A/N: I'm aware this plot probably has more holes than Swiss cheese but the idea wouldn't leave me alone until I wrote it so here, have a fic, I hope you get some enjoyment out of it. Also, sorry for not breaking it up into chapters; it was not supposed to be anywhere near this long nor was it supposed to waste anywhere near as much of my time as it did.

"I still don't really see how this can be called a ping," Steve reiterated as he and Claudia waited for the clumsy teenager behind the coffee shop counter to finish fumbling with the expresso machine. "I mean, all three of the supposed victims died in completely different, unremarkable ways."

"Yeah, but in a town this size, just having three people die within the same week is an anomaly. The fact that those people all worked in the same factory has a slight whiff of fudge about it."

"Something tells me 90% of the town works for that factory. It's not like there's much else here." Steve was pretty sure the only reason Artie had bothered to send them to investigate a car accident, a heart attack and a fatal anaphylactic reaction was because he'd caught Claudia trying to surreptitiously upgrade the gooery.

"We should interview the victims' next of kin." Claudia pointedly ignored Steve's comment, apparently in the mood to exert her self-proclaimed 'senior agent' authority. "I say we start with car crash guy; it'll be easier to explain why we're looking into his death."

Steve sighed. "I guess the sooner we prove that there's nothing here to investigate, the sooner we can-"

"Jersey?" The voice was achingly familiar. Steve abruptly cut off; his body turning instinctively towards the direction it had come from before his brain had had time to properly process what he had heard.

"Liam." The human lie detector's voice carried an uncommon level of tenderness.

"Wait a minute, Liam?" Claudia asked incredulously, following her partner's eye line. "As in that Liam? The one that you've hardly told me anything about despite my incessant pleading? Wow, Pete actually does have a point about the whole resemblance thing…" She trailed off, realising that neither man seemed to be paying any attention to her, or to anything else around them. They seemed incapable of doing much more than stare dreamily at each other with faint smiles on their faces. In fact, she was pretty sure they'd now said 'hi' to each other at least three times. She decided a change of tactic was in order, aiming a sharp jab of her elbow at Steve's ribs.

"Oh, right, um, Liam, this is my partner, Claudia; Claudia, well I think you've already figured who Liam is."

"I have indeed." Claudia held out her hand for Liam to shake. "I've heard great things about you."

"Is that so?" Liam replied, shooting Steve a decidedly flirtatious glance.

"Mostly from Pete," Claudia clarified. "He was very impressed by your knowledge of movie references."

Liam grinned. "Well tell him don't ever argue with the big dog. The big dog is always right." His attention rested on Claudia for all of five seconds before his gaze was drawn inexorably back to meet Steve's. "So are you two here on a case, or is that yet another thing you can't tell me?"

"We're… looking into a couple of things."

"Look, I get that you can't give me any details about your crazy, top secret job, but I have a witness to protect here, so I have to ask; Is there anything… unexpected I may need to protect him from?"

"Most likely not," Steve reassured him. "Honestly, I'm not sure there's even anything here worth investigating."

"Okay, well I guess I'll just have to take your word on that." Liam clearly wasn't exactly thrilled at being left out of the loop once again, but he was apparently willing to trust Steve and respect the need for secrecy as long as it didn't directly impact his own assignment.

There was a pause. It seemed to Claudia that both men had a lot they wanted to say to each other but weren't sure quite where to start, and knew that this probably wasn't the right time or place for any of it.

It was Liam who finally broke the silence. "Look, I have to go meet with my witness, so…"

"Yeah, and we have to go, um, investigate…" Steve remembered.

"So, I guess I'll see you around?"

"Yeah, sure, probably." There was a pause before Steve belatedly decided to add "I hope so."

"Me too." Liam smiled. He started to move away before turning back to catch Steve's arm, his touch lingering somewhat longer than necessary. "And, Steve? You have my number, right? I mean, you know, if you need help with the case or anything."

"Of course. And we'll let you know if we turn up anything you might need to worry about."

"I'd appreciate that."

Liam moved towards the counter to place his order while Steve returned to Claudia who was collecting their drinks, and no doubt preparing to interrogate him the second Liam was out of earshot. Actually, knowing Claudia, she might not even wait that long. However, as she turned towards Steve, already opening her mouth to speak, a lone figure in an isolated corner of the coffee shop caught her eye and the words died on her lips. She froze, her face a mask of shock.

"Oh my God," she breathed. "Or, more accurately, oh my Todd."

This time it was Steve's turn to try to determine the object of his partner's transfixed gaze. "Are you saying that's Todd?"

Claudia nodded mutely.

"Um… Liam?" Steve recaptured the marshal's attention. "That witness you're protecting wouldn't happen to be the guy sitting in the corner over there, would he?"

Liam looked from Steve's incredulity to Claudia's outright astonishment. The concern that crept into his own features indicated Steve's assertion had been correct. "I take it I'm missing something here."

Since Claudia appeared uncharacteristically speechless, Steve took it upon himself to explain the situation. "From what Claudia's told me, she and Todd, or whatever name he goes by now, dated for a couple of months when he lived in Univille. She got a little paranoid, accidentally figured out he was in the witness protection program, and he had to be sent away to protect his identity."

Steve found that he was still surprisingly adept at reading his former boyfriend's facial expressions. He watched as Liam processed the revelation then began to calculate exactly how much damage had been done to the integrity of his witness' assumed identity and what needed to be done to rectify the situation.

"I… I can't talk to him, can I." When Claudia finally spoke, her voice was soft and pained. It sounded as if she was on the verge of tears. "Look, we'll just go and pretend this never happened." She forcefully tore her gaze away from where Todd was sitting. "We're really good at keeping secrets, it's kind of what we do, so please don't make him move again; I really don't want to screw up his life any more than I already have." She tried to push past Steve and Liam to rush out of the coffee shop and away from the source of her distress but Liam stopped her with a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"It's okay. Actually I think it might be for the best if we all sit down and talk this over together."

Claudia studied Liam, trying to figure out if she'd interpreted his words correctly. "You mean… like, all four of us?"

"Come on." Liam resignedly led the two Warehouse agents over to Todd's table.

