Chapter 12
By the evening they had still had no luck finding Parker. Hardison and Eliot had been to all of her places, well at least all the ones that Hardison had any knowledge of. Of course the first place they went to is where Hardison had tracked her phone to although neither of thought they would find her there. They did find the phone and a note which simply ready "sorry" and "Goodbye". Hardison also noticed that certain objects were missing, ones he was sure she would not have taken if she was intending to return. It was clear that that they were not going to find the woman unless she wanted to be found. By six they had made their way back to the Hospital. Sophie was still sitting with Nate when they arrived.
"Any change?" Eliot asked. as she walked out the room.
"No…Any sign of Parker?"
"Do you care…?" Hardison said under his breath. As the day had drawn on he had become angrier with Sophie for treating Parker the way she had. If she had just shown a little less antagonism towards the woman she would not have run. He was still convinced that Sophie must have said something that made the girl run that morning.
"Yes Hardison I care." Sophie said looking at the Hacker hurt by the suggestion that she did not care about Parker, she cared she was just angry with her for her behaviour. "Of course I care."
"Well maybe if you hadn't behaved the way you did…"
"I was scared. I still am. Nate may die and…and I am scared, for him, for her, for us…" Sophie told the Hacker. "I'm sorry I just…" Sophie sighed heavily. "I can't lose him Hardison…"
"Don't you think she felt the same…?" Hardison asked. "Don't you think she was scared of losing him? Hell don't you think we all are? She got him into this so it is worse for her… and you... Don't you think Parker loves him as much as you do…she would do anything for him."
"Well she should have thought about that before pulling him into this situation." Sophie retorted her own anger building again. Yes she was wrong for the way she had treated the woman, but this was Nate they were talking about.
"You…"
"Enough." Eliot growled at them. "Enough. We are a family. Nate needs us to stand together, what do you think he would say to this…?" Eliot said waving his hand at both of them. "Hardison we will find Parker, we will. Nate will pull through and we will find Parker." Eliot said with determination in his voice. This was his family and he was damned if he was going to lose any one of them.
Sophie nodded and looked at Hardison who also nodded.
"Good. Now let's have some food." Eliot said taking the packet they had brought in and handed out the Chinese they had bought on their way to the hospital.
"She won't go far Hardison, not until she knows Nate is going to be fine. She will stay around at least until then." Sophie said between bites. "I know she loves him. I know what he means to her, to all of you. To all of us."
"She lost Archie and then Nate…she is in a bad place and now she thinks she has lost her family too." Hardison replied. He did not know what Parker would do. She would stay around waiting for news of Nate of that he was as sure as the others. She might even be watching them right now and they would never know. After that, he was afraid she would be gone, a ghost flitting back into the world she had come from and they would never see her again. The thought made his heart clench in fear.
"Well she hasn't. No matter what happens, even if Nate…" Eliot took a deep breath and looked directly at Sophie. "Even if Nate doesn't make it…we are still a family including Parker." Eliot was thinking the same thing as Hardison and if Parker was around and listening to them, then he wanted her to hear that.
Inside Nate's room a lithe figure dropped from one of the vents in the room. She approached Nate's bed making sure that she could not be seen from outside the room. This was the only time that Nate was left completely alone.
"I'm sorry Nate…" She said taking the limp hand of the Mastermind's in hers. "Please don't die."
Parker stood staring down at the man in the bed and then felt his hand twitch in hers. She immediately focused on the man and saw his eyelids flutter as he came back to consciousness.
"Parker…" Nate whispered as he looked up at blonde Thief.
"Nate…" Parker said tears falling from her eyes.
"Are you ok?" Nate asked his voice almost inaudible and weak.
"Oh Nate yes…yes it's over, Bogden's brother had us and then Bogden took you from the yacht and then you ran from them and then…"
"Slow down Parker…" Nate said closing his eyes. He was not following anything the woman said. All he knew was she was safe and they were in a hospital. Vaguely he wondered where the others were.
