Chapter 7: Awake

Day in and day out and Eliot still would not wake up. Parker had maintained a vigil in his room. No one ever saw her leave which got Hardison to raise a lot of questions no one could answer.

"Parker isn't the type to just sit around. What is she doing to keep herself entertained in there?"

"As long as she doesn't take Eliot on one of her jumps anytime soon I suppose it doesn't matter." Nate walked back to the sofa where Maggie had been sitting since they got Eliot home.

Truth was, no one had left Nat's apartment in the last three days. They wanted to be there when Eliot woke up.

Parker sat cross-legged on Eliot's desk staring at him laying on an old couch in his office. "Eliot I know what you did was stupid and impulsive but you probably saved Maggie's life. I want you to wake up now though. If you care at all about me you'll fix my boredom and wake up! You need to be here to tell me what not to touch. The last thing me and you did together cannot be you popping my gum." That sounded like a good idea. She pulled a piece of gum out of her pocket and quickly started chewing it. She got off the desk and crouched next to the couch. She blew a huge bubble and popped it.

"There's something wrong with you." He opened his eyes and stared at the blonde who was trying to wrangle the gum back into her mouth. She looked up at him, eyes lighting up.

"Eliot? Great first words."

"Why was there no wrapper on that gum?"

"Wrappers make noise."

"Right, why didn't I think of that?"

She smiled and bounced out of the room. She came back holding Maggie's hand, the rest of the team following behind her.

Maggie started crying again, "God Eliot I'm so sorry!" She went to leave but Eliot grabbed her arm.

"You didn't do anything to be sorry about Cher."

"But look at you!"

"I wouldn't do anything different either. I just wanted you to be safe again."

"Why?"

"You're not a thief but you're still family."

She smiled and squeezed his hand, "Thank you."