As they were cleaning up the kitchen from breakfast, there was a knock at the door. "Upstairs," Eliot directed Raelyn, but she was already headed that way. He made his way slowly to the door, making sure not to open it until he was sure she made it to her room. He opened the door and sighed. "They told you?"

"First thing this morning," Nate nodded.

"What about Sophie?"

"She knows too. I wanted a few minutes alone with you before she came storming in here, going on about you keeping something this big from the team." Eliot opening his mouth to argue, but Nate raised his hand. "I know exactly why you did it, I understand. I just think Sophie will accept it better if you explain it, maybe with her around. Can I come in?" He stepped aside and let his friend in. "She's here, I take it?" Eliot nodded. "You keep her out of sight unless you know the people at your door are safe." It wasn't a question and Eliot nodded again in agreement. "Can we have a few minutes alone before you release her?"

"Of course." They headed to the kitchen and Eliot handed Nate a beer.

"Tell me about her."

Eliot relayed a lot of the story he told Parker and Hardison. He saw the gears turning in Nate's head as he spoke. "You've had her for the last eight years?"

"Yup."

"I knew there was something else."

"What do you mean?"

"I knew there was another reason you hid the truth when we took down Damien Moreau." Eliot flinched at the name. "It wasn't just about protecting the team, it was about keeping Raelyn out of harm's way. You weren't sure how safe you could keep her from a guy like Moreau, so you were trying to keep him away from all of it. Dropping your name wasn't about us, it was about her. He was going to recognize you regardless, but if you played your cards right, he'd never suspect you were hiding a weakness like that." Eliot winced again at "weakness". "I get it, Eliot, you don't have to look so ashamed."

"It's not about that." He shook his head. "I should've told you, one father to another, you deserved to know."

"To be fair, I never willingly opened up about Sam. Not often. Couldn't expect you to do it, either." Nae changed the subject. "Hardison mentioned things between you were tense. What's going on? I mean, if you're okay talking about it."

Eliot sighed heavily. "She took after me, a little too much. Hardison and Parker busted in while I was fixing her arm again, the reckless little shit. She's trying to be a retrieval specialist, just like me, but I don't think it's a good idea."

Nate cocked his head. "Really? I'd have thought you'd be proud."

Eliot shook his head. "Nate, the path I took was not one I planned on growing up; it's certainly not one I would've picked for my daughter."

"Well, maybe-" Nate was interrupted by the front door swinging open. "Incoming," he murmured.

"How could you keep something like this from us?!" Sophie shrieked, storming into the kitchen. Nate merely leaned back to watch the show. "I thought you trusted us!" she continued.

Eliot stood up and held up a halting finger. "Number one, we all had our own private lives outside the office. Number two, I was protecting her."

"From us?!"

"From the people who were after us, Sophie!" Eliot yelled. Sophie froze. "The less people knew about her, the less danger she was in. People are after me, Sophie, to this day. If word got out about her, they'd string her up in a heartbeat, and she's not exactly the con artists that we are. Getting there, though. Maybe you could share your birth certificate with us before you start tearing into people about trust. So don't you dare try to make this about me trusting you. This was about me protecting my daughter, and if you can't respect that, you need to leave. Secrets aren't always about trust." He took a deep breath. He hadn't intended on getting so angry. Nate stared at him wide-eyed, apparently he didn't expect it either.

Sophie's face fell with shame. "I...I'm sorry, Eliot. I was...wrong to be angry with you."

Eliot crossed his arms and nodded in acceptance to the apology. A smile tickled his lips as the familar note of pride hinted in his voice, "You want to meet her?"

Sophie and Nate perked up, "Yeah!"

"All clear, Rae!" While Raelyn made her way down, Nate whispered an abbreviated version of Raelyn's story to Sophie. When Raelyn appeared at the bottom of the stairs, Eliot instinctively reached for her and wrapped his arm around her. "Raelyn, this is Nate and Sophie; I used to work for them. And this is my daughter Raelyn."

Eliot was amused at that two contrasting reactions to her. Sophie looked absolutely appalled at her choice of outfit while still reeling from the fact that Eliot has a daughter and ripped Sophie's head off about it. Nate, on the other hand, looked like he saw exactly what he was expecting.

