Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was just supposed to be a routine meeting with the mark but something went wrong. Before he knew it, Sterling felt himself being picked up and thrown through a large glass table. Bits of glass cut his face and he was too dazed to feel a big jagged shard imbed itself in his left side. He tried to get up but felt himself being picked up again and thrown against another table touching the opposite wall. The wind was knocked out of him and his head crashed painfully making his vision swim with stars. Immediately after, he was shoved to the ground and kicked from what seemed like every angle. Lights exploded as he felt each kick hit various parts of his body.

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Nate gasped when he walked into the cell. Sterling was strung up by his wrists and hung on a meat hook in the far end of the room. He was strung high enough that his feet weren’t touching the ground. His clothing was bloodied and in tatters. His left pant leg looked like it had been ripped off and the skin was torn to shreds. It looked as if an animal had chewed on it and wouldn’t let go. Upon looking at Sterling’s chest, Nate became even more horrified. Under his torn shirt, his torso was a myriad of colorful bruises and abrasions caked with blood. Closer inspection of his shoulders revealed both had been wrenched out of their sockets due to the amount of swelling as did his right wrist. It was probably caused by hanging from the hook for a prolonged period. There was a patch of blood on his left shoulder from what looked like a puncture from something sharp. Peeling away the shirt revealed sluggish bleeding. There was a bigger cut lower on his left side. It was also bleeding slowly.

Nate carefully looped his arm under Sterling’s legs and lifted him gently so he could unhook him and set him down on the ground. Sterling wasn’t a big guy to begin with but he felt unnaturally light. He had clearly lost some weight in his week of captivity. The amount of motion caused Sterling to moan and whimper but Nate knew sitting him down would put less pressure on his injured limbs. His breathing was ragged and shallow indicating trouble breathing from broken ribs. Propping him up against the wall would put less pressure on his torso and would open up his airway to make breathing a little bit easier. Now that his arms weren’t elevated, the blood began rushing through his dislocated shoulder, broken wrist, and numb hands and fingers causing his face to screw up in discomfort.

“Jim? Jim, can you hear me? I need you to wake up for me,” Nate spoke quietly so to not startle or scare the injured man.

Sterling’s ears perked up at the sound of his name but he couldn’t really focus on anything other than the pain coming from his arms and the rest of his body. He knew unconsciously that he was no longer hanging off the ground and his body sagged in relief. In the fog of agony and confusion, he heard a voice calling him to come back to the world of the living. The voice sounded so familiar… but he couldn’t remember who it was for the life of him. He willed himself to open his eyes in order to get a better idea of his surroundings. Was he still in the cell? He still hurt all over and was still having trouble breathing so he wasn’t out of danger yet. Honestly, anywhere would be better than the cell… with his captors.

After a minute of twitching and groaning, Nate was rewarded when those familiar brown eyes opened up to gaze at him. They weren’t as bright and full as they usually were but rather dull and clouded. Despite that, they were the eyes of Sterling nonetheless. Nate let out the breath he was holding while waiting for his friend to wake up and smiled in relief. If his friend weren’t so injured, he might have risked giving the man a hug.

“Na…ate?” Sterling’s voice was barely a whisper and his eyes fluttered trying to regain their focus. His throat and mouth felt dry like he hadn’t had a drink of water in days.

Judging from his condition, Nate knew they had to get Sterling to a hospital as quickly as possible but he had to wait until Eliot cleared the building before making their escape. Parker and Hardison were helping with taking out the surveillance while he snuck into the cell to release Sterling.

“Yea, it’s me Jim. We’re going to get you out of here.” Sterling’s eyes fluttered again but he was able to nod his head despite it being almost minute. Nate bit his lip. Everything about Sterling’s condition indicated that he needed to be moved fast. Where was Eliot? Nate noticed that Sterling was trembling, but he didn’t have anything to cover him. That’s when he noticed a fine sheen of sweat on Sterling’s brow. He put his hand on Sterling’s forehead and started to panic a little. Jim’s head was hot to the touch which meant he wasn’t cold, but it indicated another problem.

Nate inspected Jim’s left leg again. He didn’t see it the first time but after giving a closer look, he saw the edges of the cuts were red with inflammation and it looked like a cloudy liquid was leaking out. Shit, sepsis. Nate looked at his friend’s face and saw his eyes were closed, breathing still weak and shallow.

“Don’t fall asleep on me, Jim,” Nate said while gently shaking him. It took a few seconds but Sterling’s eyes opened a little bit and whimpered.

