Hello again...

Stuff happens in this chapter…not all of it very believable…please just roll with it…

There is some swearing in this chapter

This is a pretty long chapter…sorry

In the last chapter, Nate and Elena ended up in Iraq because their marriage was stagnating…standard stuff

Part 2

'Iraq?' Chloe blurted out, 'Why on earth would Nate take Elena there? It's not exactly a relaxing place.'

'One word answers all that,' Sully replied, 'adventure.'

'What's that supposed to mean?' Barry asked as he threw down some poker chips onto the table.

Ted looked at his cards, pondered and then folded.

'I figured that what was really wrong with those two is that they weren't exactly getting enough…one on one time,' Sully explained.

'That much was obvious,' Chloe muttered, but still didn't understand why someone would choose Iraq to remedy this.

'So I thought I'd send them on a grand adventure with plenty of danger, guns, explosions and ancient stuff. Y'know, bring back that spark when they first met, or some sorta' crap like that.'

Alex gurgled in his high chair.

'Isn't that a little irresponsible? I mean what about the baby?' Barry said.

'I could hardly send them with the baby,' Sully said.

'That wasn't my point,' Barry sighed and thought that giving Nate and Elena a normal holiday would have been just fine.

The group continued playing cards but Chloe wasn't really paying attention. Her thoughts were stewing. She got the feeling she was having a hard time accepting Elena's and Nate's holiday plans because she was jealous of them.

Chloe wanted the adventure. She wanted the guns. The explosions. The adrenaline. Knowing that whether you made it through the next minute or not relied purely on a shit load of luck and a handy niche in a cliff.

How long had it been? Too long. Way too long.

Chloe glanced at Ted who sat opposite her. His face wore a pensive expression. She wasn't sure if that was because of the hand he had just been dealt or the fact that Alex was growing on him and he was getting attached.

He was very good with children but Chloe couldn't help but feel pulled towards something else. An almost physical tug was telling her run. Run to the adventure.

It wasn't fair that Elena and Nate got to have all the fun. Right?

But she had promised. Promised not to leave the man sitting opposite her.

Crud.

There had to be a way round this.

…

If Ted was an aristocratic English gentleman he would have shot Chloe in the head by now because she looked so damn rabbity. Her eyes shifted to and fro and he could hear her boot tapping against the floor.

He knew what it was. If there was anything that could make Chloe so terribly obvious about her stress was when she was arguing with herself over something. It usually had something to do with him. It was that damned adventure talk.

Chloe was going to have a hard time letting this one go.

Ted sighed and prepared himself for the unexpected because that's usually what Chloe did in these moments.

'Ted, can I have a word in the kitchen?' Chloe asked.

Here we go, thought Ted as he scraped his chair back.

Chloe rounded on him as soon as they were both alone.

'Let's go on a trip,' she said suddenly.

Ted wanted to grin. He wondered whether he should let Chloe know she was being only a smidgen less transparent than the kitchen window she was standing in front of.

'Oh yes? What about Alex?' Ted asked.

'Umm…Sully can look after him. He is his godfather, after all,' Chloe said as if hit by sudden inspiration.

'Ok, but where are we going to go?'

'Uh, Australia?'

'Australia,' Ted replied with a deadpan expression.

'Yes, you've always wanted to go…y'know to see where I grew up and stuff,' Chloe said in an off-hand way.

While this was true, Ted wasn't convinced. He was going to agree though, he knew it, because more than anything else he wanted to prove to Chloe that he wasn't in any way trying to domesticate their situation or, ultimately, ban at all the adventurous lifestyle that they both enjoyed so much. Too often Chloe assumed he wanted them settle down, put down roots and turn into old gnarled trees together. This wasn't quite the case.

'Ok cool, let's go,' he said.

Needless to say Chloe thought she was being a diabolical mastermind.

…

'So we're looking for the Hanging Gardens of Babylon,' Elena said slowly, mentally counting to ten.

'Yep.'

'And you couldn't have told me this before?'

'I wanted it to be a surprise and I didn't think you'd want to come,' Nate said, it was his earnestness that saved him from the brunt of Elena's wrath.

