Hi Everyone! We have come to another Friday night here in Australia, which means it's time to post, once again.

I'd like to thank Pien for being my rock and always pushing me when I need it. Fran, for taking up the mantle with her red pen and helping make this story that much prettier. I've made a few changes since she beta'd so any mistakes are mine.

The usual disclaimers apply.

Please Enjoy!

Chapter 21 – Honeymoon Interrupted

I was glad that I had chartered a private plane for us to get to Baghdad, because when the engines started, Bella panicked a little and her wings were almost exposed. We were thankful that there was no flight attendant in the cabin with us at the time.

The flight took us a little over four hours from the Galileo Galilei Airport in Pisa to Baghdad International Airport in Baghdad, even on a private plane. Bella was awed at the luxury after she had settled down from the scare of take-off. She couldn't believe that there were people in the world letting others suffer when they could afford things such as this. She knew that I had hired this particular plane, but was upset that people owned them instead of helping the less fortunate in the world.

When we landed, I donned a pair of sunglasses to help shield off the sun and to stop me from getting drowsy as we still had a way to go. We gathered our suitcase - I'd packed just one as we were going to be the only people there, and Bella wasn't going to wear a lot – and made our way to the car rental counter. I'd hired an SUV because we'd have to leave it parked somewhere for a long stretch of time and I thought a convertible would be too eye-catching to thieves. I put the luggage in the trunk before helping Bella into her seat. She was looking out the window with a thoughtful look on her face. She didn't say anything until we had made our way out of the city.

"Where are we going, Edward?" Bella asked. "This part of the world feels very old."

I nodded, agreeing with her. "It is old, sweetheart, and where we're going is even older. I'll give you a few hints, though. It was hidden many a year ago by none other than Mikail, it has been rumored to exist by all on earth, yet listed as one of the Ancient Wonders of the World and it was apparently destroyed by an earthquake."

"Well, that could be any of them!" She argued. "The earth has lost many beautiful effects to natural disasters."

Again, I nodded because we had. "I know. It's such a shame too. Not that it matters, if the earth – or in this case, Mikail – hadn't reclaimed it, humans would have destroyed it sooner or later when trying to discover it."

This time, Bella nodded in agreement, but she became engrossed in her thoughts. She began looking around as she tried to piece together the clues.

After we had made it through the checkpoints, I pulled up to a little hotel not far from where we had to go. It wasn't up to my usual standards but since we weren't staying here, I thought it was for the best. All I was doing was leaving the car in the parking lot.

Turning off the engine, I looked at Bella. "Figured it out yet, sweetheart?"

She shook her head but looked pleadingly at me. "No, my love. Where are we and where are we going?"

"A little birdie told me that there is a particular place on earth that you want to go. Somewhere deep-rooted, and rumored to have been destroyed. This place, in particular, would appeal to your inner Earth Angel because it was made to be beautiful in a place where not a lot of flora could survive…" I trailed off as Bella gasped.

"You're taking me to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon?" She whispered in awe.

I didn't say anything as I waited for her to absorb that piece of information. However, I did hold her hand, rubbing soothing circles over it.

"Oh, Edward!" She cried, as she wrapped her arms around my neck. "This is the most wonderful thing anyone has ever done for me. Are you sure they are still there? I honestly believed that they were destroyed."

I pulled her over the center console and onto my lap. "I'm sure sweetheart. Renee told me you wanted to go and she explained that humans were destroying it by digging for ancient civilizations so Mikail came to earth and hid it from the human world. She created the rumors that it was destroyed by an earthquake and left no clues as to how to find it, but Renee knew and she passed that knowledge onto me.

"I also confirmed it with Mikail and she told me that for an Earth Angel there is no greater place to see nature at its finest. Even if it was man-made to begin with, nature has a way of taking over; which is what happened here. She also explained that The Gardens are the only other place on earth that have some of the extinct creatures only thought to be found at The Cradle of Life."

Bella sniffled and reached up to rub her eyes. "Thank you, Edward. You don't know how much this means to me. It's a place that has called to me for decades and to be able to go there means so much."

