When Kadin and Fakir returned an hour later saying they had left the body in an alley not too far from there as ordered.

By the time the two Medjai returned most of the blood had been cleaned up from the death of Charles for when Ardeth had slashed Charles throat it had spouted like a fountain all over the carpet of the hotel room. Of course, there was still quite a large stain, for the blood had soaked into the weave of the carpet and was almost impossible to remove completely from any surface but especially any kind of material—wool, cotton, linen, silk it didn't matter. If you got blood on your clothes you might as well get rid of them for there was no way to get a bloodstain out completely.

"Very well," said Ardeth. "Now that that piece of dung has been dealt with let's get some sleep. We ride for home as of dawn tomorrow."

The other Medjai nodded and left for their quarters to pack and to get a few hours sleep for they had a long ride ahead of them.

"Are you able to ride?" Ardeth asked Rick as soon as the others had left.

"I'll manage," said Rick. "I can ride one handed if I must. I'm not looking forward to what Evie is going to say about this though. I'm sure by the time she's down fussing at me I'll wish those thugs had killed me."

"I'm sure you're right," Ardeth agreed not looking the least bit sympathetic to his brother's plight. He was looking forward to the fireworks actually, as he was sure sparks would fly when Evie found out about her husband's injury

"You're enjoying this," Rick accused him.

"Of course I am," said Ardeth grinning evilly. "I'd much rather have Evie mad at you then me."

"You just wait until my arm heals and I'll get you for that," said Rick.

"You can try," said Ardeth not seeming in the least worried.

Rick didn't reply but began dreaming of ways to get revenge on his brother.

~~~Rick and Evie~~~

A little less than four months later, Evie went into labor and after more than twenty hours twins were born. Rick who had been pacing outside of the room looked up as he heard the cry of not one baby but two. Alex, Jonathan and Ardeth were also there and the latter of the two had long since fallen asleep in a couple of chairs, Ardeth was still awake although not pacing like Rick, but that was only through the application of sheer willpower Rick knew.

Suddenly the door to the birthing room opened and one of the healers exited holding a squalling baby in her arms.

"Congratulations Mr. O'Connell you have two beautiful sons."

"Sons?" asked Rick in a shocked voice even though he had known it was going to be twins.

"Yes both are healthy and screaming up a storm."

"And my wife?" asked Rick.

"Your wife is just fine extremely tired, but that's to be expected after twenty hours of labor."

The healer handed the squalling baby up to Rick then disappeared back into the birthing room.

Ardeth came over to stand beside Rick and studied the baby now lying quietly in his father's arms.

"Isn't he beautiful?" asked Rick

"Yes," Ardeth agreed studying the now sleeping baby. The baby was still wrinkled looking almost like a wizened old man but the wrinkles were rapidly disappearing as the skin dried from the bath he had been given and Ardeth noticed that the infant had a shock of brown hair almost the same color as his mother's.

Suddenly the door to the birthing room opened again and the same healer brought out the other baby and handed him to Ardeth. Ardeth looked shocked for a moment then took the baby gently as if afraid he was going to break if he wasn't careful.

"Ardeth that's not the way to hold a baby," said Rick nearly laughing but managing to contain his mirth if only because he didn't want to wake either baby. "You're not carrying a sack of flour you know."

"I've never had much experience with babies, not really with any child who wasn't at least 5 or above."

"That's obvious," Rick teased his brother gently. "With the babies you need to be careful to support the head," he added demonstrating.

Ardeth watched Rick closely then followed his example.

"I hope you approve, but we decided months ago that we wanted Arabic names since this is where our sons are going to spend their babyhood. Evie and I discussed it and it was decided if it was girls they'd be named Sabira and Tameka and if it was boys then it would be Ardeth and Kadin."

Ardeth looked up at the mention of his name and then it finally registered what Rick had been talking about his expression changed to shock.

Rick watched Ardeth's expression change amusement sparking in his brown eyes.

"You decided to name one of your sons after me?" asked Ardeth in astonishment, although it was aslo clear that he was very pleased.

Rick tried to shrug nonchalantly and said almost casually, "Who else would we name one of them after and the oldest one at that? You are not only the best friend I've ever had you are also family. You mean a great deal to my whole family and we thought if we had a boy then we'd name him after you and use Kadin as his middle name, but since we had twin boys one will be called Ardeth the other Kadin."

"I am honored," said Ardeth as he looked down at the bundle in his arms

"I'm glad; I wasn't sure how you'd react when you were told, although Evie seemed to think you'd be pleased. Anyway, Evie and I decided months ago to name the baby after you if it was a boy. When we discovered it was twins it was immediately decided to name the other baby would be Kadin instead of using it as a middle name—if it was two boys. After all, Kadin is almost family too and we both know family is not always related by blood."

"Yes," Ardeth agreed looking down at the little form in his arms. Watching his brother cradle his namesake made Ardeth wish for children of his own, but he had never found anyone among his own people that he would be happy settling down with and as for outside the Medjai—not that he'd had a chance to meet anybody socially—the only women he'd met had been the ones he'd chased off of places like Hamunaptra.

He had always hoped that he would find someone to love but so far that hadn't happened and he was 39 years old.

Ardeth was pulled out of his thoughts when Jonathan who was finally awake came over. "So what did I miss?"

"The birth of my and Evie's sons," said Rick. "Here why don't you hold Ardeth while I go see how Evie's doing?"

"Ah, so you and Evie decided to name them after your brother and your friend," said Jonathan.

"You knew we had been discussing it."

Jonathan nodded and took baby Ardeth out of Rick's arms. "I'll look after the little tyke for you," Jonathan assured Rick. "I think I remember how it's done, although it been a long time since Alex was a baby."

"You don't really forget stuff like how to hold, feed, or change a baby," Rick said. "Besides, you might be needing these skills sometime in the very near future."

Jonathan blushed for it wasn't like his relationship with Helima was a big secret and it was almost impossible to keep a secret in such a tightknit community anyway.

Rick looked at both his sons for a moment then rubbed a tender thumb against each baby's cheek before turning and heading into the birthing room to check on his wife.

