Disclaimer: Nothing you see or recognize is mine... Please don't sue me.
A/N: Sorry for the few week's wait. I had some things I had to take care of. Also, I' going to try and update all of my other stories because I have been severely neglecting them. Thanks for reading this story anyway.
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More words... If you've talked to me before, you'd know that I my belief is that words can lead to events you can never take back. Ben told me he needed my help. (Man, if I had a dime every time he told me that... I wouldn't need to pay off that fine...) First, it launched me into a treasure hunt I really didn't want to go on in the first place, then he makes me break into his own home. And this leads to whole other problems...
But enough of my ramblings. I'll just get back to the story. I'm sure that's what you want.
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"You want me to what?" Riley asked with a clearly offended look on his face.
"I need you to break into my house. Well, Abigail's house since she changed the alarm code," Ben said.
"I am so not going break into your house," he said. "I thought we were done with all the illegal stuff!"
"We were... Until I need to see the diary page," he said. "I need her key card to get access."
"Why don't you just ask Abigail for it?" he wondered. Ben blinked in surprise as if he hadn't thought of this before.
"Because she wouldn't give it to me," he said. "Just help me out. Mia, can I have some backup here?"
"Actually, I agree with Riley," she said. "Why don't you just ask Abigail?"
"You know, I really hate this. This you guys dating thing... You always take each other's sides. It makes me feel left out," he said. "And I already told you, she'd tell me no. Please Riley?" he asked. "Please?"
"Oh, Ben..." Riley said. After taking one last look at his puppy dog face, he said, "Fine, fine. When are we doing this?" Ben smiled.
"Tonight," he replied.
"Well, I'm coming with you," Mia said. "I'll have to make sure you don't commit any more felonies." Ben gave a sarcastic laugh and she smiled. "I feel like Mom."
"Well you won't tonight," he said. Mia sighed and looked between both men.
"We might as well get ready," she said and Ben smiled again.
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"So, I'll probably regret asking this," Riley said as he worked on the alarm code in Ben's old house, trying to disable it before it went off, "but what happened between you and Abigail?"
"I'd actually like to know that too," Mia said, crossing her arms and glancing out the glass front door to make sure Abigail was not driving up.
"I don't know, you know," he said. "She started using the word 'so' a lot."
"'So'?" he asked plugging in another piece of equipment.
"So, I guess my opinion doesn't matter," he said as if imitating what his ex was saying. "So, I guess you're always right. So, I guess I'm invisible."
Mia raised her eyebrows and said, "You seriously need a crash course in the speech of women."
"Are you volunteering?" he asked.
"As if," she replied.
"Maybe they should start offering that as a course in high school," Riley said. "You know, instead of Spanish or French, they could offer Women. It might help us all, all the men in the world. We won't say anything offending."
"I happen to like French," Mia said indignantly.
"I never said you didn't," Riley answered.
"So, I've moved out," Ben continued, "and we're dividing up the furniture."
"Women," Riley said packing up his equipment as soon as he got the alarm code. "Can't live with them-"
"Excuse me?" Mia asked her boyfriend, her eye brows raised.
"-if they change the alarm codes," he ended. "You didn't let me finish."
"Well, in that case, you're off the hook!" Mia said brightly.
"Really?" he asked.
"No!" she said, just as brightly and turned around to walk away.
Riley sighed. "You did that in 25 seconds," Ben said, complementing him in finding the alarm code in under 30 seconds.
"That's why I tell people to get a dog," Riley said before he realized he said it.
"And what am I? A sheep?" Mia asked.
"What I meant was-" he started to say, but Ben cut him off.
"Riley, Riley," he said, "I found that when you're in a hole, the best thing to do is stop digging. And I'm speaking from expirence." The younger man nodded slowly, and followed his best friend and possibly ex-girlfriend up the stairs.
Ben rifled through a few drawers before he found what he was looking for. Unfortunately, it wasn't soon enough because a car drove up the driveway indicating that Abigail was home. They were busted. "That's not Abigail's car," Mia said, her eyebrows raised.
