The Sadir Inheritance {Sam Drake x Fem!Reader} Chapter 3
Summary: The lure of adventure and a handsome sum of money may not be the only attractive thing about this expedition…
A series of events that ensues when a headstrong twenty-something tags along with one Samuel Drake to uncover his latest discovery.
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Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5
Word Count: 3k
Warnings: None, aside from mature language :)
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“Move, for God’s sake.” You hiss, worming your way through the herd of incompetent tourists and miserable office workers swarming every nook and cranny of Tottenham Court Road station.
Tube station foot-traffic irritates you at the best of times, but being stuck amongst what seemed to be the slowest flock of people in the capital when you’re already extremely late was pissing you off more than you’d care to admit.
Very, very typical that the one time you decide to put a little extra effort into de-frizzing your hair and spritzing on some perfume is entirely wasted on and absorbed by a sweaty tube carriage full of people who seem to have an allergy to deodorant.
Sigh.
With your useless colleague running late, you had been forced to call Sam on your break, anxiously telling him not to bother meeting you at the pub as your shift was bound to run over.
Sam simply chuckled down the phone at your incessant apologies.
“Don’t worry about it, Sweets.” He said once he could finally get a word in, the familiar nickname instantly sedating the ceaseless butterflies in your gut as a smile fought its way onto your face. “I’ll meet’cha there. Scott’s not staying too far from me so we’ll head up there together.”
And as quickly as your smile had appeared, the butterflies were jostled awake again as your mouth morphed into a grimace.
You’d been in an odd mood since. Initially, you’d put it down to having another person work alongside the two of you, but it’s not like you wanted Sam to yourself.
Was it? No, that would be silly. You scoffed at the thought.
Power walking out of the station like a middle-aged woman who’d been given the wrong coffee order, you’re, unsurprisingly, still in a mood.
With one hand keeping your bag’s strap firmly on your shoulder, you use the other to push back flyaway hairs which had gone wild from your fast pace, worsened by the humidity of the train.
Shoving your bag into a more secure position after making sure to swat an irksome teenager with the spatial awareness of a HGV, you wrestle out the elastic which kept your hair in a ponytail, in order to retie it, but as you make the first loop around your hair, a sudden ping against your hand makes you grumble.
You keep walking, trying your best to neaten out the bird’s nest of hair on your head as your brows remain crinkled by your frown.
If another minor inconvenience happens between here and the museum, you’re convinced that you may scream.
With a face like thunder you finally approach the main entrance of the British Museum.
Knowing Sam would be expecting a call when you arrived, so as you walk through the gates, you fumble around in your bag for your phone, pulling it out and unlocking it swiftly, trotting up the steps to the main doors.
As you begin to tap your contacts, a voice from beside you attracts your attention, and you’re forced to wipe the frown off of your face before you turn.
“Hey, sweetheart!” Slightly startled, you turned to see Sam jog towards you, removing a cigarette from between his lips, to hold it between his fingers.
“Hel- oh- Shit .” Sam slows to a stop and both of you stare at the floor; specifically, at your phone which had ever-so-kindly flown out of your hand as you raised it to wave at him.
He sniffs, taking a puff of his cigarette as he continues to stare at your phone for a moment. He turns back to you, blowing out a sideways string of smoke with a laugh, bending a little to meet your eye line.
“Is… is your eye twitching?” He teases, eyes squinting a little with a smirk.
You scowl.
Sam feigns fear, stepping back and putting his hands up defensively with a grin.
“Shit, kid. Bad day?”
“How could you tell?” You tilt your head sideways, closing your eyes and rubbing your face tiredly before crouching to pick up your phone, praying to yourself that your screen isn’t smashed to oblivion.
You let out an exasperated sigh of relief as you place your thankfully undamaged phone back into your pocket.
“Doing okay now?” He laughs, brow hitched up in soft concern.
“Better.” You sigh, cheeks flushed in slight embarrassment of your flustered nature.
He takes a step back towards you with a smile, his frame blocking the spring sunlight from blinding you.
“C'mere.” He opens his arms and pulls you into a hug, keeping his cigarette between his fingers; his warmth and the waft of cologne-tinged nicotine unconventional and unexpected comfort, and you feel your frustrations begin to dissolve almost instantly.
“Thank God you’re a hugger.” He says, still taking care to keep his cigarette well away from you.
