(I just wanted to take a minute to thank everyone for the wonderful reviews. I'm really pleased that so many of you are enjoying my story, it's very encouraging.)

By the time they arrived Sophie and Nate had their portion of the unpacking completed. Eliot's clothes were all neatly organized in the dresser in the master bedroom. Sophie had purchased new toiletries in his favorite brands, so he had everything from his brand of toothpaste to the shampoo and conditioner he liked best. There were fresh linens on the beds and towels hanging in the bathrooms and the kitchen was fairly well stocked although Eliot would surely have a list of necessities to add to what had already been provided. Sophie had taken Parker's preferences into consideration as well. So in addition to the gourmet items and fresh produce Eliot preferred there was also a half dozen boxes of cereal, a box of fortune cookies and an assortment of junk food for her to enjoy.

By the time they reached the apartment Eliot was squinting behind his shades as the bright sunlight assaulted his sensitive senses, made his head ache and his pulse pound in his temples. He leaned against the door of the car, as he tried to make himself comfortable in the backseat with his leg stretched out. Every bounce, every turn, the slightest jerk of the wheel in Hardison's hands made him cringe and wince. He was sore from head to toe, certain areas lit up like Christmas with pain. He closed his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest, huddling into his jacket and trying to curl in upon himself protectively. Worst of all he couldn't push past it, he couldn't force it aside and soldier through the injuries. It was just too much to tough it out. He was angry at himself for not being stronger, more capable; he hated feeling weak. And he did right then, he felt weak and useless and fucked up in general.

Parker kept glancing back in the rear view mirror. She had first thought to climb into the backseat with him but while she had run back into Nate's apartment to retrieve the bunny fur blanket that had almost been left behind Alec had helped Eliot into the backseat and he was already sprawled there, so she had taken up shot gun. It took everything in her to not ask Eliot is he was alright. It sounded like a pretty stupid question, even to her. He was obviously not alright, it was just a matter of gauging just how far he had gone past alright at the moment.

Thankfully the drive was short, and they pulled up in front of the building less than fifteen minutes after they had left Nate's. Hardison moved to get the wheelchair out of the trunk while Parker opened the back door to help Eliot. While they were setting up the chair, putting on the brakes and helping their friend from the car into the seat of the chair, three people on the corner decided they had nothing better to do than watch. Eliot was beyond noticing, is misery was palpable, Hardison saw them but just shook his head and kept trying to make himself useful. Parker however had enough by that point. Between Eliot being in pain and looking so pale under his bruises that she was beginning to genuinely worry for him; with the nightmare still fresh in her mind, and the fact that people were just unbelievably rude she couldn't bit her tongue any longer. She was crouched down beside Eliot and setting up the leg rest so he could prop up his sprained knee when she turned her face to them and spoke, her voice was loud and clear.

"Excuse me...yes you. All three of you. Are you that bored? Or are you just that ignorant? Yeah look down now, look away because you got caught being jerks. Go...go on get out of here."

She waved her hands at them dismissively the way you would shoo a bunch of kids that were getting in your way.

"Bzzzzz...Go away...For gods sakes..."

Eliot opened his eyes then and pushed his sunglasses down and looked at her, his head shook slightly. He didn't want to exert any more effort on his reaction, it just hurt too much.

"Still nicer than I woulda been."

"Well, when your feeling better you can give me lessons on being intimidating and mean. Why are people so damn rude?"

"Beats me darling. They just are."

He pushed his glasses back up then, but not before she saw him wince. All she wanted to do then was get him inside, where he could lay down and close his eyes. Hardison grabbed the blanket and Parker's bags from the trunk and left Parker to do the pushing. The doorman had been expecting them and introduced himself to the buildings newest tenants. His name was Gregory and he was polite, just assured them they if they needed anything just to call down, and then held the elevator door while the three of them got inside.

Sophie and Nate were waiting. The grifter looked kind of excited to show Eliot and Parker around the place, but as soon as she saw Eliot her expression changed to concern. She didn't say anything though, figuring that Eliot wouldn't want the extra attention.

