Cursed Bones

Chapter 7: I am kidnapped (director's cut)

I wake up to the feeling of arms and legs being bound. It's terribly hot and my head is aching. I can taste dust in my mouth but I'm still blindfolded. I'm being dragged by my bound hands, along stone. It's dry. And it smells, strange, like wet stone and. Oh no. Oh god. Oh yes. I mean oh no. I mean if I have to die.
"Since you like tombs so much," one the Elgin's men laughs.
"Have fun," another one says.
And I'm dropped to the floor.
"Is that still alive?"
"Won't be for long."
I hear footsteps receding. And I'm trapped in darkness. I'm bound, and gagged. And I'm definitely in a tomb. More than that. I think I'm in a pyramid. And by the sound of stones moving, I've just been sealed in. It takes, usually more than one person, and possibly a horse, to move stones of that size. They got in, but they know damn well I can't get out. It's a convenient if macabre way of disposing of my body. It saves their consciences they didn't actually kill me, but they did cause my death. And years from now when the tomb is open the binds will be mostly gone I'll be assumed to be a tomb raider. The opposite of what I am.
I can feel something brush my hands. I jump, but then warm, dusty fingers press against mine. And it seems I know him in darkness. Even the faintest touch. I know him. I know the curve of his nails the scar on his left index finger, the callouses on the pads of his fingertips.
Rush.
He's equally bound. And if he was caught not long after Byron saw him, very near death.
I twist, gripping his fingers in the dark as much as I can. I can still feel my knife, warm and sweaty taped to my back. And in reach of my hands. Stiff and sore as I am it's more acrobatics than my arms want me to perform. But I manage to slide my fingers underneath the still sticky tape. The blade pricks my skin and I feel a trickle of hot blood. I have it. I cannot drop it. Sweaty as my hands are, I grip the precious blade in my fingers. I slice my hands loose and immediately rip the hood from my head and the gag from my mouth.
And I'm in total darkness. It is a tomb.
"Rush? I'm here, I'm right here," I say, feeling carefully for him, knife still in hand. I rip the bag from his head and his gag out of his mouth, my hand flitting down his face. So familiar, like waking in the night and I'd roll over to feel him there.
"What are you doing here?" Rush chokes. His voice is hoarse.
"Rescuing you, you asshole, here I'm going to roll you over, I need to get your hands," I say, shifting him by the shoulder.
"I'm dying. I don't know how long I—I know I'm dying," Rush whispers.
"You've been down here at least a week," which means you should have dehydrated by now.
"I know I'm dying," he says, he's thin. It has been weeks, "I'm so sorry."
"Good, Now I'm gonna get us out of here but I know fuck all about tombs compared to you," I say, "Where are we? Khefre's tomb?"
"No—it's the satellite tomb. It was thought to be a dead end. Is thought," he breaths, wrapping an arm around me and just gripping me. I set to work on our legs, quickly as I can, in the total darkness. "There's a secret exit. I know of it. It's how I got out before. They don't know of it."
"Okay great can you find that in the pitch black and are we going to run out of air?" I ask.
"No, they have air vents in here just like the larger pyramids," he says, "I can't believe you're here."
"Neither can I right now, and I have some questions for you but for now let's get out. Can you stand?" I ask, finishing with our feet.
"Yes, yes just," he says, clinging to me.
I tuck the knife into my pocket for safe keeping, and then carefull clamber to my feet. Rush holds my arm to keep himself up.
"Secret Tunnel," I sing, looking around. It's completely dark.
"Wait—here—help me to the wall, I can find it," he whispers.
"Okay," I say, "I don't know which way a wall is."
"All of them. We're in a tomb," he mutters.
We walk forward until we feel a wall in front of us. I'm becoming claustrophobically disoriented. It's like drowning I don't know what way is up. I know what will make me feel grounded in this terrifying moment. Being mad at my ex.
"What happened?" I ask, "Why are you here?"
"Why am I here? Fin, what are you even doing here?" He sighs.
"I ask the questions ! After all this time don't I deserve some answers?" I growl, anger filling me. This is making me feel better.
"I'll tell you everything. From the beginning. I promise," he says, softly, as we feel our way along the dusty wall. My leg hits a table. "Did they get the lion?"
"Yes. Took it from me, right after I got it from Byron. I thought to check him, after you'd disappeared. Got lucky. Your turn. You can start simple. Why are we here?"
