Chapter Four; Show Time
"Can I come?"
"No."
"Please?"
"No."
"Pllllllllllleaaaaaaasssssssseeeee -"
"Stella! No!"
Said blonde folded her arms over her chest as she fell back against the bed, her lips pulled into a pout as she huffed.
"You're no fun," she mumbled to herself as she stared up at the ceiling as she was spread out on Larry's bed waiting for him to finally get himself dressed for the big show tonight. Also, his slightly off mood could be due to the fact that he had caught Stella, Ahk, Sacagawea and Teddy all talking about the event yesterday night. He had been told specifically by Mist-Doctor McPhee that she was not to come.
-x-
"Now Mr. Daley. I've heard that your sister is back in town," McPhee started as soon as the night guard stepped through the door to his office. Larry narrowed his eyes just a little as the others back was turned on him, before he straightened up as he turned back to face Larry.
"Yes she is," Larry replied his hands resting on his hips. McPhee looked up at him and made a face.
"Don't let her anywhere near this event." He stated. "Because we all bloody well know what happened the last time that Miss Daley was around. I had to explain to the mayor why he was covered in whipped cream." Larry winced a little at the memory. Yeah that hadn't been the finest moment that his sister had been in, Roller Skates and Pie Day she had called it and yet no one else seemed to know what the hell it meant.
"I promise, Doctor McPhee. She won't even know that this event is even taking place," Larry on the outside was calm, collected. On the inside, he wanted to hurt the tiny man for talking about his sister that way. But he liked this job too much to lose it. Again.
-x-
"Now I need you to babysit Nicky tonight." Stella sat up on the bed, her hands combing through the mess of her blonde hair, which was covered in flour, considering she had tried to make some sort of cake.
Key word was try.
She raised a brow as Larry stepped out of the bathroom all decked in a nice tuxedo.
"Why does Nick…an eighteen year old boy, need his aunt as a babysitter," Larry turned back to look at her with his own eyebrow raised. Stella paused and then thought about her statement. "Yeah - okay fine. But you owe me!" she exclaimed as she stood up when he was having trouble with his bow tie. Slapping his hands away, he gave her a short glare, before she started to tie it herself. "You know you're going to have to give him some sort of freedom soon," she muttered and Larry looked down at his sister.
"What do you mean? He has plenty of freedom," Larry stated as his own hands moved upwards and starting picking out the remaining flour that was stuck in Stella's hair. She looked up at him as her brow rose once more; Larry's brown eyes met her sea blue. "What?"
"Lawrence. He's eighteen. He's gonna want some kind of 'no parents zone' soon, if he's anything like you that is." she stated as she finished off his bow tie and patted it. "There all done." She turned to face the mirror before she sighed and leaned back against his chest. They were so different on so many levels, yet they were closer than any kind of blood relatives could be. Larry placed both of his hands against her shoulders before placing a kiss against the back of Stella's head.
"I promise. He can have his freedom when he goes to college." Larry stated pulling away from Stella, picking up his jacket and making his way to the kitchen. "Now this should end sometime around early morning considering it's the guys. There's food in the fridge and …" Larry did not get the chance to finish his talk before Stella pulled open the front door to see Nick standing in the doorway.
"Nicky!" the siblings called in unison as the teenager stepped past his aunt and nodded to his father.
"Have fun tonight, Dad," Nick said Larry was going to reply but he was cut off when Stella leaned over and gabbed onto his collar and pushed him out the door.
"Okay have fun, don't get anyone killed, bye!" she exclaimed slamming the door in his face. A sigh left her lips as Stella spun back to face her nephew on her heels. "Now … you promise to cover for me?" she asked him and Nick nodded his head.
"As long as you cover for me?" he retorted. A massive grin crossed her face as she held out her hand.
"Deal!" the two had a special handshake they made up when Nick was only ten. "Okay - I have …" checking the clock on the wall, which said 6:30pm. "…an hour and a bit to get ready." She finished before she hurried towards the guest bathroom, only to pause and back up towards the kitchen again. "Just - no mess okay," Nick nodded his head and waved his aunt towards the bathroom before he pulled out his laptop from his backpack. His aunt was the best.
-x-
It only took Stella about forty-five minutes to get ready, pulling her long blonde wavy hair into a side ponytail and slipping into the long sleeved black evening dress. She paused running a hand down her stomach to flatten any creases that were surely making their way onto the dress; she couldn't help the smile that crosses her lips. This was kinda the first time she had ever dressed up for a long time. Well not since Larry's wedding that is and that was almost twenty years ago. Placing some light touches on her make up, Stella grabbed her clutch and her silver heels before making her way out back into the living room.
