A/N: Oooh, my first Warehouse story! I love Pete and Myka and ship them so hard. I had to write this after watching "Age Before Beauty" and I got this idea about Pete's reaction to Myka getting sick. Small disclaimer, I don't own any of the characters. Just borrowing them temporarily :) Please review if you read!

"Myka! Stay with me!" Pete's heart was hammering in his chest as he murmured these words to his partner over and over.

She was literally aging before his eyes and he was panicked. He didn't know what to do. As her partner, he knew he had an obligation to protect her, but it was more than that. They were friends. Best friends, if he were truthful.

She was writhing in his arms and he had a horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach. He'd never had a vibe this strong, not even with his Dad. "Myka..." He said as her eyes slipped shut.

"Someone get an ambulance! Now!" He shouted. People stopped and stared at him and he was quickly growing frustrated. "I said, get an ambulance! I am Secret Service and I will shoot someone if I don't see some flashing lights in the next two minutes!" People went scrambling at the threat, and he gave his full attention back to Myka.

"Myka, please stay with me. Please..." He held her tighter against his body, all the things he never said to her flashing through his mind.

"Agent Lattimer, the ambulance is here." Mrs. Harris from Fashion Week appeared at his side, and he didn't even acknowledge her. He scooped Myka up in his arms and carted her out the door, towards the Fire & Rescue truck.

"Pete?" He heard her voice, small and frail from his arms and he looked down briefly.

"You're going to be okay, Myks. I'm going to fix this." He said, and he knew without a doubt, that he'd move heaven and earth to find the person who did this to her.

The ride to the hospital was tense. Pete was snapping at everyone who dared to look at him in the wrong way, and Myka's fever was getting worse. She was trembling violently and Pete was starting to get really, really scared.

By the time Artie and Claudia got to the hospital, Pete was at a loss for words. He didn't know how to tell Artie that Myka didn't have a lot of time left. Hell, he barely knew how to admit it to himself. He couldn't be in the room with her anymore, couldn't sit and look as she deteriorated away. He had to go do something. He had to find whoever did this, and he was pretty sure he knew who it was.

He was sure he broke several laws as he sped back to the fashion show, praying that people hadn't cleared out already. The only chance he had to get this guy was now. Myka couldn't wait longer. He trusted Artie and Claudia to keep an eye on her, but he knew that even they couldn't come up with some artifact-y way to keep her… no. He wouldn't say what he was thinking.

He pulled up to the curb and parked haphazardly, putting on his flashers before jumping out of the car, heading inside the building. When he got backstage, his gaze zeroed in on a young photographer in the corner of the room, fiddling with a camera that looked way too old to still be in use. Rage bubbled up inside of Pete as he thought of his partner dying in the hospital, and he didn't think before he let his anger take over.

He pushed the photographer "Manny" roughly up against the wall, teeth clenched. "What did you think you were going to achieve here, huh?" He spat venomously, rage coursing through his veins. "Give me the camera, and maybe I won't have to hurt you."

Pete didn't count on Manny fighting back, and stumbled as Manny pushed off the wall and pushed Pete off balance. Pete regained his footing quickly, and barely noticed as Artie ran into the room behind him, getting something out of his bag while Pete tried to reign in the artifact. Pete gripped Manny into a headlock, and shoved his Tesla roughly against Manny's temple, which caused him to freeze. "Don't think I won't," Pete growled, and Artie hesitated with his movements, never having seen Pete act this way with a suspect. "Tell me how to fix this." Pete snarled, and Manny held up his hands in surrender.

"It's film, it's film!" He cried, "You just have to reverse the process."

"Of course, Manray's camera would transfer the appearance and virtually suck the life out of someone if the pictures were developed together." Artie mused.

"Artie…" Pete said testily, and Artie snapped out of it.

"Right, right. This can be reversed, Pete. We just need that camera." He motioned to where the camera sat on the table, and in a split second, both Manny and Pete dove for it, causing the table, and everything on it to go flying in all directions.

Artie caught the camera and quickly neutralized it, the power of it knocking Manny off his feet. Pete, however, had braced himself, but lunged for Manny again before Artie grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

"If this doesn't work, if she can't be helped, you can count on the fact that I will hunt you down." Pete said, taking no notice that Manny himself seemed to have aged 40 years since the camera had been neutralized.

"He's not worth it, Pete." Artie said gently, "He'll get what's coming to him."

