I own nothing. Slash. Sexual content. Cussing. Touchy subjects. Review. Enjoy!


"What do you think, Eliot?" Sophie said smiling at me.

I opened my mouth to reply when I heard a loud scream. Without thinking I took off running towards the noise. Behind me I could hear the rest of the team running after me.

Rounding into an alley I saw four buff, but untrained, men kicking at another man. I let out a growl and started towards them making sure that I was going to be able to get both him and I out safely.

"Fucking Faggot!" a man yelled kicking the person that was on the ground.

Quickly taking out two of the men I turned towards the third as the forth took out a knife. He started to the man that was now unconscious only to have Parker pull out a taser and press it against his neck.

When the last man fell I turned to the man and saw Nate and Sophie leaning over the man while Hardison talked Parker into putting the taser away. Everyone looked a little paler then before.

Kneeling between Nate and Sophie I looked over the man to see how badly he was hurt. With the way the men had been attacking him I was expecting the worse from the situation.

I moved my hands over his chest to see if he had broken any ribs and counted one. His wrist looked sprained and was already swelling. Add that with the bruises and cuts I knew that he'd be hurt for awhile.

"Can you patch him up?" Nate asked staring at me.

"Yeah," I said nodding, "I'm going to need a few things, but I can."

"Let's go."

Nodding my head I lifted the man as gently as I could. He was already hurt enough and when I'd fix him up later I was going to hurt him again. I was going to put that off for as long as I could.

I didn't bother looking down at the man, but from just holding him I could tell that he had a naturally lithe, but was still rather strong. He didn't know how to fight though.

The walk to the apartment was quiet. Periodically Sophie or Hardison would turn around to check on me and the man. Everyone could tell that he was hurt and probably in need of a hospital, but no one was going to say that.

Moving quickly I laid the man on a bed as soon as we got into the apartment. As I told everyone what I'd need I never let my eyes move away from the man. This was going to take a long time.

"Will he be okay?" Parker asked handing me a pair of scissors.

"Don't know," I said cutting his shirt off.

Moving quickly I started to help the man the best I could. He might have a lot of injuries, but luckily none of them were difficult to wrap up. Before long I was able to pull away and stand up.

"Eliot?" Sophie said staring at me.

"He's fine," I said calmly, "Needs rest."

With a nod of their heads everyone started to make their way out of the room while I sat in a chair off to the corner. Nate turned to me and gave me a nod before leaving.

Turning back to the man in the bed I looked over him. He couldn't be older then twenty-five, but with the injuries he looked like he was a child. I wondered which his personality was more like.

The man had shaggy copper hair that somehow had a spiky quality to it as well. His skin was pale to begin with, but with the blood loss his skin looked almost translucent.

Under the bandages that wrapped around his chest was a tattoo of two blue and white lilies on his right side. His bellybutton was pierced once while his lower lip was pierced twice.

"Mm," the man said moving while opening his eyes slightly, "Oww."

"Don't move," I said as calmly.

"W-Why?"

"You have a broken ribs, a sprained wrist, and a few cuts and bruises. It's best if you lay still for awhile."

The man nodded his head slightly before closing his eyes. For a moment I thought that he was going to go back to sleep, but instead I noticed that he was focusing on keeping his breathing calm.

It wasn't hard to figure out that the man was trying not to panic. This wasn't my area though. I never had to calm people down before, but I was the only one that was there for him.

"I'm Eliot," I said staring at him.

"Sage," he said smiling slightly, "You…You're the one that…That saved me?"

"My team and I."

"Thanks. Umm…Thank you. Guess I have to say yes now."

"What do you mean?"

Sage took a deep breath before turning his head slightly so he was looking at me. There was so much sadness in his eyes that I felt shocked. What had happened to make him look like that?

"You hear about Gallo?" Sage said sighing.

"No," I said calmly.

"Gallo is this high powered woman who is trying to run every business on the street where my bookstore is. Almost everyone has said yes so far, I think I was the only one still saying no. That's who was attacking me tonight. Gallo's men."

Staring at Sage he gave me a sad smile before turning his head so he was staring at the ceiling. He had held out against this Gallo woman, who obviously had no problem hurting people, until he was beaten.

Sage wasn't a fighter, but he didn't roll over. He had done what he could to keep his store his own. He couldn't fight this alone though. Good thing he wasn't alone anymore.

"Wait," Sage said turning to me fear filling his eyes, "My son. My son's at home with his babysitter. I was supposed to be home at eight. Please, I have to go get him."

Before Sage could move I placed a hand on his shoulder. Motioning for him to calm down I called out for Sophie and Nate while keeping my eyes locked with the man before me.

"What is it, Eliot?" Sophie asked walking into the room with the rest of the team.

"Sage," I said nodding my head to him.

"My son," Sage said staring at Sophie, "Please, I need to get my son. He's at my house. Please, I need to get Jace."

Nate and Sophie exchanged a look before nodding their heads. Sophie moved so she was sitting next to Sage and took his hand into hers. A soft smile came to her lips as she nodded her head.

"We will get Jace for you," Sophie said her voice almost hypnotic. "Just tell us where he is and we will bring him here."

As Sage rattled off his address I saw Hardison type it into his computer. With a nod of his head I stood up and left the room with everyone but Sophie. There was no chance we were leaving Sage alone.

"Parker, Eliot," Nate said calmly, "Go get Jace. Hardison and I will get everything we can on this Gallo woman. Sophie will stay with Sage."

Nodding my head Parker and I started to leave the apartment when the door opened. Sophie gave me a soft smile before opening her hand and handing over a pair of keys.

"No fun," Parker said taking the keys.

With a roll of my eyes I followed Parker out of the apartment. Right now the important thing was to get Jace to Sage. Especially since we didn't know just how far this Gallo woman would go.

Sage's house wasn't very far from the apartment so Parker and I simply walked. As we turned onto the street I noticed that there was smoke billowing out of a house window.

"Is that…?" Parker said her eyes wide.

Instead of answering I took off running towards the house. Kicking down the door I turned to the body of a teenage girl. I quickly checked her pulse, but it was too late for her.

"Eliot," Parker yelled further into the house.

Tugging my shirt over my hand I pressed it to my mouth before rushing towards her voice and seeing her glare at a door that had a footprint on it. She knew better then to try to pick the lock, but she didn't have enough force to break the door down.

I pushed her back slightly and broke the door down. It was a little kids room that was designed to look like the ocean floor. My eyes scanned quickly until they landed on the little boy clutching a stuffed black stingray to his chest.

Kneeling next to the boy I checked to see if he has a pulse. A soft sigh fell from my lips as I noticed it was there. Lifting him up I ran out of the house with Parker following closely.

"Is he…?" Parker asked staring at the boy.

"He's alive," I said calmly, "Get an oxygen tank."

Parker nodded her head once before she took off running off the opposite way. Knowing that Parker would be back as soon as possible I made my way back to the apartment.

By the time I got to the apartment Hardison was helping Parker with an oxygen tank. Walking in behind them I watched calmly as they pushed the tank into the room with Sage.