Leverage 1. Journeys behind the scars

Eliot had often been asked about his scars by the others. It was a question that Hardison would sometimes ask him when they were in between jobs or whenever they had free time. It was a question that all of the team wanted to know the answer to. He always refused not wanting to go back into his memories, but he could see that the entire team was curious about the stories behind the white lines etched into his skin.

He eventually went into an explanation for them one late night in the bar when they had just gotten back from the hospital after saving the 15 year old Joshua Spin from the CEO who tried to steal the heart from the airport. He couldn't seem to remember the CEO's name but Nate had looked pretty depressed when they had gotten back from the hospital, and they all had been desperate for conversation.

After many failed attempts at conversation, Hardison had jokingly mentioned one of his scars and surprising everyone Eliot, being almost as desperate for something to talk about other than what happened before at the airport, decided to share the stories behind his scars. In most of them he skipped over the really deadly stuff as he knew that Sophie would freak out if she knew that he got the scar across his chest from when he was once tied to a chair and held there for 3 months in a cave in North Korea.

So he went into the long story of his scars eventually opening up to the team and even describing the people he met when the story took place. After hours all of the stories were finally told except for one, the scar along his lip. When Hardison had mentioned it, none of them had missed how he tensed at the question. Sophie had thankfully urged everyone to go home after that and everyone gladly accepted since the tension had gotten so thick inside the bar.

Back at his apartment Eliot finally let himself remember just how he got that particulary scar. That scar was just a reminder of what the worse thing he had ever done. He remembered getting the mission from Moreau. Being told when to have it done by and what it did to him afterwords. He was never really the same after that mission. He slowly lost himself in the memories.


	2. Working for Moreau

_Disclaimer: I do not own any leverage characters I wish though_

_Working for Moreau was never the best job but it was all he had for the moment. All of his other "clients" were quiet for the moment; this was the only way to earn money right now for him. He was not saying he liked the job, in fact most of the time he absolutely hated it. Even for a person in Eliot's line of work Damien Moreau was a cruel man. But he did it for the sake of making a few bucks. _

_A few months and Eliot found himself still working for Moreau. This was the longest he had ever stayed with one job. He was often send to kill the enemies of Moreau which wasn't exactly fun but he still did it, at least he could easy his conscience because often the people he had killed had killed innocent people, therefore what he did was good in a way. Eventually Eliot got tired of working for Moreau, it was gradual but Moreau started to pay him less and soon the only reason Eliot was staying with Moreau was because he was forced. He had gone to Moreau a few weeks ago saying he wanted out, but Moreau hadn't let him and had eventually threatened to go kill his father, who knew nothing of Eliot's job or line of work. Therefor Eliot stayed. Even though he had fought with his dad he still loved him. After all it was never his father's fault his mom had died. He still loved his father; after all he was the only family Eliot had left. He knew that he would never have been able to live with himself if he had been the cause of his father's own death, so he stayed. Until Moreau gave him a job he would not do. _

_ The job was to kill a CEO and his family because he had found out that Moreau was laundering money through his company and was going to expose Moreau unless he was given a huge amount of money. This job wasn't the normal job. He had to not only kill the CEO, but also kill his 16 year old daughter in case she had heard anything from her father. Eliot could never have killed an innocent teenager just because she might have heard something from her father. But then Moreau offered him something he couldn't refuse. An out, he could leave and none of Moreau's men would pursue him or his father. The offer was too good to refuse so here he was in his black pickup driving down the dusty old road of Jackson, California. He was to go to California and kill the father-daughter pair before the 3__rd__ of June giving him 3 weeks to do the job as it had to look like an accident and in order to do that he was going to have to get the pair to trust him. He thought of what he was going to do when he got to Kansas. He had already figured out what his name was going to be, James Smith, not very original but it would work for now. He had his back story prepared and his ID in his new wallet. He thought about what he was about to do as he passed the sign reading "Welcome to Jackson." _


	3. Chapter 3 The party and the girl

Jackson was to say the least a town for the very rich. Everywhere Eliot went he was greeted with the sight of freshly mowed lawns and very expensive looking houses. Eliot felt very out of place being from a small country town. He found his hotel which he thankfully didn't have to pay for since Moreau had decided to give him money as to not blow his cover. The idea was he was going to pretend to be another rich CEO from Boston, here to meet the CEO, Jack Waterson and his daughter Melissa. Eliot had learned everything about the Waterson family from Moreau. Waterson's wife had died from a car accident just 3 years earlier, and since then he had thrown his life into his work soon becoming a very rich and successful businessman. Eliot had already scheduled a meeting between himself and Waterson for the next day so all there was nothing to do was settle in and wait for tomorrow.

Eliot stood in Waterson's office waiting for him to arrive. He slowly looked around the extravagant office. The wood panels that were so nice the cost of them could have probably bought two full apartments, the very neat and organized desk, and finally in the corner was a bar filled with almost any alcohol imaginable. This wasn't surprising since Eliot had learned from Moreau that Waterson was an alcoholic, and often came to parties drunk out of his mind. That was what Eliot figured his way in was. He would introduce himself now and then later he would get closer at one of Waterson's extremely fancy parties.

The door opened, and who he assumed was Mr. Waterson, entered the room. Eliot looked at the man up and down. Waterson was mostly bald, with only a few black hairs left on his square shaped head. He was wearing the outfit of someone very high up in the social ladder. Sleek business shoes that looked like they had just been shined this morning, an elegant suit on his body, and a fancy tie pulled so tight around his chubby neck that it appeared to be choking him. Mr. Waterson was a fairly large man, and was quite short, so much so that Eliot had to look down on him. The man had an air of confidence and cockiness. Eliot was slightly disgusted by Waterson as he watched him cross the room to the neat desk. "Take a seat" said Waterson gesturing his hand to one of the chairs in front of the desk. Eliot slowly strode over to the seats, and lowered himself into the chair. "And who are you?" Waterson asked in a very pompous voice, while examining Eliot with beady eyes. "James Smith, from the Boston branch. I am here to make you an offer Mr. Waterson, my boss would like to be a "client" so to speak, of yours, we can pay a fair price," replied Eliot in his almost flawless Boston accent. This of course was a lie just so Eliot could get near Waterson. Waterson looked him over, he almost seemed to read Eliot's mind. Eliot shifted underneath Waterson's gaze, not something that Waterson missed.

When he finally spoke he said something that instantly made Eliot's job about a thousand times easier, "Well Mr. Smith I am sure we can work something out, tomorrow night I am having a party of sorts at my own house and I want you to come, there we can discuss business, I will text the address to you." Eliot was so happy he could almost shout for joy. This meant he could not only get close to Waterson but he could also see what his daughter looked like. "That sounds fine." Eliot said, barely containing his joy. He was slightly suspicious about how fast he got invited to the party but he soon just passed it off as nothing. He would get close to Waterson at the party and eventually get close enough to cover his tracks.

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_[Tomorrow at the party]_

_ Eliot slowly walked around the gigantic living room observing the beautiful golden painted walls with intricate paintings of flowers that almost looked hand painted. He had very little interest in the other people at this party. Everyone was in expensive suits and beautiful dresses that practically screamed that they were rich, but Eliot just kept on admiring the walls. They were really excellently done, the mesmerizing patterns seemed to weave themselves across the walls all ending up to the giant gold and silver painted flower on the ground. Eliot didn't hear Waterson approach him, and jumped when he spoke, "Well done, aren't they?" Eliot quickly turned around almost pulling out the switchblade he had hidden underneath his white dress shirt and suit jacket. He quickly regained himself and replied, "Yes, they are. Are they hand-painted?" Waterson just chuckled. "Good eye. Yes they are hand-painted, by my daughter in fact, she has quite an eye for detail." He said laughing quietly at the last part as if there were some hidden joke in what he said. _

_ Eliot immediately perked up at the mention of his daughter. He knew that killing Waterson would be pretty difficult but killing his daughter would be even harder since for one she was the daughter of an important CEO therefore she was bound to have some kind of security protecting her, but also Eliot had always had a soft spot for children and no matter how bad his line of work was he knew he could never sink to the level of killing innocent children. He tossed and turned all last night at these thoughts, he often thought he could never go through with it but whenever that thought came into his head a picture of his father lying dead inside a coffin quickly banished all those thoughts. He had to do this job. He just wished he could just kill them but he had to get close to find out if Waterson had told anyone about Moreau which made it worse. He was shaken out of his thoughts by Waterson laying a hand on his shoulder, "Come and mingle, you've been standing in the corner for the entire night." Eliot reluctantly followed Waterson. _

