AN: Sorry it's taking me so long to update. I'm working two jobs at the moment and have an interview for a third one in a week. I'm also trying to work on my other stories and NaNoWriMo. So this is a bit short and some places are a little rushed. I do know where I want the story to go and I have a backstory set up for Jasmine/Draco/Moreau interactions (there is more to the story than Eliot knows) and for the Jasmine/Sterling debt.

One more word of warning, the Teddy narrative is kind of choppy and incoherent, I tried to do that on purpose, since Teddy is only 7.

Thanks to everybody for the alerts, favorites, and reviews. It makes me really glad to know that people are enjoying my story.

Slow Going

Teddy was scared and trying his hardest not to cry. He vaguely remembered the man towering over him from before his mummy had met Eliot. His memories included lots of shouting and gunfire and a burning building. When the man handed him a phone, Teddy was confused, then he was happy because Eliot was on the phone and Eliot could do anything, he helped Teddy learn to play football and hockey and fixed the door of the apartment for Mum. Teddy didn't quite understand why Eliot couldn't come get him right away and wanted to ask. The mean man took the phone away from him before he could, though. Teddy started crying then, his last piece of comfort taken away. The tall man yelled at Teddy to be quiet in order to obey Eliot and do whatever the man told him to. He only hoped that the man would let him see his mum soon.

He hadn't seen her since they got off the plane and he knew she was hurt. The bad men in his home had hit her a lot. Mummy was the best and had been trying to comfort him in the apartment, but it didn't matter what she said to Teddy, he knew that it wasn't going to be okay. She wasn't even awake when the plane took off. He hoped that Eliot and Uncle Draco found them soon, and that Eliot wasn't mad that Teddy had called him Daddy.

Eliot looked at his team. He owed them some explanations since his phone calls with Sterling and Malfoy. After all, Eliot hated Sterling with a passion, and the feeling was mutual, and Draco Malfoy ran what was once one of the most corrupt business conglomerations in the world.

He rubbed the back of his neck, "I guess I should start with the fact that I used to work for Moreau."

"We got that Eliot," was Hardison's response.

"Right, well, while I was working there a job went kind of south. Moreau was in negotiations for a big black market deal when the deal fell through rather quickly. It turned out that another person had managed to out bid Moreau for what he wanted. My job was to eliminate the source of the bid, one Draco Malfoy.

"I arrived at Malfoy's London town home only to find out he wasn't there and wouldn't be for a while. Instead I found a young woman and her son, Jasmine and Teddy. Teddy was two at the time, Jasmine was 19. Even though I had training in stealth and she should not have known I was watching her, she noticed me. She walked right up to me and told me that whatever Moreau wanted was not going to happen and that he should keep his business out of London.

"Needless to say, I was shocked. No one got away with sending a message like that to Moreau, and she knew it. Two days later, when I was sent back to the house with a group of hitters, the townhouse was closed up and the family was nowhere to be found. Moreau demanded that we keep looking for them, he refused to admit that Malfoy and Potter were too smart to get caught."

"Wait," Nate interrupted, "Jasmine, your Jasmine, is Jasmine Potter?"

Eliot nodded.

"I thought that Potter and Malfoy industries were competitors in almost every sector of the economy."

"They are," Eliot responded, "but Jasmine and Draco are close friends. They have begun merging parts of their companies together. Also, they do not have full control over the companies; so much of what goes on in the upper echelons is unimportant to them. Why is this important?"

"Just fact finding."

"Whatever. Anyway, I was attempting to stalk one of the two through London for nearly six months when Jasmine found me in Hyde Park. She walked right up to me and sat down on the bench.

'If I didn't know any better,' she said "I would think, since we only run into you in parks, that you were trying to kidnap my son and use him for your own nefarious purposes. I suppose though, that you following us means that Moreau doesn't know when to leave well-enough alone.'

'That would be the correct assumption,' I had no choice but to answer her since the park was full and it was broad daylight out.

'So, if I asked would you tell me your name? I'd like to know who is stalking me.'

'I don't know, why don't you ask and see?'

'What is your name?'

'You can call me Eliot.'

She smiled, 'It was nice to meet you Eliot. I'll probably see you around.'

"We kept running into each other around London. Always in a crowded place where I couldn't risk following my orders and she always managed to lose me when I tried to tail her. It was kinda frustrating over a long period of time.

"Eventually I stopped trying. Moreau had moved on to a new target, but in between those jobs I kept going back to London, kept running into Jasmine. We kept up our flirting routine, I met Teddy, and before I knew it we had begun dating. I had come to care about a target and I needed to find a way to get Moreau off of her back.

"Eventually, someone ratted me out to Moreau. I quit and he agreed to leave Jasmine and Teddy alone as long as we all avoided him and left his plans alone. We've been together ever since."

"Oh," Sophie said, and that seemed to sum up the reactions of the rest of the rest of the group as well.

"Well, that explains that, but how does she know Sterling and why does he owe her a major favor?" Nate was always the practical one.

Eliot rubbed the back of his neck, "I'm actually not sure. I just know that it is something major, and even with his help here the debt may not be repaid."

The team looked shocked at that admission, "That would be some debt. It makes me wonder what she has over him. We could exploit that connection next time we face him," Nate was always a planner.

"No," Eliot was adamant; "We are not involving Jazz or Teddy in any of our schemes. Look at how this has turned out. It could be a lot worse the next time. I am not willing to risk that and if I ever find out that you've intentionally involved them in the future I will leave this team and you will lose any protection that I provide by confrontation or reputation, and let me tell you Nate, that is something you can not afford to happen. Not with the multitude of enemies you seem to make wherever you go."

"Okay," Nate held up his hands in surrender, "If that's settled, let's go steal Eliot's girlfriend and her son back from the Moreau, and steal a country while we're at it." With that Nate clapped his hands together and walked out of the room.