Chapter 3

The grifter just stood their mouth agape, eyes fixed, and hands trembling. She scanned the area, looking for any signs of what had taken place. The floor wasn't wet, it looked like he hadn't even made it to the shower. His shirt was crumpled in the corner, but his dark blue jeans were still on. 'Must have happened just after I spoke to him.' There was nothing on the floor for him to trip on, and everything else in the room seems to be undisturbed. 'He must have just passed out.'

She took a step and bent down to get closer. She hadn't seen it at first, but when she reached for his hand that was resting just in front of his head, she saw it. Dark bruises wrapped around his wrist. She looked away quickly, only to meet with a larger and slightly older bruise on his upper arm. 'Why didn't you tell us?' She started brushing the brown locks of hair away from his face, whilst also checking for head injuries. 'Doesn't seem to have banged his head at least.' She hadn't noticed before but his face was slightly paler than usual and there were dark patches settling under his eyes. 'God he looks tired.' She tried to wake him, first by calling his name. He didn't even stir, she knew he was alive, she could see the condensation from his breaths on the tile floor. Next, she tried tapping his cheek lightly, avoiding the bruise left by the "substandard mall cop." He was out cold, 'can't leave him here.'

"Harry, could you come here?"

The smartly dresses lawyer waltzed into the room. "Sure, what do you need?" He paused when he saw the downed hitter. "Is he alright?"

"I'm not sure, I found him like this. Help me carry him to the couch."

"Of course." The pair struggled to lift him between them. "God, for a little guy he sure is heavy." They half-lifted; half-dragged Eliot to the couch. Lifting him onto the couch was a bigger struggle. They tackled the problem in two halves, first lifting his upper body so he was almost sitting in the middle of the cushions, and then swinging his legs up so he was lying flat. "Never gonna make fun of his training routine ever again," he spoke through laboured breaths. Once settled, Sophie left to make a phone call, leaving Harry to hitter-sit.

He grabbed some extra pillows from the other sofa placing them behind his head, checking for signs of life as he went. Next, he took a blanket from behind the chair, "Not that I'm not impressed by the view, but I think it's best if we cover you up." He shuddered at the sight of his friend's battered body, he knew what Eliot's job entailed but had never considered the consequences. He looked down and saw the large clunky boots. "Let's get those off, make you more comfortable." He removed the right shoe and then proceeded to the left. "Sophie."

Now finished with her call, she walked back towards the two men. "What's the matter?"

"He has another one on his ankle. I think that's why he was limping the other day." He removed the boot slowly revealing a far more angrier bruise than they were used to. He couldn't quite believe what he was seeing. "He had been running for at least five hours on that."

Sophie shook her head. "I found restraints attached to his bed. I think they're the cause." She walked over and adjusted the blanket. "I've just spoken to that doctor we helped the other month, he said he'll be here in twenty minutes."

23 minutes later

"Has he regained consciousness at all?" An older gentleman sat perched on the edge of the table as he examined his patient. His glasses balance low on his nose, almost to the point of falling off.

"Not since I found him. He has been restless though." She recalled how after about ten minutes of complete silence; Eliot had started tossing so badly they had to stop him from falling. He had been muttering something, but they couldn't make head nor tails of it.

"Ok. Have you noticed anything out of the ordinary lately?"

"Uh, yeah," this time Harry answered. "He's been looking really tired lately, but he's been pushing himself to exercise." The doctor started to make notes, pushing his glasses back onto his face. "Plus, his mood can switch without warning. We also think that he's been having trouble with his balance and vision."

"Hmm, ok"

"I think it might be nightmares." Sophie carefully lifted the bruised wrist to show the doctor. "Pretty sure he's been tying himself down at night."

"Ok. I think what we're dealing with here is a simple case of exhaustion. My main concern is the cause of this. I'll have to wake Mr Spencer up so I can talk to him." He took something out of his bag and waved it under the hitter's nose. "Come on Mr Spencer, come back to us."

"Eliot, it's me Sophie, and Harry is here as well."

He mumbled something as his eyes slowly crept open. 'Where am I? How did I get here? Is that Dr Gregson?' His eyes flitted about the room as his body tensed.

"Easy does it, don't rush. How are you feeling Mr Spencer?"

"Uh, alright. Call me Eliot." This was the first time in a while that he woke with his voice intact, probably because he hadn't reached that particular part of the dream yet.