They were only a few feet away when Todd's gaze, which had been focused on his phone, finally rose and he locked eyes with Claudia. Stunned, he opened his mouth to speak, but Liam held up a hand to silence him.

"First of all, some ground rules; you don't tell her your real name or the one you're currently using. You don't give her any information that might reveal where you're currently living or working. And you don't say anything about the trial. Got it?"

"Got it," Todd confirmed.

"Wait," Claudia interjected. "Can I just ask one quick question? Please tell me you don't work for that farm machinery factory that seems to employ half the town."

Todd glanced to Liam for permission, which was reluctantly granted.

"No, I don't."

"Oh thank God. Okay, no more potentially identity-compromising questions, I promise."

"I'm going to hold you to that," Liam assured her. "Alright, I need to talk to Steve for a minute. I'm sure I can trust you two to entertain each other." He led Steve over to another table that, though well within earshot, at least gave the illusion of privacy, which Claudia appreciated.

It was strange. She'd spent so long hoping that someday they'd meet again; that he'd make good on his promise to come back to her after he'd testified or that she'd finally give in to the urge to throw caution to the wind and hack into the witness protection program records. Even though years had passed and other aspects of her life had taken precedent, it had always been there in the back of her mind; the memory of their time together and the hope that someday they could continue what they'd started.

And now here he was in front of her, and she had no idea what to say to him. So much time had gone by. So much had changed. She wasn't the same person she'd been when she'd fallen in love with him, and chances were he wasn't either. Was there even anything left of their relationship to salvage?

"So…" she began, because someone needed to say something.

"So."

"Well, I did promise I'd find you."

"Never doubted it for a second."

"So this is where they sent you after I spectacularly blew your cover."

"Yep, straight from Nowheresville, South Dakota to Nowheresville, Iowa. No offence to your hometown."

"At least you didn't mispronounce Univille. So I guess that means you haven't gotten too close to any other paranoid hackers who forced you to uproot your entire life since we last met."

"No, you're still the only one who holds that particular honour."

"Well that's something at least."

"So you're still not working for the IRS?"

"That I am. And you're still in the program. So our potential conversation topics are distinctly limited." There was a pause. "Okay, you know what? I really can't do this whole smalltalk thing with you. I'm just going to go straight to the point. A couple of years ago I was falling madly in love with you. But back then we were young and innocent, or at least more so than we are now, and so much has happened in my life since then. And those things have changed me, like, a lot. And I know you've probably changed too. So I know there's no way we can just pick up where we left off like nothing happened. But I hate that our relationship was left unfinished, especially since it felt like it was only just starting to really get good. So I would love nothing more than to be able to give it another chance, but I don't know if that's even remotely possible after all this time."

It took Todd a moment to process the whirlwind of words and slightly longer to formulate his reply. "Do you still love chilli?" He eventually asked.

"…Yes."

"And are you still the best hacker in South Dakota?"

"By a mile."

"And do you still have the most awesome taste in music of any girl I've ever met?"

"Duh."

"Then I think there's a pretty good chance we could work something out. Although, we may have to postpone for a few months because after today I assume I'm going to be forbidden from contacting you until the trial is over. Actually I'm amazed that we're being allowed to talk to each other right now."

"Wait, so you think the trial could be over within a couple of months? Hang on, no, forget I asked."

"Crap, I really shouldn't have said that." Todd glanced over Claudia's shoulder. "And, yep, the marshal is glaring at me."

"So he is listening in to every word we say? I figured he probably would."

"Actually, the guy you came in with seems to be listening pretty closely too."

"Yeah, Steve can be a little protective."

"What is the deal with those two? They seem very… familiar with each other."

"They also used to be madly in love," Claudia explained casually.

"That would explain it," Todd observed, dumbfounded. "Wow, this is like the most gigantic coincidence ever."

Claudia winced. "I really wish you hadn't said that. My job has taught me to be highly suspicious of coincidences."

After that, Liam decided to put an end to their conversation before Todd let slip anything else he wasn't supposed to. Also, as Steve reminded Claudia, there was work to be done. As Todd had predicted, Liam made it clear that he and Claudia were not to contact each other in any way once Claudia had left Iowa. He did, however, suggest that maybe Steve could call him to arrange one last meeting between the four of them before that happened, provided Todd behaved himself and didn't reveal any more sensitive information.

In the car on the way to their interview with the car accident victim's brother, Steve gently asked Claudia if she was okay.

"I'm still trying to convince myself that that actually happened," She replied. "I mean, are we being haunted by the ghost of boyfriends past or something?"

"Yeah, that was definitely weird," Steve agreed.

"What scares me is that in our lives 'weird' usually means 'artifact.'"

"How about we focus on one artifact that may or may not exist at a time? And I say we start with the one that's potentially killing people."

"Good thought, let's go with that."

As far as Noel D'Angelo's brother and David Wright's wife knew, neither victim had any enemies to speak of. Neither had they received any antique gifts or experienced any unusual occurrences leading up to their respective deaths. By the time Claudia and Steve arrived at the residence that had formerly housed Sarah Harwood, who had succumbed to a severe anaphylactic reaction, they were just about ready to dismiss the ping as a false alarm.

Jerry Harwood had probably always been naturally thin, but his svelte figure combined with the more recently acquired dark circles under his eyes and lines of grief etched in his face made him appear gaunt and sickly. Once the agents had introduced themselves he readily accepted them into his house.

"It gets so quiet here these days," he explained. "With Sarah… gone. And now our daughter's left to go to Juilliard. She wasn't going to go after everything that happened, but we both knew it's what Sarah would have wanted. And she'll never get another opportunity like this. I mean, it was all pure chance; someone from the school just happened to be passing through and saw Emma's recital. She was invited to audition and she got in with a full scholarship. It's like something out of a movie, isn't it?"

"Mr Harwood, we're here to talk to you about your wife," Steve reminded him.

"So you are investigating what happened to her? I knew it; I knew her death couldn't have been an accident. She was always so careful, and she always had her Epi pen close by. Someone must have stolen it. And put peanut oil or something on the food. That's what happened, right?" His voice was soaked in desperation to have his theory vindicated.

