Hi everyone! Thanks for all your wonderful reviews! Patty, you left me a question, and here's your answer: yes, young Alex did see Ardeth placed into his grave in chapter 1. If Frank had not ended up in 1934, and Safti had not used Frank's soul through the amulet to keep Ardeth alive, then Ardeth would've died, and Ardeth's death in chapter 1 is what would've happened! But Ardeth lived; so young Alex and his family won't be at his funeral, because he isn't dead! Get it? (Did that make sense?) LOL :)

Frank opened his eyes and looked around, confused. For a minute, he thought it had all been some bizarre dream, but as he groggily looked around, he realized that it had all been true.

Ardeth was lying nearby, looking better then he had earlier…or was it the day before? Frank had no idea how much time had passed. Jake and Alex O'Connell were sitting near him, and the three of them were talking.

Cody was pacing, and Monica and Alex also were whispering. Everyone looked a strange mixture of happy and nervous.

"What's going on?" he asked, feeling like he'd missed something.

Everyone looked at him and smiled, looking relived. They all came closer, except Ardeth, whose wound probably would make trying to stand too painful. He was close enough to Frank to not warrant getting up, anyway.

"How do you feel, Frank?" Monica asked.

"Like I could sleep for a month."

Cody laughed. "You already got a head start!"

Frank frowned. "What do you mean?"

"You've been out cold for two days," Jake told him.

Frank blinked, in shock. "What?"

They all nodded.

Frank suddenly remembered what had occurred before he'd passed out. "What in the world was all that?" he asked.

"Your soul."

Frank looked to Ardeth, to see him half sitting up, on his elbows. "You have my soul. When I was about to die, through the amulets, your soul kept me alive."

"The One became Two," said Alex O'Connell. "Your soul—which had been Ardeth's—did the job of keeping two people alive."

Frank shook his head, still in a state of shock over the entire situation.

Suddenly there was a commotion, and Safti burst into the tent. "I have a son!" he yelled.

"WOO HOO!" Cody yelled back.

Everyone smiled, congratulating him.

"What's his name?" Alex Cross asked.

"Na'im," Safti said. He looked at Ardeth, and smiled bigger.

Ardeth understood the unspoken statement; Safti's joy was so much more, with Ardeth alive.

"I shall return," Safti said, and ran off.

Frank looked at Ardeth, and smiled at him. "How are you doing?"

"Better then I feared," he said, smiling back. "Because of you, I am alive."

Frank nodded. "Likewise."

A minute later Safti came back, with a tiny bundle of cloths.

Monica and Cody gasped, when they realized it was the baby. They, Jake, and both Alex's surrounded him, 'aww-ing' over little Na'im.

Safti smiled at them, and brought the baby for Ardeth to see.

Ardeth was amazed at how much it looked like Safti. The light layer of black hair was slightly curled, and the baby had big brown eyes. Ardeth sighed when he realized what had happened in the 'original' history. He had died, Safti had become leader, and his firstborn son had been born all within a matter of two short days. He could not imagine how poor Safti had handled it.

Safti looked at him when he heard him sigh. "Ardeth?"

Ardeth smiled at him. "You are a fortunate man, Safti."

Safti grinned ear to ear, and looked down at little Na'im again. He stood, and brought him over to Frank this time.

Frank smiled, despite himself. This had to be the most adorable baby he had ever seen. Surprising himself, he touched the baby's hand, sticking his finger in the tiny fist. "Assalamu aleykum, tifl Na'im," he said, getting a huge smile out of Safti. "He's right," Frank said. "You are a lucky man."

Safti nodded. "And I have you to thank that my son still has his 'amm."

"His what?" asked Cody.

"Uncle," Frank translated.

"Uncle? You guys are brothers?" said Cody.

Everyone looked at him, and laughed.

"No, but we may as well be," Ardeth said, with a smile.

Safti nodded, but suddenly his smile disappeared.

"What?" Ardeth asked.

"I have just realized," Safti said, standing again. "Suhaylah has not really seen him yet!"

Everyone's jaws dropped as he quickly left the tent again.

"He's so excited, that he forgot about his poor wife!" said Cody, laughing.

********************

Two days later, Frank and Ardeth were still on the mend, but itching to be let free of their 'prison'. Shamara was taking no nonsense from them, making them stay put. The only advantage was that they had plenty of time to talk.

The day that Frank had woken up, after the excitement over baby Na'im, he had wondered how Ardeth had been shot with an arrow. He expressed concern on how the culprits would be apprehended, if they hadn't already disappeared.

"We disposed of them all," Ardeth had told him.

"How?" asked a surprised Frank.

"While you and I were still unconscious, some of my men found the group responsible, and they battled."

"What about the actual man who shot you? How can you be sure they got him?" Frank asked.

"Safti 'got him', as you put it. I still have not been told all the details, but apparently the man was killed by one of his own arrows."

Frank's eyebrows went up. "So you really are safe from them now."

Ardeth nodded, looking very relieved.

Frank smiled. Then he sighed. "So now the only remaining issue…how do we get back to 2002?"

Everyone puzzled over that for those two days, no one coming up with a resolution. Nothing they tried worked, and they were beginning to think that they were indeed stuck there.

On the morning of the third day since Frank had awoken, Safti ran into the tent with surprising news.

"The O'Connell's are coming!"

Ardeth's eyebrows shot up, and he smiled. A few short days ago he had thought that he would die without seeing them again. Suddenly realizing something, he shot a shocked look at Safti.

"Inform Alex, before they arrive…"

Safti nodded, as if he had thought of that already, and left again.

"The O'Connell's? You mean his parents?" Frank asked.

Ardeth nodded. "I am unsure how he will react to seeing them…in your time, I am sure that neither of them are still alive…"

Frank nodded. "Good point."

Ardeth suddenly shook his head, prompting Frank to ask, "What?"

"I was just thinking of this coincidence; that my friends should decide to visit at the time they would have been here to attend my funeral..."

"It wasn't meant to happen," Frank interrupted. "Or we wouldn't've ended up here to try to prevent it. What's going on now is what was supposed to. There's a fine line between coincidence and fate."

When Ardeth heard that last line, he was shocked speechless. It was exactly what he had said to Rick O'Connell the previous year, when they had defeated Imhotep the second time.

'Assalamu aleykum' Egyptian Arabic formal way of saying, 'pleased to meet you'/'welcome'

'tifl' baby