It had been a shock really, when Parker disappeared. Maybe it shouldn't have been. Parker was a nomad, struck with either fear or wanderlust; she never stayed anywhere too long. And yes, she'd been captured by the mark for a day or so, but nobody predicted the total and complete vanishing act she had pulled. When they returned to their offices and homes that night, they found everything exactly as it had been, all the things she had nicked over the years had been returned, her office cleared out. Everything, every last trace of Parker, both in physicality and in absence was gone.
It was strange, not having the crazy thief around, and they looked for her. Searched for her. But for the baddest team on the East Coast, moved West Coast too, they couldn't find her. And they years ticked by, and while Parker hadn't been the glue keeping the team together, her absence hurt all the same, and Apollo sufficed to do her jobs, and did them well, but there wasn't the finesse, that distinctly Parker quality, and he wasn't family, like she had been.
There came a time when they stopped looking. It was impossible to find a thief that didn't want to be found, and they all knew her well enough to know that she had left. She hadn't been taken, she wasn't dead. They had confidence in that at least. And while that was comforting, it also hurt; it meant she had left on her own, of her own accord, that she no longer wanted to be with them.
They kept their eyes open though, and their ears pricked, hoping for some sort of trace, a tell, something to let them know that Parker was alright. That maybe she'd come back, but she didn't, and it had been nearly five years.
"Cooper!" Parker shouted from the kitchen of a tiny little loft in Denver; she had a plate with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in one hand, and a cup of milk in the other. A small blond boy, no more than four slid into the kitchen on his knees, a huge stuffed octopus held over his head as its tentacles cascaded to the floor.
"Yes Mommy?" He blinked up at her, still on his knees, dressed in athletic pants and his favorite green shirt.
"Lunch time, and then we're going to the gym," Parker grinned, setting both items down at the breakfast bar, not even paying any mind to the dramatic entrance. "Come on, up up," she guided him onto the chair and picked up a triangle of the sandwich, and she handed it to the little boy before she began to clean up the kitchen, putting away the sandwich things.
Cooper bit in happily, and through a mouth full of peanut butter and jelly, he asked, "are you working or are we climbing?"
The rock gym was the perfect job for Parker, well real job at least. She taught climbing, belayed for customers, hosted children's parties and even led outdoor climbing expeditions, and now that Cooper was older, she could bring him with her. And when she had free time, she taught him to climb, and when she was busy he just played in the miles and miles of artificial caves that ran circles around the rock gym with other kids.
"Don't talk with your mouth full," she chastised quickly. "I have to work, but we should get there early enough for you to climb a few runs," Parker grinned, putting the bread back in the breadbox. Cooper scarfed down the rest of the sandwich and moved to run off while her back was turned. "Hey!" She spun around, "no, no," a stern look as she pointed at his glass, "drink your milk."
The small blond boy huffed dramatically, sitting back down on the chair as he gulped down the entire glass. Emptied, he set it down on the counter.
"Thank you," she moved his cup to the sink, "go get your climbing gear," she smiled lovingly, "but change your shirt, you spilled jelly," she called after him, but he was already out of sight. Parker just sighed, rolling her eyes. Most of the time she was glad that Cooper seemed to have nothing in common with his father, but that meant by extension that he had an awful lot in common with her, and Parker had come to sympathize with Eliot to an extent.
She pulled his lunch box out of the cupboard and packed some baby carrots and crackers with a bottle of water. The boy was like a bottomless pit, and Parker knew better than to go anywhere without snacks. A few moments later Cooper came thundering down the stairs, freshly dressed, backpack in hand. Parker grabbed her own pack as she moved into the living room, and shoved her keys into her pocket.
"Mom!" He shouted from the door, "Mom lets go," he was sitting on the foot of the stairs, pulling on his sneakers.
"I'm coming," she laughed and knelt down to tie his shoes quickly, and she helped him slide his arms through the straps of the backpack. Cooper didn't wait for her to pick him up, and practically climbed up her side.
"Oh hello, Monkey," she wrapped an arm around him for support, though she knew he didn't really need it. She slung her pack over her shoulder and locked the door behind her.
The drive to the rock gym was short, made shorter by her driving, though she was quite a bit more restrained with Cooper buckled into his car seat in the back, and she caught a glance of his beaming face every time she checked the rearview mirror.
Despite the fact that the car seat was supposed to be childproof, Cooper was out of his seat and practically vibrating with energy. She insisted he hold her hand as they walked into the gym. It had been nearly a week since he had climbed last, and he certainly seemed to like it as much if not more than Parker.
"Harry!" Cooper shouted, running over to the counter, behind which the owner of the gym sat.
"Hey Monkey," the older man chuckled, plucking the boy off the ground and held him upside down. "You're early. You and Momma going to climb?" He asked over Cooper's shrieking laughter.
Parker grinned, and stuffed Cooper's snack into one of the cubbies, and was already sliding her harness on, tightening the straps. She pulled Cooper's out too, it was her own design, bright green to match his shoes, and tailored exactly to his size, since she trusted those with adjustment features much less- it was easier just to put together a new one when he out grew them, and this particular one was number four in the 'Cooper Line.'
"Yeah, she said we've got extra time." Cooper nodded as Harry righted him, setting the little monkey boy back on the ground.
"Yeah but you're going to run out of time if you don't get over here, Monkey," Parker warned, pulling his climbing shoes and chalk out of the pack. He geared up quickly, both thanks to Parker's help and his own expertise, from lots of practice, and in minutes he was half way up the wall, hanging onto one fake rock by one hand.
