"Eliot! Eliot!," Nate shouted over the coms as he ran down a stairwell. He didn't know why he was running only that he had to get to Eliot. At last he reached the door that lead out to the parking deck. He knew that Eliot was on the other side and with little thought to what else might lay beyond the door pushed his way through. As he ran through the parking deck franticly searching for Eliot he couldn't escape the sinking feeling in his stomach that something was seriously wrong.
"Nate," Hardison's voice came through the coms.
"Did you find him...," Nate stared to ask as turned a corner only to see what confirmed the sinking feeling he had had. Before him he saw the unmoving form of the hitter. Nate ran to his fallen comrade and knelt by his side. He slowly turned only for his blood to run cold by what he saw.
"Nate what is it? Whats going on?" a different voice asked. This time is was Sophia's voice that came over the coms. The sound of her voice brought him somehow back to reality.
"Hardison call and ambulance Eliot been shot," Nate ordered as he pulled the hitter into his arms putting two fingers on his neck to feel for a pulse. To his relief he could. The touch of his fingers was enough to stir the hitter awake. As he started to move he grimaced realizing that something wasn't right "easy, easy," Nate said in a gentle voice.
Eliot looked up at him his mind foggy from having blacked out "Nate...," he started but was cut short.
"Don't, just hang on help its way...just stay still," Nate said as he pressed a hand to the hitters wound trying to slow the bleeding. Eliot winced at his touch realizing what had happened. As his mind began to clear he became increasingly aware of searing pain he felt in his abdomen.
"Nate how is he," Sophia's voice came through the com. He could hear panting as she ran to find them.
"He's...Eliot! Eliot stay with me...come on hang in there," The rest of the team listened in horror as could now hear Eliot as let out a groan "Eliot, no, no, no you stay with me you hear...this is not how it ends," Nate said raising his voice as he fought to hold back on the tears. The hitter was starting to loose consciousness again.
"Nate...f...forgi...forgive me...," Eliot choked as the pain started to over whelm him. Every inch of him was fighting off the darkness that threatened to take him again. Knowing that if he allowed it would be the last time. He had been shot before but somehow this felt different. His body was slowly growing numb and cold, and the fog that had started to clear was starting to settle over him again.
Nate could only watch in horror as the light slowly passed from the hitter's eyes. By now he could hear the sound of sirens knowing deep down that they came too late. The once clear blue eye of the hitter had grown cloud and his body limp. In that moment he lost it the tears that had been build in his throat broke free as pull the lifeless body into his chest. This wasn't happening not again. He couldn't tell how long he had been like that as both Sophia and the ambulance arrived and after a great deal of effort Sophia was finally able to separate him from the fallen hitter allowing the paramedics to take him away.
"Nate, Nate," He could hear his name being called and looked up to see that it was Sophia who's lips were moving, but as he listened he could have swarmed that it was Eliot's voice that he was hearing.
"Nate, hey Nate time to get up," Eliot said as lightly shook the mastermind's shoulder.
Nate's eye slid open not sure what to think at the moment only to realize that the whole terrifying event had been a dream as he stared into the face of a very much alive hitter. He let out a groan as sat up. It had been another night in which his dreams had been plagued with nightmare of Eliot dying. This time it had been from a gunshot wound to the abdomen while the night before it had been field knife in the chest. It was becoming a nightly occurrence as he would always find himself running down the same stairwell to the same parking deck and always to find the hitter after he had been fatally injured. Sometime he would arrive and the hitter was still alive, and yet other times he would arrive too late.
"You okay" Eliot asked noticing the mastermind was looking a little paler than usual. The mastermind just glared at him not answering him as he rose to his feet. Eliot shrugged it off thinking it was no more the result of a rather bad hangover as he noticed the empty whiskey glass on the nightstand as he made his way back downstairs.
Nate made his way to the bathroom closing the door behind him as he came to stand in the mirror. He stared at his reflections as he noticed his eyes were bloodshot and ringed with dark circles under his eyes. It had been weeks since he last had a decent night sleep that wasn't filled with the image of Eliot lying dead in his arms. He tried to shake the image of it from his mind only for it to reappear the next night. Despite how desperate he was to rid himself of the dreams he couldn't shake the feeling that they were trying to warn him of so impending danger.
Nate took his time getting ready as the rest of the team sat out in the living room of his apartment waiting patiently for the mastermind to emerge. Parker sat on the floor going through some of her equipment that she would be needing for the job. While Sophia and Hardison stood talking over some of the details for the flight that would take place later day. Eliot came down the stairs shaking his head a little as he did so. This was fifth time in two weeks that the mastermind had over slept and required someone to wake him up in order them to get on with the job. He had shrugged it off as one too many drinks the night before, but now he was starting to believe that it was something else. Just before he had entered the room he could have sworn he had heard the mastermind calling out his name something to the effect of him not wanting him to go. Was this somehow related to him constantly oversleeping? Eliot didn't have time to ponder it long before was standing at the bottom of the stair waiting for him.