Chapter 4

It had been a hard night with the storm breaking just after six and continuing for two hours before moving on. By that time both Eliot and Nate were soaked, and it was dark with the cold starting to settle over the mountain. Eliot had restarted the fire and then moved as close to Nate as possible trying to give him some of his own body heat. The man had still not woken which worried him. Eliot got no sleep that night, he spent the night making sure the fire did not die out and that Nate was kept as warm as possible. The dressings of the wounds had gotten soaked as well and the wounds were still seeping blood. He checked Nate's pulse and breathing every hour or so and thanked the lord that his pulse remained strong and there was still no sign of any internal injuries although he knew if Nate had any such as a slow bleed internally, it would only manifest over the next couple of days.

As the sun rose Eliot built up the fire again before moving off to try and find Nate's pack. They needed the phone, they needed to get Nate airlifted out because if he tried to carry him out he might kill him. Nate had still not regained consciousness by the time Eliot returned from his search. Eliot sat down and considered his options. He could try to carry Nate out but just getting him back up to the path above would be difficult and he would not be able to do it without injuring his leg. On the other hand they could not stay out here for another night. He hoped that Sophie would call again, and the ringing of the phone would lead him to Nate's pack. He did not want to contemplate the possibility that the pack had come off at the bottom of the slope and fallen into the stream to be carried away by the water. He had followed the stream for a while until he had come to a little waterfall and could go no further.

"Ah…"

"Nate…Nate…" Eliot said bending over the man as he started to come back to consciousness.

"Eliot…what happened…ah…" Nate said as he tried to move causing pain to course through his body. His leg felt like it was on fire, his head hurt, and he thought his chest and shoulders had been ripped to pieces.

"You took on a black bear and then went for a ride down the slope." Eliot said.

"Oh." Nate said closing his eyes against the pain. "Damage?"

"Left leg is badly broken, bear ripped your chest and shoulder to pieces, knock to the head some other cuts and bruises and then there is the possibility of internal injuries."

"So not too bad then." Nate said softly. "Current situation?"

"Your pack is gone so no phone. I can't get you up that slope without hurting your leg even more and maybe doing some damage to you internally especially if there are any existing ones, you are slightly hyperthermic and of course there is the weather, probably going to be another storm rolling in tonight if I read the sky right. We have a little food, and we have water though."

"Well that is something." Nate said closing his eyes as he considered what Eliot was telling him.

"Nate you could have just yelled out you know." Eliot said after a few minutes silence.

"Yeah I know." Nate said and he probably should have but he saw the danger to Eliot and acted and he was not sorry he had Eliot obviously remained unscathed in this whole debacle. "Sorry…instinct."

"Damn you I can take care of myself I am a Hitter you know."

"I know." Nate said opening his eyes and meeting those of his Hitter. "But you have to understand Eliot…"

"Understand what?"

"How important you are to me." Nate said softly.

Eliot just stared at him trying to control his emotions at Nate's words. Then he stood up and told him he was going to look for the pack again and get more firewood then moved off and away from Nate. He walked away and then stopped leaning against a tree and closed his eyes.

"Damn you Nate…" He breathed. "Don't you understand how important you are to me." Then he shook his head and swiped at his eyes before starting to pick up any dry wood he could find while keeping his eyes open for Nate's pack and his ears open in case Sophie did call.

"Morning." Sophie said as she walked into the Leverage HQ to find Parker and Hardison already there.

"Morning." Parker said looking at the Grifter and seeing the signs of a sleepless night on her. Nobody else would have seen it but they were so close, knew each other so well.

"Speak to Nate this morning?" Hardison asked seeing the same signs on Sophie as Parker had.

"No, nobody is answering the phone." Sophie said. "What about the earbuds?"

"Still not active." Hardison said looking at the computer to confirm his own assumptions.

"Maybe they are still sleeping?" Parker said not believing a word she was saying, first Eliot did not sleep, or at least when he did it was very lightly and there was no way he would have missed a call.

"Something is not right guys." Sophie said.

"Yeah, well I have the location of the cabin." Hardison said his eyes asking her the question, did they go up there or not.

"Ok well let's take a road trip then." Sophie said. Parker nodded then picked up a bag she had already packed full of hiking gear for all of them.

Sophie smiled at her and then headed out the door, if nothing were wrong well no harm done, but if they were in trouble…she paused her thoughts there taking a deep breath, she hoped to God nothing was wrong and if there was something wrong that they would be in time to prevent it from being fatal.