Exploring the Past
Part 1
by Ri
Disclaimer: This story is from my vast imagination, which has been a bit too active lately. My favorite ladies inspired the two lead characters. There is a same sex relationship and there may be some Violence later on so if your under 18 years old or don't like Uber please do not read further, However if you are an adventuress read on...
My name is Dina Thomas and I'm an archaeologist. No, I'm not Indiana Jones I just dress like him. I was an Art/History major who fell in love with ancient civilizations. My specialty is Greece and I'm setting up an exhibit in Los Angeles at County Art Museum.
I rarely if ever take notice of patrons of any museum. I'm too busy working on my exhibits. For some reason I looked up to take a break from lugging a bust of Ares to its position on a pedestal in the middle of the room. It was a heavy sucker. It was a rare find, The God of War with a beard, so I didn't want anyone else to touch it.
Across the lobby from the exhibit was a pretty blonde getting a map from a guard at a table set up for that purpose. I don't know why but I felt myself become lost in the smile that she flashed at the man as she accepted the map. She was heading for my exhibit and I was suddenly nervous. I just couldn't understand myself, I mean I just am not the type to get nervous about anything and here I was shaking like a leaf.
She began the usual circuit that visitors take around the room. I carefully put Ares in his place and quietly approached the young woman. She was reading the cards that explained each piece and I decided that I would offer my services as a guide.
"Hi, I work here would you like some help, Miss?" I sounded lame in my own ears but I couldn't think of any clever way to ask her. She turned around and smiled, Her eyes widened and there was a flicker of recognition. I realized that I knew her from some where too but for the life of me I couldn't think of where.
"Um...it...That is very nice of you....I...Uh...don't want to take you away from something important though."
"Its ok, this is my exhibit, I'm a consultant to the museum so I can do what I please. This is really a dumb sounding question but do I know you from somewhere?"
The girl nodded and said, "I think so...but...I don't know where..."Her voice trailed off and her eyes, which were a beautiful green, became clouded in thought.
Suddenly a memory flashed across my mind; Two little girls at summer camp. Yes, one was about 12 years old and the other was 9 years old. We became really good friends very quickly and saw each other every day. Despite the differences in our ages we fit in well with each other and we had a lot of fun. For three months we were completely inseperatable despite the fact we had two very different lives. We grew up in different parts of Los Angeles. We had different personalities, I was the tomboy, friendly, boisterous and a chatterbox. She was a shy sweet girl who once she trusted you could talk your ear off. She was bit afraid of everyone else so I was the only one who knew that.
We cried the last day of camp because we realized that though we would write we would probably never see each other again.
"Annie?" I asked quietly.
She nodded and her eyes teared up, "Dina, Oh my God, Your more beautiful then I thought you would grow up to be.
I blushed beat red. I don't think anyone else could have gotten that reaction from me. It was different with Annie, I had a deep affection for her and her opinion of me mattered.
"Thanks, I guess. You're as beautiful as I knew you would be. I'm proud that I was there to protect you when you needed me."
She smiled and nodded; "I am too. Thanks by the way for being there. Gosh, your eyes are still hypnotic, I used to miss stuff you said because I was caught by those beautiful blue eyes. I have never met anyone with eyes that color since you left....Um....I really missed you. Dina....Why didn't you write me after that Christmas?"
My eyes began to tear up as I remembered why I stopped writing my dear little friend. "Um...Lets go to my office," I said taking her hand and leading her to alcove where my office was hidden. It was in a corner of the display room. I let her enter before me and then I closed and locked the door. I didn't want anyone to see me break down. I had a reputation as a tough broad and I liked it. I led her to my guest chair and I went behind my desk and sat down reaching in a drawer for some Kleenex to wipe my eyes. After I sat down and got myself under control I looked up into concerned green eyes.
"I'm sorry, Dina. I wouldn't ever want to do anything to hurt you..."
"Shhh...No, It's nothing you did, it's just the memories of that time. I'm ok. You did absolutely nothing wrong. Um...Do you have time to hear about it? Do you have to leave soon? I know it's a work day maybe your at lunch, we could chat another time..."
She smiled at me, "I have all the time in the world. I'm a cliché' in this town an out of work sit-com writer."
