A/N: Hi!... Here it is... The last full chapter of this fic. There is gonna be a short little epilogue after this, to add a bit of a kick at the end and set you guys up for the next season of our fav TV show... :D

I am gonna be posting both this and the epilogue on the same day so don't forget to check out both!

Thank you all for staying with this story and supporting me so much... I love all of you! :)

Now, on with it...

Chapter 9

It was dark. Not quite the 'I-can't-see-anything-and-I-am-scared' kind of darkness, but a weirdly comforting, numb kind of darkness. Eliot knew that he should be wondering just where the heck he was, what was he doing there and what had happened to him... a lot more if he could manage it, but fortunately, he was too tired to ask even a single question. Not that he was even sure that he was awake.

He could feel his body, it was lying on something soft, but not too soft... like a hospital bed. Oh f***!... He was back at a hospital. Stopping his brain from letting loose a barrage of some more four letter words at that, he concentrated on making more sense of his surroundings.

Eliot could feel a multitude of aches and pains radiating through his body with every labored breath he took, but the pain was kind of numbed... like when the doctors gave him morphine. F***! Who gave them the permission to drug him?... He hated being drugged and feeling out of control so much that he would gladly accept whatever degree of pain he had to suffer if he could get by without any pain medication.

He remembered going into the Carter building after Parker... Oh lord!... Parker... What had happened to her? He had to get up. He had to make sure she was alright. Eliot tried his best to move, tried to speak or at least open his eyes but his body was stubbornly refusing to cooperate. Unbearable pain radiated through him at every tiny movement he tried to make and his throat seemed blocked with something huge... he couldn't swallow, he couldn't breathe, this was turning into a nightmare all over again.

Eliot was struggling with everything inside him when he heard a multitude of voices. They were mostly unknown voices, tense, issuing orders all around, mixed in with some voices he knew... Nate, it seemed was there and... and the other voice was Parker!... Thank god she was alright. She seemed to be panicking at the moment and trying to get closer to him. He couldn't understand why she wasn't coming to him, her voice stayed at a distance.

But just listening to her voice and realizing that she wasn't dead was enough to make Eliot relax a bit. The doctors, who he belatedly realized had crowded around him, were working at getting a huge tube out of his throat, cleaning up the mucus buildup that the ventilator usually left behind and were checking to make sure he hadn't ripped up any stitches in his episode a minute ago. Vaguely, Eliot could hear someone speaking to Nate on to one side of him

"This is a good development Mr. Hansen. Your friend here had just started breathing on his own, so we've taken him off the ventilator. If he continues to recover at such a rapid rate, you might be able to take him home in a couple of weeks. I'll have to continue my rounds now. I will keep an eye on Mr. and Mrs. O'Connell... Don't you worry about anything. Now, if you will excuse me, I've got to go check up on my other patients. I'll come by in a couple of hours with some test results okay?"

"Thank you very much Doctor Barnes. I appreciate it"

Eliot didn't have time to even wonder about the ventilator and not breathing on his own till now before the morphine drip that had been strengthened by a nurse just now took effect and he floated down into oblivion again.

This time, it wasn't dark... at all. In fact, very bright light was shining in front of his eyes and Eliot was about to growl out for someone to shut the damn thing off when he felt a hand remove the needle sticking into his arm and put some tape in place. Slowly, the hitter started to hear noises... they resolved into voices... seconds later they were clear enough for him to distinguish between them. Sophie, Parker and one more female voice...

Talking about some Mr. O'Connell and how his wife must love him so much that she hadn't left the room once since their getting to the hospital. Odd... The other woman was calling that guy Parker's husband and she didn't seem to mind. But why would Parker camp out at some random guy's hospital room he couldn't figure out and it was already making his head ache. Parker often had a way of doing that to him.

Breathing was much easier this time compared to the last, his body still screamed at every minute movement he attempted... not that he could move, but this time it was more of a 'I-got-hit-by-a-flying-tree' kind of pain rather than a 'I-got-run over-by-a-bunch-of-trucks-repeatedly' kind, that he'd had the last time he'd tried the same thing. Okay... he knew that it was the morphine and the painkillers talking but this felt better... way better.

He waited till the other woman who was in the room, a nurse he figured, left and cautiously opened his eyes. The vision was blurry, a result of not having used his eyes for quite some time... he didn't know how many days he'd spent here. As everything cleared out and came into focus, he could see that he was indeed in a hospital room, clad in a very thin hospital issue gown, various monitors attached to him and a whole lot of bandages covering about 60 percent of his body.