'That's sweet of you Nate. Really. But you should have told me before I packed. I've got a book and a bikini. Iraq and bikinis don't mix.'

'Bikinis mix with everything,' Nate replied, ever the man.

Elena sighed, 'Ugh, but what about Alex? Adventures come with dangers, what if something happens to us?'

While she was greatly annoyed at the way in which Nate had convinced her she did feel slightly relieved that they weren't in such a bad place, domestically not geographically, as she had thought. The plane journey had been filled with anxious thoughts about what they were going to discuss.

'No one knows about the Gardens' location, we'll be fine,' Nate said as he grabbed their bags from the plane and trotted down the creaky steps that had been wheeled into place.

'I wasn't really worried about that. It's the more the fact that we're in Iraq….a war happened here. This place isn't safe at all.'

Nate took stock of his surroundings. He had landed in an abandoned airport that was little more than a glorified dirt strip and a corrugated iron hut. An Iraqi flag hung lifelessly from a rusty pole. A trusty Jeep was waiting for them at the hut.

'We'll be fine. Trust me. When was the last time we had a vacation, just the two of us?' Nate said heading towards the vehicle.

Elena thought it was sad that she had to pause to think about this.

'It was years ago, before Alex was born. We went to Kenya,' Elena replied after a while, resignedly trudging beside her husband.

'Oh yeah, I remember now,' Nate laughed, 'that was a good holiday.'

Elena turned to look at him, 'Wait, what? I couldn't sit for two days and the scratches on your back got infected by those flies that lay eggs in the skin.'

Nate grinned in remembrance, 'Yeah, like I said, a good holiday.'

Elena rolled her eyes with a mumbled 'Oh jeez.'

Nate shifted his grip on the luggage and draped his free arm over Elena's shoulders.

'Hey, I'm kidding, it was traumatic. Nobody should have flies coming outta' their skin.'

'Don't even, I remember when we went to the clinic, you grinned like an idiot when the doctor raised an eyebrow at those scratches.'

'You make it out like I was nothing but an immature college kid. If I remember correctly, you weren't so bothered about the whole sitting thing.'

Elena nudged Nate with an elbow, 'Shut it.'

'What? I'm not allowed to have a valid argument?'

'No, you're not. That's part of marriage. I'm right. Always.'

Nate frowned, 'I don't remember that part.'

'It's in the small print,' Elena replied.

'You're shitting me? Marriage has small print? You didn't tell me,' Nate grumbled.

'It's just after the bit about not having a sex life but before the mandatory number of in-law visits you can expect in a year,' Elena explained.

'That explains a lot,' Nate said and threw the bags into the back of the Jeep that they had reached.

Elena peered into the shabby iron structure. There wasn't a soul in sight.

'This place is deserted,' Nate said, noticing her look around, 'There isn't a populated village for miles and this isn't a militia hot spot. We can take the Jeep for most of the journey and then we'll have to hike a little.'

Elena walked over to the passenger side of the Jeep and brushed the dusty seat with a hand. There was something about the feeling of the worn fabric beneath her fingertips that made her think of memories from their adventuring days. This was soon followed by a familiar build-up of excitement. The unknown was upon them. Who knows what might happen from here on out? It could be, just as Nate had said, a simple journey with nothing to trouble them but…but knowing them it would probably turn out to be something more.

Elena wondered whether it was a bad thing that she did want this little journey not to go to plan and swung herself into the Jeep with a light mood.

Nate sat behind the steering wheel but didn't move to turn the ignition.

'Is something wrong?' Elena asked.

'I want you to know that what I said to get you here…I did mean it. You gotta tell me what I'm doing wrong. I'm not good at this domestic stuff.'

Elena smiled, 'You're not doing anything wrong. Seriously. All couples go through this.'

'Really? Jeez, I was worried. We used to be the fun people, when did we get so old?' Nate replied looking visibly relieved.

'We got married and had a kid,' Elena laughed but there was a guilty itch irritating a corner of her conscious. She was going to have to tell Nate at some point.

'I don't regret that, y'know. Never,' Nate said.

Elena wondered whether Nate knew how much those few words meant to her.

