I do not own Leverage or any of its characters. Please enjoy.
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Eliot knew why Nate was holding his hand underneath his coat. He looked at Nate, his eyes showing concern as Nate avoided his gaze. It didn't help that Sterling appeared out of nowhere so he wasn't able to check on the wound. "Shit," he said as he saw the fact that Nate was falling down from where he had handcuffed himself.
"Eliot, get in!" Parker yelled to him.
Eliot looked to the helicopter, looking back up at Nate before he got in. He closed the door and put on the headset that Sophie gave him. "Nate got hurt," he said as soon as he could.
"I know," Sophie replied as she looked down at her hands.
"Why did you hit him?" Parker asked.
"That was an act so Sterling wouldn't have something to use against him," Sophie replied quietly.
"So, how long do you think we're going to have before we get him back?" Hardison asked.
"I don't think we are," Sophie replied as she looked up at them. "I'm glad that Tara called me back. That was her job. It was Nate's job to keep everyone out of trouble – including himself."
"It's not his fault that he didn't know the mayor was a federal witness," Parker pointed out. "He did what he could."
"If he hadn't gone back for – " Hardison started to say before stopping himself due to Eliot glaring at him.
"He had to go back. We should have realized that and stopped him," Eliot said. "It was his home and we all knew that he had things there from his kid. Considering the look of the cop's kid, I'm not surprised that we got pulled in on the job in the first place." He sighed softly. "It doesn't help that Nate was starting to drink heavy again."
"Again?" Sophie asked.
"Yeah – we had to do an Irish wake job," Parker said quietly. "He started again with that."
"That doesn't matter though," Hardison says. "We're screwed. Sterling has Nate. Nate has all the information locked in his head and Sterling knows the ultimate play in order to make sure that Nate talks."
"Save for the Geneva convention," Eliot said with a sigh. "We need to figure out a way to get him back."
"No, we can't," Sophie replied to Eliot. "We really can't. We can wait and plan and figure out a new place to go. But we cannot go back for him. We cannot," she repeated as she blinked back tears. She was surprised for the second time when Parker moved to hug Sophie tightly and cry herself. Eliot just sighed softly as he let the two have their hug and cry moment. There wasn't anything else that could be said to make the situation better.
"Seattle," Hardison said again as everyone took a moment to notice him. "Yeah, that Seattle. Go there," he said and looked at the group. "What? I have friends close by and they have a safe house we can use. They owe me. Big time."
"What for?" Parker asked curiously.
"Supercomputer steal job that went horribly wrong and I spent six months in jail for," Hardison replied. "So we're going to go there, I'll find us a new place, and we'll start over. Or wait for Nate to come back."
"He's going to come back differently than we think he will," Eliot said quietly. "I want to kill him," he said and everyone knew he meant Sterling.
"He'll get his soon enough," Sophie said quietly as she kept Parker in the hug. She was glad to be back with her family, even if they weren't whole. They would wait for Nate or find him. If they needed to, they would punish Sterling. That would be their new goal in the end.
