A/N: Sorry this took so long! Its also on the shorter side, but the next chapter should be a big one, and I wanted to cut off here. I've got a whole lot going on right now, and a whole lot of Eliot/Parker pieces in the work, so be on the look-out for those! Should be up sometime this weekend.

Eliot had sat on the carpeted floor with his legs crossed, and he pulled the still mostly unresponsive thief into his lap. He tucked her head under his chin, and ran a hand through her hair soothingly. He'd never seen her so upset, even when that phony psychic had brought up her brother it had been mostly anger, not this sort of all-consuming agony.

"Parker, Darlin', come back. You've gotta calm down or I can't help you," He spoke softly, but her chest still heaved, and her entire being was trembling violently. Without letting her go, he reached a hand into his pocket and pulled out his cellphone and dialed Hardison.

"Hey man, what's up?" the hacker was clearly already in the middle of those dumb video games he played so often, Eliot could tell from his distracted tone, and it took all of his self-control not to shout at the idiot because really? He was acting like a child, but meanwhile, Parker's son was missing.

"Hardison, this is important. Can you tap into the security feed in Parker's apartment building?" Eliot was totally not in the mood for small talk, and he knew that the hacker would have no problem with the small task but phrasing it as a question would make the younger man more likely to comply without question.

Apparently Hardison got the seriousness of the issue, because when he replied, he sounded infinitely more focused, "Yeah sure, that's no problem, it's a basic system, keep logs on the system for a week or so, but why?" From the tapping and clicking Eliot knew Hardison was already on it.

"See if you can find anything suspicious around Parker's apartment between oh uh, ten pm last night and eight am this morning. Cooper is missing, Parker thinks he was kidnapped." Not waiting for a reply, he snapped the phone shut and tossed it on the ground next to him. Talking to the hacker would only distract him from the task at hand, and it was most important that they get whatever leads they could.

"Parker, I need you to calm down," he tried again, still rubbing soothing circles on her back, "Cooper needs you to calm down," he reminded her softly, hesitantly, he didn't know what would make it worse and what would help her settle. She was crazy after all, and that was mostly good but she was entirely unpredictable.

With a shaky intake of breath, she seemed to have come back, "Eliot," her voice was raspy and cracked softly as she pulled away from his chest a little. "Eliot they have him. He has him. I tried," her lip was quivering and the hitter could tell that she was on the verge of breaking down again.

"No. No. We're going to get him. What can you tell me? Who has Cooper? Who is 'he'?" Eliot asked quickly, trying to keep Parker focused on something other than the crushing fear.

"No," Parker shook her head, "You don't understand," she wasn't sure when the realization had hit her, but she knew exactly who had her son. It was painfully obvious. And the knowledge wasn't comforting in the least. Not with the intimate insight she had into his ways.

"So explain it to me, Parks. I want to help. Give me something that I can go on. This is what I did for a living for years, Darlin''." He was surprised by how close to desperate his own voice sounded. No child deserved to go through something like that, but this wasn't just any child, this was Parker's son. His Parker. Or at least she had been.

"Kent Matson. Remember him?" Parker choked out, unsure of if Eliot would, and unsure of how much he would pry. She didn't know what was worse, admitting to Eliot that she was an unfit mother after he'd already revealed he didn't think she'd be able to handle it, or the possibility of revealing why she had left.

"That's…" Eliot trailed off, the name was familiar, so familiar but he couldn't place it, and then it dawned on him. "Parker," his voice was so soft the thief could hardly hear it crack. "Don't tell me he…" Eliot could hardly bring himself to say it. "Kent Matson, he's the mark we were working on when you were kidnapped."

She nodded, "it wasn't just kidnap," she choked, curling her knees to her chest, tucking herself into a ball before she finished, "he's Cooper's father." Parker was in tears again, and while Eliot couldn't blame her, it made the realization that much more painful. Rape. Kent Matson the mark who had eluded them had raped his Parker and had gotten her pregnant.

"He knows about Cooper?" Eliot frowned, "Is that why you left? You didn't want to tell us?" He wasn't just burning with hatred, that fact alone stung deeply. He had thought Parker had trusted him.

"Eliot, please," she hiccuped, so worked up that she couldn't even cry. "I can't do this right now. I need to get him back." Even after give years she hadn't been able to tell Eliot while perfectly calm, she certainly couldn't talk about it now.

"I'm sorry," he replied, pressing a kiss into her hair. "I have to tell them though," she knew he meant the team. "Not that he's Cooper's father or that, but they have to know who we're dealing with. They can help."

She nodded and finally managed to pick herself up out of Eliot's lap. "It's okay. Tell them whatever you need to in order to get him back," Eliot knew she'd be okay. The agonizing shock had passed, and all that was left was a white hot, perfectly calm hatred and determination.

He had already screamed his throat raw and each slightly gasping breath hurt. Cooper wasn't afraid of the dark, and he'd never been afraid of small spaces, but the men had tossed him into some tiny box and he could hardly lift his arms much less move around. He'd never been in anything like it. The air vents and the tunnels restricted movement but he was still able to scoot around, able to escape and in there, the tiny box, he was stuck.

