"She'll make it, Sash. She's a fighter, just like us. You won't lose her. If you do, it'll be over my dead body."
Sasha sighed softly and opened her eyes. The first thing that registered was the deep breathing next to her. Once her vision had focused slightly, she could make out the shape of her brother sitting in the armchair near her bed. He was leaning his head on his left hand, eyes closed, hair moving slightly as he breathed. Then she caught sight of moment in the doorway. She needed a moment to squint and recognize who it was; she'd taken out her green contacts before Eliot had told her to rest.
Nate saw she was awake and nodded to Sasha. In hushed tones, he told her, "I've never seen him sleep before."
Sasha sighed again. "He doesn't do it often. After being in our line of work, you sleep too long, the demons inside you have a nasty tendency to come alive."
From the depths of the chair, Eliot muttered, "You know I can hear y'all, right?"
Sasha blushed and Nate cleared his throat.
"Ah, well, yes. I was just coming to get you. The whole team needs to go over the plan."
Eliot shifted in his chair. "Alright. Down in a minute."
Nate paused, nodded, and left. Then it was Eliot's turn to sigh.
"I want you to stay up here, Sash." She tried to speak, but he cut her off. "No." He ran his hands through his hair. "You need to rest. See if you can get any more sleep, without any of your demons waking up." His sister at least had the decency to look abashed. "I'll come get you if we need you."
Sasha rolled her eyes, but she nodded. Eliot put his right hand around the back of her head and leaned in to kiss her forehead, and she took his left.
"Thank you. Thank you from my daughter and my family."
"I told you," he said, a grin spreading across his face. "I'm going to be sure she makes it." As he leaned back, something caught his eye. "What's this?" He pulled on a long silver chain peeking out from beneath Sasha's shirt and around her neck. She growled and grabbed it back. Eliot just cocked an eyebrow. Rolling her eyes, she reached down her shirt and pulled out a Catholic medal.
"It's the patron saint of police officers. Frank gave it to me when we first got married."
"St. Jude. Also the patron saint of lost causes," Sophie chimed in from the doorway. Both Spencer siblings jumped; neither had heard her approach, a rarity in itself. At her raised eyebrows, they shrugged in unison. Sophie shook her head. "Eliot, we need you downstairs. We have to figure out who's who on this one."
Eliot patted Sasha's shoulder and walked to the door. When he got there, he turned to say one more thing but got distracted. Sasha was looking at something else on the chain. It was a heart-shaped locket, and it was open. She was running her finger over the photo inside, and another over the scar on her cheek, a sad smile on her face.
Eliot opened his mouth to question her about the locket and the nervous habit she seemed to have developed since the last time he's seen her, but Sophie called after him.
He shrugged. It was a question for a later date.
.0.o.0.o.0.
"Alright," Nate said, calling the group to order. "I think I have a way to get inside Premium Security. We need to pose not only as clients but as employees." He turned to the hitter. "Obviously, we want to use Eliot as our job applicant. But we need someone to pose as a talented client with a stalker. Hardison, we can just use your cover from when we took down Monica Hunter, but all of the aliases of someone famous are generally played by Eliot. He can't play the client and employee, and his sister is burned. I'll go in as a manager, but-"
"Oh!" Sophie sat up straighter in her chair. "I could be an actress with a death threat or something."
The rest of the team just looked at each other. It was Nate who saved the day.
"No, I need you as a PR manager. Parker is..." Nate looked perplexed for a moment. "We'll think of something for Parker. But we still need someone…"
"Tara?" Parker asked.
"No, she's in Tashkent right now," replied Sophie, an idea dawning on her face. "But I have someone just as good." She pulled out her cell phone. "Just let me give her a ring. She should still be stateside, and she's already got a good cover in place."
She finished dialing the number and hit send. She waited for a moment, and then a grin split her face.
"Marissa, darling! Listen about that favor I owe you… Can we make it two?" There was a long silence. Then, "Good! How quickly can you get to Boston?"