I want to thank everyone that has given me so much support and being so kind to send such wonderful reviews. It is very much appreciated!! Thanks again for all the support and please keep the comments coming they help fuel the muse! J

Thanks to Paula for the read through and being such a supportive sis and she keeps corrupting my muse which can be a dangerous ;-) ... Thanks to Sandra, Cheryl, Msevenj and Insomniac-Angel, for all the great support and encouragement... will get a hard beta once it's finished... All remaining mistakes belong to me… so on with the story…

Also a big hug and thanks to my sis, Paula, for kick starting my Muse by writing a piece bit for me since it worked great and a fortune cookie shh don't tell Parker to anyone that picks it out! ;-D

(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)

It had been a hard and dirty fight against Willy Howards and crew but it was finally over. In the end he had to make an agreement with the boss that Howards splintered from. He owed the man a job, and wasn't that a fun thought. But Dragani family was safe from any and all future hits for any reason, also it guaranteed that no other mob gang would come after them or else Eliot would rain down his own brand of hell and justice on any all groups who went after them.

He limped into his home with Angel hovering somewhere behind him. He needed to call Nate and let him know it was safe to bring the family back. He dropped down onto the couch not caring for once about the blood he'd be cleaning up later.

Angel had been a godsend in the fight. Eliot had planted charges throughout the warehouse behind the automotive shop but he hadn't expected to be caught so soon in the plan. He'd been ready to blow the charges with himself still in the building but Angel hadn't listened and stayed at the apartment which turned out to be a good thing. The vampire saved his life and helped him get rid of the crew. Now his extended family was safe, in the end that was all that mattered.

Lord, he hurt everywhere. Eliot was surprised when he was handed aspirin and a glass of water. He watched as Angel sat on the coffee table with first aid kit beside him. They watched each other for a few minutes. All Eliot could think of was pushing himself into Angel's space, taking what he wanted from the vampire. Eliot wanted to feel Angel's lips on his. Eliot wanted that more than he wanted to…well guess it didn't matter what he wanted cause his body wasn't up for what he wanted right now and as time ticked on his mind became fuzzy. That fucking vampire slipped him a mickey, 'cause he knew aspirin when he saw and tasted it. That meant it was in the water.

Angel saw the dirty look before his boy passed out. He really hadn't wanted to drug the boy but it was best. The mercenary needed to be cleaned up, sleep and he really wasn't in the mood to fight his boy on this so he slipped a little chloral hydrate in the water knowing the aspirin would cover the taste. Then he waited until Eliot past out.

He decided it'd be better if they were clean before he took care of the cuts and bruises. He quickly stripped them both, carefully carried his boy into the showers. He held Eliot up in front of him in the showers.

Soaping up his mercenary's hair one handed wasn't very easy but it was better than nothing. He made quick work of getting them both clean. He carried Elliot and laid him on the guest bed so he wouldn't get the master bed soaked. He dried Eliot off before he took inventory of his boy's injuries. He wasn't happy with what he saw. The thugs had very little time with Eliot but they had made the time count. He counted at least twenty-six shallow cuts that were meant to cause pain not permanent damage. The bruises covered most of his torso and a few on his face. What bothered the vampire were the ones on his thighs and ankles. He turned his mercenary over to see if the worst had happened and he just hadn't picked up on it. There were bruises put nothing that lead him to believe that he had been raped. Thank god for that.

The small cuts had stopped bleeding except the one on his left cheek and the one over right eye. Angel leaned over and licked those closed. He took a few deep breaths as he tried to rein in his monster. He could hear the blood rushing thru his veins his boy's heart beat was slow and steady. Just a taste of Eliot's blood was making him want to claim his mate completely. He sucked in a deep breath and walked into the living room where he had left the first aid kit. He sat down for a minute to get himself under control.

He could see his boy's life flash through his mind just from that small amount of blood he had ingested. It was worse than anything he had ever come up with. If Eliot's father was still alive he would torture and kill him all over again.

He sighed. He knew that he was addicted to Eliot in every sense of the word but just the taste of his boy's blood was taken him to new heights when it came to his awareness of the mercenary in ways he had never he thought he would experience. No matter what happened between them he was going to hold this memory close to his heart.

He could hear his boy start to thrash around in bed. He pulled himself together and went to his boy. Pulling the mercenary to him, he lay down beside the warm body. The vampire had yet to see Eliot have a full blown nightmare. To see the boy he loved struggle and fight to get away from whatever was trying to hurt him, hurt Angel more than he'd ever thought possible. Seemed his boy was breaking all the records when it came to his real relationship firsts.

For the rest of the night Angel held the mercenary in his arms and whispered softly to sleeping man trying to give him some comfort.

(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)

Eliot groaned as slowly woke up. He hurt everywhere, nothing new there but what was worse was the grogginess that came from the sedative. That was generally a bad sign for him, he had either had been caught or had a job go bad. He had no idea where he was but as he felt the strong arms around him and his memories were catching up to him, at least he knew he was safe. Safe being a relative term since it was Angel that did this to him. Damn vampire was going to pay for slipping the sedative to him.

