The last chapter. When I started this I never expected it to be so long, but it sort of grew. Now I wonder if it might go on somewhere else? Anyone want more?

Chapter 21

Finally the day arrived, it had been decided that Eliot should go back to the office for a week or two, that way there would always be someone on hand to help if he needed anyone. Neither the doctor nor Sophie was happy with the idea of him returning to his own apartment, alone.

But whatever they might all think, he was not about to be mollycoddled, wrapped in cotton wool and 'looked after'! He would be putting his foot down, hard! He had talked to the doctor about his recovery and return to fitness, he'd been told what he could and couldn't do, he'd established that he could go in the gym as long as he didn't strain himself. If Sophie stayed she would object, and there were a few other things she wouldn't like either! If he had any say at all about things, Tabby would be back in his bed. So it was time Sophie left.

Nate and Sophie collected him from the hospital and they arrived at the office around lunch time. Immediately Sophie began organising, and Eliot began objecting.

"Sophie, thank you for everything, for all the care, and help and concern. Now it's time you and Nate went home."

"But Eliot, you need help….."

"No!"

"But…."

"I said no! Exactly what needs to be done for me? I can look after myself, I don't need or want anyone here to baby me! Go home, Sophie!" He was aware he sounded harsh, but he was sick of it.

Nate stepped forward to comfort Sophie, he was looking less than pleased. "Eliot, that's hardly fair, after all…."

"I know!" Eliot retaliated, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. "I'm sorry, but it doesn't alter how I feel. I want a bit of peace. I'm fine, honestly."

"Well, if that's how you feel!" Sophie sounded both tearful and affronted.

Eliot took a measured breath. "I'm sorry Sophie, but it is. You know I love you both, but I just need to get back to…...some sort of normality."

"So, we'll leave after lunch, is that all right with you?" Nate returned in a quiet, but rather sarky, tone.

Eliot reined in his temper. "Fine!" He turned abruptly and headed for his room, hopefully Sophie wouldn't follow him. He plonked down on his bed and remembered the last time he'd been here. Tabby had slept here on his bed, and he had fallen asleep beside her. He couldn't believe he'd done that, he never just slept that way, it had to be that he'd felt so relaxed just to be by her side. What had gone wrong with his life this last few weeks? In truth, he'd nearly died, and he'd fallen in love. There it was, he'd finally accepted the reality. Now what the Hell was he going to do about it?

Fifteen minutes later he re-emerged from his room, he'd got the temper back on an even keel and he needed to make amends, hard though that always was for him.

Sophie was on the sofa talking to Parker, who had arrived in his absence, they both looked up at him as he entered, Parker with a frown and Sophie…..well, Sophie still looked, offended.

Crawl time.

"Are we Ok?" He asked softly.

"Is that an apology?" Sophie returned.

Eliot squirmed a little and gave deprecatory shrug. "I didn't mean to be so…well, you know. But I meant what I said, I can deal with this myself. I need to, honestly."

Sophie regarded him seriously. "All right, but if you need us, you know where we are."

Eliot acknowledged that with a small nod. It would be a cold day in Hell before he gave in to that request!

By early afternoon Nate and Sophie were gone, Eliot was now left with Hardison and Parker, still not alone, but at least not being organised.

Parker flopped onto the sofa. "So, how soon can we take a job?"

Eliot eyed her disbelievingly, had she not been listening? If Sophie had still been here she would have been appalled. It then dawned on Eliot that Sophie had probably been well aware of Parker's ideas, and had been trying to save him from exactly this. No matter, he could deal with it.

"Not this week! We need to talk. Sit." He ordered.

Hardison rolled his eyes and took a seat on the sofa next to Parker. He'd been anticipating this. "Look, man. I know she's a bit over eager, but you gotta wait until you are right. I know that, and so does Parker, really!"

"And when do you think that might be, Hardison?" Eliot retorted. "Dammit, man, it might be never!"

"But…" Parker began to protest.

"No, Parker, just listen." Eliot responded softly. "Three weeks ago I lay on the ground and I thought I was dead."

"You did?" Hardison was amazed. "You actually remember it?"

"Oh I remember most of it, you, Shelly, the paramedics, the helicopter. And yes, I thought I was dead, all those minutes before I arrived at the hospital, I just kept expecting it to stop, to go black, to fade away, and it did a couple of times, but it came back again. It wasn't until after I got to the hospital that it all turns to a blank. But it will take a while to get through this, if ever, so we need to make some changes."

