Two hours later, the four teenagers, though not putting the finishing touches on their project, had done all they could do as a group and despite Abby's (and, by extension Mikaela's) tension with Kyle, things were going well. That is, until she saw the news on one of the plasmas.

"In a dramatic turn of events," the dark-skinned reported declared on the screen, with countless heavily armoured SWAT swarming nervously in the background. "Here at the Virginia US Patent Office, the building has been broken into and an unknown amount of hostages are being held in the building. We'll keep you updated as the scene unfolds."

Only the Leverage team could cause that much trouble so, frustrated and nervous, she reached for her phone and earbud, subtly placing it in her ear and pretending to dial a number on her phone in order to remain inconspicuous.

"Someone please tell me that's not you in Virginia," she said as she walked away from the table. She muted the TV and flicked on another couple of news stations. All showed images of different angles of the building but the same basic scenario.

"Depends," Parker said cautiously.

"Yeah, why?" Eliot interrupted.

"'Cause it's all over the news. There are lots of cops, tanks, feds and helicopters," she relayed, her eyes flicking from screen to screen. "Is everyone okay?"

"All fine darlin'."

"The news said there were hostages?"

"We are the hostages," Sophie informed her.

"That's supposed to make me feel better?" she exclaimed, now nervously pacing around the apartment.

"And the guys with the hostages," Eliot elaborated. "We're both."

"What, what, what happened?" she returned her voice to a whisper, and looked over her shoulder towards her classmates, checking to see if they were eavesdropping. Only Kyle looked at her briefly before he looked back down at their papers spread out on the table.

"Nate," Sophie said simply. It was all the explanation Abigail needed.

"And Nate's father," Hardison chimed in. Now that peaked her curiosity.

"Nate's dad? Eliot, what's going on?" she pressed. "Does this have something to do with that phone call Nate got?"

"Probably," Sophie confessed, assuming that the phone call was either from Latimer or his father.

"Everything's okay right?" She leant against the workbench and bit her fingernail.

"Just another day at the office," Eliot reassured. "Speakin' of, how's the project goin'?"

"Fine," she replied simply, letting the whole Nate thing go. For now.

"And Kyle?" he growled. "Need me to beat his ass?" he offered and Abby wasn't entirely sure if he was serious or not.

"Or I could taise him," Parker added; this time, Abby was positive the offer was serious.

"Nah, that's okay. I can handle it and we're almost done anyway," she replied.

"You're sure? Because I haven't taised someone in ages!" The thief's enthusiasm was almost scary.

"I'm sure Parker," she laughed awkwardly. "And be careful please everyone?" she pleaded.

"Always," Eliot promised.

Abby sighed and fake hung up her phone before walking back to the table, leaving the coms and the babbling of the team in her ear. She was used to it by now; she wore an earbud a lot of the time and got used to zoning out the back ground noise of the team but, this time, she couldn't help but be distracted.

Normally she was good at compartmentalising and zoning out the team as she went about her day to day life; they all were. But there was a strange sense of worry, tension and resentment in everyone's voice that kept her listening. And the fact that Nate's father was involved, didn't instill much confidence in her.

Although she'd heard brief stories (which didn't help his image at all), Abby had never met Nate's father and she knew very little about him. What she did know that, him being involved with a job, or Nate having any sort of personal involvement in a case, was bad news for everyone involved.

So, she did try to stay distracted, honestly she did. She tried to focus her efforts on her classmates (though not on Kyle) and the work, but as, one by one they left with only Kyle remaining, she couldn't help but get sucked into yells.

"I don't need you to help," she heard an Irishman declare; who she presumed was Nate's father.

"Yeah, right okay," Nate replied sarcastically. "Maybe I should have sent the Donnelley boys instead." Abby heard slight arrogance in his voice.

"The Donnelley's are only after me because of you."

That statement honestly didn't surprise Abby, though it did intrigue her.

"That's why I sent you to Ireland."

"What the hell was I supposed to do over there? Sit on a bar stool and tell stories? Hey I'm Jimmy Ford dammit!"

"Yeah I know; you're Jimmy Ford!" Nate was patronising him now.

"I'm someone they tell stories about."

"Oh great! The great Jimmy Ford, he comes back to add to his legend huh?"

"You're damn right! I get that two million I'm a free man."

"Listen to me, old man, let me tell me something, I got news for you; there never was two million. You were never gonna get two million! The minute you walked out of this building-"

The yelling was inaudible for a moment as they both yelled over the top of each other. There were mentions of blind rage and not knowing what each other were capable of and suddenly, Abby began to understand Nate just a little better.

"I did this job for you dammit!" Jimmy yelled and the silence which followed was deafening. "Latimer was going to kill you if I didn't," he explained then mumbled, "said he would kill ya."

"I don't need you, I don't need you, I don't need you to help me with Latimer-"

"I don't care whether you need me or not, you're my son. This is what I have to do."

Nate was silent which for him meant acceptance, however resistant it may have been.

"Abby, are you okay?" Kyle asked concernedly. She hadn't realised it, but Abby's face had become solemn and her eyes emotional; the pure tension of the conversation had upset her.

"Fine Kyle," she replied bitterly, shaking the emotion of her face. "You still here?"

"Yeah, my dad's on his way," he stated, gesturing towards the door but he still looked awkward and uncomfortable. "Is this about me?" he asked after a moment of painful silence.

"Wow? Really?" she asked in disbelief as the landline rang. Abby huffed and walked over to answer it. "Hey Cora," she greeted as she picked up; the only time the landline ever rang was when Cora called directly from the bar to the apartment.

"Hey," came Cora's voice, "is Nate there?"

"No, they're all away on a job," she informed her.

"Oh, okay, because I've got a client here; they say it's urgent."

"Umm," Abby said, slightly stunned and unsure. Eliot didn't like it when she got involved in cases but she couldn't just ignore this. "I'll be right down," she decided and then hung up the phone.

She paced in a circle, biting her nail for a moment, before she finally gathered the courage to actually go and talk to them.

"We're going downstairs," Abby declared to Kyle, and gestured at him to grab his stuff.

Kyle, though with a confused look on his face, did as he was told and followed Abby out the door and down the stairs.

"Where?" Abby asked Cora, picking up an invoice preparing to do inventory, as they entered the bar. She nodded at an olive skinned man with dark hair who sat comfortably and boastfully at one of the booths.

"Wait here," she instructed Kyle and he sat down at the bar. Abby took a deep breath, brushed her hair back behind her ears and then walked over towards the table.

"Hi, I was told you needed help?" Abby asked kindly, smiling at the man as she took the seat opposite him.

"Yes," he said solemnly, and Abby couldn't help but notice the lack emotion on his face. It was then that things started to feel off and her stomach began to churn.

"You said this was an emergency," Abby confirmed prompting the man to explain, though she sensed there was going to be none.

"Yes," he said once more "I have a problem." He paused to pull a picture out of his inside jacket pocket. "These people are trying to rob me," he declared menacingly, then placed a blurry, black and white photo of the team down on the table.