A/N: Im sorry its been so long, joys of being a third year uni student had tons of assignments to do and a dissertation to sort out. Things have calmed enough for me to write this chapter, however I have an assessment in a couple of weeks so I may not add another chapter till after that. Also I apologise if there are any errors in spelling I havent fully checked this after typing it up properly as I have conjunctivitis in both eyes so reading the screen is a bit of a pain.

Hope you like this. Please review it helps to know what people think and can be helpful in improving writing styles etc.

Chapter 2

After the police had taken their statements Ben looked down at the boy and frowned what to do with him he wondered, "Riley would you like me to ring your foster parents? They must be worried about you by now"

Riley looked up at the man and frowned slightly, he had only known him a few hours but he felt safe with him, he had protected him, which was something he had never experienced before, his foster parents never made sure he was safe, they never cared what he was doing as long as he stayed out of their way, which he had learnt do at a very quickly, especially if they had been drinking, which was most of the time now since Mr. Frank wasn't working, of course he hadn't always managed to stay out of their way even though he tried to. It was just him though, he wished there were others like he had told Ben there were, then maybe he would be ok it hadn't always been like it though back when Mr. Franks still had his job he was nice, he would tell Riley stories and show him how to do stuff, he wished he was still like that. Riley frowned slightly before saying "they wunt care, wunt even know I'm gone"

Ben tried not to look shocked at this statement and studying the boys features he realised that he must be somewhat underweight and given his age he was on the small side. "would you like me to give you a ride home Riley?" even as he said it he didn't really want to take him home, if his suspicions were true then taking him home should be the LAST thing he did.

"Dunt wanna go home yet" Riley stated and Ben noticed that the boy had gone slightly pale at the mention of home.

Ben frowned and tried to work out what he should do his gut was telling that delivering Riley into the care of his foster parents was not a good thing to do, Riley's reaction to his foster parents and his admission that they wouldn't miss him spoke volumes and could he really let a child go back to foster parents who at the very least neglected him. "why dont you want to go home Riley?" Ben figured at least if he questioned the boy and found out more then he would be able to figure out what to do. Riley shook his head and looked at the floor "I need to know Riley, are you sure they wont miss you?"

Riley spoke quietly and kept his head down and his trained on the floor "they don't want me, they said I was a pain and that i had to stay out the way" he was sniffling by this point and Ben stepped forward and wrapped his arms around him and hugged him, trying to comfort him. He couldn't understand why Riley's foster parents would say such things to him. Riley winced and whimpered slightly as Ben hugged him. this caused Ben to pull back and look at Riley closely "Are you hurt Riley?"

Riley shook his head and refused to meet Ben's gaze. Ben frowned and said "I need to know if you are, you need to see a doctor if you are" Riley kept quiet and Ben stood and said "Ok come on" he took Riley's hand and walked him to his car. Riley looked at him as they reached his car and spoke "where are we going?"

Ben looked at him and said quietly "the hospital I want to make sure you're ok, its important that you get looked over Riley, if you are hurt it needs to be checked to make sure its not a bad injury Ok?"

Riley went slightly pale but nodded mutely. If Ben knew the truth maybe he could help him, maybe he could find a family that would love him and not hit him when he was clumsy or for making to much noise.

Ben sat in the hard hospital chair, it had taken a fair amount of persuasion to get Riley to get in the car and agree to going to the hospital and even now he wondered if he had done the right thing, he only hoped that he hadn't made things worse for Riley where his foster parents were concerned but when he had hugged him and Riley had whimpered had opened his eyes a bit. He had realised that he really couldn't send him home not when he suspected that they could be using their foster son as a punching bag, they were meant to protect him, he had been placed in their care, it wasn't right. He tapped his fingers against his leg and sighed, Riley had been in there for two hours, Ben hadn't been allowed in as he wasn't family, so he had to convince Riley that he would wait outside and that he would be fine, the doctors wanted to help him.

Ben dozed off slightly and awoke with a start when the quiet was shattered by the doors to paeds opening suddenly, he sat up and rubbed his hand over his face. He watched the doctor walk over and noted the grave look on his face, Ben's heart sank it didn't look good.

