Chapter 29

It had been a full week since Nate had been brought to Milpark Clinic. After three days he was moved out of ICU and into High Care which meant they could all visit him but still on restricted hours. Nate had still not awakened but the doctor had said he was progressing well and that his body just needed time to heal. By the fifth day the doctor was happy to move him to his own private room. Hardison had organised that they be moved to a suite at the top floor of the hospital that was reserved for elective surgery patients so that they would have the space for all of them to be able to stay with Nate.

It was the early hours of the eighth day of Nate's stay when the Mastermind finally started to stir. Eliot was the only one still awake when Nate came back to consciousness. The rest were spread out around the room on the comfortable chairs and were all fast asleep.

"Hey Nate." Eliot whispered to the man as he cracked open his eyes.

"Eliot." Nate said his voice hoarse and cracked. "Sophie?"

Eliot had to smile. Nate's first concern was for Sophie. "She is fine, we are all fine, they all still sleeping."

"What happened?" Nate said trying to get his bearings.

"You took three bullets, two in the chest one in the abdomen." Eliot told him and seeing Nate reaching for the water he shook his head. The doctor had made it clear that will an abdomen hit, Nate was not allowed to take any fluids or foods until the doctor was satisfied he could. "Sorry." He said softly.

Nate just looked at Eliot questioningly. "Doc said not until his say so, not with the gut shot." Eliot explained to the Mastermind.

"What about the girls?"

"We got them all out."

"Sterling." Fine.

Nate looked at Eliot noting the hostility in the man's voice with that one word. He knew Eliot did not like Sterling but this was a little more intense than it usually was.

"Not his fault." Nate said softly then drifted back into unconsciousness.

Nate was still sleeping when the doctor arrived the next morning. He ushered the team out of the room in order to do his examination.

"Mr Ford." The doctor said softly to the man, Eliot had informed him that Nate had awakened a few hours ago. "Mr Ford." He called again, a little louder this time after getting no response.

Nate groaned and then opened his eyes at the sound of his name. He opened his eyes to see the face of the Doctor who stood over him. He was expecting somebody else.

"Huh?" Nate grunted out.

"I am Dr Van Zyl and I am in charge of your care." The doctor explained at the grunted question. "I am very happy to see you have awoken. Now I just need to have a look at those wounds. You are doing well and they are healing well. I am overall very happy with your progress." He spoke as he lifted Nate's shirt and removed the bandages to examine the wounds. "Yes, very good." He said standing up again.

"Thanks."

"Now you are a long way from being well Mr Ford. So I am going to keep you here for the next four or five days just to monitor your progress."

"But I feel ok…" Nate started to protest but the doctor held up his hand.

"You received a wound to your abdomen and we have to make sure that another bleed does not develop before I can release you so just lie back and relax. I will however allow you to start taking in water and food from today." The doctor said. This was not his first patient who wanted out of the hospital as soon as possible. "Now my nurse will finish up and then your wife and friends can come back in. I will see you tomorrow." The doctor said nodding to the nurse and then leaving the room closing the door behind him.

"Doctor how is he?" Sophie said as he stepped out of the room.

"Mr Ford is doing very well. I am going to allow him to start taking in food and water from today and if all goes well I will discharge him a few days' time." The doctor smiled at her. "My nurse is just changing his dressings and then you can go back in."

"Thank you doctor." Sophie said gratefully. This was the first time she felt that Nate was going to really be alright. Eliot had told her he had awoken during the night and although she wished she had been awake she was just happy he had finally woken up.

After another half hour the nurse opened the door and smiled at the waiting people. They smiled back and then trooped into the room to find Nate propped up in a sitting position and sipping on a glass of water.

"Nate." Sophie said softly quickly making her way to his bedside and leaning in for a kiss.

"Sophie." He said looking up at her. "Are you ok?"

"I'm not the one in hospital with three gunshot wounds." She replied taking his hand and sitting down next to him. Nate smiled at her and then looked at the rest of them. They all looked fine, no damage.

"I want to see Sterling." He said softly.

"Nate."

"Not his fault Sophie and I would really like to see him."

"Fine." But Nate could hear she was not happy about the fact.

"I'm not going to run off with him I promise." Nate said playfully but immediately regretted it as he got a withering look from his wife.

"He's probably not even in the country anymore." Hardison piped up. "I mean he got his daughter and that is all he wanted."

Nate looked at him and then at the rest. Sterling was even more disliked now than what he had been. Thank God he had made it he thought, Sterling might be dead if he had not.

"I'll contact him." Eliot told the Mastermind getting a thank you look from him and a hard look from the rest of the crew.

Eliot called Sterling and told him that Nate wanted to see him. Sterling it turned out had taken a hotel suite not far from the hospital and was keeping tabs on Nate through the hospital. He thanked Eliot and said he would be there within the hour.

Just over an hour later Sterling stepped into Nate's room followed by Olivia. Sophie looked first at Olivia and then at Sterling some of her anger dissipating at the sight of the young blonde girl.

"Well darling we will leave you alone." Sophie said standing and giving Nate a quick kiss before walking passed Sterling without a word. The remainder of the team left after her also without a word.

"They are mad at me." Sterling said looking at Nate and smiling.

"Yes they are." Nate agreed then looked at Olivia. "How are you doing?"

"Fine thank you Nate." The girl said walking up to the side of his bed and leaning in to place a soft kiss on his cheek. "Thank you."

"Don't worry about it." Nate smiled at the girl and then looked up at Sterling. "The other girls?"

"Yeah most of them we have found their families so they are as good as can be expected." Sterling replied then stepped up to the man's bed and put his hand out. "I can't thank you enough Nate."

"No thanks necessary Jim." Nate told him shaking his hand. "Just make sure she does not get into any more trouble." He said softly. "Oh and if you value your life I wouldn't ask for another favour that involves excluding them."

"I won't." Sterling assured him. "Well now that we know you are doing well, I am going to take Olivia home. Thanks again Nate." He said then took his daughters hand stepped out the door. He wanted to just walk past the team still seeing on their faces that he was not welcome but his daughter pulled her hand from his and went to stand in front of the team.

"I am sorry Nate got hurt. He saved me, and he saved a lot of other girls. My dad said he would not have been able to get to me without Nate, and those other girls would have been… Well anyway I am glad he is going to get better." The girl said and then walked back to her dad and taking his hand they left.

Sophie watched her leave and shook her head slowly. Nathan Ford had done a stupid thing, the wrong thing, for the right reasons and without his actions that little girl would have suffered immeasurably. She was still angry with both Nate and Sterling but she understood. Without their actions, Olivia and lot of other girls would have not been in a very good position now. Then she turned and went back into Nate's room with the rest following her.