UPDATE: First of all, sorry about deleting this a couple of days ago. Won't go into the detail with reasons as to why that happened because I would ramble on for a dozen pages. Anyway, it's re-uploaded, I tried to proof-read it but I suck at it so I hope there are not too many spelling mistakes.

Author's note: I give up. You all win. I have fallen under the spell that is Rami Malek and his beautiful god-like existence (I mean seriously, a seemingly wonderful and nice guy and with amazing looks, do you think this is a game?). And I'm dying a little bit inside because I can't afford to go see NATM 3, but from what I know he has a lot more screen time (which he needs because he barely appears in the first two films despite being one of the most important characters, what's up with that?). So after reading the number of fanfics on this site (of which there aren't nearly enough!) I decided to try my hand at one. Hopefully it's something different. For a pilot chapter it's a bit introductory and jumpy, but I hope you readers enjoy it!


Chapter One: Welcome to New York

"You can't do this to me," the young man pleaded, his shadowed face contorted in pain, yearning, anger, betrayal and about every other emotion that made her stomach clench with a feeling she couldn't identify.

Sarah wanted to disappear into the earth, his deathly grip burning her skin, his nails digging into her skin. Yet she couldn't move, she was frozen, only able to stare up at the face she could not clearly make out.

"You can't. You can't. Please, you can't leave me. Not now, not until we've spent our share of the eternity like the gods have promised."

Sarah awoke with a start, sitting up and drenched in cold sweat. Her breaths left her in short gasps and she looked around in a panic, her eyes slowly adjusting to the dark. When she recognised the familiar shapes of her bedroom's furniture and that the pressure on her upper arms were not desperate hands clinging to her for dear life but a red blanket, she let out a heavy breath, closing her eyes and dropping back down with a groan.

She winced when the back of her head met the carpeted, but not any softer, floor. She could somewhat make out the shape of her bed next to her, adding this awakening to the endless list of times she had woken up on the ground, having fallen out of her bed sometime during her sleep.

She closed her eyes and after freeing her hands ran them over her face, holding her breath. Maybe if she could go without breathing long enough, she would pass out and fall back asleep?

A knock sounded on her door, followed by an uncertain, "Sarah, are you awake? Are you alright, honey? I thought I heard a noise, I'm coming in."

Sarah's eyes shot open and she sat up to protest but the door was barely opened a few inches before a hand reached out and turned on the light.

She let out a groan and let her head fall against the side of her mattress, cursing under her breath.

"Why?" she moaned, hitting her head against the mattress a few times, wishing for nothing more but to crawl back under the blanket and to go back to sleep. Sleep without repeat nightmares.

Sarah's mother pushed the door fully open and chuckled, crossing her arms and leaning against the wall. She looked awfully cheery for someone awake at three o'clock in the morning, in her pink nightgown and fluffy slippers, a mug of tea in her hand.

"Come on, munchkin," she said with a smile, stepping into the room and placing her mug on the dresser. She proceeded to force her daughter away from the bed, pulling the protesting girl up on her feet. "Get up, sunshine, your plane leaves in three hours."


"Sarah!"

The nineteen year old turned towards the familiar voice, putting her suitcase down and opening her arms just in time for Larry Daley, her father's younger brother, to envelop her in a tight hug and lift her from the ground.

Sarah laughed, returning the embrace wholeheartedly. When Larry put her down they beamed at each other and after a few blinks Larry took a step back, scanning the girl from head to toe. "Did you shrink?"

The girl rolled her eyes. "I've actually grown an inch! Last time you saw me I was wearing high heels, Uncle Larry."

"Right, right," the older man nodded, "with that horrible silver dress."

"It wasn't horrible!" Sarah exclaimed, outraged, but her laugh that followed betrayed the fact that she agreed. "It was for a school project and it was all my own work, thank you very much."

Larry laughed, shaking his head. He ruffled Sarah's hair before pulling her into another, this time brief and one-handed, hug. "It's good to see you, kid."

Sarah giggled, patting his back. "It's good to see you too, Larry."

"So, how was the glorious eight hour flight?" Larry asked as he took the heavy suitcase from his niece's hands and they began to move with the crowd leaving the airport.

Sarah shrugged. "Honestly, the arrival check-points are the worse, the flight itself didn't seem too long. I kept myself distracted." She waved her charcoal and pen ink stained fingers in Larry's face.

"Well it's good you've gotten over your fear of heights," Larry teased with a lopsided smirk.

The girl at his side pouted, her expression masked when the pair stepped outside and the wind blew her hair in her face. "Fear of heights is evolutionarily rational, Mr. Daley."