"Khefre's sattelight tomb was thought to be a dead end passage. It's not. It leads to another burial chamber, presumably for his child or maybe a younger sibling. By 1800 it was still undiscovered. Till Elgin's men came along. They looted most of it. But there were a few artifacts, like that lion, that they missed due to Minerva's Army interference. I got intelligence they'd come back for it. And so I did a jump back, and stole it back. In the process though I lost my cuff. Then I took the artificat to Byron for safe keeping," he explains.
"Okay. That maybe half makes sense. What intelligence? Who originally stopped the looting Riker said there was no record of it? And who the fuck did you buy some ring for while you were living with me?"
"I think I'm going to have a heart attack," he says, starting wheezing and coughing.
"What? Why? I have more questions, you can't die yet," I say, holding him up.
"You're the smartest person I know and you're so dumb I love you so much you beautiful idiot," he says, basically hugging me.
"You're welcome for saving your ass I'll go back to the anger stage of grief when we're safe," I say, "Now answer the questions so I don't think about how disorienting this is I'm gonna have a panic attack. A real one." His touch is all that grounds me. I can see nothing. I only feel him there he's all that's real.
"Well you can postpone it, I've got it—, here—press there—just—there," He moves my hands.
I feel a click, and then the stone begins to shift. Together, we haul it, sideways? And I can see a ray of light.
I loop an arm around Rush and I nearly bolt towards it. It's a long narrow passage I have to duck my head but it's light.
At the end it's the dying rays of the sun over the pyramids, and nothing but sand. I can hear voices. There's a camp nearby. But right now we're free of the tomb.
Rush is nearly limp in my arms. He's thin and clearly dehydrated. I sink down against the stone, lowering him down as wall. He tips his fine face up to the sun, nearly laughing. Dark dusty curls hang in his face he doesn't move them. He's dressed in period clothing like me though more suited to the elements here.
"We need water. And a way to jump," i say.
"Elgin's camp is over there. Historically easy to rob," he says, "Not the Elgin, mind he's alive right now."
"Right. Okay I'm not leaving you, but I should probably leave you," I say.
"Stay a moment. Once it grows dark they'll sleep. I can wait a few more hours," he says, drawing his knees up to his chest.
"No, you're dying, fuck water I need to get you home if I cut an Elgin's throat," I say.
He shakes his head, "Don't."
"You don't get to tell me what not to do," I say.
"I mean—yes I do when it's murder!" He growls.
I walk away, feet sinking into the sand.
Sure enough Elgins' camp is just over the rise. They're mostly eating, gathered around a fire at one end.
Perfect.
I slip down the embankment towards the camp. I sort in my pocket for the knife, and clutch it in my hand. I want my cuffs. I don't want their collars even if it's easier it's not safe.
I recognize Warwick's bag inside his tent. No I don't know his 1810 Egypt bag it has his name on it. Stupid white people. It has his monogram on it.
Keeping careful watch, I duck into the tent. Inside the bag there is no lion, no they've locked that up. But one of the cuffs is stuffed at the bottom. That's all I need.
I hear footsteps and wait in the tent. Then when they've passed I dart back out into the night.
When I return Rush is slumped against the wall, staring at the darkening sky. His eyes focus on me but they are glassy.
"Got it," I say.
"Did anyone die?"
"Got it, come here," I say, kneeling down and wrapping him in my arms. He gladly lays his head on my shoulder. I wrap him tightly in my arms, putting the cuff around my wrist. Then I press the button to return.
We return in a pile of sandy clothes, coughing, to the basement in Skagit Valley college. Riker is to us faster than I thought possible, tugging Rush into a hug. Doc just calls 911.
The next couple of hours are a blur. We hastily strip off our period clothing and wipe down. I do this for Rush who is nearly too weak to stand.
The ambulance arrives and Riker and I carry Rush out to it. Our best explanation (did not say this was good. Said it was our best) is that he (somehow) was repairing air ducts in the college wall and got trapped for a week. Rush doesn't approve this but he's too delirious to do anything but look disappointed in my lying ability.
I'm basically fine other than shaken, so I just chug a couple of bottles of water in the waiting room and Riker and I pace and make phone calls. He calls Anna. I check in with my family who I had some missed texts from. I let Cassie know I found Rush and he's okay. Doc is there but he doesn't pace.
