Disclaimer: I own nothing.
I'm gonna miss writing this...sob. :(
Hope you like it. Cos this is it. :P
He woke in a hospital bed, in a private room, hooked up to an IV. Feeling like he had been dropped from a plane. Sans parachute. Nate was leaning by the door, watching him. He looked exhausted. And pissed off.
"Hey." Eliot tried out his vocal chords, and thankfully they obeyed.
"You fucked up Eliot." Wow, Nate was taking no prisoners. No, how you feeling? No, can I get you a nurse? Just right to it. Eliot winced.
"Nate man, I did what I thought-"
"You know what kills me about this Eliot?" Nate reached the bed and leant down, haggard and dishevelled. Eliot wanting to shut out the look in his eyes. Disappointment. Worse look ever. He shook his head, unable to speak.
"You say we're family. Expect us to trust you with our lives, over and over and we do, without pause or hesitation." Nate stared at the bed sheets before looking up again, fierce with righteous rage. "Yet you don't afford us the same fucking courtesy. Family does not run one way Eliot. You understand? If we're a team, then we are a team."
"Nate, I just didn't-" Man he felt hit in the head, and emotion smashed into him, swarming through his veins as the impact of his lone wolf attitude grew clearer.
"I don't care. I lost a son Eliot. I lost a son after exhausting every avenue to save him and I'm never getting over it. How dare you not even give me a chance to fix this for you." Nate ran a hand over his face and Eliot swallowed, heart hammering, noting the tremor in Nate's fingers. "What is it with you Eliot? Haven't we all gotten over this shit? Families don't need martyrs Eliot. They need trust."
They regarded each other in silence, Eliot letting the words sink in. Man he had fucked up. Big.
"If the Triads hadn't already done such a sterling job I'd put you in here myself. Did you think I was kidding about not hurting Parker? Was I not explicit about that?"
"Parker? Is she here? Where-"
"She's asleep. They hooked her up to an IV and she's out. Hasn't slept or eaten properly since..." Nate looked to the ceiling, and the thick words broke Eliot in half.
"I never meant to hurt her Nate. I was trying to protect her. Protect all of you."
"Right. You arrogant son of a bitch. And who protects us from you huh? From you and your god damn suicidal tendencies? I suggest you think long and hard on that before coming back to us Eliot. We won't do this again. We can't."
He walked away. And Eliot realised he had tears on his cheeks as he watched him leave.
/
He woke in the night and Parker was wrapped to his side, her cheek on his chest, her hand on his waist a light kiss. His heart constricted as he noted her hospital gown.
"Why aren't you in your bed resting? Not eating? What the fuck Parker-"
"Yell at me right now and I swear to God I will roll this stretcher into oncoming traffic." Low and steely and sincere.
"Duly noted. Parker-"
"Why didn't you say goodbye?" She lifted up onto an elbow and stared at him, pale in the gloom.
"I-I didn't want you to follow me." Liar. Eliot knew why. Because he was a coward.
"Just like that? It was so easy for you?"
"It wasn't easy Parker! Shit I watched you and nearly woke you up a dozen times I just-"
"Punked out. Got it." Eliot closed his eyes.
"I thought you'd look at me different Parker all right? I knew when I got back you'd look at me different because of what I had to do. I didn't want you to lose faith in me." The words rushed out and he winced as he tried to shift in the bed. To get her closer in case this was it.
"I thought I was the emotional cripple in this thing?" Parker sighed, resting her chin on her hand, her hair tickling his chest and bandages. She sounded so close to tears he couldn't stand it. "Don't you get it Eliot? You were so worried about my faith in you that you forgot something way more important."
"What's that darlin'?" He grew anxious, hearing so much in her tone he couldn't quite work out, and unsure of the answer coming.
"You forgot to have faith in me." So small, her voice was so small but the words so big. Shit. He hadn't considered that. Hadn't considered that at all.
/
A week later in Boston, they dropped him at his apartment and helped him inside. The crutches he had to use got on his nerves, but the team made no comment as he cursed his way up the stairs to the front door and then the elevator.
At the door of his bedroom he took in the smashed up bed and looked at Parker who shrugged.
"I kept your plants alive." Right.
"Delivery of a new bed T minus two hours." Hardison scrolled through his cell, eyebrows raised as he took in the destruction. "Maybe we should uhm, clear this snaffu up."
Eliot was left on the sofa while they eradicated all trace of Parker's meltdown. Words clogged his throat. Every time he went to speak, one of them looked at him and he couldn't voice anything. Anything at all. Sophie made him tea. Nate ordered take out. They all agreed on pizza over Chinese.
They passed him on their way to and from the door carrying the remnants of the bed, and sleep claimed him. When he woke they were all on the sofas, eating pizza, Nate flicking through channels on the TV Parker had acquired. H was on Parker's laptop Skyping his girlfriend. Sophie was dismissing each film Nate paused on bemoaning the actresses in it and describing why she should have won that role. Parker sat at the breakfast bar, eating cereal, watching with hooded eyes. He missed her next to him. He felt further away from her than he had in Beijing.
"Thank you." The two words grabbed their attention, and familiar eyes swivelled to face him.
"Thank you for...coming to get me. Stubborn ass hole that I am." They waited expectantly and he shifted awkwardly, rubbing an aching hand over his nape.
"Not so bloody easy is it Eliot?" Sophie's soft query made him smile in understanding. No. It really wasn't. He met her gaze and her eyes softened, and it encouraged him to find his voice.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I didn't have faith in you. All of you. I-"
"Suck. Yeah we know." Hardison rolled his eyes. "We cool man."
