I own nothing. Reviews welcome.

~oOo~

5:30 am.

The alarm goes off.

A hand slowly snakes out from under a mound of blankets and struggles as it seeks out the source, knocking over several small items in the process. After several slapping attempts, success is finally achieved and silences falls once more as the hand slowly withdraws back into its cocoon.

She has time to lay just a few moments longer. She was so sleepy.

6:00 am.

The alarm goes off.

The hand comes out from beneath the shadows like a shot in the dark. Striking its target with all the precision of a heat seeking missile. Silence is swift.

Just a few moments longer she thinks, blankets so soft. That was like what, two seconds maybe?

6:15 am.

The alarm goes off.

This time the alarm is taken to the floor with the force of the hand's rebuke. It kind of had it coming really. What with the level of rudeness it kept shouting at her.

7:25 am.

The sun light is peaking through the window next to her bed, coming across her pillow. Her arms reach out in a slow stretch as she rolls over onto her back. She rubs at her eyes and looks to her alarm clock. Wait . . . where the hell is it? She sits up slightly and looks around its' usual place next to her bed, finally finding it on the floor. She reaches down and looks at it. 7:27 am. 7:27 am? 7:27 am!

Shit!

She leaps out of the bed only to fall to the floor due to her feet becoming tangled with in the sheets. Fuck! She halfway crawls for a moment as she continues to propel her body forward towards the bathroom. No time to shower. She has to get to class by 8:00 am. Dr. Rainey's class too. Damn. She is not going to make it and this will be her third tardy. What the hell happened to the goddamn alarm clock?! Why the hell was it on the floor?!

Shit shit shit!

She stumbles into the bathroom stubbing her toe in the process, causing her to smack her knee on the sink when she jerked her leg up instinctively from the shooting pain. She plops down on the toilet squeezing her knee and toe simultaneously. After a few seconds she collects herself and stands up carefully. There is no time for a shower, but that really did not matter at this point. She was wide awake now. She quickly pulls her hair into a ponytail and swipes on some deodorant. She steps out of the bathroom and grabs some pants from the floor of her room and slips on a bra. Her shirt wasn't that dirty, she only slept in it.

She is able to move around her room in single steps due to the small size. She was pretty sure it used to be a closet but was listed as a room so the small 900 sq ft apartment could be considered two bedroom. Oh well, it did the trick. It was one of the many student housing co-ops offered by the school and a convenient and affordable way to live in the city and so close to campus.

She rushes into the kitchen/living area to see her roommate pouring a cup of coffee. She shouts a warning.

"What are you doing?! We have to go! I am not waiting for you!"

Kate just stares at her.

Whatever. She ran back in to her room and grabs her bag, shoving papers into it and shouting over her shoulder at her roommate.

"Just throw something on. We will get there faster if we just walk." Walk? Run is more like it.

"You should be okay but this will be my third late and he won't let me in the class. Where the hell are my keys?" She looked frantically around the room.

"Andrea," said Kate.

"Are they in there? It's cool outside right?"

"Andrea," Kate said again.

"Where are my keys! Screw it. You have yours right? Let's go." Kate does not move.

"Why the hell are you just sitting there?! What?! . . . Wait . . ." she gave her roommate a suspicious look, "did you do something to the clocks?"

Kate looked at her over her cup. Andrea's shoulders slumped a little.

"It's Sunday isn't it."

Kate sipped silently at her coffee. Andrea's shoulders slumped more and her head dropped back so that she looked up at the ceiling.

"It is Sunday isn't it."

"Yyyyyup," answered Kate. Andrea dropped her bag to the floor and her arms hung loosely at her sides as she continued to look up at the ceiling. She gave a long sigh of frustrated defeat. Sunday. No class on Sunday, what with it being the weekend and all. Which was why they were meeting the shop keeper in Soho this morning. Kate would often go to that little shop to date some of the items for the owner, to let her know what was worth something and what was not. It was just a little side job for her and a way to get some experience for a possible position at an auction house or museum and credits for her doctorate. She had asked Andrea if she would come with her this morning because of some pieces that she was unsure of. Andrea was working on finishing up her masters at Columbia for history and anthropology and was looking to apply for the doctorate program herself. She had agreed to go out of curiosity. Kate promised an amazing find and a chance to make a little extra cash. And since it was Sunday, and there are no classes on Sunday, she figured why not. Besides, a little extra cash never hurt.

