A/N: Blah, blah, I know I know, I'm full of crap. I keep making empty promises about fast updates only to leave you guys wondering:

"What the heck is Strangest Things and why did I all of a sudden get an alert for it? It must be really old!"

Yes. It is quite old. This is my sixth month into it actually. God, I'm terrible. It's half a year old. I'm a pathetically busy person!

Ah well, no sense whining about it now though. I just want to say thank you to everybody who has faithfully reviewed my story. You guys are truly the best.

XxxxXXXxxxX

"Oh my god, Ben!" Riley couldn't believe it. He'd almost lost all hope that his friend was even alive after the long speech about "revenge" Ben's father had told him not too long ago. "We actually found you. This is amazing!"

"Um, Riley, what-" Ben seemed to be struggling for words. "Why are you in a cell if you've found me?"

"Oh…" Riley hoped Ben couldn't hear the guilt in his voice. He stared into the empty cell across from him as if Ben were in it while he spoke. "That's a good question but the answer is just a really long, long story. So, to make it short: Ian and I were taken here after we discovered the last clue."

"So… I take it you heard the vindictive monologue he told Abigail and myself?" Ben inquired uncomfortably.

"Yah…" Riley said remorsefully. This had to suck for Ben. Here he thought he at least had his father to count on only to have that blown up in his face. If Riley were in the same position with his father, who he didn't exactly have much contact with in the first place, he would bawl like a baby for weeks. "I'm, uh, really sorry about your dad, Ben." Riley consoled softly.

"Yeah," Ben said in a sad tone. A minute passed as both men became caught up in their thoughts only to be broken again. "How's Ian? I'm assuming since you're the one talking, he's the one that was yelling."

Riley affirmed Ben's assumption and stared back disdainfully at Ian. The man still sat hunched against the gray-stoned wall, his hair was strewn in every which direction across his face from the abundance of lolling his head had done in his delirium. A heavy sheen of sweat could be seen on all exposed portions of the man's skin and his breathing had slowed to a ragged and labored inhale-exhale. It was obvious that he had fallen unconscious now, and this strangely made Riley feel relieved. He knew it was bad to lose consciousness from excruciating pain and blood loss but it was far more distressing to hear the cries of anguish Ian emitted earlier.

"How's he looking?" Ben questioned further.

"Um, he's going to be all right but, he's unconscious right now so he might not be of much use to us at the moment."

Riley could hear Ben sigh in disappointment.

"Why, what's wrong? Did you need to talk to him?" Riley asked.

"Yes." Ben admitted. "I wanted to discuss ways of breaking out of here. You know, since," He took a moment to clear his throat, "that appears to be one of his 'trades'… But I can't very well do that when he's knocked out."

This time Riley sighed.

"Wish I could help, but I have a feeling Ian wouldn't be too keen on me slapping him into consciousness."

Riley heard Ben affirm this and they both thought silently for the second time since their meeting.

"Wait a moment!" Ben said, his voice coated in revelation and hope. Riley could hear the hasty scuffling of Ben's clothes as if the man were searching for something -What, Riley hadn't the foggiest idea.

"What?" Riley said in the impatient tone he used specially-and quite often- for his older, vaguer friend.

"Here it is," Ben mumbled, stabbing at Riley's patience yet again. "It's smelling salts- I lifted it off one of the guards when they knocked Abi unconscious."

Wait. "Huh?" Riley replied. It suddenly occurred to him that the "mean, Declaration lady" hadn't spoken up at all since their reunion. Riley inwardly cringed at his horrible deduction skills. He could hear Ian's unmistakable voice float through his head. "Can't even notice when a loudmouth isn't present. Pathetic."

"Don't ask me. I don't know what went on." Ben said. "When I woke up, she was unconscious."

"Ben, c'mon, this is Abi we're talking about" Riley started realistically. "She could do a number of things to tick anybody off. For one, her voice. Have you heard it recent-..." It was uncanny how Riley could feel Ben's eyes boring into him through four, two foot thick walls. "And, I'm not helping…"

"For some reason," Ben continued, a hint of agitation in his voice that caused Riley to purse his lips sheepishly. "I didn't get a chance to use the salts on her because they put her in a different place."

"Where?" Riley inquired.

