If anyone asked the other members of the team what Parker loved the most, they would all reply the same. Money. She'd made it very clear numerous times that it was one thing that always made her happy. The only thing was, the team didn't know Parker quite well enough to know the whole truth behind that statement.
While Parker was a lot of things, crazy and a little socially inept among them, she wasn't stupid. Growing up as she had, she'd often observed the people around her as a way to pass the time. She didn't always get why they did or said some things but one thing had become clear to her over the years. People who had money were happier. People who didn't have any, like her foster parents, weren't very happy at all. And the only way she was going to get away from the life she was stuck in, the only way she was going to find her freedom, was by having money. It was a simple as that in her mind.
To Parker, money equalled freedom...and freedom was the one thing she loved most in the world. She hated feeling trapped, not by space but by circumstances, and part of what she loved about her job was the feeling of freedom she got from it. Eliot, Hardison, Sophie...they all thought she was completely bat shit crazy when they watched her throw herself bodily off a high rise building, the only thing stopping her from a long fall with a messy end being a multi-point safety harness and a sturdy cable. They didn't realise the freedom she felt flying though the air like that.
Well, Eliot might get it a bit, if he ever actually tried it. He had just as much of a taste for adrenaline as she did. She really did have to convince him to try it one day soon. He had to take to it better than Hardison did. Yah, that's what she'd do to repay Eliot for teaching her to fight!
Maybe one day, she would be able to find the words to explain all this to the team. Part of her hoped so. For now, though, she had friends for the first time in her life, the chance to try her skills how and whenever she wanted and a lot more safety than usual. And she had a lot of money. She was the freest and happiest she could ever remember being and she hoped it never changed.
So, if Eliot got random hugs he could never explain and Hardison got more company than usual in watching his scifi shows, they just had to go with it. Sophie didn't seem to mind when Parker rested her chin on her shoulder, so maybe she got it a little more than the guys did but wasn't letting on. Nate...well, he always had the best cereal.