"How long were you going to let me run around like that?"

"I wasn't going to let you leave," Kate said sweetly.

"Why didn't you stop me?"

"Why won't you buy a calendar?"

Andrea met her roommate's innocent gaze with a flat look.

"I hate you," she said.

"I know," her roommate answered.

She dropped her head down and rubbed her eyes as she slowly trudged back into her room. The adrenaline rush that had her moving earlier was spent and her energy was rapidly draining away along with her motivation. She fell on her back on the bed and listened as Kate shuffled around the tiny kitchen, refilling her cup.

"Look on the bright side," Kate called out, "you have time to take a shower now."

She considered coming back with her own witty and slightly vulgar retort but decided that expending the energy was just not worth it. Besides Kate was right, she did have time to take a shower.

She stood in the shower and let the hot water run down her body, taking away the chill in her bones. The small apartment the two girls rented always seemed to be ten degrees colder or hotter than what it was outside, depending on the season. Still, it was five minutes from campus and affordable with a roommate. She could layer up.

She sighed as the steam rose up around her. She suddenly felt very tired. She had to start going to bed sooner. The later she stayed up the harder it was to get going in the morning. Perhaps she should try placing the alarm clock across the room. This way she would actually have to get out of bed to shut it off. She doubted it would help. She could not even keep up with the days of the week any more. She had to come up with something though. This was becoming a frequent occurrence. Even on the nights she would get to bed at a reasonable hour, she would still wake the next morning feeling sluggish and worn, as if she had been up all night. She was not sure why. Kate would tell her that she talked in her sleep a lot. Maybe it was some strange dreams. But Andrea could never remember just what she was dreaming about when she would wake, and besides, dreams could not be what was making her lose sleep. You had to be asleep to dream in the first place. And so Andrea chalked it up to stress and her class load and kept on pushing through.

The hot water began to go, so she pulled herself from her thoughts and finished washing up. Andrea tried to ease her guilt about using all of the hot water with the thought that Kate had it coming by letting her panic this morning the way she did. But it did not really work and she made the mental note to tell her.

As she wrapped her hair in a towel and slipped on her robe she heard voices coming from the kitchen. Andrea made a face. Gabe . . . ugh. Gabriel, or Gabe as he liked to be called, was Kate's reoccurring love. Tall, dark, handsome and dumb as a box of rocks. Wait, that wasn't being fair to the rocks. Needless to say Andrea did not like him. It was not because he was dumb (maybe a little) but because they were just so wrong for each other. And just when Andrea thought that Kate had finally moved on he would always come leaching around again. Crashing at their apartment, eating their food, spending Kate's money.

Plus he always called her Andy. She hated that. He would call Kate Katie as well, but that was for Kate to deal with. Andrea hated cutesy poo little names that ended with ie or y. It drove her nuts to be called that. And she was pretty sure he knew. In fact she was positive he knew. Prick.

She made the quick dash from the bathroom to her room (which only consisted of a little jump) and shut the door. Maybe if she took long enough he would be gone by the time she was dressed.

Her morning routine was rather simplistic. A pair of jeans, a plain v-neck shirt and her boots. She rarely wore makeup and normally just pulled her hair back at the nape of her neck in a bun or ponytail. Today she would leave it loose. It was long and kind of thick and would take a while drying. She hated the blow dryer. She always had to unplug something else to run it. She gave herself a quick once over in the mirror.

She was not a plain girl. She had her fair share of random boyfriends and so on. And it wasn't that she was not interested, she just did not have the time. Or did not make the time, at least according to Kate anyway. Her roommate was always telling her how she wished she had Andrea's eyes or hair or pant size. Which Andrea did not understand because Kate was beautiful. But she supposed they all had their own insecurities to deal with. Kate dealt with hers by dating all the wrong men, Andrea dealt with hers by avoiding them.

