Caring takes Courage (3/?)
Fandom – Leverage
Rating – pg13
Pairing – Gen
Warnings – typical violence
Disclaimer – I do not own anything but the copy right to this story.
Summary – Nate hates getting shot, because then the rest of the team become protective and he can't get any peace.
A/N - This chapter would have been done earlier if I hadn't been interrupted so often today. Also. I checked my spell check and edited it as I went. I hate editing. I think it's readable. Enjoy.
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PART 3
Doctor Jason Mimms was not an old Doctor like most in his shady profession. Instead he worked part time at one of the most Prestigious teaching Hospitals and had his private, backroom practice. He took care of patients who got shot in shady situations but didn't want the police involved. He's twenty-nine years old, has deep brown hair, is rather tall and did not wear a white coat to his appointment with Nate.
Eliot had a big smile on his face when he saw Jason; they embraced and talked fast for a few seconds before Eliot introduced him to the team. Jason and then the Doctor whisked upstairs by the Hitter to take another look at their Mastermind.
"The wound looks clean." Jason muttered. He sat by the bed on a stool. Carefully he pulled the bandages back to get a good look at the stitched up hole a .22 had left. "It didn't knick the artery either. If that had happened you'd have been dead." He said, but he wasn't actually looking for an answer.
Eliot stood behind him, watching Jason very closely with his arms folded before his chest but didn't say anything either. Nate simply lays on the bed, half asleep, not caring either way.
"And you say the pills you got make him sick?"
"I was hoping you'd be able to find something that helped him not be sick. A different pain medication or whatever." Eliot grunted softly.
Jason nodded. He shone a light in Nate's eyes and looked into the mouth afterwards.
"How high was the fever before the ice bath?" Jason asked.
"Over a hundred."
"And recently?"
"Maybe ninety-nine."
Jason nodded and took a thermometer out of his bag, one that he could throw away, and stuck it in Nate's mouth. "A rectal measurement would be far better but I think this as close as we're gonna get. I don't think it's an infection. I think he just hasn't given himself much time to relax from whatever it is you do and has run himself into the ground."
"So he's just sick?" Eliot asked. Confused.
"I say it's a cold, but it could become worse if it's not taken care of and with the added benefit of his leg wound…." Jason sighed.
He didn't say anything, and when the time was up he took the thermometer out of Nate's mouth and held it up so he could get a good look at it.
"It's a bit below a hundred but not at the normal range at all. His fever is being rather contentious right now." Jason tossed it into a nearby waste bin.
"Should he go to a hospital?" Eliot asked.
"If you feel better that way," Jason shrugged. "Or you could just keep doing what you are doing. I say another ice bath this evening or if his fever gets higher. Sometimes these things just have to burn through. It's the body's way of fighting off the infection."
"So I am not risking his life by not taking him to the Hospital?"
"Not in the least, he'll be fine there or here. They'd just do the same things I'm going to tell you to do. First off; bland food and lots of fluids. I don't care if you have to set up an IV or force feed it to him." Jason put his equipment away in his black, Doctors bag.
"Make him stay in bed, of course, and I'll prescribe something to make sure the meds don't make him even more sick. I'd have prescribed them myself but sometimes Doctors forget that their patients are different and won't react the same way to the same medications." Jason said. He pulled out a pad and scribbled something onto it.
"Call me if his condition changes."
Eliot and Jason went back downstairs and left Nathan to sleep. Jason gave the same talk to Alec, Parker and Sophie before leaving. Alec took the prescription note to put into the nearest Pharmacy's computer order for that day.
"Okay, it'll be ready in a couple hours and they'll ring us when it's done." he said.
Eliot nodded. "I'll get some more stuff for Nate when I go to pick it up." He muttered.
"Eliot, are you sure Mimms won't speak to anyone about Nate?" Sophie asked. She couldn't change things now, it was too late and Mimms had a lot of intelligence on them.
"You remember when I hugged him?" Eliot asked, trying not to be too annoyed, appreciating that Sophie was worried for Nate just as much as he is.
"Yes." She nodded.
"Well, I was checking him for bugs, a weapon, anything else that could put us in danger. He was clean." Eliot explained. Sophie nodded but worried at her bottom lip anyway.
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An hour later it's Sophie whose gotten an eyeful of Nate as she helps him out of the sweat soaked clothing from that morning and into another cold bath. "I'll warm it up before you get out so you that you can wash." She said as she sat on the toilet. Not at all bothered by the fact that she's got the great Nathan Forde naked, in front of her.
Probably because this was not the situation she envisioned when she fantasized about Nate being naked, and in front of her. He lay there; quiet and drawn looking. He was white as a sheet as the saying went and he'd thrown up just before she'd gotten him into the bathtub. He must feel miserable, and Sophie tried to be as gentled with him as she could.
Eliot had warned her about Parker and so she had made sure to give Parker and Alec something to do while she helped Nate in the bathroom. Right now the two were stripping the bed and putting new sheets and blankets on. Nate threw up all over the place and all of it had to be washed now.
She could hear them bickering slightly about the new job. She couldn't catch much because the door muffled a lot of their words and they were trying to keep their voices down. It wasn't like they were horrible without Nate making all the plans.
At various times he'd let everyone take point on a con. Alec had forced his way in a couple of times and Nate had taken the second time with far more grace than the first. She wondered though if Nate really hated it but was able to hide it from them. He'd at least respected her reasons for wanting to take head on a con. Even though it turned out badly.
