Chapter 3
They had been waiting for a few hours and Parker was becoming more and more anxious as the hours passed. Eliot watched her and saw she was about to explode from pent up fear and anger, so he excused himself and when he returned he sat down next to her handing her a pencil and paper.
"Draw him Parker." He told her. "Draw him now while it is fresh in your mind. Make sure it is good enough that Hardison can get a hit if he is on any of the databases he has access to ok."
Parker just looked at him and he could see she wanted to hell him to go fly a kite, but he smiled at her and reminded her that she was their only way of identifying this man and making sure he did not get to Nate or herself and it was important.
"Do it Parker, please, we need to identify this man and as soon as possible." Eliot said, he wanted to give her something to do, something to take her mind off Nate and the possibility that the man may die on the table.
Parker looked at him and then nodded. She looked at the door to the operating theatres and then started to sketch.
"Thank you Eliot." Sophie said smiling slightly at him and putting her hand on his arm squeezing gently.
They sat in silence with Parker sketching and the rest waiting, hours passed and still no word was forthcoming. Eliot told Sophie that was a good thing even if they did not think so, it meant Nate was still alive.
Eventually a doctor came through the doors and all of them stood as he approached them.
"Mr Ford's family?" He asked as he stopped in front of him.
"Yes I am his wife." Sophie said watching him carefully and seeing the lines of fatigue on his face.
"Well Mrs Ford your husband is out of surgery. The surgery went well, we managed to remove both bullets. He had extensive internal damage and high blood loss however he is stable, and we have him in ICU. Now we have Mr Ford on a ventilator to assist him, he can breathe on his own, but we want to give his body time to heal, we will keep him on the ventilator and sedated for at least forty-eight hours."
"Doctor what…what are…will he be alright?" She wanted the doctor to tell her that Nate was going to make it, that he was not going to die.
"Mrs Ford I cannot tell you that. For now he is holding his own, however as I said the damage was extensive."
"Can we see him?" Sophie asked praying the man said yes.
"Yes. We have him a private ICU room, however Mrs Ford please no longer than a few minutes and please not more than one person at a time."
"Yes of course." Sophie said.
"Good well he has been taken to Surgical ICU, the nurse will be able to direct you." The doctor said then left.
"He's still alive." Parker breathed out as she watched the doctor leave. She had been afraid the doctor was going to tell them that Nate had not made it through surgery and that he was dead.
"Yes he is, and he will come through this Parker, he will." Sophie said trying to convince herself as much as she was the blonde woman, Nate had to come through, he had to.
"Ok I'm going to find out where he is and then let's go see him." Eliot said as he moved off to the nurses' station as the others waited to hear where to go. Then he returned and led them up to the ICU the nurse had informed him Nate had been moved too.
The duty nurse showed them the room that Nate was in and they all stood and stared through the glass at the man. He lay surrounded by medical machines which monitored every aspect of his condition. His chest was bare exposing the long white bandage that covered the incision they had made, and he had drainage tubes which snaked from incisions into his chest and side. Parker stared at the figure fighting the emotions that welled in her again.
"Parker why don't you go in first." Eliot said looking at Sophie and getting a slight nod, Parker needed this, needed to know the man was alive and ground herself in the fact that he was still fighting to stay with them. Parker looked at him and then Sophie and then moved to the door of the room.
She walked in and made her way to Nate's side laying her hand gently on his she looked down at him.
"Why did you do that Nate…I don't want you to…you shouldn't…I don't want you to die for me. Not for me." She whispered. Then she stood and listened to the heart monitor and the almost silent swish of the ventilator as it pumped air into his lungs. To her he looked so still, so lifeless his hand felt so cold underneath hers. "You can't die Nate, please don't die." She said then squeezed his hand gently before leaving to give the others a turn to go and see him.
Sophie was next in to see him. She too made her way to his side and took his hand in hers looking down at him. Lifting his hand she bent and gave it a kiss her lips lingering. His hand felt cold, the room felt cold and lifeless and she could feel the emotions rise and the tears prick at her yes.
