This one has given me an absurd amount of trouble, so apologies in advance for anything notably fail-tastic.

Disclaimer: Once again, not mine.

(On really bad days when he can't bear to go home, Riley can be found in one of two places: curled up in the apple tree in the back yard, or underneath Ben's ancient desk. He'll have something else with him, a book or his laptop or his iPod or something to distract him. But he'll also have a tiny stuffed pink rabbit, tucked away underneath his arm where he thinks nobody else can see it. Ben hasn't ever had the heart to ask about it, but he knows enough to make some educated guesses.)

It was under the desk this time.

He hadn't realized Riley was missing until after he got off the phone with Abigail- she was off shopping with some of her friends from Homeland Security. They had taken a break for lunch, and she had taken the opportunity to check in and make sure there had been no explosions or anything of the sort, which always seemed to happen when she was away.

It was after several minutes of reassurances that nothing was blowing up and everything was perfectly normal (for once) that Ben glanced up and discovered that Riley had gone missing.

As Abigail talked on about the new sweater she had found (dark green, and amazingly cheap for the quality), Ben glanced out the window. He made some noise of agreement, half-listening as he rubbed away at the frost on the window.

Riley's car was still in the driveway, but a quick glance into the living room revealed no sign of the younger man.

Abigail hung up soon after, off to spend some more of their reward from the treasure (the house had scarcely put a dent in it- a shopping spree every now and then didn't bother them in the slightest), and Ben was left wandering the house alone.

He checked the kitchen, half-hoping to find Riley raiding the fridge in search of something to warm up. The kitchen was still, and Ben swiped an apple and headed up the stairs.

On a whim, he checked his phone. Riley had this habit of texting him when he was too lazy to yell, and he would often find the message hours later, after whatever issue had already been resolved.

'No new messages' blinked on his screen, and Ben sighed, sending his own message to Riley's phone.

As he rounded the corner toward Riley's bedroom, it occurred to him that it was entirely likely Riley didn't want to be found. He got into these moods once in a while, where he wouldn't talk to anyone and would curl up somewhere by himself.

Ben checked in Riley's room anyway, and was unsurprised to find him missing. He closed the door gently and retreated down the hall to where he had set up his office.

It had taken him days to set up, what with all the books and files. Riley had helped him organize the books in alphabetical order, while Abigail was away for a relative's wedding. By the time she had gotten back from Germany, the entire office was relatively clean.

The centerpiece of the room was Ben's old desk, an antique that had belonged to his great-grandfather. It was quite possibly one of Ben's favorite parts of the house, along with the tea tables that he and Abigail both treasured.

It was also one of the places where he found Riley whenever he got into one of his moods.

Ben peered through the glass panes of the door, just barely able to make out a figure curled up underneath the desk. He rapped on the door lightly, and Riley lifted his head sharply, nearly banging it on the underside of the drawer.

He caught Ben's eye, and Ben opened the door, feeling oddly like an intruder in his own place.

"Hey," Riley said quietly, not-quite retreating from his spot.

"Hey," Ben said from the doorway. Riley squinted up at him, and Ben sighed and crossed the room to his chair. Riley watched him, shifting closer to the wall to avoid getting his fingers smashed.

As he moved, Ben caught a flash of pink out of the corner of his eye, and the puzzle pieces clicked together in front of him.

He managed not to say anything about it, just sat while Riley fiddled with his iPod until the faint sound emanating from the headphones went silent. There was a moment of quiet before Riley looked up.

"You alright?" Ben asked quietly. Riley stretched his arms out, arching his back like a cat before settling back with a sigh.

"'Yeah," he said. "'M fine." He shot Ben what was undoubtedly supposed to be a winning smile. Ben stared at him evenly. The smile faded, and Riley ducked his head, pushing his glasses further up his nose. "Ben, I'm fine. I can't have a bad day every once in a while?"

He had a point. They all had their days, where Abigail would snarl at Ben and curl up with a bucket of popcorn to watch a movie or three, or where Ben would lock himself in his office and bury himself in the driest book he could find until his head was swimming with facts and figures of people long gone.

It just was worrying when Ben found Riley tucked under his desk three times in the past two weeks.

"You want anything?" Ben settled on finally.

"I want a lot of things," he replied automatically. "As the good philosopher Jagger once said, 'you can't always get what you want'." Ben snorted, and Riley looked up once more, a more genuine smile starting to creep across his face.

"Seriously, Ben. Give me an hour, and then we can go on our merry way and forget this entire thing happened. We can go throw Abigail's nice white shirt in with my red socks if you want." He was obviously fishing for a distraction if he was suggesting something so dangerous.

"What's the rabbit for?" he said suddenly. Riley's head snapped around so fast he nearly smacked it on the side of the desk.

"Wha?"

"The rabbit. I was just wondering…forget it," he finished lamely.

Riley was silent. Ben was just about to make his escape when he spoke.

"It was my little sister's. She was seven when she-" he fell silent abruptly, and Ben didn't need to hear the end of the sentence. He knew enough.

After a long pause Riley put his headphones back in and curled up under the desk, rabbit tucked to his chest. Ben stretched out in his chair with a sigh, drumming his fingers on the armrest absent-mindedly.

(pagebreak)

Abigail returned home two hours later, humming cheerfully over her purchases. She had nearly walked past the office when she paused in the doorway.

Riley was slumped on the floor under the desk, looking hideously uncomfortable but completely unwilling to move. Ben was stretched back in his chair, head tucked down to his chest.

It had been another bad day, then.

A moment later she returned with two blankets, which were draped over both of her sleeping boys. Closing the door behind her, she made her way downstairs to throw her new jeans through the wash.

The washer had a pair of bright red socks inside, tucked neatly under her favorite white shirt. She rolled her eyes and removed the offending items before shooting another glance upstairs.

Yes, it had been a bad day, but they'd be fine.

They always were.

(Fin)

I'm kind of liking this update-on-Monday thing... we'll see if I can do it more than twice in a row.

Much thanks to: LoremIpsum, (it won't let me insert your name here, not sure why, you know who you are, but thank you anyway!), Feathers Fall Like Snow, and LiveongLoveLife-xDataRulezx for requesting this fic!

~Cocoa =D