Disclaimer: No one that you recognize from the movies are mine. But Dustin, Nick, Charlie, and even a guy named Daniel that I throw in are mine. So, no suing!

A/N: I'm glad that we all survived that evil chapter, even Riley. Don't worry- he's not going to die. I also take back what I said about there being only one more chapter where there will be a character in physical pain. There's going to be a little in this one and a little in the next, along with one later on. So, yeah. Thank you sooooo much to daisyduke80, Halo (special thanks to you for helping me with some later plot developments!), Sakoko-chan, ink0and0paper (there's going to be more chapters, don't worry!), Small-Fri, Majestik Moose, fantomfairy, Jedi'Pirate Jaeh, Rose of Hope, Miss Fenway, and Floragirl101 for your wonderful reviews. I can't believe I hit 100! Who knew that this story would take off so much? But, I also apologize for this chapter because it's a shorter, transition, explanatory chapter with not much Riley in it (I know. I love him as much as you guys, but he's kind of unconscious anyway- which will also change in the next update!). I just had to get this part out of the way. Some things will be made clear here, while more mysteries will appear. But, can it be any other way with National Treasure? Lol. Enjoy!

Chapter 12

Charlie drove the blood sample that he had taken from Riley to the hospital and arrived back at the estate in record time. The strong smell of coffee drifted up to the room where Riley was, and though she was reluctant to leave, Abigail excused herself and went down to the kitchen to grab one. Ben refused to leave Riley, even though he was beginning to get drowsy as the night wore on and the smell of freshly brewed coffee was becoming more and more alluring. He was determined not to fall asleep, because even though his best friend appeared to be asleep, his arms would still move to his stomach as he curled up more. He was still in pain, tremendous pain judging by the expression on his pale face.

Time seemed to nearly stop or not even exist for Ben as he sat at the techie's side, and soon, he didn't know what time it even was. The concept was almost foreign to him, and all that really existed was himself, Riley, and occasionally Abigail as she came up to check on them every once in a while. They waited and waited, and still there was no call from the hospital.

At one point, the thought that whatever was happening to Riley was fatal crossed Ben's mind. He tried to push the thought back, to convince himself that his smart-alec, computer genius best friend was going to be all right. He always was.

But what if he wasn't? What if this time, Riley didn't pull through? Ben remembered the day of the techie's father's funeral, seeing him break down in front of Jeremy Poole's coffin. Would he break down too, in front of the coffin of his closest friend? The image was so plain and clear in his mind- he was inside of a church, an open coffin in front of him. Ben slowly approached it, an intense pain erupting inside of his chest, tearing him apart, when he saw the lifeless form of Riley inside of it. An immense feeling of dizziness came over him, his vision beginning to swarm as he felt himself beginning to fall…

No, this wasn't real. His vision cleared, realizing that he must have been more exhausted than he thought, feeling much better when he saw that Riley was lying on the bed in front of him, alive and breathing. He would be all right, he would make sure of it.

"Are you all right, Ben?"

Ben looked up at the sound of the quiet question, and he saw that Abigail was leaning against the doorway with a cup of coffee in her hands. "Um, yeah," he answered, rubbing his tired eyes. "Just, uh, thinking…"

"Could have fooled me," Abigail muttered with a small smile. "Charlie wants to talk with you."

"Couldn't it wait?" The treasure hunter's eyes moved to Riley, not wanting to leave him. Abigail moved into the room and placed her hand on his shoulder reassuringly.

"Go on, Ben," she told him quietly. "I'll watch after Riley."

Ben finally sighed and got to his feet, kissing his wife before taking a sip of her coffee. "Thanks," he said, glancing one last time at his best friend before reluctantly leaving the room. Ben slowly went down the stairs, his cramped legs hurting him with each step that he took, almost in a daze, blinking when he entered the lit kitchen that was much brighter compared to the Riley's dark room.

"Ah, Ben. There you are," Patrick said, preparing another cup of coffee for his son. "Have a seat."

Charlie watched as Ben sank down heavily into a chair at the table. "Thanks for coming down, Ben. I know it's hard to leave your best friend when he's in such ill health."

"You knew Riley's name," Ben muttered, the statement slipping from his mouth when the thought entered his mind. "How do you know Riley's name when we didn't tell you?"

"How long have you known Riley, Ben?" Charlie asked after a long pause.

Ben continued to stare at the doctor, not reacting when Patrick placed the coffee in front of him. "Since college," he answered.

Charlie sighed. "I've known Riley since he was born, Ben," he said, giving Patrick a look, who left the kitchen. Seeing the surprised look that Ben was giving him, he decided to continue. "Jeremy Poole was one of my best friends when I was growing up, along with Andrew Carson-!"

"The funeral home owner?" Ben intervened.

"Yes. It was a shame that he died," Charlie muttered. "But as I was saying, Jeremy only had three close friends his entire life, which were Andy, a man named Daniel Richards, and myself. We were so close that we were almost brothers. Now Jeremy was always telling us about some kind of family secret that is passed down from father to son or mother to daughter in the Poole family, normally to the oldest child."

"So, whatever this family secret is should be passed down to Dustin from Jeremy," Ben said, making sure he understood.

