A/N: Here's chapter 14. Reviews really make my day, so please read and review. Thanks to all who have read, followed, favorited and reviewed so far-I'm really feeling the love.

I don't own Leverage or any of the characters in this story, except those of my own creation. I write for fun and not for profit. I don't write slash.

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoyed writing it for you.

Chapter 14

Vance escorted Hardison into the kitchen, sat the young man at the kitchen table, and pulled a bottle of water out of the refrigerator, watching Hardison furtively as he did so.

"What would you like to eat?" he asked, handing the water to the hacker.

Twisting the top off of the bottle, Hardison took a long swallow of his drink. "Nothing," he said. "Anything. I don't care."

"You must be hungry, and we'll be in here for a while either way, so you might as well eat." He brought some fruit, along with the tray of cold cuts over to the table and sat down across from Hardison.

"What is Eliot going to do to Riley?"

Vance took the measure of the younger man's question for a moment, and then said, "Do you really want me to answer that question?"

Hardison thought for a moment. Did he want to know the answer to that question? He wasn't sure.

"I don't know," he said, turning away, but Vance could tell the thought disturbed him.

"Would you rather Eliot do nothing, while there's a probability that you all are in danger?"

"No," he said first. Then, "Yes." The power of his horror drove him up out of his chair and he paced over to the sink, embarrassed and refusing to look at the other man. "I don't know," he finally said.

Vance met him at the window and put his hand on Hardison's shoulder. Without a word, he steered him back into the living room and then let go, and seated himself on the sofa. Hardison sat down in the chair adjacent to him. Vance wanted to help the younger man through this—to help him understand somehow.

Before he had a chance to do so, the door to the bedroom opened, and Riley walked out, followed by Shelley, who had his gun in Riley's back. He nodded to Vance.

"I'll be back after I make sure Mr. Riley here gets where he is going safely."

"I'm sure Doc will be glad to hear that," Vance said, smiling. Vance spoke into a device he wore on his wrist. Shelley opened the front door, where they were immediately met by four of Vance's men. Shelley looked at Vance. He nodded. Shelley nodded back, but didn't lower his gun, and he accompanied the four men as they left with Riley. Vance smiled to himself. He might think Shelley overreacted sometimes, but he knew the man would make sure, for himself, that Riley was handled properly. That's how he'd trained every member of his team, and he could hardly be surprised or angry when they acted within their training.

He watched as the door closed behind Shelley, and then turned back to the other young man currently in his charge. Walking past Hardison, he nudged his shoulder, and started walking back toward the bedroom where Eliot and Parker waited.

When they arrived, Eliot was seated on one of the two beds in the room, and Parker slept on the other. Sully sat between them, while Doc was opening and closing doors and drawers to the cabinets in the room, putting away some medical equipment. When she finished, she sat down in the chair on the other side of Eliot's bed.

Eliot noticed the look on Hardison's face and on Vance's, and he knew something intense was going on, or had been, a moment ago.

"Vance? Hardison? Is everything all right?"

Vance gave a quick shake of his head, planning to talk to Hardison later about what they were discussing. When neither of them said anything, Doc changed the subject.

"Sully, I'd like a report on the condition of your patients."

Eliot spoke before Sully had a chance. "Before we do that, I believe I need to ask you and Sully for your help."

"What are you thinking, Eliot?"

Glancing at Hardison, he said, "Well, you heard Riley. Whoever wanted me dead is watching. We don't know how close. The only way to keep Riley alive is to make them think he killed me. We'll have to make it convincing, and we'll need to find a safer place to finish this process."

Hardison spoke up, "Why do you care about keeping Riley alive?"

"Because right now, we're the good guys, and the good guys don't kill people. And it's good for us if they think I'm dead, too. Means they won't come after us. Besides, if they kill him, we won't know who it was who wants me dead, and that's a bad situation for a number of reasons."

While he was talking to Hardison, Doc and Sully had their heads together, whispering between themselves and preparing materials. When he stopped talking, Sully held a stethoscope to his chest, and said, "Heartbeat's strong. Succinylcholine?"

"No," Eliot said.

"Do you have a better suggestion?" Doc asked.

"Short of blowing the place up? No. Okay. Succinylcholine," Eliot agreed, but she could tell he wasn't happy about it.

"Mr. Hardison?" she said, looking at the young man. "Come over here, please."

Hardison moved over and stopped in front of Doc, next to Eliot's bed. "Take his hand."

Eliot looked annoyed and said, "That's not necessary."

"I'll say what's necessary." She looked at Hardison. "Succinylcholine is a mild paralytic. He'll be awake but unable to move and it's smart to have someone with him to help keep him calm until the effects wear off. Sully'll need to give him oxygen."

"Why Sully?"

"Is that a problem?"

"Not at all, I just wondered."

"I thought Parker might feel more comfortable with a doctor she knows. She should be close to waking up soon. In addition to the fluids she's receiving, I want to give her a cocktail of the strongest anti-virals we have, and some prescription Tylenol to bring down her fever. What can you tell me about her medical history?"

"Next to nothing. Only what I've learned over the last five years, while treating the team's injuries. In that time, she's had a couple of concussions and a knee injury."

"Is she allergic to any medications?"

"None that I'm aware of."

"Good enough. Are you ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be. Let's do this."

"Relax and Hold still. We'll see you on the other side." With that, Doc injected him with the succinylcholine. With no time to waste, Vance and Sully carried him out the front door, and put him in Vance's SUV. Sully climbed in beside him, motioning Hardison to climb in on the other side. When the doors closed behind them, Sully put an oxygen mask over his head, setting the tank beside Hardison, Vance and Doc then laid Parker out across the back seats, and Doc climbed in beside her. Vance closed the back driver's side door, and moved up to the driver's seat. He started driving.

Doc opened her medical kit, and took out a small flashlight, and a field copy of a medical reference guide. She started researching drugs and their interactions. Half an hour later, she heard movement in the hatch, and then she heard a gravelly groan.

"Shh. Don't take the oxygen mask off. We're not finished yet. Hold still." A moment later, the movement stopped and it was quiet again.

"Vance, where are you headed?

"Thinking Walter Reed."

"That's as good as any. Can you put the base on lockdown while we're there?"

"Already done. No one's allowed on or off without military credentials."

"Good."