Title: P is for Promises
Prompt by: rockerbaby423
Pairing/Characters: Eliot/Parker, Nate
Rating: PG/PG-13
Setting: non-specific
Word Count: 594
His breaths came in short ragged bursts as he gripped his friends hand and bit back the pain long enough to speak.
"You gotta go, just leave me" he forced out, but Nate firmly shook his head.
"No way, Eliot, we're a team" he promised him, "More then that, we're..."
"You gotta..." the hitter struggled, wincing as another wave of pain crashed over him, "You gotta tell Parker... wasn't her fault" he coughed, "Tell her... I love her"
"Don't talk like you're going anywhere, Spencer" Nate told him with a very forced smile, "because you're not"
Laboured breathing and far too much blood followed before Eliot could speak again.
"Nate, promise me" he begged him, "Promise me, you'll tell her, if I can't"
With tears in his eyes he couldn't help and tyres screeching in the distance, Nate gripped Eliot's hand tighter still and nodded his head.
"I promise" he swore.
That was good enough for Eliot as he allowed his eyes to close at last.
She hadn't moved for hours, maybe days by now, but Parker barely noticed. All she saw or heard was Eliot, his chest rising and falling with each shallow breath, the monitor bleeping regularly to prove his heart was still beating.
The team had told her it wasn't her fault - Sophie, Hardison, especially Nate - they all insisted and told her Eliot would too when he woke up... if he woke up.
"You can't leave me now" she said with tears in her eyes, laying both her hands on top of his, "I lost too many people already, I can't... Not you" she told him, her voice breaking to nothing and crying hard by now as she let her head drop onto the edge of the bed.
She hadn't been that way very long when she felt movement, the soft touch of light fingers against her hair. Parker was startled but thrilled as she lifted herself up and realised that Eliot was awake at last.
"You're back" she grinned so wide, her face threatened to split in half, but that was okay, because Eliot was here.
Like an excited child, she ran out in the hall to grab Nate, and immediately he sent her down to the cafeteria to fetch Sophie and Hardison who had gone for snacks. Parker did as he asked, but not without looking back just once to see the hitter with his eyes open again, something she had started to fear would never happen.
"I did tell you that you weren't going anywhere" said Nate as he came to sit by Eliot's bed, a smile on his face that wouldn't shift.
"You always gotta be right" he whispered hoarsely, though his eyes were still on the door that swung in the wake of an excited Parker.
Nate followed his eyeline and smiled wider.
"I kept my promise, Eliot" he said, finally getting his attention, "I told her none of this was her fault, we all did" he assured him, "but I didn't say anything else. After all, I did only promise to tell her if you couldn't, and now you can" he said as Parker came rushing back into the room, with Sophie and Hardison on her heels.
As awful as it would've sounded, he still only saw Parker as she returned to his side and grabbed up his hand in both of hers.
"I'm back" she told him, "And I'm not leaving you again until you're better, I promise"
Right now, that was all Eliot needed to hear.
