Chapter 23

AN: I still don't own the show.

Thanks to all my reviewers new and old.

Last minute shopping for a masquerade ball was not easy, but Sophie did it. Sarah's dress was a satin confection of deep chocolate with a strapless, corseted bodice, covered in gold embroidery, and a full skirt that was bunched in several areas. Sophie had pinned her hair up on the sides, allowing it to fall loosely in the back. Her makeup was light, and consisted of a dark eyeliner and copper colored lipstick. The mask that covered her eyes was gold and black with delicate swirls, Australian crystals, and a swan that was laser etched on one side. A strappy pair of gold Jimmy Choos completed the look.

When she walked into the living room with Parker and Sophie, she smiled at the three pair of eyes staring at her with widely. Hardison's mouth was slightly opened. Nate shook his head and took a drink of his scotch. Eliot however looked like he wanted to devour her.

He cleared his throat so he could speak. "Damn you're beautiful."

Eliot was dressed in classic black and white tux with tails. His mask was a white and black masculine half face style that stopped just above his lips. And he had his hair tied back for the occasion.

"You're gorgeous," she replied quickly.

Getting into the party was easy since Hardison had put them on the guest list. They were posing as well off land investors, Felix and Morgan Leeds.

While Eliot kept an eye out for Hadworth, he and Sarah danced and mingled with the other guests. Hardison was keeping an eye on them over the camera feeds and through the comms.

"Ok guys, our boy just entered the back of the room," Hardison stated in their ear.

Eliot and Sarah looked over to see the CEO mingling with the guests.

Now that he was here and occupied, it was time to find his office. Eliot spoke into his earpiece, "Okay Hardison, where we goin'?"

"There's a room upstairs in the east wing that's emitting frequency. Most likely it's own security which means it's probably his office."

He led them there easily and when they got there, they found an electronic keypad on the door. Sarah lifted her skirt to get the code reader attached to the garter on her thigh. Eliot responded with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.

Once in the office, the search began. Eliot looked around for a safe while Sarah made her way to the desk. She started searching the drawers finding nothing of interest, until she reached a locked drawer. She reached into her bodice pulling out the lock picks that Parker had given her.

"What else have you got hidden in there?" Eliot chuckled.

She looked up at him with a devilish smirk. "I'll let you find out later."

The drawer had a secret bottom that opened by a catch underneath. Inside were records on the sales of several priceless artifacts found on his and the doctor's land.

Eliot heard voices in the hallway coming their way. "Sweetheart, we gotta go."

She rushed over to him and they slipped out the door and down the hallway. The guards were coming too quickly so Eliot pushed Sarah against the wall and started kissing her. Just as they were starting to enjoy it, they were interrupted.

"Excuse me, but you can't be back here," one of the guards said with an embarrassed look. The other one had a leer on his face directed at Sarah.

Eliot had to stop himself from hitting the guy as Sarah spoke, "Sorry," she giggled. "I just can't seem to keep my hands off him." She grabbed Eliot's hand and pulled him away.

"We're gonna finish that later," Eliot promised in a husky voice making her shiver in anticipation.

Just as they reentered the ballroom, they heard Nate's voice, "Get near Hadworth and start discussing a piece of land that your father owns. Mention that he's bringing in archeologists due to the artifacts they've found. Let's see if we can bait him."

Sure enough, when they mentioned artifacts, he started listening. Once they had him hooked, they moved away to dance and mingle for another twenty minutes before making their exit.

"Okay guys, let's steal a dig site," Nate said over the comms.

Xxxxxxxx

Once they found the site, the rest was easy. It was on the outskirts of Boston, being worked by University students. They were told the dig had been postponed for the weekend and got to work. Eliot and Hardison posed as the archeologists, while Nate posed as Nigel Whitmore, the landowner and artifact collector.

That next day went as planned. Hadworth found out Morgan Leeds' father's name and followed the paper trail Hardison had created, leading him to the property.

When Eliot and Hardison came back the next evening, they confirmed that Hadworth's men came to check the place out, finding the artifacts the students had already uncovered.

The next day Nate received a call from Hadworth as expected. He wanted to buy the land for $600,000. Everyone was relieved the con had worked. But it was short lived when Nate declined the offer and ended the call.

"Nate, what are you doing?" Sophie asked. "That was plenty of money for the Roberts'."

