The four of them sat gathered around the hitter in silence. Hardison was still working through the Global Tech's records looking for anything that could tell them about the hit. In the past five hours he had managed to comb through a third of the data. So far his search had turned up nothing.

"Here." The hacker looked up to see Sophie handing him cup of what he could only assumed to be coffee. He took it giving a slight smile at the gesture. The hacker set his computer on the table. He was getting no where this way and knew it. He had to figure out a new way to approach the problem in front of him if he had any chance of finding what they needed.

"Any luck," Hardison looked up to see Parker standing behind him.

"No, there too much data to go through everything. I tried to focus my search on contracts that were pick up around the time as the supposed robberies...," Hardison's voice trailed off. He was missing something but he wasn't quite sure what.

"And, what did you find," the thief asked knowing that there was more to be said. The hacker looked at her a moment before turning his eyes back to his screen.

"There are absolutely no contracts of any kind that were ordered." There was a sense of frustration in his voice.

"What about canceled contracts." The two looked over to the mastermind who had thrown out the suggestion. He was seated by the hitter's bed his eye's fixed on the hitter. Had he not spoken they would have even know he was paying them any attention.

"What good would canceled contracts do us," Hardison questioned not sure how canceled contracts would have anything to do with them.

"Just do it," Nate ordered not taking his eyes off of the hitter. The hacker let out a sigh as he reached for his computer. He set up the search and let it run. It wasn't long before he heard his computer alarm go off indicating it had found something. Hardison search through the results his eyes widening a little as he did so.

"What is it," Sophie asked seeing the hacker's reaction to the data. He said nothing at first not really knowing how to explain what his computer had turned up.

"After every supposed robbery a few days later there was a cancelation of a security contract...they were accompany by large payment that were written off as cancelation fee...but they very in amounts..." Hardison voice trailed off as he began to search more into the canceled contracts.

"What is it," Parker asked hearing the hacker gasp.

"There...umm...one of the contracts at Global Tech was just up dated. It increased the price for the completion of the contract with a its deadline move up." The hacker's findings seemed to confirmed what the mastermind had come to suspect.

"The contract wasn't carried out because we were able to get Eliot to the hospital in time," Nate kept his eyes on the hitter working through the new information.

"Nate that was all that was change," Hardison said alarmed.

"What are you talking about," Nate asked this time turning to face the hacker.

"The contract was expanded to include multiple locations which can only be used to mean multiple targets..." this time there was a trace of fear in the hacker's voice.

"We got in the way of the contract so now they have resulted to eliminating us to insure that they can take out Eliot unopposed." As Nate spoke the rest of the team seemed to freeze. What had supposed to have been a simple job had some how turned in to some complex assassination skim. To make things worse they had just made themselves targets. They were in way over their heads if only because this was something Eliot would know how to handle. Sure they could plan and take precautions but in the end what they needed was a hitter to be able to follow thru.

"What are we going to do now," Parker asked her voice was soft. Nate shook his head.

"I don't know, but we will figure something out Parker. We'll be alright," Nate reassured her not entirely sure if he believed himself.

Hardison was once again working away at his computer. Nate had asked him to find out who had ordered the contract in the first place. So far he had traced it to at least half a dozen shell companies that had no connection to an actual person. He was down to going through the shell companies piece by piece. He wasn't any closer to finding the answers then when he had first started, and now he was down to the last shell company. If he didn't find anything here then he would be at a dead end. He worked his way through the company's finances. At first Hardison didn't notice anything unusual, so he move on to the invoices hoping that they would be more helpful. They seemed to be clean and untraceable as everything thing else. He was just about to call it quits when something caught his attention. It was a slight discrepancy in one of the invoices. The hacker dug into it further hoping this was what he had been looking for. He followed it back through the rest of the company only to hit yet another wall. It made absolutely no sense this was the only thing that didn't fit. The only piece of data that didn't fit with the rest. What was so special about this piece of data that made it different from the rest. Hardison studied it for what seemed like hours before it occurred to him that maybe there wasn't anything wrong with this piece of data but the rest of it. The thought occurred to him that maybe the data he was seeing wasn't what was suppose to be there. Having nothing else to do Hardison used one of his encoder programs to try and decrypt the data. He was hoping that something could be revealed this way.