“Hhhurts,” he rasped. His face furrowed with pain. He wanted nothing more than to sleep for a year.

“I know buddy but you gotta stay with me. We’ll take care of you.”

Silence fell between the two men for a minute.

“I… didn’t tell… him anything.” Nate looked up confused. If he had been able to, he would have grabbed Nate’s sleeve to get him to look at him.

“What?”

“Blackpoole… he’s… been trying… to find you. I… didn’t… say anything, promise.” Talking was a huge effort and taking up what little energy he had left. Breathing was starting to be difficult. There was a look of desperation in his eyes. He needed Nate to know he didn’t break despite all of the pain and suffering.

Nate looked away with guilt. All of this happened because Blackpoole was after him. Despite all the things he has accused Jim of over the years and all of the hostility between them, Nate couldn’t help but feel bad that Sterling never betrayed him even after being tortured.

“Don’t worry about that, buddy. Just focus on staying awake. We’ll sort it out once you’re taken care of.”

“Olivia?” There was slight panic in Jim’s eyes. Nate took his left hand and gave it a squeeze.

“She’s safe. She’s with Sophie and Parker. She contacted us when you didn’t come home.” Sterling sighed in relief forgetting about his ribs. His body pitched forward immediately tensing up from the stabbing pain and he started coughing. Colors exploded and the edges of his vision became blurred. Squeezing his eyes shut, he gasped and struggled to catch his breath. The only thing Nate could do was to steady his friend to stop him from falling over. Luckily, Eliot came through the door.

“Quick Eliot, he’s in bad shape. We gotta move fast and get him to the hospital.” Eliot nodded and knelt next to Sterling. Nate was right.

“Hardison is outside with the van. We’re going to have to carry him out. It’s going to hurt,” Eliot said. Nate bit his lip. He didn’t want to risk hurting Sterling further but there was no other choice.

“He can’t walk,” Nate said pointing to Jim’s exposed leg. Eliot let out a frustrated sigh through his nose. Sterling was about the same size as Eliot. Nate would have to help him carry him out.

Both men wrapped snaked an arm under Jim’s armpits and around his back. They didn’t want to do any more damage to the injured shoulders. They hauled him up and tried to ignore the high-pitched whine of agony Sterling couldn’t stifle. Using their other arms to hook under his legs and lifted them up. After the swift walk to the car, they carefully placed Jim into the back so he could lie down. Parker had laid a blanket down so they could wrap him up and keep him warm. The pain must have been tremendous because when they laid him down, he was completely passed out.

“We gotta take him to the hospital but Blackpoole is still out there.” The gang whipped their heads around.

“Blackpoole?” Hardison exclaimed. That guy had been a real piece of work.

“Yea. He’s been trying to find me I guess to get revenge on us putting him in jail. We did ruin his life after all.”

“Shit.” Sophie looked over to Sterling. His injuries looked awful. There was no way they weren’t taking him to a hospital.

“Alright, go. He’s got a high fever. I think his leg is infected.”

“Right.” Eliot climbed into the driver’s seat. It was a good thing Sterling was passed out. The ride to the hospital was not the smoothest. With those injuries, it probably would have hurt like a bitch. They finally pulled up and Nate ran in to get help.

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Everything passed by in a whirlwind. Sterling was taken into surgery and the gang sat down for the long wait. Sophie went to get Olivia. A few hours passed when a doctor finally came out.

“Are you family of Mr. Sterling?” Olivia stepped forward.

“I’m his daughter and these are his good friends,” she gestured to the Nate.

“Mr. Sterling suffered some serious injuries. He clearly spent a good amount of time suspended by his wrists. Both have muscle strain and contusions. His shoulders were badly dislocated. His torso sustained the most damage. He has 4 broken ribs and the rest are heavily bruised. We extracted pieces of glass from his left side. He got cut pretty seriously that needed stitches. There was a stab wound in his left shoulder. That was a deep injury that cut through muscle. He sustained a head injury but it’s a few days old so there’s no danger there. We were able to flush out the wound on his leg. It was septic so he’s on a full regimen of antibiotics to get rid of the infection. Looks like a dog bit him or something. The rest of the injuries were superficial cuts and bruises. He’s dehydrated and malnourished. It’s going to be a long road of recovery with lots of physical therapy. Sepsis is a sapping illness so it will take days for him to stabilize enough for his body to start healing the other injuries. He’s most likely going to sleep the rest of the night but you can see him.”

“Can I stay with him until he wakes up?” Olivia had tears in her eyes. The doctor nodded and led them to the room.