"We're going after his company. He'll never do this to anyone again," he stated firmly as he took a drink of his scotch.

Now Sarah was concerned. She saw the looks of worry on the group's faces and understood what they were talking about.

Hardison spoke up. "If we go much further with this, it'll go bad."

Nate ignored him. "Eliot and Hardison, you'll go back tonight and continue your cover."

Eliot and Hardison didn't agree, but they nodded anyway.

Xxxxxxxx

Everything went to hell at 9pm. Sarah had just put Cam to bed in Nate's guestroom because she refused to go back to Eliot's until he returned. When she went in the living room, Parker and Sophie looked up at her with worried faces.

"What happened?" she asked dreading the answer.

Sophie explained, "There was an explosion."

Sarah froze and her heartbeat sped up.

"Hardison contacted us while you were in the bedroom," Parker said in a shaky voice.

She looked at Nate with a cold glare, "Give me your comm."

Nate knew he had gone too far. He also knew Sarah was furious, so he handed it over.

"Alec?"

"Girl, I'm sorry. Eliot had time to push us away from the main blast. We found the device right before it went off. I'm lookin for him, but it's too dark out here. We might have to come back in the morning."

But she stopped listening and took the comm out handing it to Sophie. She stood up to face Nate.

"This is your fault," she hissed out. "The job could have been finished this morning. But you had to go off on your own little mission 'cause it's an insurance company. Because the one you worked for let your son die."

Nate's face became angry. "Enough!" he yelled.

"No one's allowed to talk about how you're leading your friends into danger while destroying yourself?" Sophie looked worried and Parker's eyes were wide as Sarah continued.

"Think you're the only one who's ever lost a child? You think Sam woulda wanted you to turn into a self destructive drunk," she finished.

"They know what working with me is like," he replied, still angry.

Sarah's arm flashed out and punched him in the jaw knocking him back. "If anything bad happens to Eliot," she began in a cold tone. "No amount of liquor will numb the pain I put you in."

And with that, she stormed out, heading downstairs to the bar.

(Back to present)

She was nursing her second beer when Hardison came in the front door. She numbly looked him over for injuries finding none, while he tried to offer some comfort, saying that Eliot was too stubborn to die. Then he left her alone meeting Parker at the elevator with a hug.

Sarah fell asleep on the table, crying into her arms.

Xxxxxxxx

It was a wonderful dream. Her and Eliot were cuddling on his couch and he was running his hand through her hair. "Sweetheart?" he whispered softly. She wondered why his voice was laced with pain. "Sarah darlin'?" She slowly became aware that someone really had their hand in her hair. She groggily opened her eyes to look into Eliot's pain filled ones.

"Hey beautiful," he whispered with a pained smile.

Her eyes fully popped open as she launched herself at him. "Eliot! Oh thank God you're okay. I've been so worried," she stated as she placed kisses on his face. His winces of pain alerted her that he was injured.

She took in his appearance fully and gasped. His clothes were ripped and tattered, he was covered in dirt and had debris in his hair. His body was littered with injuries one would get from an explosion.

"We have to get you upstairs and cleaned up," she stated in nurse mode, lifting him up gently and walking towards the elevator.

They met Sophie in the hallway upstairs. She saw Eliot and her eyes widened. "Thank goodness you're okay. Are you okay with him Sarah? I need to go tell Nate."

Eliot saw the cold look on her face as she replied. "Yeah, go ahead."

She led him into his apartment and sat him down on his bed while she retrieved her supplies. She removed his clothes to get a look at his injuries, and was relieved to find nothing serious, just a lot of scrapes and small gashes.

She got to work cleaning the wounds. While she did so, he spoke up. "What was the look you gave Sophie?"

Her face turned angry. "Not her, Nate."

"What happened?"

"I punched him."

Eliot choked out, "What?"

Sarah told him what she had said.

Eliot's eyes went wide. "You told him all of that? And then you punched him?" He was quiet for a moment so Sarah looked up into his eyes again and found him smirking. "You're amazing you know that?" She smiled at him and he leaned over to kiss her softly, which she returned with a contented sigh.

"What happened Eliot?" she asked curiously.

"The blast knocked me unconscious behind some trees, " he answered weakly.

She noticed how weak he sounded. "Let's go get you cleaned up and in bed."

"Sounds good to me," he replied wiggling his eyebrows. She laughed as she led him to the shower.

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