Disclaimer: I own Riley and the gang! Just kidding. No I don't. If I did… Well, let's just say that I would be off making National Treasure 3 right now.

A/N: Hey! Thanks for all of the quick reviews you guys, and it's great to see some new faces! Well, new pen names anyway. I'm glad you all like this story that was just meant to be a oneshot. Now look where it's come! Thank you so very much to fantomfairy, Spice of Life, Small-Fri, ink0and0paper, BananaPieThiefX, Sakoko-chan, Majestik Moose, Harm Marie, Supernaturalfreakisabookworm, daisyduke80, momiji'sunusedhalo, Halo, and Miss Fenway for your awesome reviews! I hope you're all prepared for this particularly cough evil chapter. Enjoy!

Warning: This is one chapter (there's only probably going to only be one more after this) where a character will be in extreme physical pain. I'm also taking some creative license on arsenic here, even though I know about it, and I'm also going off of what my mom gave me. So, yeah. I'm warning you, this is evil. But, continue reading my friends!

Chapter 11

Ben was concerned at Riley's lack of words as he drove down the road farther and farther away from the now parked taxi. "Riley, are you all right?" he asked, weaving back on to a main road. "You're awful quiet."

"Not really, Ben," Riley answered truthfully in a quiet voice. "I'm still trying to process everything that just happened…"

"Do you know who those people were that kidnapped you, Riley?" Ben continued. "I didn't get a good look at them."

Riley took a sharp intake of breath at his best friend's question, a tear falling from his deep blue eyes. He tried to wipe it away before Ben noticed it in his rearview mirror, but he was too late.

"Who were they, Riley?" the treasure hunter muttered.

"I… I can't tell you," Riley whispered, turning on to his side facing the back of the car seats to try to escape from his friend's gaze.

Ben sighed and pulled to the side of the road, turning off the car. He opened his door and stepped out, shutting it again behind him as he opened the back door. "Riley, if you don't move your feet, I'll sit on them."

At first, the younger man was unresponsive to the comment. Then, he slowly curled his legs up closer to him without looking at his friend. Ben sat down on the now available seat, closing the door behind him. "Riley, what happened?"

Riley slowly turned on to his back, appearing to Ben to be a small child who was guilty of hiding something that was very important, though this was more than a broken vase. Tears were shining in his eyes, and his chest seemed to be heaving almost painfully. "I… I can't…"

"Yes, you can," Ben told him gently. "Come on, Riley. Tell me what happened."

The techie took a deep breath, struggling to calm himself as he tried to find the right words. His heart beating heavily in his chest with the sound of it echoing loudly in his ears, he pleadingly looked up at Ben as he silently asked him not to make him tell what had happened. But the treasure hunter continued to stare at him, determined to make him tell him what happened so that he could help. Who were the people that had kidnapped him? Riley finally sighed with defeat, closing his eyes as he muttered the next three words.

"It was Dustin."

Xxxxxxxxxx

"Yes, I was wondering if you could tell me who the taxi number 090 is registered to," Ben said, pacing the room as he listened intently to the taxi company on the other end of the line. "All right. Thank you. Bye."

Ben hit the end button and placed the cordless phone back on its charger, going into the living room where Riley was sitting lethargically on the couch and staring blankly into space. "The taxi that Dustin took you in was really registered to Nick Baron," he told him, sitting down on the couch beside him. "Did you know that he was a taxi driver?"

Riley slowly shook his head. "That's probably why it was so easy though."

The treasure hunter sighed. He had never seen his best friend like this before. Riley was normally so full of life, always ready with a sarcastic comeback. But Ben knew that he would be the same if he had just found out that his father had been murdered and his own brother had just kidnapped him. It was difficult to wrap his mind around, but if Dustin was going to such lengths just to merely speak with Riley, whatever their father had left behind must have been important.

Abigail then walked into the living room from the kitchen, smiling sadly at Riley and Ben. "Come on, Boys. Dinner's ready," she said. "I made your favorite, Riley. Broccoli, cheese, and rice casserole. With extra cheese of course."

Riley gave her a smile in return. "Thanks, Abs. You're the best." He and Ben slowly got to their feet and followed her back into the kitchen. "It smells really good. I should get kidnapped more often."

"Thank you, but you don't have to get kidnapped for me to make his for you, Riley," Abigail replied, finding it strange that Riley was complimenting her so much. "Help yourselves." She placed the steaming bowl in the middle of the table, giving a big spoon to Riley so that he could scoop some on to his plate. "When are you going to call the police?"

"I don't know…" The younger man took the spoon, beginning to take some of the casserole and putting it on his plate. But a strange feeling in his stomach suddenly overtook him when the smell reached him again as he offered Ben the spoon. Riley closed his eyes as the silver utensil fell from his hand and hit the hard floor.