Steve didn't oblige. "I understand you were at the party with your wife the night she died. Do you remember anything unusual, perhaps someone she talked to acting suspiciously or an object in the room that seemed out of place?"

"There was nothing out of the ordinary until Sarah started- until she started-" Mr Harwood cut off, his voice sounding choked. "And then it was just chaos. Sarah collapsed and I was searching through her bag for her Epi pen but I couldn't find it, and she couldn't breathe, and then someone on the other side of the room started choking on something so everyone was racing around trying to help both of them. But no one could save her."

"I'm sorry you had to go through that. You seem fairly confident that there could have been foul play involved. Did your wife have any enemies that you know of?"

"Not really but, well, there was an… incident at her work a few months ago. One of the people she worked with committed suicide. His family found out he'd filed a complaint with her about bullying. They tried to sue her for negligence. But she'd followed procedure and forwarded the complaint to her boss. Nothing ever came of it."

"So you think this man's family may have held her responsible for his death?"

"I think it's possible. I've tried and tried to figure out who might have wanted to hurt her and that's all I can come up with."

"Do you know the man's name?"

"So either someone is out to avenge Tom Barrett's death or Jerry's gone a little mad trying to rationalise his wife's death," Claudia hypothesised as they left the Harwood house. "Or both. I'm kind of leaning towards both."

"I'll go flash badge at the farm machinery plant; see if I can get a look at the report of that complaint to find out if any of the other victims were involved," Steve suggested.

"And I'll go talk to Barrett's family to see if any of them seem particularly murderous."

Leonard Holcroft, the manager of the factory that had employed Sarah Harwood, Noel D'Angelo, David Wright and, apparently, Tom Barrett, was a large, bald, red-faced man who spoke with what sounded more like a hoarse bark than a human voice. Steve was pretty confident he would have made better progress talking to a brick wall.

"I'm not at liberty to discuss the details of the investigation," the agent persisted, "but gaining access to your records would be of great assistance in clearing up this matter. And the sooner it's resolved, the sooner I can get out of your way."

"As I've already said, there's no way in hell I'd just hand over confidential company information to any old idiot with a badge. I mean, what possible reason can the ATF have to be interested in some whiny little bitch who complained because a few guys were ragging on him? Come back with a warrant. Until then, you being here is just a waste of time for both of us."

"Mr Holcroft, you're the one who's wasting time-" Steve was cut off by the ringing of a phone, which Holcroft immediately answered, clearly intending the act as a dismissal. Steve, however, was not going to be removed so easily. He listened with interest to Holcroft's end of the conversation.

"What sort of accident?... Oh for the love of God… Alright, I'm on my way down." Holcroft replaced the phone in its cradle and reluctantly returned his attention to Steve. "I have to leave now," he declared. "You'd better not be here when I come back."

After Holcroft left, Steve's eyes fell on the computer resting on the manager's desk. For a moment he wished Claudia was there. He had no doubt she'd have been able to hack in and obtain the files without requiring Holcroft's cooperation. Whether she could have done it quickly enough to avoid being caught was another matter, however. Seeing no other available course of action at present, Steve left the building.

Outside, a crowd of factory workers were gathered near two ambulances.

"What happened?" Steve asked one of the onlookers.

"One of the machines it- God, I have no idea what happened, it just broke away somehow and fell. It landed on Charlie and Greg. Charlie's fine but Greg… Shit, man, he looked seriously messed up."

Just how "messed up" Greg was became apparent when two paramedics walked out with a stretcher carrying a figure entirely covered by a blanket. Behind them another ambulance officer led a man who appeared unharmed aside from the fact that he was limping slightly.

Eleanor Barrett's living room was raising a multitude of red flags in Claudia's mind. She was pretty sure the only other place she'd ever been surrounded by so many antiques was the Warehouse itself. However, she was finding it hard to suspect that the woman in front of her was capable of murder. Mrs Barrett was diminutive in stature and distinctly careworn. However, she exuded a sense of quiet strength and dignity. When she spoke about her lost son her voice was weighed down by an immense sadness, but Claudia could not detect any trace of anger. Which was surprising, given the woman's account of her son's declining mental health.

"Tom was always struggling to find his place in the world. He was quiet and he never made friends easily. Even in school he was picked on mercilessly. And it only got worse as he got older, because his tormentors got older right along with him. They all ended up working together at the factory. I told him he should try to find something different but he'd never done very well in school and didn't think college would suit him any better. And this town doesn't exactly offer many options. For a few years he stuck it out and things were, well, no worse than they'd always been. But last year things really started to go downhill. I don't know if it was that the bullying got worse or that he just couldn't cope anymore. He started to withdraw from everything and everyone. I tried to convince him to get help but he wouldn't listen. And then…"

"I'm so sorry for your loss Mrs. Barrett. Did Tom ever mention anyone in particular who was hard on him?"

"He never talked to me about it directly but I knew. There was David Wright and Greg Parker. Oh, and that D'Angelo boy, he was a nasty piece of work."

"Thank you for your time," Claudia concluded the interview. "That's all the questions I have for you right now but I may need to talk to you again later, would that be alright?"

"Of course. If you think you can get my son's case reopened, I'm happy to do whatever I can to help."

Steve was the first to arrive at the meeting point he and Claudia had agreed upon prior to going their separate ways; a park in the centre of the town. However, it wasn't his partner's voice that greeted him a few minutes later.

"Hey, Steve."

The ATF agent turned to see Liam approaching him. "Hello again. And thanks for this morning by the way, I know it really meant a lot to Claudia."

"Well, the damage was already done. I couldn't see how it could do any more harm."

"So, um, how much do you know about this Todd guy?" Steve asked in what he hoped was a casual manner.

"Not much beyond what's in his file; I only took on his case a few weeks ago. Is this you trying to run a background check on him?"

"I might be," Steve admitted sheepishly. "I know Claudia has some pretty intense unresolved feelings for him. I don't want her to get hurt. Sorry if I'm overstepping."

