Cold Front

Chapter Two

Eliot entered the bar with Kenna. They had dropped Parker off at the toy store down the block because since she couldn't steal a real hippo for the baby she wanted to at least get him or her a stuffed one.

"You did remind her she had to pay for anything she wants to take out of the store, didn't you?" Eliot asked Kenna.

"I don't remember Eliot. Does Parker even have pockets?" Kenna turned and smiled. "Yes dear, I reminded her three times that bringing small children stolen toys is a bad thing." She sat at the bar.

"Your sassy mouth is going to get you in a heap of trouble woman." He ordered himself a beer and Kenna a Sprite. She laughed.

"Is that a threat or a promise?"

"You two fighting again?" Nate came up to them.

"No!" The both answered.

"Good." Nate smiled. "Eliot I need to ask you a favor."

"I don't like the sound of that."

"This guy was drugged somehow and I need a somewhat expert opinion on how it might of gone down, I just want Kenna to sit in and hear this guys story."

"I thought we talked about this." He looked at Nate.

"I know, that's why I'm asking you,"

"Did you all forget I'm sitting right here." Kenna took a drink out of her straw.

"No, I didn't forget Kenna. I just know what channels I need to go though before I'm allowed to incorporate you into our work." Eliot shook his head.

"Okay you two, enough." The hitter looked at his girlfriend. "You sit at the table and that's it. No leg work, no research, no going out and finding the magic recipe for this guy's drug of choice. Understand?"

"Yes master."

"Remember what I said about your smart mouth woman." Eliot couldn't help but let a small smile play on his face.

"Promises, promises." Kenna said.

"Okay you two, remember the client." He took his soda and headed for the table.

"Did you notice that he hasn't had a drink since we got back from Hawaii?"

"I really hadn't noticed." Eliot watched Nate as he sat. "Maybe he's figured out he doesn't need it to get by any more."

"Maybe he has friends he can lean on now, he doesn't need the alcohol." Kenna spun her chair around and stood up. "Let's go to work."

"You're sitting in for like five minutes Kenna. You are not working this job." Eliot followed her to Nate's table.

"Eliot, Kenna…Jake Lawrence." Kenna and Eliot shook his hand. "Jake was just telling me how three semi loads of electronics were taken on his watch and he has no recollection on falling asleep at his post."

"I wouldn't do something like that. I don't want to say that I was drugged but that is the only explanation."

"Did they do a tox screen on you after the break in?" Kenna asked.

"Yes, there was nothing. They say they have the tape of me falling asleep and waking up two hours later but that can't be. I'm a light sleeper. My wife can attest to that. I would have waken up when the first truck pulled out if I had been sleeping." Kenna looked at the man. He seemed nice enough but she knew that looks can be deceiving.

"Were you able to view the tape?" Nate asked.

"No, they wouldn't let me." The man looked at the three people in front of him. "I have worked security for twenty years, I have never missed a day of work and I only quit a job to better myself." Nate looked over the charges.

"What do you think happened?" Eliot asked.

"The stuff was worth more if it was stolen than if they tried to sell it. I know my company has been running on fumes. The stuff that was taken was obsolete and worth far less than it had been when the warehouse was stocked.

"Did you have a list of the things stolen?" Nate asked.

"It's in the file, along with all the serial numbers and makes and models." Nate nodded.

"I will have my people get a hold of that video."

"You said that you never closed your eyes but they say you were out for nearly two hours?" Kenna stood up.

"Yeah."

"Do you mind?" Kenna stood behind him.

"Ah, I guess not." She started looking in his hair and down his neck. Motioning to Eliot he stood.

"That look like a dart mark to you?" Eliot nodded.

"Someone drugged you with a pin point dart."

"The tox screen came back clean." Nate said.

"There is about a dozen or more drugs that wouldn't turn up on any tox screen." Kenna crossed her arms over her chest. "Or the lab was compromised."

"Okay Mr. Lawrence, me and the rest of my people will look into this and see what we can do." The man shook their hands and left.

"What are thinking?" Eliot asked Nate.

"I think we need to get Hardison to get us those tapes and we go from there. Nate turned to Kenna but she was gone. "Where did she go?"

"She's been getting morning sickness in the middle of the day." Eliot said calmly.

"And she just disappears?"

"I'm sure she's in the ladies room, or upstairs." Nate looked at the hitter. "What? She's a big girl Nate." He turned and went upstairs, just a little worried about Kenna. She wasn't in the bathroom but passed out on the couch. He sat next to her and brushed the hair out of her face.

