Chapter 14

A few weeks later…

If Nate thought that Eliot getting better was a good sign then maybe they were better off with a semi aware Eliot who smiled at them when he saw them.

After coming back from Boston had Eliot watching them like a hawk and they were all walking on eggshells around him. They were told by the doctors that Eliot was indeed getting better. There were signs in his latest scans that the dormant areas were once again beginning to show signs of activity. While this was good news for them it seemed that Eliot knowing there was something wrong was not such a good idea as Nate had previously thought.

The doctors had told them that every brain injury case was different. As dormant areas were once again being used it could go two ways. First Eliot might suddenly remember how to do a specific thing. This was the case they saw in amnesia patients. People knew how to do certain things but didn't remember how or where they learned it. Or Eliot could relearn the skill, the doctor told them that if this was the case then they would notice that Eliot would learn it really fast as the brain would already know it anyway.

The doctor had also told them that Eliot's hippocampus area – the area that all memories were stored – was showing signs of reawakening. And the doctor told them Eliot might be remembering stuff about the past, even them. They were also advised to note changes in emotions and attitudes as memories emerged emotions would be emerging and those were powerful things if one did not remember why they loved or hated someone.

However Nate didn't know what was wrong. Why was Eliot being so edgy? Did Eliot not remember who they were and was wondering who the heck they were and why were they being so nice to him? And if he did remember then why was he so wary of them? They were family after all. Family took care of each other.

"What's the matter?" asked Sophie as she moved next to him. Nate was on the patio that surrounded the house watching Eliot with John doing exercises outside by the waterfront. The thin sheen of sweat and the fact that Eliot was breathing hard just after twenty minutes was a clear sign that he had a long way to go.

"Something is bothering him," he answered without turning around to look at Sophie.

"He could be just wondering who we are if does not remember," suggested Sophie.

"I have a feeling he knows who we are and that is what is bothering me," said Nate. Sophie reminded quiet waiting for Nate to elaborate. "Maybe he never felt like we did. We all thought we were a family however maybe he saw us as people he worked with and now he is wondering why he is here." With that Nate turned to look at Sophie.

"Perhaps he has family somewhere out there that are wondering where he is and would like to take care of him and he would prefer to be with them," said Nate, for the first time in a long time his thoughts were running into each other. In all his thoughts, plans and fears for the future he never thought that the problem might have been Eliot not wanting to be with them.

After a moment of reflection Sophie decided to voice her thoughts, "maybe it is not that he doesn't want to be with us but he thinks we don't want to be with him," she said.

Nate frowned, "how can he think that, we are here are we not?"

"Just listen," she said and went on, "we don't know how much he remembers, we could be people he just worked with for a short while and to be honest we haven't been together for very long so there might not be so many memories that pop up. He might think we are here out of guilt or obligation and when he is better we will let him go."

"Never!" said Nate with force. Even if Eliot wanted to leave he would have a fight on his hands.

"Nate!" said Sophie, apparently she was not getting through. "Just think, it took us all a while to get used to the living arrangements and remember Parker's reaction to your declaration of this," she said gesturing with her arms to incorporate the whole situation. "We all had our memories and experiences when we changed the team dynamic into this. Eliot has just woken up in this situation, it is understandable that he has doubts and suspicions. We just have to give him time and show him that we are not going anywhere."

Nate turned back to look at Eliot who was struggling with sit-ups as John supported him. What Sophie had voiced was something that Nate had not considered. He suddenly remembered Parker's tears as she thought that Nate was leaving her. He knew that all the younger members of his team had abandonment issues. Eliot might not have been abandoned when he was young but Nate knew he felt that way about the army. Nate didn't know the entire story but Eliot had shared bits here and there that Nate knew that something bad had gone down and the United States saying that they had no idea who the soldiers that the foreign government had caught were. Nate knew that some scars never healed.

Just like he cursed Parker's foster parents on occasion he also now had one for the government. He knew that some situations were unavoidable however to turn probably willing patriot soldiers into ones that had trust issues was something else. Wasn't the belief of the army 'never leave a man behind'? It sounded so nice in theory however was not really used when it came to real life.

Nate's mind was running through ideas of what they could do get through to Eliot that they were here to stay. He decided to talk to Hardison, he might have some ideas. He and Eliot had seemed to have developed a silent communication where Nate saw them sitting at one table or another where to everyone surprise Hardison did not speak a lot. He had found out early on that he communicated with Eliot better if he was silent and he interpreted what Eliot wanted to say better than any of them. Eliot on the hand had shown an aptitude towards computers that he had not shown before. He seemed to understand what to do with a mouse and a computer faster and Nate had to hold in a lot of laughter when he found out that Hardison had actually managed to teach Eliot how to navigate a War Craft game and that they spent quite a bit of time playing.

