I have new actresses and photos picked for Nicole and Kathleen (and Lyssie from Stuck as well.) Nicole is now Amber Tamblyn (at my friend's request) and Kathleen is Ashley Greene. Pics are in my profile.

There's also going to be a little spin-off of sorts, basically out-takes/spoofs of the Nicole and Kathleen series. Thanks to Kirsten for giving me the idea! –ecookie-

I'm sorry for the prolonged update, guys! I was trying to flesh out this chapter as much as possible. I hope it was worth the wait, and I will try my hardest to get Chapter 13 out quickly! Thanks you all for being so patient!

Much love!!

-AP

-OoOoOoOoO-

A few hours later, after Ben had returned, everyone had gathered in Patrick's study, trying to come up with our next move. I sat on the arm of Riley's chair, and Nicole sat on the couch, though she was keeping her distance from Abigail.

"All I need…" Ben sighed. "…is a few minutes with him."

"A few minutes, really? Ben, even if you were married to the President, you wouldn't be able to get a few minutes." Riley spoke up, his laptop sitting in front of him like always.

"Ben being married to the President?" Nicole laughed. "That would be weird, not to mention gay…" I shot her a silencing look and she cleared her throat, sinking into the couch cushions slightly.

"Not when he's surrounded by his handlers, but if I can get him alone…"

"Ben, there's no way you could get the President of the United States alone!" I argued. "How do you expect to pull that off?"

"Before the Civil War, the states were all separate. People used to say 'the United States are'. It wasn't until after the war ended that they started to say 'the United States is'. Under Lincoln, we became one nation."

"And Lincoln died for that." I added seriously.

"So did Thomas Gates." Ben sat back in his chair, as if bracing himself for what he was about to say. "So how am I going to get the President alone?" He let question hang in the air, as if expecting someone to answer. "I'm going to kidnap him. I'm-"

"Benjamin Gates, don't you even dare say it!" Nicole cut him off.

"I'm going to kidnap the President." He said firmly, giving her a steely look. Riley and I seemed to be wearing the same expression. We looked from each other to Ben, blinking. Everyone seemed to just get what he had said.

"I'm your father, how am I supposed to respond to this?" It looked like Patrick would be fuming by now. "I can't let you ruin your life!"

"Are you out of your mind?"

"This is crazy, Ben, you can't…"

"All you had to do was read my book…"

After a few more seconds of arguing, Patrick spoke up again. "How do you plan on doing this?"

"I was thinking Mt. Vernon." Ben explained calmly.

"Ooh." Patrick took a deep breath.

"What?" Nicole and Abigail spoke in unison.

Riley shrugged. "I'm in."

-OoOoOoO-

"Yeah, I know it's short notice, but the pipe burst in the hotel we'd previously booked…"

I leaned on desk, propping my head up on my arm as I listened to Riley speaking on the phone. He held the phone in one hand and half of a sandwich in the other, waving it while he spoke.

"I… There is water everywhere…" He paused for a few seconds, setting his sandwich down as he swung his legs onto the floor "Oh, wow, you are a lifesaver! Thank you so much!" He said a few more things to the person. Meanwhile, I picked up his sandwich, taking a bite.

"That…" He looked at the checklist Ben had given him, checking off 'The Denbe Hotel'. He then looked up and saw me eating his sandwich. "…was mine!"

I made a face and set it down. "Well you can have it back. I hate mayo!"

"No, I don't want it; your cooties are all over it!"

"Well you're not afraid to kiss me. Wouldn't that give you cooties?"

"No, this is a different kind." He insisted, making a face. I rolled my eyes at him.

"You're such a dork."

"But I'm your dork, right?"

"Of course." I responded with a smile. Then I paused. "Not to sound pushy or anything, but you haven't kissed me since our make-out session in Abigail's closet."

He smirked at me. "We should fix that." He leaned in, pressing his lip on mine, and I could feel him laughing for some unknown reason. I pulled him a little closer to me, kissing him a bit more heatedly.

Then a voice spoke from across the room. "Hey, did you…." The kiss was abruptly broken off, and we looked up at Ben, both of us with flushed cheeks. "Am I interrupting?" There was a note of… annoyance, perhaps, in his voice?

"No, not at all." There was a slight tone of sarcasm in Riley's voice that made me giggle.

"Oh, well, I just wanted to know if you got a hold of the Denbe."

Riley nodded slowly, rubbing the back of his head. "Yeah, I gave them a call, they're all booked up. We got everything."

"OK…" Ben nodded, and there were a few seconds of silence. "Well, you two… have… fun, then." He walked out of the room, and I couldn't help but laugh

"Leave it to Ben to walk in on something like that." I shook my head slightly. "He almost acts like my dad sometimes. Which makes the whole 'dating my best friend' thing kind of creepy."

"Well, at least he's not dating you." Riley pointed out with a little shrug.

"Well of course not!" I rolled my eyes. "Because then you wouldn't be able to date me!"

He gasped over-dramatically. "That would be terrible!!"

I rolled my eyes again. "You're still a dork."

"Still your dork."