_For the next hour he met and talked with some of Waterson's colleagues, none of whom made any lasting impression on Eliot. Finally he broke away from Waterson and just walked around for a little bit considering no one had mentioned anything about Moreau to Watersonin the last hour, he figured that Waterson hadn't told anyone yet about Moreau. But that still left the daughter, just in case she knew, and told someone else. Eliot slowly looked at all of the guests. His eyes scanned the room until they landed on a beautiful young girl. She looked about sixteen with long chocolate hair flowing down to her back and starting blue eyes which met his for only a few seconds before moving on to scan the room. Eliot makes his way over to the girl, as she is sitting in the corner and looked rather bored. As he approached her she perked up a little and automatically tried to smooth the wrinkles in her gold dress. "Having fun?" Eliot asked with was the first real smile he had smiled all night. The girl just looked at him with a sarcastic look. Eliot chuckled at that and sat down at the table across from her. She looked him over and when her startling blue eyes landed on his very expensive suit jacket and watch her look changed almost immediately from curiosity to disgust. Eliot seeing this expression written all over her face quickly asked, "Is something wrong?" The girl just looked at him with a dumbfound look on her face. She then began to talk in a very sarcastic tone, "No nothing is wrong, seriously I am like 16 I am tired of all of my father's friends trying to get with me, it is just GROSS!" _

_ Eliot looked at her, surprise written all over her face. He was astounded and a little disgusted now knowing that some of these men who were in their 30's or 40's had tried to get with a sixteen year old girl. He quickly said, "I am not one of those men that is for sure I just thought you looked lonely and came over to talk to you." The girl stared at him trying to find any trace of a lie on his face. There was none, she finally seemed to relax her shoulders for the first time since Eliot walked over here. She looked down at her hands and said softly, "Sorry it's just that some of daddy's friends try to you know," She broke off as if the topic embarrassed her. She reached a small hand over to Eliot, "Melissa, Melissa Waterson." _

_ It was those three words that sent Eliot into a panic. This was the girl he was suppose to kill he realized, this was the girl he was here for. Eliot looked at her in a stunned silence as he almost dream-like reached out and shook her hand. "James Smith," he replied in a soft voice. He stared at Melissa in a new light. He started to notice little things about her, like how she seemed to look down at her hands a lot, or how she seemed to glance around the room every few seconds to take in her surroundings, or worst of all the thin white lines that seemed to criss-cross across her tan skin, standing out like stars in the sky. She didn't notice Eliot looking at her scars but instead looked at him with a confused look that she quickly tried to hide when he looked up. "Well Melissa I am here to make a deal with your father," Eliot said trying to start conversation. At the mention of her father Melissa's face morphed into one of hate and resentment. "I can't really tell you much about my father, sorry." Eliot looked at her with confusion. "He is your father surly you know something about him?" She just shook her head and bitterly laughed, "Nah he never really notices me much, unless of course for my skills." Melissa said the last part so quietly that Eliot barely made it out, it was clear he was not suppose too hear that. He was about to respond, but just then Waterson decided to come walk over to their table. _

_ "Well Mr. Smith I see you've met my daughter." Waterson said with a chuckle. He looked at Eliot and then to his daughter. They seemed to be having a silent conversation. Had Eliot not been trained to read people he would not have noticed the almost nonexistent tilt of Waterson's head towards himself, and the equally nonexistent nod of Melissa's head. Eliot wondered what these almost invisible head shakes meant, and how they had to do with him. _

_ He stood and said, "Yes, I have and I must say that you have a very interesting daughter," Eliot turned and spoke to Melissa, "Is it true that you hand painted all of the flowers in the room?" He was truly curious because of the fine work of detail could not have been done by a 16 year old girl, a normal one that is, but something told Eliot that Melissa was far from normal. Melissa looked down at her lap, a scarlet blush was creeping onto her cheeks, "Yes," she replied softly, "Took me years to do the one on the floor." Eliot chuckled dryly, looking over at the silver and gold flower painted onto the floor. It really was magnificent, even compared to someone as good as Van Gogh. Eliot reached his hand over and shook with Waterson and Melissa. "Well it was very nice to meet you Melissa," He turned to Waterson, "I will be in town for a few more weeks Mr. Waterson, perhaps we can work out the details then?" Waterson nodded his head. Eliot started to stroll away but he heard just as he left Waterson and Melissa started to have a whisper argument about something. Eliot casually walked out of the fine house and into his car, Melissa never really leaving his mind the entire night._


	4. Chapter 4: The Sercet Weapon

Eliot got a call from Waterson the next day. They decided to meet at his house again to talk seeing as Eliot was staying at a hotel. He soon was dressed up again and on the way to the Waterson house. He kept on trying to rub the sleep out of his eyes. His dreams the night before had been filled with Melissa dead in a coffin. He couldn't shake the image out of his head. Something about Melissa made him curious, she seemed like a good person and a cool friend. Eliot thought about this the whole way to the Waterson's house. He just couldn't shake this feeling of guilt that he had never had on another job before. All the other jobs were just get in, kill, get out. Simple clean and precise, that was it and then he would leave, this job however he had to get close and befriend his victims.

Eliot slowly pulled into the fancy driveway of the Watersons and prepared to go in. He walked up to the house and rang the doorbell. There were a few noises and a shout of "Coming!" when the door finally opened Eliot was greeted with the sight of Melissa in an oversized t-shirt and long sweatpants. She looked at him with surprise and then averted her eyes to the ground, "Good morning Mr. Smith," she said quietly. Eliot got an annoyed face with the word Mr. "None of that Mr. business Melissa, it's James," he said stepping onto the threshold of the door. "Yes Mr. James," Melissa replied with a smile. Eliot just shook his head with a smirk. He had noticed that about Melissa. Eliot rarely smiled unless for a job, and even then they were never real smiles, but the smiles he gave Melissa were real smiles, something about her just made him more cheerful, something that had never been achieved by any of his friends before.

Eliot walked into the living room from the night before. Without so many people in the room Eliot finally got to see the full effect of the flower paintings that weaved their way up the walls. He realized that there was even a flower on the ceiling that was painted to be the opposite of the one on the floor. The one on the ceiling was silver with gold highlights every here and there, but the one on the floor was gold with silver highlights. Both were extremely beautiful and were quite an amazing site. Melissa came up behind him and said, "Like them?" "Like them? I love them, they are very well done I can't imagine how long that took you to do, just by yourself too." Eliot replied turning to Melissa. She smiled sadly looking at the flowers. "They were based off of a painting that my mother did, she always loved silver and gold, not because the symbolize weath or anything, no she liked them because they were the only colors that truly shined when people looked at them, or that's what she always used to say anyway." Melissa said with longing in her voice. Eliot looked sadly at Melissa knowing what the longing look meant.

Eliot was searching for something to say when Waterson entered the room, "Ah Mr. Smith, nice to see you again, I trust you enjoyed the party last night?" Eliot looked up at Waterson standing on the railing at the top of the stairs, "Yes Sir it was quite enjoyable. Perhaps we could talk about the details of our partnership in a more private area?" Eliot said glancing at Melissa. "Of course Mr. Smith, this way," Waterson said, hurrying down the rest of the steps and leading Eliot down the hall.

Eliot slowly walked down the hall, admiring the artwork in the house. He remembered reading in Moreau's file that Melissa's mother had also been a painter. The paintings were of Melissa with her mother and father. They soon came to the end of the hall and Waterson opened the door and walked into the office. Waterson's office was quite like the one that Eliot had visited at his companies' building.

Waterson strolled over to the desk and plopped down into his seat. "Well Mr. Smith, let's get started." Eliot walked over to the other side of the desk and sat down. "My boss seems to think it would be a good idea to have you on a team he is starting. He has heard that you are very good at choosing your partners. Never has any partner of yours wanted to walk out, so Mr. Waterson the first thing I have to ask you, how do you know how to choose the right people to work for you that will stay loyal to you and not go to any other company?" Eliot said pasting a fake smile on his face. Waterson chuckled and looked at Eliot. "You want to know my secret?" He asked. "Yes sir I do." Eliot replied honestly. Waterson chuckled. "My secret is very simple. The way I know if someone will stay loyal to me is by her." Waterson said pointing to a picture of Melissa on his desk.