Her voice was soft as she held the door open for them.

"The master bedroom is right down this hall."

She led the way and Parker followed. Sophie would draw the curtains closed to soften the light in the room, and turned back the sheets so that they could help Eliot right into bed. The hitter didn't even argue, he hurt so much it was making him sick to his stomach. It took Parker and Sophie both to help him from the chair into the bed, and still there was a lot of wincing and hissing involved. His eyes fell closed before Parker even had his shoes off, and he was half asleep as Sophie spread the sheets over him. Hardison was standing in the doorway with the bunny blanket and the bag of first aid supplies and Eliot's medications. Parker took the blanket from him with a smile of thanks and turned back to Eliot. She'd spread it out over his sleeping figure and then took a seat carefully on the edge of the bed at his side. Sophie continued unpacking, she set the bottles of medication on the bedside table and turned toward the bathroom to leave the bag and it's contents there.

"Can I get a couple of those wrapped gauze pads?"

Sophie dug in the bag and pulled out a handful of the packets and handed them to Parker. When she returned form the bathroom the thief was applying salve to the gash on Eliot's brow, her lower lip was clamped tightly between her teeth as she worked diligently at the task, her eyes focused on the hitters bruised face as she dabbed carefully at the wound.

Sophie would leave here there to finish the task, when she glanced back from the doorway Parker was gently pulling single strands of Eliot's hair out of the ointment on his forehead. Her concern and worry for him was obvious in her expression. Sophie could only guess at all the reasons for those emotions coming to the surface.

Nate and Hardison were in the living room, Hardison was explaining that the car ride seemed to have been difficult on Eliot, and that he had seemed better before they had left. Of course with his injuries that was to be expected, it always hurt worse after you were jostled around a bit.

"He'll be fine, he just needs to rest."

"Nate's right. Eliot will heal in time, he just needs to take it and not push himself too far too fast."

Sophie perched on the arm of the couch next to Nate and leaned in against him, and he wrapped his arm around her waist. It was hard on all of them to see Eliot like this. He just looked so fragile and beaten, and even though they all knew it was temporary. It had still only been a little over a day, he should probably still be hospitalized. If he were anyone but Eliot Spencer he would be.

Sophie turned to Nate when she spoke, but her words were meant for Hardison just as much.

"She's worried, very worried. I'm not certain of course; but I'm wondering how much of what she is feeling for Eliot now goes back to loosing her brother. She has certainly lacked a strong male figure in her life for the majority of it. And Eliot's nature is to protect all of us, but it has always seemed to me that he watches out for Parker more so. She's just more apt to be troublesome."

"She's erratic, he's resolute. In a strange way they compliment one another"

Nate agreed and reached for his drink. Hardison just sat there taking it all in, wondering to himself if he was reading too much into what he had seen passing between the hitter and the thief earlier. This wasn't the time to analyze their relationship. Brother/sister, friends, team mates...the possibility of romance? Hardison decided that for now he wouldn't try to figure anything out. He'd just watch and wait and help when he could. The most important thing right now was getting Eliot well. For his own sake and for all of theirs. They couldn't work without him, or more accurately they wouldn't want to.

Parker came out of the bedroom almost half an hour later, her shoulders slumped, her eyes soft and sad. Even her bouncy step was dragging.

"He's sleeping."

She walked into the living room and sat down next to Nate on the couch; for the first time she looked around the place and nodded.

"It's nice."

Nate put his arm around her and drew her up against his side.

"Parker, he's gonna be alright. It's barely been a day. It just takes some time."

"I know, I know. Hell I keep telling him that. It's just seeing him like this. I mean, that's Eliot. Our Eliot. I've seen him take on a dozen guys and he took all the hits and punches and he was down, but he gets back up so fast. You can;t believe how fast and he wins...he always wins. And he won this time I guess, it just. Those people outside.."

