This started angsty and somewhere along the line descended into complete and utter fluff. So there's that.

This is supposed to be Ben/Abigail, but it's not really mentioned, and if you've got slash goggles fixed to your face there might be some of that. But it wasn't the intention.

Also, there's a little bit of Riley/Abby, but it seems that I can't write without it.

Disclaimer: I still don't own anything. But you already knew that.

Because here's the thing about Riley- he has this shirt he'll wear, every once in a while that says FREE HUGS in old faded letters. He'll wear it once every few months, and Ben will drop what he's doing, no matter how important, and they'll go down to the basement and spend the whole day watching movies, and Riley will fall asleep curled up next to Ben, and they won't be able to look each other in the eye the next day but Riley will feel better and Ben will feel less guilty because whenever he sees that shirt it's like a reminder that he is kind of a lousy friend.

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He was wearing that shirt again.

Ben hated that shirt. He had the feeling that it was mostly a joke, but it struck a nerve every time he saw it.

"-so then the pony, it goes flying across the road like the devil's after it, and it runs into this fence. Well, it doesn't hit the fence, but it stops like three feet in front of it, and the fence probably comes up to here, which is way too big for this thing to jump over, and meanwhile here we are- Ben and Abby and I-" Riley gestures to Ben automatically as he continues to regale Sadusky's niece with stories while her uncle is in a supposedly-urgent meeting.

Ben's not even totally sure why they're here, really, except that Sadusky called them two hours ago and said that they had a lead on…something, and it was confidential so they couldn't really discuss it on the phone.

Apparently it had been 'Bring your kid to work day'.

Sadusky, who had declared himself 'married to the job', had evidently borrowed a kid.

"-and we're in this limo, because Abby loves to go places in limos, and this pony turns around and goes back across the road, and it nearly hits our car, and Ben's freaking out-"

"I wasn't freaking out, I was trying to get the driver to stop-"

"-and Abigail's trying to get a better look at the pony- and Ben, you were totally freaking out," he continues without a missed beat, wrapping an arm around the little girl and tilting his head toward her conspiratorially.

"He was screaming like a little girl," he informs her solemnly. Sadusky's niece gasps, eyes wide as she whips around to study Ben, before bursting into giggles and burying her face in Riley's side. Ben can feel a scowl forming on his face, and he glares at Riley, who shrugs and continues with his story.

"-so anyway, the driver finally pulls over, and Abby yanks open the door and nearly goes flying into the ditch, because the road's not that great and it's probably close to midnight and meanwhile she's got this beautiful dress on with high heels like this big-" he spreads his hands apart before breaking off and digging for his phone. "I've got a picture of it somewhere, hang on." He temporarily extricates the girl from his side as he locates his phone, then almost immediately she is pressed back into his side. He shoots a quick smile at the girl, before flipping through his photo album, making little comments on the assorted photos (including several of his pockets) as he searches for the picture.

Ben loses interest momentarily as he watches how much more relaxed Riley is with someone beside him. It's something that he's noticed lately- more often now with Abigail than ever before.

Riley has a thing for physical affection. He's always been like that, for as long as Ben can remember- to the point where it almost seems weird when the younger man actually keeps his hands to himself.

It's not anything further than platonic, although Ben has caught Riley eying Abigail once or twice. It's obviously not even anything he thinks about- it's automatic. It's as much Riley as the blue eyes and the black Converses. He wouldn't be Riley without it.

It used to set Ben on edge, because nobody in his family was particularly touchy-feely, especially after the divorce. He didn't do feelings, and he didn't do hugs.

He still doesn't do feelings, but he's gotten pretty used to the hugs.

It's part of the reason that Ben really hates the shirt Riley's got on right now, the one that declares FREE HUGS. It's probably not a big deal, and more than likely Ben's reading way too much into it, but it always feel s like Riley's trying to say something there. Ben hates that, hates feeling like he's not done enough, because Riley doesn't ask for a lot.

Sadusky's niece breaks out into giggles again, and Ben drags himself away from his somewhat-depressing line of thought and hopes fervently that he hasn't just been insulted. Riley winks at him, and he gets the feeling that he has just been insulted, but he can't bring himself to care.

