia needed his reassurance right now. He leaned in and softly laid his lips on hers, he pulled back and ran his hand through her hair and held the back of her neck letting his thumb rub the side of her neck trying to ease her worry.

"Claudia, I'll be fine. I'll be home in a week. I promise." Claudia resided to the fact that she was not going to win this argument and gave in.

"OK, just be careful…and come home to me." Claudia tried to give Artie a strong smile.

"That's my girl." Kissing her one last time Artie turned and headed out the door.

The week slowly crept by, Claudia was sure that time had actually stopped for her as she waited for Artie to return. By the end of the week her frustration had grown to an unpredictable level and Myka and Pete were on red alert for the Claudia blowup that followed throughout the day. Claudia was in the middle of one of moments, when Pete walked into the office and was nearly hit with the flying books that were piling on the other side of the room.

"Uhhh. Incoming!" Pete quickly dropped to the floor as the book zoomed past here he head had been, peering up from the floor to see Claudia pacing back and forth in front of Artie's desk.

"Is it safe to get up?" Pete asked as Claudia mumbled and paced.

"Five times' now…five times and he's not picked up." Claudia glanced over at Pete who was slowly picking himself up off the floor.

"Claudister…" Pete approached slowly afraid at what else might be next to be thrown. Pete reached for Claudia's shoulders to stop her pacing. Claudia finally stopped and looked at Pete.

"What Pete?" Claudia was a little harsher then she had intended to be, but Pete brushed in off and gave her the big brother look that she had become fond of.

"What's wrong?" Pete asked. Claudia slapped her hands to her face and drug them down letting out what Pete could only thing was a grunt of frustration.

"ARTIE, he's not answering his Farnsworth! I've tried him five times! I need to know he's ok! I need to know I was wrong!"

"Ohh…wait, wrong about what?" Pete asked a little more concerned now. Claudia took another deep breath and pulled herself away from Pete and sat on the edge of Artie's desk.

"I got a feeling before Artie left that something was going to happen to him."

"You got a vibe? I thought I was the only one that got them." Pete let out a little chuckle understanding completely how Claudia was feeling.

"Claud…I'm sure everything is all right." Pete sat next to his adopted kid sister and put his arm around her shoulder.

"If I know one thing its vibes…and the only thing I can tell you is that you just have to ride it out and hope for the best." Claudia felt better as simple minded as Pete's logic was behind his intentions; Claudia couldn't help up smile at his attempts to make her feel better.

"Besides its only noon, Artie's not due back for a few more hours, if he doesn't get back on time then we'll worry. Deal?" Pete stuck his hand out for Claudia to shake.

"Deal!" Claudia leaned into Pete's shoulder as he squeezed her tight; she needed a good hug right now.

Claudia bounced herself off the desk, grabbing her IPAD.

"Well if it's still a few more hours then I'm going to have to find something to do to stay busy, or I'm going to drive myself insane. Isle 607 Baskerville inventory here I come!" Claudia gave a mock hooray with her hands in the air.

"You wanna help Pete?" Claudia asked giving him a cheesy smile.

"Ouch…yeah no can do their kid-o…I...Umm…Myka I'm sure has something…." Pete was reaching for anything he could think of to get out of inventory. Claudia's face went plant at Pete's lame attempts to come up with a reasonable accuse.

"Right…well then if you don't want to help me on the floor, you can work on the card catalog…Cause if that's not finished when Artie gets back, not even I will be able to stop the impending doom that will raid down on the place. Seeing how you were the one that made the mess in the first place, when you were looking for the information on artifact's linked to the badge of honor." Claudia gave Pete a wicked smile.

"You would throw me under the bus just like that?" Pete asked shocked.

Claudia turned to walk out to the floor, yelling over her shoulder. "Thump…thump Pete!"

Pete had just finished putting the last two cards away when the heavy sound of the Warehouse door opening, snapped his head forward to see Mrs. Fredrick's walking in and Artie behind him.

