"You're safe!" Parker yelled, giving a leaping hug to Abby as she walked through the door of Nate's apartment.

"I'm fine Parker. Just a little uh, sore," she hinted.

"Oh, right," the thief said, gently releasing her grip from the girl.

Abby smiled in thanks as Eliot stormed into the room and walked over to the fridge, pulling out a cold beer in an attempt to nurse his problems.

"What happened?" Hardison enquired, realising it couldn't have been the accident that had gotten Eliot so riled.

"I don't want to talk about it," she replied before settling down on the couch, pulling a book from her bag. Sophie looked quizzical, clearly something more than a fender bender had happened but there was something in Abby's tone of voice that said to Sophie that she really shouldn't press the girl. Something which Sophie found odd for the girl, which only caused her to be more concerned.

And so, Sophie and the rest of the team left her alone, instead pressing Eliot for more answers.

"Not for me to tell Hardison," Eliot said to the hacker, preparing the night's meal and knocking back another brew.

"Eliot," Hardison pressed. "What happened?"

"If Abby wants to talk about it, she'll talk about it," the hitter reiterated and, seeing the hacker open his mouth to ask more questions, continued. "Hardison, drop it," he warned.

The hacker took the not so subtle hint and backed off.

"Just let us know if you need anything," he offered, then walked back to his computer.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Alec?" Abby asked that evening, looking up from her book for the first time since dinner at Hardison who was carefully rummaging through files on his computer.

"'Sup?" he asked, without looking away from the screen.

"Can you, uh, look up a name for me?" she asked timidly.

"Ace, I don't think Eliot woul..."

"Please," the teenager pleaded. "I really need this."

"What's the name?"

"Steven Case," she stated and the hacker typed the name into his laptop, opened up a few files and handed it over to Abby.

"Knock yourself out."

She read over the information intensely; Steven Brian Case, 35, born in New York, raised in Oklahoma, went to Harvard on a football scholarship, played a few seasons before moving on to working for the Boston Red Sox where he eventually became their manager. He was married five years ago to Layla Cortez with one child, a three year old boy named Christopher.

"I have a brother," she muttered to herself.

She then moved onto his police records; arrested several times for underage drinking, once for a DUI and once for possession. He also had several speeding fines and had been written up numerous times for reckless driving. Go figures.

Then she looked at his financials; he earned quite a bit and spent a disproportionate amount of it on alcohol but mostly it looked clean. Mostly.
There were several unconventional deposits of cash into one of his accounts; odd amounts, 1043 dollars here, 1562 dollars there but, all in all, adding up to around 100,000.

"I have an asshole of a father," she finally concluded, before closing up the searches and shutting the hacker's computer.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Everything alright Eliot?" Sophie asked the hitter as he sat at the kitchen bench reading while she made herself a cup of tea.

Eliot sat silently for a moment then turned the book over, readjusted his seat and looked up at Sophie. This must be serious, Sophie thought.

"The guy who rammed into Abby today was her father," he said simply, but quietly, trying to make sure the others did not overhear. Sophie nearly missed pouring the hot liquid into her mug; she had not been expecting that.

"Her biological father?" she confirmed, grabbing a cloth to wipe up the water which had not made it into the cup.

"Yeah."

"I don't know much about him," she noted. "What was the situation between him and her mother?"

"Hayley got pregnant at sixteen, he was a college kid who expected a one night stand and treated it like it was one. He didn't care and he didn't want anything to do with them," he explained as Sophie could sense in his voice the massive disdain he felt towards the man.

"Has he ever met her before?"

"At her mother's funeral, he didn't even remember her name and she never who he was," Eliot explained. "Even today he didn't know who she was 'till he saw her name," he scoffed.

"Did she-"

"She didn't know until I told her," he interrupted.

"So what specifically is the issue?"

"I saw the way he looked at her; he wants in on her life."

"Maybe that's not such a bad thing," Sophie suggested, blowing on her tea and taking a tentative sip.

"The guy's a drunk and a gambling addict. It's bad enough that she's got us and Nate as role models, but him too? It ain't happening."

"That's not really your choice Eliot," Sophie said softly. "Parties, drinking, conning and dating you have an input, but her father, that's another story."

"He's not good Sophie."

"She's smart, she'll figure that out for herself," the grifter suggested. "But she needs to be the one to figure that out, because that'll help her figure out who she is." Eliot looked confused, to his knowledge, Abigail knew who she was. "She's a teenager; they're all figuring themselves out at this age," Sophie explained. "And she's been a little… off lately Eliot."

"I know," he agreed then turned back to his book; a clear indication that the conversation was done.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I'm going to shower and hop to bed," Abby informed her uncle almost immediately after arriving in their apartment.

"'Kay," Eliot replied, taking off his jacket and placing his keys on the counter as she quickly walked down the hall to her room. "Abby," he yelled out.

"Yeah," she replied tiredly, turning around and leaning against the wall.

"I don't like your father," he declared, though the moment he said it he realised it probably wasn't the best way to start. "But he is your father and if you want to have a relationship with him, that's okay. All you gotta do is say so."

Abby kicked her leg softy against the floor. "Okay," she replied softly, then turned back and made her way to the shower.

The relief she felt when she finally stepped into the shower was instantaneous, for her body at least, soothing the already forming bruise along her shoulder from the seat belt. Her mind, on the other hand, was less appeased.

She felt lost.

And the more she had learnt about her family, the more confused she became. She used to know who she was and what she wanted; everything fit. But now, as the true pieces of her life and life in general revealed themselves to her, she was less certain.

Response for the last chapter was amazing! Thanks friends.

I should introduce unexpected family members more often.

Next, aside from the whole father/abby/discovery arc, I'm thinking the Queen's Gambit job. Any objections?