A/N: Oh god guys what have you done?
you shouldn't be encouraging me to write this because I am going to be drowning in feels.
anyway I hope you like this one … because honestly I have no idea what I am doing.
I just hope its as good as you wish.
It felt as if she had only been asleep for a few hours, but in reality, Stella had been asleep for most of the day. Larry actually felt bad for her, considering she - lost? Gained? A day. He almost didn't want to wake her at all but … checking his watch it was almost sundown and he had to be at work soon, plus if he knew his sister like he thinks he knows his sister. Stella would want to come. If he left without Stella. Stella would be pissed. Her words.
"Has she always slept like that?" the question seemed to come out of nowhere as Nick appeared beside his father, almost scaring him to death. Larry let his gaze slip from the awkwardly sleeping Stella to his son.
"Uh … pretty much." Larry replied he couldn't help but wince every time he saw her sleeping. Stella would always sleep as if she was a dog. Her top half of her body bent sideways almost touching her hips, on this bed her head fell over the edge and her legs positioned on the highest thing she could reach, like the windowsill.
"Should we wake her?" Nick asked. He had rarely seen his Aunt while growing up but he would never forget how truly amazing she was when it came to their fight against the old night guards. She had quite literally kicked their ass; Nick still couldn't forget how she almost punched one across the face, granted his Dad had to hold her back.
Larry stared down at Stella before rolling his eyes.
"Stella…" he called. No answer. Typical. She could practically sleep through a flash storm and still not wake up. "Stellla…" he sung as he got down on his knees and moved over to the bed, poking at her mess of blonde hair. "Stella!" he shouted which seemed to do the trick because Stella flew up from her position, whacking Larry on the nose in the process, he fell backwards hand against his nose. Should have seen that coming, he thought to himself as he touched his nose with a finger, oh good it wasn't broken just slightly sore.
"What! I'm UP! What did I miss? Has the museum got hotdogs yet?" questions flew out of her mouth as she looked around the room, before her eyes settled on her nephew. "NICKY!" Nick and Larry both winced at her raised voice. Then she fell back against the bed eyes closed. Nick raised a brow at his dad.
"What was that?"
"Oh - never wake your Aunt up." He grumbled as he pulled himself up off of the floor. "She has a tendency to punch you in the face,"
"I heard that … besides It was your fault for standing right in front of me," she replied her face splitting into a grin; she hadn't opened her eyes yet until she remembered seeing what Larry was wearing. One eye cracking open she looked at the two boys, who were now standing on the 'ceiling'. "Why are you wearing your work clothes? Did you just get home?" she asked. Larry rolled his eyes as he turned to leave the bedroom. "What?" Stella turned her gaze to Nick who just grinned down at her.
"He's ready to leave for work," Nick answered for her. That was when Stella jumped up from her bed.
"What time is it?" the blonde asked only to let her eyes land on the clock that hung from the wall just above the doorframe. "It's 4:30?" she questioned and Nick nodded his head.
"You've been asleep the whole day, Aunt Stella,"
"Wow … Oh," she mumbled something before she took off towards the bathroom. Nick was left by himself in the spare room, before he shook his head. He loved his family dearly, but really, they were so weird sometimes.
"Are you sure they remember me?" it was the same question but asked in a slightly different way from all of the others. "Are you sure? Are you absolutely a hundred percent positively certain that they do?" Larry sighed as he came to a stop at the bottom of the stairs that led to the front doors of the Museum.
"Stella yes they remember. Yes, I am sure. Yes I am a hundred percent positive," he replied and Stella let out a sigh of relief her breath letting a small cloud of steam leave her lips. Stella was wearing almost every winter piece of clothing she packed, which was in the words of Larry not necessary…
"'Ella you don't need to wear that many items of clothing," he commented from where he stood at the front door. Erica had just been to pick up Nick, who did not mention that Stella was back in town. Stella had come out wearing a short-sleeved t-shirt, a pair of black riding pants and black boots. In her hands was her jacket, her jumper and then her massive coat.
"Yes I do. I come from a very very different climate than yours," she retorted pulling on her jumper, then slipped on her jacket. "- where I'm from the temperature doesn't even touch anywhere in the low teens," again Celsius. "And if it were I would freeze like a poorly designed ice sculpture." Rolling his eyes, Larry opened the front door.
"Well come on then. We have at least another hour to get you…" he trailed off and then lifted his hands and made air quotations. "'Accustomed,' to the DC weather," a beaming smile he was greeted with as Stella placed her purple and black earmuffs over her ears.
From the complaining of the weather came the complaining of not being remembered by the exhibits. Stella looked up at the museum and then back to her brother licking her lips. "Larry I'm nervous," she mumbled before Larry gave a soft chuckle and placed his arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer to him.
"You'll be fine. Trust me; we still have …" watch check. "Another ten minutes for you to take a look around. There are new exhibits that weren't there before, I would bet you'd just love to see. I'm sure we have something to do with Australia," that was all it took to get Stella moving up the many steps, although she promised herself she would never do stairs aerobics again, this was slightly different. Pushing her way past the last couple of families and tourist Stella came to stand in the middle of the lobby, just in front of Rexy. A grin formed across her lips.
"Ahh - home sweet home." Leaving Larry to do what he does to get ready for the night, Stella shed her 'layers' of skin and took off to her right. Running through each exhibit, passing by the Stone Age, Attila, the mini figurines, the safari and then she found her an exhibit practically named. 'Australia.' "Woah," the gasp left her lips as she stepped in and looked around, she didn't even think that any kind of museum in America would hold such an amazing … display of her country. Stella was so entranced by the large map of her home that she didn't notice the section of the museum go dark before the lights were turned back on. She had missed sundown and missed the sudden surrounding that were the wax figures of the exhibit.
