Disclaimer: I don't even own the DVD of both National Treasures, how likely is it that I own the rights to it?
A/N: This was a plot bunny that has been in my head for a little while and things have been done in a slightly more angsty way before but I thought (and I hope I succeeded) in making it a slightly more light hearted fic. I know it's after Christmas now but RL had to take precedence over the holiday period. Enjoy the New Year everyone. And as always, please please please review!!
The neon words flashed across the screen for what seemed like the millionth time: GAME OVER. Ben growled in frustration and glared at the young man laughing on the kitchen counter next to him. He had done this in real life! He shouldn't have to prove himself playing juvenile, pathetically animated and ridiculously difficult video games of Indiana Jones!
"I can help if you want, old man." Riley sniggered, watching as Ben's character fell down a hole in the ground.
One million and one.
"I don't need your help, Riley. I can do this just fine on my -" One million and two. "Goddamn it!" Ben was seriously considering throwing his friend's laptop out of the open kitchen window, he was pretty certain Riley would never speak to him again but at this point it didn't seem too important.
"You know, if you wanna give up then that's - "
"I'm not giving up. I can and will do this." Ben clenched his jaw in concentration, focussing on nothing except the badly animated game and his computerised hero making his way slowly across the screen. He was over the first jump, had avoided being hit by the falling rocks was nearly finished when: RING RING! The telephone rang.
One million and three.
"WHAT!?" In hindsight, it probably wasn't the best way to answer the phone to your mother. The tirade that followed was not fun. "Sorry Mom, I....Yeah." Ben replied distractedly to his mother on the other end of the line while trying to throw every single item on his desk at Riley who was silently laughing his head off behind the kitchen counters. "Huh? What? Yeah, 'course I was listening. Yes, Mom...Yeah. Uh huh. Yeah. Yeah. YES!" There was silence as he listened then: "What? Why?...uh huh. Fine." He rolled his eyes and held out the phone to Riley who blanched and shook his head fiercely, backing up. Ben shook the phone at him, pushing it into his hand before going to make toast.
"Um...yes, Mrs Gates?" Evidently expecting to be told off too, Riley held the receiver out away from his ear. When no shouting was forthcoming, he held it properly and began ot chat quite hapily with Ben's mother. "Uh huh. Uh yeah, he's fine. Yah, I was teaching him to play Indie...No, not really. Not as good as you actually! No. Uh huh, I'll tell him." He covered the phone with one hand and bluntly said "Ben, your mom says she's ashamed of you."
"It's a stupid game!" Ben bellowed through a mouthful of toast and butter. Riley grinned and went back to his conversation.
"Uh huh, yeah sure. I'm sure he'd love to!" Covering the receiver again, he whispered "Ben, your mom wants to know if you're going there for Christmas dinner?" There was a sudden exclamation from the phone and he added cheekily "Since you missed Thanksgiving with your folks."
Ben glared and reached for the phone again. "Mom? Hi yeah, Christmas would be great. Yeah, thanks.....Yes, Mom, I know you guys wanted to see us at Thanksgiving but we've been busy all right? No, it is not more treasure hunting...No. No really, Mom. It really isn't....No I'm not lying." He made an exasperated 'can-you-believe-this?' face at Riley who grinned and started playing the vacated video game one handed while eating Ben's toast. Look, I swear Mom. It is not treasure or conspiracy theories or anything like that, okay?" He sighed, trapping the phone against his ear with his shoulder and retrieving his stolen toast and hitting Riley across the back of the head. To his fury, Riley's character did not even slow down. Ben continued his conversation with his mother before having the phone passed over to his father.
"If you talk to them now, you're not gonna have anything to talk about at Christmas." Riley's quiet comment startled Ben out of the stupor he had fallen into since starting to speak or rather listen to his father.
"Huh?" Confused, Ben tried to grasp what his father had been talking about for the past ten minutes. Failing utterly, he finally interrupted, saying: "Uh, Dad I'm gonna have to go. Riley just set the dish cloth on fire with the toaster. I'll see you at Christmas." Hitting the 'end call' button before Patrick Gates could reply, Ben gave a sigh of relief before turning to Riley's outraged face.
