Disclaimer: I do not own National Treasure or any of the characters. I only own Arabella.

Chapter Nine: Philadelphia

" What?" Ben asked. The look on his face was a mixture of unhappiness, and blank emotion (if that's even possible, and if it wasn't, Ben just made it possible).

" I don't have them." Patrick repeated. Riley stared at him, mouth agape. Abigail gripped the table, staring down at the Declaration and I shook my head, crossing my arms. Ben flopped into a chair, and pulled his right glove off, using his teeth. He cleared his throat as he removed the other glove.

" Where are they?" He asked.

" I donated them to the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia." Patrick told us. I sighed.

" Well, at least they're in a proper and respectful place…" I muttered.

" Time to go." Ben said standing. He walked over to grab his suit coat, which was draped over a small table.

" I still can't believe that all this time, no one knew what was on the back." Abigail said. Patrick gave her a curious look and walked up to the table.

" The back of what?" He asked, beginning to pick up the Declaration.

" Wh- AH-AH-AH!" Riley yelled, reaching towards Patrick, hoping to stop him.

" NO!" Ben and I shouted, but it was too late. Patrick had picked up the Declaration, and saw what exactly this mystery document was.

" Oh my God! Oh my God!" He said in shock, a look of horror crossing his face.

" I know." Ben said.

" Oh my God! What have you done? This is the-"

" I know!" Ben said again.

" This is the Declaration of Independence!" He stated.

" We know." I said.

" Yes, and it's very delicate." Abigail said, gently taking it from Patrick's shaking hands.

" You stole it?" Patrick half stated, half questioned. Riley quickly pointed to Ben, trying to blame him, when we all knew fully well that Riley was one third of the master mind- Ben and I were the other two thirds.

" I want to explain, but I don't have time." Ben said walking towards Patrick. " It was necessary. You saw the cipher!"

" And that will lead to anther clue, and that will lead to another clue!" Patrick said in exasperation. " There is no treasure. I wasted twenty years of my life, and now you've destroyed yours! And your friends'! And you've pulled me into all of this."

" We can't have that." Ben said. He turned to Riley. " Can I see that duct tape you brought?" Riley held up the large roll of duct tape and raised an eyebrow.

" Why, what are we gonna do?" He asked Ben. Ben led Patrick to the living room.

" Sit down, Dad. Make yourself comfortable." Ben said. Patrick gave him a look as he sat in a chair in front of the TV. " Look, I'm sorry for what I'm about to do." Ben snatched the duct tape from Riley and swiftly began to wrap tape around Patrick's wrists and ankles.

" Oh my God… Really?" Abigail muttered. Patrick sighed and let Ben continue to secure him to the chair.

" Yes, really, this way he can't call the cops. And anyways, the FBI will probably show up here some time soon, they'll let him out." Ben said he grabbed the TV remote and handed it to Patrick, and I grabbed Patrick's soda and gave it to him. Ben began to wind the duct tape comfortably around his chest and back of the chair, but tight enough to keep him in place.

" I'm sorry Patrick, but he's kinda right." I said. Patrick sighed.

" At least I can move my wrists a bit…" He muttered. I gave him a small smile before giving him one last hug.

" I'm sorry again, Dad." Ben said. He said nothing and switched the TV on. With one last sigh, we all left Patrick's house.

" We can't take my van." Riley said stopping us.

" Oh, God, you're right. They probably got a description off of some witness of our car chase. And not to mention security cameras and crap like that." I said.

" Yeah. So. We'll need a car." Riley said.

" We can take my Dad's." Ben said gesturing to the car in the driveway.

" They keys-" Abigail began.

" He leaves them under the sun visor. He's forgetful." Ben explained, walking over to the car. I shrugged and followed, jumping into the back seat. Abigail got into the passenger's side and Ben got into the driver's seat. Riley slid into the back next to me and leaned back against the seat in a relaxed position. He pulled his glasses off, putting them in his coat pocket, crossing his arms and shutting his eyes.

