Disclaimer: I do not own the Mummy. Just writing for fun.

Chapter 2: New Beginnings

Three Years Later
Cairo, Egypt

After this girl Evelyn Carnahan rescued him from nearly getting his neck snapped in half or worse, Rick had one more stop to make before he was off to Hamunaptra. He'd cleaned himself up, and got his things back thanks to the Carnahan's.

The Warden took him over to see where Rory was.

He stopped at her cell. There she was, the tiny five foot, two dancer curled up against her cot, fast asleep with her hands tucked underneath her head. Long wavy dark brown locks of hair covered half of her face. Something gold glinted in his eyes as the sunlight's rays hit it and he smiled even wider. She still had the Ankh he'd given her. It was just hidden under her raggedy night gown. He was really surprised she still had it. It was possibly not enough to barter for life or anything. It'd been cheap gold after all.

He sighed. His shadow loomed over her and he stepped closer to the iron bars, making a quick tap against it with his fingers.

A groan left Rory's lips as she stirred with annoyance. She was perfectly happy dreaming on her cot when a noise startled her slumber. She wasn't in her usual belly dancing costume. She was in a simple cotton gown that had seen better days.

"Ugh, what, already?" she slowly woke up as Rick tapped the bars some more with the side of his knuckles.

She blinked open and then woke up, and swiveled her legs over the edge of her cot, hands tucking over it with her shoulders squared. She fought a morning yawn threatening to come up. Was it morning already?

"Rory Jade Quinn."

Slowly her head lifted at the familiar voice, a voice of which she hadn't heard in the three years she's been arrested.

"Richard O'Connell," she spat back. She forced herself to get up and walked over towards him, arms crossed over her stomach. "You have some nerve showing up here."

Rick grinned. "Likewise."

"What are you doing here?" She asked.

"I'm bailing you out."

She furrowed her brows. "How did you get bailed out?"

"It's a long story, I can explain on the way. You're free to go, Rory. They're letting you out."

Rory blinked at him, uncertainty crossing her mind. She was free? She didn't even have enough collections to bail herself out. And since she's been removed from civil life, her years of collecting small artifacts have been given to the Cairo Museum of Antiquities with no hope for bail.

"But, but, the fine…."

"Is already taken care of."

She narrowed her eyes accusingly. "Rick….what's going on?"

He let out a sigh. "Okay, a couple of English folk returned my puzzle box and want to go to Hamunaptra."

Rory failed to see how this helped her five hundred pound fine.

"If we find the underground treasure chamber, we're free," Rick said.

"How much?" Rory asked.

"Um…"

"Rick. How much?"

"They promised the Warden five hundred pounds, plus twenty-five percent of the findings," Rick grimaced and Rory widened her eyes.

"Damn," she exclaimed.

"Yeah."

"You've been included with the deal," Rick said.

She looked up from the ground and into his eyes that held so much promise.

"How?"

"I just said I couldn't do it without my best friend," he said simply.

He still considered them best friends even after all this time? It felt like a lifetime she'd been stuck behind these bars. She looked down at her necklace. And despite the circumstances, so did she. She looked up and around her surroundings. She'd lost hope of getting out of her cell. She bit her bottom lip, as a sudden feeling swept over her, a dark feeling in the pit of her stomach that hadn't left her since she left Hamunaptra that day. That face in the sand. It'd haunted her still till this day and she wasn't sure she wanted to go back. Was it possible she was safer here?

When she didn't say anything, he continued, shifting his duffle bag over his shoulder.

"I got you into this mess, Rory. I cost you everything even when you were just trying to help," he noticed her strong hesitation not to go with him. Before she'd been hell bent on going out there. And now that she'd seen what he'd seen when they were out? Nothing. Not that he blamed her, but she had to know that he wouldn't let anything bad happen to her.

"I know you're spooked about the place. But," he patted his duffle bag and she arched an eyebrow at it.

"This time I'm prepared. C'mon on, Rory. Please come with me? You don't want to stay here for the rest of your life, do you?"

She bit her bottom lip nervously. Having the same meal every day? Seeing the same surroundings all the time? Stuck. Alone. Cold. Dreary. It'd put a crimp on her mental health. She was not the same Rory Rick was used to in her early twenties.

"And, I know how much that city really and truly means to you. Deep down inside you, I know you, Rory. I know why you want to go there so badly. It's what kept you here in Egypt this whole time."

Rory looked up sharply into his brown eyes. They gazed down at her and she felt her face harden, knowing all too well he was right. She did want to go back.

"'Sides, when are you ever going to find another fun and adventurous guy like me?" he gave her a wide grin and she pressed her lips together sideways, fighting an oncoming grin. This was true. She wasn't sure about that one. And she'd probably stay here forever with no hope for a bail out. She'd just rot away in this damn cell.

Rory let out a sigh as if she'd been holding it for a long time. "Okay. Who are these mysterious English folk I have to thank?"

Rick grinned eagerly and then turned back to the Warden, prompting to let her out.

~*TM*~

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