"You've met her Mr. Smith, I know you thought there was something different about Melissa. You noticed how she looks around the room so often right?" Waterson said, raising an eyebrow. Eliot just nodded. "She has a certain set of "skills" that she got from her mother. She is my secret weapon Mr. Smith, all she has to do is meet someone and she could already tell you their life story." Eliot looked at him in shock. That was what the headshakes were for at the party. Waterson was asking Melissa what she thought of him. Eliot realized that this would maake his job a lot harder. If Melissa was really that good about reading people then she might figure out who he really was. He knew he would have to be at the top of his game for the rest of the job.

"So that is why your daughter is always at the parties?" Eliot asked. Waterson smirked, "Yes Mr. Smith, she is not quite fond of doing this but with a little persuasion she will read people just like a book." Eliot worried about what type of persuasion that Waterson used on his daughter. His memory flashed back to the scars on Melissa's wrists and the bruises on her arms. He suddenly had a pretty good idea on what Waterson did to insure that his little "secret weapon" stayed working for him. Eliot had never been so happy about having to kill someone. He could only imagine what Waterson did to make Melissa want to slit her own wrists.

Consumed in his own thoughts Eliot didn't notice that the telephone had rung until Waterson picked up. "Waterson's Insurance" he answered in a business-like tone. Waterson listened to the other person on the line talk for a few minutes before turning red in the face. "How did this happen! I will be there in 20 minutes." Waterson jumped to his feet, pulling on his suit jacket as he swiftly walked to the door of the office. He paused at the door, and turned around to Eliot. "Sorry, something has happened at the office, and I have to run there for a few minutes, I should be back in about an hour if you want to hang around."

Eliot debated his options and chose staying in hope of learning the layout of the house and maybe getting closer to Melissa. "I'll stay" Eliot said. "Good, I will be back soon." Waterson swiftly walked out of the office and to the front door. Eliot slowly got out of his chair and walked out of the office. Melissa was outside having been explained what had happened by her father, she said, "Well I guess we are alone then." This was going to be a long hour.


	5. Chapter 5 The Talk

Melissa lead Eliot to the living room table. "Well, this is awkward. So how bout, where are you from?" Melissa said looking over her shoulder. "Boston, New York." Eliot replied remembering his already thought out alibi. "Cool! I love the Boston Red Soxs have you ever been to Fenway?" "No, I haven't gotten the chance, I don't really live close to Fenway" Eliot said with a shake of his head as he sat down at the polished wooden table. "You should, it is an amazing park I went there once when I was little." Melissa said, sitting across from him. "How old were you?" "Oh, about 13 years old, I went there right before mom was"

Melissa cut off, she shook her head, "Never mind, so how long are you in town for?" She said quickly, trying to avoid why she cut off. "I should be here for the next 3 weeks or so." Melissa nodded. She looked at him. "Hey, can I ask you a question?" "Sure go for it." Why did you lie when you told me your name?"

Eliot almost shot up when he heard those words. "What?!" Melissa didn't look surprised at the outburst, "How come at the party and now whenever you say your name, you're lying." Eliot just looked at her in shock. "Wow Waterson wasn't lying when he said she could read people like books." Eliot said under his breath.

"My dad told you about my gifts?" Melissa said, a shocked expression on her face. Eliot nodded. "Wow he must really trust you, he has never told anyone about my gifts. You've only met him twice right."

Eliot nodded again while thinking about her words. Why did Waterson trust him so easily? According to the look on Melissa's face when he said he knew about her "gifts" he would have to guess that only Melissa and Waterson know about what she can do. So that begs the question, why did he trust Eliot so easily, he didn't even trust all of his own company workers. Eliot realized that maybe something was going on that was bigger than just killing Waterson and Melissa. He had a feeling that something bad was going to happen, very soon.

Eliot turned his attention back to Melissa. She looked deep in thought too, he had a feeling they were both thinking about the same thing. "You still haven't answered my question, why were you lying when you said your name?" Melissa said a stubborn look on her face. Eliot was cornered, he tried to think of an alibi. "I was- well- I changed my name." Eliot finally got out relived that he had come up with something. "You changed your name?" Melissa said sarcastically, while raising an eyebrow. "Yeah, I had a sort of falling out I guess you could say, with my father. I wanted to get rid of everything that reminded me of him, which included my name."

It wasn't exactly a lie, he did have a falling out with his father just he didn't change his name. Melissa seemed to buy it though. "So what was your real name?" "Eliot Spencer." The words came out before Eliot could stop them. He internally cursed himself, how could he be so stupid. If Melissa so much as looked up his name on the internet then the job was done. "Huh, Eliot, nice name, I like it." Melissa said with a nod of her head. Eliot sighed, "Well Eliot, I guess this is only fair, you know my most kept secret and I know yours." Melissa said. Eliot looked up in surprise, he hadn't thought about how Melissa had felt about him knowing about her gifts.

"What's it like, you know seeing everything all the time." Eliot asked curiously. "I knew you would ask that eventually, everyone always wants to know, and to answer your question I hate my gift." Melissa said disgust written all over her face. "Why? I would love to be able to read people." Eliot questioned.

"That's only the part you've heard about. Imagine seeing everything about someone within 5 minutes. You can't turn it off either, I am trained by my dad to read people as soon as I see them. I hate it, I see things that should have been kept a secret, like do you remember the man named Mr. Chase?" Eliot nodded his head remembering the man in question. "He's cheating on his wife, or Mr. Hunt is bulimic, Mr. Jones is an alcoholic, and Mrs. Jones cheated on him with her boss, Mr. Niles, who is secretly a crack addict." By the time Melissa was done Eliot was so astonished he had to pull his jaw off of the floor.

All of these people he had met at the party. He thought they were normal looking rich people. He had always thought he was good at reading people. He has to be, it was part of his job. But all these people, Melissa had said she had just seen for maybe 5 minutes each, and yet she knew things that could ruin all of their careers and probably even their lives. "How could you tell?" He asked. "Well let's take Mr. Chase, that one was easy, his wedding ring was missing but there was a tan line on his ring finger, meaning he had at one point worn one, then there was an actual wedding ring around his neck, not uncommon, a lot of the men that work with my dad take their wedding ring's off during the day, but then I saw him clearly flirting with a 20 year old woman, who was clearly not his wife. Also the woman that was in the car he drove away in, had no tan line, meaning she had never had one. And that's how I do it." Melissa said with a slightly bored tone. Eliot was astonished and amazed at the same time, this was better than anyone he had ever come in contact with. "You never answered my question though, why do you hate your gift?"

Melissa sighed, "Have you ever wanted to know a secret so bad that you would do anything to know it, but then once you know you wish you hadn't asked in the first place?" Eliot nodded, not really knowing where Melissa was going with this. "That's how it is, every single day. I know things that I shouldn't, I hate it, I want to tell people but I feel like I am intruding, like I am seeing something that I shouldn't and I can't help it. There is also the problem that I can't forget anything, every bad memory is stored in my mind. It's a living hell." Melissa said tracing her scars.

Eliot thought about what Melissa had said, that must have to be hell, to see things you don't want to see, all the time. There is nothing she could do to forget, to turn her gifts off. He realized that if his assumptions about Waterson beating Melissa, and her trying to commit suicide then she must have some terrible memories, things that will never go away, ever. Eliot came to this conclusion just as the front door opened.


	6. Chapter 6 The scars

**A/N/ Hey guys so sorry I didn't update for a while Just a lot of stuff has been going on (a.k.a I was really lazy) I should have another chapter up by Saterday if not sooner. Plz review I would love to know what you guys think even if you don't like it.**

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The door **opened** revealing a flustered Waterson, who strode angrily into the living room, where Eliot and Melissa were sitting. Following him shortly behind was a young twentyish man, with sandy brown hair, he trailed slightly behind Waterson, trying to keep up with the older man. This must be an assistant of Waterson.

"Jackson!" Waterson called from his office. "Jackson" rolled his eyes shot Melissa a quick smile and swiftly walked to Waterson's office. Melissa and Eliot looked at each other, smirking. "We might want to get out of his way I am sure that my dad will remember you are here soon enough, we can go hang out upstairs if you like." Eliot nodded seeing as Waterson was probably going to be busy for quite some time.

He walked slightly behind Melissa, following her up the stairs and into the first room they came to. She opened the door and walked into the room inside. Eliot slowly walked into what he assumed was Melissa's bedroom. It looked as if you had taken a thousand art pieces and overlapped them, making them criss-cross all over the walls. Hanging on the walls were posters of Queen, the Beatles, and other older bands.

