There was a click as the phone was hung up and then... silence.

All eyes turned to Elliot whose face was totally blank, utterly expressionless. They stood frozen for a few seconds before the stasis was broken by Elliot stood up and strode out the room. No reaction at all.

The others stood speechless.

Parker was the first to speak.

"Okay, that was weird. So what do we do now?" Her tone suggested that she did not really understand the gravity of the message. Like it wasn't a big deal.

But it was. It was a little hard to explain why. Maybe it was the way that Elliot had just totally shut down. They had expected Elliot to get grumpy and explain it was just some old job that had caught up with him, no big deal. Just an annoying hassle that he would sort out; like the Butcher of Kiev.

But it obviously was a big deal.

Only Sophie had seen the tiny slip in Elliot's facade when he heard the recording and her reaction had told Nate and Hardison all they needed to know. She had seen a look of anguish before the walls had locked down. A look of worry had in turn fallen across her face, she was scared for Elliot and she didn't know why.

"I'll go check on him." Nate announced, but he was stopped by Sophie.

"No, let me. Hardison; start checking out this guy's father. Nate; you need to start trying to figure out if we can salvage the con and Parker... you just...you..." Her mind was so filled with worry her brain just couldn't seem to find something constructive for Parker to do. She looked to the others.

"You can help me with computers an'... stuff." Hardison said sounding more than a little awkward.

Nate patted Hardison on the shoulder as he and Parker walked away, "Nice save buddy..."

"Shut up! Mocking? Really? That ain't cool man..."

The moment of levity was short lived and a little half hearted but they needed it. They didn't think there would be much more of it in the near future.

Elliot sat in his truck. He had meant to drive off, to get as far away from the team as possible. But he found himself sat frozen, head in his hands, assaulted by memories. He had always had to compartmentalise his life. Putting things in padlocked boxes and shoving them on shelves in far corners of his mind, hoping never to have to confront them again.

Today however it seemed that the shelves had collapsed and he found himself crushed under the avalanche.

That message... that stupid message! Those words, his words, reverberated around his brain.

Elliot remembered the day he had spoken those words and he remembered the day he had made good on those promises. He wondered if the rest of the team would look at him the same if they knew what he had done. It was violent and terrible but he had been so hurt, so filled with rage that he had not been able to control himself. Some days he swore he could still smell the blood and fear and sweat on his skin.

This was a side of Elliot none of the group truly knew.

He wasn't sure he wanted to know what the others would do if they knew. The man they knew never inflicted more damage than he had to. He didn't kill unless there were no other options. He often implied he'd hurt Hardison when the younger man wound him up and Hardison would back off, but honestly Hardison never believed Elliot would really hurt him. They all saw him as a grumpy but ultimately good guy. A guy who didn't hit cops and grew his own vegetables.

Although he wasn't sure the whole team was totally naive about him. Except perhaps Nathan.

Nathan would probably disagree with his assessment of course. He considered himself well versed in the criminal world, he even considered himself a part of it. And he was to an extent, but there were things he would never truly understand, a line he would never cross. A violence that he would never feel, inflict or comprehend. And he certainly wouldn't experience it if Elliot could prevent it. And if that meant that he had to stand between a bullet and a target then so be it.

When the team had first got together Elliot had often found himself telling the others he was a 'bad guy'. And he had meant it. He was a different kind of criminal to them.

Sophie was a grifter; she charmed people and tricked them. She walked in looking spectacular and walked out with her mark; her every word hypnotising, leading men and women like the pied piper. She wanted their money not their lives. She didn't hurt anything but their wallets and maybe their pride.

Same with Parker. She slipped in and she slipped out like a ghost with sticky fingers. She was invisible, untouchable; she was gone before you knew she was there. The things she stole were insured most of the time, and well, if they'd failed to do that then they didn't deserve the plundered treasures.

And Hardison, well, most of his greatest schemes were carried out from behind a computer screen. His weapon was his keyboard not his fists. He probably never even inhabited the same hemisphere of half his 'victims'. Hacker sounded a lot more dangerous than it really was.

And Nate, well he wasn't really a criminal at all.

Elliot on the other hand, he was a hitter. His whole career revolved around violence. It was what he did. He inflicted pain or death on others. He had ended a lot of lives. He wasn't boasting and he certainly wasn't proud.

When he started out he was a hell of a lot more vicious and out of control than he was now. It was partly inexperience and youth; his need to make a name for himself. There were also the deep wells of rage and brutality that were a by-product of the horrors of his childhood that he didn't ever allow himself to really think about lest they finally destroyed him. But these were reasons not excuses. He paid the price of these 'mistakes' in self-loathing and the hatred that he turned inward.

It took him a long time to get under control. It was not acceptable to punish others for the suffering of his past. It was after three weeks in some drug baron's 'prison' in a far off land after his temper had gotten him in trouble again that he finally forced himself to make a change. Funny, those weeks of hell had actually saved his life. He didn't think that that was his torturer's intention but still, if he hadn't snapped the guy's neck already he might actually have thanked him.

Unfortunately, this change in Elliot had come too late to save their current Marks father. Not that the man was anywhere close to being innocent. Even now there was a part of Elliot that felt he got what he deserved.

Sophie found Elliot in his truck. The door was open and he had the keys one of the hands that were supporting the man's forehead.

He was absolutely still. If Sophie hadn't known better she would have wondered if he was still breathing.

"Elliot..." She called out tentatively. The words had been softly spoken but he jumped like she had screamed at the top of her voice. It occurred to her that this was the first time she had ever seen him jump like that. Even Parker couldn't sneak up on Elliot, not that she hadn't tried. Sophie had a feeling the results wouldn't be pretty if she ever did manage it.

"Elliot, it's okay, it's just me."

"Sorry 'bout that Soph' I was a million miles away." He tried to sound casual but he sounded shaken and Sophie didn't think it was anything to do with her.

Sophie bent down and picked up the keys that Elliot had accidently dropped in his surprise.

"Here, I assume you're going to want these if you're planning to get anywhere." Sophie allowed a little teasing to slip into her voice. Elliot responded with a small smile.

"How d'you know I wasn't planning to practise hotwiring m' truck? Would hate to get sloppy on you guys now." He joked. Both feeling a little more relaxed, Sophie broached a more serious topic.

"So, you want to tell me want that was about back there?"

Elliot looked down and rubbed his forehead and ran his hands through his hair, letting it slip in front of his face.

"I...I'm not sure if I can do that yet." He answered honestly. Sophie tilted her head.

"Okay then, I guess we can talk about that later." She said her voice soothing. "How about we start with this then; how real was that threat he made. If we assume he's anything like his father, should we be worried?"

"Yeah." Came the quiet reply. "Yeah we should."

Elliot looked pale and drawn. His eyes were more haunted than Sophie had ever seen before. She needed to take action, she need the whole story. She needed to take Elliot some place he felt comfortable, safe. She knew where they needed to go.

"Okay. We're going to go for a drive. You and me. I'll drive because I'm wearing shoes that are suitable for driving and that doesn't happen often so I'm going to make the most of it." Sophie smiled.

Elliot smiled back knowing that her wanting to drive was more to do with her concern over his where his head was at than her shoes but acquiescing gratefully anyhow.

"Okay then, let's go."

TBC

OK next chapter I will start explaining what's going on and what not. Or at least I plan to - sometimes I go off on tangents by accident! Hope the story isn't too jumbled and confusing (this sometimes seems to be a side effect of my serious lack of planning. Cutting and pasting ahoy!)