A/N: Not mine. Thanks to Kausingkayn for being the beta for this.
Eliot's eyes flew open as the nightmare replayed over in his head. He took a moment to take a deep breath and the feeling of Layla pressed into his side. Her head was pillowed on his shoulder and she had an arm draped across his chest. He picked up her hand, smiling at the grease under the well-manicured nails. Sighing he gently shifted her over so he could slide out of bed. Running a hand through his hair, he quietly walked across the hall. Grace was laying face down in her mattress, her legs pulled tightly up underneath her so her little bum was sticking up in the air. Eliot chuckled as he draped the blanket across his daughter, before sitting in the rocking chair. He didn't know how long he had been sitting there when he heard Layla's soft footsteps out in the hall.
"What are you doing?" Layla asked quietly from the doorway.
"Nothing." Eliot replied, standing.
"Oh come on. You only pull a Batman, when something's bothering you." She said with a smile.
Eliot chuckled, still amazed at how well she could read him. He kissed her softly and pulled her tightly to him.
"How upset would you be if I asked you to stop?" He asked her quietly.
"Stop what?" She looked up, having an idea of where he was going.
"Stop boosting cars, stop running the cons, stop everything and find a house in some small town somewhere…"
"Mr. Spencer, are you telling me that you're ready to retire?" She asked with a smile.
"Layla, I'm serious." He sighed, turning to look at Grace again.
Layla looked at Eliot, studying his features in the dimness. He was favoring his right shoulder and she knew what had brought this on. It had been a few months, but it still had him up at nights. A con gone wrong and Grace had been put in the middle of it. It was the first time Layla had to turn away from watching Eliot fight. He had screwed up his shoulder in the process, a small price to pay to keep their daughter safe. Layla had thought the nightmares had gotten better, but apparently she had been wrong.
"We'll talk to Nate in the morning." Layla told him, holding him tightly.
Eliot nodded, then smiled. "Maybe we can try to give Gracie a little brother."
"Well you know trying is half the fun." Layla laughed.
Eliot caressed her face and kissed her softly. "Thank you."
10 years later
Layla groaned as she watched the woman wave her down from across the street. She looked over at Grace, who was trying not to laugh.
"What's going on at school that she's going to try to rope me and your father into now?" She asked.
"The freshman dance." Grace replied. "She'll probably want you and daddy to chaperone."
Layla nodded and opened the car door. "Get in, maybe we can get out of here before she gets over here."
"I don't see why you guys won't just do it." Grace asked, getting in the car.
"Do you really want your father at that dance?" Layla asked with a raised brow.
"Depends, what does he think about Mike?"
"Two words: chastity belt." Layla replied, getting into the car.
Grace's eyes went wide. "Daddy wouldn't."
"I'm paraphrasing." Layla told her daughter, slamming the door shut and peeling out of the parking space.
"Doesn't daddy trust me?" She asked after a moment.
"Oh, sweetie, he trusts you. It's the boys he doesn't trust." Layla replied, squeezing Grace's hand. "Cut him a little slack, ok. He remembers what he was like at that age," She took a breath and muttered under her breath. "And I remember what he was like when we first met."
Grace raised an eyebrow and looked over at her mother. "What?"
"If you tell your father I told you this I'll deny it, but before I started dating him, your daddy's little black book was the size of a telephone book."
"Seriously?" Grace asked.
"I swear." Layla replied with a smile. She could see the gears turning in Grace's head. "Just remember, I didn't tell you that."
"Ok." Grace laughed and nodded. "Mama, can I ask you something?"
"Sure." Layla smiled.
"How come you and Daddy don't talk about the past?"
Layla stared intently at the road. "What do you mean?"
"Well, like, when I was over at Beth's house the other night, her parents told us how they met and showed us pictures of their wedding." Grace explained.
Layla couldn't help but laugh. She'd love to explain to their children how she and Eliot met, just to see their faces when she told them that their Uncle asked her to steal a car and that's how she met their father. Layla rested her head on her hand while she waited at a red light.
"Grace, there are just some things in our past that we…well that we've agreed not to tell you or your brother. Unfortunately some of those things involve some milestones for me and Daddy." Layla sighed, hoping that she had explained it well.
"Like how you met?" Grace asked.
"Yeah. Well, I can tell you Uncle Nate introduced us." Layla said, thinking that she could edit most of their introduction out.
"Really? Was it love at first sight?"
Layla laughed again. "What is up with all the questions?"
"I guess after being at Beth's I realized that I really don't know what you and Daddy were like before I was born."
Layla turned the jeep down the dirt road that lead to the old farm house that they called home.
"We haven't changed, Grace." She told her. 'Much.' She thought to herself.
Grace rolled her eyes and got out of the jeep. Stomping up the front porch past Eliot, who was leaning against the railing waiting for them.
"What's her problem?" He asked as Layla walked up the steps.
Layla laughed and rested her head against his chest. Relaxing as Eliot wrapped his arms around her.
"She was asking questions about our past." She told him.
"Like what?" He asked softly.
