Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Seasons Greetings. May you be safely home with your loved ones, May your heart be filled with love, and may your only concern be how you can eat all the food you want and still fit into your favorite pair of jeans.
Sorry about the long wait. I have nothing to say for myself except that I lost my mind reading everyone else's amazing Stories. Thankfully I had someone… Spotlight shines down on Melodious329… trying to keep me on track and focused on one story and not the million other plot bunnies running thru my head.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. I'm just showing my love for a wonderful show. No harm is intended.
Warnings: As always no beta, I can't spell and my grammar stinks. If you can deal with that read on.
Leverage Leverage Leverage
"What guidelines..and where exactly are we staying." Eliot demanded, not liking the sheepish look on Nate's face as the older man took a step back from the bed.
"Nancy has opened her home to us. We actually moved our things over there a few days ago."
"You moved your things over there…" Elliott stated.
"No, no.. our things, the whole teams in fact." Nate said in the voice Eliot recognized as the one he used when he was trying to act innocent.
"You didn't think maybe you should have asked me if I was okay with staying with Hardison's Nana?" Eliot demanded, he was tired of everyone making decisions for him.
"Well at the time you would have been pretty agreeable to anything." Nate fought not to smile as he remembered more than one morphine induced conversation he'd had with Eliot. Instead Nate waved his hand in dismissal.
Eliot grunted, "Yeah, don't think we ain't gonna talk about that." He warned.
"Before or after we talk about your unauthorized activities?"
"Hey," Eliot smirked. "Nurse Ratchet said I should make use of the facilities while she changed the sheets on the bed."
"I don't think you taking a shower was quite what she had in mind." Nate pointed out.
"She'll be more specific the next time won't she."
"I swear I don't know who was happier to see Linda come on shift, you or her."
"I think it was a tie." Eliot responded, if the exhaustion in his voice didn't show that the earlier escapade had taken a lot out of him the jaw popping yawn that followed left no room for doubt.
The room was silent for a few minutes, Eliot tracked the sound of Nate moving to the couch and settling down with the newspaper, he had just about reached that elusive place between sleep and wakefulness. That place where everything was soft and warm and he could turn off the endless cycle of questions and conclusions that kept running through his mind about a certain missing team mate. He could feel that peace pulling him in…
"Is staying with Nancy going to be that difficult for you? I thought the two of you were coming to some sort of understanding." Nate asked the joking tone of earlier gone, replaced now with quiet seriousness.
Eliot sighed, with that question any hope for relaxation was gone and the cycle of questions started again. "Yeah, the understanding is the problem."Eliot mumbled.
"What?"
"I don't have any problems with Nancy." Eliot spoke clearly the second time.
"Well, that's good to hear, but I thought I told you to call me Nana." Nancy, Parker, and Sophie entered the room.
"Yes Ma'am" There was a slight hesitation"…Nana, you did." Eliot smiled at the older woman.
Sophie shot a look at Nate confirming he too caught the pause, before moving to greet the hitter."Well look at you, It looks like someone had a productive morning." Sophie leaned down and kissed Eliot on his freshly shaven cheek.
"Yeah, I was up long enough to get a shower and wash my hair." Eliot replied. "Linda helped with the shave."
"Ah, that explains the missing patch." Sophie motioned to his chin. "They must think you're doing better if they let you up long enough to shower."
"Let is a bit of a stretch." Nate smiled at the look of betrayal that Eliot shot him. Then He settled back into his seat and watched as Sophie and Nancy took turns scolding the younger man.
"Eliot!" "Eliot Spencer!" "And you wonder why we won't leave you here alone." "If you've done anything to set back your recovery!"
"Hey, no threatening the injured party. No harm done, as a matter of fact they are letting me go tomorrow." Eliot managed to break in. "And maybe you should be asking where Nate was at the time."
"Hey, don't try to pull me into your little rebellion. That one was all on you, and they are letting you go IF your fever doesn't spike and everything looks good in the morning." Nate reminded Eliot before turning to Sophie and Nancy. "You just missed Dr. Miller."
Eliot could hear Nate and the two women as they began planning his release like a con, complete with time tables and backup plans. He half expected a power point presentation to appear on the wall as the three moved closer together, but then Hardison had yet to make an appearance so the geek stuff was lacking.