"It's fine." Liam's expression became slightly wistful for a moment. "That was one of the things I always loved most about you, actually," he reminisced almost absent-mindedly, "how loyal you are to the people you care about. Claudia's lucky to be one of them."

"She's my best friend," Steve acknowledged. "…What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Sorry, it's just that there's this tone in your voice when you talk about her. The only other person I've ever heard you talk that way about is…"

"Olivia," Steve supplied. "Yeah, Claud reminds me of her in a lot of ways."

"You seem to have a pretty great team of people working with you."

"Yeah, we've kind of formed a weird little slightly incestuous family. I guess that's what happens when you deal with crazy on a daily basis and can't tell anyone else about it. It's sort of nice though. You know, in a completely insane way."

"I'm glad. That you have them, I mean. Well I can tell you that from what I've seen so far, Todd seems like a good kid. And judging by the way he was acting after we ran into the two of you this morning he does really care about Claudia."

"Thanks." Steve's gratitude was clear in his voice.

"So, how's your case going?"

"Well it's starting to look a little more like we may actually have a case. Nothing that's likely to affect you or Todd though. How did you end up working witness protection, by the way? I thought you usually preferred something with a little more… adrenaline."

"That was one thing at least that we always had in common, wasn't it? It was a little weird actually. The guy who was assigned to this detail quit completely out of the blue and somehow I was the only person available to take his place."

"So, yet another bizarre coincidence. That seems to be going around lately." Steve hesitated for a moment, not sure if he should voice the thoughts that had been weighing on his mind since the last time he'd unexpectedly run into Liam on a case. Realising that he was liable to put off speaking his mind forever, he decided to bite the bullet while they had a moment alone. "Liam, ever since we met up in Arkansas… well it got me thinking about, you know… how good things were between us back when they were good. And I can't help wondering…"

"If we could ever be that good again? Yeah, I've been thinking about that a lot too," Liam admitted.

Of course it was at that particular moment Steve spotted Claudia approaching them from a distance.

"It looks like I have to get back to work," he observed regretfully. "How about I call you after this case wraps up? We could get a drink or something and talk things over."

"I'd like that." Liam smiled softly. "Well, I guess I'd better let you get back to it." However, instead of leaving, he hesitated for a moment. Eventually he gave in to the urge to lean in towards Steve. The kiss was chaste but tender and filled with a longing that neither man had realised existed until that moment. It lingered considerably longer than Liam had initially intended.

Claudia cleared her throat as she reached them, breaking the moment.

"Right, um, I guess I'll see you soon then." Steve tried his best not to appear flustered. He failed.

"You definitely will."

Steve allowed his eyes to linger on Liam for a moment as the marshal walked away, before turning to face his partner, whose eyebrows were raised almost to her hairline. "Not. A. Word," he forcefully admonished before quickly changing the subject. "What did you learn from Barrett's mother?"

"That there are a lot of assholes in the world but I don't think she's one of them. Her living room was an antiquer's dream though, so I guess we can't rule her out as a suspect just yet. What did you find out at the factory?"

Steve recounted his experiences. "So we may have another victim that fits the pattern," he concluded.

"I'd say we definitely do," Claudia agreed. "Mrs Barrett mentioned a Greg Parker along with Wright and D'Angelo as being the people who treated her son the worst."

"We need to get a look at that complaint report; see if there are any other potential targets. And since Holcroft has no interest in cooperating…"

Claudia sat down on a nearby park bench and retrieved her laptop from its case. "Bet you I can get a hold of it in under two minutes. There's just one other thing I want to look into first." She began tapping away at the keyboard at lightning speed. "Yahtzee," she congratulated herself after a moment. "You remember how Sarah Harwood's husband mentioned someone else started choking around the same time she died? And you said the guy who was pinned under the same machine as Parker barely had a scratch on him. Well the driver of the car that collided with Noel D'Angelo's was also miraculously unharmed. And it wasn't David Wright's first heart attack that killed him. He had a second one in hospital, right around the time the guy in the bed next to him, who was being treated for severe head trauma, unexpectedly regained consciousness."

"So you think this might be some sort of death transference artifact?"

"It sure looks that way."

"Alright, I'll call Artie and see if he has any ideas about what it might be."

"And I'll get on to finding that report."

Several minutes later Steve had gained nothing more than a deep horror of just how many artefacts were out there that could transfer death from one person to another, and Claudia was still working away on her computer.

"What was it you were saying about that bet?" Steve teased.

"We never agreed on stakes," Claudia countered. "Damn it, the factory's firewall is surprisingly sophisticated. I can get the file, but only if I can access it from one of the computers in the building."

At that moment Steve's phone rang. "Liam," he answered, the smile on his face equally evident in his tone of voice. "I wasn't expecting to hear from you so soon."

"Actually I'm calling in a professional capacity this time," Liam explained

"Oh, right, sure. What's up?"

"Claudia mentioned something about the farm machinery plant this morning and it sounded like it might be related to your case."

"It might be," Steve cautiously acknowledged.

"Well, Todd is working in a store that does computer repairs," Liam's tone made it clear he would have preferred not to reveal that piece of information, "and he just got a call from the factory reporting a problem with their mainframe. He asked me to call you and let you know in case that might be helpful to you in some way."

"Okay, your timing is downright scary." Steve gave Liam a basic overview of their situation without specifying what the report was or why they needed it. Liam excused himself for a moment and Steve could hear him speaking to someone, presumably Todd, in the background. "Okay, I'm going to put you on speakerphone," he said when he returned. "Todd wants to talk to you."

"So what do you want me to do?" Todd asked. "I could go in to fix the problem and get the file for you while I'm there."

"No, absolutely not," Steve disagreed at the same time Liam expressed his equally vehement disapproval of the idea. "Claudia will go in," Steve amended, "and say she's a new employee sent by you to fix the problem."

"Right, yeah, that would be a much more sensible plan," Todd conceded. "Can you get Claudia to meet me at my work? I'm pretty sure we have a few spare T shirts with the store logo on them around here somewhere."

Steve agreed and ended the conversation. He turned to Claudia. "It looks like we've got you a way in," he reported incredulously.

