I want to thank you all for the brilliant response to this fic! I absolutely appreciate it so much more than you'll ever understand! - I was going to continue this but wasn't quite sure until I received a rather inspiring PM today which gave my muse quite a kick in the butt! So, this chapter is for Zee-Zee Magee. There should be maybe 5 more chapters? - Anyway! Enjoy, my darlings!

Sophie stared blankly at the gray, hospital ceiling above, unable to stop the tears that were slipping from the corner of her eyes. She had been in the hospital for the last month and a half. After that morning, when she woke and didn't find Nate beside her, her health took a dangerous decline and she got worse quicker. As a result, she had been forced to tell the team on her own and she was more than sure a few weeks of her life had been shaved off at the sound of Parker's distraught cries, pleading her that it was all a lie.

Sophie had to admit though, she didn't blame Nate. She could never blame her husband. It sounded ridiculous, but the thing was she had seen that coming. She couldn't lie to herself, when she found out she was dying, she couldn't tell herself that Nate wouldn't leave. Considering how he had taken his son's death, would she be wrong to think that losing his wife would be just as bad?

Well, considering his reaction and the fact that he wasn't there the following morning proves that perhaps it would be just as bad to lose his wife like he did his son. She was afraid. She was afraid of what would happen once she was gone. What he would do. She was afraid of the downward spiral he would go into again, the one they had just barely managed to save him from. She was afraid he would go looking for answers in the bottom of a bottle of whiskey or vodka again. She was afraid it would tear their "family" apart and that nobody would be there to put them back together. Sophie was sure she would have sounded full of herself to anybody else, but they were her legitimate fears and she need not justify them to anybody.

She swallowed hard and tried to sit up in the hospital bed that, at this point, had an imprint of her body in the mattress considering how much time she'd spent laying in it. Wiping her face shakily, she turned to see Parker standing at the entrance of her room. Parker tried her best to keep her distance from Sophie since she found out. Sophie wasn't offended, she understood. For the sake of self-preservation, Parker was trying to stay away, as if that would make it all easier. A lot like Nate was trying to do; though he wasn't around to defend himself or give his reasons, Sophie knew this was why. Parker would come by every once in a while and stay for no more than 8 minutes, and then she would leave.

Sophie hated herself. She hated herself for what she was doing to the poor girl she saw like her daughter. She hated that she couldn't fix it and take her pain away. Sophie drew in a breath when she saw Parker walk into the room for the first time.

Usually she would hang around by the door, wave sadly and speak to her from there. Never would she walk inside. She feared that if she walked inside and sat by Sophie's bed like Hardison, Eliot and even Tara did, that it would make it all too real, and she wasn't sure if she could handle that. Today was different though. Today, what she was feeling, was something that only Sophie's arms could fix. Nate was like her father, and he was gone, he couldn't handle Sophie being sick. And now Sophie was dying and it was like slowly ripping off a band-aid, every inch hurting more than the last. She had lost/was losing the second pair of people who were her parents and her heart ached in a way she never knew was possible. Hardison had told her that love wasn't supposed to hurt. That love between her and Hardison was never supposed to hurt; did that apply to every other type of love too?

Slowly, the blonde thief made her way over to Sophie and sat down on the edge of her bed, looking everywhere but at Sophie's face. Sophie's small, graceful hand laid on top of Parker's and she gave it a light squeeze and whispered, "Parker..."

Parker wasn't sure what came over her when she heard Sophie's voice but all of a sudden, a loud sob escaped her pale pink lips and she looked up at the grifter's face. It was thin, ashen, fallen, far from anything she'd ever seen Sophie look like. Her eyes had lost all their light and looked listless, her lips were chapped and the nasal oxygen mask made her look sicker than Parker dared to believe. Another sob left Parker's small frame as she leaned forward in Sophie's bed and hid her face in Sophie's shoulder as she cried.

Sophie let out a small breath she didn't know she was holding and wrapped her arms around the girl's slender figure and held her close, "Oh Parker... I'm sorry," she whispered carefully, her voice holding so much emotion.

The two lay there for a few minutes. Sophie held Parker close as she cried. Eventually, her sobs softened into slight whimpers and Sophie couldn't help but wonder how long Parker had been holding in these feelings that she finally let them out here and now. She rubbed Parker's back and when a nurse came in to say something, Sophie simply shook her head and waved her off with a small smile. The nurse, Anna, seemed to understand and turned to leave. Sophie looked down at Parker, kissing her blonde hair as her blue eyes stared off into space. She knew Parker was taking it bad, but something told her she'd never understand just how bad she was taking this... Change, for lack of a better term.

Lowly, Parker spoke in a shaky tone, "C-Can't they fix it?" She sounded like so much like a small child. Like a child who's teddy bear had just been broken and she wanted it pieced back together.

Sophie wanted nothing more in the world than to lie to her and say, "of course they can" but even she knew it'd simply hurt her more in the end. She settled for the truth because... Because Parker deserved it. "I'm sorry, Parker," she said, her voice weak but her accent thicker than honey, "They can't fix this, I'm afraid."

"What if.. What if they brought in the best doctors in the world or... Hardison could do that. Hardison, Eliot and I, and Tara, we can do anything. Would that help?" She sat up quickly, a hopeful look in her eyes.

A few tears slipped from Sophie's eyes because she couldn't hold composure any longer at seeing the hope on the girl's pale face, "They can't, darling."

It wasn't that she had given up hope; it was that - at this point - she was simply waiting to die - despite how morbid that thought sounded.

"So there's nothing we can do..." Parker muttered as she looked down at her own hands and swallowed hard, "Nothing at all we can do." She bit down on her lip. Sophie could see the little hamster wheel turning quickly in the brilliant mind of hers.

"Would balloons help?" Parker asked her suddenly.

Sophie let out a weak laugh because she had to. She was filled with so much pure innocence and love inside despite her job description and that gave Sophie a bit of hope in humanity. Parker was very special to her, and this was why. Her view of the world was quite magnified and though she couldn't express her feelings well enough for anyone else, Sophie knew that she felt things so much more deeply because her views of the world were so magnified and because of her past. This made her feel an overwhelming need to protect Parker.

"Balloons make everything, and I mean everything, better, Parker," she said seriously.

Parker mustered a grin, "Okay," she suddenly got out of Sophie's bed, "I'll be back."

"Where're you going?" Sophie asked but Parker was already gone.

Sophie let out a slight chuckle and laid back in bed. She knew she was only trying to cope.

A few minutes later, Parker returned with.. Well, quite a collection of balloons. So many of them, Sophie was sure she'd fly away if she were holding them outside. Sophie looked slightly shocked, "Parker, how did you manage to steal all of those balloons?"

Parker looked up at Sophie, a wide grin on her face, clearly she was proud of herself about something, "I didn't steal them. I bought them for you." She showed Sophie the receipt.

It would've sounded very stupid to anyone else, but to see that Parker had bought her balloons made her heart swell, because... Well, they'd managed to teach her that much and that meant so much to her and she was so full of pride at that moment.

Excuse if it was a bit OOC.