Shelby (pen name Eviefan) March 10, 2003
Alone in the tent Rick and Ardeth had been ready to take down, Evie sat lost in the past. The letter opened up painful memories of that horrible time so long ago, and Evelyn wasn't prepared for the new pain. After word of her parents death had been sent to she, Jonathan, and Nana, and after the funeral, life for she and her older brother had been tossed into limbo. They had enough money to sustain their needs for a while, but their age and lack of close relatives to care for them properly became the issue. It was finally decided that Howard's older sister Margaret Lillian Carnahan would take care of them until they were old enough to care for themselves.

Outside the tent, Jonathan stood holding the letter in his hands, not noticing anything or anyone around him. He remembered what it had been like the weeks after his parents were murdered, the many nights when he would find Evelyn under her bed crying because she thought that they too would be murdered. He remembered how in that one moment he became the man of the house, and how he felt the welfare of his baby sister fell upon his young shoulders. He looked at Alex who took his hand, but was unable to offer the boy any words of comfort or otherwise. "I need time to think," Jonathan said as he let the letter fall to the ground.

He left the small camp site, going the short distance to where the camels were waiting. Jonathan sat down on a small rounded stone, and rested his forehead on his knees. He wanted justice, and he would get it even if it meant his own death had to come as a result. As he sat in the warm morning sun he thought of Gabrielle, and what would happen to her if he died. She was the one woman in his world and in the other who he felt understood him, and he decided that he wouldn't die, and leave her behind. Instead he would make Alan pay for the pain he had caused all of his family.

In a different world, in a past where life seemed much simpler, Gabrielle sat by the portal, finding it difficult to stay awake. She felt guilty for yelling at Senbi, but he was so irresponsible at times, that it was difficult for her not to yell at or lecture him. Alone with her thoughts she found she was focusing on Jonathan, and as she thought of him she felt a strange sensation wash over her; a sadness which until a few moments ago was not there.

Something wasn't right, and she idly wondered if she should abandon her post and risk going through the portal to find him. As she thought about doing just that, another feeling washed over her, one of deep foreboding, and somehow she knew that she had to stay in her own time for now; that her duty was to make sure no one from the future passed through to change her time, and destroy the lives of those she loved. "Be well Jonathan," she whispered as she shut her eyes, trying to picture him in her mind as she had last seen him. She sent her thoughts through the fabric of time hoping that he would sense her and draw comfort from the knowledge that she was there for him if not in body then in mind.

Rick knew his wife needed time alone, but unfortunately that was not a luxury any of them could have. After fifteen minutes he walked over to their tent and bent down. When he entered he found her laying on the ground curled up in a ball. He quickly moved beside her and as he lifted her into his arms he felt her shutter then sob against his chest. "I'm here Evelyn," he said.

Evelyn clung to him both in sadness and frustration. She felt she had cried all the tears she could, and yet here she was babbling on like a baby. After a few moments she took in a few breaths then lifted her head away from him. "We need to go Rick. I want to find Alan, and I want him to pay for what he has done to my brother, to me, and to Kit," she said as she started to pull away from him.

Rick didn't let her go quite yet, and after a moment of resistance she settled down beside him. "Evie, I think it's best if you and the boys go stay with the Med-jai. This man is crazy and I don't want you getting anywhere near him," Rick said.

"No, I want to be with you Rick. I know about the scepter, and about the power it possesses. I'm the only one who knows how to destroy it, and I owe it to both of my parents to be the one to see that happen," she said. She was about to say more when Jonathan called out to enter.

Having overheard O'Connell, he decided to support Rick this one time. "Evie I think Rick is right. It's clear that Alan isn't thinking like a normal chap with love toward his fellow man. I think that you should stay with Alex and Kit and let Ardeth, me and Rick take care of him once and for all," he said.

Evie suddenly pulled away from Rick and stood up hitting her head on the overhead support, which held up the tent. She ignored the pain and starred at both her husband and her brother. "What is this? Both of you know how strongly I feel about stopping Alan from gaining the power of the Scepter, and as well it's destruction. I will not sit around twiddling my thumbs while I wait for word on whether or not you or Rick has succeeded, or have been killed," she said as she stepped out of the tent leaving both men behind. "Alex, Kit. Get the Camels ready. We are going to end this once and for all," she said as she walked toward where the two boys were sitting, fully enraged that her husband and her brother were acting like two overprotective cods.