The bed was painted gold, with a silver colored bedspread, that sparkled in the afternoon sun, streaming in from the window. All in all it was quite a beautiful sight, much like the rest of the house. Melissa went and sat down on the bed, patting the side beside her. Eliot strode across the room and sat on the edge of the bed.

"So what do you think of the room?" Melissa asked. "It's amazing, I love the walls." Eliot replied gesturing towards the walls. "Thanks, it took forever for my mom and I to paint then, it was something she and I would do together whenever she was free." Melissa said, picking at the bedspread underneath her. Eliot quickly shook his head, "I'm sorry if I brought up any memories." "Relax, you didn't know, besides there is almost nothing in this house that won't remind me of her." Melissa said with a sad shake of her head.

They fell into a comfortable silence, each engrossed in their own thoughts. Eliot's thoughts wandered to what he was going to have to do soon. He had 2 weeks left to do the job and Eliot was finding it harder and harder to go through with his plan.

Don't get him wrong, killing Waterson was going to be easy, Eliot had only known the man for the past week, but he hated him, especially in the way Waterson seemed to think of Melissa, no killing Waterson, Eliot was actually looking forward to doing it, but killing Melissa was going to be hard. Probably the hardest job he will ever have to do. The people he killed Eliot always soothed his conscience by telling himself that the people he killed had all done something bad to people, but Melissa was just a teenager, she had done nothing in her life to deserve what Eliot had to do to her.

"Do you ever wonder what it would be like to go there?" Eliot was jolted out of his thoughts by Melissa. "Go where?" "To Greece, or Germany, or even China, I wish I could just hop onto a plane and leave here." Melissa said, pointing to the map on the wall with little red lines spreading over it like a spider web. "You want to travel the world?" Eliot asked gently. "I would love to, just go anywhere and do anything, to take control of my own life, not have to sit there and do everything my father tells me to do just because he hits me." Melissa said.

As soon as she realized what she had just admitted to Eliot she went pale. "Stupid ADHD!" She whispered under her breath. "So I was right, he does hit you doesn't he?" Eliot asked gently laying a hand onto Melissa's left arm. "Wait you knew?" Melissa said a tear slowly coming out of her eye and softy trickled down her cheek.

"You're not the only person who can read people, granted I can't do it as well as you, but I saw the scars and the way you look down whenever he speaks to you, it wasn't that hard to figure it out after that." Eliot said softly, while slowly rotating Melissa's wrist to see her scars.

He almost gasped when he saw them. They went all the way up her arm overlapping each other, in a few places Eliot could even see word carved into her skin like weak, stupid, and whore, to mention a couple. "How long has this been going on?" Eliot questioned softly. Melissa looked up now crying softly. "Since I was three, Mom never knew, Dad always made sure of that, after she died Dad got worse and worse until he was almost killing me every other night, it's gone down now ever since he started to make friends with a couple cops, just in case they noticed something."

Eliot was furious to say the least he couldn't imagine how it must have felt to be beaten to almost death ever other night. How could someone do that to their own daughter it was unspeakable!

Eliot slowly inched closer to Melissa until she was crying into his shoulder. He just put his hand her back and whispered soothingly, while rubbing reassuring circles into her back as her crying turned into sobbing.

Eventually she had cried herself out. "Sorry *sniff* I didn't mean to get your shirt all wet." Melissa said trying to rub away the last of her tears. "It's fine, are you sure you're ok?" Eliot said concerned that she was going to break down again. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Please though don't tell anyone, if you do then he will just hit me harder." Melissa pleaded.

"But he can't hurt you if he is in jail" Eliot said shocked that she would ask for him to keep quiet about something like this. "Yes that is true but he has set it up so that if he is in jail then I will just go to one of his men and it will get worse, trust me I have tried, besides no one believes me, they believe him over me, I have no hope." Melissa said once again looking down at the bedspread.

Eliot wished he could take her with him, but his line of work wasn't fit for any child, much less Melissa. He sighed. "Fine, but if it gets really bad you call me ok." Melissa just nodded. After that they sat and talked for almost another hour until it was practically dark outside. When it was almost eight o'clock he gave her one last side hug and stood up. "I have to get back to the hotel you'll call me if anything happens ok?" Melissa nodded again, giving him a small smile.

He walked across the room and with one last glance over his shoulder, he walked out of the room and closed the door behind him. He slowly walked down the spiral staircase thinking about all that he had learned from Melissa today. This made it even harder, Eliot wasn't sure if he could go through with this job anymore, the one job that will set him free from Moreau.

He sighed as he walked across the living room, and out the front door. He figured that Waterson was too busy with whatever he was doing to be bothered with him anymore. He thought about Melissa, alone with just an abusive father in the house. He was worried about Melissa to be honest, he had seen the scars. They weren't scars you would just give yourself to cause pain, they looked deeper than that. Eliot was almost positive that at one point Melissa had tried to end her life.

He couldn't imagine what Waterson had done to her to make Melissa want to go as far as to kill herself. As Eliot drove he wondered how long it would take for it to get really bad again, he also wondered if Melissa really would call him if anything happened. Little did he know it would happen a lot sooner than he thought it would.

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PS I am thinking about a Percy Jackson fanfic after I finish this one. Should I? Thank you so much for your comments. You're Fantabulous!


	7. Chapter 7 The Cuts

**(A/N) First thank you for all of the comments, second shout out to my brother who sadly doesn't have an account but helped me edit, and will help me edit in the near future. (Because my grammar is the worst sorry!:) PLEASE comment I really want to know what you think of my story, even if you hate it. Thanks for reading my story! **

Eliot was walking in what looked like a graveyard; he made his way along the headstones, walking toward a group of mourners dressed in black. He weaved his way around the crowd finally making it to the front, where a priest was reading from a bible. "Jack Waterson was taken from us too soon." The priest said as Eliot finally got a good look at the gravestone everyone was looking at.

**"****Jack William Waterson"**

**Loving Husband, Father, and Friend**

**"****Good men must die, but death cannot kill their names."**

**Eliot almost burst out laughing when he saw the quote printed onto Waterson's grave. Waterson was anything but a good man. Eliot looked around at the mourners, most of whom Eliot recognized as business partners of Waterson. He then spotted a lone mourner standing a few gravestones away. He walked up to the person and looked at the gravestone.**

**"****Melissa Sarah Waterson"**

**Loving daughter and friend**

**"****Carpe diem quam minimum credula postero"**

**"****Seize the day, put very little trust in tomorrow**"

Eliot swayed, almost falling over when he read the headstone. Melissa was dead, his brain not comprehending the words that his eyes were telling him. Melissa was dead. He had done it. He had killed her. He had actually gone through with his plan. He fell to his knees as the person beside him did the same. The guilt Eliot was feeling seemed to eat away at his insides like acid, slowly dissolving his heart.

"She was only sixteen." The person said next to him. "She was sixteen and yet she was the nicest person you would ever meet." The person next to him laughed bitterly. "Everyone cares more for her father dying; she didn't even get a proper funeral." The man whispered, venom dripping from his words.

Eliot turned to the man kneeling next to him only to jolt back because of what he saw. It was as if he was looking in a mirror, the only difference between him and this man was the man had a pale scar going along his lip.

"Don't do it, you will never forgive yourself." The man whispered.

Eliot realized this person was him; this is what he would become if he did go through with killing Melissa. Eliot examined the man closer now. He had the stance of a broken man, with his shoulders hunched, and a frown etched upon his face. Tears were streaming out of his eyes and rolling down his cheeks.

"She trusted me, and I killed her." He whispered, sorrow and pain reflecting in his eyes. "It's my fault she's dead." He buried his face in his hands and sobbed, Eliot looking at him with shock. Is this really what he would become after killing Melissa? Would he just waste away slowly drowning in his own depression.

"The quote really fits her." Eliot said trying to sooth the man.

"Thanks, I know she would have wanted that quote, she loved it, said it described how she wanted to live." The man said lifting his face from his hands. "A word of advice, don't go through with it Eliot, you will never forgive yourself." He repeated.

Eliot jolted up in bed, breathing heavily. "It was just a dream, just a dream." Eliot whispered over and over again to comfort himself. "Melissa isn't dead, she's fine. You didn't kill her." Just then the phone rang. Eliot picked it up looking at the red numbers on his clock telling him it was 1:30 in the morning.

"Hello?" He said groggily, still trying to shake off the dream.