Andrea straightened out the contents of her bag which were in quite the disarray due to her haste earlier. She grabbed her light cargo jacket and walked out of her room and into the kitchen.

Only to see that son of a bitch Gabe eating a bowl of her cereal.

"Andy!" he shouted through a mouthful of food.

Ass, she thought to herself.

"Gabe," she answered out loud while grabbing a mug and pouring some coffee. She then went to the fridge only to find the milk was gone. She stared into the fridge and squeezed the mug in her hand and listened to jerk boy behind her smack on her cereal that was swimming in the last of the milk.

"Ready?" Kate asked as she walked into the room.

"Yeah, let's go. I need coffee."

"I made a pot. We'll be back in a bit babe, are you going to stay?"

Gabe never turned around. "Maybe, gonna take a shower."

"Alright," Kate leaned over him and gave him a kiss. Andrea swallowed the bile in the back of her throat. She almost said that there was no hot water but she knew that when they got back those dishes he used would be just sitting on the counter so she said nothing. Let him find out on his own.

"I'll meet you downstairs," she called over her shoulder as she walked into the hall. If she looked at him any longer she would say something she would regret. No, that was a lie, she would not regret it at all. But it would cause drama for sure.

Kate was at her side before she got to the stairs.

They did not really say anything till they were seated on the subway. Andrea pulled out her phone and began to scroll.

"So," said Kate as she began to look at her phone.

"So," said Andrea without looking up.

"Soooo . . . ."

"Soooooo?"

"Oh, please don't be mad! It's just for one night. I ran into him while we were out and he had too much to drink and he couldn't afford a cab and it's not my fault he dicknatized me!"

Andrea had simply continued to look at her phone as her friend spoke but when Kate got to the part about the penile hypnosis she gave and exasperated laugh.

"Oh my God Kate."

"I know! I know! I am a horrible person!" Kate looked at her with big puppy dog eyes. "I will buy you some more cereal I swear."

Andrea looked at her friend for a moment before turning back to her phone with a shake of her head.

"Whatever."

Kate relaxed back in her seat. "He really is not so bad you know. If you would just give him a chance you would see that he is nice. He has some cute friends too. You should really consider coming out with us sometime. I don't know why you -"

Her friend went on about the pros of Gabe and his friends and the cons of Andrea abstaining from men for so long. Of course for Kate anything longer than a week is too long. Andrea could not figure out how Kate got any of her course work done with the amount of partying she liked to do. But somehow she always found away. That may be why Andrea liked her so much. Kate did not have a problem working her ass off to get where she wanted to go. Unlike Andrea, Kate's family did not help her at all with her school. Everything she did, she did on her own. This had always impressed Andrea.

Andrea on the other hand came from a very well off back ground. Her mother had passed away when she was young, leaving her father to raise her, her older brother and younger sister on his own. But they never wanted for anything. They went to some of the best schools upstate. Her sister was just about to graduate while her brother was working in her father's law office. Her father had hoped that Andrea would follow a career in law as well but was still supportive when she chose history and anthropology, bragging that he would have a daughter with a doctorate teaching at Harvard or Princeton soon enough. Andrea was lucky to have the family support that she did, she knew this.

She was pulled from her thoughts when Kate tugged at her arm. She stood up and they pushed their way off the train. They had taken the #1 down to the Houston Str stop and would walk over to Downing from there. Kate talked about the shop and the owner as they walked. It turned out that the shop owner, Mrs. Patel, did not actually own the pieces they would be looking at but was more of an intermediary for the man who did. Kate had never met him but she had been called in to look at some of his stuff before to give Mrs. Patel and idea of their worth.

