One Year Ago
Ben watched, stunned, as blood bloomed over Riley's chest. "Ben..." The young man said, the one word all he could get out before sinking to the floor.
Ben wanted to catch the elevator that was slowly moving away from them, carrying Ian along with it. Wanted to yell out for help that wouldn't come. Instead, he dropped beside Riley, shoving the Declaration towards Abigail.
"C'mon, Riley, don't do this to me!" Ben gripped Riley's hand with his left one, his right hand already peeling off the young man's shirt.
Riley had screamed for a second as he fell but now went quiet, his eyes wide as he looked at the blood that was pooling at his chest. His mouth was open, ready to scream, but no sound came out. The grip on Ben's hand was slowly turning Ben's fingers blue.
"Abigail, distract him!" Ben said, trying to tug his hand back. He had to stop this bleeding. The bullet had pierced Riley's stomach area, not his chest. Abigail, who had previously been watching the scene with a kind of open-mouthed horror, knelt on the other side of Riley.
"Riley look at me!" Her voice was bordering on hysteria. It was high-pitched. It was still a command. Riley turned his head away from his bloody body and locked eyes with the historian.
Abigail nodded inanely, glancing at Ben who was ripping Riley's shirt in half so he could use it to stop the blood flow. "Good, Ri. Now give me your hand, and hold it as tight as it hurts."
It was a trick her mother had used on her. Abigail Chase was not someone who was fond of shots. She was downright terrified of them. Every time she went in for a checkup and had to have a booster her mother would stand next to her, hand out, waiting for Abigail to take it. "Just squeeze me as much as it hurts." Her mother had said, and that, coupled with the promise of a lollipop if she was good, was just enough to make Abigail sit through a shot.
The different between that scenario and this one that that shots didn't kill you. Riley was currently bleeding (to Abigail's untrained eyes) more than enough for him to die of blood loss.
Somehow, Riley managed to take her hand, though his own was shaking. Abigail held his gaze, trying not to let the young man see how much his pain affected her. As Ben worked, first creating bandages and then checking Riley's pulse and temperature and who knows what else, Riley would wince, teeth clenched so he wouldn't let out a sound.
Abigail leaned towards him, unable to take the obvious suffering any longer. "It's okay, Riley. You can yell if you need to." She forced out a laugh. "It's not like anyone's going to hear it."
Riley shook his head, his face screwed up in pain. He opened his mouth, able to get out a sound that might have been "Ben". The look Riley had on his face as he watched Ben tend the wound made Abigail's heart break.
Riley totally trusted Ben. Even shot, bleeding to death, left alone in a pit, he thought Ben would get them out.
Present Day, 27 hours into the coma
Ben jerked his head up as the aroma of bad coffee infiltrated the room. Turning his head in the direction of the smell, Ben saw Abigail. He didn't smile at her, as he normally would have done, instead taking the coffee from her hands and chugging it, ignoring the fact that it was up there on the list of the worst coffee he'd ever tasted. Ignoring the fact it was scalding hot.
Abigail was looking at Riley, her eyes wide, bloodshot from crying and existing on twelve hours of sleep in the best three days. Ben wanted to reach out to her, touch her, hold her. Tell her he knew exactly how she felt, because he was feeling it too.
This shouldn't be happening. Riley was young -- twenty-seven, if Ben remembered correctly. He had so much talent (he had once broken into the "highly encrypted" codes of the French government). He was brave. And loyal. If anyone should be in the coma, it was Ben.
He found it hard to blame even Ian for all this. Ian was a monster, to be sure. If Ben ever came across him, the man will be dead. He had broken bones for Riley, tried to kill him. Maybe succeeded in killing him.
But it couldn't all be blamed on Ian, and Ben was taking his share. For the last twenty-seven hours, he had sat a vigil at Riley's side, waiting, thinking. Riley had known the truth about Ian from the beginning. He hadn't trusted the man. Yet Ben had accepted him, dismissing Riley's feelings as just feelings.
Abigail sank in a chair near Ben, one hand resting on the covers of Riley's bed, the other holding her still-untouched cup of coffee. Her hand eventually found Riley's and she held it, musing "shouldn't we call his family?"
Ben sighed. It wasn't the first time the issue had been brought up. He remembered the conversation from years ago. Riley didn't have a family. He had said as much. Riley had no one, except for Ben and Abigail. Except for Ben.
Again, Ben wished Riley could wake up. For -- for a hundred reasons. But mainly so he could tell him exactly how much Riley meant. A companion and partner for nine years. A friend. A best friend. He had never told Riley any of it. Without realizing it, he had taken Riley for granted.
An hour passed, the clock on the wall loudly ticking by the seconds. A nurse came in to check on Riley and half-heartedly asked Ben and Abigail to leave. Abigail had gotten up to speak to the doctor who came in, Ben being too wrapped up in his own thoughts to even notice the man.
Leaning forward, Ben smoothed out the young man's hair, brushing it back so it was rumpled, the way he'd always seen it. He thought about how odd Riley looked without his glasses, which had been lost somewhere between the church and the hospital. He gently kissed Riley's fingers (the ones that weren't purple and swollen).
"I'm sorry, Riley."
He didn't know why he was talking. He didn't believe doctors when they said the coma patients could hear people. He knew Riley would wake up at the sound of his voice. Maybe if this were Disney. Maybe if it was a story, or a nightmare. But it wasn't. Riley was hurt. He could become brain-dead. Even if he woke up, he could have brain damage. If Riley had nothing else spectacular about him (which wasn't true. Riley had a lot of good things about him) his brain made him one of the top hackers in the world.
Swallowing past a lump that had inexplicably built up in his throat, Ben pressed closer to Riley and continued. "I'm sorry you're like this. I'm sorry you got kidnapped. I'm sorry for...everything." A tear splashed onto one of the many bandaged adorning Riley's too-thin body. "It's all my fault."
Abigail nodded to something the doctor said and walked with him, accepting his offer to join him for a lunch of cafeteria food.
The first tear had opened gates that had been resolutely shut for twenty-seven hours. "I wish you could hear me." He whispered, watching the tears wet Riley's bruised skin. "I wish you could know..."
He was acting like a child. A young girl. He was crying over the body of someone who couldn't hear him. He might as well be talking to the wall. And he was crying. This was ridiculous to the point of being clichéd.
But he continued anyway. "You're my best friend, Riley. I hope you know that. You're the best friend I could have asked for." He had to let go of Riley's hand, for fear of squeezing the hurt fingers too hard. "You're so smart and funny and brave and loyal --" he choked, crying again. Great, now he was a teenage girl.
Trying to pull himself together and hoping Abigail wouldn't come in any time soon, Ben straightened up. He brushed away the tears that had left tracks on his face and wrapped his hand around Riley's fingers once again.
With one hand, Ben moved a stray strand of hair back behind an ear and said, laughing through the remains of his tears, "You wake up and we'll all go out to Friendlys." Ben promised, naming Riley's favorite childish restaurant.
Maybe the powers of Disney and Hallmark decided to give Ben a break. Maybe Riley really wanted Friendlys. Ben never knew -- never even thought to ask.
Bruised fingers imperceptibly closed within Ben's hand. Unbelieving, Ben looked at his friend's face and saw that Riley's eyes were open and looking at him. Riley was crying too.
One chapter to go, everyone.
By the way, the whole story was set up for Riley to die. I even had that chapter half-written. I couldn't do it. Not even my dislike for Ben can make me kill Riley. He's too damn sweet.
As always, please review.
