Chapter Two

"I'm telling you Ben she's amazing!" Riley spoke animatedly to his best friend later that night about the girl he'd met on the train.

Ben chuckled as he watched his friend, "I believe you Riley. Oh by the way, Abigail's sister is coming to stay with us for a few days so no wandering around in your boxers."

Riley bulked, "You're just jealous my legs are nicer than yours."

The laugh was deep and rich, one Riley barely remembered hearing anymore from his friend, "Yes Riley, that's exactly it! Oh and would you help me with the Christmas decorations?"

"Are you gonna marry her?" the question was so quiet Ben almost didn't hear his friend.

Glancing up from his computer, Ben met Riley over the rim of his glasses, surprise registered as Ben saw fear and sadness in his friend's eyes, "If she says yes." Riley just nodded and Ben knew instantly something was wrong. Sitting away from his computer Ben studied his friend. "What's wrong?"

Riley shook his head, playing with something on the desk, "Nothing."

Ben sighed as he rubbed his eyes wearily, "Riley you're still my best friend."

"Right—I'm gonna go grab a shower."

"Ri-" without finishing his sentence Riley was out of the room, leaving Ben to think over his young computer genius' emotions lately. He'd watched Riley change and shift steadily for the past three years. He silently cursed Riley's evil history that had forced the young boy to bury all his emotions and bring out all of his insecurities.

o0o

Riley disappeared for dinner, deciding to give Ben, Abigail and her younger sister some privacy he ducked out to go have dinner by himself in his new house. Abigail arrived home just an hour after Riley had left, her younger sister waiting in her seat.

Entering the house she looked around, surprised Riley was nowhere to see…or hear. "Ben?"

"I'm in the den," came the reply.

"This is your house...cause it looks a bit like a museum?" Kati said in surprise as she looked around her sister's huge mansion.

Abigail smiled and shrugged, "It's home. Hi Ben! I want you to meet my sister Kati Chase, Kati this is my boyfriend Benjamin Franklin Gates."

Ben's eyes grew wide as he tried to hide his smile—this was Riley's Kati, his description had been dead on. Reaching out he shook her hand, "Nice to meet you, though I apologize you won't be meeting the other member of our wacky family until tomorrow. Riley appears to have gone MIA."

Kati met his blue eyes and got his hint instantly as she smiled, "Guess I'll just have to wait."

Abigail, unsure what she'd missed looked over at her little sister, "I'll show you your room. Then we'll have dinner."

"Sounds wonderful."

Riley didn't arrive home until everyone had gone to sleep that night, creeping up to his room he sighed as he got ready for bed, feeling his heart ache. He couldn't live here much longer; he wasn't going to be a part of this family much longer. Clad only in his favorite pair of boxers he tread out of his room to the bathroom, only half awake at this point.

The bathroom door lurched open just as he reached to open it. Eyes grew wide and both let out screams of completely surprise and fear as Riley jumped back from Kati, covering himself inadequately. "What are you!? Who!? HOW!?" cried Riley.

"Riley please stop—" Kati tried to reach out to him but he backpeddled further, until he ran right into Ben's broad bare chest.

"What the hell is going on out here!?" demanded Abigail as she looked from Riley to her sister.

Riley, though only half awake felt realization rapidly coming towards him like a train hitting a car head on, "Oh god: Riley looked between the two women, feeling his embarrassment mount with each passing moment. "You're—she's your—I think I'm gonna be sick!" he tried to run to his bedroom, but Ben managed to grab his friend and keep him stationary.

"What did I miss?" Abigail questioned.

Ben sighed, "Why don't we all get dressed and then we can discuss this over a cup of coffee…or something."

"I—" Riley shook his head as he managed to break from Ben's grip and run to his bedroom.

"What is going on?" Abigail demanded for the second time that night.

Ben sighed as he looked at Kati, who was looking completely embarrassed and highly guilty as she looked at the ground, "Tell him I'm sorry," she whispered as she hurried back to her own room.

"Ben!?"

Ben groaned rolling his eyes at his girlfriend, "Riley met a girl he really liked, it never really registered with him that the girl's last name was Chase, or that she had family here."

"Riley is the guy my sister wants to date!" Abigail said in complete surprise.

"You're not helping! Looking I've got to go do some damage control without bashing Riley why don't you go talk to your little sister."

Abigail glared at her boyfriend before moving towards her sister's guests bedroom. Meanwhile, Ben moved towards Riley's bedroom, knocking lightly, "Riley can I talk to you?"

Not getting a response, Ben pushed the door open gently. Riley stood in his room throwing clothes at the duffel bag on his bed. He was dressed in a pair of flannel bottoms and a t-shirt…an MIT shirt Ben had bought him during his first year in college. Riley's face was bright red, it didn't take much to guess the younger man was hurting. "Riley—"

"It's time for me to grow up, time for me to leave," was all he managed to whisper as he continued to pack.

Ben took another step forward and reached out, taking the younger man's hands, "What's bothering you? What's had you on the edge for the past three years?" Wide blue eyes looked at him, and for the first time Ben realized that wasn't embarrassment or shame shining in Riley's eyes, it was tears. "What have I done to cause you this much pain Riley?"

"Nothing," whispered Riley softly as he tried to move away.

Ben shook his head and continued to hold fast to his young counterpart, one hand reached out and gently tilted Riley's head back until he was forced to meet Ben's eyes, "Riley I never ever meant to cause you pain. And I swear if I had known who Kati was I would have told you. I didn't even realize who she was until she walked through the door this evening."

