Midnight Ch. 06

CHAPTER SIX

I hadn't seen it, but Allison had watched me leave. Then she'd thrown her own trowel down in disgust and, ignoring Luke, followed me to the minibus. She said, "You need to tell Dr Smethwick. You shouldn't just let Luke get away with this shit!"

"That'd feel like running to teacher. I'm supposed to be a fucking adult."

"Rubbish! Dr Smethwick's your boyf­- your boss. If you can't go to him, then who?"

"I can't. I just don't know what to do. Back home, it wouldn't be a problem, I just feel out of my depth."

Allison gave me a knowing look, "Less than you think."

"What do you mean?"

She sighed, "I mean, you fit in better than you suspect. You're better than you think you are... Anyway, are you going to tell Dr Smethwick?"

"I told you, I can't."

She stood up and snapped, "Fine! Then I will. This can't be allowed to continue."

All I could do was watch helplessly as she stalked toward the admin tent. I remained sitting in the minibus, unable to return to the dig and face Luke and even less able to face Nathan.

A short while later, Nathan appeared in front of me carrying two plastic mugs of coffee. He handed one to me, which I accepted silently. Then he sat down next to me and placed his arm across my shoulders, causing the usual tremor down my spine.

He said, "Midnight, why didn't you tell me what's been going on?"

"I was embarrassed."

"You have no reason to be embarrassed. And in fact every reason to be proud of yourself. Let's look at what you've done... You organised my life and made my workload so much easier... You make sure I'm where I'm supposed to be, on time and prepared... You're more than capable at covering the weekly briefings... Without you, my presentations would be complete crap," he gave me squeeze and grinned, "And now you've found a dinosaur. I should be your assistant!"

I couldn't help but laugh.

Nathan placed his hand on my cheek and gently turned my head to face him. His fingers felt so warm, I thought they would scorch my flesh... Until I realised that the heat was coming from me.

The touch of his fingers teased me, excited me and made my blood boil in my veins. I really didn't understand how he could affect me like this and not know he was doing it. He fixed me with his unblinking gaze.

Those eyes. Those fucking eyes!

He said gently, "Listen to me Midnight. There is no shame in asking for help when you need it. And I will always be ready to help you. Okay?"

Amazed at my own daring, I gave him a quick peck on the cheek and smiled, "Okay."

He looked quite startled and stammered, "I... Erm... Okay... I think you need to go back to your dinosaur and send Mr Iverson to see me at the tent please."

As I made my back to the dig, I glanced over my shoulder and saw Nathan touching his cheek thoughtfully as he walked slowly across to our tent.

I told Luke that his presence was requested at the admin tent and then settled myself back at my dinosaur and continued removing the soil. I could see that Luke had cleared away a lot of the soil going towards the tail, so I continued the motion, working to uncover it completely.

Allison was back in her square using a griddle. I looked across at her and said, "Thank you."

She grinned as she was shaking soil through the griddle and replied, "No problem. Maybe this will make the arrogant wanker change his attitude."

I giggled, "Not gonna hold my breath,"

About ten minutes later, Luke reappeared. He gave me a filthy look but didn't speak. He simply stalked past me, straight across the grid, and planted himself in the square labelled B1 next to Allison. I smiled sweetly at him and said, "Aren't you supposed to walk around the outside?"

His ears went red and I saw a twitch of anger travel along his jawline, but he didn't reply and concentrated on clearing his square. Allison continued sifting the soil, but I could see her shoulders shaking in silent laughter. That made me feel better. One point scored by the black wench with the big tits.

We continued to work in silence for a while. I was clearing what I think was the front right leg of my skeleton when I decided to ask Allison what she was doing. She placed the griddle carefully down and examined the contents. I saw her remove something with tweezers and place it in a resealable plastic bag. She said,"I'm not sure, but I think I'm finding eggshell fragments."

Luke's ears pricked up at this point and he exclaimed, "Can't be. That doesn't make sense."

Wearing a rather puzzled expression, Allison nodded, "I know."

"Why?" I asked.

Luke frowned and then looked at me, all animosity forgotten for the moment, "Well your dinosaur's a juvenile."

It wasn't lost on me that he'd referred to it as my dinosaur, but I decided it would be petty to draw attention to it, "So? Explain it as though I'm a complete novice."

