Okay, so, I know it's been a long time. I'm sorry :/ hopefully you guys don't hate me for taking so long to post. I haven't really had any time to write on anything and I finally was able to write this. It's short but I thought it would be a good in between chapter sort of thing, so that way next chapter, there is no interruption to the adventure.

I've been having to do some research on hidden runes and underwater cities etc. stuff like that. I want this to be amazing and be an awesome adventure. I want to make you guys proud! :) since your support is incredibly valuable to me.

Well, without further ado, I hope you guys enjoy!

When they had finally arrived at Flynn's so called "inn" Nate couldn't have been more relieved. After his attempts to make light conversation had ended before it'd even started Nate had found himself going over the details, maps, and pages he had memorized. He wasn't able to make out anything however as his mind began to shut down; exhaustion taking over him as he made a face against the backseat's window seal wishing that it was a pillow.

His entire body ached as the car came to a hard stop, jerking his body painfully forward.

"Jesus Flynn could you be any rougher," he gasped.

He placed a hand on his chest as he tried to take in shallow breathes; even the expansion of his lungs was too much at times. Leaning back against the seat he glared at the back of the headrest until Flynn face emerged.

"Oh I don't know I could always give it another go if you like?"

"You'd like that wouldn't you?"

"You act like I enjoy seeing you in pain!"

"With the way you stopped the car I'm thinking you do."

"Mate, I have grace oozing from every pore of my body."

"Yeah well, apparently your feet must have missed that memo."

They had both been so wrapped up in their bickering that the sound of the passenger door opening jarred them both. Abbie didn't even glance back at either of them as she limped her way out of truck and slammed the door shut behind her.

"Well she's impatient, isn't she?" Flynn mumbled as he followed suite; quickly exiting the truck leaving Nate to sit in the now silent vehicle.

The only available sound was the clicking of the engine as it slowly began to die down until not even that was left to fill the empty space. Placing a hand on the handle, he took in as deep a breath as his body would allow, bracing it for movement as he swung his door open, and emerged from the truck.

Flynn was standing next to Abbie, though neither of them spoke. With his hands in the pockets of his no doubt expensive leather jacket, Flynn looked at her with discernible worry etching his features. If Abbie had felt the weight of his gaze on her she didn't seem to notice or care for that matter. She had her arms wrapped tightly around her chest, silently warding off anyone who would want to ask questions or try to start a conversation, the knuckles of her small hands turning white.

Nate could feel his own worry begin to crawl back to the surface as he came closer, noticing now how her eyes stared vacantly forward. When he had finally joined them her body gave no recognition to his presence but as they started towards the building she fell into place beside him. Casting a few last apprehensive glances in her direction he began to try and fill the silence again, even though he had to practically shove every word through his clenched teeth.

"So, Flynn, what sort of place would you say this is exactly?"

"Well, can't you see Mate?" Flynn began, his arms expanding to indicate the full parking lot, and the well decorated and pristine building in front of them. "It's a hotel."

"Yeah I can see that."

He'd ended up hissing the words as the wind collided with the cuts on his chest. The stinging was instant and almost dizzying as they made their way up the few steps to the wooden double doors of the hotel entrance. Flynn's quick grip on his arm the only thing keeping him from falling on the last step when his foot slipped.

"Alright, I got you gran dad."

All Nate could muster was a half-hearted glare in Flynn's direction, which probably wouldn't have even terrified a fly. He quickly changed it into a look of gratitude as he helped steady him; the overwhelming urge to collapse from exhaustion beginning to creep its way back up to the surface.

Flynn let go of his arm for a brief second as he moved forward to open up one of the large double doors, and ushered him inside.

Once Nate had moved past the threshold and the warmth from the inside enveloped him, he wanted to pass out right there on the floor. It seemed even his aching joints and his open wounds eased into the background of the relief that washed over him. That is, until he looked up from the dark burgundy carpet, past the random assortment of foliage placed at the entrance, and saw the rather large amount of men that had beautiful Asian women on their arms. Some were clothed while others…could've done with a few more layers.