Nate took this moment to groan. He wiped a hand over his face and bent his knees. Water sloshed about but Sophie simply watched as pail blue eyes finally deigned to look around and take stock of the situation.
"What…?"
"Sorry Nate, you threw up all over the place and your fever was a bit high. I thought I'd try to lower it." Sophie explained. Nate blinked at her.
"I've got Hardison and Parker changing the bed." she said.
Nate finally nodded; "sorry."
"No problem at all," Sophie smiled. "Eliot went to get a prescription to help with that; and other things for you. He won't be too happy that you weren't able to hold the oatmeal down tough."
"Wasn't there someone else here?" Nate asked. Confused. He didn't seem at all bothered about Sophie seeing him naked. She wondered if that's because they'd been intimate before and with Eliot it was just a bit weird for Nate because the didn't have a very close friendship.
"Doctor Jason Mimms is a friend of Eliot's. He was concerned because he noticed you didn't eat a lot last night and he wanted a second opinion. Anyway, he prescribed you something to help you with the other meds." Sophie shrugged. She dipped a red washcloth into the clear cold water and move from the toilet seat to sit on the floor by the tub. Slowly and ever so softly she ran the wet washcloth up Nate's chest. It was not a sensual move or sexual in the least. She just needed something to do; some way to help him. She needed a little bit of control.
Nate, sick as he was, as out of it as he is, saw what she needed and didn't say anything about having to do it himself. He glances down to watch her run the cloth along his skin. He feels like he's on fire again. The cold helps.
"Sophie," Nate mutters, he's tired but the meds have worn off enough that he is actually aware of his surroundings, "don't worry about me."
Sophie clucks her tongue at him. "I will worry about you but this is about something more. Nate."
Nate frowns; "What?"
"It's about you trusting us, Nate." She clucks her tongue at him.
Nate puts his hand over hers, stopping the circular motion; "who ever said I didn't trust you?"
"Well…"
"Was I too controlling on that job?"
"Not really, or, no more than usual," Sophie muttered.
"I do trust you, I trust all of you. I trusted you from the start really. Hardison, Eliot and Parker took a little bit longer but I brought you in. Remember?"
"No, you needed me because Dubenich knew you and the others, I was a new face. That didn't mean you trusted me." Sophie rolled her eyes.
"Sophie, I trusted you to carry that whole con because he knew the rest of us. I sent you into the lion's den and you came out all right because I trusted you to do your job. Now, if it's not the job you're talking about than is it in private?" Nate rubbed his eyes; he is tired but willing to persevere if she needed him too.
"Oh Nate," Sophie lent up and kissed him softly on the cheek. "Trust us to take care of you, all right?"
Nate gazed at her, confused. Finally he nodded. "Just this once."
Sophie laughed lightly, "Just this once."
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Eliot, being the professional that he was, knew that he was being watched the instant he stepped outside the apartment building. The street looked normal enough. The same old cars parked in the same fashion, people passing the Irish pub or going inside for a drink. But, something stood out. A big, black, SUV at the corner; to anyone not trained like him it wouldn't look out of place. Eliot sneered and bulled out his ear bud. He flicked it on and put it into his ear.
"We have company." He muttered loud enough to the bud to pick up.
"What?" Hardison replied. Eliot could hear the clicking of keys as Hardison went to his ever present computers.
"There's a black SUV on the corner."
"I see it…." more typing, and then "BUSTED! I reported the car and got some cops out. They think its drug dealers. They'll be busy for a while."
"Good. Now, you get busy and find out whose people they are and if they're a threat to us. Lock the door, keep Parker and Sophie from going outside until I get back." Eliot ordered.
"Fine, fine, Mr. Bossy…." Hardison muttered.
Eliot ignored him.
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"What's happened?" Parker asked. She'd just thrown the sheets into the wash and now all she had to do was wait for the bell to ring before she could do any more laundry.
"Eliot thinks someone may be casing out our place." Alec replied. Parker frowned and jumped over the couch to sit on it with her legs crossed.
"Have you found anything?" she asked.
Behind them on the video monitor the police were asking the men to step out. They handcuffed two, burly men and then searched the van. Alec didn't have any sound. It is still quite obvious to Parker what's happening.
"I'll run their ugly mugs through my facial recognition software. They're probably just hired muscle." Alec explained.
"Do you think they saw Mimms coming in here and everything? I mean, I knew about Nate before he turned but…" Parker trailed off.
"Oh?" this was too interesting to give up now.
"It was in Cairo. I stole Nefertiti's staff. And IYS took it personally and sent Nate after me. Anyway, he got it back but he was waiting for me. I just slipped out the hotel." She looked pointedly at the stairs.
"Still in the bath tub?"
"Yeah."
"Sophie's with him, it's fine. I didn't meet him before our first job together but I heard about him. He was the scariest man for IYS to set on people. I hacked their mainframe once, and boy, was he a workaholic," Alec whistled.
"Didn't he chase you too?" Parker asked.
"He's not as dumb about computers as he pretends, he's no where near my level. But he was sneaky. It was almost too late when I caught on to what he did." He sighed.
"What'd he do?" Parker asked, intrigued.
"He found one of my backdoors and sent a tracker Trojan. He almost caught me." Alec held up his thumb and forefinger to make a measurement that didn't exist. "He missed it by that much!"
Parker giggled.
"Anyway, after that I shored up my back ends so he couldn't do that shit to me."
"Wow, Nate sure does have a lot of talents," Parker giggled. Alec rolled his eyes. He sat down on the couch beside her.
"So…let's see what we can find about these guys and who might be spying on us…"
TBC
