Yes, I updated again in less than two weeks. You know how? The magic of summer vacation! YAYZ!
Thanks to my beta loremipsum for popping up when I needed her to beta – -pokes beta, grinning- your timing was impeccable, lol.
For you guys wondering where Riley was (that means you, Golden-Heart, haha) here he is xD
Disclaimer: Once again, I don't own National Treasure. If I own NT, I would release Riley's book to the public and produce Riley plushies to sell to everyone. xD
Oh, and swear alerts… everyone's just getting so frustrated, that some words slip out of their mouths, ya know?...
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"Riley where are we going?" Abigail demanded. Her head and blindfold were covered with a huge floppy hat and sunglasses. "Where are you taking me? What scheme of Ben's were you talking about earlier?! I swear, if this is another one of your pranks…" She reached up to pull the hat and glasses off to get to her blindfold, but Riley held her hand down firmly.
Riley sighed and rolled his eyes. He glanced at the bag in the backseat, actually considering gagging Abigail's mouth with the duct tape he grabbed earlier when he saw the Jefferson Memorial in the corner of his eye.
"Finally." He muttered, and parked his car close to the venue. Riley took Abigail by both hands. "Abigail, please don't scream to attract attention." He half-whispered, half-begged. "If this does not work out, Ben is going to kill me…"
"Then tell me what's happening this instant!"
"I can't!" Riley led her to the stairs of the gazebo and sitting with her there. There he sighed, and looked to the sky, noticing it was fast becoming dark. He turned on the lights with his remote control.
Everything was ready, but the most crucial element of the proposal plan was missing.
The man and his ring.
Ben shivered in the cold, and rubbed his hands together. It was so cold…
He fumbled around for anything he could cover himself with, a newspaper or something, and found absolutely nothing. You'd think this would be the sort of alley people would just dump things in… Ben looked up to the sky, and noticed how dark it was fast becoming.
Time was running out.
Ben wracked his head for information on hypothermia. The last he heard, he had 15 minutes to 12 hours before hypothermia would set in, but that depended on how cold the external temperature was.
And it was already snowing.
He knew he didn't have much time.
Heat. His mind yelled. Get to somewhere warm… anywhere! He vaguely remembered that stores were closed today because of the holidays (in this street, anyway), and the nearest house was two corners away.
Ben was certain he didn't have strength to crawl that far in less than 15 minutes.
Then he remembered the car. And the heater installed in it. And his cell phone.
He left the engine running and his phone on the passenger's seat for he thought he wouldn't take long in giving a beggar that hideously yellow coat Abigail hated.
Oh was he wrong.
Ben muttered a curse under his breath and started crawling towards where he left the car. He hoped that the thugs who attacked him didn't drive off with his car too.
Left, Right, Left… okay Ben, we're making great time. He knew moving would get the circulation going. But everything just damn hurts. Ben groaned with the effort.
Left, Right, Left… He couldn't feel his toes anymore. I guess I could part with some of those toes… maybe the smallest ones… He shook his head. No need to get that gruesome, Ben… His sides hurt with each movement. He wanted to hurl – everything was spinning.
His chest felt like it was going to explode – something was causing sharp pain somewhere in there, making each dragging motion Ben made feel like he was pulling himself through a bed of coals – and to think it's probably below 30 degrees…
His back was on fire, and his stomach felt like mush.
He felt like he just got beaten up.
Which he was, but through the haze that he once called his mind he didn't know what really happened anymore. He could have been plowed through by a train or bumped by a bus for all he cared. All he knew was he had to survive, get to somewhere warm, call Riley and appease Abigail.
Abigail was probably steaming right now, waiting for Ben to show up at his own party that he set up.
He wanted to sleep and not move, even though he knew it would be fatal. But everything hurts, and I'm so damn tired.
But Abigail… He urged himself to crawl faster.
Abby was waiting for him, and that was all Ben needed to remember to get himself out of the freezing hell-of-a-predicament he was in.
Abigail listened to Riley's pacing – paf-paf-paf – on the ground. She had already determined they were in some grassy, open area, but she couldn't place where exactly. She sat there, leaning against a post lazily, blindfold still on. She had finally grew tired of complaining and asking for Ben, but even in her bored and blindfolded state she could sense that something is wrong.
Riley was pacing back and forth in front of her, after all.
Earlier, she had been asking about who they were waiting for.
"Ben." Riley would always answer, and not say anything else.
Abby was growing tired of it. Tired of Riley's pacing, tired of her blindfold, tired of sitting, tired of being kidnapped, tired of waiting…
"That's it!" Riley suddenly exclaimed, making Abby jump a bit in her idled position. She looked in the general direction of where she thought Riley's voice was coming from, and felt a tug on her arm. "Come on, Abs, I'm dropping you off at your office." Abby was about to make a statement and opened her mouth, but Riley still cut her off. "You're to be detained there until further notice. Jemma has orders not to let you go until Ben or I call." She was pushed into a car, and was once again adorned with the stupid floppy hat and the stupid sunglasses – and she was well aware it was way past sunset, and it was pointless to wear anything involved with the sun.
She would've removed it if her hands weren't held down by Riley's. It was a miracle he could even drive properly…
Abigail sighed. She glanced to her left, knowing that's where Riley was, and asked him quietly what's wrong. She could hear him press something on his phone, muttering "pick up pick up pick up", then a restrained curse.
