A/N Hey guys so I am really sorry this is a little late, but school is starting to pick up, anyway wow last chapter. I really want to thank you all for the wonderful reviews, I loved writing this so much! There will be a second story up late but I don't think it will be until later this year. I am sorry but at our school 8th grade is the epitome of homework and hell. Thanks again for the support enjoy you guys!
Four years, four years since that fateful day inside the hospital. Eliot hadn't seen Melissa since then, but he hadn't ever forgotten her either. He always hoped that one day he would get the call telling him that she had finally woken up, but by the third year with her still comatose, Eliot had finally given up hope.
He stopped waiting for the call to come. He didn't check the answering machine every day. Every anniversary of when they met, Eliot would lock himself in his apartment for a few hours and sit on the edge of his bed with his head in his hands and the picture of Melissa and her mother balancing on his knees.
On these days, Eliot always had the urge to just pack a bag and head down to Jackson, California. Many times, it took all of his self-control to not do exactly that. He knew that seeing Melissa again, sickly and pale in her hospital bed, hooked up to a pulse monitor and the IV, would only make it worse for when the day inevitably came when Melissa's plug would be pulled, and the line would go flat. Eliot didn't want to think of what would happen, but sometimes, he just couldn't stop his mind from wandering on a few occasions.
When he saw Joshua Spin sitting in that hospital bed, it took all of Eliot's control to keep a straight face and not fall into the memories. Thankfully, the team hadn't questioned what had been wrong with him, but there had been more than a few close calls. But ever since he had gone into his stories of his scars, he had noticed every once in a while they would shoot him questioning looks and curious glances. It seemed that all of them were dying to know the real story behind the little paper-white scar on his upper lip. Something that would constantly remind him of his failure every time he looked in the mirror.
Eliot pushed these thoughts to the back of his mind as he walked across the street to Nate's bar. He opened the door, a snap in his step and a determined look on his face. He hadn't slept at all last night and was trying to fight off sleep and the memories that he knew would come with it. The anniversary was only a month away. In a month, Melissa would be nothing more than a dead body in the morgue, an unmarked grave in an unheard-of graveyard. "Pull yourself together Eliot!" He mentally told himself. With a slight shake of his head and a deep breath, Eliot made his way into the living room of the apartment.
When he entered the room all eyes snapped to his own. He cast his eyes around the room, taking in the questioning glances and raised an eyebrow.
"Well, let's get this started shall we?"
Hardison cleared his throat and turned his attention back to the screens in front of him. "Right, Andrew Waterson, sole heir to Waterson's insurance, uh well he was originally raised by this woman Jessica Machau, dead, lung cancer. Anyway, she apparently had an affair with this guy, Jack Waterson. It was revealed in his will, apparently.
This guy certainly takes after dear old dad. Insurance fraud, bribery, you name a crime and he has probably committed it at one point or another."
If Eliot had to venture a guess he would have said that his face was chalk white by now. He swayed on his feet for a couple seconds before regaining his balance. Melissa had a brother? Eliot wondered if she even knew. Something like this would have been hard to hide, especially from someone like Melissa. Eliot shook his head, Melissa would have mentioned a brother if she knew. The hitter was jolted out of his thoughts by a hand on his shoulder. He looked over meeting the eyes of his friend.
"Hey man you all right? You seem a little off today."
"I'm alright" he whispered, "Can we just get on with this, please."
Hardison raised an eyebrow at the pleading tone, but did not press him.
"Right, anyway so our client is a one Daniel Jackson, apparently he was an assistant to Andrew's father, and recently went to the police with evidence of fraud."
Hardison pulled up a picture of the client and Eliot surprisingly recognized him. He was the person who had shown up to the Waterson's house when Eliot had first gone to see Melissa.
"So what happened?"
"Well apparently Andrew has a few local police in his pocket, because the case against him was dropped in record time, and by that time the next day Jackson had lost his job and is now being suspected of fraud."
"And Waterson got off scout free?" Came a voice from the end of the table. Eliot looked over, he had almost forgotten that the rest of the team was there. Parker looked at all of them searching for an answer.
"Yes, he goes free, this one won't be easy. Waterson has money, contacts, the local police, the only way to take him out is to make him seem like a liability to the company. The problem is getting close enough to hit him. These guys, they always have a security detail. getting by them is going to be a problem, one we cannot deal with if we want to take down this guy." Nate looked at Hardison expectantly.
"Well apparently this guy has some half-sister who's in a coma, goes there every Friday to visit her, more importantly he goes alone. Their taking the sister off life support in… one month so we'd better hurry."
Eliot winced at the sound of this. He knew who Hardison was talking about and yet he still couldn't hold back a gasp as a picture of Melissa popped up onto the screen. It was the self-same picture that Eliot had. The one of Melissa and her mother in front of Fenway Park, the very same one he had been staring at not three hours ago. Eliot closed his eyes for a moment willing the images away.
"Eliot, are you sure you are alright?" Eliot opened his eyes to meet Sophie's worried face.
"Yeah yeah just tired." Sophie shot him a skeptical look and opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by Nate at the front door.
"Come on we have a plane to catch!"
Eliot and Sophie both rose from the table and started to make their way towards the door. Just as Eliot crossed the threshold of the door he was stopped by his phone ringing.
He pulled out his phone and put it up to his ear.
"Yes?"
"Hi this is Laranda Chesher calling for a James Smith, is this who I am speaking to?"
"Yes I'm him."
"Well sir you are listed on the emergency contacts list of a one Melissa Waterson and I am calling to inform you that she has woken up sir."
Eliot froze. The phone slipped through numb fingers and fell to the ground with a crash.
P.S. There you go guys, thanks for the wonderful experience! Special shoutout to my friends Mae, and William for the name ideas, and my brother for being my beta. And finally thank you for my wonderful readers and reviewers, you guys' reviews always brightened my days. Love you guys!
Your Fantabulous
Shindestroyer2000 out