A/N: Well, here's another chapter...and I hope it makes up for the shitty-ness of the last one.

I was listening to Eve 6's "Here's to the Night" while writing towards the end, so...yeah, just a warning.

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I woke up the next morning just as the sun was coming in through the window. I looked at the clock briefly before falling onto my back in the middle of the bed, my arms stretched out. Staring at the ceiling, I sighed very heavily, then closed my eyes tightly as I gripped a fist full of the bed sheets.

The past two days went from bad to worse, and was not helping my mental state.

While lying in bed, I began to think of multiple ways to persuade Ben to help me out. The biggest thing I thought of was that as soon as Ian was out, we would disappear; we'd move somewhere else and never come in contact with him or anyone else involved in the treasure hunt again. It sounded good to me, But I'd be damned if Ben felt the same way. I told myself that I'd talk it over with Alison, just so she could help me out if I needed it, if Ben didn't help me, I might never see Ian again.

That thought alone made me want to cry again, but I didn't. I said to myself that I would NOT think that way. It could only lead to something bad.

With that chunk of information stored in my brain, I got out of the bed and went to take a shower. I was meeting Ben for lunch, so I took all the time I wanted, standing underneath the steady stream of hot water.

When I finally got out of the shower, I put on comfortable, yet presentable clothes (which consisted of a pair of khaki, cargo pants and a navy blue, three-quarter length sleeve, v-neck shirt).

After dressing, I went out to the living room to see if Alison was awake yet, for she was sleeping on my couch. She was awake and watching some kid's program on television.

"Mornin'," she said, cheerfully.

Damn her...she's too happy first thing in the morning.

"Yeah, morning," I grumbled. "Hungry?"

"I can get something. Have a seat," Alison said, standing from the couch.

"No. Sit. You're my guest, and I need something to keep my mind off...some...things," I replied, pushing her back onto her seat. I then turned and went to the kitchen. "What would you like?"

"Whatever you wanna make. Dealer's choice," she said.

I looked under the cabinet, out to the living room, and saw Alison smiling. Shaking my head, I turned back towards the kitchen, trying to decide what to make. After staring a few long seconds at a picture of Ian and I on a vacation two years ago that was on the refrigerator, I moved around the kitchen to make Alison some pancakes. Once made, I took them to her with syrup and a cup of coffee.

"Thanks," she said, taking the food and drink from me. "Aren't you eating any?"

"Nah, I don't think I could eat anything," said I, with a forced grin.

"Alex, you have to eat something. Going without food isn't healthy," she said with concern.

"I know, and I'll eat later. I'm just nervous about talking to Ben. If he doesn't help me, then..." I trailed off.

"Come on, kid, don't think like that," she paused, took a bite of the pancakes, set the plate on the floor, then turned back to me. "So, do we have a plan?"

After I told Alison of my plan/idea (she agreed to some things), she headed back to her apartment to get a quick shower and change her clothes. Once she came back, we sat around watching TV until eleven o'clock. We had to meet Ben at the restaurant we selected by eleven thirty.

I drove Alison and myself to the restaurant, but before we got there, I made a pit stop at a photo store and had some pictures printed out for Ben...just another way to persuade him.

When we got to the restaurant, we parked and went inside. Ben hadn't arrived yet, so we were seated near the door. I think as soon as I sat down I started shaking. Alison put her hand on my shoulder; she patted my shoulder as the waitress came to take our drink orders.

Not too long after we ordered drinks, I saw Ben walk through the main doors, and waved him over to our table; he sat down across from me.

"Hi, Ben. Thanks for coming," I said with a nervous smile. "Oh, this is my friend, Alison. Alison, Ben," I introduced.

They nodded to each other with a short greeting.

"And here are some pictures for you. I thought you might want them. If not, that's fine, too," I said, sliding the pictures across the table to him.

Ben gave me a skeptical look as I pulled my shaking hand back.

"So why'd you ask me down here, Alex?" Ben asked, getting straight to the point.

"Oh, yeah, right. Well..." I looked to Alison for some help.

"Alex needs a little more money to get Ian out of jail," she said.

I stared at her, dumbfounded, with my jaw slack. She just came right out and said it! My eyes darted over to Ben for his reaction.