I hugged her tighter to me. "I'm glad. It's somewhere I always wanted to go too, so now we both get to see it."

We sat there for a little while longer before climbing out and grabbing our bag.

"It's a bit of a walk to the entrance and then once we're out of sight you can climb up on my back and I'll run the rest of the way. Okay?" I asked.

She nodded, happier now that we were on our way.

Walking through the entrance to Ancient Babylon was an experience I would never forget, even if Ishtar's Gate were only a replica. It was large and intimidating, far larger than I had expected. The door itself stood taller than four men, top to tail, and the layout surrounding that was even taller; more than double the height. It was a part of the protective wall around the city, like the wall around a castle; on the top were battlements, where the guards would have stood, ready to defend should someone have come with ill intent.

The gate itself was a sight to behold. From what I had read, the gate was dedicated to the Babylonian goddess Ishtar. It had been covered in a blue, lapis lazuli glaze that gave it a jewel-like shine, which was absolutely stunning. Bella and I admired the rows of bas-relief lions and dragons that were carved into the façade around the gate entrance itself, but I could see some animals that I had never seen before; and I wondered if they had had these around when the original gate was built.

Bella reached out to touch the gate as we walked up to take a closer look. 'Oh my gods, Edward. Feel it, it's cold, even in this heat.'

I placed my hand next to hers, surprised to find that she was right. In the middle of the desert, where it should be as hot as the air surrounding it, the stone was cool.

After we had thoroughly looked over Ishtar's Gate, we walked through the entrance, which was as wide as the wall itself, and into a courtyard that had been rebuilt. It would have originally been an open-air market for those that had come to buy and sell their wares. Some of the original stalls had been refurbished with newer stones and brightly colored awnings, to protect not only the sellers, but the buyers too. Some of the other, larger stalls had been somewhat converted to make cafés and other places to eat, basically the quintessential tourist trap. I could sense Bella's sadness as we looked at the stalls that had been boarded. The war that had been ravaging the Middle East had dwindled the amount of tourists that came to see a truly great wonder, it was a damn shame.

Back then the courtyard would have been busy right up to closing time, right now, it was quiet as most of the tourists had gone back to their hotels. It gave Bella and me the time to look over it all, taking it in and trying to imagine being back there.

Bella had the passing thought that she'd like to search the entirety of the city, which made me start planning our next honeymoon. She must have caught the thought because she smirked at me before she started laughing.

"Come on, Edward. I want to see some more." Bella said excitedly, as she grabbed my hand and pulled me to one of the only stalls that were still open and not covered. "Let's get what we need and get going, please?"

I laughed. "There's no need to beg, sweet girl. If you want to see it, we can see it all."

I paid for the map and a few other trinkets, which I placed in our bag before we made our way through the opening of where the actual city started. Stepping out onto the edge of the plateau that the city stood on was a stark contrast to the somewhat secluded courtyard.

We stood there for a few moments, taking it all in.

Ahead of us lay what would be called, the Processional Way, it separated the two halves of the city. It also led a roundabout way to the palace; it was a way for everyone to come and see their leaders, or royalty, as they made their way through the 'little people.'

On the right, with our enhanced eyesight, we could see where the river had run through Babylon. But as far as the eye could see on that side, there was nothing but ruins where the houses and other buildings should be. It was a little sad that almost nothing was left standing.

Over to the left, though, was the most stunning part of the entire city and that was Nebuchadnezzar's Palace. It had been rebuilt in the nineteen-eighties, by the then president Saddam Hussein; one of the very few good things he ever did. If we thought that Ishtar's Gate was high, it held nothing on the palace. It was huge! At this distance, it looked to be made from blocks of what I thought were sandstone, and it was at the center of the left side of Babylon. We could see that while Hussein had rebuilt the palace, he hadn't bothered with anything that had been surrounding it. However, there were more buildings standing, most of which were likely government structures at one stage, because the ones we could see were more elaborate than the simple foundations found on the other side.

