A/N: Thanks so much for the great reviews. Let me know if you think one of the characters is a little off (the cannon ones at least) so that I can fix it, feedback makes me happy and lets me grow as an author :) Here's chapter 3, enjoy
The doorbell rang and Ellie rolled over to look at the glowing alarm clock on her bedside table. It was just after six in the morning and with a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, Ellie realized who was at the door. "Josef." Ellie said in response to the sleepy look David gave her. "Take Alec into his room and stay there, keep everyone in there, I'll deal with him." Ellie said, slipping out of bed as she heard pounding on the door.
"I'll go." David said, standing and lifting their still sleeping son into his arms.
"It's me he has the grudge against, if he doesn't get to take it out on me, it will just be worse. Go." Ellie said, gently pushing David toward the door. She watched as he slipped into Alec's room where Hardison and the team were, and then headed down stairs. David glanced around, taking note of where everyone was. Nate was reclining in one of the easy chairs with Sophie curled up at his side. Eliot was in the other chair while Hardison was sprawled on the air mattress and Parker was asleep in the bed. Nate sat up when he saw David and Alec enter the room, causing Sophie to wake up and blink sleepily. Eliot was instantly alert, sitting forward in his chair. "What's wrong?" Nate asked quietly, noticing the look on David's face.
"Ellie's taking care of it." David hissed. "Just stay quiet."
Ellie opened the door to find Josef Stanford, the local police chief on her doorstep. "Where is it?" He growled, pushing past Ellie, followed by a young officer.
"Please, com in." Ellie said sarcastically. "Where is what?"
"The stuff you stole from the clinic." Josef snarled.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Ellie said, looking at him as though he were crazy.
"Someone broke into New Hope last night, trashed the place and stole some supplies." Josef explained with a scowl.
"So you assume I broke into my own clinic?" Ellie asked. "You do know what they say about people who assume right?"
"It's not your clinic!" Josef bellowed and Ellie flinched.
"And thank god, I'd hate to pay the insurance for a break in." Ellie said calmly. "I didn't break into New Hope." She said, her voice even.
"I don't believe you." Josef said. "Mike here is going to search your house. Where's your husband?"
"He's out for a run. I don't care if you look around, just not in Alec's room.
"Oh, I thought I'd pop in on your little boy, say hello." Josef's smile made Ellie queasy.
"Not a chance in hell." Ellie said through gritted teeth. Josef laughed, pulling a gun.
"You don't get to tell me what to do." Ellie watched Josef headed up the stairs, making a beeline for Alec's room. Ellie sprinted up the stairs, pushing past Josef and positioning herself between him and her son's door.
"You aren't going in there." Ellie growled. "I don't want a pervert like you anywhere near my son." Ellie looked Josef square in the eyes as he pointed the gun at her head. "How are you going to justify shooting an unarmed woman?" Ellie asked. "Even for you it's going to take a bit of explanation. Plus, your lackey here doesn't look like he's signed on for murder." Ellie said.
Behind the door Eliot stood, heading for the door as soon as he heard the conversation. Nate grabbed Eliot's arm, frowning slightly as Eliot threw him off with a shrug of his shoulder. David put a hand on the Hitter's chest, stopping him with a pleading look. Eliot let out a low growl, clearly not happy that the other man was stopping him.
Ellie masked her terror with anger. "Does he know all about you, about your perverted tastes? How you only like girls until they're eighteen?" Ellie asked then slumped against the door as he backhanded her with his gun hand. Ellie tasted blood then stood, using the doorjamb for balance.
"Uh, boss, maybe we should get out of here." Josef's young lackey looked nervous.
"Uh-oh." Ellie mocked. "Doesn't sound so good. Maybe you should go." Ellie's voice shook slightly and she felt a wave of relief as Josef turned to go.
"I'm going to take everything you have." Josef said menacingly.
"Best of luck with that." Ellie said with confidence that she didn't feel. Ellie watched as the two men left the house then ran downstairs and locked the door, resting her forehead on the cool wood. "They're gone." Ellie called up the stairs and didn't look up as she heard the door open.
