"Why are you delaying our plans?" a mysterious man shouted on the phone.
"It's not my fault the man had a heart attack. He just had surgery this morning. What am I supposed to do?" Latimer shouted back.
The guys looked at each other. How did Latimer get this information? Eliot started looking around for anyone suspicious, but the coast was clear. He started wondering if Latimer had one of the nurses on his pay roll or if they hacked into the hospital computer.
"Which makes it a perfect opportunity! He isn't going to be a more vulnerable and easier target than now. You think that once he finds out what happened, he won't be rushing out of bed. Proceed as we have planned, now it's not the time to show mercy" he hung up.
"So, Latimer is just somebody else's pawn?" Tara thought out loud.
"Why does that voice sound so familiar?" Parker inquired.
"Because we have already met him" Eliot answered. His expression was hard.
"What do you mean?" Hardison looked up.
"That was Dubenich" Revenge was a powerful motive and Dubenich had more than three years to plan his. He was dangerous, his anger had blinded him and Nate was his only target.
"Dubenich? As the first guy we took down?" Hardison asked shocked. "But he is in prison, I've checked. He is still inside."
"Obviously that isn't stopping him"
"Guys, what are you all talking about?" Maggie asked confused.
The team filled Maggie with the latest events, from how they discovered someone had bugged their apartment, to how Latimer contacted Nate with his proposition and Nathan's refusal and how they have just found out that Dubenich, the first man they have conned, was behind everything only wanting revenge for what Nate has done to him.
"So, what do you have in mind?" she asked Eliot. She remembered that when Nate and her had been captured in Kiev, the hitter had worked out a fantastic plan to get them out.
"Nate and Sophie don't have to know about this" he stated firmly. "Sophie needs to think about the babies and Nate needs time to recuperate. This is all up to us, agree?"
They all nodded.
"Guys, you can come in now!" Sophie called behind them.
"I thought we couldn't go all in?" Parker questioned.
"Well, if you're quick, they might not notice!"
They all went in the room and were surprise of how fragile their leader looked. For them, Nate had always been strong, even when he was completely drunk or out of control. But now he seemed so weak. Or at least his body was, because his eyes still had that fire in them, which reassured them a little.
"Maggie, what are you doing here?" Nate was startled to see his ex-wife coming in.
She laughed. "It's good to see you too, Nate" she gave a quick and gentle hug. "You scared us all quite a bit. Especially when Sophie had to call me telling me that you had a heart attack."
"Sophie called you?" he eyed his girlfriend.
"Yes, I think I forgot to mention how Maggie and I became friends when you were in prison" she smiled at him mischievously.
"You and Maggie? Friends?" he looked shocked and scared at the same time.
"Huh, huh" she nodded still grinning.
"Oh, congratulations, by the way" Maggie followed Sophie's lead and started playing with him too.
"Congratulations?"
"On the babies" she confirmed. "It's going to be so wonderful, I can't wait for them to be born"
"You know about the babies?" Nate had the feeling that he was going to have another attack.
"Nate, relax! I'm okay with it. I knew about you and Sophie long ago. She told me as soon as it started"
"I'm not sure I'm okay with the two of you being friends" he eyed uncertainly.
"Well, there's nothing you can do about it now, love" Sophie mocked him.
Nate's eyes feel on the other three members of the team that had stayed at the back of the room. "Hey,"
Parker was the first to move. With a quick movement she got to Nate and hugged him hard and just as quickly she released him. "I'm glad you are not dead"
"Thank you, Parker. I'm glad I'm not dead too."
"How is it going, boss?" Hardison got closer to the bed too.
"I've been better, but it's a lot better than when I have to listen to your music " He tried to lighten the mood.
"I'm just trying to broaden your horizons"
Eliot just gave him a nodded and Nate nodded back.
"Things are going to change from now on." The hitter told him. "No more crappy food for you. And you will exercise more and try those relaxing techniques I've told you about. But more importantly, no more alcohol!"
Nate dropped his head backwards and groaned.
