Chapter 9

The next day Nate was moved into his own room, the scan and other tests had shown that there was no damage to the brain from the blow to the head. His leg was healing well as were the wounds the bear had given him, and the antibiotics were doing their job clearing up the infection and all in all the doctor was happy with his progress. Sophie and the others had come in to see him that morning and he was sure they would be waiting in his room when he got there.

He was transferred after rounds at eight in the morning and ensconced in a wonderfully comfortable private suite which was usually reserved for those rich patients who were in for some cosmetic surgery or the other, Nate was sure that Hardison had arranged it so that they could all comfortably spend their days there until he was given permission to leave which he hoped would be sooner rather than later.

Shortly after the doctor and nurses had left his crew trooped in and he watched them all. He really did feel more for these people that he should he thought, when he had taken that first job, it was just a job, a way to get more money so that he could spend his days drinking and hoping not to wake up in the morning. They had given him a reason to wake up, and he had fully realised that when they had backed him on the Bonano case, they had followed him despite the fact that he had gone completely off the rails, Sophie had come back for him, to save him, and he had accepted who and what he had become and accepted that they had become more than his team. He had meant every word he had said on that boat.

"Hey there." Sophie said brining him out of his reverie

"Hey Sophie." He smiled at her. "Guys."

"Hey Nate, you are looking good." Hardison said, it was the first time he had seen the man not having had a chance to see him when he was in ICU.

"Nate…" Parker said bouncing up to his bed smiling broadly.

"So the doctor said he should be able to discharge me in a few days." Nate said, he would like to go home right now and if it weren't for them he would probably have signed himself out AMA.

"That's good, but Nate you do know that you are going to be, well incapacitated for at least a few weeks, until that cast comes off and even after until you are stronger."

"Yeah." He smiled at her, he knew what she was saying, she was asking him to let them take care of him, something he was not good at doing.

Two days later Nate was situated in a safehouse with the rest of his team back in Boston. They had decided not to take him home because the place was not suited to somebody who needed crutches to get around and besides, they all wanted to stay together until Nate was able to take care of himself again. He had wanted to object but had kept silent, this was what they needed to do, and he was going to let them.

"Nate I just want to say…"

"Don't bother Eliot, you did not organise that bears appearance and you are probably right I should have just yelled out or something." Nate smiled at him stopping his apology. The two men were alone in the house, with Sophie having gone shopping and Hardison and Parker out somewhere doing something neither man knew what.

"You could have died." Eliot said then took a deep breath before continuing. "You said you did what you did because…because of what I mean to you. Well what you don't understand is what you mean to me."

"Eliot."

"No Nate, you think that you have the exclusive rights on needing to protect us, your team, the family you made, well let me tell you, I will protect this family and that includes you, you are just as important to this family as any one of us and don't you ever forget that. So next time you think it is ok to sacrifice yourself for me, for Sophie, for them…think again because dammit, losing you would hurt us more than you know."

Nate said nothing he just looked at the Hitter seeing the emotion on the man's face. They sat like that for a while before Sophie made her entrance followed by the others and Nate looked up and smiled at them as Eliot stood and walked into the kitchen to start preparing the teams dinner.

Nate smiled as he watched them all. Eliot preparing a meal, something that told them all they needed to know about how he felt about them. Hardison working on his computer busy in his tech-world that was hidden from them most of the time. Parker sitting on the edge of the table watching Eliot and babbling about something while munching on her cereal and Sophie sitting quietly beside him as she looked through one of the magazines she had acquired during her shopping trip. He smiled to himself as he contemplated these people, his family. Then he put his head back and closed his eyes listening to the bustle of the house as he drifted into sleep.

I hope you all enjoyed especially AuthenticSuccessor1 who gave me the prompt although I was not completely faithful to your storyline, I hope you don't mind.