Hardison watched him intently, there was just one thing he was missing here, he hadn't mentioned Tabby, not at all. "So, what changes?" That wasn't a surprise, he'd been expecting this, but how it would play out he had no idea.

"It doesn't work."

"What doesn't work?" Parker demanded hotly.

"Three." Eliot returned succinctly.

"But we're good. We're fine." She protested angrily.

"Yeah, we three are good, but we need more."

"Nate and Sophie." She returned promptly.

"We can't have Nate and Sophie, so we need to replace them."

Parker looked mutinous. "We can't replace Nate!"

"Unfortunately I agree with that." Hardison drawled.

"So do I." Eliot agreed. "But we've done all right between us with the cons and the planning, and we managed while he was in prison. Nate taught us how to think, and we think the same way as he did, I wouldn't want to trust anyone else. No, we need bodies on the ground to run the cons. I have a suggestion, Shelly can be our hitter."

"But you're the hitter!" Parker protested.

"No Parker." Hardison chided her. "He can't, not at the moment. Eliot's right. Have you asked him?

"No, I wanted to run it past you first." He paused, trying to sort out his next words.

"And?" Hardison questioned.

"We need a grifter." Eliot paused again.

Parker helped him out this time. "Tabby. You want to include Tabby."

Hardison looked from one to the other, trust Parker to hit it dead on again! He voiced his opinion. "Tabby, yeah, she would be good. But….Eliot are you sure you want her to do this? Are you sure you can cope with her doing this? Can you put her in harm's way again? At some point here we need to talk about the huge pink elephant in the room!"

"Meaning?"

"Meaning you haven't mentioned her or talked about her since you've been here and you haven't talked to her for days. Why?"

Eliot merely shrugged and stared back at him.

"If we say yes to Tabby and she gets in trouble, I mean in real danger, how do we stop you from going over the top again?" Hardison persisted.

"I don't…I won't…." Eliot began.

"Not true! You will. Face it Eliot, you care about her and it's time it was in the open. Tell her! She's quietly pining away down there in the kitchen."

"What?"

"I think she would fit in, she could do the job, but we need to be sure that you can cope with her being in harm's way. And you also need to ask her! She might not want to do it again!"

Eliot jumped to his feet with a growl. "I told you…"

"Yeah, and you are not thinking straight." Hardison retaliated again.

Eliot stared at him in disbelief. How could geek man Hardison sit there and tell him how he should be behaving around a girl? He didn't have a clue!

Hardison leaned over and muttered to Parker. "Go girl. We need a guy talk, I'll call you to come back, maybe to bring Tabby too. Go."

Parker jumped up and did something totally unexpected, she bounced up to Eliot, flung her arms round him and planted a kiss square on his lips, then she exited the room swiftly. Eliot stared after her in confusion.

Hardison chuckled softly. "All the girls love an Eliot." Eliot glared at him, he shrugged with massive unconcern. "You started this conversation, all we have done is agree with you, with reservations. Shelly, yes. Tabby, certainly, but you need to be sure. And you need to sort out what is between you two, because if you don't she won't do it. I'm telling you that right now!"

Eliot stared at him in impotent fury, at least, he thought it was fury. But….how had he lost control of this conversation? How had he ended up cornered like this? The real problem here was that Hardison was right on every count.

Hardison continued the lecture in a softer tone. "You once told me I was the smartest man you knew, I have to say you're not too shabby yourself, but maybe you need to listen to me."

"Not about things like this…about…girls." Eliot muttered defensively.

"If not me, then who?" He continued unaggresively. "We can see it. We know you well enough to realise what is going on. You've never been like this about a girl." He gave a dry chuckle. "About a horse, maybe, or a kid, or even a dog, but not about a woman!"

Eliot couldn't control the rather reluctant grin that crept across his face. Just how well did these guys know him? He thought he buried things pretty deep, but who knew?

"So what you gonna do?" Hardison persisted.

Eliot ran his hands through his hair in frustration. That last day before she'd been snatched they had been…. happy. She'd seemed so close to him. But since the hospital and the entire trauma she'd been…distant. Still concerned, but not the loving little girl he'd discovered beneath the public persona, and he didn't know which was the real thing! It suddenly hit him that this must be how Nate had felt around Sophie!

