Whatever Happened To Eliot Spencer

Chapter One

Every day Eliot Spencer did three things. No matter where he was, no matter what he was doing, he made sure he did them. He worked them into his routine so well, nobody, even his friends knew he did them. Today was no different. He woke up taking a deep breath. He was alone in bed. It wasn't unusual but lately he'd been doing it more and more. She was downstairs. He knew she would be. Her blond hair would be up in a pony tail and her yoga pants clinging tightly to the curve of her perfect ass and her tank top clinging to her breasts like a second skin. Groaning, he closed his eyes and he did the first thing on his list. He thanked God for giving him that perfect woman with that perfect ass.

"Daddy?" Opening his eyes for the second time he saw the source of the voice standing at the door.

"Hey." He leaned on his elbows and looked at the little girl. "What's wrong?"

"Mama's mad." She walked into the room and looked at him with eyes as blue as the bluest ocean.

"What's she mad about?" The little girl bounded up on the bed and laid next to him looking at the ceiling, she let out a long breath and put her hands behind her head.

"Well…" Eliot Spencer knew his daughter. When the sentence starts with that word he knew it couldn't be good. "I was really tryin' to be good daddy. I cleaned my room…vacuumed and everything."

"What happened Faith Valentine?" He knew his wife, she didn't get mad at Faith unless it was well deserved.

"Well…I thought I could use the hose to clean my hippos. I was cleaning 'em and one kinda…sorta…got trapped."

"Trapped?" Eliot was sure this wasn't going to end well at all.

"You know the really cute yellow one that Parker stole….I mean picked up at Mardi Gras last year?" Eliot nodded. "It's head went up the tube but his butt…his butt was too big to go up and….well the vacuum sploded ."

"Exploded? Faith, I'm sure it didn't explode or I would have heard it?"

"No…member Uncle Alec sound proofed the room 'cause Mama get's really lo…" Eliot put his hand over his daughter's mouth.

"Right. So Mama is mad?"

"Yep….she called me by all my names." Eliot closed his eyes and shook his head. McKenna Shane Hawks Spencer wasn't by nature an angry woman, but given the right motivation her temper was legendary.

"I'll go talk to her."

"Can I stay up here till you do?" She batted her long black eyelashes. He did the second thing on his list…or at least one third of it.

"I love you Faith, but you have to face your Mama sometime." He didn't let a day pass without telling his wife and kids that he loved them. She crossed her arms over her chest. For as much as that little girl looked like him, right now she was all her mother.

"I know, but the pain is still kinda fresh." Now there was her Aunt Parker coming out in her. Eliot sat up and pulled the little girl across the bed. She giggled and tried to pull away but she was no match for her father. No one was. He took her in his arms. She took his face in her hands. "I was just trying to help…tell her that."

"Did you tell her that?" He shifted the little girl to his hip and looked her in the eye.

"I did. She just put her hands on her hips and her face got really red. I think she gots high blood pressure like Uncle Nate." Eliot shook his head and headed down stairs. His breath caught when he reached the bottom of the steps. Kenna sat on the couch, legs curled under her and his son at her breast. Chance was almost six months old and this time with him was almost over, so he knew better than to interrupted her. He put his finger to his lips to be sure his precocious three year old wouldn't decided to state her case right then and there. He went into the kitchen.

"Did you get breakfast?" He took out a bowl from the cupboard.

"Not yet." He reached into Parker's stash of cereal and poured some for the little girl.

"Cereal? I thought you said that wasn't breakfast." He grabbed a banana and pealed it. Taking a knife he sliced it over the sugary concoction and grabbed the milk and added that to it too.

"Now it's breakfast. Lay low in here till I talk to your mom." The little girl got a spoon and sat at the table.

"She's in a mood." Faith mumbled.

"Faith Valentine…" Eliot whispered harshly.

"I know….my smart mouth is gonna get me in more trouble." Shaking his head Eliot turned and found his wife putting Chance in his cradle. She straightened up and looked him in the eye.

"She told you what she did?" To a thirty eight year old man that had known the woman standing in front of him for most of his life the tone Kenna used wasn't one of anger, but exasperation. To a three year old…well he was sure it sounded really angry.

"Yeah…is everyone okay?" He crossed his arms over his chest. In his wife's eyes he knew that this was serious business but he was having a really hard time keeping a straight face.

"I think I may be able to save Mardi." He knew right then that Kenna was having a hard time staying mad. "The vacuum cleaner is another story." She crossed her arms over her breasts and tapped her foot. Eliot moved aside and let his wife look at their offspring but she was gone.

"We need to tell Parker to stop showing her things like that."

"She's in the Tupperware cupboard." Kenna shook her head. "Get out here!" The anger back in her voice. The little girl slid from behind the door and stood next to her father. "I know you were helping. I know you meant well but Faith Valentine, you, my little girl are just that…a little girl. You pick up your toys and Daddy and I are okay with that. Leave the big stuff to us, okay?"

"I just wanted to help, so you have more time to play." Kenna looked at her little girl. She wanted to be mad. She really did. How could she when the girls eyes were so much like her father's.

"I guess daddy and I haven't had a whole lot of time to play lately, have we?" The little girl shook her head.

"You're always working." Faith looked at them. "We haven't been to the zoo in like…forever." Her eyes got wide and her voice cracked. "Matilda Hippo has probably forgotten me all together." Kenna bit her lip, trying not to smile.