We didn't do a lot of talking while we explored because we were in awe of such an ancient place. We communicated with our thoughts, looks, and gestures. What we discovered, though, as we walked around was that the layout was set in a grid pattern. It seemed that where most towns in ancient times grew from the center out, Babylon was planned with a more modern thought process.

On the left side, the palace was the center, and the grid pattern was thought out around it. As we explored the right side, we could see that it started as one row along the Processional Way. The houses were evenly spaced both alongside each other and behind the first ones and the grid pattern followed around any obstacles in the way. When they reached the river, each row finished the same distance from the riverbed like the one before it. The planning of this massive city was beyond amazing.

Once we'd had our fill, I guided Bella to where the government buildings were, surrounding the palace.

Pulling a vintage music box from our bag, I led the way to the 'Door that goes nowhere,' and walked down the few steps inside. Bella was curious as to what I was doing but never asked the question. Instead, she left it for me to show her.

The music box itself wasn't as old as Babylon, it was made somewhere around the year I was born. I figured that Mikail started with just humming the tune when she hid the gardens but as time went on, she upgraded to a music box. This was on the cusp of music box technology around the nineteen hundreds and she hadn't upgraded it since.

It was beautiful, like a miniature record player. It was in a mahogany box, which was decorated with an elaborate carving, but was polished to a shine that you could see yourself in. Inside the lid was a portrait of a younger Mikail with a beautiful garden behind her. In the bottom part was a small metallic disc with bumps and little ridges all over it in concentric circles. A rod with a metallic comb underneath it covered half the disc. I had to wind it with a key to make the disc spin and have the metallic comb activated to produce a very beautiful but simple melody, which it did gracefully.

Once the tune was finished, we stood and waited. Not a full minute had gone by when we heard something in the wall click and it slid apart into two separate doors. A whoosh of stale air blew out of the opening that led to a tunnel that I could see went on for miles.

"Wow, Edward," Bella said with wonder. "I never would have known this was here."

"Neither would have I, if it wasn't for your mother and Mikail," I told her. "Now hop on sweetheart, we have quite a run."

With that, Bella climbed onto my back, I put the music box back in the bag, and began to run.

~*~HS~*~

I started to run at top speed, but with my excessive speed, I reached the point I saw earlier quite fast.

From there on, I couldn't run as fast without jostling Bella too much because the tunnel started to twist and turn.

Before we knew it we came to a mirage-like image, which I suspected were The Hanging Gardens. The closer we got the clearer the picture became and I slowed down. I wanted to take it all in from the very first step and I wanted Bella to be able to as well. It was a strange feeling standing at the edge; it felt as if we were going from an old, black and white television show or movie, into one of the very first color ones. The Hanging Gardens were just that bright.

"Oh my Gods," Bella whispered after I put her down. "I…I don't know…just wow."

"Yeah." I murmured. I wasn't sure there was anything more to say because it just … was.

The view from where we were standing was spectacular. There was a huge city built from what looked like some kind of crystal. It was colored for the walls and clear for the windows, except for where windows looked to be stained glass. It still looked so new that it sent reflections off the walls onto the ground like a disco ball. The entire city seemed to be built at the side of a mountain and had flora hanging or growing from walls and roofs and gardens on the ground. The main castle or palace off to the side, had vines and plants growing from every corner, turret, and surface.

But that wasn't even the half of it. With our enhanced eyesight, it was what was behind the city that gave it its name.

We could see there was an immense mountain behind the city and at one time, there was a wall of earth on the side of the mountain. Now, though, that wall had been replaced by one made of the same clear crystal that the windows in the city were made of. Inside this particular mountain was what you would call a Super cavern and that is what was being displayed behind the wall of crystal.

Inside the cavern was a massive limestone stalactite that hung from the ceiling. It had to be at least twenty-five stories tall from the base to tip. It looked like an inverted mountain had been suspended from the ceiling of the cavern and the tip of it reached a small pyramid at the bottom.

What made it lift from the realm of incredible to 'wonderous,' was how it had been modified by the hand of man.

A pathway had been carved into its outer layer. Some parts were flat and others curved and in other sections, there were carved stairs. The path had been carved around the exterior of this great stalactite, rising higher and higher and heading to the ceiling of the cavern.

