A note to the readers: I know this is taking forever! You must forgive me for this, but at the moment school and trying to figure out what I will do with my life has, well, consumed my life. But don't worry, I'm working on it. And I hope you are not disappointed, but this is a short chapter, but it's comical. Hopefully that makes up for it. The next two chapters are gonna be pretty long I'm thinking'. So, here's a little snippet to keep you going. :- )

Disclaimer: I own all. Everything. The earth, the moon, Pluto (which I will forever call a planet; it's just not right for them to change something I've known almost all my life…), the air you breathe, the flowers, National Treasure. But wait! Just in case you were confused, this is only true in my dreams. So, no. I don't own anything in the real world, except for the things I really do own…if that makes sense. Lol. But I do not own National Treasure or any of its characters.

"Well? What did you find out?" the elder man asked impatiently, hounding Riley the moment he stepped through the door to the book store. "Is it worth a billion dollars? Am I gonna be rich? Why couldn't I come with you?"

"Calm down would ya? You remind me of a squirrel on speed. And that's saying a lot, because you're old and most squirrels already act like they're on speed. I don't know how much the document is worth, I forgot to ask…"

"You forgot to ask?! What were you doing out there, eating pancakes? I told you I should have come with you."

Riley rolled his eyes and continued, "What I did find out was that the document is very valuable. The guy I went to see told me I should go to Egypt to find out more about it and get it validated. It could possibly prove an ancient legend."

"Go to Egypt? As in the country? That's a little far isn't it?"

Riley gave him a look, "No, Egypt as in the state. The one that's beside Kansas."

"Ok, ok. Just asking, no need to get snippy with me young man. I was just expressing my surprise that you were thinking of going away so far. I mean you're either in England, or France, or some other god forsaken country, I never got to see you in the first place. And right after your grandfather's death. We haven't even arranged the funeral yet!"

"Uncle Jonathan, I'm not leaving before the funeral! I was telling you what the man said. In any case, why would grandpa have something like that around unless he meant for someone to find it?" Riley spoke slowly, as though trying to mentally trying to solve some great puzzle.

"It was probably just some antique document that he picked up during the war! Or your grandmother's family gave it to him, she was Egyptian you know. And she meant the world to him, so anything given to him by her or someone that represented her to him he would treasure deeply." his uncle reminded him unnecessarily.

"I realize this Uncle. Let's just let this go for now, what do you wanna do tonight? Tomorrow we'll go to the funeral home, tonight lets just relax." he suggested trying to push the thought of funeral preparations to the back of his mind.

His uncle stared at him for a long moment, the aged face wrinkled and drawn, seemed to relax. "Ever heard of grave digging?"

Riley's eyes grew impossibly large, "Excuse me?"
The old man was so not helping his growing headache.

The older man's eyes twinkled for the first time since their reunion, "I was just joking with ya on that one, seeing if you were still with me; no how bout we go to a bar, get a bucket of wings and some fries….knock back a couple beers?"

"Do they let people your age into bars?" he jibbed.

"Are you kidding? People My age are pimpin' in the bars."

Riley shuddered in disgust. "Uncle Jonathan! Gross!"

The old man shrugged in 'well, you asked for it…look.

Riley smiled as an idea grew in his mind. "How about we watch Cas…"

"NO way José. We are not watching that movie again; I tell you I've seen it a million times. I know every word and queue in the movie. And not by choice, mind you." Jonathan ground out, a look of boredom in his eyes.

"Hmm…well that doesn't leave us a lot of choices…" Riley told him.

"Well, pick a book and read it to me. God knows your Grandfather has enough books lying around here."

Riley contemplated this and nodded. "Ok."

That evening after the bookstore closed, they went upstairs to the apartment his Grandfather and Uncle had shared. While Jonathan cooked Riley read to him. It was his favorite book of all time. Moby Dick. He especially liked and appreciated it more after having his own adventures. And a certain someone who liked to hunt treasure definitely reminded him of Captain Ahab.

The young man's eyes began to flutter closed as their quiet evening came to an end; his last thoughts before darkness were over what he had to do the next day. The two of them were asleep on their respective couches by 9:55, so tired were they. The television had been left on because they had intended to watch the 10 o'clock news.

If they had been awake long enough, surprise would have registered in Riley's mind when the picture of Dr. "Max" Élan appeared on the screen, the report claiming he had been in some sort of accident at work, which had resulted in his death. He didn't know it yet, but tomorrow would be one giant headache; but for now, he was left to his dreams.