Riley pats the floor next to him, and Ben hesitates for a second- because he'll only look a little stupid sprawled out on the floor of the FBI building- before sighing and slumping down, shifting uncomfortably on the floor and eying the clump of what he hopes isn't gum to his left.

Riley tilts his head toward Ben, his hair brushing against Ben's ear. "Are you getting the feeling that the 'urgent business' Sadusky called us here for was babysitting?" Ben chuckles, shooting a glance toward the door of Sadusky's office. The agent had ushered them into his room upon arrival and promptly abandoned them with the seven year old girl, who had shyly introduced herself as Maggie and attached herself to Riley's side.

"Yeah, just a bit," he agrees quietly, as the girl gives them a curious look. Riley digs his iPod out of his pocket, fiddles with the controls for a moment, then hands it to Maggie.

"Do you like Phineas and Ferb?" he asks her. Her face lights up, and she pops in the headphones, eyes glued to the screen. Riley grins and ruffles her hair. She snuggles further into his side and lets out a contented sigh, and Riley laughs.

"Good kid," he says, turning to Ben and winding his free arm around to rest across Ben's shoulders. Ben nods, shifting into Riley's grasp almost automatically.

"I really did like that pony," Riley muses absent-mindedly, drumming his fingers against Ben's shoulder. "Chloe loves the thing- she's wanted a pony since she was two."

"Every kid wants a pony," Ben says. "I wanted a horse when I was nine. I was going to name it after the horse Paul Revere rode on-"

"Some history thing, somebody did something and who cares, they're all dead anyway," Riley finishes, dropping his head on Ben's shoulder with a sigh. "This is really boring."

"Sorry about the wait, gentlemen-" Sadusky's door opens and nearly collides with Maggie's feet. He peers around the door, blinking confusedly at the spectacle on the floor, and Maggie looks up with a start.

"Uncle Peter!" Saduksy nearly disappears through the door once more as a blur of brown curls tackles him with a hug. Riley disentangles himself from Ben and hauls the older man up before grinning cheekily at Sadusky.

"Hey, Sadusky, how'd that 'urgent business go'?" Ben can practically hear the air quotes.

"Oh! Um, everything seems to be taken care of. Let me just find that file, and we can get down to business."

"Actually, sir, we have another appointment we should be getting to." From behind Sadusky, Riley's mouth drops, and promptly closes, contenting himself with raising his eyebrows at Ben.

"I understand- let me show you to the door," Sadusky hustles them out the door, solidifying Ben's conclusions that the entire thing was a set-up.

Maggie suddenly appears in front of them, blocking their way quite effectively for a seven year old. She holds out her arms, eyes intent on Riley, and he can see the confusion written across Riley's face before he glances down at his shirt and drops to one knee for a hug.

It's kind of endearing, and the smile on Riley's face is worth the hour of stories that nearly always end unfortunately for Ben.

She lets go after a moment, and Riley straightens as Maggie disappears back into Sadusky's office. He holds his arms open to Sadusky, who stares at him evenly until he drops them and lets the agent continue leading them down the hall.

It isn't until they're outside and Sadusky has left that Riley speaks again. "So, not that wasn't great or anything, but now what?"

"I distinctly remember you saying something about an Indiana Jones marathon?" He can't keep the grin out of his voice as he turns to Riley.

He lets out a rather undignified whoop and engulfs Ben in a quick hug, before grabbing his arm and tugging him toward Riley's bright red car.

"Come on- if we start before Abby gets home we might be able to get past the part with the monkey brains and then she won't freak out and she might even watch some of it with us, even though we all totally know that she's just in it for Harrison Ford, who admittedly is pretty awesome but-"

Ben tunes out and focuses on not getting dragged over as they scramble down the street, Riley's hand still wrapped around his wrist.

Yeah. This is more like it.

(Fin)

It's the third day of the year and I'm already failing at my resolution. Fail.

But anyway- I'm working on the rest of these shorts, it's just taking longer than I thought. But I hope you enjoyed!

~Cocoa =D

(Oh yeah- thanks to machi-tan (who was the first to ask for this fic) and everyone else who picked 49 off the list. It was a ton of fun to write!)

(EDIT 1/9 because evidently I fail at writing in present tense. Teehee.)