…

'Uh, Chloe?'

'Yeah?'

'This doesn't look like Australia.'

'What does it look like?'

'Iraq, Chloe. This looks like Iraq.'

'Good,' Chloe replied, ''Cause that's where we're supposed to be.'

Ted was not impressed.

…

'Nate?'

'Yup?'

'Where did you see us ending up after we first met?' Elena asked.

Nate was quiet for a moment, gathering his thoughts as he deftly steered the jeep over the rutted road.

He was about to answer in his usual wise-ass way but then, wisely, opted for the truth.

'I've never really felt a connection or anything like that about a country. I was born in the States, sure, but not a lot of good happened there,' Nate began and then added, 'till now, of course. I thought that we'd get rich off some adventure. I'd buy a bar on a beach on a tropical island and not really give a damn about anything. We'd go sailing and flying or whatever the hell else you wanted to do and then when all the fun was over we'd return home to our beautiful beach shack -.'

'Sorry, where?' Elena interrupted.

'Our shack. Y'know, one of those wooden ones, right on the waterline.'

'Does it have electricity? Or plumbing?' Elena asked, not even bothering to ask if it was protected by sufficient coastal defences.

Nate thought about this for a moment, 'I hadn't actually thought about that. If you want there to be electricity and all that, then it's there.'

Elena laughed. Trust Nate to have the unrealistic fantasy.

'There is a bed though, a really big one,' Nate thought it prudent to add.

Elena rolled her eyes, 'Of course there is.'

Nate was happy enough to see that Elena wasn't too mad about the whole Iraq thing.

'What about you? Where did you see us going?'

'You really wanna' ask a woman that?' Elena joked.

'Sure.'

'Well, as cheesy as it sounds, I think we're probably there,' Elena said twisting the wedding ring on her finger.

'What? Dog tired and sexually frustrated?' Nate wondered out loud.

Elena shoved him hard with a hand.

'No, idiot. Happily married, a kid. Pretty much the only thing that's missing is the dog,' she said.

'I'm not sure we could handle a dog,' Nate replied with a grin.

'I agree, we'll just leave it at kids,' Elena said.

There was a moment of silence.

'Kids? As in…more than one?' Nate managed to ask.

Elena gave him a look, 'I just meant human babies in general….no pets.'

'Oh, right.'

Elena wasn't sure if she was happy about the relief in Nate's voice.

More children. It wasn't something they had really discussed although there were some good reasons why. Elena's first pregnancy was unplanned and hadn't really gone very well. First there were medical complications and then, once the premature Alex had actually been born, he had been kidnapped. It was enough to put anyone off.

It wasn't something they liked to think about either. No control and too much chance. A minute shift in luck would've changed everything. They wouldn't be parents and that was a scary thought. Would they have had the courage to try again? Could they have even stayed with each other after the self-assigned blame and grief? Elena sometimes doubted it.

On a lighter note, there seemed to be a distinct lack of activity that would bring about more children anyway.

Elena sat on her mental fence and pushed the matter aside. That was a question for another day.

Nate sensed the shift in mood and while correctly guessing what it was about, he too, avoided mentioning anything. It was a muddled area for both of them. Something that they still couldn't talk about properly because it was all too easy to imagine what could've been.

'While we've gone all serious for a moment,' Elena began, 'There's something I have to tell you.'

Nate gave her a sideways look with a genuinely worried expression.

Elena sighed, it was time. She couldn't hide from this any longer. When she caught sight of Nate's wretched expression, the guilt built to an unmanageable level. She couldn't let Nate think that he was the sole reason their marriage had stagnated.

'Don't look at me like that,' Elena began, 'It's not that bad.'

Nate gave her an appraising look, 'Really? Because you sounded dead serious.'

'It's…It's to do with the lack of sex…in the marriage…,' Elena continued.

'Do I need to stop the car?' Nate asked. This was really the kind of conversation where he felt he needed to have full concentration.

'No, no…it'll make it easier for me to say,' Elena said. 'The reason we haven't had much time for this is because….'