"I know, I know," he waved her off, leading the way towards the space where he had parked his car. "I went to high school too."

Sarah chuckled under her breath, the two falling into a comfortable silence. That's what she liked about her uncle. While her parents seemed to need to fill every passing moment with words, Larry seemed to understand that she liked to be left to her own thoughts, ever since she was a little girl. And while at first he felt awkward almost talking to himself when the girl didn't seem to pay attention, he had gotten used to it. Nowadays, he even appreciated it. She was the only one who didn't use to bug him about his unstable job or living arrangements, only ever enquiring on whether he was content with his life.

When they were back on the road, Sarah's suitcase in the trunk of the car and the girl in question sitting in the front passenger seat with the safety belt across her chest, Larry glanced at her through the corners of his eyes and couldn't help but laugh.

Sarah was looking up at each passing building and tree in wonder, her lips parted. Her left wrist was moving in circles before she caught herself, realising she doesn't actually have a sketchbook on her lap.

Larry couldn't blame her fascination with the change of place. She was only a few years old when her family moved to England and she has only been in New York since then once for Christmas vacation when she was fifteen. And she had a cold throughout the two weeks and couldn't go out much. So New York was still pretty much a very new environment for her.

It was ten minutes later that Larry broke the silence, because while Sarah was used to it, he wasn't and conversation was one of the ways he felt he could distract them both from the rush hour they would enter in less than an hour.

"So," he began, keeping his eyes on the road before them. "Have you been thinking of what you'll spend this year doing?"

Sarah shrugged. "I have a few art projects in mind, but nothing set in stone. I need to find a job, try and save up as much as I can."

"Well I'm sure that won't be too hard," Larry threw her a smile. "It might be summer now but when school starts there'll be plenty of places who'll need someone to lend a hand. And I can always help you."

"Thanks," Sarah nodded thankfully, without turning to him. "Speaking of school. How's Nicky?"

"He's doing well."

Sarah nodded thoughtfully, a small but fond smile pulling at her lips. "I've missed him."

"He missed you too."

Silence fell, but this time it was Sarah who broke it, suddenly laughing and turning to Larry with a wide grin. "He should be a writer."

"Who, Nicky?" Larry quirked an eyebrow.

"Yeah, he has quite the imagination," Sarah said, turning back to the window.

Larry's smile wavered and he glanced at her warily, shifting in his seat and adjusting his grip on the steering wheel. "What do you mean?"

"The stories he e-mails me. They're rather interesting really, would actually make very good children's books." Sarah smiled and turned to Larry, looking almost guilty. "Inspiring, even. I've done a few sketches. I brought some with me; I wanted to give them to Nicky."

Larry hummed, the inside of his cheek between his teeth. He glanced at Sarah but she was looking out of the window again and he allowed himself to frown, pulling his eyebrows together.

Nick had promised to keep the fact that the museum's exhibits come to life a secret. But after begging his father to tell his cousin about it, Larry agreed, figuring that Sarah wouldn't believe the boy anyway. Hell, if he wasn't experiencing his son's 'stories', as Sarah just called them, first hand he wouldn't believe Nick himself.

Still, despite knowing Sarah most likely didn't mean much by her statement, he didn't expect her to bring it up...

The conversation ended there, both Sarah and Larry lost in their own thoughts, the girl's eyes committing each passing building to memory.

They barely managed to pull over outside Larry's flat building when Sarah was startled by a very familiar face anything but face-planting the passenger window. She laughed at Nicky and undid her seat-belt while the boy merely rubbed his nose, laughing at himself and taking a step back to allow Sarah to exit the car. She barely put one leg out on the street before she was enveloped in a hug, two arms wrapping around her waist in a tight grip.

"Hey, little man!" she greeted her cousin with a laugh, ruffling his hair. When he pulled away she leaned down until their eyes were level, placing her hands on her knees. "How's it going?"

"It's going great!" Nick said. "It's so cool that you're going to stay with us for a while. I have so much to tell you."

"Really?" Sarah put on a look of excitement on her face. She threw Larry an amused look over her shoulder and he smiled back, pulling her suitcase out of the trunk of the car. She turned back to Nicky and returned his grin. "That's awesome. You're still into hockey?"

"Sure," the boy nodded, before smirking mischievously. "I'm better than you at it."

Sarah gaped and when Nicky winked she laughed, lightly punching his shoulder. "Alright, Mr. Big Shot," she drawled. "I am not going to argue you on that."