"E-Eliot?" Someone whispered on the other side. "Eliot are you there?"

"Who is this?" Eliot asked. "It's Melissa, Eliot I'm really sorry for calling you so early but I-I" She broke off. Eliot had jumped out of bed and was walking across the room to get dressed when he heard Melissa.

"What's wrong Melissa did something happen with you and your dad?" He asked, growing more and more worried by the minute.

"Can you just come and pick me up, I am at the park across from my house, I just don't think I should be alone right now." By the time Melissa was finished Eliot was already outside and climbing into his car.

"I will be there as soon as I can." He said, turning on his car.

"Thank you Eliot." Melissa said as she hung up.

Eliot drove as fast as he could. His thoughts kept on drifting back to his dream, and what his future-self had said. He knew it was just a dream, but he couldn't help but think, 'Who would care if Melissa was to die? Would there really be no funeral? Who would care if she passed away?'

These thoughts raced through his brain like pinballs, zooming in and out. Finally, he reached the park where Melissa had told him to meet her. He jumped out of his car and swiftly walked to the entrance, calling Melissa's name. After about 5 minutes of looking he finally found her sitting on a rusty old swing.

He walked slowly up to her.

"Hey, Melissa, it's Eliot. Are you alright?" He said softly while sitting down on the swing next to Melissa. Melissa turned towards him. Eliot looked her over; she had tear stains on her cheeks and her eyes were red and puffy, but the worst thing was the bruise that covered her right eye and cheek and the scratches along her neck as if someone had been dragging her somewhere. The bruise was an ugly purple and it looked as if her eye was swollen shut.

"Oh my God, Melissa, what happened?" Eliot said reaching out to examine her bruise.

"My dad." Melissa whispered so soft that Eliot almost didn't catch it.

"He did this to you?" Eliot angrily said. Melissa just nodded.

Eliot sighed. "Come on let's get you out of here." Melissa nodded again and stood up. Eliot put an arm around her small shoulders and directed her to his car. He helped her get in and then drove away.

When they got back to the hotel Eliot immediately took Melissa to the bathroom to wash the cuts on her neck. He grabbed her shoulder and gently washed the cuts. Finally, after about 5 minutes, the cuts had all been treated and had Band-Aids on them. Melissa then went to walk out of the bathroom, but Eliot grabbed her wrist. She let out a small gasp of pain as Eliot's hand touched her wrist. He looked down and saw his hand and Melissa's entire forearm were covered in blood, gushing out from a vertical cut that went from her elbow to her wrist.

"Melissa, what have you done?" was all Eliot could get out before she ran, leaving Eliot alone in the bathroom.

**A/N: next chapter will be up by friday unless I feel like earlier. Don't worry the next chapter will have more terrible Waterson (God I hate that guy, and I created him) and more suicidal Melissa, also Eliot will have to come to terms with him having to kill Melissa. Can't wait! You guys are Fantabulous!**


	8. Chapter 8 The park bench

**(A/N) Wow chapter 8 huh? First let me say I had a bunch of fun writing this chapter, second let me thank my wonderful reviewers, you guys are great! And finally again thank you brother for your help you're awesome (not as much as me though ;) Hope you like the chapter!**

It took Eliot a whole half hour to find Melissa. By the time he found her he was worried out of his mind, and about to call the police to find her. The whole time he was looking he couldn't shake off the image in his brain of Melissa's gravestone. He finally found her outside the hotel on a bench across the street. He was so relieved, trying not to think about what would have happened if Melissa had never called him.

"Melissa don't do that ever again, you had me worried sick!" Eliot said walking up to Melissa. She slowly looked up and him and met his eyes for a few seconds before quickly looking away.

"I'm fine, Eliot, you didn't need to come looking for me." She said, curling herself into a ball. Eliot just shook his head.

"You're not fine, Melissa, you are going to be seriously hurt if you don't get that arm looked at." Eliot said while trying to gently lift her arm so he could see it.

"I'm fine Eliot," Melissa repeated forcefully, "trust me, this isn't my first time being cut."

"Just how many times have you done this?" Eliot asked still trying to get Melissa to show him her arm.

"I don't know I never really counted, but when I was at my worst I would cut myself almost every night, now it is about once a week or so." Melissa said slowly getting quieter at the end, looking down as if she expected to be yelled at. Eliot however was shocked into a stunned silence. He had known that she cut herself but he had never thought it was this bad.

He sighed, "Look Melissa that isn't good for you, one day you might cut too deep or not be able to stop the bleeding in time. My point is one day you might kill yourself doing this." Eliot looked down at her arm that he had finally gotten her to let him look at. It was still slowly losing blood. This worried Eliot, it should have stopped bleeding by now. Eliot sighed again.

"You know you do that a lot," Melissa said.

"Do what?"

"Sigh, you do it whenever you are frustrated or worried." She said while a ghost of a smile appeared on her face. Eliot just shook his head and let out a breathy chuckle. He turned his head back to her wrist. He brought out the rag that he had been using to clean her other cuts, and slowly began to clean the wound trying not to hurt Melissa. She let out a small gasp as he applied pressure, trying to stop the bleeding, but other than that she was completely silent the entire time.

Eliot looked up at her with concern. He wasn't sure what to think about her cutting herself so much, he was worried for her of course, but another part of him was debating whether he should tell someone or not. On one side Eliot was worried about Melissa, and as much as it worried him to admit it he had come to care for the sixteen year old girl. But a part of him was telling him that he should be happy, he had a way to kill her now with no one ever suspecting foul play, and he could just make it look like a suicide.

Eliot hated this part of himself, the part of himself that only saw Melissa as a target; she was so much more though. She was so different from all of the faceless people he had killed in the past. With the other people he could tell you their names, where they were killed, even something as specific as to what food was on their breath, but with Melissa he could tell you who her favorite band was, or what she wanted to do with her life, all of these things he had just learned last night, but he still felt like he had known Melissa a lot longer than just a few days.

Melissa shook him out of his thoughts, "Eliot, Eliot!" She said making his head snap up in a second. He then noticed that Melissa was a lot paler than before. He internally cursed himself. He should have called the hospital right when he found her. She was cut for God's sake!

Eliot I don't feel so good." Melissa said trying to get up. Eliot looked at her scared for a few seconds but quickly shook himself out of his stupor and whipped out his phone.

A few minutes later Eliot hung up the phone and turned his focus back to Melissa.

"Come on let's try to get you off this bench." Eliot said grabbing her good arm and gently pulling. Melissa slowly rose from her seat and leaned shakily against Eliot. They got about five feet before disaster struck. Melissa fell to the ground unconscious. She tried to grab Eliot's shirt before she fell to the ground. Luckily, Eliot caught her before she could hit her head on the ground. He slowly lowered her until she was lying on the sidewalk, Eliot holding the rag against her cut trying to stop the bleeding. "Come on Melissa you got to stay with me." Eliot whispered fiercely. He kept on putting pressure against her wrist as her breaths got shorter and more desperate until they slowly stopped. "No, NO! Come on Melissa stay with me please, come on remember what you told me, you're going to travel the world remember, you're going to go everywhere, come on Melissa hold on!" Eliot said desperately trying to stop her bleeding. Finally her heard sirens in the distance, "Almost there Melissa just hold on a little bit longer, please Melissa come on."

The next hour was a blur to Eliot. He remembered the paramedics finally coming and taking Melissa to the hospital. He had taken the ambulance to the hospital and tried to stay with Melissa for as long as he could. Now he sat in the waiting room, sitting in one of the most uncomfortable chairs he had ever sat in. His foot was bouncing nervously. Melissa had gone back there about an hour ago and now all he could do was wait and try not to think that he may not have to kill Melissa at all.

Three hours later found Eliot in the exact same position, sitting in an uncomfortable waiting room chair, his leg still bouncing nervously. Finally after another ten minutes the door to the waiting room opened.

"Family of Melissa Waterson?"

**P.S. Ha ha cliff hanger, I should have the next chapter up soon don't worry guys, please please please review, I would love to know what you think of my story. You guys are fantabulous!**


	9. Chapter 9 AN Sorry

Hello faithful readers,

I am so sorry I have not been able to update but something is going on with my Word document and at the moment I can't seem to copy and paste anything from my story. I will keep on writing though and should have the rest of the story written by the time I get this fixed. I will post the rest of this story as fast as I can. I am so sorry again!

Thank you for the wonderful reviews.