"Okay Nicky I'm ready to go…" she started not looking up from her clutch making sure she had everything, so she didn't notice the fact that Nick had stopped setting up his music station and stared. "…so you know the rules. Please for the love of god make sure it's only people you know, no later than four because that's when the event wraps up and…" she looked up and caught Nick's blue eyes. "…what?" she exclaimed. "Is something out of place?" she scrambled with her hand to make sure that her hair was still okay, was it her teeth? Her dress?
"No! No…no. It's just … wow Aunt Stella," Nicky exclaimed to which Stella couldn't help the light blush that crossed her cheeks, so she bent down and placed her two inch heels on. "You look really…nice," Nick added as Stella straightened up walking over to him and placed a kiss against his forehead, only just a couple of inches taller due to the heels.
"Thanks Nicholas," she replied and he groaned. A laugh left Stella's lips as she moved to the front door and pulled it open.
"Ahkmenrah won't be able to keep his hands off of you!" Nick yelled before hearing…
"I will ground you, Daley!" then the slamming of the front door. Nick laughed and returned to his work.
-x-
Stella's
I didn't think that travelling to the Museum of Natural History in heels would be this difficult. I should have just caught a taxi, oh god that's what I should have done - now walking in this freezing cold weather has probably ruined my hair, made my makeup run and I have probably gotten a cold considering these sleeves are actually not thick material. Huffing slightly I tried to keep my sense about me as I walked through the park, even though it was still slightly early, round about eight o'clock, who knows what lays in wait for the next innocent person to walk through this park. Maybe a serial killer? Maybe a rapist…might be a cat lady.
Oh hey … look at that.
Sitting in front of me was the museum. Hordes of people were crawling into the front doors, a red carpet spread out over the steps, limos and posh cars lined the bottom of the steps. Camera flashes and the shouts of various fans of those select few who got to witness the spectacular that was the museum's night program and its special effects. I couldn't help the snort that escaped my throat as I crossed the street and headed towards the back of the museum. Hopefully that all the hired guards were out the front and not patrolling the docking bay to which I asked Ahk and the mini boys to open for me. Considering that, I wasn't allowed to be 500 meters within this place tonight. I rolled my eyes at the thought of the head of the museum, it wasn't my fault the mayor wasn't looking where he was going and I happened to be aiming for McPhee rather than the Mayor. Climbing the steps, part of my skirt in one hand lifting it up off the floor, I reached for the door when it opened itself. I almost froze before I noticed no one was on the other side.
"Hey! Gigantoress!" a smile spread across my lips as I looked down at the two men just in front of me.
"How in the world did you open the door?" I asked them as they moved out of the way to let me through.
"We have been working on our strength, m'lady," Octavius explained and I nodded my head, my face showing the recognition.
"You scrub up nice, Gigantoress!" Jedediah complimented and I laughed.
"Thanks Jed. You boys look nice as always," I replied before I looked around the hallway. Huh - it seemed almost dead. "Is everyone already there?" I questioned but no one answered me until a voice made me jump. Just a tiny bit this time. Nothing major - okay maybe a little bit of a big … medium ish jump.
"Ella?"
oh god.
oH GoD
He used my nickname. He hardly uses my nickname. Okay - stay calm…stay calm, cool, collected don't act like an idiot. So I turned on my heel and grinned like a moron.
"Ahkmenrah! Duuuude! Buddddyyyy! What is up!?" oh … crash and burn. Ahk gave me a confused look before my eyes snapped shut; I could faintly hear the snickering of a certain cowboy. Oh he's gonna be ... miniature dog food. Shaking my head my eyes opened slowly, I tried not to flinch as he appeared directly in front of me. That smirk of his playing across his lips. "Oh - don't look at me like that." I mumbled before my attention was brought elsewhere.
Something felt different about him - he looked tired? "Ahk…are you okay?" I had to ask placing a hand against his cheek, I didn't notice when I stepped closer to him almost as if I had to. "What happened?" my eyes shifted from his jaw line to his brown eyes. I couldn't help the blush that almost set me on fire. His eyes were too focused on me that I doubt he heard me. My thumb ran across his cheek as my other hand came up to his other cheek. I swear could almost feel him lean against my right hand. "Ahkmenrah?" I whispered.