He must've taken a beating by the time he finished off Ivanevich... Whatever, he had no worries about that. If he had to go back and do the same thing all over again, he would, if it saved Parker and his team in the end.

Slowly, Eliot turned his head, encountering a slight discomfort with the action and saw that he wasn't alone in that room. Meaning, his bed wasn't the only one put up in the room. It seemed to be a big, sunny room about a couple of floors above the ground from the height of a tree he could see outside the window by which he spied Sophie. She was sitting on a recliner by the window and reading one of her ever present fashion magazines.

Tilting his head a little more, he was able to spot Parker, lying on another bed like his, also in a hospital issue gown, which she, unlike him seemed to actually look nice in. Parker was lying there humming tunelessly, idly locking and unlocking one of her favorite locks from her kit with just one hand. The other, he was was taped to an IV. Parker seemed much better than when he'd seen her last... so much better that he couldn't quite figure it out. She had seemed to be on death's door and here she was, almost perfectly fine.

It meant one of two things. Either she'd not been as hurt as she looked to be or he'd been so injured that by the time he woke up, she was almost fully recovered. He didn't know what to believe although he was kinda hoping that it was the first case.

Eliot was still busy trying to work out exactly what had happened to get him in this condition, when he heard a loud squeal from the bed next to him. He barely had time to react before a slender, warm body topped with a head of golden silk was hurtling at him, hugging every bit of him that wasn't covered in bandages and depositing soft kisses on every bit of his face and neck she could reach.

"You're awake... You're okay... Oh thank god!... Sophie... look, Eliot's awake."

For one second he could see Sophie and she looked suspiciously teary eyed and relieved in that moment. But all that was gone a mere second later when she caught up her phone and cheerfully relayed the information to Nate, who it seemed was with Hardison at the cafeteria. Upon their informing that they were on their way with loads of coffee and sandwiches, Sophie discreetly left the room, letting Eliot and Parker have some time alone.

As soon as the grifter was out the room, Parker didn't give Eliot even a moment's respite before she fitted her mouth to his in a kiss that made him want to flip them over, and do things to her that would make her moan in that delightful way of hers. Unfortunately, due to the simple fact that moving seemed to be out of question for now, Eliot settled for trying to wrap his arms around her and pulling her closer to him as he kissed her back with every bit of emotion in him.

"Did you mean it?"

Now, Eliot was completely befuddled. For all he knew of Parker, he loved the fact that she still managed to surprise, astonish and befuddle him most of the time. He'd been frustrated by it in the beginning, but with time, he'd come to enjoy the element of surprise and the way he discovered new things about his thief every day. But now, he was totally and utterly lost. No idea what she was talking about.

"What?"

"Did you mean what you said... you know... before the paramedics came?"

"Wh-... Oh that..."

Suddenly, it ran like a video in his head. He'd blurted out that he loved Parker. Now he wasn't so sure that had been a good idea. What if she didn't feel the same. I mean he and Parker had been in a very strong relationship for quite some time now, atleast that was what he thought... one could never say with Parker... She might've just been indulging in a short affair or simply scratching an itch. They'd always had that attraction simmering between them... maybe she'd just given in to it. But for his sake, Eliot decided to be truthful. He'd said it then because he felt it... every bit of it and he wanted to be able to say it to her again... every day if he could.

Slowly nodding his head, he said

"Y-Yeah... I meant it."

"Oh..."

Eliot hadn't expected her to fall into his arms declaring her love for him but he'd expected at least some sort of emotional reaction. Not this... Parker's face was blank but her eyes... those soft, dove gray eyes were rapidly filling up and overflowing with tears.

"Par-"

"Shhh... It's not what you think... Just..."

For the first time since he'd known her, he saw Parker cry... really, truly cry. Eliot felt his heart crumple at the sight of tears flowing freely down her pale cheeks, her face scrunched up with the effort of holding back her emotions. He was just about to open his mouth and tell her that it was okay if she didn't feel the same way when he felt Parker reach up and wrap her arms around his bandaged shoulders, jumping up lightly onto his bed and snuggling into the contours of his body.

With a soft sigh, Eliot wrapped his arms as best as he could around her slender form as he heard her muffled voice come from somewhere near his chest

"No one's ever said that to me you know... I- I just never knew how it felt... to have someone actually lo-love you. I am not normal Eliot... none of us are, but me more so than all of you. So it is going to take some getting used to... this whole being in love with someone. But I promise you that I will say it back to you... I already feel it... I just need some time to get used to this feeling before I can say it to you... Please... just give me some time..."