They let us up to see Rush in short order. He's mostly okay just dehydrated and malnourished. The doctors question him heavily but somehow he sticks with my story. He'll be released tomorrow when they're less concerned about dehydration, for now he's on an IV drip and bedrest. They need to bring up his fluids and run a blood test but that's about the extent of it.
When we are let up, hours later, Rush is sitting up in bed and looking infinitely better. He's drinking electrolyte water and texting with Anna, Doc somehow managed to get him his phone despite us not being allowed up yet.
"Fancy seeing you here," Rush says, dryly, his green eyes are still foggy but he looks leagues better than he did when I found him.
"Get some rest," Riker says, smiling with relief.
"Debrief in the morning all right?" Doc asks, squeezing his shoulder, "Text me."
"I will. I think Finlay and I need to talk. I was going to talk to him prior to him standing there glaring at me like that," Rush says, dryly.
"Dying? Disappearing? I need to be mad at you for ten hours," I say.
"I'm going to tell him everything," Rush says, to Riker.
"Oh so you did know," I say.
"Be quiet, Sherlock," Rush says, then looks back at the others.
"Do you want us to go?" Riker asks.
"No, it's fine. It's your story as well," Rush says, "Abridged, tell Anna tonight. We'll debrief fully together in the morning."
Riker nods, pulling up a chair.
"What story?" I ask, hands on hips, "Tell me. Right now. I think I've been in suspense long enough wouldn't you say?"
"Yes," Rush says, smiling fondly, "All right. To start with I'm sorry. I should have told you a lot of this, a long time ago. But for reasons that will become obvious I was trying to keep you safe."
"I told him you couldn't be kept safe," Doc volunteers.
"Shh, my reveal," Rush grins.
"Go. On," I growl, "This has better be good."
"I was born in about 1794. Cairo," Rush says.
"That—was good," I say, struggling not to react.
"My father was never around, so I assume I was born out of wedlock. My mother disappeared I don't—know if she was killed or simply left. I don't remember her name," Rush says.
"We could never find her," Riker says.
"We?" I look between them.
"I was taken in by—I assume it was an aunt, something of that kind. But they beat me, for acting out I don't know, but I ran away. Somehow I wound up being a water boy at a camp. Elgin's Men's, camp, near the pyramids. Some other boys led me there I think. I'd been living on the streets and wanted food," Rush says, shrugging.
"You're—from that time?" I stare at him, "What— no—," that's against every single rule. And he knows it.
"Yes," Rush nods, "While I was working at the Elgin's Men's camp, well, I was carrying water and trying to steal food. Later on we estimated I can't have been more than six or seven years old but we're not entirely sure. I just know I was always hungry. Anyway, when I was there, in one of their, crates I suppose, I saw this—toy. It was a toy lion, like carved, clearly for a child. I was a child and I didn't know why they'd be taking some child's toy out of a tomb. I thought that someone lived in there. I'd never been allowed inside. So since the men were awful I thought that they must have taken some child's toy. It was dark. All of the men were sleep. So I took the toy, and I went inside the tomb."
"The one we were trapped in?" I ask, quietly.
"Yes. They were looting the satellite tomb, I didn't know that then, obviously. Anyway, I got inside and—it was dark but they'd left torches going. They were afraid of that place. Afraid of being cursed. They had good cause to fear, as it happened.
"Inside the tomb, in the center, of course lay the sarcophogus. Then of course I realized it was a burial chamber, well what I understood of it then I realized the child was dead. They'd taken the gold part of the sarcophogus but they weren't going to move, well the mummy, until the end, for fear of it. I could tell it was the body of a child. Probably not older than me. And I didn't think they were going to take the child. So. I lay the toy lion in the little bed, next to the child. I was going to go.
"But of course I was followed. One of the Elgin's men was standing in the doorway. He asked me something in English which naturally I didn't really understand. I knew he was cross. So I picked up the toy and curled up holding it. I didn't think that they'd really want a toy it wasn't shiny gold like the other things. Naturally I didn't know it was thousands of years old and quite valuable to evil old men. I was a child I thought it was another child's toy and all I knew was that even if I was dead I'd like my toys buried with me. And anyway he was stealing it too, I knew that."
"Oh god," I start to realize where this story is going. Maybe.
"Quite. The artifact was worth thousands of course to him and I was a grubby child stealing it. He snatched me up by the back of my neck and tried to pry it from my hands, shouting at me. He couldn't get it and he didn't want to break it, I was clutching it quite fiercely. He got out a knife a threatened me, telling me I assume to give it over, he was shouting quite sternly at me in any case. I tried to bolt past him," Rush draws a finger down that scar that runs over his ribs.