"So," Larry said over the two as he finally approached them and stood by their side, Sarah's suitcase in his hands. "Are you two ready for the most awesome summer of your lives?"

"Yeah!" Nicky cheered and Sarah agreed, straightening up, letting out a laugh when Nicky grabbed her hand and began to pull her towards the entrance to the building, already chattering about the video game he was only a few hours short of completing.

Larry hovered behind for a few moments, watching their retreating backs. In truth, he was very glad that Sarah was staying. Partly for selfish reasons of course, for he knew Erica wouldn't protest against his requests for Nicky to spend more time with him if Sarah was in town. But Nicky always did get along with Sarah, the two fitting like two peas in a pod, more like a brother and a sister rather than cousins. They even looked almost creepily alike.

Shaking his head, he pulled the suitcase up the stairs to the apartment building and reached into his pocket, only for his smile to fall and a frustrated sigh to leave past his lips.

Nicky had his keys.


The first thing Sarah did when she went inside – after they went back downstairs to let Larry in of course – was excuse herself to the bathroom. She had just spent the entire day sitting down and she was terribly jet-lagged and while she wasn't particularly tired, which was strange considering how early she had gotten up, a splash of cold water seemed just the thing to stop her eyes from closing.

Nick and Larry sat down at the kitchen table, pulling a chair out for the third member of the company, the boy swinging his legs back and forth and impatiently tapping his fingers on the surface.

Larry's son stared pointedly at his father for five minutes but when the man remained oblivious, looking over an old take-away menu on the table, Nicky kicked him.

"Ow!" Larry yelped, startled, rubbing his knee and mockingly glaring at Nicky. "What was that for?"

Nick looked at his dad pleadingly. "Come on, dad. Sarah would love it."

The older man sighed, not wanting to have that particular conversation again. "Nicky, we discussed this," Larry said quietly, checking that his niece was still in the bathroom. The sound of running water into the sink confirmed that. "We can't let other people know."

"Know what?" Sarah asked. Larry whipped around to face her and she looked at them both questioningly, her hands reaching for her suitcase. At his wide-eyed stare, she smiled apologetically. "Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt, I just forgot my towel."

She quickly pulled her towel out of her bag and moved to leave, drying her hands. When she turned her back to them and seemed to head back to the bathroom, Nicky put his hands together, mouthing 'please' over and over again.

Larry maintained his defiance for a few seconds before giving in, shaking his head. "Sarah?" he called, catching the girl just as she was about to disappear around the corner.

She turned around, hesitating in the doorway and smiled politely, raising an eyebrow. "Yeah?"

"How..." Larry began tentatively, glancing at his son as he licked his lips. Nicky nodded in encouragement. Larry, against his better decision, made up his mind and turned back to his niece with a smile. "How would you like to accompany me and Nick here to work tonight?"

Sarah was caught off-guard to say the least but when Nick turned his expectant eyes to her she smirked and leaned against the wall, folding her arms over her chest. "Tonight? I don't know boys... I mean, I've heard most terrible stories... I'm not sure I can handle dinosaurs coming to life at my age..."

Even though she faked her interest, Larry didn't miss the fact that even when she would play along with Nick's stories, Sarah never sounded patronising, instead she always encouraged him in whatever it was he chose to do.

"Oh come on," Nick pleaded, jumping from his chair and running over to his cousin, stretching on his tip-toes so he could appear as tall as he could. "It will be great. I know everyone there, I can give you a tour!"

Sarah could never say 'no' to Nicky, not when he used his best puppy-eyes impression on her. "Well," she pretended to sigh in defeat, "I can't possibly say 'no' to a free tour and my very own tour guide, now can I?" Nick smiled even wider than was possible. Sarah looked at Larry, putting her towel over her shoulder. "Are you sure it's alright?"

"Yeah," the man waved his hand nonchalantly. "It'll be fine. Nick's over all the time."

"Okay," Sarah nodded slowly, pushing off from against the wall. "Well, I'll go have a shower and attempt to fit in short nap, if it's alright with you two."

"Sure," Larry called after her for she had already began to move back towards the bathroom. "We'll wake you at dinner time." He shook his head, his smile falling the moment Sarah left the room. Oh boy, the girl was in for a night of her life, whether worst or best he didn't know. "This is... this is a very bad idea. This is not gonna go well."

Nick ran back to the table, grinning from ear to ear as he took his seat. "Told you she'd want to come."

Larry nodded then pointed his index finger at Nicky, leaning over the table to whisper, "If she has a heart attack, I'm blaming you."

All Nick did was shrug, the smile never leaving his face. "Okay."