A/N – This may well be crack fic. But hopefully not awful crack fic. I'd love to know what you think,
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"Here's the story, of a lovely lady…" Nate brought up a picture of a woman in her mid thirties to the big screen, who, admittedly, was quite lovely. The next picture he pulled up beside the woman was of three girls, clearly sisters. All had blonde hair like their mother, the youngest one in curls.
"Her children?" Sophie questioned, to be sure.
Nate nodded, "She's raising them by herself.
"Well she's bringing up three very lovely girls," Sophie frowned, wondering what injustice had fallen on the family.
"So what's the job?" Eliot broke in from his seat in the armchair, looking ready to get down to business. Parker laughed at his impatience from her seat beside Hardison on the couch, who looked merely amused.
Nate rolled his eyes, but continued, "Three days ago, the oldest daughter, Sandy, went missing. She's sixteen. Now, it looks like a straight runaway, but the mother insists her daughter would never run away. She's convinced the girl's father has something to do with it."
"So, what?" Parker interrupted, as she does, "The girl disappeared Friday and hasn't been home since?"
"Yes. She was apparently at a part late Friday night, but nobody remembers her leaving. A few kids say she was pretty drunk though."
"Oh, the poor girl!" Sophie exclaimed, "Just imagine it. Friday night, and the lights are low. Looking out for a place to go. And then some guy she barely knows comes up and snatches her!"
"How do you know it was some guy she barely knows?" Hardison argued, even though Sophie's theatrics amused him, "Didn't the mother say that she suspects the father?"
Nate nodded again, "Yes. But Sophie's not wrong. The girls have only seen their father a handful of times since they were born. Sandy hasn't seen him since the youngest girl was born. Ms. Penney and her ex-husband had an… interesting relationship."
"So why hasn't she called the cops, gotten an Amber alert out?" Eliot felt like he had to ask the obvious.
"She has," Nate answered with a 'duh' expression on his face, to which Eliot scowled. "Ms. Penney doesn't trust the police will do as much as they can.
"So what are we supposed to do?" Eliot shot back, "Steal a kid?" He paused, considering; "Again," he amended.
Nate laughed dryly, "Technically, we're going to steal her back."
Parker grinned, "Oh, this is the start of something good," she looked to Hardison, "Don't you agree?"
Hardison just shook his head. They were all crazy.
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"He's making a list, checking it twice," Parker observed Nate from across the room. He stood at his kitchen counter, scribbling and mumbling to himself.
Hardison looked at Parker strangely, "Do you realize what you just said?" He shot her a look as she grabbed the freshly opened orange soda from his hands for her own, but she smiled sunnily at him and his words died.
"What do you mean?" she asked, genuinely confused.
"It's just... I… never mind," Hardison sighed, rubbing his temples.
Parker just continued watching Nate talk to himself, highly amused at the sight.
"What's Nate doing?" Eliot appeared out of nowhere to seat himself next to Parker on the couch, munching on an apple.
Parker looked at him briefly, "Nate's making a list of all the possible plans to get Sandy back. I told him no plan M though."
"That's a shame, I like plan M." Eliot smirked.
"Dude!" Hardison exclaimed, "Not cool."
Sophie's voice drifted over from somewhere in the other room, "Play nice, children."
Parker laughed.
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"This is taking forever!" Sophie complained, stretching in the car beside Nate, "How did we get surveillance duty anyway?"
Nate laughed at Sophie's petulant tone, "Sandy's friends swore they saw her here at this address on Saturday, after she went missing. The cops haven't found anything, but it can't hurt to look for ourselves. Eliot needs to be closer to the house in case something goes wrong, and Parker and Hardison are checking out the mall, where Sandy's boyfriend swears he saw her. Also on Saturday. You know this."
"Still," Sophie pouted, "I don't wanna wait, for our lives to be over."
"So dramatic," Nate sighed. Sophie glared and he raised his arms in defense, "Not that it's a bad thing!"
Sophie crossed her arms and stared pointedly out the window.
"Here we go, here we go, here we go again," Nate muttered quietly to himself, leaning to rest his head down on the steering wheel.
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Eliot finished his walkthrough of the house, annoyed that he hadn't found anything.
"Nate," he talked into his comm, leaning against the doorframe of the livingroom, "No sign of anyone here, but someone was here as recently as a few hours ago. There's some kind of fruity perfume smell in the air, could be something a teenage girl would wear."
