Here's chapter 3, sorry it took so long to get it up, enjoy!

Chapter 3:

Lydia sat back in her seat as the plane taxied down the runway, it was about to take off so she turned her phone off, ignoring a text from Dylan. As the plane lifted off the ground she noticed Riley squeezing his eyes shut and gripping the armrests like his life depended on it.

"Riley, are you okay?"

Her friend cracked an eye open and then spoke quietly. "I don't fly well."

Memories of their flight to and from the arctic a few years before came back; she hadn't paid much attention to Riley to be honest. Part of it was because she had been doing schoolwork on the plane and because she hadn't really been included in the treasure hunt at that point, she was just the kid who was tagging along.

"It's okay Riley," Lydia said, without thinking, she reached over and took his hand, he squeezed it as the plane continued to gain altitude. The friends were silent as the plane finally leveled out, Riley let go of his death grip on Lydia's hand but neither of them moved their hands. Riley however kept his eyes closed and took deep breaths as he tried to keep calm.

Ben cleared his throat quietly and Lydia looked to her father, he nodded towards her and Riley's hands an open question on his face, she shook her head, frowning and mouthed we're just friends. Ben shrugged and went back to his book.

Lydia tried not to think too much about this, she was just holding a friends hand, so why did it feel so bad? Why did it feel like she was cheating on Dylan? She was just holding Riley's hand, he was a friend, nothing more. But if he was nothing more than a friend why did it feel so good to have his hand in hers?

Riley finally opened his eyes and she could feel rather than see him glancing towards her. "You seem nervous Lydia," he stated.

"This is the first time I've ever been really part of the treasure hunt." Lydia said, there was no way she was telling Riley that holding his hand made her nervous.

"What do you mean? You were there last time," Riley said. "I always saw you as part of our first treasure hunt."

"Really?" Lydia was surprised. "I only saw myself as part of the treasure hunt when we started to plan to-" she paused and looked around, she'd been about to say 'steal the Declaration', but she figured saying that in a plane full of Americans probably wouldn't be the best idea. "Obtain the Declaration." She finally used words that wouldn't scare the Federal Marshall she'd seen a few rows ahead of her. "Before I felt like I was just the kid who was tagging along."

"Age-wise you might have been a kid, but you have always been mature for your age, I always saw you as one of the treasure hunters, even before we started to make plans to get the Declaration." Riley said.

Lydia tried not to blush, "Thank you Riley," she said. "So, if you don't mind my asking why you do have problems flying?" She changed the subject.

"I didn't always; I haven't flown well since 9/11." Riley's tone was quiet. "I-ahh was flying on 9/11 and when the news of the attack spread, our plane had to make an emergency landing halfway to our destination. No one was hurt, it was just..." he trailed off.

"Scary?" Lydia supplied a word.

Riley nodded. "Yeah."

Ben came back up the aisle and sat in his seat again. Lydia hadn't even noticed that her father had gotten up to go to the bathroom. "Lydia, I have a question for you." Ben spoke as he re-buckled his seatbelt.

"Yeah?" Lydia answered her father.

"Did you know Dylan was applying for a gun permit?" Ben asked. Without realizing it, Lydia and Riley pulled their hands away when Ben said Dylan's name.

"No I didn't know that, how did you know?" Lydia asked.

"Sadusky called, wanted to make sure he knew what kind of boy my daughter's dating."

"It's not like Dylan's going to do anything stupid with it." Lydia stuck up for her boyfriend, but then it registered, "Dad did you ask Sadusky to do a background check on Dylan?" She asked.

Ben shook his head but Lydia didn't believe him, whipping out her cell phone, she sent quick text to Peter's personal cell number. Did my dad ask you to do a background check on my boyfriend?

The responding text was short. No, Molly asked me.

My mother? Now Lydia was confused. Mom had seemed to like Dylan from what Lydia had seemed to gather, why hadn't her mom said anything? And when had Peter started calling her mother Molly, why not Ms. Prewitt?

