This one has Nicole's POV! I haven't done that in a whole, and I felt like I needed a change. It switches from Kathleen to Nicole to Kathleen again. Nicole's POV is actually quite short, but it's there.
Part of a deleted scene from the DVD 'Pursuit at Mt. Rushmore,' was also used for the second half of Kathleen's POV, just for those of you who didn't get a chance to see it. I also sort of liked that scene better than the original, because it explains more. So that part was not mine.
And just so you all know, school has started up for me, and it may take a wee bit longer to get chapters up for you all, but I'll do my very best! Not that I was getting them up very quickly on summer break either, but I'll certainly try!
I don't own National Treasure, the plot/characters/whatever. So don't sue me please!
OK, let's roll!
-OoOoOoO-
Kathleen
When we returned to Patrick's house, we found that his car was missing, and figured he was still with Emily. I guess Nicole had gone with, as all the lights in the house were off. I stumbled in the door, resting against the stair railing, exhausted. I closed my eyes, feeling very drowsy. The high of excitement was wearing off, leaving just exhaustion in me.
"Go pack." Ben commanded the three of us the moment we stepped inside.
"Can't we get some sleep first?" I asked with a moan. Ben shook his head.
"There's not enough time. As soon as Dad and Nicole get back we're catching the next flight to South Dakota."
"Wouldn't the people in the airport recognize you?" Abigail asked, concerned. Ben shrugged.
"Let's see if he'll fit in a suitcase." I suggested jokingly, though my voice was very quiet.
"Wow, she is tired." Riley remarked with a little smile. He scooped me up into his arms. "Come on, little Katy; let me put you to bed."
"OK," I mumbled into his chest. I thought I heard him laughing, but I couldn't tell. I heard him opening the door, and he laid me down on the bed. I took off my shoes and socks very slowly, allowing my head to fall back on the pillow. I pulled the covers over me, and closed my eyes. Riley gently pressed his warm lips to my forehead.
"Good night, love." His voice was a whisper.
"Night."
Barely two minutes later, I had dropped off into a peaceful sleep.
-OoOoO-
I awoke to someone shaking me.
"Is Nicole home?" I asked, opening my eyes slowly. I snuck a look at the clock. 3:07 AM.
"No, and that's the problem." Riley sounded a little worried. I sat straight up. I'd been sleeping almost 4 hours, and she still hadn't returned? This was just too weird. "Patrick said Emily would bring her home, but she never did."
I got out of bed as quickly as I could, hurrying downstairs. Ben, Abigail, and Patrick sat in the living room silently. I noted that Ben was still wearing the same tux. In fact, no one had changed clothes. He looked a bit upset, and a tiny bit guilty.
"I should've…"
"It's not your fault." Abigail said soothingly, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Did you try calling her?" I asked.
"Yeah, a few times." Ben's forehead creased with worry, and I felt a knot in my stomach.
'Mitch.'
"Kathleen, do you know what happened to them?" Patrick asked. I paled.
"I don't think I can tell…"
"Forget that!" Ben cried suddenly. "Just please tell us what you know!"
I shrank back a little, and I felt Riley slip a comforting arm around my waist. "Don't pressure her, Ben. You know it's complicated."
"But my mom and Nicole –"
"Well, maybe I'd tell you if you weren't being so stupid!" I cried out angrily, my frustration toward Ben that I'd always felt during this movie finally being released. Tears of anger and frustration welled. "You haven't been treating your friends very well, Ben! You pretty much keep blowing Riley off, and you're pretty much ignoring Nicole, just to prove that you're right! I know your family's very important to you, but maybe you should think of someone else's feelings once in a while!"
I slipped away from Riley, running up the stairs in flash.
'Where'd that come from?' I wondered as I flew into the room, shutting the door hard behind me.
I heard footsteps coming up the stairs and down the hall. Riley's voice spoke at the door. "Kathleen, what was that about?"
"I don't know." I said truthfully through the door. "I just needed to get that off my chest. The way he's been treating Nicole lately hardly seemed fair, and I just got frustrated…"
I paused. "I didn't mean a lot of that."
"I know." He sighed through the door. "Part of that was right, he wasn't being such a great friend, but he needs your help, Kathleen. He's really worried about Nicole and Emily."
"I know."
"Well… If you won't tell Ben what happened, will you tell me?"
"Hang on." I took a few deep breaths, trying to calm down. Then I slowly opened the door. "I'll talk to him." I walked to the edge of the stairs, peering down at Ben. "Ben…" My voice sounded tiny, like a child apologizing to their parents. "I'm sorry."
"So am I." He paused. "I've been a little… narrow-minded lately, I guess. And I'm sorry." He directed the second apology to Riley, who nodded to acknowledge it.
"It was Mitch." I whispered, and everyone looked at me.
"What'd you say?"
"Wilkinson took them. They'll be with him at Mt. Rushmore tomorrow." I said a little more loudly. "We have to call him tomorrow morning. After you figure out what the clue means."
"Thank you." Ben said softly and I nodded slowly. "I'm going to go change. Then we're off to Rushmore."