"Riley?" Ben said anxiously, seeing that the techie had suddenly grown very pale.

"I'm sorry," Riley muttered quietly, brushing the older man's concern aside as he put his hand to his head. "I'm not really hungry anymore, Abi."

"It's probably just stress from today," Abigail replied, though she was nervous herself. "You should try to eat at least a little something. I'll get you something lighter for your stomach."

"No, Abi. Don't," Riley told her just as she was standing up. "I… I'm going to be sick." He pushed himself to his feet and stumbled toward the kitchen doorway, nearly falling in his haste. Ben listened with mounting concern as Riley clumsily made it up the stairs and then heard the bathroom door slam shut. His eyes moved to his wife, who was still standing by her chair but now had her hand over her mouth with worry.

"Go after him, Ben," Abigail whispered as tears threatened to fall from her eyes. "Go after him. Make sure he's okay!"

Ben nodded, not needing telling twice, his expression not reflecting the worry he was feeling. One of them had to try to appear calm in this situation. He rushed up the staircase and stopped in front of the bathroom door, knocking on it softly. "Riley?" he asked. "Are you all right?"

There was a long pause, which alarmed the treasure hunter. "Just a sec," Riley finally muttered, his voice sounding muffled through the wooden door. But Ben also noticed that it sounded weak. There was the sound of the toilet flushing, and the techie spoke again. "All right. You can come in."

Ben immediately pushed open the door and found Riley lying on the floor near the sink, his face deathly pale and sweat-drenched. The older man took out a small, plastic cup out of the cabinet and filled it with ice-cold water. He then knelt down beside his best friend and offered him the now-filled cup. "Here, Riley. Drink this."

Riley turned to him and looked at the cup with dim eyes, raising his upper body with difficulty and reaching a shaking hand toward the cup. Ben let him take it, but helped to guide his hand to his mouth and awkwardly drink the water. As soon as it was gone, the cup dropped from the younger man's hand, and he collapsed to the floor. Ben watched with fear as the techie curled in on himself and grabbed his stomach, beginning to groan in pain and agony.

Knowing that he had to get Riley out of the bathroom, the treasure hunter gently pried the younger man's arms and legs away from him, seeing with alarm that he was not even able to protest. Ben took one of Riley's arms and put it around his neck, carefully pulling him up off the floor as he put one arm around his best friend's thin waist. The techie was too weak to walk on his own, and he leaned entirely on Ben for support as the older man pulled him out of the bathroom and into his room, feeling Riley's heart beating much too quickly and forcefully as he gently laid him down on the bed. His eyes still closed, he slowly began to curl up again and grab at his stomach.

Ben ran out of the room, reluctant to leave Riley but knew that it was only going to be for a second. He stood at the top of the stairs, not planning on taking the time to run down them. "Abigail, bring me the phone!" he shouted anxiously, running back into Riley's room as soon as the words had left his mouth. Abigail came up the stairs and appeared in the room a second later, phone in her hand, and she gasped when she saw the younger man.

"Oh my God," she whispered, handing the phone to her husband as she pushed past him and sat down on the bed next to the techie. "Riley, look at me!"

Abigail was alarmed when she didn't get a response. She put her hands on either side of Riley's head and gently turned it so that she could see his face. Then, she leaned forward and kissed his forehead, a trick her grandmother had taught her to check someone's temperature. "He's burning up, Ben," she muttered nervously, watching as tears fell from behind his tightly closed eyes.

"I know," Ben replied, bringing the phone to his ear after dialing a number that he knew so well.

"Ben, we should bring him to a hospital," Abigail continued anxiously, trying to brush Riley's tears away.

"I don't want to move him much since I don't know what's wrong with him," Ben told her firmly, desperately wanting the person on the other end to pick up. "What if moving him will make whatever this is worse? We don't know for sure." If something happened to Riley under his care that he wouldn't recover from, he knew he would never forgive himself.

"He needs medical attention, Ben!"

"I know!" Ben shouted, but then dropped his voice to the normal level when the person he was calling answered. "Oh. Hi, Dad."

"What is this about, Son?" Patrick asked in a serious tone on the other end. "What do you know?"

"Dad, something's wrong with Riley," Ben answered anxiously, trying to suppress his fear. "He has a high fever, seems to be having stomach pain, and he's unresponsive." He anxiously looked to the bed, watching as Abigail tried to keep a writhing Riley still. She took his upper body and held him close to her, tears falling from her eyes as she placed her chin on top of his head. The younger man struggled to escape from her hold even though she wasn't letting go, and he seemed to be trying to tear at his stomach with his hands.

