.:Chapter Thirteen:.

Kendall knew something was going to happen the moment he greeted Riley the morning of their camping trip. It was sort of a gut feeling when he'd woken up that early and looked through the text conversation they'd had the night before. And it wasn't confirmed until he, bogged down with camping gear, walked—practically skipped to her—and greeted her with a cheerful 'hey'.

Riley didn't respond. She continued to lean against the mini-van the Jacksons used to cart themselves around, arms folded and stared in front of her, eyebrows lowered in an intense look. Kendall watched her for a moment then waved his hand in front of her face. She didn't blink or lose focus on what it was she was looking at. Making a face, Kendall leaned over, trying to get a glimpse of what caught her attention, but found nothing. Nothing. Absolutely nothing more than cars whizzing by as they all packed their cars filled with their camping gear in Rocque Record's parking lot.

"I still say this is a bad idea," Gustavo stated loudly, standing off to the side as he folded his arms and pouted.

"Wait, Gustavo," James said slowly. He glanced at his friends, smiling to himself. "Are you saying you're going to be worried about us?"

"Worried?!" Gustavo barked in response. Beside him, Kelly rolled her eyes. How many times did he have to put on a front with the boys? Even as he barked, there was a quiver in his tone that was noticeable by every ten that stood around him. If he didn't notice Kelly's smirk, he did his best to ignore all the others directed his way.

Even Kendall couldn't help it. Gustavo had gotten on his nerves from the very beginning. From being kicked down verbally—he couldn't forget the many times the music producer had screamed an inch away from his face or ear—and ridiculed with his plans and schemes to righty any wrongs that came their way in the business—he would never get over how hideous that Red, White, and Boy outfit was. Or the Puppy-loving-Matador-in-Space looks they had for the very first photoshoot that'd show the world what kind of band they were. And over the years Gustavo had managed to nearly blow out his eardrums with eve slight inconvenience that came his way, but even Kendall knew Gustavo had started to see them as more than his 'dogs' or 'monkey-dogs'.

"Yeah, you know, worried about our well-being," Logan added, elbowing James in the side. James grinned back at him, eyes shining with mischief. "We are going to be going out in the big, bad wilderness with nothing more than the clothes on our backs and our wits."

"And the GPS that you insisted I bring," Camille called, waving the device over her head. She smirked when Logan's smile immediately faded, his smug façade melting like a candle. "Just in case we get lost."

"Don't forget the massive First Aid Kit," Stephanie added, nodding towards Jo, who struggled hefting a massive white box into the back of the Big Time Rush mobile. Patrick noticed and reached over, easily shoving it into the only space left open, earning a beaming smile from her in response. Standing nearby, Katie frowned and kicked at a rock, turning away to study the bags that were still on the ground.

"Dogs, I am worried," Gustavo declared. Kendall lifted his eyebrows, exchanging a glance with Carlos. All eyes turned to Gustavo, including Kelly's, as they turned to Gustavo in surprise. He'd never been one to admit his feelings like that. "I'm worried that you'll get yourselves killed and I'd be out of a band!"

"For a tick, I thought he was going to say he liked you lot," Noah commented, tilting his head.

"It'd probably kill him to do so," Sydney said. He leaned out the driver's side window of the van, an impatient expression twisted on his normally happy face. "Can we go now? I want to get there before it's dark!"

At that, Rhuben's eyes narrowed. She turned and tossed a set of keys over to Patrick, who shot up his hand and grabbed them out the air. "Because of that, he's riding with you. I don't want to hear him whinge the whole way up."

Patrick shrugged. "Better than with Riles, I can't imagine how much air you'd get flying over rocks and logs with how fast she drives." Then he frowned, put out. "Actually, that sounds like fun," he muttered.

"Don't even think about it," Ronan declared. He folded his arms and stood by Gustavo. With a jerk of his head towards the angry music producer he explained, "What Gustavo isn't saying is that we have insurance on you guys. And the only reason it took some time for us to let you go is because of the risks it would instigate."

"Like?" Carlos asked.

"For example, Carlos, you constantly wear your helmet for a reason. Apart from it being a comfort item you've managed to have things fall on your head or you fall on your head enough for us to worry. There's a lot that can happen when camping."