"Certainly Eliot. I'm afraid you collapsed from exhaustion. Please don't try to sit up." He gently pushed his patient down by the shoulders. "I need to talk to you about what may have caused this. Do you think you're up to that?"

He considered his option for a moment, whilst also taking time to get his mind back on track. "Yeah, but not with them." He flicked his head over to his two teammates.

"We can talk in private if that's what you want."

"Wait, hold on one minute. You are not sending us out." Sophie leapt from her seat heading straight for the hitter. "We need to be here to hear the truth because we certainly won't get it from you." She was pretty irate at this point. "And how do we know you're going to be honest with the doctor, it's not like you've been honest with us." Eliot didn't respond, he instead scooted himself in order to break eye contact.

"I'm afraid I have to follow my patient's wishes."

"You don't understand, he's stubborn and never does what's best for him"

"I'm sorry, but all evidence points to him being of sound mind. That means he gets to make the decisions."

With that the two of them left, all be it begrudgingly.

"So, Elliot. Why haven't you been sleeping?"

He flipped back over to face the doctor leaning on his left forearm. "Just been finding it harder to get to sleep recently."

"Ok. Any particular reason?"

"Not really." He didn't want this doctor poking around his head.

"Your friends mentioned that you might be having nightmares."

"Nothing more than the usual. You know, the one where you're stood in front of your classmates naked." He smiled but it didn't quite reach his eyes. 'Thank God I woke up when I did, how could I explain why I was screaming another guy's name?'

Dr Gregson chuckled. "Are you sure that's all? I understand you've been using restraints."

"I had fallen out of bed a few times, thought I'd save my knees some issues and secure myself." He pulled his jeans up to show his knee that had turned a sickly yellow. "I'll stop using them, put a rug down or something." He smiled a smile that said, "trust me doc, I'm perfectly fine."

"I do think that would be for the best." He nodded his head as he scribbled some more notes. "I am still concerned about the lack of sleep. Did anything happen recently, have you been put under any extra stress?"

"No, been pretty quiet round here." What was he meant to say, "I was kidnapped and drugged with something new that causes you to relive your worst memory, and now I keep seeing visions of the time that our government sent me and my squad into a massacre." He could have been a little more truthful, but he was never that good at talking about himself.

"Right," he doesn't believe a word the hitter is saying. "There were some other things mentioned by Mr Wilson." Eliot began to tense again. "He said you were exercising more heavily."

"Yeah, thought it would make me fall asleep easier."

"Perfectly reasonable, but for the time being, I want you to cut down. Your reaction today suggests that's it's doing more harm than good." The hitter nodded half-heartedly. "They also believed that your vision was failing a bit." He looked deep into the man's blue eyes.

"No just had a bit of headache, they tend to jump to the worse possible conclusion."

"Ok." He paused whilst he finished writting. "We can sort the not sleeping out right now with some pills" He handed a script over with instructions to fill it immediately. "Now these are pretty strong, and they can cause some side effects." He began to list things like dizziness, headaches, changes in appetite, and memory problems. "I would also like to make an appointment for next week at the clinic so we can find some better solutions."

"Will do Doc"

"Well, I believe we're done for now. You need to pick up those pills today and get an early night. And it is very important that you make that appointment, sleep deprivation can be really dangerous"

"I promise Doc, I will get this sorted out."

"Great, I will leave you to recuperate."

Eliot who at some point had sat up levered himself off the sofa and led the doctor out, parting with a strong handshake. He slipped the script into his back pocket and made his way to the kitchen where his two teammates had been joined by Briana.

"What did he say?" Harry had been nominated to speak, as Sophie was too angry and Briana wasn't sure what was going on.

"You know, get more sleep cut down on the workouts"

"He didn't suggest why this was happening or give you anything?"

"Just stress. A few days relaxing and I'll be right as rain."

"Did you tell him everything? I know you like your privacy but it's important that he knows the facts."

"Told him everything." He wasn't even looking at Harry anymore, he was too focused on avoiding Sophie's death stare.

"Really, he just left with the advice to get more sleep?" He shook his head in disbelief.

"What's this?" Parker suddenly appeared behind him with a slip of paper.

"It's nothing," he growled trying to grab the item from her. But she slipped past him and handed it to Harry.

"It looks to me like a prescription... for... sleeping pills, with a note on them to make a further appointment at the clinic." He spoke with that accusing tone that all lawyers have.