“I’m not.” You mutter, grin tugging at the corners of your lips. “You’ve actually just made my day significantly worse.” You joke against his chest as it shakes lightly with a chuckle.
Sam holds you away from him by your shoulders, giving them a light squeeze before he pops the cigarette back into his mouth.
Once he pulls away, you watch Sam’s eyes dart down quickly, then back up, a confused frown forming on your face as he kneels in front of you, cigarette re-clasped between his lips.
You look down and watch as Sam begins to tie your loose shoelace which he spied flopping around on the floor. You, of course, hadn’t noticed.
“This would’ve been the next thing, Calamity Jane.” He mutters.
“Thank you, Samuel.” You salute, and Sam raises an eyebrow up at you, smiling around the cigarette. He puffs out another mouthful of smoke and stands, removing the ciggy, crushing it under his boot, before scuffing the debris away from him.
“It’s a £150 fine for that, you know.” Both of you turn to see an elderly man walking up the steps beside you, frowning at Sam. “You’re not setting your daughter a very good example.”
You instantly snort, tugging your lower lip between your teeth as you stare wide-eyed at the floor. You cough to cover your laughter.
“She’s…uh- she’s not my-”
“It’s disgusting, isn’t it.” You cut in after clearing your throat, smacking Sam’s shoulder as he turns back to you with a bemused expression. You stepped beside Sam, reaching up to place a hand back on his shoulder as the two of you face the old man.
“I keep telling him,” Your eye contact exchanged from the crotchety old man, back to Sam, raising an eyebrow, “I tell him ‘Dad,’” you bite your cheek, “you’ve really got to stop with all that smoking. It’s making you age faster.” You watch Sam clench his jaw slightly in the corner of your vision. You turn to the old man once more. “He’s actually eighteen.”
The man huffs out a disgruntled grunt as he looks between the two, shaking his head as he continues into the museum entrance, muttering something-something-impertinence. You let out a cackle as Sam gives you a gentle shove, making you stumble.
"Smartass," Sam exclaims as you stop yourself from falling over, shaking his head as the corner of his mouth twists into a smile, which he badly attempts to hide.
"Hey, he said it." you laugh as Sam rolls his eyes, his smile growing by the second.
You turn to the museum's entrance, your eyes grazing over a large board advertising the exhibition. Sam follows your eye line. "We'll go in a couple of minutes. Just waiting for Scott to bring the exhibition tickets."
You nod in understanding, watching as he reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls out a slightly squidgy-looking KitKat, glancing towards you as he begins to unwrap it. A nervous feeling begins to bubble inside you as you are reminded of the other person who will soon be tagging along.
"You eaten?"
"Haven't had time," you shrug, trying to push the horrible feeling away. Sam stops unwrapping the wafer and snaps off half, removing it before handing you the rest of the packet. "No, it's okay, it's yours." Sam shakes his head as he bites into his half, shaking the other at you until you take it with a smile.
"I don't want you passing out on me," he says with his mouth full. Truth be told, you are grateful for the offer.
Sam wolfs his half down in seconds, and you watch as he begins to suck the melted chocolate off of his fingers. You begin to nibble the chocolate from around the edges of your half.
"Psychopath," Sam looks at you with the tip of his thumb still between his lips.
"Hmm?" you frown, snapped out of your trance, your eyes snapping back to your biscuit.
"Eat it normally," he scoffs.
"I am eating it normally."
Just as Sam is about to retort, someone approaches his side and places a sun-kissed hand on his shoulder.
"Sorry about the wait, mate. The queue was ridiculous." You look up at the source of a subtle Australian accent to see a man, slightly shorter than Sam but still around the 6-foot mark, probably in his mid-thirties.
As you munch on the rest of the KitKat, you can't help but think that the way he runs his hand through his sandy hair makes him appear unapologetically handsome.
"These Brits and their queues.” Sam replies with a laugh, taking a ticket from the man's hand. He glances at you. "Scott, this is-"
"I know exactly who this is." The man cuts Sam off with a grin. He sticks out his empty hand, which you shake politely. "Scott. Nice to meet you, darl'."
"Hi!" you reply, internally kicking yourself at the sickeningly sweet tone you speak with. You clear your throat. "Sorry I’m late.”
"Eh, not your fault," he replies, his green eyes flickering up and down your face. “Hope you don’t mind me tagging along. I’ll pull my weight, promise.”
