Well, here you all go. Sorry this took a little while, but I'm not gong to make any excuses, I was just lazy! I think this one is longer than the first chapter too. Hoping for feedback, and I hope you enjoy. :)

VT

Eliot Spencer was in good shape.

He had to be, of course. After all, his job as a hitter was very physically demanding on a slow day. He made sure to eat fairly well, and he cooked himself healthy meals almost every day. He also set up a gym in his basement, complete with a punching bag, a treadmill, and weights. Eliot made a point to work out there at least every other day, and he also made sure to practice his meditation when needed. So, all in all, Eliot was a healthy and strong guy.

So he questioned why he woke up with a pounding headache and aching limbs, and then nearly passed out when he tried to get out of bed.

Eliot managed to stumble his way to his small bathroom, pressing his palm against his aching temple as he went. Turning on the light as he walked in, Eliot winced at the brightness and then looked at himself in the mirror. His hair was frizzy, eyes were squinted and dull looking, and his skin was pretty pale. He grumbled under his breath and resigned himself to taking an aspirin before going and getting ready for the day, knowing he had to be to Nate's apartment soon.

'Why do I feel like this?' Eliot questioned himself as he was getting ready. ' I haven't been sick in years…But I know for certain I wasn't poisoned this time, so I wonder if perhaps it's just a head cold or a migraine…Hm, that's probably it.' Satisfied with that answer, he decided to stop dwelling on it and to just get through the day.

Once ready, he decided to walk over, thinking it might help clear his head and that the fresh air might help his dizziness a bit. He grabbed his wallet and left, the walk taking him a bit longer than it should have. He found himself hoping that today's job was a fairly easy one so that he could head home and rest sooner.

Eliot walked into Nate's apartment minutes later, immediately going and sitting with Sophie and Parker at the 'briefing counter'. He sighed, wishing once again that Hardison and Nate would hurry up in the mornings. He ignored Parker's rant about stealing the Mona Lisa, opting instead to focus on lessening the throbbing in his temples. Fortunately, the mastermind and hacker were there within the next ten minutes, wasting no time in starting to tell the info for their latest job.

The mark was another typical rich guy who thought he could steal people's investment money. The family that had contacted them lost all their savings, and etcetera, etcetera. Eliot found that he was having a hard time paying attention to what Hardison was saying, and he became pretty worried when the images on the screens in front of him started to blur and twist together. He blinked hard, and realized that he was actually very hot…'this had better be just a one-day thing…' The hitter thought irritably as he pressed his fingers hard against his aching temples again.

He realized then that his name had been called. Eliot looked up, grateful that everything appeared much less blurry now. He turned to Nate, and grunted, "Hm? What?"

Nate frowned at the muscled man, wondering about his strange behavior. "You alright Eliot? You seem distracted today." Sophie turned to him and used her 'motherly tone' to say, "You do seem a bit pale…"

The hitter sighed again, mentally cursing his inability to hide his symptoms. "I'm fine, just have a headache is all."

Hardison and Parker frowned at Eliot too, a bit concerned for their teammate. But Nate nodded, accepting the answer before turning back to Hardison and saying, "Keep runnin' it."

The hacker complied, giving the team more info on the mark and his background history. Sophie, however, wasn't as satisfied with Eliot's excuse. 'He wouldn't be acting like he is if it was a simple headache…he's too stubborn for something like that to bother him so much.' Her musings were proven correct when she noticed the small movement the muscled man made next. Eliot swayed ever-so-slightly in his chair, cautiously placing his crossed arms on the counter for balance. The grifter also took notice to the beads of sweat running down her friend's jaw and neck.; knowing that Eliot was definitely not 'fine', Sophie decided to simply watch him to make sure he was alright, since she knew he wouldn't admit it if he wasn't.

The rest of the briefing passed rather quickly, the team had a con planned to do over the course of four days, and they were just getting ready to head out for the first stage of the plan when the unthinkable happened. Eliot went down.

The pale hitter had gotten up and turned to head out the door, when vertigo suddenly struck him. At the same time Eliot felt his already high temperature spike even more, and his suddenly shaky and weak limbs were unable to stop him from falling to the floor. His team was instantly worried and rushing to him, all thinking the same things: 'Eliot! Is he okay? What's wrong with him?'

Parker reached him first, reaching and gently rolling the brunette so that he was on his back; Sophie putting his head in her lap in case he was injured somehow. They were all shocked when Eliot didn't object to this, and even more surprised when they noticed his slight tremors, sweating and pained- looking face, and now even more pale skin.

