Chapter 14

It was a nurse not a doctor that came and found them ten minutes later. She spoke English haltingly and very poorly but it did not matter. The words she uttered were what mattered to them. Nate was still alive. The doctors had managed to bring him back and he was stable enough to be taken to surgery. She told them that as soon as any other information was available they would be informed. She looked at the woman on the gurney and saw that the right side of her face bore a nasty cut and the cheek was swollen and bruised. She told them she would get somebody to come and have a look at her. Then she left. It took a few more minutes for them to truly comprehend what she had said. Nate was still alive. He was alive and fighting.

A doctor came to them a few minutes later and took Sophie into an examination room. The cut looked horrible and bloody but it was not deep enough to require stitches. The doctor cleaned the wound and dressed it with dissolvable strips which would pull it together and help the healing process. He then proceeded to check Sophie completely for any other injuries, internal or external, but found nothing further to concern him. He told them they could all wait in the exam room they were in and that he would make sure the nurses knew where to find them with news of their friend. Eliot thanked him and then he was gone.

"Do we wake her?" Parker asked standing beside Sophie her hand gently resting on the woman's shoulder.

"No…I think it's best if we leave her for now. There is nothing she can do and the worrying and waiting will not be good for her."

"I say we wake her." Hardison contradicted Eliot which brought the Hitters eyes to him. "Eliot…she thinks he's dead man…she thinks he's dead!" Eliot did not reply immediately. He thought about Hardison's words. Sophie thought she had watched Nate die. If it were him, he would want to know there was still hope, that he was not dead but fighting for life.

"You're right Hardison…she would want to know that…she needs to know that." He said.

Parker smiled and squeezed Sophie's arm shaking her slightly. The woman did not stir. Eliot moved over to Sophie's side and gently shook her too. Still Sophie did not stir.

"She's out…it's been too much for her." Eliot says softly as he pulls a blanket over her. "She'll wake up in her own time. We just have to let her be. If she isn't awake when we get any news of Nate we'll wake her." What he did not say is that if Nate did not make it through the surgery, at least she would not have to relive his death again. They would be able to shield her from that.

"How long do you think the surgery will take?" Parker asked nervously, her mind returning to their Mastermind.

"I don't know Parker. Not less than a few hours I should think." Eliot replied.

"Well, we haven't eaten in a while, why don't you and I go down to the cafeteria and see what there is." Hardison said. He did not want to sit around staring at a sleeping, no strike that, an unconscious Sophie worrying about whether Nate was hanging in there and dreading that any moment a doctor was going to come and deliver bad news to them. Keeping Parker busy would also be good for her.

"Good idea… I'll have some coffee too." Eliot said smiling at the Hacker. Hardison nodded then grabbed Parkers hand and led her out of the little exam room.

When they had left Eliot let out a deep sigh and allowed himself to relax a little. He had to keep his emotions intact. The stress of the last few days had taken their toll even on him. He knew that it was not over yet either. Even if Nate survived the surgery he was probably not going to be in the best shape. It was going to be at least another couple of days before he would truly be out of the woods. Eliot looked down at Sophie. He pictured her shielding the man from the bullet that bloody pirate was going to put into Nate and his blood started to boil again. Now that he had time to think he recalled the words that the man had uttered to her. Had he harmed her in some other way? The way he was speaking it was as if…No, Nate would never have allowed that. He sighed deeply again, he hated it when his people, his family were hurt, he hated it because it was not supposed to happen, he was supposed to prevent it from happening. He knew he was being irrational, there was no way he could have prevented any of this from happening. He knew that he had worked as quickly and as efficiently as he could to get them back. The fact that Sophie lay passed out and Nate was perhaps dying was not his fault. Still he felt bad, he should have gotten to them sooner…he should have. Eliot took a seat on one of the plastic chairs that were lined against the wall and rested his head against the wall waiting for the other two to return with food and coffee.

Four hours later Sophie resurfaced. At first she was disorientated and then she became almost hysterical as she remembered what she had witnessed. It took a good few minutes of quiet talking to calm her down and convince her that Nate was not dead after all. They had no news of the Mastermind since the nurse had told them that he was being taken to surgery. As far as Eliot was concerned that was good news in itself. It meant Nate was still alive. Two hours later found them out in the waiting area. Sophie could not lie, or sit still for that matter. She paced nervously in front of the doors behind which they had told her Nate had been taken. She would sit for a few minutes but then got up and started pacing again. None of the three tried to stop her. During the two hours Sophie had related their story, from when they were taken to when Eliot and the others had found them. Eliot's face grew dark and foreboding as her story unfolded, it was a good thing he had not known the details before, he was not sure he would have been able to restrain himself from wiping out the whole lot of them for what they had done.

Finally the doors swung open. The doctor who emerged looked a little tired but he did not have the look of somebody bearing bad news Eliot decided. He immediately approached their little group coming to a halt just in front of them.

"Mrs. Ford…?" He asked Sophie who nodded at the question but remained silent.

"I am Doctor Jean-Pierre Routin I operated on your husband." He said his English was quite good although he had a heavy French accent. "Let us take a seat over here shall we?" He said taking her arm and leading her to the bench running along the side of the wall.

"Is he…" Sophie could not bring herself to say the word 'dead' leaving the question hanging in the air.

"No…no he is not." The doctor said much to all of their relief. "He made it through the surgery, we had a few close calls but he hung in." He continued. "Your husband is a fighter Mrs. Ford." He smiled at her.

"Yes…yes he is." Sophie said softly unable to stop the tears from falling. The relief she felt was overwhelming.

"Yes, well as I said he survived the surgery. He had a lacerated Spleen that had been seeping blood into his intestines. We were able to repair the damage and did not have to remove the spleen, which is a good thing. We were also able to repair the damage to the tissue around it. We also had to give him two blood transfusions. Fortunately there was no other major damage to the other organs. He is a very lucky man." The doctor continued. Sophie smiled at that. Nate would never call himself a lucky man, though he most certainly was.

"Now there is one problem…" The doctor said brining a look of concern and angst to her face.

"We are having difficulty rousing. I am not too concerned. He has suffered major trauma and this is his bodies' way of giving itself time to heal. We will monitor the situation over the next forty eight hours and then we will make a decision of what to do next. Now I do not want to lie to you Mrs. Ford, although the surgery went well, there are many complications that could occur, we will monitor him closely for any of them, sepsis being the most likely. He is still in critical condition but, like I said, the next forty eight hours will tell us what we need to know." He said.

"Can I see him?" Sophie asked softly.

"He is still in recovery, but once they have moved him to the ICU I will tell the nurse to let you see him." The doctor said then stood to leave. "As I said before Mrs. Ford your husband is a fighter, I am optimistic of his chances." He smiled then left them.

"He's still alive…he has a fighting chance…that's all Nate needs…" Hardison said suddenly breaking the silence. All eyes turned towards him as he smiled broadly. "Nate is good at fighting…"

So Nate is still alive, but not out of the woods. Thank you all for your continued support and your lovely reviews. I look forward to reading all of them, I love knowing what you thoughts about the chapter and the story as a whole. Thank you all for reading