Nate was suitably worried. His mind pin wheeled with what Elena was about to say. The reason they weren't having sex anymore? Wasn't it because they didn't have enough time? Well, that being said, they could have made the effort before…

Was Elena going to say that she wasn't attracted to him anymore? Was he getting old and out of shape? Was he losing his hair? Did Elena really hate bald men? Crap, he was getting unattractive in his old age! When had he become such an old man? And where had this sudden compulsion to buy a leather jacket and a Ferrari come from? Mid-life crisis? Wait, maybe Elena doesn't even like men anymore…craaaaaaaaap…he'd been such a bad husband she's actually been turned to women! Nate's man brain actually slowed down here to appreciate the thought and then Elena finished the sentence.

'I may have been using a sex-for-chores scheme, and then withheld it when it stopped working.'

Nate braked suddenly to a stop.

…

'Chloe, why are we in Iraq?'

'We're gonna beat Nate and Elena to the gardens and rub it in their faces,' Chloe explained as if this was the most simple concept ever.

Ted sighed and scrubbed a hand down his tired face. While he knew that this was going to happen it still annoyed him a little that Chloe really felt that the deception was necessary.

'Why did you have to lie?' he asked.

Chloe continued lowering the ramp of their small cargo plane. A compact Jeep was in the hold with the rest of their luggage. Over the noise, Chloe must not have heard because she didn't answer.

With a harsh scrape the ramp made contact with the Iraqi soil.

Dry desert air filled the cramped space.

There was quiet and Chloe dumped their stuff into the boot of the Jeep. Before she could get into the vehicle Ted closed in on her. Almost pinning her to the car door, he caught Chloe by surprise.

His hair ruffled and his expression a little pissed off, Chloe wondered where this was going. They were either going to add a compact Jeep in a cargo plane in Iraq to the list of places they had slept together or get into a major row. Chloe wasn't sure if it was a good thing that she enjoyed both.

'Why did you lie?' Ted repeated.

Ah, Chloe thought, a row it is then.

'It seemed like a good idea at the time,' she said.

'Why?' Ted was too exasperated to be truly angry, 'If you'd told me you wanted to go on an adventure I would have said yes. You know that. Why do you insist on the games?'

Chloe internally squirmed. He had a point. He always had a point. Possibly, just possibly, she sometimes got a case of intense tunnel-vision. And perhaps she sometimes forgot that Ted didn't want to shackle her to the family idyll she so despised.

'Urgh,' she began her argument less than articulately, 'I'm sorry. I didn't think you'd agree because I know you want to settle down, have kids, turn into trees, that kind of thing. We've been pretty boring these past few months I was worried you'd gotten used to it.'

Ted slammed his palms against the Jeep and let out a grunt. 'Chloe, we've been over this. I don't want to turn into a tree.'

'But you don't deny the settling down thing,' Chloe said with a triumphant gleam in her eye.

Ted dropped his head and mentally counted to ten.

'Look, I love you. You know that. I'd never force you into something you don't want. I don't even know what I want; all I have figured out is that you're a part of it. I don't see visions of our hordes of children and our white picket fence. There's just you and that's enough. Also, I don't like being boring either. If you remember, I used to be a mercenary. I used to eat firefights for breakfast. I once stitched a gunshot wound in your leg and I'm not even a medically trained professional.'

'Yes,' Chloe mused with a hint of a smile, 'Heady days. But that was a while ago.'

Ted looked up again and couldn't resist a grin when their eyes met.

'I miss the adventures too. Don't forget that,' he said.

'I won't,' Chloe promised.

'Good. Also, please stop attacking me when we see children,' Ted said.

Chloe snorted. 'I'll try.'

There was a quiet moment.

'That was a really crap row. We're usually better than that,' Chloe muttered.

'Yeah, but I didn't really want to fight. I wanted to do that other thing we do when we get all angry at each other,' Ted said.

'We don't have time for that,' Chloe huffed.

Ted gave her a look.

'Ok, we might have time for that.'

…

The engine plinked gently in the arid heat.

Nate turned slowly to Elena.

'You what?'

Elena figured he had the right to sound so very incredulous but something in her bit back. Well, it wasn't like she had any other choice. Nate was completely useless around the house. Was it too much to ask for a little help around the place? She had a job and still managed to do her fair share of the housework.