I smiled back at her, She was attempting to lighten the mood while playing down her unemployment. "You haven't changed you know. You're still that sweet girl I remember."
"So are you, But you always hide it by being tough. You're almost exactly the same tomboy I remember, except you're an accomplished woman. Are you ok?"
I nodded and leaned back into my chair, "I just had this flood of memories of that time in my life. I was very sick...before I was as healthy as the proverbial horse, till that awful Thanksgiving. Then that weekend I couldn't breath and I was very tired all the time. It was discovered that I had a problem with my lungs. I had a series of operations and I was out of school for a year. It was very expensive and my folks were not as well insured as they should have been. We had to move to less expensive area in the Valley. I lost your address during the move. I remember being inconsolable about it. I cried for days. I was just so devastated...I...I thought that you'd think I didn't like you anymore when the truth was I yearned for you...I'm so sorry." Tears were pouring down my cheeks and suddenly I felt comforting arms embrace me. I heard soothing words being addressed to me and felt a gentle hand stroking my long black hair.
When I calmed down I pulled back and smiled into her pretty green eyes, She smiled back and said, "I never thought you didn't like me. I just thought that you got bored with this little girl. You were almost a teenager and I didn't blame you with not wanting to be in touch with this little kid..." Her mouth quivered slightly and I leaned forward to embrace her again.
"That couldn't be further from the truth. God, I really missed you, Annie. I always wondered what happened to you. I wondered how you were doing and what you were doing. I never forgot you. I couldn't you were my best friend."
She pulled back and nodded, "I never forgot you either, I wanted to be you. I admired you so, I just thought that you were so good at everything. I knew you'd be something special when you grew up."
We were a breath apart and as naturally as taking my next breath our lips met in the sweetest kiss I had ever experienced in my life. I deepened the kiss and could feel the passionate response from my young friend. This was the missing link of my life. I allowed myself to drown in the feeling that the kiss provoked glad that I had locked the door to my office.
We pulled back and looked into each other's eyes. The bond we felt as children was only the beginning. It took ten years to take the second step but now I knew that Annie was my soul mate and I was never going to let her go again. I kissed her again and picked her up to carry her to my couch, we had a lot of exploring to do...
************
The tent was blistering hot, I was very glad I had on a tank top and shorts. At my height and build the heat made wearing my usual t-shirt and jeans impossible. I couldn't remember a hotter summer in Athens.
"How about some lemonade, Boss, "Said my Anne with a wide grin.
She looked very pretty in a white trapeze style dress, "Thanks, Beautiful."
I went over to our makeshift desk/worktable/dinner table and picked up one of the glasses that Anne had placed it on. Anne had come with me on the dig as a travel writer. I couldn't and wouldn't have gone with out her. My sponcers had to find a way to make a magazine accept the writing of an exsit-com writer for a serious science magazine. Much to my amusement and their amazement she was at natural at this form of expression.
It was not a shock to me I knew if Anne put her mind to anything she could accomplish it. It took me a whole week to stop calling her Annie like when we were kids. She finally said that it drove her a little crazy to hear her childhood name. She hadn't gone by it since she was in high school. That it was essential that she come with me was made clear by the fact that neither of us could sleep when we were in our separate apartments. Once we were reunited we just didn't want to be apart at all.
After two weeks of being gypsies, each treading over to others place overnight bag in hand we made the only logical and sane solution we could, we moved in together. Our friends said we were moving too fast, that we were merely in the honeymoon phase of our relationship, but to us it was much more then that we were fated for one and other. We could never of explained that to anyone. Fate took us away from each other for ten years we each had lives and friends; but once we were reunited we simply couldn't be comfortable unless our other half was near.
Until the summer when I was due to go to Greece, we were absolutely inseperatable. I went with her to the studio for auditions and writing conferences. She went with me to the Universities for grant interviews. From February when we had our reunion till now June we did not spend more then two days apart and we didn't want to. In fact when we did it was so trying that we were on the phone with each other so much, that our cell bills were outrageous. We were now a unit and that was it.
As I greedily gulped down my lemonade I heard my love chuckle and looked up to see sparkling green eyes full of amusement." You look like a little kid with a glass of chocolate milk."
My smile must have been blinding because Anne blinked, "Do you have any?"