Allison giggled, but Luke ignored her as he stared into space. His brow furrowed and then he spoke, almost as though he was talking to himself, "If this is a juvenile, then it won't be gravid, so there can't be any eggs... But... If there are eggs, then there shouldn't be any juveniles here... No parent Hylaeosaurus would allow any other creature near the nest... And if current thinking is correct... No eggs would be laid until the last of the previous batch of offspring had been completely driven away."

Allison nodded in agreement.

I scraped a bit more soil away from the leg I was working on as a thought occurred to me, "Maybe they're not connected. Maybe the eggs were laid and hatched and this fella died here later."

Allison nodded, then said, "Possibly... After all, I've only found fragments so far. We don't know if the shells were hatched, destroyed by predators or crushed by the layers of soil and stones that covered them."

Luke grinned, "Well if we find a complete egg then we'll know," he frowned, "And then we'll have more questions."

Allison looked around at both of us, "God! I fucking love my job!"

Luke looked somewhat pensive, "Manni?"

"Yes?"

He replied quietly, "I'm sorry."

I smiled at him, "Ancient history."

Allison griddled a bit more soil and then said, "You know what Luke? You're much more attractive when you're not being such a monumental fuckwit."

He blushed fiercely and concentrated on his square with dogged determination. Allison grinned at me and then winked before returning to her eggshell hunt.

We continued in silence until presently, Nathan appeared at the dig carrying a large tarpaulin and some small metal stakes, he said, "Okay, let's get this grid covered and then we can have a wash­up meeting back at the tent."

Allison placed all of her eggshell samples in her griddle and moved it out of the way, whilst me, Luke and Nathan covered the grid with the tarpaulin and staked it down. As we were working, Diana and her team made their way past us on their way back to their own tent.

"How's it going?" she asked.

Luke grinned, "More questions than answers."

Nathan laughed, "Par for the course."

Once the tarpaulin was secured, we made our way back to the tent and discussed the events of the day. Nathan was particularly interested in the egg fragments and placed the bags on the trestle table next to a microscope. Nathan said, "Right! Tomorrow I want Allison to examine the fragments she found," he looked at Luke, "I want you to take over A1 and keep after eggshells, okay?"

Luke nodded and then Nathan directed his gaze to me, "And we will continue digging out your friend. You good with that, Midnight?"

I was excited, and not just because of what tomorrow would bring, but also because of the way Nathan was looking at me. My nipples became as hard as steel... I bet you knew I was gonna say that.

"Fine," I said.

That evening found our group sharing three tables pushed together for dinner back at the pub as we ate, drank and talked about our day. The CD player behind the bar was piping background music through the air, and added a mellow background to the conversations around the room.

The chat around table was lively and I was having a good time. One of Diana's students asked me, "Have you thought of a name yet?"

I was puzzled, "A name for what? Oh, you mean my Highly Wotsit."

The table erupted in good natured laughter. I giggled, "I dunno... Dennis?"

Diana asked,"So it's a male then?"

I had no idea and Nathan jumped in, "We don't know yet, but we should know tomorrow, " he smiled at me, "So Dennis for a boy, what if it's a girl?"

I hadn't really thought about it and Dennis for a boy was more a joke than anything. As I sat in silence momentarily, the tune playing through the speakers filtered over our table. Smokie sang, "Oh, I don't know why she's leaving, Or where she's gonna go, I guess she's got her reasons, But I just don't want to know, 'Cos for twenty­four years I've been living next door to­"

"Alice!" I shouted.

Diana cried, "Looks like we had a Lucy moment!"

"A what?" I asked when the laughter around the table had died down.

Nathan then explained to me how the partial skeleton of a female Australopithecus had once been found in Ethiopia. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds by the Beatles was playing on the radio at the time, so they had named her Lucy.

I grinned, "Well then. Looks like I'm following a fine tradition."

As the round-robin chat continued, I glanced over at Luke and Allison who were deep in a private conversation. She had one arm across his shoulders and was using the other to shake a finger in his face, as though she was both chastising and comforting him at the same time. She reached up at one point and gently stroked Luke's jawline.

Well! That was a surprise.

