Chapter 1

Again I have to thank YeahLev for the idea for this story. Hope you enjoy.

The con had gone to hell and Nate and Sophie were trapped in their fake apartment with the mark and one of his goons. The goon held a gun on them while the mark poured himself a drink.

"Did you really think I would not cotton to your little con…?"

"Well actually no I didn't…" Nate said sotto voice to Sophie.

The mark stared at them as he lifted the freshly poured drink to his lips. "Nobody comes between me and my money…" He said then downed the drink slamming the glass on the table. "Nobody…" He hissed.

"Nate I'm almost there just stall him…" Eliot's voice came through the coms and Nate stepped forward deliberately putting himself between Sophie and the goon with the gun.

"Well...you know…" Nate said throwing his hands around as he usually did trying to distract both the men. "You really do have this all wrong…"

"Do I?" The mark asked. "So you didn't want to get your hands on my money?"

"Oh…no, no, no we really did want that…" Nate said smiling at the mark. "but we…well…"

"Miscalculated…" The mark supplied. "Well now your miscalculation is going to cost you…" The mark said nodding to his man who raised his gun pointing it at Nate.

Just then the door burst open and Parker and Eliot came through. The commotion caused the goon to delay slightly which gave Eliot time to knock him sideways sending the gun spinning out onto the balcony. Nate pulled Sophie back and told Parker to get her out of there. Nate turned back to see Eliot struggling with the goon and the mark made a rush for the balcony. He saw the man lift the gun and aim it at the Hitter who was being held in a bear grip by the large man. In that spit second Nate launched himself at the mark, hitting him as he pulled the trigger. His momentum throwing him and the mark into the railing and then both fell over. Inside the apartment the bullet fired from the gun flew off target hitting the goon in the forehead and killing him instantly.

"NAATEE…." Sophie screamed out as she saw the Mastermind and the mark go over the balcony. She pulled her hand free from Parker as ran out onto the balcony staring down at the street below.

Eliot felt the goon go limp and then heard Sophie's scream. He turned to see her rushing for the balcony and in that sweep of the room noticed Nate was nowhere to be seen. He followed Sophie onto the balcony and leaned over.

Hardison was downstairs in the van monitoring everything that was going down. He heard the commotion and then the gun fire followed by Sophie's anguished scream. Climbing out of the van he froze and then rushed forward.

"Don't move him Hardison…" Eliot yelled down at the Hacker as he saw him approach the two bodies that had landed on the street below.

Hardison knelt at the side of the Mastermind who was lying on his stomach next to the mark who lay facing up blood seeping from his head into the tarmac and his eyes staring sightlessly into the sky. Hardison reached out a shaky hand to feel for a pulse which he silently prayed he would find. Finding a pulse he let out a breath he had not even realized he had been holding and then reached for his phone to dial 911.

Sophie looked down at the scene below, Nate lay beside the mark, his leg was bent at an awkward angle. She watched as Hardison approached the Mastermind and heard Eliot's shouted warning to the Hacker. Time seemed to slow to nothing as she watched the Hacker reach out to feel for a pulse. Hardison looked up at them and nodded before pulling out his phone to dial the emergency services. Sophie turned and ran out of the apartment followed by Parker and Eliot. The three of them ignored the elevator and rushed down the stairs to emerge minutes later onto the street.

"Sophie we can't move him." Eliot warned her as she fell to her knees at his side. "He could have damage we can't see, we need to wait for the paramedics."

"Nate…" Sophie said softly leaning down so that her face was almost beside his. "Nate…" In the distance she could hear the sirens of the ambulance and she looked up at Eliot her eyes questioning.

Eliot looked down at the Grifter. He could not tell her the Mastermind was going to be fine. Nate had fallen from the third floor and he did not know how bad his injuries were, but they were not going to be minor. He could see just from looking at the Mastermind that his leg was broken for one. He was relieved not to see any blood seeping from under the man nor from his head, but Eliot was sure there would be internal injuries and perhaps injury to the brain…nobody walks away from a fall that that without some damage.

The ambulance pulled up a few minutes later and the paramedics were working on Nate a few seconds later. Eliot moved Sophie away to give them space and looked over to Hardison as he heard more sirens. Hardison nodded and disappeared into Lucille. He really wanted to stay with the other and make sure Nate was alright but he knew he had to get them some cover in place because he like Eliot was sure the oncoming sirens were the police. As Hardison worked on their cover Eliot, Sophie and Parker watched them work on Nate.

The police arrived a few minutes later and Hardison was ready with their covers. Nate and Sophie were Interpol agents who were working on taking down a man who had conned innocent people out of millions of dollars. He was sure it would hold the locals at least for a while. He did not have time to do too much else before the police were on the scene.

Hardison's cover for them held up although Eliot could tell that the detectives that had also arrived on the scene were not convinced. He did not blame them. They were dealing with a double homicide, the goon in the apartment and the mark who lay covered on the sidewalk. For now though they had nothing to contradict their cover story. They had no option than to let the group go with Nate to the hospital, warning them to make themselves available for questioning later. By the time they had finished with the police the paramedics had loaded Nate into the ambulance and were ready to transport him. Unfortunately there was no room in the vehicle for any one of them to go with Nate so they piled into Lucile and followed.

Nate was immediately taken into the ER with doctors crowding around him. Sophie and the others were shown to a waiting room where they were told the doctor would find them when there was any news.

