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Eliot's ringing phone pierced the room, breaking the calm atmosphere. With a groan he reached out to grab the cellphone, breaking his meditated state. "What do you want?" He half growled, half groaned, running a hand through his hair. So much for a zen afternoon.
"dad? I'm in trouble." The soft voice on the other end replied.
"Trouble, what kind of trouble?" Eliot couldn't help but feel raw, cold fear running through his system. How many people wanted his head? He knew sending them to school was a danger- they should be close. Where him, Hardison, and Parker were there to protect them. No…be logical. "What happened, Lainey?"
"I hitted him." The little girl admitted. "he was being mean to Cameron- so I hitted him! But..my teacher says that's not nice. So you have to come get me."
Relief surged through Eliot. She wasn't in real trouble. "Dammit, Lainey. You scared me." Wait. She was getting into fights? And they thought she'd be the thief. "I'll be there soon, Darlin."
With a sigh, he left his only private space, entering their living room. "School just called. Looks like we got another Spencer saving Hardison ass." He scowled, nodding towards the door, gesturing for Alec to follow. "We got to get the kids."
"Not my fault you got Miss Punchy on your hands..." Hardison mumbled, grabbing his coat and following behind.
"Does anyone want to tell me what happened?" Eliot questioned the two kids, ushering them into the house. "Cameron, why was your five year old sister beating up your seven year old friends."
Cameron, the oldest of their children (technically, he was Hardison and Parker's, but Eliot was as much his parent as them), looked down, glasses falling down his nose. "They aren't my friends.." He tossed his bag to the ground, sitting on the chair and swinging his legs. "They tried to take this." He held up his personal game player. "And when I wouldn't give it to them they tried to take it."
"So I went and took it back!" Lainey, the five year old clone of Parker announced proudly. She was impossibly tiny, with big blue eyes, long blonde hair, and translucently pale skin like her mother. She was Parker, in a smaller, compact package. "I hit him just like you said, with my fist like-"
Eliot covered his daughter's hands in his own, laughing anxiously. "I'm sure you did honey. But didn't we talk about it? We only do It when we HAVE to. To protect ourselves and our family!" It was clear, before she was ever born, that Lainey took after her father. She was a tough little thin, bruising her mother from the inside out.
"And I was! They were being mean to Cam! I had to help him!" And as much as Lainey was her father's future hitter, Sophie always said she had the same innocent, passionate spirit as Parker. "I helped him!" She cried out, her voice quivering. She thought she had done the right thing- just like her parents.
"Why is my child crying?" Parker questioned aloud as she entered the room, the youngest of their children, a one year old boy, on her hip. "Who and why?" She sat the baby on the ground, instead pulling Lainey into her lap. "What happened, sweetheart?" She stroked the long curls of her daughter, listening to the retelling by her boys and her kids.
"So what you're telling me is that she got into trouble for doing what we do everyday?" Parker raised an eyebrow, staring at Hardison and Eliot blankly.
The men had no response. When she put it that way- yeah that is what happened. "when you say it like that-" Alec started, but Parker cut him off.
"This is a lesson for us all then. Don't get caught."