Malik glanced over his shoulder as Altair crossed his arms and glared at the door. He knew the man didn't want to deal the Sasha, but it was better they quit their squabbling before they were on the move. Besides, he was sure that if Demitri was now movable, he wanted it to be Altair who'd get the fact rubbed in his face. But he wasn't sure either. When he came into the room last night, the black haired man was flat out unconscious.

He could hear the bickering already.

Then screaming.

He turned around to find the screaming being Altair as he was chased out of the room by Sasha. When Malik turned and stared at him, seeing Altair frazzled, shocked, and blushing, he merely crossed his arms waiting for an explaination.

Altair was quick to compose himself again. "That woman's friend seems to be in much better shape." But he still couldn't hide the down right embarrassment. To this he laughed when he came to realize what had happened.

"How bad was it?" He asked through his laughter.

Altair's face turned deep scarlet now. Then he pointed a finger at the door accusingly as he shouted, "YOU GO SEE FOR YOURSELF!"

Malik shrugged and walked to the door, opened it and found Demitri and Sasha both on the bed laughing like children. He didn't need much more clues as to what was going on, Sasha's sleeveless white shirt, which had rode up to her ribs, was enough. He chuckled.

"Having fun in here, you two?"

Sasha nodded, whipping a tear from her eye. "Yeah, we really freaked Altair out." Then she said louder, "THAT'S FOR SAYING I SHOULD KILL DEMITRI!"

"BITCH!" Altair responded angrily.

Smiling, Malik shook his head. This would be a long two-day-travel.

A thought then dawned on him, they'd be taking them to Masayf! To their home! The words of Al Mualim sounded in his mind, "Do not compromise the Brotherhood." Now he was worried, did the Bureau Leader send a message? And if he did, did the Master approve? Did he even get the message? And did he try to send one back?

He left the room and went straight to the groggy Bureau Leader. "Dabir? Did you send a message to Al Mualim?"

Dabir yawned, stretching his spine until he heard it pop. "Did I? Yes, I had. When Altair brought them here."

"And did he respond?"

"Of course he did." Dabir answered in a grunt as was still trying to rid himself of stiffness. "Everything sounded fine by what he wrote. And he also wanted you to bring them to Masayf. I assume there's nothing to worry about."

Malik nodded, feeling much relieved to know he wouldn't get in trouble. Or he hoped he wouldn't.

"Also, you might want to put them in something else." Dabir advised. "I don't think you want to draw too much attention to yourselves. I'm sure there are some spare robes in the back you could give them."

Another nod and Malik left the Bureau Leader to collect his thoughts while he went to the back. Of course, there were some, so he tried to guess the size they might need. Giving up, he grabbed two larger white robes and walked back to the room that they were accomidated in.

They were speaking in their own language when he came in. But when he entered, they quieted and looked up to him. Now he wasn't sure Demitri knew Arabic, so he spoke to Sasha, who did know.

"Here, you might want to put these on and not draw attention to yourselves." He said to them, handing both a robe and pair of trousers.

Sasha took hers and studied it, "Thank you, Malik. But it's a little big, isn't it?"

Malik shrugged, "If you were expecting something that was a perfect fit, then you're sadly mistaken. I don't know what size your clothes are, and I think it's better that way. Just put them on."

Demitri said something which Sasha translated to, "Can we keep our shoes?"

He did a quick once over and shook his head. "Probably not. But don't worry, it's not like everyone here wears shoes." And with that said, he left to so they could get changed.

There was no awkwardness in changing. It was simple, they go the opposite sides of the room, turn their backs to each other and expect that the other would be mature enough not to sneak a peak. Not that Demitri was the perfect definition of "mature".

He was in the middle of knotting up a bit of the trousers so they wouldn't fall when he glanced over his shoulder to see Sasha doing the same thing. But he knew that because of a lack of bra straps, she was half naked. His gaze went over her shoulder blades and the small of her back, tracing out the curves where her hip came out from the waistline. It was then he realized she was doing the same thing, only looking at the spots of his back where the bandages didn't cover. Both grinned sheepishly and turned away. But he could have sworn he saw her blush.

When he had some confidence that his trousers wouldn't fall on him, he picked up the white robe and looked it over. There was a sort of black cross stitching around the edges of the sleeves and V shaped neckline. Sighing, he pulled it over his head and let the fabric fall down around him, ending at around his knees. It was spacious and the neckline was a little big, making one side slip towards the edge of his broad shoulders.

