The Rewind Job, Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters.

Recap:

Nate watched the emotions on the hitter's face and a part of him wanted to reach out to the man, to his friend. But Eliot's body was coiled so tightly that Nate didn't dare to move, much less touch him.

When Eliot spoke again, he had schooled his features, a mask of indifference firmly in place, his voice emotionless. "I gave up guns after that, in part because I couldn't fully control the weapon, couldn't stop a bullet after the trigger was pulled, but mostly because I didn't care anymore. And I walked away from Damien. I assumed he'd kill me before he let me walk away. I think he decided that it would be a greater punishment to let me live with what I'd done. He was right. So when he wouldn't put me out of my misery, I started taking the most dangerous jobs I could find." A mirthless smile crossed the hitter's face. "But my survival instinct was too strong. I just couldn't let myself be taken out, no matter how badly I wanted it."

Chapter 14

Nate and Eliot had sat in silence on the roof for close to an hour after the hitter's confession. The tension in the hitter's body seemed to gradually ease until finally he relaxed enough that his head bobbed. When Eliot's eyes snapped back open and he looked cautiously around trying to get his bearings, Nate suggested that they go back inside and get some sleep. As the mastermind headed toward the door to the roof, Eliot let out an exhausted sigh and rose to follow.

The next morning, Sophie entered Nate's apartment warily unsure of what she would find. She had already been to Eliot's room and noted that while the retrievalist was not there, some of his personal effects still were. She was surprised to find Eliot moving gingerly around Nate's apartment cleaning up Nate's mess from the last two days. She was about to ask where the man was when she heard the unmistakable sound of retching coming from the bathroom.

Turning to Eliot she inquired, "Eliot, are you feeling better?"

"I'm feeling a whole lot better than Nate is this morning?" Eliot quipped.

"So I hear. " A part of Sophie felt sorry for Nate, while the other part felt some small satisfaction at his obviously wicked hangover after the way he had acted the last two days. Hearing Eliot grunt as he leaned down to pick an abandoned kitchen towel up from the floor, Sophie fluttered to his side. "Eliot, you shouldn't be doing that…here let me…"

"I'm fine, Soph…" Eliot stopped short at Sophie's expression that told him in no uncertain terms that she knew he was not fine. "At least I will be…I'm ok, Sophie." He patted her arm reassuringly. "I need to start moving around more anyway…work some of the soreness out."

Both of their attention was drawn toward the bathroom door as the team's mastermind stumbled out with a groan.

"Nate, look at you." Sophie chastised, taking in the man's pale face and rumpled clothes.

"Sshhhh." Nate whispered. "Not so loud."

Sophie huffed, her hands on her hips. "Maybe you'll remember how bad this feels the next time you….." She trailed off at Nate's glare.

"I don't need a lecture, Sophie," Nate grumbled. "I just need some water and some aspirin."

"You need some food in your stomach too," Eliot pointed out. "What do you want?" Then with an evil grin he added, "I could order some takeout, Chinese maybe."

Nate's hand flew to his mouth as he gagged and turned back toward the bathroom, cursing Eliot under his breath.

Eliot looked at Sophie and shrugged his shoulders. The innocent look he gave her was the grifter's undoing and she started laughing despite herself. When she finally calmed, she wagged a finger at the team's hitter as she headed toward the kitchen, "Really Eliot…that was so mean. Let's have an omelet, shall we?"

After their omelets were eaten, the kitchen cleaned, and Nate settled on the couch with a bottle of water, his coveted aspirin, and an ice pack for his forehead, Eliot excused himself, assuring Nate and Sophie that he was only going to one of his safe houses to recover and that he'd need a week before Nate could pick another case for the team.

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One week later….

Eliot let himself into Nate's apartment with a couple of bags of groceries. He was a little early for the team meeting about their new case, but the hitter doubted Nate would mind since Eliot planned to make dinner for the group. After placing the groceries on the counter, Eliot wandered toward the couch where Nate sat with a cup of coffee in one hand and what looked like a photo album in his lap. Sitting down beside his friend, he grinned at the pictures on the page. "Sam was a cute kid," he offered.

"Yeah," Nate answered with a wistful smile.

"You know, he and that little red tricycle saved your life once." Eliot commented, pointing to the tricycle in the picture.

At that, the mastermind looked at Eliot and arched an eyebrow.

"After that Dublin fiasco," Eliot clarified. "Man, I had every intention of paying you back in full until I saw you pushing Sam…saw how happy he was. I decided to let you off the hook that time."

Nate looked at Eliot curiously. "The things we learn," he muttered, before a Cheshire cat grin graced his face. "Oh, by the way Eliot, you ah…said some things while you were concussed."

"What kind of things?" Eliot cautiously asked.

"Well, you ah…had a flashback or something…introduced yourself to us using your real name – Eliot S. McLean." When the look on Eliot's face turned all business, Nate quickly added, "Don't worry, I convinced Hardison not to do any background checks using that name, but I'm sure he's going to try to have some fun with you about it. "

Eliot relaxed, leaning back on the sofa and kicking his feet up onto the coffee table, much to Nate's displeasure. "He can rag me all he wants, but I still get the last laugh," Eliot said smugly. At Nate's questioning look, he explained, "That's not even my real name."

This time Nate arched both eyebrows.

"I mean…it's my legal name," Eliot clarified, "but it's not the name my Mama and Daddy gave me."

At that, Nate gave Eliot a look that said there was no way the hitter could stop his explanation there.

Eliot crossed his arms over his chest and sighed. He knew Nate would respect his privacy and not tell the others, but he'd kept himself at a certain distance from people for years. He wasn't used to opening up to anyone and he'd done a whole lot of that in the last couple of weeks. "My parents were killed in a car wreck when I was ten. After the accident, my maternal grandfather adopted my sister and me. He had two daughters and no sons and wanted a namesake. My father had been half Cherokee, part of the Eastern Cherokee band. My grandfather had never approved of Mama marrying him anyway and so he changed our names. My sister didn't mind because she'd been teased about her "injun" name at our last school. I was furious." Eliot shook his head and chuckled, "I was a burr under that man's saddle from that day on…anyway…Hardison can have his fun, but I'll still get the last laugh."

Nate was about to reply when with a loud bang and an "Oops" Parker fell halfway through the ceiling vent above Nate and Eliot's heads.

"Parker!" the mastermind and hitter growled in unison.

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The End. I hope you enjoyed.