Eliot cursed and switched on his com and was rewarded with Hardison's wailing complaints. You would have thought his favorite pet had run off rather than just losing sight of a friend. "Calm down Hardison. We have a situation. Get the car."

"What the heck do you need the car for?"

In one smooth movement he lifted the girl and started carrying her towards the street. "We have a new client."

Hardison and Eliot took her to Nate's place. Hardison, the ever prepared, had a stash of medical supplies that would rival any emergency room. Eliot wasn't happy about it, but he respected her wishes to avoid the doctors and hospitals. He had been through too many cryptic situations himself, to not be cautious.

She was not lying about being followed either. Those men were well dressed and well funded and had been ruthless about finding and catching her. He had been well trained enough in first aid to feel reasonably confident about treating her.

She had a few bruised ribs, a dislocated shoulder, a couple of massive bumps on her head, but mostly cuts and bruises. It was nothing worse than he had received in the field. But unlike him, this girl was no soldier. Who could be capable of doing something like this to a sweet normal-looking girl and why did they want her so bad? He would have to wait for answers until she woke up.

He stopped to watch her for a moment. The poor thing had more bandages than skin showing. Layers of red-gold hair now spread around her on the pillow. Her wide eyes were shut with lashes fanned against her round cheeks. They were shadowed in darkness from not only her injuries, but exhaustion. He remembered when those eyes were opened and how they looked at him with wonder and familiarity. It was yet another mystery, but one he found himself most curious about. Eliot shook himself when he realized he had been staring at her longer than he intended.

When Eliot exited the bedroom and closed the door gently behind him, he found the team on the couch already waiting for him. Nate was irritated, as he always was when decisions were made without him. "You brought her here? We don't even show clients this place."

Before Eliot could snap back at him, Sophie was already stepping in. "Don't be ridiculous Nate. You would have done the same thing and you know it." Nate grumbled, but his lack of response was, as close to an agreement they would get.

Parker bounced on the couch and crossed her legs, "So who is she?"

Hardison called out from the back table, typing furiously on his laptop, "I'm working on that. So far nothing pops on the facial recognition software." He shook his head, "Something's not right. A normal citizen like her should at least be registered at the DMV."

Eliot walked over towards Hardison and crossed his arms, "Be careful about searching too closely. You don't want anyone to know you are looking."

Nate took a sip from his drink, "Is it that bad?"

"This was no normal ambush. They were professionals and they were trying to take her no matter what."

Nate paused to think, "How is she doing now?"

Elliot let out a withheld breath, he hadn't realized he was holding. "She is resting in the bedroom. I dressed her injuries as well as I could. I still think she should see a doctor, but her adamant refusal tells me she's seriously frightened of something. Considering how she looks, she has a reason to be."

Nate nodded, "Guess we'll have to get answers the old fashioned way. By asking her."

Keely was wincing in pain, before she was even fully awake. Her eyes flew open and cold shaking panic gripped her, as it always did whenever she awoke in a new place. Where was she? Did they take her? Was she back?

Then slowly the memories started to seep in. Running from them. Her fight for escape and then of the man who saved her. She shook her head. She couldn't believe it was him. That he and all of them were actually real. Keely had started to convince herself they were a figment of her imagination. Something she had created in her mind simply to cope or maybe even not to feel so lonely.

But here she was, in their very own headquarters with all of them only a room away and very real. She knew exactly what she had to do.

Leave.

Gingerly she tested her limbs. Everything ached and throbbed, but seemed functional. Her head injury was now just a dull throb. It was actually her side that hurt at the moment. Her stinging ribs made it difficult to breath.

Slowly and silently she dressed herself, both to be careful with her ribs and to not alert the others she was awake. She had to put distance between them before they discovered she was gone. Knowing them, they'd try to find her. To relieve them of the fear she had been taken, she scribbled a note only saying "I'll be okay. Thank you."

She knew they were all upstairs and no one was in the next room, but she peeked out to make sure. With her head still hurting, she didn't trust her instincts fully. Stealthily she tiptoed to the front door and opened it, barely making a squeak. Just before she could slide her body through the opening, it boldly swung open. She stumbled backwards.

In the now fully open doorway stood the man who had saved her. His brow folded over those stunning aquamarine eyes with irritation and confusion. "Oh fudgsicles," she mumbled. There was no getting away now.

He marched towards her, slamming the door behind him with his foot. She backed away quickly. Even carrying bagged groceries, he was unbelievably intimidating. Larger than life.

"What are you doing?" he growled.