Inside the ER room the doctors started to work on Nate. Nate groaned as they worked on his leg indicating that he was starting to regain consciousness. He had been completely immobilized in order to prevent any further injury should has spine have been damaged. Nate groaned again and opened his eyes. He was in incredible pain, Sophie he thought desperately, was Sophie alright? He tried to move but couldn't and he started to panic. The doctor moved in putting his hand on Nate's arm trying to calm him down.

"Mr Ford…I am doctor Felix Harper." The doctor said leaning over his patient. "You are in Portland General Hospital, you had a fall."

"Sophie…" Nate managed to get out.

"She is fine so are your other friends…" The doctor told and then barked out his orders as Nate's eyes fell closed again.

As Nate was wheeled out of the ER the doctor came over to talk to Sophie.

"Mrs Ford…?" He asked as he approached.

"Yes…"

"Mrs Ford I am Dr Felix Harper and I will be looking after your husband."

"How is he?" Sophie asked anxiously.

"Well he has sustained multiple fractures to his left leg, a fractured wrist and a dislocated shoulder. He has also got some internal injuries, we will not know how severe until we get him into the OR. We are taking him for a CT and an MRI to determine if there has been any neurological damage." The doctor told her. "His vital signs are strong though. I will come and find you after the surgery, until then I can really not tell you any more than that."

"Thank you doctor…" Sophie said softly. The doctor nodded and then turned and left.

"He's going to be fine Sophie…" Parker said softly taking the Grifter's hand. Sophie smiled weakly at the Thief and nodded not trusting herself to speak.

"Of course he is…he's Nate…" Hardison said but his voice was shaky and filled with emotion.

It was three hours later when the doctor finally came to see them.

"Doctor how is he?" Sophie immediately asked as the doctor approached.

"He is stable and came through the surgery fine. His leg was severely fractured and the orthopedic surgeon had to replace the bone with a metal rod. He also repaired his fractured wrist. Now the internal damage was not as bad as it could be. He has four broken ribs and another five were cracked. The good news is that there was no internal bleeding and he seems to have no organ damage."

"What about his back?" Eliot asked.

"There was no spinal cord injury. He did however sustain some damage to the brain. There was no fracture and no bleed however the brain was severely bruised. We will not know the full effects, if any until he wakes up. I must warn you that he is going to be in some pain when he does wake and he may be a little confused and disorientated. He may also suffer some effects such as nausea, dizziness and headache from the brain injury. It will be a long recovery process but, barring any further complications, he should recover fully. Your husband was a very lucky man." The doctor told them. "He is in recovery now but as soon as they move him to his room the nurse will bring you to him."

"Thank you doctor..." Sophie said gratefully.

"See I told you…" Parker said smiling. Nate might take some time to recover but the doctor had said he would, he would be fine.

They were able to see him twenty minutes later. He lay in his own private room. His leg which was in a cast was propped up with a pillow. His arm was tightly bandaged to his side to keep it immobile and his other arm had a cast on it for the broken wrist.

"Hey darling…" Sophie said placing her hand on his forehead gently then leaning in to put a soft kiss there. "You're going to fine." She said smiling down at him tears pricking her eyes as she did.

"Now that that is cleared up perhaps somebody could tell me just what the hell is going on?"

"Sterling…" Eliot said recognizing the voice immediately.

"Spencer." Sterling said as he walked into the room and up to the foot of Nate's bed. "What happened, and why was Interpol called by some local cops to find out if a Nathan Ford et al were agents from Interpol? Luckily for you I have a standing order that anything to do with any of you gets passed through me"

"It's a long story…" Sophie said.

"Well I appear to have some time." Sterling said looking at the Grifter. "Now if you want me to continue to…play along with this you better convince me as to why."

"You owe him." Sophie told him.

"Yes I do and that is why I came down here instead of just telling that nice detective that you are all a bunch of thieves and con artists and having you arrested. So start talking." Sterling said walking to one of the chairs in the room and sitting down looking expectantly at the Grifter.

Sophie nodded and then proceeded to tell Sterling the whole story from the time the client had come to them to the time that Nate and the mark went flying off the balcony.

"I thought you too were out of this whole…thing you do." Sterling said.

"We were…we are…this woman came to Nate and you know Nate, he can't turn away from somebody who is hurting like that. This man this…this Houston, he was taking people's money, promising them that he could save their loved ones by getting them the best treatment possible, some impossible cure for whatever they have and then disappears with their money…what do you think Nate would do?"

"Yeah well…" Sterling said standing up and walking to the Masterminds bedside. "Just make sure you don't pull something like this again."

"Thank you James…" Sophie said softly using the man's first name. She knew that Sterling had used Nate a couple of times on cases since they had retired from the business. He and Nate had rekindled their friendship from before, although neither one would admit to it.

"Is he going to be Ok…?"

"Now he asks." Eliot said under his breath earning him a glare from the Interpol Agent.

"The doctor said there was no permanent damage, at least not physically. We have to wait till he wakes up to know if there is any…any other…damage." Sophie said looking down at Nate.

"Well I got to be going…" Sterling said. "Tell him when he wakes up…this time we are even."

"That guy is…is…" Hardison said rolling his eyes as he watched the man leave.

"A good friend of Nate's…and completely insufferable." Sophie said watching as Sterling walked out and stopped briefly to talk to the detectives who had been waiting outside the room.

Sophie watched them for a few seconds and then turned back to Nate. She sat down on the chair that Eliot had placed beside him and placed her hand on his arm. The others also made themselves comfortable waiting for Nate to wake.

Well that is the start of the new story. I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter.