Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Author's Note: This episode is one of my absolute favorites. The team left the Warehouse to track down Agent Stukowski to find out what she knew. They ended up stumbling across a secret meeting of the regents, only one of whom ended up surviving the episode. And she turned out to be Pete's mother. Surprise. Mrs. Frederic attempted to use an artifact to torture Agent Stukowski for information, but Steve drew his gun on her to stop her. He was promptly fired and walked away from the team after an emotional good-bye to Claudia. The first part of this chapter occurs on the flight to the city and the second half is directly after the end of the episode. Enjoy!

When It All Falls Down

"So this is pretty serious, huh?" Steve asked. Claudia was staring out the window of the airplane, but she turned back around to look at him.

"Kinda," she agreed. "Nobody's even supposed to know who the Regents are. As a wise man once said: Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times, or in this case five, is enemy action."

"And which wise man was that?" Steve asked curiously.

"Ian Fleming," Claudia told him. "The dude who created James Bond."

"Okay then," Steve said. He fell silent for a moment. Then he shook his head. "I still can't believe Stukowski played us. She completely fooled me. How could I not have noticed?"

"Maybe she never told you any actual lies," Claudia offered.

"Maybe," Steve conceded. He still looked bothered by it.

"Dude," Claudia said, nudging him with her elbow. "Lighten up. You look like somebody just told you Santa Clause isn't real."

"I actually figured that out when I was three," Steve admitted. "My dad said that Santa was going to leave me presents if I was a good. Too bad I knew he was lying."

"Wow," Claudia said. "That's pretty sad."

"The worst part was that Sarah still believed in Santa," Steve continued. "I'm pretty sure I ruined her childhood."

"You are a horrible human being," Claudia told him jokingly. Steve just smiled and shrugged. "Remind me to never try to throw you a surprise party."

"You're welcome to try," Steve teased.

"Do I sense a challenge?" Claudia asked.

"A challenge would imply that there is some small chance of you succeeding," Steve countered. Claudia's eyes narrowed.

"Oh, you are so on," she told him.

"Except now I know it's coming," Steve pointed out. Claudia's hand curled into an irritated fist as she glared over at Steve.

"Well played, Poopy Pants," she conceded. Steve chuckled.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have now begun our descent," the pilot's voice said over the intercom. "Please fasten your seatbelts, stow all tray tables, return your seats to the upright position, and turn off all electronic devices."

"Be glad you're not sitting next to Artie," Claudia told Steve. "Landings make him even more grumpy than usual."

"I thought that was flying in general," Steve pointed out.

"Valid point," Claudia agreed. "But the landings are the worst. I've never seen a bigger baby in my life."

"How did he ever get to be a field agent?" Steve asked.

"Sometimes I wonder," Claudia told him. She looked out her window at the city of Atlanta steadily growing larger. "You ready to introduce Lady Klepto to Agent Tesla?"

Steve grinned.

"Absolutely."

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Finding out that Jane was Pete's mother was shocking to say the least. Myka quite literally had no words. Neither, it seemed, did Pete. Only then he did. So did his mother. In the end, Myka decided it might be best to give them both a bit of time alone to sort things out.

She began making her way through the maze of emergency responders and vehicles toward where Artie stood talking to Mrs. Frederic. Halfway to him, Myka caught sight of Claudia. The younger girl was sitting against a wall with her head in her hands. She looked utterly defeated. Myka immediately switched directions and headed over to her.

"Claudia?" she called when she got close enough. Claudia's head jerked up. Her eyes were red, but she pushed herself to her feet at the sight of Myka.

"Myka," she choked. "Thank God you're okay."

She wrapped her arms around the older agent's neck. Myka hugged her back tightly. The hug didn't surprise her. It had been a stressful day for everyone. How close she had come to dying had probably scared Claudia almost as much as it had scared her.

"I'm okay," Myka assured her. Claudia's hands caught the back of Myka's jacket in a death grip and she seemed to be having a bit of trouble keeping her breathing even. If Myka hadn't known better, she would have thought Claudia was crying.

"Claude, what's wrong?" she asked worriedly as she pulled away from the younger girl. She was shocked to see tear tracks on Claudia's cheeks. Claudia reached up and swiped angrily at her eyes.

"Crappy day at the office," she choked. She tried to smile, but failed.