She imagined Riley turning to her, and Abby heard him sigh. "I… don't know if I could tell you. Let's wait until we get to the office."
"Just keep your eyes on the road." Abby muttered.
She thought she heard something along the lines of "nag… blindfolded", but decided to let it go.
Right now Abby just wanted to know what's wrong.
Riley had called Ben – oh, say about 32 times already. He had given up, deciding that Ben was not going to answer his phone any sooner.
Maybe he lost the ring… Oh heck, he can't lose the ring, he's the most organized person I know! He glanced at Abigail, who appeared to be behaving for a change. Okay, maybe he's not…
He shook his head, and recapped the plan in his head. So, I bring Abby, Ben arrives, we go through the romantic stuff, he proposes, they head off to some nearby hotel and they get married in a few months.
But where in the whole wide world is Ben?!
Riley resisted the urge to hit his head on the steering wheel. He tried Ben again on his cell… Still no answer.
He called Jemma before he got in the car, telling her that he needed to leave Abigail with her for a few minutes as he went to find Ben.
"Maybe he got cold feet or something…" Jemma had remarked off-handedly.
Riley had snapped back: "This is one of the most important happenings in Ben's life – he would not miss it for the world."
Jemma had apologized after that, and Riley could not believe he just snapped back at someone that he didn't know that well.
He groaned. Riley very well knew that something was wrong with Ben, and he had the nagging feeling that he had to find Ben quickly. He parked in front of the National Archives.
He grabbed Abby's hat and sunglasses and slipped the blindfold off. "Here we are." He took Abby's arm and started pulling her towards the building.
She refused to budge.
"Riley, I need to know what's going on." Abby insisted, not moving either of her feet. "I'm not moving from this spot until you tell me where Ben is, and what's happening."
Riley let out a sigh. Well, your boyfriend is going to propose to you today, and whoopty-doo, he's missing. Any questions? "I honestly don't know where Ben is."
"Then what's wrong?" Abby sighed impatiently. "You kept me from an important meeting for this? Riley!"
"I can't tell you, alright!" She hasn't figured it out yet? Wow. It's either Abs has lost her touch or she's too stressed out to think… Riley sighed again. "I have to go find Ben."
"And I'm coming with you." She said, reaching for the door.
Riley pulled on her arm again. "No. We're going to your office."
"Riley! Let me go. I am not a kid and I refuse to be treated like this!" Abigail protested. "Besides, I know something's wrong and I want to know what it is! I'm going with you to find Ben whether you like it or not!"
Riley sighed. "Fine, get in." He whipped out his phone and sent Jemma a text message that they're not dropping by. He got in, and gripped the wheel tightly for a moment. Ben, where the hell are you?
Almost there… Ben told himself. He could see the door of the car, he only had a few yards left…
He tried to raise his hand, but he couldn't. He stared at the offending appendage for a moment, and willed it to move.
It didn't.
Ben cursed loudly. He didn't care who would hear – all he wanted to do was to get to somewhere warm. "Help!" He yelled, trying to get the attention of anyone who might be outside on this usually-busy street.
"HELP!"
No one.
Well, Ben my boy, there is no sense in wasting your energy by yelling to nobody, eh?
Ben whipped his head to one side. "Grandpa?" He shivered. Did I just hear my dead grandfather's voice? It's like a scene from a movie…
He reached a hand out, wanting to grab the handle of the door.
He didn't even know if he had the strength to even pull the handle open.
Ben groaned. "Help!" He tried again.
Ben, just a few more steps…
Now he was hearing his father. This is getting ridiculous. He was shivering violently now, and all he could think about was heat, and marshmallows roasting over the fire, and Riley handing the graham crackers over for smores. And Abigail reaching for the chocolate syrup.
Abigail. He could only think of Abigail.
Abigail, believe me, I didn't want to leave you waiting, honey. I'm sorry…
Riley arrived at the Gates' mansion, and took one look in the gate and did not see Ben's car. Maybe we just missed each other… He thought, and prepared to drive away.
"What are you doing? Aren't we going to check inside?" Abby asked.
"He's not there. He'd be bringing his car." He'd be faster than the speed of light, Abigail. This is his most important day and he sure as heck wouldn't miss this. "Maybe we missed him."
He made a u-turn and headed back to the Memorial – he didn't care if Abby even saw where they were going.
Riley was only concerned about Ben.
He drove as fast as he could back to the venue, his eyes darting around looking for Ben's car. He spotted Ben's car, its engine running by the sidewalk.
But there was no Ben inside.
Riley blinked. All the stores were closed – Ben could not have gone inside any of them. Then where…? A flash of blue caught his eye, and he lowered down his window to check it out.
Abigail, apparently, saw it too. "Riley, doesn't that look like the sock you gave Ben for Christmas?"
Riley's eyes widened with panic. "It is the sock I gave Ben for Christmas." What in the world…
He parked the car as fast as he can without hitting anything. "Abigail, stay here."
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Would they find Ben in time?! Oh NOES! *gasp* R&R pleaaase!
And a hug from Riley if anyone spots the Star Wars reference? *giggle*
-Jaeh xD