.:CHAPTER SIXTEEN – Lost and Found:.

Listen to the song 'I'm With You' when you read this chapter, I'll let you know when to start playing the song.

Warning: Sexual content in this chapter

"I'm going to the store!"

It's what Riley had called to her siblings when she left her house, but she wasn't going to the store. She was going to the Palm Woods. Not to see Kendall, but to see Jo. They needed to talk.

"Hey," Jo looked a little surprised when she opened her apartment door and saw Riley standing on the other side. "What are you doing here?" She then gave a smile as she opened the door wider, seeming to miss the glare on Riley's face. "Do you want to come in? I was just about to watch-"

"Why'd you do that?" Riley interrupted, not bothering to answer the greeting. "Why'd you make Kendall go over to my house? I know that you did it! Why!"

"Riley, calm down." Jo merely looked at Riley as she yelled at her. "I just needed to know something." She explained. "And it's a good thing I did send him over there, it needed to be done Riles, he lov-"

Riley slapped her hands over her ears. "I know that you wanted to help Jo, but you just made things worse!" Her anger rose. "DO YOU GET THAT? YOU JUST RUINED EVERYTHING!" With that, she turned on her heel and stormed back down to the lobby.

On her way out the door she spotted Kendall. When he saw her, he looked embarrassed and guilty. Riley's eyes narrowed and then they widened when she got a good look at his face.

Oh my god, he knows. She thought to herself.

Then she was running, ignoring Kendall's calls after her.

"So, we're going to tell the others what's going on," Sydney looked skeptical and worried as he looked up at Patrick and Noah. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" He was sitting at the kitchen table with his two brothers. It was one of the few times that the Jacksons were alone in their house; their dad had gone out earlier, before they had even woken up.

"Well," Patrick let out a sigh through his nose before motioning over to Noah. "We walked to Rhuben about it and we think that it's a good idea." He lightly scratched his eye. He was wearing make-up, and underneath it was a black eye that still stung, but he tried to keep it from looking like it was bothering him.

Beside him, Noah nodded. "It's the perfect timing, Dad is out and will be gone for a while, we don't have to work today," he looked at his watch. "But we're waiting for Riley to get back from the store," he looked slightly concerned as she looked over at Sydney again. "You'd figure she would be back by now."

"She probably got caught in traffic," Sydney looked up as Rhuben walked out of her room, tying her hair up in a ponytail. "Good, you're done with your shower."

"Yeah, I don't smell nearly as much anymore," Rhuben replied and kissed him on the cheek. She then looked at her brothers. "What's with the serious looks on your guys' faces?"

"We were thinking about giving Logan a break, and telling the guys what's going on?" Noah replied, gauging her reaction. She just looked back at him and then opened her mouth. "We would talk to Riley about it, to see what she says, but she's still at the store and isn't answering her cell phone."

"Oh," Rhuben nodded once and then thought about it. Would it be worth it? The pain would finally be gone. Her friends would stop worrying. Logan would be off the hook. Kendall, Carlos, and James wouldn't be left in the dark.

Rhuben smiled a little when she thought of James, when she thought of what they had done together. When they woke up after having sex, they just smiled at each other, enjoying each other's company. Then Rhuben started to mentally worry, they had sex, and he was probably going to leave her, now that they had done it. But then James had leaned forward and kissed her again, whispering to her that he wasn't going to go anywhere and that he loved her. He loved her. Rhuben had never had a guy tell her that before and mean it, but she knew that he did mean it. She couldn't say it back to him, not yet, but that was ok. At least, he said it was ok; he was going to give her time to say it. Then the two had gotten cleaned up and dressed (taking separate showers) and just lay down on the couch, watching TV until the others got home. They were holding hands the whole time, but it was hidden out of sight, under a blanket.

It was no one else's business yet.

Rhuben felt a feeling of guilt, all of that and she hadn't told James what was really going on with her and her siblings. They really did deserve to know the truth.

"Rhu-Rhu," Noah pressed after a few moments.

"Yeah," Rhuben nodded slowly, a weight coming off of her shoulders. "Yeah, it's a good idea." She looked at her watch. "We should probably wait for Riley, but I think we should just head over there and tell them now, while Dad is still gone and we don't lose the nerve to do it."

