Cody found himself behind the floating form of Frank. Michelle was beside him. He looked around to see the other two men in the same manner: floating in the air, their children beside them and their friends behind them.
"What does this mean?" he wondered as Jake walked up beside him.
"I don't know Cody," he said to him.
Cody continued to watch until he felt a massive pain in his shoulder. He threatened to drop to the ground until Jake, Monica and Alex caught him before did so.
"What the heck is going on?" asked Alex as the three helped him to the ground.
She watched as Cody gasped for air as he held onto his injured shoulder. She glanced over at the doctors, who stayed near their friend's body.
"I wish I knew. Suppose everyone else is thinking the same thing," Monica replied.
They watched as the bodies of their friend and boss Frank, the surgeon Nick and the Medjai Ardeth, as they hovered in the sky. The Time Traveller appeared to be very scared at this turn of events.
"What is going on here?" he demanded. "Why is this happening?"
"There is the way that you can finally be defeated, even if the men are already dead," the Guardian replied as the Spire glowed even more.
Catlanda felt some pain in her stomach and she clutched it. She wanted to curl up into a ball but she couldn't.
"Daddy, my baby. My child..." she started. "I want you to see my child after they are born."
Michelle hovered behind Frank and she slightly opened her eyes.
"Frank, please call me Mika again," she whispered.
Sarah and Patrick didn't know what to say.
"Nick, I want to be able to annoy Jackie with you again," she whispered, a small smile on her face.
"And I want be able to speak Greek to you again," Patrick quietly put in.
The three identical men were placed in a triangle around the Traveller as their children were behind them.
"What is happening?" the Traveller demanded.
"What is happening, Traveller, is that the bond between these people is stronger than what you first realized, even after death. These people will always have that special bond with them, no matter what you do to them or what happens in their future. It's this special bond that will ultimately put you to death," the Guardian replied.
The Spire shifted its place from the Guardian's hand to Catlanda's. She lifted it up into the air and a light emitted from it.
"You may have destroyed part of the jewel but you have not destroyed the power within this," Catlanda said. "Spire, do what you have to do."
The eyes glowed even brighter and the children stepped forward, preventing the Traveller from going anywhere.
"Maybe they can't stop you, but maybe we can," Catlanda said as she led the group.
"We will not let their names be taken lightly," added Michelle.
"They will be known for the things they've done," Patrick agreed.
"They are our family," Sarah finished as the four stood around him.
Catlanda held the Spire out to him. He saw her and stared at it, his eyes wide open.
"You want it? Go ahead, take it," she told him as it now limply sat in her hand.
He reached for it but Catlanda suddenly dropped it to the ground and all time seemed to slow down, nearly stopping, as a bright light emitted from it. The entire group there stood still, memories flooding through their minds.
The doctors all thought about their time around Nick: all their conversations and doings with the man, the problem with Patrick's and Sarah's parents, the practical joke from the year before on Jackie, along with all the other interaction they had with the man and the brother and sister.
"He is a good man," whispered Matt.
"He has taken care of those two well," Rae quietly said. "Always has."
"A great friend," added Letty.
"They all care for each other," Harriet put in.
"The three of them look out for each other," Jules whispered.
"We have to help him when he needs it most," Jackie almost cried out.
The memories of the four Federal Agents immediately went back to Death Alley: the place where they first met the teenager once known as the 'Silent Stalker'. They thought of all that Frank did for her, even after what she had done to him. The memories of her skills and her relationship to Frank came to mind. The similarities of the two different cultured people.
"They will always be simliar in the way that they are in their personality. Michelle Hana has always been a female Frank Donovan, always will be, no matter how much she's changed since the first time we met her," whispered Monica.
"Stubborn to the very end," Cody also whispered, not noticing the pain in shoulder anymore.
"We all were wrong about her at first but we realized we were wrong," Jake quietly said.
"We will not give up on them as Frank has never given up on her," Alex suddenly said, staring coldly at the Traveller.
Tears fell down Ayanna's face as she remembered when Ardeth held the young child in his arms for the first time after his best friends died. The same thing was occuring with Iscantil. They, along with the two brothers, remembered all the rejection and suffering the two had endured over the years from various members of the tribe.
"They have shown the others time and again that they are family, that Ardeth is willing to sacrifice everything for her safety. This is unacceptable!" Ayanna said, the anger growing in her voice.
"Their relationship is something that should be understood, not rejected," Sharak growled.
"By everybody," agreed Marok.
Rick, Evie, Alex and Jonathan thought about all the trips they made to Egypt. About all the times that someone had been resurrected, whether it be Imhotep, the Scorpion King or Ramses. Their reaction when they found out that Calanda was closer to Ardeth than what they first knew. That she was his daughter.
"I never thought it would be possible the Ardeth could be a father, but I see it is now," Rick muttered.
"She is understanding and she has experience on her side," Alex said.
"They have shown us places and objects we never thought were possible," Jonathan added.
"They will always be family in our eyes," Evie quietly said. "They need our help when they need it, which is now, after all the times they've helped us."
The Spire heard what it was looking for. Hope. The light grew brighter and the Traveller began to scream, putting his hands to his head.
To the group, as they watched ever carefully, it almost seemed as if the three men were moving again, breathing. They watched as the three men moved with smooth motions.
"What is going on here? The three of you should be dead!" the Traveller cried as he stared the three men moving about.
