Chapter 20

Three days passed without incident with Tara visiting Nate daily as his lawyer and conveying messages between him and the team. Nate had been taken into the infirmary due to severe withdrawals from and was not in the best of moods most of the time though and his only message to the team was to stay out of it and let things take their course. He was returned to his cell the morning of the third day with the doctor saying he was over the worst of the withdrawals and that they could not keep him in the infirmary indefinitely, he did not like long term stays because that meant his day was longer than he liked.

It was nine o'clock on the fourth day of Nate's incarceration that Sophie received the call from Tara telling her that Nate had been shanked that morning.

"What…is he alright…where is he"

"Prison infirmary, he is ok Sophie, he will be ok." Tara assured her. The warden had said that Nate had been stabbed while at breakfast, but Nate had fought back, and the guards had intervened before he was killed giving Sophie all the information that the warden had given her about the incident.

"Ok…Tara."

"I am on my way there now, I'll let you know as soon as I get there." Tara said then hung up the phone.

"Sophie…?" Eliot asked knowing something was wrong, something had happened to Nate.

"Nate was stabbed, he is in the prison infirmary." Sophie told them. "Tara will let me know when she has more details."

"He's ok though…?" Parker asked her chest tightening at the thought that Nate might be not fine.

"Yes according to Tara it was stopped before…before…"

"Ok." Eliot taking a deep breath. "Do they know who did it and why?"

"No…no Tara is on her way there now like I said, she will let us know." Sophie said softly trying to hold back the flood of tears that were threatening.

"Well if he is at the prison infirmary then it can't be that bad Sophie." Eliot told her trying to give her some comfort. He knew that the infirmary could cope with incidents like this, but if the shanking had been bad Nate would have been moved to a hospital so there was that he thought.

"Eliot Nate is in prison and he has been SHANKED…but no it can't be that bad right…" Sophie said in the most sarcastic voice she could muster…this was his fault she thought to herself then immediately regretted even thinking it, this was not his fault, this was just…oh damn it she thought, this was nobody's fault but it was happening and she wished there was some way she could stop it.

"That's not what I meant…" Eliot said softly feeling the sting of her words. The unsaid ones were that he was there because of what Eliot had done, because of Barrington who had been after him and not Nate…

"I know…I know I'm sorry Eliot it's just…"

"I understand." Eliot said.

"Eliot I didn't mean…"

"I know Sophie. It's fine." Eliot said his voice softening. He could see she was upset with what was happening they all were, but he knew they did not blame him for it.

From what he could see things had changed between Nate and Sophie, they had somehow become closer more intimate than before. The three youngsters had talked about it, with even Parker noting the change in attitude they had witnessed, the change in intimacy between the two before Nate was arrested. He knew they had slept together and were sleeping together but something had definitely changed in the last while. He knew that she was scared, scared of losing him, they all were but there was nothing they could do right then.

They waited anxiously watching as Tara arrived at the facility and went inside. A half hour later she stepped outside, and Sophie's phone rang.

"He's going to be alright Sophie." Were the first words she said. "They are not sure why it happened, but an in-transit prisoner Robert McBride shanked him at breakfast."

"For no reason…?" Sophie asked.

"Well I am sure there was a reason, but we don't know what it is. Now Nate is fine, there was not too much damage done and he does not need an operation, he did loose some blood though and they are going to keep him in the infirmary for a period."

"Tara I need…"

"To see him I know but you can't come here Sophie." Tara asked, she had known when this happened that Sophie was going to want to see Nate but coming to the prison was not an option. All of them were listed as known associates of Nate and they all had criminal records, the only reason warrants had not been issued for them was that there was no direct evidence but if they should be caught going to see Nate they may be arrested and interrogated and things could go horribly wrong. Not that they would be arrested for what was going on with Nate, but Interpol was involved, and they all had warrants out on them for various crimes in other countries.

"Ok well Robert McBride is a Class A felon man. He has done it all, murder, rape, kidnapping the whole lot. He was sentenced to life in prison and was being moved from his previous facility because he…well killed two guards there and a fellow inmate. Shanked them. Now why he shanked Nate is anybody's guess… maybe Nate just pissed him off." Hardison said as he pulled up information about the man Tara had mentioned.

"Nate, going through withdrawals and generally not in a good place mentally…yeah that's not a stretch." Eliot said nodding at the Hacker. Nate could have just said or done the slightest thing wrong, appeared to have insulted a man like McBride and he would have shanked him, Eliot knew the type, the slightest appearance of insult and he would go off the rails and kill somebody, McBride was a lifer with no worries about extending his sentence through violence and probably liked to dominate any prison he was put in and the best way to do that is by a show of what you are willing to do should you be 'insulted'.

"Ok well he has been put in isolation and will be moved tomorrow to his new facility so then the danger will be gone. Nate will remain in the infirmary until at least the day after tomorrow according to the prison doctor." Tara said. "This could work in our favour too you know Sophie."

"What?"

"Well Nate in a prison with people like this, he has already been victimised by Barrington and now…well you see how it could be construed." Tara told her.

"Yes…but…he could have been killed." Sophie said her voice full of emotion. He could have been killed and not when he had said he was wanting to stop dancing and make their relationship real, now when he was willing to tell her he loved her. Why the hell did this have to happen now.

"But he wasn't. Now I am going to go and see Alan and tell him what happened and then we will take it from there. Hopefully with this and everything else we can get the case tossed at the preliminary hearing."

"Thank you Tara."

"Hey no problem." She said. "Don't worry Sophie Nate is fine and…well we will get him out of this, all of it." She said then hung up. She was not so sure they were going to be able to get Nate out of anything, but it was what her friend needed to hear just then. She sighed heavily looking up at the cameras knowing they were watching her and then climbed into her car and set off for Alan's offices, maybe he would find a way to use this in Nate's favour, who knows the man was good and this may still all work out.