Problems to fix, People to save

'So I have nothing to offer hmm? My skills aren't up to their level hmm? We'll see about that.' A crate crashed to the floor as I rummaged through the pile of junk I had stock-piled in my apartment. 'That idiot thinks just because he has the fancy headquarters and does all of the big heists that he's a flipping genius!' An avalanche of ammunition and bits and pieces of broken and obsolescent weapons fell to the floor at my feet. 'Sure he's older but he hasn't been an actual thief for have as long as I have. Who does he think he is?'

"I'll show him whose skills are inadequate!" Finally having found every little piece I needed I stormed off into the living room to make something out of them. Dumping it all in the floor with the tool box I had acquired from Tristan's things I crouched down and got to work. I replayed the conversation from earlier in my head.

"Actually, Con, It isn't that I don't trust you. It's that I have no need for what little talents I am aware of you possessing at this moment in time."

I couldn't help but flinch as I remembered what he said. I hadn't cared a lick when I thought he just didn't trust me. I didn't trust him either so why should I expect him to trust me? No, I hadn't cared about that at all. But he had implied that I was worthless. He said that I was just some lame pickpocket, lowest rung on the ladder of the underworld. That stung. I got started in this business when I was what, ten, eleven? I had been at this way longer than him and he feels he has the right to flaunt that in practically a matter of months he had done three times as much as I've done in six or seven years.

"I don't care that he's done more than me, I. Am. Better. I'd like to see him cling to the rear axel of a moving truck for an hour and then clear it out with out getting caught or losing any of the loot." I needed a screw driver. Reaching into the tool box to find a Philips head I remembered a time from long ago when I was five and Eliot was still a part of my life.

"Grab me a Philips head Tessa."

"M-Kay! Wait, which ones a Philips head?" My head tilted to the side as I tried to tell the difference between the many screwdrivers laid out on the blanket we were working on. "It's the one that's not flat on the end Tessa." Oh, that made sense. I found the one Eliot needed and then brought it to him. "Thank you very much." He spoke in a funny accent, it made me giggle. "You're funny Eli. Is it done yet?" I tried to see over his shoulder but he just moved it away from my line of sight. Pouting I leaped so that I was hanging on to his broad shoulders. "I wanta seeeeeee!!!!"

He chuckled and pulled me into his lap, putting his hand over my eyes to block me from seeing his our project. "Alright, calm down. We don't want your whining to wake Dad up do we?" I nodded, his hand moving up and down with my head. "Sorry, can I see it now?" Eliot flicked my head and I let out a yelp. "Fine, you win twerp." He removed his hand letting me see. I blinked for a second and then let out a soft squeal. " It's perfect! Thank you Eli! Thank you, thank you, and thank you!" I twisted around a hugged him tightly. He ruffled my hair. "No problem kiddo."

I pulled it into my lap. It was a pocket watch. Eliot had been working on it for two days now and it looked perfect. He had found it while he was out shopping at the flea market and was convinced it was perfect for me. It was round and on its cover was a butterfly sitting on the nose of a wolf. The silver color of the metal was worn down in certain places, making the bronze color show. It was broken when he found it so he spent the past couple of days fixing it. I absolutely loved it.

He ruffled my hair one more time and pulled me in to his lap. I sat quietly turning it around in my small hands. "I'm glad you like it Tessa."

Pulled out of my reverie I looked down to realize that what was once a pile of junk had managed to transform into something useful while I wasn't looking. There was no way I had done that, even if I had had a sudden stroke of genius nothing I make ever looks that symmetrical. I blinked, only just now realizing that I had been crying.

"You were thinking about him again. Weren't you?" Tristan spoke softly, it wasn't an accusation. If anything he sounded drained. Exhausted even.

"Maybe, what's you're problem?" He stayed silent. Slowly he eased himself in to a more comfortable position on the floor in front of me and began cleaning up the excess parts he hadn't finished using. "Fine, don't answer me. Did you make this? How was it you knew what it was I was making?"

"There are only so many things you would think of making Tessa. If it isn't a bomb it's a trap or weapon of some other variety. I guessed that you were making a bomb. Guess I was right." He smiled at me crookedly, but it seemed strained. He was hiding something from me. I was not in the mood for him to be keeping secrets.

"Cut the crap Tristan, what happened after I left that has you so on edge around me?" He stiffened a little and I knew I was right. "I don't know what you are talking abou-" I cut him off. My forehead was pressed against his and my glare was at maximum capacity. "Alright you win. You left and then they didn't know why so I said Boss-dude challenged you and you went off galloping into the sunset to prepare for battle." Hmm, so far he wasn't lying. But I was certain he was leaving out some very important details seeing as nothing in what he just said would explain his cat on a hot tin roof behavior.