"So what you're actually saying is that you don't trust us," Kendall said slowly. He then smiled when his mother stepped up and gave him a kiss on the cheek and said, "If that were the case, I wouldn't let you handle all your problems on your own." She shrugged. "It would cause a lot less damage, that's for sure."

"Oh, come on, it's not going to be like last time, mom!"

"You mean where you all managed to come back with broken legs?" Katie piped up. Kendall shot her a 'that's not helping' glare, making her smirk and shrug in response.

Lizzie coughed out a laugh. "How'd that happen?"

"How does anything happen to them? They do something stupid and next thing you know, they're all in the hospital. Just like at my eighth birthday party, at their junior prom, when Kendall was trying to be a figure skater—"

"Hey, he was helping me!" Camille protested.

"And getting beaten up by Dak's fans—"

"—I'm innocent of that one," Dak said, raising his hand. "You all should know by now you don't get between fans and the people they idol."

"Too bad no one idols you anymore," Lizzie said with a grin towards her brother. Dak glared back and her while Kendall and Katie laughed.

"Don't worry about us," Kendall said once he finally managed to calm down long enough to speak. He looked each of the adult in the eye. "We're all going to be together, we won't stray from any of the trails, and we'll call you if anything goes wrong. Promise." He held up his hands. "You have nothing to worry about."

"Why don't those words sound comforting?" Kelly asked.

The corners of Ronan's lips turned up. "Probably because it's them."

"What could go wrong?" Carlos asked, and was immediately harshly and loudly shushed by all of his friends, prompting him to slap his hands over his mouth and back away, as if wounded. James and Logan both glared at him so fiercely he ducked behind Stephanie for protection.

"Famous last words," Katie muttered.

It was the third time that morning Kendall glared at her. "Don't help," he said. Then he stepped forward and gave his mother a kiss on the cheek and a tight hug. "There's nothing to worry about. We'll all be fine." He wrapped his arms around her in a hug. Still hugging his mother, he turned his gaze to Gustavo and said, "You have to let go of the leash some time."

"And let you dogs run around like a pack of wild dogs? I don't think so." Gustavo held up his finger. "But…I guess I…do…have to trust you at some point…" he struggled to get the words out. "This is a bone!"

"I thought you said you'd never give us another—" Logan flinched and jerked backwards when Gustavo thrust his palm in front of Logan's face then wagged his finger, as if telling him 'no'. "But what do I know?"

"Just be careful, that's all he's saying," Kelly said.

"That and he's glad the lot aren't going to be around to destroy Rocque Records as they do on a daily basis," Rhuben said. She reached out her hand and slapped the side of the van. "Let's go!" She called. "We're burning daylight." Then she took Dak's outstretched hand and followed him to his car with James and Jo following them.

Excitement burst through Kendall's chest. Finally, they were going camping. Finally, they were going to have some fun. Away from the stress of making music and touring and being role models and song writing, and…everything. They could sit back and have some fun pitching tents, making a campsite, making fires, having s'mores, looking up at the stars…everything that meant romance and more.

It was going to be perfect.

Kendall started to climb into the van and bumped into Riley who continued to stare straight ahead of her. Kendall frowned. A hit like that, short of a body check, would've knocked her over. But she sat still, hardly reacting to his bump. She hadn't reacted to Gustavo either, and busting on him was one of her favorite things to do when the opportunity presented itself and he lobbed many opportunities on goal for it.

"Riles? Helloooo?" Instead of waving a hand in front of her face, he rapped his knuckles on the side of her head. Riley blinked and within seconds, her face screwed up in an expression of fury. She knocked Kendall's hand away from her head.

"What?" She snapped.

"Are you okay? You…seem kind of out of it," Kendall said. When Riley arched an eyebrow he said, "Gustavo gave you plenty of time to make fun of him and you didn't even give a snide comment. That's, like, your favorite thing."

"I'm fine," Riley said quickly. She waved him off, jiggling her keys in her hand. Without a backwards glance, she unlocked the door, allowing Carlos to immediately clamber into the passenger seat. "I think I should be asking you if you're okay."

"Why?" Kendall asked.

"I reckon because you and the boys try to kill each other to get shotgun."

Kendall smiled. "Yeah, but we've also noticed that, lately, Carlos tends to get car sick in the back," he said.

"I thought he got car sick in the front?" Riley corrected him.

