"You okay?"

The combination of the destruction of the counter-weight rig, the sealing of the entrance from which they came and the dooming prospect of being trapped for good under Mount Rushmore made Riley Poole forget that the person who was asking after his well-being and offering him a hand was also the same person who framed Ben's great-great-grandfather, kidnapped Ben's mother and got them into this mess in the first place.

Never in his lifetime would he have thought that the one to show so much concern for him would be the evil villain that brought them all these trouble.

"No…"

Maybe it's one of those one-off acts of kindness that evil villains liked to do.

"You alright?"

That wasn't one-off. Riley gave Wilkinson an incredulous look despite the fact that the man on the receiving end of his pinched expression had just hauled his scrawny ass up and away from what's left of the ancient ladder. Granted, he was the reckless one who caused them to have to escape the Cibola see-saw in the first place but it was also because of Mitch ruining his best laid plan that all four of them were able to make it off the platform in one piece.

He did not want to think what would happen to his abovementioned scrawny ass if he had stayed behind like he was supposed to—heck, volunteered to.

"I vote Mitch"

He knew he'd regretted those last words he'd said the moment that stone floodgate slammed shut. As much as he tried to get Ben out from the other side, he was hoping that due to some freak chance, Wilkinson was close enough to be pulled over as well. Despite setting in motion a misguided glory-seeking treasure hunt, Riley had not thought of the man as being too evil. At least nothing that warranted eternal damnation in hell.

He still couldn't figure out what was the reason behind Wilkinson's concern though.

"—this was a chance for the Wilkinson family to make its mark on history—"

Even as he nursed his bruised body back to its usual spry self, thoughts of Wilkinson's out-of-character concern for him (and dare he say it—only him) never left his mind. Something Mitch said in the cave kept popping up whenever he tried to explain that mysterious act of concern so he put his skills to good use and did some digging into the Wilkinson family. And he finally knew why Mitch did what he did.

Mitch had a son. The sandy blonde hair and chocolate brown eyes of Mitch Jr. sets them as far apart as physically possible but to Mitch, they were both the same—a computer whiz kid who knows his way around even the most sophisticated system.

End.

Inspired by the two times Mitch was nice to Riley in NT2: Book of Secrets and "Ghost" by FantasySci5 (fanfictionDOTnet/s/3978218/1/Ghost/).

Thanks to daisyduke80 for finding the fic and thanks to everyone who reviewed. I feel so loved.