Parker sat on the window seal watching the others from where she sat. Nate and Sophie both sat by Eliot's side while Hardison worked on his computer in the far corner of the room. It was clear enough to her that Hardison hated the idea of being in the hospital but hated the idea of leaving Eliot even more. Everything about this place made them all feel uneasy, but the only thing that kept them from leave was Eliot. They knew his chances of surviving this weren't great which why they all choose to stay with him. If he were to die then they wanted to be there with him. They didn't want him to be alone in the end, but rather surrounded by his family. Parker leaned further against the window as she thought about how the things she was feeling. It was stand to say the least the last time she had been faced with someone who she cared about dying was her brother. Afterwards she had sealed her emotion away from the rest of the world not let anyone get close. At least that had been the plan until Leverage happened. She still couldn't quite explain the effect that the team had on her. All she knew was that they made her feel for once in her life they made her feel like she had a purpose other than snatching every shiny object that caught her attention. At long last she had a family no matter how dysfunctional it was she had manage to find one that accepted her the way she was. It made her think back to before her brother had been killed. Then she had family that care for her, and after her brother's death it all changed. Her father became an alcoholic and her mother just went insane from grief. Her brother's death had tore their family apart, and she feared it would happen was about to happen again. There was no telling how they would all react if Eliot died, nor was there anyway to know what would be left of the team. Would the pull together and continue on without their hitter, teammate, friend, brother or would they fall apart and scatter to the four winds. The thought of loosing the only family she had every really known scare her.

Sophie sat opposite of Nate just so that she could keep a close eye on the two of them. At the present moment she wasn't sure who she was most concern with. Eliot for who was possibly dying or Nate who would blame himself for all of this whether or not Eliot survived. She wanted to desperately comfort him to reassure him in some way, but how could she do that if she wasn't even sure if everything would be alright. This was a nightmare that she couldn't wake up from. Looking around she could see how broken her team was from this. Hardison had disconnected from them and was lost somewhere in cyberspace. Parker had a blank stare which meant she was lost in her thoughts and bad memories. Nate only focus was on Eliot, from time to time it looked as though his thoughts wandered to the day Sam had died. Sophie had a way of telling what he was thinking though it wasn't rocket science to figure out what he was thinking about at the moment. She knew in her heart that if the worse happen and Eliot didn't pull through that it would be enough to break them all.

Nate sat by Eliot's bedside unmoving. His thoughts going back and forth between Eliot and Sam. He wanted to revisit some of the good memories he had of the two, but his mind wouldn't let him. The only thing that it was letting him do was relive the tragic events that had lead him to this point. So how his thoughts had wandered to went form how they where different to how they were similar. He had somehow managed to forget about what had happen to the two, and only remembered what they had in common. To Nate they were his sons, they were his family. Why was it so damn hard for him to hold on to family.

It had been four days and still Eliot's condition hadn't changed. The doctor had thought it best to keep him in his coma not seeing what he needed to even attempt to bring him out of it. The team had hardly left him, and if they did it was only one at a time. They would send one to get food or coffee, but it would never take long. The only one who never seemed to go on coffee or food runs was Nate. He wasn't about to leave the hitter alone.

It wasn't until the fifth day that things seemed to change. It was early in the morning hours that Eliot's monitors started to go haywire. The sound had sent the doctor on call rushing in while the rest of the team stood exchanging worried glances. They remained there until one of the nurses told them to leave as she herded them into the hallway outside closing the door behind them.

For the next hour they saw nurses and doctors go in and out of the room. None of whom bothered to stop to tell them what was happening. With each passing minute the team grew more on edge not really knowing what to make of the situation. They hadn't noticed as Eliot's doctor approached them.

"Mr. Baker," the doctor called as he noticed Nate jump slightly.

"Yes," Nate replied walking over to him "how is he." Nate asked as the rest turned towards him.

"He is doing fine, he started to fight the ventilator tube. Which is a bit surprising considering we had him in an induced coma. He is breathing on his own again which is a very good sign. We have also started him on a series of drug to pull him out of the coma. With any luck he should be coming around in the next twenty-four hours or so," the doctor had a slight smile on his face that seemed give them the reassurance that they had all been desperately needing.

"So he is going to be just fine then," Nate as for confirmation.

