Nate looked over his glasses as he handed Eliot a newspaper clipping. They'd gone over most of this early on. Mainly Nate was just doing this again to put off starting. Eliot needed to calm down a bit. The hitter was not going to like the announcement that he was sidelining him for the most part.

Nate was waiting for Shelly. He already knew Shelly was going to need to step in.

He should be here soon. Nate opened and looked down at his watch, then went back to flipping through papers. He'd sent Parker off to get food, and Sophie was off somewhere as well. Hardison was over to the side, tapping away at the computer and showing Cat some of the things he did. He wasn't sure if he was happy about that, but by the scowl, on Eliot's face, he knew he wasn't.

Eliot looked over at Cat, then down at the newspaper. "what?!" He growled, his teeth clenched. There in print was a picture of Derek Dugan talking about his Studio. The man was pontificating about his incredible artists and inviting people to come to him if they want to make it in the businesses. As if his temper wasn't already at its limit as it was. After the long talk with Shelly on the phone. He was trying to find out why Catherine hadn't answered her phone. The answer was simple: her cellphone got destroyed in the accident. She had been at the hospital for two days, but for some reason, her name hadn't hit Hardison's tracer till the day before. He gripped the news clipping, trying not to lose it "they are going down..."

Nate sighed, looking at Eliot, hoping that Shelly showed up soon.. "they will, but..." he got and grabbed another cup of Irish coffee. "You won't be taking part."

Eliot's facial expression said quite clearly what he thought about that. Eliot opened his mouth to speak, and Nate lifted his hand.

"You can't, Eliot."

The hitters' scowl deepened. He looked like he was about ready to explode. "Why?" he asked, managing to keep his voice somewhat level.

"This, Eliot. You are too involved."

Casting a look in Cat's direction, he ground out, "what do you expect." He watched as she giggled. Hardison had shown her something funny. A small smile quirked at his lips, but he quickly squashed it and glared at Nate.

"You're too close, Eliot." Nate shook his head.

"what do you want me to do, Nate? ... she's my responsibility..." He tossed down the newspaper clipping. "I can't just sit here and do nothing..." He growled.

Nate leaned his elbows on the table. "You have no choice." He shook his head as he sat there. "would you be willing to risk her safety or us screwing up the setup?" He looked at the hitter. "you want to get her music back, her publishing, and get her out of the contract, then you are going to have to trust us to do that for you ….. would you want a client helping us with a con?"

Eliot shook his head. "But I am not the client, and I wouldn't put her at risk. I am not going to sit at the sidelines for this, Nate. There is no way in hell I would." He ran a hand over his hair. "no... so whatever plan we have set, I am in..." He got down and tapped Catherine on her shoulder. "why don't you take a rest on the couch..." He could see the pain lines on her face where she was sitting next to Hardison.

She rolled her eyes but didn't argue nor give him lip. Using him as a crutch, she hopped over to the couch and let him put her foot upon the pillow. "I'm fine, Eliot.. when does Shelly get here..." she ignored the argument going on between Eliot and the man named Nathan Ford. "I need to use your phone again to call my agent...till I can get a new one..."

Nate turned his head, watching them. "your agent has been called..." He wasn't sure about her talking to her agent right now would be a good idea. Not with what they had planned for the set up. He had his own reservations about the agent himself. Somethings didn't add up.

Her head snapped over to look at him. "What?" She winced as that had hurt. How the hell did they know to call him. She hadn't even told Eliot about Trey or Trey about Eliot.

"While Eliot was in with you yesterday, he was informed that you were safe ." He started.

Catherine looked a bit annoyed and cut him off. "Excuse me?" She looked at Eliot, who didn't look too surprised. "How does he know to call my agent?" She frowned and glared at Eliot as he sat down by her. "What's going on? First, You show up out of the blue. Then your team is right behind you. What's going on, Eliot?" She sank against the couch cushions.

Eliot looked over at Nate, then back to her, pushing a hair back from her face. "Trey called us when things started happening with other artists. Then your music went missing. We were planning on flying down here. I didn't know."

"So I am just a job?" She stared at him hurt that he had was only here because he was contacted. That this was not because of her but because they were hired.

"No!" he growled, "when I couldn't get a hold of you for the last couple of days, I had Hardison put a tracer on your name. When a hit on your name came up, he got a notification. I was on the first plane down." He shook his head, "if I had known you were going through this shit, kid, I would have been here long before. Why didn't you call me?"

She sighed feeling a bit sorry that she misjudged knowing just what he was like, "I'm going to be twenty-three years old, El…. I can't keep running to you every time I have a problem." She shook her head. "I thought I could handle it… " She shrugged gently, "I was even going to get a lawyer, but Derek has a lot of hold around here, and no one would take the case."

"Hey …" he tilted her head up to look him in the eye. "That's my job …you can always come to me; I made you a promise I would always be there for you."

"You also taught me to take care of myself …. Yes, I got into trouble for knocking Greg out in fifth grade because of it but still….." She had to snicker at Eliot's proud look. "And got grounded for a month for it, but I am not a child anymore. I should be able to handle my own problems."

"The problem with that is this is a lot larger than trying just to pay your rent or dealing with a boyfriend, " a voice said from the door. Shelly stood there with a beat-up rucksack slung over his broad shoulders. "This is risking your life." He headed over to the couch, leaning down to kiss her on the top of her head. "What did you do?"

She rolled her eyes. "I didn't do anything …. I told you I had an accident when someone hit my car when they lost control of theirs." though from the look that both Eliot and Shelly shared she knew neither believed that, she growled under her breath.

"Calm down, little sister," Shelly said as he straightened back up.

Eliot met Shelly's gaze. "You got here fast," Eliot said, offering the other man his hand.

The two men shook hands. Shelly glanced down at Cat, who just watched the two. "So, what's the plan?"

"Nate?" Eliot said, nodding toward the mastermind.