"I set the toaster on fire?!"
"No." Ben shook his head nonchalantly. "I said you set the dishcloth on fire with the toaster."
Riley spluttered. "Well, same difference! Not even Abigail would do that!"
Ben shrugged dismissively. "He believed it though."
Gawping, Riley narrowed his eyes then shook his head and starting munching a piece of toast from Ben's plate.
"RILEY!" Abigail's voice echoed around Riley's near-empty apartment. Moving day was next week apparently, mind you, it had been 'next week' for over two months now and Riley had yet to finish packing his stuff up let alone find a new place. She and Ben were resigned to having Riley live with them if and when he finally moved out of his current place, not that they minded, in fact Ben was thrilled at the prospect and she had to admit she wouldn't say no to having Riley to stay for a few weeks. Despite being only a few years younger, Riley seemed to bring out her maternal side and between that and Ben's over-protective big-brotherly behavior, Riley would be wrapped in cotton wool for the rest of his life. "RILEY!"
"Where is he?" Ben's out of breath form appeared at her shoulder. "Riley?!" Abigail flinched at the loud voice next to her ear.
"Maybe he decided to drive down by himself?" She suggested uncertainly. Both of them started towards the kitchen and the bedroom, Ben was muttering irritably under his breath. "Rikey?" Abigail popped her head round the kitchen door and tutted at the state of it. It was inhabited by many dirty dishes which she was pretty certain would be breeding new life forms pretty soon but it was devoid of Riley. She was just turning to leave when:
"RILEY!?" Ben's bellow was echoed and enhanced by the high ceilings and empty rooms. Abigail hurried to see what was wrong.
"Ben?" A sleepy, confused voice came from somewhere underneath the duvet which had fallen to the floor with Ben's shout. Abigail had to bite her lip to keep from laughing as Riley's tousle haired head appeared from under it, blinking owlishly. "Ben, whaddya doing here?"
Ben closed his eyes and counted to five. "Riley! We were supposed to leave an hour ago! Why the hell aren't you up?!" He lunged forward and grabbed Riley out of his feather cocoon and pushed him briskly towards the shower, much to Riley's confusion and Abigail's amusement.
"Abigail?!" Riley whimpered pitifully as Ben closed the shower door on him and turned on the water, drenching him, and he thanked himself for not bothering to put on pajamas last night.
Abigail crossed to the wardrobe and started sorting through clothes for a shirt and pants for him to put on, that was if Ben could spare he time. She could hear Ben not-quite-yelling at Riley who was answering in high-pitched, confused sounding whines. She had just finished laying out a green shirt and dark pants for him when Ben near-threw him through the door, sighing "Well, I guess you did at least lay out some clothes."
Riley gaped at Abigail who winked at him and said casually: "I'll wait in the car. Riley, don't forget you put your shoes underneath your bed there" She pointed to the foot of his bed and left. Riley watched her leave and then turned to Ben, bewildered.
"Well?" Ben gestured at the clothes lying on the bed and returned to the bathroom to get a towel for Riley's hair.
Stunned, Riley began dressing himself feeling utterly bewildered and a little outraged that he was being treated like a two year old. He zipped up his pants and sat on the edge of his bed to put his shoes and socks on.
"Oh come one Riley! Hurry up!" Ben threw the towel over Riley's head eliciting a small yelp of surprise from Riley and began rubbing it vigorously to dry it.
"Um, Ben?" Riley ventured, whilst doing up his right shoe. "What's going on?"
Ben's assault on Riley's hair paused for a moment. "What do you mean 'what's going on'? It Christmas!"
"Well...yeah. But, I mean why are you here? You're meant to be going to Emily and Patrick's today."
Ben threw the towel aside and unhooked the shirt from it's hanger, pushing Riley on to his feet and thrusting the shirt at him. "Er, no. WE are meant to be at Mom and Dad's today. Riley, you were there when they invited us! You took the call!" His voice was a mixture of exasperation and disbelief.
Riley blinked hopefully, shrugging the shirt over his head without undoing it. "Am I coming?" Came the muffled reply as Riley fought the shirt, his arms above his head. "I mean, I know Emily invited you and Abigail but am I coming?"