"that's how you got it," I breath.
"That's how I got that scar. I was well gutted. And I screamed. He realized after a moment he'd quite killed me. So he hesitated. And I ran. I still had the toy in my hand. But I couldn't go far. I didn't even have anywhere to go I just didn't want him to have it. I thought that if maybe they all went to sleep I could go put the toy back like I'd wanted.
"But I was bleeding out. The sand around me was red with blood. He hadn't chased me because, well, he knew I was going to die. He probably didn't want to be implicated in the murder. I didn't know I was dying. I was just getting sicker and sicker. And before me stood a jackle."
"What?" I ask, but it's rhetorical.
"Oh yes. I didn't know what that meant at the time. A little child, looked like another little boy was with it. The boy pointed at me. I held up the toy. I thought maybe it was his. I was confused. Well. It was his. Then the boy disappeared. The jackle walked up to me and of course I was afraid. And then it spoke."
"Is that seriously where this is going?" I ask.
"Of course it is," Rush says, dryly, "It thanked me for bringing back the toy. And it told me that if I wished to live, I'd walk towards the moon. And the man there would help me return the toy. And that he'd help me. Then the jackel was gone. I had nothing else, I could barely think. I was just coated in blood. But I did as it said. And so I walked as far as my little legs would take me. I kept tripping in the sand. And I didn't know who I was supposed to find."
Rush looks at Riker.
"It was one of the first jumps. And at that point, I was only trying to sabotage their campsite, convince them they were cursed. Anything to stop the looting, but I was one man," Riker says.
"You've been jumping that long?" I ask.
"We stopped," Doc says, "Go on."
"I heard him crying. I was already awake for, well, mischief reasons. And there he was in the sand, just bleeding out," Riker says.
"That goes against everyone of your rules," I say, hands on hips.
"I know. It was watch a six year old child bleed out in my arms or get him to a hospital. I chose the latter. How could I not? He was dying. And I could save him," Riker says, shaking his head.
"You took him back to the 21st century," I say.
"Twentieth at the time. But yes. I had a few moments before he died. He needed a hospital, even if I'd gotten him into Cairo he needed a blood transfusion and antibiotics," Riker says, stiffly.
"They raised you?" I ask.
Rush laughs a little bit, "Of course. I came to in a 1990s hospital. I was terrified. I didn't understand any of the english. I had over a dozen stitches."
"He didn't talk for nearly a year. Of course we took him home. Lied, well I suppose it was true, said I'd found him on the street. Before CPS got involved I just checked him out of the hospital. He had to be a secret of course. But by then he knew about the time travel. Eventually I got him talking enough to try to find his family, ideally I wanted to take him home. We're not supposed to interfere but," Riker shrugs.
"What were we to do?" Doc asks.
"But my family was no one. We went back after a year, after I could finally articulate I didn't know who my mother was let alone my father. Riker took me back anyway, found my old neighborhood, hoped someone would recognize me. Nothing. We returned the toy to the tomb, using the secret passage," Rush says.
"How did you know about the secret passage?" I ask.
"Anubis," Rush says, "He spoke to me again. Riker didn't believe me. But of course the tunnel was there."
"I almost believed you," Riker says, fondly.
"So you took him home," I say.
Riker nods, "It was stupid. And reckless. And I knew it broke every principal we try to adhere to. But I wouldn't change it for a minute."
"As you well know, I have no legal identity. They taught me everything at home. I could go out of course no one asks for IDs at the mall, and I quickly adapted to life in America. And within a few years I'd nearly forgotten my old life. But not how I got here," Rush says.
"We think he was perhaps six when I found him, we couldn't take him to doctors beyond the original treatment, as of course I had no explanation for how I'd gotten this small child, who looks nothing like me," Riker says, pleasantly, "I didn't dare jump again. I assumed I had ruined time as it was by doing what I did, but I hardly cared."
"And I didn't care. I was living a normal life. Or just about, but," Rush says.
"He spoke to you again. That's your intel," I say.
Rush nods, "When I turned fifteen, or something like that. Anubis spoke to me again. Warning me when and where a tomb would be looted. This time Kherfe's. I begged them to let me jump. They said no for a long time. Then through a steady process of wearing down and fearing a curse of Anubis for disobeying they said yes."
"We jumped together. At first it was once. Then we, started to expand," Riker says.