Patrick sighed. "It sounds to me that he needs to be taken to a hospital, Ben," he told him quietly. "As quickly as possible too."

Ben bit his bottom lip. "I know he needs medical attention, Dad, but I don't really want to move him since I don't know what's wrong with him," he replied. "I was wondering if you happened to have the number of the doctor that used to come to our house when I was growing up."

"Doctors rarely make house calls anymore, Ben," Patrick said heavily. "Even if they did, it would be very expensive."

"Riley's worth it, Dad. Don't worry. I'll be able to pay for not whatever it is," Ben muttered. "Besides, he's the only one I trust. Please, Dad. If not for me, do it for Riley."

There was a long pause on the other end of the line, and for a panicked minute, Ben thought that his father wasn't going to agree. But then, he sighed with relief when he heard his voice again. "All right, here's the number. You call it, and I'll be on my way in a couple of minutes," Patrick said.

"Thanks, Dad," Ben replied after he wrote down the number. "I'll see you in a little while. Bye."

"He's a little calmer now," Abigail told her husband once he was off the phone, Riley lying heavily against her. He was still whimpering in pain as his arms rested around his stomach, but he was no longer frantically trying to tear at it.

"Hopefully he stays that way," Ben said as he dialed the new number that Patrick had given him, hoping that it would work. He waited tensely, and on the fourth ring, someone finally picked up.

"Hello?"

"Doctor Charlie Harrison?" Ben asked. "This is Benjamin Gates."

"Ben Gates?" Charlie said thoughtfully. "Ben… Oh, yes. I remember you, Ben. It's been a long time. How are you?"

"I'm all right," Ben replied, "but I'm afraid that my best friend isn't. He's in a terrible amount of pain, and I was wondering if you could come and look at him. I don't want to risk moving him around too much…"

Charlie sighed. "Ben, I'm retired now. I'm getting too old," he told him. "I'm sorry, Kid. A hospital is your best option."

But Ben desperately shook his head, even though he knew that the doctor couldn't see his action. "Please," he begged. "We don't know what's wrong with him, and moving him could make his condition worse. He could die if he doesn't get attention. Please. You're the only one I trust."

There was a long silence on the other end of the line. "Well, I guess I could get my equipment out again," Charlie muttered. "Just give me some time to sterilize some things. Then, I'll be there. Just give me your address."

Ben smiled gratefully as he told the doctor he had grown up with his new address, thanking him over and over for coming. Then, he hung up. "He's coming," he told his wife, sitting down on the bed beside her.

"Thank God," Abigail muttered, holding an unmoving Riley close to her as she wiped her tears away. "I think he's sleeping now…"

The treasure hunter sadly looked at Riley, who was lying still in Abigail's arms. Though he appeared peaceful, he could see that the younger man's face was still very pale, his breathing short and irregular as his arms were still clamped protectively around his stomach. He whimpered softly, curling up slightly. "Hold on, Riley," Ben whispered, placing his hand lightly on his best friend's shoulder.

Then, the doorbell rang from downstairs. Ben reluctantly stood up and hurried down the steps, opening the front door. "Hey. Thanks for coming, Dad."

"You're welcome," Patrick replied, holding up a plastic bag from the nearby pharmacy. "You're mother sent me prepared. Fever reducer, pain killers, all kinds of stuff…"

"Thanks, Dad," Ben said, taking the bag from him. "I'm glad that Mom was thinking ahead like she always does. Riley's upstairs if you want to see him."

Patrick slipped his shoes off and hurried up the stairs even before the statement was completely out of his son's mouth. Abigail looked up when she heard someone enter the room, seeing that Ben was not with the older Gates. Patrick kissed her on top of the head in greeting, sitting down on the bed beside her as he looked at Riley lying in her arms with concern. "Do you know what's wrong with him?" he asked quietly.

"No," Abigail answered quietly, rocking the younger man gently. "I thought that it just might have been stress from today, but I don't think so anymore."

"What happened today that would make him stressed?"

Before Abigail could explain, the sound of the doorbell echoed around them again. A couple of minutes later, Ben came up the stairs with an older man with a lined face and graying hair, a slight limp to his step. "I'm sorry that it took so long to get up the stairs, Ben," the man said with a slight laugh. "I'm not as young as I used to be, you know." He stopped in the doorway, nodding and smiling when he saw Patrick, who nodded back. "Hello, Patrick."

"Charlie," Patrick replied. "Thank you for coming to see my son's best friend."

"Of course," Charlie told him. "I may be retired, but Ben convinced me. Let me see the young man."

