A/N: I would once again like to thank my beta for all her help with this story.

Disclaimer: I still own nothing. This chapter draws heavily from the dialogue from the episode 'The Curse.'

Daniel watched the retreating figure of Dr. Granger before turning his focus back to Sarah, quirking his eyebrow.

"She has a lot of work she needs to compete before her deadline," she said, in answer to his unvoiced query. "Well, it looks like I'm all yours. I'm sorry. He's not usually like that. The last couple of days have been really hard on him." Sarah apologized for her colleague's earlier rudeness.

Startled at the unexpected subject change, it took a moment before Daniel could identify who Sarah was speaking of, "Steven? No, he's right. I should've come back sooner. I guess I was afraid I wouldn't be welcome."

"Are you joking?" replied Sarah. "Even after everything that happened, Dr. Jorden never thought any less of you. You were his best student."

"Yes, who became the laughingstock of the archaeological community."

"He kept hoping you'd find proof. Something to shut everyone up."

With a shake of his head, "No, he thought I was nuts."

"That's not true. Look, why do you think it's so hard for Steven to see you here? He's always been in your shadow. Even after you left."

"I hear his book's on the best-seller list."

"I know. He's getting a Porsche," said Sarah, trying not to laugh.

Daniel, who had no such qualms, let out a chuckle. "I know."

"Look, I have to admit, I thought you didn't come back because of me. We could've ended it better than we did." Sarah said, somberly.

Losing his jovial tone, Daniel replied, "Maybe. The truth is I got caught up in something incredible."

"You found something, didn't you? Something that supports your theory. Tell me. Come on," said an excited Sarah.

Sheepishly, "I can't."

"Daniel!"

Knowing he was not able to tell her the whole truth, Daniel replied captiously, "Okay. Let's just say that what the world knows about ancient Egypt barely scratches the surface. The truth is more incredible than any of us ever imagined."

"Nowthat's the Daniel I remember." Sarah looked around the empty cemetery. "Why don't we get out of here? I want to show you something. I thought you might like to see what we were working on before the accident."

Noticing her excitement, Daniel agreed. It wasn't a hard choice, given his natural curiosity. Since they both had cars, they agreed to drive over to the campus separately and meet up. On the drive over, Daniel took the time to study the subtle changes his old alma mater had undergone since he had last laid eyes on the place.

So much had happened in his life since then. He was a different man.

As Sarah led him through the archaeology department, Daniel felt himself slipping into the past. Last time he had been in this building, he had been turning in his resignation. As the academic community condemned his theories and his reputation was tarnished, the university had begun to withdraw funding from his research. He was forced to resign and move back to Los Angeles. Looking around, he could see the area had changed little, except for an array of items covering all the available workspace.

Regarding the selection, he exclaimed, "Wow. This stuff is incredible."

Caressing a gold bracelet, Sarah remarked, "I only wish we had more time with them. The Egyptian government has made a formal request for their return. We've been desperately trying to learn as much as can before the deadline."

Picking up a pot, he translated as he read: "Woe to all who disturb this, my final resting place."

"Careful now, all these artifacts are cursed. Well, that's what they say," scolded Sarah in a playful voice.

"Yeah, I read something like that."

"I'm not the expert; Hermione would know more. She has been researching the original site back in Egypt, and flew in from Cairo the moment we got hold of the collection. Every member of the original expedition in 1931 died within a year of the dig. And the ship transporting these artifacts to America sank off the coast of New Jersey six months later."

Racking his brain, Daniel finally remembered the name. "The Stevart Expedition."

"Yes."

"Uh, those deaths were attributed tomold spores that were released when they unsealed the chamber."

"Mold spores aren't exactly front page material," remarked Sarah.

"No, I guess not." Showing some confusion he asked, "Uh, if these things went down with the ship in 1931, how did they wind up here?"

"Well, they found the wreck a couple of months ago. All these artifacts were still in their packing crates. They brought it up and they shipped them to the museum. We just got them last week."

"Why did Dr. Granger come all the way here if they're to be sent back to Egypt? Why not just wait?" he asked with some confusion.

"She found an obscure form of writing on the chamber's walls. The translation has been giving her trouble and she was hoping to see if anything within the collection had similar inscriptions."