"By the time I was in college, he was on heart meds. We decided to recruit agents. It wasn't like I could hold a normal job or life anyway I'm not meant to be in this time. So Miranda's Army was born. To protect my identity, and preserve such an unlikely story, we chose to just say I was recruited like the rest of you, with vague lies that I'd known them for a long time," Rush says.
"He was kidnapped, in essence, we could never have anyone guess the truth," Riker says, "And while we trust all of you, we didn't to begin with. Not enough with his life. If you went to someone, the press, anyone with the truth of the time travel, at least he could evaporate we couldn't let it get out he'd transferred from one time to another as it were."
"I told him to tell you," Doc says, pleasantly.
"By the time I moved in with you I was too afraid of you—not understand, or worse being equally implicated. If something went down, Elgin's army exposed me, then at least you could tell the truth that you didn't know. Of course lying got harder. I was planning how to to finally come clean and tell the truth but I was afraid. My whole life had been a lie, they were the only two people who knew the truth," Rush sighs.
I shake my head.
"I'm sorry. It wasn't that I didn't trust you," Rush says.
"Is Rush your real name?" I ask, flatly.
"Yes," Rush says.
"It's what we called him. For one it's old english, which disguised his ancestry, for another it fit him, he ran everywhere. And for the first year he didn't speak so we had to call him something," Riker shrugs.
"We think my birth name was Baako, we think. That's what I said but I couldn't spell it— it sounded like that. But that means 'first born child' so...possibly it was a term of endearment," Rush shrugs, "We don't know. We tried, in the 1810s and in the present. We couldn't find any record of my family. A DNA test revealed that my father was likely white, hence the green eyes, his ancestry was English and French, but of course no matches."
I sigh, deeply.
"Look, I don't blame you for being angry, but I'd really just like to home? I'll drink pedialyte and lie on a sofa but for god's sake let me get out of here," Rush says.
"All right," I nod, "Let's go. I have food at home and coconut water."
"He's not going with you," Riker says.
"Yes he is! He doesn't have a home and I'm the one who found him," I say, stubbornly, "I get to be mad at him for at least twenty four more hours."
"Your apartment is compromised! You're supposed to be moving," Riker groans, "Neither of you are going there."
"Oh," I say.
"What do you mean his apartment is compromised?" Rush asks.
We check him out of the hospital with only minor issues. That's because we don't tell anyone we're doing it. Rush can walk by now and gets dressed in sweats, then he and I just walk out to Doc's waiting car.
We drive to a neat ranch well off the main drag, in the Oak woods of Oak harbor. Rush limps in to a sofa, and I fill him in on what transpired while he was missing. That takes a good hour but I spare most of the finer details for when Anna's around. By then Rush is pretty tired and hold off on further questions till Anna's with us. Riker and Doc are vigilant in monitoring his liquid intake and giving him small bits of food, so I elect to run home, feed the cat, and pack most of my boxes into my car.
I bring back take out. Rush is asleep by then, passed out on the sofa under a throw blanket. Riker has been waking him up every forty five minutes to make sure he drinks and eats, but as of midnight he elects to let him sleep.
We eat the Chinese take out on the porch.
"No judgment?" Riker asks, coolly.
"He was dying in your arms. Any one of us would have done the same thing," I say.
I can't even fully blame them for not telling me. It was admittedly a terrible secret. And with no birth certificate let alone woman to show for having this child? It was dangerous for too long. Admittedly once I was trusted I could have been told.
"We asked him if he wanted to go back, and live. We hadn't found his family he had nothing to go back for, he said. And when he started dating you we told him we were fine telling you the truth. I think he feared your anger for keeping something like that a secret so long," Riker says, "We talked about it with him and he was planning to tell you, then you broke up."
I nod, "Because of his secrets."
"Ironic," Riker shrugs, "But you see why it wasn't quite so easy to admit."
I do, even if I still think we could have done this in a much less dramatic fashion.
I spend the night on the lay-z-boy across from Rush, just in case he wakes and needs something. He doesn't, sleeping soundly till morning. Come dawn he's in a much better humor, demanding coffee and drinking coconut water at my and Doc's urging. He's well enough to get dressed, if only in a Skagit Valley hoodie and jeans. I'm dressed much the same, we're both injured and sore from our ordeal, and have headaches we're treating with monster energy drinks.
