A/N: Sorry it took a while to update. I was working on it for a while and then I had a project due that was worth most of my grade and I have testing coming up, so I thought I should post this chapter. I'm working on chapter 5 right now, so hopefully it'll be up soon.

Chapter 4

Saturnine jerked awake at the sound of the phone ringing, knocking over her unfinished cup of coffee.

"Crap," she mumbled, scrambling to get the phone.

"Hello?" she said tersely.

"You're sounding very chipper this morning," a sarcastic voice said into her ear. Saturnine sighed.

"Sorry Libby. I knocked over a cup of coffee and it's all over the floor." She went to the kitchen and got a few paper towels to clean up the mess. Libby started talking about plans to get ready.

"I was thinking I could come over around noon. We'll both need help with our hair and I can help you with your make up." Libby sighed. "Poor thing can't blend to save her life."

Saturnine snorted. "Noon is fine. I'll ask my neighbor to watch Skip for the day."

"Great! I'll see you around noon then."

"See ya." Saturnine put down the receiver, took a calming breath, and headed to the bathroom to take a shower.

Saturnine gave a startled look at her door when she heard a crash in the hall. A smile crept across her face when she heard the familiar swears of Libby. Opening her door, Saturnine leaned against the frame and grinned down at her friend.

"Drop something?" she asked, taking in the make up and hair products thrown across the floor. Libby growled in response. "Relax Libby. We have hours. There's plenty of time."

"We do not have plenty of time," Libby snarled. "The exhibit opens at six and it's twelve-thirty now."

"Do you remember prom?" Saturnine asked. "We both got ready in two hours." Libby stood up.

"This is a little more important than prom, Satty." Saturnine smiled.

"You're absolutely right. We'd better hurry up before our five and a half hours run out." Libby scowled, but followed Saturnine into her apartment in silence.

It was four-thirty when Saturnine started feeling sick. She had noticeably paled and was shaking. Libby took one look and put her arm around her friend's shoulders.

"Nervous?" A quick jerk of Saturnine's head was her answer. "Just breathe," Libby said reassuringly. "Everything will be fine. You'll walk into the party and every set of eyes will turn your way. Riley, who of course, will be curious as to why everyone's attention has shifted will turn and see you walking through the doors positively glowing with beauty."

"You have this all planned out, huh?" Saturnine laughed nervously.

"Of course I do. I plan everything." Libby answered in a self-assured voice. "Now, get your wrap and purse and let's go."

In a few minutes time, the girls were walking out of the apartment building to Libby's BMW. They got in and began the hour-long journey to Washington, DC, the Smithsonian, and Riley Poole.

Libby was walking at a brisk pace with Saturnine struggling to keep up. From her position behind her, Saturnine could hear Libby muttering obscenities about traffic and VIP parking.

"Plenty of time, hmm?" she shot back at her lagging friend.

"I didn't know traffic would be so bad. Besides, we'll be arriving fashionably late." Libby stopped and turned so suddenly that Saturnine nearly broke a heel trying to stop from running into her friend.

"This is not the sort of thing that you arrive fashionably late to. This isn't some college frat party!"

"Libby," Saturnine said. "No one is going to notice us walking in late. We're not important enough." She stopped and looked across the street. "Look. People are still arriving. It's not just us."

Libby relaxed and linked her arm with Saturnine's. The two of them walked on in silence until they reached the entrance. Libby pulled out the invitations and showed them to the guard at the door. After being waved in, Saturnine and Libby entered a room so filled with history that even Libby (who had never done well in the subject) had to remind herself to breathe.

"Look at it," she whispered to Saturnine. "There's so much of it."

Saturnine couldn't answer. She knew this was only a small fraction of the treasure, but it was amazing. She and Libby began to explore the exhibit. There were statues from various empires, Greek pottery, amulets from ancient Egypt, and other artifacts that they didn't recognize. Both of the women marveled at how well preserved the artifacts were.

They came across a statue of an Egyptian man. He was bluish-green in color and had a rectangular object protruding from his chin. There was a group surrounding the statue discussing the oddity on his face. They all had different opinions and all of them were wrong.

"It's a sign of power," Saturnine cut in. "Pharaohs wore them as a sign of royalty."

A man in a crisp black suit with a balding head said in a condescending voice, "I think you'll find that most upper class males wore them."

"No," she returned. "Only pharaohs. Even the woman pharaoh, Queen Hatshepsut, had one."

A sneer appeared on the man's face. "How did a woman grow a beard?" he asked.

"She didn't. Neither did the men. The ancient Egyptians believed that hair was unclean, so the upper class shaved their entire bodies. Even the men." The man scowled and walked away with his friends. Saturnine turned to Libby, but found that she wasn't there.

"So that's what it is," said a voice behind her. She turned and found herself looking up into the face of Benjamin Gates. "Riley will be interested to know," he continued. "He's been curious about it since finding it, but he's too lazy to do an Internet search." He extended his hand and said, "I'm Ben Gates." Saturnine took his hand.

"Saturnine Mills."

"Saturnine? That's an interesting name. Means something like melancholy, right?" He looked down at her with a look of interest in his eyes.

"Yeah," she responded. "I was lucky enough to be born to a depressed beat-knick mother."

"Must have been difficult growing up with a depressed parent," Ben said.

"Not really. She got better as I got older. By the time I was a teenager she was almost normal. Almost." Saturnine smiled up at him. "But you're not really interested in any of that."

"I would disagree," Ben said.