" Maybe we can actually get some sleep…" Riley muttered.

" We'll find some motel or something to spend the night in." Ben said.

" If I fall asleep in the car, let me stay there." Riley muttered as Ben pulled out onto the road. After a few minutes we pulled onto the high way.

" Your Dad's got a sweet ride." Riley said after a few moments of silence. I snickered. Only Riley would say something like that- the car was an old Cadillac that smelled like an old car, but ran surprisingly well.

" I think we should change clothes. We look, uh… conspicuous, don't you think?" Ben asked.

" Good idea, because there is no way I am wearing this in Philadelphia." I said gesturing to my heels, gown and Riley's sweat shirt (which was comfy).

" I'd love to go shopping too, but we have no money." Riley pointed out, his eyes still closed.

" Here, I took this from his house." Ben said, handing Abigail a familiar book. It was Patrick's first addition of Common Sense, and when Ben and I were in high school, we'd steal a few dollars from it to go buy snacks and drinks from the local store. " He usually tucks a few hundred dollars between those pages."

" Common Sense, how appropriate!" Abigail said, gently opening the weathered book and carefully shaking it, watching the money fall onto her lap.

" When do we get there? I'm hungry." Riley stated. After another second he added, " This car smells weird." I couldn't help but laugh loudly at that statement. Ben began to laugh as well and I shook my head.

" Gotta love him." I said smiling and leaning back into my seat, resting my head against the cold glass of the window. I stared at the lampposts, cars, and night sky flash by. I felt my eyelids slowly get heavier and I yawned. I heard Riley mutter something about the car smelling funnier than his van, and I smiled, glancing over at him.

He appeared to be almost asleep, his eyes closed, arms crossed, reclining himself as much as he could in the back seat beside me. I shut my eyes and thought about how cute Riley looked- with his glasses on, when he was confused and he stared into space, mouth hanging open, and when he was almost asleep, muttering about Patrick's car. I felt my cheeks heat up a bit, knowing a blush was now in place on my face. I shook my head in the slightest. I shouldn't be blushing unless I like him… but do I like him? I felt myself relax further into oncoming sleep, and I drifted off, with one last thought:

I had a major crush on Riley Poole.

OOOO

I felt myself come into that state of sleep where your eyes are still closed, but your aware of things around you. I could feel warm sunlight on my face, and I felt myself pressed into something warm and comfortable. I felt myself smiling a bit, and I snuggled into whatever I was snuggling into. I felt whatever it was shift a bit and realized something was wrapped around me. I realized that whatever I was resting against was alive. I heard a car door open quietly. After a moment, I slowly opened my eyes, and blinked at the sunlight shinning in my eyes. I turned my head towards where I heard the car door open and saw Ben smiling at me from the drivers seat.

" Sleep well?" He asked.

" Yeah… but… what was I sleeping on…?" I asked. I looked over at what I was leaning on and discovered it wasn't a what it was a who. I was snuggled into Riley. He was asleep, leaning against the seat with his arms wrapped around me and my head was pressed against his chest. I felt my face heat up, and I was pretty sure the blush on my cheeks was bright red.

" O-oh…" I said quietly, staring up at Riley's (adorable) sleeping face. I looked back over at Ben, who happened to now be grinning. " Why are you grinning? It's getting kinda weird."

" No reason." Ben said smirking.

" Is there any way you can wake him up? I don't think he'll let me go till he wakes up." I said wiggling in Riley's arms.

" Yeah, just cover your ears." He said. I wiggled my hands from Riley's chest and pressed them against my ears. " RILEY WAKE UP!" Ben shouted. Riley jumped and sat up, his arms still around me.

" Whoa! Whoa! What? What! Is Ian trying to kill us again!" Riley asked in a frenzy.

" No. Just thought I'd wake you up. We're heading into the city now. You fell asleep in the car, so I let you sleep just like you asked." Ben said before turning to start the car, just as Abigail got into the car, smiling at us. Riley blinked a few times before he looked down at me.

