Rick had woken up ages earlier than Evelyn that day. For the past few hours he had been wandering around Cairo. He had stopped by the museum to see Evelyn because he hadn't known that she wouldn't be there. He had only briefly run into the strange-looking curator who quickly informed him that she wouldn't be coming in. He left the museum slightly disappointed and wasted away a few more hours by walking around the city, trying desperately to gather his thoughts about Evelyn. Or even just to think about anything else... he simply couldn't. He had come back to the fort when he decided that he wanted a drink, so he wandered into the bar and stopped in the doorway to look around. Not to his surprise, he saw Jonathan with a whole bottle of something and a shot glass. But then he saw Evelyn, smiling about something. He smiled as well. Jonathan spotted Rick and looked at Evelyn, who obviously hadn't noticed. He shook his head at her obliviousness in the midst of thoughts that were undoubtedly about O'Connell himself.
"Evy..." Jonathan said in a hissing whisper. Evy snapped from another garbled train of thought and gazed at Jonathan with a look that just screamed 'I have no idea where I am.'
"Hmm?" Evy replied as Jonathan coughed and cleared his throat violently. He jerked his head in Rick's direction right before he gulped down some more whiskey.
"Oh!" She exclaimed in a whisper. Rick made his way to the section of the bar where Evelyn and Jonathan sat, and she could feel herself brimming with uneasiness. Evelyn couldn't believe she was nervous... she had already been through quite a few life-altering moments with this man. What did she have to lose? Everything... what if he didn't love her back? Despite Jonathan's reasoning... she still had her doubts. Mind you, it was not because of Rick. He gave her no reason not to believe that he loved her, because any fool could see that he did. It was because when you desperately want or need something... or rather when you desperately love someone, you become afraid of losing them. Rick stopped a few feet in front of her, and Evelyn sat in the presence of his undying smile.
"Er..." She mumbled.
"Hey..." He said, his baritone voice softening when he spoke to Evy. He bent down and kissed her gently while taking a seat next to her.
"Well, aren't you two just sickeningly cute." Jonathan said in a sarcastically disgusted tone. Rick raised and eyebrow and retorted with nothing more than an insincere "A-ha-ha-ha". Evelyn laughed at the two of them. They prodded each other every now and again, but she liked to think that they had a mutual yet silent respect for one another... and they did. But the reason they did was because they both loved Evelyn in their own way. Jonathan in his strange brotherly way and Rick in every other way imaginable.
"You two..." Jonathan shook his head as Evelyn watched him furtively. "You should just say it!" Jonathan wasn't quite drunk yet, but he had enough alcohol in him to impair his judgement. Evelyn was looking at him with a fierce fear planted on her delicate face.
"Say what?" Rick asked casually, looking at Jonathan a bit confused.
"Go on... Evy loves..." Jonathan stopped as he saw the intense hurt in his sister's eyes... she apparently wasn't ready for Rick to know. He had said Evy loves something... he meant to say Rick... but he couldn't say that... so...
"Socks!" He finished...
"What?" Rick and Evy said together...
"Evy just adores them!" Jonathan said, slurring his words on purpose, acting more drunk than he really was. Evelyn realized what her brother was doing and jumped in...
"Yes... hmm... socks..." She said with a weak laugh... trying to play along, obviously not doing well.
"Right..." Rick said, looking at each of them suspiciously. "Evy, you hungry?"
"Yes!" Evy said, desperate to get out of the bar.
"Ok..." Rick looked around, "Do you want to go now?"
"Erm... do you mind if I change?"
Rick nodded and they both walked up the stairs towards her room. They walked in relative silence, Evelyn's fingers entwined with Rick's as they climbed the stairs.
"I'll be out in a few..."
"Ok... I'll be waiting downstairs..."
Evelyn nodded with a smile as she slipped into behind the door of her room and let it close with a quiet click. She sat on the bed for a second, realizing that she was dead tired, even though she had a good night's sleep. She let herself fall backwards, her head hitting the pillows with a cushioned thud. Her mind began racing, all with thoughts about one thing... or rather one person...
Rick wasn't sure how long he had been waiting at the bottom of the stairs, but it felt like a good hour. He decided to go and see what was taking Evelyn so long. He trudged up the steps and stopped outside her door, knocking softly.
"Evelyn?" he murmured as he rapped on the door. When she didn't answer, a twinge of worry shook him. He knocked a bit louder, "Evy?" She didn't answer again. He turned the doorknob slowly, it was unlocked. He pushed the door open quietly while saying her name, "Evy?" He saw her figure laying atop the covers on her bed, he could see her body moving up and down with rhythmic breathing, her hair was still free of a bun and spread across the pillows. He smiled slightly, shaking his head. She had fallen asleep. He walked around the bed and sat on the edge next to her, putting a hand on her shoulder and shaking her gently.
"Evy... Evelyn, wake up..." he said gently as she stirred under his hand. He put his hand on the comforter on the other side of her body so that he was leaning over her. He bent down to her ear and whispered the same words.
"Evy, wake up..."
Evelyn's eyes opened slowly and the first thing they saw were Rick's blue eyes, then his characteristically lop-sided smile came into focus. She loved that, she couldn't think of anything better to wake up to. She smiled sleepily and took a deep breath in as she slowly lifted herself up. Now she was sitting, her face now a few inches away from Rick's, who was still smiling at his sleepy companion. Rick's arm was still over her, his hand resting somewhere near her hip.
"'Morning..." he said playfully.
"Ha-ha" Evy said with a smile... "I'm so sorry, Rick... I must have drifted off..."
"You did." He said, smiling as she hit him playfully on the shoulder while yawning.
"Yes, I'm aware of that, thank you." She retorted.