"Tabby's been….different since the shooting."

"Different?"

Eliot gave a despairing shrug. "Yeah. I just don't know….how she's thinking, what she's thinking. She's sort of…retreated from me."

Hardison regarded him through half closed eyes. "You think?"

"I know! And every time I see her recently, she's with Shelly." He was well aware that last sentence sounded…..jealous.

"Look at it from her side. It must have been hard for her. You have no idea what it was like in that wood, even though you say you remember. Waiting for the paramedics and the helicopter seemed to take forever, and then when they arrived she got sort of bundled out of the way and left behind. Shelly took her to the hospital and did his level best to shield her from everything. He did a damned good job actually, so I can see where the thought comes from, but, no, not Shelly. She cried a great deal, and I think she then felt she had let too much out. Tabby is a very private person." Hardison paused for a second, he could see the connection here even if Eliot couldn't see it himself. "I don't think I have ever seen a girl so heartbroken, she was sure she'd not only lost you, but been responsible for your death."

"What? But that's crazy."

"Yeah, well. When we got to the hospital things were awful. Everyone was there, Nate, Sophie, Quinn, even Toni, dammit all Eliot, you got a fan club a mile long!" Hardison eyed him consideringly. "How much do you know about what was actually said when you were first in hospital?"

Eliot gave one of his dismissive shrugs. "What do expect me to know? I was unconscious for four days, how could I know anything?"

"Yeah. And we were told, after waiting about for six hours, that you probably wouldn't wake up. Or if you did you may well have brain damage. Did anyone tell you exactly that?"

Eliot stared in disbelief. "It couldn't have been that bad?"

"That's what the man said, he gave you no better than a 30/70 chance. That was why Tabby was so…..distressed. And then when you did wake up Sophie in particular sort of took over. She treated you like…..well, I don't know, but she never gave Tabby a chance to be there for you, because she was there." Hardison paused to select his words. "Sophie and Nate have always treated us a bit like 'the kids'. Sophie sort of laid claim to you, and Tabby just faded into the background. And you didn't object!"

Eliot bristled aggressively, blue eyes snapping in annoyance. "I…...what the Hell did you expect me to do? I didn't even remember the first few days. And when Tabby wasn't there I thought ….I thought she didn't want to be there. I thought after everything that happened that she'd decided she didn't like what she'd seen. Did she talk about what happened in that house?"

"No." Hardison acknowledged. "If she told anyone it would have been Shelly, and he's said nothing, so I don't think she said much at all. So what happened?"

Eliot looked uncomfortable. "You know he tried to kill her?" Hardison nodded. "He was trying to rape her, and she fought him, so he tried to strangle her. I….got there just in time. I beat the guy. I really lost it, I don't think you've ever seen me like that. I guess it's a bit…."

"Intimidating." Hardison supplied. "Yes, you can be intimidating, but I really don't think that would have bothered Tabby, I don't think she is under any illusions about who and what you are. But now you need to talk to her, you need to tell her what you want to do."

"But what if….?"

"Ask her!" Hardison exclaimed. "Dammit man, I thought you were…..decisive when it came to women?" He grabbed his phone. "I'm gonna call Parker now and ask her to bring Tabby up. We'll leave you alone, I don't expect you to try to talk to her with Parker hanging on every word. Please Eliot, put the poor girl out of her misery one way or the other." He pressed the button and Parker answered. "Hi, girl, you can come back now." He eyed Eliot. "Well?"

"Yes." Eliot snarled.

"And bring Tabby."

"Cool. I'm on my way."

Eliot was now looking….both angry and worried. "Look, man. I know I have to talk to her about this but…..Dammit, Hardison, what do I actually have to offer a girl like Tabby? I'm hardly a guy with a future? It could all end the next time, as we've all now seen so clearly"

Hardison eyed him with sympathy. "What does any guy really feel he has to offer his girl? If you were an upstanding honest citizen with money to burn, a girl would be looking for more excitement! You just gotta take the win."

Parker slipped into the kitchen. "Mikel, can I borrow Tabby for a few minutes? Well, it might actually be more than a few minutes."

Mikel eyed her suspiciously. "That depends."

"On what?"

