First of all, I'd like to apologize for not updating for so long. I've had major writers block, and this chapter actually came to me when I woke up this morning, so if it's bad, it's because I was half asleep. So my thank you's for not only reviewing but also giving me the kick up the butt to write another chapter go to:

Elentari Undomiel
Bryanne
SilentTrain Conductor
CharlieLOVER
Moonlit Rainbow
Melcarisa
Claire
Roxxy9
Electric-dreamer
Jedi Mase
Toxic-Beetle
Idinakristinfan
Otaku Sarri
Danielle515
Jinna
Elvenrarehunter


I have some serious writers block at the moment, so I'm sorry if there isn't another chapter this week. Its the start of the school holidays now and I have to share the PC with my brother because my one in my room is broken :(
Sam
xx

Hearing Riley's voice on the other side of the phone was something of a comfort at first, but as soon as the word 'We've got a problem' escaped his lips, Ben knew exactly what had happened.

"What sort of problem?" He asked, desperate to know he was wrong.

"Well, uh, I just got home, and my computer's gone."

Ben felt like whaking his head against the bar. "You rang me at a funeral to tell me that your computer's gone?" He asked calmly.

"No, Ben, it's not gone. It's gone. My study has been trashed and there's a load of things missing."

Ok, so maybe he wasn't wrong.

"What?"

"I checked yours and Abigail's study as well, it's trashed, but as far as I can see, nothing is gone."

Ben put his arm tensely on the bar top to stop himself hitting his head on the dark wood.

"Are you telling me that someone broke into our house, trashed the place, and stole your whole computer?" He asked one final time, unable to believe what was happening. Beside him, having heard what was Riley's reason of calling, Michael raised his eyebrows, silently wondering how they could have taken his computer and him only just realising that someone had broken in.

"No, I'm telling you that Ian did it." Riley said in a matter-of-factly tone.

"Why would he take your computer and no one elses?" Ben asked.

The reply came in a form of uncoherant mumbles in which Ben made out a few phrases, 'Egyptian', 'Necklace' and 'Treasure'.

"Riley!" Ben said warningly. "Today is not a good day for me, just tell me properly!"

"I was following up a legend on an Egyptian necklace." He admitted, defeated. "Things have been kind of slow recently, nothing's been happening, so I thought that a good old treasure hunt was a sure way to make some action around here."

"Well, is this enough action for you?" Ben asked. He wasn't happy already when Riley had rang him, because of Abigail, but having Ian steal things for a treasure hunt from his house had just taken his mood from 'Angry' to 'Homocidal'. Remembering that this was Riley, the timid computer freak, on the phone, he forced himself to calm down. "Me and Abigail are flying back in two days time. We'll sort it out then." He said.

"How is she?" Riley asked, his tone changing completely.

"Not good, she's trying to shut it all away, and one of her brother's is being a jerk. Ryan's coming back with us though." He told Riley.

"Ryan? Abi's little brother?"

"Yeah, she's the only one who can look after him without the social services getting involved, so we're taking him in." Ben told him.

"That's real good of you both." Riley said.

"They need each other, and I'm not about to let the kid get taken away from his family when there's a perfectly good home waiting for him."

"Nice plan." Riley said.

Ben felt a tugging on his leg, and found himself looking at a small dark haired girl standing beside Ryan. Evy and Ryan had obviously had enough of playing now. "Riley, I've gotta go, I'll call you tomorrow." He said. As he closed his phone, he could faintly hear Riley calling: 'Ben, wait!' But ignored it. He turned to the two kids. "Hey," He said, "What's the matter?" He asked, looking at Evy's determined little face, which was sprouting the remains of the red lollypop.

"My Mommy wants you outside." Evy said, pulling on Ben's hand now.

Following the kids outside, Ben went to where Emma sat on the stands. "Hi Emma." He said. "You all right?"

"Me? Fine." She said airily.

"What did you need me for?" Ben asked.

Emma pointed out over to a corner of the soccer pitch below them where Abigail was siting talking to her eldest brother, Marcus. "In case that doesn't go too well." Emma said.

When Emma had suggested that Abigail talk to Marcus, she hadn't liked the idea at first, but she knew that her friend was right. Emma was always right about everything, always had been, and always would be, and her advice was unmatched worldwide. So when Marcus had stepped outside to get some air, she had announced that she was going to talk to him, but had stubbornly assured Emma that she was not going to apologize. To get away from everyone else, they went and stood in the corner of the soccer pitch, barely speaking on their walk over there. Even when they sat down on a bench, there was a gap between them that might have indicated they were enemies rather than siblings. Abigail was the first to speak, her stubborness outmatched by anyone except the brother that had taught it to her.

"What are we doing, Marcus?" She asked. "Why are we being like this today?"

Marcus was silent at first, his dark hair seeming pitch black in the approaching darkness. "It's not the best day in the world, is it?" He commented.

"I've lived better days." She agreed, "But this isn't the first time I've felt that it's been the worst day of my life." She was reffering, of course, to her miscarriage, but to say the 'M' word was one that she couldn't do. She had a hard enough time saying that she lost a baby, but to call it a miscarriage she felt was a betrayal to her lost child.

More silence, but eventually, Marcus spoke. "Why didn't you tell me?" He asked her.

"You never called, and when I left messages, you never called back. You never visited. It felt like you didn't care about us anymore." She said softly. "I didn't think you'd want to know."

"I would have been there in a heartbeat, Abigail." He told her strongly, so strongly in fact that she found herself beleiving it. "You're my sister."

"It didn't always feel like it." She reminded him. "I always felt like a disappointment to you, because you always found something to critisize." She took a shaky breath, which he didn't notice. "Even my ability to be a good mother."

Marcus sighed heavily and slowly, and she could sense the regret in his release of breath. "You shouldn't have to be Ryan's mother." Marcus said.

"I don't want to be his mother." She said stubbornly. "I'd never try to replace Mom. I don't intend to be his mother, I just want to be his sister."

"Can't you be his sister in California?" Marcus asked quietly.

"Can't you be his brother in Canada?" She retorted quickly, before she could stop herself saying it. "Why did you say all those things?" She asked, not having to explain which things she meant.

He thought for a moment, clearly trying to figure that out himself. "Miracles can't happen, Abigail. There is no Happy Ever After in this life."

"What if they could?" She asked.

"If they could then we's still have our parents." He said. "Life is not a Disney Movie." He always mocked the fact that Abigail, as a child, wanted to grow up to live Happily Ever After with her prince like the princesses in the Disney films she loved to watch and sing along to so much.

"There are only two Disney films where the character has both of their parents." She pointed out, "And they all lived well."

"You think Ben can be your prince?" Marcus asked with a laugh.

Abigal felt her anger boiling inside of her, but instead of yelling, she just nodded. "Yeah, I do."

"Life isn't a movie." He repeated. "There are no adventures."

"Adventures?" She asked. "You mean a Prince in disguise? Treasure maps? Buried treasure?" She knew that all of this was true. After all, Ben, at first, had told her his name was Paul Brown, hence becoming the 'prince in disguise'. Then the adventure, that Marcus seemed too keen to dismiss, had a treasure map which led them too an underground treasure hold. Adventures were real - you just had to find them.

"Abigail-"

She couldn't take it anymore. She stood up and took a few steps forward, but then turned back to her brother.

"Just so you know, Marcus, miracles can happen." She said awkwardly, pulling her mother's cardigan closer around her as a gust of wind sent her hair rippling across her shoulders. "After all, isn't that the only reason I'd be pregnant?"