Riley shook his head and started to break away, "It's fine—I'm just gonna go stay at the house."

"Please Riley talk to me, you've always been able to talk to me."

"Always Ben!? Where were you when I was writing my book! Where were you at my book signing! You didn't even read it! You didn't even know I was broke until after my car was taken! I risked my life for you…TWICE and all you did was say thanks! Thanks that's it! Then suddenly I move in for a short period of time and I'm the butt of everyone's jokes. All I hear from Abigail is that I need to grow up and act my age!"

"I didn't agree with her!" Ben returned.

"No you were silent...how's that any better!? I don't need another person in my life who's just going to ridicule me! How do I know this wasn't all some elaborate joke! To play on me! Let's make Riley feel like an even bigger loser!" By now Riley was blindly wiping at his face as he tried to push away from his friend.

"Riley you aren't a loser! I never ever called you a loser! You're my best friend you know that!"

"Oh really! Have you read my book!? Did you even ask me how New York was, do you even have a clue what's been going on my life since Abigail came back. Can you promise me Ben that if you marry her we'll still be friends? Because…because I don't know if I can lose another person who meant everything to me. Now…you know where I'll be…tell Kati…" he looked at the ground.

Ben sighed, he'd never seen his friend like this, much less with a girl, "I'll tell her where you are, maybe you'll realize this was just a stupid mix up. I really am sorry you got hurt Riley." The younger man nodded before throwing on one of Ben's giant hooded sweatshirts and leaving the house. "Damn it!" cursed Ben as he kicked the door after he heard the younger man drive off.

"Ben?" a soft voice came, Kati stood in her pajamas, looking equally as flustered as Riley had. She studied him for a moment. "I—I should have told him, but if I had…I didn't want the identity of my sister to interfere with him. I like him Ben, I like him a lot."

The older man scrutinized the young woman for a few moments and nodded, "He appears to like you a lot as well. Why don't you get some more sleep then tomorrow I'll give you directions to his new house and you can go visit him."

"He reminds me of a frightened tiger," she whispered gently.

Ben was mildly surprised by this, that's exactly how his mother had described Riley after their first meeting. Could it be that someone...or two someones got his best friend better than he did? "How so?"

She smiled as she sat down on Riley's bed, "He's wild, and crazy he loves to talk and hear others talk but the minute you ask him something too personal he tries to hide or get defensive. He wants people to see him for who he is, he wants someone to understand him. But for some reason he's afraid to get to close to people, afraid they'll hurt him."

Ben nodded, "I can't tell you everything—that's Riley's job—but I can tell you that Riley never had an easy childhood, in fact he spent most of it being tossed from home to home. He's afraid he isn't worthy of people's love or friendship. He's always been like that."

Kati nodded, "Thing is, I know how he feels. I haven't had the best relationships with a lot of people and I'm equally as scared that I'm going to make friends with people only to find out it's all a lie."

Ben felt a warm smile cross his features, "You two are made for each other," he replied gently.

"I read his book Ben, there's an entire chapter about you and your family. He thinks a lot of you, by reading that book I understood why my sister was attracted to you."

Ben sighed sadly as he sat down beside her on the bed, "I'm a lousy friend."

She shook her head, "No you're just human, like anyone else who takes relationships for granted. Maybe it's time you stopped taking one of the most important relationships you have for granted. He knows you love him Ben, but he's not like other people, he needs to hear it or see it sometimes."

Ben was stunned, how could someone who's only known Riley for a day, get him better than someone who'd known him his entire life. "You're good for him, I hope it works out."

"Me too, goodnight Ben."

"Night Kati."

o0o

Riley sat at his lone kitchen table the next morning, poking a piece of toast he was pretty sure he'd burnt with a fork when he was interrupted with a knock on the door. "Stupid toaster," he mumbled as he made his way over to the door.

There she stood; dressed in jeans and a nice shirt, in her hands she held his book, giving him the most honest look he'd ever seen. "I'm sorry if you thought I was trying to trick you, or if you thought the only reason I wanted to talk to you was because I read your book. I'm even sorrier if you think that just because Abi is my sister that I'm going to walk away from you. You're sadly mistaken, Riley you're the first guy I've met in almost five years that I actually enjoy being around. And believe it or not it has nothing to do with the treasure, or your genius, I like being with you because you understand that sometimes it's okay to be footloose and fancy free. I'm never going to ridicule you, and I will never ever intentionally hurt you, I will however hold you when you're hurt, I'll hug you when you're lost and I'll kiss you when you think you can't go on. I've only known you for a day, but I already know you're not someone I want to live without."

He looked at her with surprise, if it had been any other woman he probably would have shut the door in her face and called the cops on her. But Kati was different, he felt his eyes burn as he just looked at her. Finally she thrust forward her book and a ball point pen, "Can I have your autograph?"

He let out half a sob and half a chuckle, stepping forward he grabbed her and pulled her into his arms, hugging her tight for a moment before pulling back and looking at her. "I'm a little intense," he whispered.

She shrugged, "That's why we're such a perfect fit."

Hands on the sides of her face he drew her in, his lips met hers and he was positive he saw stars as they kissed. When he finally pulled away he ran his knuckles gently over her skin, "Ready to wear the pants in this relationship?"

It was her turn to laugh out loud as she hugged him close again, "Nope but I'm definitely ready to share them."

TBC