Shindestroyer2000


	10. Chapter 10 Recovery

**AN: Hey guys wow has it been a while. I am so very sorry I thought I posted this weeks ago and apparently I didn't. Please forgive me, but the good news is that I have the next chapter ready to go and will post it first thing tomorrow morning. I decided to set up a poll as to how my story will end at some point. Thank you for sticking with me through all this. **

Eliot quickly stood up and greeted the doctor. "Doctor Patterson, are you Melissa Waterson's father?" He said shaking Eliot's hand.

"No, but her father isn't here right now and I am a good friend of Melissa," Eliot replied.

The doctor nodded and looked down at his clipboard. "Ms. Waterson has severe blood loss. The knife also nicked the radial artery in her wrist." The doctor paused at Eliot's worried look. "Don't worry, we have her on antibiotics and I gave her a blood transfusion, she needed twenty stitches in her wrists but other than that it looks as if she is going to be ok." The doctor smiled at Eliot's sigh of relief. The hitter collapsed into his chair from exhaustion.

"When can I see her?" Eliot asked wearily.

The doctor smiled at him, "You can go now she should be waking up in about an hour, room 136." Eliot smiled for what felt like the first time in hours. He rose quickly and almost ran down the hall. After about 5 minutes Eliot finally found room 136. He stopped outside the door, his hand on the door knob. The hitter sighed slightly, trying to prepare himself for what was on the other side of the door. He slowly opened up the door and looked at the sleeping figure on the white bed.

Melissa was so pale that at first glance Eliot was worried she might be dead. That thought was quickly banished from his head as he saw the rise and fall of her chest. She looked so small among all of the wires surrounding her that she almost looked like a little child. Eliot let out a gust of air that he had unknowingly been holding. He walked slowly to the side of the bed and sat in one of the hard chairs. He looked at Melissa slowly, taking in every detail of her face. She was pale, so pale that she looked almost like a ghost, and the expression on her face practically radiated exhaustion and pain. Eliot shifted into a more comfortable position, preparing to sit and wait for Melissa to wake up.

An hour later Melissa started to shift in her sleep, mumbling slightly. Eliot went over to her just as her eyes were opening.

"Hey, hey it's alright, Melissa, it's me, Eliot. Look at me," Eliot started to whisper as he saw the panic in her eyes. "You're in the hospital Melissa. You passed out from blood loss. Everything is fine; in fact, you should be cleared to leave within the next two days." Melissa slowly calmed down at the sound of his voice.

"Wa-" She said trying to sit up.

"Hey, hey take it easy there, you want water?" He said, putting a hand on her chest to prevent her from getting up. She nodded slowly. Eliot walked across the room and grabbed a plastic cup full of ice chips. "Here you go, take it easy now." He said striding across the room, handing the cup to Melissa. She took the cup with a slight nod, and swallowed a few of the chips. The hitter slowly looked at the girl beside him and was immediately filled with an emotion that he hadn't felt in a long time for someone; guilt. He felt sorry for Melissa, for what she had gone through at only 16.

"How long was I out?" Melissa said, her voice slightly rough from the hours of sleep.

"Bout 4 hours, it's almost twelve thirty now." Eliot said taking the now empty cup from her.

"Wait, where's my dad?" Melissa said slowly looking around, and if Eliot didn't know better he would say there was fear in her eyes.

"I didn't call him, I figured you wouldn't want your dad here while you were like… this." Eliot finished lamely, gesturing to her with his hand. She chuckled lightly, her eyes twinkling with amusement.

"Well your right you know, I really would prefer if he never knew about this little incident. Please." Melissa said slightly pleading.

Eliot sighed and looked away, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye. She looked slightly pleading and hopeful too. "Alright, alright fine, fine you win, I won't tell." Melissa looked happy at that and also slightly relieved.

"Thanks, that really means a lot," She said nodding her head, "So, blood loss? That's it? That's why I passed out?"

"You sound almost disappointed"

Melissa snorted, "I don't know, I guess I was hoping for something a little more-"

"Serious?"

Melissa raised an eyebrow. "I was going to say dramatic." Both of them exchanged looks then burst out laughing.

"I suppose that is more your style." Eliot said still chuckling lightly.

Melissa simply sorted at that. "I really am grateful you know, for you caring for me and everything. I really can't thank you enough; in fact, I think I would probably be dead if you hadn't been there." Melissa said her eyes flickering down to the sterile white bed sheet. Eliot smiled sadly,

"Anytime, although I would appreciate it next time if you waited until morning to call me with your deadly wound." Eliot didn't know if it was the relief or the exhaustion but they both took one look at each other and burst out laughing again. Every time they tried to stop they took one look at each other and it set them off again. Eliot was curious, here was a girl who had been hurt by her own father, who should be sad and yet here she was laughing her heart out. He just shook his head at her face as she tried to stop laughing.

"So when can I get out of here?"

"Restless aren't you?" Melissa simply raised an eyebrow as an answer.

"You should be able to leave here in a couple days as soon as the paperwork is cleared." Melissa sighed in relief, "Don't like hospitals do you?" Melissa shook her head, "There is too much white and all of the nurses are overly cheery that it makes me feel like I am going to start barfing rainbows, I swear they are worse than hippies." Eliot chuckled at Melissa's outburst. "Don't worry you aren't the only one."

Melissa smiled up at him and began to try sit up until a voice stopped her and made her go pale, "While hello there Mr. Smith would you care to explain what happened to my daughter, or perhaps I should call you by your real name Mr. Spencer."

Eliot slowly turned around and let out a gasp at the sight he saw.

**P.S you guys are Fantabulous! and check out my new story The Eulogy if you guys are Sherlock fans!**


	11. Chapter 11 The End Game

**AN: hey guys as promised here is my new chapter I really hope you enjoy it. Again I want to apologize for that last chapter taking so long. I really hope you guys like this chapter, I sure had fun writing it! Enjoy.**

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Eliot wasn't an easy one to surprise, as very few people had ever managed to sneak up on him, a skill that was more than necessary in his line of work. Therefore, if you were to ask him on the day after if he was surprised at whom he saw in the hospital doorway, he would swear up and down the wall that he had not been surprised at all, but that is an abject lie. The hitter couldn't remember the last time he was this surprised. There standing before him was Waterson, a small hand gun in his hand and a small smirk playing on his unusually large lips.

"You know who I am?" He asked, raising an eyebrow ever so slightly. Waterson looked at him and began to laugh.

"I'm not stupid Mr. Spencer. You didn't think that I wasn't waiting for one of Moreau's lackeys to show up, did you?"

"Wait, who is Moreau?" Melissa said impatiently.

Waterson raised an eyebrow and his small smile turned into a full-on smirk. "You haven't told her who you really are." It was a statement, not a question but Eliot nodded anyway, never taking his eyes off of Waterson.

"Well then, Melissa, dear, allow me to introduce to you Eliot Spencer, a well known hitter currently working for a ruthless drug lord. Oh, and he was also sent here to kill us; did he forget to mention that?"

Melissa stared up at Eliot in shock, the hitter turning away from her gaze.

"Eliot is this true? Were you really here to kill me? Is that the only reason you ever even talked to me? Answer me, dammit!" Eliot turned away from her each one of her questions as they sent hot stabs of guilt and pain into his heart. He spared one look back at Melissa and what he saw made him want to kill Waterson for telling her. Her eyes had filled with tears that she was desperately trying to hold back, and the look in her eyes was filled with betrayal and sadness. Eliot flinched away from her eyes, "You kill people?" She whispered almost inaudibly. Eliot, still turned away from those eyes that silently accused him, nodded once. Melissa's eyes finally shed the tears that she had desperately been trying to hold back. Her hands had started to shake on the top of the the hospital bed.

Waterson looked almost amused at the expression on his daughter's face.

"Well, this has been fun, Mr. Spencer. Now, I'm sure you know what I am going to do next." Eliot's eyes flitted down to the gun clutched in Waterson's hand. Waterson slowly cocked the gun, his eyes never wavering from the man in front of him. Eliot spared one last glance down at Melissa meeting her frightened blue eyes, silently apologizing for lying to her. She seemed to get the message as her eyes widened in shock and fear. Eliot took one last look at her, looking down at the bandage on her wrist, and for the first time in what felt like years, he felt guilt. He felt guilty for leaving Melissa with someone like Waterson for a dad, Eliot felt like he had failed her and that thought alone made his hands curl into fists.