We pick up breakfast burritos and meet at Skagit Valley. Anna is waiting for us, in an all pink jogging suit, ready to demand answers. When she sees Rush though she surprises him with a tight hug.
Rush fills her in on everting that he told me yesterday, condensing some for sake of time, with Riker and Doc quickly filling in when needed. Anna takes it smoothly, if she's shocked she doesn't show it, more concerned that he's well now and doesn't need to go back to the hospital.
Sprawled on the bean bags, Rush and I stuff our faces, while we all fill one another in on recent events. Once Rush has fully gotten through his tale Anna and elaborate on our adventures and kidnappings, and then I explain to them both how I came to find Rush and be kidnapped the last time. When I get to the part where Byron gave me the statue, Riker just stares at me and goes, "Oh my god you kissed him" and then goes and makes a tally mark on a white board that has an impressive number of tally marks. Apparently it was the number of times a member of Minerva's Army has made out with our beloved founder. Apparently none of us have gotten through untainted. On the same note Doc signs me up for a full STD check at the local clinic. I groan.
Once we've completed our stories, we open the floor for questions. Since Rush is the one who nearly died and scared us all, we get to ask first.
"Why didn't you just tell us you lived with them?" Anna asks, "Why was the fact that they adopted you a secret?"
"For one, I basically did. I said I'd lived with them I just didn't say it was since I was six. And I said I had no family, that's literally true," Rush sighs.
"Oh," I frown.
"I couldn't say they adopted me besides they legally didn't," Rush says, sitting up on a bean bag, bottle of water balanced between his knees. "I didn't want to lie to you guys, so for the most part I said nothing at all which, yes, Fin, I have realized was more infuriating."
"Okay, well why did you leave the ring Greece 50AD for us to find?" Anna asks.
"Yes and how were you kidnapped? I never got how they got you in the first place?" I ask.
"Elgin's men found me in Greece 50AD. They correctly assumed I'd locked Khefre's tomb and demanded I open it for them. They took me to 1810 and made me open it. I did. The gold lion was the only artifact they found. At that point they were going to lock me in. But I managed to steal it from them and bolt, by closing the main entrance. Then in total dark, I took the lion and escaped out the passage, closing them inside. By then they'd taken my cuff so I couldn't come home. So I made it to Constantinople, Elgin's men right behind me, and I managed to drop the lion off with our mutual friend, yes he was quite seductive about this put me on the STD test as well," Rush waves a hand.
Doc glares at him and then looks down at his phone. Riker sighs and goes and puts another tally on the board.
"I went and hid, hoping to overpower them for a collar. Didn't work, they caught me, and tied me up in the tomb," Rush says, "Which is where Fin found me."
"I was caught as well but I'll take it," I say, shrugging, "So to clarify, anytime you disappeared for weeks on end—?"
"I was doing jumps back. On intelligence from the voices in my head," Rush shrugs, "They knew."
"If we couldn't validate why we had the intelligence we just sent him alone, unrecorded. Which was dangerous, however," Riker says, "His choice. It was that or tell you a truth we didn't really think you'd believe."
"Dude, we time travel," I say.
"Of course we believe you, I suppose that's easy to say now," Anna says, looking between us. "But seriously Rush, don't do that alone. I think it's pretty obvious it's dangerous. I'll always go with you— close your mouth Fin you're white you will not."
"Oh right," I say.
"Did you forget you're white?" Anna asks.
"No," I did.
"Thank you," Rush says, finally smiling a little, "You're not angry with me?"
"A little for scaring me and not telling me," Anna says, mock annoyed, "But really I'm glad to have you home safe."
"I am!" I say, "For one for scaring all of us for another for taking so long to tell us."
"I am sorry. It just didn't get any easier, then we were broken up. If it matters I was planning to tell you sometime—well no longer this week, this summer anyway. I wanted you to know the truth and I wanted to see if I still had a chance with you," Rush says.
"Okay well if that's true who were you off buying this ring for?" I ask, taking it off and holding it up, "And why did you leave it in Greece 50 AD?"
Everyone buries their face in their hands, including Rush.
"What?" I ask.
"I bought that ring for you! You complete idiot!" Rush chokes, "It has 'Minerva's Army' engraved in who in god's name did you think it was for?"
"He did not know," Anna says.
"You have no idea how painful this has been for all of us," Riker says.
"What?" I ask.
"I bought it for you! I was planning to propose to you. I was waiting for the right time then we broke up. I was going to tell you the full truth, explain my actions, and see if given that you wanted to give us another try, yes with the cat," Rush says.