"Hey," Myka said, laying a reassuring hand on Claudia's shoulder. "Artie and I are okay."

"You almost weren't," Claudia reminded her. She sniffed, trying to get her emotions under control.

"But we are," Myka assured her.

"Steve's not," Claudia said angrily. "Mrs. Frederic fired him."

"What?" Myka asked in shock.

"Something... happened," Claudia explained. She held up her hand and then let it drop helplessly. "I don't know. But Mrs. F fired him."

"That doesn't make any sense," Myka said. "We'll go talk to her. We'll figure it out-"

"He wouldn't let me," Claudia interrupted. "And he already left anyway. He said he was sorry and then he left."

Myka didn't know what to say. Steve would have had to do something truly awful to get himself fired. But the Steve she knew would never do anything that bad. Suddenly she understood why Claudia was so upset.

"Look, I know that this is hard," she said, trying to be logical, "but he's still your friend, okay? You can still call him or email him. It's not like he's dropping off the face of the earth."

"You did," Claudia blurted. As soon as the words left her mouth, she winced. "Great. Foot, meet mouth."

"No, you're right," Myka said quietly. "I disappeared. It wasn't fair to you and I never should have done it. But Steve isn't me."

"You didn't see how upset he was," Claudia said. "It looked pretty final. And it's not just that. Regents are dying, Myka. Someone is picking them off and murdering them. And our only lead got away. Someone is gunning for the Warehouse and we don't have any idea who or where they are."

"We're going to figure it out," Myka told her. "We are. Because this is what we do."

Claudia forced herself to nod. She took a deep breath and let it out.

"Everything just sort of went to hell," she said, reaching up to run a hand through her hair. "You and Artie almost died, and now Jinxy... It's just been-"

"A crappy day at the office," Myka finished in understanding. "Believe me, I know."

"Can we just go home?" Claudia asked. She suddenly looked physically and emotionally exhausted.

"Sure," Myka agreed. She pulled her car keys out of her pocket and handed them to Claudia. "Go ahead and get in the car. I'm gonna tell Artie we're leaving."

Claudia took the keys and began walking in the direction of Myka's car, still wiping at her eyes. Myka stared after her for a moment before turning around to see Artie coming toward her. Mrs. Frederic had vanished.

"Everything okay?" Artie asked in concern.

"It's been a long day," Myka said by way of explanation.

"Tell me about it," Artie said drily.

"Did you know Steve was fired?" Myka asked bluntly. Artie nodded.

"Mrs. Frederic told me," he said quietly.

"But why?" Myka asked. "What did he do?"

"Something bad," Artie said. His tone signaled that it was the end of the conversation. Normally Myka would have pushed, but right then she was too tired.

"We'll talk about this later," she told him. "Claudia and I are gonna go ahead and head to the airport. That leaves Pete with you."

"Where is Pete?" Artie asked. "I thought you two would be attached at the hip."

"He's talking to his mother," Myka said. Artie's eyes widened.

"His mother?" he asked. Myka pointed over his shoulder to where Pete and Jane stood a short distance away. Jane looked frustrated while Pete was gesturing wildly with his arms.

"She's his mother?!" Artie asked in shock. Myka nodded. "I didn't see that coming."

"Neither did I," Myka told him. "Or Pete, apparently."

"Wow," Artie said.

"Yeah," Myka agreed. "You may need to go referee."

"I think I'll just wait until they finish," Artie said. He clearly didn't like the idea of getting between the two arguing Lattimers.

"Good idea," Myka said. She looked down at her watch. "The next flight leaves in less than two hours, so don't let them argue too long or you'll be spending the night here."

"I'll see what I can do," Artie said drily. Myka gave him a weak smile before turning and heading towards her car.

Claudia was sitting silently in the passenger seat when Myka reached the car. She didn't even look up as Myka got in. The key was already in the ignition just waiting to be turned. Myka reached over and took Claudia's hand in her own. The younger girl lifted her head from where it rested against the glass so she could look at Myka.

"We're gonna get through this," Myka assured her. Claudia nodded and returned her head to its place against the window. Myka gave her hand one final squeeze before letting go.

"But for now," she said, buckling her seatbelt, "let's just go home."

At this point I have the season three chapters pretty much finished, but I haven't even thought about most of season four. So if there's something you want to see for those episodes, let me know! I can't make any promises, but I'll definitely see what I can do.