Sophie lightly patted Eliot's cheek, trying to snap him from the daze his glassy eyes said he was in. Eliot blinked and glanced up at the grifter, taking a deep breath before moving to try and get up. Nate's hand was immediately on his shoulder pushing him back down, and the mastermind stated, "You just passed out for a second, you need to stay there for a minute and tell us what's wrong." Eliot frowned at him, and grunted out, "I think I've just got a bad migraine…I got dizzy when I turned to leave. I'll be fine Nate; you don't need to baby me." His last sentence was spoken with irritability. Hardison spoke up with a determined,"Nuh'-uh' man! He had better not get me sick dude!"

"Eliot, you're burning up. You're going to need to lie down for a while, because you are clearly not in a shape where you can run a job." Sophie's tone clearly left no room for argument, and surprisingly, Eliot actually agreed. He fussed of course, grumbling about 'motherly grifter' and 'worrying too much, it's just a fever', but he allowed Parker to lead him to Nate's bed upstairs, and for Sophie to give him ice packs and a thermometer while Hardison made him soup. Eliot figured, 'they are….pretty much my family. Besides, I can be lazy and enjoy this, I suppose….and I'll certainly love ordering Hardison around!' Nate told them later that they would simply start the con tomorrow, or whenever Eliot was better.

Things were slow for the next hour or so, Eliot lounging and watching sports with Nate, Sophie was teaching Parker body language for grifting, and Hardison was playing another one of his endless computer games. Sophie had made Eliot check his temperature again to be safe, and the hitter had argued before finally giving in to the incredibly stubborn grifter. However, Sophie's gasp when she looked at his temperature was a bit disconcerting. She looked at him and said, "You need to go to the hospital right now."

Naturally, Eliot immediately said, "There's no way I'm going there and there's no need for that. It's not that bad Sophie; calm down." Sophie just stated, "Your temperature is at 104.9 degrees. I'm pretty sure that's too high, Eliot!"

The sick hitter frowned. "That's not right. I don't feel nearly that bad. The thermometer's probly' just broken." Sophie huffed and said, "Then check it again." The hitter complied just to satisfy her, a bit shocked when the reading came back at 105.6 degrees. "Yeah, hospital." Sophie's voice was determined, and Nate added, "Eliot, you can't brush that temperature off." So, the now grumpy hitter was forced into the car and driven to the hospital, and Parker was frustrated about being told she had to stay at the apartment; grumbling that she could get them to the hospital faster.

Nate was concerned. Eliot's temperature was as high as Sam's had gotten before…the mastermind quickly ignored that thought, focusing on driving as quickly as possible to the hospital.

Sophie was sitting in the back of the car with Eliot, and noticed the hitter's breathing was very harsh and quick. She put her hand on his leg, hoping to offer some comfort of some sort. Eliot gave her a glare that read : ' I'd –knock- your- hand- off- me- but- I –fee-l like -shit –you- should –stop- touching -me -now –dammit- Sophie- stop –mothering- me.' Sophie complied, but was now even more worried because of the heat she had felt radiating off the hitter's leg. She hoped Nate would hurry…

Hardison handed all of them a new license and cards, saying, "Here y'all go, you new identities. Nate, you married to Sophie and Eliot is Sophie's brother. I'm Nate's cousin, but I'm gonna stay in the car unless you need me, so I can wipe the records once you leave." Nate nodded, pleased with Hardison's quick work. "Thanks Hardison. We shouldn't need you in there, but we'll call if we do."

Eliot was hearing all this in a daze. He hated how weak he was right now, but knew there wasn't much he could do until his fever went down. He tried to get a full breath of air, but found that he couldn't. He started breathing quicker and realized that he actually was very hot. His vision started to blur, and he became concerned as soon as Nate's form started to morph into someone else's. He squeezed his eyes shut, knowing he had started to hallucinate and began willing the delusions away.

Sophie, being the talented grifter she was, noticed all this almost as quickly as Eliot did. She placed her hand on his cheek, eyes widening at the fact that the temperature was uncomfortably hot even to her hand. "Nate, drive faster. His temperature is still rising. Eliot, are you feeling alright?"

