I'm shocked and apprehenseive at the same time. I finished not only this chapter today, but the next one as well. But the next one refers to the script way too much. I am now looking for some way to fill in space between the escape from the Library of Congress and the arrival at Mount Rushmore. I'd love for ideas, so be sure to include some in your reviews if you can!

Chapter Ten

Almost immediately after returning to Patrick's home from the White House, Ben and Andrea changed their clothes, and soon whisked themselves into Ben's car to drive to the FBI establishment where Agent Sadusky worked, Ben equipped with a blown-up version of the seal in the picture Andrea took.

As they waited outside Sadusky's office to be called in, Andrea abandoned the magazine she was aimlessly rifling through for entertainment. "Uncle Ben, do you mind if I ask Sadusky some non-related questions after we're through with the seal business?"

Ben too discarded the home improvement magazine he was staring at. "Don't bother hiding your reason. Your grandfather told me everything about your paranoid thoughts of your mom."

"Do you know anything?" Andrea slightly perked up. "About Mom's relationship issues with my dad and Sadusky?"

"Abigail was seven years older than me, Andrea. The only things we might have bonded over were my grandfather's Fourth of July s'mores recipe when we were five and twelve."

"Is that the only reason why you weren't close?" Andrea pondered. "Your ages?"

Ben shifted in his seat. "Maybe not. I knew the chronological order of the U.S presidents by age seven. I think she was jealous of my intelligence, and thought that I was some alien freak…" His smile dimmed when he saw that Andrea wasn't laughing. "I think she chose not to become close with me. She figured that by the time I was old enough to truly care about her, she'd be old enough to have moved out and started a family of her own."

"Don't you regret it – at all?"

Ben looked away. "Only when I see my parents or Sadusky mention how wonderful she was…she was just the sister I never knew."

"Mr. Gates and Miss Morrison?" Sadusky's secretary looked up from her computer. "Agent Sadusky will see you now."

The uncle and niece rose, and Ben murmured into Andrea's ear as they entered Sadusky's office, "Yes. Feel free to ask him what you need to."

She turned and gave him a small smile before stepping into the office. "Ben, Andrea," Sadusky rose from his seat, and walked around his desk to greet them. "Good to see you two again."

He shook hands with Ben, and held out a hand to Andrea, who instead reached out and hugged him tightly. Sadusky, suspecting that something about his past was now a major thought of Andrea's, returned the hug wordlessly. As he broke away from the hug, he motioned towards the two chairs in front of his desk, and Ben and Andrea sat themselves down on them.

Sadusky returned to his own chair, and leaned back in it. "So, my secretary informed me that you had something about a sort of seal to discuss with me. Care to elaborate?"

Ben pulled the seal photo out of his briefcase, and handed it over to Sadusky, who squinted as he inspected it. "The eagle with the scroll?" He slipped off his reading glasses. "I know of it." He spun his chair around to take a hardcover book from the shelf behind his desk. "Conspiracy theorists like to believe that it's the symbol for the President's Secret Book." As he opened the book, browsing through it, the cover became visible, and Ben and Andrea noticed that it was Riley's book that Sadusky was referring to.

"You bought his book," Andrea mused happily. "You – of all people!"

"That much of a surprise?" Sadusky smiled through his mustache. "Your friend writes a book about government conspiracies and you don't think the FBI should know about it?"

Ben was in no mood for fun and games. "But is it true, Sadusky? Does the president have a secret book meant only for the leaders of our country?"

Sadusky's smile froze into place, and as he placed Riley's book back onto its shelf, his smile had a trace of uneasiness in it. "Do either of you like ducks?"

Andrea and Ben stared at each other perplexedly, expecting for Sadusky to make a joke of the statement. Andrea leaned forward in her chair, suspecting to have heard the federal agent wrong. "Excuse me? Cooked duck?"

