A/N: I own nothing. Ok so this one is really on the serious side, I'll get better I promise. Please read, review.

She hated this part of the con. The waiting for something to happen tended to drive her a bit batty. For some reason it was bothering her more this time than the others. She chalked it up to the fact that she felt like she was coming down with something. She had even gotten into a fight with Eliot earlier about that. He had wanted her to stay at the apartment, and she had almost given in but she was being too stubborn. So now she was sitting in the cab of an eighteen wheeler with her feet propped up on the dash, while the Nate and Eliot were in the warehouse taking what's his name's dirty money. Well they were waiting too, the mark had yet to show.

"Why are the scum bags never on time?" She asked.

They wouldn't be scum bags if they were on time. Came Nate's reply.

"Well I hope he hurries up. I want to stop by that diner we saw on the way in." Layla said with a smile.

That's all you need. Eliot groaned. Greasy diner food, you'll be sick before we even get home.

"I feel fine right now. I think it was just," She paused as two black H3s pulled in. "There here."

How many?

"At least eight, plus the mark." She told them as she counted heads. "Be careful, the both of you, it looks like their expecting trouble."

Packing? Eliot asked.

"At least three of them are. I hate to sound like Sophie on this, but these guys got to get better tailors. Their suit jackets don't hide anything. The two with the mark have sidearms."

She listened intently as the Nate and Eliot went through the motions. She thought everything was going well until all hell broke loose. There was yelling, and flesh hitting flesh, and then the sound Layla dreaded hearing, gunshots.

"Hardison."

I know. I heard were on our way.

The others had been parked around the corner in case something happened. After that Layla went on instinct. Waiting for the bad guys to leave before running in the warehouse herself. When she saw Eliot laying on the cold cement floor, with Nate hovering over him she felt sick. He wasn't moving and there was blood pulling around him. Her booted feet felt heavy as she ran over to them. She fell to her knees and pulled Eliot into her lap. He had a large gash above his right eye, not the penetrating wound she was expecting, do to the blood on the ground. It was then she looked up at Nate who was paler than she had ever seen the mastermind. She could clearly see the bullet hole in his left arm and the blood flowing down the arm.

It was about that time the rest of the team got there. She heard Sophie scream, and Parker bark something at Hardison who was already on the phone calling an ambulance. After that the world was a blur.

When they got to the hospital, Hardison did most of the talking to the police, letting Sophie and Layla take care of the paper work with the hospital staff. Parker made sure to stay between the two in case they needed anything.

"I have a change of clothes if you want them." Parker finally said after an hour of uneasy silence.

Sophie had been led away to the surgical waiting room to wait for Nate to come out of surgery. Hardison had gone with her. That left Parker and Layla to wait for some news on Eliot in the ER. Layla had not been happy that they weren't letting her back to see him. Parker had had to step between the car thief and the charge nurse to stop Layla from laying the older woman out. Parker knew the nurse was only doing her job, but still Layla had a point, she was Eliot's wife and deserved to be back there with him. She was finally settling down some and Parker was trying her best to help.

"What?" Layla asked turning blurry eyes toward Parker.

"I have a change of clothes." Parker repeated. "You should go change."

Layla looked down at her blood stained clothes and sighed.

"Most of it is Nate's." She stood up and took the bag Parker offered.

She turned toward the charge nurse to ask where she could clean up, but the older nurse was already out of her seat.

"I'll show you to the Nurses changing room. It has a shower if you want to use it." The nurse replied taking Layla by the hand. "I checked on that man of yours, he's in the middle of CT scan right now. So it shouldn't been too much longer."

Parker watched as Layla smiled and some of the stress visibly released from her body as the nurse walked her around a corner. The next thing Parker knew Hardison was standing next to her, his hands shoved deeply into the pockets of his jeans.

"How's Nate?" She asked, craning her neck so she could look at him.

"Stable and in recovery. It wasn't as bad as we first thought. The blood loss seemed to be the worst of it. Sophie's with him right now. Have you heard anything on Eliot."

Parker shook her head no. "Layla's threatened a couple staff members, but no one will let her back. I just heard the charge nurse tell her he was in CT."

Hardison took the seat next to Parker.

"Probably had an MRI done too." He muttered. "They're just being cautious. It's probably nothing, and we'll all be outta here in a couple days."

"I hope you're right." Parker replied.

Layla returned shortly after that looking refreshed, but still looked pale. To her surprise it had been her clothes in the bag, not Parker's like she had oringally thought.

"Are you ok?" Hardison asked he moved so she could sit between the two.

"Yeah." Layla nodded, she didn't tell them that she had been sick while she was cleaning up.

Parker stared at her, knowing that she wasn't being completely honest with them, but under the circumstances she'd let it slide for now. They all had gotten comfortable as they could in the plastic chairs when a tall man in green scrubs came out looking for them. Parker looked at him hard there was something familiar about the man. Like she had seen him before.

"Dr. Wolfe." Hardison smiled at the man holding his hand out. "Parker you remember Dr. Wolfe we did that thing for him and his free clinic."

"Oh, yeah." Parker smiled.

The team had gotten some property back, as well as some funds, for the doctor from a crooked landlord so he could start up a free clinic for needy children. The whole team had been there when he opened the doors. The good doctor had even thrown a couple of cases their way. This had been before Layla had joined the group.

"And this must be Mrs. Spencer." the doctor said looking at Layla.

"How is he?" Layla asked. She'd make pleasantries later, right now she just wanted to know how Eliot was.

"He's stable, but still unconscious. The bullet just grazed him, but that's not what we're concerned about. There is some tissue swelling where I'm assuming he hit the ground. I won't lie to you it can go either way right now. The swelling can get better over night or it could possibly get worse. I had him transferred up to ICU. I've arranged it so you'll be able to stay in there with him, ok."

Layla nodded feeling her stomach churn. It wasn't the good news she was hoping for, but it wasn't the worst she could have gotten either. She gathered her things and walked toward the elevators, Parker and Hardison still on either side of her. The ride up was in silence worry thick in the air. They stepped off onto the fourth floor and made a left toward ICU. Parker found it funny that if they had turned right they would have gotten to see the babies. They stopped at a large double door with Intensive Care Unit written across it. Layla picked up the phone and talked to one of the nurses. A few moments later the doors opened, allowing Layla access to the unit. Parker and Hardison both hugged her, asking if there was anything she needed. Layla shook her head no, before numbly walking across the threshold.

A pretty, young nurse was waiting for her. She led Layla around the curve and to a room in the back where Eliot lay motionless. She followed the tubes coming out of his mouth and over to the respirator helping him to breath, and the IV line attached to his arm. She vaguely heard the nurse explain what the different machines were and what they were for. She also mentioned something about how their nightly rounds were going to be done. Layla didn't care. She just wanted the perky, young nurse to leave them alone. The nurse finally asked if there was anything Layla needed. Layla shook her head and took a seat next to the bed. She picked up one of his hands and threaded her fingers with his. He was warm. She didn't know why she thought he was going to be cold, probably the lack of movement.

Layla sighed, scooting the chair as close to the bed as she could. She closed her eyes hoping to try to get some rest.