Chapter 16

When the team arrived at the hospital the next morning they were shocked to see two policemen Nate's room standing at his bed and questioning him. Eliot was about to charge into the room and get Nate out when Hardison grabbed his arm to stop him.

"Just relax bro…it's sorted…I told you that didn't I?" Hardison said in a voice that conveyed mock hurt.

"Dammit Hardison, what the hell is going on?" Eliot asked in a hushed voice watching as the policeman shook Nate's hand and then left.

"Told you man…I fixed it all." Hardison smiled back at him.

Sophie ignored the boys and headed into Nate's room. She approached his bed and bent down to place a chaste kiss on his lips.

"Nate…how are you feeling?" She asked softly running her hand through his messed up hair.

"Like I been stabbed twice and beaten to an inch of my life…" Nate said giving her a lopsided grin. He pushed himself further up in the bed grimacing slightly at the effort.

"Hey Nate…" Hardison said as he entered.

"Hardison…mugged…really?" Nate said to the Hacker. He had just spent the last thirty minutes being interviewed by the cops on if he remembered anything about his mugging.

"Well I needed to explain the injuries…you know they report all cases that come into the hospital don't you?" Hardison said in explanation.

"So how did you pull off the rest?" Nate asked the Hacker. The rest of the team also looked at him with curiosity

"Oh that…well that was easy…I mean all I did was alert the FBI to the fact that their witness was in danger, and tell them where to find the 'dead' man, also leaked the in information on the hit that he had put out on the wife and kid. The cops were easy, just exposed their whole operation, fraud etc…that they had been running and then made a police report about your mugging. I mean, did you doubt me guys…did you?" Hardison said smiling and doing the obligatory shake with Eliot in recognition of his own genius.

Nate smiled at the Hacker. "Not for a minute…"

"Ok guys I think Nate needs his rest now…" Sophie said looking at the man in the bed and seeing the tiredness that had started to settle over him. It had only been a day since he nearly died and although he would never admit it the ordeal had taken its toll on him.

The rest of the team nodded their assent and one by one filed out of the room. Each of them telling Nate to take care and they would be back to see him later. Nate smiled at each of their well wishes. When they had all left and Eliot being the last out had closed the door behind him Nate turned to Sophie.

"Sophie…are you OK?" Nate asked seeing the tears in her eyes as she looked at him.

"You almost died Nate…I almost lost you yesterday." Sophie said taking his hand in hers and bending her head slightly.

"But I didn't Sophie…" Nate said reaching out with his other hand and lifting her head to look into her eyes. "Sophie…"

"I can't lose you Nate…" Sophie said softly.

"You never will Sophie…" Nate whispered to her. He knew it was a lie, their lives were dangerous; their jobs were dangerous.

"You can't guarantee that Nate…"

"No, I can't. But we can stop this Sophie…if that is what you want, we can retire and not take another job." Nate said meaning every word. He would give up this life, to make her happy he would retire and live happily ever after on some remote island if that was what she wanted.

"No…no we can't. This is what we do Nate…" Sophie said with a tinge of regret in her voice. She would like nothing better than to make sure that he was never in danger again. She knew that was not possible. This is what they did. They helped people and she knew that none of them would be happy doing anything else. They could not go back to the way they were before and there was nothing any of them would rather do.

"All I want…well, you need to start taking care Nate. You put yourself in harm's way without even taking us into consideration."

"Sophie…"

"No Nate…listen to me. You need to promise me that you will take better care of yourself. You need to promise me you will remember that you HAVE something to live for…" Sophie said tears once again welling in her eyes.

Nate reached up and wiped the tear from her eye. Then raised himself up off the bed to kiss her lips, the pain of the movement ignored in the tender moment. "I love you Sophie…and I will never leave you...not willingly." He said softly falling back onto his cushions.

"I love you too Nate." Sophie said gently. Although she knew he meant what he said, she also knew him. She knew that if putting himself in danger was the only way to make the con work, he would do it. That was who he was. He tried to keep them out of danger, but he ignored taking care of himself. She was never going to change that and if she wanted to be with him she would have to live with it. "Now get some sleep, we will talk more later."

Nate smiled at her and closed his eyes. He knew this was not over. He knew he was reckless with his own life. It had never mattered much to him before this. Now though, now that he had finally allowed himself to admit what this woman meant to him, he knew she was right, he did have someone to live for. He would take more care, of them and of himself, he thought as sleep overtook him.

The end. Hope you enjoyed the epilogue. I really enjoyed writing this story. Thank you all for your reviews and kind words.