" Good morning." I said.

" Oh… hey… Oh!" He said realizing how we were sitting, and he removed his arms from around my waist. I sat up, stretching, and yawning. " I'm so sorry!" Riley said, a look of apology on his face.

" It's fine. Slightly awkward, but fine. You're a comfy pillow by the way." I mentioned, smiling slightly, and looking out the window as Ben pulled onto the highway again, heading towards Philadelphia. I glanced at Riley, who was smiling a bit.

" Okay, guys, here's how I think this should go today. Abigail, Arabella and I are going to go buy clothes, and Riley, I want you to go ahead and start work on the message from the Silence Dogood letters." Ben said. Riley sighed.

" Hey, what about you two go shopping, and then Riley and I go shopping some where else and I go help him? He might not remember how to decode the cipher." I said.

" Good idea." Ben said. I smiled a bit and held out my hand.

" Give me some money then." I said. Riley laughed. Ben rolled his eyes and dug some money out of his pocket and gave it to me. " Thank you, Ben!" I said.

Once we were in the city, Ben dropped Riley and I off at a mall, and drove off, trying to find a place to park, and another place to shop.

Riley and I headed into the mall, which was fairly crowded, seeing as it was somewhere around eleven. We walked into a store and I tried to find one outfit that would work, so I wouldn't have to try on a pile of clothes. I again felt my self-confidence problems arise again. I never enjoyed looking for clothes, because I never thought that even the nice things I bought looked good on me. Since I was usually made fun of because I wasn't as thin as everyone else, all those words came to me when I shopped.

I shut my eyes and sighed. I tried to push the thoughts away and I began to look through the racks of shirts and jeans. I finally managed to find a dark grey v-neck t-shirt that had a faded day of the dead skull on it, with small butterflies surrounding it, as well as a blue bird and some flowers. I searched through a few racks of jeans and found only two pairs of jeans in my size, which is never the best feeling in the world.

" I'm going to go try these on. Could you try and find me some sneakers or something?" I asked Riley. He nodded.

" Sure thing! Those heels look kinda painful." He said looking down at my feet, which were tinged red from the strain on them.

" They are." I said heading to the changing room. Thankfully the shirt fit- it was form fitting (which did bother me slightly), but only one of the pairs of jeans fit- a pair of dark blue skinny jeans. I sighed, sitting down on the stool in the changing room. I yanked the tags off the clothes and stared at myself in the mirror. I was glad that I heard Riley's voice before anymore bad thoughts could come to mind.

" Hey, Arabella? You in there?" I heard Riley ask. I stood and opened the door.

" Yep. Those the shoes?" I asked nodding to the box in his hands. He nodded.

" Yeah, I caught your shoe size on the bottom of the heels when you tossed them into the van last night." Riley said holding out the box. I took the box, noticing the familiar star on the box. I sat down and pulled the box open, smiling at the shoes within. They were a pair of converse inside. They were white high-tops, and they had what looked to be random phrases written in unreadable cursive font. I smiled and Riley handed me a pair of socks as well. I pulled the socks on then pulled on the shoes, lacing them up. I stood up and smiled.

" I love these." I said smiling at him. He smiled back a bit.

" I saw that you had a little collection of converse by the door in your apartment, so I saw these and thought they'd fit your personality well- you can't read what's written on it, but as the white fades, you could always pretend that it's the Declaration of Independence." Riley said with a shrug. I smiled at him.

" Thanks." I said smiling. I grabbed my dress, Riley's hoodie and tags, and left the heels in the dressing room. I grabbed a belt and walked over to the cashier, and she began to ring up the tags. I sighed, running a hand through my hair. Even though the shoes made me happy, I still hated the thoughts that had come to me while shopping. I had done so well with pushing those thoughts away when I wanted to, but today I just wasn't able to.