"Your guess is as good as mine…" Ben said. "On the bright side, this place isn't as big as it seems. It's an old 18th century Libyan warehouse, roughly the size of your average day supermarket with the exception of its four floors."

Riley didn't know what Ben was talking about, but that seemed a tad on the "big" side to him.

"Are we talking a Wal-Mart or a Safeway?" Riley asked, even though he knew Ben never bothered to answer his seemingly "childish" questions.

"I'm going to roll the smelling salts; be ready to catch them." Ben instructed.

Riley snaked his hand through the bars, pressing his body close enough to see Ben's own hand with a small, brown bottle in his fingers.

"Here you go," Ben mumbled, rolling the bottle hard enough to make sure it didn't come short. Riley made a barrier with his hand on the floor before catching the bottle in it.

"Got it." Riley said Yeah, score one for the Riley sport record. He got up from his awkward position on the floor and brought it over to the lifeless, blonde man. "C'mon, let's see if this works." Riley unscrewed the cap after he took a breath as not to inhale the stuff. The young man wasn't entirely sure on how to use the stuff or what effects it might hold for already conscious beings so he didn't want to take any chances. He wafted it in front of Ian's nose, waiting for the man to arouse from his slumber.

Ben was anxious to talk to Ian but the only thing he could hear from his cell was Riley pleading with the man to wake. Another sound entered Ben's territory and to his horror it was footsteps. Ben craned his head to see a man enter from the door at the end of the hall heading straight towards Riley's cell.

Riley evidently couldn't hear the guard, and his steps only grew quieter as the young man's pleading for Ian to awaken grew louder. Ben tried as quietly as he could to alert Riley but it was to no avail once Ben heard the gruff. "What are you doing?"

Riley spun around, detecting for the first man the built, dark man's presence standing in the open doorway of his cell. As if it would help anything, Riley placed the cap back on the bottle and slipped it in his pocket.

The man stepped closer and Riley stepped back, taking note that he was now on Ian's booted foot. "Where did you get that?" He asked, gesturing at Riley's pocket. At that moment motioning, Riley saw what just they needed to finally make it out of this place: the keys! It was a prefect escape plan and the ring of metal solutions hung nice and loose out of the man's pocket.

The question was: Was Riley really willing to break his head to free them? Sitting on still unconscious Ian's foot, Riley told himself yes, swiftly picked the keys out of the man's pocket, and threw them outside the cell bars towards Ben's cage.

"Ben, grab- ek!" It would've been quite the courageous command were it not interrupted by the man seizing Riley's shirt collar and rudely throwing him up against the wall, strangling him.

Riley was so full of questions at that point he couldn't discern if it was that which was beginning to slowly cloud his mind or the fact that he was being deprived of oxygen by the bigger man choking him. Did Ben get the keys? Is he coming to my rescue? What about Ian? If he doesn't wake up, what will that mean?

Tears were welling up in Riley's eyes now as the man started knocking him against the wall, spitting out nondescript slurs, while still holding the firm grasp around his neck.

He was a goner. Riley had no doubt. Death was a painful, painful thing- Not that he expected anything less of the passing away process. It was just disconcerting that he was to be murdered in his final moments. His vision was blurring but if he wasn't mistaken, he would say that the man's expression had tightened into one of pain. This confused Riley but the darkness that was gradually overtaking him was so inviting he decided to just give-…

XxxxXXXxxxX

The blackness dawned into lightness with a sort of blue tinge. Riley blinked his eyes slowly, willing the blob in front of him to turn into something more distinct. It wasn't working so Riley turned to the darkness again since it was far more comfortable than all this light.

"No, Riley, get up." A voice said forcefully, making Riley's aching head thump louder.

"Sssshhhsss…" Riley settled on saying through his slack jaw.

"No, wake up. I'm not going to stop talking until you open your eyes." The voice said again, louder this time, closer to his ear rather than Alaska where Riley preferred it.

"Oh God, I'm in hell." Riley mumbled, feeling morbidly sorrowful now. Here he thought the week he had spent at Summer Bible School would've done something!

"Riley…" That voice. It was agitated, accented, and Ian's! Riley's eyes flew open, making him recoil at the sudden light change. He didn't care though because Ian's face was right there in place of what Riley dreaded would be the Devil's!

