~Chapter 1: At night~
The last people finally filtered out through the doors, happily talking amongst one another and waving goodbye to the 'staff' of the museum.
The doors were locked and Larry let out a sigh of relief and turned to face the already growing party behind him.
"OK guys, not too late, Nicky, be careful up there! Jed, Octavius, watch you're driving! Dexter, no, just no!" Larry quickly tried to bypass everyone to get to his desired person of interest.
Tess was currently talking with Sacagawea, Teddy and Ahkmenrah overlooking both of them, whilst cheerily discussing possible new additions to the museum.
"I suspect it's going to be another long night." Larry came over to Tess and accepted a quick peck on the corner of his lips as she budged over on the side of her seat to allow him to sit down.
"Be thankful that some of them have the decency to clean up after themselves now. I just don't think a suitable argument is, 'I would help, if I had hands, arms or legs.' It is valid, but it's not to hard to stop yourself from spitting out gum." She looked over at Larry who gave a slight stuttering explanation.
"Oh, there goes Dexter again. Young little rascal that he is!" Teddy laughed joyfully and leant against the wall behind him, admiring the way that Dexter 'courted' a new exhibition to the animal exhibit.
Dr. McPhee had sent out a few of the older exhibits (which Larry reluctantly stored in the back, at Dexter' request) and brought in a new female Capuchin (much to Dexter' delight). Everyone had observed the way he chased around after her, how she actually got along with Larry (possibly to irk Dexter something fierce) and how Dexter relentlessly stayed close to her until Sunrise.
They watched as 'Celia' (whom Tess had given the name) jumped from the balcony, onto Rexy, before climbing down to the tip of his tail and running off out of sight, Dexter hurriedly trying to keep up with her.
"I'll make sure they don't get into any trouble. Last night, Celia locked Dexter in a small cage...was tempting to leave him there, but I know what Teddy would have said." Larry made to get up, but was stopped as Teddy stepped forward and placed his hand out to prevent Larry from moving.
"Darn straight Lawrence, I thought you'd solved your issues with our ancestor? That is one horse we can train when we come to it, right now though we can deal with the fact that you have had an extraordinarily long day, keeping watch over the people that come in and out, children and their alarmingly sticky fingers and of course, this boisterous bunch. Allow me Lawrence."
Teddy made to go, but was stopped as a figure stopped in front of him also.
"You must stay here Theodore, you are the voice of reason between Larry and the others. I shall go." Ahkmenrah gave a small and respectable nod of his head and quickly turned and walked away.
Truth be told, Ahkmenrah was just looking for a distraction. He enjoyed spending time with his friends at the museum and there was plenty of activities to do, but for some odd reason, being betwixt two couples did not make him completely happy and being amongst the Neanderthals and other exhibits always exhausted him quickly.
He did sit down and have discussions with many of the other more modern exhibits, but talking to a waxwork about various things that could or could not be true, sometimes made him feel as if he were talking to Teddy on loop.
He entered the 'Staff only' door, and lo and behold, found Dexter and Celia playing a game of hide and seek. Dexter sat in the middle of the room, making a sound like a whine, whilst Celia' voice seemed to echo all around and confuse the poor male.
"I think she is merely teasing you Dexter," Ahkmenrah walked in and gazed down with a smile at Dexter, "if you truly care for her, I'm sure she'll see it very soon."
Dexter looked up and made a small noise, as if in agreement, but the rest of it went UN-noticed as Ahkmenrah heard another, fainter noise.
It sounded like a small hiccup and someone trying to stifle it. His gaze switched back to Dexter, who had seemed to hear it also and began to creep forward on all fours towards a large collection of paintings that had yet to be hung in the gallery, all neatly stacked on a large trolley.
Dexter stalked around and disappeared behind the paintings, Ahkmenrah just waiting to see if Celia had indeed been caught yet. However, the next moment, Dexter made a very disagreeable noise and seemed to leap back into view, as if he'd jumped or been kicked by something.