She glanced up to Hardison and he nodded in agreement. Yeah he knew what she was getting at, but for Sophie and Nate she'd continue to explain.

"There were people outside, back at McRory's and then just now out front. And they stared, they looked at him like he was...I don't know...broken, sick...and they don't know him. They don't know what he's capable of...even now if he had to. I guess this is what he means when he's said that no one really wins a fight. I just, it's gonna be awhile before he's himself again. Isn't it?"

"It will happen faster than you can imagine Parker. In a few days your gonna have a hell of a time keeping him down for more than a minute."

Sophie reached over and touched the girls shoulder and Parker nodded again.

"I know. He's stubborn and strong. He's Eliot Spencer. It's just today, I thought today was going to be fun in a way and it was just so hard on him."

They were all quiet for awhile then, each of them considering exactly what was to come, where the difficulties would lie and what they would be expecting. And then the conversation turned to more practical matters.

"Well girl, I have you all set up. I mean you are wired. You not only have security at the door, you have security on all the doors and windows here. If anyone tries to get in without a key I will know immediately. It's all hooked up through the laptop in your bedroom. You have a live feed with Headquarters too so if you need anything day or night you'll have it...just like that."

Hardison snapped his fingers three times in a Z pattern to punctuate the speed to which her needs and Eliot's would be taken care of. They would be in constant contact, even though they were under different roofs.

"Now your earbuds will work of course, so if you need them use them. Otherwise you have credit at three local grocery stores and two pharmacies. All the numbers are speed dialed into the phone here, and the accounts are under Ethan's name. They all deliver."

Sophie would continue from there, explaining what else they had set up to help Parker with her self appointed responsibilities.

"Also on the computer we set you up a calendar with the dates and times of Eliot's follow up appointments. And there's a car in the garage for you to use, the doorman can call up for it they have a valet."

Nate would have the last word.

"Now Parker, I know you want to do this your way and you feel responsible for Eliot. But you are not alone. We are a team, well...more of a family. And we want to help. So if you need anything, we are less than a phone call away. We can stay here with you if you want. Your doing a great job, so no one is trying to step n your toes. But we are here, we want to be here to help."

Parker looked up at each of the three of them and smiled. She knew she wasn't being left alone in this. She knew that each of them would take over for her at a moments notice and never think twice about it. They all loved Eliot. He was their friend, their brother, their team mate, their protector and guardian. He was so many things to each of them it was pretty much undefinable. But this is where she wanted to be and she didn't plan on leaving him any time soon.

"I really appreciate that guys. And everything you did. But you all know that if this were up to Eliot he'd be home alone right now, and none of us would even know he was hurt. So the more people here the more he is going to push himself. He'd accuse us all of hovering like hens."

Sophie smiled and shook her head, Parker was so right.

"Eliot needs more space than any of the rest of us. He's so accustomed to being alone, to working alone it's foreign to him to have this...to be a part of a team, or a family. If we push too hard he will just push back and no one will be the better for it."

They would sit and talk for a little longer and then Parker went to unpack her bags. Nate and Sophie would so first, and although Hardison was still reluctant to leave Parker alone with Eliot he knew when it was time to go. Parker walked him to the door.

"You gonna be alright girl? You sure? I can stay..."

"I'll be fine silly."

She hit him lightly in the arm and sighed.

"Alright then, if your sure I'll just..."

"Thanks Alec."

She stepped up then and wrapped her arms around him and let her head fall onto his shoulder. Parker just stood there for a minute, leaning into his embrace, she knew she had a time of it ahead of her and Hardison was always strong when she needed him to be. Smart and certain, and prepared and kind. She had come to rely on that as much as she did on Eliot to be strong and capable.

Hardison just held her against him, his eyes closed. She felt so good in his arms, it felt so right. But it wasn't the first time he had wondered if she felt the same way he did. It was just the first time he had wondered that and also had to ask himself how she felt about someone else. But among so many other questions that one too would only be answered in time.