Chapter 20
Two days later they waited for the doctor to come and speak to them, Nate was still in ICU but he was stable according to the doctor although that gave Sophie no comfort, she knew that meant he was not deteriorating and that was all.
"Mrs Ford." The doctor said as he walked out of the ICU.
"Yes doctor, how is he?"
"Well as I said before Mrs Ford he is stable, he is still not showing any sign of regaining his consciousness and that does worry me a little, but is body is fighting the infection. We are going to keep him in ICU, but Mrs Ford, as I said his body is fighting and that is good."
"Thank you doctor." Sophie said not knowing what else to say. Nate had still not woken, and he had not improved much at all. She could read people and she could see that the doctor was not as optimistic as he purported to be. She sighed heavily and turned to look at her family. Michael sat with Parker and Hardison sat with her. Eliot stood beside Sophie lending her his support.
"He's fighting Sophie." Eliot said softly to her after the doctor had left.
"Yes but Eliot will that be enough?"
"It will." Eliot said. "Nate will do anything to get back to you and Michael Sophie he loves you, he loves his son."
"A son he has barely met." She said turning to the Hitter.
"Yes a son he has barely met, but one he loves none the less. Sophie look, I can't tell you Nate is going to make it through this, nor can the doctor…but if Nate has anything to say about it he will because he would never leave his family, you, his son or us, not willingly and not without a fight."
Sophie smiled at him sadly and then nodded putting her hand on his arm.
"Thank you Eliot, I needed that." She said softly. "I'm going to go in and see him ok."
Eliot nodded and then watched her walk into the ICU room before turning and taking a seat with Parker and Hardison.
"Nate, the doctor said you were fighting, and I can believe it. You have so much to fight for. Your family out there, they love you so much. You created an incredibly special family Nate, and we all need you, especially your son. He is growing so fast, and…and he needs you. Nate I don't know if you can hear me, the nurses seem to think you can so just hear this, I need you Nate, Michael needs you and you promised to come back to me and I am going to hold you to that. I miss you, everything about you, I miss talking to you, I miss having you in my bed." She said and then saw the nurse indicating that she had to leave. "I have to go now my love, so you just think on that ok Nate, we need you all of us so don't you stop fighting, don't you give up, we are waiting for you." She said then gave him a kiss before leaving to join the others.
"Sophie I think you need to go home…"
"Eliot."
"Sophie you have not left this hospital in two days and you need to go home, and you need to get some rest, your son also needs to go home. One of us will always be here, always and if anything happens we will let you know. Please Sophie, you need to go home, and you need to take care of yourself and your son." Eliot finished holding her gaze.
Sophie stared at him and in her heart she knew it was true, she needed to go home and get some real rest, her son needed to go home too, she could see he was getting antsy always on somebody's lap always being held, he also needed routine of which there was none at the moment and had not been almost since his birth. She blinked back tears at the memory, a memory that should hold so much joy and yet for her, it held the memory of fear and anxiety. It was the day her husband was taken from her and now, now he may leave again but this time permanently.
"Sophie…"
"Yes Eliot you are right…I just…"
"You are scared to leave in case he dies." Parker said being her usual forthright self and then seeing the effect of her words and regretting them. "I mean wakes up…I didn't mean…"
"I know Parker." Sophie smiled at her. "And yes you are right, but you will be here, or Hardison or Eliot and he will never be alone, if the worst does happen he won't be alone and Eliot is right…I need to go home." She said then smiled at them. "Besides Nate will be fine, he just needs time, and we will give him that, we will be here and support him and give him the time he needs to come back to us."
"Damn right." Hardison breathed. Nate would be fine he was not prepared to consider any other outcome.
"So I am going to take you home and then we can come back tomorrow." Eliot said smiling at the woman.
"I'll stay tonight." Parker said and Hardison said he would remain also. So it was agreed, and Sophie turned and looked through the window at Nate and said a silent goodnight then took her son and she and Eliot left.
The routine continued for a week and the morning of the seventh day they were all at the hospital, Eliot and Sophie arrived to take over from Parker and Hardison. They arrived at the ICU and Parker told her that there was nothing new and that the doctor was in with Nate. Five minutes later the doctor exited Nate's room and Sophie could immediately see something had happened.
"Doctor?" Sophie said her anxiety levels rising and then she saw a smile cross his face.
"Mrs Ford, your husband has just woken, he is asking for you." He said and it took Sophie all of two seconds to digest his words before pushing past him and into the ICU room and to Nate's bedside.
"Nate…" She said taking his hand and tears filling her eyes as she looked into his blue ones.
"Sophie…" He said squeezing her hand. "What…what happened?"
"You took more than one bullet, there was another one that your friend did not notice because both bullets entered at almost the exact place and…and it gave you an infection…you nearly…you nearly died." She said softly.
"But I didn't." He smiled at her.
"No you didn't." She said leaning in and giving him a kiss. "And now you are awake, and you will get stronger and then we will go home, and all of this will be over."
"Where is my son?" Nate asked.
"I'll get him." She said looing up and at the nurse who smiled and nodded. Quickly she left the room return minutes later with Michael in her arms and the other three in tow.
Nate reached out and took his son's hand and Sophie could see the tears gather in his eyes as she held him close to him.
"Well hello there Michael, I know we have not spent much time together but I love you my boy and I missed you, but I am home now and we are going to spend a lot of time together." He said accepting the baby from his wife and holding him on his chest.