This time it was Eliot that quietened her with a soft kiss to her temple.

"Shh... It's okay darlin'... I totally understand what it is you're sayin'. Take your time honey... I ain't goin' anywhere. I am here to stay and I am gonna be right here, waitin' for you whenever you need me. This feeling here doesn't happen to everyone all the time babe... It's a once in a lifetime kinda thing and now that I've found it, I am not gonna be letting go anytime soon and even then, not without one helluva fight. So just relax, take your time and when you get used to this, I'll be right here waitin for you... I love you Parker and I'm not lettin' go"

The sparkling smile that Parker gave him before kissing the heck out of him, was reward enough for that little speech. They both got as comfortable as they could on the small hospital bed and settled in to wait for the rest of the team to make their appearance, which didn't take much time. Parker was ghosting soft kisses along Eliot's face and neck while he rubbed his good hand up and down her arm, holding her as close as he could when the door opened wide, emitted a small squeak and slammed shut again.

From the outside came Hardison's voice

"Yo guys... Wasn't Eliot supposed to be like sick?... Like really sick?... Not breathing on his own kinda sick and you Sophie... you said he just got up... Then what the hell is he doin' in bed with Parker?"

There was a slightly shocked silence while the two of them inside the room heard Hardison murmur that he 'never wanted to see something like that again... ever... ever you get that?... E-ver'.

The door opened slowly and cautiously again and this time, Sophie stuck her head inside, fearing what she was about to see

"Awww... That is so cute. Come on in Nate... You have to see this. Finally... I am so happy for you guys..."

Nate and Sophie stepped into the room, smiling widely at the sight in front of them... Eliot and Parker were both grinning, both of them blushing slightly at being the focus of everyone's attention for the first time after they knew of Eliot and Parker's relationship.

Once the two older members of the team had stepped in and he hadn't heard any shocked sounds, Hardison cautiously peered into the room before bounding in

"That was not cool man... You scared the shit out of all of us... But we're all very happy that you're back and gettin' better..."

A quiet 'Thanks man' was Eliot's answer to that as Nate and Sophie settled on the recliner and Hardison took his position on the edge of the coffee table there.

"So... Is anyone gonna tell me what exactly happened? I know that there was a lot goin' on that neither Parker nor I... no scratch that... that I wasn't aware of... You seemed to be in on the plan weren't you hun'?"

That comment brought out a slightly panicky and very very guilty expression on Parker's face and when Eliot turned to look at the others, he found that none of them were able to meet his eyes either. Scowling slightly, he settled back for the explanation that he knew was coming, hoping that it was at least half good because he'd just started trusting someone else in this lifetime and he wouldn't like for it to be ripped away from him now.

Eliot knew that there was no way he could continue working with the team if he felt he couldn't trust them and he knew that Nate at least knew it too. Trust was the one thing in his life he valued more than anything else. He couldn't be with people he didn't trust and that was non-negotiable. That was why it was making him uneasy that Nate was feeling guilty enough about something to not be able to meet his eyes.

Clearing his throat uneasily, Nate looked at everyone before starting

"Uh.. Actually Eliot... We owe you an apology. All of us..."

Of all the things he'd expected, an apology hadn't been one of them. Eliot couldn't understand the need for an apology and he said so

"Well, you've always been the team's protector, a team player that always did his job... no matter the consequences. I guess... I guess we just started to take what you did for granted. We... I should've listened to you when you expressed your doubts about the job this time. I should've listened to you and respected your area of expertise as you do mine or Sophie's or Hardison's."

Eliot was quiet for a minute, reflecting on what Nate had said but the silence was broken by the grifter

"Nate isn't the only one who should be apologizing Eliot... All of us owe you a huge apology and an even bigger thank you for being who you are. You go in every time one of us is in trouble and keep us safe no matter what... no matter how much you get hurt. We should've listened to you when you asked us to stop this con. I mean we all knew that this one was a little too easy but I guess we were just riding high on our recent string of successes..."

"We shouldn't have let the two of you take the fall for this one. You shouldn't have gotten hurt and you did... For that, we are all very hope you can forgive us..."

