Grace's eyes flew open as someone roughly shook her shoulder. Her eyes focused on her father's serious face. She was about to ask what was going on when she noticed the cut along his cheek, and the large bruise forming on his shoulder.

"Daddy…"

"Get up, get your shoes on and get downstairs." Eliot ordered, there'd be time for explanations later.

"But, Daddy…"

"Now Grace Ann."

She looked at him oddly, but did what he said. She walked out of her room just in time to see Layla push her brother out the door of his bedroom. He was trying to ask the same questions she had, with as much luck. When Layla turned to her, she was taken back by the dark bruise forming along her mother's jaw.

"Take your brother and get him in the jeep." She instructed her daughter, pushing James into her. "Don't ask any questions. If you see or hear anyone, at all, start the jeep and get to Randy's house, we'll meet you there as soon as possible." She handed the keys to the jeep to Grace, and almost pushed them down the stairs.

It was when Layla turned to go back toward their bedroom that Grace noticed her mother was limping as well. Grace grabbed her brother and dragged him down the steps and out to the jeep.

Layla entered the bedroom just as a cell phone was tossed at her. She caught it without thinking, placing it to her ear. She took a step back as Eliot stalked past her, a look of frustration and anger on his face.

"Hardison, how many times do I have to tell you not to piss off my husband?" Layla asked without thinking.

"Funny." The hacker replied. "As I was trying to explain to Eliot, I don't see anything. You guys haven't pinged in over a decade."

"Well someone's out there, who wants our heads." Layla told him.

"Then it's gotta be one of the past marks." He said thoughtfully. "Why don't you two try and make a list and I'll see if anything pops up."

"Ok I'll see what we can do." She sighed. "Thanks, Hardison."

Layla closed the phone and looked over at Eliot. He stood in the doorway with a large black duffel bag. It was something she hadn't wanted to see. The bag held their contingency plan for a moment just like this. When they had moved into the house, Eliot had put it in the crawl space in their closet, pulling it out every so often to update it. She had hoped that she would never see that bag again. Eliot smiled sadly reaching for her hand as she pulled the door closed.


"Are Mama and Daddy in trouble?" James asked.

"I don't know." Grace replied, her stomach clinching in fear as she scanned the darkness for any signs of movement.

"Mama looked like she'd been in a fight." He told his sister.

"So did Daddy." Grace replied, remembering the bruise on her father's shoulder.

"I didn't hear anything, did you?" James asked after a few moments.

Grace shook her head, heaving a sigh of relief at the sight of her parents running out the front door. Eliot carried a large duffle bag over his shoulder, that he tossed haphazardly into the back before getting in on the passengers side of the car. Layla slid into the driver's side, instructing them all to buckle up before slamming down on the gas. The tires spun briefly on the loose gravel before they gained their traction and flew off down the road.

It was a first for Grace. She had never seen her father let her mother drive with him in the car before, and never in her life had she see her mother drive like she was. She knew she had to be doing at least ninety, if not more. She sat back trying to take everything in, that was going on. With in moments she was sound asleep along with her brother.

"Eliot?" Layla asked after half an hour of silence.

"We're good." He replied, looking behind them.

He had been watching for a tail since they left the house. He was grateful there was none. He wasn't in the mood to have to undergo his wife's version of combat driving. It was then that his phone rang. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the caller ID.

"Nate." Eliot told Layla. "Yeah?"

"Hardison's got you reservations at the," He paused as he listened to something Eliot couldn't hear. "Pine Forest Inn. He's going to text you the name to use. Sophie and I are getting on a plane as we speak, we'll meet you there."

"Thanks." Eliot replied before hanging up. "Pine Forest Inn."

Layla nodded and turned down the next road. She took a look in the rearview at the backseat and breathed a sigh of relief to see her children asleep.

"You know the people at the hotel are going to think that you beat me." She said with a grin.

Eliot snorted. "How's the ankle?"

"To be honest I'd forgotten about it. Must be the adrenaline." She replied. "How did they know where to find us?"

Eliot shrugged. "I just wished I knew who they were."

"You make a list?" She asked.

"Too long to even think about right now." He said with a sigh.

"Well it had to be someone that we both pissed off." She told him. "That list can't be that long."

"Six years." He replied quietly.

"Huh?"

"Six years from the time we met to the time we quit." Eliot replied. "A con a month at least, that's still…"

"A lot of people we could have pissed off." She finished.