"Sweetheart, Not in this heat. When we get home I'll buy you a case." She replied affectionately as she walked over and put a strand of my tangled black hair behind my ear.
"OK, OK...I guess I'll wait. You did bring it up, you know. I can't help it if it's my favorite mind altering substance," I pouted.
She rolled her eyes and kissed my nose, "Here, This should tide you over till we get home,"She stuffed my hand with a load of tootsie rolls.
My eyes widened at the cache' of my favorite elixir, "Where did you get it?"
"Dominic got it from town when he went for supplies. I knew you were going through withdrawal and I didn't want you to suffer while you were cataloging your dig so I had a chat with him while I was out taking pictures for my latest article. You like?"
"Like? How does that word describe the sweetness of this gesture?" I asked as I embraced my love.
She looked up at me and caressed my cheek chuckling, "Sweetness being the operative word."
I playfully licked her nose and then kissed it. Then our lips met in a deeply passionate kiss. It probably would of led to something interesting if Dominic hadn't picked that moment to enter and clear his throat. We parted and Anne whispered, "Later"
"You betcha, " I replied with a smirk. We separated and looked at our foreman inquiringly.
"Ma'am we found something"
There was whoosh of air as we ran out of the tent.
************
What we had found at the site was the remains of burnt down wall. It was wonderfully solid. All stone and mortar, I was ecstatic. What it meant to me would be hard to understand for any laymen, But what this kind of find might lead to was something to celebrate. It meant that the remains of a whole village might be by that wall. It would be another link in the chain for us weird archaeologists. This particular link was carbon dated between 1012-1010 BCE, a pivotal period for Greece's history.
"Whose village do you think it was?" Anne asked as she scribbled furiously into her pad.
I smiled at my diligent scribe, "I have no idea. Yet. Can't get the wall to talk to me." She took a clean sheet of paper from the back of the pad and crumbled it up and threw at me. I caught it mid-air much to her amused disappointment and said, "Thanks, I need some scratch paper."
I was logging the information from the day's find while Anne was working on her latest article. She was getting good at it, Though I felt she embellished a bit too much. I teased her about that, "You can take the girl away from the sit-com but you can't take the sit-com out of the girl."
I received a pillow in my face for that one. I loved our teasing relationship and the humor we shared. Who am I kidding I just loved every single aspect of our relationship. Since Anne came back into my life I was never lonely.
*************
"You ready for dinner, Dina?" "Yep, Come on."
I had promised her a trip to town to celebrate our find. I was dressed in the least casual thing I owned to please my Anne. I had on a pair of white jeans, a black silk top, a white vest with white sandals. My hair was down and I had on the necklace that Anne had given me on our one-month anniversary.
My Anne looked ravishing in a turquoise sheaf with matching sandals. She was wearing the matching necklace I had given her the same day. Her hair was down held up on each side up with a comb of silver. She sparkled.
"You look so beautiful," I told her as we started to walk to the car.
She blushed beet red, "You look damn sexy." She replied as I opened the door for her.
"Thanks hot stuff."
************
We went to an intimate little restaurant by the Syntagma. It was slightly off the normal tourist area. But we were also close enough to it that we could take a romantic stroll after dinner. After we finished our delicious dinner I happened to look across the street and noticed a man watching us. This wouldn't normally bother me but I had noticed him by the parking lot where we parked our car. We parked it a bit away so we could take a walk through the Market Place. This man was alone and there were plenty of other places to park. I had a bad feeling about this guy.
"Sweetheart, Are you all done?"
Anne looked at me and nodded she could tell by my tone that I was worried about something, "What's wrong?"She asked me in a whisper.
"Just follow my lead," I got up and asked the waiter where the bathroom was. We went inside the restaurant where I quickly paid our bill. I knew exactly where the bathroom was; I'd been to this place many times. It just happened that it was right beside a back door.
We hurried out the back and through the garden to a path to the Market Place. Once safely in the car and on our way I told Anne all about the man watching us. She made the suggestion that he was a common thief who preys on tourists.
I thought about it, "I don't know about that, Anne. That was a place that residents went to not tourists. I wonder why that guy was checking us out. What on earth could he be after?"
"Well Honey, I think we'll have to wait for him to make the first move."
My love and I had no idea how correct she would be...