"You couldn't possibly be too interested because I'm not that interested."

"Well, I know for sure that one person will be interested in what you know about this statue, so I'll go get him. Would you mind waiting here for a few minutes?" Saturnine shook her head and Ben walked away. As she watched his retreating back, Saturnine's stomach dropped. She wasn't quite ready to see Riley yet and began twiddling her thumbs in an attempt to calm herself down. It didn't work and when she heard his voice, she was ready to run to the exit.

"It's great that you're introducing me to a girl, but wouldn't it have been easier to tell me yourself?" Saturnine turned her head to the left and saw him. He looked short walking beside Ben, the latter being a head taller, but he looked the same from high school. He had the same mop of dark hair, the same striking blue eyes, and the same sarcastic voice that made it self known in almost every word that escaped his mouth.

As the two men approached, she turned her back to them and faced the statue. The footsteps stopped behind her and Riley's voice rang out, "So, what is the goatee thing?" Saturnine's stomach twisted uncomfortably, but her voice was steady when she spoke.

"It's a sign of power. Only pharaohs wore them."

"It's a weird way to grow facial hair," Riley said.

"Well, they didn't grow it. They sort of glued it there." Saturnine stopped. "I think. I can't really remember." A silence followed that made Saturnine shift uncomfortably. It took Ben a while to introduce her to Riley.

"Riley, this is Saturnine. Saturnine, this is Riley."

She turned and took Riley's outstretched hand. He had an expression of mild surprise. Saturnine smiled at him and Ben excused himself saying that the two younger people should get "better acquainted". Riley had not dropped his surprised expression nor had he dropped Saturnine's hand. The latter could feel herself begin to blush.

"Hi Riley," she said. He seemed to be snapped out of his reverie. He let go of her hand and cleared his throat.

"Um." Riley couldn't seem to think of anything to say. His eyebrows furrowed slightly as he looked at her. "How have you been?" he finally asked.

"I've been fine. Nothing interesting has happened since I last saw you-"

"Eight years ago," he finished. "Eight years and nothing's happened?" Saturnine smiled.

"Well, nothing amazing. I graduated from college with a Bachelor's in British Literature." She paused and thought. "I just went to a job interview a few days ago. You know, normal stuff."

"Did you ever go to France?" he asked

"Yeah. I spent six months there after college."

A grin spread across his face. "So you speak French?" Saturnine nodded. "Speak it," he commanded.

"No!"

"Why not?"

"Because you didn't say please."

Riley smiled and rolled his eyes. "That's right," he said. "I'd forgotten that you were always into doing the polite thing."

The conversation became more relaxed after that. They talked about high school and the colleges they had gone to. They talked about music and movies they'd seen recently.

"There's talk about selling the film rights," Riley said. "I doubt Ben will let Hollywood get a hold of it, but it might be cool."

"And who would play you?" Saturnine asked. Riley suddenly looked very deep in thought.

"He would have to be handsome, witty, a strong character…"

"A bit bow-legged with a slightly over large nose." Saturnine laughed at the look on Riley's face. His lips had pursed and he had one eyebrow raised.

"And who would play you if they filmed this part?" he asked sourly. "She would have to be hobbit size with a small chest and a high, annoying voice."

"You don't mean that," Saturnine said smiling. Riley's expression remained indignant, but he suddenly relaxed and sighed.

"You're right. They'd have to get a model to play you." For the first time that night, he looked at her from head to toe. "You look gorgeous, Satty. That dress is neat. You look like one of the girls on the Greek pots."

Saturnine laughed. "Thanks. Libby helped pick it out." Riley's eyebrows shot up.

"Libby?" he asked. "I remember her. She was insane. You still talk to her?"

"Yeah. She's here somewhere." She waved her hand to emphasize that she meant the party.

"She's here? Seriously?" Saturnine nodded, confused. "We have to find her," he said as he grabbed Saturnine's hand. They wandered around for a while until they found Libby talking to a young man by the Greek portion of the exhibit. Riley dragged Saturnine up to Libby and said to the man, "Move it, dork." The man grumbled and left the three of them alone.

"What's the idea, jerk? I was talking to him."

"Still flirting with complete strangers Libby? You haven't changed a bit."

Libby looked at him. "Riley?" she asked. He nodded and grinned at her. "Oh my God! Riley!" she squealed and pulled him into a hug. As he wrapped his arms around Libby, Saturnine felt a twinge in her stomach.

"How have you been?" Libby asked and she and Riley launched into a conversation. Saturnine was left standing alone, feeling awkward. She decided to leave her two friends and walk around the exhibit. This proved to be a mistake, as she was wearing three-inch straps. By the time she was half way around the exhibit, her feet were numb with pain.

"You look thoroughly miserable," a voice said from behind her. She turned and saw Ben Gates smiling down at her. "Not enjoying yourself?"

"I'm tired and my feet hurt." Ben nodded.

"I think I can fix that. Follow me." He led to a small room in the back of the exhibit. It was no more special than the other room, but it still had the air of being a private gathering.

"This is the VIP room," Ben said to her. "It really not any different from the general room, but it has more expensive food."

"Is that the only difference?" Saturnine asked.

"Pretty much," Ben replied. "Come on. There are some nice chairs in here that you can rest on."

Saturnine spent the rest of the night talking to Ben, eating more expensive food, and sitting on a comfortable chair.

E/N: Sorry if there are any mistakes. I was tired while typing this and I was afraid that if I didn't post it soon, I never would have. Review and tell me what you thought!