I know it's getting confusing but you're just going to have to bear with me. All will be revealed in the end. I don't own Leverage (quit reminding me)

A Strange Relationship

Part 1:

"YOU WHAT?" Eliot roared into the phone.

"I wasn't in my right mind! I didn't have control over my actions. I'm sorry. Please she just needs to get to a hospital."

"Is the knife still there?"

"No, I pulled it out." Nate shuddered as the words ran over his tongue. Why did he have to speak for that monster?

"Do you have anything you could you use to cover your hands?"

They procceded to talk about how to take care of her stab wound until they got there. Once they were done Nate said a brief hello and sorry to Parker and Hardison before hanging up. It had been a short but dreadful call. Nate hadn't given them any details but gone straight into stabbing Sophie because it was something that required immediate attention.

"Sophie can you please lay down?" He said softly as he kissed her forehead. With a small sigh she laid down on the ground. Nate rummaged through his bag until he found the shirt with the sleeves ripped off. He ripped it in half and squatted down next to her. He grabbed the plastic bags and then gently caressed her face. "I'm sorry about everything that happened. I'm sorry about what I did even though I couldn't control it. I should have never taken the offer." He took a deep breath and then glanced at Mike and Jenna ((Dusk and Dawn)). "I'll apologize more later."

"And I have a few things I want to say too."

He nodded. "Of course...of course. Now please lay still so I can move your clothes. I'm going to try and get the bleeding to stop as best I can."

"It's not a pretty sight," She warned him. He gently moved her sweatshirt up and was even more careful with her shirt because he didn't want it to stick to the wound. Putting the plastic bags over his hands (so he neither of them would get infected) he checked how severe the bleeding was. It was bad but it wasn't severe. He , being the one that stabbed her, knew where the wound was and was able to put the pressure to the correct artery. Sophie was groaning and wincing in pain as he poked and prodded. He got the wound dressed quickly but precisely.

"You should probably change your shirt."

"No way! I'm not taking my shirt off!"

Nate looked over at Mike and Jenna and then leaned in close to whisper in her ear. "Did you forget about last night?"

She blushed when she remembered that he and been naked in the water. "Oh...yeah...that was..."

He knew she was going to let the question hang so he just moved on. "So are you going to put another shirt on or not?"

"Yeah. It'd probably be best since I've been wearing it for three days straight."

He helped her sweatshirt and shirt off, doing his best not to stress the stab wound. Yes, he did stare at her for just a second before grabbing her another shirt. Again, he did his best not to stress the stab wound as he helped her get her shirt on.

"Better?"

"Much. Thank you," She smiled and kissed him lightly on the lips. As they lay on the ground watching the sky there was another plan being brewed. And this time even bigger then the last.

Part 2:

Dawn ran her hand through her hair as she looked over at Ford and Devereaux. They were staring up at the sky and she swore that they were holding hands.

"So where do we go from here?"

"Well, if we can get the name of the hospital from their team then we can go there. I'm going on a hunch here but they seem pretty close so the team should be there for a while. That ought to give us enough time to set up the dominos."

"It's called the domino effect," Dawn said in a mock Italian voice.

"Seriously?"

She giggled and leaned on his shoulder. "Their relationship is...strange."

"Theirs?" Dusk inquired.

"Yeah. I mean he can almost kill her and she can still forgive him."

Dusk sighed and watched the two of them for a while. "Maybe we just don't know something."

"Are you suggesting that there's something bigger going on?"

Dusk eyed Ford and then his bag next to him. "I say we investigate."

"Me too!"

They walked over to Ford and Devereaux and he tapped him on the shoulder. "Do you guys have any water?"

"Huh? Oh yeah it's on the pocket on the left," Nate said quickly before looking over at Sophie.

With a quick look at Dawn they walked over to his bag. While Dawn dug around in the left pocket Dusk looked for something else. He found a bag with 4 different pills in it.

'Look!' He mouthed.

Dawns eyes went wide at the sight she grabbed a bottle of water making sure to make the plastic crackle. At the same time Dusk grabbed the bag and shoved it in his pocket.

"Thanks," Dawn said.

"Yeah, sure, whatever."

"Rude," She muttered under her breath. "What the hell was that?"

"I don't know..." Dusk sat down and thought for a while. "Maybe...and this is just another hunch...maybe he's on drugs."

"Do you think?"

"It would explain the strange behavior."

"But...it just seems odd..."

"I don't know...we'll just have to wait and find out more."

Part 3:

Parker was grinning widely after the call ended. "They're alive and we're going to save them!"

"Don't you get it Parker? Nate stabbed Sophie!" Eliot growled at her.

"Yeah but that's because Nate was - " She whistled and gestured to her ear signaling that he was crazy.

"It doesn't matter! She's going to be scarred for life because he's tried to kill her."

They were fairly silent for a while they waited to zero in on their coordinates. This time Hardison had been able to track the phone and was easily able to find their coordinates because they were only a few hours away in the car. By airplane though it would only take an hour or a little more. Parker was still smiling despite Eliots words and Hardison was internally celebrating. About an hour after they got off the phone they arrived near the coordinates the coordinates. Hardison redialed the number and handed it to Eliot.

"Hello?"

"This is Eliot Spencer I was the man Nate had called earlier."

"Oh! Yeah, here he is."

"Yeah?"

"We're about 5 minutes away. Can you guys clear out so we can land?"

"Of course Eliot."

"Oh, and Nate try to move Sophie as little as possible."

"I'll make sure of it."

With that he hung up the phone and gave it back to Jenna. He picked Sophie up and tried to move her as little as possible as they moved off of the large grassy cliff. Minutes later the familiar whoompa-tink of the helicopter was heard as it came into view. As it landed on the grassy cliff Nate swore it was like God descending from heaven. The team rushed out and ran towards them. Most of their words were lost in the sound of he helicopter.

"GET SOPHIE IN THE HELICOPTER!" Eliot yelled over the sound of the blades. Nate nodded and did he was told. Parker and Hardison followed, grabbing Nate and Sophie's bags. "We're taking him to the nearest hospital. Thank you-"

"Thank us later! We'll meet you at the hospital!" Dawn yelled back. Eliot nodded and then rushed back off to the helicopter. The team was finally back together after what seemed like months and months of searching but had only been 3 days.

Yay! The teams back together. But what exactly are Dawn and Dusk up to? I know they're making the plot confusing but it'll all make sense by epilogue 2.