Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Author's Note: This episode was definitely one of the more emotional ones. Claudia comes up with a plan to free Claire and Myka helps her out. But the plan ends up backfiring when Myka is infected by the music box and the only way to save her is to put Claire back in a coma. The first part of this chapter takes place immediately after Claudia and Claire sing their duet at the coffee shop. The two Donovan sisters are so great together, and I wanted to see just a little more of that. The second part of this chapter is set after Artie's ending speech about them all being a family. Claudia is pretty visibly upset by having to return Claire to the coma, and I think Myka still needs just a tiny bit more closure after her cancer scare. So the second scene here is my way of trying to bring just a little more resolution to our two leading ladies after this extremely emotional but also very beautiful episode. Also I decided to create an artifact and its back story for the purposes of this chapter, so hopefully it makes sense. Enjoy!

Ohana Means Family

The applause began almost before they had finished singing. There were only a handful of people in the small coffee shop, but all of them were clapping. Claudia and Claire grinned at each other before giving the best bows they could manage while sitting down.

"That was awesome," Claire said with a laugh. "I get why you enjoy it so much."

"You should see this place on an open mic night," Claudia told her. "There's not really a lot to do around here, so it ends up being a pretty full house."

"I'll have to come see you play," Claire said.

"Or maybe you could play with me," Claudia said with a grin.

"We do sound pretty good together," Claire admitted.

"Yeah, we do," Claudia said emphatically. "We should totally start a band."

"Maybe," Claire said with a chuckle. Her face softened and she shook her head. "I still can't believe how grown up you are. I missed so much."

"Not really," Claudia assured her. "Well, you did miss the whole compass fiasco, but we'll save that craziness for another day. The point is that you're here now. We have the chance to make up all that time and then some."

"Okay," Claire said, forcing a nod. Then she pasted a smile across her face. "But enough of me complaining. What about you? What's your life like?"

"It's a little crazy some days," Claudia said with a smile. "But it's good. Really good."

"I still don't know what you do for a living," Claire pointed out.

"It's kinda complicated," Claudia admitted. "Plus it's sort of classified, so I'm not sure how much I'm allowed to tell."

"Classified?" Claire asked in surprise. "So what, you're like a spy?"

"Not really," Claudia said. "But I do get to play with some pretty cool toys. And the travel perks are awesome."

"You sound like you're really happy," Claire told her.

"I am," Claudia said honestly. "What we do here is important. And I really feel like I belong here."

"I'm glad you found your place," Claire told her with a smile. "Do you still do anything with computers?"

"Oh, all the time," Claudia said. "I'm basically the unofficial tech girl around here. And I've actually done a little bit of inventing the last few years."

"Seriously?" Claire asked with a grin.

"Yeah," Claudia confirmed. "Nothing major. Just some gadgety stuff that we use around here. If you want, we can go back to the B&B and I can show you some of it."

"You sure it's not classified?" Claire teased.

"I'm willing to take the risk," Claudia told her with a smile.

She stood up and carried the guitar back over to the stool where she carefully set it back down. Then she headed back to Claire, who was now on her feet. She stepped off the stage and then stopped, just looking at her sister.

"What?" Claire asked.

"It's just... it's really good to have you back," Claudia said honestly. Claire smiled.

"This whole coma thing is going to take some serious getting used to," she said. "But I'm glad you're here to help me through it."

"What are little sisters for?" Claudia said with a grin. She looped her arm through Claire's and began steering them toward the door. "Come on. I've got some Aerosmith CDs in the car. We can listen to them on the way back."

"Rock on," Claire said approvingly. Claudia laughed.

"Oh, we definitely will."

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

Claudia picked up the eraser and rubbed out another line of text on the whiteboard. Yet another possible idea had collapsed under further research. She set the eraser down on the tray before backing up so she could lean on the desk in front of it. She had spent over an hour at the whiteboard pouring over Artie's notes before moving on to her own attempts. But he had clearly been at this longer than she had. Every idea she came up with was quickly disproved by some element of his research. It was maddening, quite frankly.

A knock at the door pulled her out of her thoughts. She looked over to see Myka standing in the doorway.

"Steve just called," Myka said. "He and Pete are headed back from the airport. They're gonna grab some dinner on the way."

"Thank goodness," Claudia said, letting her head fall back dramatically. "I can't take any more of them burning things."

"Yeah, I think we're all ready for Abigail to come back," Myka agreed. She came into the room and sat on the desk beside Claudia.

"Made any progress?" she asked as her eyes skimmed the whiteboard.

"Not yet," Claudia admitted. She drummed her fingers against the edge of the desk. "Everything I come up with gets shot down by something Artie already discovered."

"You'll figure it out," Myka assured her.

"Maybe," Claudia said noncommittally. She looked over the whiteboard and sighed. "This whole mess is way more complicated than I realized. Plus my first attempt didn't exactly go according to plan."

"That's okay," Myka told her.

"It's not okay," Claudia said with a shake of her head. "I basically turned you into Carrie. You could've killed Artie or released some evil artifact, and it would've all been my fault."

"You didn't know," Myka said quietly.

"But I should have," Claudia protested. "Every time I try to save somebody, there are always consequences. I've just never cared because usually I'm the one who ends up in harm's way. But today I put you there. I was in such a rush to get Claire back that I endangered the family I already had."

"Sometimes we do crazy things to protect the people we care about," Myka told her. "Pete released Paracelsus because he thought that I was dying and Paracelsus could save me. It doesn't matter how smart or strong we are. When it comes to family, none of us think straight. And Claire's your sister."

