: : Summary : : Evelyn's day is growing lousier and lousier by the second. After everything that happens in her terrible day, what could possible make it better? How about some tender loving care from everyone's favorite gun-toting American? Read to see what happens! ^-^ This takes place after the first movie but before the second. It's about right after the first movie past the part where they ride off into the desert sun.
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'What a lucky break that turned out to be�' Evelyn thought.
"Evelyn!!! Get back to work!!" The curator suddenly shouted out.
With a startled gasp, she hurriedly continued her work, nearly dropping all the books in her arms. She still kept her mind on Rick, however. Rick�he was her heaven on earth. True, the way they first met was the least romantic, but still, Evelyn loved him. He rescued her from mummies and from being killed. And vice versa. It wasn't exactly a fairy tale romance, but it was still lovely in Evelyn's mind.
"Evelyn�I'm not gonna say it again! Get. Back. To. Work!!"
Not realizing he was watching her, Evie dropped all the books in her arms and nearly fell off the ladder. Unfortunately the books fell right on top of the curator's head. As the man held his head in agony, Evie jumped down from the ladder to survey the damage and unfortunately beg for his forgiveness once again.
"S-Sir, I'm so sorry! You startled me that's all!" Evelyn said nervously.
"It's always that way Evelyn! You're sorry for this and you're sorry for that! I'm sorry I ever hired you!" The curator replied with a growl. "I'm sorry Evelyn but you're fired!"
Knowing she was defeated, Evie hung her head low and grabbed her bag, making her way out of the museum with a sullen look. She knew it was inevitable she would be fired. She had caused quite a few accidents in her time at the museum. Evelyn Carnarvon couldn't deny she was somewhat clumsy. She had always been like that, since she was a child. It didn't help her much that she was to blame for resurrecting the mummy with the Book of the Dead. That was another thing that got her into trouble was her curiosity with Egyptian things. Making her way to her current residence outside of Cairo, Evelyn stepped inside the house, threw her bag aside and sat with a depressed look against the table. A soft chuckle and a door slamming signaled that her brother was home, but she made no effort to get up and greet him.
"Ahh, what a lovely ti-�I say old mum, you're home early." Jonathan said, noticing his baby sister with her head down against the table beneath her arms. She remained silent.
"Ohh dear, what happened at the museum this time? It wasn't something I did was it, old girl?" Jonathan asked tentatively, not wanting his sister to suddenly erupt at him if it WAS his fault.
"No, Jonathan it wasn't your fault. It was mine. I was fired because I knocked over a few books today and accidentally hit the curator with a few of them�" Evie sighed quietly.
"Aww, Evie�" Jonathan walked over and hugged Evie from behind. "Come on, old mum. Cheer up. It's not the end of the world. That old man was a fool anyways. He didn't even believe in Hamunaptra! And look where that got him!"
"I guess�" Evelyn sighed again. Suddenly, her eyes widened. "Oh no!"
"What is it?"
"I forgot to get dinner! I-I forgot to get everything settled for dinner tonight!" Evie said in a panic.
"All right, just calm down Evie! We'll get things set, don't worry!"
"No, no! I've got to go buy some things and then I'll come back and make it myself, Jonathan!" Evie replied, grabbing her purse and rushed out the door.
Left alone in the house struck speechless, Jonathan merely slumped into her chair and sighed. The old mum was a wreck. And it didn't help much that she was just fired from something she loved so very much to do. Jonathan was so busy thinking about his sister he didn't hear Rick enter the house.
"Jonathan? What's the matter, ya look down in the dumps." Rick said as he put his satchel down on the table.
"Oh, hello Rick. It's Evie, I'm worried about her." Jonathan replied with a slight sigh. Rick's eyes immediately held concern.
"Evie? What's wrong with her?"
"Well for starters she just got fired from the museum."
"What?! Fired? How did that happen?" Rick asked.
"Another accident, another blown gasket from the curator." Jonathan said, shaking his head. "And now she's in a rush to go to market because she forgot about dinner tonight."
"Ohh, boy. She's overworking herself�" Rick said with a sigh. "I think I'd better go shopping myself�"
"For what?"
"Something special for her. I hate seeing her when she's down and I know it's obvious you do too." Rick replied.
Jonathan nodded and followed Rick out of the house as they made their way to the marketplace. Meanwhile, Evelyn had just completed getting the necessary ingredients from the marketplace and was tiredly making her way home. She sighed softly at her own sullen behavior.
'Why am I so down? It never made a difference to me before when the curator was such a rude man�why does it bother me now that I am free of him?' Evelyn thought.
Deep down, she knew the answer why. She felt like such a disappointment. Her parents had worked there before they died and were the finest patrons the museum ever had. And then Evelyn came along and she had become an embarrassment (in her eyes) to her parent's name. She caused more accidents in that museum than even the most ignorant worker had. Evie sniffled, suppressing the urge to cry.
'I'm nothing more than a waste of space�it was good of me to be fired�I'm nothing more than a clumsy fool�' Evelyn thought sadly.
Evie was so far down in her misery that she barely noticed the loose stone in the walkway ahead of her. The toe of her shoe connected with the stone and she spun awkwardly. Unable to control herself she landed harshly on her bottom, the bags of ingredients scattering in and out of the bags she once held in her arms. Looking around blankly at the broken bottles around her, she suddenly found her eyes moist with tears. Then she looked down at the ground. Her ankle was turning red and swelling quickly, and it throbbed with the pain of the fall. She found the tears beginning to fall faster, and she couldn't hold them back anymore. Evelyn buried her face in her hands and sobbed softly, the events of the day taking her toll on her already fragile spirit. At that moment, Rick and Jonathan were walking towards the house and stopped, seeing Evie on the ground shaking.