Eliot was just recovering from another yawn when the plopping down of two heavy Styrofoam carry out containers, on the bed table, pulled his attention away from the conversation and toward Parker. "Hey, what are you doing back here so soon." He asked then smiled softly at the blond thief. The team had been taking turns staying at the hospital. Nate, despite his hatred of the place, always arrived around 10:00 AM and was there until sometime after the evening Ambein train left the station. Eliot was sure Nate waited just to be sure the medication did its job and he had been dragged into a drug induced sleep. Eliot dreaded trying to get his sleep schedule back on track, but he was hard pressed to refuse the medication. It was hard enough keeping himself entertained during the day. The thoughts of laying awake, and still, all night was more than even he could stand.
Sophie, Nancy , and Millie usually made several appearances during the day. But Parker was always there when he woke in the mornings, a warm presence curled next to him on his good side. The feather light touch of her hand laying on top of the bandages. As if to protect the wound from further injury. Parker's presence next to him was mainly the reason for his dislike of a certain nurse. No one scolded Parker but him, and never for something as innocent as seeking to give and receive reassurance and comfort.
Parker opened the boxes to reveal two perfectly molded blocks of snow. "Sophie doesn't like the cold and Nate's always here. I thought maybe you could build a snowman with me." Reaching into her coat pocket Parker placed a ziplock bag of cookie decorations into the table.
Eliot could see the snow already trying to melt in the heat of the room and knew they were looking at a sloppy mess in the making but reached out anyway and gathered a handful of snow and started packing it into a loose ball, a small smile playing on the corner of his lips as he looked up at Parker and tilted his head toward the group still huddled in conversation on the couch. Parkers eyes grew wide in childish delight.
"Eliot Spencer, if so much as one flake of that snow makes it to this side of the room…" Nancy left the threat open hanging in the air.
"Alec you've got to get the whole room, not just that one spot. " Millie stated as she waved Alec to continue vacuuming the bedroom floor while she dusted the furniture. "I can't wait to get that boy home where I can look after him."
Alec rolled his eyes but continued as directed. "Aunt Millie, Eliot is not a little kid, he is a grown man who doesn't do looking after."
Millie huffed. "Everyone needs looking after sometimes Alec, no matter how old you get or how hard you try to deny it. Sometimes it's just good to know someone cares."
"Eliot knows we care." Alec stopped vacuuming and looked at his aunt.
"Are you sure?" Millie asked, satisfied with the dusting and moving on to strip the comforter and mattress cover from the bed so both could be laundered along with the sheets from the linen closet.
Alec turned off the vacuum "Aunt Mille he's our friend, of course he knows we care that he was hurt."
"You haven't spent much time checking on your friend." Millie countered.
"That's because he's always asleep."Alec defended himself.
"Maybe if you went in the daytime instead of the middle of the night, when you know he'll be asleep, you would have better luck catching him awake."
"You act like I'm avoiding him, why would I do that? It's not like I shot him."
Millie looked at Alec, as she gathered the items in her arms. "Sometimes words cause more damage than weapons Alec, no matter how well intentioned they are."
"Aunt Mille what are you talking about."
"I'm not talking, I'm telling you.." Millie stopped fussing with the linens to focus her full attention on Alec. "that boy was hurt long before he walked into my diner that night. You don't just walk away from friends and family unless something is wrong. "
"Aunt Millie, Eliot just gets funny sometimes. You never know what's gonna set him off and cause him to storm off."
Millie fought to control her temper. "Is that what happened? Did he get mad and storm off? From what I've gathered talking to Nancy and your friends, these last few days, only one person knew Eliot had left the apartment . And yes, I've only known Parker for a short time but even I understood her motivations on stealing the boy's wallet. So tell me Alec if he wasn't storming out and instead slipping away what made him feel so unwanted that he left?"
"I don't know Aunt Millie, I tried to make everything go smoothly. I brought each of them home to meet Nana a few months ago. I made sure that I introduced them one at a time so she could get to know them. My friends, well none of them are exactly overflowing with family. I wanted to share what you and Nana gave me. I told Nana all about them beforehand so there wouldn't be any problems. Everything seemed to go so good. Then Nana invited us all up for Christmas and I just don't know."
Millie placed the bedding in a pile on the center of the bed and sat down, patting the space beside her indicating that she wanted Alec to sit also. "you know Alec, I talked to Millie while we sat in the waiting room, before we knew that my sweet boy was your friend. I asked her how things had gone at dinner that night. I know you said you told Nancy about your friends."
"Yeah, I told her about Parkers bluntness, and that really no matter what she said she meant no disrespect. I told her about Nate's loss and the battle he was fighting with alcohol. I Warned her about Eliot's tendency to punch things and his issues with personal space. I told her about Sophie and.. "
Millie interrupted Alec . "You told her about Parker, Nate, and Sophie, but you warned her about Eliot."