Ben had almost a mirror image of my look, except he looked at me, not Alison.

"You what?" he asked, calmly, yet flabbergasted.

"I just need a few thousand more dollars to get Ian, and only Ian, out," I said with pleading eyes and looking intently at Ben. "If you do this for me, us, Ian and I will move out of town as far away as we can. We'll disappear, and you'll never hear from us again. We'll go on living our lives and you can live yours...without fear, without worry. Please, Ben. I love him," I finished in a whisper.

My throat started to tighten again. As I finished my little speech, I blinked rapidly to get rid of those damn tears; one escaped, though, and slid down my cheek. Hastily, I brought my hand up and wiped it away.

I looked at Alison before I looked back to Ben. Alison gave me a small smile. When I looked to Ben, he had leaned back in his chair, crossed his arms over his chest, and his brow was furrowed in thought.

It looked as if he was about to say something when the waitress came back with the drinks Alison and I ordered. She looked at Ben.

"Can I get you something to drink, sir?" she asked, politely.

Did she watch the news or was she just pretending to be nice?

Yes, I had some evil thoughts running through my head when she interrupted.

"Dry martini, please," Ben said, uncrossing his arms.

The waitress nodded and went away again.

Ben's order could have been a good thing or a bad thing from my stand point. The way I saw it, the bad part could be that he had ordered a fancy drink to say 'ha, you'll lose the love of your life forever, and this is how I celebrate!' As for the good part, it would be as if he was giving in or saying that he was loosing some of the money that had just come into his position. I think it all depended on the way he drank it: if he drank it smugly, then I was screwed, but if he just downed it, then I had a chance...or so I hoped.

Ben went back into thought when the waitress left. When she came back with his drink, I watched him as he went to drink it. As he picked up the glass, he stared at it, sighed, brought the glass to his lips, tossed his head back, and downed the martini.

As Ben set the empty martini glass back down on the table, I watched him closely; he leaned his elbows on the table.

"Do you really mean everything you said? About never coming in contact with me, Dr. Chase, and Riley and all of that?" he asked, seriously.

I copied his position. "Yes, absolutely." I paused, then continued with a thought. "As long as you give those pictures from the gala to Dr. Chase. She asked if she could have them, and I agreed; I'd hate to go back on my word."

Ben opened the pack of pictures and flipped through them briefly. He then gave a half grin.

"I will give them to her," he said, putting the pack in a pocket on the inside of his coat. He sighed, then paused. "All right."

Alison and I exchanged a confused look. "'All right' what?" I asked.

"I'll help you get Ian," he sighed.

I stared at him in shock for a moment, then shook my head. "Do you mean it?"

"Yes...as long as you keep your word."

I'll. Be. Damned.

"I can do that," I smiled. "Thank you, Ben. You have no idea how much this means to me."

I could have jumped over the table to hug and kiss him, but I restrained myself.

The waitress came back again, and we ordered lunch. I was in such a good mood, I couldn't eat, but got something small just so Alison wouldn't worry about me not eating.

"So, when do we take care of this?" Ben asked then.

"I'd like to do it as soon as possible, if you don't mind," I answered.

"Me too, as a matter of fact...are you free after we're done here?" he suggested.

"Of course I'm free," I practically squealed.

"Good. We'll head over to the courthouse after we finish."

I could only nod vigorously. I inhaled deeply, then slowly released it, then looked at Alison again; she patted my arm.

The three of us talked about random things until our food came. When it did come, I ate my small meal in a rush...I wanted to get out of there, get Ian, and get home. Ben and Alison ate quickly, but not as fast as I did.

When we finished, we all pitched in for the bill and tip, then left that place and went to the courthouse. Alison and I had to follow Ben because I wasn't completely sure where the place was. After we parked our cars, we went to the main office. I talked to the secretary (with Ben next to me), and told her that I was there to pay Ian's bail. She asked for the money, so I wrote a check out, as did Ben.

Once that was taken care of, and all papers were filled out and signed, the secretary smiled, saying it would be a few minutes before he came out. Ben and I thanked her, and we walked over to sit on some benches. Alison had already sat there while I took care of the paperwork and such. Before Ben sat down, I gave him a hug. I definitely surprised him, but her hugged me back quickly before I pulled back.

