Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Author's Note: This episode had Claudia finally finding out the full truth about Claire. Artie takes her into his memories to show her what happened with the music box. Upon seeing its destruction, Claudia wonders if it may be her fault and storms off. The first part of this chapter takes place after that and leads up to she and Steve going to Artie to ask if they can look into Claire's memories to see if Claudia destroyed the music box. Claire's memories prove that it was not Claudia's fault as it was actually Claire herself who destroyed the box. But Claire is still trapped in a coma, and Claudia is determined to save her. The second part of this chapter takes place at the end of the episode when Claudia has had a bit of time to think about Artie's reasons for keeping Claire's survival a secret. There is actually a small deleted scene for this episode with Claudia awkwardly telling Artie to ignore her protests about him protecting her. (It's on Youtube if you want to see it.) It's a pretty cute little clip, but I felt like it needed to be longer and more in depth since Artie keeping Claire a secret has done some pretty serious damage to his relationship with Claudia. It would take a little more than a few seconds to fix that. Plus I think Claudia would want to try to mend that fence a bit once she calms down enough to understand. And she would also want to throw Artie off her trail so she can research ways to save Claire without him looking over her shoulder. Hence the second half of this chapter. Enjoy!

Forgive and Forget (Or Not)

Claudia walked for several minutes before finally sliding to the ground at the foot of a shelf. Her mind was spinning uncontrollably. Claire had been infected by an artifact. Claire had accidentally killed their parents. Claire was in a coma because the artifact influencing her had been destroyed. And it could very well be Claudia's fault.

She didn't know how long she had been sitting there before Steve came walking down the aisle towards her.

"There you are," he said. He eased himself to the ground so he was sitting beside her. "I wondered where you ran off to."

"Why didn't he ever tell me?" Claudia asked as she stared at the patch of concrete visible between her feet.

"He was trying to protect you," Steve began.

"By lying to me?" Claudia interrupted angrily. She looked over at Steve before shaking her head in frustration. "He had no right."

"You were just a kid," Steve pointed out. "You wouldn't have understood."

"Maybe not then," Claudia admitted. "But what about when he saw Josh and I again? I was old enough then. Or what about when I showed up on his doorstep? What about the three years that I've been working and living right beside him?"

"Maybe he was just waiting for the right time," Steve offered.

"Oh, because he picked such a great one," Claudia said sarcastically.

"That was kinda my fault," Steve admitted. She gave him a pointed look, so he sighed and began to explain. "I realized he was lying about using Joshua's DNA to save you. So I confronted him about it in front of Mrs. Frederic, and she said he should tell you the truth. She said if you became caretaker, you'd find out anyway."

"So he only told me because he thought I was about to find it out for myself?" Claudia asked incredulously. "Unbelievable."

"Claude-" Steve began.

"Don't 'Claude' me," Claudia interrupted. "She is my sister, Steve! And I spent the last fifteen years thinking she was dead! He should have told me!"

"I agree," Steve said calmly. "He should have told you. But."

"I hate that word," Claudia told him with a glare.

"But," Steve continued, "he did what he thought was right. He hid the truth to protect you, and then he kept hiding it because he cares about you. He didn't want you to have to see your sister like that. He didn't want you banging your head against a wall trying to save someone who couldn't be saved."

"So you think she can't be saved?" Claudia accused.

"I didn't say that," Steve said. "Maybe there is a way to save her. But Artie couldn't find one, so he decided to try and save you from that heartache. And yes, not telling you about Claire was the wrong call. But at least he made it for the wrong reasons."

Claudia gave him a long look.

"You think I should let this go, don't you?" she said wearily.

"I think you have a right to answers," Steve said. "But I don't think you have a right to be angry at Artie. You can't hate him for caring about you."

"Maybe not," Claudia admitted grudgingly. She glared at Steve from the corner of her eye. "I hate it when you're right."

"I know," Steve said with a grin. Claudia sighed and leaned her head back to rest against the shelf.

"Okay, so now what?" she asked.

"Well," Steve said slowly, "if you can't access your own memories of what happened, then the only other person who might know is-"

"Claire," Claudia finished. "I have to see her. If I can use the shoes with her, maybe she can show me what happened. And whether or not it was my fault."

