Nate thought he could hear something but couldn't quiet place it, it was just out of his reach. He tried to lift his arms to reach out but he couldn't get them to respond no matter how hard he tried. He caught little bits of a conversation going on beside him, finger severed, reattached but no full movement would be likely. Who where they talking about and why couldn't he move? He tried to speak but no words would come out, he could see blurred lights and shadows in front of him. He groaned as the darkness around him started to ease and he could make out the shadows as people standing beside him. He heard a familiar voice full of concern ask him a question, it took him a while to work out just what that question was.
"Nate, Nate, how you feeling?" asked Sophie as she stroked his hair. Nate opened his eyes a bit more and found himself looking into her deep brown eyes and could do nothing but smile. He tried to lift his arms up to embrace her but still they wouldn't respond, he looked at his arms and noticed the huge swath of bandages that engulfed his left hand. He looked at Sophie with a puzzled look and asked her what had happened. Sophie with tears streaking her face explained to Nate that they had broken 3 fingers on his hand and they'd severed one off, the Doc's had managed to reattach it but he may not get full movement back. Nate took a few moments to process what he just been told, he closed his eyes and remembered what had happened. He remembered them breaking his fingers one by one. The pain was so intense he must have passed out as he couldn't remember even seeing a knife let alone seeing them slice his finger off! He opened his eyes again and looked at Sophie, the concern in her eyes was evident.
"Where's the rest of the team?" he asked as he looked around the room.
"Just outside the door Nate, I can call them in if you want?"
"No, not yet I just wanted to know they were all ok, I just want to rest for a while I'm tired I'll see them later". Sophie nodded and waited till he fell asleep and left the room to update everyone on his condition.
"He was awake and asked after everyone, he was more concerned about us that I don't think he quiet took in when I told him about his fingers. He's sleeping now which is what I think we all need". Eliot, Parker and Hardison nodded in agreement and all made their way back to the relatives lounge, there was no way they were leaving Nate and Sophie on their own now. They will all go home together and if that took a few days, so be it. After all that's what families did!