Disclaimer: Nope, not mine

Disclaimer: Nope, not mine! Sorry I can't come up with an interesting one right now, there's a lot on my mind. But, hey. Who reads stories for the disclaimers anyway? But Avenged Sevenfold, the Anastasia movie, and Taco Bell are also not mine.

A/N: Surprise, surprise! Another update from yours truly! I didn't have any homework yesterday, and now I don't have any tonight, so I thought I would be nice and update since I got it written yesterday. I don't think any of you mind, though, do ya? Thank you to broadwaylover07, Charlotte Lewis, Miss Fenway, fantomfairy, Maira Blue, SgtGroganSG, Rose of Hope, Jedi'Pirate Jaeh, and Halo for your incredible reviews! I love them all! So, here we go to the next chapter, everyone!

Note: I'm warning you now that there is a seemingly incredibly random part toward the middle of this chapter, but there is a method to my madness. Enjoy anyway!

Chapter 8

Far away, long ago

Glowing dim as an ember

Things my heart used to know

Things it yearns to remember

And a song someone sings

Once upon a December…

"Don't worry, Abigail. Nothing's going to happen," Ben said in a reassuring way as he put on his heavy jacket.

Abigail crossed her arms in front of her defiantly. "How can I not? Every time you say that, something ends up happening," she replied. "And you're playing with fire this time, Ben. Not only are you dealing with a mad man, but you're also dealing with a man that has betrayed us, even tried to kill us. This is way too dangerous, Ben!"

"Please, Abigail," Ben muttered, gently grabbing hold of his wife's upper arms. "I have to do this. If I don't, Artem is threatening to kill the people I love along with so many innocent people. I'm not going to take that chance. And I'm not concerned about Ian. Believe it or not, there is someone that he cares about who is at risk also. I don't think he would let Nick be hurt. You're going to be here at home and Clara is safe at Riley's, so neither one of you are going to be in any danger. I promise you, everything is going to be all right."

"Does it have to be so late, though?" Abigail asked quietly.

Ben glanced down at his watch. The glowing screen showed that it was almost half past two in the morning. Artem had called around three the previous day, and the treasure hunter had planned for Ian to arrive at their estate in half an hour early so they could find the Russian in plenty of time. The English man would be there any minute.

"I wish it didn't have to be, but please don't worry, Abigail," Ben answered just as quietly. Then, he rested his hand on her cheek, using his thumb to wipe away a tear that had fallen from her eyes. "Please don't cry. Nothing's going to happen." Then, he pulled his wife closer to him as he kissed her.

Abigail returned the action, but the moment was soon interrupted by the sound of Ben's cell phone ringing. Ben sighed as he released her and pulled out the small phone, flipping it open and bringing it to his ear when he saw that it was Ian. "Hello?" he said while Abigail sniffed and wiped the rest of the tears from her eyes. "All right. I'll be there in a minute."

"He's here?" Abigail asked while her husband closed the phone again.

"Yeah," Ben answered as he put his cell phone back in his pocket. "But don't worry. We'll be back as soon as we can, okay?"

Abigail nodded, quickly kissing Ben's cheek before he opened the front door and rushed out into the night. She stood in the open doorway, shivering in the cold winter's chill as she watched her husband climb into the passenger seat of the black SUV that was in their driveway. And as the treasure hunter met her gaze before he shut the door, Abigail had the terrible feeling that something was going to drastically go wrong.

Xxxxxxxxxx

Ian waited until Ben had his seatbelt on before he turned the SUV around and began to drive down the long driveway away from the house. There was no doubt that the atmosphere was very awkward, but the silence that was held between the two men only added to it. The English man noticed that the treasure hunter's eyes remained on the golden-haired form of Abigail in the side mirror until she disappeared from view.

"That's the thing about wives," Ian commented in an attempt to break up the tension. "They worry about every little thing."

Ben looked at Ian with slight surprise. "Oh, and I assume you have one and would know all about that," he muttered, but then mentally slapped himself. There was already plenty of tension between him and Ian, and he didn't need to say something that was so… well, so characteristic of Riley.

But Ian didn't seem to be too affected by the comment. "No, not me. Too much trouble," he told him as he pulled out of the estate driveway and on to a main road. "I have had a couple of girlfriends, though, but I don't want to get into anything too serious. It's hard to find a girl who will accept my… well, let's just say it's hard to find someone who will tolerate what I do."

"I bet a lot of people wouldn't." Ben sighed again. He really had to stop talking like Riley before he got Ian really mad. He must have been spending too much time with his best friend since he was picking up his manner of speaking.

Ian recognized the sarcastic tone as well as he laughed a little. "You know, I'm surprised that you didn't bring Riley with you, Ben."

"I didn't want to put him at risk," Ben explained quietly. "But you don't have Powell or anyone else with you either."