"No," Sadusky's tone didn't even change as he rose from his chair and took his suit jacket from a hook on the wall. "Just plain old ducks."

Minutes later, Ben and Andrea found themselves being led by Sadusky outside the FBI building, to a nearby pond consisting of nothing but wading ducks. Ben peered over his sunglasses. "Ah. Those ducks."

Sadusky ignored his comment. Taking a breath of fresh air, facing neither Ben nor Andrea, he said, "There is a book."

Andrea tilted her head impulsively. "Why are you telling us out here? You want us to feed the ducks or something?"

"I thought it was obvious," Sadusky fidgeted with his pocket-handkerchief. "In there, I'm a federal agent. Out there, I'm nothing but a trusted friend to both of you."

"Where is it kept?" Ben urged. "We need to know."

"That I don't know. Only the current president knows of its location, and each chooses his own hiding place. It's passed down from president to president to president…"

Andrea shook her head. She should have known to believe in the impossible, but even the impossible was too complex to believe. "And no one else is allowed to see it?"

Sadusky nodded. "Unless you become the first female president, you won't be seeing that book anytime soon."

Ben scoffed. "You do realize that you're talking to the people who discovered an ancient treasure that had been marked non-existent?"

"I was afraid you'd say that," Sadusky chuckled.

Ben's eyes drifted away. "Well, then I'm done here. Thank you for your help…"

"But I'm staying for now," Andrea added. "I want to talk to you, Peter."

Sadusky nodded knowingly, and once Ben had disappeared in the direction of the parking lot, the two sat down on the bench by the duck pond. "What is it this time?" Sadusky asked, with the tone of a concerned and listening father.

Did my father have that tone inside of him? She questioned herself. She shook the thought away, and spoke, "I know you've talked of how my mom's affections just became higher for my dad…but you knew that there was a reason why, right?"

Sadusky glanced away. "Yes, and that reason completely neglects the belief of the Beatles."

"Excuse me?"

"You recall the song 'All You Need is Love'?"

Andrea smiled faintly at the song's mention. She knew of it well – it was the song playing in the Internet café when she reunited with Riley after being held hostage by Ian. "I know it."

"Apparently, to your mother, it didn't mean a thing," Sadusky adjusted his position.

"So it's true," Andrea breathed. "She married for money?"

Sadusky glanced at her, eyes unreadable. "That was part of the reason why she married him."

"What else was there?"

"My father…he hurt her one night," Sadusky looked down. "She was over, and I was in the kitchen getting her a soda. And my dad just walked into the living room, where she was. He must have been drunk or just mentally impaired, because all he did was punch her for his own amusement…" He shook his head regrettably. "It was all my fault. She shouted out to me, I came running…and I had to hit my own father to snap him out of what he was doing. When Dad left the room, she was bleeding…crying…I cleaned her up, took her home, and before we went into her house – where her mother was for the night – I told her to tell Emily that I was the one who hurt her.

"Abby wouldn't do it. She said that she wouldn't let her mother get such a bad impression of me, and asked me why I was willing to cover up for my dad." Sadusky's voice trailed off. "I just didn't want her parents to be afraid of my family."

Andrea shook her own head in disbelief, eyes watery. "And that affected your relationship?"

Sadusky bit his lip heavily. "It's difficult to say. I'm not quite sure what affected it…"

"But – my dad – did she love him?"

Sadusky leaned back and glanced at the ducks. "Who knows? I certainly don't."

Andrea's lip was quavering, and in a wobbly tone, she whispered, "Thank you, Sadusky." She quickly kissed his cheek and was off in a mad and teary dash towards the parking lot.

Andrea returned to Patrick's house on a public bus, and when she entered, she found Ben, Patrick, Riley, and Abigail all in the living room, conversing about how to reveal the Secret Book's location. The four were in quasi-uproar when Andrea entered quizzically.

"All I need is several minutes with him," Ben quietly protested from an armchair.