"She's on a date," Ben grumbled.
Both she and another man got out of his car, and all three watched curiously as they exchanged a few words and walked closer to the house. "That... The White House Guy," Riley said looking over Ben's shoulder. He laughed and said, "He's weird." Mia elbowed him in the gut and he looked offended. "What?"
"Do you have any sense of when to stop talking?" she asked. He looked confused and she groaned in anger, following Ben out of the office. Riley followed her, but still looked dreadfully perplexed.
"Quick," he heard Mia say, grabbing him by the arm. "In here." She pulled him into a closet that was rather cramped.
"This bring back any memories?" he asked, referring to when they were trying to escape Ian, their old enemy, and his men.
"Well," she whispered, "If you mean being cramped in a tiny space with you breathing on my neck and your face dangerously close to mine, then yes. It does."
"Except then it was awkward," he replied.
But their conversation was interrupted with a call of, "Riley! Mia, get out here!"
"Busted," he whispered. He squeezed past her and walked out of the tiny closet. "Hey!" he said with a fake smile plastered all over his face. "What are you doing here?" Mia groaned lightly and shook her head, but he continued. "I mean it's your house, but..." He stopped, apparently taking Ben's previous words to heart. "I sent you a copy of my book. Did you-?"
"No," she said, clearly annoyed, "I haven't read it yet."
"Hi," Riley said to the man standing awkwardly with Abigail. "I'm Riley. We met at the..."
"Right," the man said, shaking Riley's out stretched hand. "You're Ben and Mia's assistant."
"What?" Riley asked, blinking in surprise.
But the man said, "I should go."
"I'm sorry," she said leading him to the door.
"Dinner?" he whispered. "Tomorrow?"
"I actually already have plans for tomorrow," she said.
"Oh you do?" Ben asked. Abigail rightfully ignored him and pressed on.
"But I'm free on Friday," she said, clearly making Ben angry. He kissed her on the cheek and walked out.
"Awkward..." Riley mumbled, sending Mia's elbow into his chest again. He winced, pressing the forming bruise on his chest.
"I cannot believe you broke in!" the blond shouted before the door was even closed. "What did you take?" she asked coming face to face with her ex.
"Just my things..." Ben lied badly.
"Hand it over Ben," she said holding out her hand, palm up.
Ben sighed and pulled out the little piece of plastic he wanted to take. "I just need to see the Booth Diary page."
She took the ID card and started to walk away. "You saw the page yourself! Mia saw it too! Did you see anything?"
"Well... no but-" she started but Abigail cut her off.
"See!" she said. "There is no treasure map on it!" Riley slunk to the back of the group, trying to make himself invisible.
"Actually, it's a cipher leading to a treasure map," he corrected, as if it made any difference. "Did anyone spectral image the page?" he asked.
"There was no need," she answered. "The ink on the page was clearly visible."
"But it could have been erased," Ben said.
"Or faded!" Mia added.
"Come on!" he said, almost whining now. "You're the head of historical documents! It'S your job."
"It's not my department," she said.
"That department reports to your department!" Ben retorted following her down the hall way. "You can have the Boston Tea Tables!" Ben said, stopping.
This caused Abigail to stop in her tracks. She turned slowly, and walked towards him. "Both of them?" she asked, her eyes narrowed.
"Both of them," he agreed.
"Fine," she said. "Come on. We don't have a lot of time." Ben smiled back at Riley and Mia, who gave him a thumbs up. Even Mia knew that Abigail wanted those tables. It was the perfect way to get her to give in. Although, she wasn't quite sure what they'd find on the half a page...
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I don't think that Ben really likes to take his own advice. I mean, when Abby was getting angry, all he did was correct her. It's one of the few of Ben's flaws. Though, I think Mia would argue that he has a few more. And he whines...
Speaking for myself, I didn't really want to spend some ungodly amount of time staring at an old piece of paper... It sounded boring. And it was. But what we found was definitely interesting.
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A/N: Did you like it? Hate it? Review if you want. Thanks for reading though. ;D
