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Author: YanzaDracan
Disclaimer With the exception of the work noted as being originally mine, all works of fiction and characters thereof belong to their original creators/studios/producers/publishers. No money is being earned, and they are used without permission. In the case of RPS, the people being used as characters belong to themselves. I do not know them. Everything I've written is complete fiction. Any goofs, gaffs, bending of facts, or mistakes are mine.
Characters/Pairings: Eliot/Parker; Hardison; Nate; Sophie; Guest appearance by: Jake Jensen; Cougar; & Clay from The Losers; Hetty Lange from NCIS: Los Angeles; Sons of Anarchy
Rating: R
Genre: Slash, het
Warnings/spoilers: language; adult situations, violence, implied non-con, prostitution
Word Count: 6,019/18,321
Summary: They’ve met before when he had “a flag on his shoulder and God in his heart”, before he became Eliot Spencer. Set after The Last Dam Job
%%%%%
The original architects of the warehouse had been very clever-they'd built a building inside a building leaving a space between the inner and outer walls to allow movement around without going through. He'd built several safes throughout 'his' building using the façade of the brick passage ways to disguise them. He didn't know if it would keep Parker out, but it would slow her down. There were the usual safety deposit boxes and storage units scattered around, but he'd consolidated most of his bolt holes to the western half of the country.
By the time Lucille and the black Mercedes pulled up to the warehouses, all that was left on the big truck was things that required two people to move.
Eliot knew exactly where everyone was as he moved toward the kitchen to put the finishing touches on his lasagna before putting it in the oven. He figured it would be done about the same time the team got settled and came looking for food. He'd stepped away from the oven when a blur registered in his peripheral vision it allowed him just enough time to bring up his arms before Parker was hanging on him like a sock monkey. Hardison was only a step or two behind and sandwiched the blonde between them.
With a growl, Eliot tried to disengage himself from the pair only to look over and see Sophie and Nate grinning like they just conned the Queen out of the crown jewels.
"We really missed you." Parker shook him by the shoulders.
"I'm about to waste away to nothing." Hardison complained as he headed for the beverage cooler entranced at variety along with his customary orange soda. "Once you've had Hotpockets ala Eliot, the ones in the store just aren't the same."
"Food'll be ready in an hour, there're four suites upstairs. Then someone can help me get the big stuff off the truck."
He was setting the table when Parker reappeared.
"Where do you stay?"
"Not here."
"No kidding." She snapped.
"I'm not far." He looked up and saw her frowning at him. "Shouldn't you be helping Hardison unload the van?"
She frowned at the change in subject, but couldn't deny the truth of his words.
"I don't think he likes me very much right now."
Eliot arched an eyebrow at her confused tone.
"He kept trying to make me ride with Nate and Sophie. Have you seen the backseat in Nate's car? It's not big enough for Bunny, let alone both of us."
"I'm sure he'll get over now that you're not cooped up in the van together."
"What's that mean?"
"Ask Hardison. I have to finish supper." He grinned as the blonde trotted across the building to the garage area.
"Man, it's gonna take me a month to even think about this place gettin' into the 21st century." Hardison complained as he unloaded Lucille. "How am I supposed to do my kung fu…?"
Everyone could still hear his complaints as the elevator dropped into the basement. Eliot was out the door just as they heard the next yell.
"YEAH BABY!!! ELIOT GOT ME A NEW BATCAVE!!"
%%%%%
"You know Hardison'll never come out of the basement again?" Nate cracked as he handed the enforcer a beer before sitting in one of the lounge chairs along the new front porch.
"You say that like it's a bad thing." He saluted Nate with his bottle. "You get settled."
"Nice suites." He watched Eliot closely. "Where's yours?"
"Not far."
Nate sighed into his scotch. Though Eliot never gave any indication he felt like an outsider, the mastermind wondered if he and Sophie and Hardison and Parker coming together romantically made him feel excluded. For a time Nate had thought there was something between Eliot and Sophie, the grifter constantly looked to Eliot for backup and approval, but when he'd come back from prison she'd been right there, and Eliot seemed to take a step back.
"Eliot?"
He rolled his eyes before looking out over the river.
"You take the river view or Sophie?"
Surprised by the question, Nate answered truthfully. "Technically it's Sophie's, but I'll be spending a lot of time there. Parker took the other one on the riverside." He took a breath to try again. "Eliot, I'm sorry about bringing you to the attention of your old bosses."