"Like how did we meet, or what our wedding day was like." She replied, turning around so she was resting against him.
She could feel more than hear Eliot laugh.
"It just doesn't make sense when you have to edit ninety percent of the story out." She said with a sigh.
"What brought this up?" He asked, tightening his arms around her.
"I guess her friend's parents were telling stories the other night when she was over there, so she feels we need to open up."
Eliot laughed again. "You two are so much alike it's scary."
"Yeah I know." Layla sighed again. "As long as she doesn't steal a car between now and her birthday we're good."
"She's a good kid." Eliot kissed the top of her head.
Layla turned slightly to look at him. "You need to remember that sometimes when you go overprotective gorilla on her."
"I'll try." He growled out.
"Eliot, I'm serious." She told him.
"I said I would try."
Layla sighed resting back against him again.
"James William Spencer come back here!"
Layla and Eliot both groaned at Grace's shriek. They separated and went into the house, Eliot grabbing his son as he came flying down the stairs.
"What did you do?" Eliot demanded of the ten year old.
"Nothing." The boy looked up through shaggy dark brown hair.
"James…" Eliot began.
"Give it back you little troll!" Grace demanded.
Eliot looked over at Layla, who just shrugged.
"You were the one who wanted another one." She told him.
"Yeah but you agreed…" He replied.
"I agreed it would be fun to try." Layla responded with a smirk.
"UGH! Way too much information!" Grace yelled placing her hands over her ears.
Layla and Eliot just laughed.
"Now, what did you take?" Layla asked her son.
"Nothing, Mama. I swear." He turned pleading eyes to her.
"Grace?" She turned to her daughter.
"My journal is missing." Grace glared at her brother. "The leather bound one that Uncle Nate got me for my birthday last year."
"Did you look in your desk drawer?" Layla asked.
"…No." Grace replied.
"You might want to look there. I tossed it in there the other day when I brought your laundry up, so someone wouldn't get any ideas." Layla told her.
"Oh." Grace muttered and turned to go back upstairs.
"Grace Ann, you want to say something?" Eliot stopped her.
She turned and mumbled an apology to her brother before disappearing up the steps again. Eliot let go of his son and pushed him off in the other direction.
"We going to survive this?" Eliot asked later when they were alone in their bedroom.
"Let's see, you've survived several bouts of torture. I've managed to live through I don't know how many car accidents, and we've both sat through Sophie's acting. I think we'll survive our kids turning into teenagers." Layla laughed, kneeling behind Eliot.
She slowly began to rub his shoulders, concentrating on his right shoulder. She watched in pleasure as he relaxed under her hands.
"Yeah but we were much younger then." He replied.
"Hey speak for yourself." She swatted at him.
Eliot laughed pulling her around so she was sitting in his lap.
"You know the kids are asleep." He told her. "You up for it?"
"Yeah I'll even go easy on you old man." She told him.
Eliot grunted as Layla landed a solid hit to his chest and swept his legs out from underneath him, causing him to land in a heap on the mats. He smirked as he grabbed her arms as he went down, pulling her with him. He knew from her giggles that their sparing session was over. It never really amounted to much, serving only as an workout and sometimes a vehicle for something more pleasurable, which was where Eliot's mind was heading as his wife remained sprawled on top of him. That was, until she sat up with a look of concern on her face.
"Did you hear that?" She asked him looking down.
"Car doors." He replied, hearing the silent clunk of a door shutting.
"I didn't hear a car, did you?" Layla asked, standing quickly.
Eliot followed suit. Their sparing room was in the back of the barn just on the other side of the house. It had both an internal and external door and could serve as a good point of observation for the rest of the property. Leaving by the external door they hunkered low and stayed close to the shadows. Four men stood next to a large black SUV. They were dressed in black and carried a small arsenal between the four of them.
Eliot growled under his breath. He knew they needed to stop them before they got into the house, cause there was no way he was letting them anywhere near his children. They moved slowly and in unison, splitting up only when they were close enough to the SUV. The four didn't know what hit them when Eliot materialized out of the darkness. He took two of them out before they had a chance to turn on him. The third one caught him by surprise, slamming the butt of his rifle into Eliot's shoulder. Eliot growled as he blocked another attack, grabbing the rifle from the other man and then slamming it in his face. The attacker fell backward hitting the ground with a loud thud.
Eliot panicked when he heard Layla scream in pain. He moved quickly around the SUV in time to see the fourth man grab his wife by the ankle, pulling her out of the driver's seat. Eliot growled and grabbed the man by the back of the head and slammed his face into the frame of the SUV. Eliot smiled as he heard a wet crunch and the man slumped to the floor. He turned toward Layla cringing as he saw her ankle swelling.
"Bastard." She muttered, sitting up.
Eliot chuckled and helped her up.
"Any idea who they are?" Eliot asked.
Layla shook her head. "But this was in their glove box."
She held out two photos. One of each of them. They weren't the most up to date, but they really hadn't change a lot in the past ten years.
"Lets clean this mess up and get the kids." Eliot said looking around. "I've got a feeling this isn't over."