"He does. But he's much less annoying up there than in the back." Kendall patted her shoulder then held his hand there. "So, good luck having to deal with him the whole way up." The last thing he needed was to deal with Carlos's constant bouncing, questions, non-stop talking, and questions, questions, questions.

"Mmm." Riley folded her arms and twisted her body to face him. She rested her shoulder against the car and tapped her fingertips against her lips. "You know you're giving me free reign to kill him, right? I'm not saying it's going to happen, just that if the police come after me then I'd mark you as an accomplice since you warned me but let it happen, hey?"

"By now, I think they know us well enough to know we're harmless," Kendall said. Their first run in had been when they accidentally set off the alarms when housesitting for Gustavo, then there was Hawk kidnapping them, then there was them trying to steal back their demos from Hawk. Not to mention getting arrested when assaulting Gustavo during James's initial audition. Now that he thought about it, all his arrests started since meeting Gustavo. Maybe he was the one they should've avoided. "Well, as harmless as we can be."

"Knowing my luck, I'd be the one thrown in jail, I'm sure some of my past crimes are bound to catch up to me," Riley said. Kendall watched her for a moment, the expression on her face proved she was joking, but the flat way she said it made him unsure. She changed the subject, as if able to read his mind, "Now, the part I'm scared about is whether or not you can live up to your flannel." She tugged at the bottom of his shirt. "I mean, doesn't everyone in flannel have some affinity for being a mountain man?"

"Well, I have been known to do some hunting in my day."

"So you play hockey and you like to dwell in the forest and you liked to build birdhouses." Her eyes flashed with mischief, making Kendall smile. She was starting to act like her old self. The one he'd hoped would show up. He couldn't help but notice her shift in her moods the last few weeks, but continued to act as things were normal, no matter how confused it made him. "Are you sure you're not a caveman in disguise?"

Kendall started to respond then stopped when he heard a loud screech. Jumping, he dropped his hand from Riley's shoulder—trying his bets not to notice the sudden lack of warmth—and turned to see Carlos standing on the runner of the car, hands grasping the bars of the cargo load on the top. He shook the car back and forth yelling, "Let's go! Let's go! Let's go!"

Riley's eyes flickered. "Do you think anyone would be upset if I 'accidentally' ran him over in the parking lot?"

"No," Kendall said. "In fact, I'll help you hide the body."

"Deal."

The two did their handshake and Riley smiled at Kendall before turning to get into the driver's seat. Then she stopped and pointed at him. "So…how did you manage to break your leg at the junior prom? Better question, how do you keep breaking your legs?"

"It wasn't always my leg," Kendall said.

"Huh. Now I know why they call you 'Killer'." Sticking her tongue between her teeth, Riley smiled once more and climbed into the driver's seat. Kendall pulled open the side door and got into his own seat, and climbed inside, throwing the door shut. He buckled and leaned out of the way of Logan's excessive gesticulations as he went through the proper procedure of car safety and keeping it clean on their trip.

"Hey, 'Mille, would you miss Logan much if he suddenly went away?" Riley asked as she started the car.

Camille giggled as Logan continued to go through his spiel. She tucked some hair behind her ear. "Maybe a little, why?"

"Because if I'm going to kill 'Los, may as well cement my spot in jail and kill him as well."

Kendall laughed and turned towards the window, ready to completely ignore Logan's spiel until they were far enough away from Rocque Records to kill him, himself. He lifted his gaze and met Riley's in the rearview mirror. She winked back at him before pulling away from the curb.

Kendall's smile widened.

He should've paid more attention in that moment. From the way her mood changed from before leaving Rocque Records to when they were on the road. He'd thought it was impatience to go camping, she and her siblings had been emphatic about how much they loved to go—they leapt at the chance to convince Gustavo to go, including making a power point presentation to bring to Rocque Records. He should've noticed it all so that later, when things took a sharp turn, he would've been prepared.

Would've been prepared to sprint after her as she took off through the woods after screaming at her friends. He wasn't sure what it was, things had been going fine, and next thing he knew, she snapped.

Blinded by darkness, Kendall ran as fast as he could. The frantic sounds of his friend's voices back at the campsite faded as he continued to follow Riley. She moved faster than he thought for someone who couldn't see where they were going. Yet, Kendall continued to run, ignoring the stitch that appeared in his side, the cramping of his legs. He couldn't let her get away.

"Riley!" He shouted, sucking lungful's of air as he went. He felt pain start to radiate in his knee and gritted his teeth. An old injury that only seemed to plague him at the worst of times. To combat it he typically stretched it out as much as he could before rehearsing choreography, playing hockey, or doing any excessive workouts. It wasn't time for him to stop. "Riley, come back!"

He leapt over a fallen log, shoelaces catching on a branch that stuck out. "Ugh!" With a groan, Kendall fell hard to the ground. He winced in pain, gritting his teeth to clamp down on the scream that threatened to tear form his throat. His knee throbbed even stronger know, pushing along with his blood pressure, leg threatened to fall from beneath him as he got to his feet. Still, he pressed on, limping for a few steps before getting back to speed as he ran.

He could still hear her footsteps in front of him. Then, suddenly, they stopped. He heard nothing but his own ragged breathing, twigs snapping under his feet. He skidded to a stop and looked around. He couldn't see the glow of the campfire anymore, could barely make out the trees from the moonlight that beamed down on him. Chest heaving, Kendall twisted this way and that to find his friend.

"Riles!"

His voice sounded hollow as he heard it come from his mouth, drift on the wind around him. He listened hard, trying to hear a response, trying to hear any footsteps to alert him where Riley had gone. He was so focused on trying to catch a glimpse of her that he didn't see the branch come flying at him until it was too late. "Ah!" His head whipped to the side, blood trickled over his chin.

He brought up a hand, fingers slipping over and smearing the blood into his cheek. A cut opened just below his eye, on the apple of his cheek. Cringing, he ran his fingertip over the open wound, checking to see how deep it was. Not too deep, nothing he hadn't had to handle before. The moment he dropped his hand to his side, a loud scream reached his ears seconds before a heavy weight crashed against his chest.

Kendall fell back to the ground and felt a sharp sting against his face. For a moment, he thought a log had been thrown at him. It took a few seconds for him to realize that Riley had leapt atop of him, shrieking at the top of her lungs, wild, inhuman shrieks as she pummeled her fists against his face and chest.

Bringing up his arms, Kendall used them to shield himself from the blows that hit him. He struggled to grab Riley's wrists. She smacked him in the face and chest, stars exploding in front of his eyes when she got a good wallop to the side of his head, all the while continuing to scream.

"Riley. Riles! Stop! It's me!" Kendall cried as he continued to be beaten. He slapped her hands away from his face, lifting his legs to wrap around her waist. In a show of strength, he rocked the two over, pinning Riley to the ground beneath him. He grabbed her wrists, but Riley wasn't to be outdone. She thrashed beneath him as hard as she could, practically foaming at the mouth. "Riley, stop it!"

"And you…you're just like your dad, spoiled and selfish."

The words rang through Kendall's head as Riley continued trying to fight him off. The words she'd spat at him with so much vehemence it was as if she'd punched him. He expected her to say something bad about him, something horrific in line with the way she'd gone around all their friends. Something about him being a jerk, a bad friend, a loser, but not comparing him to his deadbeat father.

He didn't know what happened. All day her mood had fluctuated; from her snapping at everyone who asked her a question more than once, to the intense amount of energy she showed when doing everything to set up the campsite, to the way they'd been heating up and cooling off all day. It was frustrating, honestly. One minute they'd go on a walk together to get some fire wood, laughing and talking as they always did and the next she'd be annoyed by his starting a simple conversation, shutting him down with a hard stare. So much so he went in his head over and over what he could've done wrong.

Then something had changed so fast that no one saw it coming. One moment she was talking to Jo and Camille about something, then she started going off on Lizzie. Kendall wasn't paying too close attention, maybe she'd been taking a picture of the fire, it'd make sense as to why Riley suddenly snapped, "Are you good for anything other than taking pictures? Or are you so vain that it offsets being a boy crazy ditz?"

There was a moment of stunned silence before Dak immediately went to his sister's defense. "She's just taking a picture—"

"—Like she does every second of the day," Riley said with a roll of her eyes.

"Ri," Patrick said in warning. Lizzie's face crumpled and her shoulders slumped forward as she curled in on herself. Noah put his arm around her and said something that made her smile a little, though it quickly faded.