"Hey Nate." Hardison said as he walked up to the bed and Parker moved next to him looking down at the Mastermind with a large smile on her face.
"Eliot." Nate said as he looked at his Hitter who stood steadfastly at the foot of his bed.
"Nate." Eliot returned a tight smile on his face reading the thank you in Nate's gaze.
"So the doctor said I should be moved out of ICU today and in a few days if all goes well be discharged." Nate said.
"But you have just woken up and…"
"Sophie…it's good and really he did say that I am healing well and hopefully at the end of the week I should be discharged to recover at home."
"As long as you recover." Parker said.
"And take it easy…" Hardison said.
"And look after yourself." Sophie added.
"Yes, yes of course, but you know I will do much better at home." Nate said looking up at his wife. "I will have the best nurse around…" He said a smile touching the sides of his mouth. "Being home will be the best medicine."
"Yes it will." Sophie said leaning in and giving him another kiss. "But you are not leaving until the doctor says so Nate, I mean it not a minute earlier."
"Agreed." Nate said.
"Good, then we are going to let you get some more rest, the sooner you get better the sooner you can come home." Sophie said looking at the three and telling them she needed a minute with Nate.
"Sophie." Nate said after the three had left. "I am sorry for everything that happened…" He said and then held his hand up before she could say anything. "I know it was not my fault and I know I had no choice but to put you, you and my family through that…well I am sorry." He said.
"You came back to me, to us Nate and that is all that matters." She smiled at him. "I love you so much and when I thought I might lose you…you were right you know."
"Right?" Nate asked confused by the turn in the conversation.
"Yes, in what you said in that letter."
"Oh…" Nate said his heart sinking at the thought of her receiving the letter.
"Yes, that family is what makes life bearable. You know without them, without Eliot, and Parker, and Hardison, well I don't think…I don't think I would have made it through all of this. You created this family Nate, and it is one that…well that defies belief, thank you my darling for giving me that, for giving them that." She said as she squeezed his hand and leaned in for a kiss which he deepened.
"I love you Sophie." He whispered.
"Yes well you get some rest now ok." She said kissing him again before standing up and looking down at him.
"Ok." Nate said his eyes drooping, in truth he was tired, very tired.
"Sleep now my darling." Sophie crooned running her hand through his hair as his eyes closed. "I will be here when you wake." She stood and watched him until she was sure he was asleep and then made her way outside.
"He's going to be fine everything is going to be fine now." Parker said as she handed Michael back to his mother.
"Yes it will be Parker. Now let's go get some breakfast and then you and Hardison need to go home and get some rest."
Parker smiled at her and then grabbed Hardison's arm and dragged him along as she made her way down to the Hospital canteen. Sophie and Eliot watched them go and then turned to each other.
"That was too close Eliot." Sophie said softly. "We nearly lost him and I…I don't ever what to feel that way again."
"I know."
"But you know we are never going to live normal lives, I mean, we have made enemies, and Nate has a reputation. I am afraid that…"
"Sophie, things may happen, but we will face it all as a family and we will keep each other safe. We can't predict what could happen, but we have to trust that we can get through anything that comes, because we can, as a family we can."
"Yes we can." She smiled at the Hitter. "Now let's go get some breakfast."
They were in the middle of their breakfast when Hardison's phone started to buzz and he pulled it out opening the display.
"Hardison what's wrong?" Parker asked looking at the man and seeing the expression on his face change to one of fear and concern.
"Bronovich just arrived in the States, he landed at LAX about half and hour ago." Hardison said looking up at them. He had set up his facial recognition programme to monitor the airports where incoming flights from Moscow landed just in case.
"What is he doing here?" Parker asked her stomach getting tight with concern.
"He thinks Nate is dead though doesn't he?" Hardison asked looking up at Eliot.
"Yeah, but you booked tickets under his name and maybe…"
"No man, no way…" Hardison said realising what Eliot was saying. Did Bronovich also monitor flights in and out of Moscow, had he picked up that one Nathan Ford was flying out, dammit had he put Nate in danger again due to his lack of thinking.
"Hardison calm down." Sophie said seeing the panic rise in the young man. "Can you tell if he has connecting flights, has he been met at the airport…Hardison?"
"No, no connecting flights." Hardison said as he worked on his phone.
"Maybe he is just here on business." Parker offered.
"Yeah…yeah when I was doing research on him I noted that he did a lot of business in LA, maybe this isn't about Nate at all." Hardison breathed.
"Well we need to keep track of him while he is here." Eliot said, the minute he thought the man was going to make a move on Nate he would take him out. He was not going to let this man get near Nate or his family and if the Hitter of old came out to play then so be it.
"Yeah…yeah I can do that." Hardison said. "But I need to get back to the Brewpub, I need my things man."
"Then go." Eliot said and Hardison nodded before he and Parker left.
"Eliot you don't think…"
"I don't know Sophie but like Nate, I don't believe in coincidences." Eliot replied.
"Can this just be over now." Sophie whispered. "I can't take much more, nor can they and Nate is in no position to deal with any of this."
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves. The man thinks Nate is dead, so he is probably just here on business. Sophie…" Eliot said holding the Grifters gaze. "We can't tell him he is here."
"Agreed." Sophie said. If they did tell Nate he would want to do something about it and he was not in any physical condition to be going anywhere let alone taking on Bronovich.
"Good, so let's let Hardison do his thing and we go back up and sit with Nate." Eliot said. He did not want to leave the Mastermind alone, not for a minute, not under these circumstances.