"Who is there? Show yourself." Ahkmenrah feared it was one of Attila' men, breaking in and destroying valuable artefacts in a fit of depression (it had occurred a couple of times before when Larry had run out of Magic tricks to teach them).
He waited for a few moments, no other sound coming from the paintings, when suddenly, a slight rattle, two startled yelps (one of which was easily identifiable as Celia') and a blur of sudden movement delivered a figure, fallen on the floor (with Celia quickly making her escape also).
Ahkmenrah observed the still figure and approached carefully, but after two steps, the figure suddenly sprang into sitting position and kicked their legs backwards until their head banged against the back wall.
"Stay away!"
Ahkmenrah did indeed stop, but not at the suddenly petrified voice that rang in his ears. He looked again and was definitely surprised by a young female, clad in black, and long, raven hair dangling and obscuring her face.
Ahkmenrah dared not move in fear the girl would charge or do something stupid, so he remained calm, reminding himself he was the one in charge.
"Explain yourself. Who are you?" He shuffled from one foot to the other when Celia and Dexter scampered behind his feet to hide behind him, but the girl mistook the movement.
"Don't! Stay away from!" She shook her head viciously and her hair fell apart from her face, Ahkmenrah' eyes widening slightly.
Against a paleface, were small, pouty lips and Green eyes. It also worried him to see a large, brown bruise on the side of her cheek, a small cut in the middle, red and looking extremely sore.
"Did you hurt yourself in the fall?" He really did move forward again, forgetting her 'warning', but stopped when she began to claw at the door behind her, struggling to get up and away.
"Please," the voice pleaded with him, "please, just...don't come any closer. I'm sorry."
Ahkmenrah witnessed as the girl seemed to stop fighting and instead, hid her face again by looking down. Something made him ache inside and he really wished someone had accompanied him. He did not know what to do. Did he leave her to go get help and risk her running off? Did he forcibly arrest her and drag her to Larry, whilst she cried and begged him not to?
He approached slowly and took a breath, words forming in his mind.
"I shan't hurt you," he looked down quickly and signalled to Dexter and Celia to leave, which the two promptly did, "Please I...I would like to assist you."
He now stood within two feet of the girl, no chance of her escaping without having to make physical contact with him or her hurting herself again.
"I'm sorry," the girl sniffed, but still did not look at him, "please, I'm so sorry. I didn't want to cause any trouble. I just-I just." The rest was lost as the girl choked on a sob and started crying again, tears dripping against her shirt and splashing onto the floor.
Ahkmenrah had never dealt with a female in a situation like this before. But he pushed himself forward and urged himself to be strong.
He knelt down and made himself eye level with the girl, knowing she could see him if she just looked up.
"Tell me you're name." He did not back down and even threw in a 'please', just to get her talking.
For a moment, he thought she'd retreat back into crying, but slowly, she turned her gaze to him.
"Suzanne."
"Suzanne," Ahkmenrah smiled slowly and nodded, "it's a very lovely name."
She nodded back warily and wiped her tears off of one cheek.
"You're the tour guide. Ahkmenrah. I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't be here but-" She looked about ready to plead as if her life was on the line but Ahkmenrah put both his hands up to calm her.
"It's fine, it's fine. I'm more concerned about you," he made sure to keep his voice steady and calm, "you seemed to have hurt yourself in the fall. Please, I can take you to someone who can make it better."
Suzanne looked at him for a moment, an emotion passing quickly over her face that Ahkmenrah thought could be sadness, before quickly becoming acceptance, and she nodded, accepting his genuine help.
"Take my hand and let me help you." Ahkmenrah kept both his hands outstretched towards her, his palms facing upwards. It was like trying to tempt Dexter out of the trees after the first day Celia had brutally turned him down. Patience and trust.
Suzanne' hands came to Ahkmenrah' and their palms slipped together easily as he clasped her hands gently in his.
"Let's go." He smiled at her again, inwardly excited when she gave him a very small, if very tired looking smile in return.
He gingerly pulled her too her feet and kept hold of one hand as he lead her out of the room and towards the others.