I laughed. "May I request something from my dork?"

"Of course."

"Will you kiss me?"

"It would be my pleasure."

-OoOoOoO-

The day of the President's party arrived sooner than we had imagined it would, though we found ways to keep ourselves occupied during the whole 2 days of waiting. It was never boring, especially when Riley was around.

"I don't look like that!" I protested with a laugh. We had spent the evening sketching each other, simply because we were bored. He had revealed his portrait and it didn't honestly look much like me. "But thank you for trying."

"Let me see yours."

I flipped over the clipboard, showing him the carefully drawn portrait.

"Hmm, not bad," He said with a smile.

"I drew a sandwich!" Nicole announced, holding up her finished artwork.

"Leonardo da Vinci himself couldn't have drawn it better." Riley said with a grin. Then Ben stepped into the living room wearing his tuxedo. Nicole let out a quiet whistle.

"Wow, looking good, Ben." I told him. "Maybe you could wear that to a party you were actually invited to someday."

He scowled at me, but shrugged. "I guess you've got a good point."

"Good luck." Riley told him.

"Thanks, I'm going to need it," Ben replied, heading for the door. "I'll call you guys, OK?"

"OK."

We heard the front door slam shut, announcing that Ben and Patrick had left. Abigail was up in her room, doing whatever, and a strange silence descended over the house.

Nicole bounced to her feet. "I'm going to the kitchen. You guys want anything?"

"We're fine." Riley shrugged. She left the room, and Riley and I sat there, staring at each other.

"Sooo…" I looked around the living room. "Why is this so…" I trailed off, really having no word to fit in the sentence. There was another brief silence.

"What do you want to do?" Riley offered.

"I… don't know." I fidgeted absent-mindedly. I laid down slowly, resting my head in Riley's lap. "I wish…"

"You wish what?"

"I wish I didn't have to leave so soon." I spoke softly. "I've only got a few more days left here."

"I know." His voice had a soft, soothing quality to it, even though the sentence was so short. He ran his fingers through my hair over and over, and I would shiver when his fingers brushed the top of my head.

"It's not fair."

"Well life's not always fair, is it?"

"No." I frowned to myself. "It's not." I looked up into his crystal blue eyes, and for a brief, beautiful moment, there was nothing else in the world, as cheesy as that might sound. I sat back up, pressing my lips softly on his. He pulled us both to our feet, and my arms moved upward, wrapping around his neck. We stayed like that for about a minute, then he pulled away from me, kissing my neck instead.

I gasped in surprise. "Not…Fair…" I breathed. "You know I… I…"

"You melt when I do that?" He finished with a smile.

"Uh-huh."

He backed me into the wall, pinning my wrists against it, as he pressed his mouth on mine.

"Upstairs?" He whispered between open mouthed kisses. I nodded slightly, and he scooped me up, carrying me up the stairs and into the room we shared. He set me down on the bed and sat down next to me, his lips never leaving mine somehow. It felt so good to be kissing him, and I was totally lost in the moment. I somehow managed to remove his shirt from over his head, and mine disappeared as well. He moved to kissing my neck again, and the shock of his warm hands resting on my waist must've snapped me back to reality.

"Riley, wait." I managed to speak at least. "Let's slow down…"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to rush…" He looked so adorable while his cheeks turned red and he babbled on.

"It's alright, don't worry. Let's just…talk."

And so we laid there on the bed, just talking about what ever popped onto our heads. I rested my head on shoulder, tracing random patterns on his chest out of boredom. He seemed a bit skinnier than he had been before, and it worried me a little. It was then that I noticed the small scar just below his ribs, and I winced when I looked at it.

"What's the matter?"

I bit my lip, looking anywhere and everywhere except his chest.

"Kathleen." His voice was softer again, and it made me uncomfortable. "Look at me."

I turned to look him in the face, and those beautiful eyes that made me melt stared back.

"I'm fine." He kissed the top of my head, then gave me a chaste kiss on the mouth and slid off the bed, pulling his T-shirt back on over his head.

"Does it ever hurt?" I asked. He stopped where he was.

"Yeah, whenever Nicole's around I get this feeling Harry Potter does when he sees Voldemort."

Leave it to Riley to cover with a sarcastic remark like that.

"I'm being serious."

He let out a sigh of frustration and turned around. "Kathleen, I don't see why you feel guilty about it when you really don't need to. It was my fault, not yours, and I just wish you would stop bringing that up."

I sat there for a moment, shocked silent by his words. My eyes started to fill with unwanted tears, and my voice cracked. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…"

"Aw, Katy!" He was at my side again instantly, brushing away my tears. "I didn't mean to be so edgy, I just hate to see you keep beating yourself up like that."

"Katy?" I asked, smiling.

He shrugged. "I figured you needed a shorter name that was easier to say."

I picked up my shirt, pulling it back on, just as Nicole knocked on our door.

"Come on lovers, Ben just called!"

Riley grabbed my hand, and positioned himself in an action stance.

"Come on, Katy, it's show time."

-OoOoOoOoO-

Well did you like it? Did you not like it? Please review!