A/N: I just feel the need to tell everyone: I JUST GOT MY ACT TEST RESULTS BACK AND I GOT A 32!!!!!!!!!! WOOT! And I'm so happy I think I'll update, lol.

So, all you wonderful peoples, thank you guys so much for the reviews! They make me feel warm and fuzzy inside, lol. You guys are great! I am going to post the éclair recipe in a blog on my Myspace...I thought a recipe randomly on my profile here would look weird. So that'll be up in the next couple of days (scratch that-next week), and there's a link on my profile page to my Myspace page. So, check it out. If anyone out there reading this has a Myspace account, feel free to add me...just let me know you're a reader from FF, okay? Cool.

On to the story! And, in this chapter, you get a smidgen of that plot it took me so long to even think up...The plot is officially in the story now! Woot!

Chapter 6

Riley sat down at the table, got his laptop out, and powered it on. He typed in his password–322DST–and looked sideways over toward the kitchen. Kelsie still hadn't come out yet, so he opened a game of FreeCell and promptly got himself stuck. The toolbar at the top was flashing, which meant he had only one legal move left. Dang it! Why can I never get the hang of this stupid game? he thought to himself.

"Hey, you know," Kelsie suggested, sitting down next to him, "if you put that 3 of spades up on the 2 in the home cell, and then put that 4 down on that red 5, see, then you can put that 8 in the free cell you just opened up and that'll free up that ace right there, and you'll win the game."

He rolled his eyes, but moved the cards the way she had instructed. Sure enough, once the ace was freed, all the cards started going up into the home cells.

Congratulations, you win! Do you want to play again?

The little box flashed at him, but he ignored it. He gaped at Kelsie. "And you figured that out just by looking at the game?"

She shrugged. "Yeah, well, I play a lot," she began. "I've played – and won – every game from 1 through 656. I'm having trouble with 657, though–"

"May I ask why?" Riley interrupted.

"Because it's hard," Kelsie defended, misreading the question. "The red Kings and Jacks are stacked at the bottom of the columns and both red 10's are up at the top of the stacks, out of reach."

"No, why have you played games 1 through 656 of FreeCell?"

"Oh!" Kelsie exclaimed, now realizing what he'd meant. This she knew how to answer. She'd explained her weird obsession many times before; she knew exactly what she was going to say.

"In high school, I set out on a mission with my younger brother Dylan's help – not that he was much help – to win all 32,000 games of FreeCell. If you look in the help contents, a sidenote says, 'It is believed (although not proven) that every game is winnable.' We set out to prove it. And yes, I know there were probably better ways I could have spent my free time in high school, but I really don't care."

She stopped when she heard a faint beeping. "Hang on a second. I'll be right back," she said, pushing her chair back from the table and standing up. She headed back into the kitchen, but stopped in the doorway. "And when I get back, we are done talking about FreeCell!" she added as an afterthought.

Kelsie turned the timer off and pulled the cream puffs out of the oven. She flipped the little knob on the stove, turning the oven off, and turned around to grab a small, sharp knife. She nearly jumped out of her skin when she noticed Riley leaning against the counter, watching her.

"Aaack!" she yelped, her heart racing. "You scared me!"

"Sorry," he apologized, and put his hands in his pockets. He didn't look sorry at all.

"What are you doing in here?" she asked accusingly. "I said I would just be a second."

"Sorry," he said again, not taking his eyes off her. "I like watching you do stuff in the kitchen."

"All I did was take the pan out of the oven," Kelsie pointed out, confused. She shifted nervously. Riley's intense gaze, while mesmerizing, was slightly unnerving. She didn't know why, except that something in the way he was looking at her made her feel…funny.

Now Riley was getting defensive. "I know," he said. "Can we eat them yet?"

Kelsie sighed and rolled her eyes. "No, they have to cool before we can split and fill them." She sighed again. "Come on, grab another knife and help me poke these."

"Why?" he asked. He was becoming interested in this whole cooking thing.

She misread his question again, deliberately this time. "Because if you help, we'll get done twice as fast. Then we can go check out that program of yours." She smiled. "Just kidding; you poke them so that the steam can get out. Then they won't be soggy."

"Oh," Riley said. "That makes sense." He picked up a small knife and poked at one of the cream puffs.

"Of course it makes sense," said Kelsie in a mock-snobby voice. "I explained it." She giggled. "And don't stab like that; you just want to poke a small hole in the top, not slice it in half."

Riley frowned and stabbed another puff stubbornly.

"HEY!" she said loudly to get his attention. "If you don't stop mutilating them, you won't get any." He pouted, making her giggle again. "Come on. These need another 20 minutes to cool. Let's go," she urged, "and look at your tracking program now."

"Okay." Riley grinned. They both went back into the main bakery area and he sat back down at his laptop. He closed out of the FreeCell game and opened a program labeled 'EIQKSGZZT.' "Ben's idea," he explained. "He didn't want anyone to follow us, so it just says 'Charlotte' in keyboard code."