"Conrad was never my boss." Eliot's tone was flat hoping Nate would let the subject drop.
No such luck.
"But he said…"
"We'd come to his attention. It won't be a problem. I can get his attention to be mostly somewhere else."
Nate felt panic rising.
"Did they reactivate you?"
Eliot clamped down on the words that were trying to escape. He'd volunteered to go into the study. He knew there was a chance he'd be found out. It had been shear machismo on his part to not let the kid have his way when he'd grabbed the tazer-that and he really hated electrical shocks-they seemed to be SOP with every bad guy these days.
"It's been handled…for a price." Eliot kept his tone even. "I'm flyin' out tomorrow."
"You'll be back?" The tone was hopeful.
"Couple days…couple weeks at the most."
"But..."
"It'll take that long for Hardison to get everything set-up, and everyone to get settled."He gave Nate a hard glare. "Settle in, settle down, relax, and don't take any jobs until I get back."
"There's at least two weeks worth of work to get this place in shape." Sophie offered from the doorway.
Eliot stood.
"Sensible woman. You should listen to her more." He brushed past the grifter. "I gotta pack."
"Is he upset about that whole CIA thing?" Sophie asked as she settled in the chair Eliot vacated.
"Says not, but he's leaving to do an outside job."
"How does he seem?"
"Like Eliot." Nate shrugged as he went in search of a refill.
Sophie blinked wide eyed at Nate. If she thought it would help, she'd slap him again. This move was causing them all to go through changes-sort through the things they'd collected over the years, and re-assess who they were as they remained together as friends and as a family.
Taking a sip of her tea, she used her people reading skills to honestly assess her odd little family. While Parker and Hardison were cute at the moment, their mental and emotional maturity was rapidly catching up with their chronological ages.
Parker's world view would always be bent, cracked and twisted, but Sophie feared the eight year age difference between the hacker and thief would soon become a stressor.
Hardison had visions of running his own crew, and Sophie imaged he would want Parker at his side, but by the time he would be ready, she feared Parker would be thinking of slowing down as the abuse of her chosen profession began to wear on her body. He'd be revving up while she was slowing down, shifting her focus to protégés, maybe babies, and doing a little masterminding of her own.
That shook Sophie out of her thoughts as the evening turned cooler. She did not just imagine the Leverage School of Hitters, Hackers, Grifters, Thieves, and Masterminds. They were all so much more than those titles…but it would make for an interesting retirement.
Shaking her head as she went back inside, she was either exhausted from the trip or had inhaled too much fresh air. Tomorrow she'd start whipping this place into shape.
%%%%%%
This was so much better than his fantasies. Looking around at everything Eliot had installed, Alec Hardison began to re-think his opinion of his friend. When he paid attention, he'd see the intelligence behind those pale eyes, but usually all he saw was the hitter.
As he set up his servers, he couldn't get over how everything was perfect. The room he was in was one of the old tunnels liked they'd used for the dam job, but it was under their warehouse. The hidden hatch was triggered by a biometric reader so only the team would be able to access the server room, giving them a secondary escape route should they need it, allowing them to blow the server room and cover their escape. It was so James Bond as to be practically orgasmic to the hacker.
He wondered where Parker was hiding. He wanted to show off all his toys, and maybe brag a little about everything Eliot had obviously learned from him in the past four years. His fingers practically itched for his babies to come on-line. Looking for anything that would keep him in his lair, he finally admitted he was going to have to exit to the real world, and get to work setting up the office space topside.
He was almost disappointed to find little left to do in the part of the warehouse designated as 'office' other than get the wireless network up and running. All the equipment was top of the line and ready to go. He was beginning to think Eliot may have another hacker he was seeing besides himself. He felt his gut tighten. Surely Eliot wouldn't have allowed Chaos into his new inner sanctum. Even he wouldn't be that callous. If not Chaos, he wondered who.
That thought was quickly replaced with thoughts of Parker. Sophie and Nate were rearranging furniture, but he didn't see Parker or Eliot anywhere. He was just about to pull up his GPS on the pair when a war whoop sounded from Parker as she landed on top of the elevator cage.
"This place is SO cool." She crowed as she unhooked and jumped down. "There's three other buildings in the complex."
The others drew close.
"Yeah I know?" Nate answered. "Eliot said the owner probably wouldn't mind letting them all go if the price was right."