"Sorry…but you are safe and you are going to be alright…" Parker said squeezing his hand.
"Where is Sophie…" Nate asked fighting the blackness that called to him again.
"She's outside…" Parker said and then watched as Nate's eyes fell closed again and he sank back into unconsciousness. Parker put her hand on Nate's forehead and whispered a tearful goodbye to the Mastermind. Then she turned and climbed back into the vent closing it behind her.
Nate did not surface again until the next morning and when he did he found Sophie sitting beside him holding his hand. Hardison was sitting in the corner of the room working on his computer and Eliot stood by the door watching over all of them. He squeezed Sophie's hand and turned his head slightly to look at him.
"Soph…" He whispered.
"Nate…oh Nate welcome back sweetheart…" She said standing up and leaning over him with a smile on her face.
"Hey Nate…" Eliot said stepping forward to stand at the bed and Hardison was also up and at Nate's side the moment he heard Sophie.
"Hey…" He said with a weak smile. He looked around the bed and then frowned. "Where's Parker…?" He asked not seeing the blonde woman. He remembered her being at his bedside, speaking to her.
"She…she's just gone out for a moment darling." Sophie said not wanting to upset him. He had just woken up.
Nate looked up at Sophie and even in his current condition he could tell she was lying. Why would she lie? Had something happened to Parker? For a moment panic set in and his heartbeat increased as he swept his eyes around taking in Hardison's concerned features, something must have happened he thought as he saw Eliot's face darken at the question.
"What happened…where is Parker?" Nate said anxiously and the heart monitor he was attached to started to work overtime as his pulse raced.
"Shh…Nate nothing happened to Parker I promise…She's fine…" Sophie said just as anxiously. "She…she left after you…"
"She left…" Nate interrupted her. But she was here with him and he was sure that was not a dream he remembered talking to her. "But she was here…"
"When…?" Hardison immediately asked.
"I don't know…I…" Nate closed his eyes and tried to remember when he had spoken to her but everything was blurred, he did not know how long ago he had woken up to find Parker at his bedside, hell he did not even know how long he had been in the hospital. The last thing he really remembered was trying to phone Sophie and then nothing.
"What did she say…?" Hardison asked anxiously.
"She…she said something 'bout Bogden and his brother and…I don't know…" Nate said trying to recall the whole conversation. He did remember she had been crying. But Parker did not cry. Parker never cried, well except for when the psychic had brought up her brother but other than that, Parker did not cry. "We need to find her…" Nate said trying to push himself up in the bed but collapsing backwards in pain as he did so, his breath was coming in gasps at the effort and beads of sweat had started to gather on his forehead.
"Please Nate, please relax darling, Parker is fine and she will be back…please darling you need to relax…" Sophie said alarmed by the turn of events.
Nate had is eyes squeezed shut against the pain that was coursing through him and he could once again feel the darkness closing in. He fought to hold on, he needed to know what was happening with Parker but eventually he lost the battle against unconsciousness and was lost to them again.
"We have to find her and get her back here." Sophie said not looking at either of the two men standing at the bed as she ran her hand through Nate's sweat matted hair. Damn Parker…damn her for doing this. First she put him in the hospital and now, when he needed her to be there she disappeared. She never thought of anything or anyone but herself Sophie thought to herself her anger at the woman rising again. After everything Nate had done for her after everything he had taught her about family and being there for each other…she does this.
"The problem is we have no idea where to even start looking for her." Eliot said. "Nate said she was here, that he spoke to her. That means she knows Nate is going to be fine. That means…"
"She is in the wind." Hardison whispered. "We'll never find her…"
Thanks again to for all the great reviews. So will they find Parker? Where do you think she would have gone? Will there be a confrontation between Sophie and Parker if they do find her. What will Nate do when he wakes again to find that Parker is still not there? What will Nate's reaction be to the fact that Parker left because of Sophie?