So that's how they ended up at the Palm Woods a few minutes later. Patrick had gotten nervous though, he was muttering to himself, constantly running his hands through his hair. Noah was silent, as usual, but Sydney was pressed against his side, holding on tightly. Rhuben let out a deep breath as she raised a hand and knocked on the door, waiting for someone to answer.

"Hey Bella," Logan greeted with a nervous smile he seemed to have on his face permanently now. "Hey guys, come in." He took a step back and allowed them to enter the apartment. Kendall, James, Carlos, and Katie looked up, pausing the video game they were playing.

James grinned and got off the couch, walking over to her. Rhuben blushed when she spotted him, not sure what to say, but then James walked over and gave her a kiss on the cheek, and gently wrapped his arms around her in a hug, she relaxed.

"Hey Beautiful," he grinned.

"Hey," she smiled back.

"What are you guys doing here?" Katie asked with a pleased smile as the others crowded around. "I thought-"

"We have something very important to tell you," Patrick interrupted, looking at his feet. He could feel the tension in the room immediately rise, he could feel it radiating behind him. Calm down, Logan. We know what we're doing. We're doing the right thing.

"Where's Riley?" Kendall asked, almost passively.

"She's shopping." Noah said quietly.

There was silence after that. Carlos looked around, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Well," he broke the silence. "What did you guys want to say?"

"We…" Sydney spoke up and scratched the back of his neck."Uh, we uh. You see," he cleared his throat. "We need to tell you that-"

He jumped as the door burst open with a loud bang and Robert Jackson stood in the doorway of the apartment, his eyes wide and darting around. He was seething with anger. Kendall moved in front of Katie, moving her out of harm's way. Robert's eyes darted around, looking at each of his kids, and then he opened his mouth and started to yell.

"WHERE IS SHE?" He roared.

James took one look at Logan's face and then turned to Rhuben, who was standing in front of him, her hands in fists, shaking. "What's wrong, Beautiful?" Getting no answer he moved over to her and wrapped his arms around her and then turned a glare to Robert. "What do you want?"

"WHERE IS SHE?" He screamed again, moving into the room, causing the others to back way. "WHERE IS THAT BRAT? SHE TOLD! DON'T BELIEVE HER, SHE'S A FUCKING LIAR!" All of a sudden there were three police officers in the apartment. Two of them grabbed onto Robert's arms and dragged him kicking and screaming out of the apartment.

Kendall turned to Logan, his eyes set in a glare. "You knew didn't you?" he accused. "You knew that they were being abused." Logan lowered his eyes to the floor as Katie let out a gasp and started to cry. "Dammit! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US?"

"We told him not to tell," Rhuben replied, holding onto James, who tightened his grip on her. "We made him promise not to tell!" She squeezed her eyes shut.

"Excuse me," the third police officer turned to Patrick and Noah. "Do you have another sister named Rilandon Jackson?"

"Riley?" Patrick's eyebrows rose. "Yeah, she's my sister, she's Rhuben's twin." He suddenly looked scared. "Oh my god, what did he do to her? She said that she went to the store! Did she come back when he was home, did he-"

"Calm down son," the police officer held up a hand. "You said she went to the store?"

"Why did you say it like that?" Noah asked, his voice shaking.

"We don't know where she is." The police officer replied. "We have reason to believe that she's missing."

Kendall's blood ran cold.

He turned and sprinted out of the apartment.

(A/N: Ok, you can start listening to the song now.)

Riley blinked away tears that threatened to spill over, threatened to become lost in the rain that poured down around her; she didn't want to lose her tears to the rain. It was dark, the sun had set a long time ago, all she had on was a thin jacket, but she was too numb to feel the cold. Beneath her, below the concrete of the bridge she was standing on, cars whizzed by, filled with people that were anxious to get out of the rain and to get home to their loved ones. All around her people walked with their umbrellas poking the sky, moving so fast she knew that none of them looked at her. Her clothes were soaked, her hood was useless, her hair was already plastered to her scalp from all of the rain. Her hands were shaking.

With the cold?

She wasn't so sure.

She shivered as a tear finally rolled down her cheek. She had never felt so completely abandoned before, her secret was out and she needed to find a place to go.

Why'd you even think that you could keep the secret after all of these years, she thought harshly, angry more at herself than anything else. Did you really think that you could handle it?