Along this path were hundreds of semi-circular archways and in each archway were vines, shrubs, trees and flowers – all of them overgrown to excess; hanging out and over the edge of the stalactite; dangling precariously more than three hundred feet above the world.

It was beyond belief.

It was more stunning than anything I'd seen, bar Bella.

An actual hanging garden. The Hanging Garden of Babylon.

~*~HS~*~

I'm not sure how long Bella and I stood in that one spot taking it all in. It was more than I had imagined.

I turned to look at Bella to see her with a thoughtful look on her face, but as she turned to me, it became mischievous.

Suddenly she reached out and tapped me on the arm. "Tag you're it!" She shouted before she ran off giggling.

My mouth dropped open and it took me a few seconds to comprehend what she had done. However, when it clicked, I took off after her. She was running at top speed and using the twists and turns of the city to stop me from using mine.

I growled out in a playful tone, "I'm going to get you, Bella!"

She giggled again. "Catch me if you can!" She called before I saw her leap into the air.

The next thing I knew her wings were out and she's soaring above me.

"That's not fair." I, well...I whined.

Once again, she giggled as I tracked her down. After a while, she began to lead me to the palace. I could see her land on the steps before she pushed the door open and disappeared inside. By the time I'd reached it, she was nowhere to be found. However, there, just inside the door was one of her shoes.

Picking it up, I looked around. It was a decadent display of architecture. The colors were bright on all of the walls, the paintings, and the tapestries. Though from just looking at the way things were built, you could tell they were ahead of their time. It was stunning that different civilizations living at the same time could all be either ahead of or behind the curve.

I looked further around the room, finding my next clue on the stairs inside – another shoe. I picked it up as well, following the stairs up and around the main foyer. When it reached the top, the hallway went in two different directions. Over to the right, Bella had laid her shirt, so I grabbed it before I followed her in that direction. Fifty feet down the hall was Bella's skirt and then another seventy more feet were her panties.

"I'm going to catch you, my naughty little angel, and when I do, you will have to pay for running from me," I growled.

I heard another giggle, only muffled this time because it was coming from behind a door.

Hanging from the door handle was her bra. It matched the panties I held in my hand. A beautiful, bright red color, which was kind of an oxymoron considering red is the devil's color and she was an Angel of the highest order.

I placed all of our things at the door of the room before I slammed it open growling at her.

She shrieked a little at my abrupt entrance but then relaxed back on the bed inside the room she had chosen. She was an absolute vision lying stark naked on dark blue, silk sheets with her wings spread out across the bed. The sight stopped me in my tracks, kind of like the first look at this place did. To me, she was far more beautiful than anything outside of that room.

'Thank you, Edward. That is a high compliment.' She conveyed to me.

Her thoughts pulled me out of my stupor. "Nothing but the truth, my beautiful girl."

She giggled again. "Now, what was that about me paying for running from you?"

I smirked at her and I could tell that she wasn't quite sure what was about to happen. Instead of talking, I darted to the bed, picked her up and placed her over my knees as I sat on the end of it. I made sure that her wing didn't get bent at an odd angle as I set her down.

"Naughty girls who run get spanked, Isabella." I purred out, with a voice full of lust, as I brought my hand down playfully on her ass.

If she was caught off guard by my actions, she didn't let on, but surprised me with a loud moan as my hand connected with her bottom.

"Oh, ho, ho. What do we have here?" I growled. "Do we like a little pain with our pleasure, Angel?" I asked as my fingers dipped between her legs.

She moaned again instead of answering me, causing me to bring my hand down on the other cheek. "Answer me Isabella. Do we like to be spanked?"

"Mmmm, apparently so, Sir." She purred back at me before whimpering as I again dipped my fingers into her.

I gave her a couple more swats to her ass before I couldn't stand it anymore. "Up on the bed, on your hands and knees. It's time we had a little more fun…"

While she scrambled to get into position, I stood from the bed and took off my clothes, leaving them in a pile on the floor. I climbed up on the bed behind her and grabbed hold of her hips.

