(Walks in; then sees all the reviews. Jaw drops open, staggers backward and falls back on butt in shock.) I did not know that so many people would like this!! O.O Thank you soooooooo... much! I had several bouts of writer's block on this chapter, which is a major reason it has taken me so long getting this out. Everytime I would think I had something and it just ended up coming out wrong; I am still not entirely happy with some parts of this. I have been close to giving up, but your reviews really encouraged me to keep going and finally finish. So this chapter is dedicated to you all. THANK YOU!! :) And here it finally is!!

AN: Dialogue between means Arabic is being spoken.

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Listening to the hundreds of pounds that Evy Carnahan was willing to pay, up to 10 times what Deirdre herself had, had had the young mother's head spinning, and her praying that the warden would agree to some amount, but she could never have faulted the other woman for refusing the lecherous man's advances; Deirdre did not think she could have tolerated it either, even for her brother and she knew that Rick would have never forgiven himself.

Deirdre's heart jumped to her throat as the order was given for her brother to hang; she screamed his name. When the warden said that his neck had not broken and that her brother would strangle to death, she didn't know whether to be grateful for the time bought or horrified at the prolonged death her brother was being subjected to. When the warden and Miss Carnahan had started rapidly bargaining for his life Deirdre wanted to scream that her brother was about to die; that they were haggling over the worth of a human being's life. However some distant part of her mind could not help being amused at the warden's mistake.

She had not even been aware that she had not breathed during basically the entire exchange until she finally took a breath when her brother was cut down and as she took that breath she was suddenly very light headed and if she had not been sitting down she probably would have fallen down.

She focused and got the world to stop spinning enough that she was able to head down with Miss Carnahan to see her brother. She had thrown herself into her elder brother's arms hugged him tightly; then she had pulled away and began hitting him anywhere she could reach.

"Damn you to hell, Richard Liam O'Connell!" she screeched out through clenched teeth.

Rick was attempting to block her blows. "Hey, hey, hey! I just almost died!"

"I don't care!" She continued to pound him with her fists, though it was hardly all that effective considering how much smaller she was than her brother.

There was the sound of someone clearing their throat which caused Deirdre to finally halt her assault on her brother and turn to the woman who was with them; she acted as though pounding on her brother in an attempt to reduce him to a bloody pulp was an everyday occurrence.

"So, Mr. O'Connell," the young librarian started, eyes flicking back and forth between the pair before resting on Rick, "we are leaving from the docks tomorrow at 11 o'clock, can we count on you being there?"

"I keep my promises, lady."

Evy's eyes flicked over to the other woman, thinking about her rather violent bout moments before.

Deirdre gave her a wry smile. "He'll be there," she confirmed.

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"This is insane, Dre!"

Deirdre ignored her brother; she just continued to pack hers and Hadiyya's bags, her lips were pressed together forming a thin line.

Rick let out a frustrated growl. "Deirdre, you can't come with me and you certainly can't bring Hadiyya. It is too dangerous." Rick never actually got to say that last sentence; Deirdre interrupted him, her voice sharp.

She slammed the book in her hands down on the table in front of her. "I am a grown woman, Richard; I will decide what my daughter and I will and won't do."

"It is too dangerous, Deirdre; I can't let you risk your life or Hadiyya's - "

"Let?" Deirdre said sharply, snapping around to look at him. "I thought we just covered that fact that I am a grown woman who can make her own decisions, and I can certainly protect my own child!"

"Deirdre you're being unreasonable! Stop being so stubborn!"

"Stubborn? Stubborn!? You are calling me stubborn, you obstinate arse?!"

"Obstinate - "

"You don't tell me what you are doing or where you are going, thus making me worry; you say it is to protect Hadiyya and I, but then I get a call from Izzy and among his ranting about flying his plane, a heist, getting shot in the ass - something he was complaining about quite heartily - and something about you and a belly dancer - I won't even touch that - I find out that you have once again gotten yourself arrested, and even more interesting that it had nothing to do with - " she broke off suddenly; gripping her forehead and letting out a sound that was a mix of a gasp and a groan.

Rick was instantly by her side, gently grasping her shoulder; worry etched on his face. "Deirdre, what is it?"

She sank into a chair next to the table, pressing her finger tips against her eyes. "Nothing, it's just a headache."