"Do you still want something to eat?"
"Actually, I'm still a bit tired and I'm not really that hungry." Her lack of appetite had ensued when Rick came around right after her discussion with Jonathan, rattling her nerves. It had been an interesting day to say the least... and she had only been awake for a few hours.
"Oh..." Rick sounded slightly disappointed... not that they weren't going to eat, but because Evelyn didn't seem interested in just spending a bit of time with him. He smoothed his hand over his hair casually, his hair being wiped back right beforeit fell back into place. "Then I guess I'll just come by later..." He turned on his heel to go but before he could take another step...
"You can stay if you want..." Evelyn had said boldly, her heart thumping as she said it.The connotations tied to having a man in your room for more than a few minutes didn't seem to cross her mind when she said this. All she knew at the moment was that she desperately wanted him to stay, to just lay with her and hold her for awhile. It was a simple wish, but that's truly all she wanted. Rick looked a bit taken aback, but after a moment or two his lopsided smiled spread across his face again as he nodded and said "Ok". After a second or two, he crawled onto the bed next to her. What Evelyn didn't know is that it was also all he wanted, just to lay there and hold her. Evelyn didn't scream or kick him off of the bed as any unmarried young woman with a man in her bed might have done. She just smiled and moved close to him when he was near enough. She laid her head on his broad shoulder and her arm stretched across his wide chest. He wrapped his own arm instinctively around her middle. Their legs became slightly entangled. He took her hand in his and held it, just rubbing it with his thumb.
"Rick?" Rick heard Evelyn's voice emit from the base of his neck.
"Hmm?"
"I realized something important today..." she said in a surprisingly casual way.
"Hmm...?"
"I..." She had just realized that it wasn't as easy to say as she'd hoped. She sighed, defeated.
"What?" He said softly... "I thought you were going to tell me."
"I thought I was too... I had hoped so anyway..." She mumbled, thinking out loud.
"Evy... what are you...?"
"I don't know... I'm sorry..."
"For what?" His voice still soft, but curious.
She shrugged, shaking her head at the neat little hole she had just dug herself.
"I... just... Dammit, Rick!" She exclaimed in a whisper, but laughing once at the same time. Only he could do that to her... make her unable to finish a sentence or speak her thoughts.Why was sheso worried he would turn away?
"Dammit, Evy!" He mimicked playfully, his voice still soft. He laughed gently at her frustration and turned his head to face hers, so that their faces lay parallel on the pillows about an inch apart. "Just say what you want to say, Evy... I won't get up and walk out... It would take alittle more than that to get rid of me... Nice try, though." As Rick laughed once very softly, Evelyn's breath caught in her throat. He had just dismissed her greatest fear... he said he wouldn't get up and walk out... that he wouldn't turn away, there was nothing stopping her now. She wished she had some fancy words to describe her feelings, something more than "I love you..." but... what could she say?
"I love you..." she didn't stumble over her words as she had expected, she said it in a hushed whisper and the words didn't seem to have any spaces between them. Rick's eyes widened...
"What?" He said softly, not sure he heard her right...
"I... love you..." She said slowly, but certainly, without a trace of doubt or regret in her voice, although she had clenched her eyes shut when she said it. She slowly opened her them and Rick was just looking at her with an expression on his face that was impossible to read. Evelyn wondered what he was thinking... waiting hopefully for the reaction she wanted. Rick's eyes softened as they settled on her face.
"Evy..." he said, almost breathlessly.
Evelyn sat up, her legs still tangled with Rick's and took a deep breath. "There... I said it! You told me to say it and I did... and I mean it. I mean it with everything I have." She had said as she looked down at him, he still had that inscrutable expression, but his face was slowly beginning to soften... or at least that's what she thought. She was becoming worried again and her words were bunched together without much breath between them. She added somewhat indignantly... "You told me to say it, Rick. To tell you what I was thinking... and I did..." she wasn't sure what she wanted to say, she was becoming more tense. "I... you... I said..." Rick sat up and put one hand on Evelyn's neck, his thumbtouching her face as he pulled her in and kissed her. It might have been the most passionate kiss they had shared so far, even more so than the one after Rick had rescued Evelyn from Imhotep at Hamunaptra. Rick was holding her in a strong embrace and Evelyn's hands had planted themselves on his chest. They broke apart slowly, Evelyn looked a bit dazed. Rick smiled. Still holding her, Rick gently pressed his forehead against Evelyn's.
"I did say that... I just wasn't expecting..." Rick broke off, his smile stubbornly refusing to fade. He was afraid he would wake up seconds from now and find himself in his own bed alone.
"So do you want to tell me what's going on in that head of yours?" Evelyn said, running a playful hand through his hair."It's only fair... a thought for a thought?"
Rick laughed a bit. They were still sitting on the bed, legs entwined and Rick holding her and Evelyn's hands resting on his shoulders, their foreheads touching lightly.
"Evy... I love you..." He didn't choke on his words. He said it slowly and smoothly. "I love you" was said a lot, sometimes the speaker not really meaning the context of the sentence. But here, with Rick and Evelyn holding each other just because they wanted to be with the other, meant each word with everything they had. Here, the phrase meant everything it said and more. After hearing Rick say these words, she broke out into a soft but happy laughter. They kissed again... and again. They ended up spending hours in that bed, just laying there, holding each other. No impure thoughts or ulterior desires, just the need to be with one another. Evelyn might have fallen asleep at some point, but Rick didn't care. There she was... safe in his arms...
Rick's thoughts carried him as he held Evelyn's sleeping body close to him. He kept replaying the incident in his head, still not believing it wasn't a dream. Rick drifted off, with the smell of Evelyn's hair fresh in his nose and the love he felt for her still very much alive in his heart.