Raya was able to work at the museum for the following month on her winter break. Every night, she spent nearly all of her time with Ahkmenrah, talking with him about various things. He hardly ever talked about his family, but she decided not to press him on the matter. She was always curious as to how he died 4,000 years ago, and she just assumed that he had fallen ill or something along those lines. But again, she didn't want to press him on it since it had to be a sore subject for him, especially since he had died so young.

They would sit together watching some of the other exhibits play soccer or have a dance party. She was always surprised how easily conversation came with him. After all, he was a mummy. How many things could they have in common?

When things got out of control or some of the exhibits started fighting, Larry and Raya would quickly run over and sort out the issue. Every now and then, a couple exhibits had to be confined to their display for the remainder of the night in their own little version of a 'time-out'. It didn't happen often, but it happened.

Much too soon, her winter break came to an end.

Raya spent the majority of her night telling most of the exhibits in the museum that it was her last night at work.

"It's only for a little while," she explained to a very upset Jedediah. "I'll be back in a few months once Spring Break starts."

"A few months?" Jedediah said in disbelief. "How is Gigantor supposed to handle us all by himself?"

"I'm sure he'll survive. And I do not want to hear that you guys are making things difficult for him."

"We'll play nice, Gigantess."

Raya rolled her eyes at the cowboy's given nickname for her. "Promise?"

"You have our word," Octavius told her as he placed his fist over his chest. "We look forward to your return."

Raya smiled and looked at her phone. It was nearly sunrise.

So she headed to the last place she needed to visit for the night.

"I hear you are leaving," Ahkmenrah said as she approached his tomb.

"Only for a couple months," Raya told him. "Just until my next break. It's only going to be a week long, but then after that, I'll be off for three whole months."

"Why must you go?"

"This is all just an internship. The deal always was that I would only work while I'm on break. The rest of the time has to be devoted to my schoolwork. I'm going to try to visit if I can, but no guarantees."

"I shall miss our time together."

"I will too. Don't worry. My next break will be here before you know it."

"Until then, Raya."

To her surprise, Ahkmenrah gave her an informal kiss on the cheek before returning to his sarcophagus.

The life in the museum stilled as Raya's heart was pounding so hard, she feared Ahkmenrah would hear it even in his sleep-state.

With a smile, she headed to the locker room to change out of her uniform.

"So, I guess I'll see you in a couple months?" Larry asked.

"Yeah, I'll be back in March. I'll try to come by one night if I can. It all just depends on my workload this semester."

"Hurry back. I don't know how long I can keep these guys under control."

"I think you'll be fine."

Larry gave Raya a light hug. "See you in March."

"Hey, Larry!" Raya said over the phone as she sat in her dorm room.

"Hey, Raya! How's school going?"

"It's pretty difficult this semester, but I'm pushing through. I wanted to let you know that next Friday, I'll be coming back to work for a week since I'll be on Spring Break!"

"Wow, already? I can't believe it's already been two and half months."

"Yeah. So you can tell everyone that I'll be back soon. I'm so excited to see them all again!"

"They are too. They all keep asking me about you. You have got to start giving me updates more frequently or these guys are going to go nuts."

Raya laughed. "Well, they'll get to hear all about it when I get back. I'll see you soon!"

As soon as Raya's last class ended on Friday, she took a short nap in her dorm while almost the rest of the entire campus went home for break. When she awoke, she ate a power bar and left to go to the museum.

"It is good to be back!" she exclaimed as she stuffed her things into her locker after changing into her uniform.

"It'll be good to relax a bit for the next week," Larry sighed. "I didn't realize how hard this job could get without the intern."

"I'm sure you've been fine. I mean, you've had Teddy, Sakagawea, and Ahkmenrah to help you keep things in line."

"Maybe so, but it'll be nice to have a companion who doesn't stop in the middle of a conversation because the sun came up."

"Did that really happen?"

"You'd be surprised how often someone's telling me a story and just when they're getting to the good part, they freeze."

"Well that sounds frustrating."

"Dad, I'm here!" Nicky called out as he came into the locker room.

"Hey, Nicky," Raya smiled. "Wait, have you been coming here every night?"

"No, just when I'm staying at Dad's. And some other days when he lets me."

"Hey," Larry said to Raya. "It's about sundown."

Raya smiled broadly as they all left the locker room and headed out to the lobby just as Rexy began to move.

