"What's happening people?" she asked, ensuring that she was perky as she barged through Nate's apartment door; they didn't need to know what she'd done. The look on Eliot's face however was evidence that he had found out and that he wasn't happy. "Dammit."

"Mhmm," Eliot mumbled with his arms crossed. "Didn't count on the school callin' did ya?"

Actually, she had counted on it; the main reason she had left her phone and earbud in her locker was because she knew the second Eliot got a call about her missing class he'd have Hardison track her. What she hadn't counted on was them tracking the car she was driving.

"No," she replied simply.

"You wanna tell me why you skipped out on school?" Eliot asked. Of course, they all already knew why she had done what she'd done, but she (probably) didn't know that, so Eliot was letting her win back a little trust. A little.

"But we alrea-" Parker began but was interrupted by Sophie gripping her arm.

"Went to see my dad," she said simply, still standing in the middle of the room. The empty space around her was uncomfortable and she fiddled with her fingers and was twisting her leg nervously.

"You didn't have to skip out on school to do that Abby," Eliot stated, raising his voice ever so slightly. "You didn't have to hide it from me, I told you that! You didn't even have to ask me, you just had to tell me you wanted to meet him-"

"Alec didn't tell you what was in the file, did he?" she asked rhetorically, looking over at the hacker.

Eliot gave Hardison a death glare and the hacker did his best to shrug it off. Abby shook her head in disbelief, walked over to the bench opposite the plasmas and opened up the files on her father.

"That's why I went to see him," she declared, pointing at the section of the file which implicated her father as an embezzler.

The team, squinting their eyes, took a second to read the file and a few seconds more to process the information and, as much as they had an opinion on the matter, they left the talking to Eliot.

"You skipped out on school Abby!" Eliot yelled.

"Um, hello, someone stealing from innocent children." Abby pointed back at the screen.

"Then what? Did'y go blackmail him?"

"What? No!" she yelled back.

"Then tell me what was so important that you had to skip out on school-"

"You keep getting hung up on that," she moaned.

"Had to skip out on school," Eliot tried again. "To go and see your embezzling father, not blackmail him, and not tell me?"

"I'm confused," Parker whispered to Hardison. "Is he or isn't he happy she didn't blackmail him?"

"Is Parker," Eliot replied for the hacker, without turning to face her.

"We had a deal Abby, remember? We gotta be honest if this is going to work."

"I went there to tell him to stop," she declared, in a barely audible whisper.

"What?" Parker 'whispered' to Hardison.

Abby cleared her throat. "I went there to ask him to stop," she said again. "Asked, just asked him to reconsider what he was doing."

"Why?" Eliot asked softly.

"Because he has a son. Because one day the cops are going to catch up with him. And because one day that'll leave him without a father, and he's not gonna know why." The last words were barely audible as she burst into tears and collapsed on the floor.

Eliot immediately jumped forward to comfort her and nodded at the rest of the team to leave. They did so quietly, slipping out the door before Abby even noticed.

"Abby," he reassured, stroking her hair lightly.

"I just don't understand," she sobbed.

"What darlin'?"

She couldn't answer; she didn't know.

"Well, if it means anything, other than skippin' school, I'm proud of you. Your mama would be proud too."

The words soothed her slightly, but she still said nothing.

"Can you sing?" she finally asked, reverting back to her childhood ways.

Eliot pulled her closer and began to sing, just like he had done so many times when she was a child.

"Every soul

comes to this earth

carried on angels wings

to human birth.

Born of love

or born of hate

each one is heaven sent

to human fate.

Dream...little girl dream

Dream...little boy dream

dream.."

Aww, poor Abby all lost and confused.

The song, btw, Time and Space by the Cinematic Orchestra

Honestly though, I was unsure about this chapter, so what'd you guys think?