Chapter 20
Nate sat at his dining room table, talking quietly to Sophie, and absently circling the rim of his glass with one finger. He'd had two drinks, just to take the edge off, and hadn't refilled it. Nate couldn't shake the feeling that his team was falling apart, and there wasn't much he could do about it. Parker had disappeared somewhere, and Eliot was as cantankerous as a rattlesnake. In fact, the hitter had shut himself in the treatment room, under the auspices of caring for Rachel, and hadn't come out. Hardison was doing something on his computer, but he had the look of a kicked puppy about him. Sophie looked around at all of them, and wished she knew how to make things better for them.
They all jumped at the knock on the door. Sophie rose to answer it, but Nate put a hand on her shoulder. He would answer it instead. Before he could, Eliot came flying out of the treatment room and stalked to the door, a deadly gracefulness enveloping him. He flung open the door, grunted when he saw who stood on the other side, and then turned and stomped back into the treatment room.
Unperturbed by his reaction, Doc stepped over the threshold as though she owned the place, and walked straight up to Nate. Parker walked in slowly, hanging a bit behind, and disappeared into the treatment room.
"Nathan," Doc said, nodding a greeting. "I came to check on Rachel."
"She's in the treatment room," he said, nodding at the door. "So, Parker was with you?"
"I'd prefer to allow her to answer that, if you please. How are you all?"
"I'm not sure how to answer that, Kitty." He studied his glass for a moment, and then spoke again, "It feels like everything is falling apart, and I don't know how to stop it—how to put it back together."
"Give it time," she said gently. "It may yet come back together on its own. If it doesn't, a way to help may present itself."
"Time?"
She nodded. "Time."
"You really think that'll help?"
"In my experience, time helps just about everything." She patted him on the shoulder sympathetically, and said, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have patients to see. We'll talk some more when I'm finished. Hang in there, Nathan."
He nodded, as she followed Parker into the treatment room and closed the door firmly behind her.
(0o0)
Doc walked in without making a sound, to find Parker frozen like a statue in the middle of the room, staring at Eliot, who sat at the desk with his back to the room. His spidey sense had to be tingling, letting him know that she was there, that both of them were there, actually, but so far, he hadn't acknowledged their presence. Doc couldn't help watching the scene unfolding before her.
"El-Eliot?" Parker asked, with unspoken terror written all over her face.
Slowly, Eliot turned around and looked at her. Without a word, he rose and met her where she stood, taking her hand and leading her to one of the chairs in the room. He sat her down in the chair next to his desk, and seated himself at the desk.
"What is it, Sweetheart?" he asked.
"I have something I need to tell you—well, the whole team, really—but I think you deserve to know before I tell everybody else. Please don't say anything until I'm finished, and promise me you won't overreact."
"I never overreact. My reactions are always justified." He saw the look on her face and said, "I'll do my best, but I ain't makin' any promises."
She nodded. "I know who it was who kidnapped me." She saw the way he looked at her and said, "Doc helped me figure it out."
"Well, who was it?"
"A person I knew when I was a young girl. His name was Kelly. At the time, I thought that was his first name, but maybe it wasn't, as one of the matches Hardison found to one of the composites is named David Kelly."
"So, if you don't mind me askin', why did he do it? And what else happened to you while he was holding you?"
"I don't have all the answers. Not yet. Doc and I have more we need to do, and I," she looked down at her shoes, and spoke to the floor. "I was hoping you might sit through it with me."
"Of course I will," he said, putting a finger under her chin and raising her head so she had to look at him. When their eyes met, he smiled at her. She smiled back.
"Do you need me to stay with you while you tell Nate and the others? We need to get Hardison onto finding a location for this guy."
"I know. No, you don't need to go with me to tell the team. I can do it. Stay here with Rachel and make sure she's okay."
"I'm pretty sure that's the reason Doc is here—or one of the reasons, anyway. I'll talk to Hardison while you talk to Nate. How about that?"
"Okay."
"Meet back here afterwards?"
She nodded.
Eliot looked up and caught Doc's eye. He winked at her, and then, putting a light hand under Parker's elbow, escorted her out the door and into the larger apartment. With a confused grunt, Doc turned her attention to Rachel.
(0o0)
Eliot detoured by the kitchen on his way to talk to the hacker. Opening the refrigerator, he removed a small bottle of orange soda and then he opened a drawer and removed a package of gummy frogs. He didn't understand how anyone could eat such crap, much less on a regular basis, but he respected the fact that these things seemed to activate Hardison's mad Ninja hacking skills.
Ever aware of the fact that he could move without making a sound, Eliot entertained a fleeting temptation to sneak up on the younger man, but decided against it. He did need his friend's help, after all, and giving the man a heart attack wasn't the best course of action when he needed a favor. Careful to make enough noise to alert Hardison to his presence, he walked out to Nate's living room, threw the bag of gummy frogs in an arc, so that it would land in Hardison's lap, and then immediately moved up beside the hacker and set the orange soda on the table in front of him. Hardison stared at the gummy frogs for a moment, and then looked at Eliot.
"Whatcha doin' Eliot?"
"How are you coming on finding Parker's abductors?"
"I got nothing, man. We don't even know who they are."
"We know who they are. Parker told me that when she was young, she had an encounter with a man named Kelly. Doc helped her remember that he was one of the men who abducted her. Can we find a last known address?"
"We tried that. When I got the names from the facial recognition software, I ran them. There was no last known. In fact, they didn't exist before a few years ago. They're just gone."
"They're not gone." Eliot grew silent, thinking. "Well, Parker mentioned that she thought when she knew him as a child, Kelly was his first name."
"That's not bad, Eliot. I'm on it. What's with the frogs and the orange soda?"
"They seem to help you think."
Satisfied that Hardison was doing what needed to be done, Eliot rose and made his way back to the treatment room to wait for Parker.
(0o0)
Parker thought the hardest thing she had ever had to do was to explain Archie to Nate. How their relationship worked, even if it didn't look as though it did to others. How he had given her what she most needed, even if it wasn't what others thought she needed most. But this? This was much, much harder than that.
She found Nate standing staring out the window that overlooked the front of the building, and the hustle and bustle of the street below. Sophie was watching him without making it obvious she was watching him, and worry lined her features.
"Nate?" Parker asked softly. He jumped, startled, and turned to her. "I-I didn't mean to startle you. I need to talk to you."
"Okay." Taking her by the hand, he led her over to his sofa and sat down on it, pulling her down beside him. Sophie, curious, perched on the edge of the chair adjacent to the sofa.
Without preamble, she said, "I remember who abducted me and now I need to find out why. Eliot's asking Hardison to locate him as we speak."
"That's great." He paused, thinking. "Are you asking me to help you figure out why?"
"No. Doc's going to help me." His face fell. "I need you to keep Eliot from killing him when he is found. At least until I've gotten some answers."
"Is there anything you need from us?"
"Time. And space." She paused for a moment, thinking. "Leave us alone. Keep Hardison here. This is going to be hard enough without having to worry about someone else, too."
He gazed at her for a moment, considering. Then, he nodded.
Parker nodded to her boss, and then rose and made her way back to the treatment room to meet Eliot and Doc.