Disclaimer: I own nothing but the occasional bagel.

Author's Note: This episode had Claudia discovering that Nick is evil, but only after he has tricked his way into the Warehouse. Nick knocks her out and unbronzes Paracelsus. By the time Steve gets to the Warehouse, Nick and Paracelsus are gone and Claudia is in bronze. I originally wrote a scene where Claudia is actually put in bronze by Paracelsus, but it ended up fitting better with the chapter for the next episode. So this chapter instead builds upon the last chapter with Claudia trying to figure out what's going on with Myka. At the beginning of the episode Claudia and Nick come back late at night from a concert, and when Claudia gets up the next morning she talks briefly with Steve before going to the kitchen for coffee. This chapter takes place immediately after that scene left off. Enjoy!

Secrets Are For Sharing

Claudia yawned and stretched out her arms as she walked into the kitchen. A quick look in the pantry revealed they were almost out of cereal. What little remained was the healthy grossness that only Steve and Myka ate. Thankfully, Abigail kept a stash of bagels that Claudia had located a few days before. She removed one from its hiding place and grabbed some cream cheese from the fridge to slap on it. The coffeepot, however, was mysteriously absent from the kitchen. After a quick look around, Claudia caught sight of it sitting out on the porch table next to a tablet and a plate with a half-eaten bagel. Apparently Abigail had gotten halfway through breakfast before remembering something else she needed to do first.

Grabbing up the biggest mug she could find, Claudia headed out onto the porch. Pete and Myka's absence meant there was actually some coffee left from the first batch. It had gone a bit cold, but Claudia really didn't care. She poured half a mug and drained it before pouring another.

It was only as she was turning to leave with a full mug that Claudia caught sight of the piece of paper resting under the plants on the edge of the porch. It must have gotten blown off the table. Sticking her half-eaten bagel into her mouth, Claudia bent down and picked up the page. It held a series of facts scribbled down by a black pen. A few were statistics on survival rates. There were also notes on various treatments and the names of a few doctors. The tidy looping handwriting was clearly Myka's.

Immediately Claudia was on high alert. She had known something was up, but this looked really bad. The treatments looked like those used for cancer. But surely Myka would have said something if she was the one sick. So maybe it was someone in her family?

Claudia's eyes drifted over to Abigail's abandoned tablet. With a quick look inside to make sure there was no one else around, Claudia sat down and turned on the tablet. A quick cross-reference of the statistics, treatments, and doctors led her to the conclusion that it had to be ovarian cancer. But who was the patient? Myka's physical had been two days before, and she had seemed off ever since. But if it was her, why hadn't she mentioned it?

It took several minutes of serious work to get Claudia access to the team's medical records. The results of Myka's physical weren't listed yet. Apparently whoever did the transcribing was behind in their work. Curses.

"Good morning," Abigail's cheery voice said.

Claudia was so shocked she dropped her bagel out of her mouth and just barely caught it before it smeared cream cheese everywhere. She madly scrambled to close the tabs and replace Abigail's tablet. It was too late, of course. The new innkeeper was already stepping out onto the porch.

"Morning," Claudia said as innocently as she could manage. She slipped Myka's folded page into her pocket, hoping Abigail hadn't seen it yet.

"Is there any particular reason you were snooping on my tablet?" Abigail asked curiously as she sat down at the table.

"Me snooping?" Claudia said in mock offense. "I was just... checking my email."

"Really," Abigail said, clearly unconvinced. She lifted her mug of coffee and took a drink. "So what's in your pocket?"

Claudia hesitated briefly, trying to think of a way she could bluff herself out of this one. But Abigail clearly knew something was up. Finally she sighed and pulled the page out of her pocket, passing it over to Abigail.

"I found it out here," Claudia explained as Abigail read the sheet. "It's Myka's writing."

"Is she sick?" Abigail asked in concern.

"I don't know," Claudia admitted. "The info all points to ovarian cancer, so maybe it's her mom or her sister."

"But she hasn't said anything to you?" Abigail asked, looking up from the page. Claudia shook her head.

"I found her out here by herself two nights ago," Claudia said. "She said something was wrong, but that she wasn't ready to talk about it yet. I just thought maybe something had happened on a snag."

"She has seemed a bit distracted the last few days," Abigail said.

"I just don't know why she wouldn't say anything," Claudia said. "If she's sick, maybe we can help. And if it's her family, then she needs to be with them."

"I assume you were trying to access her medical files when I came out," Abigail said.

"Guilty," Claudia admitted.

"And?" Abigail asked.

"I got in, but the report from her physical isn't up yet," Claudia said in frustration.

"Well, keep an eye on it," Abigail told her.

"Hold up," Claudia said suspiciously. "Are you encouraging me to hack into protected files to spy on someone?"

"No," Abigail corrected. "I'm encouraging you to look out for a friend who may be going through a very hard time."

"Potato, Potahto," Claudia said with a shrug.

"For the time being, I think we should keep this between us," Abigail said, looking down at the piece of paper. She folded it up and stuck it in her pocket. Then she looked back up at Claudia with narrowed eyes. "And if you even think about snooping into my files, I will put arsenic in your coffee."

"Yikes," Claudia said with widened eyes. She picked up her mug from the table. "And on that hostile note, I'm gonna go get back to trying to find our houseguest a place to live before Artie decides to kill me."

"That's probably a good idea," Abigail said.

Claudia got up from the table and headed back into the house, inhaling the last of her bagel as she did so. She drained her mug as well before depositing it in the dishwasher. Then she headed for the stairs and up to her room.

Once the door had closed behind her, Claudia pulled out her phone and dialed Pete's number. It rang for a long moment before the click signaled someone had picked up.

"Ahoy, Claudia!" Pete's voice said. She could hear Artie and Myka talking in the background. "How goes it?"

"All good here, Captain," Claudia said, smiling a bit in spite of herself. "Listen, I wanted to ask you something. Has Myka seemed... odd to you?"

"Now that you mention it, she has been acting kinda off," Pete said conspiratorially. "Maybe she's been replaced by a robot double."

"I'm serious, Pete," Claudia told him.

"She seems okay to me," Pete said with a shrug. "Why? Is something wrong?"

"No," Claudia said immediately. "Well... I don't know. We were talking a few nights ago, and she said something was up but she didn't want to talk about it. I'm just kinda worried about her."

"Well, she has been spacing out a lot today," Pete admitted. "I thought she was just low on sleep. Any idea what's up?"

"Not really," Claudia lied. "Just... keep an eye on her, okay?"

"Okay," Pete said. "I'll take care of her."

"Thanks," Claudia said.

Myka called something in the background and Pete answered back.

"I gotta get going," he said into the phone. "We're almost there."

"Where is there, anyway?" Claudia asked curiously.

"A graveyard in Buffalo," Pete said innocently.

"Seriously?" Claudia asked in disgust. "What are you doing there?"

"Looking for pirate treasure," Pete said proudly. "If you're good, maybe I'll bring you back a piece."

"Nice," Claudia said, impressed. "Well, good luck with the treasure hunt."

"Thanks," Pete said. "And don't worry. I'll look after Mykes."

"I know," Claudia told him. "Later, captain."

"Argh, matey!" Pete answered.

The phone clicked, signaling that he had hung up. Claudia shook her head before returning the phone to her pocket. Then she picked up her laptop from her desk and carried it over to her bed. Once she was comfortably seated, she opened up the computer.

"Okay," she said, pulling up her last internet search and giving her knuckles a good crack. "Back to house hunting."

Only two chapter left before we're finished with season four. But before we get there, how about leaving a review and letting me know what you thought of this chapter? Thanks!