Abigail was curled up on the leather couch, with Riley sitting in the opposite armchair. Patrick paced nervously around the room as Andrea took a seat next to Abigail. "Okay, what are you up to now?"

"He thinks that the president will actually take time out of his 100-hour-per-day schedule to tell him where the Secret Book is," Riley smirked. "Can you say mission impossible, Ben? Even if you were married to the president, you wouldn't get a few minutes with him."

"Not when he's with his handlers and bodyguards," Ben pointed out. "If I could get him alone…"

"How do you expect to get the president alone?" Andrea pointed out. "He's the president, for crying out loud!"

Ben leaned back in his chair. "Before the Civil War, the states were all separate. People used to say, 'the United States are.' It wasn't until the war ended that people started saying, 'the United States is.' Under Lincoln... we became one nation."

Patrick paused and nodded. "And Lincoln paid for it with his life."

"So did Thomas Gates," Andrea mentioned quietly.

Riley tilted his head confusingly. "What does that little speech have to do with this?"

Ben ignored him, and still staring blankly, he continued, "So, how am I going to get him alone?"

Everyone sat up, awaiting his answer patiently.

"…I'm going to kidnap him – the president of the United States."

There was a moment of silence as the news soaked in. Finally, Abigail chuckled. "You're joking, right?"

Patrick had a vein throbbing in his neck. "Ben, no! Our family is in enough trouble as it is, and with me being the patriarch of it, how do you expect me to respond? I can't let you ruin your life!"

Riley began protesting, "Are you out of your mind?"

The three of them rose from their chairs, chattering nervously as Ben remained seated. Andrea was still seated as well, eyes glued downwards. She was still in shock over the whole affair. "Uncle Ben, you can't. People know about the diary page, and they know you. Do you really think Grandpa and I deserve more attention when the world knows that you kidnapped the president and you're in jail?"

"Don't try to convince me in letting you go."

"I don't want to go," Andrea replied. "Because unlike you, I know to avoid harming a government leader in any way."

"Fine then," Ben looked away. "I'll go, ask him about the book, and I'll leave – all done by myself, no help. A piece of cake."

"Not all cake is sugary and sweet, Ben," Riley pointed out, only to earn perplexed glares from Abigail, Andrea, and Patrick. "What? You don't get it?"

Abigail asked, "How exactly do you plan on doing this?"

"I was thinking Mount Vernon," Ben answered, smiling.

The next few days were yet another whirlwind for them. Andrea, Riley, and Patrick were given the responsibility of calling the White House Press Office, telling the workers there of false bookings or incidents at other historic landmarks. The idea was to narrow places down until only Mount Vernon was available. The trio eventually succeeded, while Ben and Abigail worked out a plan in closed quarters, saying that it was probably best if the other three did not know of Ben's full plan.

The day of the party, when Ben descended from Patrick's stairs dressed in a tuxedo, he fondly mentioned, "This is the same thing I wore to the Archives' Gala when we stole the Declaration – maybe someday I'll actually wear it to a party I was invited to."

"Don't remind me of that," Riley answered shakily. "I was nearly shot twice that night."

"Don't be so smug, Ben," Andrea shot at him as she entered the room. "When you stole the Declaration, you had an assistant."

"Who walked out on me when I got distracted," Ben added. "Some assistant you were, Andrea."

She sat down consciously. "Are you sure of this, Ben? What happens if they catch you with the president and throw you in jail? Then what are we supposed to do, Mr. Smart Guy?"

"You shouldn't worry," Ben scolded. "Everything will turn out fine. I won't get caught."

"That's the same thing you said when stealing the Declaration," Riley recalled. "And what happened there?"

"Haha, very funny," Ben returned to the bottom of the stairs, and called up to Patrick. "Dad, are you ready to go?"

Patrick dismally came down, dressed in full fishing gear. Andrea couldn't help but laugh. She knew her grandfather was city-bred all the way through, and barely knew how to fish at all. "You all right there, Grandpa?"

