I awoke with a start, but this time, it wasn't because of a nightmare. Someone was doing all they could to make noise downstairs. It was probably Riley... I really hope its Riley.

It had to be at least 2 in the morning, what the hell is he doing?

I begrudgingly pulled myself out of bed, and turned my light on, swaying from the sudden movement. He had better have a damn good reason to be waking me up.

I inched open the door, the rest of the house was pitch black, no lights on at all. Okay, what is going on?

Carefully, I began making my way to the staircase, tip-toeing along. I almost screamed when someone grabbed me around my waist, pulling me to them. They placed one hand over my mouth, preventing me from calling for help. I began thrashing, trying to get out of my captors grip.

This is it, he found me.

"Shh, Sabine, it's okay. It's me," his voice whispered in my ear. Riley. Oh, thank god. I was relieved and irritated at the same time.

"What the hell, Riley? I thought someone was grabbing me!" I whisper-yelled back to him, no longer struggling.

He chuckled softly in my ear and I shook my head at him, a smile forming on my face too.

Until I heard the noise from downstairs again.

I looked up at Riley in fear and saw it reflected back in his eyes, but he also looked resolved... and ready for a fight.

Slowly, quietly, Riley pushed me behind him, his left arm reaching back to remain around my waist, his right hand resting on his gun.

We began making our way down the stairs, following the crashing sounds to the kitchen. Riley leant back to me, whispering that I was to "stay behind him."

I only nodded. No way was I going anywhere else.

Within a matter of seconds, he flicked the light on and pointed his gun at the intruder. I closed my eyes, flinching at the sudden light and the thought of looking at someone who wanted to kill me.

When nothing happened for a few seconds, I slowly peeled my eyes open. Riley's gun was still pointed straight, but slacker. I looked toward who it was pointed at and saw... Riley.

Wait, what?

I blinked and looked again. No, it was definitely Riley. Older, and more angular, but still Riley. The older version of Riley smirked, and I realised he had our fridge open.

"Hey little brother, you guys really need to get some better food. Is this seriously what you're feeding her?"

-

"What are you doing here, Nate?" Riley growled, still not completely dropping his gun. This only caused Nate to laugh harder.

"Looking for a meal... Obviously I came to the wrong place," he said, as though it was totally normal to be here, and he had just dropped in for some dinner.

I was still trying to figure out how he could look so much like Riley. The only really noticeable difference between the two boys was that Nate had sparkling blue eyes, while Riley had bright green ones.

Nate was currently using those blue eyes to stare at me, just as I was staring at him. He stepped forward, reaching out a hand I was supposed to shake.

"And you must be Sabine Greyson... Lovely to meet you, gorgeous," he spoke, a seductive tone lining each word. I ignored it, and stepped slowly out from behind Riley, reaching to put my hand in his. Riley growled, though, and pushed me back where I had been standing.

Nate laughed, dropping his hand, "You're a bit over-protective, huh, little brother?"

He lent down to search through the fridge once more, pulling out one of the punnets of strawberries Riley and I had bought at the market.

"How the hell did you know we were here? That is classified information!" Riley was border-line shouting at his brother, his breathing quickened and his fists clenched. He was furious.

I tentitavley placed a hand on his shoulder, he looked back at me and I gave a small smile. Riley returned it before turning back to his brother, much calmer.

Nate was looking at me as if he was trying to figure something out, before winking at me. I refrained from rolling my eyes.

"We need to talk, follow us," Riley said, straight-forward, calm, but with a deadly undertone. He turned, placing his hand on the small of my back, and led us to the lounge room.

Riley sat on the long three-seater, pulling me down beside him. Nate gave that a weird look before settling into the rocking chair across from us.

It was silent for a few minutes. I looked between Riley and Nate, who seemed to be having a private argument between themselves, consisting solely of looks.

I cleared my throat loudly, and both sets of eyes turned to me, I gulped, but continued.

"How did you find us, Nate?" I asked, reiterating Riley's question, hoping he may answer if it was coming from me, rather than his brother.

Nate laughed again, shaking his head slightly, "She speaks," he smiled to himself, "I guess Riley hasn't completely frightened you out of words."

"Riley hasn't frightened me out of anything," I retort, slightly offended.

"Oh yeah?" Nate questioned, smirking at his brother, "You looked pretty scared earlier."

