Bathed Silver in Mercury

III. Nick

A couple of hours ago he'd been staring down at the photograph, trying to drown out Vail's complaining.  Now here she was before him, in the flesh. 

Chris had been complaining as usual, about the heat, about Nick dragging him on another treasure hunt when they weren't even supposed to be here.  Having had enough of his friend's constant complaints, Nick had taken the photo from his jacket pocket, unfolded it, and stared down at it, as he often did. 

It always brought a smile to his face, seeing their smiling faces together.  They looked so happy there, and it felt like a lifetime ago.  It made him wonder what had ever gone wrong.

Now here she was, with her thick, curly red hair, freckled cheeks, Scottish accent and all.  A sunhat shielded her face from the intense sun, and a pair of sunglasses hid her blue-green eyes.  Her freckled face was a bright shade of pink, as it always was when she was upset.  And evidently she was.  He had to admit, he was just as shocked by their reunion and the circumstances of it as she was. 

And now she was yelling at him.  Scoffing at him. 

His thoughts flickered back to the photo, tucked in the front of his jacket, folded against his chest, almost weightless like any other photo, but also carrying with it an  almost unbearable weight at the same time. 

They had been in Mexico.  It had been a vacation, while he was on leave from army duty.  Naturally, she had wanted to go investigate some Aztec ruins.

He had awoken early in the morning to her bustling about the hotel room, all ready to go, gathering a few last-minute supplies.  He'd groaned.  "What time is it?"

"Time to  get up." He could sense the excitement in her voice.  God she was adorable when she was excited.

"But it's so early," he whined.

"I warned you last night that we'd be getting up early, and told you to go to bed early.  But you continued to watch TV."

"They were playing a Mission Impossible marathon!"

"Excuses excuses." She chuckled.  "Come on Nicky, don't make me come and drag you out of bed."

"But it's so early," he repeated.  He pulled the blankets up over his head.

He shrieked moments later when she came over and pulled the sheets off him.  This caused her to burst out laughing. 

"Time to get up."  She giggled and threw his clothes at him, trying to prompt him to get out of his pajamas and dressed.  Her eyes had had that adorable excitement shining in them. "Oh come on Nick! Where's your sense of adventure?"

Ellie and Nicky was written on the back corner of the photo.  "Come on Vail.  Where's your sense of adventure?" he'd said, cutting his friend off mid-complaint, refolding the photo and putting it back in his pocket.  Where's your sense of adventure...

And it had led straight to her. 

(Haha see what I did there? ;) There's Nick's side of the reunion, hope you liked it! Thanks so much for reading!)