Sophie offered her hand. Raelyn looked tentative, to say the least, but after a reassuring squeeze from her father, she accepted and shook Sophie's hand. Sophie flinched, feeling the unexpected rough calluses on Raelyn's hands. Nate, picking up on the aversion to contact, merely nodded acknowledgement from the counter. Raelyn nodded back.

There was an awkward silence as it was clear Sophie and Raelyn were from two different planets, and no one had anything to say. Sophie returned to Nate's side, and whispered conversations started between the two pairs.

"I heard yelling, before you called all clear." Raelyn posed the question without really asking in a whisper.

"It was nothing." Eliot attempted to brush her off as he gave her another reassuring squeeze.

"It was about me, wasn't it?"

"It's nothing to worry about."

"If it's nothing to worry about, why won't you tell me?"

Eliot's tone turned to a low growl, "Rae, for once, will you listen to me?"

The growl got Nate and Sophie's attention. Raelyn slipped out of her father's grip. "Sophie, can I get you something to drink?" Eliot asked to change the subject. Arguments were a part of Raelyn and Eliot's routine, but arguing in front of people was something they preferred to avoid. He handed Sophie the ice water she asked for and looked over at Raelyn. "Hey, we need to check the bandages on your hand."

Raelyn looked the exact opposite of thrilled at the suggestion. "They're fine," she insisted.

"Don't," Eliot warned. "I'm gonna go get the kit. You play nice."

Raelyn sat at the counter and started easing the sling off. Sophie leaned forward. "So...what's Eliot like as a dad."

Raelyn answered reflexively. "A pain in the ass." Sophie was taken aback, while Nate just snickered. Raelyn smirked, amused at Nate's reaction, but upon realizing Sophie didn't get the answer she was looking for, she elaborated, "The good kind of pain, you know? Er, he's always looking out for me...whether I want him to or not. He's...he's a good dad. I couldn't ask for anyone else."

This seemed to quell Sophie, but it wasn't about quelling Sophie, not entirely. Raelyn meant what she said. He got on her nerves, but she wouldn't trade him for the world. He came downstairs with the kit, and Raelyn's demeanor changed. He helped ease the sling off the rest of the way, revealing the extent of her injuries. The cast extended from the top of her bicep to the middle of her forearm. Attached to the cast was a polymer brace that immobilized her wrist and hand. "Now, you have to keep really still," Eliot warned.

"I know," Raelyn answered, bracing herself. He very carefully eased the brace off to uncover the bandages underneath. He took a pair of surgical scissors out of the kit and began cutting a line down the bandages.

"Now, I have to ease them off, because if I yank them quick, I could misalign the bones."

Raelyn grunts in disapproval, but lets Eliot continue. He began to slowly peel back the bandage as she seethed. "Son of a bitch!"

"Hey, watch your mouth. We have company." He reaches over and assists in holding her arm down.

"It fucking hurts!"

"I'll slap the taste out of your mouth if you cuss one more time. And if you squirm anymore, I'm going to duct tape you to the coffee table again. "

Sophie stared wide-eyed. "Again? How did she get that sling on her arm?" she mouthed to Nate.

Nate shook his head, denying Sophie's train of thought. "She's Eliot's kid," he explained with a whisper. "She...takes after him." Sophie stares at Nate for a while before the connection dawns on her.

Eliot peels the last bit of the bandage off. Sophie is openly horrified, and even Nate looks a little morose. The hand is swollen and covered in deep cuts; while still recognizable, it's in rough shape. The horror deepens in Sophie's face, and Nate flinches when Eliot says, "It's healing already, good." He squirted a generous amount of gel onto a large swab and started coating her hand carefully. With her free hand, she shoved a piece of her shirt into her mouth and growled into it. "Calm down. You'd think after all the times I've had to do this crap, you'd take it better."

Nate just barely made out the words, "I've gotten better," though the shirt.

"Alright, I'll give you that."

Nate tasted pity for Eliot as he watched his face as he bandaged his daughter's arm, flinching minutely with her every pained groan. After the brace was reattached, Eliot put together a syringe with pale blue liquid. "Alright, Rae, your favorite part."

"Dad, I don't need the painkillers."

"Yes, you do," and he popped the needle unceremoniously into her exposed upper arm. "The benefits to a daughter who refused to take pills," he explained to Nate and Sophie as he swabbed the injection site with alcohol, "is that needles are faster anyway."

"Jerk," Raelyn grumbled.

"Love you too, Rae." He kissed her forehead. Despite her discontent with his actions, she leaned into it.