Reunion

It didn't take long for search and rescue to come find me. I was just unclipping from my parachute when I heard the helicopter blades overhead. They had repelled down to come get me, I was not happy with how I would have to get on another aircraft again. Slowly and surely I made it back to civilization. Everything was a blur, but at the same time it was like I was moving in slow motion. I made my way to the hotel, realizing that I had lost everything. All of my notes, camera, computer, sarcophagus. The Marine Corp had paid to put me up in this hotel, it was very nice. Lavish, something Nick would have enjoyed. No. I couldn't think about that now, I needed to throw myself into work. I moved away from the door to my hotel room and quickly walked down the hallway. I wanted to get to the British Museum of Antiquities. I walked outside noticing the cloudy skies and rain threatening to pour down on me. I talked to a guy outside where I got a taxi to take me to the museum. The ride wasn't long. I paid for the taxi with my military issued credit card they gave me for emergencies. I got out and stared at the structure as the cabbie thanked me and drove off. The architecture itself was breathtaking, the columns that lined the outside reminded me of the Lincoln Memorial.

"I figured I'd find you here." I heard the familiar female voice behind me.

"Jenny!" I spun around and saw the girl who looked broken beyond all belief. I hugged her quickly then let go and composed myself.

"Seems you had the same idea I had." She told me.

"Yes, I wanted to see if I could find anything on Menehptre." I said to her, she nodded slowly and linked our arms pulling me into the museum. The museum had been rebuilt from the horrors of the last mummy encounter. The inside was modern and security was tight much like any airport security checkpoint. We went through relatively quickly, seeing as it was a weekday, no one was really here. I picked up a map at the otherside while Jennifer was being checked. The Egyptian wing was in room four on the left side about three lengths of space to cover. The research room on the first level would be where we would be going next.

"Alright. Where to?" Jennifer asked.

"Ancient Egypt." I replied as I started leading us towards the Ancient Egypt room. Stopping, I looked at the map again seeing there was more to discover on the upper levels although it was early Egypt, there were mummies we could examine.

"Elizabeth?" I heard bringing me to a halt.

"Grandpa?" I spun around seeing the man in a wheelchair being pushed by his wife, Victoria. Her hair had lost it's blonde color and turned white though she still had the spring in her step. My grandfather, worse off, unable to walk by himself, his wife doted on him the best she could.

"Sweetheart, if I knew you were coming I would have met you when you first came in." My Grandma told me.

"I'm sorry it was kind of a spur of the moment decision I had no idea you guys would be here!" I exclaimed running up to hug both of them lightly. I could've known Alex had become the curator very soon after his mother had passed.

"My my she looks just like you did at that age." Grandpa uttered out.

"Any new adventures?" They asked me. My grandparents would be of the utmost help for this specific piece of information.

"Yes, actually. Oh my gosh I'm so rude. Grandma, Grandpa, this is my colleague Dr. Jennifer Halsey. We were actually coming to see if we could find information on this dig we just came from." I told them as Jennifer walked up beside me to shake both of their hands.

"It's very nice to meet you Dr. Halsey." Alex started.

"What's this dig?" Victoria asked.

"Well actually we've come from Iraq. Get this, we found an Egyptian sarcophagus the name on the inscription said Ahmanet, daughter of Menehptre." I told them, the spark in their eyes as they processed the information had me smiling.

"An Egyptian tomb in Iraq?" Alex asked us.

"It's New Kingdom as well." I told them.

"Well nothing in 4 will help you there, that's mostly statues. You may have better luck upstairs with the 18th, 19th and 20th dynasties." Victoria said to us continually thinking.

"Ahmanet? I don't think I've ever heard of her though and we run the museum. You might have to pull from the research room. Here we'll walk you up." Alex told us, patting his wife's hand to let her know he was ready to move. Grandma Tori pushed Alex to the elevators as I pushed the up button and Grandma Tori sighed.

"Ah I miss the adventure, any news on that boyfriend of yours? What was his name? Alex, do you remember?" Grandma pushed for information. As the elevator dinged we walked on. I stayed silent not really wanting to talk about it.

"Nick. I think it was?" Alex started pushing his glasses up his nose as Victoria pushed the 1st floor button.

"Ah yes, that was it. I was for sure you two would end up together at one point. But I haven't heard any news of a wedding from your father." Victoria thought out loud. I cleared my throat unhappy to have to talk about Nick.

"Actually, it's probably not the best topic right now. I have to go identify the bodies later..." I said to them cutting myself off before I said too much.