'I had sex with you so you would do jobs around the house,' Elena said simply.

Nate turned back to the windscreen and gazed out over the surrounding desert.

'All, this time…all this time I thought I was doing something wrong,' he said quietly as if he was talking to himself.

'Hey, let's not get into right or wrong here,' Elena replied and mentally added that he had done something wrong – his whole attitude to chores had brought this on himself.

Nate shot her a look, 'I'm pretty sure manipulating people with sex is wrong.'

'That's not the point,' Elena said.

'How is that not the point? Of course it's the point!' Nate replied, voice rising in heat and volume.

'Nuh-uh. The point is I had to resort to those kinds of measures just to get you to clean the gutters. Why the heck won't you just do it when I ask normally?' Elena returned, almost at a snarl. It felt oddly satisfying to vent the frustration that had slowly built up.

Nate made a feeble attempt to defend himself from this onslaught but Elena cut him off.

'Don't even try to deny it, mister. You don't do anything unless it effects Alex in some way, then you're all over it but the minute I ask you to take the trash out, fix the fence, rake the leaves it's a quick pit-stop in the bedroom. And don't even let me get started on the habits. Would it kill you to learn what can go in the dryer and what can't? And when you hoover the floor…fucking hoover the floor, don't just do the bits that are easy to get to. Also, don't leave the greasy burnt pans to solidify for two days before cleaning it…soak the damn thing first - .'

Nate sat in stunned silence. His expression was akin to one who had been forcefully slapped. Twice.

'Hey, give me some credit,' he managed shakily, 'it's got that non-stick layer thing so it doesn't matter…'

'Did. Nate. Did. It did have a non-stick layer till you chipped the damn thing off while trying to clean said pans,' Elena said. She was on a roll now. Yes, she sounded incredibly hormonal and whiny but nothing would change if she didn't say anything out loud. So many times she had gritted her teeth, cursed quietly and bottled up her annoyance.

Nate went quiet again. He wasn't sure whether to be angry or apologetic. Judging by Elena's outburst it would have to be the latter. Maybe he had been a bit lazy…

In a moment of clarity though, Nate realised one thing that did make him feel a lot better.

'Thank God,' he muttered.

'What?' Elena narrowed her eyes, misinterpreting his remark for a 'Thank God – she's finally shut the hell up, the crazy bitch'.

'I was just thinking,' Nate explained, 'that at least I know what the problem is now. It's something I can fix easily. I can't do anything about going bald or you suddenly liking women.'

Elena snorted at the thought of chrome-dome Nate, 'What are you talking about? You're not going bald. I also don't care if you do go bald. And why would I start liking women? Do I even want to know how you came to these conclusions?'

Nate let his head fall back onto the car seat and then frowned, 'Wait, you judge me for my dodgy logic but doesn't withholding sex bother you too?'

'Yes, but I was so stubborn it didn't matter. I was punishing you and it seemed to be working. That was good enough for me,' Elena said with a shrug.

'Now that doesn't make sense,' Nate said.

'It's a woman thing,' Elena said as a way of explanation.

'Has to be,' Nate grumbled, 'Because it's crazy.'

The two sat in silence for a few moments, slowly baking in the heat.

'Are we good?' Elena asked quietly after a few minutes.

'Yeah, we're good,' Nate replied, 'but you owe me, big time.'

Elena turned to him, 'What? You've been a lousy husband for months…surely that cancels all this out?'

'It doesn't because withholding sexy times is pretty mean and underhanded. You coulda' just told me what was up,' Nate replied.

Elena seriously doubted whether that method would have worked but had to partly agree. Her attitude hadn't exactly helped their current marital situation.

'Ok, fine,' she acquiesced, 'I owe you but you better start doing stuff around the house.'

Nate's gleeful look worried Elena greatly.

The Jeep started up again and soon they were speeding away towards the looming mountains.

…

Once a compact Jeep in a cargo plane in Iraq had well and truly been added to the list, Chloe and Ted were on their way, racing towards the same peaks that Elena and Nate were.

