A/N: Well, well, well-It's come a long way from that little one shot, hasn't it? Here's Chapter 4, and I hope you enjoy it. I think there's one more chapter left. We'll see.

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Chapter 4

Eliot shook his head. "I can't."

"I'm asking because it appears you have been exposed to organophosphate poisoning, and I need to know what kind."

Nerve gas!? Just wait until he got his hands on Zilgrim and Conrad now.

All he said was, "Nerve gas? Huh. I can probably find out what kind. Does it matter to the treatment?"

He took out his cell phone again, and scrolled to another contact on the list, and then sent a quick text message.

"No, the treatment is about the same for all of them, but the side effects of the treatment are worse with some than others. I would like to alleviate those for you as much as possible."

"I've asked a buddy in the business. I'll let you know what he says."

"All right. What will you tell your friends?"

"I would rather not worry them. When I get hurt, they get a look about them, like they—well, not exactly like they pity me, but like they feel guilty. None of this is their fault, and I don't want to burden them with it. I'd rather go back to my house, and get better, and then come back to the team."

"And how do you think they'll feel about that? They feel guilty because they aren't sure how else to feel. Most of the time, you are taking the hits so they don't have to, so when you get hurt, you can't blame them for thinking, however briefly, that it should have been one of them. Allowing them to help you, no matter how hard it is for you, is allowing them to say Thank You for what you do for them. They need that, and you need it, too, whether or not you want to admit it to yourself."

"So what's the treatment?"

Before his friend had a chance to answer, Eliot darted across the small room with lightning speed, picked up the trash can sitting next to the desk, and emptied the contents of his stomach into it, not that there was much to empty, since he hadn't joined the team for supper. When he was sure he had finished, he moved to the laundry sink and washed himself off.

"You did the right thing taking a shower and changing clothes."

"You'll need to gather up all of the clothes I was wearing, including my shoes, and throw them out."

"Shouldn't I burn them?"

"Not unless you'd like to expose yourself as well. Put them in a bag, seal it up, and I'll ask my buddy how we need to dispose of them when he calls me back. Wear gloves to do it, and don't let them touch any other part of you."

Just then his phone rang. Eliot didn't say much, he just listened, mostly, but the sensei could tell that the voice on the other end was highly agitated—and heavily controlled. Finally, Eliot said, "Yes. Which one was it? All right, we'll look at both. Thank you. Above McRory's bar. Apartment 2A. I'll explain later. No, now don't come bustin' in here, scaring everybody. I'll text you and let you know. How should we dispose of my clothes? All right. Thanks. I will. Bye."

"What did your friend say?"

"Said it sounds like Sarin, but you should look at VX as well. He's bringing by some medicine that will help in either case, and will take my clothes with him when he goes, and dispose of them."

"You lie down over here, and keep that trash can close to you in case you need it. I am going to write a prescription for the drugs I need. Do you think your friends would be willing to pick them up from the pharmacy on the way back?"

"Yes. Will you sit with us while I explain it to them, in case they have questions?"

"Of course. I will not leave you until you no longer have need of me. You cannot treat this yourself."

Eliot picked up his Hardison-issue cell phone, and asked Nate to stop by a pharmacy while his friend used his other phone to call in the prescriptions he needed.

"Are you finished?" Nate asked. Eliot knew what he was really asking, "Are you ready for us to come back?"

Smiling, Eliot said, "Nate, if this had been what I thought it was, you wouldn't need to be stopping at a pharmacy. We'll explain everything when you get here. Are you still eating?"

"No. We just walked out. We'll stop by the pharmacy and be there soon."

"All right. Thank you, Nate. I owe you one."

(0o0)

Four chairs had been pulled into what had been affectionately dubbed the sick room, just since yesterday, and Eliot was sitting on the bunk, while his friend sat in the desk chair, preparing the IV he would use to treat Eliot. They faced Parker, Hardison, Sophie, and Nate.

"This is my friend, Master Yu. He's a Naturopathic physician, which means he has studied both Western-style medicine, and the remedies of the far East. I called him for help this afternoon because I was having trouble sleeping last night, and then I experienced blurred vision, tremors, and a loss of breath for just a moment on the job this afternoon. I thought it was just that my body had gotten into the habit of not sleeping, since I wasn't able to sleep for a week when I was in that cell at the school, and Master Yu is very good at helping people re-adjust their sleep rhythms. When he looked to see what the problem was, he actually found something very different. In the course of the experiment, they apparently released Sarin into at least some of those cells, which means the other veterans will need to be tested for exposure as well."