"I'm sorry." She whispered. "I just got so tired."

"It's okay. Nate was a little worried." The front door burst open. "Parker's back." Eliot stood up. "I think she bought out the stuffed zoo animals."

"Let's hope she bought all of them." Kenna said weakly. She sat up and watched the thief drag in her bags.

"Can you believe they had baby everything there? Lions, monkeys, hippos. Every one of them fluffier then the next." Parker came to the couch and dumped her bags. "I couldn't stop myself Eliot, I'm sorry."

"You stole them Parker!" Eliot glared at her.

"No, I meant I'm sorry I bought so much." Kenna smiled. The vain was popping out on Eliot's neck.

"It's fine." Eliot looked at the fluffy stuffed animals surrounding Kenna. "You did kind of go overboard.

"I know. I just…you know that bunny that I have in my room?" Eliot knew the one. It was yellow and tattered and a kind of sad looking.

"Yeah."

"It was the first thing I stole…no one ever bought me something like that, ever. I don't want your baby to ever know how that feels." The tears welled up in Kenna's eyes and Eliot though if he had been a little less jaded he might have shed a tear himself.

"Thank you Parker." Kenna hugged her. The thief smiled.

"Thank you guys for taking me to the zoo today." She looked at her friends on the couch. "Nate said we have a meeting in fifteen minutes." The thief bounded out of the apartment.

"Are you going to be okay?" Eliot asked.

"Yeah. Go to your meeting."

"I don't think Nate would mind if you sat in." Eliot even surprised himself when that came out of his mouth. Kenna laughed.

"I should find someplace for our new friends." Eliot kissed her. He didn't want to leave right now. "Go, I'll be here when you get back." She touched his cheek. "I promise."

"You're almost as crazy as Parker, you know that." He tweaked her nose and got up. "I'll see you later." Kenna watched him walk away and wondered what she was going to when he decided the fluffy animal life wasn't for him.

0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0

"We leave for New Haven tomorrow." Nate said. He looked at Eliot. He made a mental note to not take another case for a few days after this one was over. Eliot needed some time to spend with Kenna. The rest of the team went their own ways but Eliot stayed. "I'm sorry I cut your day off short." Nate went to the fridge and got Eliot a beer and himself a soda.

"We can't plan bastards who want to screw the world." Eliot nodded thanks.

"If we could our job would be boring." The older man sat across the table from the hitter. "I'm asking Sophie to marry me." Eliot looked surprised. He knew they had gotten serious but marriage…wow.

"What brought this on?"

"We aren't going to be able to do this forever. I just figure it's like college…sooner or later the rush goes away and it's time for the real world to kick your ass."

"So marring Sophie is what you're going to do when you grow up?" Eliot chuckled.

"That was kind of a bad reference. You should talk, daddy." Nate noticed how tense Eliot got.

"If I could do it again…it would never have happened." Eliot said softly. "I can't change it now but I would if I could."

"I would think that's something you might not want to share with the woman across the hall."

"I think deep down in her heart she knows, because she feels the same way."

"Then why did you let it happen?" Nate asked. Eliot sensed a little bit of anger in his voice.

"Short of not sleeping with the woman Nate we both did everything in our power to prevent it."

"Oh come on really. I've seen the way you look at her Eliot. You're telling me you both did everything in your power to make sure she didn't get pregnant?"

"Yeah, we did." This was something he had already hashed out with Sophie; he didn't want to do it again with Nate. "I thought you were okay with this?"

"That was when I thought you were okay with this. I didn't know you wanted to change it if you could." The anger in Nate's eyes was apparent. Eliot saw him reach for the bottle of scotch on the counter then stop.

"Nate…"

"Go, get some rest. We have to leave early in the morning." Eliot wasn't sure if he should leave things the way they were. Sophie came around the corner and motioned him to go. He stood.

"Goodnight."

"Yeah," Nate watched Eliot go and wished he could make the man see that regretting what he had done was only going to tear him and Kenna apart. He reached for the scotch again but this time Sophie stopped him.

"He'll work it out Nate. Just give him a chance." He looked at Sophie.

"I know. I just…don't want him to have any regrets."

"We all have them Nate. It's the inevitable."

"No, he can't. Not about this. If something happens to that baby now and he wished it had never been…he might never recover." As much as he wanted to lose himself in the liquor right now he knew he wouldn't be good to anyone, especially Eliot if he fell back into that hole. "Let's go to bed." He took Sophie's hand and they tried to forget the drama for a little while.