Convergence
Chapter 13: Affection

There had only been room for one extra passenger aboard the FBI helicopter, and naturally Ben had been the one to go. Riley was fine with that; spending the ride from New York to Boston in the company of a bunch of feds wasn't his idea of a fun trip. Besides, he didn't ever want to see Ian again. Not even to laugh at him getting arrested.

No, being left behind wasn't what bothered him. Being left behind with the others was what bothered him. With the others presently entailed standing on a balcony at the New York field office, watching the traffic below, with Abigail Chase standing not three feet away from him. It was the first time they'd been alone together without matters of life and death to distract them since Riley had threatened her.

Riley wasn't entirely sure he liked Ben's father much, either, but at least when Patrick had been there he and Abigail had made some small talk; it filled the emptiness, even if it was boring to listen to. Now Patrick was being debriefed by the feds, and the silence was... well, uncomfortable might be too strong a word. Uneasy would cover it just fine.

He leaned over the railing and sighed. May as well try to improve things. "It was never anything personal, you know."

"Is that an apology?" She sounded genuinely curious, not sarcastic, so he wasn't overly tempted to throw anything at her. Just as well; he didn't really have anything to throw but his cell phone, and that wouldn't be worth it.

"In a sense." His gaze remained firmly locked on the street. "I'm not sorry I was suspicious, and I'm not sorry I was keeping an eye on you. Someone had to. You might've noticed that Ben doesn't really look out for himself."

Abigail giggled. Wait... she giggled? She actually giggled? Learn something new every day. "That fact wasn't lost on me, true."

"Well, there you go. It's not an apology. But," he turned and saluted her with the phone, "I'm acknowledging that you turned out all right."

"I see." She moved forward and sat on the railing. "I turned out all right. That's a high complement from you, isn't it?"

Well. She was perceptive. He frowned and returned his attention to the passing cars, resolving to ignore the question. Not that she'd stumbled upon some deep dark secret, or anything. Yet the thought of actually answering a question still froze him up inside; a cold very different than the dread of impending death he'd spent the last few days with, and in some ways worse.

Cut that out. She's all right.

Cut it out!

It took a nearly physical act of will to shake off the barrier that had come over him, but Riley forced himself. She was all right. And he'd certainly have to get used to her eventually... after all, he'd seen Ben kiss her.

He looked back at her and nodded. "Yeah, it is."

With that, they were quiet again, the silence much less awkward this time. A McDonald's truck rolled along below, and it suddenly dawned on him that he hadn't eaten since they'd reached Philadelphia, nearly two days ago. Oh ugh. He'd been too busy to be hungry before, but now...

Surely the FBI had a kitchen or something around here. He wasn't about to go looking around—the feds were the good guys now, he got that, but still. A cop was a cop. Maybe Abigail would go, she hadn't eaten either. He turned his head to ask her about it, and hesitated. She was giving him a rather odd look.

Probably doesn't mean she's thinking about dinner. "Problem?"

"Does Ben know?"

That told him nothing whatsoever. "Ben knows quite a lot of things, and believe me, he'll happily tell you all of them if you ask. Could you be a little more specific?"

Now she looked exasperated. Then briefly, if he wasn't much mistaken, a flash of nervousness crossed her face. First giggling, then nervous... Riley was about to ask who she was and what she'd done with Abigail when she answered. "I mean, does he know that you love him."

He somehow managed not to drop his phone off the balcony.

Be an odd thing for him to know, wouldn't it? Considering... he tried to sound as nonchalant as possible. "Well, if he does know that, I hope he's planning to let me in on the secret sometime soon."

Discomfort turned to pure mortification, and lasted approximately two seconds before Abigail regained her composure. Excellent. He'd actually seen her flustered, his life was complete. "You mean you don't?" she asked, sounding for all the world as if she hadn't even considered that option.