"And let's not get started with your picture taking." Riley climbed up off the log she'd been sitting on and folded her arms, moving to stand above Dak, staring down at him. Kendall had frowned, his eyebrows coming together as she watched her face. It was eerily empty, completely void of any emotion, eyes as dark as the night sky. "How many pictures on your phone of my sister are from before you finally tricked her into dating you."

"I never tricked her!"

"Okay." Riley simply raised and lowered her shoulder in a shrug. "Stalked her into dating you. Does that sound better, mate? I'm not sure the police would agree but…hey, I've always said you needed to get a fucking life."

"—Riley, shut up!" Rhuben snapped.

"Oh, finally you decide to speak up," Riley quickly rounded on her sister like a rattlesnake charging after it's prey. "It's not like we didn't know you liked it, you could say you hated him as much as you wanted but no one bought it." She brought up her hand and tapped herself on the chin. "No, that's not it. You're just so desperate for his attention like you were with Logan's."

Rhuben got up and stood in front of her twin, the sisters glaring at each other. Kendall's eyes widened in surprise, he'd never seen the two of them fight. James, who sat next to him, stiffened and clenched his hands into fists. "I said, shut up."

"And you've grown a bloody backbone, too? How long did that fucking take? Was it before or after your took your head out of Logan's ass and shoved it up Dak's? God, they got you so fucking blind that you don't even know how fucking self-centered you are!"

Rhuben's narrowed dangerously, easily mimicking the harsh glare that Riley had. Carlos muttered something that sounded like, "And I thought Riley's glare was bad," to which Kendall mentally agreed. He didn't dare open his mouth, unsure of what'd happened if he tried to intervene. "I'm not self-centered," Rhuben hissed but Riley continued speaking over her twin.

She spread her arms wide to address everyone around her, voice rising with each word. "Pop quiz! When was the last time you didn't blow off me or our brothers to go hang out with Dak? When was the last time that you helped the boys with their homework? When was the last time you spent the entire day with them? When was the last time you thought of anyone but yourself and the little fantasy life you've got going on in your head? Like it's so much better than the life you've already got. When was the last time you put aside your own happiness for someone else? When was the last time you cared about anyone else but yourself? Or maybe I should ask Camille. It's great that you decided to let her have Logan, I mean, it's not like he's better than the guy who has his head shoved so far up your ass that he doesn't even know how to work a fucking dish washer!"

This time Logan took the opportunity to defend his girlfriend, who's head jerked back in surprise at suddenly being dragged into the fight. "I don't think…"

"Oh, don't get me started on you, Logan!" Riley snarled. "You act like you're so smart when, all you do is think with your dick. When you started out here you actually cared about a lot of things and now all you care about is what's going to get your dick wet. What sort of guy makes out with his girlfriend in the middle of a fancy restaurant in front of other diners and their music producers? What guy continuously leads two girls on because he can't seem to decide which one he likes better, lying to each girl and telling them they'll get together when he didn't have the guts to just choose one and then decides to try to use love science to figure it out?"

Kendall winced, then saw red. No matter what he felt about Riley, he wouldn't let anyone talk to his friends like that. His voice was so forceful when he said, "Riley, stop!" that he noticed Katie flinch beside him. He tried his hardest not to speak like that, having done it only a few times before.

She ignored him. And he watched as she went through each of their friends, screaming in their faces of what she disliked about each of them.

Jo: She made Kendall whipped and the two were so disgustingly dependent on each other it was like they couldn't function when they weren't around each other. They had nothing in common so what the hell did they ever date each other for?

Camille: You may as well admit that you liked Kendall before you liked Logan or else the slap you gave him just proves how completely nuts you are. Or is it that you liked James, too but just settled for Logan, it's hard to keep it all straight.

James: You have to stop comparing yourself to Kendall all the time, because it's obvious you keep trying to be the best because you still resent him for being the one Gustavo wanted. Get over it and move the fuck on because it's getting fucking old. We know you want to go solo, so just do it and rip the fucking band-aid off instead of holding everyone back.

Katie: Is a money hungry monster who puts all her affection into something that's not there for her and the more she does it, the more likely she's going to end up alone.

Carlos and Stephanie: …she doesn't really have a problem with them.

