Disclaimer: I do not own National Treasure, just Elizabeth and this particular plot idea.

Chapter Three

"Hello? Sir, are you alright? Sir, open up the door. Sir? I'm coming in now." an elderly maid said, opening the door to a hotel room.

She flicked on the lights and gazed with trepidation at the man seated on the bed. She rushed over but paused to stare into his dead eyes until they blinked.

"Sir are you alright?" she asked again.

He continued to sit there, unmoving. She gently shook him until he blinked and glanced at her.

"Sir," she murmured, "Are you alright?"
He blinked rapidly as if to wake himself up and glanced at her. "No."
"Are you injured?" she asked, concern creeping into her voice.
"Yes." he said.
"Where?" she asked him quickly.
"My heart is broken." he murmured.
The woman blinked and it suddenly dawned on her. "Do you want to tell me what happened?" she asked him, sitting down on the bed beside him.

He took a deep breath and began speaking in a flat voice. "The woman I love is dead. She died from a fever. He sliced open her leg and she told me she would be fine. I thought so too until she rested her head on my shoulder and never woke up. Then at the hospital, the monitors went haywire and she died. She's dead and so am I."

The maid's heart went out to the young man next to her. She looked down at her hands and played with the ring on her left hand. "I know what you mean. Several years ago, my husband died from a heart attack. It felt like a piece of me died with him. I hit rock bottom. But, once down there I began to retrieve the fragments of my heart. I realized there was only one way to go and that was up. I can say now, as I look back at the years that have passed with him, I can say that I was happy once and I can't go any lower. I went into counseling for a bit and I still miss him. My love for him has never died and neither will my memories. But I'm not dead. I still have life in my body and so do you. I live for husband. You should live for your love because you're still young and, do you think she would want you to be dead in this world when you could be very much alive? Please young man, think over my words carefully: I'll check back on you later tonight. Please, for her sake, become alive again."

The woman left the room and went back to her duties, all the while praying for the young man.

He sat there for an hour, deep in his thoughts. He thought of her smiling face, her giggle, when they first met, her wit, her smell, her frail body on the hospital bed, her gasping breath, her pale face, her dead face... Victor's face popped into his head and he clenched his fists and ground his teeth. He would pay: that man would pay with his life. But her smiling face replaced Victor's grimacing one and he relaxed his body.

"I love you." he whispered, burying his face in his hands. "You really would want me to be happy wouldn't you? I've been so dumb just sitting here. I swear to you, I'll become alive again... Elizabeth."

When the woman came back later that night, she found the room unoccupied and a pile of bills on the dresser with a note. It read simply: "I'm going to take your advice. Thank you. If she could see me now, she'd hit me on the head and call me a knob. So, I'm going to become alive again. Thank you. -Riley Poole" The woman smiled and held the note to her chest. "Be happy Riley Poole, for the sake of her, be happy."

Ben sat tiredly on his couch with a mug of coffee and Abigail curled up next to him. Agent Sadusky sat across from him, delving deep into many files. Ben set down his mug of coffee and walked over to a window.

"Where are you Riley?" he murmured, very concerned for his best friend.

Suddenly an agent came into the room quickly and whispered something into Sadusky's ear. Sadusky straightened and exclaimed loudly, "It's about time!"
Abigail woke up with a start and Ben walked over to them both.
"What's going on?" Ben asked.
"Me, that's what's going on." Riley said, stepping into the apartment with a cheeky grin.
Ben and Abigail's mouths dropped.
Ben walked over and glared at Riley. "You are an idiot." He raised his arm as if to slap him but instead gave him a hug. "You could have been killed!"
"By what?" Riley asked, furrowing his brow in confusion.
"By Ian." Abigail spat. "He broke out of jail and has already killed Ben's father. He's going to come after us next."
Riley blinked and then clenched his fists. "Let him come, and Victor too. Saves me the trouble of tracking him down." he snarled
Sadusky placed a hand on Riley's shoulder. "Leave that up to us Mr. Poole. I need to talk to you all now that we're all here together." he steered them all over to the couch.

"Ian is crafty and out for your deaths. I'm not going to let that happen but I need your full cooperation: understood?" he asked them.
They all nodded their heads.
"I uh," he sighed tiredly, "I have my suspicions about Elizabeth's death. I'm not convinced she's dead. I have no proof other than my suspicions. With your permission Abigail, I'd like to exhume the body and perform an autopsy."
Ben stood up quickly. "I appreciate that you're going to protect us Agent Sadusky but to get Abigail and Riley's hopes up like that is cruel! I'm not-"
"Do it." Abigail whispered. She looked up with tears leaking out of her eyes. "Just do what you have to do and do it quickly."
Sadusky nodded and waved an agent over to give him instructions.
Ben turned to Abigail. "Are you sure?" he asked her gently.
"As long as there's a chance that she's alive, I'll do whatever I can to find her." she murmured determinedly.
"I agree." Riley muttered his face in his hands.
Ben sighed and hugged Abigail to his chest.
"I hope she's alive." he whispered.

Elizabeth woke up with someone bandaging up her left arm. She groaned and opened her eyes. She gasped and tried to back up but pain shot through her body and she collapsed back on a bed, panting for breath.

"You really shouldn't move. I need you to hold still so I can clean you up properly." Ian stated.
She whimpered as he applied pressure to a bruise and tried to wrench her arm out of his grasp. "Why should I? You're just going to hurt me more!" she snapped.
He continued to bandage her up and said softly, "I'm not going to rape you, if that's what you mean. Victor was just trying to scare you. I wasn't here when he did this to you otherwise I would have stopped him, I swear to you Elizabeth, I never wanted you hurt.

Elizabeth blinked at his words. "Like I'm going to believe anything you say Isaac." she sneered.
He moved closer, staring deeply at her. She growled, glaring at him. "You're just going to have to trust me." he said, gently placing a kiss on her forehead.

He left a stunned Elizabeth behind me as he left the room. As soon as the door clicked shut, she began to rub her forehead angrily, muttering about egotistical men and their cooties.