The next seconds passed so fast they were a blur. One second he was standing next to Melissa's hospital bed and the next he was being tackled to the floor of the hospital. A gunshot was clearly heard before his head hit the cold tile of the hospital floor. Dizzy and disoriented, Eliot started to try to push whatever was on top of him off, his vision going in and out Eliot was finally able to identify what was covering him. It was Melissa! Eliot was stunned for a few seconds looking up at Waterson he saw a similar expression on his face that was probably on Eliot's own. Eliot finally came to his senses, standing up on slightly unsteady feet he walked towards Waterson. Waterson stumbled a few feet back pointing his gun with now shaky hands. He fired a shot just as Eliot began to run towards him. Eliot felt a searing pain shot through his leg right before he tackled Waterson to the ground. He stood up slowly pinning Waterson to the ground with his foot, his gun leveled against Waterson's head.

Just as he was about to pull the trigger he was distracted by a groan behind him. Eliot whipped his head around at the sound, keeping the gun trailed on Waterson. He finally looked at Melissa for the first time since she tackled him to the hospital ground. Her skin was paler than usual and on her face was a clear expression of pain, her hands trying to staunch the steady flow of blood coming from her side. Eliot involuntarily gasped at the sight of the bullet wound, in the chaos of fighting Waterson he had forgotten about the gunshot. Cursing under his breath Eliot turned back to Waterson only to catch a slight glimpse of something silver and shiny before a searing pain shot through his upper lip. He quickly pulled back raising a hand to the wound, feeling the slightly sticky red liquid leak out in-between his fingers. Pushing the pain to the back of his mind, Eliot quickly ducked under a punch from Waterson and went to get in a few blows of his own to the other man's ribs before dancing back out of reach. His eyes scanned the room for the gun that had previously fallen from his hands. There, right by the end of the hospital bed. Waterson followed Eliot's gaze and locked eyes on the gun. Both of them dove for it at the same time arm reached out in front of them. Both their hands grasped the gun as they grappled for it on the floor. Finally Eliot smashed his elbow into Watersons nose, effectively breaking it, and cause Waterson to lose his grip on the gun. Eliot stood on slightly shaky feet, cocked the gun and lowered it to Waterson's head.

He fired once, twice, and Waterson fell to the ground in a heap, one hole right between his eyes, and another in the center of his forehead. He was dead even before he hit the ground.

Eliot lowered the gun sighing in relief, then quickly throwing the gun to the side as he rushed over to Melissa, kneeling next to her, he tore off his jacket and bundled it up, pressing it into the wound that was still leaking a river of blood. The hitter's eyes quickly looked up to the hospital bed looking for the help button. He found it and quickly pressed it before directing his attention once again to Melissa.

"Hey Melissa come on you gotta stay with me, alright. This isn't fair, you just got over your last near death experience, come on Melissa open those eyes for me, please." Eliot whispered, his voice slowly rising in panic and fear. Melissa's eyes fluttered open and looked up at Eliot trying to make sense of everything.

"E-Eliot?" came out the harsh gasp

"Yeah Melissa, it's me I'm here, you're gonna be ok."

"Not gonna lie, Eliot. This hurts a lot." Eliot choked out a laugh, even after being shot in the side Melissa still managed to joke around.

"Eliot what- what happened, why are you bleeding?" She said, reaching up to touch the dried blood on Eliot's upper lip. Melissa's voice was getting softer and softer by the minute, and Eliot was starting to really panic.

"Shush Melissa don't worry about that now, you just concentrate on breathing alright, you're gonna be fine, you and I, we'll go see the world, together, I will find some way I promise, I will take you anywhere you want to go, Greece, Italy, Germany, China, anywhere, just you and me." Melissa looked up at Eliot's face, hanging on to every word.

"Just you and me, against the world." She whispered, "I'd like that, we could leave together, never listen to anyone ever again." Melissa's eyes started to blink shut rapidly. Eliot put two fingers on her non-bandaged wrist and felt for a pulse. There was one but it was faint and almost completely gone.

"No no no no no! Please Melissa just hang on." Eliot pressed the help button again and again before finally resining to shouting, "Help! Help! Someone help us! Come on, Melissa, help is on the way, you just gotta hold on a little longer." Melissa slowly raised her hand to wipe away a tear that had unknowingly been falling down Eliot's cheek, Eliot grabbed her hand and squeezed it silently pleading her to hold on.

"Just you and me." Melissa whispered almost inaudibly, her hand drooped and her eyelids drifted shut. Eliot scrambled to find a pulse on her wrist but was greeted with nothing, the same when he pressed two fingers to her neck.

"No! Please Melissa come on, please." Tears were falling shamelessly from Eliot's eyes as he tried to find a pulse. Finally doctors burst in and were stopped short at the sight in front of them.

"Well, don't just stand there! Help her!" Eliot snapped, the doctors and nurses jumped into action, quickly getting Melissa off of the floor and onto her hospital bed, one of the doctors Eliot recognized as Doctor Patterson. The last glance Eliot had of Melissa before he was escorted away, was of her limp hand hanging over the hospital bed, lifeless.

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**P.S. God you have no idea how long I have wanted to kill Waterson, I was originally make him a really nice guy and then he sort of evolved into this utter bastard that even I hated. I know a lot of you wanted him to die too so your welcome. As I mentioned in my last author's note I have set up a poll on my account for the ending of this story. I think you guys should get to decide and since I have no idea how to use polls I thought anyone else who doesn't know how just comment how you want it to end. The choices are either **

**1\. Melissa dies and the story is over**

**or**

**2\. Melissa lives but is in a comma, in which case I will write a sequel where she wakes up and meets the team.**

**The choice is yours. You guys are Fantabulous as always! **


	12. Chapter 12 Long Gone

**A/N: Oh My Gosh, I am so sorry you guys that I have kept you guys so long. School started and between schoolwork and swim meets I have not had time to post another chapter much less write one. I promise the next one will be up faster. On a happier note I am almost finished with this story. Only one more chapter to go. And I finally wrote out all my plans for future fanfics and I have about 15 planned and about 10 of them are ****_for Sherlock _****on BBC. So I hope you guys like them and this chapter. **

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoooOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

A spider. If Eliot had to describe Damian Moreau in one word it would be a spider. One who was constantly weaving a web so thick that no one knew where they were until it was too late. A spider at the center of a web, a criminal web with a thousand threads and he knows precisely how each and every single one of them dances.(1) These thoughts whizzed through Eliot's head as he sat in from of The Spider, himself.

"My, my, Eliot, this one took quite a while, didn't it? Why do you suppose that is?" Moreau looked up from the file in his hand, a small smirk playing on his thin face. "Would it have anything to do with that pretty daughter of his, what was her name again, Megan?"

"Melissa." Eliot snapped.

Moreau simply raised an eyebrow, his smirk growing slightly bigger. He flicked the pages of the file. "I trust they were taken care of."

"Yes."

"And would you care to explain how exactly Mr. Waterson figured out you were connected to me?"

"No idea, I'm afraid I was too concerned about the gun in his hand to ask questions."

Moreau gave a slight chuckle at that. With a snap, he closed the folder and extended it to Eliot. "Well, a deal is a deal I suppose." Moreau said the smirk never leaving his face. Eliot glanced down at the folder in front of him and looked back up at the black eyes of the drug dealer, confusion written all over his face.

"Well, I did say this was your last job, you do want to leave right?"

Eliot stared at the folder before grabbing it out of Moreau's hand and opening the folder. On the inside was a picture of Melissa and her dad. They were both smiling in front of what looked like Fenway Park.

"Cool! I love the Boston Red Soxs have you ever been to Fenway?"

Eliot smiled at Melissa's voice entered his head. She looked happy in the picture. Happier than he had ever seen her. She looked carefree, content, unlike when he had seen her. This must have been before the abuse started. Eliot smiled softly at the picture. Moreau coughed loudly,

"If you're quite done," Eliot looked up again.

"Oh sorry, I trust that my father is safe."

"For now, well, Eliot, be seeing you. If you ever are out of a job just give me a call." And with a final flourish, Moreau swept out of the room, closing the door behind him, leaving Eliot alone with just a file and his buzzing thoughts.

Eliot hated hospitals. He hated the sterile cleanliness, the noise, the beeping of the monitors, serving as a reminder that the only thing keeping someone alive is a piece of metal. Yes, Eliot hated hospitals but he hated them even more when it wasn't him on the hospital bed. Where he was forced to just sit and wait. Where he had to sit in the terribly uncomfortable plastic chairs, waiting and watching for some signs of life that may never come. It was without a doubt that Eliot hated hospitals, but he can't remember ever hating them more than right now.

