Chapter 7

Time dragged by as they waited on news of Nate, they had been told that he was taken into surgery but that was all. Eliot paced unable to sit down and keep still, his mind was racing. He should never have allowed Nate to go with him on that hike, he should not have allowed it he told himself and as much as Sophie kept telling him that none of it was his fault it was and if Nate died he would be responsible for his death.

Hardison and Parker had gone down to the canteen to get them all some coffee leaving Sophie to sit and watch the Hitter pace.

"Eliot sit down." Sophie finally said. Eliot stopped pacing and looked at her and then took a seat beside her. "Eliot you had no control over the fact that you ran into a bear, so stop blaming yourself for this."

"Sophie I should have seen it, I should have reacted…I am the protector Sophie not him and he…he pushed ME out of the way, he protected ME."

"That's right he did, and that is what Nate would do for any of us and you know it." Sophie said reaching out and taking his hand. "Now whatever happens Eliot, no matter what happens, this is not your fault ok."

"Why did you call?" Eliot asked turning towards her.

"I can't tell you Eliot, I just got a feeling that Nate was…well that something was going to happen to him."

"You weren't wrong." Eliot whispered. "You know you two need to get your act together."

"I know." Sophie said and her voice was filled with such sadness that Eliot reached out and took her hand.

They sat in silence until the other two arrived with coffee and then they too took their seats and waited. The hours passed but still nothing. It was almost six hours since they had brought Nate into the hospital when a doctor eventually made his appearance.

"Mrs Ford."

"Yes." Sophie said standing and facing him.

"Your husband had some serious injuries when he was brought in. He also lost a lot of blood. Although the injuries caused by the bear were deep they were not life threatening. The leg however was severely damaged, and it also was infected. Now the orthopaedic surgeon was able to repair the damage and set the leg but like I said Mr Ford had developed a serious infection in the tissue which also affected the muscles of the leg. We will only know what kind of long-term damage he has sustained until later. We also found that he had sustained some internal injuries and had a slow bleed in his abdomen caused by blunt force trauma. The head injury was also quite severe, and we have not been able to wake him from the anaesthetic. I cannot tell you when or if he will awaken. Now the good news is that his vitals are strong, and he is fighting. We have done what we can and now all we can do is monitor him closely and make sure we take care of the infections. He will be in ICU for the first at least 48 hours and then we will reassess the situation."

"Can I see him?"

"Not tonight I am afraid, but you can go in and see him tomorrow."

"Thank you doctor." Sophie said and he smiled at her and the turned and left.

"He made it through surgery, and he is fighting…that's good right?"

"Yes Parker that is good." Sophie smiled at her taking her hand. "Nate is a fighter if nothing else he is a fighter."

"I think we should all go and get some rest." Hardison said looking at all of them and seeing the rebellion in their eyes at his suggestion. "We can't see him tonight and we are all exhausted, Eliot you need to shower and change those clothes and Nate is going to need us tomorrow and it is not going to help if we are falling down ourselves."

"Hardison is right." Sophie said softly.

"I don't want to leave him alone."

"He is not alone Parker he is never alone, and he knows that. So Hardison?" Sophie said looking at the Hacker.

"I have booked us some rooms at the hotel across the street, we can be here in minutes if needed." Hardison told her.

"Good well let's go." Sophie said reaching out and taking Eliot's arm and leading him to the elevators.