-OoOoO-
Nicole
I looked around my 'prison'. It was really only the back of some dark SUV, but it seemed more like a prison. My hands were tied with duct-tape. Seems that villains in this universe are a bit alike sometimes.
Anyways, they hadn't even been nice enough to let me be in the same car with Emily. I could've at least talked to her about the Ben situation, but it didn't seem that I'd be able to do that.
We had been driving for hours, or at least it felt like. I could tell that it was morning.
"When are we going to get there?" I moaned tiredly, and Daniel gave me a glare.
"Shut up!" He demanded, and it sounded funny with his Southern accent. I giggled. "What's so funny?"
"N-Nothing," I hid my grin behind my duct-taped hands.
"We'll be there in ten minutes." He said sourly. I stared out the window at the gray world. At least it looked gray with those windows. Lots of hills and rocks.
"The Gray Hills." I murmured to myself, and he shot me another stern look.
"What'd I tell you about talking?! Shut up!"
I sank low into my seat. "Fine! Jeez, you don't have to be so sour about it…"
He grunted and glared at me in response. I paused for about a minute, then got restless.
"How did you get into this sort of job, exactly?"
He hesitated. "It was sort of a family job. My dad was into it, and my brothers and I…inherited it."
"Oh."
There was a short pause.
"I hate this!"
His sudden exclamation startled me. I looked up, surprised.
"I don't like being the bad guy." This time he lowered voice a bit.
'A villain who doesn't want to be a villain. There's something new.'
"Well, then why do you keep doing this stuff?"
"Mitch needs help." There seemed to be something else behind his tone.
"Well, can't you just tell him you don't want to? Why do you stick around?"
He hesitated again. "Mitch…has a bit of a temper. I don't want to make him angry, like before."
I sat back in my seat, mulling over these words. "What would he do?"
"Nothing. I didn't say that." His face turned sour again. I stared out the window, trying to find a way to occupy myself and not worry about what I'd just been told. So I counted birds.
'2, 7, 9, 10, 14…'
"Here we are." The car stopped, and he opened my door for me, pulling me out of the car. "Come on." I saw Mitch, Seth, and Emily standing by a rock, where they'd been waiting.
"Oh joy," I muttered to myself. "Looks like the fun begins now."
-OoOoO-
Kathleen
The morning sun was bright in the Black Hills, and it was surprisingly not crowded near the museum. I wasn't sure how we had managed to end up away from all the tourists. Ben and Patrick hung around closer to the building while the rest of us stood together, looking closely at the carved stone faces on the mountain.
"I don't see anything that even remotely resembles a hummingbird." Abigail sighed.
Riley raised his arm, pointing. "That kind of looks like a turtle."
I couldn't resist smacking his arm.
"Ow!" He pulled his arm back, holding his 'injured' elbow. "That hurt."
"You're a wimp, Riley." I rolled my eyes.
"The hummingbird, the Earth, the moon. It doesn't make any sense." Ben mused.
"As if the clues ever do?" Riley replied sarcastically. "None of this ever makes sense."
I shrugged. "I suppose you're right."
The five of us drifted inside, mulling around the museum. "I'm not even sure what we're supposed to be looking for." Patrick said, sounding a bit frustrated with himself.
"Did Mom say anything else?"
Patrick paused. "No."
I suddenly began to panic, going through the original conversation in my head. "You're sure?"
"Yeah, all she said was that she'd take Nicole home."
"Oh no!" I leapt to my feet, suddenly pacing. "You should've left Nicole at the house! She left out something important. The connection to the hummingbird."
"What do you mean?" Ben's face wore a puzzled expression.
"She was supposed to say something about the sacrifices she made." I looked up at Ben. "How she would watch you when you were small."
A spark illuminated in Ben's eyes. "Sacrifice?" He whispered dryly. "The hummingbird… That was a story she would tell me when I was little. A Lakota myth about the hummingbird… The spirit of sacrifice."
"She gave me a false clue?" Patrick sounded incredulous.
"No, no, she wouldn't do that. She knew the information was for Ben, not for you." Abigail cut in.
"Well why that story?" Riley asked. "How does that tie in?"
"She's trying to tell us something." Ben murmured, and I nodded slowly, watching him. "In the story, the hummingbird sacrifices itself to save the Earth and the moon…" His expression grew more shocked with each word. "…which it believes is its family."
"She's the hummingbird." I spoke up.
"Release the hummingbird." Patrick added, his tone urging. Ben quickly pulled his phone from his pocket his fingers flying as he dialed the number. The rest of us watched, the atmosphere in the room a mixture of curiosity and nervous tension.
There was pause. "Put my mother on the phone." He spoke quietly. Another short pause. "Put my mother on the phone!"
I anxiously lowered myself onto Riley's lap, my arms wrapping around his neck. "You did good." He whispered gently. I nodded.
"Mom."
Emily only spoke for a few seconds, and Ben suddenly pulled the dead phone away from his ear, staring at it. He almost looked like he was contemplating throwing across the room.
"We've got to do something." Patrick murmured.
"Yeah, but what?" Riley spoke up. "We're not exactly armed or dangerous."
Ben swallowed hard, reviewing the situation. "I-I've got to turn myself in."
Abigail's eyes grew wide. "What?"
-OoOoOoO-
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