Chapter Twenty-eight

The house was dark when Nate and Hardison finally made it back and they didn't bother to change that as Hardison moved to the kitchen and Nate headed for the bedroom.

The room was dark, the only light coming from the television in the corner which illuminated Parker's sleeping frame. He moved to turn it off as he began loosening his tie but was startled by Eliot's gruff, "Leave it."

"I thought you were sleeping." Eliot didn't answer as he watched Nate remove his coat and shoes, eventually disappearing into the bathroom to change from his suit.

"It must have been some sentencing." It wasn't accusing just wonderous. According to the time Parker said they left Nate had been gone for nearly fourteen hours.

"Not really," He didn't feel like going over the days events. "but your brother was there."

"Eliot just nodded, Nate obviously didn't plan on telling him what he spent the rest of the day doing and he really didn't want to know. "You talk ta' him?"

"He asked how you were doing, if you had talked to Sarah yet."

"What did you tell him?" He shifted his attention to Parker for a second as she took a deep breath but turned it back to Nate when she rolled over.

"That you were getting there; I didn't want to overstep with the rest so I kept it vague.
He says to call him so he knows you're still kickin' and to not even think about leaving without going to see him first." Aaron reminded him of the Eliot he got to see on the rare occasions when he didn't keep himself so guarded and it was nice to see he had been accepted so easily.

"You done with playin' Mr. Elliott now?" It was becoming clear that Parker probably slept in the middle of the bed as she edged closer to them and nearly kicked Nate in the process.

"For all legal purposes yes.
He had a laugh of a lawyer and the judge gave him fo-"

"I don't care.
It's done with and I don't wanna hear about it anymore." They had kept him out of the loop since the beginning so why should he give a rats now?

It was quiet for the next few minutes as Eliot listened to Hardison move about up above and Nate tried to place a name to the movie playing as he watched a building explode. "What did you do today?"

"Nothing really.
Parker knocked out about an hour ago." He had sat through quite a few strange T.V. choices but other than that the day had been uneventful.

"Did you eat?" Parker's idea of dinner wasn't ideal for anyone, especially Eliot who shied away from most artificial things.

"No" Parker had offered him a hot pocket around six but he had declined.

"Do you want me to make you something?" Nate yawned out as he pulled a hand through his hair.

"I'm not hungry." He didn't want to be waited on, he wanted to have somebody close, to be close to somebody and no disrespect to Parker but she wasn't it.

"You sure?
What about your meds, did you take your pills?" Eliot was as bad as a toddler with a temperature when it came to his prescription.

"No" He didn't need to lie, that and he knew if Nate doubted him even the slightest he'd go in the kitchen and count them all out.

"Why?
Eliot how the hell do you want to get rid of the swe-" Nate continued more to himself as he left the room and Eliot could no longer hear him.

"Parker" He spoke lightly as he nudged at her shoulder.
If it wasn't for the barely existant control he had over himself at the moment he'd probably let her stay, send Nate somewhere else to sleep, but he didn't need her to be witness if he had another break down. "Darlin' you gotta get up."

"Nuh-uh" She mumbled as she curled in on herself.

"Come on, you gotta."

She grumbled and stretched in protest but eventually sat up with a near whimpered, "meanie" leaving the room with Nate's pillow clung to her chest.

Seconds later Nate was back with an arm full, including his pillow.

"You could have let her have it."

"I could've." Nate shrugged as he tossed the pillow over to his side, handing Eliot an ice pack as he went in the bathroom for a towel.
Eliot looked like he was being sent to the gallows when his medication was offered but he took it without comment. "You still watching this?"

"No" It had been a distraction to avoid the inevitable but Nate wanted to sleep so he'd just have to try something else.

The room became near pitch black as the television was shut off and Nate moved to the bed hearing the beginnings of thunder in the distance. "Does the rain ever stop?" He was used to rain but this was ridiculous. They weren't having rainy days they were having rainy hours, as if it was on a timer having six different showers in one day.

"It's not that bad and I doubt there'll be any tonight,... it doesn't sound like it." Eliot answered faintly as Nate slithered closer, he had never used to sleep so close and it had him believing that Nate was having his own problems while sleeping. "Have you heard from Sophie?"

"Not since she called from the airport." She had sounded like she was enjoying herself and he didn't want to interrupt that.

