A/N. apologises for not posting last week, I do have my reasons, but I'm not going to waste your time by pretending there important enough to tell the world about.

Just a quick hello to all who reviewed, new and old alike, I appreciate all you have to say very much. Special hellos to Liz, Jax and Becky who have all helped enormously of late.

Anyway I've wasted enough time, so onwards….

Chapter 12 - New day, old paths.

Yawning, Evie stretched herself awake on the sand, and rolling over she instinctively felt for her husband. Her eyes flew open and her heart pounded for a second when she found him missing, before she remembered the situation she was in.

Sleepily she ran a hand through her hair, and looked around. Morning light streamed in through the thin canvas, the heat of the day already evident. Hoping the morning outside still held some freshness, she quickly started dressing. Her progress was only hastened as she heard a voice from outside. Impatient to see Rick she rushed from the tent, stumbling over her own feet in her haste.

As she looked down, she noticed a faint line of footprints leading down the side of her tent. A warm feeling spread through her chest, and a smile crossed her face. Obviously she hadn't been the only one having trouble sleeping last night.

Looking up from the dying fire, both men smiled a good morning. The taller of the two got to his feet, and Evelyn froze to her spot.

She felt like a little girl, with butterflies in her stomach, and a light-headedness she couldn't explain. She almost trembled as he walked towards her, but everything melted away as he took her into his arms, and held her tight.

"Good morning," he whispered against her neck.

"Oh Rick…" Evelyn whispered as she ran her hands down his back, "I missed you."

Nodding, Rick crushed his lips against hers balled his hands in to fists, and swallowed the pain from where her hands caressed his aching back.

XXX

In the early morning Jonathan walked through the ruins with a heavy sigh in his heart and an excitable Onuris attached to his arm. They had arrived, much to jonathans dismay, at Hamunaptra .

Although it was at an early hour when they entered the hidden city he could already feel the sun warming his back. The landscape around him had changed dramatically but even had he not been told where their journey was to end he would have recognised the place. The majority of the magnificent buildings and columns had disappeared deep in to the sand, and a lot of new equipment lay crumbling amid the camp that had already been established. A few small markers called to him, however, reminding him of the past.

The head of the Anubis statue that had once protected the Book of the Dead lay just peeking above the sand, looking every bit as if it were the macabre remains of a twisted decapitation. The site of this weather-beaten god almost made Jonathan feel like he was home.

As the Onuris busied themselves with welcoming Djeser-si and carrying out his orders, Jonathan was increasingly ignored. Slowly he started to wander towards the biggest change to the city; a large pit that lay at the back of the main complex. Standing on the edge it seemed deep to Jonathan, but he would guess it had been much deeper at one time. It had been dug without any concern for what it may have disturbed- artefacts that at one time may have been priceless lay broken and discarded, a sight Jonathan was sure Evelyn would have hated with a passion.

"Busee, busee!" Osahar babbled at his side, before Jonathan had the chance to mourn the loss of the riches before him.

Jonathan rolled his eyes and turned to the small man. It was bad enough when his guard was talking in English let alone Arabic.

"O'Connell, can you see?"

"Of course I can see!" Jonathan snapped as Osahar continued to exclaim in Arabic. "You know the first time I was… Oww!" Jonathan groaned loudly and suddenly as Osahar pulled on his arm- something else had caught his eye, and he ran off to explore.

"Osahar!" a voice suddenly boomed across the sand; it was Djeser-si. "Come! Bring the prisoner. I have a job for you."

XXX

Sighing, Evelyn rocked back on her heels and pulled her hair away from her face. It was hot in the tomb and she was tired. Half-heartedly she took another stroke at the wall with her soft brush. She had been unearthing hieroglyphs all morning, many of which had fascinating tales to tell, and on any other day she would be in her own personal heaven. But today was different, today she had a time limit- they had to leave the valley tonight if there stood any chance in arriving within Djeser-si's deadline.

Gently she closed her eyes and rubbed them, it really was very hot. Suddenly something hit her foot, and she jumped. Looking down she saw a canteen of water lying at her feet. Looking over her shoulder she could just make out the back of her husband, working in the next chamber, clearing the rocks from where they had guessed would be their path. Smiling, she gratefully lifted his canteen from the floor, and drank, the cool water soothing her considerably as it slid down her throat.

Rick grinned as he heard a contented noise escape Evelyn's throat. He wasn't enjoying being in the tombs anymore than it seemed she was, but the heat was the least of his problems. His experience the night before was still haunting him. After a few moments of intense pain and grasping the sand, it had lessened suddenly and for a second disappeared completely. It came back quickly, however, but as nothing more than a ache. Staggering back to camp in the moonlight Rick had gingerly pulled the shirt from his back. There was no mark however, no wound, nothing to explain what he had just been through. He sat all night in front of the fire, waiting for something else to happen, but it hadn't; the sun had risen and he still only had a slight throbbing. When Ardeth rose, Rick contemplated telling him, but it seemed silly now, surreal even. Besides, it was not like they needed any more problems to deal with. So he kept quiet, and even now as the pain rose and fell with each bend of his back, he kept silent.

XXX

As he moved the last rock from where Evelyn had postulated there may be an opening, Rick saw nothing except a faint outline of a hieroglyphic man. Blowing aggressively he created a small dust cloud which stung his eyes for a second. So that's why Evelyn is so pedantic about her brushes, he thought for a second. The image in front of him quickly regained his attention- it reminded him strongly of the one he had seen in Ahm Shere last year. The face had more detail however, the man had his arms crossed and a large sword attached to his hip. However, it wasn't any of these details that caught Rick's attention, it was a tattoo that sat proudly on the carving's shoulder. Reaching out with his steady hand, Rick needed to feel the symbol beneath his fingers…

A loud noise suddenly echoed through the chamber before his outstretched fingers reached the hieroglyph, and he spun on his heel, his hand flying to his gun instinctively.

