: : Summary : : Just back from Hamunaptra in The Mummy, Rick and Evelyn have a big decision to make, that will change the course of their lives
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She had put this off for the one week since they had returned from Hamunaptra, but she couldn't ignore it anymore. Sighing again, she made her way to the first bookshelf.
Rick had asked Johnathan that morning of the whereabouts of Evelyn and upon receiving the information, he crossed over to the library in which she worked. He pushed open the door to one of the most horrifc sights he'd ever seen; piles and piles of scattered books, not to mention numerous toppled shelves. In the middle of the mess, he saw Evelyn standing there. She was frowning at one of said bookshelves as if she could magically rightne it with a harsh enough expression.
"Need a hand?" he asked wryly, making her jump.
She placed a hand over her heart, catching her breath. She'd been so focused on the mess that she had been quite startled to hear somebody behind her. Plus, she was still nervous since her encounter with a living three thousand year old mummy. She smiled when she saw who it was though.
"Oh goodness Rick, you gave me quite a fright," she said as he came closer to her. "Shouldn't you know better than to scare a lady?" She dropped her hand to her side.
"My apologies," he said, taking her hand in his to brush a kiss over her knuckles. What he really wanted to do was kiss that full, sensual mouth of hers, but somehow he didn't think she would really appreciate that right now. Riding off into the sunset had been one thing, but now they were back in Cairo, he wasn't really sure where he stood with her. He knew he loved this woman without a doubt, but damned if her knew how to tell her. Every time he tried, he went dumb, even worse than when he had given her that tool kit back at Hamunaptra. For some reason whenever he was around her, she managed to turn him from a mature adult into a stammering schoolboy every time she turned that smile his way.
She smiled and let him hold her hand. The contact caused a slight blush to rise within her cheeks and she stood staring at him, the bookshelves momentarily forgotten. Her heart was racing and she wondered how on earth he had the power to do that to her. She had always thought of herself as a woman all on her own, unneeding of someone to share her life with. Besides, she spent most of her time and effort taking care of her older brother.
"Well, I...I mean..." her voice was lost suddenly as her eyes strayed to his lips. It had been a while since he had last kissed her. 'Evelyn, stop this,' she told herself and after stammering for a few seconds, she finally got the words out. "I mean...it's fine." She smiled, a sweet, lopsided smile at him.
"Oh. That's...good to know," he said absently as he gazed into her eyes, feeling as though he could fall into those hazel depths. He shook his head suddenly as if to clear his mind and he smiled nervously at her. "I was wondering if you want...um, if you'd *like* to go to dinner with me tonight?" he mumbled. "I mean, after you've cleaned up in here and all. I could even help out, if you really want me to."
'Please say yes,' he begged silently. That way he could tell finally tell her that night that he...that he loved her. He'd never said those words to anybody before, but he was determined to let her know, even if he fell into his food trying.
She smiled back and noded her head. "Dinner would be lovely." Then she looked behind her. "Let me just get this mess straightened out and then I'm all yours."
She began walking over toward one of the bookshelves and leaned over in an attempt to pull it up, but only ended up falling onto her bottom, scatterbrained klutz that she was. She sighed.
"Woah, hold on there Evelyn," Rick said, pulling her up from where she had fallen. He grinned a little at the sight of her in her prim little librarian dress in an ungraceful heap on the floor. A *cute* ungraceful heap on the floor, he reminded himself as he helped her stand. "Leave the shelves to me, okay? You just go sort out some of those books."
She nodded, staying in his arms for a couple of minutes before she began to grow nervous about their close proximity.
"Yes, I'll do just that," she smiled and headed of toward the books, starting to gather everything into neat piles. The work was long and exhausting and by the time nine o' clock came along, she was just about ready to quit. Her hair was falling out of its perfect bun and, too tired to care about it anymore, she yanked out the pins, letting her hair cascade down her shoulders. Then without thinking, she undid the top button of her blouse to let some air in. She was rather hot from all the hard work. She watched as Rick pushed the last book into place and she grinned.
"All done," he announced proudly, turning round to look at her. His jaw dropped at the sight of her with her hair long and loose around her shoulders and her cheeks flushed. God, she was beautiful. Involuntarily, his gaze moved lower from her face to her chest and his eyes widened at the flesh that was revealed. He felt his face grow hot when his eyes darted back up to meet hers and he blurted out the first thing that came to mind.
"I wasn't staring at your chest you know."
And then he wished for a rewind button or better yet, a hole to appear suddenly in the ground so that he could jump through it, anything to avoid standing under her intense scrutiny of him.
Evelyn blushed profusely when she heard that. No-one had ever spoken about or dared look at her chest before. She hadn't even unfastened all the buttons, just the top one and she looked down, realising that indeed, her blouse had allowed the upper curve of her breast to peek through. She reddened further, covering herself with one hand.
She glanced up at him and felt a pang of guilt. He looked so worried that it was all she could do to walk over to him and take one of his hands between hers.
"I know it's late, but would you still like to take me to dinner?" she asked softly, her heart praying that he would and she looked deep into his eyes, realising that she was falling more in love with him by the second.
"There is nothing I would like more," he replied shakily, feeling his embarrassment fading a she held his hand with two of her own. Not only did she hold his hand, but his heart as well...
'Good God O'Connell, you're becoming a seething mass of mush!' he told himself, but he couldn't seem to make himself care about it.
"Um, you wanna get changed or something before we go?"
She looked down at her clothes and she suddenly realised that she must look an awful mess in front of him. Now she felt her own embarrassment rise as she moved her mouth, stumbling to do something about it. She finally managed to nod.