"Thank you, again, Ben," I said, sincerely. "You're a good man."

"You're welcome...just keep him out of trouble and out of jail," he replied.

"I will certainly do that," I smiled.

Ben sat down on the bench near Alison, while I paced in front of them. Alison kept her eyes on me most of the time.

About five or six minutes later (which felt like five or six hours to me), the door to the back room opened and Ian came walking out in the same clothes I last saw him in.

I was staring at the floor, so when Ben and Alison stood, and Alison called my attention to the door, I looked up and stared at Ian.

After staring for a moment, I ran to Ian and jumped into his arms, wrapping my arms around his neck and hooking my legs around his body.

I didn't care who saw the way I acted! I was just glad to see him safe; I didn't have to worry about him.

Ian responded to my actions by wrapping his arms tightly around me.

"I missed you so much, Ian," I whispered in his ear, closing my eyes. "Even though it was only a few days."

"I missed you, too, Alex," he whispered back, then turned his head and kissed my neck.

I pulled my head back just enough to look into his gray-green eyes. I then proceeded to kiss him passionately; my arms fell from around his neck and my hands cupped his face.

When I was starting to run out of air, I unhooked my legs from around him to place myself back on the floor. As we broke the kiss, I gave a strangled laugh as I looked up at Ian. I let my hands rest on his shoulders.

Ian brought his hand up the side of my face as he ran his thumb over my cheek; little did I know that he was wiping away a tear that I didn't know about.

"Let's go home," I said, quietly.

"Yes, home sounds wonderful," he replied.

Ian grabbed my hand as we started walking over to Alison and Ben. I smiled at the two.

"Hello, Alison. How are you?" Ian asked, casually.

I noticed that he wasn't looking at Ben...at all.

"I'm fine, Ian. Glad to see you're okay," she replied.

Ian took a step to walk out of the courthouse, but I stopped him by tugging on his hand. "Ian, if it wasn't for Ben, you'd be spending the rest of your life in a high-security prison."

I finally got him to look at Ben.

"Then, I thank you, Gates," Ian said, extending his hand to Ben.

I noticed that Ben looked hesitant, but he shook Ian's hand tersely anyway.

"Can we go now?" Alison asked.

She must have noticed the tension, also.

"Yeah, let's go," I said, taking a hold of Ian's arm, and pulling him along before a fist fight (or worse) broke out.

Ben and Alison walked ahead of Ian and I out of the building, which was perfectly fine with me. That meant that I could cling to Ian and not worry about slowing them down.

In the parking lot, I thanked Ben again before he drove off.

"Just remember what we agreed on," he warned.

I nodded and said my good bye, then got in my car with Alison and Ian (Alison was in the back, and Ian was in the passenger's seat). Driving home, I took every chance I could to look over at Ian.

When we got home, I gave Alison a hug and thanked her for all her help before she went back to her own apartment. Once she left, Ian picked me up and carried me into the apartment. As I closed the door behind us, Ian set me down, wrapped his arms around me again, and kissed me.

"What did Gates mean by 'remembering what we agreed on'?" he asked once we parted.

"I had to strike a deal with him so he would give me the money I still needed, to get you out," I said, as I moved my hand to his chest, and stared at my hand. "I said that if he gave me the money, we would disappear, move, and we would never try to contact him, Dr. Chase, or Riley. It was the only way to get you."

Ian stared hard at me for several seconds. Without warning, he kissed me again, catching me off guard. He pulled back seconds later.

"That was very smart and brave of you," he purred seductively.

I knew where this was headed.

I pulled Ian closer to me by his shirt, and, with his face mere centimeters away from mine, I whispered: "I love you."

"I love you," he replied, then kissed me fiercely.

Without breaking our kiss, Ian picked me up (again), and carried me to our bedroom...where we stayed for the rest of the day and into the next day's afternoon.

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A/N: This is NOT the end...there's still a few more chapters yet.

Oh, did anyone else in the States watch Sharpe's Challenge tonight? I sure did!...not too crazy about that little cliffhanger that'll make me wait until tomorrow though...I think I was so distracted (by you-know-who, naturally), I don't think I have any idea what was going on. I figured it out, though, no worries. :)