Chapter 14

It was late in the evening of the day that Sterling and Nate had put their plan into motion. Nate had gone to his apartment that he kept in the city and Sterling to an Interpol safe house, both men had not taken too many steps to keep their movements secret. Sterling had first gone with Nate to his apartment, there he picked up a weapon, they had made a show of splitting up from there making it clear to anybody watching or listening that they thought they would stand a better chance on their own and not together. They both had earbuds in so that they could communicate with each other. Nate had notified Rogers of where they would be and what the plan was, Rogers had agreed to have two teams on standby, one watching Sterling and one watching Nate.

"When do you think Perkins will make his move?" Parker asked as she sat outside Nate's apartment while Eliot surveyed Sterling's safehouse from a distance.

"Don't know Parker but just be ready." Eliot replied, he had lost the coin toss and was left to watch over Sterling much to his disdain.

Sophie listened to them as she sat at the table with Hardison and Olivia, she wanted to be there too but knew that Nate was right, Perkins would use them to get to him and he needed to concentrate on himself now and getting himself out of this mess, besides, she trusted Eliot and Parker to ensure both men stayed alive.

It was midnight and still nothing had happened. Olivia had passed out at the table from exhaustion and Sophie had moved her over to the sofa.

"Hello Nate, you are a hard man to kill." Perkins said as he entered Nate's apartment.

Sterling heard Perkins voice and immediately pulled out his phone and called Rogers telling him that Perkins was at Nate's place. Hardison who had tapped into Sterling's phone let them all know and sending Parker out of the car and into the apartment building and Eliot gunned the motor of his car and headed towards Nate's apartment at breakneck speed.

"Perkins." Nate said softly as he sat on his sofa and sipped his whiskey.

"One of your team members are sitting out there watching you, if you don't want them to die I would suggest you tell them to stay out."

"They will. This is between me and you." Nate said softly silently cursing them for not obeying his orders.

"Where is Sterling?"

"Don't know."

"Well it doesn't matter I will find him."

"So now you kill me?"

"That's right Nate now I kill you." Perkins said pulling out his gun.

Parker was halfway up the stairs when she heard the gunshot and then Sophie crying out Nate's name. She moved faster and burst in through the door to his apartment before stopping dead in her tracks.

"Parker…Parker." Hardison said listening to her heavy breathing.

Parker ignored him and looked first to the body of Perkins who lay on the floor a neat hole in the middle of his forehead, then at Nate who lay on the floor face down as he had fallen from the sofa. She rushed to his side and turned him over.

"Get an ambulance here, Perkins is dead Nate is hit." Parker said then moved to the kitchen grabbing a towel and moving back to Nate pressing it down on the wound. As she did his eyes shot open and he stared up at her.

"Perkins…" He asked in a weak voice.

"Dead."

"Good."

"Ambulance is on the way Nate so just hold on ok." Parker said softly. The wound was to the left side of his chest and she could see the bloom of blood expanding and hear the rattle as he breathed that told her along with the blood that seeped from his mouth that the bullet had damaged his lung.

"Parker…"

"He's alive Sophie." Parker said.

"Nate…"

"Sterling."

"Looks like you were more important to him than me."

"Always was." Nate said, he had known Perkins would come after him first, he was the one who had orchestrated his downfall although Sterling had helped, and he had testified, and he had put the man away.

A minute later the EMT's entered the room along with Detective Rogers. They immediately started working on Nate and getting him ready for transport. Rogers knelt by the side of Perkins and then walked over to Parker as she stood and watched the EMT's.

"Parker tell Sophie…tell her I am sorry." Nate whispered.

"Don't talk like that Nate…don't you dare die on me you hear, don't you dare." Parker said as let go of his hand to allow the EMT's to load him onto the gurney.

"Parker…"

"They are taking him to Portland General." Parker said as she followed the EMT out and climbed into the ambulance with Nate.

"How is he?"

"He's hurt bad." Parker said not wanting to lie to her.

"Don't let him go Parker."

"I won't." She said softly as she sat beside Nate and took his hand while the ambulance sped towards the hospital.

By the time Sterling, Sophie and Eliot arrived at the hospital Nate had already been taken into theatre. Parker met them at the entrance and filled them in on what had happened and what she knew of Nate's injuries. Detective Rogers pulled Sterling aside and took down his statement of what had happened. After taking his statement and that of Eliot he left telling them he would keep in touch to see how Nate was doing.

The same doctor that had treated Nate on his previous admission approached them a few hours later and told them that Nate had made it through surgery and that he would be moved to a private ICU unit and that they could see him as soon as he was out of recovery. He explained that the bullet had passed through Nate damaging his left lung and he had lost a lot of blood, but that he should make a full recovery, although it would take time due to his previous injuries. Sophie listened but heard nothing other than Nate was going to be ok nothing else mattered to her. It was over, Perkins was dead, and Nate was going to be ok and they could get their lives back.

Four hours later Nate surfaced, and Sophie rose and leaned over him as he opened his eyes and looked up at her.

"Hey there darling." Sophie said as she gave him a chased kiss.

"Soph…" Nate croaked out. "Love you."

"I know." She smiled down at him and then he was out again, and Sophie pulled the blankets up over him again before giving him another kiss and then taking her seat again.

"Well it's over and he is going to be fine." Eliot said handing her a cup of coffee.

"Where are the others?"

"Parker and Hardison have gone home to wash up and change. Sterling took Olivia home." Eliot said taking a seat beside her. "So what are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking that I am starting to hate hospitals." She smiled at him. "You know he pulled me out of Leverage, us out of Leverage to ensure that I was never in danger again, but we are always going to be in danger Eliot, we all have pasts that involve dangerous people, from before we became the family we are and those people we took down as a team."

"Yeah…"

"You know he will always do this…put himself in danger to ensure our safety if at all possible and at the expense of his own life if necessary."

"I know." Eliot said. He understood Nate was willing to sacrifice himself for their safety. Even before they were a team, during that first job he had saved their lives and stood opening the doors for them making sure they all got out before getting out himself and almost getting himself blown to pieces.

"He is never going to change is he?"

"No Sophie he isn't."

"Then we just have to make sure that we are always there, that we are always ready to ensure his safety."

"We will." Eliot smiled at her.

"Damn right we will." Hardison's voice startled them as he and Parker walked in. They had stood at the door and listened to the conversation between the two.

"Yeah…" Parker said as she went and stood beside Nate's bed. "So we brought some food." She said and then she and Hardison pulled up two chairs and took their seats with the other two and handed out the Chinese takeout they had brought, and they sat and ate and chatted as Nate slept peacefully letting the tensions of the last few days and weeks seep out of them.

Well that is the end I hope you all enjoyed. A new story will be coming soon. Please let me know if you have any prompts for me I would appreciate it.