'So do we have any background information on this little excursion? Any nasty booby-traps or supernatural oddities I need to know about?' Ted asked as he spread a map over the dashboard while Chloe drove.

'Sully said there wasn't anything to worry about. In all honesty I don't think the Gardens will be anything more than a glorified cave with some ancient flower pots,' Chloe explained.

'Care to enlighten me on what's so thrilling about this trip, then?' Ted joked.

'Well, we're in a pretty dangerous country. And when we expect things to go well…they never do…I'm banking on that,' Chloe replied.

'Of course you were,' Ted said to himself out loud and Chloe shot him a look.

'I've got a few guns if we need them,' Chloe added.

'Of course you have,' Ted said, still peering at the map.

Chloe groaned.

'You still haven't forgiven me, have you?' she said, 'After all we did in the Jeep in the cargo plane. The suspension on this thing is shot to pieces.'

Ted grinned, 'I have, don't worry. It's nice to tease though.'

'Arse,' Chloe grumbled in response.

Ted winked at her and then returned to frowning at the map.

'What the heck am I supposed to be looking for?' Ted muttered.

Chloe stabbed at the map randomly without taking her eyes from the road.

'There, right at that border with Iran. In the mountains,' she explained.

'That is literally all this map is showing. Anything else?' Ted asked.

'Uh, yeah, read this thing, Sully gave it,' Chloe fished out a piece of paper from her pocket and handed it to Ted. He scanned it quickly.

'So the Gardens are meant to be hidden in some mountains, in some kind of hidden valley thing,' Ted said.

'Yep. Apparently they were built for the wife of Nebuchadnezzar around 600BC. So far no evidence of the gardens exists in what used to be Babylon but Sully's contact thinks they're looking in the wrong place.'

'Go figure,' Ted said in a deadpan tone, 'the Hanging Gardens of Babylon are not in Babylon. Makes perfect sense.'

Chloe gave him a dirty look, 'All right, no need to get catty. Well, anyways, Sully's contact says there's a strange spike in the number of plant species around this one area of the Iraqi mountains. For some reason in the surrounding area there are the usual shrubs and whatnot but one area, this one here,' at this point Chloe finally prodded the right bit of the map, 'there's a sudden increase in the number of species. The plants all get rather tropical from what I can gather. Some of them can only be found in this one area and are even referenced in ancient texts.'

'I see,' Ted mused. He was still rather sceptical.

Chloe sighed, she could sense Ted's reluctance to believe but she had a gut feeling. Sully's contact was on to something. There was also the added bonus that Nate was also following this hunch. That man had a nose for sensing out a real quest.

Ted sat back in his seat and watched the countryside blur past.

Despite what Chloe may have thought, he was genuinely excited about this trip. It had been a while since something had brought them together like this.

Danger was to be expected and while Ted was prepared for it he found himself hoping that there wasn't going to be much of it.

Nate and Elena were parents.

Chloe and him were…well they were together and that was what mattered.

They couldn't afford to take chances. They had responsibilities, things bigger than themselves to protect.

Ted wondered if he was the only one thinking these things.

It turned out that he wasn't.

'I've been talking about this whole trip as if it's nothing,' Chloe said quietly, 'but I want you to know that I have thought about this and I'm not running into this willy-nilly or anything like that. We've established that neither one of us wants to be trees but I do want to make it to that age. I want to see you grow old and all that crap. I know we're not invincible.'

Ted was quiet for a very long time.

'Willy-nilly?' he said finally.

Chloe rolled her eyes.

…

Having ditched the Jeep a while ago when they finally reached the mountain they were looking for, Nate and Elena hiked steadily up the slopes.

'I'm kinda surprised at the all the wildlife here,' Elena said after a while. For some reason this mountain was a lot greener than the surrounding ones.

'Yeah, Sully mentioned something about that but I kinda zoned out,' Nate replied.

'You? Zone out of possible information leading to the famed Gardens of Babylon? That's impossible,' Elena joked.

'Well, to be honest, I heard the word Iraq and then thought about going on a trip with you and then I was thinking about how weird our marriage had got,' Nate explained truthfully.