Rick frowned. "You haven't been wearing you glasses."

Deirdre gave a sigh; she intended for it to hold annoyance but she was too tired and it came out sounding nothing more than weary. "There really isn't much point since my glasses no longer really work for me." She rubbed her eyes with her thumb and forefinger.

Rick went over to the kitchen. "Why haven't you gotten new ones?" He took a cloth and dipped it into the still warm water left over from when Deirdre made tea.

"I don't have the money right now, Rick," She said with exagerated patience. "Besides, I can more or less see well enough to get by and I don't get headaches that often."

Rick returned to her side and gently guided her so that she lay her head on the table and he place the warm compress on the back of her neck. He sighed, knowing how hard it was for Deirdre to find any honest work in Cairo, being a woman and a single, unwed mother. He felt rather guilty that he had not been able to really hold a steady, honest job. The one time in his life he had ever really tried to go the straight and narrow had ended with him dragging his sorry ass back to her and then leaving his commission and bringing them all back to Cairo and back to the more shady life he knew. Which brought him back to their original argument; he decided to try a different approach. "There is something out there, something evil. And I don't want it touching you or Hadiyya."

Deirdre was silent for a moment. "I very nearly lost you today, Rick;" her words were tear-laden, "I couldn't handle it if I had. You and Hadiyya are all I have and loosing either of you is unbearable for me. And that is why we have to go with you."

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It was just after dinner their first night on the boat; their small party had dined together before parting to go about their evening business. Evy had honestly been surprised to see Deidre and her daughter, but from what she had seen of the young mother and how she felt about her brother she supposed it was not that surprising.

She continued down the walkway along side where the cabins were, searching for an at least relatively quite place to sit and read. A soft, soothing voice floated toward her; she found herself following it. She came to a stop outside a partially open door to one of the smaller cabins; she peered inside.

Deirdre was sitting on one of the beds, her daughter in her lap; she was singing to her and rocking her in her arms; Hadiyya's eyes had drooped almost to the point of closing. Evy found herself listening curiously to the song, for she had never heard it before and the language was strange, it seemed to be some sort of mix between ancient Egyptian and Arabic.

Evy suddenly realized that Deidre's eyes were no longer on Hadiyya, but were looking straight at her, though if she was surprised to see Evy there she gave no sign of it; she did not even pause in her singing. Evy blushed sheepishly at being caught watching the tender, private moment between mother and daughter; she hurried off.

Eventually she settled in a chair, one of four around a table; soon she was lost in her book.

"Excuse me."

She looked up to see Deidre standing in front of her.

"May I sit here with you?" She nodded to the chair next to Evy.

"Of course." Evy scooted her chair over to give the red haired woman more room.

Deirdre sat down; she slid on a pair of slightly bent glasses, and opened the book in her hands.

They sat in silence for a time, but Evy felt the need to say something about what had passed only shortly before.

Finally she just burst out with it. "I am sorry for intruding. I wasn't trying to spy."

Deirdre looked up, humor in her eyes. "It is fine."

Evy bit her lip. "May I ask where you learned that song? I have never heard it before."

Deirdre fiddled gently with her book. "Someone very..." she appeared to be searching for a word to use, "dear to me," she finally settled on, "taught it to me."

Evy leaned forward eagerly. "I have never heard that language before. Do you know it well?"

The redhead shifted slightly. "I was only just beginning to learn it when my lessons had to end." She looked up at Evy. "I really would rather not speak about it any more."

Evy was taken aback by the look in her eyes; there was pain which she tried to hide, but was still visible. "Of course, but is it all right if I ask one more question?"

Deidre's lips quirked and mischief sparkled in her eyes behind the lenses. "You just did, but you may ask another."

Evy gave a nervous chuckle. "Well, I was wondering, why it is that your brother has an obviously American accent, but yours is British?"

