Not much longer after the door clicked shut, Vance and Gravers heard the whispered, "'Bout time they left," from Eliot.

Gravers smiled as he helped Eliot sit up in bed, propping him up with pillows. "How you doin', man?"

"Hurts like hell and you know it, Joe," he replied. When he saw Vance grab the medical kit, he added, "I told you, Vance, don't give me any strong stuff. I don't want to go to sleep again just yet."

Vance nodded knowingly, and grudgingly, and grabbed a different medication. He showed it to Eliot first, before shaking out some pills. He gave them and a bottle of a sports drink to Eliot and waited while he downed the pills.

"You could have just told them you were in pain, you know, instead of just pretending to sleep," Vance said. "They're pretty smart. You didn't gain anything here."

"Sleep is one thing. Pain is another."

"Spencer-"

"I'm supposed to be the one that protects them! I can't let them think I can't do my job; that this is gonna make a difference," Eliot told them.

"Uh, they've been helping take care of your shot up ass, Spencer. They know how bad you're hurt," Gravers put in.

Vance took the drink bottle from Eliot's hand and put it on the nightstand. "It isn't that you don't want them to see you in pain, Spencer," he said, taking a seat on the bed opposite, facing Eliot and continuing the conversation. When he had Eliot's full attention, he continued, "You just don't want to see the guilt in their eyes. No matter how many times you tell them that you were just doing your job, that getting hurt to protect them is what you do and part and parcel to the job, they still feel guilty. You don't like it because you don't know how to change that."

Gravers and Vance both saw the denial in Eliot's eyes, the response forming in his mind.

Vance continued, "It's not like the old days – you got paid to do what you did; directly. Bodyguard, retrieval specialist, US Soldier… nobody felt guilty because they paid you off. It truly was your job. But doing it for the real thing: for friendship; for love… that's a whole other ballgame isn't it?"

"Fuck you, Vance."

Gravers laughed out loud at Eliot's response. "Oooh, hitting home, Vance!" he said.

"Fuck you, too, Gravers!" Eliot added with a huff, turning his head away from the two men.

"Nothing wrong with what you do or why you do it, Spencer," Vance said. "And yeah, they feel guilty, because they don't know what else to feel. Not like they're gonna pay you off. This is new to them, too."

"I'm waiting for it…" Gravers said with a smile; waiting for Eliot to curse them out again.

"When the hell did you get so smart, Vance?" Eliot asked, slowly turned his head back toward the room.

"Since my second wife knocked some sense into me and made me a daddy," he replied. "Now shut up and get some rest. There's a good movie coming on," he added, grabbing the TV remote.

Soon the three were engrossed, watching some old eighties movie about some high school bullies and a big mean-looking kid getting hired to protect another kid.

…..

Parker had let Hardison drive to DC. She needed some time to contemplate their plans for the next few days. "Think it'll be easier if Eliot flew home? It's a long drive in the van," she started. "I'd go with him, so he wouldn't be alone, but then you'd be all alone driving Lucille back."

"Yeah, I don't trust that he'd do the right thing on his own – hell, he'd put up his big tough front and find some bad guys on the plane to fight with and…"

Parker smiled as Hardison continued on with his doom and gloom story about how Eliot would get into trouble without them.

"We could leave Lucille here, and all of us fly back," she suggested. "Then, when Nate and Sophie can take care of Eliot, you and me fly back for Lucille."

"That's better," Hardison replied, but he still didn't sound satisfied.

"I know you don't like leaving her by herself for too long," Parker said of Hardison's prized van. She rubbed Hardison's shoulder to soothe him.

"Or… we can all just stay around here until Eliot's good enough to travel cross country."

They sat silently for a minute before Parker said, "Or we could ask Eliot what he'd rather do."

Hardison turned to look at the blonde. After a few seconds they burst out laughing. "Yeah, like we're gonna let him decide!" he laughed. "Hell, he'd be driving himself home tonight!"

…..

The three men left behind in the motel room spent the afternoon watching the movie and catching up on old times. They talked about old friends and women they'd met along the way. And Vance's eighteen month old daughter…

While Gravers knew from personal experience that all three had their shared and individual histories, and enough in them to cause several rounds of PTSD episodes, there was still a lot of Eliot's history that he didn't know. So he had purposely kept things on the light side, and he actually asked to see the baby pictures. He didn't want Eliot stressed out over anything – knowing that the slightest stressors could set his recovery back.

He looked at Vance, who was now slowing his speech and quieting it. He watched as Eliot's eyes became heavier and heavier, before finally closing.

"That trick work on your kid, too?" Gravers whispered.

"Most of the time," Vance replied with a smile.

The two sat back in their chairs and relaxed again in the silence. Vance took out the book he'd been reading earlier in the morning. Gravers took the time to take a shower.

…..

"I think he'll like this one," Hardison said, holding up a wooden walking stick embellished with colored glass and pewter.

Parker rolled her eyes. "Come on, Hardison, even I know that Eliot won't touch that. He's practical to the boringest degree. This one," she said, holding up a plain wooden cane with a curved handle, "is one he'd actually use."

