AN: This takes place during "The Stork Job", right after the meeting where they decide they can't do anything for the children. They return Luka to his foster family the next day. The next day they also free all the children. What made Parker change her mind?
Prompt from 64 Damn Prompts on LJ: #4, 'lost scene'.
What woke him up was the sound of crying. Soft, almost inaudible. The surprise wasn't that she was crying late at night--the surprise was that he could hear it. He had assumed she had learned how to keep that kind of thing silent, with her childhood and all.
Then again, maybe she had never cried as a child.
He got up from his pile of blankets, the chill in the Serbian warehouse rolling off his skin through the thin t-shirt and boxers he wore. Damn Serbia. It never seemed to get any warmer.
His bare feet made no sound as they padded across the concrete into the hall, walking to the next room, and opening the door--the lock had long rusted away.
"Parker?" he whispered into the dark. He heard a small gasp and a choking sound. Something ached in his chest--and he knew it wasn't from the cold. "Parker, you all right?" He took a few steps forward, feeling out where he was in the pitch darkness.
"Fine," she sniffled from somewhere in front of him, her voice hoarse and cracked. "Just fine." But at the last word, he heard her voice dissolve into tears again, crumbling into muffled sobs. He imagined her stuffing her blankets in her mouth to hide the sound, pressing her face into a damp pillow.
"Aw, damn, Parker," he murmured, feeling blankets with his toes and bending down. He could barely see her shape in the darkness. "I'm sorry."
"For what?" she immediately snapped, keeping her voice at a low volume even as it trembled. "I don't need your pity, Hardison."
He gently laid a hand on her upper arm, and he could feel her shivering. The sight of the orphanage had obviously had a worse effect on her than the rest of the team thought. He had seen her break down, just a little bit, once they had gotten away. On the docks, in front of the truck. He had heard her voice crack then, too. Seen the ghosts haunting her pretty brown eyes. Hardison bit his lip.
"I don't like seeing you like this, Parker," he whispered. "I just don't."
She was still turned away from him, still sniffling, her breathing erratic. "I'm sorry," she said, and this time, her voice was gentler. "I don't mean to...I don't..."
Her voice faded into silence. They both remained frozen, neither really wanting Hardison to leave. He could feel her warmth through the blankets, on her upper arm where his hand still rested.
"Are you cold?" he asked at last. She nodded, a slight 'mm-hm' sound came from her throat.
2 minutes and three blankets later, Hardison returned, and laid all his blankets across her. Dimly, he could see her fingering them, counting. He could hear her frown as she muttered, "What are you going to sleep with?"
"You," he said simply, nudging her with a foot. "Now move over. If neither of us have enough blankets, we need to share."
Grumbling something about his toes being cold, she obliged, and he wiggled under the blankets on the floor of the Serbian warehouse.
It was warm. Toasty. He moved so his side was touching her back--she didn't move away. In fact, she scooted a little closer, appreciating the extra warmth. He could smell her hair close to his face: jasmine, maybe. Something flowery. Sweet. He rested his forehead between her shoulder blades, sighing. She sighed in return, her sobs subsided.
They stayed that way for a long, long time.
"Hardison? Are you awake?"
"Mmm."
"I can't...I can't stop thinking about them."
He could still smell faint jasmine. "The children?"
"Yeah. Just...the way they looked at me. They weren't surprised to see me. They didn't jump up to say hi. They just...stared. And they didn't say anything. None of them smiled...none of them were talking when I came in..." Her voice was slowly fading away. That ache rose in Hardison's chest again, and he struggled to keep breathing normally.
"Nate said there's nothing we can do," he said quietly, cautiously, rubbing her arm with a light touch. Surprisingly, she squirmed closer to him, although she was still facing away.
"Yeah," she murmured into her pillow. "Yeah, that's what he said..."
They were silent again. Hardison found his eyes drifting closed, his head still resting on her back between her shoulders, comforted by her presence--
"Hardison?"
"Mmm?"
"Do you believe him?"
Hardison's eyes opened. "Believe what?" he said slowly.
Parker rolled over to face him in the darkness; he could just barely see a sparkle of light reflected in her eyes, her expression made of shadows. "Do you believe that there's nothing we can do?" she murmured. Hardison's eyes flickered over her face, taking in the tight-lipped mouth, the nervous eyes...
"Not for a second," he replied, their gazes locking.
The sparkle in her eye became a bright spark. He could see the corner of her mouth quirk in a grin that had no mirth, only a dark determination. "Neither do I," she breathed, and Hardison's heart began to race.
"I'll do anything for you."
Something else moved in those eyes, but he couldn't read it. The grin faded a little, the eyebrows rounded in a thoughtful expression. But it was gone the moment he noticed it.
He felt her take his hand beneath the sheets, clenching it tightly. "Then here's what I need you to do," she whispered.