"Evie?" Rick asked as he rushed over and knelt beside her shaking form. "Evie, Hon, are you okay?"
Evie just sat there crying, so Rick pulled her into his arms and against his chest. Evelyn buried her face in his shirt and cried there. He looked around at the scattered groceries on the ground. Some of the bottles were broken and others were cracked, but still of good use. Then he looked down at Evie's ankle, and winced seeing how swollen and red it was. He put the two together and shook his head with a tiny smile. Looking down at the crying woman in his arms, he kissed her nose gently.
"Don't cry, Evie. It's all right. Lemme take you inside and you and I can talk there." Rick said soothingly as he scooped her into his arms and carried her inside.
"Jonathan, wanna grab what you can salvage and pack it away while I take care of Evie?" Rick asked.
"Sure thing. I'll also bring up your surprise once I'm done" Jonathan replied.
"S-S-Surprise??" Evelyn asked, looking up at Rick with teary eyes.
Rick merely smiled, kissed her cheek gently, and carried her up the stairs to her room. Setting her on the bed, he went to get the first aid kit from the bathroom. Evelyn rubbed her eyes with a sniffle; suddenly feeling embarrassed that Rick saw her crying. She kept her gaze down on her hands in her lap; not looking at Rick once he knelt in front of her and gently slipped her heeled shoe off. Evie bit her cheek as he traced his fingers around it, the pain slicing into her, but she said nothing. Then suddenly, it didn't hurt anymore. She looked down to see Rick's hand gently rubbing her ankle.
"Well it's not broken, just a little twisted. Should be fine in a few days if you stay off of it." Rick said softly.
Evelyn nodded silently and allowed him to wrap her ankle in bandages and then lay a strip of wet cloth on it. Evie tipped her head at the wet cloth, wondering what it was for. Rick seemed to notice her questioning look, since he was rubbing the back of his neck with a sheepish smile.
"I-It's to help keep the swelling down. I-I didn't exactly have any ice on me up here so, y-ya know." Rick said with a faint blush of perturbation.
"Oh�" Evie replied, who now is bringing her questioning eyes to Rick's. "Why are you blushing? And what is this surprise my brother was talking about?"
"Just a little something special for you, is all�I heard you were having a lousy day so I thought you needed a nice boost. And I'm not blushing. It's just a tad warm in here that's all." Rick replied with a slight smirk.
Hearing that he knew of her lousy day, Evie looked down at her lap again. She suddenly remembered why she was crying and didn't want Rick to see her tears when and if they did come out. Rick slipped his hand onto hers, squeezing gently. Evie looked at him sadly, even keeping her gloomy expression when he smiled comfortingly at her. Rick tipped his head.
"Come on, Evie�talk about it with me." Rick said softly.
"Why do you love me?" Evie whispered, not meeting his gaze. Rick blinked.
"Well that's an obvious one. I think you're a wonderful girl, Evie. You're beautiful, smart, honest, bright. You make me feel good; you're an amazing woman. You're also extremely tough. What would make you think I wouldn't love you?" he asked.
"Maybe because I'm a clumsy crybaby who's an embarrassment to her family's name?" Evelyn whispered, sounding slightly bitter in her tone.
"Evie�is this because of the curator? Is that why you asked me such a stupid question?" Rick wondered.
"Who says it's a stupid question! It's true! I'm a clumsy girl who can't even handle being a librarian correctly!" Evie cried out, tears already slipping back down her cheeks.
Rick stood up and sat beside her on the bed, pulling her gently into his arms. She buried her face in his shoulder, closing her eyes and sniffling. He rubbed her back gently with an open palm, resting his cheek against the top of her head. Rocking back and forth lightly, he kissed her crown gently.
"Evie, sweetheart. You are not a clumsy girl. True, you have your moments. But everyone does. I do, Jonathan does, and I'm sure your parents did too. You just need to relax and go with the flow." Rick said gently, but with another comforting smile.
"R-Really?" Evelyn whispered.
"Really."
Evie smiled faintly and curled against Rick's well-built chest, now comforted by her love's embrace. A soft knock was the only thing that pulled her thoughts away from Rick and his love for her. Rick looked over his shoulder and smiled seeing Jonathan at the door with the surprise behind his back. Rick looked at Evie.
"Close your eyes." Rick said softly.
Evie did so as Jonathan tiptoed inside the room and laid his baby sister's present on her bed. He then proceeded to quickly tiptoe out of the room and shut the door over without a sound. Rick smiled and stood, picking up Evie and laying her down on the bed. Her eyes flew open upon feeling herself being pulled off of a solid seat, but relaxed when realizing it was only Rick.
"Surprise�" Rick whispered as he nodded to the bed.
Evie looked over at her pillow and gasped, seeing a lovely bouquet of lilies laid gently beside her. Amazed, Evie gently picked up the bouquet in her hands and gently smelt the delicate flowers. She smiled happily and smiled wider feeling Rick's arms slip around her waist.
"Like em?"
"I love them�but where did you get lilies in Cairo?" Evie wondered.
"I have my ways." Rick replied with a grin.
Evie crawled into Rick's lap and wrapped her arms around his waist. Rick smiled and ran his fingers lightly through her dark curly hair. Evie closed her eyes and eventually fell asleep in his lap. Rick looked over at the stems of the flowers and chuckled at the diamond ring on the end of it.
"Looks like you'll find it when you wake up, Evie�" Rick whispered to the sleeping form. "Then I can finish making your day better."
-End-
Author's Note: Thanks to Marcher who pointed out my slight mistake in the curator stuff. So in case people decide to dispute, I hereby dub THIS curator a different person. He'll still be named as the curator, but it's a different guy. Thanks again to Marcher for pointing this out to a silly fic writer grrl and not making a big deal about me being silly ^-^;