Pete shot one last withering glare in Manny's direction, before heading outside to the SUV. He wanted to get back to the hospital to check on Myka as soon as he could, now that, hopefully, she would be back to her normal self.

Myka's eyes fluttered gently, and when she opened them, she could make out Pete's sleeping form in the chair next to her hospital bed. She was breathing heavily, and when she glanced around, she remembered what had happened. "Pete?" She asked quietly, not wanting to startle him.

When he didn't answer, she tried to slow her racing heart and catch her breath. The last day had been a complete nightmare. She couldn't believe she had aged nearly 50 years in 2 minutes, but stranger things had happened in her line of work.

"Myks…" Pete was awake, and he grasped her hand with both of his, "Myka? Are you okay?" He asked urgently, and she looked at him, taking in the redness of his eyes and the bags underneath them.

"I'm okay, just… it took me a minute to remember."

Pete shut his eyes, "I wish you didn't have to remember." He said.

"I'm fine now, Pete."

"But you weren't. You almost died, Myka." He said firmly, and Myka was taken aback at how fiercely he was responding. "I don't know what I would have done if…" He trailed off, and Myka tilted her head.

"If what? Pete, it's okay. I'm okay, everything is back to normal now. I knew you'd figure it out, you always do. You always have my back." She said, reassuringly, leaning back into her pillows, feeling exhausted again.

"I almost didn't figure it out, Myk." Pete said roughly, and Myka frowned, seeing him be so hard on himself wasn't something she was used to.

"But you did, Pete!"

"I almost didn't figure it out. I was this close," he held up two fingers close together, "to Tesla-ing that guy into oblivion just for the satisfaction of it."

Myka gaped at him. She had seen him upset before, wanting revenge even, but she saw a malicious glint in his eyes now that she couldn't remember ever seeing before.

"I couldn't let him get away with doing that to you, Myks. I felt so helpless, watching you age right before my eyes. I've never felt that before."

"You couldn't have done anything, Pete."

He shook his head furiously, "I'm your partner! I'm supposed to be able to protect you, no matter what."

"You did! I'm here, I'm alive!" Myka said, wanting him to see that this wasn't his fault.

He looked at her intensely, and before she knew what was happening, he was kissing her, hard and persistent.

Pete poured all his feelings into this kiss, a kiss that wasn't with a fake Myka, wasn't under the influence of an artifact and wasn't because they were undercover. He tried to convey just how much she meant to him and how scared he had been when she had been talking to Artie like she was going to die.

Myka kissed him back, but she only had a few seconds to respond before he broke away from her, breathing heavily, eyes shut.

"I'm... I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that." The pained expression on his face was enough to let Myka know that he was regretting kissing her, and for a reason she couldn't pinpoint, she really, really didn't want him to regret that. Maybe it's because the only other time they had "kissed" it was even really her, and she felt like she had something to prove, or maybe it was because she was tired of the back and forth.

This job was more dangerous than either one of them had expected, and it had pushed them together. The bond they were sharing because of the warehouse was unlike any other partnership she had been in before. Having each other's backs in this job didn't mean just protecting each other from bullets, but it meant understanding each other enough to be able to find them under the influence of an artifact. Being able to recognize your partner's characteristic traits and being able to draw them out from being taken over by something evil wasn't easy, but they managed to do it, time after time. And tonight, Pete had gone above and beyond, and from what Myka had overheard from Artie's conversation with Pete, he had taken some drastic lengths to get answers out of the suspect.

Looking at Pete now, who was looking anywhere but at her, she didn't want him to regret kissing her, or caring about her. She didn't want any of that. She just wanted him. She pushed herself into an upright position and pushed herself close to him, barely hearing his whispered plea.

"Myka…" He whispered hoarsely, registering what was about to happen, but she didn't answer. He knew it was no use. His arms opened for her automatically, and then they were pressed close together, his arms circling her and making her feel safer than she had in a long, long time. Their lips met and she sighed as he buried his fingers in her hair, pulling her tighter against him.

They broke apart and Myka rested her head against Pete's, meeting his eyes. "You saved me." She said, needing him to understand.

"Well, what else am I good for, right?" He joked, and Myka smiled, seeing that familiar mischievous look in his eyes again.

"Will you stay here for a little while?"

His gaze was steady and sure as it met hers, "I'm not going anywhere." He said, and she knew he wasn't just talking about tonight.