A/N: This is a one-shot I wrote for a challenge at leverageland based on the prompt 'major character death.' We were free to interpret the prompt however we wanted so what I came up with (I hope) is not completely depressing. :P Anyway, I hope you enjoy it. :) I had no beta on this so all mistakes are mine.

For a big part of his life Eliot was a one-man team and at the time he liked it that way. There was never anyone else to worry about and no one to get in his way and the job that needed doing. Sure, there were many things he'd done that he wasn't proud of and many times when his past haunted him. But at this moment he was grateful for all that he'd been through because it made him into the man he was today.

And that man was willing to sacrifice himself for four people he now considered family.

A small grin broke across his face as he thought how quickly they wormed their way into his life, for better or worse. He knew they'd kill him for what he was about to do but he saw no way around it. He just hoped they would get out in time. He heard their screams over his comm but he just growled at them to keep moving, that he'd be right behind them when in reality he knew he wouldn't.

As he crouched down in the corner of the warehouse he reloaded the gun he picked off the body of the nearest bad guy while shots continued to rain down in his direction. There was no way he could hold off all these guys for much longer but damn him if he didn't at least try.

He leaned around the boxes he was using for cover and let off a few shots, killing two of the dozen men advancing on him.

"Eliot, get out of there!" Nate shouted. "We're all out. Get out of there right now!"

"Can't," he mumbled. "Get everyone to the van and drive away from here as fast as you can!"

"We're not leaving you. Now come ON!"

"I'm sorry," Eliot said as he began to remove the comm from his ear. For a brief second he heard the panicked shouts of Sophie and Parker begging him to come with them. He even heard Hardison pleading with him. But this was the only way to hold the bad guys off long enough for them to escape. This would be the last thing he would ever do but he was okay with that if it meant keeping his family safe.

With all their faces in mind he stood up slowly, gun fully loaded, and faced the men still advancing on him.