"Yeah. This one is the protected from sight by the others, and there's a big iron gate over on the main street side."
"Big gate?"
"Yeah. Like a big truck could drive through, but they're tall and heavy."
Everyone exchanged looks.
"Was it there when you were here?" Sophie asked.
"No, but Eliot's been working on this for a couple months." Nate's voice carried that 'I have a puzzle to solve' tone. "Hardison, you up and running enough to check out our new home?"
"Sure. The way Eliot's got this place wired he's either totally lied about being a technophobe, or he's been seein' another hacker. Either way I'm devastated by it." He laid a forearm dramatically across his forehead.
"I choose the hacker." Parker chimed in. "Eliot knows all the best people."
Hardison was still sputtering when Eliot walked in the room.
"What!?" He growled.
"You cheated on me." Hardison whined.
"You've been hangin' out with Parker too long, yer startin' to talk as crazy as her."
"Eliot who owned these buildings?" Nate asked.
"No one you need to know."
"I can't believe you went behind my back with another hacker. I feel so violated." Hardison was sounding like a cuckold spouse.
"Yeah. Well I can think of two others just off the top of my head besides Chaos." Eliot growled.
"Now that's just hurtful. What do you mean TWO others."
"The Vulture and one so reclusive he lives on an uncharted island in international waters. I don't understand what it is with geeks and their weird names."
That broke Hardison paralysis.
"You know The Vulture? I can't believe you think The Vulture's better 'n me."
"Didn't say she was better, but she's not always runnin' off on some geek spiral-besides this place is wired to be every hacker's jerk-off fantasy so…." Eliot shrugged and threw up his hands. Hardison's whining was starting to wear thin.
The hacker held his hands up in a placating gesture.
"Yer right. It is…er…ummm…what you said, and I am very appreciative that I didn't have to do all this work myself." He ducked his head in embarrassment. "I'll just go…you know…" He took off for the office space.
Shaking his head, Eliot got what he needed before returning to his loft.
%%%%%
Eliot had been gone three days when Hardison yelled from their office.
"Guys! Come take a look at this." There was amusement in his voice.
Thinking there was some hint of what Eliot was doing, they hurried over. Instead they found pictures of a heavily muscled naked man with feathers in his hair, holding a blanket in front of his 'man bits' as Hardison narrated.
"Hardison where did you get these?" Sophie asked almost drooling.
"They popped up when the media started digging into Moreau's background after he was arrested. His wife was some high dollar designer, and these are from the debut of the very last year she had anything on the market. There was some kinda of raid with arms dealers, and all kinds of government agencies. A couple of the good guys got killed by friendly fire, bad guys were shootin' RPGs, and General Atherton retired right after it happened."
He turned back to the screens.
"That sure does look like Eliot." He grinned maniacally. "Just wait 'til he gets back."
Parker's eyes were wide as she recognized the man that had saved her life. She'd been so scared. She'd thought he was dead when she couldn't wake him up, and when she heard voices shouting to make sure he was dead, she'd ran.
"That's not Eliot." She blurted out.
"What?!" The other three said in unison.
"You tellin' me you've seen Eliot naked." Hardison squeaked.
Parker might not know a lot about relationships, but she knew NOT to answer that question. So she rolled her eyes and stated the obvious.
"Eliot would never be that bulky. You can't move the way he does when you look like that." Eliot wouldn't look like that, but a Navy SEAL could. "Plus Eliot's got tattoos on his legs."
Hardison relaxed as he listened to Parker's reasons.
"They sure look a lot alike." He muttered.
"You seriously think Eliot would pose like that?" Sophie asked as she continued to appreciate the fine definition of the young man's muscles.
"Sophie?" Nate asked as the grifter continued to stare.
"What? I'm just saying…" She gave him that smile that made parts of him ooze and other parts come to attention.
"I'd get rid of those before Eliot gets back." Nate pointed at the screen.
The hacker started to protest then remembered the training the enforcer put them through. He would have bruises on his bruises if he got on Eliot's bad side right before one of their sessions.
A week later, they found Eliot in the kitchen cooking breakfast seeming none the worse for wear. After breakfast they sat down in front of the plasma screens with a stack of files. Picking one they were back in the business of providing leverage.
%%%%%
"We can't do it that week. Hardison has a geek thing that week." The straw Parker was sucking on started to gurgle as it encountered the bottom of the empty cup.