"What?" I say, "You—but why did you leave it in 50AD?"
"I already had it and—in my head it was romantic and you really liked it. I was going to tell you the truth, then next time you were guarding the Parthenon, you'd get it. I thought you'd find it, come home, and we'd talk. Again in my head you got it right away," Rush says.
"How was I supposed to know it was for me?" I ask.
"Who else could it—possibly be for??? In the. One, place only you would find it. With the very specific engraving that means not except to the five of us?" Rush asks, with love, "How did you not now that? What have you been doing, storming around here with wild conspiracy theories about how I was cheating on you?"
I say "No" but everyone else says "Yes" at the same time.
"Well how was I supposed to know that?" I ask, "And why write the secret note on the receipt?"
"You—found the receipt. In your Nancy Drew mode you found the receipt for a ring I bought while we were living together. With a message that has meaning just to you. Aware it is a wedding ring. And you thought it was for someone, who is not you?" Rush asks, very carefully.
"Maybe," that's exactly what I thought and put like that it does sound stupid.
"But why did you put the message on the receipt?" Anna asks, because she loves me.
"If I disappeared before I got around to proposing to him then I feared Nancy Drew over here would go through all my things, find it, and jump to some weird conclusion. With the hieroglyphics on it then he'd take it to you or our dads, who would tell him something basic like the man living with him in love with him was probably buying a wedding ring, for him. On that note, why did you not do that?" Rush asks, "For me who you love?"
"It was painful," Riker says.
"I genuinely wanted to see how long it would take him to realize," Doc says.
"I tried," Anna says.
"Oh. Oh, you did say it was for me," I say.
"I'm sorry, definitely didn't mean it to be a group discussion. I just—figured you'd find it and we'd talk. Again I'd cooled down and with therapy—therapy is my dads—I wanted to tell you the truth and see if you wanted to try again. Which is not relevant right now beyond that is what was going through my head, we can talk later, if you want," Rush says.
"I've nearly fucking died, twice, trying to find you yes we're— talking," I say, looking at the ring. I was going to say yes we're back on and I'm taking you home.
"More than twice," Anna says.
"All right. If that concludes the questions, for now, he's on bed rest, and you're moving since the Elgin's Men found your apartment," Riker says, practically.
"I'm fine now," Rush sighs.
"You are not. You need to rest and rehydrate for at least a week," Doc says, "And you both have STD screenings thanks to having mouth to mouth with the walking culture that is our illustrious founder."
"We've all been there," Anna says. I was there when it happened to her.
"This is completely irrelevant but like—it was great though," I say.
Rush shrugs. Anna and I look at him.
"What? I mean it was fine," Rush says, "Sexuals are weird."
"It was a good kiss," Anna says.
"That was New York cheesecake, compared to toll house cookies," I say, "You don't want to have it everyday and you might not even like that rich a food, but you know it tasted good."
"Now, that made sense," Rush says.
"Well at least we know if Elgin's Men do bug us they'll simply lose their minds. All right, unless an emergency comes up no jumps for the next two weeks, Finlay is moving we're all helping him with that. Rush you're resting. We'll resume Parthenon and any other necessary duties once we're stabilized."
"Ah, about that," Rush says, "They got the lion."
"Yeah when they got me," I say, "I assume that belongs back in the tomb?"
Rush nods.
"Damn it," Riker sighs, "That needs to go back? More than—other items?"
"It was a copy of the toy that I originally returned. The tomb is for a son of Khefre, who died as a young child, probably disease not clear why. But the little lion was like the kids' favorite toy. So he had it cast in gold," Rush says.
"What happened to the body itself?" Anna asks, nicely.
"They took him, probably the day after I was hurt," Rush says.
"I vandalized their work as much as I could but," Riker shakes his head, "In the end they did a good deal of looting, despite our best attempts."
"Much of it is long since lost, they sold it, destroyed, whatever. But," Rush says, "At least we can get this."
"British Museum, they're returned as well," Doc is looking at a computer, "Lion, gold, they've catalogued it along with other items for an upcoming exhibit."
"Then it's gone," Rush says, "Right?"
Riker looks at the screen then up at us, "At least while it's stored there it's under heavy security, normal security. Stealing from Elgin's Men is one thing, or a private collector."
"Yes, we can't rob the actual British museum," Anna says.
They all look at me.
"I ah, might know someone who can," I say.