The long haired brunette opened his bleary blue eyes and turned them towards Sophie's voice. He couldn't make out any of her features…then he realized she was moving…no wait, she was still there. 'What's wrong with me?' Eliot questioned. 'This can't be a normal fever…maybe I was poisoned after all…?' Out loud though, he only said, "I just have a fever, Sophie. Stop worrying so much…" Sophie raised an eyebrow at this, clearly seeing the Eliot was once again trying to hide how bad it was. But she knew it was pointless to try and argue with the stubborn hitter, so she resigned herself to have to wait until they got to the hospital.

Thankfully, Nate's driving got them there within the next few minutes. Sophie and Nate jumped out, and Eliot started to get out when he was hit with another heat wave. The hitter swayed dangerously, and Nate was just reaching out to steady him when he instead ended up catching Eliot as he passed out. The hitter was limp in Nate's arms, who was struggling to hold the man up. "Sophie!" Was all he said before the grifter rushed to help get Eliot leaned up against the car. They were both giving each other nervous looks, for Eliot's temperature was way too high, and they could both tell this just from brief touches. Sophie ran to the building, saying she was going to have them bring a stretcher out, since they couldn't carry Eliot all the way to the hospital building.

Nate was focused on tying back Eliot's hair, which was only getting stuck to his face and neck with sweat. The unconscious hitter was trembling and rasping for air. The mastermind was extremely concerned for Eliot. He had never seen Eliot with anything more than a sniffle, and now he was passing out from fever? Nate was hoping it was only a fever, and not something more serious.

His thoughts were interrupted when he saw Sophie walking back, just behind two men that were pushing a stretcher with them. He stood and motioned them over, frustrated that he could only watch as they lifted the seemingly lifeless Eliot onto the stretcher and wheeled him towards the hospital. He was in a bit of a daze as he and Sophie were questioned and given forms and papers to fill out, while Eliot had disappeared behind the white double doors that brought back too many bad memories for Nate.

~~~~~~~~~~~*A little while later *~~~~~~~~~~~

Nate and Sophie were sitting impatiently in the lobby, waiting to hear about Eliot. They were then approached by a tall blonde doctor. He asked, "You are Dave and Alana Harman? You came here with your brother Chris, yes?" Nate nodded. "Yeah, that's us. So how is he?" the doctor told them to follow him, saying Chris was on the fourth floor and he'd fill them in while they went to his room.

The doctor introduced himself as Cole. Telling them they could call him by his first name. He then started telling them about Chris' condition. "He had a very good immune system. Problem is, he caught a nasty aggressive form of the flu fever, just without the side effects of the normal flu. His system appears to be overcompensating with the fever, and his temperature spiked to 108 at one point, so we had to put him in an ice bath. Unfortunately, for some reason this only worked temporarily. His temperature spiked back up afterwards, and now we can't do anything about it. You see, if we were to keep putting him in ice baths, the contrast between temperatures would only cause more harm. The only thing we can do is give him meds for the fever and monitor him to make sure his temperature doesn't spike any higher than 106. Right now, it's at a steady 104."

By now, they were walking to Eliot's room, and being told that he would have to stay overnight. They were told what to watch for, before being left alone with Eliot, who was still asleep on the hospital bed, hooked up to an IV, and had a probe on his arm that displayed his heart rate and temperature on a screen above the bed. He was still pale and looked to be in pain, but he looked better than before, which calmed Sophie considerably.

Nate hated every second in the building, but sighed and resigned himself to staying overnight to watch Eliot to make sure no one tried to take advantage when he was weakened. He told Sophie and Hardison to head back to the apartment, and that he'd be fine to stay on the couch in the room. He quickly grew bored, however, but knew that he had to stay.

Everything was going okay; Eliot's temperature hadn't risen, though it hadn't fallen either. But, once night had fallen, Eliot started to drift in and out of consciousness, and he was hallucinating. Nate quickly took notice of his rapidly rising temperature and called for a nurse. One came, and tried to adjust the IV to help. However, Eliot's temperature was already at 109, and the nurse made Nate stay there while more nurses came and wheeled Eliot to another ice bath. Nate could only wait and worry, knowing he'd only be in the way then sent back if he left.

After five minutes, the mastermind was fed up with waiting, and left the room to search for Eliot. 'Screw it…I'm not waiting…where is he?' Nate was thinking this as he searched, and soon found him, doctors were fretting over him, and he had to try very hard not to flashback to when Sam was…

He was broken from his thoughts when he saw how high Eliot's temperature had risen. A red 110.4 was on a screen next to the barley conscious hitter. By now, the others had woken up from Nate alerting them and were frantically asking Nate to fill them in. He started telling them, and at the same time could only watch as the doctors tried ice, medicine, and anything else to get his temperature to drop, but nothing seemed to be working. Nate's own heart was beating just as fast as Eliot's at this point, and he swore his stopped at the same time he saw that flat line appear across the heart monitor screen. His abrupt gasp caused the team to start yelling in his ear again, but Nate wasn't able to answer them this time.

His thoughts were a whirlwind in those moments. All he could hear was the high pitched beep and the sound of his own scream. He saw doctors over his son, or was it Eliot on the table? He couldn't tell the difference…

Nate saw the doctor try and use the defibrillator, but the cables had been cut. In the back of his mind, Nate thought that was suspicious, but he was more focused on trying not to scream or cry over the comms. The doctor was pressing rhythmically on Eliot's still chest, while a nurse ran to go get another defibrillator. Nate watched in awe as all of a sudden, Eliot took a gasp of air.

The heart monitor started beeping to Eliot's rapid heartbeat, and Nate couldn't believe what he'd just seen. The doctors couldn't seem to either. They were just staring at the man who had apparently suddenly come back to life. Now, the ice covering the pale hitter seemed to start working, Eliot's temperature dropped down to 103 fairly quickly, and his heart and breathing rate gradually went back to normal. Nate let out a breath he hadn't know he was holding as he fell onto the bench in the hall. The mastermind put his head in his hands to try and block his memories and chaotic thoughts, thinking, 'I need a drink…' Before realizing he needed to fill in the rest of his team to what had just happened.

Nate interrupted everyone's worried voices with a sharp but quiet, "Guys!" And the team grew quiet from habit. Sophie's irritated voice asked Nate, "What the hell just happened over there? Are you guys okay?"

"We're fine…Eliot's temperature spiked real bad…and he was having trouble breathing. The doctors took him again, and I followed after a minute. He…he died. Right in front of me… I couldn't do anything…" 'It was just like with Sam.' Were the unspoken words that everyone heard. The team was, for once, speechless. Parker's unusually small voice wavered over the comms asking, "But he's okay now, right?"

Nate responded with a simple, "Yes. I'm just following them back to the room; his temperature has finally gone back down to a normal range. It's still high, but much better thankfully." The team waited as they heard Nate conversing with the doctor again, and they were all concerned for their teammate. "They're telling me they want to keep him tomorrow too, but I think Eliot will put a stop to that when he wakes up. I'm gonna' go back and get some coffee, you guys can stop worrying, he really is better now."

The team wasn't too happy about it, but they knew there was really nothing they could do right now. So, they let Nate be, and went back to doing their own strange midnight activities.

Nate, now back in the hospital room with Eliot, was sipping a very strong cup of coffee and taking comfort in watching the strong, steady rise and fall of Eliot's chest.