"Alright, come back to the car then, we'll head to the mall and see if Parker and Hardison had any luck."
Eliot smirked and nodded, knowing but not caring that Nate couldn't actually see the nod.
"And Eliot?" Sophie's voice broke through.
"Yeah?"
"Stop smirking."
Eliot stopped walking in surprise, glancing furtively around out of habit, and he heard Sophie laugh, "Shut up," he picked up his walking again.
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"Is that her?" Parker bounced excitedly as she pointed to yet another girl in the vast crowd of the mall.
Hardison peered, "No. That girl is way too young."
"What about her?" Parker pointed to another girl with a swaying blonde ponytail, but Hardison dismissed her as well, "Nah, she's too old, and look, she's pregnant. The mother probably would've mentioned that."
Parker sighed, "We're never going to find her."
"Hey," Hardison consoled, "Sure we will. Don't stop believing." He paused, realizing what he'd said, "Great, now you've got me doing it too."
"What?" Parker asked.
"Nothing," Hardison shook his head. Unable to stop himself, he reached out to tuck a flyaway hair behind Parker's ear, but pulled away quickly when she turned her head sharply.
"Sorry," he apologized, though he was unsure if he'd actually done anything wrong.
Parker avoided his eyes, looking somewhere to his left, "It's ok, it's just that…"
"What is it? The lock thing? I get it, slow. I'll be slower, promise." Hardison took a step back, giving her space, surprised when Parker took a step forward, back into his personal space.
"It's not that," she admitted, running her fingers along the same path of hair he had, "It's just that sometimes when we touch, the honesty's too much." Hardison was speechless, he hadn't expected this.
"And I just, sometimes I," Parker stumbled on her words, "I have to close my eyes and hide."
"It's ok," Hardison soothed, risking to stroke her hair quickly, "Take as long as you need, I'm not going anywhere."
Parker sighed, "I know, and that's the problem," she paused to breathe, "I don't want to lose you, but I don't want to use you, just to have somebody by my side." At Hardison's confused look, she continued, "I'm no good for you, you deserve somebody normal. There's a reason why people don't stay where they are."
"I'm not going anyway," Hardison repeated, firmly, "I L…"he stopped, afraid of scaring her even more.
Parker smiled sadly, "Sometimes love, it just ain't enough."
Hardison's smile didn't falter, "You make me feel out of my element, like I'm walking on broken glass. But there's something here, you and I both know it, and I'll be here, with you, one way or another, until you tell me to leave."
Parker opened her mouth to respond but snapped to attention as she spotted a girl behind Hardison, "Look! I think that one is actually her!"
Hardison grudgingly looked, surprised to see that the girl was indeed the one they were looking for. "And look, that guy could definitely be her father."
Parker assessed the older man gripping the girl's wrist tightly, "She definitely doesn't want to be here with him."
"I'll call the others," Hardison pulled out his phone even as Parker headed off towards Sandy.
"Girl, where are you going?" he asked as the phone rang in his ear, "You can't just run up to.. ah hell." Nate picked up on the other side, "She's here, her and the dad, and dammit if Parker's not going up to them." He could feel Nate's sigh before he even heard it. "We're almost there," Nate promised before disconnecting.
"Sandy!" Parker called out happily as she bounded over to the girl and her wayward father. Sandy looked up in confusion but quickly plastered a smile on her face, thankful for any interruption.
"Hi!" She replied enthusiastically, pulling away from her father to give Parker a tight hug.
"Who is this?" The man turned to Parker suspiciously, "You're too old to go to high school."
"Kristen is my English tutor," Sandy provided, relieved when Parker nodded enthusiastically, "Sandy's doing great! It helps that she speaks English, of course." Sandy looked at her oddly, but said nothing.
The father seemed to relax, "That's great, but Sandy and I need to get going now. We've got a flight to catch."
"Oh?" Parker feigned sadness, "Are you going on vacation? I'll miss you!"
Her father's hand back around her wrist, Sandy answered in a strained voice, "Yes. We're going to Florida on vacation. It's going to be fun."
"Just me and my little girl," the father smiled oily, releasing her wrist and slinging an arm around Sandy's shoulder. The girl's disgusted shudder was hardly noticeable but Parker noticed those types of things.
"Stall, Parker, stall," Nate's voice rang in her head as he came back into comm range.
