Author's Note: Well, everyone, we're winding down. Can you believe it? Only like...three-ish more chapters to go! And just in time, because I finished the revision of And Love Thee After today! Woo! It's really not super-exciting; if you've read it before, you can probably skip it. It was mostly just grammatical changes, and a few congruency things; I made Beni a little whinier and everyone a little less oblivious to his "roughness," and there's a few references to Jemima tossed here and there. Nothing special. Just the same though, that's done, this is almost done, and then you can look for the follow-up (which is also almost done), Exeunt. And then the last two chapters of It Ain't Me, Babe, and then...I guess I die of sadness, 'cause I have nothing else planned for this universe. Maaaaybe a Rick/Evy one-shot? There's nothing specific right now. So probably nothing. Probably I'll have to focus a little more on Enchantress, and you know, write that next chapter of Wealthy Bastards.

Disclaimer: The characters of The Mummy are the property of Universal Studios. The characters of Lord Carnahan, Delphine Bertrand (loosely based on the character of Desdemona created by William Shakespeare), Mara, and Jemima Willoughby are my own inventions. The term "amour fou" is French for "insane love," and means a kind of obsessive passion. I like that it's by nature a juxtapositional term, so it works for this story.

AMOUR FOU

The Carnahan Manor: Cairo, 1925

"a phone call for you, sir."

Nigel Carnahan glanced up from his book with a curious frown, and left the quiet of the parlor for the even quieter darkness of his study. He flipped a light and picked up the receiver from where it lay on the desk.

"Hello?"

"Nigel," Lord Chamberlain sighed on the other end, somehow managing to sound both bored and impatient at the same time. "How are you this evening? Forgive me for calling at this hour - "

"Not at all," Nigel told him, hoping his voice didn't sound as suspicious as his face surely looked. He glanced back towards the hallway and asked with a kind of brisk nonchalance, "Do what do I owe the pleasure of this phone call?"

Chamberlain cleared his throat. He sounded haughtier than he should have when he said, "We've run into a bit of a dilemma with this rebel business."

Lord Carnahan sucked back a breath, and asked evenly, "Oh? What sort of dilemma?"

"Well," Chamberlain said. "I don't suppose I could persuade you to send General Bay and his men without your son-in-law."

Nigel scoffed. "Did you fail to infer that shipping him off to Alexandria was my only motivation for lending you General Bay in the first place?"

"Hardly."

Nigel let out a long sigh, glancing at the ceiling. "So what's the trouble, then?"

"It seems," Chamberlain said, "that certain government officials are a tad...should we say, squeamish? At the possibility of Major Gabor inspiring acts of vengeful insurgence."

"Ah."

"They'd be much more comfortable if Major Gabor wasn't among the men at all."

Nigel raised his eyebrows. "Allen, I don't believe I have to tell you that that simply won't do."

"Yes, I know," Chamberlain said shortly. "But I don't believe I have to tell you that the situation here in Alexandria is considerably more precarious than what you're facing down there."

Nigel let out a short, mocking laugh. "You do realize that the reason we're so stable here is because of Major Gabor's efforts?"

"I've told them as much. They're quite taken with the notion that General Bay might be effective at keeping the peace, since he's...forgive me, 'one of them.' But I'm afraid they see your son-in-law as an undermining factor to the overall goal."

Nigel sighed.

"It sends a mixed message," Chamberlain said.

Lord Carnahan's mouth twisted thoughtfully, and he stared down at the wood grain in his desk, running his fingers over it thoughtfully.

"This is most disappointing, Allen," he said at last in his flat, colorless voice.

"Yes, I know."

Nigel rubbed his chin, his brow furrowed in consternation. He waited. Even though he was eager to get Beni out of his home and his city, Chamberlain by and large needed him more than he needed Chamberlain. There were a dozen ways to get Beni out from under his roof; but there were blessed few ways of dealing with the rebels, and the situation in Alexandria was exponentially more dire.

So he waited. Allen was the one who would have to come up with a compromise.

At last he heard Chamberlain sigh. "I suppose I can convince them that Major Gabor is a necessary precaution...But they really can't think he's anyone of importance to Bay's strategy. I don't suppose he's done anything worthy of demotion lately?"

Nigel chuckled wearily. "It's funny you mention that. He's actually up for a promotion."

"Good God, don't promote him."

Lord Chamberlain let out a sigh, glancing thoughtfully towards the door. It had happened only a few days ago. Lieutenant Rashid was making the long ride back to wherever it was the Med-Jai were encamped in the desert, and he was ambushed by a band of desert warrior. Tauregs, Bedouins...whomever they were, he was outnumbered and aging and they cut him down, just the way Ardeth would have surely been cut down if not for Beni taking that shot. Ardeth was the one who found him. Ardeth, who would have been riding with him under normal circumstances, but had to stay late that afternoon. He'd taken it hard, which was as much as could be expected. Lord Carnahan had allowed him the appropriate leave, and no one had seen him in days. Presumably, he was spending the time with his people in mourning.

