Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Not mine, never will be. Sad times!
I Didn't Look Back
"Just, uh, keep it tight in the shoulder," I stammered. "Lead the target a little bit and, uh, squeeze the trigger, d-don't don't pull it."
Then she looked at me with those huge hazel eyes and what little composure I had left started to disappear. She put her hand on my arm, something that never ceased to send chills up my spine. Even after all these years.
"I won't miss," she said reassuringly. I knew she wouldn't.
And I looked at her, deep into her eyes. Thousands of thoughts ran through my mind, thousands of memories.
What if I don't get there in time? What if they hurt our son? Would she hate me if I didn't get him back to her? What if someone comes up here and finds her and hurts her? What if this is the last time I ever see her? What if I don't make it?
God, I love her so much. She's my whole world, next to Alex. If anything ever happened to her, I'd never forgive myself. I probably wouldn't be able to go on living. I have to do this for her. If it's the last thing I get to do, I'll get her our son.
I leaned in to kiss her. I love kissing her. It was always so sweet, tender, perfect. She returned it, the familiarness of her lips sending another wave of chills up my spine.
Our lips met lightly at first, just for a moment. Then, I leaned in closer, and gave her a deeper one. Her hand came up to my neck, her fingers running through my hair.
Then, in the midst of our kiss, a thought crossed my mind.
What if this is the last kiss we ever get to share?
I instantly pulled her even closer to me, and gave her the deepest, most passionate kiss I think we've ever shared. Her muscles tightened at first, in surprise. But she quickly relaxed, and gave in.
I didn't want to stop; I never wanted to leave. But I knew if I didn't soon I never would. And then Alex might never come back to us.
So I did the only thing I knew to do.
If this was to be the last time I held her, if this was to be our last kiss, I wanted to remember it as perfect.
So I broke our kiss suddenly, pulling myself away from my beautiful wife's embrace quickly. Then I walked away without looking back. I was afraid that if I looked back, I wouldn't be able to stop myself from running back to her warm body, back into her arms.
But I needed to get Alex. And I needed to know that in case I didn't make it, our last embrace, our last kiss, was perfect.
So I didn't look back.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
No. No. NO! This could NOT be happening. I had made it out alive. I had gotten Alex back. We had made it into the pyramid before the sun hit it. We were safe.
How could she be leaving me? After all we've been through! It just isn't possible.
I was so far away when it happened. I had been looking down at Alex when I heard her sweet voice make a pained moan. I looked up quickly, only to see Imhotep's girl roughly pull a dagger out of my beloved's stomach.
I couldn't move at first. A scream emerged from within me, I was filled with a rage I had never felt before.
I ran to her, not caring about anything else. I ran to her side and gently lowered her to the sand. Her eyes were already beginning to lose their sparkle; I knew she wasn't going to make it.
Tears filled my eyes as she got paler by the second.
"Evie, Evie, you're gonna make it. You're strong..." I said, mainly just trying to convince myself. But I moved her hands away from her stomach to see the wound. My heart twisted into knots at what I saw.
"Oh, my G- no Don't worry, you're gonna be just fine."
I was at a loss. No more hugs. No more quick goodnight kisses. No more kisses at all. No more "calling just to say hello"'s. She was leaving me.
And the fact that our last embrace had been perfect didn't mean a thing. I didn't care anymore, I just wanted her to be all right. But she wasn't going to be. She was going to leave me. I didn't know what to say.
"Evie...I...what do I do Evie?" I asked, my voice breaking.
"Take...care..of Alex..." she said weakly.
Nonononono.
"No...sweetheart, no...." I said, unable to hold the tears any longer.
"I love you..." And then she closed her eyes for the last time.
"Evie? E--Evie? No! Come back, Evie...come back..." I held her for a long time, soaking in everything about her, trying to re-memorize her entire body, just as I had done our first night as a married couple.
I'm not sure how long I laid on top of her lifeless body, but soon I was filled with a rage that could not be subsided. I gently got up.
Our last embrace had been perfect. No doubt about it. But the fact that it had turned out to be our last kiss angered me to the core. The only way to justify this was to kill that damn mummy that had done this to my family.
I took one last look at my wife, ready to destroy him. I wanted to imprint her body in my mind.
But I wanted to remember her alive, not in the lifeless shape she was in.
So as I walked into the pyramid, I didn't look back.
I'm in shock. We've all made it out alive yet again. And when I say all, I do mean ALL. Jonathan, Alex, me, and EVIE as well.
I don't know how he did it, but our genious son brought Evie back to us.
For a moment we were stranded on that pyramid while it sucked everything up like a giant vacuum. But my reliable (the "ish" was immediately removed) friend Izzy saved us in the nick of time.
Jonathan was sitting on the floor of the dirigible, his eyes wide looking at the huge diamond he risked his life for. I just shook my head and chuckled. As much as he'd been through, he still wanted his treasure.
While we were flying off, we caught sight of Ardeth. He was in the sand on his horse, looking as exhausted and amazed to be alive as we were.
He gave us the sacred greeting of the Medjai, a kiss of the hand and a small wave.
Evie and I waved down to him.
I hoped I would see him again sometime, and I hoped there would no danger involved if I did.
For the moment, all I could do was look at Evie. I pulled her close to me, so close that the gods couldn't separate us.
I looked into her eyes once more. They had their sparkle back, but there was something else in them that was new. It looked like wisdom. Experience. She knew how it felt to die. She knew what it felt like to get a second chance.
And I loved her all the more for it.
After I could not take the silence any longer, I spoke.
"I thought I almost lost you back there, " I said, pulling her yet even closer (if at all possible).
She looked deep into my eyes.
"For a moment there," she said, nodding, "you did."
I didn't want to think about that.
"Would you like to know what Heaven looks like?" She asked me softly.
I shook my head, leaning in.
"Later..."
And I kissed her. A kiss that blew the one we shared the night before out of the water. She was back. She was alive. As the kiss deepened, I thought about how lucky I was. I had a great wife that I would die for. We kissed for a long time, neither one of us wanting to stop.
And as we flew off into the sunset, away from where Ahm Shere once was, I didn't look back.
I didn't need to.