~~~Rick and Evie~~~

"How are you feeling, Evie?" asked Rick as he came to stand by his wife's bed.

"Tired," said Evie.

"You have a right to be," said Rick giving his wife a tender kiss on the lips. "I mean twenty hours of labor is bound to be no picnic."

"You're telling me," said Evie."It was worth it though for now we have two beautiful sons."

"That we do and you should have seen Ardeth's expression when I told him we had named the oldest twin after him. He was rather shocked, but after he got over it he was pleased."

"I told you he would be," Evie reminded her husband.

"So you did," said Rick. "And you were right. Sometimes I just can't get over the fact that someone cares about me as much as he does, cares so much that he willing became my brother by blood. I mean I know I have you and Alex and Jonathan but I never expected to have another brother. Sometimes if I allow myself to think about it I just get all choked up. I never dreamed when I was growing up in that orphanage I would have so many people who cared about me at least not since my parents died anyway."

Evie squeezed her husband's hand and said, "But you do. I love you, Alex loves you and in his own way Ardeth cares about you to."

"I know," said Rick. "And now I have two more sons to carry the O'Connell name into the future."

"What two more O'Connells who fight undead mummies and save the world?" Evie joked.

"Let us sincerely hope not, Evie," said Rick. "I mean we barely survived our two encounters with them and a lot of that was due more to luck then skill or perhaps it was fate, but in any case let us hope that none of our sons or any of our descendants has to deal with 5000 year old undead mummies or anything else supernatural."

"I agree," said Evie. "But we need to warn them of the danger just in case it does happen. We both know there are more things in this world then are scientifically explainable."

"I know and we will," Rick promised. "And we will make sure our history is passed down to our descendants just in case someone tries to raise Imhotep in the future, but that is not for now but many years in the future, if ever. Why don't you get some sleep and I'll see you when you wake."

"But who's going to take care of the twins?"

"I think Alex and Jonathan and I can handle it for a few hours and besides, Ardeth has asked one of the woman to look after the twins starting tomorrow while you regain your strength. Even after you're on your feet, the lady has been asked if she will serve as a kind of nanny so that you still have time to do other things."