"I love you Nathan Ford." She said softly leaning into him. "Do you hear me Nate, I love you, so please come back to me." Then she stood and watched him for a short while before also leaving.
Eliot put his hand on Hardison's back and almost pushed him into the room. Hardison of all of them had not dealt with situations like this before, he had never dealt with death or the prospect of it the way they had and he was afraid to go in and see Nate, but he had to, they all did because Nate may not survive, and this may be last time they could be with him.
Hardison hesitantly walked into the room and to Nate's bedside looking down at him. He noticed how pale the man was, how still he lay with the only movement the rise and fall of his chest. His eyes were closed and there was pipe protruding from his mouth. Hesitantly he lifted his hand and placed it on Nate's and felt the tears prick at his eyes as he felt the coldness of his skin. Then he turned and left the room unable to stay any longer and not knowing what to say to the man, not able to express his feelings for him, or make him understand how much he meant to him.
Eliot watched him and as he came out met him at the door putting his hand on his shoulder and met his eyes seeing the anguish in them. Then he passed Hardison and walked up to Nate's bed.
"So Nate playing the Hitter again, playing the protector." Eliot said then he sighed and put his hand on the man's hand. "Thank you, and saying that you better not die, because Nate she will never get over it, nor will Hardison and nor will Sophie so you fight, you fight and you come back to them, besides, we need you, we need you to be able to take care of Parker, to figure this out." He said then stood and watched the man. "In case you were wondering I won't handle you leaving us like this either so…so just come back to us ok." He said before also giving his hand a squeeze and then leaving the room.
"So what do we do now?" Hardison asked. He was frightened for Nate, but his concern was also for Parker who was still in danger of whoever this man was.
"Now we wait." Eliot told him. "Perhaps we should…"
"No." Parker interrupted him looking at him and meeting his eyes. "I am not leaving here until I know Nate is going to be alright."
"Parker that could be days, it could be longer, and we can't sit here in this waiting room until then, not all of us, we need rest, we also need to address the reason this happened, and we have to ensure that you are safe." Eliot told her taking her shoulders. "Parker, he will never be alone, but we are going to have to take turns being with him because otherwise we will be no use to him do you understand. So Hardison will find us a place here, where we will only be minutes away." He said looking at the Hacker who nodded then moved off and started making the arrangements.
Sophie listened to Eliot and knew he was right, but she felt the same as Parker, she did not want to leave Nate alone here in the hospital, but she did know that Eliot was right, they could not all stay all the time, they would have to take turns being with him and at the same time they had to take the threat against Parker into account.
"I know you want to be here and so do I and so does he, we all feel the same way, but we must be realistic about this. Nate did this to protect you Parker and you can't make his sacrifice in vain you have to take care of yourself, you have to let us take care of your safety." Sophie said meeting the woman's gaze and holding it. "Parker do you understand?'
"I understand." She whispered dropping her head and breaking eye contact with the Grifter.
"Good." She said taking Parkers hand and squeezing it gently. "Hardison?"
"Ok well on the top floor of this hospital are two private suites used by people having cosmetic procedures, I have blocked them out for us. One for me and Eliot and one for you and Parker." He said looking at Parker. "It's only two floors up so we won't be far from him ok?"
Parker smiled at him and nodded, trust Hardison to find the solution, they could be here with him in this building and still get the rest they needed.
"Eliot they take up the whole floor, so the floor will be ours, we can sort out security there is that fine?" Hardison asked getting a nod from Eliot.
"Excellent work Hardison." Sophie smiled at the Hacker. "Now Eliot we are going to need to go and get some stuff form our places to enable us to stay here for a while."
"Yeah. Well let's get set up with security and get our suites set up and then you and Parker can give me and Hardison lists and we will pick up what we need." Eliot said. "Priority is security, so Hardison what do you need?"
"All my stuff man, it's at Nate's."
"Ok so we will go pick that up first. I doubt whoever this is will try anything here so you two stay here with Nate and we will be back."
Parker nodded, she was happy to stay here watching over Nate and she could see Sophie was too.
"Good. See you later." Eliot said taking one last look at Nate before moving off with Hardison to get the stuff Hardison needed to secure the place for them.