"Sarin?" Hardison asked.

"It's an organophosphate." When the hacker still looked confused, he said, "Nerve gas. I'm gonna ask Master Yu to draw a sample of your blood, too, Hardison. You could have been exposed to it while I was treating you."

"Oh, no! No, no, no." The hacker stood up and moved toward the door, but found Nate blocking it. The mastermind put his hand on the young man's shoulder and spun him around, pushing him into the chair directly behind him.

The hacker's eyes were pleading and his voice sounded a little bit like that of a small child when he said, "Eliot, will you do it?"

Eliot bit back a smile, and he and Master Yu exchanged glances. Master Yu nodded.

Eliot readied his materials, then glanced at Hardison, whose eyes were wide and who was turning more pale by the moment. "Give me your arm and look at Nate," he growled. Under his breath, he added, "focus on controlling your breathing. If you don't move or flinch, I won't hurt you." Then, to distract Hardison's attention, Eliot said, "So, tell me about dinner, Nate. What kind of restaurant was it?"

Knowing what Eliot was doing, but also knowing that he was probably genuinely interested, Nate launched into a fairly extensive diatribe about the meal, the service, and the atmosphere of the restaurant in which they had had dinner. By the time he finished, and Hardison thought to glance back over at Eliot, the second vial was almost full. When he saw it, he grew pale again, and Eliot growled, "I said, 'look at Nate'." Swallowing hard, Hardison did, and a moment later, Eliot withdrew the needle and bandaged his arm. Sitting back in the bunk, Eliot looked hard at the hacker, but his voice was mild when he said, "You, my friend, don't like needles. Next time, you need to tell the person drawing your blood that. As you saw, there are things they can do to help, but not everyone knows you well enough to gauge the situation properly." Hardison nodded, as a dark blush crept up his face. Eliot dropped him a wink to soften his words, and Nate squeezed his shoulder.

While Master Yu was doing the same tests on Hardison's blood that he had done on Eliot's, Eliot looked at Nate, and Nate spoke up.

"So you've been exposed to nerve gas. What does that mean?"

"It means when I get my hands on Conrad and Zilgrim, I'm gonna break 'em in half."

"It means," said Master Yu, "that he was exposed to a poison that is attacking the central nervous system of his body. The more a person is exposed, the more it builds up in that person's system. It causes tremors, headache, nausea and related symptoms, sweats, shortness of breath, and even death, if a person is exposed to enough of it. From what I can determine, it was only released into the cells for about a day before he got out of there, but they released a lot, so he's had a moderate exposure. It is still possible that we can reverse most, if not all, of the symptoms, if we begin treating it right away, which we will do as soon as I finish this."

"Nate, if you would like for me to go back to my place while the treatment is going on, I don't mind. It won't be very pleasant for any of us."

Nate almost looked hurt, and Eliot noted to himself that Master Yu might not have been far off when he said they needed to do this. For him.

"Like it's been pleasant for you to have to clean us up when we are hurt. We're in this together, Eliot. If you are truly more comfortable at your place, because of that part of your brain that doesn't allow you to feel safe sometimes, then do what you need to do, but if you are doing it to spare us, please don't. We can handle it, and we want to be here for you the same way you are always here for us."

Truth be told, Eliot thought he would be more comfortable at his own place, simply because he would feel as though he was in a fishbowl here, with people popping in and out to check on him all the time, but he would never say that now that he understood how much it meant to them to be able to have him close by. He guessed this was part of what it meant to be a little more than a team, and as much as he was trying not to admit it to himself, it was kind of nice. He didn't let what he was thinking show on his face, though, and his voice was gruff when he said, "All right. Let's get this show on the road. How does your newest blood sample look, Master?"

Master Yu smiled and said, "Hardison, your blood doesn't show any signs of exposure. Congratulations. Perhaps, you could help your boss here track down some of the other veterans and bring them back here for blood tests. We need to do that as quickly as possible, before they expose others, and so we can see how widespread this thing is."

"Right away."