Yes, your mother, last I checked her name was Molly. Lydia could almost hear the sarcasm in Peter's tone.

But why would you call her by her first name, why not Ms. Prewitt? Lydia responded, after half an hour of waiting she realized Peter wasn't going to reply, at least not anytime soon. "Hey Riley, how much you wanna bet that Sadusky and my mom are dating?"

"How much you wanna bet that Sadusky and your mom are dating and you get to be the maid of honor at their wedding?" Riley asked, it took Lydia a moment to realize what Riley was doing, he thought she was reviving an old game they used to play on their previous treasure hunt.

"I mean a real bet, like 10 bucks." she explained.

"I'll take it." Ben spoke up, "I think they're dating."

Riley shook his head, "They're not dating."

Lydia smirked, "wanna bet?"

"Sure." Riley said, "And if you get to be maid of honor, I'll add another 10 to the bet."

"Deal." They shook on it and Lydia pulled her book out and started reading.

The transcontinental flight seemed oddly brief. Airport customs in Paris, however, did not, and Ben handed Lydia her key as soon as they finally entered the hotel lobby.

"We should all get straight to bed," he said. "We'll need to be up early."

"What time should I meet you down here?" Lydia asked. She realized that once again they were separating the men and the women's sleeping arrangements during the treasure hunt, just like they'd done the last time. The only thing missing now was Abigail. Lydia shook her head and forced herself to pay attention to her dad's response. "Meet me at the front desk at about 8:30."

Lydia nodded and they went to their separate rooms. She dropped her luggage by the bed and flopped onto it. Why had she thought that Abby was missing? Abigail had hurt her Dad, she'd kicked him out of his own house and was being snotty about the furniture and antiques that the two of them were splitting.

You miss her because she was a good friend and you liked the fact that your dad had someone besides you. For some reason, her conscience sounded a lot like Abigail and that really pissed her off. Flipping her phone open she texted the woman before she began to think straight. I've been snotty about you and Dad breaking up, I don't know if I'm sorry about it or not, I do miss you though. She turned the phone off, used the in-room phone to schedule a wake-up call, and then collapsed back into bed.


The next morning, she woke well before the wakeup call and took a quick shower. Although she had brought her own toiletries, she grabbed the ones from the hotel and dropped them in her bag. You never knew when you might need an extra one. She quickly got dressed for the day and went down to the lobby. It was still well before eight thirty but Riley was there already, eating a donut, a box next to him.

"Hey," Lydia dropped her bag and sat next to him, plopping the box of donuts onto her lap. Since he hadn't offered her one, she resisted the urge to grab one and she turned to Riley who was giving her an odd look.

"What?" Lydia asked, "You've been giving me weird looks since last week."

"Nothing." Riley said, "Just something Ben and I talked about last night."

"Oh great, what did my dad say about me now?"

"He had a couple of comments about the hand holding thing on the flight."

Lydia shrugged, hoping Riley couldn't see the blush on her cheeks. "I felt that you needed a friend since you were going through a stressful situation."

"I told him that you were probably thinking along those lines, and that's what I felt it had been, but Ben was all like…" He deepened his voice as he mimicked Ben. "'She's my daughter and I like you better than I like Dylan and…"

"What's wrong with Dylan?" Lydia asked aloud but Riley kept speaking.

"….if they ever break up feel free to ask her out, but she won't cheat on Dylan so don't try anything beforehand."

"What?" Lydia's voice rose and she attracted the attention of several patrons. She saw this and lowered her voice as she leaned closer to Riley. "What did you say?"

"I told him I wouldn't ask you out when you're in a relationship, and I wasn't even sure if you were interested. He just gave me a weird look and went into the bathroom."

"What's wrong with Dylan?" Lydia asked again.

Riley shrugged and then gestured to the donuts, "You can have one you know. I can almost see your drool."

Lydia grinned and opened the box. "What kinds did you get?"

"They all have some sort of chocolate in or on them." Riley said, "The one with red sprinkles on top has strawberry filling. That's your favorite, right?"