He tried to blink, but his one eye was swollen shut, and as his fingers searched the walls for any amount of weakness he could tell that the man's strong grip on his wrists had left bruises. He knew he had to have faith that Eliot would find him, but he couldn't help but wonder if they'd be too late, because the box kind of started to feel like it was collapsing in on him. And it was getting harder and harder to breathe. He tried to listen though, he could hear them talking outside of the box, Parker this and Parker that. He knew they were talking about his mom, but over his own breathing he couldn't tell what they were saying.

He hoped she was alright, and secretly, inside that box he hoped that Eliot rescued her first. He was strong, he was okay. A box wasn't so bad, but he couldn't help but worry about his mother. There was no guarantee that she was equally okay. He knew this was what she was afraid of; he'd heard her calling out in her sleep. When they were home and she had nightmares, he always crawled into her bed and snuggled in real close, but he couldn't do that now. Maybe if only he had screamed a little louder she would have woken up…

When the team finally arrived at her apartment, all of their equipment packed up from the hotel ready to set up shop at her place. Sophie had hovered and worried and hovered more. "Parker you should eat something." "Parker if you need anything," but the thief couldn't bring herself to speak to the woman. She loved Sophie, she really did, but Parker knew if she talked it would come out sounding like blame. It was no coincidence that Cooper had been kidnapped the same day she'd run into her old team. Kent must have had eyes on them, waiting for them to lead him to her, but she knew Sophie wasn't really at fault. Neither was Nate or Hardison or Eliot. So she kept her mouth shut as Hardison clacked away at his computer, and Nate made phone calls to contacts in the area and Eliot just bristled on the couch next to her, fighting the urge to pace.

"Hardison, I know you're trying but can't you go any faster?" Sophie remarked, equally impatient. She was perched on the arm of the leather chair that Nate was sitting in, her foot tapping a staccato beat into the floor.

"Woman, I am going as fast as I can. I've got some footage of the man entering her apartment but I don't have a clear shot of his face and I'm trying to shift through Kent Matson's files and such but so far nothing links him to the area," Hardison replied, his fingers never hesitating, his eyes focused on the screen intently. "Aha, I've got a warehouse linked to a dead alias of his, address is on your phone, Eliot, go."

Eliot was up in a heartbeat, grabbing for his keys and jacket before most could blink, and so he wasn't quite sure how Parker managed to get in-between him and the door in that amount of time. "I want to go with you," he knew that she was going to say that, but it didn't make him any less uncomfortable.

"No, Parker, are you sure that's a good idea?" It was her son, he couldn't really say no, but he raised an eyebrow, clearly concerned. "I don't want you to do something you'll regret. You have to be able to keep a cool head."

Parker shook her head, "I'm going, let's go, now." She turned and walked out the front door, not even bothering with her coat or keys, and Eliot followed after her, close on her heels, the worried expression glued to his face.

The warehouse address was only fifteen minutes away, but with Parker shifting and tapping her foot and the tiny whimpers that she thought he couldn't hear, those made it seem like an eternity. She was out of the truck before he'd even pulled to a complete stop, and it was half a miracle that he managed to catch her before she busted through the front door of the warehouse.

"Parker," he spoke sharply, "we can't just waltz in there. Not if it's where they're keeping him. We don't know what they want with him, he could be disposable," his stomach churned with guilt just for suggesting the idea, and the look of horror that spread across her face was like a punch to the solar plexus.

"See if you can find another way in, I'll scope the building. Do not. Go in. Without my okay," he instructed firmly, hoping she'd take his expertise in retrieving as fact and he handed her one of the extra ear buds and they split up.

It was just a course examination, but he could count four vans that matched the description of the one Hardison had spotted on the security footage. But something didn't feel right. He had no idea what it was, but his stomach rolled in that way it always did when there were sniper crosshairs on him, or when he could feel the slight hitch of a pressure bomb engaging. He could hear Parker's soft sniffs over the com, and he was fairly certain she forgot what it was like to have the team listening in, but in this case it didn't matter much. She was beyond being able to control her emotions.

Eliot swung around to the far side of the building structure, watching a few cars move around but nothing really caught his eye much. He was certain that none of the drivers were a problem.

"Eliot, I found an intake vent, I already pulled the grate off, can I go in?" he heard over the ear bud, and he paused to consider all of the possible scenarios. The way he always did. He thought quickly, but he tried to always think before he acted.

"Yeah, but don't leave the air duct until I've said so, and make sure you're not seen," the hitter relocated to a position with easy access to the door, and he could hear the thief snaking her way through the ventilation.

"Eliot," the desperate tone worried him, "Eliot," she repeated more frantically this time, and he busted through the front door just as she clarified and his eyes widened dramatically. Of all the things he had imagined, this was not one of them, and he just stood in blank silence, unable to hear the other team members calling his name, demanding an explanation. His stomach rolled as he turned to Parker who was dropping out of the air vent.

Empty.

The warehouse was entirely empty. They had the wrong place.