Feeling a slight sense of foreboding, Daniel asked "What kind of writing?"

Sarah shrugged her shoulders. "I can't really tell. You know translation was never one of my strong suits. It's from one of the early dynasties, but not quite." She gave him a self-conscious smile in acknowledgment of her shortcoming.

His interest was piqued. "Well, I can stay for a couple more days if you need some help cataloging these." A shocked look suddenly crossed Sarah's face as she looked about. "What?"

"Something is missing," Sarah said, her voice betraying her alarm.

"Uh, are you sure?"

"Positive. A gold amulet. Daniel, I've got to find it."

Leaning over an enlarged image of the canopic jar which had been destroyed in the explosion, Hermione tried to make out the writing along the rim. Even using a magnifying glass was proving to be a failure against the grainy picture. Becoming frustrated, she pulled out another image, hoping to find a better angle. She was too close to give up hope now.

It had been a whirlwind of activity since Dr. Jordan had set her up with her own workspace. Her days had been spent examining artifacts, running tests and trying to decode the writing she had. It was hard work trying to sort through the mess the collection was in after being trapped at the bottom of the ocean for so long. Half the artifacts had to be taken to be properly preserved by lab techs. The other half were being passed around to every researcher on the project to be catalogued, before she got a turn.

Then the lab had exploded and everyone had lost their way.

It had taken days just to clean up and be allowed back into the building after the police investigation. Time that she had used to examine the pictures taken of the artifacts and puzzle out the inscriptions from the site, at least when she was not avoiding Dr. Rayner. He had stopped by her hotel after the explosion to check in with her and would accidentally run into her when she was working in another part of the school. As much as he seemed to be interested in helping her with her research, he more often than not hindered it. And now she had finally found what she had come all this way to discover, another sample of the same obscure writing, but the object had been destroyed.

She was studying another photo intensely when Sarah rushed into the room in a panic.

"Oh, thank God, you're still here. I was worried when I couldn't find you, I thought you might have already gone back to your hotel for the night," babbled Sarah.

Concerned at the panicked tone of Sarah's voice, Hermione stopped her before she broke down completely. "Sarah, you need to calm down and tell me what's going on."

Taking a few steadying breaths, Sarah replied, "You know that gold amulet with the ebony bit?" Hermione nodded in the affirmative. "It's gone."

"Gone as in mislabeled or..."

"Gone as in if I don't find it I'm screwed."

Hermione could feel herself becoming alarmed now too. If the amulet was missing, it could very well mean Sarah's job was on the line. The theft of antiquities met with severe consequences from the Egyptian government. If something was lost, the university would be held responsible and would have to pay an enormous fine. Most likely Sarah's faculty position would be dissolved to pay for it.

"Do you have any idea where it could be?" inquired Hermione.

Sarah burst into tears, which Hermione knew had been building up for the past few days. With all the emotional upheaval of losing Dr. Jordan, and now the amulet, Sarah was overdue for a breakdown. "I don't know what could have happened; it was there when I locked up last night."

Hermione tried to soothe her. "Listen, I'm going to ask everyone who's been working today and you should double check your lab. If that doesn't work, call the lab doing the chemical testing to see if it was accidentally taken in. I'll also check with the curator and we can meet back up afterward."

"Oh, Daniel already said he would check with the curator," Sarah said, sniffling.

"Dr. Jackson?" Hermione asked, curious.

Still upset, but calming down, Sarah continued, "Yeah. I was showing him around when I noticed it was missing." She smiled a bit at a memory, "I was telling him about your mysterious writing which, knowing Daniel, he couldn't resist and he volunteered to help catalogue everything, since we are short-handed now."

Knowing she was still upset, Hermione led Sarah to a chair and gave her a tissue. Pouring some tea out of the portable kettle she had set up, Hermione tried to change the subject. "So, what's the story with you and this Daniel anyway?"

Hermione had been curious about the history between the mysterious doctor and her two colleagues since the funeral. Watching Sarah blush in answer to her question, she could guess at the relationship between the two.

