Chapter Three: The Reunion

Larry couldn't believe his eyes. It had been over five years and yet Teddy's face was still oh-so-familiar to him. He took a stumbling step forward and Teddy welcomed him with open arms.

"Welcome back, Lawrence."

Larry bounced on the balls of his feet. He hadn't felt this happy in ages. Teddy held him at arm's length, a firm but friendly hand on each of Larry's shoulders.

"Well, Lawrence," Teddy said, eyeing him up and down. "You seem to be in a right shamble at the moment. This is what happens when I'm not around to help you out, ay?"

Larry grinned, his hand on the back of his neck. "Yeah, something like that. New job, actually. Well, old job. Four years now, ever since I- we- you know. And I suppose I just came here to-well- "

"I know, Lawrence," Teddy interrupted. "You feel guilty for not continuing your position, conflicted upon whether we will be happy to see you again- which we are- or annoyed that you left us- which we aren't- and absolute joy at once again walking down these grand halls. Trust me, Lawrence, when Ahkmenrah returned I too went through a similar turmoil of emotions."

"Wow," said Larry breathlessly, amazed at how easily Teddy had summarised his emotions and relieved him of any worries he had. He breathed out slowly, beaming in content. "I- I missed you, Teddy. All of you."

"So did we, Lawrence. We wondered if you were going to return to us, but McPhee explained the "phone situation" and I'm afraid to say our hopes dwindled. Now, though, you are here! We must find the others, hmm?" Teddy gave another of his famous grins.

Larry's eyes lit up. "Yes! Oh, yeah, definitely. Anything new I should know about? Anything happen while I was gone? No-one's- no-one's left, have they?" he asked anxiously as they ascended the staircase.

Teddy let out a laugh. "No, no Lawrence, nothing like that! Not at all. A few new arrivals here and there, but we're practically as you left us."

Larry let out a breath of relief that he didn't realising he was holding. "Thank God for that."

They had arrived at the top of the staircase now, and could hear the faint sounds of active exhibits in the corridors ahead of them. Teddy swung open the brown metal door widely and marched triumphantly out into the commotion, Larry following behind. Teddy paused when he got to a pillar that was shrouded by the shadows, and called out tenderly.

"It's quite all right, my dear. It was no threat at all. Come and see!"

Slowly, the slim figure of Sacagawea emerged from within the shadows. She blinked in astonishment, staring at Larry but somehow not quite seeing him, before letting a squeal of joy, running up to him and enveloping him in a hug.

"Larry!" she exclaimed, once he was free from her surprisingly strong hug-grip. "Whatever are you doing here?"

Larry smiled. "Good to see you too, Sac. I'm just here to say hello, really, and apologise for not, well, being here for the last four years. Sorry." He added, looking sheepishly down at his feet. Sacagawea gave his hand a small, light slap.

"Nonsense, Larry, you have nothing to apologise for. You are here now, and that is good. Do the others know?" she asked, turning towards Teddy for an answer.

"I don't believe so," her love replied, his eyes twinkling. "Why don't we go on a little walk?"

Sacagawea nodded eagerly, seizing Larry by the wrist. The trio began to trundle down corridors that became more and more familiar to Larry by the second. Exhibit after exhibit approached them in greeting, ecstatic at seeing their former night guard after enduring almost nine nights under McPhee's irritable eye. Larry greeted each exhibit with equal enthusiasm, for although none that approached were any of his special friends, he was glad to be back at the Museum. As they approached the end of the great corridor, a low rumbling could be heard, and the three of them turned to face a pack of aggressive-looking Huns rampaging through the corridors. Their loud cries grew faint as they charged towards Larry, stopping short only centimetres from the surprised trio. Larry gave them a small (slightly scared) smile, and the Huns parted like the Red Sea to let their leader through.

"Laroo?" Attila exclaimed; his eyes wide.

"Hi, Attila." Larry said, just as the Mongolian swept him up in an enormous hug. Larry patted Attila on the back fondly, wincing slightly at the man's iron grip. His light pats soon advanced to hard thumps when the pressure of the hug became unbearable.

"Thanks, buddy," Larry panted as soon as Attila had set him down, "I missed you to. I just kinda need my spine intact, you know?"

Attila nodded, still smiling from ear to ear. He barked out some orders to the other Huns, who promptly turned tail and trooped away. Teddy gave everyone a smile.

"Now then," he said, "Shall we continue on our quest for reunion? Attila, do join us."

The Mongolian man nodded eagerly and the now-foursome made their way down the grand staircase into the main entrance hall of the Museum where McPhee was sitting at the front desk, shouting angrily at the Civil War mannequins and yelling at the Cave Men for messing with the fire extinguisher. He noticed Larry and his little company and made an angry beeline towards them.

"You haven't spied those two car-wreckers, have you?"

"Car-wreckers?" Larry looked at the Doctor with confusion.

"The little Roman and his pint-sized cowboy accomplice! That's the seventh car they've crashed this week! Not hiding with you, are they?" McPhee eyed them suspiciously. Teddy, Sac and Attila all shook their heads.

"Jed and Octavius? They never crashed cars when I was around." Larry said, slightly smugly. McPhee rolled his eyes.