"On whether you intend upsetting her again. She's not happy, she's already asked me if I would write her references, I'm just waiting for her to decide to leave."

"You want her to leave?" Parker squeaked indignantly.

"No I do not! I'm afraid the way you lot have treated and upset her she will leave of her own accord!"

"Oh, phew. That's Ok then, we'll sort that!"

"How? I'm pretty sure that you know as well as I do what the problem really is?"

"I think the 'problem' is about to sort it himself." Parker retorted. She brushed past Mikel. "Hey, Tabby, could we have a word upstairs, please?"

Tabby looked up from her pastry making, she'd been trying to ignore Parker's presence. "What, now?"

"Can you come?"

Tabby glanced at Mikel, if he said no she would be spared the agony of seeing Eliot for a few more hours. She knew she couldn't keep avoiding him, but until she found another job she had to keep coming back. She had very little money, and the promised pay-out from the 'job' hadn't happened.

Mikel nodded. "Go on."

Tabby washed her hands, took off her apron and dragged out her 'politely concerned' face. She could do this, in truth she wanted to see him, back on his feet and on the way to full recovery, she was just afraid she would give herself away. The gulf between them had grown wider and wider over the last two weeks. She'd made an utter fool of herself with a man she'd always known was unavailable, now she was paying the price.

She now felt that she hardly knew him. Sophie had barely left his side, and she could see that he had deliberately kept Sophie there to keep her at bay. It couldn't have been more obvious that he no longer welcomed her interest.

She climbed the stairs behind Parker berating herself for being so naïve. She had known it was a short fling, why could she just not accept reality? And why on earth did he have to prolong this? Maybe he was now going to actually tell her the way things were?

Eliot was leaning on the window ledge with his back to the light. When she and Parker entered, Hardison got up from the couch and whisked Parker towards the kitchen.

"Coffee time, come and give me a hand, girl."

Tabby was left alone with Eliot. The only thing she could come out with was a rather strangled. "Hi."

"Hi." Eliot responded, he cleared his throat rather embarrassedly. "Come over here."

Tabby obliged, what he had to say obviously didn't need shouting across the room. She paused a few paces in front of him. "How are you feeling?"

"Better every day." Then he qualified the statement. "Physically better every day. Otherwise, I feel like crap!"

"Oh." Tabby was slightly bewildered. "What….?"

"What made you change your mind?"

"Change my mind?" Tabby murmured; she didn't know what he was talking about.

"Well, for somebody who said they loved me, you did a pretty good disappearing act." He stepped forward swiftly and caught her upper arms. "Why didn't you talk to me at the hospital?"

"I…..but…" Tabby stuttered "I did."

"No you didn't, you let Sophie push you out, totally."

"But….you seemed to want it that way."

"No, I didn't. No-one ever asked my opinion, it just happened, she was there and you weren't."

"I thought you had asked her to….fend me off."

"You thought what?" Eliot was appalled. "Why on earth would I do that?"

Tabby had dropped her head and was now studying her shoes. "I made such an idiot of myself in that house, I was useless, I didn't do my job, and it meant you got hurt. I was so hopeless when we tried to escape, I held you back. And then I behaved like a pathetic fool when you got shot." She gave a distressed shake of her head. "Who could blame you for not wanting anything to do with me."

Eliot couldn't believe what he was hearing, it made him so angry he wanted to shake her, but he could feel her trembling in his grasp. Did he really come across that….intolerant and aggressive?

"Look at me!" He tried not to sound irritated, but he knew it came out as a demand, not a request. She shook her head, so he continued to talk to the top of her head, not what he wanted, but she'd got to listen. "Tabby, when you didn't come and see me I was afraid that…..you didn't like what you'd seen. What happened in that house…..you know I fight, that's my job, but knowing it and seeing it are two different things. Look at me please."

She shook her head again, if she did she would cry. Her pride had taken so many beatings just lately, she didn't want to end up a weeping wreck again.

At this moment Shelly came bowling into the room. "Hi…um…oh!" His gaze collided with Eliot's furious scowl.

Hardison swiftly emerged from the kitchen, grabbed his arm and yanked him out of the room.

Eliot dismissed his presence instantly, Hardison was doing a good job. He returned his attention to the important business of the moment.

"Tabby…"

She forestalled the comment. "How many bad guys, including McClure, got flattened as we escaped?"