Her ankle throbbed painfully now that Eliot said something about it. She had a feeling by the time they got to the inn Eliot would be carrying her to the room. She looked in the mirror again and sighed.

"We're going to have to tell them." Layla told him softly.

"Yeah that's going to go over well. 'Hey kids you mama used to steal cars for a living and your daddy beat people, but don't worry that was long before you were born. Now someone they really pissed off has finally found them after sixteen years.'"

Layla sighed. "Eliot,"

"Layla, there's a reason we agreed not to tell them what we used to do." He growled out.

Layla slammed on the breaks, regretting it almost immediately as pain shot up her leg from the jerking of the car coming to a sudden stop. She turned in her seat to face her husband.

"And now we do. I'd rather them know about our past and be prepared for whatever might happen, then for us to…" The stress from the night started to overwhelm her as she fought back the tears.

He growled under his breath and cupped her cheek.

"Ok, we'll sit them down and tell them before Nate and Sophie get here." He kissed her softly. "I hate it when you cry."

Layla smiled as his thumb wiped at a few stray tears. She kissed him again before moving along the road again.

"Look on the bright side," Layla started. "Grace will finally get full details on how we met."

Eliot laughed. "Yeah. I can hear her telling her friends now, on Mama and Daddy's first date they stole a car."

Layla paused and thought for a moment. She had always thought their first date to be at the hole in the wall Chinese place around the corner from Nate's apartment. They had ordered a family size platter of Kung Pow chicken and talked.

"You think of our first con as our first date?" Layla finally asked.

She could see him smile in the dimness of the jeep.

"I bitched and moaned for three days when Nate told the rest of us he was going to bring you in. I didn't want some stranger interfering in our business, and then I saw you." He turned slightly. "Sitting on Nate's couch dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, your hair falling in your face."

He remained quiet for a few moments, his hand reaching out to rest on her thigh.

"I knew you were going to be trouble for me from the start." He laughed. "So yeah I guess that's why I think of that as our first date."

Layla laughed as she pulled onto the highway.


Grace watched silently as the water churned around her feet. She had stormed out of the hotel room the moment her parents opened up to her and her brother. She was still having problems putting her head around the concept that her parents were criminals. That they weren't the good people she had grown up believing they were, and that's why someone was after them now.

"Are you a crook too?" Grace asked in a huff. She had somehow known he'd be the one to come looking for her.

Nate sighed heavily and sat down next to Grace.

"It's complicated." He replied.

"Yeah, yeah that's what Mama and Daddy were saying." She snorted. "You either are or you aren't."

"Things aren't always so black and white, Gracie." Nate replied. "Sometimes the bad guys are the only good guys you get."

She turned to finally look at him. "What?"

"You've read Robin Hood. He was a thief, and a good guy…"

"You're trying to tell me you're Robin Hood." Grace laughed.

Nate smiled as he pulled his socks and shoes off, letting his feet join hers in the water.

"I'm saying that sometimes doing the wrong things for the right reasons is sometimes just as good as doing the right things for the right reasons." He smiled a little more.

"But they didn't always do what they did for the right reasons, did they?" Grace asked, sounding much older than she was.

"No, they didn't." Nate wasn't going to lie to her.

Nate could tell that she was finally starting to process what was being told to her. He heard her sigh and lean into him.

"Were they good?"

"Huh?" Nate asked, looking down.

"Were Mama and Daddy good at what they did?" She asked, the curiosity evident in her voice.

"They were the best." Nate replied with a smile.

"Good." Grace smiled.


"You ok?" Layla asked as she closed the bathroom door behind her.

Sophie had taken James with her to get some food and hopefully meet up with Nate and Grace, leaving the two alone in the hotel room.

"She hates us, Layla." He replied looking at her through the bathroom mirror.

"She doesn't hate us." Layla replied wrapping her arms around his waist and resting her head on his shoulder. "She's just confused. Nate will help."

"Yeah." He sighed. "You shouldn't be up on that ankle."

Layla snorted. "It's fine."

"Like the time you sprained your elbow?" Eliot asked with a raised brow.

"You're one to talk." She shot back, pushing open the bathroom door.

She was still standing in the doorway, when pain shot through her entire body. She vaguely heard Eliot scream her name before there was more pain and a flash of colors behind her eyes. After that the world was dark.