Hardison sighed. He knew Parker was right. And not because he got his choice in the toy department vs. the pharmacy area of the Walmart… "Fine, then I'm keeping this," he agreed. When Parker raised an eyebrow at him when he put the stick into the shopping cart he exclaimed, "Never know when I might have to tell some Balrog, 'You shall not pass!' you know," waving the stick around.

"I thought you already had one of those," Parker countered. "Here, this should work," she went on, putting a package with an arm sling into the cart.

Next they went to the Men's Clothing department and picked out some clothing for Eliot to wear, replacing the clothes that had been ruined.

…..

Vance and Gravers looked to the door as it opened. They knew it was Hardison and Parker, back from their afternoon shopping trip – Hardison had texted Vance to let them know they were back.

The noise of their entry had stirred Eliot to awareness.

Parker took a seat on the bed next to Eliot and put a hand to his forehead, moving some stray hair behind his ear. "How you doing, Sparky?" she asked.

"He'll be fine," Gravers replied for him. "He hasn't puked up any of the sports drink or meds or even that half a peanut butter sandwich, so once that IV runs out, I don't think we'll need to replace it."

"No infection, no fever, no bleeding; that means I'm good to go," Eliot put in, moving to sit up.

"I wouldn't quite say that yet," Gravers countered, pointing a finger at Eliot, and then placing it on his chest and gently pushing down with it.

"Yeah, two bullets twenty-four hours ago…" Vance reminded him, adding a glare to Gravers' current stare.

Eliot just rolled his eyes. "This ain't new to me, boys. I can handle this."

"Oh, give it a rest, man," Hardison chimed in, coming to Eliot's bedside. "If your medic buddy says you still need more time, then you need more time."

Eliot looked hard at the four people surrounding him and realized he wasn't going to win this argument. He relaxed into the pillow. "Fine. But I don't think I need four nursemaids hanging around. I can take care of myself now."

"You're right in that you don't need four nursemaids," Gravers agreed. But he continued, wiping the smug off Eliot's face, saying, "Two ought to do it."

Eliot wanted to argue, but he knew Gravers was right. He nodded his head and looked at Vance. "You got someone else that needs your attention a little bit more than me waiting for you, Vance."

"Yeah, I do," Vance agreed with a smile.

"Why don't we eat dinner first," Parker offered, breaking the moment. "We brought Chinese."

"I won't go away on an empty stomach," Gravers agreed, moving to help Parker with the food.

Hardison, seeing something between Vance and Eliot, moved away to help with the food, too.

"Don't you say that we're even now, Vance," Eliot said quietly. "I am thankful for the help, and you know…" He stopped, unsure of what to say next, and rubbed his forehead with his left hand.

Vance pulled Eliot's hand back gently, untangling the IV that was still embedded. "I wasn't going to say that, Spencer," he told Eliot. "I know that we aren't keeping score anymore. Too much has happened, too many things to count. This isn't about payback."

"I know."

"Hell, if it was about payback, the US government, along with several other nations of the world, would owe the three of us several lifetimes and billions of dollars…"

The two men looked at Gravers, who had joined them with the last statement.

"What?" he asked, shoving some egg noodles into his mouth. "It's a small room. We can hear you."

"And, man, if we let that conversation go on any further, Parker here would be the manliest person in the room," Hardison put in. "And trust me, she is far from that, I'll tell you!"

The group laughed at the antics, but Eliot and Vance knew what was being said. After the food was gone and cleaned up, Gravers took one more look at Eliot's wounds and removed the IV.

"I'm serious, Spencer," he began, putting away his medical supplies. "You need to take it easy. You've got two good friends here willing to wait hand and foot on you – let them."

"I don't know about hand and foot," Hardison replied, only to get pinched by Parker. "What?!" Parker glared at him. "Fine. We will take care of his every need."

"Thanks, man," Eliot said to Gravers, reaching out to shake the medic's hand. "I appreciate the help."

"Anytime, Spencer," he replied. He turned to Parker and Hardison and said, "Now you two set on what to do? I wrote out instructions and left a good supply of bandages and medicines."

"Yeah, thanks," Parker replied and gave him a warm, tight hug. "Thanks for taking care of our Eliot."

Hardison offered his hand and shook it, bringing the man into a half hug/shoulder pat. "Thanks, man. Appreciate all you've done for Eliot."

"He's worth it," Gravers replied. He moved to the door. "I'll wait in the car, Colonel," he said to Vance and left.

"Hardison, Parker," Vance said in turn to the pair. "Take care of him."

"We will. Thanks for your help. For taking care of him, too," Hardison answered for them both.

Vance moved to Eliot's bedside and whispered, "Let them take care of you, Spencer. That's what they need to do. That's how they'll get to pay you back. It's what you need, too." Then aloud, he said, "Take care of yourself, Spencer. And thanks for yesterday. We do owe the three of you a great deal. You saved a lot of lives."

"It's what we do, Vance," Eliot replied. Then, as he offered his hand to shake Vance's, he added a quiet, "Thanks."

Vance looked around the room, making sure his belongings were secured and that the trio had everything they needed. "You're all set with Frank. Just drop off the key before you leave," he said before leaving the room.