A/N: Last chapter! Well, the epilogue will follow this, but this is the last ACTUAL chapter. It's... not so great. I'm sorry it took so long, I sort of lost inspiration and thought process for a while, but I think I'm good now. It PROBABLY doesn't answer all the wanted questions, I finally became too frustrated with it all sitting in my word processor for however many days straight so tonight I just threw it all together in what seemed like a decent finish and, well, finished it. But it at least gives a TINY bit of closure -- and I repeat, there WILL be a sequel, so the open ends will be closed when that one is finished. For now, thank you for all your lovely reviews (which I hope keep coming) and enjoy!
Darkness. That was probably the typical thing to notice first after death, wasn't it? Of course there wouldn't be a white light to go toward, that would just be too easy. Darkness and warmth. He must have been steering toward hell, but he had to have been a long way off because it was a more comfortable warmth instead of an unbearable heat. But he was pretty sure hell didn't smell like flowers.
Or have people holding your hand.
Or... beeping?
And then there was the pain. If he was dead, he was pretty certain he shouldn't have been feeling any more pain, except for maybe the burning pit of fire that most say comes along with hell. After thinking about it, he decided he would have opted for burning, but instead he got to feel the joys of ribs screaming at him for reasons unknown to him, and his shoulder throbbing in the worst sort of way – like he had been... shot.
He groaned, and the hand covering his flinched, causing him to move his hand to grip onto whoever's was holding him, "Mmm..." that was probably the most boring greeting ever, and he hadn't even opened his eyes.
"Riley?" Abigail. Poor, darling Abigail, sitting there with him until he awoke, "Are you awake?" She sounded, to him, like she was awfully hopeful. How long had she been hoping? It took a small bit of convincing, but he managed to open his eyes wide enough to give a sign of life, at least, "Riley!" her smile looked amazing to see after thoughts of hell ran through is mind.
She let go of his hand, and he almost reached out to grab it but that whole throbbing shoulder detail stopped him and he winced, but didn't make a noise. He didn't want to worry anyone more than they already must have been. Then he looked over to see why she had let go, his heart sinking and yet jumping happily at the sight of Ben sleeping in a nearby chair. They were both there.
"Ben!" Riley watched as Abigail shook her boyfriend awake, apparently startling him by the wild look in his eyes, "It's Riley!"
"Wha...!?" The worst thoughts ran through his mind, until he saw his best friend laying in the hospital bed staring at him with a smile, however weak it was, "Riley..." That was his name, after all.
"Hey there, sleeping beauty..." Riley teased, his voice coming out painfully raspy. He attempted to swallow, that only causing him to wince and there was no hiding it from the others.
"Here." Abigail hurried over to beside the bed and poured water into a little paper cup for the younger man, "This'll help." They must have been prepared for this for a while, the waking and the need of water. Or maybe they had just been warned by all-knowing doctors.
"How are you feeling?" Ben stepped up beside the bed, not looking too grand himself – he had been asleep, but he looked to be in dire need of a real bed to rest in, and quite possibly a shower, "You had us worried."
These seemed like very television sort of questions and responses to Riley, but he'd go along with it, "You know that expression, 'I feel like I've been hit by a truck'?" He looked up at his two friends, who were just smiling and nodding at him with understanding – and then he continued, "That would feel pretty damn good right now." That earned him a laugh and he couldn't help but smile. He'd never been so glad to have those two with him more than right then, especially in a place he wanted to get out of a soon as possible, however impossible he knew that would probably be.
"I'm going to go get a doctor." Abigail brushed her hand against Ben's shoulder and he nodded, she leaned in closer to whisper in his ear, "I'll take my time. You need to talk to him." she turned back to Riley and smiled as she left the room, leaving Ben in uneasy silence.
After a moment he took a seat in the chair Abigail had vacated and sighed, running his fingers through his hair, "We weren't sure you were going to make it." What a way to start off the conversation. Too late now, best to run with it. Riley, however, wasn't sure how to respond to those words, so he just kept staring at the older gentleman to see if he'd say anything more, "You really did scare the hell out of me, Sundance."
Sundance... Ben hadn't called him that in years. Since before Abigail came into the picture, and it was mostly only a joking nickname, but it was amazing to hear. Refreshing. "Sorry, Butch." He replied hoarsely, but smiled through it nonetheless, "Didn't really expect to be chased by a psycho maniac." His usual humor wasn't seeming to work by the stern look Ben was giving him. He cleared his throat and wiped the smile from his lips, worried he'd done something seriously wrong.
"I mean it, Riley." Ben scooted closer with the chair, leaning an elbow on the bed, "Even before Ian was a part of this... when I knew you'd left. I just..." he looked behind him to make sure there were no signs of Abigail or hospital staff, and blew out a long breath, "It terrified me, that you could just pack up and leave that way without giving us any word."
"I didn't think anyone would care." Riley started messing around with a little hand held button, curious what it might have been he gave it a push – and suddenly there was relief to the pain. Ah, the happy button. He'd have to kiss the grave of whoever discovered morphine.
Ben looked up into Riley's eyes and shook his head, "Why? Because we lost touch for a couple of weeks?"
Apparently he still didn't understand, "It wasn't that, Ben. Well," Riley had to correct himself, in a small way, "it wasn't that entirely, anyway. Not nearly."
He understood, he just didn't know how to go about bringing it up. The segue into the conversation was now sitting there for him, just waiting for him to find the perfect words. He stayed silent for a few minutes.
"I haven't really been good enough to you, have I?" He thought back on all the times, during their adventures and even during every day moments, where he hadn't given his best friend enough credit toward the things he would say or do, "I mean, I ask you to do so much and you do – sometimes you do things without me even having to ask. If I said jump..."