"Ian…" Riley said contently, smile-wincing. His throat felt like it had just been karate chopped. The words had clanked up his jagged throat and shot out of his mouth in a heap of incoherent sludge. "Water?" Riley asked hopefully in something not unlike a whisper.

"Hang on," Ian said. He moved from Riley's side in search of a water bottle. Riley followed his motion path and saw Ian frisk his supposed murderer for water. He successfully drew one out from the inert guard's cargo pocket.

Ian walked back over with the water in hand, setting it down to sit Riley up in a vertical position.

"Dead?" Riley said, looking Ian blearily in the eyes, his head feeling much too heavy for his neck at that point.

Ian didn't answer and Riley took that as a yes. He sat there, leaning his hundred pound heavier noggin against the stone wall. He winced as he forgot about the bruises that had formed from the severe knocking done shortly before.-At least he thought it was shortly before… How long had he been out?

Ben answered the question by rushing to their ajar cell door, explaining how the keys thrown were hard to get to. Ooo, score none for the Riley sport record.

"Oh my god," Ben said, looking down at Riley. Ian sat crouched in front of the dazed young man, putting a supporting hand on the back of his neck to keep his head from falling against the wall. "Is he alright?" Ben asked concernedly, kneeling down on Riley's other side, picking up the water bottle while at it.

"He will be. After we get him-well, all of us- to a respectable hospital." Ian said, accepting the water bottle and putting it against Riley's lips. Riley sipped the cooling, throat-straightening elixir until he coughed up a lot of it onto his shirt.

"Okay," Ian said, replacing the cap back onto the bottle (making Riley mentally whimper). "Let's get you standing so we can get out of here."

It took a few minutes, but, in the end, Riley finally got his head on straight and was standing. His throat and head still hurt like nobody's business and Riley was willing to bet that there was something terribly wrong with both. Oh god, what he would give for a simple visit to a doctor. Heck, he would bet his car for a single night's stay on a floor -any floor- of a hospital.

"We need to get moving." Ian said. "This business has lost us too much time. These people are obviously going to notice that their man hasn't returned from whatever dealing he was doing down here."

"How do you propose we're going to do that?" Ben replied, his hands on his hips, looking down at Ian who was searching the rest of the pockets of the guard. So far he had managed to pull off a pocket knife, gun, and cell phone.

"One of those will come in handy." Riley mumbled from his position Ben and Ian had left him against the wall.

"We need to get Abi back, Ian." Ben said. "I'm not leaving her."

Ian stopped his search of the dead man's pants to rub the bridge of his nose. He got up slowly and spoke.

"Ben," He began, setting a hand on his friend's shoulder. "I realize Abi is very important to you, but there are more pressing matters at hand." Ian said, emphasizing "pressing" with a gesture to their three battered excuses for bodies. "We are all in need of medical attention. I've been shot, Riley's been put through all sorts of misery, and this has been a physical nightmare for you. Abi can be easily be rescued with the right assistance from authorities-"

Ben startled the two other men both by pinning Ian roughly against the wall.

"You," Ben said, there was a fierceness in his eyes and a menace in his voice Riley was positive had never been there ever before. "You're still a sadistic, rotten criminal. You don't care about anything except for your self. I don't know why I asked you for help when you've done nothing except get caught up in the same mess I did. And you brought Riley into it too!"

Ian's face was stone hard, not even flinching as the hurtful words turned into angry roars. Riley was between wondering if Ian even heard them and how those very words came out of Ben's mouth.

"C'mon, Riley," Ben said, releasing Ian and straightening up. "Were finding Abi and leaving."

Riley began doing what he was told since he was in too much pain to think up other options when Ian pulled the gun out, pointing it directly at Ben's head. The man stopped in mid-death-glare to contort his face into a genuinely shocked expression.

"No, Riley's coming with me." Ian said firmly.

Ben's expression turned into the creepiest one yet (in Riley's opinion) when he smiled slightly and laughed.

"Uh, no, he's not. We're finding Abi, and we're getting out of here."

"He doesn't need you wasting his time finding Abi when he could very well be in a hospital by the time you get captured again." Ian retorted, causing Ben's face to darken angrily.

"I am Riley's friend. I am not the one who tried to kill him. I have his best interests in mind."