Desiree - March 25, 2003
"We're near the tunnel." Jonathan was looking longingly in the direction of his love, so near, yet so far in the past.

"I know..." Ardeth also wanted to be with his loved one. "But we cannot stop, for we must find Alan Skarzinski." The Med-jai despised even his own rationality.

Evelyn was about to tell her friend and her brother how sorry she was that they could not be with their loved ones when Rick spotted something in the distance, "What is that?" The alarmed tone in Rick's voice caught the attention of Ardeth who looked fixedly into the distance.

"It is the Med-jai! We have caught up to them at last. We can rest with them tonight, and tomorrow they can help us to find Skarzinski. They seem to be making camp, but we must hurry, for it is never wise to approach a Med-jai in the dark hours of the night."

"Yeah, I know." Jonathan rubbed his neck in remembrance of a sharp saber of Ardeth's that had once lay there.

"I am sorry, Jonathan, but you did, in fact, surprise me!" Ardeth defended himself, but only with a slight grin of amusement on his face.

"Yeah, well. We should be able to reach them within the hour, and I'd say that's about when the sun'll go down, so it works out anyway."

"God! Another hour!? I'm fucking tired now!" Kit yelled out his grumpy dissatisfaction.

"Kit! Watch your language!" Evelyn would not stand for a dirty mouth.

"I'd listen to her if I were you- you don't want to mess with her when she's tired. Believe me, you don't." Kit was about to argue again when the truth of Alex's words sunk in.

"Another hour of these bloody Brits..." Kit sighed to himself and continued on his camel through the desert, "another hour..."

"Ardeth! My friend! What took you so long?" A strong-looking man dressed entirely in black robes approached Ardeth with his hand outstretched.

"It is a long story, but a story for another night. We are tired." Ardeth took the old Med-jai's hand and shook it warmly.

"Of course- there is some ground open over there for you and your friends. Sleep well and we will talk in the morning." The old Med-jai smiled and walked away.

Ardeth turned back to his companions, only to see Kit staring intently at a man on the ground several yards away. Rick, Evie, Jon, and Alex followed his gaze.

"Kit? What is it?" Evelyn walked to Kit's side. "What's wrong?"

"That's him. That's Skarzinski." Evie looked over and saw a haggard looking man slumped in the sand.

"What?! Are you sure?" Evie's blood started pumping quicker as Kit started walking towards Alan.

"Positive!" Kit shouted out a cry of anger, frustration, and pain as he ran towards Skarzinski and attacked him head on. The adolescent tackled the man and left him sprawling on the ground. "You bastard!"

Alan Skarzinski began to stand up after being seized by the boy when another blow hit his other side. Jonathan sat atop the surprised man and started beating him with all his might. Alan managed to scramble out of Jon's grasp and run for dear life towards the sun.

"He's headed for the tunnel! Rick! Ardeth! Stop him!" Evelyn started running after her parents' murderer, crying and screaming the whole way.

Hearing his wife's call, Rick called to Ardeth to get a horse and help him. The two men clambered onto their steeds and galloped off after Skarzinski who was halfway to the tunnel by then. As the two raced past Evie, Alex ran to his mother and helped her run the rest of the way to the tunnel. "C'mon Mum!" Alex and Evelyn ran as fast as they could through the sand to the tunnel where the slaughterer was hiding.

"I'll get you, you sonuvabitch!" Kit was hot on the heels of Alan when Skarzinski suddenly disappeared into a tunnel. "What the fuck?!" Kit had barely any time to think before Jonathan came racing past him and disappeared into the tunnel as well. Kit sighed, "What the fuck" and followed the two men into the passageway.

"Shit! They've gone through the tunnel!" Rick cursed.

"We must find him! He cannot be allowed into the past!" Ardeth reared his horse on and hurried into the tunnel followed closely by Rick.

Alan Skarzinski scurried through the passageway and ran right smack into a skinny and creepy looking man. Senbi went flying backwards into a wall and passed out from the wound in his head. Alan looked down briefly and then went to hide behind a wall. Where the hell was he? What the hell was this place?

"Where is he? Where are you, you bastard?!" Jonathan appeared at the entrance of the tunnel and looked around vigorously for Skarzinski because Jon was dead set on revenge. Just then, Kit appeared from the tunnel as well.

