Chapter 17
A week passed and they were still no closer to finding any clue as to who had taken and killed Nate. Eliot and Sterling had interviewed Smith again but could still not find any clue as to why Nate thought it was all connected. They had investigated the mob link with Sophie insisting on going to see Gabrichi herself but after the visit was satisfied that he knew nothing of the situation, in fact he knew nothing about the paintings either and had assured her he would look into it and get back to her. Sterling had contacted the IYS offices but no further information was available, he knew Nate was on his way to IYS when the accident had happened so had hoped to find something, whatever Nate thought he would find but came up empty. Hardison too had found nothing on the tapes, there was no indication of how whoever it was had known that Nate was being discharged, or that they were taking him out through the basement. The men had disappeared after taking Nate out of the car and he had not been able to catch them on any cameras after leaving the basement in a dark black van. His efforts to track the van had proved fruitless and he was beyond frustration.
The atmosphere in the house was tense as they all sat in the living room going over everything again that morning. The frustration of not even having a hint of who had done this was taking its toll on all of them. Sophie spent her nights drinking and crying in her room while Eliot spent a large portion of his time alone in his room as well. Hardison barely looked up from his computer screens and Parker disappeared at night, probably to go to one of her warehouses but nobody really knew. Although she always returned she had all but stopped talking to anybody except in relation to finding the person they were looking for. Nate's family was starting to fall apart, the only thing keeping them together was the quest to avenge his death.
Tara and Sterling could see what was happening but could do nothing about it. Tara had tried to speak to Sophie, but she was withdrawn into herself and she knew that Sophie was not only grieving her husband of two years and the man she had loved for so long but also blaming herself for his kidnapping and ultimate death. The hardest part was that they did not have a body, they had nothing to bring them closure, Sophie and the others had refused to even think of doing a memorial for him, they refused to accept he was gone. Both Sterling and Tara knew they were grieving, but they were not accepting, and they were breaking, individually and as a family and Sterling felt he had to do something, for Nate he had to do something.
"This has to stop." Sterling said suddenly brining all their eyes to him. "Nate would be horrified by all of this."
"Sterling…"
"No Sophie. You were his wife, and this is your family, a family he loved. All of you, you are his family and you are cutting each other off you are not behaving like a family and that is not honouring his memory in the least. Now I did not approve of Nate's life choices as you know, you are all criminals and I have tried to put all of you in jail at one time or another, but you gave him back his life and you are a family, his family, dammit behave like that. Support each other don't cut each other off."
"Sterling…"
"Shut up Eliot. You of all people know I am right. He created this family and he would want you to be there for each other. I know you want to find this person and I know it is frustrating you that you can't. I also know that you are all blaming yourselves for what happened, hell I am blaming myself. We will figure this out but the only way we are going to do that is to work together. So now you can decide to go drown your guilt again tonight Sophie or disappear every night Parker and not talk to anybody, even Hardison who is struggling as it is. Hardison you can ignore everything else but your computers and Eliot…well you can cut yourself off and be the man Nate had hopped you would never be again, you can all do that but that is not what Nate would want. Nate would want you to be together, to support each other. Grieve for him yes but get through it together. Be angry but not at each other or at yourselves, be angry at the man or woman who did this. Now that is all I am going to say, except that I am with you until the end of this but…just be what Nate wanted you all to be…a family."
"Sterling is right." Tara said looking at Sophie. "He loved you, all of you and he would do anything for you. You must honour that, and you must honour his one desire which was that you stay together and support each other. Now we will never give up until we find this person whoever he is, but you must mourn the man too, you must allow yourselves to grieve, and you have to…say goodbye."
"Not until we finish this." Eliot growled out, there would be time to grieve after they had revenged Nate but not now.
"No Eliot now. You must because until you do you will not be able to do this properly. This is not going to be easy and it might take a long time to do and you must make your peace with Nate's death and forgive yourselves. Then you will finish this, we will finish this no matter how long it takes to do and give him the peace he deserves."
Nobody said anything after Sterling and Tara's words, Sophie looked at her family and knew that they were both right. They could not do this thing unless they let go of their own guilt and grieved for Nate. They were grieving for him anyway, but they were doing it alone. Parker in her warehouse, she in her room with a bottle of whiskey and Eliot in his. Hardison had taken refuge in his computer and they were splitting apart.
"They are right." Sophie said softly her voice hitching with emotion as tears formed in her eyes. "We have to…we have to say…to say goodbye and we have to support each other…I am sorry, I am sorry I have…I just…"
"It's ok Sophie. We're all feeling the same way. I should never have allowed this to happen."
"No Eliot, it is not your fault, it is not any one of our faults, it is the person who did this' fault and we will make him pay, but first we have to let Nate go. Tara is right, we must forgive ourselves no matter how we feel. We need to do that first then we can do this as a family, as his family, together."
"I'm sorry I just…I loved him so much and he was…I should have…I'm sorry." Parker said feeling emotions overwhelm her and not being able to express them fully.
"We all did girl. We all did." Hardison said wrapping his arm around her and feeling her come to him resting her head on his shoulder.
"Good, well then tonight we take to celebrate the life of Nathan Ford and to…to honour his memory." Sophie said. "And when we get his…when we find him we can lay him to rest next to his son."
"I'll cook us a dinner." Eliot said softly. That was the way he cared for his family and Nate loved the family dinners he knew that.
"I'll help." Parker said in a small voice, she also wanted to do something.
Sophie smiled a sad smile and nodded to them. She knew what she had to do, Nate had left something in a safe deposit box for them all, she did not know what it was but he had told her that if anything ever happened to him that she should get it and that it was for all of them.
Hardison grabbed his computer and disappeared into the study, he knew what he could do for all of them, something that he could put together to help them remember Nate and their journey over the last eight years together.
Tara and Sterling watched them all and smiled sadly at each other, it was a start, they would accept that Nate was gone, they would bond again as a family and then they would find whoever had brought such sadness and suffering to them. Sophie asked Tara to accompany her to the bank to retrieve what Nate had left for them whilst Eliot went shopping for the ingredients he would need along with Parker. Sterling poured himself a drink and then sat down with the files again hoping he would see something new.
Sophie and Tara returned with a flash drive that Nate had left along with some other things, included four letters.
"Smells great Eliot." Sterling said as he stepped into the kitchen to pour Sophie and Tara some wine.
"Nate's favourite." Eliot said as he worked. Sterling smiled and after pouring the wine returned to the two ladies as they waited for the meal to be ready.