"Good God Artie what happened?" Pete asked as he watched the two walk in, Mrs. Fredrick's without missing a beat quickly walked over to Pete who swallowed hard. Artie made his way to a chair and careful sat down.

"Pete, look at me." Mrs. Fredrick's commanded. Pete drew in attention back to the lady standing only inches from his face.

"Artie is to rest… see to it that he is taken care of. He is not to work until I've said so. Is that clear?" Mrs. F gave Pete one of her eyebrow raised looks that made even Pete shutter.

"Cristal mam…" Pete gulped out.

"Good." Mrs. Fredrick's turned and walked over to Artie for a moment, speaking something that was out of earshot for Pete to hear. Pete watched and as Artie shook his head yes in understandment, when he was sure the door had closed behind Mrs. F Pete ran over to Artie.

"What the hell happened?" Pete was more worried now. Artie flinched as he moved in his chair. His left arm in a cast up to his elbow held close to his body by a sling. Numerous cuts and burses covered his face. Pete waited for a response.

"Artie?" Pete took a few steps closer.

"It's nothing, few broken ribs, broken arm…face looks like I went ten round with a cat." Artie was trying to be light hearted with Pete but he was not having any of it. Artie knew Pete would not drop the issue until he told him what was going on.

"The Artifact that we went after was from warehouse 10, it was thought to be lost until is surfaced again in South America."

"What was it?" Pete asked but before he could say anything else, Artie tossed a neutralizing bag at Pete, who quickly put a pair of glove on and let the small metal object slid out into his palm. Pete studied if for a second.

"It's a maltess cross…"

"Yes…"Artie slowly stood up.

"That cross was from the Knights of St. John, who lived for nearly four centuries on Malta, a little island in the holy land; these crusaders were confronted with a new and deadly device of war at the time…Fire..." Pete started at the cross and Artie educated him.

"When the crusaders approached the city wall of the holy land, they were struck by glass bombs containing naphtha. Once they were saturated with the flammable liquid, they were ignited by the enemies' flaming torches. Many died, but one knight…the one, who wore that badge that you're holding, ran back in to save his brothers from the flames."

Pete stopped Artie.

"I know this story my dad use to tell it to me, that is why the maltess cross in the symbol for firefighters. But what's it power?" Pete asked sliding the badge back into the bag. Artie slid his coat off with the help of Pete and undid a couple buttons on his shirt pulling it aside to show Pete the burns that had been hidden.

"It was imbued with the power to heal, his courage and sacrifice to save his brothers, with a touch of his hand he was able to heal them." Pete looked over Artie's battered body.

"So what's the down side?" Pete asked as Artie pulled his shirt back in place.

"The down side..." Artie chuckled, "The down side is whoever wears the badge is stuck with whatever injuries were healed from the last person you touched. Unfortunately there was so left over mojo in it when I snagged it and well…you see the end result."

Pete swiped his hands over his face.

"Claudia is going freak out Artie." Artie gave Pete the…I know look.

"Where is Claudia?" Artie asked looking out to the warehouse floor.

"Isle 607 Baskerville…Inventory...she was really worried about you Artie." Artie looked back and Pete and walked to the door.

"Well this will not help any." Artie wobbled his way down the stairs in search for Claudia.

A not so quick 20 min walk later Artie was at the end of the isle that Claudia was working in, he peeked his head around the corner to see that she was about midway down the row, Artie took a deep breath bracing himself for the tears and battery of questions that was about to start. He was about half way to Claudia when she just happened to look at him, it didn't register with her at first but when she looked back Artie heard a squeal of delight as Claudia started running to him, but then stopped dead in her tracks.

"Here we go…"Artie said under his breath as he heard Claudia, running and yelling at him

"Artie?...oh my god!" Claudia was in tears by the time she got to Artie.

