It's been building for a while now. This weird feeling in Eliot's chest. For the longest time, he didn't even notice; when he did, he just shrugged it off. Now, though, it was getting hard to ignore because it was starting to affect the carefully built walls of his life.
Happiness was a commodity that was rare in Eliot's life. True happiness, anyway. The same could probably be said of all the members of the team. It was part of why they all did...what they did. Filling gaps, creating their own lives and controlling the things they could. Control was probably what they all had in place of most people's happiness. Eliot knew it was something fundamental in his life.
When he'd finally realized what was happening, it had hit him between the eyes like no opponent ever had. He'd been sitting at Nate's small kitchen table with a beer and a sandwich he'd made and he'd been watching Hardison and Parker fighting over the remote to the giant screen set up. They'd been fighting about what to watch (Parker voting for cartoons, Hardison some 'Who' show) and Parker had suddenly flipped Hardison face down on the couch and pinned him.
Eliot had been teaching her some things and she'd been having a little a trouble with that particular move. To see her perform it flawlessly like that made him feel good; knowing she'd be able to protect herself a little better in the future mad him relax a tiny notch. Seeing Hardison scrambling face first on the couch under the weight of the tiny blonde had been just plain funny and he couldn't help but laugh.
The hacker and the thief had both stared at him like they wondered if he'd finally cracked but eventually shrugged and went back to their squabble. They never noticed Eliot's face turn serious or wondered at the thoughts in his head. That was when he felt it. This odd spark of happiness in his chest, leaving a warmth he could barely remember having before and loosening the tension in his body against his will.
He fought against it, rallied walls against the emotion and tried to put more distance between himself and the others but it was for naught. Nothing he did could change things. Before she left, Sophie must have started to notice the change in him because he caught her smiling in his direction more and more often. Now he found himself missing her, on top of everything else!
Eventually, Eliot gave up and stopped fighting. Decided, one quiet night at his apartment, that the best thing to do was just roll with it. No sooner was the decision made then a ton of tension just dropped from him and he slumped in his chair. He was so screwed. But the thought made him smile.
One day he'd think back and remember Aimee calling the team his 'family'. He'd scoffed then but she obvious saw then what he ended up trying to ignore for so long. He just hoped he could keep them all safe and he knew he'd give his life to do it. Happily, so.