Disclaimer: Nope! Ben and Riley (and Abigail) still aren't mine. And neither is Avenged Sevenfold.

A/N: Hey, I'm glad you guys like this! It brightens my day when I see reviews. I'm right in the middle of finals now, so I don't think the next update will be as quick. Thank you to Halo, Miss Fenway, daisyduke80, Icestar4621 (sorry for the confusion! It is more than a oneshot), Lo, supernaturalfreakisabookworm, and Harm Marie for your wonderful reviews! I hope you all enjoy the next installment! And does anyone know about that National Treasure 3 trailer thing on fanfiction that I've been noticing? Let me know in your reviews if you do. That would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! Enjoy!

Reminder: This is not a slash fic, so all that happens is just friendly fluff. Thanks!

Chapter Two

"Any station that you want to listen to in particular?" Ben asked as he drove down the empty road. He knew that rock was his friend's favorite kind of music, but it really depended on his mood.

"Not really," Riley answered, his voice muffled against the pillow placed against the window so that he could rest his head on it. "You can pick."

Ben grinned. You can pick. Riley was about to regret saying those three words… He took one hand off the wheel and turned on the radio, surfing through the channels until he reached the station that played rap twenty-four/seven… Riley's least favorite kind of music. He even got the reaction that he had been hoping for.

"Ah! Ben, not this crap!" Riley cried in over exaggerated anguish, trying to block out the horrible noise with his pillow.

"You said I could pick."

"Well, I lied. Now change it before I make your existence miserable."

Laughing, Ben turned the radio to something that he knew Riley would enjoy, the all rock station. Riley settled comfortably back in the passenger seat when "Almost Easy" by Avenged Sevenfold echoed in his ears.

"Now this is more like it," he muttered, a smile appearing on his face. "Thanks, Ben."

"You're welcome, Riley." Ben smiled to himself as he continued to drive. Now, his favorite computer whiz was beginning to return to his normal, whiny self. Riley not liking rap was a complete understatement. He despised it. The older man didn't enjoy it either, but he had to do something to get Riley back. And it seemed to be working…

"Come back to me, it's almost easy…"

Suddenly, Ben heard a quiet sob, and he slammed on the brakes, glad that he and his passenger were both wearing their seat belts. He turned quickly to the younger man and saw that Riley had dug his face into his pillow, his shoulders shaking as he tried without success to suppress his tears. "Riley!"

There was a long moment of silence where Riley tried to regain his composure. Then, his face still in the pillow, he muttered, "Ben, you're in the middle of the road."

Ben sighed with frustration. There was the Riley he knew, even though he could hear in his shaking voice that he was still crying. "Hardly anyone else is out this late a night," Ben countered. "Are you all right, Riley?"

Before his best friend could answer, a pair of bright headlights flared on behind them. Ben turned around, watching with fear as a black SUV nearly hit them as it sped past, its horn blaring. Yeah, good call, Ben. There was no one else on the road…

Riley quickly sat up, his moist, red-rimmed eyes wide. "What was that?" he asked anxiously. "Did it… did it just almost hit us?!"

"Relax, Riley," Ben answered, his eyes narrowing as the vehicle rounded a corner and disappeared from sight. "We're fine." But the famed treasure hunter knew that whatever just happened was strange. That SUV had been going much faster than it needed to, especially at almost four in the morning.

"Can we just go home now?" Riley muttered, leaning back against the pillow. "You know, before we nearly get hit by another Supercar that is going faster than a speeding bullet?"

Ben grinned. "Yes, Lois Lane," he said as he began to drive again, inwardly laughing at how lightly his friend was taking the situation. "What else can I do for you?"

"Ha. You're funny." The funny thing was that Riley didn't sound too amused…

They soon arrived at Ben's estate, and Riley slowly clambered out with his pillow and blanket under one arm and his laptop under the other. Ben locked the car up and followed him, the younger man's shiver not going unnoticed. The treasure hunter quickly fumbled for the right key and unlocked the door as fast as he could, anxious for his friend to warm up.

Riley was at home even before Ben could begin to say, "make yourself at home." He slipped off his shoes and threw his blanket and pillow down on the couch, gently setting his laptop down on the table in front of it. The older man laughed to himself as he wandered into the kitchen to get something to drink. He stopped when something on the table caught his eye.

"Hey, Riley. Come here."

Riley slowly came into the kitchen at the sound of his name, rubbing his tired eyes. "What, Ben?" he asked, then stopped beside his older friend when he saw what was on the table. "Whoa. Have you been visited by the hot chocolate fairy, even though it's summer?"