'I really hate lawyers'

It was at this point that Sophie started turning red, her hands balled up into fists. "Why can't you just be STRAIGHT WITH US!" Eliot flinched. The grifter grabbed the slip of paper and started to walk out hitter in hand. "You obviously can't be trusted, so I am taking you to the pharmacy and I will pick up your prescription. Then tonight and each night thereafter, I will watch you take your damn medicine." On her way to the door, she picked up a leather jacket throwing it into his bare chest.

'Seriously woman, couldn't wait for me to grab a shirt'

The others watched as their friend was practically dragged from the room, unsure whether to help him. In the end, they just watched deciding it was in everybody's best interest.

10 minutes later, in Sophie's car.

The tension was unbearable, and the feeling of leather on bare skin in December just made him even more uncomfortable.

'Why is she so angry, it's not like I haven't been injured before. She saw me after that fight in Nebraska, and that time I got my ass handed to me at the carnival. She was concerned both times but never angry. And this isn't even as bad, no broken bones, no concussion, just a few bruises... I think there's steam coming off her... And what does she think she's doing, yelling at me like that in front of the others. She's acting like I'm some child that can't take care of themselves, instead of a world-renown retrieval specialist who has escaped from some of the world's worst prisons. I can't wait for this nightmare to end.'

The car stopped with a jolt. 'Guess we're here.' The grifter grabbed her purse without a word and headed into the white brick building. 'Why is quiet Sophie the scariest.'

Inside the pharmacy, things weren't much better as the two stood silently in the long queue. Eliot picked at his fingernails while Sophie tapped her foot.

'Why is he being so stubborn, it's obviously affecting him in a bad way. It's not like when he's injured, that I know he can deal with, bones mend, concussions fade, but things like this can plague people for a long time if not treated... Look at him, he's fidgeting, I've seen that man sit perfectly still for three hours on a con but now he can't wait in a line for five minutes... I can't believe he lied to us, were his family. "You don't con your own team" what do you call this, bloody hypocrite. All over some stupid bloody pills, and a doctor's appointment. I bet he lied to the doctor as well. "I'm perfectly fine Doc, I get eight hours every night." Stupid, stupid little man. He thinks he can con a grifter of my calibre, well he can think again.'

She walked up to the counter pulling her friend in tow. Before Eliot could take the large bottle of prescription drugs, Sophie had reached over and grabbed them. The pair retreated back to the car, Eliot looking more like a scolded schoolboy than a world-class criminal.

10 minutes later

"Where are we?" They had pulled into what looked to be an abandoned construction yard. 'Click.' Eliot turned to look towards the driver's seat. "Why have you locked the doors?"

"We need to talk."

"And that involves locking me in... because?"

"Because you have a tendency to run away from your problems." She couldn't even look him in the eyes at this point, scared of what she may do if he started lying to her again.

"Hold up. I never run away. I didn't run away from Dubenich, or Sterling, and I came back and dealt with Moreau. I stayed and fought each one of those problems."

"Yeah, but they weren't just your problems, they were the teams." She was staring him dead in the eyes now. "You are all in when helping others, but when it's time to help yourself, you bottle it." The pills rattled in the grifters shaking hands as she had a white-knuckled grip on their container. "It took us years to get you to open up about what happened at that warehouse, years of you hating yourself and drowning in self-loathing. And I bet we still wouldn't know if you hadn't downed that bottle of tequila."

Eliot hadn't spoken, he couldn't deal with this right now. It was as if he wasn't hearing what she was saying, none of it made sense. His problems are his own, they should stay inside his head. They may think they want to know but they don't, not really. Some things should just stay hidden.

"Well, Eliot, got anything to say?"

"I'm tired Soph. Can we just go home?" He stared out of the passenger side window, his body deflated and drawn into itself.

He waited for a reply, for a few seconds there was nothing but the sound of breathing. Heavy breathing that seemed to get faster.

"Out." The locks clicked.

"Huh?"

"Get out. I can't stand to be around you at the moment. Walk, run, call Harry for a lift, I don't care how you get home, but I want you out of my car." He slunk out, his feet had barely enough time to touch the floor before watching the car move away. He knew she wasn't kidding; he was going to have to find his own way home. With no clue where he was and just a stiff leather jacket to keep out the chill, he decided a lift was his only option. He started to rummage around his pockets.