"Four." Eliot replied softly, not sure where this was heading.

"And how many were down to you?"

"Umm….three." He acknowledged.

"No, two and a half. And if I'd got a better swing at him it would have been two apiece. So don't try and tell me you think I'd be worried about what you did! I did too."

Eliot looked down at her, she was still regarding her feet. He'd not even thought about that fact. But it was absolutely true, she hadn't gone all girly and stood back while he beat the bad guys, she'd actively taken on the fight with him. So if it wasn't the violence, why had she retreated? Did she really think he felt her a failure? It was utterly untrue.

"Tabby, do you remember the last thing I actually said to you in that wood?"

This time Tabby did raise her eyes to his, the last thing he'd said was that he wanted to make love to her, she would never forget that, it was something which had kept her going while he lay unconscious in that hospital. But she'd never expected that he would remember.

"Do you?" He persisted.

"Yes." She replied softly.

"I meant it. And I remember perfectly well what I said." He looked into her eyes. "I want to make love to you, because I love you, Kitten."

Tabby just stared back in utter disbelief.

"Well….say something!" He demanded rather desperately, he'd not expected no response at all!

Tabby gave a strangled little sob and buried her face in his shirt. He folded his arms around her and pulled her close. Dammit all, this was what he'd needed. All those days in the hospital not once had he felt this sort of relief, this comfort, despite all the friends who had surrounded him and offered support. He buried his face in her hair and just absorbed the feeling, the sweetness of holding her soft little body against his. Of course he loved her. Of course he would go over the top to save her if she was in trouble. How could he help himself? He loved her.

"My little Kitten." He murmured softly. Tabby raised her tear stained face and he kissed her, softly at first, then harder and possessively. He released her mouth, aware that he'd probably misled her here, she had to know this the way it really was. "Tabby, sweetheart, you've got to realise that this is all there is."

Tabby looked up at him questioningly.

"It's you and me, now. There's no future to plan for, no white picket fence, no family home and kids. I can't make plans like that and if you stay with me you need to understand that. If at any time you decide that's not what you need then you will have to walk away."

Tabby's heart did a lurch, no future, no plans. What girl wanted that? But could she walk away from this man? Now there was the bottom line. She couldn't! Not now, maybe not ever. So she would stay and live this life each and every day, and she would hope that one day things might change, no-one knew what forever might hold.

"Eliot, you can only live life one day at a time, the future …..well….you can plan, but you can't make it happen whoever you are. So I will stay and live this life as it rolls out each day, because I love you and I want to live as much as I can with you."

Parker was spying from the doorway.

"Leave them alone, girl." Hardison admonished quietly.

"Why? I want to know what's going on." Parker hissed back at him. "Ooohh, they're kissing! Looks like things are good!"

Shelly moved so he too could spy over her head.

Hardison shook his head with a rueful grin. "You pair! Sounds like it could be!"

It was several minutes before Tabby and Eliot got round to any more words, but finally he released her for long enough to murmur. "You're my Kitten, Tell me that's true?"

"Yes." Tabby agreed softly.

"Now we've got that straight, there's something else I want to ask you. You can say yes or no, which ever you want, but it won't make any difference to us whatever you say. Do you want to join the team properly, as our grifter?"

Tabby stared at him in amazement. "You didn't think I was awful?"

"You weren't awful. You did the job exactly as you were supposed to do. What happened wasn't normal! It was one of the worst situations we've been stuck with. It's not unusual to need to beat the goons, but we don't usually put our grifter in danger that way. You being stuck in there and getting damned near raped and killed…." He shuddered at the thought. "I truly hope it will never happen like that again. I'm not trying to tell you it's safe, it carries a risk, always, but it's not generally that bad!" He looked down at her. "Do you want some time to think about it?"

"No. I want to do it."

"And you want to be my girl?"

"Oh, yes, yes, yes!" She smiled up at him.

Parker waltzed back into the room, there was little point in pretending she hadn't been listening!

"Goody! Coffee time!" She grinned happily at Tabby. "Welcome to the mad house."

Shelly ambled laconically from the kitchen with a satisfied smile on his face, Hardison brought up the rear and put the coffee tray onto the table.

"So." He ventured. "We have a team?"

"Finally, we have a team." Eliot replied with satisfaction.