"Umm, I ummm," Keely started fidgeting. She was a horrible liar. "I'm feeling better," she announced. "I should get going. Thank you for your help." She pointed to the bedroom and swallowed at his increasingly darkening expression. "I left a note," she squeaked. He told hold of her hand and pulled her to the couch.

"You shouldn't be out of bed, let alone going anywhere. Did you forget those men almost killed you and are still after you? Where would you possibly go?" Keely started to say, "That's my problem…" but his fierce glare stopped her.

He started checking her injuries, tugging on bandages and looking underneath. Keely just watched him as he carefully inspected her. "Do you remember your name?"

She answered before thinking, "Keely." Oh no, it probably wasn't good for them to know her real name.

He smiled slightly, instantly melting that ferocious exterior into a devastatingly charming gorgeous cowboy, "I'm Eliot. Don't worry. We're here to help you." She just nodded at him dumbly, simply too overwhelmed by him. He watched her carefully, "Do you know me?"

Her eyes widened, "Ya… no. I'm sorry I don't." She gulped again, trying to appear nonchalant. "Should I?"

Eliot's eyes narrowed at her once again. She was lying. In fact, she was the worst liar he had ever seen. It was actually grudgingly adorable and entertaining. But lying about knowing him seemed so pointless.

He brushed back her hair to check her head, "Who were those men and why were they trying to capture you?"

Keely sputtered, "Umm… it's… it's difficult to explain." She couldn't focus, couldn't think with his fingers gently brushing her hair. To her utter mortification, her eyes began to well with tears. It had been so long since another person had touched her with tenderness and care. She hadn't realized how long it had truly been.

Eliot misunderstood the reason for her tears and immediately felt guilty, "Sorry, it's probably a lot for you to handle now. We can talk about it later."

He started to lift up the bottom her shirt to look at her ribs. Keely immediately yelped and flew backwards so fast she fell off the couch. Laying on the floor and clutching her shirt to herself, she stared up at Eliot, blinking at her in surprise. "Sorry, I… ah… am not used to that sort of thing." Oh what an idiot Keely. She wanted to slap her forehead in frustration. Way to go, admitting you have basically no experience with guys.

Eliot gave her that knowing devilish smile and helped her up, "Apparently." Keely blushed scarlet red.

Luckily for her at that moment the rest of the crew came trotting down the stairs. Hardison was carrying his laptop, "This is even worse than we thought, I found a…"

Keely stood up and waved at them, grinning excitedly and nervously as if her favorite band had just walked in, "Oh hi! It's you!" She gestured at them, "You're all here!"

They stared at her with perplexed expressions and then glanced at each other. Sophie stepped forward, "I'm sorry do you know us?"

Keely laughed and waved her hands, "No! No of course not. I'm just very… happy to meet you." She stuck out her hand, still grinning like a fool, "I'm Keely." When everyone cautiously introduced themselves, she giggled with more excitement at each hand shake.

"Really this is such an honor. I greatly appreciate everything you've done for me." She cleared her throat, instantly sobering up. "But as I was saying to Eliot, I should get going."

"Ah," Hardison interrupted, "that would be a very very bad idea. In my search for your identity, I discovered I was not the only one looking for your face. In fact, whoever is doing this, completely erased any evidence of your existence and now every camera in the world is basically searching for you. I'm talking about above CIA level espionage." He looked up at her. "Who are these people?"

Keely sighed, "I don't exactly know. All I know is they are incredibly powerful, dangerous and relentless."

Nate piped in, "Why would they possibly want you?"

Keely hesitated, biting her lip, "They think I have something of their's."

"Do you?"

"I didn't steal anything from them, if that's what you mean. They think I know things." She sat on the couch staring at the floor, "I used to have a normal life. A family, friends and a teaching job. Pretty much as average as they come. One day they just showed up out of no where and tried to take me, I've been on the run ever since." She paused, "It would be better if you stayed out of this one."

"What?" they all asked in unison.

"I would prefer if you didn't get involved and just let me leave. I'll be fine on my own."

Nate chuckled, "I don't think you understand. We deal with these kind of situations all the time. This is what we do."

Keely shook her head, deadly serious, "Not this time. They are completely different than anything you have ever dealt with. Right Hardison? You see what they are capable of?" Hardison rubbed his head anxiously, not wanting to admit the truth. Keely nodded, "So I appreciate your help, but if you get involved in this, it will get you killed. I promised myself awhile ago, I wouldn't let anyone else get hurt because of me." The room was dense with silence. "Thank you again for everything. Goodbye."

But the doorway was blocked by Eliot's hulking form, "You're not going anywhere."