"But you were supposed to help me pick out new earrings!" Parker exclaimed, still bouncing slightly. She looked to the father, "Please can Sandy just help me pick out one pair before you go? Look, Claire's is right there," she pointed to the store behind them, "It'll only take a few minutes."
"Please?" Sandy repeated, looking up at her father with the sweetest look she could manage in the circumstance, "Please, daddy? Before we leave."
He sighed, "Fine, but only one pair. And make it quick. I'll wait right outside the store."
Sandy breathed deep before flinging her arms around her father's neck, "Thank you Daddy!"
With that, Sandy and Parker walked normally into the story, going to one of the earring racks.
"Look at this stuff! Isn't it neat?" Parker said just loudly enough for the father to hear before turning so he couldn't see her face, which dropped its peppy façade.
Sandy smiled widely for effect, "Who are you?" she asked in a harsh whisper, "Did my mother send you?"
"Parker. And yes." Parker answered succinctly, "We're here to rescue you," she added.
"Well whatcha waiting for?!" Sandy couldn't help the slight panic to her voice.
"Backup," Parker admitted, holding up a pair of earrings to her ear, still smiling. Sandy looked more worried than before, so Parker tried to console her, "Don't worry. You'll be ok. I'll stand by you. Won't let nobody hurt you."
Sandy smiled at her, genuinely this time, "You talk funny, but I believe you."
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The man never saw Eliot coming, as is often the case. All he knew was that he suddenly found himself unable to move away from the strong arm that slung across his shoulder, and unable to escape the low voice that growled in his ear, promising all sorts of pain if he made a scene. They made it to the deserted parking lot before the man had a surge of adrenalin, and pushed his way out of Eliot's grasp. Eliot just chuckled, he did love his job sometimes. He stood back, and raised his hand in a beckoning motion.
"Come on," he dared the man, leaving himself wide open to a shot. Stupidly, the man took the opportunity and lunged at Eliot. He was on the ground before he could blink, clutching his gut where Eliot had socked him. Groaning in pain, he tried to sit up before groaning again and slinking back to the ground.
Eliot sighed, giving the man a light kick, "Well, you're no fun." He pressed his foot atop the man's back, holding him down steady.
"She's a good girl," he sneered at the man, "Loves her mama." Eliot pressed down harder as the man bucked beneath him, "She'd never go with you willingly. But then you knew that, didn't you?" The man groaned again, making Eliot smile just a little bit, "Stupid boy. You always had to be right didn't you? Well look where that got you?"
Eliot reached down and dragged the man up, pulling him to his feet and pushing him towards the waiting car, "You should've been gone," he said quietly, "Those girls are better off with no father than as asshole like you."
"I love my children," he protested weakly, not fighting to run anymore.
Eliot snorted, "Well isn't that ironic? You love them so much you'd go and steal one of them. You don't love those girls, you love being in control. Well, buddy, have fun in prison."
They reached the car and Eliot shoved the man into it with more force than was technically necessary, but it felt good. Nate and Sophie looked on in amusement from the front. Eliot got in beside the man, who immediately flung himself as far as possible from the hitter, squishing against the door.
"Buckle up," Eliot warned him, "Just in case. Wouldn't want you getting hurt before we drop you off at the police station." He smiled sadistically at the man, who whimpered slightly as he buckled his seat belt.
"Why the hell did you bring a girl you were trying to kidnap to the mall anyway?" Eliot asked the cowering man, surprised anybody could be that stupid.
"She wanted a new bathing suit," he responded, "And it's warm where we're going, so I told her that of course her Daddy would buy her anything she wanted. She was really happy for the trip after that. She loves me."
Eliot gave him a disgusted look, "You're delusional." The man just pushed closer to the door.
"All clear," Eliot spoke into the comm., and the man found himself wondering who the hell he was talking to, even as they drove off.
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Hardison slipped into Claire's, where Parker and Sandy were still looking at jewelry. He stopped to watch for a minute, loving the joy on Parker's face as the girls appeared to be having genuine fun. Realizing he was a tall black man in a store for teenage girls, he quickly walked over to Parker and nudged her into attention.
"We're all set. The guy's on his way to the cops now." Parker smiled at Sandy, "See? Told you it'd be ok."
Sandy smiled up at Hardison, "He's really gone?"
"Absolutely. Me and Parker are gonna take you home now," he smiled back.
Sandy appraised Parker, "Hmm, Parker. Much better than Kristen. It suits you."