Angel felt his boy tense and started to run his hand up and down the boy's arm trying to convey comfort. Hoping to ease some of the emotional turmoil Eliot had to be feeling.

"How are you feeling?" Angel was pretty sure he already knew the answer to the question and that he wasn't going to like the answer too much either.

"I'll let you know when the room stops spinning and I can kill you without throwing up." Eliot wasn't kidding about the dizziness. Another reason he never took anything stronger than aspirin.

"No need to threaten me. I got the point last night with the nightmares. If it makes you feel any better you got a few good shots in while you were sleeping."

"Oh, I beg to differ. I owe you a world of hurt for that stunt. You want me to trust you then I have to know you won't do something like that again."

"Does the fact that I'm really very sorry for doing that to you and for putting you through that count for anything?"

"Nope. First chance I get after I recover some I'm going to show you just how much I held back as Lindsey McDonald. Just tell why you felt the need to do that."

The vampire sighed. "Guess it would be interesting to see what a real fight would be like with you." Angel let out a grunt as Eliot's elbow connected with his stomach. "I did that so I could take care of you without you putting up a fight over my fussing and I knew you needed sleep to heal. I'm always going to do what I think is right for you whether you like it or not. I know on some level you are a man and you certainly can take care of yourself but I take care the people I love."

"Okay let's get this straight, you're right I can take care of myself and if you ever drug me again I will happily turn you over to Parker. And if you can't follow that simple rule we will be done before we even start. Understand?"

"Yes, I understand and I'm really sorry to put you through that. I can promise that I'll never give you anything without you knowing what it is or why I'm giving it to you. I will promise to respect you wishes at least when it comes to medicine anyway."

Eliot sighed knowing he should not only count this a win but a small victory. He was under no illusions when it came to a relationship with the vampire. He was going to have to fight Angel on being an equal but for the moment he would do as Nate was always suggesting and take the win. The rest would work itself out at some point. He expect there to be some spectacular fights in the future and hopefully a lot of make-up sex afterwards.

"Did you call Nate and let him know it was safe to come back?" Eliot closed his eyes and relaxed further into Angel's embrace.

"No, thought it'd be better for you to call. They still don't know me well enough to know I wouldn't let you get hurt if I could help it." Angel felt Eliot nod before his boy slipped off to sleep again. Hopefully a peaceful and healing sleep this time around. Angel laid there for another hour making sure Eliot wouldn't have anymore nightmares. He wandered into the kitchen about the same time he heard a key scraping into the lock. The vampire knew it was Parker and wasn't surprised when she went straight to Eliot's bedroom. It was good to know that someone other than him loved the retrieval specialist. To him, at least, it meant if something happened to him Eliot at least had a family to look after him.

Angel also wasn't surprised when he felt the anger coming of Parker before she appeared from the hallway.

"What happened to Eliot?"

Parker was seething Angel didn't need vampire senses to know that. At least she didn't have any apparent weapons in hand.

"I'm sorry. The Howards gang got the drop on him. I got there as soon as I could but they had enough time to work him over."

"You were suppose to protect him. Why weren't you there to protect him?" Parker whispered harshly not wanting to wake her friend up.

"I did try and I'm sorry I failed. More than you can imagine I wish it had been me instead of him." Angel whispered just as harshly, more to himself than to the blond thief. He walked over to Parker and looked her in the eye. "It doesn't matter that I failed because I'm always going to fail when it comes to protecting Eliot. Let's face it, what happened tonight or could happen on any job is always going to end up with Eliot getting hurt. If I want to be a part of his life, if I want to love him for the rest of his life, I have to be able to handle that I'm never going to make it in time to prevent him from getting hurt. Because what it comes down to is Eliot is a mercenary, a hitter. He lives, breathes, sleeps and causes pain. It's as much a part of him as being allergic to the sun is for me."

Angel took a calming breath, backing away from Parker, wanting to give himself some space. Sure he had known all this but admitting it to himself? And out loud? That was whole other ballgame, a whole new plateau of emotions that he didn't want to think about. But this is why he had chosen to find Lindsey, wasn't it? To have someone that challenged him in every way? Made him feel emotions that he didn't even know he was capable of feeling?

Angel caught Parker's gaze again. "If I can't love that boy the way he is and for what he is then I don't deserve to have someone that special. All I can do is make sure I'm there to back him up, protect him when he'll let me and patch him up afterwards. I love him and that means loving him without trying to change him. I know you don't like me but for the sake of Eliot can we try to be civil to each other?"

Parker narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips.

"I knew that. I just wondered if you did. I want my Eliot/Eliot. I don't want you to make him Lindsey/Eliot."

She gave a snort and then a giggle.

"What's funny?" Angel stared at the lightning changes in the thief's mood.

"Eliot and I have more in common than we thought." Slightly insane cobalt eyes turned on the vampire. "We're both broken because of vampires."

Angel just stared, mouth agape, after the blonde as she skipped into the kitchen. He found her sitting cross-legged on the counter rummaging in a decorative tin. She pulled out a fortune cookie, put the tin back in its spot. Popping half the cookie in her mouth, she once again glared at Angel.

