The Rewind Job, Chapter 8
Disclosures: I do not own any of the characters…pity.
Recap:
"Uh uh…no..no..no.. Man," the hacker raised his hands in front of him, shaking his head. "Alec Hardison ain't ever stitched nothin'…'cept a couple of quilt tops." At the other two men's' questioning looks, he defended, "if Nana told you to quilt you quilted…Nana didn't take no lip. But ain't no way I'm gonna be sewin' up nobody's head…uh uh…" the hacker gagged at the thought, covering his mouth with his hand, before heading off to see if Sophie and Parker needed help with the ice.
Eliot didn't know whether to be relieved or worried when Ford shrugged his shoulders and said, "Well I've never done it before, but I guess there's a first time for everything," before turning back to the first aid kit to gather the necessary supplies.
Chapter 8
Nate was concentrating on placing the second stitch in Eliot's scalp when the hitter spoke, causing him to jump. From the hiss that came from Eliot, he assumed the anesthetic he had applied to the wound beforehand wasn't working as well as Eliot was pretending. "Sorry. What?" Nate questioned, having missed the other man's comment.
"So...uh...how long have you been ...ah..." Eliot, unsure how to phrase the question, motioned over his shoulder toward the three in the kitchen.
"Working with a group of thieves and grifters?" Nate clarified.
"Uh...yeah...just never pictured you as the type..."
Nate chuckled, but there was little humor in it. "Yeah, well, people change."
At Eliot's skeptical expression, he added, "Sometimes people aren't as good as you think they are...or as bad as you think they are. Now hold still." Nate had decided that placing stitches was not nearly as easy as Eliot made it look. Fortunately the cut was in the edge of the hitter's hair, so they didn't have to worry as much about the scar.
After another fifteen minutes, that seemed like an hour to Ford, the last stitch was finally placed. Nate added a dollop of antiseptic ointment before stepping back and removing the previously sterile gloves he was wearing. "What now?" he questioned.
"Need to get a look at my knee." the hitter answered.
Eliot and Nate looked back and forth between each other and Eliot's knee a few times, each trying to decide how best to get to the hitter's obviously swollen knee. Nate, who was thinking that Eliot probably wouldn't appreciate being asked to drop his pants in the middle of his living area, breathed a sigh of relief when the Eliot propped his foot up on the coffee table and instructed, "Just cut my pant's leg."
Eliot did his best to examine the knee once it was exposed. It was swollen and bruised, but didn't seem unstable. Hopefully all his ligaments were still intact. He looked up just as Parker and Sophie returned with several ice packs and a bottle of water. Hardison sat on a stool in the kitchen, looking on at a distance.
"Looks like we are just in time," Sophie commented as Parker moved closer to their retrievalist, placing one icepack under Eliot's arm, along his ribs. She followed that with an icepack to his throbbing shoulder and another to his opposite shoulder. At Eliot's questioning glance, she commented, "Never know which one will be bothering you after a fight." Now that Eliot thought about it, his "good" shoulder did seem to be getting stiff.
Sophie set more ice packs, a couple of towels from the kitchen, and the water down beside the first aid kit, before nudging Parker back towards Hardison, muttering, "We should let him rest."
Nate folded one towel and placed it on Eliot's knee, followed by an ice pack. Then he carefully wrapped another roll of athletic wrap around the knee, testing the edges to make sure it wasn't wrapped too tightly. When he looked up, he was surprised to see their hitter studying the ear bud he'd removed from his ear earlier.
Pushing the first aid kit aside, Nate sat on the coffee table beside Eliot's booted foot. "Hardison's a real genius with technology."
Eliot glanced up, before looking back at the tiny object in his hand. "What is it exactly that you guys do?" He asked aloud, followed by a silent, "And where do I fit into that picture?"
"We provide leverage," Nate responded easily. "We help people who can't get help elsewhere." At the hitter's quizzical look, he added, "Sometimes bad guys make the best good guys."