There's A Fine Line Between Coincidence & Fate ✓

Chapter 25

This is where Ardeth and Nasir found me, hovering over the stove, stirring a pot of stew as that was what was the easiest to prepare with the limited ingredients I had at my disposal. "Tomorrow I will need to go to the market to get food for the rest of our stay." I informed Ardeth before turning back to our dinner, making sure it didn't ruin.

"That'll be fine. We can go on our way back from Rick and Evy's wedding ceremony." I nodded to let him know that I was in agreement and went about plating the stew for the three of us.

"I hope this is ok. We didn't have much available," I said, waiting until Ardeth dug in before allowing myself to take a spoonful. It wasn't bad and I was slowly impressing myself with how domestic I had become since marrying Ardeth. Neither men seemed to have a problem with the food as they ate quickly and were already looking for another helping. I bit back a giggle as I poured more for them. That was something that seemed to be universal, how men could eat. We finished up and I cleared the table and washed and put away the dishes before joining Ardeth in the bedroom set aside for the chieftain. It wasn't decorated and had only a bed, wardrobe and a set of drawers but it was a bed, not the desert floor and after two nights sleeping on just a blanket covering the sand, it was like heaven. I went into the bathroom connected to the room and washed the sand and dirt from traveling off my face before changing into a cotton nightgown and leaving the bathroom to join my husband in bed.

Even though this was the first time we had been truly alone, as Nasir was across the house in another room, when I got exited the bathroom, Ardeth was already fast asleep. I smiled to myself and got into bed next to him, humming in happiness when, in his sleep, he rolled over to me and put an arm around my waist. My husband, the great chieftain of the Medjai, was also a big teddy bear. I'm pretty sure that I was the only one who got to see that side of him now, but it made me happy to know that it was there. I know our times in Hamunaptra took their toll on him, as they did me, but he never let it show just how much.

There were more nights than not when I would wake up to him thrashing about on our bed, lost in a nightmare I couldn't save him from. I would soothingly call his name, my hand on his arm, tethering him to what was real, just as I knew he did with me when I was plagued with haunting dreams of losing Jack, Bernard, even Daniels. It had been six months since that initial trip to Hamunaptra, over a year since I left the comfortability of the world I grew up in and I still wondered what life would be like if I hadn't managed to convince Jack and the others on this hairbrained expedition. At some point during my late-night, deep thinking, I had fallen asleep.

I was woken up the next morning to find that Ardeth was once again missing from our bed. Even when there were no immediate concerns, he was an early riser. Some habits couldn't be broken, I guess. Throwing on a robe, I followed the smell of breakfast cooking. Entering the kitchen, I smiled at the sight before me. Ardeth was cooking us breakfast and Nasir was laughing at him. I guess it wasn't going well. "Is everything ok in here?" I asked.

"Please help him. He's been struggling with this since I came in a half hour ago." Nasir said, a grin on his face.

"I'm more than capable of making breakfast without my wife's help Nasir." Ardeth said, sending Nasir a look that quickly shut him up.

"Why does it smell like something is burning?" I asked, looking around to make sure nothing had caught on fire.

"That would be attempt number one. Its currently residing on the table in the back courtyard until it is cool enough to throw away properly." Nasir informed me.

"Attempt number one?" I asked Ardeth.

"I was trying to surprise you. As you can see, my efforts were in vain." I smiled at him and gave his hand a squeeze.