Chapter Fifteen
"Get out all of you!" Nate yelled at his team, not bothering to move from his spot on the couch.
"Hey Nate, I meant no harm man." Hardison tried apologizing, he wasn't sure what had set the man off but he knew he had been the one to say it.
"Lets go Hardison." Parker pulled on his arm as she watched Nate throw back another shot ignoring them completely.
"Yeah, lets." He followed her out of the apartment, he wouldn't stoop any lower. If Nate wasn't going to acknowledge his admitance of doing wrong he sure wasn't going to beg for it.
"Are you even in there right now?" Sophie questioned the obvious drunk. "You have no right yelling at them and if it wasn't for your drinking you wouldn't, they don't deserve you lashing out on them just because you can't leave the liquor alone! What's the excuse this time or do you even bother with having one anymore?"
"Oh stop with the mightier than thou crock Soph, it really isn't flattering on you." Nate poured himself another glass ignoring the intensity in her glare.
"Call me when you lose the rubbish attitude!" Grabbing her purse she too left. No matter how much she wanted to help Nate that wouldn't happen until he was willing to accept it.
"Eat" Eliot placed a bowl of stew in front of Nate. He needed to sober him up so he'd remember the conversation they were going to have, one way or another things were going to change.
"Didn't I tell you to leave?" Nate ignored the food in favor of another swig from his bottle.
"Not happenin', now eat." Eliot snatched the bottle away with restrained force.
"I'll get right on that mom." He replied sarcastically, Eliot was a fool if he thought that was his only bottle.
"You're gonna end up killing yourself on this shit, especially if this liquid poison is all your diet consists of." Eliot growled as he threw the bottle down and followed Nate up the stairs to his bedroom.
"You're not hearing any complaints are you?" Nate grabbed the bottle from his nightstand triumphantly, rewarding himself with another drink for the find.
"Well then it's time for an old fashioned wake up call."
Watching as the bottle he had been drinking from seconds ago smashed against the wall painting it a dark stench Nate was surprised to find himself being dragged by the collar. "What the hell Eliot!"
"If you're gonna be a stubborn ass then so be it!" Pushing open the bathroom door Eliot turned the shower on tossing Nate in almost immediately.
"That's freezing!" Nate clawed at Eliots hand to get himself loose, sliding back and forth in the loafers he was still wearing.
"There are thousands of people out there that never got the chance to have a life and here you are drinking yours away!"
"And how many of those lives didn't you take!" Nate yelled back starting to shiver, he had managed to shrug out of his suits jacket but couldn't change the waters temperature let alone make it past Eliot.
"You shut your mouth." They were nearly nose to nose Eliot breathing roughly as his grip on the front of Nates shirt tightened in anger.
"Make me." He smirked as Eliots breath picked up and his nostrils started flaring.
Turning around Eliot moved to leave, he wouldn't be able to control the rage bubbling much longer.
Starting to unbutton his shirt Nate fixed the water temperature planning on taking a hot shower to rid his bones of the chill that had began creeping in. "That's what I thought."
He wasn't even thinking at this point blind with unnameable emotions, so there really wasn't much thought behind slamming Nate against the wall. Let alone joining him in the shower, keeping him pinned against the tile with his chest.
The staring contest had started unintentionally but Eliots eyes were ablaze and Nate found himself mesmorized, his own breath picking up as he felt each one Eliot took.
"Do me the favor and don't think." Eliot found himself leaning in, wanting to. . . no that idea was insane and it had him backing up scared and ready to make a hasty retreat.
Maybe it was the liquor or maybe it was the seldomely seen fear in Eliots eyes but Nate found himself grabbing the mans shoulder, not wanting him to leave and even more surprisingly forcefully kissing him when he did indeed turn around.
It was more pain than passion, teeth than tongue and Nate found himself close to yelping from shock as Eliot roughly bit his lip pushing him away as he did so.
Shaking his head to clear it Eliot started staring at Nates lip, the lip he had caused to split and swell.
"Rejection coming from the man who willingly joined me in the shower, if that isn't a laugh."
Wanting to wipe the renewed smirk off of Nates lips Eliot used his own to do just that, pressing himself closer as he did so. This kiss was more demanding as Nate fought for control Eliot refused to give, a war neither was willing to lose.
Laughing as Eliot ran his tongue along the roof of his mouth Nate finally pulled away, that had always been a particularly sensitive spot and apparently ticklish as well.
"You're a bastard." Eliot panted as he leaned back lifting the hem of his shirt that was soaked and clinging uncomfortably.
"So I've been told." He watched closely as the shirt was tossed somewhere behind and Eliot kicked out of his boots. He didn't know where this night was leading but it was becoming more obvious by the minute and he honestly wasn't finding a reason to care.
"I bet" he breathed leaning back in to lick the split he had created. Pulling the same one with his teeth as he claimed Nates mouth once more, hands making quick work of a few last buttons before traveling slowly up his abdomen and to his shoulders where the shirt was pushed away falling to the tub with their other assorted accesories.
"I honestly don't remember half of what happened that day or why I had even been drinking but I remember that night like it happened yesterday." Nate carefully tightened his grasp on Eliots left hand as he pulled himself from those memories.
"Aren't you going to joke about the way we avoided each other for nearly a week after, laugh and tell me you knew when I told you I lied about being to drunk to remember right after our second time together?" He pleaded keeping his gaze on their hands, it was to hard looking at a face void of any life at the moment.