"I see you and Ardeth have it all arranged," said Evie dryly, but with a smile.

"Well, we would have arranged for a nanny anyway when we got back to London just like we did when Alex was a baby," Rick pointed out.

"True," said Evie with a yawn.

"Goodnight, Evie," said Rick giving his wife a kiss.

"Goodnight," said Evie who then closed her eyes and was almost instantly asleep.

Rick studied her peaceful expression for a moment then left the room silently closing the door behind him.

~~~Rick and Evie~~~

"Dad how is mom?" asked Alex as soon as Rick had exited Evie's room

"She's fine, Alex," said Rick. "She's tired of course, but that's to be expected. She's sleeping at the moment you can visit her tomorrow. Alex have you met your two new brothers?"

"Not officially," said Alex.

"Well, the one Jonathan's holding is Ardeth and the oldest and the one my brother is holding is Kadin."

"How are you going to keep them straight dad? From what I can tell they are absolutely identical."

"That's a very good question, son," Rick admitted. "We wouldn't want to get these two little guys mixed up."

"I noticed that Kadin has a small crescent shaped birthmark on the left ankle does my namesake have the same mark?" asked Ardeth.

Rick took his son from Jonathan and checked the left ankle only to find no crescent shaped birthmark. Rick then checked the right ankle and found the same kind of mark. "Ardeth has it to, but it is on the right ankle instead of the left."

"Well that's certainly convenient," Jonathan said dryly.

"It is," Rick agreed wondering if fate had something in store for his twin sons or if it was just his imagination.

"Well at least you'll be able to tell them apart," Alex pointed out. "Just so long as we remember that Ardeth's birthmark is on the right ankle and Kadin's is on the left."

"But now if you don't mind I think I'm going to head for my room and get some sleep. We have after all been up for almost a day," said Jonathan.

"You mean me and Ardeth have been up, you slept through a lot of it," Rick said rather pointedly. "You just want to get out of helping take care of the twins and if anybody deserves some sleep it's the two of us. Surely you can handle taking care of two little babies for a few hours and besides the practice will do you good."

Jonathan sighed and gave in for he knew Rick was right and besides, as soon as things settled down here he was planning on asking Ardeth for Helima's hand in marriage. His relationship with Ardeth's beautiful cousin had progressed over the last year and he had finally admitted he had fallen in love with Helima, totally and completely. Jonathan had never been in love before, not really deeply and truly anyway, so it had taken him awhile to realize that he had indeed fallen in love. He just hoped Ardeth didn't murder him.

~~~Rick and Evie~~~

A week later things had settled down somewhat and Jonathan screwed up his courage and approached Ardeth about his request. Jonathan never could have done it if Helima had not made it clear that she loved him just like he loved her and so Jonathan screwed up what little courage he possessed and did something that frightened him half to death.

When Jonathan found Ardeth he was alone and Jonathan thanked every god who might be listening for that for he didn't think his courage would hold up if he had to make his request in front of a crowd.

Ardeth of course was perceptive enough to know what it was Jonathan wanted and although it was not the custom among his people, Ardeth knew that it was the English one and he was Helima's closest family since her parents had been killed a few years ago and her younger brother had died of some kind of fever when he was a boy.

Besides he had seen the relationship develop between his cousin and Jonathan and he had watched how they interacted together and it was his belief that his cousin had finally fallen in love, although it had taken 35 almost 36 years for it to happen. Of course, there was a little over six year age gap between them but that wasn't really all that unusual even in this modern age. Finally, Jonathan approached and Ardeth sat just a little straighter not so anybody would notice but enough to focus his attention on the man standing in front of him—a man who was doing his best to not show how nervous he was.

"You wanted to see me, Jonathan?" asked Ardeth.

"I did," said Jonathan managing not to stutter. Jonathan was quite proud of the fact that his voice sounded steady. "I suppose there's no reason to beat around the bush and I'm sure you know why I wanted to see you anyway. So I'm going to go ahead and ask before I lose my courage." Jonathan took a deep breath more to steady his nerves than anything else then said, "I'm requesting Helima's hand in marriage."

Ardeth studied Jonathan for a moment then said, "And how does my cousin feel about you?"