He was free, free from Moreau. He was supposed to be happy, he should be happy, and yet Eliot couldn't shake off the feeling of sadness, welling up in his chest. He looked down at the small pale hand clutched in between his own. His eyes began to follow the equally pale arm connected to the hand. The cut still hadn't healed, the red angry skin contrasting sharply with the pale skin. A coma, it just had to be a coma. Alive but only just. Hanging on by just a thread. Eliot's eyes traveled up the infected cut to the face resting on the shapeless hospital pillow.

Melissa's face was peaceful, in fact if it wasn't for the deathly pale color of her skin, Eliot would have thought she was simply sleeping, instead of being stuck deep inside her own mind. Eliot sighed deeply, unconsciously rubbing his thumb over Melissa's wrist.

"Hey Melissa, I don't know if you can hear me, but I am about to go crazy if I have to deal with this silence any longer. Your dad is dead, Melissa, the funeral was small, not many people came. I think you would have gone, though if you were awake. Even if you hated him, I think you still would have gone. He was buried right by your mother. I thought you would have wanted that. You gotta wake up Melissa. I never really realized when our friendship actually became a friendship, all I know is that I really enjoyed getting to know you, Melissa. You know that it is astoundingly rare for anyone to ever even get close to me, much less me actually consider them a friend. There was just something about you Melissa that I couldn't help but admire. I huh… I came here to tell you that I'm leaving today Melissa. I don't know where I am going, but just away from here. They aren't going to take you off life support, and you will be moved to a long term room in The Neurology Department so you will be fine in the long run. I told them to wait for 5 years until they pull the plug. Dr. Patterson said that there is a possibility that you might wake up but his hopes aren't high.

He obviously doesn't know how stubborn you can be. You can't give up Melissa, the world needs more people like you."

Eliot buried his head into both his and Melissa's hands, slowly letting a few stray tears leak out of the side of his eyes. He stood slowly and with a sigh began to make his way across the room, only stopping once at the door, to look over his shoulder. The last glance he had of Melissa was of her looking impossibly small and still in the bleached white hospital sheets. Yes, Eliot sure did hate hospitals, but he hated leaving them even more.

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**P.S. I don't normally mention this but this review I could not stop laughing at. By Fictionmaker007 "1 she needs to die" I could not stop laughing so thank you for making my day. Hope you enjoy my chapter. You guys are Fantabulous. **


	13. Chapter 13 Four years later

**A/N Hey guys so I am really sorry this is a little late, but school is starting to pick up, anyway wow last chapter. I really want to thank you all for the wonderful reviews, I loved writing this so much! There will be a second story up late but I don't think it will be until later this year. I am sorry but at our school 8th grade is the epitome of homework and hell. Thanks again for the support enjoy you guys!**

Four years, four years since that fateful day inside the hospital. Eliot hadn't seen Melissa since then, but he hadn't ever forgotten her either. He always hoped that one day he would get the call telling him that she had finally woken up, but by the third year with her still comatose, Eliot had finally given up hope.

He stopped waiting for the call to come. He didn't check the answering machine every day. Every anniversary of when they met, Eliot would lock himself in his apartment for a few hours and sit on the edge of his bed with his head in his hands and the picture of Melissa and her mother balancing on his knees.

On these days, Eliot always had the urge to just pack a bag and head down to Jackson, California. Many times, it took all of his self-control to not do exactly that. He knew that seeing Melissa again, sickly and pale in her hospital bed, hooked up to a pulse monitor and the IV, would only make it worse for when the day inevitably came when Melissa's plug would be pulled, and the line would go flat. Eliot didn't want to think of what would happen, but sometimes, he just couldn't stop his mind from wandering on a few occasions.

When he saw Joshua Spin sitting in that hospital bed, it took all of Eliot's control to keep a straight face and not fall into the memories. Thankfully, the team hadn't questioned what had been wrong with him, but there had been more than a few close calls. But ever since he had gone into his stories of his scars, he had noticed every once in a while they would shoot him questioning looks and curious glances. It seemed that all of them were dying to know the real story behind the little paper-white scar on his upper lip. Something that would constantly remind him of his failure every time he looked in the mirror.

Eliot pushed these thoughts to the back of his mind as he walked across the street to Nate's bar. He opened the door, a snap in his step and a determined look on his face. He hadn't slept at all last night and was trying to fight off sleep and the memories that he knew would come with it. The anniversary was only a month away. In a month, Melissa would be nothing more than a dead body in the morgue, an unmarked grave in an unheard-of graveyard. "_Pull yourself together Eliot!" _He mentally told himself. With a slight shake of his head and a deep breath, Eliot made his way into the living room of the apartment.

When he entered the room all eyes snapped to his own. He cast his eyes around the room, taking in the questioning glances and raised an eyebrow.

"Well, let's get this started shall we?"

Hardison cleared his throat and turned his attention back to the screens in front of him. "Right, Andrew Waterson, sole heir to Waterson's insurance, uh well he was originally raised by this woman Jessica Machau, dead, lung cancer. Anyway, she apparently had an affair with this guy, Jack Waterson. It was revealed in his will, apparently.

This guy certainly takes after dear old dad. Insurance fraud, bribery, you name a crime and he has probably committed it at one point or another."

If Eliot had to venture a guess he would have said that his face was chalk white by now. He swayed on his feet for a couple seconds before regaining his balance. Melissa had a brother? Eliot wondered if she even knew. Something like this would have been hard to hide, especially from someone like Melissa. Eliot shook his head, Melissa would have mentioned a brother if she knew. The hitter was jolted out of his thoughts by a hand on his shoulder. He looked over meeting the eyes of his friend.

"Hey man you all right? You seem a little off today."

"I'm alright" he whispered, "Can we just get on with this, please."

Hardison raised an eyebrow at the pleading tone, but did not press him.

"Right, anyway so our client is a one Daniel Jackson, apparently he was an assistant to Andrew's father, and recently went to the police with evidence of fraud."

Hardison pulled up a picture of the client and Eliot surprisingly recognized him. He was the person who had shown up to the Waterson's house when Eliot had first gone to see Melissa.

"So what happened?"

"Well apparently Andrew has a few local police in his pocket, because the case against him was dropped in record time, and by that time the next day Jackson had lost his job and is now being suspected of fraud."

"And Waterson got off scout free?" Came a voice from the end of the table. Eliot looked over, he had almost forgotten that the rest of the team was there. Parker looked at all of them searching for an answer.

"Yes, he goes free, this one won't be easy. Waterson has money, contacts, the local police, the only way to take him out is to make him seem like a liability to the company. The problem is getting close enough to hit him. These guys, they always have a security detail. getting by them is going to be a problem, one we cannot deal with if we want to take down this guy." Nate looked at Hardison expectantly.

"Well apparently this guy has some half-sister who's in a coma, goes there every Friday to visit her, more importantly he goes alone. Their taking the sister off life support in… one month so we'd better hurry."

Eliot winced at the sound of this. He knew who Hardison was talking about and yet he still couldn't hold back a gasp as a picture of Melissa popped up onto the screen. It was the self-same picture that Eliot had. The one of Melissa and her mother in front of Fenway Park, the _very same one_ he had been staring at not three hours ago. Eliot closed his eyes for a moment willing the images away.

"Eliot, are you sure you are alright?" Eliot opened his eyes to meet Sophie's worried face.

"Yeah yeah just tired." Sophie shot him a skeptical look and opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by Nate at the front door.

"Come on we have a plane to catch!"

Eliot and Sophie both rose from the table and started to make their way towards the door. Just as Eliot crossed the threshold of the door he was stopped by his phone ringing.

He pulled out his phone and put it up to his ear.

"Yes?"

"Hi this is Laranda Chesher calling for a James Smith, is this who I am speaking to?"

"Yes I'm him."

"Well sir you are listed on the emergency contacts list of a one Melissa Waterson and I am calling to inform you that she has woken up sir."

Eliot froze. The phone slipped through numb fingers and fell to the ground with a crash.

**P.S. There you go guys, thanks for the wonderful experience! Special shoutout to my friends Mae, and William for the name ideas, and my brother for being my beta. And finally thank you for my wonderful readers and reviewers, you guys' reviews always brightened my days. Love you guys!**

**Your Fantabulous **

**Shindestroyer2000 out**


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Leverage, Hurt-Comfort, Suspense