Andrea never liked this kind of thing. She likened people like this to historical mercenaries. Holding priceless pieces of history hostage and dolling them out to the highest bidder. If these items were anything like what Kate described they not belong tucked away in some rich jerk's private collection but in a museum, to be admired in a museum. These were stories, valuable lessons from the past meant to be valued and learned from. Not horded and sold and bartered on the market after being pilfered from a dig somewhere.

The came upon the shop and a little woman met them at the door. She seemed friendly enough and greeted Kate warmly. As they made their way through to the back of the shop Kate leaned in to whisper in Andrea's ear.

"Don't let her fool you. She is nice until you start to talk money and then it is on."

They came up to a table that had several items laid out. Andrea suddenly started to become a little excited.

"See?" said Kate. "I told you. I don't know who this guy is or where he gets this stuff but some of it is just amazing!"

Kate went on about some of the finer pieces, some of the jewels and the jade combs but Andrea's eyes were pulled to some of the glass and quartz seals and amulets on the table. They were different themes with the spectrum ranging from geometric ornaments and astral symbols to elaborate depictions of animals and people. Some displayed praying men in front of divine symbols. Others had a hero fighting animals and hybrid creatures. They had to date to early 7th and 4th centuries BC. They were amazing. Andrea found herself digging through her bag for the jewelers loupe she carried to study them more closely.

Somewhere in the background of Andrea's mind she could still hear Kate talking. There were some sort of introductions going on but she could have cared less. Pieces like this were beyond rare. Andrea thought they may have been found in Turkey but she could not be sure. To put a price on them would be an insult for they were priceless as far as she was concerned. This was a thesis paper waiting to happen.

A stinging pain to her leg caused her to jump and she straightened up quickly and gave Kate a frustrated look.

"Hey! Yes! Hello. Nice to meet you." She spared a quick glance to the person she was being introduced to and then turned her attention back to the table and picked up a gold coin that had to be either Alexander or his father. She could have studied them all day if not for Kate and Mrs. Patel.

"No no no," Mrs. Patel was waving her hands and shaking her head, "that is not your concern. You simply do what you have been asked to do."

"But Mrs. Patel," Kate insisted, "you don't know what you have here. It is not that easy. You can't just put a price on this."

"Yes you can. You have done it before. You can do it again. This time is no different."

Andrea watched as Kate became more frustrated and felt herself becoming annoyed as well.

"Mrs. Patel," Andrea said carefully, maybe if she spoke slow, "what you have here could be very significant. This needs to be studied and -"

"So study," Mrs. Patel interrupted, "and then tell me the value."

Andrea concentrated on controlling her breathing.

"If you would just talk to the owner of these pieces I am sure he would understand my concern."

"Mr. Aeluin and I have spoken Ms. Bealor, extensively on the topic. And I can assure you that he agrees with me. Don't you Mr. Aeluin?"

Andrea turned to look at the man Mrs. Patel had been referring too and found him staring back at her.

"Ah, yes . . . what?" he stuttered.

Andrea fought the urge to roll her eyes at him as Mrs. Patel repeated her question.

"I said I am sure you would agree with me on this matter yes?"

"Yes? Yes. Of course," he agreed warily.

Kate took on her pouty stance that she does when a cute man does not do what she wants. Andrea just got pissed and she did not care if it came through in her tone.

"I disagree. You don't really think that what you have here is nothing more than pure profit do you?"

Mr. Aeluin blinked at her. "What?"

"I mean, you can see that you have something of some historical significance here right? I seriously doubt you would have picked them up otherwise."

He blinked again. "Well, I-"

"And you don't really want to just cash this in without finding out just what they are before selling them off to the highest bidder right? Given that they aren't stolen of course -"

"Wait -"

"- and that we can't authenticate that these are real are you aren't just trying to scam people. These are or could be truly rare pieces of history. From a time that many know little about."

"Ms. Bea-"

"They need to be photographed -"

"Ms. -"

" – cataloged -"

" Andr- "

"and preserved for future -"

"Andreth!"

Andrea stopped and stared at the man before her. What had he called her?

"Andrea," she said.

"What?"

"My name is Andrea."