"You okay?" David's voice sounded slightly shaky and Ellie knew that his having to wait while she faced down Josef was difficult for him.
"I'm fine honey. Take Alec back to bed." Ellie said, keeping her voice even. She didn't want him to come down and fuss over her.
"El?" David's voice was closer this time.
"Damn it David, I'm fine." Ellie's voice left no room for debate and David reluctantly carried his son up to their room, thankful that the boy had slept through the disturbance.
"Hardison, who was that?" Nate asked, looking at the now closed door.
"I don't know." Hardison's eyes were wide, he hadn't even known his sister had opened a clinic, much less had a kid.
"Sophie, this looks like a job for you." Nate said and the grifter nodded.
"We're not running a con on my sister!" Hardison said forcefully.
"Your sister just got threatened, your nephew just got threatened, and you don't want Sophie to con some information out of her?" Eliot took a threatening step toward the younger man. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
"It's just not right, tricking her." Hardison defended himself weakly.
"She'll be fine." Sophie assured him. "I'm just going to chat with her." Sophie gave Hardison a reassuring smile then headed downstairs, leaving Nate to take care of the team. Sophie found Ellie sitting on the back steps, a cup of tea cradled in her hands, head bowed and clearly crying. Sophie grabbed a lowball glass from the counter, filled it with ice from the freezer then grabbed a bottle of Irish whiskey from the top of the refrigerator, then moved out to sit beside the crying woman. "Trade you." Sophie offered and Ellie looked up, making Sophie gasp as she saw Ellie's swollen split lip and rapidly darkening bruise on her jaw. "Oh my god."
"Thanks." Ellie took the bottle and glass, handing Sophie her untouched cup of tea. She picked an ice cube out of the glass and pressed it to her swollen lip, hissing softly at the pain it caused. She poured a couple fingers of liquor into the glass then took a long swallow.
"Want to talk about that?" Sophie asked, gesturing at the bruise.
"What's there to talk about? I'm sure you heard everything that happened." Ellie asked, confused.
"The story behind it. We can help you." Sophie said.
"What is it that you do?" Ellie asked. "My brother is a hacker, are you a hacker too?"
"No, I'm a grifter." Sophie said honestly. "We help people who need 'extra-legal' aid."
"So you guys are a real band of Robin Hood's Merry Men? Congrats." Ellie said. "At least he's doing some good."
"We can help you, if only you tell me what's wrong." Sophie explained.
Ellie sighed and drained the rest of her glass. "About a month ago his daughter came into my clinic. She said she thought she might be pregnant." Ellie's eyes lost their focus as she remembered.
"Clara?" Ellie called and felt her heart clench as she saw the young girl stand up. She'd seen that bewildered look in the eyes of other girls who had visited the clinic. "I'm Ellie, please follow me." Ellie placed a gentle hand on the girl's back, guiding her through the door. Ellie sat down and watched as Clara sat down. "How can I help you?" Ellie asked kindly.
"I don't want you to call my parents." Clara said nervously.
"Anything you tell me is confidential." Ellie assured her.
"I think I might be pregnant." Clara said, eyes down, refusing to look at Ellie.
"It's going to be alright." Ellie assured her. "Do you know who the father is?" Ellie asked, glancing at Clara's chart and feeling her stomach drop as she saw that the girl was only just fifteen.
Clara's eyes widened. "You can't tell him I told." The fear in her eyes was apparent. "He'll kill me."
"Its okay sweetheart, I don't need to know. But if he forced you, we can call the police. There's help out there, I can help you." Ellie said.
"I can't call the police, they work for him!" Clara cried, tears burning their way down her cheek.
"Okay." Ellie agreed. "First off, let's get a blood sample so that we can find out if you actually are pregnant. Then we can talk about where we go from there."
"After she left, David and I did some research." Ellie explained, taking another sip of her drink then returning the ice to her lip. "Clara Stanford was the daughter of our esteemed police chief." Ellie looked over at Sophie who was clearly horrified." She came back a week later, looking for the results.