"Well this has to be better than a hardware store," Claudia observed as she entered Todd's current place of employment, scanning the shelves.

"Definitely," Todd agreed, smiling at her from behind the counter. "The manager mostly has me doing grunt work, but at least it's grunt work that vaguely interests me."

"So that whole keeping out of trouble thing's actually working for you this time?"

"Mostly. The only even moderately exciting thing that's ever happened here was a couple of months ago when some idiot tried to break into the store. Not only did he set off the alarm and stare straight at a security camera, but apparently when the cops were chasing him he tripped over his shoelace and fell flat on his face."

"Yeah, I'd say he definitely deserves a place on the list of the world's dumbest criminals."

"I would have thought so too, but I heard that after they arrested him they matched his prints to a bunch of unsolved robberies in other towns. So either he got incredibly lucky all those other places or incredibly unlucky here."

"Curiouser and curiouser," Claudia mused.

"What is?"

"Is it just me or does this town have a weird habit of giving people exactly what they deserve?"

"Please don't say that. I came here to get away from crazy."

"You realise my life pretty much entirely made up of weird and crazy. Are you sure you still want me around?"

"I happen to really like your particular brand of weird and crazy. Or at least what I've seen of it."

Claudia returned his smile. Neither of them said anything for a moment, until a customer walked through the door of the shop and Claudia reluctantly remembered that there was a purpose to their meeting. "Right, you were going to find me a shirt."

"Oh yeah, um, I've got it here." He retrieved the requested item. "You know, I'm surprised the marshal's not here chaperoning us. I would have thought he'd be monitoring our every word to make sure I don't say anything I'm not supposed to."

"Not sure whether it's intentional or not but Steve seems to have him pretty thoroughly distracted outside. By the way, I totally caught them making out like half an hour ago."

"I cannot get over how bizarre it is that my handler used to date your partner. It's like when you're a kid and you first realise your teachers have lives outside the school."

"So you find him to be… not particularly approachable?"

Todd quickly figured out that she was fishing for information on her friend's ex. "Claudia, I've only known the guy a couple of weeks. And most of the time he's focused on doing his job; being professional. Which I totally respect by the way, considering his job is to keep me alive. If it helps, he's way less of a robot than my last handler. He even makes jokes occasionally. Also a lot of Harrison Ford movie references. One of the first things he said to me when he took on my case was that this is one of the most boring towns he's ever been posted to but at least it's not an Amish community."

"It helps."

"So… you and Steve seem close. Okay, I have to ask. He's totally gay right? I mean you and he never…"

"Oh my god, No! I mean yes, he's gay. And practically my brother. That would never- ew. I mean there may have been one minor incident when I mistakenly thought he was hitting on me but that was like forever ago and I was going to turn him down anyway so…"

"So you're not, like, seeing anyone…?"

"No. And you're not…?"

"No."

"Good. To know. Good to know."

Fortunately the awkward moment was broken by Steve and Liam finally finding their way into the store.

"Claud, are you ready to go?" Steve asked.

"Right, yes, I've got the- Yeah, we should go. Todd, I'll see you soon, I hope."

"You'd better."

Claudia met Steve a block away from the farm machinery plant raising a USB drive above her head in victory. Once inside the car she swiftly pulled out her laptop and set about opening the file she'd retrieved. They both skimmed the report, Steve reading over Claudia's shoulder.

"So everyone named by Barrett in the report is already dead and this file is no help to us whatsoever," Claudia summarised once they'd both finished.

"Not necessarily," Steve disagreed. "Sarah Harwood wasn't named in the report. Whoever's trying to avenge Barrett's death killed her because she saw the report and didn't act on it. Her husband said she referred it higher up. Does this say who it was sent to?"

Claudia found the answer with a few taps on her keyboard. "The report was forwarded from Sarah Harwood to one Leonard Holcroft."

"So if there's anyone else on our murderer's hit list it's probably him."

"Good thinking 99. Alright, you stay here and keep an eye on Holcroft. I think it's time I had a word with Mrs Barrett about her antique collection.

The courtesy with which Mrs Barrett welcomed Claudia into her house for the second time that day provided yet another reason why the Warehouse agent found it difficult to imagine the older woman could be the cause of the deaths they were investigating.

"Have you made any progress on my son's case?" Mrs Barrett asked. "Or do you have more questions for me?"

"Actually, I have a confession to make. I'm not here for professional reasons this time," Claudia explained. "When I was here earlier I couldn't help noticing you have quite the antique collection. I was wondering if maybe you'd be willing to show me some of it. I'm a bit of a collector myself."

"I'd be happy to. It's seems to me that it's all too rare for a member of the younger generation to take an interest in history. My children never cared much for it. I never understood that. My grandfather was something of an archaeologist, and when I was young he would tell me the most wonderful stories about his travels. And sometimes he'd let me look at the things he'd brought back. He probably shouldn't have had any of them, although there was less respect for the rights of the countries where the artefacts had been found in those days."

Claudia made an effort not to react to the use of the word. "Do you still have any of those… artefacts?"

"When I inherited them I donated most of them to museums. I knew that was where they really belonged; it would have been selfish of me to keep them all to myself. However… well there was one I couldn't quite bring myself to part with."

"I'd love to see it, if you wouldn't mind." Claudia decided to work on the assumption that the older something was, the more chance there was it had been exposed to artefact-creating circumstances during its lifetime. Plus, if Mrs Barrett left the room to retrieve it, Claudia could test some of the other objects that surrounded them while she was gone.

"Well I suppose so. Just don't tell anyone about it, alright?" With a conspiratorial smile Mrs Barrett left to retrieve the potential artefact.

Claudia managed to surreptitiously test five of the most interesting looking items in the room with neutraliser spray before her host returned with a stone chest roughly half the size of a shoebox. The carved lid appeared to depict three figures, though time had worn away the details of the scene.

"This was found in the ruins of a temple in Greece. My grandfather said it was probably some sort of ceremonial object representing the three fates. I made him tell me their story over and over when I was a little girl. The fates would visit a child three nights after his birth. They would spin the thread of fate, measure it and cut it to determine the course of his life and when it would end." Mrs Barrett carefully lifted the lid. Inside were two bronze objects. The first was shaped like a spindle while the second was a rod with notches carved into it at regular intervals. Her nostalgic expression turned to one of shock. "But the shears! The shears are gone."