Jonathan shrugged and said just a little self-consciously, "She says she returns my feelings. In fact, she said had fallen in love with me and said she hoped I felt the same."

"And do you love her? Really and truly love her I mean?" asked Ardeth. "Because I don't want to find out somewhere down the road that you've made Helima unhappy or that you've been cheating on her."

"That won't happen," promised Jonathan. "The reason I've waited this long is that I wasn't sure I was really in love. I mean, I've never been in love before, so I wanted to make sure of my feelings before I said anything. I even asked Evie how she knew she loved Rick and when she told me I realized I had been having a lot of these same feelings for Helima."

Ardeth studied Jonathan for a moment, but all he saw was an earnest expression on Jonathan's face and no deceit or any signs that he was being anything but absolutely truthful.

"Very well you have my permission," said Ardeth finally. "Just so long as it's what Helima wants and you two are happy then I am content."

Jonathan's whole expression lightened at Ardeth's words. "Thank you, I will forever be in your debt."

"Do you plan on living here or in England?" asked Ardeth.

"That's one of the reasons it took me so long to work up my courage to consider marriage for I knew that if I did marry her then more than likely I would be living here in Hidden City for the rest of my life. It's true, I thought about us moving to London, but then, I thought that Helima has lived here her entire life and that she would be a total stranger to a modern city like London and also how unhappy she'd be away from everything she has ever known. That's one of the reasons it took me so long to decide whether or not I really loved her for I knew if I married her I would have to make some major changes in my life. Could I really live here in Hidden City for the rest of my life with none of the modern conveniences that I had grown up with? Then I decided that yes, I did love her and yes, I was willing to stay here and only visit London to see my family occasionally."

"You've put a lot of thought into this I see," said Ardeth. "You're thinking more of Helima then yourself, which just proves too me that you really do love her for what else would cause you to make so many drastic changes in your life? Do you plan on continuing to teach English to whoever wants to learn it?"

"Yes," said Jonathan. "I've found out I enjoy teaching more than I thought I would and that also my Arabic has improved ever since I started teaching. Besides, it's something to keep me busy and if I'm going to be living here then I would like to feel I'm doing some good."

"You've changed a great deal from the man I met over fifteen years ago," said Ardeth. "You are now a man anybody should be proud to call their friend. Changing your life so much, just because you want to see my cousin happy takes a different kind of courage Jonathan. Changing your life so completely is hard especially when you are moving from one world to another—you are moving from a world that has things like electricity, cars, movies, theater, indoor plumbing and every modern convenience you can imagine to this one that doesn't have any of those things and changing your life so much takes a great deal of courage and bravery, remember that."

"I will," said Jonathan.

"Now I suggest you go ask, my cousin the big question," Ardeth suggested.

"I will," said Jonathan. "Oh by the way, I've wanted to ask you what exactly the Medjai wedding customs are."

"Our customs are very ancient and go back thousands of years—" Ardeth began and then continued explaining his peoples marriage customs.

Jonathan listened attentively then nodded when Ardeth was finished. "Sounds simple enough," Jonathan admitted. "And although you don't exchange rings like we do in England, Helima and I might want to consider getting a pair of rings for the times we visit London just so people don't keep asking stupid questions when they find out we're married. It should cut down on people approaching me and wanting to know if I want to buy them a drink or asking me if I have a wife or if I'd be interested in going out with them. I used to get all kind of propositions back when I spent most of my time in bars."

"But you don't drink anymore," Ardeth pointed out.

"True, but that isn't going to stop someone on the street from propositioning me if they want and I know a wedding ring won't stop anyone really determined but it will cut down on that kind of thing."

"There is no law against it," said Ardeth after thinking for a moment. "But you might want to ask Helima about it before you actually go into Cairo to buy them."

"Fine, then it is settled," said Jonathan. "But not I really must be going. I need to ask Helima right away before I lose my courage."

"Then I wish you good luck my friend," said Ardeth slapping Jonathan on the back in a friendly gesture. "I hope you have many years of happiness and many children."

"Thank you," said Jonathan before leaving Ardeth to go propose to Helima.

~~~Rick and Evie~~~