Charlie nodded. "In theory it should, but it's not," he told him. "After both of Jeremy's sons were born and growing up, something happened to change his mind. What happened I'm not exactly sure, but the treasure belongs to Riley."

"Treasure?" Ben asked, raising his eyebrows when his attention was caught. "What kind of treasure?"

"Before I get into that, I have a question for you," Charlie replied. "Does Riley trust you, Ben?"

Ben blinked with surprise at the question. "Yes. At least, I hope so. That's what he's told me…"

Charlie smiled slightly. "I figured he did, judging by what Andy told me of his loyalty to you," he commented. "When he gave you that first clue at the funeral home, Riley made sure you stayed with him. That's trust. But I asked because we were the three of us were the only ones that Jeremy trusted. As Dustin and Riley grew older, he only told the tale of the treasure to his oldest son, leaving out its location. That would be revealed later. But once they reached high school age, something happened where Jeremy decided that Dustin didn't deserve it. He believed the treasure has to be something that's earned through character."

"So, Riley unknowingly earned it?"

"That's right," Charlie nodded. "Once the boys were out of school, something drastically changed. Jeremy called us over for a secret meeting, and we began to write out clues that would chronologically lead to the treasure for Riley to discover since he believed that its location was no longer safe and he could no longer tell his younger son about it openly. We made a total of four clues, but he didn't keep them in case something should happen to him. He left one with Andy, which he was fortunately able t give to you before someone took his life, one to Daniel, and one to me. The final one, he hid himself. No one, not even us, knows exactly where it is. I believe that you found Daniel's clue since the museum had been broken into recently."

Ben smiled a little. "We weren't destructive when we broke in, but yes, we found it," he confirmed. "You couldn't possibly give me your clue, could you?"

Charlie's face darkened a little. "I don't have it, Ben. It's hidden just like the last one you found," he said. "We wrote those years ago. I forgot exactly what I put in it anyway. You'll have to solve the one you have before locating mine. But when you do solve mine, you will have the location of Jeremy's final clue, which will lead you to the treasure."

"The clue from the museum is in Hieroglyphics. It may take us a while," Ben muttered.

"Oh, that's right. I forgot about Dan's interest in Hieroglyphics. Well, in that case…" Charlie took a pencil and a slip of paper out of his bag and quickly wrote a phone number down on it. "This is Daniel's phone number. When you call him, tell him your name and that you have been named the second."

"The second?" Ben asked, looking at the slip of paper that the retired doctor had given him. "What does that mean?"

Charlie sighed and leaned forward on the table, gesturing for Ben to do the same in case they could be overheard. "Jeremy was a man who liked to keep things in order," he answered quietly, "even with us. He knew Andy the longest, so he was the first beneath Jeremy. I knew him the second longest, so I was named the third. Daniel knew him the least amount of time, so he was named the fourth."

Ben's eyes narrowed with confusion. "So, why am I suddenly named the second? I didn't even know Jeremy."

"Jeremy loved his sons, Ben. They meant more to him than anything," Charlie told him. "When he gave us our titles, he purposely skipped the second place because he believed that Riley, being the rightful owner of the treasure, should choose the one to fill that position. He chose you, Ben, no matter how unknowingly he did so."

"So, what are you guys? Some sort of secret society or something?"

"If you want to call us that, you may," Charlie said with a smirk. "Since Jeremy was murdered, it was Andy's responsibility to keep an eye on Riley and make sure that he was able to follow the trail that his father had laid out for him. Now that he's gone, that responsibility now lies with you, Ben. If, for some reason, you are unable to do that, then Daniel and I will take over. But it appears that Jeremy's security will need to be in effect after all. Someone may be after Riley already…"

Ben nodded, thinking all of this information over while he finally took a sip of the coffee that his father had made for him. "You keep mentioning a treasure. What kind of treasure is this?" he wondered.

Before Charlie could answer, the loud sound of the phone reached their ears, making both men jump. From the living room, they heard Patrick answer it. Then, after a minute, the older Gates cautiously came into the kitchen with the phone. "Charlie, it's for you. It's the hospital calling. They're done with their analysis."

"Thank you." Charlie took the phone and put to his ear. "Doctor Charles Harrison." The retired doctor listened for a long time, his face an impassive mask. "All right. Thank you," he finally said. "Bye."

"What did they say?" Ben asked anxiously as soon as Charlie hung up the phone.

Charlie gave the phone back to Patrick, who as also awaiting the news, and turned to the treasure hunter with a sigh. "Don't be alarmed; it wasn't a fatal amount, but only enough to make him ill," he said immediately so that both Ben and Patrick would calm down. "What the doctors found in Riley's bloodstream was arsenic."

A/N: Hm… The plot is getting more complex (don't worry, more will be clear from this point onward!). But as the plot gets more in detail, I'm turning more and more into Ben! We were in physics yesterday, talking about circular motion and the difference of the rotation of Earth versus its revolution, and my teacher asked if any of us knew how time zones originated. I was the only one who raised my hand, and I felt like Ben as I explained it to him. Again, that's what being in AP History does to you. But anyway, things will begin to pull together next chapter. I hope you liked this one, even though it was kind of short and had minimal Riley in it. Thanks for reading! Your reviews are much appreciated. Thank you!