Before I could reply, Riley growled, "It wasn't me who scared her, asshole. Having an unknown man in her house when she is here hiding from a killer is what frightened her."

Riley was mad again. Nate laughed once more, either not noticing Riley's anger, or choosing to ignore it. My bet was on the latter.

"Fair enough," he reasoned, "I never did properly introduce myself."

Nate gets out of the chair, stepping closer to where Riley and I are sitting. He holds out his hand, and I place mine in it for what I assume is a handshake, but he brings it to his lips, not taking his eyes off mine as he kisses my hand. I gasp, yanking it back.

"I am Nathaniel Martin, Sergeant General for the Australian defence force and," he winked, "ladies man."

I almost vomited in my mouth. I turned to Riley, ignoring Nate altogether,"Your brother is an asshole."

Almost in sync, both boys burst into laughter, Nate struggling to hold himself up as he staggered back to the rocking chair. When they calmed down, Riley smiled wide at me, "yeah, he really is." 

This seemed to lighten the air between them and any menacing looks stopped, Nate winking at Riley.

With a smile still in his tone, Riley turned to look at his brother again, asking the question for a third time, ""But seriously, Nate. I need to know how you knew where Sabine was."

"Well, little brother, I'm higher up in the food chain than you assume me to be. Plus I've got connections."

"But no one else knows where she is, correct?" Riley asked, tensing slightly at the thought of someone else knowing our location.

Nate's face turned into a kind of 'are you serious?' look, shaking his head at Riley. "You know me better than that, little brother. I wouldn't put her in danger."

Riley's posture relaxes as he smiles at his brother. The other night, when I had asked Riley about Nate, this same smile had lit up his face, and the adoration he had for the older boy had been clear, that love and respect was back on his face once more, and I couldn't help but smile too.

"I know you're apparently here for the food, but are there any other reasons you decided to pay us a visit?" Riley asked his brother.

Nate replied with a simple, "boredom," but from the way he looked from Riley to me, and then back to Riley told me there was an underlying reason that wasn't going to be said in front of me.

It grew quiet once more and I suddenly realised how tired I really was, it was still pitch black out the window.

Riley must have noticed my dropping eyes because he pulled my head down into his lap, to use like a pillow. He was more comfortable than you would assume and I struggled to not close my eyes and nod off.

Riley lifted his wrist to look at his watch, before giving an annoyed look at Nate.

"Why the hell would you come at 2:40 in the morning?" He said, the growl back in his tone.

"Well I just wanted to see my little brother as soon as possible... It's been, how long? Three years?" Nate winked at Riley, who had his eyes narrowed and fists clenched.

I may have been barely awake, but I was still listening to the conversation, "Three years?" I asked, shocked. I looked back up at Riley, only to see him looking down at me. "How have you not seen your brother in three years?"

Riley sighed, and I heard Nate chuckle, across from us, but I didn't look at him.

"I have a job to do; he has a job to do. Both of them require protecting others, I don't have time to play tea-parties with Nate."

This caused Nate to out-right laugh, "Little brother, don't lie to her. I wanted a teddy-bears picnic, not a tea party. Psh," he scoffed, causing me to giggle.

Nate winked at me, a large grin on his face, and I realised just how much like Riley Nate really was. I mean they looked the same, but they also had the same smile and the same humour, even if Riley's appeared less often than Nate's did.

"I think I've seen you smile more in the last half-hour than I've seen Riley smile in the last couple days," I stated, turning to Nate.

Riley growled, and I smiled, pleased that I had gotten the reaction I had been hoping for. Nate laughed again.

"Aren't you tired, Sabine? Don't you think you should sleep instead of insulting me?" Riley asked. He tried to sound commanding but I could hear the underlying smile in his voice... That smile faded as mine did.

I didn't want to sleep. What if I woke up screaming in front of Nate? I have enough people who think I'm crazy and unstable. I don't want to add him to the list.

I gave a tiny shake of my head, looking from Riley, to Nate, who had his eyes narrowed, watching us, and then back to Riley.

The cop sighed, doing as I had and looking from his brother to me. Ignoring Nate's curious eyes, he leant down to whisper in my ear. I tried hard not to shiver.

"It's okay, Sabbie. I'm here; I'll make sure it's okay.""

"Are you sure?" I whispered in return.

"I promise," he stated. And with that, I drifted into sleep.