"What the FUCK?! Jesus! Where is he?! Where is that mother fucking murderer! I'm gonna kill him!" Kit was out for blood.

"I dunno! We've lost him!" Jon looked around desperately.

"FUCK!"

"Kit! Watch out!" Jonathan leaped across and pushed Kit out of the entrance of the passageway as Rick and Ardeth came hauling ass out of the tunnel on their horses, taking no prisoners.

"Where'd he go? Where is he!?" Rick was screaming at the top of his lungs.

"THERE!" Kit pointed toward the tunnel as Alan Skarzinski ran once again through it to the future.

"I've got him!" Ardeth started his horse towards the tunnel and was almost to the access where Alan had just crossed when Evelyn and Alex appeared out of nowhere and obstructed the entrance. Ardeth's horse reared and very nearly avoided killing Evie and Alex, both. Ardeth and Rick were stopped in their tracks as Kit ran head on to the tunnel only to slam right into a brick wall.

"FUCK! What the fuck?!" Kit got up and started kicking the wall angrily.

"Kit! Stop it! The sun's gone down- the tunnel is closed!" Evie was trying to control the upset young man, but her emotions were too stretched, and she gave up and fell limply to the ground. Alex sat down next to her and hugged his mother close.

"What the FUCK!? What the hell is going on?!" Kit stopped screaming as all his energy dissipated at the realization that it was over, for now.

"That tunnel is a channel into the past, or future, and we are now stuck in ancient Egypt for the night because the tunnel will not open until tomorrow morning at dawn." Ardeth sighed as his blood slowed and his head cooled. He looked around slowly, "Senbi?"

Senbi gave out a moan of pain as he slowly came back to consciousness, "What happened? What's going on? Is the tunnel closed?"

Rick only heard the last question, "Yes, the tunnel is closed." he answered in utter disappointment and regret.

"Good- I can go back now." Senbi slowly rose and walked groggily toward his hut.

"What?" Ardeth was confused. When Senbi didn't answer, the Med-jai shrugged his shoulders and walked resignedly after him.

The whole group walked on in tired disappointment, and Kit was fuming over losing Skarzinski. Rick and Ardeth were walking their horses slowly through the desert with Alex in tow. Jon and Evie walked together, silently consoling each other. Senbi's hut appeared over the hill, and Jon caught sight of Gabrielle, "Gabrielle!"

"Jonathan!" The two lovers ran into each other's arms and embraced. When the group caught up to them, Gabrielle, all grins and tears, looked at them with both surprise and relief, "Oh, thank Allah, you are here!"

"Gabrielle, what is it? Is something wrong?" Evelyn sensed something was happening.

"What is it? Where is Nefret?" Ardeth was worried about his wife.

"Ardeth, oh- Nefret's just gone into labor..."

Shelby (pen name Eviefan) April 3, 2003
It wasn't difficult for Gabrielle to get her love, and his family a hut close to the one where Nefret was laboring. In the neighboring hut, while most everyone else rested, Evelyn sat awake, waiting for word on Nefret's condition, and pondering about the letter. It seemed as though the paper containing the words of her dead parents appeared out of no where. However she knew that it came from someplace, and she wondered where. The other thing on her mind was the state of mind her parents had been in on the expedition where they had been murdered. Deep in her heart she knew they were in a better place, and knew that they likely watched over she and Jonathan, keeping them out of harms way. Over the years, the near misses, the brushes with death which had come had been avoided, in part by Egypt's ancient Magic, but in part also because she knew they kept she and her family safe.

A strong hand on her shoulder drew her attention away from her parents, and Evelyn looked from the stone table where she was settled, to the worried _expression on her husbands face. "I'm all right," she said, offering him the best smile she could muster.

Having been married to Evelyn nearly fifteen years, Rick knew when she was all right and when she was not. "I thought maybe you would like to talk about today," he said as he took a chair next to her.

For a moment Evelyn glanced away from Rick. The feelings she had experienced when seeing Skarzinski had been foreign to her, and she wasn't sure how to deal with that. "I've never wanted to kill another living person before, but this evening when we saw him, I wanted the satisfaction of taking his life. I wonder what my mum would think about that," Evelyn said. Though she was part Egyptian, living in England she had been brought up in the Christian faith, and believed that when her parents died their souls traveled on to heaven.