"I'd say you first." Riley grinned and this time Ben followed suit, leaving Riley leeway to let out a small laugh, "Ben, it's alright." It wasn't, but his cover had always been that, to pretend, and pretend he would.
"Riley..."
"Benjamin..." The younger man was determined to defy the older, though Ben's next words were about to trap him.
"I want you to be completely honest with me." Ben leaned his other elbow onto the bed, speaking as quietly as possible – this was a more personal time for the both of them, something he felt they probably both needed. He hadn't been a very good friend, so this seemed a good way to start, "Why was it you left?"
Riley couldn't think of any good, immediate response. Ben had asked him to be honest, so there was no getting out of it now. For how smart he usually pretended to be, he was stuck then because Ben deserved the request he had asked for, even if he had already guessed it and Riley joked his way away from it.
"Ben, please don't--"
"This is going to come up now or later. Abigail won't be back for a while, we have time to clear the air." He couldn't stand even the slightest strain on their friendship, he needed Riley to be around – he needed his brother.
The younger man laid silent for a few minutes, hoping maybe Abigail wouldn't actually be gone as long as Ben apparently expected her to be. But there were no signs of her, so he finally gave in, "It's just..." the drawn out pause between his words seemed to raise Ben's curiosity, because when Riley looked over at him his eyebrows were raised in question. Riley sighed, "There's been so much going on lately. You and Abigail are so much more involved than you used to be, recognition has been flying around from both the treasures like mad – with YOUR name plastered all over the place." He hadn't meant to sound so upset about that fact, but he would have been lying if he were to pretend it didn't bother him in a small way.
"Riley--" Ben was interrupted by his best friend holding up a finger in a gesture of silence.
"If you want me to be honest, you need to let me say everything at one time." Ben held up his hands in a 'go ahead' sort of way, and Riley nodded, "Your parents are back together and around you more, you have friends all over the place, I... don't. I don't have any of that. I mean," he paused again, swallowing back the painfully familiar feeling of tears rising in his throat, "Yeah, I have you guys, but it wasn't the same. Sitting back, watching my best friend'sactual family laughing and happy, knowing I didn't technically have that sort of thing – and then keeping to myself for a couple of weeks with... no sort of notice. It made me wonder if I was really needed anymore. And I mean, why was I even needed in the first place? To do your geek work? Thanks for saving me from that shitty cubical, but really. If that's all you wanted me for, don't pretend to want me around now." He took a deep breath, finally coming to a close on the things he wanted to get out, "I don't know," his voice was smaller, more childlike than when he had been speaking just seconds before, "It just made me miss where I came from, the things around here. Maybe it wasn't the happiest of times, but with a little effort I knew I'd have something more like family."
Had he really just said that? Did Ben really just listen to this man he'd known for longer years than he'd been working in any cubical, ask him if he was only needed for the technical things? Ben thought Riley should have at least known that much by this point. His eyes were wide, and he didn't realize it until Riley started furrowing his brow with worry in his eyes. He shook his head to clear it before trying to come up with words.
"Riley, honestly..." he realized then he felt a little insulted that his best friend could assume such things as he had, but the boy was drugged and depressed, to some extent, so Ben decided not to be too hard on him, "Things have just been insane lately. My parents... that's a huge thing. Unexpected and all, we're all really just getting to know each other again. But that's not really an excuse, because I've always wanted you to be included in that." Ben grabbed hold of his best friend's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, looking into his usually bright blue eyes which seemed a little dull now, "Riley, you're my family. You're my brother," that word pulled Riley's attention straight to Ben's face, and so with a deep breath he went on, "I've been using you, I realize that now. You've never deserved it, but I thank you for putting up with me being the ungrateful bastard I can apparently be."
"You have been kind of thankless." Riley chuckled, Ben just shaking his head in amusement.
"I'm learning, and I'm not going to keep doing it. There will be times I'll need reminding, but neither of us are perfect." As if Riley needed that reminder, he seemed to think far less of himself than he needed to, "But I swear to you, Riley Poole, you're always going to have someone in me. If you need a friend, a shoulder, a punching bag, a place to run to..." he heard the door open, knowing that meant Abigail was back, but he didn't turn his head, "But you're always going to have family with us, especially me."
"Me too." Abigail smiled, walking over to the other side of the bed to place her hand on Riley's uninjured shoulder, "We want you to be able to come to us when you feel lonely. We're not trying to push you away, we never meant that. I'm so sorry." She was just then understanding how much all of this was her fault just as much as Ben's, though he had had a larger part in it.
So much for keeping those tears back, they were streaming down Riley's cheeks like mini waterfalls and he knew there was no stopping them. He wanted to push them away, keep them back, keep himself from getting hurt again – except he knew he wouldn't be, and he knew they weren't going anywhere. How could they? They had traveled across the country for him, they weren't going anywhere, "I don't know what I'd do without you guys." After speaking the words, he actually thought about it, and without them – he'd either be dead or trapped in a cubical, still. He shuddered at both ideas.
"The doctor will be in in a minute." Abigail made the passing mention as she ran her fingers through Riley's messed up hair in her motherly way.
"We good now?" Ben had let go of Riley's hand to put his up in a low-five manner, not wanting to make Riley move his shoulder much.
"We're great." Riley accepted the gesture, lifting his hand enough to slap his hand again Ben's and he grinned. Nothing felt better than having his two best friends back with him. He didn't want to think about why he had even left in the first place anymore.
"I just have one more question..."
Riley couldn't help but raise his eyebrows, noticing Ben seemed to be thinking hard about whatever this next question was going to be, "yeah?"
"Who's Samantha?"