I raised an eyebrow and scooted further into his bubble. I watched his face turn dark red and his eyes dart up and down, left to right. "Okay, fine! Maybe your brother was getting ready to charge off on his faithful steed and rescue from your despair like you were some damsel in distress. And maybe, just maybe that pissed me off and there is the slightest of all possibilities that I yelled at him for it and told him what you've been though these past couple of years." He was practically sinking into the floor and if I'm not mistaken I'm sure he would have preferred very much if a big hole would just swallow him whole.

"So you blurted out my life story did you?" My nose was pressed against his now and his eyes were going crossed as he tried to process all that was happening. "NO! No, I didn't blurt it out. I was leaving after telling Eliot to stay put and stop trying to act all heroically. Eliot followed me and wouldn't let me leave till I explained. You know I'm not the most athletic so I kind of had no real choice. He just pissed me off so bad Tessa!"

"So I kind of snapped and yelled at him, told him that you've been though a lot of crap because of him and that he should feel so freaking lucky that he has a sister that cares for him as much as you do." His voice got fainter and fainter as he came to the end of his excuses. His dark hair falling into his eyes as he hung his head in shame.

"Who all heard you?" My tone was a mirror of his, soft and quiet. Neither of us likes to scream at one another. If we fought against each other then there was no way we could fight together.

"Just Eliot, no one else heard besides Eliot." I sighed. If Tristan said so then I would have to believe him. "Tessa I'm sorry. I know how much you care about him. And I know that you don't want him to think that you are just some little broken girl. I was trying to show him that. That you had managed through all the pain and problems he left you. I'm sorry I shared what wasn't mine. I hope you can forgive me."

That was the thing about Tristan, he wasn't some hardened criminal. He had no problem with stealing, and he had no problem with shedding a little blood or a few tears here and there. But he was also able to cry and feel sad with out feeling ashamed or weak. He was nice and people trusted him. He could lie like an actor but he didn't always like to.

Tristan was just the sweetest criminal the world has ever known, so it made it really hard to stay mad at him. "I forgive you moron. You were just trying to help." His head lifted ever so slightly so that I could see his eyes through his dark fringe. "You're right; I'm not a little girl who needs her brother to protect her anymore." 'No matter how much I've wished it was true' "Thank you for trying to protect me Tristan." 'I don't need Eliot to protect me anymore. I have Tristan. Tristan knows I'm not a weakling, some how I doubt that Eliot will ever realize that.'

I lay down across my best friend, resting my head on his chest. He ran his finger through my hair. Neither one of us liked what we've fallen into. Too many memories and too many problems. But maybe we can learn to forget even if we can't forgive. Maybe if we hang on tight lean on each other we can make it through the hell we've entered of our own free will. We have to fix our problems or we'll just go on living like were nothing but a couple of misfits with messed up childhoods.

We've got to learn to move past the past, and on to a future that even if it's not bright, may be just a little bit less dim.

Sophie's heels clicked as the three who didn't go gallivanting off after the perturbed teen followed behind to see what was taking Eliot and Hardison so long. The sight they found was not one they expected.

Hardison leaned against the wall across from the door that leads to the stairs. Eliot was propped against the wall perpendicular to the door, his forehead pressed into the wallpaper. Neither looked pleased. "What happened?" Caring English tones filled the tense atmosphere. "We got told off by a teenager who probably ain't even old enough to shave, that's what happened."

Hardison pushed off from the wall and pushed past the clump off onlookers. Parker reached out to stop him but he shouldered past her, leaving a hurt look on her face. Following behind him Nate and Sophie were left to stare at the fuming Eliot. "You want to tell us what happened in a little more detail?" Nate crossed his arms and waited patiently for answers. Sophie walked up to Eliot and cautiously laid her hand on his shoulder. "Eliot?"

He twisted around and slid down the wall, resting on the floor with his legs sprawled out before him. "He said I screwed her life up. He said she's better off without me." Never before had Nathan Ford seen such a broken expression, the closest he had ever seen to that was the face he saw in the mirror the night his son had… the night he had lost his family….his little boy. "He said that she's done all of this, become a thief, a weapon to mafia bosses, he said she did all to try and be what she thought I would be proud of." Blue eyes fought back tears; his face was red as he tried to choke out the words causing him so much grief. "She thought I didn't love her, that I had forgotten about her." His eyes closed tight and he coughed; the things he was trying to say physically choking him. "He said that she has nightmares! That Tristan, he said she'd be better off without me."