She left the bridge and began to follow the muddy path through the park; it was the path that they would have followed had they met as usual. She passed a few people as she went. It didn't matter, she was still alone. And it didn't matter that she should have been home hours ago, she was going to find a new place to live, for all of them to live, she would find it, go back and get them, and then they were hide out there and live peacefully for the rest of their lives. They didn't have to depend on anyone or anything. They could take care of themselves.

In her mind she heard all the arguments they had thrown at one another wondering why they had never told, and all the while neither of them had changed their minds. Now she was left to wonder if they were wrong this whole time. It was an argument, she knew, that would never be resolved. Not now.

Staring at the ground as she walked, Riley let her feet take her wherever they decided. Wandering the paths through the park, and then the streets of the city she paid no attention to the setting or the people around her. They didn't matter to her now—never had really. She hadn't realized that something that she had once said could have been important to anyone; she couldn't believe that something she had said had really mattered. Lost in her thoughts she didn't know where she was going, nor did she care.

Riley swallowed the sob that was threatening to escape. She didn't realize that she had stopped walking until she looked up and saw, through her tears, all of the bright buildings around her. Diverting her gaze quickly she started running. She ran blindly through the streets, not caring where she went. Anywhere was better than there.

Out of breath she stopped running, sitting down on the chilly, wet sidewalk. She pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs, shivering in the cold. Lowering her head so that her hair veiled her face she wept openly, unable to hold back the tears any longer. People passed on the street, but if they saw her they didn't pause; she was all alone. There was nowhere for her to go, no one to care. . . . But maybe. . . . She looked up and the warm, salty tears that streaked her face were stole away by the cold rain that assailed her. Maybe she was wrong. . . .

Maybe . . . there was someone . . . someone out there. She swallowed back her sobs and looked upwards at the dark, clouded sky. The rain clouds seemed to bear down on the earth, trying to smother it. It was possible that her life would get worse, there was always that chance, but it was also possible that things would improve. . . .

She got to her feet and started to walk again.

"Riley?"

Abruptly, she turned, her wet hair smacking her in the face, and spotted Kendall standing behind her, breathing heavily. His hair and clothes were soaked, his chest was heaving up and down, his breath was condensing in the air in front of him. Their eyes met and she wasn't sure what to do. Kendall took a step towards her and then stopped, still breathing hard.

Riley looked at her feet, and then looked up at him and then she was running towards him. Her feet pounded over the concrete, water splashed everywhere as she continued to run towards them. She slowed herself down, not wanting to crash into him as soon as she reached him, and then wrapped her arms around his neck. Kendall had opened his arms a split second before she reached him and he wrapped his arms around her waist and stood up straight, lifting her off of the ground as he hugged her.

He was slightly surprised to hear her crying, but didn't say anything about it. He just brought a hand up to her lower back, the other to her hair and held onto her just as tightly as she was holding onto him. They seemed oblivious to the rain that continued to come down around then as they hugged each other. Kendall didn't want to let go, in fear that he was going to lose her again.

"Where the hell have you been?" Kendall's voice cracked with emotion. "We've all been looking for you for hours."

"I'm sorry," Riley cried in to his shoulder. 'I'm sorry."

"It's ok," Kendall gently patted her back. "It's ok." He gently lowered her back down to her feet. "Thank god you're ok," he whispered into her ear, stepping back and letting her go. He then moved to her side. "C'mon," He put his arm around her. "Let's get you warmed up."

"This room's empty," Kendall stated as he opened an empty apartment and turned on the light, moving to the side to allow Riley to go into the apartment before following her in. "I stole the keys from Bitters in a scavenger hunt game thing that we made a while ago and I forgot to give them back."

Riley nodded, wringing out the bottom of her shirt. Kendall took the time to call Ronan and to tell him that he had found Riley, but that she was going to go home the next day, saying that his mom was going to let her stay at their apartment to sleep and to get warmed up. He hung up his phone and put it back into his pocket, looking over at Riley again as she continued to wring out her clothes. He was going to tell his mom he found her, but not after they talked.

Kendall stood behind her, his hands in his pockets. He wasn't sure how to start; whether or not to ask why she ran away or to just start explaining how he had found her.