You feel heat rise in your cheeks as he looks at you with a smirk. Scott hands you your ticket, swiping his hand across his chin as the two of you look at each other, a gesture that confuses you even more as he turns back to Sam. The pair share a grin, and you look past Scott to see Sam strategically covering his mouth with his hand to hide a laugh.
You feel your face grow hotter as an anxious sense of discomfort bubbles up in your stomach. Why are they both smiling like that?
"What are you-"
"Shall we, uh, get going?" Scott cuts you off, still smirking before turning to go back up the museum steps.
You frown.
"What?!" you grit your teeth at Sam.
He shrugs, invading your personal space. "Being smitten over a guy you've just met is embarrassing enough, doll, but," he reaches for your chin and runs his thumb across it - you pout with furrowed brows, confused, until he hovers his thumb, now chocolate-covered, in front of your eyes, "with this around your mouth?"
Without finishing his sentence, Sam snickers, then turns to jog up the steps, sucking the chocolate off his thumb as he goes.
Completely bemused, you stand with your cheeks aflame, absentmindedly tracing your thumb over where Sam's had just been. Fuck.
***
"Okay, so we've established that over the course of 400 years, the Sadir family accumulated thirteen generations' worth of these treasures. So that means-" Sam begins nonchalantly, scanning over a brochure he picked up at the beginning of the exhibition as he walks into the final room of the exhibit.
" Alleged treasures," Scott interjects, flicking through the pages of his small ring-bound notebook. The trio had been wandering around for almost two hours, noting down any information they come across, no matter how relevant they deem it to be.
Honestly, Sam’s over it. He wants to get back to his hotel and review all the information they've gathered so far - away from the scrutiny of every snooty security guard in the museum that took it upon themselves to keep an eye on him after passing judgement on his neck tattoo.
He also wants to take a nap; after she had taken him back to the hotel the previous night, Sam found it difficult to sleep.
While he found it hard to drift off at the best of times, last night was particularly difficult. Jet lag, followed by the adrenaline one feels when meeting someone for the first time, as well as the anxiety that forever looms over him at the start of any search- the ‘you’re not good enough’s. The ‘this is a waste of time’s.
He found himself seeking solace in his phone- an activity he rarely imbibes in. As he scrolled through images on his phone relating to his latest load of research in search of reassurance, the video he'd refused to delete when she'd begged him to do so began to play.
And as he watched her making a complete fool out of herself all over again, singing and dancing as though she was the only person in the world at that moment, a... not entirely unfamiliar feeling reappeared deep in his gut, which he struggled to shift for most of the night. It wasn’t all too unpleasant. Just a strange… excitement that he couldn’t quite drown out with noise of the b&b’s cheap fan.
Sam was smiling then, but now he regretted not trying harder to switch off.
"What?" He turns to face Scott, scratching at his forehead as he tries to regain his train of thought. Scott sighs, running his thumb and forefinger across his eyebrows.
"There's been no mention of any specific 'treasure' so far. We can't get ahead of ourselves."
"Don't worry about that," Sam continues as Scott finishes jotting something down into a small ring-bound notebook. "Our priority should be finding where to start looking. Where these Sadir guys would have hidden whatever the…treasure might be. Was it moved from place to place or was it stationary for decades? We worry about what's actually there when we get closer."
Scott clicks the lid back onto the pen, resting it behind his ear before folding the notebook under his arm. "Yeah, that's, uh, all well and good, Samuel, but when we get closer and realise we've been chasing after nothing but rumours, then what? We need clarification that this isn’t going to turn into a huge waste of time.”
"He's got a point, Sam." He turns as the sound of his name, watching her follow them into the latest white room full of glass cases and large displays containing books and papers, all heavily aged by time.
His eyes follow her fingers as they trace across an information plaque.
"It's a nice prospect, but…I don't think any of us have found anything worthwhile yet… other than the fact that Emaan’s father worked on the first excavation site at Petra. And if this is our only lead…” She trails off, disappointment evident in her voice.
"She's right," Scott continues, leaning on a nearby pillar. Sam watches the pair smile at each other in mutual understanding before she wanders over to a large case containing a slightly torn, dirt-covered suit and a small collection of other miscellaneous items. He runs his tongue across his teeth, irked somewhat as Scott continues.
"Look, mate. We've not lost anything yet. Frazer's last payout got my trip to England sorted, and it was easy enough for you to get here, so maybe we should just call it quits and cut our losses-"
"Quits?" Sam scoffs. "We've been here for what? Two hours? And you want to call it off already?" He huffs, folding his arms. "Jesus."
