Thank you so much for all of the reviews! I'm so glad that people are still enjoying this story! Sorry about the delay in getting this out. I had a bit of a bout with writer's block, but I finally got this done! I'm sorry about it being so short; hopefully the next chapter will be longer.

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"What the hell was that, Dre?" Rick snapped at her. Evy watched the O'Connell siblings standing off to the side of the camp, arguing.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Deirdre said casually.

"Don't give me that, Margaret," he said the name tauntingly, knowing how much his sister hated her first name, preferring her middle name.

Her eyes flashed. "Don't call me that!" she hissed.

There seemed to be a smug satisfaction under his anger when she reacted. "What the hell was that between you and that guy?"

Deirdre, who had leaned toward her brother in her anger, leaned back slightly and her expression became shuttered. "I couldn't know what you mean," she said neutrally.

Rick plowed forward. "You know him; he knows you. How?"

Her lips pressed into a dangerously thin line. "That's none of you business."

"'None of my business'?!" he all but shouted. "I never ask about your past, I know nothing about it – you never tell me – and now that guy," he pointed over his shoulder in the vague direction of where the riders had gone, "shows up and stares at you and Hadi as if he is seeing a ghost. I could use some answers here…some truth – "

"Truth?!" Her voice was whip-like. "Oh, that's rich coming from you," she sneered. "You don't tell me anything, Richard; all under the guise that it's all for my own 'good' or 'safety'." She stepped forward so that she was toe to toe with her brother. "Stay out of my business." She spun around, stopped to check on Hadiyya and grab her head scarf; then, after casting one last glare at her brother, stalked off.

Rick stormed over to where Evy was sitting, sat down snatching up the bottle of spirits and took a deep swig. After he lowered the bottle from his lips he looked over at Evy; then held it out to her. "Care for a drink?"

She stared at him for a moment, but accepted it and took a swallow; a too large one apparently because she began to cough and choke.

"Yeah," he nodded, taking the bottle back, "me too." He took another drink.

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Deirdre draped the scarf over her head and wrapped it around her shoulders. She headed silently through the ruins, little to no attention being paid to her, which was as she wanted it. She passed through a little noticed opening in the wall; soon she was enshrouded in the darkness away from the camp fires. She stood there for several moments, staring out into the desert night.

A hand covered her mouth and another wrapped around her waist, pulling her against a broad, strong chest. It was reminiscent to how the man on the boat had grabbed her, but her reaction to this hold could not be any more different. Her adrenaline spiked only for a moment before it immediately calmed, her body recognizing the hand over her mouth, the arm locked around her, and the strong form pressed intimately against her back. She melted into him automatically; she heard a swift intake of breath from him.

"Beautiful, young women, such as yourself should not wander in the dark alone." His husky voice had heat pooling low within her. "There are many creatures that would enjoy bringing her harm."

He lowered his hand from her mouth at only the slightest of pressure from her hands. "You would not allow such a thing." There was no arrogance in her tone, or question. It was stated simply as the fact that they both knew it to be.

She turned in his arms to face him and they stayed like that for several moments before his arms finally dropped reluctantly to his sides. He swallowed hard. "How have you been?"

She took a step back shrugging. "Alright, I suppose. Busy. You?"

"Busy," his tone matched hers. They stood there in a thick silence. He finally looked away from her eyes, for the first time since she turned, to glance in the direction of her camp. "You have a beautiful daughter." He looked back at her, his eyes burning with intensity and meaning.

"She takes after her father."

He pressed his lips together.

Deirdre bit her lip. "I didn't know, Ardeth," she finally burst out.

He raised an eyebrow.

"Before you had to leave," she elaborated. "I didn't find out about her until two weeks after you left. And then my grandparents showed up…" she trailed off; then took a step toward him. "If I had known I would have told you." Her eyes pleaded for him to believe her.

Ardeth stared at her for several moments before he nodded; she released the breath she had not realized she had been holding. He rested a hand on the hilt of his scimitar; his thumb running over the pommel – he was not a man who fidgeted but with Deirdre things always seemed to get flipped on their head for him.

"Her name is Hadiyya," she continued quietly. He looked up at her. "Her middle name is Davina, meaning beloved. It is a tradition in my family to give children Celtic middle names."

"Gift and beloved," he said quietly.

"I never wanted her to doubt that she was loved and wanted," Deirdre explained.

He nodded; then reached into his cloak. "I have something that I believe belongs to…Hadiyya." He tested the name on his tongue, and it fell from his lips like a prayer.

Deirdre gasped reaching out for the proffered item. "Kahlilah!" She accepted the doll and clutched it close to her as she looked back up at Ardeth. "Thank you, so much. Hadiyya was so upset when she lost Kahlilah and has not slept well since."

"One of my men found it before getting off the boat. My brother gave it to me once they returned." The corner of his lips twitched slightly. "I wondered who would bring a child on such a dangerous journey."

Deirdre cast her eyes downward. "I don't have a choice."

Ardeth raised his eyebrows, not only at her response but at how it echoed what he had said only days ago.

She took a deep breath and looked back up at him. "I only have my brother, Rick; there's no one else to look out for her and the two of them are all I have."

"Your brother, the man who pulled the dynamite," Ardeth nodded thoughtfully. "Interesting."

"I suppose that's one way to put seeing your brother and your…" she trailed off, "well, the two of you trying to kill each other," she finally settled on in a sharp voice.

He gave a nod of acknowledgement. "I am glad that I didn't kill your brother." He raised an eyebrow. "And I am most definitely glad that he did not kill me."

Deirdre could not stifle the grin that spread across her face.

One corner of his lips quirked up into a half smile. "I was wondering where that smile had gotten to."

She rolled her eyes; bowing her head to try and veil the smile that became wider.

The scarf had slipped off of the top of her head leaving her hair uncovered. Ardeth's hand rose of its own accord and he ran his fingers through the red locks. Her head lifted again, her eyes locking with his.

"I'm sorry. I have always been told I have a temper to match my hair."

What felt like electrical shocks skittered down his spine. Her gasp and slightly widened eyes told him that she felt it as well.

He swallowed, hard. "You had best get back, before you are missed." His hand did not dropped though,

"Yes," she breathed.

He gently cupped her cheek and leaned down.

Her hands had come up to grasp the front of his robes; she rose on her toes to meet his advance.

There was a clatter and raucous laughter only feet away on the other side of the wall.

Deirdre bowed her head; Ardeth's hand slid away from her cheek. The moment broken.

Her hands had not released their hold though and she once again rose on her toes; pressing her lips to his cheek. She whispered in his ear, "See you." Then she slipped away back through the wall.

The Medjai Chieftain stood there for several moments, trying to regain the calm, cool façade his people were used to seeing. He glanced one last time over his shoulder after the woman who, just by looking at him, could destroy his equilibrium entirely.

Finally he turned and disappeared into the dark desert night.

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There we are! The scene between Deirdre and Rick was fast and easy to write; the beginning of the scene between her and Ardeth went smoothly as well, but then bumps began to come up; I ended up writing bits and pieces over several weeks and the last part finally just rolled on out this afternoon, as if it was always there… Anywho, I hope it was ok!