Hey guys, here's the next chapter! I know it's short but I wanted to get another chapter up here. Been really busy so haven't been able to write too much in either story. Enjoy!
"Hello?"
"Hardison? Can you hack in to personal records?" Eliot asks once he's closed his bedroom door behind him.
"Are you seriously asking me that question?" Hardison asks.
"I need you to hack in to Avery's records for me," Eliot says.
"Why?" Hardison asks, confused at the random order, because that's exactly what it was.
"Just do it," Eliot says, annoyed.
"All right, I'm going," Hardison says, typing a few keys on his computer. Eliot waits impatiently until Hardison finally states that he's in.
"Pull up her birth certificate," Eliot says.
"What? Why am I pulling up her birth certificate?" Hardison asks.
"Hardison," Eliot growls. Hardison sighs. He types in a few more keys and pulls up Avery's birth certificate.
"I still don't see why I need to pull up her…Oh my god," Hardison says, cutting himself off.
"What?" Eliot asks impatiently, "What does it say?"
"Uh, Eliot?"
"Dammit Hardison! What does it say?"
"Your name is on this birth certificate," Hardison says, staring at the image on his computer screen. "Under father."
Eliot drops down on to his bed and stares at his closed door, the cell phone still by his ear. What the hell is he gonna do with a kid? With a daughter? He doesn't know the first thing about raising a kid. Well, he guesses she's already grown so not really a whole lot of raising to do. That's where the problem lies. She ain't gonna just accept him as her father. She's lived without him for sixteen years already.
"Eliot?" Hardison says in to the phone, but receives no answer. "Eliot!"
"What?" Eliot says grumpily, jerking back to reality.
"Dude, you have a kid!" Hardison exclaims.
"No, really Hardison!" Eliot yells.
"I'm just saying," Hardison replies.
"Well, don't," Eliot grumpily says. "I gotta go."
With that, Eliot hangs up the phone, putting it in his pocket. Eliot sits on his bed and stares at the blank space before him, not knowing what to do or what to think. I have a kid! his head screams. Now all I have to do is go out there and tell Avery who I am. Yeah, that'll be easy.
Eliot walks out to the kitchen. He stands in the doorway, watching Avery wash the dishes. He isn't sure if he should say anything to her. His job was dangerous, and his job before this was even more dangerous. He had many enemies and if even one of them found out he had a daughter? Well, he didn't want to think about what they'd do. On the other hand, the kid just lost her mom. Who else was going to take care of her? Avery feels someone watching her and she shuts off the water having just finished the dishes from dinner. She turns around and sees Eliot standing there.
"Everything all right?" she asks, looking at him curiously.
"Uh…yeah," Eliot says, stepping away from the wall he was leaning on. "Listen, we need to talk."
"Um…okay," Avery says, not sure what is going on, but sits down on one of the stools. Eliot sits across from her, looking at his clasped hands in front of him. He takes a deep breath and looks up at her.
"You…" he begins, but freezes.
"I what?" Avery asks. Eliot watches her for a second.
"You're coming with us when we go down to Texas. No reason for you to try to find a way back down there if we're headed down there anyways," Eliot says. Avery studies him, knowing there's something else, but nods her head in understanding.
"Okay," she says.
"It's getting late. You should get to bed, we have an early start tomorrow," Eliot says, then nods towards his room, "You can take my bed, I'll sleep on the couch."
"No, I can't do that…" Avery says.
"Yes you can. Besides I'll feel like an ass if you have to sleep on the couch," Eliot says. Avery sighs.
"All right, fine. I'll sleep in the bed," she says, getting up from the stool and, grabbing her bag, heads back to Eliot's room. Eliot sighs, knowing he is in way over his head.
Eliot is sitting in his seat on the airplane, Avery sitting next to him, fast asleep. She resituates herself and her head ends up sliding down to rest on his shoulder. Eliot looks down at her and a small smile appears on his face. Someone sits down next to him on his right and Eliot looks over and sees Nate.
"So, I talked to Hardison," Nate says.
"Yeah?" Eliot returns.
"You tell her?" Nate asks.
"No, not yet," Eliot says. Nate looks at him, waiting for him to explain. Eliot looks back at Avery. "It's a lose, lose situation for us Nate. If I don't tell her, we never get to know each other. If I do tell her, there's more of a chance something bad'll happen to her."
"Or…" Nate says slowly, "it's a win, win situation."
"What do you mean?" Eliot says, looking at Nate with a confused expression.
"You don't tell her and she's safer, but then the two of you will never get to know each other. She'll never be a part of your life. You tell her and you'll have that, but there's a greater chance she can get hurt. But, she'll be with you so you'd cancel out that 'greater chance'," Nate points out. Eliot looks over at him and Nate gets up and goes back to sit with Sophie, leaving Eliot to think about what he said. Eliot looks back down at Avery and sighs, resting his head on the headrest.
"Dammit."
Please review and let me know what ya'll think!