Living in America, part 8
Warehouse 13, South Dakota
2011
“So how’d you talk your way into Raitt’s apartment, anyway?” Claudia asked, as she opened the enclosure to the power grid. “I mean, you don’t exactly have the credentials hanging around these days.”
“Good looks and charm,” Rebecca said. “What else?”
Claudia laughed. “I would’ve expected that line out of Jack, not you. Not that I doubt you could pull it off - especially after that film, you two were hot back in the day! Seriously, though, you’d think Artie would remember that you’d schooled him once before.”
“You would, though I think everyone else deserves a pass. What...” Rebecca hesitated, not sure if she was about to walk into a mine field. “What is the situation with Miss Wells?”
Claudia didn’t answer for a while, remaining focused on the power grid. “She... well, she says she never really got over her daughter’s murder, but I don’t know if she’s trying to give us the good-press version or telling us the truth, and for some damn reason nobody’s thought to keep records of why people get bronzed. So I don’t know yet, but I don’t think she’d deliberately hurt Myka, they bonded like mad. And I do think she knows how her own time machine works.”
“One would hope so. How’s Joshua doing?”
“He’s good. Came out here for Christmas, actually, and there was a thing with him and Artie and the original mistletoe and note to self never decorate with Artifacts again dear God.”
Rebecca laughed, and hoped Claudia was too caught up in her work to see her wince. “That’s good advice no matter the situation, you know.”
“Oh, I know, I just suck at following it. Besides, if I’m gonna pull the stuff out, I’d rather do it in a controlled environment.” Claudia tinkered with the power grid a bit more, then said, “There. That should keep it going long enough to--”
“Long enough to what?” Artie said.
“Artie! Hi!” Claudia turned around with what might have been a good innocent face under any other circumstances; as it was, she just looked nervous. “Well. We had a power... issue? With the - funny story, really--”
On the grounds that they could use all the time they could get without Artie interrupting things on the Warehouse floor, Rebecca staged a dizzy spell; that was all well and good until she had a real one, after he left the office.
Claudia frowned. “You’re not doing as well as you’ve been letting on, are you?”
“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“If you didn’t want me to ask that question, you shouldn’t have told me what the diagnosis was last year. I - they haven’t declared you terminal yet, have they?”
“No, but ‘grim’ is the best they can offer.” Rebecca sighed. “You know, I used to say I’d get this Artifact if it was the last thing I did.”
“We’ll get it. Myka and Pete are damn good at what they do, they’ll get this figured out. And... I’m okay now.” Claudia looked very far from okay, but given the tone of the conversation, Rebecca could forgive that. “Not that I wouldn’t miss you a hell of a lot, but I got people. Once this thing’s bagged, you do what you gotta do, whatever that is.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Rebecca said, and she did, though the answer was hardly clear to her - but as the night wore on and Artie interrupted the mission despite her best efforts, she figured it out. At one time, she would have fought for every scrap she could get, but now it hardly seemed worth the trouble; her cancer wasn’t going away any time soon, Claudia would be just fine with her new family, and she missed Jack more than she would have thought was possible, given that it had only been a year and a half.
After they had Pete and Myka safely in their own minds again, Rebecca looked at the time machine - still smoking from Artie’s attempt to clear out the ‘power issue’ himself - and said, “Does that thing still work?”
“What,” Myka said, “do you have another Artifact you want us to find?”
“No, I just... I want to see Jack again.”
Helena - H.G. Wells, of all people; the Warehouse never did cease to amaze - frowned. “With the damage it’s sustained, the trip would only last a few moments,” she said, “and... I wouldn’t be able to bring you back.”
Rebecca caught Claudia’s eye and said, “Why would I want to come back?”
“You have a point there, I suppose. Give me just a moment to make sure everything’s set for you.”
While Helena set about her preparations, Claudia darted forward and pulled Rebecca into a hug the likes of which she’d only seen Claudia dole out once, when they brought her brother back into the world.
“I couldn’t have asked for better foster parents,” she said, already sounding like she was trying not to cry. “I - thank you. For everything.”
“Of course. You be careful, Claudia.”
“Hey, I always am.”
Rebecca smiled. “You’re careful in the same way that Jack was - you take a risk and only ask questions about it when you’re already neck deep. I believe that would explain the mistletoe incident.”
“Hey!” Claudia’s shoulders hitched; whether she was laughing or crying, Rebecca couldn’t tell. “You... do what you gotta do. I’ll be careful, I promise.”
“Good. I’d hate to think I hadn’t taught you anything about how to survive this job.”
“Rebecca?” Helena called. “The machine’s ready.”
Simmons Cherry Orchard, South Dakota
August 22, 1961
7:08 AM
Coming to in the orchard for the second time was only slightly less strange than the first, if only because Rebecca knew the circumstances that had led her and Jack here, this time. Jack was still unconscious, but she left him be for a moment; there was something she wanted to see first.
Her compact was still where she’d always kept it - she supposed Myka hadn’t felt the need to look for it. As she opened it, she remembered Jack’s mysteriously disappearing cigarettes, and wondered if that could be attributed to the time machine as well.
Seeing her younger self in the mirror was very strange, after so long, but Rebecca only smiled and put her compact away. As she did so, she noticed a freshly-turned patch of dirt at the base of a young tree - had they really been this close to the Artifact the whole time?
Jack stirred before she could make any attempt to investigate. “Becks?” He sat up and looked around, plainly confused. “Where the hell are we?”
Rebecca smiled. “It doesn’t matter.” And it didn’t, in that moment, not if she got to see him alive and well and not coughing every time he tried to breathe in.
“Last thing I remember, we were in the Warehouse...”
She didn’t know if she was feeling the connection starting to give way, or if it was simply that she knew how few answers they would make it out of the orchard with; all Rebecca knew was that she wasn’t going to waste her last moments sitting there waiting for Jack to get a clue. “Jack, I - I missed you so much.”
Jack blinked. “Missed me?”
Rebecca leaned forward and kissed him while she had his attention. As he kissed back, she felt the connection give way for good, but that was all right. She couldn’t have come up with a better way to go if she’d tried.