Kendall knew he was next and tried to cut her off before she got to be too far into it. He knew what his was going to be about, no matter how much he wished they could move past it. He hadn't thought of Lucy since she left if he were being honest. Her words froze him in place, "And you!" She snarled at him. "Every time something with your band doesn't go the way you want it to, you have to make it what you want. You waste the valuable time and professionalism of the people that are fucking hired to help you just because you have to get your way." The next words were what hurt the most. She could've said every bad thing about him he thought of himself but none of it would hurt worse than, "You're just like your dad, spoiled and selfish."

Kendall's eyes bugged wide. "Spoiled?" He repeated.

"And selfish," She added. "You're such a fucking fake. You're all so fucking fake I don't even know how you stand it!" With a roar, she turned and kicked at the fire. A log fell over and sent embers in the air in a brilliant flash of light. At first, Kendall thought her face had been burned from how quickly she turned away and covered her face with her hands. Then he heard her loud, wild screaming.

Patrick quickly went to her, grabbing her arms. He barked at Noah over his shoulder, "Get Syd into a tent and call Ronan, tell him what's going on." Noah nodded and grabbed his youngest brother's arm—whose eyes were wide with fear—and dragged him away from the fire. His movement immediately made everyone snap out of their frozen state.

Questions fired left and right. "What the hell?"

"What's happening?"

"Is she okay?"

"What's going on?"

Patrick ignored them all. "Riles, listen to me. You need to sit down."

"Let go of me!" Riley shrieked, struggling to back away from her brother. "Let go of me!" Her voice continued to rise in pitch and fervor. Finally, she broke free from Patrick's grasp and turned on her heel, sprinting away from the fire.

Kendall didn't waste a second before he ran after her, ignoring Rhuben's shout for him to come back. Not even twenty minutes later he found himself wrestling her to the ground to keep her still. Riley's hands slipped from his grasp and he felt her starting to scratch him. Grunting, Kendall brought his hand down and placed them on the sides of her face, holding her still. He put his face as close to hers as safely possible and started to shout back at her.

"It's me! Riley, stop! It's me! I'm right here, I'm not going anywhere!"

He repeated those words over and over until he saw the words were sinking in. Slowly, very slowly she stopped thrashing beneath him. Very slowly he could see the light coming back to her eyes. Exhausted, Kendall backed away from her and sat on the ground, wrapping his arms around his knees. He gasped for air, feeling his face, neck and chest sting further as the seconds passed. He was afraid to look at a reflection to know the damage. Didn't care.

He just needed to know Riley was okay. Kendall watched as she slowly rolled onto her side and pulled her knees up to her chest. Her breathing was as labored as his, but he could hear the shuddering of tears coming to her voice. "What'd you do?" she whispered. "What'd you do?"

Kendall got back to his knees and knelt over her. He brushed her hair back from her face. She flinched at his touch and backed away from him, curling further into a ball. "No, no, no, no, it's just me. Okay? It's just me. I'm not going to hurt you." Kendall continued to run his fingers over her cheek. "Shhh. It's okay, I'm right here."

Riley continued to tremble, her eyes shifting back and forth. Then she looked up at Kendall and her face crumpled. "Oh God," she whispered. "What'd I do? What'd I do?" Tears started to fall down her cheeks. "What happened? Tell me!"

Kendall lowered himself to the ground next to her, gently moved her head into his lap. "You don't remember?" His mind whirred. How could she not remember everything she'd just said? How could she not remember having run through the woods for the last twenty minutes. At the moment, it wasn't important, he just needed to know she was okay.

"No," she whimpered.

He swallowed hard. "It's not important. But everyone's okay. You're okay now." He continued to stroke her hair before moving his hand down to grasp hers. It took a second before she slowly wormed her hand up to his, holding it firmly. He could feel her shaking. It was then he noticed how cold it'd gotten. Kendall dropped her hand for a moment and wrapped his arms around her, pulling up and to his chest. Then he grabbed her hand again, this time feeling her grasp almost crush his fingers together.

She was terrified.

The two sat in silence for a long time. Kendall kept his arms around her, resting his chin atop her head. He gently rocked her back and forth, wrapping his arms tighter around her each time a chill blew through the trees.

