Chapter 19
"Where is he?" The idle chatting that the three of them had been doing stopped immediately as they entered the room noticing it's occupant missing.
"Tests." Nate offered as he put down the newspaper he had been reading. He had been enjoying the fact that Eliot was awake while watching the man become more aware of his surroundings and injuries when a nurse had come. Upon finding him awake she had quickly alerted doctors and they had whisked him away, though that had been over two hours ago.
"He didn't get worse did he?" Parker was obviously worried as she glared at the empty bed.
"No" Nate shook his head as he decided against telling them Eliot was up just yet. "I actually think he's showing inprovement this morning."
"That's good." Sophie sat on the edge of the abandoned bed as she handed Nate the muffin they picked up for him when they stopped for coffee.
"What kind of tests." Hardison had found himself studying Eliots medical records carefully, researching everything that had been done to him thoroughly as after that first meeting he didn't really trust Dr. Torlyn.
"You name it." Came a gruff voice from the doorway.
"ELIOT!" Parker all but screamed as she ran to the stretcher that was currently being pulled through the door. "You're alive!"
"Very much so." Eliot tried his best for a smile already feeling bad for having worried her.
Noticing the annoyed looks Parker was receiving from the orderlies Sophie pulled her back so they could continue with their task.
"I don't think so," Eliot saw the man at the bottom of the stretcher beginning to pull the corners of the sheet up. "put the rail down and I'll manage." He had been man handled for nearly three hours thanks to only having one limb damage free but he wouldn't allow that to be the case infront of his team.
Using his elbows to push himself forward Eliot recognized the hand on his back immediately as it slowly urged him into a sitting position. "I've got this."
Nodding his agreement Nate stood his ground knowing how stubborn Eliot would be but wanting to be close to offer help just in case.
He was staring at his right leg deciding which would be the best way to go about moving when Parker made the choice for him picking up the now booted foot and slowly sliding it to the edge of the bed. "There ya go Sparky."
"Thanks darlin'" Ignoring the pressure from his wrist he pushed himself carefully to his feet waiting for the expected pain in his foot but found it wasn't there, replaced by a searing pain that shot from his hip down to his knee instead causing him to become dizzy and lose his balance.
"Careful" Nate knew Eliot liked his independence but the look of pure pain on his face had him using the grip he'd steadied him with to guide him to sit.
They knew it must have been bad because they received no protest as Parker and Sophie adjusted his legs onto the bed while Hardison moved it into a sitting position, Nate scrutinizing Eliot closely.
Breathing deeply Eliot kept his eyes closed not wanting to see all the eyes he knew to be staring at him, maybe he should have taken the blow to his pride and been lifted. It would have saved the embarassment and pain.
"A nurse will be in shortly to replace the IV and catheter." He heard one of the orderlies say as they left. Now he really didn't want to see their faces, no way was he allowing that to happen.
"Eliot?" The worry was clearly heard and eventually he relented opening his eyes slowly.
"You really busted your shit a good one." Hardison let out after awhile breaking up the tense silence that had formed.
"Tell me about it." Eliot agreed trying not to laugh. Everything felt like it was throbbing and he could only imagine how it would feel after he was taken off the good pain meds.
"You wanker!"
"OOW, what was that for?" Nate had not been expecting the blow to his chest, especially not from Sophie.
"You said you'd call if anything changed and his awakening is a big one." He had allowed them to keep their worry longer than necessary and she didn't find that acceptable.
"Does it hurt?" Parker had perched herself on the foot rest and was staring at him intently.
"Not in the least." Sure it was an absolute lie but the beaming smile that appeared told him it was exactly what she wanted to hear.
"I'll need everyone to clear the room for a few minutes." A nurse walked in holding a tray of supplies.
"That's our que Parker." Hardison nearly lifted the girl as he pulled her off the bottom of the bed quickly leaving. Sophie didn't find it necessary to say anything as she too left.
"He's not gonna go anywhere." Eliot nearly rolled his eyes at Nate as the nurse waited impatiently for him to disappear. "It's fine for him to stay." He added as he realized she didn't plan on continuing.
"Where do you want to start?"
"Where do you want to start?" It was said slyly with the closest to his signature smirk as he could muster.
"I think we'll start with your wrist." She smiled grabbing a new wrap and some gauze. Nearly all of her male patients were flirts but nowhere near all of them were as good looking.
"What's wrong with it?" He watched as she began unwrapping it, he knew it wasn't broken but other than that not much.
"It took a bit of a twisting. You earned yourself seven stitches but you give it a week or two and I doubt you'll even notice anymore."
"How many stitches does he have in all?" Nate ignored her obvious interest in Eliot as he looked between the six he could see.
"I'm not positive on the exact number but I'd say on the better half of forty."
"Forty?" He wasn't really shocked just trying to make sure he heard her correctly.
"Nearly half of 'em are in your leg, you'll see in a minute." She taped off the newly wrapped wrist as she rose to move to the other side of the bed.
Nate traded spots with her watching closely as she revealed Eliot's thigh which unsurprisingly held its own variety of bruises to match the jagged mark that was sure to leave a decent scar.