Still, Eliot wasn't entirely comfortable with all of this, something not quite ringing right. Nate was also quite antsy, uneasy and shifting in his seat as if something was bothering him

"Nate... whatever it is... jus' get it over with. I don't wanna do this for a minute longer than I have to... So just say whatever it is you have to say and get it over with."

Before Nate could say anything, Parker put her hand up, stalling the mastermind, silently telling him that she would be the person to tell Eliot about this part. This was the most damning part of their narrative and Parker's involvement in it, however circumstantial, was eating away at her ever since she'd woken up in the hospital to see Eliot in such a state.

Turning to Parker curiously, Eliot felt a chill settle around his heart at her guilty expression. She was chewing her bottom lip and worriedly looking at the hitter from underneath her lashes.

"Parker?... What is going on here?"

"Remember when we were at Carter and Ivanevich had me? You were still one floor below and had those doors to get through..."

At Eliot's wary nod, she continued

"Well... Ivanevich had just slapped me so hard I was seeing stars when I heard Nate say something very softly in my com... Ivanevich was gloating about how no one spoke when he did, walking around and making enough noise that he wouldn't have been able to hear what he said. My guess is that you were also so involved in breaking down those doors that you didn't hear it either... Nate said two words that time... he said... 'Mark Vector'..."

The hitter's mind immediately went back to the ex- hockey player turned investment consultant they'd taken down in their path to Damien Moreau. Parker had played the carrot that time... in their carrot and stick con with the jerk... She'd had to... play dead.

Eliot's brain stopped for a whole second before the whole thing unraveled in front of him. He'd been played... by his own team. They'd let him believe that Parker was gone so that he would react the way he did and get rid of Ivanevich and his men. They'd risked his loss of control just so that they could get the job done. But Eliot couldn't think about that now.

"Tell me everything... what else happened?"

Nate picked up the narrative with occasional inputs from Sophie and Hardison. Parker couldn't help but notice that Eliot's arm that had been around her, holding her close was gone, his arms were folded in front of his chest and he was lying stiffly on the bed next to her as if it was the last place he wanted to be at.

Parker knew that any loss of trust on Eliot's part was a deal breaker for him, and she completely understood that... hell, she was the same. If they'd played her the way they'd done Eliot, they might not even have found her afterwards. She'd have picked up and run as far as she could, as fast as she could, not caring about what or who she left behind.

But now, all of it had changed. She couldn't run even if she wanted to... for the first time, she wanted to stay. She had a family, however weird and dysfunctional... and she had someone who loved her (she hoped he still did in light of what she had revealed to him right now) and whom she loved back just that much.

Parker hadn't known what it was like to do a lot of things before Eliot came into her life. He'd just walked in one day and it had started to change... she had started to change without even knowing, from a socially inept thief with trust issues to a slightly more socially comfortable thief who had grown used to being around her new family... grown used to depending on them and having them depend on her in return.

So now, as she listened to Nate and Sophie recount what had happened that night, Parker had an uneasy feeling inside her that this could be the one thing that could tear their little family apart. Because Eliot Spencer, was more than just a hitter in their team. He was a friend to Nate, a sympathetic ear for Sophie whenever she wanted to vent about Nate, a brother figure to Hardison and to Parker... he was so many things.

Eliot had been a best friend, a teacher, a boyfriend and a partner for so long now that she couldn't expect to continue to live the same way if he left the team. Parker knew for sure that if Eliot decided to quit, she would quit along with him and go wherever he went... whether he wanted her along or not.

But she didn't want that to happen. She wanted Eliot to stay, but there was no way she was going to try and influence his decision nor would she allow anyone else to try. If Eliot had to stay, he would stay of his own volition... she didn't want him staying out of some weird sense of duty that he always seemed to be carrying aorund. They had made their play and now she just had to wait to see if she came out on top.

Eliot felt himself grow more and more confused as he listened to Nate and Sophie's story. Most of it was incredibly clear... They had been conned into pulling a job, neatly pulled into the trap like lambs being led into slaughter. Eliot knew that they'd become predictable to their enemies by virtue of their insistence on being the good guys. Now all the bad guys had to do was dangle a carrot in front of them in the form of a normal guy or a family in distress, and off they were, without even thinking about the consequences of their actions.

The Leverage team had been quite neatly trapped in their own white knight syndrome and that was what their enemy had used to con them. It was like the first job with Dubenich and the Nigerians all over again, only two and a half years later and they had no Nigerians. In fact, it seemed as if they didn't even know who their Victor Dubenich was this time. Mikhail Ivanevich had just been a hired thug that knew nothing more than what he needed to know.