Sterling definitely looked better than when Nate found him but not by much. Instead of being covered in blood, his face was pale which made the bruises stand out much more prominently. Both of his arms were strapped to his body to promote the healing shoulders. The blanket was covering his lower half leaving his bandaged chest exposed. Olivia sank into a chair with tears spilling out of her eyes. She’d never seen her dad so vulnerable, so injured. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Nate.

“It’ll be ok. We’ll take care of him,” he said with a gentle squeeze. She sniffed and nodded.

“Thanks for being there for us. I don’t know what we’d do without you. Dad would still be missing and I’d be alone.” She stood up to give him a hug. It felt awkward at first but Nate relaxed and wrapped his arms around her.

“You guys go home and I’ll stay here with Olivia,” Nate motioned to the guys. They hesitated but finally walked away.

With a sigh, Nate sat in the chair next to Olivia and held her hand. And so they waited.

Chapter Text

It was a few days before anything exciting happened.

Sterling woke feeling fuzzy. Everything was in an uncomfortable cloud and he couldn’t focus. He heard faint beeps and his surroundings smelled like antiseptic. His eyes wouldn’t cooperate and they felt like something was keeping them pinched shut. He tried bringing his hand up to rub them but he found his body was heavy and he couldn’t move. As he became more aware, he started to feel a faint throbbing in his entire body. Breathing hurt. His first instinct was to panic but then memories came rushing back from his captivity and his eyes slowly opened. Everything was blurry so he squinted trying to bring everything back in focus. Finally, the room became crisp revealing that he was in the hospital. Thank god. It wasn’t a dream.

With difficulty, he turned his head to see Olivia sitting next to him. Relief flooded him and honestly, even though he was in pain, he didn’t care. His daughter was safe. With what little strength he had, he squeezed her hand. The pressure woke her up immediately.

“Dad! Oh, thank god. How are you feeling?” He tried to smile at her but he didn’t quite have the energy, so it came out as a grimace instead. Olivia knew what he was trying to do and she smiled back. Her hand reached out to touch his cheek as tears streamed down her face. He closed his eyes leaning into it. When the pain became unbearable, his thoughts had drifted to her. It kept him grounded throughout his torture. He wanted so badly to brush away her tears but he realized his arms were immobilized. He let out a small frustrated sigh through his nose hoping he wouldn’t aggravate his torso.

“Livia…” he rasped. His throat felt like he hadn’t had a drink in days. “Wa’er?” A straw was brought to his lips and he gratefully took a sip. There were so many questions buzzing through his head.

“I was so scared. I didn’t know what happened to you. I wasn’t sure if I would ever see you again!” Olivia sniffed and rubbed her face. Guilt panged through Sterling. He never wanted to hurt his daughter whether it was voluntary or not.

“P-pp-please don’t… cry… dar-ling. E-e-every…thing will…be…all right. I’m ok,” he pleaded, tears sprang to his eyes. If he were honest with himself, his daughter crying was worse than his injuries. On a separate note, crying hurt like a bitch. His chest erupted with fireworks causing his breath to hitch. Breathing became difficult. Olivia tried to calm him down after she noticed her father’s distress. She wanted to hug him so badly. Sterling squeeze his eyes shut trying to ride out the pain. A tear escaped. Olivia reached out to wipe it away.

“Dad, you need to calm down or you’ll hurt yourself. How are you feeling?” Sterling took a second to truly evaluate his condition. Now that he was completely lucid, he started to feel every injury he sustained. The pain was coming back in waves and crying did NOT help.

“I’ve… been better,” he tried to downplay his pain level. Staying awake was becoming difficult. The pain was making it difficult to concentrate on his daughter. He didn’t want to go back to sleep. Olivia noticed his eyes flutter. The beeping alerted a nurse.

“Mr. Sterling, you’re finally awake. How are we feeling today? Rate your level of pain 1-10.” Sterling tried to put on a brave face.

“4.” The nurse gave him a stern look. She saw right through his façade. “Uh… 8.”

“That sounds much more realistic with your injuries and all. You’ll feel relief in a minute. Here’s the morphine button for the next time the pain gets bad. The doctor will be in next time to talk to you. Just try to rest some more.” Olivia thanked her as she left. Looking back at her dad, she could see his struggle to stay awake.

“It’s ok. You need to regain your strength. I’ll be here when you wake up,” she said as she pressed a kiss to his forehead and watched his eyes drift shut. Once he fell asleep, she wiped away a stray tear. She needed to stay strong for her father.