"Don't worry, I'll start," Riley said, reading Kendall's thoughts. "The only reason that I ran away was because I knew from the look in your face, that you knew that were being abused." She turned to him, bending to the side and wringing her hair out onto the floor. In the distance a low rumble could be heard. "And I was so…"

"Humiliated?" Kendall guessed.

"Yeah," Riley's eyes narrowed. "Well, after dad had caught us," she flushed and looked away. "And after he beat me, he demanded to know whether or not we had told Ronan or anyone because they had accused him of beating us too. So he waited until the others got back and beat them as well. At that point, I knew I had enough and I knew I had to find a better place for us to live. So when I knew you knew, I had to get out of there." She shrugged. "So I bolted."

"That makes sense, I guess," Kendall rubbed the back of his neck. "But if you ran away because of all of that, why did you come back here so willingly?"

"I'm tired of living on the streets," Riley replied with a heavy sigh. "If someone knew, then it would be easier for us to finally get things over with." Her eyes narrowed. "How'd you know where to find me?"

"That's a long story," Kendall replied and walked over to the bed and sat down on it. He ran his fingers through his hair, pulling his beanie off of his head. "Well, not too long I guess. Long story short, though, I thought back to a conversation that you and I had once before, where you said if you ran away, the only way someone would find you is if they really knew you." He twisted his mouth to the side. "Then I thought of where I would go."

"Oh," Riley crossed her arms over her chest. "Why did you come looking for me?"

"Thinking that you were abused, I had to know for sure." Kendall was messing with his shoe lace now. "And how was I going to know if you were gone?"

"Why?" Riley demanded turning to face him, some of her wet hair stuck to her cheek. "Why do you care so much about whether or not we're abused?"

"Because I couldn't bear the thought of having one of my friends going through the same thing I did." Kendall replied looking her right in the eye.

"What?" Riley whispered and then shook her head. "Wait, you were abused to?" She raised her eyebrows. "Is that why you hate your dad so much? Why you won't ever talk to him?" Then her eyes widened and she leapt to her feet, suddenly angry again. "You lied to me! That's what your knee injury was!" She looked at him in disgust. "Not from a hockey injury!"

"So," Kendall looked calm. "You lied to all of us."

"That's because-"

"You don't have to tell me why," Kendall interrupted gently. "I know why." He patted the bed next to him. "Come sit down. I want to explain to you what happened with my dad." He waited until Riley finally sat next to him before speaking. "I didn't let mom or Katie know what was going on with me and dad because I didn't want them to worry. Every time my mom and sister weren't around he would whack me and break things and blame me for them. Mom thought that I was being destructive because I was growing up and didn't know how to handle it, which is one of the reasons why she signed me up for hockey I suppose."

"I was good at keeping it a secret, no one knew. Not even Logan, James, or Carlos, which is surprising because Logan is so smart I figured he would have found out about me pretty quickly," he looked over at Riley as she made a noise. "Which is why I was mad that he knew about you guys and didn't say anything. But mostly I was mad that it was happening in basically the exact same way that it happened to me, but all of you guys were being hit." He licked his lips. "Anyway, playing hockey got me stronger and whenever my dad would knock me around, I would hit him back. What I didn't know was at the time he and my mom were having trouble and realized that they weren't in love anymore and-"

"And you thought that your abuse, and fighting your dad, was causing him to take his anger out on your mom and cause the divorce of your parents." Riley supplied.

"Exactly," Kendall nodded. "And I was so ashamed of it, and I guess I still am, or I would have told Katie and my mom. But I haven't and I probably never will, unless it's absolutely necessary because they've already been through enough and they don't need to deal with it anyway. But anyway, after I saw how weird you guys were acting, I started having these really weird dreams about someone calling my name and I was looking for them, and when you guys came back they started getting worse, so I stopped sleeping. But that caused my mind to wander and I started to look up different signs of abuse and realized that everything that I had ever exhibited, you guys had done too, so I started to, obsess I guess."

"I obsessed enough that it was all that I could think about, even when I was with Jo. So the day that I came over to your house, I was talking to Jo and-"

"Oh my god!" Riley leapt to her feet and grabbed onto the ends of her hair, moving so fast that Kendall's eyes widened. "I kissed one of my best friend's boyfriends! And then I yelled at her, oh my god, she hates me!"