"You obviously don't when you're so prepared to risk his life instead of save it."

At this point, it turned into a shouting fight full of words that shouldn't be said and gestures that shouldn't be done. Riley was at a loss of what to do. Eventually they would stop arguing and make him choose between the two. Best friend, savior, best friend, savior… It would be easier for Riley to sneak out and find Abi himself, which, by the way, is just what Riley settled on.

It's amazing what you can get away with in a cramped cell when two grown men are fighting. Completely enamored with their argument, Ian and Ben paid no heed to the shorter figure making a run for it out of the cell and up the stairs.

XxxxXXXxxxX

Riley paused his hasty dash up the stairs at the sighting of the first door. He knew it was a stretch to check if Abi was somewhere locked away through this one but he stealthily crept in anyway.

Inside was what anyone might expect of your average villain's lair: The welding sparks coming from nowhere, the grated floor, all workers dressed in tough-looking uniforms, grunting at each other, a nerdy scientist bee lining your walkway –Yep, there was no doubt about it that they had a mad scientist performing all interior design.

"What now?" Riley asked, trying desperately to find a saving solution while attempting to hide his sore-thumbiness in the shadows.

A large man was making his way towards them, his boots stomping heavily against the floor. He had a walkie talkie held to his ear then against his mouth, pressing the button on the side of the device to speak.

"What do you mean the prisoners escaped?" He exclaimed to Riley's great displeasure. "The boss is not going to like this. I want the whole area on lockdown. No one escapes. You search everywhere."

The young man's eyes widened and he quickly opened the nearest door and stepped inside. He shut it with a sharp snap and breathed a large sigh of relief, leaning against the door. He looked up from his hyperventilating to search his surroundings. As luck would have it, he spotted a perfect disguise hanging from a wooden coat hanger.

Although most would go for beating up the nearest guard, stripping him of his uniform (gun included), and tying them up in a conveniently placed broom closet, Riley's physical stature was proof that no such heroic efforts would be made. So, as fate would have it, a white lab coat hung nicely from the wooden stand. Riley grabbed at it and slipped it on. Directly after, the previously spotted guard entered the room.

"State your business," the guard said to him. Obviously the geeks had the lower hand in this business.

Riley replied with babble about something technical that he assumed the man wouldn't understand. Fortunately, he didn't and nodded with a shut to the door. Again, Riley sighed; relief flooding his senses.

Now to work: Where's Abi? Riley stepped out the door of the office since it proved to be useless in all cases with the exception of a good hiding place. He turned in both directions, wishing dearly for a map to be taped to a wall some where nearby.

He decided on quickly opening and closing each door- Nothing. Abi nor signs of prison cells were to be found.

He passed to intimidating men standing guard on a bolted door. Must be important, whatever it is. Riley thought to himself, trying not to look them in the beady, mean eyes. Riley stopped suddenly however, berating himself with mental "Stupid's"

"Hi, yes," Riley said, turning to them with a dorky smile. "I'm Dr. Werken- Wernilit-Um-Weneylit" The guards raised eyebrows at the supposed physician's reading ability. Riley looked up sheepishly from his lab coat's embroidered name badge. I guess it was too much to ask of fate for an easier name! "I, uh, took my wife's last name- She's Ukrainian."

The guards nodded knowingly at this statement.

"Yes, well, I need to check one of the prisoner's vitals. Make sure they're all right. You know, doctor stuff."

The two weren't to be fooled on this one though.

"Our commander told us no one was to come in here without expressed consent from him." The one on the left of the door said to him gruffly.

"It is a relief then that I got just that, huh?" Riley replied.

"Where is it?" The one on the right inquired this time.

"I'm telling you 'it.'"

"But I thought it had to be in writing-"

"No, no, no" Riley said with a shake of his head and a wave of his hand. "We don't need that stuff anymore. This is the 21st century. It's the coolest thing to send important verifications through the words of a geeky messenger; you know what I'm saying?"

"I guess." The man said; he didn't. Riley wasn't sure he knew what he was talking about either. Nonetheless, they let Riley pass.

They shut the door behind him and continued with their sentry duties. Riley examined the cell hall, finding it to be identical to the one he had escaped from not one hour ago. He hurriedly made his way, scanning each cell for the familiar blonde head of hair, looking back in paranoia at the door for intruders.