"You cannot get rid of us that easily," Ardeth replied in a ghostly voice.
"We will defeat you, even if we are destined to die," Nick put in, his eyes not appearing to be alive.
"There is no way we will let you harm the ones we love the most," Frank said as they closed in on the man.
"No! This can't be! You should all be dead! I have to defeat you! I have defeated you!" screamed the Time Traveller.
The three men moved in between the chidren. Ardeth glanced over at Catlanda before he went to the Guardian.
"She has the baby. When you finally have the child back, I know you will be a great mother," Ardeth whispered to her.
Catlanda didn't say a thing as she lowered her head. She stared at him, the tears in her eyes.
"Believe in yourself for you can do great things," Frank suddenly said.
"And don't let anyone tell you to do anything that you don't want to," Nick added.
The three held out a hand towards the Time Traveller. In Ardeth's hand, appeared the Spire from the ground.
"There's only one way to defeat you," Ardeth told him. "Frank, Nick, grasp onto the Spire."
Frank and Nick did so and it was aimed at the Time Traveller. He screamed out in pain as the light from the Spire hit him. He tried to move back but was blocked by both Patrick and Michelle, who stared him down.
"This can't be happening! I thought I had this all covered! I had it all planned out!" the Time Traveller cried out as he fell to the ground, the light continuing to hit him.
His eyes slowly closed as he lay there, almost motionless.
"Looks like you have won after all Guardian," he quietly said to the woman watching him with narrowed eyes.
"Looks like I did after all," was all she said before he closed his eyes for good.
The magnificient light show stopped and the Spire returned to Catlanda's possession. The group behind her snapped out of their trance. They stared at the the small group before them. It was then that the three men fell back to the ground and Catlanda backed up into a tree, a hand on her once again bulging stomach. Michelle hurried over to her as Sarah and Patrick hurried up the men. Both checked for pulses and sighed.
"They're still dead. Looks like what was said came true on both accounts: they were able to defeat but were also defeated. We'll have to live without them again," Patrick sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. "I suppose everyone thought it was going to be one or the other, not both."
The Guardan walked up to the sad group of four.
"Do not fear. They have given their lives for your safety. They have sacrificed everything so that you can live. Be happy for the time you have with them. They will never be out of your memories or your lives," the Guardian told them gently.
"They may be gone but we have to move on," Patrick said as he wiped tears from his eyes.
"It will a long time before we get over this thought," Michelle told him as a few tears fell down her face.
Their friends walked over to them. Catlanda leaned on the Spire as Rick and Marok stood beside her in case she needed help. She was shivering until her body decided to collapse. Rick and Marok eased her down to the ground.
"I don't think she could handle it," Rick mused.
"Rick, she just lost the most important person in her life. How would you feel if that happened to you?" wondered Marok.
Rick faltered as he looked at the Medjai.
"I did but she came back to life," Rick replied. "I don't expect it to happen this time."
Sarah had her arms around Jackie, crying into her shoulder.
"I can't believe he's dead," whimpered Sarah.
"I know," Jackie quietly replied.
Michelle hurried over to Cody, who was still gasping for air. He clutched his shoulder as she stumbled over to him.
"Cody, how's the shoulder?" she asked him.
"Fine. Could be better. I just want to know why it hurt so much now," he replied as he looked at her.
He gave a sad smile as he watched the tears fall down her face.
"I wish there was something we could do for you. I know this is hard for you," he whispered to her.
"You know there's not much that you can me with now. Frank's gone," she replied. "Now be still and wait until the pain as passed."
The Guardian walked up to the group.
"Everyone, please listen to me for a moment. Keeper, you and the others must go back to 1939. With the Time Traveller defeated, time travel will be soon almost impossible to do, even with the Spire so you must go back before you are unable to do so," the Guardian explained to them. "You have 24 hours to go back but I recommend doing soon so you are not stuck here permanantly because of something that happens."
Catlanda cried at the statement for she knew the woman was right. She stood with up with the help from Rick and Marok. She walked over to Ardeth's lifeless body and stood over it.
"Good-bye everyone. Maybe we will see each other after this," she said as the others walked over to her.
"Yeah, see you later," agreed Rick as he waved.
"Maybe we'll see each other," Alex said.
Michelle smiled as she thought of something she saw on television as she stared at Frank's body before walking over to it.
"Good-bye Frank. You are in my heart always. On behalf on my life, you are free again. Perhaps we'll meet again," she whispered into his ear.
The Spire was lifted over Catlanda's head and she prepared to speak aloud the incantation to send them home when the Guardian stopped her.
"What's wrong?" wondered Rae as she stepped forward.
"I want to tell you all something. You all have been given a gift. A gift in return for stopping the Time Traveller," she said.
"But how can we get it? Ardeth, Frank and Nick did all the work," wondered Letty.
The Guardian shook her head as a small smile appeared on her face.
"But you helped them do it," the Guardian replied before disappearing into thin air.
After a few tense moments, Jake looked around to see nothing happened.
"What the heck...?" he started as everyone began to look around at what the Guardian was talking about. "Nothing happened!"
Michelle was still beside Frank's lifeless body as Patrick knelt next to Nick. Michelle wasn't paying attention to them as she gently combed her fingers through Frank's hair. That all changed when she heard a small gasp for air...
TBC...
Author's Note-I know I hate 'em but I still do 'em. Evil cliffies. Duh duh duuuuuh! *gives innocent smile*