Deirdre smiled warmly, letting Evy know she had not touched on a painful subject for her. "Well, technically speaking, Rick and I are only half-siblings. We have the same father but different mothers. Our father a young woman named Kathrine; a couple of years later they had Rick. Not long after he was born Kathrine contracted tuberculosis and unfortunately she died. My mother, Charlotte, who was the daughter of British nobility, had rebelled against her parents and come to America. She and our father met, fell in love, married, and had me. Mum didn't diferentiate between Rick and I, we were her children; it didn't matter that he wasn't hers by blood. So we were raised thinking of each other as full siblings. When we were older Dad was offered an oportunity to work at a dig here in Egypt and so we moved here. A few years later Dad died in a cave-in at one of the excavation sites. It was three months later when Mum fell very ill; she was actually able get well again, but while she was still recovering she once again became ill and she just didn't have the strength to fight it off. She's burried next to Dad at the church in Cairo. Rick and I were sent to the orphanage in Cairo; we stayed there for a year; then my mother's parents found out about Mum's death and they came, but only for me. They refused to take Rick. They dragged me to England kicking and screaming - and I mean that quite litterally. And there I lived with them until I was of age when I came back here and found my brother."

"And..uh...what about Hadiyya's father?"

Deirdre became quiet.

"I'm sorry, I'm being nosey. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Evy said quickly.

"He-I-" she stumbled over her words, something she was not prone to. She took a deep breath. "We met in England...He was the first man I had ever met that I felt anything for." She bit her lip. "We had an affair..." She turned her head away swiftly, but Evy could make out a tear falling down her cheek before it was swiped away. "I - I'd really rather not talk about him right now."

"Of course!" Evy said immediately, wanting to kick herself for asking so many questions. She chewed on her lip trying to think of something to say. "It must be hard having to care for a young child on your own."

A smile came across the other woman's face. "She can be a handfull at times, no doubt, but," she turned and looked at Evy, "I would not trade it for the world." She looked out on the water. "She is my world. Even before she was born I loved her so much, and I have always known that I would do anything for her." A feircely protective look came over her face and she looked back at Evy. "Anything."

There was silence.

THUMP!

Both women jumped and cried out slightly; then whipped around to find the cause of the noise.

Rick, glancing down and realizing that he had startled them, apologized, rather insincerely - getting too much of a laugh out of it - which earned him a glare from his sister.

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Deirdre was lying in her bed, caught up in the romance between Jane Austin's Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth for probably the thousandth time, when she heard a sound outside her cabin.

She rose from bed, checking on Hadiyya, finding that her daughter was still sleeping soundly. She pulled on her robe, dropped her book and glasses in the pocket, and slipped out the door.

It was quiet. The moon reflected mysteriously off the Nile as they drifted through the waters.

Deirdre padded toward the bow of the boat on silent, bare feet. She hugged herself as she came to stand at the railing. Her eyes moved searchingly, but the night refused to give up its secrets. She rubbed her hands up and down her arms.

"That voice, that feeling, that tells you something is not right...listen to it. It will save your life."

The words floated to her from the - seemingly - long ago past, the voice moving through her. Her heart rate had increased slowly ever since she heard the noise; with the memory it suddenly belted into full speed. Everything in her was screaming for her to run.

A hand clamped over her mouth and a blade was at her throat.

Reacting with the speed granted to her from her already racing blood, Deirdre slammed her elbow back into her captor's gut, taking him off guard since he had not expected her to react so quickly; his hold loosened and Deirdre jerked away. She spun around and, not even thinking punched him in the face, barely registering the fact that the face she slammed her fist into was mostly covered by black cloth. Finally she gave into her original instict. She ran.

Chaos seemed to have broken out on the boat in the time it had taken her to incapacitate her attacker, gun fire and actual fire were raging around her as she ran to her cabin.

The door was open. Deirdre felt her stomach drop and dread curl around her heart as she burst through the door calling her daughter's name. Hadiyya's bed was empty.

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Hadiyya had woken up when her mother had left the room; she had gotten up to follow her. However once she was outside, she had already lost sight of her and begun to wander the boat looking for her, dragging her doll behind her.

There was a noise around the corner.

"Mummy?" She timidly peeked around it.

Two tall figures in black turned to see her.

Hadiyya screamed.

She backed away from them, tripping over the hem of her nightgown before scrambling back to her feet and running as fast as her five year old legs could carry her, not noticing that she had dropped her beloved toy.

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"Hadiyya!" Deirdre screamed at the top of her lugs, running inbetween the panicked or fighting people, her entire being focused on finding her daughter.

Everything was a blur around her with her panic. Tears were just behind her eyes, held in check only by the fact that they would make looking for her daughter more dificult. Sobs were lodged in her chest.