Now that Nate had one problem at least tackled he turned his mind to the other problem at hand. Not only there was the trouble with Eliot Nate had to deal with Parker and her kitten problem that had popped up. On their trip to Boston Parker somehow somewhere had found a little grey kitten which she carried back without informing anyone. She had at first been ecstatic about having a little kitten which she apparently never had before however the problem came with the fact that the kitten after a few days of exploration in the house had decided that Eliot was the one that was supposed to love and pet him. Whenever Eliot was in the vicinity she would climb on his lap and settle down quite happy when the former hitter petted her with soothing movements.

This seemed to upset Parker in which she began to give Eliot the cold shoulder and it upset the whole dynamics of their family. Parker had been one that Eliot liked to spend time with more so then the others and knowing that he upset her somehow he refused to go to her greenhouse which in return put Parker even in a deeper flunk. Words were Nate's strongest suit and he didn't know what to do with Eliot but he knew that he could perhaps get through to Parker so he found himself in front of her art room that afternoon. Eliot had once again refused to go with her and she was sulking in her room. He knocked on the door and waited. When he didn't get an answer he knocked again this time calling her name.

"Paker! Open up,"

"Go away!" came the call from within the room and Nate massaged the bride of his nose. When he lost Sam Nate had never imagined just four years down line he would be having teenage drama problems. He was so bad at this father stuff.

"Parker please," he said in a pleading voice, "I just want to talk."

He heard Parker move towards the door and she pulled it open. Nate saw that she had slightly puffy however dry eyes and decided not to comment.

"The door was not locked," was Parker's opening.

"I did not want to enter your room without your permission," Nate said, asking for permission at the same time. With that Parker moved aside to let him enter. Nate entered and looked around the room. The art room that was her private living room was clearly a lived in space and was not as organized as Parker's warehouse which showed that Parker was changing just like the rest of them. Her fanatic organization of her living spaces was giving into a more relaxed persona. Nate took a seat on one of the stools and waited until Parker had settled down as well. He had debated on how to tackle this problem all day and decided once again the family angle might work.

"When families get a new pet," he said and watched as Parker tensed up at the mention of the pet, "especially if this pet is a cat, normally the cat chooses the person within the family to be their human." He stopped for a second, he did not want to hurt Parker but an animal he couldn't reason with.

"Now I know 'Chopper'," he said giving emphasis on the name, however she had come up with that name was beyond him. "Knows perfectly well that you are her human, Parker look at me," he said and waited until she was looking at him. "At meal times and when she wants to play you are the person she comes running to," he went on giving her a smile.

"However cats are also very smart and they have a sixth sense for things and Chopper also knows that Eliot at the moment needs a lot more support and love then the rest of us and in her way that is what she is doing."

Parker looked away and Nate hoped that she was not going to burst into tears, he never did well with women and tears.

"Do you think she likes me?" asked Parker in a small voice and suddenly letting Nate know just how young she was in some ways.

Nate did something he knew was out of character for him however all of them were changing and adapting to their new environment and roles and he had accepted the father role whole heatedly.

"Oh sweetheart," he said and moved towards her to give her a hug. "Of course Chopper loves you however right now Eliot needs Chopper just a little bit more then you do."

"Do you think she would help?" asked Parker in the same small voice talking to Nate's sweater.

"She already is," stated Nate, "you can see that Eliot is more relaxed when he has Chopper on his lap and I know he sleeps better with her in his bed," which he thought was partly true as he didn't know if Eliot slept better but he had not objected when Chopper had taken up residence in his bed.

Now to get to the heart of the matter, "and it is really not fair for you to begrudge Eliot the comfort of Chopper." He really did not want to explain further hoping Parker understood. He felt Parker taking a several deep breaths thinking things over, it never occurred to Nate to let her go, she felt safe and right in his arms.

After a moment Parker moved back and said, "in that case I should go apologize," she said and before Nate could stop her she was out the door and was racing down the stairs.

She found Eliot in the living room looking out the window and was over by his side pulling him up.

"Come on Sparky, plants need our attention," she said as she raced over to the closet with Eliot in tow, she pulled out jackets and hats and gloves and were throwing the ones that belonged to Eliot on him and the rest all over the place, then she proceeded to drag him to the couch and push him down and point to his boots indicating that he should put them on.

"Come on, come on we haven't got all day," she said as she put on her jacket and was tying a scarf around Eliot's neck as well.

Nate came down the stairs just as Sophie made it into the living room to see Parker standing over Eliot with her hands on her hips waiting for him to move and just as Nate was about to intervene Eliot raised his hand and with his index finger spined it once around and then pointed it at Parker.

"Yes, yes, there is something wrong with me," returned Parker with a million dollar volt smile just like they were having a normal conversation, "are you coming or what?" she asked indicating the boots and pointing outside to emphasize her point. A small smile broke out on Eliot's face as he reacted down to put on his boots.

Nate reflected that he might not be as bad at this father thing as he had originally thought.