Title: Blind Man's Bluff Job Part 2

Author: Kara B

Disclaimer – The characters aren't mine.

Thanks to amy1oM for help with beta reading for meh.

Eliot slept longer than he meant to, especially for someone who didn't need much sleep. No doubt his body was catching up after the near week of abuse.

"I was wondering when you'd finally wake up. I've been ready to go for nearly half an hour," Nate said from across the room in an amused tone.

With minimal help from Nate in learning the layout of the rooms, he showered, and dressed. Nate himself was a little amazed at how humbly the hitter accepted the help he needed. He did however insist on rebandaging his eyes himself. Despite the fact that Nate had seen him at his worst, he just couldn't allow that again.

Eliot permitted Nate to lead him until they got to the hallway where the office was, wanting to walk in under his own power entirely. He felt a little nervous about how the team was going to react.

"Eliot!" Sophie said, coming over to hug him. He stiffened slightly, but passively accepted her embrace. "Are you sure you should be here today? Do you need to sit down?"

"I'm blind, not crippled," he snarked in reply, refusing to allow himself to be led to a chair. "Nate made me come anyway."

Nate wanted to ignore Sophie's look, but forced himself to nod at her slightly, hoping she'd choose to just let this go and let Eliot be. She seemed to catch the message as her mouth quirked and she nodded.

Eliot made his way to the conference room – slowly granted, but since he mapped out his surroundings constantly, he was fairly certain of his path.

"Should I assume he's alright since he's snarking at people?" Sophie asked Nate in a quiet voice.

"It's a lot to take in… We can't smother him."

As Eliot entered the conference room, he could hear Hardison's furious tapping on his computer keys. "Nate said you've been busy tracking the money."

"Uh yeah, oh hi man, it's nice to see you… I mean.. . uh…" Hardison stammered.

"Yeah nice to SEE you too," Eliot replied, setting himself down in the first chair he could reach, not wanting to let on how tired he felt.

"I'm sorry man, I just… I'm glad you're alright."

"Yeah I'm just blind now, no big deal, obviously." Eliot almost felt bad about directing the snark at his friends, but he just wanted things to be normal. He didn't want them tiptoeing around him on eggshells.

Nate stepped into the room just then and judging from the hurt look on Hardison's face, Eliot had already come down on him.

"I mean, I…" Hardison was at a loss for words.

"What have you got for us Hardison?" Nate redirected the conversation, knowing his team would have to find a balance just as he and Eliot had to do. "Wait, where's Parker?"

"I brought you soup," Parker called as she entered the room, setting something in front of Eliot that he presumed was a bowl. "It's what you do when people are hurt or sick."

Nate carefully schooled his face, trying to keep the amusement off of it. Parker had the strangest ideas at times, but it truly came from her heart. He could see the war on Eliot's face… between snapping at her and saying nothing.

"I'm not sick or crippled – I'm blind. And I just want to get the guy that did this to me so can we just focus on that?" Eliot finally said, choosing not to address Parker specifically.

"Are you? You're not?"

"Am I what Hardison?" Eliot asked.

"You're not leaving are you?"

Eliot sighed. "If I ever decide to leave, you'll know it. Alright?" He felt the nods around him. "Now can we get on with it?"

"Alright Hardison, what have you got?"

Hardison launched into his typical long-winded explanation of where the parties involved. Midway through the explanation, Eliot stood and carefully left the room. Everyone stared at Nate all at once.

"He's been through a lot. I'll be right back."

Nate got up and followed Eliot, finding him sitting in his office. "Knew you'd come," he responded. "Nate, I don't think I can do this. I'm not part of the team anymore… I… can't do my old job and that's what I'm good at."

"You told me once," Nate said, sitting down, "That in your job, most of what your eyes tell you was either misleading or wrong. Now's your chance to prove it." Eliot started to object, but Nate continued, stopping him. "I'm not saying you can or should jump right back into your old role, or that it will be easy. It won't be easy. But you can face this here, with friends who will have your back – no matter what. Or you can go out there, where quite a few people want you dead." Nate paused a moment considering. "We want and need you here. The awkwardness will settle down. As for the thought that you're only good at being a hitter – that's far from the truth."

Eliot shook his head. "What…"

"Don't play dumb." Nate said, a little more harshly than he intended. "You should know by now what you mean to this team."

Eliot turned away a moment. "No one's ever had my back like this Nate," he said softly. "I want to believe it, and trust it…"

"But at the same time it terrifies you." Nate didn't wait for confirmation on that, knowing it wasn't going to be forthcoming. "This is very real."

"And what if I can't function with the team?"

Nate realized they'd just hit the core of Eliot's fears. "Then you're welcome to stay as long as you like. But there's no way you wouldn't be useful in some capacity."

A pause followed. "Being faster wouldn't have mattered with my eyesight," Eliot suddenly said, wanting to ease Nate's guilt. "This happened the second day…" That didn't sound near as comforting as he'd wanted it to. "They had worse planned for me."

That fact, did not comfort Nate. "We're going to get the guy who did this." Only that might make him feel better.

"Do me a favor Nate? Let me pull the trigger." The last thing Eliot wanted was for them to bear the burden of killing someone… especially over him.

The silence indicated that wasn't what Nate had planned. "I thought you didn't like guns."

"I don't. Doesn't mean they aren't useful once in a while."

"I just… I don't know what to say to him," Hardison spoke first, glancing at Sophie and Parker.

"And I went a little overboard myself," Sophie confessed. "I think we probably need to treat him as normal as possible."

"He's still Eliot," Parker said.

"It's just…" Hardison trailed of a moment. "When I think about what they did to him… I mean how much that must have hurt. And he's already just accepted it?"

"I had four days of nothing to do but think about it," Eliot said as he and Nate re-entered the conference room. "It's hard not to accept something by that point."

Hardison winced, obviously unnerved by both what Eliot had been through and his matter-of-factness regarding it.

"It does me no good to sit in denial," Eliot said, turning his head in Hardison's direction. "Let's just get this guy okay?"

"Alright man, if that's what you want." Hardison said, sounding more himself.

"Eliot, we want to help you," Sophie said. "Any way we can."

"Then stop pitying me. That'd be a good start," Eliot replied. "I'm going to work through this, I just need to do it my own way."

"Your own stubborn way," Sophie murmured softly.