Author's Note: Hiatus is over though updates will be sporadic due to my limited computer access. I am continuing with requests rather than the main plot simply because I feel my fans deserve some love for putting up with all of this hiatus stuff. Anyway, there's too many people to credit for this one—a sequel to chapter 65—and I really hope you all enjoy it. I like this story more than the Mrs. Gabbler one for some strange reason. I hope you all enjoy!

"Eliot?" The voice is hard to hear in the darkness of his mind. He's not even sure if it even exists or if he is just making it up. "Eliot!" The voice is crying now and the Hitter wonders why. Why would this angel cry over him? He wasn't worth it—he had done questionable things in his life and so he wondered why an angel would weep for him. "Please, Eliot, please!" He tries to focus on the voice whose melodic tune is being shattered by the sobs racking her. He feels bad and guilty and wants nothing more than to comfort this angel to tell her that he is not worth her tears. "I need you, Eliot." The last statement is quiet and said with a strong sense of fear. "I need you to come back, please!"

He opens his eyes to see Parker looking down at him. Her eyes are red and puffy and full of crystal like tears snaking their way down her face. Her hands are gripping his shoulder for dear life it seems and there is his blood on her shirt. She looks like a scared child—a child that almost lost a parent or someone precious to them.

"Parker," His voice is raspy and it's hard for to him to speak. The pain is dulled which—seeing that he's not in a hospital is probably a bad thing—and he can see that she removed some of the glass from his body. She's been smart and used his shirt as some sort of compress to stop the blood but her eyes are full of pure fear and worry. "You ok?" They're still in the tunnels, but Parker seems to have found the stash of flashlights that Nate keeps down here. The light makes her seem like a fallen angel.

She sobs—more crystal like tears falling from her eyes and hitting his face. He doesn't like this. He doesn't like to see her cry. Her whole body shakes as the sobs eat away at her. Worry must be overtaking her and Eliot knows that having a panicked Parker is not going to help them out any. He manages to lift one hand to place on her silky cheek and he wipes a tear away. She meets his gaze still sobbing, he smiles. He's trying to be comforting to her, but also because he doesn't want her to cry. He's not going to die not when Parker needs him, not when he has to protect his family. That's always been his job—protection. He would die for his family, especially for Parker. But he sure as hell wasn't going to die now—bullet or no bullet.

"Eliot, I—" Her voice shakes with hesitation and he tries to soothe her. "I thought you were dead!" More tears and he feels his heart being cracked. He swears that she will never cry again. She tries to compose herself, but it's no use. The trauma of what had happened is making her afraid of what is to come, if they get out of this cave alive.

"Shh," He murmurs as he forces himself to sit up. She seems stunned as he manages to haul himself up from the ground, but he simply smiles trying to assuage her fears. "It's ok now. You're safe, I'm safe. Just relax." He pulls her to him, letting her cry as much as she needs to in the hopes that she'll get it out of her system so she can think rationally and then move on out of the tunnel.

"I thought you were dead," She repeats over and over again, like a chant. "I thought you had left me!" He strokes his angel's hair and tries to assure her that he's not going anywhere, but he knows it's a lie. He could die at any second from the blood loss or the bullet. He probably couldn't go to a hospital because the sniper most likely saw him. He was a dead man walking.

"I'm not leaving you," He promises. "I will never leave you." He means it and somehow he manages to comfort the sobbing thief and she wipes the last of her tears away. She manages a small smile which Eliot supposed he could live off on for days.

"What now?" She questions. It's a good question too. What do they do now that they had both been spotted and in Nate's apartment? He knew that Nate used a fake name that Hardison had protected in miles of false paperwork, but what if Nate went home?

"How long was I out?" He asks urgently.

"Ten minutes," She stammers. "The snipers haven't shot since then." Eliot breathes a sigh of relief—his father isn't dead.

"Call Nate," He mutters. "Tell him what's going on."

She nods and pulls out their cell phone. Eliot is thanking Hardison so much for placing anti-tracing material in their phones. She explains the situation in short sentences as they make their way to the office. Her breathing is quick and fast and Eliot makes a note to make sure that she doesn't hyperventilate. She tells Nate that Eliot is hurt, but she doesn't explain how badly. After five minutes, the phone is hung up.

They get to the end of the tunnel and go up into the office.

Parker gasps.

The whole place has been trashed and a note on the table simply says:

You're all dead.

Author's Note: Would anyone like a part 3? Review and request please!