Doc was busy in her makeshift office, but she had a sixth sense about certain things, especially when they concerned Vance and Eliot. Right now, that sixth sense was making her want to track Eliot down. She finished treating the patient with whom she was working, stripped off her gloves, dried her hands on a towel, and left the room.
As she rounded the corner, she saw Eliot, dragging Kelley behind him, none too gently. She studied Eliot for a moment, and decided that he looked tired. Mildly, she said, "How goes it, Eliot?"
"I'm looking for Parker. She wasn't with the rest of the women I rescued. I'm told she's here, and a bit messed up." The nervous energy Eliot exuded made Doc uneasy. This was when the man was at his most dangerous. This energy was also propelling him forward, ever so slightly. As he inched closer, she placed a hand in the center of his chest and looked him in the eye.
"Relax. Parker is here. She's on oxygen as a precaution. You can see her, but not like this. She needs your calm and your strength right now. Can you give her that?"
Eliot didn't answer, and studied the floor between his shoes.
"If you can't, stay here until you can." Her tone was gentle, but Eliot recognized an order when he heard one.
He was a soldier, good at taking orders, but for the last few years, better at giving them. He would take hers. And Vance's. Most of the time.
She continued. "When you are ready, I know Parker would like to see you, and at some point, I'd like to see for myself that you are still in one piece."
"And we still have some unfinished business to settle," Eliot half growled, with a grim smile.
"Yes, I remember. You'll have your reckoning, and I'll have mine. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have work to do."
(0o0)
Doc had just walked back into her treatment room and gone back to work when Nate woke up, choking and trying to pull his oxygen mask off. Doc moved over and seated herself beside him, placing her hand over his on the mask.
"Nathan, stop. Relax. Breathe in deeply. You need to keep the mask on until the gas is out of your system."
Nate wasn't awake enough to understand what she said to him, and instinctively, he didn't fully trust her, even though Eliot did. So, he kept fighting and trying to pull off the oxygen mask. Finally, she gave him something to help him sleep.
Then, she went about treating the men Shelley had brought in. Eliot had done some damage to them, but it would ensure they weren't going anywhere anytime soon.
When she was finished, she set about treating the women Eliot had rescued. All had tangled with the barbed wire and would need at least a tetanus shot, among the other treatments she knew they would need. She was almost finished with the second one when Eliot limped inside and sank down in one of the chairs over in the corner. She glanced up and quickly back down, mildly shocked to see how exhausted he looked.
"Where's Mister Kelley?"
"I left him with Vance for a few minutes."
"He's in good hands, then." She looked around the room, until she found the person she wanted. "Doctor Sullivan, I'm leaving you in charge until I come back."
"Yes, ma'am."
She looked at Eliot. "You come with me."
He rose and followed her without complaint, trying and failing to stifle a grunt as he rose. She led him outside. When they reached the front porch, she ordered her men to take position further away from the house, out of earshot of the two of them, and then motioned Eliot to one of the rocking chairs on the front porch. He started rocking the chair fast and hard. She sat down beside him and without looking at him, said, "What's the plan, Eliot?"
"Hey. You tell me. You and Vance did all of this."
"If you want to blame anyone for this, blame me. Vance only helped because he owed me a favor. But I'm not talking about this. And you know that. I'm talking about your team. About what happens when we lower the boom on these men."
Eliot stopped rocking at that, and said, "What do you mean?"
"Do you have someone that you usually call when you need to hand someone over? If Vance or I take these men into custody, there might be some questions your team wouldn't want to have to answer."
"We have someone. A police officer, believe it or not."
"With Nathan Ford's team, I believe it. A piece of friendly advice to you. Call him or her. Then clear out. We'll make sure they are handed over, then I will meet you back at your headquarters and make sure your team, and any, shall we say, associates, are well, while Vance files reports, debriefs the team, and ties up loose ends. I'll need you to gather your team and have them waiting for me."
Eliot nodded. That he could do. He pulled out the phone he carried for the team, touched a button, and then started typing a text message. When he finished, he closed the phone, put it back in his pocket, and nodded to Doc, pushing himself to his feet.
"How long before the gas is out of their systems?"
"They'll need to stay on oxygen for another forty eight hours or so, but I should be there by then, and be able to evaluate further and give you a firm timeframe."
"Fair enough."
(0o0)
The trip back to their headquarters was uneventful. Quinn had been keeping an eye on it for them, and would have let them know if it wasn't safe to come back. He wasn't walking as stiffly as he had been when they left, nor was he limping, Eliot noticed. His bruises were fading, too. Doc still packed a punch, and Eliot couldn't help but be proud of her, even though somewhere inside he was also still furious with her. She could still hold her own, even against a younger man, and a hitter.
Eliot had put Nate and Parker in the team's treatment room, still on oxygen, and he had plans to see to the rest of the team, but just now, there was too much to do. Hardison was busy making sure their return hadn't drawn too much attention, and Sophie was sitting with Nate.
He heard a mild commotion at the foot of the stairs, and a moment later, the door of the treatment room burst open, and Doc stalked inside. A somewhat stiff Quinn followed her. The silence that surrounded the two of them was tense, as if there was more to say, but it couldn't be said here, so it would have to wait until later.
Her voice was clipped when she said, "Sit down over there." Without a word, Quinn sat next to Eliot, staring the older man down. Eliot just stared back and then shrugged and turned away, busying himself with pulling a blanket over Parker.
Doc moved around to all of them, checking for damage from the gas, and any other injuries they might have. Thankfully, they were all minor. Nate and Parker would need to stay on oxygen for a little while, and she cleaned and stitched a small cut on Eliot's leg. He must have brushed against something in the tunnel, though he had no clue what it would have been, and in fact, didn't even remember doing it. She turned back to the counter, filling a hypo. She turned back toward Eliot, and as she moved in his direction, he raised an eyebrow.