"Ohh…easy please…I'm pretty banged up." Artie tried to smile at Claudia as he held his hands up to keep her from throwing herself on him. Claudia stopped herself from unintentionally inflicting pain on Artie and looked over his battered body. Claudia was having a hard time talking as she tried hard to fight back the tears and sobs that were chocking her up.

"Wh…what...happen?" Claudia gently touched Artie's casted arm. Artie took his glasses off and slid them in his pocket.

"Seems you were right…" Artie chucked as he spoke, trying to lighten the mood. Claudia gave him a dumb look and squinted her eyes at him.

"Ya think…look at you! Why couldn't you just…" Claudia was getting mad as she started to rant, Artie quickly tried to keep the impending verbal assault to a minimum.

"Shh. Shh…I'm fine, look I'm standing here, and it's was nothing really" Artie tried to reassure Claudia, who was now standing with a hip cocked out and her hands on her hips.

"Nothing…your face looks like hamburger right now…you're telling me it's nothing!" Claudia let out a growl of frustration and turned to walk away from Artie.

"Claudia!" Artie as quick as he could grab the bottom of her coat to keep her from walking off.

"Claudia…please come here." Artie held open his good arm and motioned for Claudia to come to him, she resisted for a moment then broke, gently wrapping herself around him. Artie held her tight as her tears finally broke.

"I'm sorry Claud…" Artie softly whispered in her ear, he could feel the wet spot on his shoulder starting to form as Claudia cried into her neck. "I promise I'll be more careful from now on" Artie felt Claudia head nodding OK. Claudia took a moment to compose herself before she looked at Artie. She gently ran her thumb over the black and blue bruise that had formed under Artie's eye. Artie gave Claudia a warm smile and kissed her softly.

"Come on, let's go home." Artie took Claudia's hand and lead them out of the stacks and to the car.

A few weeks later and the cuts and bruises on Artie's face and almost vanished, his arm was still in the cast but he had learned well how to use it still, and after a few long talks and one or two more fights over Artie not listening to Claudia they had finally worked through everything.

Claudia was sitting at her desk, when a voice behind her brought her out of her chair.

"Claudia…" Artie called from the other side of the room as he walked in.

"Ohh…Micsneaky...ever heard of knocking first or making a noise!" Claudia was resting her hand on her chest, making sure her heart was still beating from the shock, Artie snickered as he closed the space between them and rubbed Claudia's arm.

"Sorry hun…" Artie said kissing Claudia on the forehead. Claudia gratefully accepted the affection and then turned back to her work. Artie put his hands on her shoulders and stood there for a second.

"Claud…the day I left you said there was something we needed to talk about, you still need to talk?" Artie squeezed Claudia's shoulders. Claudia turned halfway around and looked up at Artie.

"You remember that?" Claudia wasn't sure if now was the time to discuss what had been on her mind.

"There's not much I don't remember…what was on your mind?" Artie let his fingers spiral out over Claudia's chest and up her neck.

"Umm…it was nothing, forget about it." Claudia went back to typing, but when she felt Artie's hands suddenly stop moving she knew he was not going to go for that answer.

"Nothing...Claudia Donovan, your proven track record as shown me that when you come barging into the office saying we need to talk, it is never nothing. Come on what's going?"

Artie teased he could feel Claudia tense under his hands. Artie turned Claudia's chair so that she would have to face him and bent down on his knees, the popping and pain he felt only reminded him that he was getting too old for this job, but once he was down and comfortable he grabbed Claudia's hands in his and waited for her to talk.

"Really Artie…it was stupid, nothing." Claudia looked everywhere but at Artie.

"And you're lying Claudia." Artie put his hand under Claudia's chin and his thumb on her jawline and turned her head to him.

"Tell me…" Artie gave Claudia one of his fess up looks and then smiled at her.

"Grrr…I hate it when you look at me like that, breaks me every time Artie!" Claudia huffed.

"I know, now spill." Artie gave his best smart ass grin again.

"Fine…fine…it's just; I don't know we have been a couple now for a while and I was just wondering…you know when we were going to get more serious?"