"Yeah, I mean Eliot is a great guy once you get to know him, but he can be scary as hell at times especially when we are working. I saw Sophie grab his arm one time and I swear I heard his spine pop he got so tense. I startled him one time on a con..we were undercover at a hospital, if Eliot didn't have the reflexes of a cat he would have hurt me with the punch he was ready to throw. You know how Nana is with the hugging I had to warn." Alec tried to explain.
"You know Nate explained to Nancy and I about your 'Jobs'. Eliot's job is to protect the team. If I understand it correctly he goes to work every day knowing that it's a very real possibility that he's going to be on the receiving end of at least one blow, or required to deliver one himself. I would assume that after a while a person might become conditioned to try to avoid sudden contact with people." Millie said, hoping that Alec would understand what she was trying to say.
"Okay so maybe I should have found another way to tell her about Eliot, maybe tell her he was Shy or something. " Alec laughed at the thought of Eliot being Shy. "but what difference would it have made? " Alec asked.
"Well, for one Nancy wouldn't have felt like she was walking on egg shells trying not to set off your friend. And second Eliot wouldn't have been in a position to feel the tension that you warning caused.
Leverage Leverage Leverage
"Nate? What's wrong?" Sophie asked as they double checked the lists they were making having noticed the way the man grew quieter as the planning session progressed.
"Nancy, I'm not sure staying with you is going to be such a good idea." Nate said quietly. "I think Eliot will be more comfortable at the hotel. If we follow the guidelines we'll be okay."
"Has Eliot said something?" Sophie questioned. Nate nodded slightly.
"I know that you would do your best, but Elliott is going to need more than a bed and room service. Do you think that hotel restaurant is going to care about his restrictive diet? Do you want to have to worry about how clean the room actually is? I have more than enough room in my house for all of us. Besides, it will give me a chance to make up things to him." Nancy stated the same reasons she had used when she had first gotten the team to move in.
"Nana, Elliott doesn't expect anything from you." Nate tried at assure her.
"That is the problem Nate. That boy doesn't expect anything from anyone that doesn't involve him being the giver. Don't you think it is time Elliott learned to accept help from his family, don't you think it's time he learned that he deserves to be cared for?"
Nate glanced back at the younger man who is currently trying keep the snow creature from toppling over while Parker applied it's face.
"Nancy, I think we all agree that Eliot more than deserves to be cared for, but right now I don't think he's exactly in the right place to listen to that conversation. There are things that need to be worked out."
"Yes Nate there are, but that's not going to happen unless we can get them in the same location. At least give it a try for a few days. Avoidance isn't going to solve anything, sometimes you just have to throw kids together and let them work it for themselves."
"Fine, we'll give it two days, less if Sophie or I feel like this is causing him undue stress. Still I don't know how much good will occur until the kids admit there is something wrong."
"If I know my sister at least part of the issue is being worked on. " Pulling a note pad from her purse Nancy called out. "Elliott baby, tell me something like to eat."
"Nana, I really don't want you to go to any trouble, anything you make will be fine." Eliot assured the woman despite the fact that he really didn't want to be staying at her house once released.
"Let's start with something easy, what is your favorite dessert?" Nancy chose to ignore Elliott statement.
Elliott shot Nate a look clearly asking for help but Nate broke eye contact Elliott spoke. "Chocolate cake with chocolate icing." He stated in defeat.
"Chocolate cake." Nana began writing, only to be stopped by Sophie.
"Nancy, he can't have the cocoa remember?" Sophie said as she flipped back thru the nutritional guide.
Nate chanced a look at the hitter. He was expecting a glare, not the look of little boy disappointment. "I can have some." Elliott said, but the ladies were on a roll.
"He likes banana pudding with the cookies, but no whipped cream." Parker offered, even as she made a face at the mention of the hated topping.
Nana looked down at her list. "No on the bananas, we have to watch the potassium."
"He orders cobbler when we stop at roadside diners." Nate stated.
"Guys, I'm right here. I can tell you what I like." Elliott said in frustration.
"Now a cobbler I think I can do. I can use non-sugar sweetener." Nana looked up at Elliott. "Apple cobbler or peach cobbler baby?"
"Peach!" Parker chirped, Eliot only eats apples that are cold and crunchy... And only if they don't have razor blades."
"Peach on the cobbler, apples if they are crunchy, no raz…. What?" Nana looked up at the innocent look on Parker's face.
Sophie shook her head. "Long story."
TBC