A/N: This idea absolutely began with a wonderful, wonderful piece of fanfiction which I highly recommend called "Letting Go" by swanxsong. I love love the idea of pain and bashing and stuff being what brings Eliot and Parker together, but I have a fondness for hurting Parker, and I love when Eliot goes all protective and caring and such. FEAR NOT MY GRASSHOPPERS, this will end up going in a completely different direction than "Letting Go" well, still with eventual Parker/Eliot.
Eliot could feel his heart sinking, the scream of Parker being pitched over the side of the fifty story building piercing his ear drums. He watched as her harness did nothing to break her fall, anchored on nothing. He lunged at it, grabbing at the rope as it snaked over the edge, crashing through the two large men who stood in his way, incapacitating as a reflex. "Parker!" He couldn't hear himself, didn't realize that he was screaming.
A loud crash rang out, and he sank to his knees at the edge of the building. He had one job on the team, one job as far as he was concerned, every other task just an extension of his goal. He was supposed to keep them alive, keep them uninjured. And he had failed. After all those years, all those scares, all that crazy, and he had failed.
"Eliot."
"Eliot."
"Eliot."
Too many voices in his head. Frantic, worried, he couldn't blame them, they had no idea what was going on, could only listen through the earbuds. But then he isolated it, the meeker, quietest voice in his ear, Parker's voice.
"Eliot, help," she managed, and he lunged at the edge, nearly tumbling over himself as he looked down the building. There she was, three stories down on scaffolding.
"Can you climb up?" Eliot whispered into the com, his voice hoarse from screaming. "If I throw you a rope?"
"No," her raspy reply, and Eliot was sure it was from the ear piercing shriek she had let out as she fell. And for some reason, that alone hurt more than anything, she had been scared. Parker, who lept out of windows superman style with only the sheer hope that Eliot would be there, was scared, because she had known he wouldn't be there. He had failed exponentially. "My arm is definitely broken, I can see bone, and I think my leg is too, but it didn't pierce skin." She replied, trying to clear her throat.
"Stay there, don't move, I'm coming to get you." Eliot growled, turning around and full speed ran down the three flights, locating the office he would need to get to her, he kicked in the door. "Hardison," Eliot snarled as he walked into the office, not mad at the hacker, just angry in general, "we're going to need an ambulance, but can you delay it until we're out of the building? It'll look too suspicious, and I've gotta break the windows." He glanced over the panes, having noted with frustration that not a single one opened. And the small whimper that rang through his head as Parker shifted slightly nearly broke his heart.
"Yeah man, got it," Hardison's reply.
He selected the window farthest from her that still had the scaffolding on the other side, and ripping off his button up shirt, he wrapped his fist with it and punched through the window with ease, not noticing the snarl he let out. Stepping out onto the rigging, he could finally see the full extent of the damage, the unnatural lumps under the skin on her leg, her pant leg hitched up to her knee. There was blood though, everywhere, and clearly Parker had been under-reacting as he noted the bone protruding through the skin of her arm in three places. He swallowed the lump in his throat, injuries had never bothered him. Blood and bone, he had killed people for god's sake. This was different though. This wasn't an enemy, but it was still his fault.
"It might hurt more to move you," he warned, "but there's no way to get you help up here," his voice was uncharacteristically soft, his eyes wide as he blinked back moisture.
"I'll be fine, just, don't touch my arm," she had it cradled to her chest, and he noted with some grim relief that at least she was wearing black, and he couldn't see the bloodied stains on the shirt, he was sure that they were there.
"I won't, darlin," he scooped her up gently, an arm supporting her back, the other under her knees, as careful as he could be about not disturbing her also injured leg. "The elevators still aren't in operation, so we have to take the stairs, let me know if I'm hurting you, okay?" She just nodded, sucking in a sharp breath as he stepped back through the window.
"Thank you," she whispered, resting her head against his chest, and he knew he'd never mention to anyone that she was crying, and never tell anybody about the look of sheer terror on her face as he watched her go over the side of the building.
"For what, darlin?" He couldn't help but ask. She had nothing to thank him for as far as he was concerned.
"For being there," she whispered out, relaxing slightly into his grip, he could tell adrenaline was flooding her system, that she couldn't feel how badly she was injured anymore, and he seriously had to wonder about the girl. Maybe he had been more right about crazy than he had thought, because she should have gotten the adrenaline rush as soon as she was pitched over the building if not before.
He wasn't sure how long it took him to descend the 47 flights of stairs, only that he was fairly certain he did so much more quickly than he should have, more concerned about the blood loss than discomfort in her leg. The ambulance was being called for a building a block and a half away, Hardison had informed him, and he didn't bother to stop and talk to the team when he exited the building, only numbly moved on, desperately needing to get Parker okay as soon as possible.
He stayed with her in the ambulance, probably a good thing, because his glares kept the interrogating questions at bay, and he only relaxed slightly when he watched the needle pierce her unbroken arm, sending a steady drip of morphine into her system. She would be okay. He was sure of it now, though he had doubted some before.
He was unable to bully his way into the operating room once they took her away, he couldn't create too much of a fuss, couldn't fight too violently against the nurses and doctors pushing him away from her. He was resigned to the waiting room, and the rest of the team met him there.
"How is she?" Sophie asked gently, laying a comforting hand on Eliot's shoulder. She hadn't expected the violent flinch away from it, before he looked up and realized who it was.