"And?" Sophie asked, her mind already working, thinking of ways to make this bastard pay.
"She was absolutely pregnant, and I knew that I had to do something. Police were out of the question but there was clearly abuse at home. I couldn't sit by and do nothing." Ellie said as though defending herself. "I had no idea it would turn out this way."
"Turn out what way?" Sophie asked gently. Ellie took a deep breath and continued her story.
"I've contacted Social Services. We're going to get you away from him." Ellie told the young girl. "My friend Whit is going to take you to a shelter tonight. You don't have to go home."
Clara's face went white. "You called Social Services? He's going to find out." Clara began to sob.
"You aren't going home." Ellie tried to reassure her. "It's going to be okay." There was a knock at the door and Ellie opened it to reveal a tall police officer with sandy blonde hair, ice blue eyes and a friendly smile. Clara looked horrified and Ellie abruptly realized the problem, but before she could explain, Whit moved over.
"My name is Whit. Don't let the uniform fool you, I don't work for your father. He'll hear nothing about this, I promise." Whit assured her, his calm voice calming her. She nodded and Ellie gave her a smile and handed her a business card with her home number written on the back.
"If you need anything, just call. Day or night." Ellie said, pulling the girl into a hug. "You're going to be okay."
"Thanks." Clara gave her a shaky smile that didn't reach her eyes then turned and followed Whit out of the exam room.
"I didn't know." Ellie moved away when Sophie tried to comfort her. She poured another couple fingers of whiskey and downed them. "I should have known." Ellie's voice was little more than a whisper but it didn't take someone as skilled at reading people as Sophie to hear the guilt in her voice.
"Should have known what?" Sophie asked, hoping to gently nudge the woman back to the story.
"That he'd find out. That I couldn't keep her safe." Ellie said, wiping away her tears and taking a shaky breath.
"He found her?" Sophie asked, though the answer was obvious.
"I got the call the next morning." Ellie said, her eyes lost their focus as she once again drifted into her memories.
The phone rang and Ellie rolled over and fumbled for the receiver. "Yeah?" Sleep made her voice gruffer than normal.
"They found her." Ellie recognized Whit's voice on the other end, and came instantly awake when she heard the pain lacing his voice.
"What do you mean 'they found her'?" Ellie asked, sitting up.
"There was a GPS tracker on my car. Two guys met me at my house and kicked my ass pretty good. When I woke up I called the shelter. They told me that Clara's dad had picked her up over an hour before. He's got her." Whit sounded upset and Ellie could understand the feeling.
"I'm going to call the State Police, maybe they can do something. I'm sending David over to get you." Ellie nodded at her husband who was pulling on some sweats.
"Ellie, I'm fine." Whit said, but the weakness in his voice undermined what he said.
"And I'll know that once I check you out. No arguing." Ellie said then hung up, getting up to get dressed.
"State Police didn't do anything. I called the FBI, still nothing." Ellie downed yet another glass of whiskey and Sophie refilled it automatically. "Whit was more or less okay, a couple broken ribs and a whole bunch of bruises, but otherwise lucky."
"And Clara?" Sophie asked, feeling bad as Ellie flinched as though she'd been slapped.
"They found her body last week. She'd been beaten to death." Ellie set her glass down and put her head in her hands. "Local police are handling the investigation, but obviously they're not going to catch him, now then he's running the investigation."
"How does the clinic tie into this?" Sophie asked.
"Our lender is apparently a friend of Josef's and suddenly decided that our mortgage was due in full. We've done everything we could, mortgaged the house, hell, I even hawked the diamond earrings Nana gave me the day I got married. It's not enough, they took the clinic. But worst of all, and the only part that matters, is that Clara died because I tried to help. Because I made her father feel trapped enough to kill her. I may as well have done it myself."
"No, you didn't." Sophie's voice was firm. "You did all you could. Her blood is on his hands, not yours."
"Then why do I dream about her? Why the hell does it haunt me?" Clara asked, looking up at the other woman.
"Because he hasn't had to pay." Nate said from behind them. "Yet."