I leaned over her back so that I could whisper in her ear. "Hold onto something Angel. This isn't going to be soft or sweet."

I could see as her hands bunched into the sheet below us as I leaned up to place myself at her entrance. I wanted to make sure she wanted this as much as I did. I wanted her to ask for it. To test the waters, I teased us both by just entering her a little and pulling back out, holding her still to prevent her pushing back onto me. It took a few goes before she was frustrated enough to voice her thoughts.

"Please, Edward. Please, don't tease." She begged.

"What Bella? Tell me what you want."

"I want you to…" She trailed off moaning as I entered her again.

"What do you want baby?"

She groaned in displeasure as I again pulled out slightly.

'I want you to FUCK me!' She yelled in her thoughts.

"Gods, yes." I groaned as I slammed inside her.

As promised, it wasn't slow or sweet. It was hard, fast and spectacular.

After a little while, I slid my hands up her hips and around to the front of her body, pulling her up so her back was to me. Having her wings out made this a different experience altogether. Her wings were still rubbing on me, giving us both extra stimulation. When she was getting close, I ran my hand down her front and started to rub on her clit.

"That's it, Bella. I can feel you getting close." I moaned. "Give it to me. Come all over my cock, Isabella."

"Oh, Gods… EDWARD." She screamed as she was sent into a powerful orgasm.

I called her name as she dragged me into mine.

We both collapsed onto the bed, as we tried to regain our breaths. Bella putting her wings away as we lay there. I rolled onto my side, pulling her along with me so we could spoon. I gathered the blankets and pulled them up around us as Bella fell asleep.

I thought about what had just happened between us. I loved making love to Bella, but this was a whole other experience. Fucking her but also being in love with her was different to what I'd heard in the past. Knowing that I was still loving her made it so much better.

With that thought, I fell asleep too.

~*~HS~*~

Bella and I had enjoyed spending the last few months here at the Hanging Garden. The first few days we'd just spent connecting with each other and reaffirming our mated status.

We'd ventured through the palace when we'd awoken the next day to find the kitchen and to see if there was any sustenance there. When we had determined that there was nothing, we'd dressed and made our way out to find some food to keep us fed for the time we decided to reconnect.

The palace was stunning. The walls were opaque in a deep gold color, the windows clear and the floor a gorgeous black, which made the walls stand out that much more. It was a huge building, which seemed to dwarf, yet suit, the surrounding town.

The tapestries inside were of animals both alive today and mythical. The best was the one hanging over the main staircase in the foyer. It depicted a large purple dragon with its wings spread and its head tilted towards the sky. The tapestry was, at least, thirty feet wide by twenty feet high, and even after all this time, the colors were just as vibrant as they had been on the day it was made. The part that seemed to stand out to me, was that it didn't seem to be angry or scared by the people surrounding it, it almost seemed serene, as if it was an ordinary, everyday occurrence. The fact that it had such a place of prominence inside the palace made me wonder if they, too, were once real.

That thought was one of those questions I wasn't sure I wanted an answer to. Some things are just so cosmic and mythical that you want to believe. To find out otherwise, would be a massive disappointment.

After those first few days, Bella and I ventured outside more and more. We discovered that all the buildings were made with this colored crystal, most of them near the castle starting in the deep, gold color outside, with different colors on the inside. However, the colors changed the further away we moved. It signified to me that those with more, were able to afford the brighter, rarer colored crystal; and those that couldn't, used the more readily available colors.

We found all sorts of items in these houses while we were exploring. Vases in different shapes, with pictures telling different stories. The furniture, which was all made out of a beautiful dark redwood that could only be found in Northern California these days – well naturally of course. But even in the poor part of town, the furniture was made of it, which could only mean that at one time, it had been abundant here. The curtains, bedding, and pillows were all made of the softest material, although I couldn't tell you what it was as it was something I had never encountered.