He could hear children laughing and playing, bare feet running across hot sand. His head began to spin. The room he was in was empty- Evelyn was next door interpreting some engravings to Ardeth, but her voice continued to fade as the children grew louder.

Unexpectedly one voice grew louder than the rest, a little boy's voice, and it sent shivers down his spine. He could hear the lad pleading with a man that he knew was grasping his arm. Rick's arm went limp as he let go of his gun; he knew it couldn't help him now. Although he could only hear voices he recognised the scene unfolding as a memory, he could almost see the boy's thin cotton top being removed as a couple of large men held him down.

Rick's eyes went wide as the boy's did at the sight of a knife blade glinting in the sunlight.

"It will be over soon, little one," a friendly voice called to him. The young boy didn't stop crying out and spitting far more curses than a boy of his age should know. "This is who you are," the voice called again. "Understand, understand."

The boy's words stopped dead in his throat as finally his brave facade broke. His tender age showing as the sharp blade cut in to his soft flesh, and the tears he could no longer hold spilled across his tanned face.

Rick grabbed his left shoulder and he held it tight, feeling all the pain of the boy double as the ink, black as the night sky, dripped deep into the fresh wound, staining his skin forever.

The voices disappeared as quickly as they had arrived, leaving Rick slightly light-headed. Undoing his shirt quickly he slid if from his left shoulder, and stared at the mark there, half expecting it to be red raw. Running his fingers across the pattern he realised it was no different to how it had always been.

Turning quickly back to the engraving, Rick reached out and traced the same pattern there. Ok, he thought quickly, this is starting to get a little strange. The etching of the tattoo moved below his fingers and made him jump- the wall was crumbling under his fingers! Rubbing at the loose stone, Rick was surprised as a coldness of metal touched his skin. Pulling his hand back he stared at the emerging object, and although he had never seen it before in his lifetime, he couldn't stifle a smile at finding it.

Quickly he brushed more of the stone away, taking care to avoid the sharp metal edges that he uncovered. After a second or two he could see it in its full golden glory. Eagerly he reached forward and positioned his hand around it, and pulled. The artefact came surprisingly easily into his hand at first, until the chain it was attached to snagged on something. Not willing to lose it, however, he just pulled harder and harder, until finally it gave.

For a second Rick just stared at the disc in his hand, unable quite to believe in its existence.

"It's-" he began in a whisper.

"Rick!" Evelyn's voice cried excitedly from the other room, interrupting his thoughts.

XXX

"I spy…" Osahar's voice echoed along the narrow corridor, "Something beginning with… 'S'."

Jonathan lolled his head to one side. "Sand?" he guessed, bored.

"Aywa, aywa," Osahar smiled wildly as he drove the shovel in his hands deep into the sand in front of him. "You are good at this O'Connell, I didn't think you would get sand again!"

Throwing his own shovel down, Jonathan rubbed his sweaty hands down his trousers.

"No, surprising that," he quipped, dead pan. He was really beginning to regret teaching Osahar the child's game. Wandering a little down the hot tunnel he sat on a large rock. Things seemed to be going from bad to worse.

Turning around, Osahar gasped at jonathans actions. "No no no!" he cried and ran towards him, "up, up- we must work!"

"Trust me, my dear boy, work is not something I must do. I am quite happy to not."

"Djeser-si, said we must," Osahar continued as he nervously looked over his shoulder, almost as if expecting to see his master there.

Jonathan just raised his eyebrows and began thinking about the irony of his situation. It was quite likely that he had been the very last person in this corridor as it had filled with sand, and now here he was, the first in it as it was dug out.

His aching body made him even less inclined to work than usual. Slowly he reached up and undid a couple of the buttons on his shirt. The tunnel was hot and stuffy and he wanted to be any place but there. Below his shirt Jonathan's chest was bruised and sore, but he was desperately trying not to think about it. He had been on the receiving end of someone's fists many times before, bar brawls and misunderstandings alike, but these injuries where in a different league. Quietly so not to disturb the now digging Osahar, he reached in to his jacket and removed the small silver flask he had secreted there after acquiring it from one of the Onuris. Taking a deep swig he smiled as the strong alcohol numbed the pain.

A sudden loud banging made him jump to his feet, an action he immediately regretted. The noise was echoing from the next corridor. Groaning as he realised what it was, he sat back down heavily and took another swig.

Djeser-si had every available person digging the sand-filled corridors. Although it seemed the large ceremonial chamber had been destroyed by Meela and the Onuris' work last year, a large majority of the underground passageways and sealed rooms were still intact. What Djeser-si was clearing the way to no-one knew. Jonathan suspected that it may have been the large treasure room he desired, but that may have been because it was what he was thinking of. Plus he was pretty sure that the tunnel he was in was one that he, Rick and Evie had made good their escape through all those years ago.

The thought of Evelyn promoted a new emotion in Jonathan, and although he knew Rick would willingly give his life for her, he couldn't help but worry about what his little sister was getting up to.

XXX

Moving instinctively at Evelyn's voice, Rick stuffed the relic into his pocket unthinking, and ran from his chamber to the adjoining one. The sight of Evie and Ardeth standing side by side, both their expressions frozen in awe as they stared at the opposite wall, quickly stopped him.

The deep rumbling sound of stone grinding against stone filled Rick's head, and following their gaze he too allowed a look of amazement to cross his face, as part of the hieroglyph inscribed wall slid open.

a/n. Lol so it would seem everyone would agree with my evil status from the last chapter. I don't think this one is as bad, but hey if u disagree, review, if u don't review anyway. I'm a feedback junkie, ( like you didn't already know ;op).

Until next time keep safe, pp xxx