Lydia nodded and grabbed it; she took a bite and nearly swooned from how rich and delicious it was. "If all other food is half as good as this donut, I may move to Paris just for the food." Lydia said, not caring that she was still chewing.

Riley laughed, "I thought you said once that you'd never move from the Maryland, Virginia, DC area."

Lydia paused; Riley remembered something she'd said during the first treasure hunt? "Well, I may come up here for a month or so every year, once I've got a job and I can afford it."

Lydia could feel Riley's eyes on her again and her mind wandered back to what her friend had said earlier. "You said you wouldn't ask me out…" she swallowed now and her voice became clearer. "When I'm in a relationship, does that mean you'd ask me out if I wasn't dating Dylan?"

There was a long pause, "I don't know." Riley said slowly. They locked eyes and Lydia swallowed a little nervously. "Back during the first treasure hunt..." Lydia nodded slowly to show she was paying attention as Riley kept speaking, "If we had met, randomly and I didn't know you; I would have asked for your number. Then, after we had both gone home I wouldn't have been able to wait a full day before calling you up and asking you to see a movie, or get dinner or dessert, or... any other kind of fun date…"

"Ice skating." Lydia responded without thinking.

"Or to go ice skating," Riley added, and he continued even more slowly. "I don't know what would have happened after the first date, but I know, I would have asked you." There was a pause. "And then I would have been labeled as a pedophile because of the difference in our ages."

He looked away with an awkward cough.

Lydia hesitated, "What about now?" The other half of the donut in her hand was forgotten. Riley turned to Lydia but before he could say something, Ben grabbed the box of donuts from Lydia, breaking the moment.

"We need to get to the Statue, let's go." His tone was almost business like. Lydia got up and followed her dad and Riley followed the two of them, his eyes on the back of Lydia's head. When he spoke, his voice was a whisper.

"Now you've got Dylan."


Although Lydia was the only one who spoke French, they managed to find the statue with few complications and Riley was soon flying his helicopter around the statue, looking for a clue.

"This is like, impossible, what you're doing." Ben sounded impressed as he looked at the screen on the handset Riley was using to the helicopter circling the Statue.

"I'm glad you're enjoying it." Riley said, the helicopter circled the statue again, only closer this time.

"Laboulaye had to leave a clue somewhere on here. Move in on the torch." Lydia directed, she pointed to the torch as the helicopter passed it and she could see it on the screen.

"Let me get there. This isn't as easy as it looks."

As she watched Riley struggle with the controls, Lydia spoke again. "I can tell, take your time."

Although they were in a French speaking country, it still surprised Lydia when someone spoke French behind her. Both she and Ben turned to find a police officer.

"Excuse me, officer. May I help you?" Lydia asked in French, her accent wasn't the best but she knew her French was understandable.

"You are a foreigner?" The police officer asked, also in French.

"Yes, my father, friend and I are Americans." Lydia said. "Is there a problem?"

"Of course you see no problem in disturbing everyone's pleasant morning with your buzzing there."

Lydia turned partway as the officer gestured to Riley's helicopter. "I am so sorry about that, we are tourists and we wanted to get some up close pictures of the statue, we have one just like it in America and we thought it wonderful that there is one here in France as well." Lydia said. The police officer looked unimpressed so she spoke again. "Do you know how much our constitution was influenced by Montesquieu?"

"You know Montesquieu?" This seemed to please him.

"Yes, I do! I love learning about your wonderful country and I realized as I was learning about him that he influenced our constitution." Lydia said, "A government should be set up so that..." unconsciously, she switched to English, as the other police officer joined her, also in English.

"...no man need be afraid of another."

"I got it, I got it." Riley said, running up to the group. "Lydia, we'll need you to translate."

Lydia squinted at the screen, "Um... "Across the sea these twins stand determined..." She knew that wasn't right so she showed the screen to the police officer who helped her come up with the right word.

"Resolute." The officer said.

"Oh Resolute fits much better there." Lydia said quietly before she began to translate the rest of it. "...to preserve what we are looking for. Laboulaye, 1876."