After Eliot had gone to Parker's rescue that night, Hardison had been so carefully back hacked that he himself hadn't noticed it till the time came when they shut him down. All this Eliot knew... but what he didn't know was that Hardison was back up and hacking into their mainframe again in a minute and had successfully spiked their little operation that they'd been unable to interfere afterwards. All that had been done while he was busy kicking in doors on the 36th floor.

He remembered that he hadn't had to kick down any doors on the floor above, even though they shared the same design and figured that Hardison had been able to help him there. It seemed that while Nate had told Parker to play dead in order to save herself from further beatings or other physical injuries, Hardison had been able to tap into their security cameras and find an angle that gave them full view of what Ivanevich was doing to Parker. They'd just recorded some of it and sent it off to every LEO in the vicinity, trusting them to respond as soon as possible.

After that, Nate had phoned in a major accident from the Yamamoto building down the street to the local hospital and when the ambulance got there, Sophie and Nate, clad in paramedics uniforms themselves, had simply redirected the crew to get to the Carter building and get to Parker and Eliot.

Eliot had suffered from a massive amount of trauma and had required a major surgery to correct his collapsed left lung. He'd also suffered broken ribs, a moderate concussion, a bullet in his shoulder, one in his thigh, two broken fingers, a sprained ankle and a broken wrist along with a ton of lacerations. Eliot had spent about a week in a medically induced coma, on ventilators before he'd come to the previous day.

Parker on the other hand, seemed to have three broken ribs, a cracked ankle as well as a motley of shallow and deep cuts all over her body with a cartload of bruising, all of which were recovering quite well.

The paramedics who'd found them had been astonished at the fact that the two of them were even alive after such massive trauma. They'd also taken in Ivanevich to the hospital where he'd been put in the ICU, but someone had gotten to him before the Leverage team had and he'd died of a massive overdose in the ICU itself.

In all the hurry to get to the two of them, the crew hadn't finished their job, which would be a first, since the team had gotten together. Eliot supposed he owed the team for saving his life, but he still had a lot to think about and work out before he could decide what to do next. For now, all he wanted to do was rest... his body was feeling like it'd been frozen, microwaved and frozen again and his brain felt like a bowl of jello shots set on fire.

"Eliot..."

"I-I just need some time guys... I think I need some rest now... We'll talk about this later. Why don't you guys get some rest yourselves?... Go home and get some shut eye and we'll talk about this tomorrow... You too Parker."

Eliot didn't know what to think and it was clearly heard in his quiet, drained voice. The team decided to give him his time and space even though they badly wanted to stay and beg his forgiveness, and retreated with promises of seeing the two of them the next day.

Parker stayed back, staring into his face with an intense expression as if she was searching for something. It was apparent that she'd found whatever she was looking for when she grinned sunnily, pressed a quick kiss on his lips and hopped off to her own bed a couple of meters away. Just as she was about to hop into bed, she turned and with another sunny smile said

"Don't worry Eliot... It'll all be okay. Just take your time and think it out... there no rush. I'll be right here waiting for you when you're done thinking about it."

That there... That made him feel better than anything else in a long time. Knowing that whatever he decided, he would have some one supporting him in the end. The unquestioning reliance on his decision and unstinting support his little thief was ready to give him told him just how important he was to her more than any words could. This, for Parker was a declaration of lifelong love in itself... though it wouldn't hurt to hear those three little words from her sometime soon.

Eliot smiled slightly at the way Parker could get him out of his dark moods whenever he descended into them and shook his head at the thought of spending the rest of his life trying to understand the alien workings of her complex mind. But knowing that she would be there no matter what, made it a lot easier for Eliot to make up his mind.

Whatever his team had done might've been wrong... may have been a mistake but they'd done it with proper intentions. And the fact that they realized their mistakes meant a lot more to Eliot than the fact that they apologized. Whatever his decision was, tomorrow would be a new day and the start of the rest of his life. With that thought, Eliot leaned back against his pillows and closed his eyes, slipping to a deeper, more peaceful slumber than he'd managed in a long time.

A/N: so... This is it. Just the epilogue to go and it is all done, nicely wrapped up in a neat little package... I am deeply grateful to all the people who read, reviewed, alerted and favorite-d this story... I wouldn't have been able to do this if not for your continued support and advice... So don't forget to review on these chapters too :)

lotsa luv

Macybear