The Rewind Job, Chapter 7

Disclosures: I do not own leverage or any of the characters.

My apologies for the long delay in updating. It's been a busy few weeks at work and home.

Recap:

To say the retrieval specialist was shocked by his appearance was an understatement. The blood in his hairline, dried blood on his chin, black eye, and bruised cheekbone didn't bother the hitter. They were expected. What Eliot did not expect was his overall appearance. He could swear he looked 10 years older than he should look and when did his hair get this long? Studying his own face in the mirror he found a scar on his upper lip that he shouldn't have and another less prominent scar just above his left eye. Not to mention that he was at least 20 pounds heavier than he'd ever been in his life. He had no idea how long he stood, staring at himself in the mirror, a million thoughts flying through his battered brain as he tried to figure out what was going on and if he'd really lost several years of his memory. His musing was finally interrupted by Ford's soft rap on the door followed by his call of, "Are you ok in there, Spencer?"

Chapter 7

Eliot jumped at Ford's soft knock, closing his eyes as a wave of dizziness hit him and swallowing as his stomach threatened to revolt again. He needed to sit down before he fell down….he needed….he wasn't sure what he needed as he opened the bathroom door to find Ford and the blonde, Parker, standing in front of it with Hardison and Sophie watching intently from the background.

"You ok, Sparky?" Parker asked.

From Nate's viewpoint, their hitter certainly didn't look ok with his pale face and sweat beaded above his lip. Nate's hands came up as Eliot swayed precariously, but stopped when he seemed to regain his balance.

"I'm….I'm conf…" Eliot stalled, bringing his left hand up to the cut on his forehead.

"Your head still hurts," Parker interjected, allowing Eliot to save face. "That's ok. It'll get better," she added, wrapping an arm lightly around Eliot's back and leading him toward the couch. "You just sit and we'll make it all better."

Sophie and Hardison separated to let the two pass.

"Yeah, Man. It'll be ok. Just relax," Hardison added uncertainly, then moved forward to help as Parker eased their retrievalist down onto the couch.

As the hitter slumped into the seat, the hacker and thief both stepped back with a 'what now' look on their faces.

"Ok," Ford stepped forward, rubbing his hands together nervously. "First aid…let's see…" Nate looked from the first aid kit laid out on the coffee table to Eliot and back, unsure that Eliot would accept help and unsure how best to proceed since Eliot was usually in charge of first aid for himself and the rest of the team.

"Athletic wrap," Eliot huffed, seeing that his audience wasn't going away and knowing he actually did need help. Normally, when he was injured to this degree, he would call one of his medical contacts to assist. He knew a number of them around the world, their silence and discretion impeccable for the right amount of cash. However, in exchange for their silence, they also expected their patients to keep their services off the radar. Exposing one of them to Nathan Ford and his merry crew was definitely not an option.

Seeing Eliot struggling to remove his over shirt, Sophie moved forward to help, making sure the hitter could see her approaching from the side. She ignored his irritated glare, realizing that this concussed and amnesic Eliot was as stubborn as their normal Eliot, and helped ease the garment off his shoulders. She stepped back slightly as Eliot pulled his t-shirt up to just under his armpits, but wasn't prepared for the mass of purple bruises covering Eliot's right flank and wrapping around his right side and couldn't contain the, "Oh! Eliot!" that escaped.

Eliot scowled, but didn't comment, focusing instead on Nathan Ford, standing in front of him, fumbling with a roll of athletic wrap. "Start just below the worst of the bruising and wrap it around a few times…fairly tight, but not too tight…"

"Then do the same just above the worst of the bruising," Nate finished. Seeing Eliot's questioning look, he added, "I…ah…I've done it a couple of times…over the years." More accurately, Nate had wrapped Eliot's ribs a couple of times in the few short years they had worked together, that being one of the few first aid tasks the hitter ever asked Nate to help with.

Once his ribs were successfully wrapped, Eliot eased his t-shirt back down before looking back at the others, all four standing around him, their expressions ranging from slightly afraid, to concerned, to curious. Feeling the cut on his forehead again, he sighed. While he was usually capable of suturing himself up, between the dizziness and his ribs, Eliot knew that was not an option today. "Any of you ever placed stitches before?"

Sophie's quiet, "No..oh no, I've ever," was followed by Parker almost bouncing where she stood. "Oh! Oh! I made a sock dolly once…when I was little…of course I used my foster mother's sewing machine without permission…and Nate doesn't have a sewing machine…."

Eliot stared in stunned silence for a moment before growling, "There's something wrong with you." To his surprise the blonde's face broke into a wide grin and she practically squealed, "You're ok!" clapping her hands, before looking around at the others and adding, "He's going to be just fine."

"Parker…ah…why don't we go get some ice packs?" Sophie commented with a smile, ushering the thief out of the living area.

Eliot just shook his head before looking back at Nathan Ford, then Hardison.

"Uh uh…no..no..no.. Man," the hacker raised his hands in front of him, shaking his head. "Alec Hardison aint ever stitched nothin'…'cept a couple of quilt tops." At the other two men's' questioning looks, he defended, "if Nana told you to quilt you quilted…Nana didn't take no lip. But ain't no way I'm gonna be sewin' up nobody's head…uh uh…" the hacker gagged at the thought, covering his mouth with his hand, before heading off to see if Sophie and Parker needed help with the ice.

Eliot didn't know whether to be relieved or worried when Ford shrugged his shoulders and said, "Well I've never done it before, but I guess there's a first time for everything," before turning back to the first aid kit to gather the necessary supplies.