Thanks to those people who have reviewed so far, your comments have been helpful and much appreciated. This chapter will be a change of pace and focus on the rest of the team as they are celebrating without Eliot.

Enjoy.

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'How my life has changed.'

That was the thought running happily through Nathan Ford's calculating mind, as he sat around a table at the quaint little Italian trattoria in the heart of Portland's Pearl district. If someone had told him just a year ago that he would be eating dinner and laughing without a care in the world with people that he had come to love, then he probably would have laughed in his or her face.

Or he would have punched them repeated in the throat.

But as he sat there surrounded by the rest of his team, he felt a certain completeness that he hadn't felt since he first learned of his son's illness. His whole world had shattered that day, but now he could feel the pieces slowly beginning to fit themselves back together. They couldn't reform what had been lost previously ... but Nate was beginning to understand that the new puzzle could be just as good.

Despite these feelings, Nate couldn't help but feel that something was still missing. As he glanced over at Hardison and Parker sitting closely to each other and having a passionate discussion over the most recent episode of Doctor Who, Nate's mind seemed to make an attempt to connect the dots and was on the verge of revealing the great mystery that was just beyond his grasp. But then Sophie turned to him with a dazzling smile and all rational thought seemed to come to an abrupt halt.

Sophie couldn't help but smile as she watched Nate sitting next to her, lost in thought. She loved his inquisitive mind that always seemed to be working through some puzzle or riddle with such beautiful precision. It was that mind that had first intrigued her when he first caught up with her ten years ago stealing that Degas. At that point she had believed that she was untouchable – she had never failed a heist and had always vanished without a trace – so it enticed her that some insurance agent was had managed to track her down. Now as she saw Nate turn to her and stare into her eyes with such unbridled love, she realized that being caught by him was the greatest thing that had ever happened to her.

She and Nate continued to stare each other, simply content to be in each other's company, for several moments before turning to Hardison and Parker and reliving their latest job. The group laughed unabashedly as they recalled some of the team's more incredulous acting requirements.

"I still can't believe that you pulled that off!" Hardison exclaimed to Sophie, "I mean seriously, where did you learn to pole dance like that?"

Sophie couldn't help but enjoy the keen interest that Nate displayed during that part of the con – and she knew from the look he was giving her at that moment, that he thoroughly enjoyed her performance. Smiling wickedly at the group, she responded conspiratorially, "You'd be amazed at the things a person can pick up at a British boarding school."

"You went to a British boarding school?" Parker asked excitedly, clearing wanting to hear more.

"I never said that," Sophie replied, "I just said you'd be surprised what you can learn at one of them."

Everyone couldn't help but laugh at Sophie's enigmatic response, enjoying the sense of easy friendship that had been steadily growing these last several weeks.

"Ooh. Sophie sounds just like Eliot!" Parker exclaimed while laughing boisterously, "It's too bad he couldn't make it tonight. I wonder what he's doing?"

"Probably beating up a biker bar somewhere," Hardison replied flippantly. The truth was that Hardison wasn't overly concerned about Eliot not being there – he liked Eliot, he really did, but he was was almost relieved that Eliot wasn't there. Eliot made him feel inadequate at times. He was everything that society taught Hardison to believe was cool and masculine, while Hardison was the definition of a nerd. He was originally afraid that Parker would find Eliot more interesting than him, since both of them seem to lead lives that are filled with danger and excitement that, before he joined Leverage Consulting, Hardison had only experienced playing World of Warcraft.

Hearing Parker and Hardison discuss Eliot filled her with a sudden sense of loss. Out of all of them she seemed to be the only one who noticed how Eliot had been withdrawing himself from the team – but that wasn't surprising since she was the only one of them who specialized in human behavior. It was her job to read people, a job that she was incredibly talented at, but she had trouble reading Eliot. He was the hardest one of the team to understand, even harder than Parker. Something was bothering him, Sophie could tell that, but she had no idea what. Eliot was adapt at hiding his emotions and masking his pain – something, Sophie realized, must have taken years of practice to perfect.

She wanted to say something about it to him, but she couldn't. Things weren't still okay between the grifter and the retrieval specialist. Sure Eliot may have accepted her apology and forgiven her, but that didn't mean that was able to trust her again. She saw how Eliot tensed up the second that she had been forced to make a change to the plan during their latest con. Everything had gone smoothly in the end, but Sophie could still see the wariness within Eliot's eyes has he watched her intently. She had no doubt that if she ever presented a threat to the team then Eliot would take her down without a second's hesitation. And the thought that he was willing and prepared to stop her at any cost truly saddened and terrified her at the same time.

By now, it was well past closing time and the group found themselves to be the last customers left in the building. Deciding it was time to head out, Nate left a generous tip on the table and the team made their way towards the doors. The parking lot was ensconced within the shadows of the night and the group could just make out Hardison's Black Mercedes Benz S-Class parked beside Nate's Tesla Roadster. As they were about ten yards away from the car, suddenly Parker went limp, nearly smashing her face onto the pavement before Hardison was able to catch her. As he fervently checked her for anything that could explain her sudden collapse, Hardison found a small tranquillizer dart sticking out of the back of her neck, right above her left shoulder blade. Before he was able to show the dart to the others and warn them, black-dressed men materialized out of the shadows to surround the three remaining conscious thieves. All of the men were heavily armed, and looked as if they were more than common street thugs.

"Take Them," One of the clandestine men ordered and immediately the men moved in to apprehend the group. When one of the men grabbed Sophie, Nate lashed out without thinking, striking the man hard across the face with his riot baton. As that man fell Nate turned to strike the next assailant, only to feel pain explode throughout the back of his skull as one of the shadows struck him with the butt of his gun. As Nate began to lose his battle with consciousness, one last thought flashed forcibly across his mind.

'I wish Eliot was here.'