"Mummy!"

Deirdre whipped in the direction of the cry.

Hadiyya was cornered against the railing by two of the men, one closer to her than the other.

Deirdre saw the leg of a table, which had been broken off when the table was smashed, probably under the weight of a body being thrown on it. She snatched it up as she ran toward her daughter and the men.

She swung her makeshift weapon with all her strength at the closer man's head; he fell to the deck. She did not know if he was still conscious or not, and she did not really care as she swung the club at the other man. His scimitar came up and cut into it as he blocked her blow. She released her grip on the piece of wood and quickly snatched up the other man's - who aparently was at least unconscious - scimitar, bringing it up in a defensive position. Her opponent's eyes showed surprise.

Hadiyya bolted forward. "Mummy!"

The man attempted to reach for her, but was disuaded by Deirdre swinging the scimitar at him; he brought his up to block her blow, the blades clanging together momentarily before disengaging again.

Hadiyya by this time had her mother's robe in a deathgrip.

Deirdre kept her blade pointed at her opponent as she slowly backed away. "Stay away from my daughter." Her voice was firm and deadly. She repeated the sentence in Arabic for extra measure.

He seemed to size her up before saying in thickly accented English, "If you truly value your daughter than you would abandon this quest." He lowered his blade.

Deirdre stared at him for a few moments longer before she spun around, dropping the scimitar and taking Hadiyya in her arms, and running.

She found her brother tossing Evy over the side of the boat; he turned to her at the sound of her footsteps. "Am I gonna have to throw you over too?"

Deirdre tossed him a glare before climbing up on the rail. "Hold your breath sweetie," she told her daughter before she allowed herself to drop down the side into the water, keeping an arm tight around Hadiyya, who clung to her neck.

Deirdre got their heads above water as quickly as possible, though Hadiyya still coughed and gagged from being submerged. Deirdre got herself on her back, so that Hadiyya rested on her chest, and began kicking and pulling herself with one arm through the water until it got too shallow and she stood up and walked the rest of the way to the shore, where she basically collapsed from exhaustion.

"Hey, O'Connell!"

Deirdre's head snapped up at the far too familiar voice.

There stood Beni Gabori on the other bank, drawing a groan from Deirdre.

"Looks like I've got all the horses!"

Her brother, who was just about at the shore, took a step closer to his ex-friend. "Hey, Beni, looks like you're on the wrong side of the ri-ver!"

Deirdre smirked, for once wholly agreeing with and enjoying her brother's taunting. However, the humor in the situation was dimmed slightly when Evy pointed out that they had lost everything.

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The sun was just about to break the horizon; Ardeth Bey stood watching it as he did every morning.

"Ardeth."

"What is the news?" Ardeth asked, not looking away from the eminent sunrise.

A man, a few years younger than himself, came to stand beside him. "We lost five." He paused. "And they were unable to get the map or the key."

Ardeth sighed, somehow conveying dread, pain and weariness in that one action.

His companion could just see the weight that the other man carried on his shoulders increase. "Why they are so foolishly determined, brother?"

Ardeth shook his head. "I shall never understan, Ehsan."

Ehsan looked down at his hand; then lifted it up to present his brother with what he had been holding.

Ardeth finally looked away from the horizon to see what his brother was handing him. It was a doll. "Why do you have this?" His brow was furrowed as he took it from his brother.

"Faris brought it back with him. He said that there was a child onboard, who had dropped it when he and Haytham went after her. Aparently her mother is part of one of the parties going after Hamunaptra. Faris said that she knocked out Haytham before attempting to take on himself in order to protect her daughter."

Ardeth frowned thoughtfully.

Ehsan looked at his brother, waiting for what he had to say, but he seemed content to say nothing, so he voiced the question burning in his mind. "Who would bring their child on such a dangerous journey?"

Ardeth looked back up as the sun rose from the horizon. "Someone who cares little for their child's safety...or someone who has no other choice."

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Ha ha!! I have finally finished it! :D I am already working on the next part and I think I will have it up soon... (gets disbelieving looks) I PROMISE! Thank you so much for reading! Please let me know what you think! And if I made mistakes whether they be about the movie, gramatic - I am spell check-less and Orangoo was flaking on me when I tried to use it for this chapter - or otherwise, please let me know. Thank you so much! :)