"What? What shears?"

"The first fate would spin the thread from her spindle, the second would measure it with her measuring rod and the third would cut it with her shears. But the shears are missing. I can't understand how anyone could have taken them."

"Mrs Barrett, does anyone else know that you have these?"

"Only my daughter."

Steve jumped as he heard a sudden rap of knuckles against the window of his car.

"How goes the stakeout, Poopy Pants?" Claudia asked, grinning at her partner's reaction as she took her place in the passenger seat.

"Holcroft won't let me in the building but according to his secretary he should be finishing work in about half an hour so my current plan is to hope he doesn't get killed within the next thirty minutes, wait for him to leave and then tail him from there."

"Well while you've been sitting here twiddling your thumbs, I have managed to find both our artefact and our artefact-user. Well, okay, I haven't actually found them per se, but I have a pretty good idea of who and what they are."

"You want to share with the class, then?"

Claudia produced a large static bag and removed from it the box Mrs Barrett had shown her. She opened it to reveal its contents. "The objects are meant to represent the three fates from ancient Greek mythology, but one of them is missing. There's supposed to be a pair of shears that the fates would use to cut the thread of life, which I assume means…" She swiped a finger across her throat in a slicing motion. "The only other person who knew these existed was Mrs Barrett's daughter, Nicole, who, as it happens, has been acting fairly erratically since the lawsuit against the people she blames for her brother's death fell through. I checked, Nicole Barrett isn't home, nor is she at the salon where she works, and she's not answering her phone. So for now our best bet is probably to stay with Holcroft and wait for her to make her move."

"That's assuming that this artifact requires proximity to kill someone," Steve pointed out. "We should call Artie and see if he knows anything more about it."

It was Pete, not Artie, who answered the Farnsworth. "Hey guys, what's up?"

"Well earlier it was something along the lines of Steve and Liam sitting in a tree…" Claudia decided to contribute.

"Oh my god, really?" Pete and Steve replied in unison but with very different tones of voice.

"You just couldn't resist sharing that particular piece of information?" Steve continued.

"I absolutely couldn't," Claudia confirmed.

"Pete, what are the chances of you forgetting she ever said that?"

"Something in the realm of zilch."

"I figured. But hey, guess who else we just happened to run into-"

"-Hush, Jinksy, we can't talk about that, remember?" Claudia's voice was excessively theatrical. "We're not even supposed to know about that particular individual's whereabouts."

"Convenient." Steve rolled his eyes. "Hey, you know what would be fun? Pete, how about you hand the Farnsworth over to Artie so we can get to the reason we called in the first place."

"Spoilsport." This time it was Claudia who managed to speak in perfect synchronisation with Pete.

"You do know this conversation's not over," was Pete's parting remark.

"I know," Steve confirmed. "But as long as I can postpone it, I'm going to do just that. Hey, Artie, thank god. What do you know about the fates from Greek mythology?"

"Hold on a minute, let me check my notes."

"Just as long as you don't give the Farnsworth back to Pete while you're doing that."

"Alright here we go. The Moirai, commonly known in English as the fates, were figures the Ancient Greeks believed controlled the destiny of both gods and men. They were portrayed as ugly old women, and most sources agree that there were three of them: Clotho, who spun the thread of fate and thereby decided the major events in a person's life; Lachesis, who measured the thread to determine how long that life would be; and Atropos, who cut the thread to dictate the time and manner of their death. There's not much beyond that. Disagreement between sources as to whether the Moirai had any influence over Zeus… Connections with another group of goddesses responsible for punishing evildoers… Brides would offer locks of their hair to placate the Moirai…"

"That could be something," Claudia suggested, though her tone indicated she had very little confidence in the idea. "Nicole's a hairdresser, right? Maybe she's, I don't know, cutting people's hair with the shears?"

"Maybe?" Steve clearly wasn't convinced either. "Though I suppose if she is it would explain why she's left Holcroft for last seeing as he hasn't got any hair. And why does this artefact seem to be transferring death from one person to another?"

"Well if someone's interfering with the course of fate," Artie theorised, "perhaps fate's trying to reassert itself; balance the scales."

"Artie, do you have any information on artefacts related to the fates?"

"The UAD's not returning any matches."

"Alright, thanks anyway." Steve began to close the Farnsworth.

"Wait a minute, Steve? Just, um, I don't know, be safe, or whatever advice I'm supposed to give in this situation."

Claudia burst out laughing as Steve hurriedly ended the call. "Did Artie just try to give you The Talk?"

"I'm not speaking to you," Steve grumbled, returning to his surveillance of the factory's exit.

Holcroft emerged from the factory not a second later than 5 pm.

"Well someone's clearly supremely dedicated to his job," Claudia snarked. "Should we warn him? I mean, we know who's after him now."

"I doubt it would do any good," Steve demurred. "He doesn't strike me as the most open minded of people. I doubt we'd be able to convince him that the other victims' deaths weren't coincidental, and how else are we supposed to explain that we know he's in danger? Besides, we still don't know much about this artifact. Nicole may not have to be anywhere near him to use it."

"So we just keep an eye on him and hope that if he ends up in some kind of mortal peril it'll be something we can save him from?"

"Got a better plan?"

"No," Claudia reluctantly conceded.

Holcroft had reached his car and was searching through his pockets for his key when a figure emerged from the shadows behind him. Claudia and Steve immediately sprang into action, swiftly reaching for their weapons and leaping out of the car. However, by the time they managed to get into position, their Teslas trained on the newcomer, she already had Holcroft restrained and was holding not a pair of shears, but a syringe to his throat.

"Nicole, trust me, you don't want to do that," Steve cautioned firmly but not unkindly. Holcroft's attacker raised her head in surprise as her name was spoken, confirming that the agent's assumption of her identity had been correct.

"I can promise you I do," she shot back. Her eyes were wild. She was clearly desperate; unstable.

"If you make any sudden movements, we'll have no choice but to shoot."