"A geek thing?" Nate raised an eyebrow.
"CanSecWest Security Conference in Vancouver. It's not a problem. I can do both." Hardison assured them.
"Thought you already had reservations?" Parker looked confused as Alec tried to shush her.
"It's fine, Mama. No worries here." Hardison grinned at the others while they gave him a hard glare.
%%%%%
Eliot could feel the ends of his ribs shifting as he carried Parker into the warehouse. He laid her on one of the sofas as Hardison rushed across the room. Eliot headed back for the door, Hardison following silently.
He'd stitched a gash on Parker's back, bound her ankle and told Hardison to change the ice pack when needed. Sophie was a little bruised, nothing a hot bath and some mild painkillers wouldn't solve. Nate had taken a blow to the temple that could have killed him if Eliot hadn't yanked him out of the way and taken the brunt of the blow across his right side.
He cleaned the cut, shaved back just enough of Nate's curls to stitch it shut. He got the mastermind settled in his and Sophie's suite.
"Eliot, I can take care that he wakes up every few hours." The grifter tried to gently prod their protector into taking care of his own wounds.
"It's cracked ribs, Sophie. Not a lot I can do other than wash off everyone's blood."
"Then you should do that. Stay in the empty room instead of going back to your loft. You took quite a pounding getting us out."
"I was gonna stay here anyway to keep an eye on everyone."
"We'll let Hardison take care of waking everyone on time. It's the least he can do." Sophie raised her voice to carry across the quad of suites.
Hardison would start to protest that it wasn't his fault, until he saw their injuries, then he'd bite his lip, and do what he was told.
%%%%%
He'd done everything perfectly. Done what the team needed and took in everything at the conference right up until he'd met Sally-who was bold, outlandish, and totally captivated him. When they'd parted ways for the evening with a promise to meet for breakfast, he'd turned his ear bud back on to hear Eliot cursing the day he was born, and promising a painful death when they got home.
He'd stopped by Sally's room to explain he was being called home on an emergency, exchanged contact information then listening to the devil on his shoulder pulled her in for a hug and kiss that curled his toes.
"Thought you had a plane to catch?" Sally chuckled.
"What…yeah I do." He scrambled toward the elevators, her laugh following him down the hall.
He knew if there was no life threatening injuries, Eliot wouldn't stop until he felt safe, so Hardison tossed his duffle in his room while the plasmas were coming to life. They'd been pulling a switch, the real thing for a replica. Fortunate for their client they'd made the switch when Parker had been spotted on her way out of the building. She ran into security because Hardison hadn't been on the comm to let her know the guard was making his rounds.
In an effort to escape, Parker had taken a tumble down a set of stairs when the guard tried to shove her against the wall and she'd made a break for the steps. Eliot had taken down the guard and gotten Parker to the car. He left a trail of bodies through the building as he went back for Sophie and Nate.
The hacker got to work scrubbing security feeds. Since the mark didn't know about the switch there was no police involvement for him to scrub from the system. Trying to buy time for Parker and Eliot, Nate had gotten belligerent when the mark had shoved Sophie into a table in his haste to get to security. Nate had punched the man as a means of slowing him down. The mark's security detail had taken an Asp to Nate just Eliot came through the door pulling the mastermind away from the blow that if it had connected could have possibly killed him.
Now here he was, cleaning up the mess that was made because he got distracted-on top of that he'd kissed a woman that wasn't Parker. He'd enjoyed the company of the other computer geek. They had a lot in common, and he didn't stutter and stammer with her the way he did with other women.
Damn, now he was in two pots of hot water. He'd gotten distracted and botched the job and the other with Parker. Though the girl was crazy there would be no avoiding the coming fallout. She'd either stab him or fly off some roof or…nope…no way she's going to be okay with it.
He'd just finished cleaning everything up when Eliot brought Parker through the door.
Now she sat propped against her pillows looking at him with big hurt eyes. She needed him and he wasn't there.
"Parker. I…I'm sorry…I didn't…you know…it was…" He slumped down in the chair he'd pulled close to the bed.
"Was she pretty?"
"WHAT!?"
"I'll bet she's normal and understands everything you say." Parker plucked at a loose thread on one of Bunny's button eyes. "You said you'd have my back." She continued in her small voice.
"Parker…I…"
"Eliot had my back. Nate and Sophie had my back, but you were distracted by your geek thingy." She scrubbed her cheeks trying not to cry.
