A/N: This is the fabled gift promised to gibbsrossi when a certain somebody wrote a fic for me that I requested. So, gratitude is the only answer I have. The Revenge Job was excellent and I hope you enjoy this as well. If not, I've got something else up my sleeve you might enjoy. Let me know, enjoy!

A high pitched whine sounded.

"Clear!" A doctor called.

A body shuffled in the hospital bed but the whining persisted. The doctors and nurses looked down at the white, prone body and tried again.

"Clear!" The doctor in charge of the paddles of life called again.

Everybody stepped away from the body at the order. The doctor placed the paddles on the body and sent a pulse of electricity through it. The whining continued for a few seconds but stopped. The alarms died down. A heart beat started to call again.

Nathan Ford stared at the cause of his misery. The job had gone south. Parker had been shot twice. The doctors were currently working to save her life. Hardison was standing beside the mastermind. His brown eyes were fixated on the petite blonde and the doctor's trying to save her. He was quietly cheering her on from his spot by the window.

"Come on, Parker," kept falling from the hacker's lips like a prayer. Tears were caught in his eyes but he refused to let them go. He just stood at the door with his hand pressed against the glass.

He looked as though he wanted to burst through the glass and take the thief away. Nate quickly grabbed his shoulder in hopes of stopping that from happening. The hacker looked towards him for the first time since this whole thing started. He looked so fearful that it rendered the mastermind speechless for a few seconds.

"She'll be fine," he said lowering his hand as he spoke.

"How do you know?" Hardison demanded harshly. He sounded so small, so weak.

Nate grinned. "It's Parker," he replied. The grin widened at that. It was such a Sophie thing to say.

The flurry of doctors stopped. The thief lay motionless in the bed and the flock of white was exiting her room. The mastermind grabbed the hacker by the shoulders again. He needed to stabilize himself somehow and making certain Hardison didn't leave seemed to be it. The lead doctor approached them with shaking limbs.

"We got her stabilized," he replied. Nate let out a breath of relief at that. "But we're going to have to keep her under observation for a while. It was a leak that caused the episode. We're not sure if we got it or if it was just one of many."

Hardison opened his mouth to say something but the doctor waved him off.

"You can still visit her but be prepared to get out of the way," the doctor explained, "There's still a chance of a relapse. We are only hours out of surgery and usually leaks don't appear that quickly. Let's just count this one as lucky and pray that there is nothing else. As I told you before her injuries were very extensive. We can't know just how much damage was done for certain until twenty-four hours' time."

"Thank you," Hardison nodded at the information.

"We'll tell you if she shows any changes," Nate added for good measure.

The doctor smiled kindly towards them. He started to say something, shook his head and began to walk away.

"No," Nate called, "What were you about to say?"

The doctor stared at him sadly. "I was just about to suggest informing the rest of your family of her state," he said, "We don't want to overwhelm her if we can help it."

Nate swallowed back the suddenly lump in his throat at that painful reminder. Hardison wasn't as subtle. He squeaked and raced into the thief's room. He grabbed the thief's hand and sat in a chair by her side. His hands were shaking but there was no other sign of upset with him.

"We'll, uh, we'll do that doctor," Nate nodded.

The doctor left without any further inquiry. He could tell he said something wrong. Of course, with the hacker's reaction how could he not. Normal people don't squeak at the mention of family. Of course, normal people don't barge into a hospital with a bleeding blonde in their arms either.

God I need a drink, Nate thought in frustration. He ruffled his hair and slowly entered the thief's room. He stayed close to the door so he would have a quick exit. He hated the way Hardison stared at him the last time Sam's memory was too much. No, this time he wouldn't be a distraction.

"Where's Eliot?" Hardison growled, his voice penetrating the mastermind's thoughts perfectly.

Nate closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. That was the question he had no idea how to answer. The hitter had disappeared sometime after the thief's surgery was finished. He had a determined look in his eyes and his jaw was firmly set in a square. He looked like he was going somewhere to punch something. But that had been an hour ago right before the thief's sudden relapse and recovery. He wasn't answering his phone. His com had been crushed during the initial battle to steal the thief away. He was gone. He just disappeared when his team needed him most.

"I don't know," Nate replied.

Hardison nodded at that statement. He didn't look as mad as Nate had expected him to be. He was very accepting of the hitter's disappearance.

"He probably went to get Sophie back," he said.

Nate probably gave himself whiplash from that simple statement. He definitely felt worse for wear because of it. Just the thought of what happened to the grifter made his stomach boil. He loosened his tie because he suddenly couldn't breathe. Pink and black spots were appearing in his vision. He found the nearest chair and forced himself into it. Then he placed his head between his knees and drew slow, deep breaths.

The images of the horrid job flashed uninvited before his eyes. He and Sophie were kindly schmoozing the mark when everything happened. A shot rang through the coms and Eliot's growl sounded off louder than usual. A few sounds of flesh on flesh and Hardison's labored breathing later came with the explanation that Parker had been shot and discovered. Nate had the perfect excuse for leaving when the mark pulled out a gun of his own. The bastard pointed it at him and inclined his head towards his bodyguard. The bodyguard wrapped his arms around the grifter and pulled her to her feet. Nate lost his temper, naturally, and threw a punch into the mark. A few punches and a roll later the grifter was being pulled into a black limousine and the hitter was shouting at him to wake up.

"Nate!" Hardison's voice screamed into his thoughts.

The mastermind looked up with the expectation of a punch or the hitter. Instead he just got a few view of the hacker's sad brown eyes. He looked so young in that moment, like Sam. Another son was begging him to take the pain away. How was he supposed to do that?

"It's going to be okay," he said sounding just as unsure as he looked, "right?"

Nate stared at him for another second before his mind caught up with the rest of him. He nodded vigorously and stood to his feet. He daringly moved to the hacker's side and stared him straight in the eyes. He made certain to put as much determination into his voice as possible.

"Right," he said. Then he turned his attention on the thief and took in her appearance. She wasn't as pale as she had been before. That was a good sign, a very good sign.

"I'm going to go see if I can get a hold of that hitter of ours," he declared.

He nodded his head and quickly high-tailed it. Parker and Sam were blending into each other again. The hitter was missing and sending his frazzled nerves through the roof. The grifter wasn't there to calm him down or even tell him she was fine. A phone call and a bottle of the hardest liquor he could grab were in order.