"We met when he came to the school for his PhD, and was working under Dr. Jordan along with Steven and myself. He had these theories which were so amazing, so crazy, but the way he would talk about them made you want to believe. He just had this personality that was so magnetic. I had a huge crush on him for the longest time before we began to date. We just clicked so well, Daniel had this passion about him, such conviction, it was all very romantic. It was exciting being around someone with so much charisma, so stimulating intellectually, it was an experience."

Hermione could see the stirring of old emotions in her eyes. Listening to Sarah, Hermione felt very lonely all of a sudden.

She had never been in such a relationship before, one where both parties were equals. Her relationship with Ron had barely begun before it ended. The strain of a long-distance relationship, combined with his physical therapy, family obligations, and her new life was too much for the young couple. Both had mourned the ending, knowing that their fairytale dream was gone.

At university, she mostly kept to herself, only going on an occasional date. It wasn't until after she moved to Paris for her Masters that she dated anyone for an extended period of time. Leon Ashwind was a fellow student in her graduate classes. They had been in the same study group and saw each other for a few months, before calling it off. They never quite got past friendship, owing mostly to Leon questioning his sexual preference. Despite the awkward breakup, they remained close girlfriends to this day.

Hermione's only other relationship worth mentioning was with Omar Abassi. When her friends had learned she was moving to Egypt, they got Bill Weasley to contact some old colleagues to help keep an eye on her. Omar was one such associate: a darkly handsome cursebreaker she met when moving into her flat. In the course of her research, he helped to double check for traces of curses on any item she was working with. In exchange, she would often help with difficult to translate items he found at work. Despite the initial attraction, their relationship was stormy from the beginning. Omar was from an old, prestigious wizarding family and held many traditional beliefs, causing tension between the two. It was hard enough for her to be around someone who could still perform magic and had no understanding of Muggles, let alone someone who couldn't understand her need to be an independent woman.

Bringing her attention back to the conversation, Hermione listened more to the whirlwind affair of her colleagues. Trying to keep her thoughts from depressing her further, she teased Sarah. "I bet that wasn't the only thing stimulating."

Sarah laughed, turning crimson. "Oh, yeah."

"What happened?"

Sobering up with the old hurt, "It just got to be too much. His theories made him a laughingstock and it was just so hard to see him with all that potential go to waste."

Hermione let Sarah cry, knowing it had been a long time coming, before persuading her to leave for the day. She promised she would help Daniel look for the amulet.

Leaving Sarah to go search for the amulet, Daniel made his way to find the curator. There was a tingle of worry working its way up his spine. The curse, the missing amulet, Dr. Jordan's death and the mysterious writing combined to make him worry about Goa'uld involvement. He snapped himself out of that line of thought before panic could set in.

Listen to yourself, Daniel, not everything has to end up being about them.

Finding the correct room using the description Sarah had provided, he found the curator sitting at a computer station. As he came into her sight she stood. "Excuse the state of things. Budget cuts. I'm straightening the mess out, but these things take time."

Smiling politely at the flustered woman, Daniel said, "I understand."

"So, what are you looking for?"

"Uh, an artifact that went missing from the Stevart Expedition," said Daniel.

Immediately, to Daniel's surprise, the curator said, "The Isis Jar."

Confused, he corrected her assumption, "Uh, no, actually, I'm referring to uh, a gold amulet with a little ebony, um it's listed as item fourteen."

The curator shook her head in disagreement. "That was sent up to Dr. Jordan along with the rest of the artifacts."

"You sure?"

"I sent 'em myself," she confirmed. "I can show you the paperwork."

"No." He thought about what she had said. "Um, what's this, Isis Jar you were talking about?"

"I'll show you," she said, leading him across the storage area to a back corner of the room, where he saw another shelf filled to capacity. Pointing to a box half-blocking the aisle, she told him, "That crate was mislabeled when it came in. I only found it a couple of days ago."

"Uh, this one?" asked Daniel, as he opened the crate to see the contents.

Looking over his shoulder as he took out the jar, she confirmed his guess. "Oh, yeah. Never seen those symbols before. Have you?"

Aghast, Daniel stared at the jar. "Uh, yes. I'm gonna need to do a translation."

"Well, if you need me, I'll be in the back, cataloging the Polynesian death masks."