The kiss grew more passionate as the seconds passed, and Evelyn could feel herself getting carried away. She pulled away gently and let out a deep breath. Her head was still spinning. Rick saw the look on Evelyn's face and couldn't help but smile. His hands rested on her hips, he gave them a bit of a squeeze and pulled her in. Their foreheads touched affectionately, they both smiled and laughed slightly. She tightened her arms around his shoulders and kissed him once more. Was this what it was supposed to feel like?

Evelyn would be staying in Cairo for the next few weeks, re-organizing the ruined library ("Just how I left it") and making sure all was well at the museum. Of course, Jonathan would be staying as well. "I have to take care of my dear, sweet baby sister!" he would say to Evelyn as she rolled her eyes at him, laughing appreciatively at the same time. They would be staying at the Fort Brydon for however long. Evelyn had decided that once things were straightened out and in relatively good order for the new curator, she wouldn't stay at the library like she had for the past few years. For one, the Bembridge scholars had taken much more of an interest in her after her return from Hamunaptra with a bag full of artifacts... namely gold pieces of the pharoah Seti's treasure. Now, Evelyn was never really one to lose her composure. But her excitement boiled over as she mauled her brother with a tight hug and then proceeded to jump intoRick's arms, laughing blissfully. She was so wrapped up in her new status with Bembridge and showing the new curator how the library was "coded and catalogued" and making sure that he was comfortable enough with the state of things at the museum before she left him to his position alone, that she had not noticed that painful worry that reflected deep in Rick's eyes whenever she mentioned something about Bembridge scholars or wondering what she would do after her work at the museum was done. Do not misunderstand, it was not as if she was not spending time with Rick. She was and enjoying every minute of it. Their time together just never seemed like enough. Rick was becoming aware that he needed her and was worried about losing her. The feelings that had started their roots in the sands of Egypt had grown beyond even Rick's imagination. Would he call it love? He supposed so... Rick loved Evelyn...

Rick's eyes snapped open and he sat bolt right up in bed, his sheets and covers toppling down to his bent waist. He had been drifting off, letting his thoughts carry him into a deep sleep... but this moment of truth he had just had with himself startled him. Did he just think about loving Evelyn? Even though he had just admitted it to himself, he still couldn't believe it. He sat up all the way and placed his elbows on his knees and buried his face into his hands. In the midst of these dangerous thoughts of loving and possibly losing Evelyn, what was he doing to himself? He had never loved anyone, not even the parents he had never known. Of course he had very strong feelings for Evelyn, he would have even told you that. But he just... didn't love, even though this man always seemed to have a silent compassion that showed when others were in danger, maybe he hadn't noticed. But he kept telling himself that he had never loved, so how could he know what it felt like? And therefore how could he know that he loved Evelyn? He then suggested to himself that maybe it was just something you knew when you felt it. He lifted his head out of hands and laughed once in disbelief. He was going to be honest with himself... He loved Evelyn. He laid back downand turned over on his side, his back sliding over the sheets as his head sunk into his pillow. He just laid there in silence, staring blankly out the window and into the dark night in disbelief. He loved her... He couldn't believe he was admitting it to himself, yet he knew it was true. He then wondered if it was easier to fight giant bugs and destroy evil resurrected mummies than tell a woman that he loved her... he drifted into an uneasy sleep, unsure of what was supposed to happen next.

The next day, Evelyn had woken up fairly late. The curator wanted to tend to the museum today by himself, to get a feel for running it without Evelyn's help. She tripped into the bar of Fort Brydon, rubbing her eyes sleepily, wearing her usual librarian attire with her hair falling gracefully around her face and flowing over her shoulders. She had a positively dreamy expression on her face.Yet when she looked around and didn't see Rick sitting in the bar, a look of slight disappointment spread across her face. She heard a voice from the far left. It wasn't Rick, but seeing the owner of the cheerful British voice brought a certain amount of joy that only he could bring.

"Hello, Darling!" the voice had said.

"'Morning, Jonathan..." she chimed in happily.

"Ah, you mean afternoon."

"What?" Evelyn gasped incredulously.

"Yes, baby sister... it is now... 12:03..." said Jonathan, looking longingly at a man's pocket watch that he had spotted and read the time off of. Evelyn laughed and crashed into a seat next to her older, yet irresponsible, brother. She might complain about him, but she wouldn't trade him for anything. Despite Jonathan's many flaws, he was the only one (before she had met Rick) that could plaster a smile on her face for days, he never failed to make her feel better, even in the presence of circumstances that could drive anybody insane with sadness. He might be one of the best pickpockets she had ever known, but he was also the greatest friend she had ever been blessed with.

"Jonathan..." Evelyn laughed in mid-sentence, "What would I do without you..."

"You'd probably be eaten by giant bugs or something..." Jonathan said carelessly while refilling his shot glass with whiskey. She scoffed and added quickly "Sure, Jonathan... whatever you say... One thing's for sure... I'd die of boredom!" Evelyn had rejected the offer for an alcoholic drink politely but had been handed a glass of water. She had no desire to become any more animated than she might have been at the moment with the inducement of alcohol, but she was dead thirsty. She began to gulp the water almost savagely. Jonathan smiled at his sister's disregard for any manners. No one in the bar seemed to care, but Jonathan was quite amused.

"You..." said Jonathan, still smiling, "are a strange one..." Evelyn set down the half-drained glass. With a sly smile, she wiped her mouth on her sleeve, not really caring who was watching or what anyone thought. She was in complete bliss... or it could have been a good night's sleep... or both.