"Thanks, I think," Parker responded, laughing slightly.
Hardison made a "let's go," motion, heading towards the exit.
"Can we have a few minutes?" Sandy asked, "we still didn't get Parker any earrings."
"I don't really need earrings," Parker interjected, stage whispering, "That was part of the plan."
Sandy laughed, "I know, but I think you need some pretty earrings, please?"
Hardison just raised his arms, "Who am I to argue with girls? I'll be outside waiting."
As soon as he walked out, Sandy turned on Parker with a coy smile, "He's cute."
Parker looked startled, unsure of what had just happened, "Who? Hardison?"
Sandy rolled her eyes, "Well, yeah. Are you two like, a thing?"
"No!" Parker objected, sighing, "I don't know, it's complicated."
"What about love?" Sandy questioned with that dreamy eyed look teenage girls get.
"What about it?" Parker asked in response.
"Don't you want someone to care about you?" Sandy urged, nodding toward the direction Hardison went, "Any fool can see you two have some tension going on. What about love?"
"So what about love?" Parker asked, frustrated, ignoring the comment about tension and caring and all that stuff she wasn't ready to face.
"Don't let it slip away," Sandy cautioned, "You might need it someday.
"I.." Parker began, unsure of what to say.
"I know I'm just a kid," Sandy admitted, "But I'm not stupid and I'm not blind, and that guy loves you, clear as day," she reached out to grab a pair of dangling faux emerald earrings, "Here, these are pretty."
Parker was startled again by the abrupt subject change, but was glad Sandy seemed to have dropped the whole love thing. Grinning, Parker took the earrings and paid for them, even though it hurt her on the inside; knowing she shouldn't steal in front of the impressionable youth.
They walked arm and arm out of the store, gathering Hardison on the way to the car. It was time to go home.
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"Sandy!" Ms. Penney's voice rang out loudly even over the noise of the interstate their house was near.
"Mama!" Sandy called back, uncaring how she appeared, she was happy to see her mother.
She threw herself at her mother in such a tight hug that they nearly fell to the ground, but her mother had raised three children, she was used to standing strong.
Unable to stop sobbing, Sandy let her mother mumble soothing words as she hugged her tightly. Soon, she felt more arms around her as her sisters raced from the house to join the hug, squeezing her tightly.
"I wanna stay here in this moment," Sandy confessed, taking comfort from her family, "I love you guys so much."
"Love you too, babygirl, love you too," Ms. Penney's voice caught with emotion, but she fought through it. Her daughter was home again.
The team watched from the curb, giving the family their reunion before approaching them.
"Anybody else notice the amount of jobs we've had dealing with bad dads lately?" Hardison asked as he thought about it.
"Now that you mention it," Nate agreed.
"Maybe it's something in the water?" Sophie suggested, smiling as she watched Parker watch the family's exchange.
"Hey, I love that dirty water!" Nate protested, "Boston, it's my home."
"Ours too," Parker pulled her gaze away from the scene, "Our home now too, I guess." She repeated.
"Damn straight," Hardison agreed, squeezing her hand quickly, relieved when she didn't pull away.
The family finally stopped hugging and Sandy looked over at them beseechingly. Nate and Sophie moved towards them, followed by Eliot a beat later, leaving Hardison and Parker still leaning against the car.
"We should go," Hardison nodded towards the others, "I'm sure Sandy's gonna want to hug you a few more times." He smiled fondly at her.
"Ok," Parker agreed. "And I won't," she added, seemingly out of nowhere.
Hardison cocked his head, "Won't what?"
"Tell you to leave." She smiled almost shyly at him, "Even though one day you might just have to let me go. I told you, I'm no good for you."
Hardison's grin was so wide it must have hurt, "Let me go. Wherever you go, take me with you."
"I'm not going anywhere," Parker gave him a lopsided grin before running towards Sandy who did in fact want to hug her a few more times.
Hardison watched her go, shaking his head, torn between amusement and frustration. Something he was all too familiar with Parker. Laughing to himself at the annoying pop music that invaded his head as he stood there, he couldn't help but feel it was all too descriptive of him and Parker.
He began singing along to the radio in his head quietly as he made his way to the others, "I don't care who you are, where you're from, what you did, as long as you love me."
THE END
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Why, yes I did write random song lyrics as dialogue fic. My brain is clearly broken. :D