"I spent my whole life working, trying to make her life better. I left to try and find a way to help her, a way to help my baby sister. I thought I could get enough cash to get her to college, to take care of our Dad. But it was all for nothing apparently. When I left, he says she thought I didn't love her anymore. I tried to write back as often as she wrote me, but I reached a time where I just couldn't anymore." He tried hard not to cry, and failed. It isn't everyday that a man hears that he's ruined his siblings life.

"Oh Eliot!" Sophie knelt and hugged him, and for the first time he didn't resist her. He let her rub his back and calm him down.

"Pull yourself together Eliot." Sophie gasped at Nathan's harsh words and spun around to retort when she caught sight of his face. Though his words were spoken coldly and bluntly, his eyes were sympathetic. They glinted with pain, like he had felt something much akin to this himself once. But Nathan wasn't going to let Eliot wallow in self pity.

"Tristan lost his temper and said whatever he could to try and make you feel miserable. Think about, he has had to live with Con hearing nothing but wonderful things about her brother, because she obviously adores you. He's had to sit through all of this while being the only one who could see that you leaving had hurt her. He probably hates you guts. Honestly I'm surprised he last this long without snapping or trying to murder you." He stepped forward so that he could meet Eliot's gaze head on, so that her could see directly the turmoil he was in.

"What you have to realize is that you can't change things. What's done is done, and as we all can clearly see, Con doesn't blame you for it. She forgives you, even if Tristan doesn't. Now that you see for yourself what you've missed it's time to decide whether or not you can forgive yourself."

Eliot stared back, realization dawning on his face. His features shifted form that of anguish to contemplation. "Whatever you decide, you still need to pull yourself together. Go have a day off or something, but we have work to do." Nathan turned to stride back to his office room. "I can't afford to have you working on anything less than perfect. You know as well as I do things never go quite as planned." His final statement muttered more to himself than the rooms other occupants.

Worriedly Sophie looked at the depressed hitter sitting on the floor before her. "Are you going to be okay?" His blue eyes blinked and he reached up to brush his hair away from his face. "I think I am, but that doesn't mean I feel any better." With a sigh he stood and left, leaving Sophie with feelings of bewilderment and exhaustion. "Boys, they always say that don't get emotional then they go off and do thing like this. Can we say in denial?" The click of her heels faded as she went to Nate's office in order to help with the preparations for the upcoming heist.

As I lay next to Tristan, the thoughts and plans I was creating in my head were swimming. There was so much I need to do in order to prepare for the big day. I have no time to be lying around enjoying the moment, relaxing and thinking about life. I need to live in the here and the now.

I moved to roll over when strong arms wrapped around me, constricting my movements. "Tristan, I need to get to work." My pleas were ignored as I was pulled into his side. If I had actually fought him I would have been able to escape, but we promised to avoid fighting as much as possible.

"No, you don't. Can't you just forgive him? You know as well as I do that he didn't intentionally challenge you." Wriggling around I managed to face him so that I could glare up through his bangs. He blew upwards, making his hair float towards his forehead just long enough for me to see that he knew what he was asking was a lost cause.

"Alright fine. Do this yourself. But promise me that if you need me you'll ask me for help." It wasn't a question, it was an order. But I owed him this much I suppose. "You worry too much. But fine, I'll keep it in mind." He nodded, a small content smile on his face. Pushing up off of the ground I made another attempt to get to work, only to have my attempts thwarted once again. With an exasperated sigh I head butted Tristan's shoulder in annoyance.

"Relax for a minute Tessa. The world isn't going to go to pieces if you don't hit the ground running just this once." Normally I would have protested, slapped him upside the head, and gotten to work while muttering about his unhealthy lazy attitude. Normally my day would have been a whole different kind of hectic, with broken faces instead of wounded egos. But today had been far from the normal I had grown used to, and I was all to willing to relax into his arms, strong for a computer geek, and let his horribly off tune humming lull me into dreamland for a much deserved nap.

I guess I can start fixing problems in an hour or two….

Alright, saying I'm sorry for the late update doesn't seen suitable, but it's the best I can do. So…….

I AM SO SORRY!

Okay, now I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I apologize for all of the emo, depressing, angsty parts.

Things will get more exciting soon, promise (kinda)

Lots of love and hope for reviews!

-Rat