Keep Going
Chapter 1
After the Treasure
Disclaimer: If I owned National Treasure, I'd be able to meet Nicolas Cage, which would ROCK. So, I don't know Nic Cage, and I don't own National Treasure. See? There you go.
Although it seems that way, my life didn't stop after finding the treasure in July 1995. Very many surprises came afterwards in a short period of time. First of all, Abigail and I got married in St. Patrick's Catholic Church on the 14th of September of the year 1996 and afterwards held a huge reception in the backyard of our new home on Wilkshire Road. Mr. Riley Poole was the best man, and Abigail's sister Debra Chase, the maid of honor. At the reception, Riley ended up asking Debra out on a date. Shortly after, I applied for a job as a History Professor at George Washington University, where I was accepted and hired with much gratitude and welcome. Riley was hired as a columnist for the Uptown Citizen in October, and has been busy writing away History and viewpoint articles ever since. Of course, I'm usually his fact checker and have spent many hours with him correcting his spelling and grammar. I don't mind, really; I'm glad to help him. One of his dreams was to become a columnist for the newspaper, after all, and he got his wish. It's funny how some dreams come true and some don't. Mine did, of course, and I'm sure my great-great-great-great grandfather, Thomas Gates, and the members of my family forward are all looking down on me now with satisfaction and no shame in admitting that I'm the product of the Gates family.
A few years after Riley was hired for his new job, my father passed away. His wake was on December the 12th 1999, and his funeral a day later. He had died suddenly from heart failure one night. I went over there with Abigail one night to tell him the big news, our newest surprise, and we found him there sitting completely still in his chair with his eyes open, his face gray and cold. That might have been one of the biggest shocks of my life...if I were to include the news that I was going to bring to my dad the night he passed - that he was to be a grandfather. I think he would have been happy to be a grandfather, though I know I would have gotten one of my "Cavalier" lectures the same night - maybe he'd direct it to Abigail as well. And actually, if he hadn't been dead when I got there, he might just have had a heart attack anyway after I told him. But what can you do? You can't collapse and forget what's ahead of you. As Winston Churchill once said, "If you're going through hell, keep going."
A/N: This is an introduction to the story - I'm just going to write from the marriage to Ben's father's death. This'll be fun. I'm coming out with another National Treasure fanfiction soon that happens after Abigail has her children - like, a few years later. But the time frame's different from the one in this one, so yeah. Stay with me on this!