"I told you to make her comfortable, not make her pain worse." The growl caused Hardison to jump and turn to face the threat as his deepest survival instinct said he was dead.
"Eliot, man, don't sneak up on a person like that." Hardison tried to make light, but the expression on the hitter's face told the hacker there was no humor in the man.
"Go help Sophie with Nate, and try not to screw that up."
He heard Eliot's breath catch as he bent to check Parker's ankle and shoulder before tucking the covers around her and settling tiredly in the chair. Feeling another stab of guilt, he headed for the suite across the way.
The next few days were quiet as everyone started to heal. Eliot and Sophie had met with the client to finish out the job while Hardison collected them a tidy sum on the mark's stock before it took a dip when their newest product failed to produce.
He'd tried to make up with Parker by getting her share in cash, but she'd given him one of Sophie's polite grifter smiles and thanked him before she'd turned her attention back to her sketch pad.
It was quiet around the warehouse until stitches were removed sprains, bruises, and strains healed. Hardison's budding relationship with Sally continued to grow through their online communities and video chat. He deluded himself that they were merely friends, but as they started making plans to get together in person, collaborating on several projects, he could feel their friendship changing.
He also noticed that Parker had become quiet. She spent a lot of time with her sketch pad while she waited for her ankle to heal. Since Archie had acknowledged her as his daughter, she'd begun spending a lot of time on the phone with the retired master thief.
Watching her running along the rafters in the warehouse stopped the hacker's heart, but got him to wondering if he'd developed feelings for her because they were constantly thrown together, never having time to be around other people-real, normal people-plus she kept him confused with her on and off personality.
The prickly points of her personality had been dulled by spending time with Sophie and having her fighting skills expanded by Eliot. They had both changed since they'd begun their relationship and the cracks were starting to show as they grew. He could hear his Nana's voice scolding him for not talking to Parker.
Everyone was finally recovered, and Hardison was learning how hard it was balance a relationship outside the team with his work for the team, and to keep one hidden from the other.
Six weeks after their first disastrous job in their new city, Hardison finally got Parker to sit still long enough for them to talk. She sat perfectly still as he stammered through his explanation. When he finished, he was sweating, but felt like he'd shed a great weight.
Parker stared for several minutes, before standing.
"That's what Sophie said you would say. Eliot wanted to punch you, but I told him it's okay 'cause you're still family."
"How did you…?"
Parker's look was sly
"Remember Eliot's hacker friend, The Vulture?" Hardison nodded as Parker grinned. "Her name is Sally."
After dropping that bomb she bounced out the door with a dumbfounded hacker staring after her.
%%%%%
The headaches from the concussion finally stopped, and Nate felt like he could focus again. The weeks of inactivity had helped them really settle into Portland though it seemed Hardison and Parker would be coming to an end as romantic partners.
Parker had come through the door from her and Eliot's morning run, which meant their enforcer would be grabbing a shower before coming over to fix breakfast.
Nate shook his head as he sipped his coffee and read through files. They were becoming domesticated-as much as a bunch of crazy, anti-social thieves could be domesticated. The knot that rested inside his chest where Sam and Maggie used to live loosened a little more with each nugget he received from his crew. When Sophie had told him about Eliot being prepared to shoot Dubenich so Nate wouldn't, he'd been able to take his first deep breath in years.
Breakfast demolished and the kitchen cleaned, they'd taken their usual places, the atmosphere in the warehouse calmer than it had been since Eliot had dragged them home battered and bleeding.
"Hardison, show us what you found on…"Nate stopped when his phone rang.
Frowning at the Caller ID, he answered. The frown deepened as he listened before handing the phone to Eliot.
If the retrieval specialist was surprised to hear Captain Patrick Bonanno's voice, he gave no indication as he made notes and asked a few questions.
"I'll see what I can do." He listened a few more minutes. "I can't make any promises, and you'll owe me one."
He disconnected the call and tossed the pad at Hardison.
"Look that up." His voice brooked no argument.
"Holly Oliverio. Her mother is the sister of Captain Patrick Bonanno. Holly and her fiancé Robert Drago, were on a cross-county driving vacation. Robert was found dead in their motel room on the outskirts of Reno, Nevada. Holly nor her body were found though the evidence seems to point to their attackers being a group of men riding motorcycles. The motel didn't have a lot of security cameras…this is the only image that had anything identifiable on it."
