Bathed Silver in Mercury

VI. Nick

They were off, leaving the desert behind. Well, they'd gotten the treasure, not in the way he thought they would, but they'd gotten it. Sort of...

Elerie stood up on the seat to reach something from one of the upper compartments. As she was doing so her shirt rode up a little, revealing the intricate tattoo she had on her side. An old Celtic pagan symbol, she'd said. He used to like tracing the intricate lines gently with the tip of his finger, making her giggle.

He recalled one such time where she was lying on the bed on her side, notes spread around her, reading through them. He'd come to lay beside her, pushing up her shirt where it had ridden up some to reveal her tattoo. He'd begun to trace the swirling, interconnecting lines.

"Nick."

"Hmm?"

"I'm trying to work."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. You're being distracting..." She was trying to sound serious, but he could tell she had a smile on her lips, shaping her words.

"Am I?" He continued to trace the lines, adding some kisses to her neck.

"Yes - ah, stop that! It tickles!" She giggled and smacked his hand away, pushing her shirt back down to conceal the marking. He'd chuckled at her blushing.

He smiled at the memory. "Need some help?" he offered.

"Oh aren't you the gentleman." She retrieved what she needed and sat back down. "No."

"You're welcome by the way."

"Oh, how's that?"

"I saved your, whatever it is."

"Well it was safely hidden for five-thousand years before you dropped a Hellfire missile on it."

"Technically that was Vail."

"Whatever."

"Well you may have never found it otherwise. Again, you're welcome."

She scoffed and shook her head. "Do you have any idea what this is?" She gestured to the sarcophagus. "The significance of it? An Egyptian sarcophagus imprisoned in a tomb in Mesopotamia. Whoever it is, someone went to great lengths to keep it hidden."

"Why'd you tell Greenway and the others fifteen seconds? It was not fifteen seconds - it was never fifteen seconds."

There was a brief pause before she spoke. "Because, whatever 'it' was, and however long 'it' lasted, it wasn't real, in the end."

"I think you're being a bit harsh-"

"Well what was I supposed to tell them? That I'm the proud ex-wife of a thief? A con-man? A liar?"

"Ellie, I never lied to you about my feelings-"

She ignored the use of his nickname for her. "You stole from me. You used me."

Now it was his turn to scoff. "I did not 'use' you."

"You did, you used my skills to find precious antiquities and then you would take them and sell them."

There was another pause before he said, "but I didn't lie."

She shook her head. "Do you ever think of anyone but yourself?"

"Come on Ellie-"

"Stop calling me that."

"Come on. We used to have fun together, we were a team."

She scoffed sharply. "A team? Really? We were never a team." Again she looked to the sarcophagus. "This is my life's work, and you wanted to steal it. How much do you think that's worth on the black market?"

(There's some more backstory for them, hope you like it! As always, thanks so much for reading! :))