At midnight, the apartment seemed quieter than ever. The dark-skinned man exited the shower with the only towel wrapped under his waist, totally exposing his muscular body.

He wandered to the kitchen and opened the fridge, grabbing an orange soda out of it, then without thinking, picked up the cereal box in the one of the cabinets. He didn't like cereals. But she did. And he only bought it for his own sake, hoping that there might be a day when she would finally let her guard down and visit him here. He put the cereal on the counter and then made his way to the living room with his soda, where he sat down in front of his '54 inch TV flat screen and turned it on.

He wanted some life in his flat. And after the day he've had, being buried alive and all that, he thought he deserved something light-heartening.

"Play some jazz." He talked to the screen, and immediately, the stereo around the apartment started playing a relaxing version of Lance Armstrong's "Moon River" .

He then went to his bedroom and put some clothes on, and began grooving to the music. It wasn't until he slide near the window did he found a blonde hair woman standing on his balcony.

"Damn, girl! You almost gave me an heart attack!"

"Didn't mean to." She smiled half-heartedly, and then she climbed into the apartment.

He stared at her smile, a bit dazed by her beauty but also aware that that smile meant she wanted something or was up to something.

"What are you doing here?" His sight followed her as she set foot into his apartment and took in the environment. It was different from her place. Very different. It felt more like home, with the kitchen, couches and all the things that would appear in a normal house. She like this place. Not as much as her own or Nate's. But this is quite good too.

"Bored." She answered briefly. He rolled his eyes. This IS Parker. She usually didn't say more than she needed to.

"And?" He pressured on, though he knew she wouldn't talk unless she wanted to. But it was worth a try. And as usual, she ignored him.

"Hey!My favorite!" Parker literally glided into the kitchen when she caught a glimpse of the cereal box, and her eyes lit up like a child being given early Christmas presents.

He blushed, just a little, and replied,

"Um...yeah, I was going to bring it to you tomorrow cause I saw it on sale on my way back home and..." He wanted to punch himself. He was the world's greatest hacker and he still can't get a cover story straight when Parker's around.

But Parker seemed to ignored it again and sat down with a bowl of cereal and started crunching the cereals.

"So you want to tell me why you're doing here?" He sat next to her at the stool, trying not to meet her gaze. It was awkward enough to talk after what they'd been through today, and now she's at his place, eating cereal? He just hoped that what she said earlier this day was true and she was just too afraid to show what she really felt for him.

"I was bored." She repeated.

"Girl, after the day we had, you should be exhausted." He looked at her with an unbelievable expression.

"You should be too." She looked into his eyes and accused. As if it was his fault still awake at one in the morning. But he just couldn't sleep. After being rescued out of the coffin, his senses seemed to intensify. It was a near-death experience and in that coffin, he 'd thought of all the possibilities if he didn't make it through. Will the team still go on if he was gone?Will Parker be devastated?

Hearing her voice was probably the only thing that kept him from going unconscious. The team all knew he had claustrophobia. And gladly, it was her who was with him all the way. He clung to the voice every second he was in that damn coffin, and thankfully he made it. And when he came out, he hugged everyone instead of her because he knew she wasn't used to this kind of intimacy. It took him this close to death to make her finally confess that she cared, and he was afraid that it was all a dream. But the look on her face...all he could see was worry. Almost the same look when the physic was running a cold read on Parker on the Future Job. He could see that she was worry, exhausted, and relieved at the same time.

And the kiss, was that too much? He hoped it didn't scare her away. And apparently it didn't. Or else, why would she be here?

"I kind of want to celebrate 'not dying at the age of 24'." He gestured towards his chest and talked in a slightly exaggerating tone, which normally makes Parker roll her eyes, but this time, she chuckled lightly at his expression.

"Congratulations, then." She knocked the bowl slightly against his bottle of soda, as if they were beer bottles.

He was kind of startled at her behavior. Cause normally she make that kind of comment. Mostly she'll just say something just to get back to him, or tease him about his fear of jumping off a building. But this was one of those moments when she was genuine about the things she said. Well, she was always genuine, but in a sarcastic way. But this was real and true. And for a second there, he didn't know how to respond as his mind wandered off into her beautiful eyes and the moment of him kissing her on the cheek appeared in front of his eyes again.

"Hardison?" He snapped back out of the memory when he heard the thief called his name. She sounded worry.

"Yeah?"

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, girl. Never been better." Hardison smiled to reassure her that he was okay. And then a thought suddenly hit him. "You're here to check up on me?"

Parker seemed to feel a bit uncomfortable when he said that so it must be true.

"Well, just to make sure you're asleep...Who'd thought you would still want to have a relaxing night with your soda..." She grumbled.

"Wait, wait...how long have you been here,exactly?" Hardison held up a hand to stop her from mumbling whatever she was about to say.

"Hmm? Well, I was here way before you came home." Parker answered nonchalantly.

Hardison eyes widened. So she had seen him took all of his clothes off before he went into the shower?And not wearing clothes after that?His face flushed red immediately, not that she would notice though.

"So...emm..." Hardison cleared his throat, trying to come up with something to say.

"Don't worry, I didn't see a thing when you started to take off your clothes. But I must admit, you're pretty well-built." As if reading his mind,Parker replied in the most innocent way, as if it was the most obvious answer in the world.

Hardison gulped, and moved his gaze away from the pretty little thief.

"Well, as you can see, I'm fine." He shifted the conversation back to where they were, and tried to pretend that what she said DID NOT just happened.

She turned and looked him in the eyes and smiled that smile again. The smile that has always charmed Hardison and make his weak on his knees. Hardison didn't know if she did that on purpose, but he could feel that his heart was beating so fast and the blood pumping through his heart was much more faster than it usually did, and it made him dizzy just to think of her presence next to him, her shoulder brushing against his.

"Glad to hear that."

"So...ugh...you want to go home now?Maybe take some time to rest?" Hardison asked slowly, though deep down in his heart he didn't want Parker to leave just yet, he also knew that if he pushed too hard, Parker would likely just back out again.

To his surprise, the thief shook her head.

"I couldn't sleep. I don't know why. Maybe it was because of the adrenaline rush earlier this day. So I was thinking about stealing something. And then I got out of my home, and headed for the nearest museum. But somehow, I ended up here." Parker shrugged and ate another mouthful of her cereal.

"I'm glad you ended up here." Hardison couldn't help but smile and lay a hand upon hers. And when she didn't pull her hand out, he squeezed just a little to show her how grateful he was. For what she did tonight, and for what she did today, too.

"So what were you planning to do before you notice I was there?" Parker stood up and walked to the living room, and Hardison followed her.

"Star Trek marathon." He answered honestly. It was probably one of the things that could make him rolled her eyes upon hearing the answer.

"Of course you were."

"Hey,woman. Don't you dare insult the soothing ability that Star Trek has on a geek." Hardison pointed his finger at her jokingly.

She raised both her hands as if surrendering.

"Well, since I wasn't able to sleep anyway, you think I can stay here for the night?" Parker slumped into one of the couches where Hardison usually sat. And Hardison smiled when seeing that, knowing that it meant Parker wanted to sit near to him. And he wouldn't want it any other way.

"Um...yeah sure, girl. Whatever you want." He grabbed his orange soda and was ready to sit into the seat next to Parker when she spoke again.

"Oh, and Hardison?" She turned around and looked at Hardison, and smiled.

"Yeah,mamma?"

"I want pretzels."

Hardison smiled back.

"You got it, girl."