"You should find something for them to do.
Parker's going stir crazy." Not to mention he was already there.

"She'll survive.
Friday we go back to the hospital to get them stitches removed and after that our time's pretty much open.
Parker's free to spend it however she wants but I'm not going to work through my free time." Nate could barely make out the shadow of Eliot who was still sitting up.

"Nathan Ford who works through holidays, who chases cases across continents isn't itching to do something right now?" He was skeptical at least as Nate's fingers drew slight waves across his leg.

"To be with you," Eliot huffed at that and Nate furthered his meaning. "and it isn't a line either. I want to make sure we're solid before I jump back into cons. We both know that I put everything I have into a job and before I committ to something else I want to make sure I'm committed to you.
You're a challenge Eliot and I'm working my butt off to figure you out."

"That might take a while." He had yet to discover himself completely but if anyone could it would be Nate.

"I've got time."

"How much?"

"As much as it takes." He couldn't see it but he felt the intensity in Nate's stare and heard it in his words.

"And if it takes forever?" That word was a make it or break it, usually sent people running and the response he would receive could possibly answer more questions than any other words combined.

"Well," He hadn't been expecting Eliot to say something like that but it didn't throw him a curve like he would've imagined.
Instead he reached over to remove the ice pack from Eliot's knee placing it on the side table without much thought as he moved on to making different sized eights across his thigh with a now slightly cold finger. "I can think of worse fates than a forever together."

Right then he knew Nate would figure him out.
He'd uncover what made Eliot Spencer tick eventually and nothing would be the same.
Hopefully Nate's discoveries wouldn't change the way he looked at them though, that it wouldn't set off the twin to the bomb that had exploded so long ago.
That the monster he fought so hard to control wouldn't rear its ugly head and destroy everything he had come to care for.

He couldn't think of a suitable response so he didn't give one.
Instead he leaned over as best he could placing a soft kiss to Nate's temple.
Things stayed quiet as the motion on Eliot's leg faded and Nate eventually drifted off.

If you listened carefully the slightest sounds of typing could be heard coming through the vent but soon enough those vanished as well and the only noise that could be heard was the absence of noise itself.

Eliot continued to listen to a rhythm of steady breathes from Nate, wondering what he should do about Sarah as he fiddled with Nate's curls.
He didn't know if putting it off a little longer would give her more time to cool off or simmer but that was what he was going to do.

She was pissed about his relationship with Nate and if he was going to go against her in defending it he wanted to make sure he and Nate were set in it.
But weren't they?
Never before had he brought someone home and unintentionally or not that was what he had done with Nate.
He had brought him home and the family didn't approve.

That didn't matter, he had done many a thing they wouldn't approve of so one more really wouldn't change much but Sarah did matter.
Sarah was his very stubborn baby sister and he wouldn't be able to handle losing her, if he did he'd lose Nate too.
He wouldn't leave Nate but the blame would be there, Sarah would be the strain between them and he'd end up losing them both.

"You know I really could have gone without you calling her." He needed to figure a way to fix this without causing any damage and he wasn't going to call her until he did. "And if she's really as bad as you and Aaron say how much worse will it get once she finds out about the team?" It was something he wished could be avoided but with Aaron knowing he wasn't sure if that was possible.

He knew that too much was coming up though, too much of himself was being revealed.
This group was tearing at the structure of the walls he had built and not even he was prepared for what awaited on the other side.

But he was tired.
Tired of running, tired of fighting, tired of losing, tired of trying to pretend like it didn't happen.
It did and he wasn't going to deny himself actual sleep to avoid the dreams that came with it, he was tired and tonight he'd meet her for the first time willingly in over a decade.

He sunk down, slowly adjusting next to Nate as he closed his eyes.
Maybe tonight she wouldn't haunt him with that horrid day, maybe she'd reward him with the memories of the happiest day he could ever remember having.
He ignored the tear that fell as he concentrated on remembering her smile, how excited they had been, but either way it didn't matter.
He was tired and she was waiting.


E/N: For everyone who asked if what you thought is what I'm thinking... well I can't answer that! (Spoilers people)
But I do believe you should say what you mean and mean what you say if that's any hint. (don't know if you can tell or not but I love word play!)

Now I'm not sure about this chapter or how I managed to put an E/P moment into a Neliot story but quite honestly I'm really happy with the ending.
Hopefully you are too!