"Yes, thank you, Daley," He said dryly. "I know I'm not the best at this job, but at least- Oi! Laa, no, drop that!" McPhee rushed off to where the Cave Men were filling their mouths with fire extinguisher foam. Larry shook his head fondly. The Cave Men hadn't change one bit.

"Is he gone?"

The small party all jumped at the sudden whisper. Looking around in confusion, Larry's eyes were draw to a slight movement beneath the papers on McPhee's desk. Lifting them up gently, Larry revealed two small wax figurines hiding beneath them. Octavius and Jedediah squinted in the sudden light before their eyes widened in disbelief upon seeing Larry's face looking down on them.

"Gigantor?" Jed eventually spurted out. "Is it really you?"

"Either that or Laa's received a remarkably good shave," mused Octavius, grinning from ear-to-ear. "Welcome back, Larry!"

Larry shook his head in fond disbelief. "You guys, what did we say about the cars?"

"That was, like, a decade ago!" laughed Jed. "It was only a bit of fun."

"That is until we somehow ran over his feet. Multiple times." Octavius added.

"Look, look, forget all a this," Jed waved his hands in the air. "The main thing here is, what are ya doin' back, Gigantor? Just to tell us off again?"

Larry smiled. "Not exactly. I'm just here to say hi, until Ahk returns to the British Museum."

Attila nudged Teddy in the ribs, and motioned towards Larry. Teddy smiled knowingly.

"That'll be an awful long hello then, Lawrence."

Larry spun around. "What? But I thought- "

"That Ahkmenrah and his treasures were merely here on a visit?" Teddy interrupted. "Oh no, lad, they're back here for the foreseeable future. He had a considerable run in the British museum, yes, but the entire Museum is being rebuilt so McPhee requested he return here. A decision I believe he is rather now regretting, judging by the look on his face."

Sacagawea and Attila nodded, both giggling at McPhee as he desperately tried to drag the Cave Men away from the defibrillators. Larry looked at Teddy in astonishment.

"Indeed Lawrence! We are all here to stay. What a joy it shall be to again walk these stately halls of an evening."

"Wow," said Larry, thinking deeply. If all the exhibits were to become alive again every evening, does that mean- would they need a-a night guard? Well, certainly they need someone better than cranky old McPhee. Larry was just about to propose this question to the others when a screaming ball of brown fur flung itself on top of him, and Larry felt a sudden sharp pain on his neck.

"Whoa! Dexter! Hey, Dex, hey buddy, it's me! Dex- Dex!" Larry called as the monkey scrambled hastily down his body and scurried off into the Museum. Larry noticed a sword of sorts in the capuchin's paws, and put his hand to the back of his neck. When he withdrew it, it came back streaked with blood. Larry held his hand out to the others.

"Was that- was that Dexter with a sword?" he asked in astonishment, still not quite sure of what had just happened. The others nodded.

"Oh yes," said Sac calmly. "That's been happening quite regularly now. Try to stay out of his way."

Larry looked at her in bewilderment. Where on earth could Dexter get a sword from? As far as he was aware, there weren't any in the entire Museum. The frantic patter of feet in the direction Dexter had came from withdraw Larry from his thoughts and he spun around to face whoever had been chasing the monkey.

"Hello," said Ahkmenrah breathlessly, nodding at them all. "You haven't seen Dex- "

His question was cut short when he suddenly noticed Larry, who gave the young Pharaoh a beaming smile.

"Hi, Ahk."

"Larry!" the teenaged Pharaoh exclaimed, bouncing excitedly on the balls of his feet. "Why-whatever are you doing here?"

"Well, I was just saying hello to everybody before I was assaulted by a monkey with a sword," Larry said, nodding towards where Dexter had scampered off to. "Speaking of which, how did he get a sword, Ahk?"

"Technically it's a cutlass," Ahk replied, "He didn't catch you with it, did he? I've told him to leave it alone, but he's so persistent. You always had a way with him, Larry. Perhaps you should give him a talking-to."

"Um, yeah, sure." said Larry, still slightly confused as to exactly where Dexter had obtained the sword form.

"So, you're here to stay then, Ahk?" he asked the Egyptian, who nodded eagerly.

"Oh yes," he replied, and Larry could almost see the stars in his eyes. "Construction began at the Museum, and we were all going to be put into storage for Ra knows how long. Mr. McPhee supposedly called and requested I be shipped back here. It was a hard goodbye with my parents, but I am glad to be back. I did miss it here."

"I'm glad you're back too Ahk," Larry patted him on the shoulder fondly. "Now, about that sword. Where exactly- "

"That blasted monkey!"

Larry's question was cut off by another shout from the corridor Ahkmenrah had emerged from. Larry spun on his heels to who it was this time that had interrupted his query just in time to completely collide with said person charging directly towards them.

"Oh!"

A/N: Here is chapter three! I'm SO INCREDIBLY SORRY for how long it took me to write this, but online school's been pretty tough recently. Here's a nice long chapter to compensate!

For now, yay Museum gang! Woo! And who on earth has just collided with Larry? I wonder…

What do you all think? How did Dexter get that sword?

As per usual PLEASE leave me a review with your answers to these questions or letting me know what you thought! I love to hear from you all.

Thanks for reading!

-HarrietSilverwynd.