"She'll live." Eliot's gruff reply. "They got x-rays and took her right into surgery. From the looks of her arm she'll need pins in a few places, but I don't know about her leg, it didn't look like just a simple fracture." He was familiar with injuries, more than any of them. He was more than fairly certain that she would need at the very least a plate and screws in her leg, it looked shattered, not just fractured.
"You haven't heard anything since?" Hardison asked, his brow furrowed deeply, and Eliot sank back in to the chair, another wave of guilt hitting him. He hadn't just hurt Parker, it wasn't just her, he had also hurt the rest of the team. They couldn't trust him anymore, he had caused harm to come to Parker, and it could have just as easily been any of them.
"No, but I uh, told the nurses that we were married, so they'd give me information, is there any way you can uh, modify some documents or something for our covers?" Eliot glanced worriedly at the hacker, not wanting to burden the man anymore, but it was for Parker, and he owed her everything.
"No respect, no respect," Hardison complained, "yeah let me just fabricate marriage certificates in a hospital on my cellphone." He grinned at Eliot though, and the hitter knew he could do it. "What names did you give them?"
"I gave them Madison Kline, it was the first thing that came to mind," Eliot replied quickly. "I didn't give them my name though." He sat up, crossing his arms.
"That'll work, Madison is a staunch feminist, so I can change the last name on one of your covers, make it look like you took her name." Eliot growled slightly at that, and Hardison raised an eyebrow, "Your fault, dude, I'm just working with what I've got." Hardison pulled out his netbook (and Eliot was sooo not surprised that he had it with him) and started working.
It was nearly two hours later when Hardison set down his laptop and started doing his little happy dance. "You so, so owe me, dude." Eliot looked up, having nearly nodded off, he rubbed his eyes.
"Yeah sure, just fill me in." Cue growl.
"I used your Alexander Leman cover, you two met two years ago through work, she was working at a bakery that she owns and manages, you were driving delivery trucks while going to school full-time to be an architect. You started dating two months after that, your first date you took her out to a restaurant you couldn't really afford, real fancy, you had saved up for it, but it went terribly, as per your facebook statuses' about it. Neither of you fit the fancy scene, but you begged for a second chance, and you took her rock climbing and immediately hit it off. " Hardison took a dramatic deep breath.
"About six months ago, you proposed to her, you asked her if she wanted to go rock hunting, and handed her a brochure for a diamond mine in Arkansas. You two both took time off and traveled to the mine and went diamond hunting. Madison thought it was a fun idea and was completely shocked when you two found a thirty carat yellow diamond. You suggested that you two get it cut and turn it into a ring. She said it was pretty in its own right, and didn't see why you wanted to cut it."
"At that point, you explained that you wanted to ask her to marry you, but you didn't have enough money to buy her a ring that she deserved, and so you had suggested that you come here to find something you could have cut to hold her over until you were established. She was ecstatic, said yes, and informed you that she didn't want you to buy one, because the yellow diamond was clearly a sign that you two were meant to be. The diamond was cut into two stones, a smaller one, at five carats for her ring, and a larger one, at 15 carats that you had put on a necklace for her as well. You can pick those up from the jeweler about ten minutes away from here after we get more information about her status."
Eliot just kind of raised an eyebrow, he hadn't expected this much detail, but he was eternally grateful, the man had a knack for the often overlooked but supremely important details to make a cover convincing.
"You married two and a half months ago in Montana, which is where you're from, obviously. It was an outdoor wedding with an impressive snowcapped mountain backdrop. The weather was beautiful, she wore a cream colored dress, you wore a navy tux because Madison rejected tradition but kept enough to keep your overbearing rancher mother happy. You honeymooned in London, Paris, Berlin, Istambul, Dubai, Beijing, Capetown and Melbourne before settling in Jaco, Costa Rica for a week. You saw monkeys and crocodiles, while living in a little cottage right on the beach. Weather was perfect, it only rained one day. You two got back a month ago and have been settling into your new lives together, at which point, your dog, Fitzgerald, named after Madison's favorite author, got underfoot and she fell out of the open apartment window. Said puppy, and apartment are currently being prepared, I've got a guy who owes me a favor fixing it up according to the plans, it's the apartment building right in front of where the ambulance picked you up, yep, just that good." Hardison mimicked popping his collar before sinking back into the seat with a smug look on his face.
"Family of Madison Kline?" A doctor in scrubs walked into the waiting room, looking around, and Eliot sprang out of his seat.
"Right here, ma'am," he waved over at her, "Alex Kline, how's Maddie?" holding out his hand.
She shook it gently, "She made it out of surgery just fine, we set the bones in her arm, but had to use screws to keep them stabilized, the fracture in her leg was more severe, we used several plates and a titanium rod to keep the limb stabilized. Once the swelling goes down, we'll cast both arm and leg, keep her for a few days to make sure she's free of infection and then you can take her home." She smiled at him, patting his hand.
"When can I see her?' He thrust his hands into his pockets, shifting uncomfortably.
"She's in recovery room 2, I can take you there now if you'd like," way too smiley.
"Yeah, can I just," he gestured over to the rest of the group, "her aunt and uncle and her cousin are here too."
"Cousin?" The woman raised an eyebrow.
"Woah, problem? He's adopted." Eliot held up his hands in mock offense.
"Sure, just keep the noise level to a minimum, she doesn't need any undue stress as she's coming out of the anesthesia." The woman nodded apologetically. And it Eliot probably would have laughed inside if he hadn't been so worried about her.
Eliot nodded and waved them over, taking a deep breath. He wasn't sure he was quite ready to face his guilt.