Eliot cursed and dug in his pocket for a phone Hardison didn't recognize. Before he dialed, he looked at Parker.
"Can you handle a bike?" Eyes wide, she nodded. "Leathers?" She shook her head no, a slightly crazed light coming back into her eyes.
"Blue or white?" She licked her lips.
"You pick." They were going out the door as Eliot dialed.
Nate looked at Hardison who was already trying to capture the phone's signal. He looked up and shook his head.
As Eliot moved across the courtyard his call connected.
"You're not calling to complain about Conrad are you?"
"Already took care of Conrad. I need something else from you." Eliot took a deep breath. "I need you to activate Gray Hanks."
A gasp from the other side of the call was his answer. "Eliot…"
He cut off her protests. "I just need his reputation, not his skills set. I also need him to pick up a partner/lover who's as crazy as him."
"You have someone in mind?"
"I'll send you a photo when we're done. How soon can you have it ready?"
"Why don't you pay me a visit in three days? Bring your friend."
Parker was acquainting herself with Eliot's blue Harley when he went up to his loft and booked two tickets to LA.
%%%%%
He spent the rest of the afternoon refreshing Parker's skills with the big bike while the others watched. They held their questions until after supper.
"What's going on, Eliot?"
"If she's still alive, I pretty sure I know where to find Holly." He threaded his fingers through his hair.
"What are we waiting for?" Hardison asked. "Where do we need to go?"
"It's not that simple."
"Not that simple is our specialty, Eliot." Sophie cajoled.
"Not this time. We're talking about a very closed society, and too many strangers showing up at the same time raises too much suspicion. It's a small town."
"What? Like a secret handshake boys club or something?" Hardison asked.
"No. Like an outlaw motorcycle club closed society." He growled at the hacker
"How do you know that?" Nate challenged.
"I recognized an insignia on one of their jackets."
"So what's your 'in', Eliot?" Sophie asked.
Eliot ducked his head.
"I don't need an 'in' I already am."
"Eliot Spencer, outlaw biker?" Hardison sounded incredulous.
"No. They've never heard of Eliot Spencer. I have another niche with them, and no I'm not telling you who or what." He got up from the table catching the smirk on the hacker's face.
"Oh and Hardison, if you go looking I assure you you'll find someone much nastier than me." He glared before grabbing a beer and heading outside.
Parker paused before following Eliot.
"I get to be me only scarier." She grinned at them maniacally.
"I don't care for the thought of that." Sophie muttered.
"I think I saw this movie." Nate shook his head.
"Wonder if Bonanno knows something we don't?" Hardison frowned.
"Eliot is a retrieval specialist. Bonanno probably figured that included people."
%%%%%
At midnight eastern time, Eliot and Parker were sitting at the computer waiting for Bonanno to answer their call.
"Anything? He asked quickly."
"Maybe. Plug in yer headset. Yer wife and kid don't need to hear this." Eliot advised.
Eliot waited until they were sure the connection was working before telling the State Police Captain his news.
"If we find her alive, and if we can get her out, it's going to take a long time to get her back on a mental level. Being taken by bikers can be brutal." Eliot told the anxious uncle. "They probably turned her out."
Realizing what Eliot was saying, Bonanno nodded his understanding.
"We'll keep you posted."
"Eliot…Parker…Thank you."
With a curt nod, Eliot signed off.
"Why did he thank us? We haven't done anything."
"For trying, for giving him some hope."
"This is going to be hard."
"Yeah."
"Is Gray worse than Moreau's Eliot?" Her voice was small like she thought a soft voice would lessen the pain.
"Not worse just different, but he likes his partner." Eliot assured her with a tight grin.
"That's okay then."
"Go to bed, Parker. We're going shopping tomorrow after we get to Los Angeles."
"Hate shopping." She pouted.
"You'll like this shopping." Eliot teased.
%%%%%
The rental car's engine ticked as it began to cool. Eliot took a minute to enjoy the look of wonder on Parker's face as she stared at the Spanish style house that had been one of the first built in Beverly Hills.
"Don't even think about it. This house has more countermeasures than Ft. Knox, and it you get past those there's still some nasty surprises including the owner."
"Seriously?" Parker pouted
"You don't survive in the Game as long as my friend without an extraordinary sense of paranoia."
Eliot opened the car door knowing the security system would have cleared them by now. Opening the trunk, he turned his head to hide a smile as he watched the diminutive figure appear behind Parker.
