"Lance," Nicky sighed, "Go tell Larry and Teddy that I found Ahk, would you?"

"As you wish, my liege," Lancelot nodded, before marching off towards the main lobby.

Nicky hurried after Ahk, arriving at his tomb only to find the metal security gate shut.

"AHK!" Nicky called through the gate, "Open the door!"

Ahkmenrah sat slumped over on his sarcophagus, chin resting in his hand.

"Ahk," Nicky sighed, "Let me in. You're really starting to freak me out!"

"Why?"

"Because….well...because you're my brother and I care about you! Now, open the door!" Nicky pleaded.

"Nick…" Ahk sighed, with no particular emotion behind it, "I couldn't unlock the gate, even if I wanted to."

"Why not?" Nicky asked, desperately shaking the gate.

"Well," Ahk almost chuckled plainly, "Because it isn't locked. You have the keys."

"Right…" Nicky scolded to himself before opening the door with ease.

He walked over to Ahk, while strongly resisting the urge to run over and smack him for scaring people like that.

"Can we talk?" Nicky leaned on an elbow, propped on the sarcophagus next to where Ahk was sitting.

"I would have come back." Ahk muttered, voice breaking.

"I know, okay?" Nicky said, "I know that it sucks to be stuck here. I get it. It gets empty and lonely after a while. You know that better than anyone! It kinda feels like you'll never get out of here, and, even when you do, it sucks to have to come back. You finally get your own life, but it's not at all what you thought it would be!"

"How...how do you know that?" Ahk asked quietly.

"Because I'm still a teenage guy!" Nicky admitted, trying to smile to make the situation better, "I know a little bit about what trapped feels like! Now...I'm not going to pretend that I get what it's like to be stuck in your situation as long as you were! But at least I kinda get it! For the longest time, all I wanted to do was travel and get the heck out of New York! Everytime I think I'm going to leave, something keeps me here."

"Why do you think that is…?" the pharaoh wondered.

"Because, like it or not, I belong here! It feels cramped sometimes. Heck, this place is enough to drive anyone crazy! But I belong here: with the museum, with my dad, and with you guys. My family is all right here."

Ahkmenrah didn't say anything for a while. In the silence, Nicky had a good though.

"Hey, Ahk?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Why'd you come back from the British museum for a while?"

"I...I don't know." Ahk realized, "It just wasn't the same there. It is nice to see my parents again, and even other Egyptians, but it wasn't the same."

"Your family is there," Nicky reminded.

"Yes...but my other family was here." Ahk smiled at the thought, looking up a bit. "I missed my family here."

"Then...why did you want to leave?"

"I do not have a great reason for that…"

"But you have a not-so-great reason?" Nicky prodded a bit.

"It was foolish and childish," Ahk chuckled dryly, "I think I was just homesick…"

"You miss Egypt?"

Ahk nodded, sniffling a bit.

"I know that we have a weird, crazy thing going on here in New York," Nicky laughed, gesturing around at the museum walls, "But, this place came be home to...if you let it."

"I'm sorry, Nick."

"Don't be," he sighed, "Like I said: I get it. Just...don't ever leave without telling me."

"Don't worry," Ahk said, voice steadying as he hopped down from his seat, "I won't be following through with a bad idea like that again."

"Good, because...you may not always want to be here, but you're basically always needed here!" Nicky explained, "See, I kinda suck at this job, okay?! And most of us here...we're a real mess. Through all of the crap we go through, you, Larry, and Teddy have kept this place standing up! Even when we haven't always been great at looking after you, you've always looked after us. You're family, and...we like that you're here!"

The other boy said nothing for what felt like the longest time. Just as Nicky was about to speak again, he was interrupted by Ahk pulling him into a slightly awkward, yet welcome, hug.

"Thank you, Nicky." Ahk pulled away and smiled a bit more.

"Besides, I was a jerk for telling you that you weren't going to be leaving anymore. That...that was a real crappy thing to say," Nick admitted, "And, even if it might get us killed, we should both really get out more."

"Really?!" Ahk lit up hopefully.

"Yeah. Just as long as we're back in time! Deal?"

"Deal!"

Neither of the boys talked anymore about that night. After all, they would have bigger issues to worry about soon.


"Interns?" Larry, Nicky, and Rebecca asked in unison, standing around Dr. McPhee's desk in the director's office.

"Well, yeah," McPhee assured happily, "It's a good program. The interns get valuable life experience and such! And...the museum just also happens to get generous grants because of them! Win, win!"

"But...isn't that a little risky, knowing the museum's reputation of odd things?" Larry asked, showing genuine concern about the museum's biggest secret.

"Wha-?" the director scoffed, "It's not like I'm hiring new night guards! They won't even be working nights. They'll never need to know."

"So, where will they be working then?" Rebecca asked, far more calm about the issue than the Daley boys were.

"Well…" McPhee chimed out, gesturing oddly with his hands, "Our travelling mummy exhibit needs more work than it gets. We've got double the conservation, and more of the collection will be coming in this year. That's more work!"

"Why not hire a curator for the Egyptian department? The museum has the money for one." Rebecca questioned further.

"One one hand, we could hire someone new," he rambled a bit, "OR, on the other hand, we could utilize the fact that there is a well-qualified Egyptology student that is practically begging to work for little to no money at all!"

The odd little man weighed the imaginary odds in each hand, with the internship option clearly being the victor.

"What about the second intern?"

"No...I don't really have a good reason for that one," McPhee thought aloud, "But twice the interns means twice the grant money. Also...they were the only two that applied for the job."

"That's...okay," Rebecca sighed, maintaining her positive outlook, "This will be good! We'll have some extra help during the day!"

"Fine," Larry accepted, "But when the museum closes, the college interns leave."

"As far as I'm concerned," McPhee yielded, "When the doors are closed, you're the big man in charge."

"When are they starting anyway?" Nicky asked.

"Oh, in about...an hour." McPhee checked his watch to confirm his guess, "You three play nice with my new interns.

With that, the meeting was over.

True to McPhee's guess, the interns arrived at the front desk slightly over an hour later. Rebecca and the Daley boys had decided to wait there and meet them. As soon as they arrived, the two college students announced their presence when one of them let out an excited squeal.

"HI, NICKY!" she called over happily.

Nicky looked over to see Sam waving her hand frantically at him, with a large smile plastered across her face. Next to her, quiet as ever, stood Cleo.

"Hey," Nicky greeted awkwardly, "What are you guys doing here…?"

"We're the new student interns!" Sam replied ecstatically, much to Nicky's horror.

"Wow…" Nick thought, or more accurately groaned, to himself, "Now she gets to see you being clumsy and awkward in your natural habitat, Nicky. Because failing miserably at a coffee shop in front of a cute girl just wasn't enough."

"Hi," Rebecca cut in with a big smile, shaking the two girls hands, one after the other, "I'm Rebecca Hutman. I'm the docent here. This is Larry Daley, our head of security. And...it looks like you already know Nick."

"It's nice to meet you!" Sam beamed.

Cleo simply smiled politely.

"Well," Rebecca went on, "Welcome to our little family!"