"No, no, no," Kendall got up and grabbed onto her shoulders. "You didn't let me finish." He chuckled a little. "Well, she tried to tell you I guess, but she knew that I had...have very strong feelings for you. And, stupidly enough, I only agreed to going out with her because I was mad that you couldn't tell that I liked you so much and you said that you didn't care who I went out with. I went out with her to try and get over you, but," he smiled gently. "I guess that didn't work. So, she thought that if we kept dating, my feeling may change, but after a while knew that that wasn't going to work. So she sent me over to talk to you," he looked amused. "When you kept running away from me," he added, causing Riley to blush. "And what I wanted to see was, if I kissed you, would that finally let me realize how much I love you and how much I couldn't get over you. And it worked, but before I could tell you that, your dad came home, and I used that moment to wait outside of your house, to see if my assumption about you guys' being abused was true, and it was."

Riley frowned.

"After that, I went back to Jo's apartment and when she saw me, she knew that I was in love with you. She didn't take it too hard though, because she started spouting out a lot of different stuff about true love." Kendall cleared his throat. "I'm sorry I had to use you like that, but, I love you so much, I had to know. And it scared me half to death when I thought that you had run away and I wasn't going to see you again. Before I got the word that you dad was arrested, I thought he had murdered you or something."

"Please," Riley whispered, trying to sound tough but failing. "I'm not that weak." She then wrapped her arms around his waist, burying his face into her chest. "Thank you for finding me."

Kendall looked at the top of her head. "Didn't you hear what I said?"

"Yes," Riley mumbled into his chest. She tilted her head back, her arms still around his waist. "You love me," she rested her chin on his chest. "I love you, too."

She then stood on her tip-toes, and then very lightly, pressed her lips to Kendall's. She kissed him so softly, just brushing her lips over his face, his eyes wide with surprise. His eyes smiled back at her and then he returned her kiss, his arms slowly finding their way around her waist, pulling her tight against him.

Timidly, Riley ran her hand down his side, across his broad back, exploring his body. The low groans he made assured her he approved and she grew bolder with her touch, her hand daring to reach as far as his ass, very softly squeezing the firm flesh there.

His hands were doing exploring of their own. Though he felt a great deal of urgency in this exploration, he forced himself to go slow, afraid of startling her, scaring her beyond reason. But she started it first…so he hoped that it was ok. Kendall started at her neck, stroking the sensitive base with his thumb, before making his way lower, to her small breasts. He ran his hands over them cautiously, and then squeezed when she showed no adverse reaction. In the contrary, she was giving him moans of her own, as he massaged her in his one hand, the other wrapped tightly around her waist.

She was kissing him with more vigor now, eagerly pulling off his shirt. He kissed her back, hands still massaging, reaching now to find the end of her tank-top and then struggling to remove it. She lifted herself, arching her back, allowing him to slip it off and then crush her against his chest once again. This time the feel of skin on skin had them both reeling. She gasped when she felt him shift, and start to kiss her neck, her cheeks immediately flushing.

Suddenly he pulled away, and she felt almost annoyed with him. He gently pushed her down onto the bed and then climbed over her. She felt his hands again, this time cupping her between her thighs, his hand so large and warm. It felt so wickedly good to have his hand there, so arousing that he would not budge even as she squirmed to clench her legs shut. His lips still on her, his tongue still exploring her mouth, he bent one finger and firmly pressed it to her most sensitive part and started to rub. She gasped against his mouth, unable to move as his finger worked against her. She closed her eyes and began to move her hips now, desperately trying to enhance his efforts.

Kendall pulled away for a moment, wiggling out of his jeans and boxers and grabbed a condom from his wallet, giving Riley time to pull off her jeans. Then he was leaning over her again; his eyes on hers, he lowered his head and initiated the slowest, sweetest kiss, trying to pour into it every emotion he felt for her, trying to reassure her that she shouldn't be afraid, that he would be gentle. She kissed him back, opening her mouth eagerly, softly stroking his tongue with her own.

