| STORY 2 Page 14 |
| Nefret looked up into Gabrielle's warm eyes, eyes she could entrust with any secret. "Thank you for being here with me. I would be a shipwreck with you not here." "You are a shipwreck even with me here, so it looks like I am not doing too great of a job!" Gabs grinned as she saw Nefret's lips hover slightly in a smile. Then she tucked the light cotton weave blanket around her placid form. "Sleep well my dear." She then left after giving the young Egyptian a kiss on the forehead. Calla Lancaster ([email protected]) January 8, 2003 Back on the ship� Rick started to fall asleep at the wheel. He and Evie had kept a night-long vigil over Alex, while Jonathan watched the boy, and Ardeth manned the wheel. All of a sudden, Jonathan tore into the cockpit. "Jonathan, where�s the kid?" "He...he...he jumped....over the side...." Jonathan sputtered , out of breath from running across the deck. Emilee ([email protected]) January 8, 2003 Ancient Egypt "Ow! Buggar all!" Gabrielle yelped as Senbi ran over her toes with the cart. Living so far from the nearest town and working on fixing up the hut, it took a cart to haul all the groceries home from the market. Gabrielle glared from under her mess of dark hair at her brother as she balanced the sack of tangerines clumsily in her hands. "Bloody hell Senbi!" The scrawny excuse for a man glanced up at her, "If I hear one more English expression from you I'll cut off your hands." he grumbled. "And if you don't stop running over my feet I'll never go back to England and stay here and bother you forever." She replied matter-of-factly. That seemed to shut him up and Gabrielle smiled to herself but as she thought more about England and Jonathan, her smiled faded. She'd only been home for a few months, but Gabrielle was already realizing that Egypt, in her own time, with her brother and her friends, just wasn't home anymore. Jonathan was home. Gabrielle frowned, that sounded odd. It was true, but just sounded odd. Everything about her life of late had been odd to her. She wasn't used to Jonathan, being in love with him and him loving her, but she also wasn't used to being away from him, missing him. She sighed and looked determinedly at Senbi's quickly approaching oasis. There is work to do, she told herself, there is need for me here. Nefret was only a few months along in the pregnancy. She spent most of her time thinking about Ardeth, but Gabrielle completely understood. She herself hardly ever stopped thinking about Jonathan, though she wouldn't admit it, and when she did she liked to think that her longing for 'her man' wasn't as obvious. Gabrielle, Senbi and Nefret were all staying in Senbi's hut. It was quiet, safe and easy for any one of their group to find. But since Gabrielle had returned the hut was looking better by the day. Gabrielle was forcing Senbi to fix it up (though she was doing most of the work) while Nefret was there. Yes, Gabrielle felt a swell of pride as the hut came into view. It wasn't small enough to even call a hut anymore. It was more like a- "OW!" "What are you doing down there?" "You tripped me you git!" "I did no such thing." Gabrielle sat in the sand, the tangerines sitting all around her and the sack blowing off into the dunes. She glared up at her brother and reached out for him. "Be a gentleman." She commanded, and Senbi sighed and helped her up with one hand. But he was of course off in a flash heading down the dune to the hut, leaving Gabrielle to pick up the tangerines and trudge after him. By the time Gabrielle reached the hut Senbi was already unpacking the car. She swatted him on the back of the head she passed him and entered the kitchen door. "Nefret! We're back, love." She called, dumping the tangerines on the kitchen table. Nefret called back a faint greeting from somewhere in the house and Gabrielle smiled, picking up a huge bowl, filling it with the tangerines and heading out the door to the pond. She didn't notice her brother watching her as she dumped out the tangerines, filled the basin and sat on her feet, washing the fruit. Her left hand caught her eye and she took a sharp intake of breath before closing her eyes and closing her hand in a fist, then touched her fist to her pursed lips. It had been the day she left that she took the ring from him. As usual, Jonathan and Gabrielle were being their flirty silly selves, goofing off and not really realizing that she was leaving for so long. She'd tugged off the silver pinkie ring Jonathan always wore and slipped it on her ring finger, then kissed him good-bye and that was it. It hadn't meant much at the time, but when she'd gotten back to Egypt wearing his ring she felt so close to him, even when they were ages apart. And then she'd lost it. She had been sitting right there next to the pond washing her feet after Senbi had dropped a hammer on her toes. This image made her frown. Not to mention made her toes hurt. She opened her eyes and looked at the pond. It would be impossible to find it now, so she shook her head and tried to stop thinking about it. Finishing the washing, Gabrielle stood up and then bent back down when she ran strait into Senbi who was standing behind her. "Cripes!" she yelled, tumbling over and spilling the fruit all in the mud. She sighed and glared at her brother, "What the hell are you doing?" She snapped grumpily. He might have been apologizing when he grumbled something inaudible, but Gabrielle couldn't hear it. What she did hear was his muttered, "Here." as he thrust his hand to her and looked at her a bit peeved. He opened his fist and revealed Jonathan's ring. Gabrielle's jaw dropped and she glanced up at her brothers face before taking the ring from his palm. "Wh...how...where....?" Gabrielle whispered, holding the ring in her palm and looking at it with her brown eyes wide. Then her eyes darted up to him, "How did you get this Sen?" Senbi looked at her and shrugged, "Just picked it up." A smile crossed her face. She knew that it would have taken him forever to scour the pond for the tiny ring. "Alright so it took me about...oh eight hours to find that thing." Senbi explained with a shrug. "It was noth-" He was interrupted when his sister threw her arms around him. "Thank you!!" She hugged him, then stepped back, ruffling his hair, "You are absolutely brilliant." She told him with a huge grin and her voice sounding far too much like Jonathan's. Rolling his eyes, Senbi shook his head and put his hand in his pockets, "Maybe now you won't mope around like your puppy died." he said turning and starting back up to the hut. Gabrielle laughed and stuck her tongue out at him, or more at his retreating back as he slipped back in the house. |