Unearthed

Part Three

After everyone had been dismissed for the day, Mina took her time examining the two remains entwined before her. Still secured in their resting place by layers of uninterrupted dirt, the two skeletons lay there with their arms and legs interlaced in an eternal embrace. The vision they created  was bittersweet.

Avery had confirmed that the pair was most definitely a male and female. She had snapped her pictures, taken her notes, and now she was in her tent milling over then. It was more then fathomable that she would stay up all night studying them, and then she would return to the tent to confirm any suspicions she may have. It was her process. Every scientist and historian had their process.

Mina preferred to work directly with the site and its contents. She lovingly brushed away a few more layers of earth around their entangeld phalanges. What had been there story? She had so many questions about what had brought them to this specific place and what sequence of events had elicited their death. She steadily within the paremeters of grid square that surrounded the males skull, shoulder, and their joined hands, for they were tucked under his chin.

She was writing down some notes in her field journal with something blocked her light, casting her in shadow. Looking up from her work, she found that it was not something but someone. And a very unwelcomed someone at that!

 "Thought you would be settling in, seeing how you are so bound and determined to stay," she stated as indifferently as she could manage, but even she could here the anger that warmed her words with warning.

Matt remained outside the boundaries of the makeshift grid and in her light. He was studying her in silence, and his surveyance was beginning to make her feel uncomfortable. Even a little self concious. The light at his back created a shroud of shadow around his tall form, making it hard for her to get a read on what it was going through his mind. Unwilling to let him have the upperhand, she slowly rose to her feet. Only, she was standing in a four foot deep hole in the ground, which made leveling the playing field a bit difiicult.

"Well, then?" she asked. "Say something, will you?"

Still he said nothing, only stood there watching her while cloaked in darkness. Her frustration mounting, Mina carefully picked her way through the grid and climbed up out of the pit. Matt turned to her, the portable utility light finally illuminating his features.

What she saw there made her heart hitch and her breath catch; a raw mixture of pain and torment. In that moment, she could almost forgive him for the past. For his betrayal. Instinctively, all she wanted to do was consol the afflicted man that stood before her. Her arms itched to wrap around him.

Matt did just that. He wrapped his arms around her, and without warning, he covered her lips with his own and kissed her like a man starving man desperate for sustenance. Memories saturated in sentiment and misery swept over her like a merciless tsunami, conjured by the sesation of his lips dancing over hers. Flashes of embraces passionately shared and kisses stolen. The joy of moments cherished and the ire of a heart broken.

She tore herself out of his arms and slapped him as hard across the cheek as she could manage. Unbidden tears streamed down her cheeks as she stared at him with utter disbelief. How dare he! How dare he believe that she would simply forget! No matter how pitiful he appeared, she would never forget.

His faced forced to the side by her assault, she had a clear view of the twitching muscle upon his jawline as he ground his teeth. Slowly, he dragged his eyes back around to meet her wide gaze, caressing his cheek as he did so. She assumed that she would see anger in his eyes, but only sorrow was evident there.

"Will you ever forgive me, Mina?" he asked gruffly.

Still choked with inessential emotion, she forced herself to turn away from him and take one step forward. "Fat chance," she whispered before marching out of the tent.