'Ok, ok, before I start feeling guilty again, what else did Sully say? We found the mountain but did he say anything about an entrance?'

Nate rooted around in his rucksack till he found a piece of paper containing the details Sully had given him. He frowned.

'Uh, no is the answer to your question. Sully's contact only pinpointed the right mountain,' he said.

Elena sighed in frustration and kicked a rock down the mountain.

Without warning the ground they were standing on began to sink.

'What the -.'

Nate didn't even get to finish his sentence because the very rocks they were standing on were now falling, rolling away down a sharp incline that led towards the inside of the mountain.

In a few short seconds both Nate and Elena were joining those rocks. The two of them half tumbled half slid down the rocky chute with bone jarring thuds and numerous scrapes.

On their way down, Elena caught herself thinking that this was all a bit much for kicking one rock.

And when they finally stopped rolling, Nate managed to recover first and noticed a thin beam of light illuminating a small raised platform, right in the centre of the cavern they had fallen into.

What was being revealed on this platform was most unexpected.

…

Chloe braked to a halt alongside and Nate and Elena's Jeep.

'Engine's cool,' Ted said, testing the metal with a palm.

'They can't be too far ahead,' Chloe muttered, 'We can catch up with them.'

Ted eyed the mountains, 'I don't know, there isn't exactly a neon sign telling us where to look. The entrance could be anywhere. Sully's contact wasn't very helpful on that.'

Before Chloe could reply there was a sudden rumble. High up above them a cloud of dust pouffed outwards as a part of the mountain seemed to crumble in on itself. An opening appeared as the mountainside swallowed loose rubble greedily.

Eventually the rumbling subsided and the only noise that could be heard were the final few rocks lazily tumbling down the slope.

Ted and Chloe looked at each other.

'It's not a neon sign,' Chloe said slowly, 'But it's pretty damn close.'

They scrambled towards the opening.

…

'What the heck is that?' Elena said with utter disbelief. She knew what it was but her brain couldn't quite comprehend what it was seeing. Maybe she had hit her head on something. Maybe she was hallucinating.

Nate strode up to the object, 'It's…it's a bed.'

Elena struggled after him, 'What the…an actual bed?'

Nate sat down on the oddly located item of furniture, 'Wow, this isn't any old Ikea thing; it's a solid wood four-poster.'

Elena touched one of the posts. It didn't seem ancient and it had an almost suspicious lack of dust on it.

'Y'know how you said this place was deserted?' Elena said slowly.

'Yeah,' Nate said, testing the bounce on the mattress.

'I think someone has been here, recently.'

'No way. We're the only people here. If anyone else had been here they would have set off that ridiculous rock slide that we just survived,' Nate assured her.

Elena had to admit that he did have a point, but it was still worrying.

'Y'know how I said you owed me,' Nate said with a gleam in his eye.

'Yeah,' Elena replied slowly. She had a horrible feeling she knew where this conversation was going.

'I want to cash it. In full. Right now.'

'You're kidding, right? Here?' Elena was mortified.

Nate looked around and then at the bed, 'It's a sign. The powers that be want this to happen. Why else would there be a four poster bed in the Hanging Gardens of Babylon?'

Elena was pretty sure it wasn't so they could have make-up sex on it.

She was right

Thanks for reading…

I realised this went on too long but couldn't find a good place to stop so I just made the end sections really small lol

Don't even ask how Chloe and Ted caught up with Nate…they just did…

In this little story I've realised the characters aren't really the same as in the previous one…they've changed a bit…sorry about that…

Ted seems a bit immature here…he's usually the mature one lol

I've made up all the Hanging Gardens of Babylon plant life stuff…it is true though that there is no evidence of it…some people think it was probably just a legend….

In this chapter it looks like I'm obsessed with trees…I'm not…honest…

You could probably tell that Elena's rant was possibly based on some kind of truth lol

I hope the new Uncharted game is good…if there are any British bad guys, I'm not going to be happy…there's been one in every game so far…Roman, Flynn, Marlow and her motley crew of bald, leather-jacketed pub brawlers…they probably have bad teeth too…the level of stereotyping is too damn high as some would say lol