"It's a clue." Riley realized.

"These twins stand resolute." Ben began, already trying to come up with the answer to the clue. "Let's see. Resolute twins. Resolute. Resolute. And then twins. Siamese twins? Siam? Trade routes between France and Thailand?" Lydia raised an eyebrow at that, trade routes seemed a little far fetched. Ben had apparently realized the same thing. "That's ridiculous." Then he thought of something, "HMS Resolute."

"What's that?" Riley asked.

"A British ship that got lost in the Arctic in the 1800s." Ben responded.

"What is it with treasures and ships?" Lydia asked no one in particular.

"It was salvaged by American whalers, and then Congress sent it back to England. When the ship was finally retired, Queen Victoria had two desks made from its timbers. Voilà. Resolute twins."

"And where are those desks now?" The police officer asked.

"The closest one is in London." He turned to Riley. "Riley, how fast can we get to Buckingham Palace?"

"Don't know. Why don't you ask your new best friend?" Riley asked, gesturing to the officer.

The police officer suddenly turned to his partner and spoke in French, he spoke so quickly that Lydia couldn't understand what he was saying. Then the officer spoke in English to the group of Americans. "He's going to call you a cab." Then he faced Riley. "Nice helicopter. Is that yours?"

"Yes, actually. It is." Riley said, clearly confused about the questioning.

"OK, so you get the ticket." The officer began to write one out.

Riley laughed stiffly, "Great."


Later that day, after checking into a London hotel Riley had something pulled up onto his computer and was pointing. "So the queen's office is here. The elevator shaft gets you close, but the only direct access is through security."

"That should be exciting." Lydia said sarcastically.

"We got to get you in that room." Riley said to Ben as his cell phone rang.

"Hi, Dad." Ben said, he moved to another part of the hotel room.

Lydia pointed at something on the screen. "What's that?" She asked, Riley started to explain but midway through the explanation, Ben said something that made them both turn.

"Call the police. I'm coming home." Ben suddenly sounded urgent. Lydia and Riley both looked up, what was going on? "OK. We're in London. We're going to Buckingham Palace. We have an appointment with the curator tomorrow afternoon." There was a long pause. "Bye." Lydia looked back around at her father as Ben hung up. "Someone else is after the treasure."

"Of course someone else is after the treasure." Riley's wasn't surprised. "It's the axiom of treasure hunting."

"We have to hurry and see that desk." Ben's voice was firm.


The next day, Lydia, Ben and Riley went to Buckingham Palace, although they had an appointment to see the curator, Ben had another plan. Lydia thought it was either the smartest or stupidest idea her father had ever had. The group separated and Lydia and Ben quickly got ready for their show. After putting in her ear wig, Lydia sprayed some of the alcohol on her like it was perfume. Her nose wrinkled in disgust. It smelled horrible! She slipped the spray bottle back into her purse and turned to survey the Palace. Her mouth dropped open as she watched Abigail climb the steps towards them.

"Ben, Lydia." She greeted.

"Abigail." Lydia and Ben spoke as one. Riley could hear them through their ear wigs and spoke.

"What's she doing here?"

"What're you doing?"

"Your dad called me. Said your next clue was here." Abigail told the two of them, she smiled at Lydia and then at Ben.

"She's really there?" Riley spoke again.

"Ben... I want to help."

"That's very nice, but it's a bad time right now."

"Dude, Dad..." Lydia started. No matter what had happened between the two of them, there was no need for her Dad to be rude to Abigail, the woman had just taken what was probably a red-eye flight to London to help.

"A bad time, right now?" Abigail was clearly hurt by what Ben had said.

Ben nodded, it seemed he didn't care that Abigail was hurt. "It's a bad time."

Abigail's eyes widened and she looked taken back. "OK, I just flew all the way to London to offer my help..."

"Remember the plan." Riley spoke in Lydia's ear.

"And you don't need it?" As mad as Lydia was at Abigail she could tell the woman was clearly hurt and she felt the need to stick up for the woman.