"Eliot get your ass up and tell me you remember, let me know that these things are important to you too." He hadn't been expecting a reply but it still hurt to hear nothing.
The beeping of the heart monitor should have been a comfort but all Nate heard was the taunt, at any moment those steady beeps could turn into a piercing shriek. Every drop from the I.V. sounded like a C4 explosion and the tubing running under sheets, tubing he knew Eliot would have removed hours ago.
"The counseling Hardison offered as an anniversary present got me thinking." Nate leaned back trying to stretch stiff muscles, if he talked long enough Eliot would answer or at least that was the plan. "When's our actual anniversary? May 15th's the first night we slept together but I'm not sure that actually counts. Then you got the beginning of February when we stopped lying to ourselves but I'm guessing that one isn't it since I kind of fucked up and we didn't make it through the whole year." Remembering Eliot had spent that one as a captive might have been amusing if it wasn't for the current situation.
"If you go by March though that only puts us together for two and a half weeks and that just seems wrong." He was just letting out whatever came to mind too tired to really care, though it was kind of pathetic that they had yet to have a year together worth celebrating.
"We've made a mess of the last two years Eliot. I think I knew from the beginning, I just wouldn't admit that I wanted more than to use, to be used but even if you didn't know it I could see it in your eyes, you wanted more too. Then I ended up in prison and you slept with Kaylin and I'm almost positive it was some kind of twisted revenge and it pissed me off." Nate remembered the cockiness Eliot had used to remind him they were nothing more than friends with benefits when he had come over a few nights later. That night had been the change of things, the night he accepted Eliots unintentional challenge, even if they were just fuck buddies he planned on making sure he was the only one Eliot had.
"I got so wrapped up in my scheme that by the time it was over I hadn't even realized what had been done. I'd played off your loneliness and unintentionally or not we had a real, actually working relationship going on. It probably wasn't my best idea to start with the melt down because you freaked out and we ended up damaging what had started Seven months ago. I nearly threw away the Five months of work I put into us over a fear that I let take over, one that let me abandon you when you were dealing with all that dirt Moreau dug up. If that wasn't bad enough I made it even messier with Soph."
Leaning over the bed rail Nate pressed a careful kiss to Eliots cheek not wanting to cause any more damage, he had already warned Parker against any more poking and both Hardison and Sophie had kept a few feet away. "I want to mend that mistake, I'm not going anywhere this time. I'll prove it all to you, just give me the chance and I promise I will."
"Ya'll really do need therapy." Alec had come in just in time to hear his name mentioned and couldn't help the curiousity that kept him quiet.
"Do you understand the meaning of private?" Nate was angered by Hardisons complete disrespect for the situation, not to mention his snooping on a moment filled with vulnerability he only ever allowed Eliot to see. "The objective goal when a door is closed tends to be privacy."
"Yeah that was rude of me man." Hardison paused feeling extremely awkward now. "Sorry 'bout that."
After that an uncomfortable silence fell as Nate turned his attention back on Eliot, Hardison deciding to do the same. The bruising on Eliots temple was tri-colored and ugly but it didn't appear to be massive from what he'd seen. Now the sight of Eliots knee was a different story, he had mistakenly peeked under the sheet and his reward had been to nearly lose his stomach.
Swelling was an understatement, between the mottled mess of purple, black, and green and the scrapes that were surely to speckle the joint with scars he wasn't sure how it would ever be the same even though he had been assured there was no permanent damage. Right now though he found himself staring at Eliots foot, it was a common injury, people broke their feet every day but it seemed to be the one that bothered him the most.
"What did you need?"
"I thought I'd come sit with him for awhile so you can go get some rest." It was nearly afternoon on Monday and had been over thirty hours since he had slept, who knew how long it had been for Nate.
"I'm not going anywhere." He didn't plan on leaving this hospital until Eliot could go with him.
"I already convinced the girls to go get us a hotel room and between the insomnia and soda I don't really sleep much, go on and steal a few hours." Sophie had only agreed to leave if he promised to get Nate to do the same.
"Thanks, but no thanks." What part of he wasn't leaving had been misunderstood?
"You don't have to be on your own with this Nate. We're all hurting and it's okay to share it, we're a family and that's what family's for." Hardison reiterated the same speech Sophie had given him and Parker.
"Family" How had that slipped his mind.
"Yeah we're a family man." Nate really needed to get that through his thick head.
"His family"
"You've met his family?" He was shocked. "Right not important." Hardison squashed the rest of the questions as soon as Nate leveled a glare. "What about them?"
"Do I tell them about this? What would I tell them?" The words were heard by Hardison but directed to Eliot.
"That's a decision you'll have to make for yourself." He might have stuck his nose in a lot of things but that didn't mean he wasn't capable of minding his own and he planned on doing that right now.
Did he have the right to hold this from them, but then again did he have the right to go behind Eliots back? Sarah wasn't expecting to hear from her brother anytime soon, but who was he to decide what she should know or better yet shouldn't? Eliot had clearly kept his distance though, would he really want his siblings to see him like this?
"Hardison I need you to find me a number." Either way he was still going to feel like he had betrayed Eliot he just didn't know which way would have a better outcome.
E/N: So you got to see how these two got their start*_* (I tried for classy,lol That was a tall order when working with Eliot and Nate so hopefully it portrayed well.) And Sarah and Aaron are coming back into the picture so it looks like next chapter will be fun! Hope you liked this one, I don't know about you but this chapter is my favorite, there's just something about 15, it was my favorite in SC too.