"It looks that way, but he is still not quite out of the woods. He has to take it slow and give his body a chance to recover. If not he runs the risk of taring the stitches in his chest causing him to bleed out," the doctor kept his voice as calm as possible "but yes it does look like he will pull through," he added reassuring them. He gave them another slight smile before leaving them to attend to other patients.

Eliot could feel the darkness that held begin to loosen. It felt like he had been trying to push it away from him for so long that thought it would never leave him. Slowly as it lifted he could feel his senses return as well. At first all he could feel was a numb pain shooting through him. Then slowly he was able to detect the faint sound of would he could only assume was a heart monitor. The beep of the monitor was followed by the distant sound of voices. They sounded familiar to him though they were too faint for him to place them. He could feel something else that wasn't pain. It something was touching him it felt like a hand yes it was a hand holding his. He wanted to open his eye to see who but they were still heavy. He wanted to let who ever it was the he was still here. Not knowing what else to do he made an attempt of squeezing the hand that held his, but he couldn't be sure that he was successful or not. He felt himself drift back into the darkness. He didn't fight it this time know that somehow this darkness was different from the one that held him before. It had the feeling of a gentle sleep that he was glad to accept.

Parker sat perched one Eliot's bed holding his hand. She wanted him to wake up now more than ever. The doctors were starting to become concern by the fact that he still hadn't woken up. It had been three days since they had taken off the ventilator and began to clear his system of the drugs that had put him in the coma in the first place. They had expected him to have woken up within the first day, but he hadn't and when the second day passed they started to worry. Now it was the third day and he still hadn't woken up. The doctors were starting believe Eliot had fallen back into a coma.

"Come on Eliot I know you can heard me, please wake up," Parker kept her voice low. The others had gone down to the cafeteria for lunch. Sophie and Hardison had finally manage to pry Nate out of the chair by Eliot's bedside. Parker had agreed to stay with him while they had lunch which was fine with her. She wanted some time alone with Eliot. Now more than ever she wanted him to wake up. She held his hand a little tighter for a moment before relaxing her grip. Any kind of reaction at this point would be welcomed. Parker sat gently stroking his hand when she felt his hand tight around hers "Eliot," Parker said a little louder. Her eyes were wide with excitement at the thought that he was waking up.

"What about Eliot," Hardison asked as him and the other two returned carrying a bag of food for her.

"He...umm...he grabbed my hand," Parker said with Eliot's hand still firmly grip around hers. The others rushed over and saw as the hitter's grip loosened. They looked at one and other not really knowing what to do. This was the first sign that they showed the hitter had an form of consciousness.

Eliot felt the darkness lifting once more this time he felt more than just the. He felt someone holding his hand still. His eye weren't heavy as they had been before, and slowly he began to open them. The room he was in was dimly light. He looked around to see his friends scattered around the room. Nate was in a chair at the foot of the bed with his arms folded across his chest as he slept. Hardison sat resting his head on the table where he to had fallen asleep. Sophie sat by the window with one of her fashion magazines laying across her chest as she slept soundly. He looked around and was surprised to see that it was Parker who was holding his hand. Her head rested on the bed obvious that she was also asleep. A small smile spread across his face as he gave her hand a slight squeeze, and watched as her head shoot up. His smile only grew as he saw her face light up even more when she realized that he was awake.

"Eliot," Parker exclaimed loud enough to wake the others "your awake." There was not hiding her excitement as she move to wrap him in a hug. She stopped short as he winced from her touch. In her excitement she had forgotten about his injuries.

"How are you feeling," Nate ask already having an idea.

"Like I've been shot," Eliot retorted sarcastically swallowing against the dryness in his throat.

"That's Eliot for you, he almost die and the first thing out of his mouth when he finally wakes up is sarcasm," Hardison remark feeling a smile grace his face for the first time in over a week. Eliot gave him a slight growl but stopped when it cause a new wave of pain to pass through him. Nate in turn gave a glare at Hardison for the hitter. Hardison shrugged it off happy to take it.

"We're just glade you are ok," Sophie commented cutting off Hardison before he could say anything else. She smile happy to listen to the bickering for once. It had been too quite the past week.

Authors note:

This seemed to be a challenging chapter to write, so I will take all the feed back you can give me.