Shocked, Ben stood frozen, watching Riley struggle with the shirt. Taking pity on him when Riley came dangerously close to falling out the window, he stepped forward and pulled it down over the younger man's head. Riley smiled gratefully and shook his damp hair around, spraying Ben and his room. "Riley...." Ben began exasperatedly "Riley, of course you're coming with us! My Mom's even done the mashed potatoes with the lumps just for you! You always spend Christmas with me and Abigail, why on earth would you think you weren't coming?"
Blushing, Riley shrugged. "I dunno, I just...didn't know I was. That's always been at your place or hers, this is at your parents house. I just didn't think I'd be invited."
"Abigail's invited." Ben reasoned.
"Abi's your fiancée, Ben. And besides, you never said I was invited, and we haven't talked about it since last week when Emily phoned and - "
"We left a message yesterday - "
"No you di-" Riley glanced at his answer machine. The red light was flashing. He blushed even more. "Um...oops?"
Ben sighed and glanced at his watch. "We've gotta go." He yelped, his eyes widening. At that same moment, downstairs in the car, Abigail honked the horn loudly. "Ri, you can do your other shoe in the car! Where's your jacket? Have you got the presents? Riley! Where are the presents?"
If Ben had been so serious, Riley would've laughed at his friend charging round the flat like a bull in a china shop. The other reason Riley did not laugh was because he had just realized that he had not bought resents for anyone except Ben and Abigail.
"Ben, I can't come! I don't have presents for them or anything! I don't even have wine to give them!"
Throwing clothes on to the floor, looking for Riley's smart jacket, Ben called out distractedly "You don't need any! Abigail bought them for me and for you! You're only supposed to have bought for me and her. Riley, where is your jacket!?"
"Oh. Okay then." Riley said, sounding happier and grabbing a plastic shopping bag of presents from his wardrobe and his jacket from underneath a pile of dirty socks from a chair in his bedroom. "Well, lets go then."
Patrick twitched the living room curtain closed as he saw his son's car pull up outside. Silently thanking God, he stuck his had round the kitchen door where his wife was having a minor nervous breakdown. "Emily? The kids are here."
"Oh good!" His wife rounded on him, looking flustered and slightly wild. "Wonderful! Two hours after they were due! Honestly, next year they aren't coming! I have spent all morning in here coo - "
"Hello? Mom? Dad?"
"BEN!" Patrick was unceremoniously shoved out of the way as his wife flew through the hallway to greet their son and his friends. Shaking his head, he hobbled after her.
"BEN!" Ben dropped his bags quickly as his mother threw herself into his arms, covering him in flour and sweat. Leaning away, he smiled at her and passed her on to his fiancée. The two women exchanged hugs and kisses and commented on how nice the other looked (he was pretty sure that Abigail's compliment was purely politeness). He turned and exchanged a hug with his dad and ushered Riley forward.
Riley reached out a hand for Patrick's but found himself enclosed in a brief hug instead. Having released Abigail, Emily now fell upon Riley, covering him in kisses and commenting on how thin he was and how he needed feeding up. This was followed by accusatory glances towards Ben and Abigail and more hugs and kisses.
"Go on through, go though." Emily ushered them into the sitting room where the fire was lit and the tree stood in the corner of the room with presents stacked underneath it. "Patrick! Get them some drinks!" She cried pushing all three of them into plush chairs and beaming around at them, looking like an extremely happy beetroot.
"Mom, I'm sorry that we're a little late. We - "
"Late? Oh, don't be silly! You're right on time!" This was challenged by a loud snort from Patrick who as just emerging from the kitchen with a drinks tray. "Patrick dear, just put it there, I need your help in the kitchen. They can get their own drinks!" She batted his hands away and dragged him back to the kitchen with her leaving the three alone again.
After much sipping of drinks and loud crashes and swearing from the kitchen, Riley spoke.
"Hey, do you remember the first thing Patrick said to you Abi?"
Laughing, Ben, in an uncanny imitation of his father said "Is she pregnant?"
Laying her head on Ben's shoulder, Abigail said quietly "Just think, this time we can actually say yes."