Abigail sniffed quietly as she gently laid Riley down on the bed, his head resting on the pillow. Charlie slowly moved over to the bed and sat down, opening a bag that he had brought with him. He pulled out a stethoscope and placed in on Riley's chest beneath his shirt, listening to the sound of his heartbeat. The younger man winced under the coldness of the metal, but Charlie moved it away soon after.

"His heart is beating much too quickly," the doctor muttered, reaching inside his bag again. "What exactly is wrong with your friend, Ben?"

"He has a high fever and seems to be having extreme stomach pains," Ben told him worriedly. "Is there anything you can do?"

Charlie set the bag down on the floor and moved closer to the techie, lightly pushing down on his stomach. Riley hoarsely cried out in pain and turned on to his side, trying to escape from the doctor's hand as he wrapped his arms around his stomach protectively. His face grew even paler, and a tear fell from his closed eyes.

Patrick reached forward and gently rolled Riley on to his back, knowing that the doctor would have to feel the pained area to see what was wrong, holding him down as Charlie pressed on his stomach once more. The techie screamed again from the action, desperately trying to push his hand away when he found that he couldn't roll on to his side to get away from it. The doctor finally moved his hand, sighing.

"There is definitely something in his system, so it's not his appendix, but I wouldn't know what exactly unless I took a blood sample," Charlie told the group. "I can guess that it was from something he ate."

Ben was confused by the statement. "The only thing that he had was some Chinese food earlier, which is the same thing I had," he muttered. "I'm fine…"

"Anyone else have this Chinese food?" Charlie asked.

"Yes. Agent Peter Sadusky of the FBI," Ben answered.

"Is he all right?"

"As far as I know."

Charlie placed his hand on Riley's forehead to check his temperature, who cringed as he unconsciously associated this hand to the one who had applied slight pressure to his agonizing stomach. "We need to bring his fever down," he said. "Ben, do you have anything for it?"

The treasure hunter smiled a little, silently thanking his mother and her being overly prepared. He reached into the bag from the pharmacy and found the pills that were supposed to lower fevers and handed the bottle to Charlie, who took one out and crushed it.

"Water."

Abigail, the closest one to the door, rushed out of the room, returning shortly with a plastic cup with water in it. Charlie put the ground up pill into the water and mixed it in, gently lifting up Riley's upper body and putting the cup to his mouth. He forced it down the younger man's throat, who coughed violently after he swallowed it. The doctor rubbed his back until his coughing fit ceased and then gently set him back down on his pillow. A moment later, Riley's face contorted with pain, and he curled in on himself as he wrapped his arms around his stomach.

"Are you sure that the Chinese food was the only thing he had?" Charlie asked, reaching into his bag and pulling out a needle that he had spent time preparing before he came to Ben's home.

"Yes, at least with me," Ben answered, knowing that there was only a short span of time where Riley wasn't with him, and that was when he had been with his brother in the taxi.

"He was with you all day?"

Ben was silent for a moment, deciding not to bring up the taxi incident. "Yes."

"Strange…" Charlie put the shot together, looking at Patrick again. "You may want to hold him still again."

Patrick leaned forward, gently uncurling Riley as he held one of his arms still. Charlie then put some rubbing alcohol on the crook of his arm before gingerly sticking the needle into his vein. The techie winced and tried to pull his arm away, trying to escape form the person that was causing him so much pain, but Patrick held him still. Abigail suddenly left the room in tears, having to get herself something to drink to calm herself down. Ben sank weakly on to the bed, his legs giving out on him at the sight of his best friend in such agony. It terrified him.

When he had enough blood, Charlie removed the needle and put a bandage over the bleeding point. "I'll take this to the nearest hospital to be analyzed, and I'll return here and wait for their phone call," the doctor told them, taking the vial with him but leaving his bag behind.

"All right. Thank you, Charlie," Patrick said, getting to his feet also. "I'll make a pot of coffee for us to have when you come back."

"Thank you, Patrick. That sounds wonderful. I'll return shortly." Then, the retired man looked back at the treasure hunter. "Ben, keep a close eye on Riley. Make sure you note any changes."

"I will," Ben muttered with a nod. But when the doctor left the room with Patrick, he realized that none of them had told him Riley's name.

A/N: I know. Evil right? I feel terrible doing this to Riley, but it's a pivotal point in the story. Oh, I pulled a Ben the other day! One of my friends asked me something about Lafayette, the French man who helped the Americans out while fighting for their independence from Britain. I actually began how Ben normally would. "Well, during the American Revolution…", and I ended up telling the whole story of Lafayette (during that time period anyway). Then, I was like, "Crap! I pulled a Ben!" Well, that's what being in AP History does to you. Hope you liked this chapter! Thanks for reading. Your reviews are much appreciated. Thank you!