I also looked across the table at Nathan, who had lapsed into silence and was clearly deep in thought. His elbows were resting on the table and he was tapping the heels of his hands together. I coughed to get his attention and said, "Penny for your thoughts?"

His gorgeous eyes focused on me and his stare was one of the most intense he had ever delivered.

Fuck!

My panties were scorching!

And once again I was silently begging to know just how he could do this to me. A single glance and I was soaking. No man had ever affected me like this.

How the fuck does he do it?

He said, "I'm not willing to put my thoughts into words yet, but I may do tomorrow."

At the end of the evening, we all retired to our rooms and Nathan escorted me to my door. He said, "Sleep well, Midnight. Big day tomorrow."

It seemed like there was more he wanted to say, but he didn't. He simply turned on his heel and walked next door to his own room.

As I lay in bed that night I had to play with myself, thinking about Nathan and what it would be like to accept him into me. I was so turned on, I couldn't believe it. He had quite literally spoiled me for every other man and he had never even kissed me.

I'll be honest. I masturbated more than once before I could finally get to sleep. To dream... About Nathan, touching me, caressing me, fucking me... Loving me.

The next morning, we all headed back to the dig site. Allison planted herself at the microscope and started her examination of the shell fragments. I sat down at a laptop and worked my way through the emails. Luckily there was nothing of any urgency that couldn't wait and none of them required Nathan's attention. Suited me, I was eager to get back to my Highly Wotsit.

Nathan and Luke headed over to the grid. And when I joined them later, I found Luke sat in A1 griddling more soil, whilst Nathan was clearing soil from the neck end of the skeleton. I could see another large bone coming into view.

"What's that?" I asked.

He glanced up at me and answered, "It's the skull... It may answer a question and ask a few more," he nodded too the other end, "grab a trowel and start clearing the pelvic girdle please."

Which is what I did. We worked in silence until Luke cried out excitedly, "Dr Smethwick!"

Nathan looked up, "What is it?"

"I think I've found an intact egg."

I stopped what I was doing and examined the soil in front of where he was kneeling. I could see a domed shape slowly coming into view as he brushed soil away from it. Nathan stopped what he was doing and moved around the grid to take a closer look. He examined it carefully and then said, "Well done, Luke. Dig it out and we'll have a look at it."

Then he moved back to the skull and continued his own digging. I could see that he was deep in thought and watched him as he worked. He glanced up at me and I raised an eyebrow asking a silent question. He merely shook his head slightly and continued with his excavation.

I didn't mind too much. I knew he'd tell me when he was ready.

Over the course of the day, including a stop for sandwiches at lunch time, Nathan cleared most of the soil from around the skull and was clearing the top of it with a brush. I could see that several of the teeth were now in view. I had uncovered the pelvis bones and asked Nathan to have a look, "Can you see what you need to see?"

Nathan stared at the pelvic girdle. He took a tape measure from his pocket and measured the gap within the bone. Then he asked Luke for the dimensions of the egg. He nodded at the response and then examined the skull carefully. I could see him paying close attention to the top of it. Then he lay down and examined the teeth very closely.

He stood up, still staring at the skull and began tapping the heels of his hands together.

Eventually he said, "Luke. Could you ask Dr Pranaju to come down here please, if it's convenient. I'd like her opinion."

Luke jumped up and made his way up to the top of the slope.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I don't want to say anything yet. I need Diana to have a look at this, and find out if she sees what I see."

"Like what?"

Nathan continued too stare at the skull as he lightly tapped the heels of his hands together, he replied, "Patience, Midnight."

A few minutes later, Luke returned with Diana in tow, "What do you need, Nathan?" she asked.

He replied, " Diana, take a look at this and tell me what you see."

"What am I looking for?"

Nathan shook his head, "I'm not going to say anything. I don't want to colour your opinion."

I glanced at Luke who shrugged, looking as puzzled as I felt.

We watched in silence as Diana began her investigation, she was speaking aloud as she worked, "Well it's definitely a Hylaeosaurus, but I'm still surprised to find one this far north. Probably juvenile going by the size," she looked at me, "The ones down south were about five metres long."

She accepted the tape measure from Nathan and asked me to hold the end of it at the nose.

Then she carefully measured the distance to the tail, "One metre and fifteen centimetres."