The doctor observed the young man that had bought the child in, he was young that was clear, he had stayed which meant that he cared for the child. When he had bought the child in he had told the doctors that he suspected the child may have been injured and unfortunately he was right, the child was injured and it wasn't accidental at all. "Mr Gates?" he questioned.

Ben nodded and stood up, he looked at the doctor and asked, "is he going to be ok? can I see him?"

the doctor looked at him and said "we have called the police, the injuries Riley has sustained are most defiantly not accidental, I cant tell you much but the films we took speak volumes, you were right to bring him in. The police need to speak with him first and they will decide whether or not you will be able to see him, we are going to keep him in for observation for a few days, he is underweight and that is worrying. I'm sorry I cant tell you more"

Ben nodded and said "I'll wait for the police then, thank you doctor" the doctor nodded and walked away. Ben sighed and sank back into the chair and pondered what to do, it was strange, he felt an over whelming need to protect Riley.

The police arrived less than half an hour later and Ben watched them disappear into the ward and waited for them to question him, he didn't have to wait long, they reappeared less than five minutes later and approached him.

"Mr Gates?" Ben nodded and thought that he had been called that more times tonight than in his entire life. "could you come with us while we question Riley, he is getting agitated and the doctors are worried he will hurt himself, he keeps asking for you" Ben shoot up and nodded.

Riley sat in the hospital bed, tears streaming down his face. he wanted Ben he made him feel safe, these doctors had stuck him with needles and taken x-rays of him and he was scared now. They had told him that his arm was fractured and that were gonna put it in a cast, it didn't hurt that much anymore and he had told them as much. the doctors had just given him that smile and said that it was going to help the bones finish mending properly. When the police had walked in to talk to him he had freaked out he knew that, they looked scary and when he had started asking for Ben and crying and trying to get out of the bed they had left the room. The doors opened and Riley looked up to see who it was and he smiled genuinely for the first time since he entered the hospital. "Ben I knew you wouldn't leave me, I don't wanna stay here no more please make them let me go please Ben"

Ben approached Riley and sat on the edge of his bed. "you need to stay here for a few days Riley, they need to look after you and make sure that you are really ok buddy, tell you what though, if they let me and you are good I will come and visit you everyday ok?"

Riley contemplated this and looked at the doctor and the police in the room.

"I think that can be arranged" the police officer stated and Riley nodded "Ok Ben I'll be good and stay"

"Ok buddy, I'm not leaving but you need to talk to the police ok they wont hurt you I promise"

Riley nodded and answered their questions, he told them about his foster parents and what they said and did, it was easy to do with Ben there with him, Ben wouldn't let anyone hurt him he had said so, he trusted Ben.

Ben left the room when Riley fell asleep, the police were there with social services and he wanted to talk to them, he had made a decision. he walked up to them and said, "I want to look after Riley, what do I need to do?"

the social worker looked at him for a while before she spoke "Riley has been through a lot are you sure you want to take on a child that is damaged like that Mr. Gates, he isn't a puppy you cant give him back if you get bored"

Ben frowned, "I wont want to give him back I want him, I know he has been through a lot and I want to help him, I cant explain it but I just do, please give me a chance, I have my own house, he would have his own room, space to play, a garden, he could be himself and I would look after him"

The social worker nodded and pulled out a set of forms, "fill these in and then we can talk about the next steps, maybe we can get a judge to rush a decision on this as a matter of emergency, in all honesty we don't have anywhere to place him at the moment so if your sure this could work out well for all concerned."

Ben nodded and took the forms, "thank you I will fill these in now, whats happening with the Franks?"

The social worker sighed "they have been arrested and have admitted everything, it seems that when the husband lost his job he took to drinking heavily and started to take it out on Riley, the wife pretended that it wasn't happening"

Ben nodded and looked disgusted "I will go and fill these out, how long will you be here?"

"I have to talk with the police and the doctors and have a meeting about all this so I should still be here when you are done"

Thats all for now, I will update again soon. I know that some of this may seem off but I really dont know much about fostering and adopting in the US as I am from the UK so I apologise if there are any inaccuracies (this is a fic so I guess I can make up my own rules some what :0) Please review)