"Oh, like you have room to talk!" laughed Evelyn, gripping the glass on the counter. Jonathan chuckled and shook his head while draining his own shot glass.

"So..." he started as he refilled his shot glass again, "looking for O'Connell, were you?"

"No..." Evy lied, trying to hide a smile, "what makes you think that?"

"I saw that disappointed look on your face," Jonathan chuckled as he knocked back the whiskey in the glass. "I know you were looking for him."

Evelyn laughed. "Sure... whatever you say, Jonathan..." she said innocently as she lifted the glass up to her lips and began sipping slowly but continuously.

"So..." Jonathan said casually, refilling his glass for a third time, "You love this guy, O'Connell, right?" He referred to Rick as if he was some stranger he had only met once or twice, but he meant it to irk his sister. He was startled when his baby sister coughed into her water glass, almost choking on a mouthful of water. She gasped for a second, gripping the edge of the counter as she regained her breath.

"What?" She sighed, not believing the accusation her brother had just made.

"What?" Jonathan exclaimed, wondering what he had said that made her so breathless. "You love the man, don't you?" he questioned as if it was a conversation they had a million times before.

"Well... I... I..." Evelyn stuttered, "I... Jonathan don't be stupid! Certainly I have feelings for the man but... Love him?" She seemed to be having trouble collecting her thoughts. Love Rick? She wouldn't deny that she very rarely felt this way about anyone, and that he was absolutely one of the best men she had ever known, but love him? This was nonsense. She didn't just hand out love like party favors. She hadn't even thought about it. Sure, once you got past his rough exterior there was a compassionate man willing to lay his life on the line for your own... and sure, how many men would take on a 3,000-year-old mummy, who was immortal, mind you, to save the life of a girl that didn't directly affect his own life? What was she saying... Rick was no ordinary man and she was thinking about these things as if they were just favors of a good friend. And indeed, they had formed a great friendship... relationship... she didn't know what to call it. She then remembered that she had saved his life... was he just returning the "favor"? Or was there more to it? Who would gamble their own life to save her when the situation seemed almost hopeless? Rick did... no one else (excluding Jonathan... and Ardeth... but he also had the whole Medjai obligation thing... ). After that she has spent so many nights thinking about him. Not the Bembridge scholars... or about museums and libraries... but about Rick. He had taken her breath away so many times just by being with her... was this love? Is this what it was supposed to feel like? How stupid could she be? She had fallen in love and hadn't realized it... She was in love with Rick... in love with Rick. Her jumbled thoughts were interrupted by Jonathan's voice...

"Yes, Evy, love him... don't deny it!" He pointed his finger accusingly at her.

Evelyn had a struck look in her eyes, looking incredulous and dazed. She quickly reached for the shot glass that Jonathan was about to gulp down and snatched it away.

"Hey, that's mine!" Jonathan wined as Evelyn drained it in one swallow, she clunked the glass hardly on the bar with a sickened look on her face...

"Blech..." she said, shaking her head. She straightened up... she loved Rick. She admitted to herself, fully and truthfully, and it felt great. She was again interrupted by Jonathan grumbling about his stolen whiskey as he snatched it back and began refilling it for a fourth or fifth time, Evelyn had lost count.

"So Evy..."

"I love him..." she said, smiling

"Good for you!" he said, raising his glass in a toast, "Cheers!"

"Oh my God..." Evelyn just realized something.

"What?" Jonathan swallowed the remaining whiskey and pushed aside the bottle.

"Jonathan... what am I going to do?"

"What do you mean, dear girl?"

"What am I supposed to do?

"Again, I'll say it... what the hell do you mean, Evy?"

"How am I supposed to let him know? Do I tell him? What if he doesn't love me back?" She was rambling on with a worried tone. Jonathan put down the whiskey glass and grabbed her by both shoulders and shook her a bit.

"Come on, woman! Don't be stupid!" he shot her remark back at her with a smirk, "Of course he loves you!"

"How can you be so sure?" Evelyn sounded hurt at the thought of Rick not returning her feelings.

"Aren't you supposed to be the intelligent one?" He scoffed and shook his head with a hint of laughter in his voice. "The man chased that crazy bald guy back to Hamunaptra to get you! When we stepped into a room with mountains..." his expression saddened, "and I do mean MOUNTAINS of treasure, he wouldn't stop. He was bound and determined to do what was needed to get you back." His expression was serious, but he was also smiling, "He didn't stop until the high priest whatever-his-name-is was sinking into that weird black water. Then he practically dragged you out by the hand. Evy, don't be so naive! What man would be stupid or crazy enough to do a thing like that for a woman unless he loved her! And now he totters by your side... and you do the same to him! You two are constantly seeking each other's company. And even as it is a bit sickeningly sweet at times, there's no denying that you love him... and there is no doubt in my mind that our American ex-legionnaire is feeling the same way, he just hasn't built up the courage to tell you yet. I'd wager all the money in the world if I had it..." He added that last part a bit gloomily. Evelyn had silent tears welling up in her eyes and a look of absolute disbelief. She did not give her brother enough credit. He had known she was in love before she even realized it, and now he made more sense in one conversation than he had ever made in his entire life. She had a mixture of pride in her brother's reasoning and a sick feeling in her gut that was apparently the result of figuring out that she loved someone... and being unsure of what was going to happen next. I love him, the thought echoed in her head a thousand times... then the thought that scared her most... What now?