"Ah, yes, of course. Forgive me. I . . . I just . . . Andrea. Of course we will do these things. And of course you may feel free to authenticate and record whatever you wish, for I will not allow anyone to accuse me of petty theft."

Andrea considered him for a moment. She had touched a nerve there, with her accusations. She thought it best not to push him any further otherwise he might take the pieces away and get someone else.

"Cool. Can I take these with me?"

"Most certainly not!" Mrs. Patel exclaimed. "You may do what you need right here from my shop, under my supervision. Who are you to think we would trust you to take care of them? Or return them for that matter!"

"Excuse me?!" Kate shot at Mrs. Patel with an indignant tone.

"Fine," said Andrea.

"Excuse me?" Kate shot at Andrea with a slightly shocked tone.

Andrea simply shrugged. "It's fine. We can come back here as long as you leave me alone to do what I need to do."

"I will do no such thing in my own shop you have anotherthingcomingifyouthinkthatyoucanjust -"

Andrea thought for sure that this was it. They were going to be thrown out for sure but then Mr. Aeluin stepped in and shut the situation down.

"That will be fine Darshna. I will supervise. I do not mind. In fact I insist."

Andrea considered him once more.

"Okay then. We can come back on Wednesday maybe, after closing?"

He looked to Mrs. Patel for approval and she gave it albeit somewhat reluctantly. He then turned back to Andrea and smiled, extending his hand to her.

"I will see you then."

Andrea almost laughed at his formality. Whatever Mr. Manners, she thought dismissively and reached out to take his hand, finding herself unprepared when she did.

His hand touched hers and her surroundings seemed to lurch, as if her mind suddenly spun and she found herself feeling dizzy as something within her clicked. She snatched her hand back, not wanting to fall over and embarrass herself in front of everyone.

"Yeah okay," she said, "see you then." She turned and headed quickly for the door, Kate scurrying to keep up behind her.

They talked about the pieces as they walked to the train. Kate thought one could date back pre-Iron age and another could be Babylonian. Andrea agreed and thought many could be even older. It was not till they were on the train and seated that Kate brought up the very tall blonde elephant in the room.

"Holy shitballs he was hot."

Andrea huffed out an unimpressed laugh.

"Oh don't even pretend that you didn't notice! That guy was drop your panties on the floor gorgeous and you can NOT deny that."

This time Andrea did laugh. "I am not denying anything. You are right, he is very good looking. I don't know about drop my pants good looking, but still very good looking."

"So you are saying that you are not interested in him," Kate said, somewhat disbelieving.

"Nope."

'Nope you are not interested in him or nope you are not saying that you aren't?"

"I am not interested Kate. I am only interested in his artifacts."

"Yeah, me too," said Kate, leaving no question as to which of his artifacts she was talking about. Andrea just shook her head.

"Jeez Kate, Gabe isn't even out of the door yet."

"Oh yeah, Gabe," she replied absently. Andrea almost felt sorry for him.

The feeling was fleeting though because when they got home the dishes were left on the counter, a trail of water had been dripped in the hallway and dirty towel discarded on the floor in front of her room. Andrea decided to let Kate clean up after her stray and kicked the towel out of her way as she flopped down on her bed.

Andrea felt excitement about the items they had seen today. This could be quite a find and could very well be the topic she needed for application thesis for her doctorate. She really hoped they were not stolen, although she did not think he had. It was not in his nature to steal. Just how she knew that she had no idea, but she did know it. Maybe she had met him before. If he is really such a big collector as Kate has said, they may have run into each other before at some site or conference. That must be it. Just some passing acquaintance is all. That was why he called her that name as if he knew her. What had he called her? What was it? She struggled to remember.

Andreth.

Yes, that was it. Some strange obscure name that he thought he had heard in passing.

But then why did it sound so familiar?

Enough, she thought, time to get to work. You have a paper due in two weeks and a quiz Friday. Get to work.

Andrea got up, shrugged of her coat and pulled out her work, pushing the thoughts of Mr. Aeluin out of her mind and tried not to think about Wednesday, to little success.