"You see the next hold, Coop?" the belay rope was grasped tightly in her hands, not that she actually thought that he would fall. Cooper had been climbing everything within sight since before he could walk properly, and she knew he was ready to start rock climbing when she had found him sitting on top of his bedroom door, apparently able to get up, but not able to get down. That and Parker could tell he had a solid grip, and so she knew her worry was a little irrational, but it was there anyway.
"Yeah, got it," Cooper laughed brightly and swung his whole body to the left, catching one foot on a rock, and then slowly, with uncanny precision for a four year old, he wedged his other foot against another rock and let go of the hold with his hand. He reached up for another hold and pulled his whole body up, catching a new place for his foot.
"Nice one, Monkey," Parker beamed. So maybe being similar to him wasn't as bad as she could make it out to be. She spent nearly all of her time with him, would until he started school in the fall, but climbing was something they both passionately enjoyed. He was her partner in crime, though rarely literally.
They managed to fit in three climbs before Parker's student arrived, and Cooper rappelled down the wall with a whine. He liked playing in the tunnels with Gabby, but climbing with his mom was more fun.
"Hush, hush. I'm setting a new line in the state park over the weekend if you want you can climb with me," it was a barely concealed bribe, but Cooper didn't mind. "Got your bracelet?" She asked before he could run off. It was a bit of a genius idea, really, and she could thank Hardison for the knowledge to create it.
There were literally miles and miles of caving and there were no cellphones allowed since they provided light in the pitch black tunnels, and Parker didn't want him having one anyway. Instead she had crafted a little bracelet that vibrated when she pressed a button on her own. A crude system, but at least he knew when to go looking for her.
He held up his wrist before scrambling into one of the entrances to find Gabby, Harry's daughter. He knew his way around in the caves for the most part, and he knew that he was most likely to find her hiding in the atrium like space, waiting to scare other people who passed by.
"Gabby?" Cooper voiced loudly as he neared the open space. "Gabby are you hiding?" He pulled up his sock that was sliding off as he wriggled forward on his stomach.
"Coop?" a female voice in the darkness and he knew he'd found her. She was eight, and quite a bit bigger than him, but he could hold his own against her.
"Hey," he greeted, "wanna go to the gym?"
The rock gym was just that, both a gym and an indoor rock climbing area, and though there were separate entrances, the caves linked both areas.
"Sure do you want to go first, or me?" Gabby replied, and Cooper shrugged instinctively, even though she couldn't see him.
"Don't care, you can," the shuffling sound indicated he'd follow her, he didn't mind following and she knew her way around much better, no doubt that she wouldn't get lost.
Indeed fifteen minutes later she tumbled out of the cave, and Cooper followed on her heels. "Tag, you're it," Gabby shouted, tapping Cooper on the shoulder before bolting. She wove around the people and machinery before diving into another entrance to the cave system. Cooper went running after her, but he was much less graceful than Gabby, and as he tripped over his own feet, he slammed face first into a very large man.
"Woah now," huge hands caught him before he could fall to the ground. "Careful bud," a raspy chuckle and Cooper looked up with wide, bright blue terrified eyes. He'd bothered men in the gym once before, and he'd gotten yelled at by them, and then also in trouble with his mother, and if he wanted to go with his mom to set the line, then he couldn't be in trouble.
"I'm sorry," he cried frantically, "I didn't mean to," he stepped back; the man wasn't as large as he had thought, muscular yes, but not too tall, and he didn't quite look angry. But then he also looked like he had an angry face.
"It's alright, Bud, just watch where you're going," he wasn't sweaty yet, so Cooper assumed he'd just gotten there, but the man's eye was puffy, and there was a cut on his cheek. "Are you here alone?" The man looked around trying to locate anyone who could be missing a child.
"My mom's working, are you a bad guy?" as with the way of most children, there was no real segue between the two points of interest.
"No, I fight bad guys. Your mom just left you here while she's working?" He was clearly concerned, though not as clearly to the four year old boy who was more intrigued by the bad guy comment.
"She teaches people to climb, she's over there," he waved arbitrarily towards the wall. "Are you like a cop or a super hero or something? I like super heroes. Superman was my favorite but he doesn't really count a 'cause he's an alien. Now I like Spiderman 'cause he climbs like me but I haven't been bited by a spider. Who's your favorite superhero? I bet its Batman, you look like an angry Batman kinda guy. My mom likes Arana, but she says she knows real superheroes she tells me stories sometimes," Cooper chattered without any input from the man.
"Actually, Captain America was my favorite superhero," he interrupted with a laugh, "but I think we should get you back to your momma, she might start to worry."
"It's okay, she's busy. I'm supposta be in the caves." Cooper explained matter of factly, but he didn't struggle when the man picked him up.
"Let's go check with her then. I'd like to meet her," nobody in their right mind would trust the word of a child, and the man carried Cooper out of the door, keeping his socked feet off the ground outside.
"You have long hair like a girl," Cooper commented as they walked in the front door of the rock climbing area.
"Where's your Momma?" the man asked, glancing at the blond boy in his arms.
"Over there!" Cooper pointed at a woman with a blond ponytail, "Hi Mommy!" Cooper shouted, waving at her.
The blond woman spun around, still grasping the belay rope. "Eliot?"
"Parker? The surprise was evident in his voice, and his eyes were wide.
"No, I'm Cooper," the boy piped up.