"He isn't actually mine to promote," Nigel reminded pointedly, "but I'll have the necessary conversations with General Bay."

Chamberlain sighed in what sounded like a satisfied way. "Very well, then. You may consider the matter settled. I've been making the proper arrangements in spite of all this blather about Gabor. We're ready when you are."

Lord Carnahan nodded his head for a moment before remembering that Chamberlain couldn't see him. "We'll be in contact. Good night, Allen."

"Good night."

Nigel hung up the phone and stretched his arms over his head, glancing at the clock with a frown. He was thinking about going to bed as he lumbered down the hallway, back to the parlor. Evelyn was just where he had left her, curled up on the couch with a book open in her lap. To his surprise, Beni was still where he'd left him, sitting in the chair opposite her with the newspaper clutched between his hands. At some point during his phone call with Lord Chamberlain, Delphine had joined them, looking refreshed from a shower but still weary from her trip. She had a fashion magazine she'd probably bought on the ship earlier that day, but she wasn't reading it. No one in the room was looking at the words on the pages before them.

Evelyn glanced at him briefly before turning her attention back to the man in the middle of the room.

Because there was a man, in the middle of the room.

Nigel stared at their late-night guest in astonishment. It had been a long time since he'd seen Ardeth Bay in his traditional Med-Jai robes; he discouraged it, actually, because the British citizens of Cairo found them off-putting. But Ardeth hadn't been in Cairo, not for a while. He stood there in his robes, and even though he'd clearly washed himself from mourning, Nigel could still see the grayish traces of ash along his jaw and the back of his neck. He stood there trembling with wide, glazed eyes, staring at Beni with the most disconcerting look on his face.

Beni sat stiffly in his chair, frozen with fear and confusion, and stared back because he couldn't very well look away. His throat kept jerking with nervous swallows.

"General Bay," Nigel attempted in his most neutral voice, but Ardeth barely glanced at him. He was focused entirely on Beni.

All of the sudden, he strode across the room and pulled Beni out of the chair. The thin, rigid man looked as if he might break in half when Ardeth wrapped his arms around him in a tight embrace. He murmured something in Arabic, but Beni didn't seem any more comfortable or relieved by the words. He glanced around helplessly, and his mouth gaped for something to say in response. He flinched, and his eyes burned with something like anger when Ardeth kissed him hard on both cheeks. He kept murmuring a word that Nigel recognized as "thank you," and it was all Beni could do to weakly nod his head.

At last Ardeth released him and took a step back, still staring at him with a more intense sort of kindness than anyone had ever had while looking at Beni Gabor, and Beni stood there twitching in shock from this startling show of gratitude, five years after the fact.

"I owe you my life," Ardeth said quietly, and everyone in the room seemed relieved to hear him speak in English. "I owe you everything. That would have been me..." And the vision of Rashid, bloody and lifeless in the sand must have flashed before his eyes again, because he had to choke back a sob, "That would have been me..."

Beni nodded his head and took a few awkward steps back from Ardeth, eyeing his chair longingly. Ardeth bowed his head, and then blinked hard, looking around the room as if noticing for the first time that anyone else was even there. He straightened his shoulders and attempted to push away the heavy emotions that lined his face. He looked at Nigel in something like embarrassment.

"Forgive me for disrupting your evening," he said hurriedly. "Good night."

Before anyone could politely (though weakly) assure him that he'd done no such thing, he turned and strode out of the room, brushing past Jonathan, whom Nigel just noticed had been standing there the whole time. Jonathan glanced at them all in confusion briefly before following after Ardeth and getting the door.

Everyone stared at Beni.

"What on earth was that?" Evelyn asked.

Beni shook his head, slowly lowering himself back into his chair. He rubbed at the side of his face irritably, as if trying to wipe off the traces of Ardeth's lips, and stared at the floor in perplexity.

"He thanked me for saving his life," Beni said. After a moment, a grin started to creep up the sides of his face, and when he looked up, his eyes were smug and excited. He found his newspaper again and leaned back in his chair happily. He might have tried to whistle as he stared at the paper without reading it, his whole body anxious with some kind of fortunate realization. He glanced over at Evelyn, knowing and arrogant: "He owes me everything, did you hear that?"

She raised her eyebrows. "Yes, I heard."

"Everything," Beni repeated, a smirk twitching in the corner of his mouth.

He was the happiest Nigel had ever seen him.