"So are you," Claudia blurted out. She glanced up at Myka before quickly looking away again. Then she sighed heavily. "Earlier today when you were possessed by the music box, there was this... this moment when I realized that... I couldn't keep you both. One of you was going to have to go back into a coma. And it was like all of a sudden I had to choose between you and Claire. And I knew that it had to be Claire. I knew we needed you more, but... I couldn't do it. I couldn't let her go."

"Claude," Myka said softly.

"It's not fair," Claudia continued angrily. Her eyes were starting to burn and her throat had tightened up. "I save perfect strangers from artifacts every day, but I couldn't protect my own family. I mean, I got Josh back, but it took me twelve years to do it. Twelve years with him that are just gone. And now Claire's in a coma because of a stupid box, the same box that killed our parents, and I don't know how to help her. Or even if I can help her."

Myka didn't know what to say, so she opted for silence. Instead she reached over and ran a comforting hand up and down Claudia's arm. Claudia sniffed before reaching up to swipe at her damp eyes.

"And I know that she's not really gone," Claudia continued. Myka could tell she was fighting to hold back her tears. "That maybe someday we'll figure out a way to fix all of this. But I've already lost fifteen years with her. Fifteen years! And who knows how many more I'll lose trying to save her? And yeah, I got to spend today with her, but that almost makes things worse because she was here, Myka! She was right here! And now she's gone, and it feels like I just lost her all over again."

Claudia closed her mouth as her voice finally failed her. The tears in her eyes were threatening to spring free. Myka's own eyes were wet as she reached over and pulled Claudia into a protective hug. A few of Claudia's tears broke free then, but the rest were put in check by the simple gesture of comfort. She wound her arms around Myka's waist as she rested her head against the older agent's shoulder. After everything that had happened, she was deeply missing her big sister. And the only person who stood a chance of filling that hole was Myka.

They sat there for a long minute before Claudia pulled away. She reached up and wiped her face with the ends of her sleeves, trying to erase the evidence of her small breakdown.

"Sorry," she said sheepishly.

"Don't be," Myka told her. "It's okay to miss her. And it's okay to mourn the time you should have had. Just remember that you're not alone, okay? Artie was right. We're a family. And we're gonna get through this together."

"I know," Claudia said softly. For the first time since Claire had gone back into her coma, Myka saw a flicker of hope in Claudia's eyes.

"Good," she said with a smile.

Claudia managed a small smile in return. Then she glanced down at the wet ends of her sleeves as she tried to figure out how to voice her thoughts.

"And you're not alone either," Claudia said. She looked back up, meeting Myka's gaze. "You could've told us about the cancer, you know."

"I know," Myka said quietly. Now it was her turn to look away. "I guess I was just... scared. Of how everyone would react. I mean, cancer's a big deal. And after losing Leena and then everything Artie went through..."

"You thought we might freak," Claudia finished.

"Something like that," Myka admitted. She looked up and shrugged. "I guess I was scared everybody would decide it was too much."

"Silly Myka," Claudia said with a fond smile. "Ohana means family. And family means nobody gets left behind. You're stuck with us."

She leaned over and lightly bumped Myka with her shoulder, bringing a small smile to the older agent's face.

"Besides, who else is gonna make sure we all behave?" Claudia joked.

"Who indeed?" Myka asked. Her tiny smile had now widened into a full one. "And just so you know? I'm glad I'm stuck with you."

"So am I," Claudia said honestly.

"Now," Myka said, turning her attention back to the whiteboard. "Let's see what we can do about Claire."

"If you have any bright ideas, I am all ears," Claudia told her.

"Hmm," Myka mused as her eyes skimmed over the text. "Well, the main problem is that the energy has to be transferred into a living host, right?"

"Right," Claudia confirmed.

"Okay," Myka said thoughtfully. She got off the desk and walked over the whiteboard as an idea began to take shape. "What if we could trick it somehow?"

"How?" Claudia asked curiously.

"What if we could use an artifact to bring an inanimate object to life, transfer the energy to it, and then make the object inanimate again?" Myka offered.

"What artifact are you thinking?" Claudia asked.

"What about the stylus Rabbi Loew used when he created the Golem of Prague?" Myka offered. "His desperation to defend his people imbued his stylus with the ability to turn inanimate objects into protectors by using it to write the Hebrew word for truth on them."

"It also sends them on a Godzilla rampage," Claudia pointed out. She got up off the desk and walked over to stand beside Myka. "Plus, I think the host has to be a human being."

"Okay, so what if we used the stylus on a statue of a person?" Myka suggested.

"That would definitely meet both requirements," Claudia agreed. "But the host still wouldn't be organic. You think that makes a difference?"

"Probably," Myka said. She drew her left arm across her stomach and rested her right elbow on it so she could lean her chin on her fist as she thought.

"What if we're looking at this wrong?" Claudia offered. "The big problem here is her uncontrollable psychic powers. If we can't pull the energy out of her, maybe we could find a way to temper her abilities instead."

"That's a good idea," Myka said with an emphatic nod. "But we'd have to be careful that any artifact we used didn't react adversely with the energy already inside her."

"Which can't exactly be field tested," Claudia said. "But maybe I could create a computer program to run some sort of simulation for it."

The two agents were so caught up in their debate that neither of them noticed Artie standing just outside the door. A smile crossed his face as he watched them work. He had come to the room to have another go at trying to figure out how to free Claire, but he had quickly discovered that both of his brightest agents were already on the task. For the time being, Claire Donovan's fate rested in two sets of perfectly capable hands.

He stepped back out, quietly closing the door behind him. There were still some artifacts that needed to be moved to the Dark Vault. He could come back later to check on Claudia and Myka. Maybe between the two of them, they would be able to find something that he had overlooked.

This puts us halfway through season five. Another week and this story will be over. But while it's still going, please take a quick moment to leave me a review. Thanks!