Her experienced eye travelled slowly over the skeleton from the tip of the tail to the snout and back again. Then she spotted the egg and she frowned. Carefully stepping around the grid, Diana squatted down and took the measurements of the egg, before returning to the pelvic girdle which she also measured.

She stood back and rubbed her chin before glancing at Nathan who remained strictly silent.

As she examined the skull, her eyes widened slightly. I could see that she was becoming more excited. Diana squatted down so that she could examine the skull closely, carefully running her finger over two lines in it. One ran from between the eye sockets to the back and the other was perpendicular, running across the skull. I could see they bisected directly in the top centre.

She murmured, "Fucking Hell," then patted her pockets and asked, "Has anyone got a magnifying glass?"

I raced back to our tent and grabbed one from a crate in the corner, returned and handed it to Diana. I didn't know why, but I was even more excited than when I had first found my Highly Wotsit. She accepted the glass and then sprawled down on the ground and spent long minutes examining the teeth individually.

Diana stood back up and brushed the soil from her clothing with her hands.

Nathan asked, "Well?"

I was almost ready to scream. The tension was palpable.

Diana regarded the skull for another long minute, she looked at Nathan, smiled and nodded. Then she said, "Let me get my boys and girls down here. They'll want to hear this."

She raced back up the slope, whilst Nathan shouted, "Allison. Get your arse over here!"

Allison's head popped out of the tent and then she came over, "Yes Dr Smethwick?"

"Wait a minute. Dr Pranaju's bringing her students down."

I was dancing from one foot to the other, "What is it Nathan? What's going on?"

He grabbed me by the arms, "Calm down, Midnight. let's get everybody here before I run through it."

His touch and his stare excited me even more and I could feel my stomach churning.

Once Diana had returned with her students, Nathan began his explanation, "Right. Everybody, can you all see..? Yes..? Good. As you can see, on first impression, this looks like the skeleton of a juvenile Hylaeosaurus. Now as you know, the only other specimens discovered were all at the other end of the country. And we know that they grew to a length of about five metres."

I looked around and could see from the facial expressions that this was very old news to everybody except me.

Diana took over, "However. If you look, this one is only about one metre long, but there is also an intact egg. Clearly the egg is too small, it's nowhere near the size of those found in the south east. I measured both the egg and the pelvic girdle of the skeleton... They matched. Leading to the proposal that this dinosaur possibly laid this egg. Obviously, we can't confirm it yet, but the measurements match up, and it is definitely female," she glanced at me, "Manni, meet Alice... Alice, Manni."

There was a ripple of laughter and one or two of the faces around me started to take on increasingly excited expressions.

Allison piped up, "I can confirm that the fragments I've examined are Hylaeosaurus type eggs."

Nathan nodded at her and then took up the narrative, "Now look at the skull. As you can see, the fontanelle is closed and the four quarters of the cranium have met and fused at the crown. Both myself and Dr Pranaju have examined the teeth and we have both arrived at the same independent tentative conclusion... Alice," he waved his hand at the skull, "Is a mature adult."

Several of the students, including Luke and Allison were staring at the skeleton. Suddenly there was a cacophony of voices all asking questions, but I was unable to make anything out. Nathan shouted, "Calm down! Quiet please!"

Once the babble died away, he looked at me and said, "Midnight, it's possible that you've just made the history books."

I was almost crying, "What? What is it? Tell me!"

Every eye was on me as Nathan said, "We may be jumping the gun, but Diana and I are 95% certain. You didn't just find a dinosaur, " he took my hands in his (I shivered) and he said, "We think... And this is still very much open to argument, but we think... you've discovered a new one."

"YOU ARE FUCKING KIDDING ME!"

The cheer was deafening and all around me I could hear the excited shouting of questions thrown from all directions at Nathan and Diana. I could dimly make out her voice through the cacophony, but Nathan simply stood mute gazing at me with those beautiful, blue eyes. Several students hugged me and patted me on the back. More than a few of the male students, including Luke offered a kiss to my cheek. But I only had eyes for Nathan... And he only had eyes for me. We had shared many long looks over our time together, both in the real world and over Skype. But none of them seemed to have lasted as long as this one and none had ever seemed quite so full of meaning.