"Dad, we might be able to use her help…" Lydia said. "She did just fly partway around the world."

"You're both making a scene."

"I... I'm not making a scene right now." Abigail got mad.

Riley said something but Lydia couldn't understand him as she was paying more attention to Abigail. "I'm not making a scene either, I'm just saying that…" Lydia started.

"Well then, fine!" Ben started yelling and Lydia tried not to blush too deeply, she had to play this really well. "If that's what you want, let's have it out now!" He paused for a moment and then looked shocked, as if just realizing something. "Oh let me guess? It's the wrong time. It's the wrong place. I'm wrong again! Wrong about us, wrong about Thomas Gates, wrong that you'd like the Queen Anne chair!"

"You're wrong to assume I'd like the chair." Abigail said, while Lydia could not tell that her father was starting to make a scene on purpose, Abigail clearly couldn't and she fell for the hook.

"You see?" Ben suddenly went down a flight of stairs and grabbed somebody by the shoulders. "Everybody, listen to this. This is more interesting than that. She thinks that even when I'm right, I'm wrong! Isn't that right? Abigail, just because I answer a question quickly doesn't make it wrong."

"Not if the answer's something we need to figure out as a couple, because that's what couples do!"

"Dad, I changed my mind, if you were this rude to her, I think she was right to have kicked you out." Lydia said as an English policeman came up to their group.

"Sir, you and your missis, take it outside."

"Now look what you've done." Ben immediately laid the blame down on Abigail who looked shocked and scoffed in disbelief. "You've brought the little bobbies down on us!" He turned to the Bobbie, defiance written into his features and tone. "You take the missis outside. I'm staying right here."

"Dad!" If Lydia hadn't known any better, she would have thought that her Dad really was drunk. He suddenly got on the banister and slid down it a little bit. Another Policeman came up to them, and halted Ben's slide down the stairs.

"Good afternoon, sir." He said, unsmiling.

Ben grinned back and spoke in an English Accent as he responded. "Hello."

"Been drinking, have we?"

"Just a nip. Popped down to the pub for a pint! Bit of all right! Going to arrest a man for that? Going to detain a blighter for enjoying his whiskey?" Ben continued to use the English accent. Abigail suddenly turned to Lydia and gestured to one of her ears 'Ear wigs?' she mouthed. Lydia nodded and then turned back to her dad as he continued to speak. "Bangers and mash. Bubbles and squeak. Smoked eel pie."

"That's it! Dismount the banister!" The Officers pulled Lydia's dad off of the banister and began to lead him away.

"No!" Lydia said, she knew if she made enough noise the English officers would take her with them, and she had to stay with her dad.

"I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts! Here they are, standing in a row! Small ones, big ones, some as big as your head!" Ben started singing loudly as police officers guided both Lydia and Abigail to another part of the palace. "What's wrong with being right?" Ben suddenly changed the subject back to his and Abigail's' previous fight.

"Nothing. You should try it sometime." Abigail retorted.

"You're saying that I'm never right?" Ben asked, they went through a metal detector and the Bobbies led them down another hallway, Lydia tried not to feel like a third wheel as Abigail and her dad kept fighting.

"I did not say that."

"Hoo! So I'm wrong again." Ben drawing out the first word.

"Now, see, there you are correct."

"Capital. Topper." Ben clearly thought he'd get some mileage out of the English accent.

"You know, your mother told me about you." Abigail said. They continued to argue as the Bobbies guided them into a caged in room and locked the door. Without meaning to, both Lydia and Abigail folded their arms across their chests, in a defensive posture.

"No! No, no, man." Ben said, "Don't leave me in here! These women, they'll eat me alive!" He stopped yelling as the police officer left the three of them and went back out front.

"What is going on?" Abigail looked between Ben and Lydia, clearly hoping for an explanation.

"I'm sorry for getting you roped into this, but you were excellent back there." Ben sounded impressed.

"Thank you. So were you." Abigail said, making Lydia feel more like a third wheel as she and Ben had sounded like they were trying to flirt with the other one.