Turning around, he saw that Sasha was staring down at herself. The robes on her came down about the same place, but the oversized neckline showed more on her than Demitri. One side slipped off her shoulder entirely and came to hang against her upper arm, and because of it, a little more of her clevage was noticeable. The sleeves hung down to the last knuckle of her thumbs, and the trousers dragged at her heels.

Demitri chuckled as she tried to fix the neckline, to no avail. Then, after another failed attempt only ended up showing more of her breasts, he came over, taking some of the clean bandages that were left over, and slowly pulled her robe off. She was about to elbow him, but he guessed that at the last second she remembered his fractured ribs and reframed from doing any more damage to them.

"What are you doing?" She questioned, the tips of her ears turning pink.

He kissed her cheek from behind her and purred affectionately, "You don't trust me?"

"Now's not the time or place." She stated as she blushed. "What if Malik or Altair walk in?"

"That's not what I was going to do." He assured. "I'm just trying to help you with your robe situation. I'd rather not have to battle off other men in my condition."

Her cheeks were scarlet now, which he found himself unable to suppress a slight hum of amusement. Finally she sighed, "Alright, what are you going to do?"

"Hold out your arms." He instructed, and she didn't argue the point as she stretched her arms out to her sides. He took the end of the long strip of cloth he held, and placed it down at the center of her back before wrapping it around her a few times. The he wrapped it over the shoulder that kept getting exposed instead of her underarm. After he was satified with his work, he tucked the last bit of cloth under a layer behind her back. "And there you go. Too tight?"

"No, actually." She answered. "Thanks."

With a smile, he pecked her lips. "If you need my help again, just ask."

While he had been wrapping her, her face had returned to her natural medium skin tone. Now his kiss only brought the warm pink back to her cheeks. He chuckled and pushed a strand of her hair out of her face. After that, he handed her the robe that he removed from her a minute ago and let her pull it on. Now the neckline was a little less troubling, so he gathered up the remaining bandages and stowed them away so that he could change the pad of cloth on his chest later.

Now ready, Demitri and Sasha left the room to find Malik waiting at a large desk. Altair was in a roofed courtyard just out the door, and behind the desk was an older man who looked about in his forties.

Malik said something that he couldn't understand, and Sasha nodded. She then told him quietly, "He said that since we're ready, we should be going now." He nodded to show that he had listened. And Malik started out towards the courtyard, causing Altair to stand up.

The Bureau Leader said something to the two men as Malik stood beside Altair. Sasha shrugged and started towards them, and Demitri followed after them, ignoring the soreness he felt. But he was sure his eyes widened to see that the entrance was a hole in the ceiling!

"This is where Altair dropped you." Sasha whispered to him. "We need to climb to get in or out."

Demitri gestured to the wall and fountain, "Fine. Ladies first."

Sasha smirked and ran at the wall, grabbing at the top edge of the fountain before looking up. Then she brought her feet closer to her so that they had a place to rest where her hands were. With little room, she tried to reach up, but ended up loosing her balance and started to fall backwards! To quick for Demitri to catch, Malik sprang in to help, and grabbed the front of Sasha's robe; for a moment she was hanging there, feet still on the edge, and arms spread wide in her instinct reaction to flail. After that moment of releif and fear passed, she grabbed Malik's wrist as he pulled her up and out.

Never had Demitri seen the color drain from Sasha's face like that. Not since once day a year or so back in his life when they went to an amusement park and both went on the most insane ride they could find. The damn coaster went in all sorts of rediculous twists and turns, moved at fifthy miles an hour, and even went upside down. Sasha-the-not-so-much-roller-coaster-enthusist nearly passed out when they got off the ride.

Altair said something, followed by a universal 'hurry up or we leave you here' gesture. Swallowing hard, Demitri took a running start, trying to ignore the pain in his chest when he did, and used the edge of the fountain for momentum when he lept up. He didn't get as high as Sasha, and found both feet spread out to get some ground on two spots on the pillars stuck to the wall where it was a little wider than the rest. His hands grasped the small ledge where Sasha had held on, and he inched his way upward dragging himself out of the bureau.

Sasha helped him up, and he grunted in complaint of his throbbing ribs. Then they went down a ladder and were on their way to Masayf.

Thanks to all you guys who like this fic. And I give you the next chapter! Demitri's gotten a little bit better and they are on their way to Al Mualim. Hmm... why would that old man want to meet them? Who knows. I doubt Dabir mentioned anything about time travel in his message.