"Not last time I checked. Here, give me a minute... hey self? Are you in love with a dude?" He tilted his head for a moment, waiting for an answer. None came, of course; he'd be more than a little worried if one had. And would most assuredly not admit it. But for his audience's sake, he supplied one anyway. "No, self, definitely not." He straightened up and gave Abigail a helpless shrug. "Sorry. Awkward."

"Yeah." She nodded, frowning thoughtfully. "Awkward."

The following silence could've been awkward, also, but somehow Riley wasn't feeling it. Maybe that was in spite of her misreading him. More likely, it was because of it. Her assumption—and reaction—had hardly been what he'd expect of the Mean Declaration Lady; maybe she was actually human after all.

So she'd thought he had a crush on his best friend. So what? Really? It obviously hadn't been an attempt to insult him... just a question.

It surprised him that he would give her the benefit of the doubt, to make that distinction. But maybe it was because she had asked. Was she worried about getting in the way? Maybe she was. Maybe he'd just like to think so. And maybe it didn't matter.

"How long have you been thinking that, anyway?" Despite himself, he was curious.

Abigail shrugged. "Awhile... it sort of started to set in as soon as I realized you weren't brothers." Fortunately, she was looking away now, and didn't notice how he grimaced at the word brothers. "Really, though, when we got to his dad's house. You know, 'what do you have, him?' About then."

Riley flinched again. That had hurt the first time, and it hurt now... he decided it was time to shift the conversation elsewhere. "Well you don't need to worry. If I had a problem with you two hooking up, you'd have heard about it before. Like, oh, when he turned around and kissed you like it was the last chance he'd ever get." A contemplative expression crossed his features. "Admittedly, that was a fair guess at the time."

She laughed and leaned forward a little. "Point taken. So what is it with you two? I know you said it's a long story, but we've got plenty of—"

"Dr. Chase?"

For the first time in his life, Riley thanked God for law enforcement. At least, he did so after jumping a foot in the air and whirling on the FBI agent who'd just walked up, as if expecting him to have a gun pointed at them. Okay, so the last couple of days had made him a little jumpy.

Abigail recovered more quickly, if she'd been startled at all. "Yes?"

"We're ready to speak with you now." Speak with you. A pretty euphemism for interrogation—which, the technical term was 'debriefing', but all that was was an interrogation on friendly terms. Big deal. Besides, 'debriefing' sounded dirty.

Riley tossed her a grin and a wave. "Been nice knowing you!"

"Thanks, I think."

Then she was gone, leaving him alone on the balcony. By the time she got back, he would be prepared to dodge the question she'd started to ask, assuming she even remembered. She likely would. She was persistent. But he was good at ducking questions. That was nothing personal either, not now. Let her ask Ben how they'd met; he loved talking about history. Riley didn't—not even his own.

Especially not his own.

Another agent led Patrick Gates out a few minutes later. The FBI had provided all three of them small but comfortable bedrooms in the complex, but after the time they'd spent beneath Trinity Church, nobody wanted to be indoors until absolutely necessary. The adventure had other side effects too... like making it very difficult to hold grudges. So Riley gave Ben's father a nod of greeting. If he could get used to Abigail, perhaps he could get to like this old grouch as well. Eventually.

Besides, when all was said and done... he'd been right.

Yeah. He's got me.

That promise was held in his eyes, though Patrick may or may not have noticed. And if his father didn't think too highly of that, Ben felt differently. That was what was important. All that mattered...

Though he didn't know it—but surely had his suspicions—he'd taught Riley to trust again. And for that, Riley would follow him anywhere. It was something he hadn't felt since...

Since...

Tristan? Is this what you meant?

To find that person he could trust. To never let them go. Abigail had thought they were brothers, but no. Brothers grew apart. Brothers faded away, let each other down, and he was determined to never let that happen again. But... brothers loved each other. Allegedly. And that was all right.

No, he wasn't in love with Ben. But maybe love was as good a word as any.