"I think Abigail may have made these after I left to go get you," Ben grinned as he sat down at the table and picked up one of the two steaming mugs. "I sure didn't. Come join me."

"I still say it was the hot chocolate fairy," Riley muttered, sitting down beside the treasure hunter almost reluctantly. "But we can thank Abi anyway…"

Ben smiled as he took a cautious sip of the hot chocolate that his wife had prepared for them. It seemed that Riley was beginning to regain some of his humor, and he instantly knew that he had made the right decision by bringing him home with him…

"He was fine yesterday."

Ben was caught off guard by the sudden quiet statement. "What?"

Riley opened his mouth to say something more, but then he closed it again as he rubbed his eyes and took a long, deep breath. "Never mind," he answered, getting to his feet. "I think I'll hit the sack. I'll just crash in the same room as always, shall I?"

"Yeah." Ben watched with concern as the younger man left the kitchen, grabbed his pillow, blanket, and laptop, finally disappearing up the stairs. He sighed as his gaze moved to his best friend's nearly full mug of hot chocolate, deciding to wrap it up in plastic wrap. Abigail had made Riley's favorite kind, hazelnut, and he had barely touched it. Oh, well. Ben knew that it would still be just as good warmed up later that day.

The clock above him suddenly struck four, making the treasure hunter jump. Another sigh escaped from Ben when he heard the water running in the bathroom upstairs, knowing that Riley was removing his contact lenses and probably splashing some cold water on his face. Ben fought to hold his own tears back, worried about his best friend. This was going to be a long early morning.

Xxxxxxxxxx

"No! Dad! No!"

Ben quickly sat up in bed when he heard the frantic shouts, Abigail doing the same beside him. The treasure hunter had left the door of their room open so they could keep an ear on Riley, and he was glad they did. He quickly glanced at the clock on his nightstand and saw that it was nearly six in the morning. At least Riley had slept peacefully for about two hours…

"I'll handle it," Ben told a shaken Abigail, who nodded as he left the room. He opened the door to the room across the hall that his friend always occupied when he spent the night and saw with fear that Riley was flailing wildly on the bed with the blanket wrapped tightly around him, almost trapping him in place. In the dim light of the sun's early rays coming through the curtain, Ben could see that his face was pale and tears were running freely down his cheeks. The computer whiz's shouts had ceased, but he was still whimpering fearfully.

"Riley!" Ben hurried over to the bed and sat down, placing his hands on the younger man's shoulders to try to stop his wild movement.

"No! Let go of me!" Riley cried out in his sleep, his struggling intensifying as he attempted to fight out of his hold.

But Ben only tightened his hands on his arms. "Riley, calm down! It's me!" he said desperately, hoping to get through to him. "It's Ben!"

Riley struggled for a few more long minutes before his eyes snapped open, his chest heaving as his frantic gaze moved all around the room, finally landing on his friend. "I'm sorry, Ben…" he muttered, closing his eyes as more tears flowed from them.

Ben didn't say anything, but he pulled his shaking best friend close to him into an embrace, able to feel his racing heartbeat strongly against his arm. Surprisingly, Riley didn't resist, which was unusual. The treasure hunter figured that he needed all of the comfort that he could get as he continued to cry into his shoulder.

After for what felt like to be hours but was truthfully only about five minutes, Riley's heart returned to its normal, comfortable rate as he calmed down, and he pulled away from his friend. "Hey, Ben. Can you hand me my computer, Man? I wanna' show you something."

Confused, Ben reached down and picked it up from where it sat on the floor, handing it to him. Riley took a deep, steadying breath and rubbed his eyes as he opened it, turning it on. "My dad bought this for me a few years ago," he muttered while it was loading, seeing that Ben was still beside him. "He bought me a lot of my computers through the years, actually. I was always more into computers and technology while my brother was more into history."

"Really?" Ben's gaze saddened when he saw that Riley's background on the computer was the same picture of him and his dad that he had seen at his apartment. Riley then clicked on one of the folders that was on his desktop, opening a large group of images, the first one being a picture of Riley as a young boy with his father along with an older boy that must have been Dustin, Riley's brother.

The two friends looked through the images of Riley's dad for a while in silence. Then, Riley turned to Ben with dim, child-like eyes and said one of the most heart wrenching things the treasure hunger had ever heard him say.

"Thank you for being there for me, Ben."

A/N: Not the most exciting, but it'll pick up soon. Hope you liked it! Thanks for reading! Your reviews are much appreciated. Thanks!