"I know your team better then everyone I defiantly know them better then you!" Dubenitch snarled. No. No he doesn't. He doesn't know them at all. Having a file on someone doesn't make you know them. He doesn't know anything about any of them. I glared at the man sitting in front of me, the man who thought he was better then me. He didn't know anything.
Maybe he knew that I was a drunk and that my son had died. He'd used that against me and I hated him for it. But he didn't know the pain I'd gone though, he didn't know that the team had healed me. He didn't know that Parker was like a daughter to me, that her strangeness held a special place in my heart. He didn't know that I'd forgiven Eliot for all the times he'd attacked me when I was hunting him down all those years. He didn't know how much I depended on the hitter, how much I craved his dry humor and wise cracks about Hardison. And the hacker, Dubenitch didn't know how much I loathed (loved) the man's rambles about his beloved electronics and his hatred for the outdoors. He didn't know how much I loved Sophie, no on could understand that except maybe me, and no one would be able to understand why I kept pushing her away. I wanted to keep her as safe as possible (which was ridicules we were thieves we could take care of ourselves.) I had let them work their way into my heart, and I had a feeling I would never be able to let them go.
Maybe he knew that Eliot was in Croatia for 2 years, maybe he knew all the torture the man had gone through, and maybe he knew all of his tactics. But what he didn't know what didn't know what how good Eliot could sing, he didn't know how well he played guitar. He'd never tasted one of Eliot's lasagnas, he's never eaten one of his molten cakes, he'd never drank the hot chocolate he made for Christmas, only for Christmas. He'd never heard one of Eliot and Hardison's arguments, he didn't know how much it made Parker laugh when Eliot tried to be scary when she poked his bruises. He'd never seen Eliot try to play video games, (Hardison's disgusted face was priceless). He didn't know how much Eliot cared about the rest of the team. He didn't know that even though Parker annoyed the crap out of him, Eliot would always protect her, that even if Sophie betrayed them he would always have her back, he didn't know that no matter how many times he had to yell "Damnnit Hardison!" he would always rescue the hacker if he was in trouble.
Maybe he knew that Sophie was wanted in over 5 countries for art theft, maybe he knew that she was an awful actress no matter how good she could grift, maybe he knew that him and Sophie had a thing. He didn't know that Parker looked up to her for almost everything, almost like Sophie was her mother. He didn't know that on occasion, Sophie would help Eliot cook meals, usually after a big con. He didn't know that Sophie tried with all her might to actually get Parker to care about clothes, he didn't know that she would often engage in friendly arguments with Hardison about Lucille and how he really needed to clean it. He didn't know that the entire team looked up to her, weather they realized it or not.
Maybe he knew that Hardison had been in a foster home since childhood, maybe he knew that the man was an amazing hacker and that he'd hacked into the Whitehouse more times then he could count. But he didn't know that Hardison was completely smitten with Parker, he didn't know that the young man would go to the ends of the earth for her. He didn't know that Hardison depended on Eliot like a child depended on an older brother (not that he would ever admit it). He didn't know that Hardison's favorite foods were gummy frogs and orange soda and that he would fight Eliot and Sophie tooth and nail on the fact that it was completely unhealthy for him. He didn't know that Hardison was an awful singer and it annoyed the hell out of everyone on the team when he tried to sing. He didn't know that he was obsessed with video games and played them every waking minute when he wasn't on a con, and often tried to convince the rest of the team to play with him (not that it would ever happen). He didn't know that Hardison was the biggest geek in the world, and that the team loved him for it.
He might have known that Parker was unbalanced, unstable because of her times in foster care. He might have known that she took most stolen jewels in the world and he might have known that she had an odd obsession with money. But he didn't know that she'd finally started opening up, after 2 years she'd started to actually trust the team. He didn't hear the pain in her voice when she was talking to Hardison, consoling him and trying to keep him breathing and he didn't see the tears running down her cheeks and the joy mixed with love and confusion shining in her eyes. He didn't see her fall for the hacker, he didn't see her blush every time Hardison said something to her, he didn't see schoolyard crushes blossom into full-blown love, (even if they didn't know it yet). He hadn't seen her grow from an unbalanced, unsure young girl to a confident (if slightly crazy) beautiful women. He didn't know that she loved cereal, and fortune cookies, and would often eat them as meals, (much to Eliot's distain). He didn't know how much she hated shopping, and how much she loved Christmas. He didn't know that she thought pirating was wrong, and got on Hardison about it all the time. He didn't know that she would do anything to protect the team because they were her family. A dysfunctional family, but a family.
He thought they were a team, he though he could break them. But they weren't a team. They depended on each other, they trusted each other, they loved each other (they would never admit it) and they all knew they could never work with another team again, because no other team would satisfy them. They weren't the team that Dubenitch created, not anymore. He didn't know anything about them, because they weren't a team. Not really.
They were a family.