"I'll get you for this, Ben," Patrick wagged his finger at his son. "You'll see." Shaking his head, he began walking outside.

Ben gathered together his necessary scuba gear, and before he could leave, Andrea stepped up to them and gave him a hug. "Be careful, okay?"

"Careful is my middle name," he assured her before nodding to Riley and leaving.

"He's doomed," Riley croaked. "Just watch him be escorted home by a cop, who's coming to arrest us…"

Andrea smiled weakly at him. "I love how you always think so positively."

She sat next to him on the couch, and saw that he was looking through a box full of videotapes. "What are you doing?"

"I came in and saw these on the couch. Your grandpa must have been watching them."

Andrea leaned over Riley to take a tape out of the box. It was one of the many home videos Patrick had filmed over the years – several of them were ones Ben had filmed on his own camera, but gave to Patrick over the years. The one in Andrea's hand was marked as consisting of segments from her first few months of life.

Before she knew it, Riley had snatched the tape out of her hand and was nearing the VCR. "Let's watch it."

"Riley!" she was blushing, but yet, smiling. "No! Let's watch one of the more recent tapes instead…"

But the tape was already being sucked into the VCR. Riley grabbed the remote control and wagged it at her as he sat back down. The tape began with Bill Morrison filming his daughter's live birth. Both Andrea and Riley yelped, traumatized, as the segment began, and fast-forwarded through it right away. As the next segment began to play, Riley wailed, "What kind of insane people would film that for later viewing?"

The following segments were a little dull, as Andrea was only a few weeks old in them, and couldn't do much. Riley zoomed through all of this early film, except for a segment of Abigail Morrison feeding Andrea baby mush, which the twenty-year-old Andrea begged Riley to let her watch. Once Andrea had turned five months old in the film footage, they watched each segment from beginning to end, as the film was beginning to grow amusing.

The last segment came and went quickly. It was filmed merely two weeks before Abigail and Bill's deaths. Six-month-old Andrea was in a baby swing, being pushed back and forth by Abigail, who was laughing at her husband – Bill was apparently making faces behind the camera. Andrea watched this scene attentively, searching for any sign of love in the segment. There was nothing – merely a kind of relationship that was only a friendship.

As the tape ejected from the VCR, Andrea slouched in her seat, leaning against Riley. "It's so weird to see them happy before they died... "

"Andy, no one knew they'd die two weeks after that swing scene. Their death was just a chance of fate and coincidence."

"I know…" Andrea glanced away. "But I always wonder what would happen if they didn't go to that convention, or if they went and took me with them instead of leaving me with a sitter."

"Either they'd still be alive," Riley lifted on finger, "or you might be dead as well." He raised a second finger.

"Do you think I'd be any different if they were still alive?"

"Probably. You wouldn't be as close to Ben or Patrick as you are today."

"Maybe it was better for them to die," Andrea rose from the couch slowly. "It might have been hard for me, but I wouldn't be me if they were still here…"

"I love you just the way you are," Riley proclaimed, and he stood up, to kiss her. "And I probably would even if your parents were still alive."

"Thanks, Riley," Andrea returned his kiss.

The phone broke them away from each other. Andrea rushed to answer it. "Hello?"

"It's me," Ben's voice filled her ears. "Get Abigail, and meet me at the Library of Congress as fast as possible."

"What? Ben, what's going on? Have you been caught?"

"No, no, I'm fine. It's the book! It's there, he told me…"

Her heart skipped for a moment – the book actually existed… "We'll be there as soon as we can!" she assured him, and hanging up the phone, she called out to Riley, "Get the car ready – we're off to the Library of Congress."

I'm so evil for not including Andrea in the president's kidnapping, or the London scenes, but I'm trying to find filler-ins for all of those missing scenes. I'm planning on an epilogue that takes place a year from the end of the story, and it'll have a twist at the end!

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