"When did you figure out it was a fake argument?" Ben asked, still sounding impressed.

"When'd you figure out I was arguing during the fake argument?" Abigail asked.

"The middle, the part where "I always assume I'm right." Ben spoke to Riley. "Riley get us out of here." Then he turned back to the conversation with Abigail. "Which I don't get, If I'm right, after I assume I'm right, then I'm correct."

"When you get to a conclusion without asking," Abigail sounded like a mother explaining something to a petulant child. "And you happen to be right, you got lucky."

Ben paused, "I get lucky a lot." He said.

"So where does that leave me, Ben?" Lydia realized that Abigail and Ben had had this argument several times before and she began to wonder if her anger at Abigail had been misdirected.

"Want to know why I'm here?" Ben asked, changing the subject, which Lydia thought was a little unfair.

"Uh-huh." Abigail said,

"I think there may be a clue on the Resolute desk in the queen's study, does that help?"

"I don't understand why it's difficult for you to include others in your decisions." Abigail changed the subject right back to their earlier argument. "Just because you may know what my answer is going to be, it doesn't mean you don't have to ask me."

Riley had remained pretty silent during the whole exchange but he now spoke. "Door number one, opening." There was a buzzing sound and Ben opened the door, he blocked Abigail's path out the door but let Lydia slide through.

"OK. Let me try this out." Ben said, he turned and looked at Abigail, "Abigail, would you like to come with me, please?"

"Yes. Thank you." Abigail said, she seemed pleased that Ben had asked her.

"Ridiculous. You're staying. It's too dangerous." Ben tried to close the door behind him but Abigail managed to keep a hold of it and she came through as Lydia objected

"I'm going, so it's not too dangerous for me but it's dangerous for her?"

"Oh, I am so coming." Abigail said, she looped an arm through Lydia's and the two of them walked down the hall behind Ben.

"Door number two Riley." Ben said.

"Door two, coming up." Lydia could hear Riley's voice in her ear.

Ben threw his arm across Abigail's middle as he blocked her from going through the door. "You're not coming." He ordered Abigail.

"Call security." Abigail managed to get through the doorway anyway.

"You should be near a service elevator." Riley said, Ben grabbed a vase of flowers and then began looking for the service elevator.

"What are you doing? Are those for the queen?" Abigail asked, both she and Lydia also looked for the service elevator.

"Queen's not here. There's no flag flying. Queen's at Windsor." They finally found the elevator and Lydia quickly climbed in, thankful that she was so short; she curled up and tried not to take up too much room as Ben slid in along with the flowers. As he tried to close the service elevator however, Abigail stopped it, glaring at him.

"What are you doing?"

"To see the desk, without you."

"No. Don't let her go." Riley spoke, Lydia finally got so fed up with the man she took her ear wig out and stuck it in her pocket.

"Abigail..." Ben said, he sounded like he was trying to gather some patience, but before he could launch into a lecture about the perils of treasure hunting, there was a click and, Lydia, Ben and Abigail all turned, worried about what the sound was.

"All right, All right." Ben relented, "Get in. Get in. Get in!" Abigail slipped in, and it suddenly got very cramped. Ben handed Abigail the flowers and spoke again. "Hold this." He leaned out of the service elevator and Lydia could hear something being smacked and then the elevator doors closed and they began to ascend.

"Will you give me the flowers back, please?" Ben reached for the flowers and Abigail gave them back, he peeked at Abigail through the flowers, suddenly looking like the skunk from Bambi.

"What?" Abigail asked.

"You're wearing the perfume I bought you."

"So?" Lydia could tell that Abigail was flattered that Ben had noticed, now that Lydia thought of it, the older woman had probably used the perfume today on purpose.

"So I think it smells kind of pretty."

"It's the flowers, Ben." Abigail said, shaking her head slightly.

"No, it's not." Ben batted his eyes at Abigail and the woman blushed.

Lydia wished she was invisible, this was getting uncomfortable. The service elevator jolted as it reached the destination and they all got out.


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