When Kendall pulled back, Riley no longer looked so scared, in fact, she had a…dare he say it, seductive look in her eye. He gave her another peck on the lips, and then moved down to remove her panties, the last barrier between them. Hugging her tightly, Kendall pressed his hips against her thigh, kissing her neck, allowing her to feel his arousal. She shrank back at first, surprised, but then pressed against him with her thighs, reached down with one hand and grasped it. He groaned at her touch, head falling to her shoulder, murmuring nonsense into her ear as she squeezed and caressed him. Abruptly, he snatched her hand, placed it around his neck. He lowered his head, kissed her full on the lips as he positioned his hips between hers.

Her eyes widened when she felt him so hard and insistent against her core, instinctively felt the urge to move her hips. His kiss continued, hoping to reassure her, distract her somewhat as he began the first slow thrust. He was slow, just pressing against her, not forcing his way in, instead allowing her to get used to him entering bit by bit. She gasped when the head fully entered her, heard his corresponding groan. She watched with wide eyes as his head fell back as he continued to enter slowly.

He could feel the barrier now and stilled. He tightened his arms around her, kissing her desperately, unwilling to cause her pain. She knew it was coming and braced herself. He whispered an apology and then thrust himself hard into her, holding her tight as though wanting to absorb the pain himself. She tensed for a while, feeling more a numb sting than outright pain, and then smiled up at him. He seemed unsure of how she felt, so she reached up and stroked his neck, pulled him down to kiss her.

With a groan, Kendall gave himself up to the kiss, started to move his hips again, withdrawing and then thrusting deep into Riley. She held tightly to him, moved her hips up to meet his, gasped as she felt him caress her most intimately. He leaned down to kiss her again and she responded without restraint, showing him with her lips how much she loved him, how much she wanted him. Riley wrapped her legs around his waist, thrust her hips upwards. Kendall groaned and closed his eyes, thrusting deep into her now, unable to stop. She felt that feeling again, knew something was coming, was close. He dropped his head to her neck, bit the soft skin there, sucked hard as he tried to hold himself back.

She moaned as his thrusts came faster, could feel that urgency in her own muscles as they strived to reach that goal. She wrapped her arms around Kendall's neck and kissed him hard, rolling him over until she was on top. Now was her turn to move her hips, bouncing up and down on him, Kendall's hands, tentatively, found their way to her hips then travelled up to cup her breasts. Riley, on the other hand, slowly started building up a pace and let out small cries of pleasure each time his member hit her g-spot. She felt on the edge of a great cliff, and with one last thrust from Kendall, she fell, headfirst, into a dizzying orgasm. Kendall kept thrusting, now searching for his own pleasure, finally emptying himself into the condom.

Riley finally caught her breath and opened an eye. He was holding her so tightly, forehead covered in sweat. She couldn't help but smile as she watched him open his eyes and look at her with such love and feeling. She stroked his neck gently, and he raised his head, placed his lips on hers and kissed her slowly and gently, pouring his heart into that touch. She kissed him back, smiling.

Carefully, he untangled himself from her, regretfully withdrawing from her warm, tight sheath, before gathering her once again into his arms. He kissed her forehead, feeling so content to just lay there with her against him. Riley glanced up at him to find him looking back at her and leaned up for a kiss. He obliged, smiling, and then settled her against his chest to sleep. She wiggled, making herself comfortable in his embrace and then closed her eyes.

A/N: So did you listen to the song? I hope that the crescendo towards the end of the song was just when Riley went running towards Kendall and then the two had hugged. That's exactly what I pictured when I first listened to the song after a long time. I hope you liked that.

And just like last chapter, I didn't want to go into too many gross/pervy details about Kiley having sex. The way that I see it, as Rhuben is more submissive in a relationship and Riley can be more dominant, they would have similar yet different sexual experiences. I hope that you didn't think that it was too weird though, because I had a hard time trying to explain Kendall's and Riley's feelings for each other before they had it and…well, let me know what you think and I'll work on it, the constructive criticism will really help as this is the first story where I've written sex scenes.

So anyway, there you see where the dreams came from, they were basically Kendall's subconscious telling him that he has such a strong connection with Riley that he could basically feel her emotions about wanting to run away, and then could 'see' where she went. You see that Riley kept running away from Kendall when he was at her house because she didn't want to be the reason that he and Jo broke up, and

I hope you enjoyed the chapter and all of its drama. I'll update again soon. Only three chapters left.

Cheers,

-Riles