"Oh dear, you were in that plane crash? It's all over the news. Gosh, I hope they're all okay." Grandma said to me. I pushed my hair out of my face before continuing.

"Yes. So do I..." I trailed off knowing no one survived that plane crash except for Jenn and I. The elevator dinged again letting us know we had arrived on our floor. They went out and to the right and we followed. They opened the doors to the research room and I noticed a woman I had recognized in pictures along with the man leaning over a book. They looked to me and gasped.

"Oh my god. Elizabeth! What're you doing here?!" Josephine ran up to me engulfing me in a hug. Rick right by her side.

"Josephine! Let the girl breathe." Rick told her as his wife stepped aside. He immediately engulfed me in another hug. "Great to see ya kid. What in the hell are you doing here?" He stepped away from me.

"Well I was on a dig down in Iraq. I found this sarcophagus. The inscription read Ahmanet, daughter of Menehptre. I was curious if all of you might have heard of it." I asked them.

"That would have been Evelyn's area of expertise. God rest her soul." Josephine told me. I shifted on my feet, uncomfortable.

"Grandma, why didn't you tell me that mom was here." I asked them covering for their agelessness. Not wanting Jennifer to catch on to my great grandparents.

"Well we wanted it to be a surprise. This is Dr. Halsey one of Elizabeth's associates." Victoria told her parents.

"Ah yes. I've heard many things about you." Josephine told her daughter crossing her arms as Rick put his arm around his wife.

"All good things, I hope." Jennifer said to her.

"Of course, now Elizabeth what was it you were looking for perhaps even with Evelyn being gone I could help you." She told me.

"Well, we wanted to see if there was anything in the scrolls that had any mention of Menehptre having a daughter." I told her. Josephine sighed and turned around looking at the archives.

"I may have one for you it, mentioned a sole heir to the throne but after that nothing about the heir was ever written." She said as she walked down the many rows of books her golden hair bouncing in the ponytail she had it in. She pulled down a copy of 'Menehptre Life and Death'. She walked us down another row and pulled 'Set God of Chaos' down. She walked us back to the table they were working off of before we had interrupted them. Setting the books down she pushed them to me.

"There's very little mention of a daughter, but the only ones I've found were these." She told me. I opened the books, seeing that Set made a deal with an Egyptian royal, promising she would be the only heir to the throne and the world would be hers if she sacrificed a mortal for Set to embody. I showed Jennifer the page and she nodded slowly, she looked like she knew the information already but wanted me to catch on myself. I took the other book and the only words I found were these: 'They were murdered in their sleep by a revengeful soul, a girl, not their own.' I sighed, this was all I needed to know she was almost completely erased from history. The only way I would know exactly what happened was to go to Jennifers company and extract the information I needed.

"Supposedly, before the ritual could be complete she was mummified alive and buried far from Egypt." Josephine told us her eyes glinted with longing. My phone started to ring, the shrill ringtone echoing off the walls of the archive room.

"Excuse me." I said to them and walked away as Jennifer examined the words on the page. "Hello?" I asked.

"Dr. O'Connell, we're ready for you to identify the bodies." I nodded and sighed rubbing my forehead.

"We'll be there in about an hour." I told the people on the other end of the line.

"Thank you guys, but I'm afraid we're needed elsewhere to identify the bodies of the plane crash." I told my family. Josephine and Victoria nodded slowly as Alex and Rick looked at us sadly.

"It was great to see you Elizabeth. Please call more often." Josephine told me. I smiled at her as Rick nodded in agreement.

"Let us know if you need anything else." Victoria told me winking at Jennifer and I, as I walked out of the room and to the streets of London getting a cab to take us to the morgue.

"Dr. O'Connell. Miss O'Connell, do you think you're up to it?" I heard the woman's heels click on the floor as she walked up to me. I was sitting on a bench with Jennifer outside.

"I'm sorry. What?" I asked her my mind flowing between Ancient Egypt, my family and Nick.

"We need your help identifying the bodies. Come on this way, please." She told me and we walked down the hallway through some glass doors.

"Oh my God! Nick." I breathed out seeing him alive was one hell of a miracle.

"Elizabeth." He uttered out about to come up and hug me but soon realized he was naked. He quickly covered up and moved away from us. "What's happening? Where am I? Who's in charge here?" He yelled at us. The man next to me raised his hand as the other doctor looked away, clearly embarrassed they had thrown a live man into a body bag and toe tagged him.