"Do you honestly think that this asshole deserves to live more than my brother did? It'll look like he just had a heart attack. Nobody ever needs to know any different. No one will question that some fat bastard's heart gave out. Please, just leave and let me finish this. Nobody needs to know."

"Nicole, I know exactly what it's like to lose someone you love and to want revenge, and I promise you that this isn't the answer. It won't achieve anything."

"It'll achieve justice."

"No, it won't. It'll just make you responsible for another person's death. Is that what Tom would have wanted for you? Would he have wanted you to become a murderer?"

"It's too late for that." Her anger lessened, transforming into something more like despair. "I didn't mean to do it the first time. That bitch, Sarah, came into the salon like nothing had ever happened. Like she hadn't just let those bastards go on torturing my brother until he couldn't live with it any more. I was so angry. But there was nothing I could do. Then my mother started talking about those old relics she was always so obsessed with again; going on about how the fates would decide the course of a person's life and cut it off wherever they wanted to. And I started thinking about how much I'd love to cut off Sarah's life. So it took the shears, found some of her hair on the salon floor and I cut it. I imagined I was cutting the thread of her life like the third fate would. It was just supposed to be cathartic. But then the next day I heard she was dead. And I thought, 'there's no way that could be because of me,' it had to be a coincidence. When David Wright came in to get his hair cut I decided to prove to myself that it wasn't my fault. But he died too. And then I realised I'd killed two people." Her voice cracked slightly. "But after a while I figured well, what's done is done. Why stop there when I'd already become a murderer? Why not finish it?"

"And did it make you feel any better? Getting your revenge on them?"

"It'll feel better when it's finished. It has to."

"No, it won't. Which is why you need to stop now. Before you have another person's death on your conscience."

Nicole didn't release her grip on Holcroft, but Steve had stirred enough conflict in her mind to make the hand holding the syringe waver slightly. It moved just far enough away from the factory manger's throat. While Nicole's attention was focused on Steve, Claudia took the shot. The bolt of energy struck both captor and captive before Nicole had a chance to react. The syringe fell harmlessly from her hand as she collapsed to the ground.

"Nice shot," Steve observed with pride as he moved over to where the two unconscious figures lay. After kicking the syringe further away from Nicole's motionless hand in case she unexpectedly regained consciousness, he began to search her for any additional weapons. Upon palpating an incongruously shaped object in the region of the fallen woman's jacket pocket, he donned a purple glove and reached into the pocket to retrieve a pair of bronze blades joined at one end by a thinner, flexible piece of metal.

"Nice snag," Claudia echoed the sentiment. "Now what are we supposed to do with her?"

"Get the local police down here," Steve decided. "Tell them all about how she attempted to murder Holcroft. They can at least book her on that even if there's no way of pinning the other murders on her."

"Better than nothing, I guess. Alright, you bag that puppy and call in the fuzz. I'm going to report back to Artie."

"While you're doing that," Steve suggested oh-so-innocently, "You may want to mention to him that it's been a long day and we're both way too tired to start driving back to Univille tonight."

"Why Jinksy, you wouldn't happen to be angling for the opportunity to spend a little more time with a certain US marshal, would you?"

"Of course not. Just like I'm sure you'll hate spending one more night in the town where a certain federal witness happens to be residing."

"Touché."

Claudia arrived at the town's only Italian restaurant shortly after 7 pm. Liam had heavily suggested when Steve called to arrange their date (which is what their planned meeting clearly was, though neither man was explicitly calling it that) that Claudia was likely to find it very rewarding if she happened to show up at precisely this place and time. Sure enough, Todd was waiting for her. They said very little to each other as they took their seats and ordered their meal.

"No garlic," Claudia specified as the waiter scribbled down her request.

"Expecting a goodbye kiss this time?" Todd teased gently.

"Expecting, no. Hoping, yes," Claudia clarified with none of the awkwardness that had permeated the early stages of their initial relationship. Todd noticed.

"Things really have changed a lot since our first date, haven't they," he observed.

"They have. It could be for the better though," Claudia suggested hopefully.

"I'm willing to bet that it is."

"Well then I guess you'd better start filling me in on some of the ways your life has changed since we last met."

Todd sighed, trying to figure out not only what he wanted to express, but how to put it into words. "Actually I think the issue is that for the last couple of years my life has hardly changed at all. I've spent so long waiting for the trial to happen, living in fear of what could happen if anyone finds me. And now it's almost over, assuming the trial doesn't got delayed again, and I have no idea what I'm going to do with myself when it's all over. I mean, am I supposed to try to go back to the way my life was before all this started? I don't think there's anything really left for me there. I don't have much in the way of family. And the friends that I had, the people I worked with, everyone I knew will have moved on with their lives and more or less forgotten about me by now. And I don't know how I can ever get out of the habit of having to be looking over my shoulder all the time."

"On the bright side, at least you'll be free again," Claudia pointed out. "I mean, you'll be able to do anything you want; make your life whatever you want it to be. Maybe you should try to look at it as an opportunity to make a fresh start."

"Yeah, there's that" Todd acknowledged. "And also," an idea occurred to him, "when I say I have no idea what my life will be like after the trial, that's not entirely true anymore. I think, or at least I hope, that you'll be a part of my life again. That is, assuming I don't screw things up spectacularly tonight. Which, given my history is a definite possibility."

"Well you're doing pretty well so far. And to be fair, I think on balance we were both equally responsible for all of the hiccups in our relationship."

"So, what about you? What have I missed?"

"God, I don't even know where to start. So much has happened and I'm not even allowed to tell you about like 90% of it." How was she supposed to even begin to explain HG's betrayal and redemption, losing Steve and bringing him back, watching Artie being almost irreversibly overtaken by evil… "We lost Leena," she quietly revealed. "In pretty much the worst way imaginable. Actually, no, it was worse than anything I could have imagined before it happened. And then not long ago I found out that my sister, who I thought died with my parents, is actually alive and was, um, in a coma all this time. Also I have this, uh, sort of destiny that I'm supposed to fulfil. I'm supposed to take on this role at the warehouse which is totally amazing and means being a part of something incredible even more so than I already am but at the same time is a huge responsibility and is going to involve some pretty big sacrifices. So I'm ridiculously excited about that but also completely terrified."