"You've all agreed to this, so don't even think about fighting us." Sophie said sternly "Like I said before, Nate. I'm not going to raise these kids on my own and I'm going to make sure that you're going to be there to see them grow."
Nate understood how important it was for her. "Okay, I promise I'll try to follow all the rules."
The door suddenly opened at Doctor Kendall walked in while was still reading a medical file. He quickly lifted his head up when he felt more people in the room
"What are you all doing here? I thought I said no more than two people at the time!"
"It's okay, Doctor" Nate said from his bed. "They can stay"
"Well, Mister Ford, it's good to finally see you awake." For now he ignore the broken rule and went closer to his patience's monitor. "It seems you're doing okay"
"When can I get out of here?" Nate asked eagerly.
"NATE!" Sophie chastised him giving him a small slap on his arm.
Doctor Kendall chuckled. "You've just got here and you want to leave us already" His tone got serious. "I'm not going to lie to you. It's going to be a long recovery. You have to stay in the hospital at least a week. Then three months of exercising, a strict diet, no work of a month and…" he looked at the room full of people and then his eyes stopped on Sophie. "… well, certain things are better left said in private" he complete embarrassed.
Sophie soon understood the cause of the doctor's hesitation and blushed.
"Okay, now the patience needs his rest so I don't want to see you here until tomorrow morning"
The all started seeing their good-byes to Nate and leave the room. The last one left was Sophie.
"Five minutes" the doctor told her before closing the door behind him.
Sophie leaned down and rested her forehead against Nate's. "You rest tonight, okay?" she whispered to him.
"You too" he closed his eyes and let out a big breath. "Sophie, I'm so sorry how about our fight. I…"
"Shh… it's okay." She palmed his face in her hands. "We were both wrong, but now nothing else matters, expect for you to get better."
"I love you. I should have told you this a long time ago. And it's not only because of the babies."
"I know" she smiled. "I love you too. And I'm happy about the babies. I let my insecurities about being a good mother make me do stupid things. You were right. I should be more careful from now on, because if something happened to them, I don't think I'll ever forgive myself."
"It's going to be okay. We've got everybody else watching our backs. They're not going to let anything happen to us and in six months we will have two beautiful babies in our arms."
There was a knock at the door.
"Okay, I must go now." She kissed him briefly on the lips. "I'll see you tomorrow morning"
"You'll find me here"
Three hours into the night, Nate woke up startled by a mobile phone ringing. With sleepy eyes he looked around and saw that there was a mobile phone on the bed side table that he knew for certain wasn't there before.
"Hello?" he answered carefully.
"Well, hello mister Ford. How are feeling? I know that you had a bit of a rough day" he heard Latimer's laughing voice.
"What do you want?"
"Well, well… such much hostility. I was actually calling you as a favor."
"If it's about that job, I think I've already told you what you could do with it, but you wouldn't have risk sending one of your men in here just to hear it again."
He chuckled. "You're a funny man, mister Ford. Sadly, when you told me no, I had to send in the next man on the list to procure the item for me."
Nate soon understood who he meant. "I don't see how that's my problem"
"His entry plan was flawless, he got in the yesterday without a problem. But I haven't heard from him since then. Something is wrong"
Nate already knew that something wasn't right, but he wasn't going to give the satisfaction to Latimer. "He doesn't like the price, so he's going to sit on the item until you double it. It's what he does."
"Well, I know he didn't leave the building, so when it opens in two days, he'll be arrested and die in prison"
"Like I've said, not my problem" Nate hung up.
Nate was conflicted. He wanted to stay, he needed to stay, but he had no other choice. He had to go and save him. Slowly, he got up the bed and made his way towards the locker where his clothes and personal items had been stored. He wasn't very stable on the feet and his chest hurt like hell. He really didn't know how he was going to make it there. For a moment he considered calling the team or at least leave them a note, leave Sophie a note, but he had to do this alone. He wasn't going to put Sophie and his children in danger again. Making sure that the corridor was free, he made his way out of the hospital.
