š“€€Marc's Momentš“€€

"Steven! Steven! Wake up!" Both ladies knelt over him, shaking him.

"Is he breathing?"

But suddenly, Steven's collapse wasn't their only concern.

Rapid fire shots were coming from a truck headed right for them across the dunes.

Eva grabbed Steven and rolled them down the opposite side of the dune to give them as much cover as possible. Layla, however, had other ideas.

She took off running, right in the stream of gunfire, towards their own truck.

"Layla!" Eva watched helplessly as Layla kept going. "Oh God, Steven, please wake up-"

An explosion blasted up into the night sky in a burst of light and sound.

"Layla!" Eva was on her feet, suddenly not caring if she got shot. Steven was down, Layla couldn't be gone too.

But it quickly became clear that it was Layla who had caused the explosion, blasting the enemy truck with a flare.

Stunned, Eva sensed something beside her and jumped - Steven was there, standing right beside them, fully conscious.

"What?" said Layla casually.

"Khonshu's gone - for now," Steven explained his side of the story that the ladies were not aware of. "Trapped in stone. He wants Marc to save him."

"Of course he does," said Layla.

"We'll have to be extra careful from now on," Eva urged. "Especially without the suit and weapons and healing powers."

"Yeah. Marc's not very fond of these arrangements," Steven said, gesturing to their little group.

"Well too bad, cause it's all we've got," said Layla, knowing Marc could hear her.

They decided to get some rest - they didn't have very many opportunities for that on this journey. Of course, they had one of them keep watch while the others slept, as they were very exposed out in the middle of the desert and, clearly, had already been caught up to more than once.

While Eva was keeping watch, Steven came over to sit with her.

"Hi Steven."

"It's Marc now," the serious American accent greeted her.

"Oh, sorry - guess I shouldn't assume."

"Naw, it's all right."

They were quiet for some time, just staring at the open desert and sky, until she spoke, breaking the silence. "'I won't let anything happen to you.'"

"Hmm?"

"When we were fighting Mogart you said, 'I promised I wouldn't let anything happen to you'. What did that mean?"

"Steven was freaking out, as he usually does-"

"Be nice."

As if someone wouldn't freak out! Steven added.

"-And he was worried about you getting caught up in all this. I said I wouldn't let anything happen to you. I promised him." A pause, then. "I told him he wasn't the only one who cared about you."

"Oh -" His words clearly surprised her. "And what does that mean?"

"I wish you weren't here - that came out wrong. I'm glad you're here, I am. But I wish you weren't here in that then you'd be out of all this danger because, because I do care about you, Eva, like Steven does... Technically, I did before he did-" He seemed to really be struggling with his words. "I came to London as Marc. It wasn't until later that Steven took over. Khonshu led me there, led me to you. I started doing some digging, as I said before, learning about you and your past. I came to the museum a few times-"

"You did?"

"Yeah. I instantly recognized your passion, your kindness. I joined in for part of one of your tours. Your stories fascinated me, drew me right in."

Creep, said Steven.

"Steven would be safe there. Didn't expect him to fall in love with you, but makes sense-"

"'Fall in love'? she repeated.

"Yeah-" Marc was cut off when he raised his hand and suddenly slapped himself across the cheek. "Ow! Jesus - he didn't like that, obviously." That was when she realized Steven had taken over for a moment.

A tense silence hung in the air between them now, heavy with the words of his confession.

"Well, Marc, this is certainly a surprise..." Then she asked, "What about Layla?"

"Layla and I are done - have been for a long time, thanks to my actions. I kept pushing her away. We still care about each other and this job."

"Yes, that's evident."

"I've let her down too many times, but she still helps me."

"She's great."

"Yeah, she is."

"So what does this mean, Marc?" she urged him on.

"Well, I've already promised Steven that once we're done here, I'll disappear for good."

"Oh - can you do that?"

"Yeah. But that was, of course, before I told you all this."

Piss off! hissed Steven.

"Yes, why are you telling me this now?"

"Because I didn't think I'd get another chance, and I'd regret it if you didn't know."

A long moment of silence, then, "Would you mind giving me some time to absorb this, think it over?"

"Yeah, yeah, sure. Of course. I know I dropped a lot on you." Marc respected her wish and gave her space.

You are literally the worst!

"I had to, pal."

But that stuff about me and my feelings for her were not yours to tell! And now you've gone and made it all weird!

"I had to tell her, for myself."

You're selfish, Marc. You don't ever see or care what your actions do to others! I didn't appreciate you shoving me away so you could march over to the woman I love and tell her you love her too! Oh, God, this is so awkward!

Later, when she awoke after her time to rest, Eva heard Layla arguing with - Steven. Steven was back now.

"I'm sorry, I just felt like you should know.'

"Why are you telling me this now?"

"I don't know, I just thought you deserved to know."

"His suit was his best feature. And besides, I know him, and he'd want to lone wolf this whole thing. That's not going to happen."

She wasn't sure what had happened, but it sounded like some other confession had taken place.

A tense silence hung in the truck as they drove.

"Look, I'm sorry for making things awkward or uncomfortable," Steven said. "Forget what I said - for now, it's just us and the open road-" He was cut off when she hit the breaks, slamming the truck to a halt.

"We go the rest of the way on foot."

The dig site was expansive, however, there was no one in sight, save for some camels.

"Hello," Steven greeted them. They just stared back.

"Looks like they're already inside," observed Layla. We'll need to find another way to beat them to Ammit."

Marc taking over just to punch himself and Steven in the face after he kissed Layla was brilliant! Thank you to the series writers for giving that to us!

This episode was so so interesting! Can't wait to see where it goes next!

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed as always! :)