"While we're exposing things we might as well get the catheter out of the way." It might have been a joke but Nate wasn't seeing the humor in it as he glared at her suddenly hoping she hadn't been the one to perform the original insertion.
"I don't think so Darlin'." The smirk was back but quickly turned into a wince as she bumped his knee.
"I'm afraid it isn't an option." She didn't look very apologetic though.
"It ain't happenin'." It wasn't rude just stern.
"You wont be moving anywhere on this leg for a while, if you try you'll just cause yourself more pain and prolonge the healing time on your femur." She argued already preparing the tubing.
"I'll use a cup, I never leave the bed." The shrug was a dumb move as he regretted it immediately, feeling the fire that washed over his shoulder.
"Bruised kidneys. Sorry to put it bluntly but it'd burn less to set it on fire."
The near sardonic laugh he let out reminded Nate of some not so fond memories. "I'm sure I'll manage."
"It's your choice." The displeasure in her voice was more than evident just ignored. "Lets get your IV in and I'll be out of your way. If the weight on your shoulder gets to be too much just page me and I'll find you a sling for that arm."
Watching silently as she finished inserting the needle into its new spot on his left hand he waited for her to collect her things before turning to Eliot who was clearly fighting his eyelids to stay open.
He wanted to just allow him to fall asleep, possibly join him there for a few hours but he couldn't and when she finally left he gave voice to what needed to be said. "Eliot your sister knows about us."
"She was here?" He had been dozing but those words were a wake up call.
"Aaron too." Nate sat on the edge of the bed, so far Eliot didn't seem mad.
"You shouldn't have called them."
"Eliot she didn't take it well at all. She left here pretty pissed and I'm almost positive she hates me with a passion now." He might as well get it all out at once.
"That's great." He hurt too much and was too tired to be dealing with this. "Don't worry 'bout it. I'll talk to her after some of her anger blows over, she'll be fine."
"Aaron knows everything." It lacked tact but the man would be showing up any moment now and he couldn't really think of any other way to say it.
"What do you mean everything?" Aaron had known about them and Nate knew that, the only other everything wasn't a possibility because surely Nate wouldn't have done that to him.
"I didn't have a choice Eliot. He was in here with you and Hardison and Parker freaked out and they left me with no other options."
"What's everything?" Nate trying to justify himself was nearly cementing his suspicions but he still wanted to hear the words.
"Just what the team does."
"He knows I'm a hitter." The hurt in Eliot's voice was hurting him ten times more.
"No. Just what we've been doing since we got together as a team and I kept it really vague." He wanted to move closer but he was pretty sure at the moment Eliot would pull away.
"So he just thinks that I'm a con artist and a thug, that's much better!" His head was pounding and he wasn't sure if it was from the concussion or anger.
"Eliot I..."
"You had no right! You didn't have to say a thing, I would have handled it eventually!" His sexuality was one thing but Nate didn't even know how much trust and confidence he had broke by telling Aaron that.
"Eliot there really wasn't ..."
"It wasn't your problem! Every time Nate! Every time! I open up for you, and may I add you've still given me shit in return, I allow you to meet my family and here ya go and yet again you screw me over!" He felt like crying, over a decade of his time and effort wasted in minutes thanks to Nate.
"Eliot he doesn't think poorly of you if that's what you're thinking. He knows you're doing good." He ignored Eliot's last statement, it sounded too close to the reasons behind their last breakup and that was not something he wanted to be thinking about right now. Instead he'd try to get Eliot to believe his brother didn't see him as a heartless monster.
"GO"
"What do you mean go?" Eliot had turned away from him, or at least attempted to do so but the message behind that action was clearly heard.
"I wanna be alone."
"If there's going to be a problem it wont be with Aaron and Sarah doesn't know about the team."
"You don't get it." He shook his head slightly with a resigned sigh, Nate never did when it mattered.
"Well then explain it to me." He moved to the other side of the bed helping Eliot with the pillow that was obviously frustrating him. This would not be an easy recovery, especially not if they ended up fighting again.
"Nate," The look he was receiving was near pleading and usually he'd give in but Nate knew they needed to start sorting their problems out together instead of pretending they didn't exist.
"What am I not getting Eliot? Let me in."
"Just... Just give me some time."
"Alright" He agreed reluctantly. He wanted to smooth things over between them but Eliot was clearly exhausted and he wouldn't risk his health for their drama. "I'll be back around lunch, if you need me before that just page the nurse. I'll be close."
Eliot didn't answer as he waited to hear the door close. He wanted to blame Nate for everything including the broken fingers he was staring at but as heartless as he claimed to be he knew none of this would have happened without a few bad calls on his part. For now he'd try to figure out what he was going to do and hopefully no more obstacles would make themselves present, from this vantage point it didn't look like he'd be able to handle another.
A/N: These two give me a headache. They're more up and down than a yo-yo, lol I'll see what I can do but they're being stubborn.
As for the Sarah situation that might take awhile and we'll probably get pretty far down the road before I get that all mended up. I also sat down and mapped out a bunch of this and realized there's at least 30 chapters but I think it's gonna be closer to forty if not over, I know how ambitious that is so wish me luck with that. Hopefully I keep your interest that long, hope you enjoyed!