"Did I do that to you?" Riley's voice was so quiet that at first, Kendall didn't realize she was speaking to him. She pulled her had back and rested a hand on his cheek. The wound on his face didn't sting, it'd scabbed over with dried blood. "Did I do that?"

"No," Kendall quickly lied. "I ran into a tree chasing after you. I didn't want you to get too far." He licked his lips, feeling his lip was split as well. He must've been a horrific sight if his mind's eye was correct. "I wanted to make sure you were okay." He paused for a moment. "You don't remember what happened?"

"I heard a crack," Riley muttered. "I was talking to Carlos about something, and then…I heard a loud crack." She reached up, tapping the side of her head. "Like a twig had snapped, but…it was in my head. I don't…I don't know what happened after that." She ran a hand through her hair, shook her head. "I ran out here. Why'd you come after me?"

"You know why, Riles," Kendall said. There was no point in denying it. Not now. "I couldn't let anything happen to you. I care about you too much to let anything happen to you. I mean…I know you were in a mood…" Riley let out a low groan and ran her hand over her face. "Which...which isn't so strange—"

"It is when it happens a lot," Riley muttered. She closed her eyes, slapped the heels of her palms against her forehead. "I'm not…I'm never liked that. I get mad but…" She lowered her hands. "You shouldn't have come after me."

"I couldn't leave you out here by yourself!"

"With the way my mind's been working…" he realized she was talking to herself rather than him. "I tried to ignore it at first because I thought it was just exhaustion playing tricks on me. I haven't been sleeping very well. I talked myself out of worrying about it. I'm so used to working that even when I'm not I continue to sleep and wake up at all hours of the night because I've conditioned myself to do it. I could tell I was getting angrier but I kept talking myself out of it. Made up excuses. Then I started to see him everywhere and I knew something was wrong."

Saw someone everywhere? Kendall studied her face, studied the expression that was a mixture of horror and worry. "Who?" He asked. "Who'd you see?"

Riley took a deep, shuddering breath. Tears silently fell down her cheeks. Her lips parted and she croaked, "My dad."

"Do you see him now?" The words left Kendall's lips before he could stop them. Intellectually, he knew it wasn't possible. But he was looking at Riley at that moment and knew she truly believed she saw what she saw. She had that look on her face, the one he'd noticed earlier that morning. Where he saw her staring off into space, the same way she'd done a lot recently.

"Yes," Riley whispered.

"Where?"

"Behind you." At that, Kendall whipped around to see nothing behind him. Absolutely nothing. He turned back to Riley and she shuddered a few times before saying, "I knew it before but…something's wrong. I need help."

Again, Kendall grasped her face in his hands. "Then let me help you. I'm always here for you, Riles, no matter what. You know that. That's not stopping. Not now. Not ever. If you need help, I'm there. Like I should've been before." He pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead and wrapped her in a hug. Riley buried her face in his neck, holding him tightly. "I'm not going anywhere, okay?"

Kendall wasn't sure how much time had passed as they sat in the woods. The moon's position in the sky shifted and yet he couldn't be too sure. All he knew or cared was that Riley was safe. He held her hand tightly in his as they made their way back to the campsite. They spotted the fire first, Riley shrank back when she noticed it but Kendall tightened his grasp on her hand, continuing to pull her forward.

The moment they stepped out into the clearing, Kendall was crushed in a hug by Katie, who threw her arms around his waist. Kendall grabbed onto her and held her just as tightly. He watched as his friends watched Riley lower her head. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm so sorry." She lifted her chin and looked to her sister.

"Are you going to take care of me now?" Riley mumbled, her voice so quiet that Kendall almost didn't hear. Rhuben lifted her arms and threw them around her sister's shoulders, hugging her twin sister tightly. Riley wrapped her arms around her sister's waist and the two held onto each other, trembling.

Over Riley's shoulder, Rhuben looked at Kendall and mouthed, 'thank you'.

Kendall nodded back. There was no point in saying thanks, he would've done it over again, just to make sure she was safe. So much so that when the ambulances took them to the hospital, he insisted to ride along with her, holding her hand the entire way.

He made a promise.

He wasn't going anywhere.

A/N: If you've read my (discontinued) Story Wait For Me this is one of he things Riley's needed to apologize about to her friends, saying everything she'd secretly thought of them.

Cheers,

-Riles