The Time Traveler's Almost Wife

Time traveller fic thingy. Set a little time after instinct. Since I live in denial land Myka has no cancer.

This is my first fanfiction ever. English is not my first language so please don't judge my grammar. Thanks to madgirlwitharainbowbox for beta reading. I truly think this was more than necessary

Chapter 1

It was a quiet and almost boring afternoon at the warehouse. Myka sat on a the little stool in an aisle full of clocks and watches. She was going through a checklist while Claudia looked through the shelves and told her the current conditions of the artifacts she was inspecting.

"...current condition of the object: Dusty", Claudia coughed while turning a pocketwatch in her purple gloved hands, "still ticking like 30 years ago when the last person did inventory in this aisle."

Myka smiled and took notes on her clipboard. Claudia was speaking in a very bored tone and Myka almost knew what the young woman would say next:

"Current condition of the person doing inventory: Very bored, tired and extremely hungry. When exactly did Steve want to bring us lunch?"

Nailed it.

Myka clipped her pen on the paper and sighed. She knew Claudia wouldn't continue inventory in this mood.

"At 1 PM, Claudia."

-"And what time is it now?", asked her friend.

-"Claudia, you are standing in an aisle full of watches."

"Myka," Claudia whined, "I'm standing in a warehouse aisle full of snagged, bagged, and tagged watches. I'm pretty sure at least half of them would try to kill me when I tried to read the time from them and I'm pretty sure with my luck I would try the one watch that tries to take over the world after this."

Myka chuckled. Claudia's mood was brilliant and she could tell this would end up in a big argument about being forced to do inventory while other people are allowed to go on artifact hunt. Pete and Artie were gone to search for a gender swap artifact, and Myka and Claudia weren't allowed to come with them because "it would cause problems," as Pete said.

Seeing Claudia's disappointment, Steve promised to stay with the girls. Myka took Claudia with her doing inventory and Steve offered to bring some lunch.

Abigail was watching the computers for pings, but there weren't any so it was almost too quiet at the warehouse and the more time went by, the more frustrated Claudia became.

"It is 12:30, Claudia.", Myka said calmly, "You will have to wait a little."

She looked back at her clipboard and wanted to take her pen, when Claudia asked:

"So, how are you doing lately?"

Myka closed her eyes for a second. She really hadn't felt well since she left Helena playing house in Boone, but she didn't really want to talk to Claudia about it when there were in a bunch of old watches . Maybe later over a glass of wine after dinner. Maybe she could go on an artifact hunt with Claudia alone and then talk to her in the car...Okay, maybe she would never want to talk about this. Myka sighed. She run with her finger over the edge of a shelf.

She left Helena there because she wanted her to be happy. Myka saw how happy Helena looked with Adelaide and she didn't want to take this happiness from her. Beyond this, Myka was still mad at Helena for not calling or showing in any way that she was alive. She was mad about the situation, about the fact that the person she thought she knew better than anyone else completely left their mutual place. She was mad about Nate.

Myka's heart beat very painfully for a second when she let her thoughts go that way. Helena was with Nate. He was allowed to touch her, to take her in his bed.

Shockingly she listened to her inner self. Why was her heart this much hurting when she thought about Helena and Nate? As a good friend she should be happy for both of them. She didn't like losing a friend to a place called "Boone" Wisconsin, but she should at least be happy that Helena had someone to be happy with.

"Mykes?"

Myka blinked. Claudia. She totally forgot Claudia was looking at her. A little relieved Myka realised that she had turned away from Claudia while lost in thought, so her friend wouldn't see the tears in her eyes.

"Oh Claudia", Myka said in the friendliest voice she could find, "I've been really tired for a few weeks now. I think if I could take a week off or so, I'd stop falling asleep during the day."

She wiped her left hand over her eyes but didn't turn around to see Claudia's sceptical look while her right hand was running nervously over the shelf. That image of Helena came back to her and she shivered a little.