"We don't want to." He turns to her with a frown as she speaks, still focused on the contents of the display case.
"It just…seems… like we need to regroup or…” Sam and Scott turn towards her as she trails off, leaning closer towards the glass in front of her. "Scott?" She turns to face the younger man, gesturing for him to go to her.
Sam frowns as Scott places a hand on her shoulder, leaning in beside her to examine something. Feeling a pang of something not too dissimilar to jealousy, he decides to approach them both.
"What is it?" Sam asks, standing on her other side, placing his hands inside his sherpa's pockets. He still feels agitated, also disappointed that his companions’ levels of enthusiasm have already dwindled in such a short space of time.
"Hang on." Scott responds, opening his notebook, flicking through its pages. He begins to furiously scribble some notes onto the lined paper, translating the Arabic characters written on a few sheets of torn-up, extremely weathered paper; all incomplete. A combination of English and Arabic lettering.
"This is Emaan’s stuff.” Sam turns his head to the young woman next to him as she reads out some of the information provided by the museum. "The clothes he wore, all of his belongings which he had on him at the time of the crash.”
As he watches her eyes narrow in concentration, he feels his frown soften slightly. Her irises twitch with an innocent curiosity that sparks the same feeling he had last night, and as her tongue subtly swipes over her bottom lip in thought, he can’t help but think about how soft her skin felt as he swiped chocolate off of her chin.
He probably shouldn’t have licked it off of his thumb like that though.
She turns to him, wrapping a hand around his upper arm with a small smile as she takes in the slightly zoned-out glaze over his eyes.
"It, um, it looks like he had some sort of letter that never got delivered to whoever he intended to send it to." Still holding his arm, she turns back to the paper behind the glass, which Scott is still reading through.
"Scott's translating it. Well, what's left of it." Despite his irritation, Sam feels himself smile at her inquisitive expression.
His eyes flicker to her hand, which lightly squeezes his denim-clad arm. “Hey. Are you okay?" She asks quietly, still looking through the glass in front of her, almost as if she were embarrassed to ask.
Sam sighs again. "Yeah." She turns her head back towards him, looking at him as if she’s scoping something out. “Just exhausted.”
"Jet lag?" She smiles sympathetically. Sam turns to the floor as she lets go of his arm, removing his hand from his pocket to rub the back of his neck.
"Mhm." He lies, feeling her eyes on him still.
"Crikey." They both turn to Scott, who has a promising grin on his face. He taps the glass case with his pen before he begins to read a portion of his translation.
"I have placed the remaining assets and have logged them at…I think this says…Al-Khazneh. You must travel there as soon as you can to uncover where I have hidden…Then it gets cut off.” Scott pauses, taking another glance at his notes. “The end says: I know I have left you in an inexcusable situation, but I pray that this begins to make amends for what I have done."
"Al-Khazneh?" Sam questions.
“I’m curious about the ‘inexcusable situation’. Who was this meant for?” Scott mutters, tucking his notebook under his arm as he scratches at his stubble.
"The…treasury." She mutters, more so to herself than to anyone else.
Sam watches her scrunch up her face in thought, cogs turning in his own mind.
“It… it said in the other room that Karam Sadir, Emaan’s father, was part of the excavation crew who uncovered the lost city of Petra, yeah?” Sam turns to Scott who nods, then to her as she bounces off of him.
“Al-Khazneh means… treasury. I think you…you've got to go there. Petra.” Sam watches as her eyes light up. “Worst case scenario, you get a nice little holiday out of it all.”
"I mean," Scott speaks. "Assets? Hidden? God knows who he wrote this to, but it obviously didn't get to them."
"I know it’s touristy… But Petra sounds like your best bet at finding what and where the hoard’s been hidden. It could be the next step.” She responds. Sam watches as she bounces on her knees excitedly, feeling a smile make its way onto his lips. She grins back, a slight sense of pride in her expression that makes Sam’s eyes narrow as he takes it in. He’s seen that look before, but it’s so much better in person.
"Holy shit." Sam exclaims, making an elderly couple nearby tut at his language. “My apologies.” He turns, hearing a quiet chuckle from beside him.
“Correct me if I’m wrong but… ”
His eyes flick excitedly between the two accompanying him, a grin beginning to form on his lips as he locks eyes with the latter.
“You two still wanna quit?"
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