"Tetanus shot," she said, answering the unspoken question. He nodded.
When she was finished with all of them, Quinn excused himself.
"Are you leaving, Mr. Quinn?"
"No. Eliot hired me to help protect the team, and that job doesn't seem to have ended just yet."
"We are capable of protecting the team, just as well as you are."
"I'm sure you are, but the fact remains that Eliot hired me to do it. Until he tells me that he no longer needs my services, I will be right here."
"What if I told you I needed you to stay inside here with the rest of us until everyone was released from my care?"
"I don't answer to you. I will be outside if you need me."
It wasn't exactly that Quinn was afraid of Eliot, though he was aware that Eliot told others that Quinn knew his reputation. He didn't bother to correct the man who was on the way to becoming his friend…mostly because, that was true. Quinn did know Eliot's reputation, just as Eliot knew that Quinn was probably the hitter most closely matched to him in skill than the others he had met. If it came down to it, Quinn could hold his own. He wasn't sure he could best Eliot, but then he wasn't sure he couldn't either.
Hitters had their own code that most of them lived by—or that the ones who lived for any length of time lived by, anyway. Others probably wouldn't understand it, but then, they didn't have to. Eliot paid well, and the jobs were good ones. That, in and of itself, was enough to make Quinn stick around, though if he were to admit it to himself, he actually admired what the team stood for, and what they were trying to do.
(0o0)
They seemed to sit there for an eternity, not really speaking, but sharing an amicable silence. Neither asleep, nor quite awake, the team stayed gathered there together, lost in their own thoughts. It was almost as if they were afraid to break the spell of that time together. They were pulled from their reverie when Parker started screaming and fighting in her sleep. She flung the oxygen mask off and away, as she sat up, wide awake and wheezing, struggling to breath. Doc moved over beside her, trying to put the oxygen mask back on her, but she wouldn't allow it. She fought the mask, managing to head-butt Doc as she did so.
Eliot suddenly came to life and moved over next to Parker, talking to her softly as he did so. He put the mask back in place and got her calmed down. A moment later, her quiet wheezing turned into wracking sobs, as she realized where she was and remembered what had happened. Eliot just sat, holding her by the shoulders, and let her cry until no more tears would come.
(0o0)
Hours had passed. Seven to be exact. Eliot was about to crawl out of his own skin from sitting, waiting. He wasn't used to being in one place this long, nor was he used to being still and quiet and calm. Parker had once told him that slowing her down meant killing her, and he had known then what she meant, though he sought to reassure her. He couldn't deny that he was feeling the same way, right about now. Staying in one place for too long tended to bring out those who thought you'd gotten slow or lost a step or something.
So far, Parker hadn't spoken. She was awake, mostly, though she must still be weak because she was cat napping some. Eliot was pulled from his thoughts when a voice sounded next to him. He looked over to see Doc seated next to him.
"Eliot?"
"Yeah?"
"I believe we have some unfinished business to take care of. Care to join me?"
"Where?"
"Just across the hall."
"What if Parker needs me?"
"We won't be far away. I'm certain she'll be fine with Nathan and Sophie and Hardison here with her until we get back."
He nodded and rose to follow her. As soon as she walked inside behind him, she closed the door and locked it. He half expected her to turn around and try to sweep his feet or something right then, but she didn't. She simply sat on one of the chairs and invited Eliot to sit across from her. Reaching inside her jacket pocket, she pulled out a silver flask and set it on the desk. Then, reaching into the desk that Vance had used, she found two shot glasses, and filled each one with two fingers of liquid.
She slid one across the desk to Eliot, and gazed at him over the rim of her glass, waiting for him to speak.
Finally, he said, "I don't know whether to say thank you or to kick your ass."
She sighed a deep, soul weary sigh. "It's been a hell of a mission, hasn't it?" He nodded and didn't say anything. She spoke again, a moment later. "I think I owe you an apology."
That stopped Eliot in his tracks and he stared at her. Whatever he had expected her to say, it wasn't that. Kat didn't have reason to apologize often, so he wasn't used to hearing it. "For what?"
She studied the wood grain on the desk. "For stepping in when you were unconscious. You didn't want us involved, and I should have respected that."
"Tell me why."
"I wanted to help you—your team."
"Tell me the truth."
"That is the t—"
"I know that's the truth, as far as it goes. I don't doubt that you wanted to help. Say what you aren't saying."
For once, he'd rendered Kat speechless. Finally she sputtered. "H-how long have we been friends, Eliot?" She was looking everywhere but at him.
"Damn near twenty five years."
She rose and moved to look out the window, her back to him. There was too much to say, and too much at stake to say all of it. She felt a large, calloused hand on her shoulder, and then felt herself gently turned around. He studied her face for a moment, then tucked a wayward strand of hair behind her ear and said, "What is it, Kat?"
When she still didn't speak, he pulled her into a bear hug and said, "If you think this is gonna affect our friendship, that ship sailed a long time ago."
"We—you and Vance and I—were the best field team on five continents. Ours was the team that rushed in where angels feared to tread, and brought them out safe and sound. I miss that—all of us, working together. I miss our team, and call me crazy, but the more I see of Nathan Ford's team, the more I understand why you've chosen them as your new team. These are good people. I've come to care about them, almost as much as I care about you." She paused, and took a deep breath, wanting to get these next words right. "The hepatitis left you vulnerable. I wasn't sure Nate understood the implications of that. I wanted to keep all of you safe, but you especially. I knew you didn't want us involved, and though I didn't know why, I respected that. But, you were asking me to do something that I found myself simply unable to do, and that was to potentially leave you in a position that could get you killed. I can't—won't be the cause of your death, El."