"Okay Faith, after nap time we'll round up the family and head to the zoo. But no more vacuuming." Eliot shook his finger in the most stern, fatherly way he knew how. Just then Talia stood at the front door and growled deeply. In the months the German Sheppard had been with them she hadn't once growled in that tone. "Take Faith and go into Chance's room and lock the door."

"Eliot…" Kenna took a step toward the door.

"Do it!" He growled and Kenna grabbed the little girl, swung her into her arms and did as she was told. Eliot moved to the door just as someone knocked. The Sheppard growled deep in her throat. "Who is it?"

"Avon, damn it Spencer just open the door." Talia growled more fearlessly. "Call the damn dog off and let me in."

"Quinn?"

"Yeah, man just let me the hell in." Eliot had never called Quinn a friend. Once he had been his ally, by most of the time they had been enemies.

"Sit, Talia." The dog did as she was told but the fur on the back of her neck stood up. "Watch." Eliot opened the door. Quinn leaned against the door frame. He looked like hell. "What do you want Quinn."

"If I said I'm here to collect on our debt, would you believe me?"

"Maybe." The dog glared at the stranger in the doorway.

"New girlfriend?" Quinn sneered.

"Keeps the rif raf out." Eliot looked the younger man up and down.

"Ribs?"

"Two cracked, one broken."

"Shoulder?"

"Dislocated." Eliot opened the door wider.

"Let him in Talia." The dog stepped aside. Quinn fell forward and Eliot caught him. "Kenna!" His wife came out of the bedroom. Eliot laid the man down on the floor.

"Friend of yours?" Kenna checked the man's pulse.

"Not really, he broke more of my ribs than you have."

"One of those kinds of friends." Her hands moved quickly as Eliot got Kenna her bag and told the Sheppard to guard the kid's room. "He has a pretty big knot on his head."

"He said his shoulder was dislocated and he had two cracked ribs and one broken."

"Pretty good at figuring those things out, is he?"

"It goes with the job."

"Hitter?"

"The worse kind." Eliot went to the bedroom. Chance was sleeping soundly and Faith was curled up with her DVD player, head phones in. Kenna had told her not to come out until she was told and for once the child was listening. Turning he watched his wife make fast work of taking care of the younger hitter's wounds. He had to remember to thank Nate again for getting him out of the game that got hitters like Quinn broken on a daily basis.

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"Quinn?" Nate looked up from the paper he was reading. Eliot stood in front of him.

"He's in bad shape. Kenna has him patched up but she said he may need more care then she can provide."

"He's dangerous Eliot."

"Yeah, I know. But we do owe him." The younger man looked at his friend. "Pay him back now and we wash our hands of him."

"You left him with your wife and kids?"

"He's sedated. The kids are with Parker and Hardison."

"So…what do we do now?"

"Kenna will keep an eye him. If he doesn't wake up by morning, we call an ambulance."

"Okay….he's your responsibility." Nate made Quinn sound like a puppy Eliot had brought home. Nodding Eliot turned to leave but stopped.

"If I haven't said it lately, thanks for getting me out of that life." Nate looked at the younger man.

"I thought we were still in that life?"

"No. This is different. We're in it for other people. Quinn is fighting a war that helps no one but himself." Eliot looked at the older man. "He helped us when we needed him. I owe him that. But that's all I owe him."

"Agreed. Now go make sure he behaves himself." Nate went back to his paper. Eliot headed back to his apartment. The barking gave him the first indication something was wrong as he entered the room.

"Kenna?" Eliot followed the sound of the dog. She was in the gym along with Kenna and a very conscious Quinn. The man was against the wall, the dog at his feet and a nine millimeter Berretta pointed at his head.

"Call your women off Spencer." The younger man looked almost scared.

"Kenna?"

"He started to get up and I told him to stay put…he didn't stay put." Kenna put the gun back above the punching bag where she had gotten it from. "He has twenty four hours Spencer…then he'd out of here." She turned and left the room. The dog still inches from taking the hitters family jewels.

"That bitch needs to be on a leash." Eliot had the younger man pinned against the wall by his throat, gasping for air, in a split second.

"That 'bitch' saved your sorry ass. And to make things clear Quinn…she's my wife. You don't have to like her but you better damn well respect her."

"Eliot Spencer has a wife. Who would of thunk it." The blond hitter looked down at the dog barring her teeth. "And a dog too. I think you've gotten soft." Eliot planted his forearm tighter against the man's throat.

"You want to test that theory Mr. Quinn?" The man looked a little green. Kenna came back in.

"There's lasagna in the fridge. I'm taking off for the day." She called the dog and she followed. Eliot let Quinn go.

"Stay here." Following his wife he saw she had a bag at the door along with one for the kids. "Kenna…"

"It's okay Eliot. The past has come to bite me on the ass more than once in this relationship. I know the drill. I'll take the kids and go to Amy's apartment. She and Hunter are gone till Tuesday."

"You will not be put out of our house with the likes of Quinn."

"Quinn saved the team's ass and you owe him. If this is what it takes to pay him back then let's do it." Kenna kissed his cheek. "I love you Eliot Spencer and the likes of Quinn won't ever change that." She picked up her bag and called the dog. "If you still want to go to the zoo, we're leaving at three." She kissed him and headed out the door. Eliot leaned against it and closed his eyes. McKenna Shane Hawks had been his rock even when they were a million miles apart but tonight even though she was just across the hall he had an eerie feeling deep in his gut that she might not come home again. Taking a deep breath he went to do the third and finally thing on his list. Punching the shit out of the mannequin he visualized as the bastard who made him choose the path in life that took him away from her and the rest of his family for all those years.