Nate could feel his heart picking up speed-for an entirely different reason than panic.

"Come on Sunshine we haven't got all night."

His eyes felt like they were too wide as he leaned against the wall for support, swallowing too fast, and breathing too hard. He threw a quick look over his shoulder as he watched Abbie finally enter the lobby. A warm rush of heat spread across his cheeks as he faced forward just in time for a young woman to walk past him, give him a seductive smile, and continue on her way.

Flynn tried to escort Abbie forward placing a gentle hand on her back. He ended up having to pull it back fast as she suddenly flew into a frantic frenzy. He placed his hands up high to show her he'd removed them. After a couple of seconds he could see the panic leave her eyes as she protectively wrapped her arms back around herself and focused, like a robot, back at nothing.

"Bloody hell. Try and do something nice for someone-"

"Flynn!" Nate whispered loudly. "This is a whore house!"

His eyes darted around them hoping that no one had overheard him. His words seemed to have registered with no one or none of them had really cared. Ignoring the protests from his joints he moved with Flynn up to the lobby's counter where an older woman wearing too much makeup, and most likely in her early forties, gave them a welcoming smile. No doubt only seeing walking dollar signs were they were standing.

"Nathan! I'm ashamed of you!" Flynn actually sounded like it too. "It's called a brothel and it's perfectly legal."

"Why couldn't we have just gone to, you know, an actual hotel?"

"Because the blocks that are after you won't even bother to think that you and your lovely, but crazy, lady friend would come to a place like this. Plus, they don't have sex with all of their customers."

Nate couldn't help but snicker at that one.

"Oh, really?"

"Yes. I mean most the time they'll just give you a massage. If you want the "happy ending" you gotta pay extra for that."

"And we're going to be sleeping on these sheets were I don't even want to know how many men have had their 'happy endings'?"

"Jesus, when did you turn into a germaphobe? Relax Gandhi they put clean new sheets on after every guest leaves."

Turning his attention away from him Flynn began to exchange pleasantries with the woman, in Mandarin. Nate couldn't follow a single word of what was being said so he patiently waited, an elbow resting on the counter, as he kept an eye on Abbie who stayed a foot behind him.

When Flynn and the woman stopped talking and he handed over what looked like a large stack of money, a smile spread across Nate's face, as something finally dawned on him.

"How do you know so much about these, brothels?"

Nate knew his answer the minute his face flushed; Nate couldn't stop the laughter that rose from deep in his chest and bubbled up his throat, and out of his mouth.

"What? They give some of the best massages I've ever had!"

Nate waved him off as he tried to hold back his laughter.

"You don't gotta explain anything to me," he assured him.

Flynn's eyes tightened at the edges, clearly not believing him as he continued to chuckle under his hand.

"The happy ending is in the massage itself. It's bloody fantastic."

Nate held it long enough to reply, "You're a dirty man," before he erupted back into laughter. The woman behind the counter produced three room keys, which Flynn snatched away from her, harder than he meant, leaving a startled expression on the woman's face.

"Here's your key Gandhi," he sneered.

Nate struggled to keep it together as Flynn shoved the key card to his chest but it seemed the more he tried to hide his smile, the angrier the other man got. The woman behind the counter spoke to Flynn once again, her eyes shifting over Nate and Abbie, delicately enough to where if he hadn't been paying attention Nate would've missed it. Once she'd finished speaking with him he turned and pointed at them both.

"Ms. Leng says you should both go to your rooms and freshen up. You look like shit."

"Ms. Leng?" he teased.

Flynn's mouth set in a thin line as he straightened out his jacket and turned his back on him. Just as he was about to walk away the girl Nate had seen earlier stopped Flynn, her eyes darting back to look over his shoulder at Nate. She spoke quickly with him and with the sudden shaking his shoulders were doing; Nate could only guess that it was something bad, since it had Flynn laughing.

Turning around, Flynn wiped around his mouth, as if trying to wipe away the smile that he'd gotten from talking to the girl.

"Mate, she wants to know if you'd like…a massage. She's offered to do it free of charge."

His eyes flew wide as his throat seemed to go dry. He didn't know what to tell her; sure she was attractive and she was probably a nice girl but…this just wasn't his kind of thing.

The hysterical laughter that came from behind him saved him the trouble having to say anything at all. He turned to get a better look at her; her shoulders shaking while she tried to keep a hand over her mouth to quiet herself down as her eyes brimmed with tears.

Abbie waved her hand wildly in front of her as she attempted to get some air to speak.

"I'm sorry," she giggled out. "I don't mean to laugh-"

"No, no, it's alright," Nate chuckled light-heartedly.

For all it was worth, it didn't matter that this of all things was what got her to smile again; he was just glad to see it. It warmed him to see it.

She ran a swift hand through her tangled hair before her arms locked securely back around her.

"Uhm, is there anyone who can show me where my room is?"

"Of course," Flynn chimed in quickly.

He spoke to the young girl who'd given Nate his offer and she moved forward with ease; running a light hand over his shoulder as she passed him to lead Abbie to her room down the hall.

"Are we right across from each other? Room wise, I mean."

"Relax Romeo you'll be seeing her in the morning-"

Nate tried to shrug off Flynn's arm that he'd wrapped around his shoulders but it wouldn't budge.

"That's not why I'm asking. I just want to make sure she's alright."

"Of course you do Nate but first before you go take a nap come have a drink with your best pal who just saved your ass. You can fill me in on all the interesting little details; like, for instance, what the hell you've gotten yourself into this time."

"Can't this wait until tomorrow?" Nate groaned, taking his seat next to Flynn at the bar.

The Brit quickly ordered them two beers that were placed just as fast in front of them. Flynn didn't waste any time on his.

"Come on, Mate. Just a quick run through."

Flynn's face lit up like a kid on Christmas when he saw Nate reach for his beer, even though he'd let out a sigh of frustration, which was all for show.

After the girl had left Abbie alone in her room, she had to fight to not collapse onto the bed. She needed a shower; she needed to be clean but when she walked into the bathroom and saw her reflection in the mirror, she instantly became sick.

How no one had commented on either of their appearance was beyond her and as she flushed the toilet and leaned down against the cool tile of the floor, she began to wonder why her favorite Uncle, would ever want any part of this. It was dangerous and messy, and sure, she got her hands dirty stealing plenty of things from museums and from the privacy of people's million dollar homes. But this was different.

She'd almost died tonight; the memory of the water filling and burning her lungs made her chest tight with a searing pain. Pressing her forehead into the tile she fought the tears that burned at the back of her eyes and against her body's memories of what felt like endless hours of torture. Of standing barefoot in a room, on a small island of dry concrete big enough for only one of her feet too stand in, while the rest of the floor was drenched in water and electricity.

Abbie didn't know how long she had been in that room but when they had decided to switch it up, it disgusted her at the relief she felt.

The small bathroom was beginning to fog up with steam from the shower but she couldn't remember when or if she had turned it on. Abbie couldn't bring herself to get off of the cold floor yet; neither one of them she should've wanted to be around but she had to get her shit together.

After a few brief moments she collected herself enough to start peeling herself off of the floor, ignoring the shaking of her arms and hands and she leaned her back against the tube.

She wanted to talk to Nate; needed to know how to move on from this and push it aside. She also just wanted to see him and hear his stupid jokes. Even if they weren't even close to funny. She wished she still had her cellphone so she could call Sully and have him tell her stories about his many women.

What Abbie wanted was her world to have its normalcy back. But tonight she wouldn't receive any of it.

As she stripped out of her dirty and blood stained clothes she began to wonder if this job was going to end up killing them even before they got to finish it.

So like I said before, it was short but hopefully still just as awesome!

I ended up having that small part afterwards with Abbie, where she is sort of falling apart, because well, let's face it: We'd all pretty much be loosing our shit if we had just been tortured. I'm trying to make this as realistic as possible but keeping it in the uncharted realm.

Next chapter, they find the first location and object. Won't say what though :)

Let me know how you guys are feeling about the story so far! I love all of your inpute! It means lot to me.

~Much Love, Jeneane~