"It's nothing for you to worry about, Stella," he replied, his own tone of voice barely above a whisper. "Just a little … hiccup with the tablet that's all…" before I could retort his own hands came up to grab onto my wrists. "I am fine for now, Ella." And we stood like that for what felt like ages before someone cleared their throat. I jumped slightly looking down quickly pulling my hands away from Ahk's face.
"Not that I don't love the good old romance. But we…boy king need to get going," Jedediah interrupted and I couldn't help but feel grateful for him.
"Yes. Right of course, Larry surely must be looking for us." Ahkmenrah answered looking down at Jedediah and Octavius, before they headed down the hallway and jumping into their remote control car. We watched as they tore off down the other hall before meeting each other's gaze again.
"Are you sure you're okay?" I asked him again my only answer was when Ahk grabbed onto my hand and placed a kiss against the back of it before he took off towards the lobby. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding and almost fell backwards against the wall.
Oh my god.
But suddenly the dinner and light show didn't seem so interesting to me now. I wanted to see what was wrong with that tablet.
-x-
The next twenty minutes was me trying to get to the Egypt exhibit without being seen by any of the others.
Which was really hard!
Not only was it the people you had to look out for but the animals too! I am fairly certain that Dexter would most certainly go and mention something to Larry. That little adorable pest was apparently being nicer around my brother. For who knows what reason. It wasn't until I could hear the faint sound of a voice over that I knew everyone would be distracted with making sure that the show runs smoothly and I managed to make my way towards Ahk's corner quite easily. Passing the two huge Anubis guards, I gave them a slight bow, to which they returned with one of their own…yeah we had an agreement considering the fourth or fifth time I had been around them they poked me in the eye with their staffs. I wasn't very happy. Anyway I made it over towards where the tablet sat on the wall.
The closer I got the more I could see at how wrong it looked.
"What the hell?" I whispered to myself my hand raised and touched the green stuff that was covering the bottom half of the tablet. The tip of my finger touched it making me flinch, pulling my hand back towards me. It felt like … moss. It was really really weird. I then brought up both of my hands and plucked it off the wall. Well it still worked for the time being but was this what caused Ahk to look so tired.
While I was off pondering, what the green stuff meant, I didn't notice that said green stuff had started to grow just a tiny bit more and that the Jackals were now blocking my only way out of the exhibit, with growls escaping their throats. It only really hit me when I felt something jab me in the chest.
"Ow … what the -" my eyes drifted upwards and the Jackals were kneeling, pointing their staffs in my direction. "Oh … hi hello - what … what's going on. Guys?" I tried but they only seemed to growl louder. Uhh….this was a problem. "Oh … do you-do you want the tablet?" I asked and I noticed that their heads, as best they could, followed my hand that held the tablet. "Okay you do … want the tablet okay - uh well here … here you go!" I couldn't help but flinch as I tried to neatly chuck the tablet in front of the guards before I ducked underneath their staffs and raced out of the exhibit. Only there was one problem.
Who the hell runs in two inch heels!
I tried my best to hop on each foot as I pulled my sparkly heels off. When both shoes were off I sprinted towards the lobby, were I found Ahkmenrah and Sacagawea standing near the stairs. "Oh great! You guys! You will have no idea what the hell just happened to me just then!" the look on their faces almost made me slide to a stop but my foot socks made me slid further and almost crash into Sac. "Ow - oh Sacagawea are you okay?" I asked but the look on her face made me shut up as she helped me stand on my own two feet again. Her head tilted to the left a little and I let my eyes move towards … oh. Shit.
"Stella!" Larry was standing in front of most of the exhibits, who were all looking rather ashamed of something. Larry wasn't looking all that well either; his bow tie was hanging down the front of his shirt.
"Oh - uh, Larry! Huh…fancy … fancy seeing you …" I cut myself off as I moved to hid behind Sacagawea and Ahkmenrah. Oh great. This was just great. A frown settled on my brow, I wonder if the exhibits acting weird had anything to do with the tablet turning a funky shade of green?
-x-
Phew! Almost 3000 words for you guys!
NOW I wanna clear up a few things. I'm an idiot and thought 'oh yeah this is set in Washington' uh no no it is not past me, it is New York that is why Larry is Guardian of Brooklyn! And I think I said that Ahk's eyes were blue? WHAT how could I be that stupid
Anyway! I hoped you like it… I do apologise for any spelling, grammar or just bad writing misktakes. Updates now might be a little slow considering I do not have the film on DVD oooor the script at the moment. So it may be rather badly paraprashed sorry! Anyway!
Leave a review if you can!
xx
~JFM~