"Where is your friend, I thought….oh…" Parker grabbed Eliot's arm, and in a stage whisper that made Eliot want to laugh out loud said…"She's so cute. Can we keep her?"
Blue lights dancing in grey eyes, the retrieval specialist tried to keep a straight face as Hetty Lange crossed her arms in a perfect imitation of Eliot.
"Did you teach her that?" Parker practically bounced.
That was when Eliot cracked-threw his head back and laughed. Parker stopped. She'd made Eliot laugh. Eliot never laughed. The sound was musical, mischievous, and playful. She looked back at the little woman, who was giving her a warm smile as her dark eyes watched Eliot.
Still chuckling, Eliot made introductions.
"Parker, this is my friend, Henrietta Lange, Hetty to most. Hetty this is Parker."
"Pleased to meet one of Eliot's friends." Hetty gave a slight bow.
"Oh…yeah…me too." Parker vibrated with excitement.
Smiling indulgently at the youngsters, Hetty turned towards the house.
"You have your usual room, Eliot. Put Parker in Mr. Shelley's room then come to the library."
"Yes, 'm." Eliot answered as they entered the cool interior of the house.
"No stealing." He admonished the thief as he showed her to her room.
This gave Parker pause. Hetty had said they were friends, and Eliot told her not to steal so that must mean she was Eliot's family. Sophie said you didn't steal from family, though Sophie had conned them, but that was before they were a real family, and WOW what a cool room. Dropping her bag on the floor she climbed into the window seat.
"Knock when you're ready to go downstairs." Eliot said as he shook his head at Parker's antics.
Eliot took time to wash up and change his shirt while he waited for Parker. He felt more relaxed than he had in…well it'd been a long time, but this house always had that effect on him. A knock pulled him out of his thoughts.
He stepped into the hall.
"Ready to go shopping?"
"Do we have to? I'd rather go exploring." Her expression was hopeful.
"We'll see."
They headed for the library.
When they stepped inside the double doors, Parker grabbed Eliot's arm. Draped across the furniture were clothes. Parker wasn't sure some of the scraps of cloth qualified as clothes, but as she ran her hands over the soft leather she missed Eliot handing Hetty an envelope.
"This is all mine?" Parker sounded incredulous
"Whatever fits you, my dear?" Hetty answered as she led Eliot over to the desk where afternoon tea sat waiting.
Hetty gasped when she turned to see Parker shimming out of her clothes.
"My word." She breathed out.
"Usual."He picked up the delicate cup to wet his dry mouth.
"Are you sure about this, Eliot? After Moreau…"
"Don't go there, Hetty." Eliot's voice was hard. "Someone from or affiliated with SAMCRO saw a pretty girl, killed her fiancé, and took her. Her uncle is a Massachusetts State Police Captain." He softened his voice. "I'm hoping Gray's reputation will make everyone think twice before doin' something stupid."
He looked over to see Parker in a scrap of leather halter top and leather pants as he savored the exotic tea Hetty had prepared.
"He's a good cop and a good man. Shelley even likes him."
Hetty smiled. "Well if Mr. Shelley likes him."
%%%%%
It wasn't until the plane was on its way back to PDX that Parker began to get nervous.
"Eliot?"
Eliot sighed. Parker learning to deal with her emotions was not only hard on the thief, but on the rest of them as well. The enforcer figured that was why Hardison had struck up a relationship with Sally. The hacker known as The Vulture was paranoid, but fairly normal.
"You'll be fine, Parker. All you have to do is be yourself…say and do all the things you did before…" He waved a hand in the air. "Before the team."
"I can do that." She practically sparkled.
"The only thing you have to remember is that you're mine. If something starts to go down you, and some guy raises a hand to you, you don't stand there and take it you come for me. In the world we're going into no one touches you unless I say." Eliot reminded the independent blonde.
"So stay close to you?"
"Most of the time, but there'll be times when everyone's busy or distracted where nosy little cats can poke around without getting caught." He arched an eyebrow at her.
"We don't have to have sex in front of anyone to prove I'm yours or anything do we?" She wrinkled her nose.
He rolled his eyes though other parts of his anatomy jumped at the thought. With the same ruthlessness he controlled everything else, he subverted that tingle. That situation was complicated enough with him thinking with his libido. It'd be bad enough when they got to Charming.
Part III