"I'm sure she is very proud of you Evie. After what he did to them, it's not unnatural for you to want to see the man die, and if I would have had a chance I would have done that for you," he said as he reached and wiped a smudge of dirt from her left cheek.

As he began to move his hand away, Evelyn reached out and held it there, needing the reassurance of his loving touch. She took his hand and moved it over her lips kissing him there before letting it go. "I was also thinking about the letter. It just appeared, as if it was meant for me to find it, but that's impossible isn't it?" she asked, needing to have the answer as to the origin of the piece of paper.

Rick sighed. "I don't know. This land seems to be full of mystery," he said, feeling a bit of shock as he finally admitted that there were some things that went on which he couldn't readily explain. "Where did you find it?" he asked.

"It was near the fire, across from Alex's tent and Kits," she said as she glanced over at her son and her nephew, wondering if the young boy knew where the letter was from.

Before she could go and ask him, Senbi ran in. "Trouble, the baby is in trouble," he said as he hopped from one foot and then the other, then ran out the way he came. Evelyn stood up with Rick at her heals and both of them ran out not realizing that Kit had overheard their conversation.

Emilee - April 3, 2003
Jonathan hadn't really known what to think about the day's trouble. And it wasn't as if he'd never been in this type of situation before, oh no, Jonathan was prone to trouble, to adventure and to getting in over his head. But today was different. Today seemed sadder than his past adventures, more frightening and stressful, and Jonathan winced when he realized why.

There were more people involved in his life now. More people to keep track of and care about, Gabrielle especially. Jonathan couldn't let too many more people get involved in his life or else he'd just have too much to worry about and it would take over his whole bloody existence.

But now there was this new baby of Ardeth's, and Jonathan would have to baby-sit, buy it expensive baby...diapers and what-have-you, and care about the little buggar. It didn't seem he had much power to stop new people from coming into his life, but he did have the power to stop people from leaving it.

His parents deaths affected him more than he let on. It wasn't something Jonathan liked to talk about...even more so than his sister Jonathan felt like he should have been able to do something in it all.

Jonathan was thinking about all this as he sat outside the hut leaning against the wall and drinking from his whisky flask. He didn't hear Gabrielle emerge from the hut door he was near, but should have expected it, there wasn't much place you could hide in this big family where nobody would come and call on you.

"So when are we going to have one of our own?" Gabrielle's voice came from somewhere above him.

Jonathan nearly pulled something trying to spit out his whisky and turn around to face her as he was sitting all at the same time. He looked up at her with a painful expression as he forced a swallow, coughing and choking. "One of what?"

Jonathan's hand found Gabrielle's and he tugged her down next to her, pulling just a wee bit too hard and sending his darling to the ground on her arse quite hard.

The next thing she said was also spoken at an inopportune time, while Jonathan was taking another pull from his flask. "One of what Nefret is having right now."

Sputtering and choking was heard throughout the whole desert. Senbi even popped his head out the window where he was tending to Nefret to give the couple a repressive glare as Jonathan fought to keep himself composed.

"What the bloody hell do you want one of those little buggars for?! Have you gone loony while I was gone, Gabrielle, honestly! You're mad!" Jonathan finally yelled.

She laughed and wiggled in closer to him, linking her arm with his and leaning her head on his shoulder, "Oh, Jonathan, because it's a cute little buggar. Don't you want a big family?"

Jonathan scowled at her, "I have already got one, thank you very much. No need for more diapers around, pooing on things and-"

"You are so...silly, Jon, they don't poo on things, they have diapers, you just-"

"That is beside the point, love. The point is...wait why are you even talking about this? I refuse to discuss this with you, it's not nearly relevant to the goings on of...right now." Jonathan was confused himself by the end of his sentence, but nodded firmly, fully intending to stick with his plan not to discuss it.

But Gabrielle didn't seem to be making any move to argue with him. She merely shrugged, laughing a bit, as she kissed him on the jaw line. "...well of course, I should be worrying more about when you're going to give up and ask me to marry you..." she said softly into his ear, before getting up and picking up a basin from the front door.

Jonathan watched, mouth wide open as she started off into the night, towards the stream by the hut. He scrambled to his feet and started after her, "Gabrielle! We need to discuss this!"


Please review!