"That's mine. Eliot keeps it just for me."

Angel felt like he'd been pole-axed. Parker was jealous. She was afraid he'd take Eliot away from them. When he looked back, she was frowning, which was never a good thing with Parker.

Crumbling the paper she'd gotten out of the cookie, she huffed out a little breath.

"I'll try for Eliot, but you hurt him and I'll show you some of the stuff he's been teaching me."

With a final glare, she jumped off the counter and ghosted into Eliot's room.

Angel picked up the little ball of paper and smoothed the wrinkles.

'Sometimes it is better to add to than subtract from.'

(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)

When Eliot woke next he was surprised that Angel was lying on the floor next to him instead of wrapped around him on the bed. Since the person he wanted to be behind him was currently on the floor that left Parker, she's the only one, other than Angel, that would dare to get close to him while he was asleep.

Eliot rolled over into Parker's side. Raising up on his on to his elbow he watched Parker breathing for a few minutes before he laid on to his back. He didn't worry about waking Parker because she slept deeply when she'd slept with him. Anywhere else, anyone else and she was a light sleeper. Sophie thought it was because Parker felt safe and was actually able to sleep.

Which made him feel something he hadn't had before--a warm feeling of having a real sibling, and with the team--a very real family. This feeling wasn't something he had acknowledged until he had been captured by the Howards gang. Eliot had done something he had always avoided when on a job, he thought about what he had to lose personally. That wasn't something a man like him could afford. He hunted, protected and killed for a living. It didn't matter if it was an object or a person, it was who he was but he had been worried about what would happen to the Dragani family if he failed. What would happen to the team? To Parker and Hardison specifically? And to Angel especially? This was why he cut off all ties or didn't stay in close contact with anyone.

When the team came on along he had kept all of them at an emotional distance but they broke down his defenses. Then Sophie had driven the point home again, reminding him why he didn't trust people, but Parker and Hardison followed him when they split up after the Two Davids Job, breaking the wall down he'd just started rebuilding. Then they'd all met up again and started working through their issues with Sophie and he'd gotten use to taking care of them and worrying about their safety. He got use to caring about them but he could still separate himself when he had to, now Vinny had ruined his illusion of self reliance a few days ago. It was something he'd always valued but he had a form of protection from the Dragani family all along. He wasn't sure how he should be feeling about that. Plus, he now had...

"Ow." Eliot glared at Parker for poking him in his bruised ribs.

"You think too loud. Go back to sleep." Was all she said as she snuggled up to him.

Eliot gave an indignant huff, wrapping his arm around her shoulder doing as he was told. As he drifted off to sleep his last thought was it didn't matter that he had broke his own rules. They were his rules, he could break whatever he wanted because in the end it only mattered that everyone came home safe and sound. As long as they were okay then he'd survive whatever he had to. Not to mention, he had Angel and he wasn't alone anymore. Eliot reached down, resting his other hand on Angel's hair before sleep claimed him.

(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)

Angel had slipped into Eliot's bedroom not surprised to find Parker lying beside the retrieval specialist. He wasn't even surprised to see her curled up close but not touching Eliot. For someone like Parker, Eliot must feel like a weight lift off her small shoulders. The mercenary was her big brother for all intents and purposes and she knew Eliot would protect her. That was probably something she never had, mostly why she was so damn crazy. Angel was very familiar with family dynamics and, especially, siblings. So it was a good thing Eliot couldn't hear his, or anyone's, thoughts on Parker, he grimaced to himself. He needed to stop thinking of her like Drusilla. Parker was pure innocence compared to Dru. There was nothing to compare really, the little blonde thief was just eccentric and the rest didn't matter. He rolled his shoulders as he walked over to a chair in the corner of the room grabbing the quilt, crossing over to the bed he covered Parker with it since she was laying on top of the blankets that covered Eliot. He stood beside Eliot looking at what his boy had grown into. Angel caressed the mercenary's cheek. No, it didn't matter what he thought of Parker or the rest of the team because it only mattered that Eliot cared about them, so that meant they were under his care and protection too. He snorted softly to himself realizing that Vinny and his family also fell under his protection. He'd take Parker over Vinny any day of the week.

Angel laid down on the floor beside his boy in case either one of them needed something. He wasn't sure what woke him until he checked his boy's vitals, noticing Eliot's heartbeat was stronger, faster, as Eliot went from sleeping to being awake in a few seconds. Angel figured it was natural reflex to being a mercenary most of his life.

The vampire just laid there giving his boy the time he needed to process and if Eliot needed something he'd be here.

It was about ten minutes later he heard his boy's yelp of pain. He was about to check on him when Parker told him to stop thinking and go back to sleep. That made Angel smile. He was beginning to see why Eliot liked her. They were both safe and Eliot was already going back to sleep, as Angel closed his eyes he felt Eliot's hand resting on his head. It felt good that they were finally making some progress in the right direction. That Eliot was still wanted something with him. Angel closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep enjoying the warm weight of Eliot's hand resting on his head.

TBC…