In one of the cells at the far end lay Abi. She was dressed in a flattering short-sleeved, red blouse and dark blue jeans with matching red sneakers. The outfit might've formerly been worthy of your latest fashion magazine but now, with so much wear and tear, it would hardly be accepted by the local thrift store.

"Abi, Abi!?" Riley stared in desperation at her unconscious form; her hair was strewn in every which direction upon her face. Riley seemed close to tears with his yelling when Abi opened her eyes. She supported herself on her elbows and turned to cock her head at him.

"Riley?" She asked.

"Please tell me you're surprised and not amnesic." Riley pleaded, wide eyed.

"Definitely the former," she replied, staring at him. "What are you doing here?"

"I came here with Ian, to rescue you, but we were captured and thrown into a cell where we found Ben-"

"Wait, you found Ben; is he okay?" she asked.

"Yes, yes, he's fine-At least I think…"

"Where are they anyway?"

"Um, er," He put on a serious voice. "Abi, this is a serious operation. That is a long story and we have little time to spare."

Abi choked back some laughter.

"Okay, James Bond." She said sarcastically with a roll of her eyes. Riley scowled at the fact that the woman still has the impudence to tease at him when he was rescuing her. "You're answering them later."

"Yeah, yeah," Riley said noncommittally. "How do I get you out of this cell?"

"Right, Riley, I know that answer because I like being locked up in here." Abi said mockingly.

"Okay, stop it with the cheek, Abigail. Trying to save you here."

"Oh right," Abi said, covering up a smile. "How'd you get out of your cell?"

Riley's mind flashed back to the beating he endured to help the three of them break out. He touched the lump that had formed on the back of his head.

"That's a long, painful answer that I do not wish to repeat." Riley said, thinking for other options. "Wait, you're a girl, got any bobby pins on you?" He had almost made the mistake of asking Ian for one last time but bit down hard on his tongue just in time.

"Yeah, actually." She said, picking one out of her hair and handing the piece to Riley. He jammed it into the cell's hole and fiddled with it. Nothing.

"Um, do you have any… experience in this sort of thing?" He asked sheepishly, handing the hair pin back to her.

"Thought you'd never asked." Abi answer with a smirk. She crooked her arm though the bars and started picking at the lock until it clicked with the sound of success. Riley opened the cell door completely and grabbed Abi's hand to help her up.

"Ah," she winced, once she set her right foot upon the floor. "I think my ankle's sprained. Ah, it hurts."

Riley reluctantly suggested he carry her on piggy back which she readily accepted. Once she was positioned, he started making their way towards the set of stairs similar to the one in his previous cell hold.

Upon arriving at the first landing, Riley found himself beat. The scrawny young man who had never set head or toe in a gym could only handle so much. He set Abi down who continued to berate him about his terrible physical energy.

"I mean, Ben can at least get the groceries to and from the car." She ranted. "Speaking of which, you never answered my question about where he and Ian were."

To tell the truth, Riley didn't precisely know, but he explained to her the reason why he was the only one to come to her rescue.

"Ugh, men. They get so enamored with their arguing -especially the smart ones." Riley would've agreed with her is she hadn't ordered him to get off his butt and keep moving.

Riley was beginning to wonder why he bothered to liberate the nagging, Declaration lady.

XxxxXXXxxxX

"Why did you even come here, Ian!?" Ben yelled, a heated glare still set in stone upon his face. "You obviously had no intention of saving any of us. So why, huh?"

"I came here to save you and Abi both. There was just the small setback of being shot and everything!" Ian roared back with an identical expression. "It can all be fixed given that you let me take Riley to a hospital!"

"You're not taking Riley anywhere. How can I trust a man that got himself shot?"

"Easy, let me take Riley and we'll be on our way. You're just wasting his time, Gates, like you're wasting your wife's and, not to mention, mine!"

"I'm trying to actually save people, Ian. Your tactless conduct will only get Riley and yourself killed."

"You're not suggesting I go with you now, are you? Because, I'll pass."

"Never, Ian. I'm seeing you for what you've always been: selfish, insensitive, and callous."

"Let's just see what Riley has to say about this. Riley, who do you-" Ian stopped in mid-sentence to look around. Where was he?