After paying for the clothes, we left and I tossed my dress into a trashcan, ignoring the weird looks I got. I put on my belt and Riley looked over at me. I noticed he was staring again.

" Um… Riley?" I asked, turning to face me. He finally made eye contact with me and nodded to the hoodie in my arms.

" You can keep that. I have too many of them anyway." Riley said. I smiled a bit and pulled it back on, letting it hang open. I looked down at the sleeves, which were falling over my hands again.

" I'll need to fix that." I said.

" I happen to have a pocketknife, you can cut the sleeves a bit when we get out of here." Riley said.

" Thanks!" I said giving him a one armed hug, pulling him towards the food court. " I say we get something to eat before going to the Franklin Institute."

" God, I could marry you." Riley muttered, wrapping an arm around my shoulder. I laughed a bit, looking off, not willing to show my face, knowing I was blushing again.

OOOO

I used Riley's pocketknife to cut the sleeves of the hoodie a few inches so the end of the sleeves hit my wrists. Handing his pocketknife back to him I asked,

" So, why do you have a pocketknife?"

" Oh, you know, computer genius' need a way to protect themselves. And it also helps in cutting rope and stuff to use to tie things together." Riley explained. " Also, Ian has a pocketknife, so if he ever catches me by surprise, I'll be ready." I stopped walking for a moment.

" Wait. Doesn't Ian have a gun?" I asked, jogging to catch up with Riley again.

" Oh… I guess your right… well… um… I could hack into his computer and replace all of his important files just to piss him off." Riley said. I laughed.

" You really are an evil computer genius." I said.

" And you're a history geek helping said evil computer genius." Riley pointed out.

" So that would make me…?" I asked.

" One of the evil history geeks helping the evil computer genius." Riley said. I smiled and looked down at my feet as we walked across the street. Riley held out an arm to stop me. He paused to get a copy of the local newspaper, and I waited.

" So, what was up with you at the mall?" Riley asked. I looked at him, a bit surprised.

" I'm sorry, what?" I asked.

" You know, you looked all sad and stuff. What was wrong?" Riley asked, pulling his glasses on again. Maybe if he hadn't been wearing the glasses, I wouldn't have told him. Maybe I would have anyway. But either way, I did reply.

" Were you ever… teased when you were in school?" I asked.

" Uh, yeah. Computer geek, remember?" He pointed out.

" Well, in addition to being teased because of skipping two grades and my obsession with history, I was teased because I wasn't as skinny as all the other girls. They made fun of me a lot because of that, and I began to believe what they said. So those negative thoughts come back to me every now and again. That just happened to be one of those moments." I explained with a sigh. Riley was quiet for a moment before he stopped walking.

" You shouldn't feel like that, Arabella." He said. I stopped and turned around to face him. " You are probably one of the most beautiful women I have ever met. I'm not just saying that." I blushed yet again and looked down at the pavement.

" Thanks, Riley." I finally managed to say, smiling up at him. " And if we're being all truthful to each other, you are one of the cutest and most handsome guys I have ever met." I said smiling at him, walking up towards the Franklin Institute.

" Wait… what did you just say?" I heard Riley call after me. I smiled to myself and kept walking. " Arabella! Please tell me I heard you right! Arabella, wait up!"

Afterword: Hey I got this chapter written today! YAY! =D Hope you liked it! I know not a lot of this was actually in the movie, but I felt like with Arabella finally realizing she liked Riley, I might write a few scenes where we realize that Riley is starting to like her as well! I brought up Arabella's insecurities again, because she still probably thinks that Riley won't like her the way she likes him. Poor girl! But, she seems to fail to realize that Riley is flirting with her as well. He thought about her while picking out the shoes and let her keep his hoodie. So sweet!

Anyway, I would like to thank my loyal reviewers, Neverlandlover and Phillipfan24. Thanks for the reviews! They made me really happy! I hope to get up another chapter tomorrow on New Years! Reviews would be loved! Thanks!