"This is between Artem and I," Ian replied, placing his hand gently on the side of his head where the Russian man's gun had connected with his skull. The spot still throbbed in protest to his touch, and he lowered his hand again as he held back a sigh. Artem would pay.

Ben sighed softly as he returned to looking out of the window. If the SUV's clock was correct, they had only passed about ten minutes by having their little conversation. Twenty more until Artem was going to call.

"I don't know about you, but I don't want to spend another twenty minutes driving aimlessly around, not to mention wasting gas," Ian finally said, glancing at the clock. "We don't even know where this guy is. If I stop, do you want to grab something to eat or drink or something?"

"Sure," Ben replied. Surprisingly, food sounded appealing at almost three in the morning. "I'm pretty sure Taco Bell is open for twenty-four hours."

Ian smiled. "It's been forever since I've had Taco Bell, or anything from any kind of restaurant," he muttered. "Let's find one."

It didn't take the two men long to spot a glowing sign with the telltale red bell, and Ian pulled into the parking lot and shut off the car. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a five-dollar bill plus two singles. "Here. Go get two soft-shell tacos and a medium soda, it doesn't matter what kind as long as it isn't diet, and whatever you want."

Ben took the money the English man offered him though he would have gladly used his own and stepped out of the SUV. Quickly glancing back at the vehicle, he ran across the parking lot and entered the almost empty building.

Ian sighed as he leaned back in his seat, turning the key in the ignition a little farther so that he could listen to the radio. He smiled slightly when he noticed that one of Nick's favorite songs was playing.

Can't you help me as I'm starting to burn

Too many doses and I'm starting to get an attraction

My confidence is leaving me on my own

No one can save me and you know I don't want the attention

He remembered that his younger stepbrother had first started listening to the song when his mother died, which was when he was seventeen years old. Ian had been twenty-five and preparing to leave for the States with Shaw, his best friend that he had made in college, but they both had remained in England when he got a phone call from Nick telling him that he wasn't going to stay with the older man's father and was planning on running away. To stop him, Ian agreed to stay until Nick was at least done with school, and he allowed the teenager to live in the apartment that he was sharing with Shaw. It wasn't that his father and Nick hated each other; it was just that the two had never really connected and the seventeen-year-old was going through a difficult time.

Ian had stayed in England for five more years until Nick was done with college, and then all three of them traveled to America. There they went their separate ways and stayed in touch only through phone and email, and that was when Nick had met Dustin and Ian had begun to finance Ben's hunt for the Templar Treasure.

The English man was brought out of his thoughts when Ben opened the passenger door of the SUV and climbed in with a bag of tacos and two medium sodas. "I didn't know if you wanted any sauce or not," the treasure hunter said as he handed Ian his change, food, and drink, "so I grabbed some just in case."

Both Ian and Ben nearly forgot the real reason they were out so late at night as they ate their "fourth meal". Maybe it was because they hadn't gotten enough sleep the night before, but they laughed as they read the short, silly messages on the sauce packs and as they dared each other to try the different kinds of sauces, ranging from the mildest to the hottest. For these couple of carefree minutes, Ben was reminded of the days that he and Ian had been friends before the one treasure hunt that had broken that friendship.

But the laughter ended as soon as three in the morning arrived. Ben was in the middle of eating his bit of taco with the hottest of the sauces when his cell phone began to ring. He quickly pulled it out of his pocket and brought it to his ear when he saw that it was an unknown number. "Hello?" he answered it, tears brimming in his eyes due to the spiciness of the sauce.

"Do you have my jewels, Gates?"

Ben looked at Ian when he realized that it was Artem and mouthed the word "jewels" to him. The English man nodded behind him, and the treasure hunter saw that the bag was sitting on the backseat behind the driver's side. "Yes," he said into the phone.

"Good," Artem replied on the other end. "Now, I want you to follow my instructions very carefully, the most important being no police." The Russian man gave Ben instructions and an address before he abruptly hung up.

"That used to be an office supply warehouse," Ian muttered when Ben repeated the address to him. "It's abandoned now, though. It's also not too far from here."

"That's convenient," Ben said, taking a sip of his soda to try to cool his mouth. "I'm glad we stopped at Taco Bell."

The rest of the drive was silent as both Ben and Ian only concentrated on what was about to happen. They were to go in, give Artem the jewels, see if there was anything else he wanted so that he wouldn't unleash whatever he had in his possession, and get out. Simple. Ben desperately hoped that it truly was going to be that simple and not drastically go wrong as Abigail had predicted.

Soon, the abandoned warehouse came into sight, all of it's broken or empty windows strangely lit. Artem and his men were definitely there. Ian slowed the SUV to a stop on the gravel parking lot and shut it off. He then climbed out and grabbed the Romanov jewels out of the backseat, locking the vehicle when he saw that Ben was also out. Then, they both cautiously approached the giant building and knocked on the metal door.