Claudia watched as Artie looked down at the floor and took a deep breath. Claudia knew he was about to close up on her, it didn't matter how much time they had spent together or how intimate they had been with each other, when it came to the relationship talk's Artie was nothing put mush mouth and scared to say anything. Claudia felt the need to back pedal quickly before things got out of control or she pushed Artie away.

"I…well…ummm…"Artie stared stuttering, that was the sign Claudia had been waiting on that Artie was just not ready to talk about it.

"You know what…never mind, probably shouldn't have said anything. I'm going to go work on some inventory." Claudia pecked Artie on the cheek, hoping to convince him that she was not mad or hurt. But deep down she was crying, telling herself that she was never going to be more than the warehouse girlfriend.

"Claudia…Claudia…wait…" Artie was slow to get up, which was what Claudia needed to put some space between them before Artie saw her crying. Claudia was out the door and down the stairs to the warehouse floor by the time Artie had regained his footing.

Artie knew Claudia needed a little time to calm down before he went to talk to her. So he waited about an hour before making his way through the warehouse in search of Claudia. After about twenty minutes of walking though the stacks he was sure he heard Claudia a couple isles over singing, he quickened his pace and stood at the start of the isle she was in and listen to her sing.

"Last night out of the blue, drifting off to the evening news, she said honey what would you do, if you'd never met me, I just laughed, said I don't know but I could take a couple guess's thought. Then tried to dig real deep said darlin honestly…I'd do a lot more fishin, probably eat more drive through chicken, take a few strokes off my golf game, if I'd never known your name I'd still be driven that old green nova, I'd probably never heard of yoga, I'd be a better football fan but if I was a single man along and out there on the loose, I'd be looking for a woman like you…"

Artie inched his way closer to Claudia; he quickly recognized the song because he had played it for Claudia and told her that it reminded him of her. Artie made sure to move slow so that Claudia would not see him walking up to her, Artie loved Claudia voice when she sang it made his heart melt and put a smile on his face every time. Artie heard Claudia start back up with the next course of the song.

"I could tell that got her attention, and I said oh yeah I forgot to mention, I wouldn't trade a single day, for a hundred years the other way, she just smile and rolled her eyes, cause she's head all of my lines. I said come on girl seriously, if I hadn't been so lucky, I'd be shooting pool in my bachelor pad, playing bass in my cover band, be stocking up cold bud light for poker ever Tuesday night, I'd have a dirt bike in the shed, not one throw pillow on the bed, I'd keep my cash in a coffee can. But if I was a single man along and out there on the loose, I'd be looking for a woman like you…"

Artie knew it was his time to strike, so he carefully snuck up behind Claudia and grabbed her and turned her into him and started to dance with her, Claudia shrieked but quickly calmed down and pulled her earphones out when she saw Artie was singing to her as he held her close.

"She knows what a mess I'd be if I didn't have her here but to be sure…" Artie moved his lips so they were gently touching Claudia's ear.

"I whispered in her ear…you know I get sick deep sea fishing, you make the best fried chicken. I got a hopeless golf game, I love the sound of your name, I might miss that old green nova. But I love watching you do yoga…"

Artie quickly pulled a small gold ring out of his pocket and held it up to Claudia as he finished singing.

"I'd take a gold band on my hand, over being a single man cause honestly I don't know what I'd do. If I'd never met a woman like you." Artie slowly stopped singing. Reality quickly hit Claudia as she realized what Artie had just done, tears started to form in her eyes. Artie bent down on one knee and grabbed Claudia's hand, her other free hand covering her mouth in shock.

"Claudia…will you marry me?" Claudia couldn't speak, waving her hand in front of her face for some quick cool air, and shaking her head yes.

Artie started to smile and stood back up.

"Is that a yes?" Artie asked, Claudia ran her hand down the side of his face and sobbed as she shook her head yes again

"YES!" Claudia was finally able to get a word out of her mouth. Artie quickly slipped the ring on her finger and hugged her tight.