"Where's Riley?" Ben said, scanning the area.

"I don't know. He was just here… I saw him… I think." Ian said, turning round.

In that instant, a shot rang out and the door the end of the cell hall immediately had both of the men's attentions. Coming down the stairs were five or six guards banging through the door, guns cocked and pointed down the hall.

"We have to go." Ian said intensely, taking out the gun he had lifted off the guard and readying it.

"Are you sure-" Ben had no chance to finish his question as he was seized by the arm and being dragged down the hall. Ian was firing shots at the unsuspecting guards, injuring two in the process.

"Billings is down, Tanner is down," some one shouted loudly as a flurry of shots rang out. Ian and Ben didn't stick around to hear the rest as they rushed up the stairs, never looking back.

XxxxXXXxxxX

Riley was literally heaving now as each step up the back stairwell was starting to take its toll.

"Make one jab about my weight and you'll be the one needing to be carried." Abi said, predicting what Riley was just about to do.

Riley wanted to just get out of here, that or find Ben and Ian, then he could pass Abi of to her adoring husband and Ian could carry him. Upon arriving at what seemed to be the final landing until reaching the roof door, it appeared Riley's latter wish was about to be granted- Just not in the way he would've liked.

Through the glass slot of the door, Riley could see Ben and Ian, hands bound and three guns pointed at them by guards a safe distance off. Patrick was pacing in front of the two and smiling smugly, seemingly lecturing the two on something or the other. No doubt about the treasure, Riley thought to himself.

It would've been easier, not to mention safer, for Riley to simply take the rest of the stairs to the roof, sneak down a fire escape and call the authorities from the outside. In all actuality, this is just what Riley was going to do. That is, until Patrick pulled a gun to Ian's head.

Riley's eyes widened in panic and he unthinkingly stormed through the door, setting Abi on the floor and yelling.

"The filthy rich fraternizer first!" Patrick had just managed to get out before looking up at utterly battered Riley and the limping Abi.

"Abi!" Ben cried happily at the sight of his wife still relatively intact.

"Shutup!" Patrick yelled.

"Don't kill them!" Riley shrieked when he saw the man readying his gun again.

"Hastings, apprehend him." Patrick ordered at the guard Riley had seen moments before. Riley was roughly grasped by the collar of his white coat and a hand was clasped over his mouth, muffling any and all of his pleas.

"Now," Patrick began, pointing the gun at Ian's head. "Where was I-"

The older man was once again interrupted by the urgent shout of his lackey's voice.

"What the heck?!" He said, pushing Riley to the floor. "I need a grenade pin! Hurry! The kid just pulled mine and threw it somewhere!"

"Johnson, you know what to do," Patrick said to a guard that stood beside him who nodded in response. He immediately shot the man named Hastings and following that was a bout of panic as every guard and scientist present made his hurried way out the nearest exit.

Ben and Ian had escaped their binds and the former rushed over to his limping wife.

"Are you okay?" he asked, placing her on his back in haste.

"Run!" she roared but he was already doing so.

Ian had already helped Riley up and the two were making their mad dash towards the exit. The grenade finally blew upon their reaching the early morning outside.

It was a massive explosion; at least, that's what it felt like to Riley. He never knew something as small as a grenade could have such a large impact on the room and the people previously in it. Debris large and small was flying in every which direction and everybody was thrust to the floor. Minutes later, the noise subsided, leaving a high-pitched ringing in the young man's ear.

Papers were fluttering to the floor and Riley also perceived some had died in the terrible detonation. He looked around further as he gathered his bearings in a clumsy manner. Ben and Abi could be seen a great distance off. Riley was positively overjoyed by this sight and was about skip over impulsively when he spotted Ian getting up not to far from him.

The blonde man had a large piece of glass stuck in his leg but, other than a few more bruises and cuts, he seemed fine. What really caught Riley's attention was Patrick, sitting in a large white truck and glaring hatefully at Ian. He was revving up the engine, and Riley was more than positive he knew what Patrick intended to do now.

Riley's sprint towards Ian's unsuspecting form began with the screech of acceleration emitted from the van. Riley was putting every ounce of energy he had left to save Ian. He was yelling words to Ian but the man only looked up time for Riley shove him out of the way of the van's blunt power.