~~~~~~~~~~* The next morning *~~~~~~~~~~

"There is no way I'm stayin' here! I'm perfectly fine- There's no need!"

Eliot had woken up pretty early. And though at first he was very tired and confused, remembering very little, now he was back to his usual grumpy, stubborn self. Nate had watched amused as he scared off all the nurses that had come to fret over him, and was now arguing willfully with the doctor. He had given him back his comm when he woke up, so he could hear Hardison and Parker snickering at what they were hearing, and could very easily picture Sophie's eye rolling expression.

Nate tried to help the cause. "Chris is very opposed to hospitals… how about we just stay with him the rest of the day to make sure his temperature doesn't spike up again?" The doctor was adamant, but agreed when he saw Eliot's intimidating glare. And soon enough, Nate was back in the car with Eliot and Parker, heading back to the apartment.

Once there, Eliot was greeted with smiles and a punch on the shoulder from Hardison. The team went back to being briefed about the new plan for their mark. Eliot quickly proclaimed, "Don't you dare change the plan because of me, I can handle it."

Nate responded with a calm but firm, "There's no need to rush. We're gonna' get prepared today, the start tomorrow. That'll give you time to rest a bit, and we can relax. Have a bit of patience."

This time, Eliot knew he was outmatched, so he relented. The team decided to waste the rest of the day with a poker game and Eliot's signature cooking, all of them happy to spend the relaxing time together.

They were all, of course, eager to get things back to normal, and Eliot was especially happy to be back to his usual healthy state. Once again ready to kick ass at a moment's notice. After all, that was his job- being their Hitter.

VT