"I'm so sorry about Leena. I didn't get the chance to get to know her all that well but I knew enough to realise how special she was. And I'm sorry for all those years you thought you'd lost your sister, but I'm glad you have her back. And I really have no idea what you're talking about with the last thing but I'm sure that whatever it is you're supposed to do, you're going to be amazing at it."

"I hate that there's so much I can't tell you."

"It's okay. I don't need to know everything to know how special you are. Or to know that I want you in my life. No matter how much craziness you might bring with you."

Steve woke completely intertwined with Liam. The previous night they'd found, as they had in Arkansas, that their lips still fit together perfectly; their bodies still moved together in effortless harmony. It wasn't all that surprising, really. The physical aspect of their relationship had always been easy. It was the rest they'd never quite been able to get right. He didn't understand why. On the surface, everything about the two of them suggested they should fit, but somehow there had always been something just a little out of place.

Things felt different now they'd figured out how to be more honest with each other, but had they changed enough? Could they ever? Was there even any point trying to move forward together when their lives had diverged so significantly? And yet he knew he wanted to try. He just wasn't sure how they could work things out.

Liam's eyes opened. "What's got you looking so broody?" he asked.

"I call it contemplative," Steve corrected.

"Well I call it cute."

"I am not cute," Steve protested with bashful indignation.

"Actually I agree with that. The way you're blushing right now, I think 'adorable' would be a more accurate word."

Steve decided to deflect any further commentary on his facial expressions by answering Liam's earlier question. "I was just wondering how we managed to screw up so badly something that could have been amazing if we'd figured out how to make it work while we had the chance."

"Yeah, we really were idiots, weren't we? But I don't see how we don't still have a chance to make it work. I mean, what do you call this?"

"This… is temporary. You have your work here, and I have to go back to South Dakota soon." He sighed. "It feels like we're always saying goodbye."

"Maybe we don't have to this time," Liam suggested.

"I can't leave this job. It's too important. And I can't see the whole long distance thing working too well for us at this point."

"I know you can't leave. I'd never ask you to. It's obvious that what you're doing right now, where you are, is exactly where you're meant to be. But my job's not tied to any particular place. Once this assignment's over, there's nothing to stop me from requesting a transfer. I'm sure South Dakota has its fair share of fugitives to track down."

"I can't let you rearrange your life for me. I mean, what if we don't work out?"

"I wouldn't just be doing it for you; I'd be doing it for myself. I don't think I'll ever be able to let this go until I know we've given it every chance. If it doesn't work out, then we'll know for sure it was never meant to. And if it does…" He allowed the sentence to hang in the air unfinished, ringing with potential.

Steve couldn't find the words to reply, so he instead responded with a passionate kiss that left them both gasping for air.

"So… you don't have to leave right this minute or anything, right?" Liam sought clarification once they'd both had a minute to cath their breath.

"Definitely not," Steve hurriedly confirmed, scrambling to pull Liam closer.

It was probably kind of poetic, Claudia supposed, that they were saying goodbye in the same coffee shop where they'd met unexpectedly just a day earlier. Or maybe it just was that both events occurred in the morning and this was the only place in town that had a breakfast menu. She tried to drag the moment out as long as possible, acutely aware that this was the last contact she'd be able to have with Todd for who knew how long. Steve certainly didn't seem to be in a hurry to leave Liam either. The two of them had finally found their way out of bed over an hour after Claudia and Todd had met up at the coffee shop. However, apparently the fact that he would be able to actually stay in touch with Liam over the ensuing months allowed Steve the strength of will to remember they still had an artifact to return to the Warehouse.

"We should go," he gently reminded Claudia. "I'll meet you out at the car." The two older men quietly exited the building, leaving Claudia and Todd alone.

Todd also stood, holding out a hand to help her to her feet in a way that somehow reminded her of old-fashioned chivalry without invoking the inevitable sexist undertones. "So, do I get one last goodbye kiss?" He asked.

Claudia was happy to oblige. "Just to be clear," she elucidated once they'd parted. "That was a goodbye for now kiss. The second you're a free man again you'd better get your ass straight to Univille."

"I'll be there faster than Tianhe-2."

"Good."

Todd took her hand and she allowed herself to be led outside. Steve was waiting by the car, quietly conversing with Liam, their faces close together.

"See you 'round, Jersey." Liam also took a moment to steal one last kiss before the impending separation.

"See you soon," Steve confirmed before he and Claudia reluctantly climbed into the car.

Claudia watched through the rear window until they turned a corner and the two figures on the footpath disappeared from sight. She wondered just long it would be before she saw Todd's face again before abruptly deciding she needed to distract herself from such thoughts. The wait was going to be far too long as it was.

"So does this make Liam your ex-ex-boyfriend now?" she queried.

"Okay, one: that's just confusing, and two: it's way too early to put any sort of label on our relationship just yet."

"But you are calling it a relationship," Claudia observed with interest.

Steve groaned. "Must you?"

"Come on, I have to entertain myself somehow until I get Todd back." However, she held back on asking any further prying questions. There was silence for a moment. "It still feels a little too weird though," she eventually confessed. "I mean we both just happen to run into old boyfriends we have serious unfinished business with on a case where the artefact is a tool used by the fates? It makes me wonder…"

"If maybe the use of the shears woke up the other artefacts in the box and they started somehow affecting the fate of everyone in town? Which would mean we were somehow fated to run into Liam and Todd again someday and the artifact made it happen, which is kind of an unsettling thought." He received a nod in response. "Yeah, that idea occurred to me too."

"And?"

"And I decided that there's no way of knowing for sure, and in the end I don't really care what led to all of this happening; I'm just glad it did."

"Aww, look at you being all glass half full. You're adorable when you're in love."

Steve let out a sigh of resignation. "This is going to be a long drive."

"Oh, you think this is bad? Just wait until we get home to everyone else. Pete is going to have a lot of questions for you."

Steve raised his foot ever so slightly off the accelerator.