However, the biggest riddle was the way the buildings were constructed. I'd looked closely at the crystal and couldn't see where it had been cut, sanded or polished. Nothing in our time would have been able to produce the type of cut and shape that these buildings were made into. I was astonished at what they had been able to produce, but I was unable to find how they had done it. One day, when Bella wanted to indulge in some pampering, I'd gone out to explore on my own. I'd looked high and low trying to find out how they'd done it but I couldn't find one cutting machine, disc or piece of polishing equipment. It's as if they'd just found them made this way.

The other thing that shook me to my core was that it looked as though the people that had lived here just decided to pack up and leave one day. There were no clothes, food or even a scrap of anything left behind except for the houses, decorations, and furniture. It was strange that they just seemed to have disappeared. Although that notion may have had something to do with the tower that I found crumbling away at the edge of town one day.

I assumed it was The Tower of Babel. Although you know what they say about those who assume?

I'd read the bible and heard the stories. That the people of Babylon had built a great tower that reached to the skies, for which they'd hoped would end in Heaven. That one day God had come down to see this great tower and had not been pleased so he gave them all many languages and then scattered them across the planet.

I'd also read that it crumbled and had been rebuilt and then Alexander the Great had it demolished around 331BC to be rebuilt elsewhere but his death had forestalled that and it was never completed.

There on the edge of town was a tower that lay crumbling, or, at least, the foundation of one. What struck me, though, was that it was not made of the same material that the rest of the town was constructed out of. It seemed to be made of mortar and brick. The ground around it lay broken and cracked as if it had survived an earthquake but the ground was scarred because of it. For about thirty feet around, nothing grew, although I could detect no poison or pollution of any kind. It struck me as odd considering the rest of the town.

Although what I could see in the middle of the foundation was a tree, one that had only started to grow in recent years as it wasn't very large. I'd gotten in close to examine the tree only to discover it was going to be an apple tree. That brought me up short, because if they were building a 'stairway to heaven' where this tree lay – could this be where we started? Another question I was unsure I wanted the answer to. After I glanced around looking for snakes – scoffing at myself – I walked away from there, not looking back.

I wasn't going to mention that discovery to Bella, and I had no plan to – ever. Although in my infinite wisdom, I'd almost forgotten Bella could read my mind. When she saw what I had seen that day, she wanted to give me an answer.

"Please don't, Bella," I'd begged. "Some things should be left to the imaginings of man. I don't want that knowledge; it would be a heavy burden to carry since I could never tell anyone."

"Okay, my love." She soothed. "Come here and let me distract you for a while."

She'd done so, in the most fabulous way.

~*~HS~*~

A few days later Bella and I were once again in the super cavern.

It was one of the first things we deemed to uncover after reconnecting, and what we'd found was a way to the cavern via a hidden tunnel behind the waterfalls.

Bella had been on edge all morning and she couldn't tell me why. Either she didn't know or she was trying to keep it from me, but I let her have her secret hoping that she'd settle down after a picnic under the Hanging Garden and some exploring.

After lunch, her shoulders slumped and I heard her whisper out a quiet "damn." However, before I could ask, the cavern filled with a voice, I'd only heard once before.

"Bella, Edward." He greeted. "I apologize for interrupting your time, but I have come for your help."

I spun, now knowing that this is what Bella had felt. She knew he was coming but had hoped otherwise. I wasn't upset with her, I would have been hoping for the same thing.

Although my first thought after hearing his voice was, I'm so glad that we got dressed today.

Bella stood and grabbed my hand while nodding to the one encroaching on our bonding time.

"Gabriel. What can we do for you today?"

Thank you for reading! I hope you all let me know what you think!

My recs for this week, we go back to an old fave:

Blood and Gory by Drotuno. FFN ID: 6755101 The first in the Gravity Series, there's three more to follow up!

The definition of a mercenary is a soldier for hire. His crew are trained fighting machines. Hers are smart PIs. What happens when they need each other to survive? Canon couples. AH/AU. Rated M for lots of reasons, including violence and lemons.

One of my other faves has just started posting a new story.

After Hours by Edward's Eternal. FFN ID: 11724402 It's four chapters in and posts twice a week. I'm loving this Edward, he's gorgeous.

A late, anxious patient. A compassionate nurse. What happens when comfort becomes something else?

See you next week!