Part Seven: Nothing At All

"It’s buried in the churchyard, in the churchyard!" Nigel exclaimed, and made a hasty escape out into the hall.

Sydney chased after him only to get the door slammed hard in her face. With open palms she angrily slapped her hands against the door three times and then tried the lock. Damn, he was quick! "Nigel, you get out here and face me!" Patience was not one of Sydney’s virtues.

"Yes, I know what I did, and I never meant it! I was NOT myself Sydney!" He pleaded his case desperately from the safety of his locked room. "If I open the door do you promise not to slug me?"

"Of course I won’t! When have I ever slugged you and actually meant it?"

"You won’t what, promise me, or slug me?" He wasn’t taking any chances. Sydney had been pretty disagreeable most of the day, and he crossed a line that should never have been crossed from the get go. Especially now...

"If you open the door I promise not to be mad, or slug you. There, I said it." She restlessly tapped her foot on the floor waiting for him to come out.

With a quiet clicking noise the door finally opened, and Nigel timidly poked his head out into the hall. She stood there waiting to be invited in with this odd look on her face that caught his attention immediately. "All right then, please, come in."

Sydney walked past him and sat down at the window. "Are you sure you never meant it?" She asked in a hushed voice, then turned to meet his disconcerted gaze. "Because I want you to be honest with me if you did. Mean it, that is... It would certainly change the dynamics of our relationship Nigel, drastically."

He wasn’t completely sure if that meant bad things or good things, but he wasn’t taking any chances. What they shared together was gone forever, lost in her crippled memory, and he had to let go...now. "No Sydney, I promise I would never do anything to jeopardise what we have as a team. It means too much to me to throw it away over my foolish indiscretions. That kiss meant nothing. I sincerely apologise for my intolerable behaviour."

"Thank you." Sydney felt a strange tugging at her heart. Was that disappointment? He said no... Maybe she’d been wrong... It wasn’t often Sydney got her signals crossed! She always thought of herself as rather astute when it came to matters of the heart. "I think I need to go and lay down for a while... You and I can go later tonight and dig up the spear. We’ll decide what to do with it after."

Nigel watched her leave, closing the door softly in her wake. He could have been selfish and told her everything. What was that they used to say, it’s better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all? What a load of bull-tweety that was, he thought, and miserably fell back onto his bed.


Sydney passed in and out of a restless sleep, fatigue clearly having taken its toll on the relic hunter. It had to be all the late hours and running around, she thought, not to mention the stress of many strange situations finally getting to her. Her heart ached, and she didn’t know why. She felt like she’d lost something, but didn’t know what. How can you lose something you never had, she wondered, and closing her eyes Sydney imagined she could feel him touching her, his practised hands running over her body in light, evenly pressured strokes. She had no idea he knew the art of Chinese massage, and craned her neck, lifting her hair over her head to invite him in even closer...

"Whoa!" Syd almost fell off the bed. Her heart was thumping double-time against her ribcage threatening to beat right out of her chest, and her breath had become quite laboured and short. Where did THAT come from?!? And how the hell did she know Nigel could give a great massage? She knew what it was like to have his hands in direct contact with her body. It was so vivid...so real...so pleasant. Her room had now fallen into darkness, the only light coming in from the window along the streets below and she was glad. No one could see her tears.

"Syd, we need to leave now if we’re going to go at all." Nigel softly called through the door.

"Yeah, just give me a few minutes." She answered him, and wiped the moisture from her eyes. "I’ll be out in a flash!" Nigel was dressed appropriately all in black, as was Sydney. They looked like a couple of cat burglars on the prowl, and had quite a few people doing double takes on their way out to the car. Sydney avoided catching his eye at all costs, afraid he would know what she was thinking and feeling. He told her no, the kiss meant nothing, nothing at all. She was going to make sure it stayed that way.

Go to Part Eight.


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