It swung open with an eerie creak that reminded Ben of too many horror movies that he had seen, and he crashed into Ian as they both tried to enter at the same time. Ben finally squeezed through first, and he took tentative steps inside while Ian followed close behind.

Suddenly, two men with blond hair sprung out from behind them and grabbed their arms, searching them for any concealed weapons. They pulled a handgun out of Ian's coat and a pocketknife from Ben's pocket, and once they were sure that there weren't any more weapons, they shoved the two men to the hard floor. Ben looked up when he heard a sharp laugh and a stream of Russian. "Enough, Dimitri. Sacha."

The two blond-haired brothers backed away as two more stepped forward. The man with long, gray hair and one blind eye approached Ian, kicked him forcefully in the side, and took the bag of jewels from his hand. Ben watched as Ivan walked back to the man with black hair and deep green eyes. Artem.

"You do not have to remain on the floor, gentlemen," the head Russian man said, slowly walking forward with a limp in his left leg that Ian knew had been caused by Powell. A gun shone in his hand, which was trained on Ben and Ian and followed them as they slowly stood up. Then, Artem cast his green eyes to Ivan. "Check the jewels."

Ian and Ben watched as the older man dumped the jewels out on to a wooden table. Then, he picked up a hammer that was next to them and began to shatter the gems.

"What are you doing?" Ben cried, horrified. He wondered why Artem wanted the Romanov jewels so terribly just to destroy them. Not only was he destroying the gems themselves, but he was also destroying a fascinating part of history.

"Quiet, Gates," Artem told him, waving the gun carelessly in his direction. "We will soon find out if all of this work has paid off."

After a few more minutes of having to listen to the sickening sound of the priceless jewels being shattered, Ivan turned to face the rest of the group. "It is not here, Artem," he confirmed. "What we are searching for is still lost since it was not part of the set."

Artem's expression turned to one of deep annoyance. "Very well," he muttered as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small slip of paper as he turned his attention to Ben. "I have heard of your skills, Mr. Gates, of being able to find hidden items of great value. My men and I have been searching for a long time for such an item, but I am afraid we are stuck on this one clue."

Ben took the paper the Russian man offered him, but before he could unfold it to read what was written on it, the door burst open and FBI agents rushed in, all holding guns raised in front of them. Agent Hendricks and Matthew Sadusky led them.

"Derr'mo! I told you no police!" Artem snapped furiously.

"We didn't bring them!" Ben protested desperately in their defense. "Artem, I mean it!"

"The neighbors thought there was some suspicious behavior going on here, so they called us in," Hendricks explained, his gaze straying from Artem and resting on Ian. "You are all under arrest!"

"I don't think so," Artem spat fiercely in a whisper. Then, he aimed his gun at Ben and fired.

Xxxxxxxxxx

It was almost as though time was moving in slow motion. Ben's heart leapt frantically, knowing that the bullet was coming directly at him. He was going to die. Why did Abigail always have to be right? Now, he was never going to see her again…

Suddenly, the treasure hunter was brought out of his pensive thoughts as he felt the force of someone pulling his arm down as he hit the concrete floor. The bullet flew over his head harmlessly, scattering the agents and digging into the wall behind him. Ben looked to his left at who had pulled him out of harm's way, surprise etched across his face.

"Ian, why did you-!"

"The last thing we need is a murder in this situation," Ian muttered in explanation, cutting off the other man.

But no matter what his excuse was, he had saved Ben's life.

Matthew led a group of agents after the four retreating Russians since Hendricks had claimed he had other matters to attend to, Artem being supported by Dimitri and Sacha because of the bullet still lodged in his ankle. Ivan looked over his shoulder and saw that they were being pursued, and he raised his gun. The younger Sadusky knew that he didn't have time to avoid the shot like he had been able to when the same man had kidnapped his brother, and the gun dropped from his hands as he collapsed to his knees on the hard floor, grasping his shoulder tightly where the bullet had embedded itself into his body as his breath came in gasps.

"Matt!" Ben cried with worry while the rest of the agents that had been with him continued to run after the running men. But before he could do anything to help him, more agents roughly pulled him and Ian off the floor, and he found himself facing Agent Hendricks.

"Long time no see, Howe," the head agent said with an edge to his tone while Ian smirked coldly back. "We've kept your cell warm for you." Then, he turned his attention to Ben. "As for you, Gates, I don't know what you think you're doing in the company of such criminals, but I have to do my job. You are both under arrest."

A/N: How much are all of you willing to bet that Agent Sadusky isn't going to be a happy guy? Lol! If his son being shot wasn't enough, Hendricks is being a big jerk. But anyway, you'll have to find out his reaction with my next update. And I hope you liked the Taco Bell part! But seriously, if you were in Ian's position, would you really want to drive around randomly and waste all that gas, especially if you don't know where you were supposed to be going? Exactly. Hence the random moment at Taco Bell. Okay, enough of my rambling. Thanks for reading! Your reviews are much appreciated. Thank you!