"Yeah, the 'QWERTY' code. I know." Kelsie nodded. "And that's not at all conspicuous. If I was searching someone's computer, the absolute LAST place I would look is the program with the encoded name," she said seriously.

He chuckled. "Good point. You're getting good at the whole sarcasm thing, too. I must be rubbing off on you. Now, when we were looking for the Charlotte, we were dealing with–"

"The hydrothermic properties of this region produce hurricane-force ice storms that cause the ocean to freeze and then melt and then refreeze, resulting in a semisolid migrating land mass that would land a ship right around here." she quoted, rolling her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I know."

Riley was slightly taken aback, to say the least. She had just quoted something he vaguely remembered saying to one of Ian's cronies – verbatim. But how could she have–?

As if reading his thoughts, Kelsie explained, "Ben overheard what you said that day and thought it was pretty funny. He said something about it in an interview and, thanks to Melissa the history lover, our dorm back at college is literally a library of every interview with Benjamin Gates and Abigail Chase. You do know that what you said is nearly word-for-word out of A History of the Arctic Circle, don't you? Minus the part about the ship, of course."

His eyes shot daggers at her, but he pretended to ignore her gentle teasing. "Anyway, we had to factor in wind and temperature changes as well as storms – man, did we research a LOT of storms – but in order to help you, I'll need to know what it is you're trying to track. I highly doubt you are searching for a 200-year-old ship in the Arctic," he quipped.

Kelsie looked down at her hands. "No, I'm trying to find a 7-year-old ship in the Irish Sea," she said softly.

Riley sensed that this was something personal and didn't press her. "Okay," he began, "I'm going to need more data on the ship and a few other things."

She lifted her head and tried to put on a smile. "Great!" she said. "Why don't you put together a list of all the information we'll need, and I'll try to get as much of it as I can."

He didn't like how her mood had changed in the last minute, so he decided to try and distract her. "I'd love to. But I can't put anything together right now," he declared, receiving a questioning glance from Kelsie.

"Why not?" she demanded.

He put on the most pathetic face he could manage. "Because we still haven't eaten anything yet. I don't operate well when I'm hungry." He coughed. "Hint! Hint!" He looked hopefully at Kelsie and was inwardly relieved to see that she was laughing now.

"Fine. Whatever." She sighed, shaking her head. "I guess we can go finish the éclairs – they probably should be cool enough by now, anyway. You are pathetic!" she added when she realized he was already in the kitchen.

"Hey!" he objected loudly, poking his head back in to scowl at her from the doorway. "Pathetic? What happened to 'Geek' and 'Super Geek'?" He used air quotes to emphasize his two new favorite nicknames.

"I'll use them when they fit, and right now, pathetic fits." She said this as if it should have been obvious.

Riley stuck his tongue out at her. "You know what? I don't even care, anyway," he insisted as he disappeared back into the kitchen. "I get éclairs and it's not even Saturday!"

"Don't you dare stick your finger in the whipped cream!" Kelsie warned.

"Awww, man, you take the fun out of everything!" he grumbled, closing the fridge.

She shook her head and laughed. "Don't touch the glaze, either!" she scolded, coming into the kitchen behind him.

Riley carefully replaced the plastic wrap over the glaze and grinned sheepishly.

Kelsie rolled her eyes. "Seriously, am I going to have to baby-sit you?" she asked, and pulled out the whipped cream. She closed the fridge and turned to find that Riley had already set the bowl of glaze and the tray of cream puffs on the counter. He'd also set out a sharp knife and a variety of different kitchen utensils: spoons, scoops, spatulas, and even a turkey baster. He really had no idea what he was doing. "What's all this?" she inquired.

He shrugged. "I didn't know what you needed to finish these, so I just got out a bunch of things," he explained.

Shaking her head in mock exasperation, Kelsie selected a small-sized scoop and a small rubber spatula. She picked up the knife Riley had set out as well. "Put the rest of this stuff back where you found it," she ordered, and began splitting the cream puffs in half.

Okay, I thought a couple things might need clarification: yes, Riley's computer password refers to the whole Daylight Savings Time thing in the movie. Riley was so cute there... And yes, I am trying to win every FreeCell game and yes, I was stuck on game 657 for a long time. But, since this was written, I am now on game 864. Yeah, I have no life. I'm even memorizing the Declaration of Independence for no reason other than I love National Treasure. And now I forgot the other thing I was going to explain here, so if something is confusing, just let me know. Okay, I'm posting now. I've done my job, you guys do yours: REVIEW!!! (please?)

And to ensure reviews, here's a sneak peek at chapter 7:

Riley puts whipped cream on Kelsie's nose; both of them listen to strange voices in their head, and they end up going back to the Historyfest!

Oh, and Riley thinks he made Kelsie cry!