"Hey, boy!" Raya said to the skeleton. Rexy began wagging his tail furiously as he came up to Raya and bent down so his head was in front of hers. She started rubbing his nose. "How you been? I've missed you!"

"Raya Daniels!"

Raya looked over to find Teddy atop his horse.

"Hiya, Teddy! How have things been going with Sakagawea?"

"Could not be more pleasant! She is a fine woman indeed!"

As if on cue, Sakagawea appeared in the lobby. "Hello, Raya," she said with a kind smile. "Lovely to see you again."

A loud shout sounded out behind Raya, and she barely had time to turn around before Attila scooped her up in a big bear hug.

"Attila," she gasped. "Attila, I can't breathe." Attila put her down again. "I've missed you too, big guy."

She hit him on the chest as he laughed.

"Hey, Gigantess!"

Raya looked down to see her two favorite miniatures in the remote-control car.

"Hi, Jed. Octavius."

"It is wonderful to have you back, my liege," Octavius said to her.

Raya laughed and then turned around to see Ahkmenrah walking into the lobby. She smiled just a little more and walked over to him.

"Hello again, Raya," Ahkmenrah said formally.

Raya smiled and hugged the pharaoh. "It's great to see you."

"And you as well."

As the night progressed on, Raya had forgotten just how much she enjoyed spending time at the museum and talking with Ahkmenrah. She told him all about the past couple of months at NYU and all the frustrations her schoolwork presented.

"I still haven't chosen a major. My mom reminds me almost every day to hurry up and pick one, too. I just can't decide. I need something that I like, but also that will pay well once I graduate."

"You said you like to write."

"Yeah, but I don't think that's going to pay the student loans. Ugh, this is so frustrating!"

"I think you need to just do what you love."

"I wish it were that simple."

Once the semester ended, Raya was able to return to the museum and work for the next three months during her summer break.

One night, she greeted Ahkmenrah with a movie in her hand.

"Come on," she smiled. "We're going to have our own movie night."

"What about the rest of the museum?"

"If there's an emergency, Larry will call for me, we'll hit the pause button, I'll sort everything out, and then we'll get back to it."

She took his hand and led him down to the locker room where there was a couch and a small TV all ready for them.

"Have you ever even seen a movie before?" Raya asked.

"I do not think I have."

"Well, this is the perfect one to start with. It's a classic."

"What is it called?"

"The Princess Bride."

"I think I may have heard of that before."

"It wouldn't surprise me. Everyone knows this movie."

Ahkmenrah narrowed his eyes a little.

"Well, everyone who's living."

Raya put the movie into the DVD player. Then she and Ahkmenrah sat down on the couch together as the movie started.

"That little boy reminds me of Nick," Ahkmenrah commented.

"Huh," Raya said. "I guess he does."

As the movie went on, Raya saw Ahkmenrah get more into the action than she expected. She loved to hear him laugh at the more comical lines, especially the part where the clergyman gave his bumbling incoherent speech about 'mawwaige'. It was rare to see such a pure and beautiful smile on him. He was weighed down, she could tell that much. After all, he was the only one in the museum who used to be an actual human being. Everything else was just made of wax. He was real. And she could only imagine how much that haunted his thoughts. But every now and again, in a moment like this, all the weight was forgotten and he was happy.

"That was much better than I expected," Ahkmenrah said once the movie was over.

"I had a feeling you would like it. It's impossible not to like The Princess Bride."

For hours, Raya talked about other movies she wanted to show him over the course of the summer and other various subjects. Soon, sunrise was nearly upon them.

The two of them quickly went back up to Ahkmenrah's tomb before Raya had to deal with returning a mummy to its sarcophagus. She would force Larry to take care of that if that ever happened.

"Thank you for showing me a movie," Ahkmenrah said to her. "I hope to see more of the ones you were talking about."

"I'm sure we'll watch plenty over the next few months."

"It is so wonderful to have you back with us for the summer."

"I'm glad to be back. I like spending time with you. You're a really good listener. I hope I don't talk your ear off."

"Of course not. I like listening to you."

Raya smiled. "Thanks. Shall I see you tomorrow night then?"

"As you wish."

Raya gasped lightly as the sun rose and he stilled in his sarcophagus. Did he just say those words on purpose? Did he realize what he had said? Surely it was just something he said a lot. He couldn't possibly mean what she thought he meant.

For those of you who aren't familiar with The Princess Bride, in the movie, the main character says "As you wish" when he really means "I love you".