"Yes, I do suppose I should. I look rather awful, don't I?" She offered a soft chuckle to hide her feelings of worry that he might find her unnattractive...
'Oh Evelyn, look at yourself. You are a proper woman, you should not worry about a man finding you attractive.' But she did.
"No, no, no!" he said hastily, realising that she had misunderstood him. "I just meant that you might wanna change into something more comfortable is all. It's dark out and it'll be cold too. I was just worried, y'know?"
Rick glanced down at the floor as he mumbled, "you don't look awful at all. In fact, I think you look...beautiful." He whispered out that last word, hoping she wouldn't slap him.
She smiled widely as she looked back up at him, finding her own hazel eyes caught in the gaze of his lighter blue ones. Using all her nerve, she stepped closer to him and leaned up on her toes in order to place a gentle kiss to his cheek before hurrying out of the room and up the stairs to get changed into something more appropriate for the evening's events.
He watched as she scurried up the stairs and he held a palm to his cheek where she had kissed him. Well, that had gone better than he'd expected. A small smile tugged at his lips until it grew into a goofy grin and he fought the urge to dance around the library like a mad man.
He glanced down at himself. His white shirt was a little crinkled and he attempted to smooth out the creases. At least he had had the presence of mind to bring along his jacket earlier so that he'd look half-way decent.
About fifteen minutes later, Evelyn came back downstairs. She was wearing a black dress adorned with white flower prints that held her shoulders with thin straps and a moderately low neckline. She had left her hair loose but clipped on both sides with small white shell clips. Her shoulders were draped in a black silk shawl that covered the bare skin and she walked up to him, waiting expectantly for any word on how she looked.
"Better?" she asked calmly.
"Much," he assured her and then kicked himself. "I mean, not that you didn't look okay before, I just meant that you look even prettier now." He stopped his ramblings abruptly to offer her his arm. "Are you ready to go?"
She accepted his arm gratefully and smiled up at him once outside in the cool night air. She guided him to one of the nicer restraunts in the Cairo area and chose a table that was drawn in a white table cloth and lit with candles. She sighed happily, feeling it fit the romantic mood she was in.
Rick sat opposite her, watching her study the menu. She tugged on her lower lip with her teeth as she read, her brow creasing ever so slightly and this just endeared her to him more. He'd never really been much of a gentleman before, but he was going to try and start right now for Evelyn's sake.
He was startled when she looked up at him and he smiled awkwardly, feeling caught. She looked even more beautful in the candle light, if that was even possible and he vowed to himself that he'd tell her. Now.
"Evelyn, I..."
She placed her menu down as she knew what she was going to order anyway and so she focused on him instead. She gazed at him deeply, wondering how this rogue had ever fallen into her life, let alone when he had been so close to death. Oh well, no reason to bother with those details right now, she was caught up in the sight of him. The mere presence of him made her want to swoon and curl up against him. She wanted to hold him, to kiss him, make love to him...she snapped her mind away from that idea, blushing, that a proper woman such as herself should be having those thoughts.
"Yes Rick?" she asked, watching him carefully.
"I, uh..." Say it, dammit! his mind shouted, but he couldn't make his lips form the words. 'I can't do this!' he thought desperately, unable to tear his gaze away from hers. 'But I will. I m going to tell her. Now.'
He took a deep breath to calm his nerves and he clenched his fists under the table. He started again.
"Evelyn, I just wanted to tell you that I...that I-"
And then he was interrupted by the damn waiter.
"May I take your orders, sir, madam?" he asked in a deep Egyptian accent. "And may I say the two of you look wonderful together this fine evening."
She blushed again as she looked at Rick and then back at the waiter. She may as well order and get this over with so that they could get back to each other.
"Thank you," she told the man and quickly told him what had caught her fancy on the menu.
Rick slumped back in defeat, feeling like he was going to scream. Just when he'd summoned up the nerve to tell her, this had to happen. He sighed dejectedly at his thwarted attempt of leeting Evelyn know his true feelings for her and placed his order, staring back at the woman across the table anxiously.
She offered him a warm smile as the waiter left and took a sip of the wine they had ordered. She knew she wasn't the best ith alcohol, but that was alright. Surely one glass couldn't hurt her.
"You were saying Rick?" she asked, her curiosity piqued by what he had been about to tell her before being interrupted.
"Never mind," he said, shaking his head. He sw her take a drink of her wine and decided that maybe he should follow her example. Maybe the alcohol would help him loosen up enough in order to tell her. Just as long as he didn't get tanked, obvioulsy. He had a feeling that he should keep his eye on Evelyn though, just in case. He had seen what alcohol did to her and there was no way he was going to have her pass out on him before he got the chance to tell her.
*******
Dinner was a rich meal and the conversation was pleasant. Evelyn was feeling a little light-headed from the alcohol, but she was still doing alright, mostly. She had laughed at his jokes and some of the nervousness between them had been thrown out the window. They paid the waiter and headed off for a walk along the riverside. She needed to clear her head from the effect of the wine and she leaned against him as they began walking.
His spirits rose when he felt her lean against him and he gingerly put an arm around her waist. Rick O'Connell, adventurer and former corporal in the French Foreign Legion was officially scared witless. He had been involed in brawls, gunfights and battles with ancient walking talking corpses, but when it came to Evelyn Carnahan, his courage seemed to dessert him.
He wanted to impress her with fancy words, but deep down, he knew that wasn't really his style. He didn't think he deserved her to be honest, but he thanked whatever god had sent her his way.
"I never really thanked you, you know," he said slowly.