"Magnificent isn't she?" came a voice she didn't know, but her eyes never left the map that was a replica of the one Captain James Cook used to find Australia.
"She really is," her reply was low, eyes only briefly turning to look at the person who stood near her and then back to the map. That's when she did a double take - and almost screamed. "Uh … sorry. Who are … who are you?" she asked before she took in his attire. Naval hat, blue coat, white pants, black boots, sword in his holster … holy crap. The figure turned his head to look at Stella and give a wide smile holding out his hand.
"Ah Captain James Cook, Captain of the Endeavour founded of Terra Australis." She almost melted on the spot as she shook his hand with enthusiasm. It wasn't until she heard the music from downstairs in the lobby that she realised how much time had past from the moment she met … one of the many founders of Australia to the moment that she saw a mini car driving into the exhibit.
"Ahh look who finally decided to show up after all these years," she heard the accented voice of one Jedediah. A grin spread across Stella's face before she turned back to Captain Cook and excused herself. The Captain gave a bright smile, he seemed to have taken the news that the country had been colonised and she was one of the many offspring. "Gigantoress," Stella leant down onto her knee and held out her hand so the two mini figures could step on.
"Jedediah and Octavius," she said watching as Octavius gave a small bow and Jed take of his hat and do the same.
"It is a pleasure to see you again, m'lady," Stella laughed as she placed them on her shoulder before leaning down and picking up their car.
"How have you boys been?" she asked. This indirectly led them into telling her all about how they had been. Getting along better than the last time, she had seen them. Stella made her way back past all the rooms having to stop every once and a while to receive a welcome back, even some of the animals had come to give her a welcome.
"What about you, my lady? How have you been fairing?" Octavius asked as he leaned against the side of ear. Stella almost shrugged before she remembered who was standing on them.
"Oh you know - the same old same old," she muttered. Nothing really to report on.
"Come on, Stella! There must be somethin' exciting that happened in your life?" Jed questioned and she gave him her best side on glare. Not realising that her thumb had come to rub at her left ring finger, before Stella could even answer they felt the ground begin to shake. A thumping noise could be heard around the corner that was just off the lobby. One … Two … Three. "Look out, I think Rexy must have smelt ya, darling," Stella grinned before placing the two back on the ground along with their car. Then Stella could clearly see the bony head of the T-Rex, laughing loudly as Rex came to a sudden stop in front of her, his bone in his mouth dropping to the floor.
"Hi Rexy," she greeted her hand coming up to pat the dinosaur on the nose. "Did you miss me?" the dinosaur bent down and wagged his tiny tail. Stella bent down to pick up his bone, to which he moved backwards until she threw it. The T-Rex took off down the hall to follow his bone.
"We all have," another new voice cut through the air and this time Stella did jump, turning around she found Ahkmenrah leaning against one of the many walls, a hand flew to rest on her chest.
"Jesus," she complained to which Ahkmenrah frowned. "Don't do that to me," she mumbled watching as he stepped closer. "You're going to give me a heart attack one day," huffing Stella stood up straighter, her cheeks feeling like they were on fire. Yep - there they go. Bright red. Screw being unbelievably pale.
"I apologise …" Stella shook her head with a smile.
"It's okay … just try not to sneak up on a woman," she started as she nudged him a little. "We can be very deadly when provoked." That made Ahk laugh. Oh good god. We've been talking for zero point three seconds and I already think his laugh is adorable. The two stared at each other for longer than they both realised before Stella cleared her throat. "So … how have you been, My King," she put on a fancy accent as she bowed ever so slightly.
"I have been well. What about you, Stella? The last time you were here … you seemed …"
"Yeah - I'm better now. Don't … Don't worry about me anymore, Ahk," she replied. More silence, with the exception of the loud music from down the hall. Noticing that Ahk was about to say something she quickly wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close for a hug. It took a few seconds for the Pharaoh to realise what was happening but he returned the hug. His arms wrapping around her waist, his eyes closed as he felt her hold him tighter. "I missed you too," she whispered burying her face against his neck.
So that part about not being able to look him in the eye … well not exactly true. It wasn't that she couldn't look him the eye because of how they first met; she couldn't look him in the eye for longer than thirty seconds before she starts having the urge to jump his bones. No pun intended. But the two did share some things that Stella wouldn't have told anybody else, not even Larry. At first it was because he was just a … mummy who only ever came to life at night, but then they seemed to join together at the hip and Stella saw Ahk as more than just something in the museum but she saw him as a friend … best friend.
"Alright come on you love birds," Larry's voice broke them apart and Stella turned her gaze to glare at her brother who had come looking for them. "…come on everyone is waiting for you two," he added winking at Stella. She rolled her eyes before turning back to Ahkmenrah and grinning at him. He returned her grin with one of his own, before she grabbed onto his hand and pulled him along the hallway and into the lobby. It was good to be home.
Ooookay.
How was that?
Was it okay?
Was everyone okay?
Oh god … I might need to go back and watch all the movies again before I even think about getting really into it. OH Also yes … I am Australian and has never been to the national museum so plllease forgive me for putting in exhibits that probably would never be, or wouldn't really work for the museum. :D
Anywaaay thank you to all who reviewed, favourite, and followed, I love reading what you all have to say! I love you all and until next time.
Peace
~ JFM ~