"It's about HG, isn't it?", Claudia asked very bold.

The hand on the shelf stopped for a moment, then went running on, even more nervous, not following a particular path but clearly showing the emotions behind that act. Fingers were slowly sliding next to artifacts, not touching them but constantly in danger to make contact.

"I've no idea, what you are talking about," Myka pressed through her lips.

"Myka, come on. I know there is something going on. I'm not blind. I may not be a human lie detector but if you really weren't thinking that much about HG, you would at least say something like you missed her a little or something. Right now you're lying really badly." Claudia crossed her arms and leaned against a shelf.

Myka turned around and looked in Claudia's eyes. She almost choked on her own tears while she searched for an acceptable answer, still running her fingers over the shelf. She felt completely caught and didn't know what to answer.

"Myka, I didn't want to make you sad, I just thought you needed to talk about this and wanted to offer you my help.", Claudia whispered softly. She looked very concerned.

When Myka searched for an answer, she looked down to Claudia's boots, struggling with herself, not wanting to tell the truth or to realise the truth for herself, but also saying everything would help free her from her sorrows.

Myka felt her finger touching something on the shelf. She paused. Suddenly the realisation hit her that she wasn't wearing any gloves, because Claudia was doing inventory while she only was taking notes for her. Her head turned to her right hand. She saw her finger touching and artifact.

"Oh", she could hear her own voice saying in surprise.

And then she felt lightweight and everything went black.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Claudia knew Myka touched something when she saw her swaying.

She pushed herself from leaning against the shelf and closed the gap between them in less than a second.

"Myka! Are you okay?" She asked laying a hand on her friend's shoulder. She studied Myka watching her own hands like she hasn't seen them in a long while.

"What did you touch, Myka?" Claudia asked in panic.

"I- I felt the urge to touch that wrist watch over there..." Myka stumbled from side to side.

Claudia pulled a neutralizer bag out of her pocket. Without hesitation she pulled the watch Myka was pointing at from the shelf and threw it in the bag.

"Duck", she yelled in the act.

Sparks.

"Okay whatever this did, I think I just rescued you from this, so we don't have to worry about..."

"Claudia?", Myka interrupted her.

"Yes, Mykes?"

-"What happened to your face? What...what is going on with you?"

Claudia stopped and looked at Myka in surprise: "What do you mean 'my face'? Well, I didn't sleep very well tonight because of all the..."

-"No!", Myka shook her head, "You don't look tired. You do look young. Like 10 years ago. Like you are in your early twenties, I can remember your hair being cut like this."

Claudia stepped back and raised her eyebrows while studying Myka's face.

"Well, Myka. That's because I am 21. You remember my birthday party at the bar? It was fun. I sang a song with Cherie Currie. I was very good at it. Maybe so good that you should remember that day."

Myka looked at her like she had seen a ghost: "That's impossible," she rose from the stool, "because that was 10 yea-" In surprise she looked down and touched her stomach, "WHAT is going on?", She yelled and turned around, walking towards a big hall clock with a mirror in the door.

Claudia watched Myka looking in the mirror. The older woman looked very surprised when she saw her own reflection. She started touching her face.

"Myka, what is going on?" Claudia wanted to know.

"Is the mirror in this artifact okay? It's not a magic mirror, or something?", Myka asked without answering Claudia's question.

"Yes," Claudia answered slowly "Why are you asking this? Myka, I'm afraid. Please talk to me!"

Myka turned around

"Did I always look like this? Do I look like my reflection?"

-"Okay, now I AM really really afraid."

"Answer the question, please."

-"Well, I think your hair was more brownish three years ago and it didn't look that much out of control back then..."

"Claudia!"

-"You DID always look like this and you look exactly like your reflection."

Myka's face expression changed from surprise to despair. Her hands fell down to her sides.

"Myka, what is going on?" Claudia's voice was filled with panic.

"I think..." Myka said, "I think I travelled back in time."