"You'll have to talk Artie into it," Steve pointed out.

"Oh, I'll talk him into it alright," Claudia muttered. Steve gave her a warning look and she shrugged innocently. "What?"

"Remember what we just talked about?" Steve said pointedly. Claudia sighed.

"Fine," she said with a small pout. "I'll play nice."

"Good," Steve said. He pushed himself to his feet and held out his hand to Claudia. "Then let's go talk to Artie."

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

Artie was busy working at his computer when a knock sounded from the door to the landing. He looked up to see Claudia standing on the doorway with her raised fist against the metal doorframe.

"Since when do you knock?" Artie asked suspiciously.

"I'm trying it out," Claudia said with a shrug. She stepped into the office, swinging her arms back and worth so that her right fist hit her left palm when they both swung up.

"And?" Artie asked with a raising eyebrow.

"It's overrated," Claudia said.

"Of course it is," Artie said drily. He shook his head and returned his attention back to his computer screen.

"Whatcha working on?" Claudia asked as she plopped down in the chair beside his.

"I have decided that it is time to upgrade the Dark Vault," Artie said, staring at the Warehouse map on his screen. "Seeing the alternate Warehouse gave me some ideas. For all his faults, Paracelsus certainly knew his security. So I am creating a plan for the renovation."

"Oh," Claudia said disinterestedly.

Artie stared at his screen for a long moment before looking over his shoulder at her.

"Did you need something?" he asked.

"Sort of," Claudia admitted.

"Oh," Artie said. His eyes widened and he quickly turned his chair around to face her.

"If you're in the middle of something," Claudia said quickly.

"No, no," Artie told her. "Go ahead.

"Okay," Claudia said awkwardly. "Well, the thing is... I sort of... owe you an apology."

"Kiddo," Artie began.

"No, Artie, I... you were just trying to protect me," Claudia said. "I get that now. I was just mad because..."

"Because you felt betrayed," Artie finished.

"Well, yeah," Claudia said. "You're the only father I've ever had. And the fact that you didn't tell me... It hurt."

"You're right," Artie said quietly. He was staring down at his hands in his lap. "I should have told you."

"Yeah, you should've," Claudia said strongly.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you," Artie said. He looked up and there was a real sadness in his eyes. "I really am."

"I know," Claudia assured him. "And I get why you did it. You thought you were doing the right thing. And I can't exactly stay mad at a guy who lied because he cares."

She smiled a little, and it drew a small smile from Artie as well.

"Besides," Claudia continued. "I've been kind of a jerk the last few days, so if anybody should be sorry, it's me."

"It's okay," Artie told her. "You were upset. And you had a right to be."

"So... we're good?" Claudia asked. Artie nodded.

"We're good," he confirmed.

"Good," Claudia said with a smile. She clapped her hands on her knees before standing to her feet.

"So that's it?" Artie asked in mild surprise.

"What do you mean?" Claudia asked.

"You're not going to make some kind of crazy Hail Mary to try and rescue your sister?" Artie asked expectantly.

"You said yourself that you tried everything you could think of," Claudia reminded him. "Maybe someday we'll find a way to save her, but for now it doesn't look like there's really much that I can do. At least she's alive. That's more than I had a few days ago. So for right now, I'm willing to call that a win."

"Really?" Artie asked skeptically.

"Really," Claudia told him.

Artie continued to stare at her with narrowed eyes. Claudia smiled warmly, and finally Artie seemed to relax.

"Okay," he said, relenting.

"Steve and I are gonna try to make dinner, so I'm gonna head back," Claudia said, hooking her thumb over her shoulder. "If that's alright with you, your majesty."

"Run along, little serf," Artie said.

He waved her off before turning back to the computer screen. Claudia grinned and headed for the door. It clicked open and she stepped out into the umbilicus, allowing the door to close behind her.

Once she was alone in the umbilicus, she pulled out her phone and called up the app she had just created. It was linked to the Warehouse server so that she could pull up info on any of the artifacts located inside the Warehouse.

"Okay," she said as she began walking through the umbilicus. "Which of you little beauties is most likely to counter the music box?"

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