The impact of the van going a full-fledged 30 miles had Riley soaring through the air and colliding with a wall a short distance off. He fell to the floor, groaning in intense pain. Blood was making a neat puddle around him- from where on his body, Riley wasn't sure, for he had numerous amounts of pain in numerous sections of his body.

The van had squealed to a halt and Patrick watched in shock as Riley lay there motionless just before being slammed with the brute force of another van-Phillip's van. Patrick would definitely not live to tell the tale of such a crash as it was the driver's side that was hit and Riley wondered why Phillip hadn't come sooner-Preferably before Riley had just been rammed by the speeding vehicle.

The last thing the young man could remember before blacking out was Ian rushing over with a wholly concerned look on his face.

XxxxXXXxxxX

The End. (Nah, I'm just messing with you.)

The slow beeps of the heart monitor aroused Riley to his senses. He blinked his eyes open, attempting to focus on the room in front of his elevated head rest. Things cleared up but his mind was still foggy.

"It's the drugs." Riley heard a familiarly accented voice announce to the right of his bed. Of course it was Ian, but where were they? He moved to turn his head, but, with the exception of his eyeballs, no such movement would be possible.

"Am I-" Riley's voice was raspy and those two words tasted terrible on his sandpaper-like tongue. A straw was placed in his mouth and Riley sipped at the drink before it was taken away a few seconds later. He continued his previous question now that he felt able. "Am I paralyzed?"

Ian's chuckle was unnerving.

"No, no," Ian said to Riley's total relief. "Well, you could've been, but the amount of surgery you've gone through the past eight days has taken care of that."

Eight days? Despite that new revelation, Riley felt like crying. He was in a hospital. It was all over. No more chases, no more beatings, no more deaths. He could just sit back and be drugged for the rest of his life.

"Riley, are you crying?" Riley could hear Abi ask as she and Ben entered his hospital room. Riley felt the tears falling down his cheeks and simply nodded. He didn't care who saw it.

Abi sat down on his bed and grabbed one of his scarred up hands while Ben sat on a chair to the left.

"I'm just happy that you're all okay." He said. God, he was sounding pathetic. He wasn't known to be Mr. Macho Man but, seriously! This statement only made Abi's own eyes well up with tears. She smiled sadly, brushing his messy bangs out of his eyes.

"Thanks to you," Ben said from his side of the bed, nudging at Riley's arm. "You did some quick thinking grabbing that man's grenade pin. We're only here because of you, Riley."

"And you literally saved my hide with that car jaunt." Ian said, with a poignant smirk. His eyes were glistening-which was as close as it would get to tears. "Thank you. I'm going to kick your butt for pulling that stunt, but, thank you, Riley. I owe you everything."

Riley was speechless. He wished he'd brought a tape recorder along with him so he could play all of these handsome compliments when he was feeling down, but he really didn't know how to reply to any of it.

"Thank… You?" He said. His throat was tight with emotion at that moment but he couldn't muster much else. "Could you guys, possibly tell me this when I'm not on morphine?"

Everybody laughed in spite of themselves yet agreed that this probably wasn't the best time to congratulate some one when they were probably too high to remember anything. Everyone left with their tokens of appreciation for Riley's truly heroic efforts: Ben with a ruffle to his hair, Abi with a kiss on his cheek, and, to Riley's complete surprise, Ian with an embrace.

The blonde man pulled apart from the hug and genuinely thanked Riley one last time before slowly leaving the room with the others, wishing him good dreams. Riley closed his eyes to ponder what had just happened in the past two weeks. It was easily the strangest one he'd ever lived through but he wouldn't trade for any other experience…

Fin?

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A/N: Do you want an epilogue? I want an epilogue. But reviews will only make me do it! Seriously, I read over my old reviews to get encouragement for story writing. It's the only way it'll work for me! So review now to ensure a speedy update.

Anonymous/Shadow Girl/ Whoever you are: Get an account, or, if you already have one, log in. I always want to reply to your encouraging reviews in some way, shape, or form but I have no idea how. You've truly been one of my biggest fans and I really, truly appreciate that. Thanks for being there to pick me up when I got down on this story. Rest well knowing that some of this story was updated because of you!