'Crap, no phone"

35 minutes after Sophies return

"Should we ask her what happened?" Briana whispered to the older team members, whilst watching the grifter with a mixture of fascination and apprehension.

"I think we should," Parker responded whilst pulling the others towards the person in question. "Sophie, where El?"

"I left him. I told him he can either walk home or call for a lift. Guess he chose option A."

"Eliot's phone's here." Harry interrupted, pointing to said device on the counter.

"What?" She was suddenly snapped from her frustration.

"You never gave him chance to pick it up."

"Sophie, did you leave Eliot out there, with no shirt on, in the middle of December?" Briana's look of concern amplified with each statement.

"Yeah." Guilt now clearly evident.

"Was at least an area he knew?"

"N... no." The shivering voice came from the doorway. Its owner stepped in, body shaking. His arms hugged his mid-section, trying to draw in as much heat as they could.

"You ok El?" Parker ran up to him, with genuine concern in her voice. As she got closer, she could see that his soft pink lips were now a crackled blue. "Come sit down, we'll get you warmed up." She started to pull his arm.

He lifted his arm out of his friends grasp. "No, I... I'm just g... g... gonna have that shower. See you in a b... bit." He walked off, shoulders hunched, rubbing his arms trying to build up friction.

"What did you do? Why would you leave him like that? He collapsed this morning damn it." Harry and Briana hadn't seen this side of Parker, and it was a rare sight for Sophie.

"I tried speaking to him, explaining things, but he just ignored me. I got angry, so I told him to leave... I forgot about the no shirt, and I didn't know about the phone." By now the guilt had risen to a level of agitation as she paced the room.

"He didn't open up at all?" Harry tried to move the topic to something less heated.

"He barely spoke two words the entire time." This stopped her in her tracks, throwing herself back onto a bar stool.

"Maybe it's as simple as he says. Maybe there isn't a reason for his not sleeping, it happens." The lawyer argued. "I think we should give him some time, see if the pills work. If not then we can try a new approach. But this is getting us nowhere, it seems to be pushing him away."

The team agreed. Although they often mocked the lawyer, he was very intelligent and had some great advice at times.

Later that evening after dinner was served, the team sat down together and talked about anything but their friend. Eliot even joined in at times.

"It was so cool. Eliot fought like nine guys, all in Santa suits."

"Wait, were the bad guys in Santa suits or Eliot?" Briana asked.

"Both." Harry held his hand over his mouth, trying to hold in a laugh. "He'd been posing as a mall Santa."

"How many children did you make cry?" She targeted this question towards the hitter.

He rolled his eyes as he pondered the answer. "Only two" his eyes squinted. "Three if you include that parent. Shouldn't have kids if your gonna feed them that much candy."

"Then after the mission, it snowed," the thief continued with her story. "It was the best Christmas ever. Right El?"

"Sure was."

As the night went on, Eliot became quieter. It started with a few yawns here and there, and speech began to slow down. Soon enough he wasn't talking at all, too focused on keeping his eyes open and the room straight.

"You all right El?" It was the first time Sophie had spoken to him all night. "Here take these." She pulled a bottle of pills from her purse, pouring two into her hand. "No but's, just try for now and we won't bother you about opening up." When dealing with your stubborn retrieval specialist, it's best to compromise (same goes with stubborn grifters).

"Fine." He lifted to pills out of her palm.

"Uh, we have to see you take them." Harry's hand gripped the crook of his elbow.

'Since when was Harry in charge?' He threw the pills into his mouth, swallowing along with a mouthful of water. 'Anything for an easier life.'

"Guess I'm off to bed then." He stood up and so did Sophie.

"I'll make sure you get up there alright."

'Are they going to take turns taking me to bed? First Harry, now Sophie, who's next? Is Hardison gonna fly in for his turn?'

When they reached his room, both of them stepped through the door.

"You're not watching me sleep."

"No, just making sure you got into bed alright, those pills are quite strong."

"I see you removed my cuffs." He spoke softly, but she could tell he was annoyed.

"Yeah, I never want to see anything like them again." She wasn't kidding, she considered burning the things and giving him the ashes.

As he lay in bed the world around him began to blur. Sophie could tell he was drifting off, so she left him in peace. Shutting the door behind her, she retired back to her own bedroom on the other end of the building.

'You don't make this easy on us Eliot Spencer. I hope Harry's right, that it is just a simple fix... Because if not, we could lose you, and I can't lose anyone else.'

TBC