"Are we?" The team grumbled but nodded, and Parker just stared. Fuck.
The bed arrived and he was put in it, falling asleep with them all stood around him, watching. Should have freaked him out. But it didn't.
A few minutes after they left, a small body climbed in beside him, and he thought he might cry. Badass Eliot Spencer wanted to sob like a fucking baby he was so grateful.
"I don't deserve you Parker. You know that right?" Pain meds and tiredness combined to make his words slur at the end.
"If you keep that up we'll never get past this." His wise thief again, startling in her honesty. "We all deserve to be loved Eliot. If you don't believe that what's the point?"
"I-" He willed the words to form in his hard to operate mouth. "I love you. I figured that was enough."
"Eliot." She sighed his name and snuggled closer, mindful of his injuries though he didn't give a crap. "It's not enough." Man his heart near broke with grief. Regret. She reached up and kissed his cheek, the beard still unshaven since his face was still multicoloured and split open.
"You gotta let me love you back." His heart burst into fierce flames and he crushed her to him, and pressed kisses to her hair, ignoring the pain, and the silent tears leaking from his scrunched up eyes.
"I'm gonna try Parker. I swear it. I'm gonna try." And he meant it.
"I'm not giving you a choice stupid. Go to sleep."
He did.
/
In the morning, he stumbled from the bedroom on one crutch, looking for Parker and finding a hive of activity in his apartment instead. The screens from Nate's were being screwed to his wall by Hardison. Sophie was in his kitchen watering the plants and discussing Parker's sunshine yellow shirt. Nate was shuffling through paperwork on the breakfast bar.
"Guys? What's going on?" Nate glanced over at him.
"Well if Mohamed can't come to the mountain...ugh, we figured this way you could recuperate quicker without the added hassle of travelling across town every day. Yeah. Anyway, gather round people."
Parker approached and kissed him soundly, his knees weak afterwards. Man he could not heal quick enough he realised gratefully as she held his hand and led him to a seat.
"Two secs my good people and-" Hardison tapped some things on his laptop, a screwdriver between his teeth. He removed it and grinned. "Et voilà!"
The screens came to life, and the team applauded him as he bowed with a flourish.
"Can you speak French?" Parker was impressed. H gave her a say-what-now look.
"Nuh uh, I was just you know-adding some flare."
"Oh. It worked." She leaned against Eliot's shoulder, her hair smelling like coconuts as she munched on a box of cereal and nestled into his side.
"Why thank you Parker- I've been tryin' to up my game with-"
"Er guys?" Nate coughed and broke the inane chat. He waved a folder. "Run it Hardison."
"Wait what?" Eliot sat up, anxious. "Nate I'm not a hundred percent man, I can still do what I got to but this crutch ain't sturdy enough to use as a weapon if I need it man-" He waved the crutch to demonstrate his point but Nate raised a hand to cut him off.
"Relax. This isn't that kind of job."
"Oh." Eliot slumped back, feeling useless. Couldn't even heal quick enough to be the hitter for his team. Man he had messed up so bad with that Scarlet shit.
"Eliot you aren't just our punching bag." Nate was direct and annoyed. "I need you on this. Can you stop your pity party and let Hardison impress us with his magic?" Wow. Eliot felt his heart expand to let his team in even further.
"Oh sure, sorry, go 'head Hardison, my bad bro'." He raised a hand in apology to the hacker who fist bumped his chest in thanks.
"I love you Eliot." Parker just said it, bold as day as she smiled at the screens and they all turned to look at her in shock. Parker showed, she rarely told.
"Love you too thief." He had to say it didn't he? He turned and kissed her, and forgot the team existed till Nate stopped Sophie's ahhing and Hardison's teary "oh man that's just beautiful, I gotta call my girl," with a gruff "Okay then. Enough. Unless anyone else has any inappropriate declarations to make during a staff meeting?"
Eliot broke the kiss reluctantly and smiled into Parker's eyes as Sophie and Hardison burst into their own confessions of love for each team member and Nate hung his head in mock despair.
"Told you everything would be all right." Parker grinned at him smugly and he caught her to him.
"I think I told you that if you recall-"
"Ah but I said it first so I win." Indisputable Parker logic. He wasn't leaving her again. Ever.
Eliot laughed as Nate tried to call some kind of order and Parker chipped in with her own emotional confessions for the team she viewed as family.
He was such a lucky son of a bitch. Hardison called him out with a heartfelt speech of brotherly love and he hollered right back, as the hacker fist bumped him with a mock sob.
Because that's what you did with people you loved he realised, finally getting what a two way street it should be. You looked after them, and they looked after you back.
You just had to let them.
The End
/
Notes: So what's the verdict folks? That's all she wrote, so let me know what you thought of it.
Good, bad, whatever. All helps a writer grow. I'd love to hear from the silent readers now it's done...
And this is the longest thing I ever wrote, so I am proud of it regardless, and am really glad I shared the journey with you bundles of human awesomeness. You encouraged me every step and I probably wouldn't have got to the end with out you. In fact I know I wouldn't. Thank you from the bottom of my heart- that encouragement means more than you'll ever know.
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UPDATE: So I am toying with the idea for a sequel after some lovely folks gave me some ideas and wondered what you thought?
Would a sequel work? Do you have any ideas for me? Should we just leave them to it? Do we want to get to know Holly for Hardison?
As Anonymous me points out, Christmas in Virginia would be gorgeous...lol. ;)
Let me know in reviews, either way. You guys rock. :)
Emma
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