She felt like there was someone watching her. It was just one moment, really, when she was exiting the bar, but it was enough to make her pause. Eliot caught her there, hesitating between the door and the staircase to the street, mulling the feeling over. Something was off. Someone was watching.

"Damn it, Parker!" Eliot had been adjusting his jacket and ran right into her back. Without even thinking about it she skipped forward a step, keeping her balance. She used the momentum to lean forward and look under the bars of the staircase railing. "What are you doing?" he growled at her.

"Someone is watching me," she replied, only half listening to him. To his credit, Eliot decided to take this seriously. After three years working with Parker, he could recognize the voice she used when she was working through a problem. This wasn't dreamy, crazy Parker. This was the part of her that helped her survive.

"Where do you think they are?" He moved closer to her and peered out onto the street, scanning from side to side.

"Gone now," she murmured. "Probably spooked." She squinted into the dark. Nothing.

"I'm going home," she told Eliot. She danced up the stairs and turned right, heading to one of the several safe houses she had throughout the city. She choose one the team didn't even know about. She didn't want to go back to her warehouse. Even though she has a dozen different routes there (choosing them at random to remain unpredictable), she doesn't trust herself to loose a shadow tonight. Better not to risk leading someone back to her her main hub when she can lead them to a place that's easy to burn.

Her senses are on high alert and it is only a block later that she stops for the second time, feeling eyes on her. She sighs, he isn't even trying that hard to hide from her. "Eliot."

She is sure she hears a growl before he comes out of his hiding place and comes to stand beside her. "I'm not letting you walk home alone, Parker."

"I'll be fine."

"This isn't a negotiation."

"Eliot - "

"It is my job to protect you guys. I'm not letting a member of my team go home unprotected when they think they are being followed."

"Whoever they are, they're gone now. I don't need you to babysit me."

"Parker! This better not be about you not wanting me to see where you live."

"It isn't!" she insisted. But part of it was. She was comfortable with her team/family and knows they could be trusted. But a part of herself - the part that was shaped through painful experience - wanted there to be at least one place in the city where no one knew to look for her. Showing Eliot the apartment she planned on staying in was a lot to ask for.

She was silent for too long, and he could see the her confusion mounting. "How 'bout I escort you back to my place. That way I know you're safe and you don't have to give away any more than you would like." She knodded at him, grateful for his understanding, and fell into step beside him as he lead the way.

They walked a few blocks more before she realized that she probably offended him. She began to watch him out of the corner of her eye. "Parker, stop that." He muttered a few minutes later. Her gaze skittered away and swept the street around her. No sign of a tail, and she felt as if they were alone. But something kept her alert anyway...

She decided to focus on Eliot to take her mind off of the troublesome something. She began to stare at him again. "What are you lookin' at me for?" he asked.

"I don't want you to be disappointed," she told him after a moment's deliberation.

"Disappointed in what?"

"Me. For not letting you walk me home. If it was for something else - But I couldn't tonight. I just...you don't let people see where you hide when you feel like something's after you."

He let her finish then put a hand on her shoulder. "Makes sense," he told her.

"The others, they don't think I trust them."

"That's because you don't. Not completely."

She looked down at her feet. He was right.

"You'll get there."

"When?"

"Dunno. You just will." He looked over to try and catch her eye, but instead found himself being yanked to the side and down an alley. She began to jog, then run and Eliot's mind struggled to catch up to her even as his body matched pace with hers.

"What the hell!"

Parker didn't respond, instead she lead him at a dead sprint for another few minutes. They twisted their way along alleys and side streets, up a hill and through a neighborhood Eliot was shocked to recognize. She was leading him to his own house - a house she'd never been to. As far as he was aware. She seemed to calm down a quarter mile from his place and slowed to a light jog.

"I saw someone."

"Damn it, Parker, say something next time. I could've grabbed them, gotten you some answers."

She seemed spooked for a reason Eliot couldn't name. He was sure she had been followed many times before, and in circumstances much worse than these. But she seemed to be determined to shake this problem rather than confront it. He shook his head, upset by the idea of backing down from a fight, then reconsidered. Cat burglars weren't exactly known for their love of confrontation.

They walked up to his front door and he paused to look her over. "What, you aren't gonna pick it?" It was half a joke, half a challenge.

"How do you know I don't already have a key?" Since it wasn't outside of the realm of possibility for Parker to have lifted, copied, and returned his keys he relented. Better not to know. He opened the door and lead the way inside, only to stop suddenly when he saw a figure move inside his living room.

Eliot flicked on the lights, throwing both his living room and the stranger sitting on his couch into relief. He and Parker paused, taken aback. In the split second it took him to recognize her, the woman in his living room smiled up at them and spoke.

"In the old days you'd have a gun pointed at me already."

"I don't like guns - " he started to say, as Parker responded with, "I prefer tazers now."

They looked over at each other, and then at the woman on the couch. The woman laughed.