Distractions

Eliot, Hardison and Parker were sat in the bar having a drink after and a laugh after a conn, Sophie had gone home to get changed but would be back soon. It had been a stressful day, Nate had been captured and hit a little bit, Eliot had been hit a lot in many places, Parker had almost been killed by a security system, the marker had gotten wise to hem and had scrambled of computers and coms leaving Hardison completely in the dark and it had only been thanks to some very skilful grifting on Sophie's part that they had managed to pull it all off. All in all it had seemed like anything that could have gone wrong went wrong and so they had decided to spend the night unwinding in the bar, all of them except that it Nate. He was upstairs, still working.

"I don't get how he can work so much and not get bored" Hardison said sipping his drink

"Cause that's his thing, he" Eliot paused not sure how to finish that sentence, truth be told he had no idea how Nate kept up his focus on work.

"I don't think I've ever think I've ever seen a guy that focused on his work" Parker said

"I have" Eliot said

"Who?"

"Soldiers" he paused "And terrorists"

"Should I be concerned about working for a guy who is as focused on his mission as a terrorist?"

Eliot just looked at him.

"You know what? 20$ say's that I could distract him" Hardison said confidently

"Alright" Eliot said

"I'm in"

"Whoever gets him to stop working gets the money"

"Ok" Hardison said standing up "I will see you all in no time"

He left them and walked up stairs. He stopped in front of the door and rolling back and forth on his feet and shaking himself of he said quietly "Come on get your game face on"

He opened the door and went inside, Nate continued working as if nothing had happened. He was sat at the table looking at a whole host of papers. Hardison crossed the room and sat opposite Nate and was about to speak when Nate cut him off without looking up

"I would have thought that you'd be down stairs relaxing with" He paused "The others"

"Umm… yeah that's what I wanted to talk to you about"

He continued working and said "Shouldn't be asking Sophie"

"Err… it's um… a, a guy problem" He wanted to kick himself.

"Then talk to Eliot"

"But I… err… need to talk to you"

"Hardison" he was still almost entirely focused on his work

"Yes?"

"Do you really want advice from a man who thought out his youth was unable to keep a girlfriend for more than a month, was divorced by his wife and is now with a woman whose name I don't even know?"

"Err… Yes. Yes I do"

"Why are you wasting your time up here with me when you could down there with her? Is my company really worth as much as Parkers to you?"

"No I-"

"Then go be with her, the one thing I do know about relationships is that if you don't spend time with them it all falls apart. Unless that's what you want"

"No! Hell no" He seemed slightly angry at the accusation.

"Then go"

He stood up and left the room quickly and practically ran down stairs and was back in the bar before he realised what had happened "How in the hell" he muttered he ambled back to the table. Sophie had joined them and when Eliot spotted him he started laughing "Couldn't think of what to say?"

Hardison sat down and dropped his head on to the table as the full horror of what he had said hit him "I started talking about and I quote guy problems"

"Guy problems? That was your approach? Seriously?"

"I don't know" Sophie said laughing at him "If people try to talk to him about their personal problems he normal freezes. Unless they involve some huge bad guy, how did he get you to leave any way?"

"I'm not really sure" he ran the conversation over in his mind and glanced at Parker "I got distracted"

Sophie and Eliot laughed at him, as Parker stood up saying "my turn"

"Sophie you in on the bet?"

"Yes"

Parker practically booked out of the room and up to the stairs but the moment she stepped into the room Nate pressed a button on the clicker and a rare artefact appeared on the screen.

"Ooh" was all parker had time to say before he spoke.

"It ships out tomorrow, and is being stored at the Boston art Gallery, it's owned by the CEO of a very nasty finical corporation" He paused "Well what are you waiting for? Go knock 'em dead"

She was about to leave when he said "And Parker?"

"Yes?" She turned to look at him, and was grinning ear to ear in anticipation.

"Take Hardison"

"Right"

She practical bounced back into the bar still grinning and grabbed Hardison's arm and began to pull.

"Did you get him to stop working?" Eliot asked a little confused.

"nope, got distracted" She pulled Hardison to his feet "Come on"

He just had time to grab his coat as she pulled him away "Girl where we going?"

"To steal a thing"

They watched with some amusement as Parker dragged Hardison away and ignored all of his attempts to find out where they were going.

Eliot looked back at Sophie and said "Well he played them both like fool's"

"You think you can do better?"

"For 20$ from each of you, yeah I think I can"

"Go on then"

He finished his drink and stood up, and left the bar. He knew he wasn't as good with words as Sophie, but if he could distract him before he got distracted himself then he would win the bet. If worse came to worse he would just punch Nate. But as he opened the door Nate spoke before he could do anything.

"There 100$ in singles, knock yourself out"

It was one of the easiest decisions he had ever made. He took the wade of notes and left without a word. H re-entered the bar and walked over to Sophie and grabbed his coat.

"Did he distract you too?"

"Yep"

"Well that makes it my turn, come up in ohh I'd say ten minutes and I guarantee he won't be down stairs"

She walked up stairs confidently a slight smile on her face. When she entered the room he was still sat working bent over his papers. She walked over to him smiling seductively. She stood behind him and leaning over his shoulder on the pretence of reading his papers said "I never knew you were so good at distracting people"

He striated up, leaning back slightly "It's one of my talents"

She kissed his jaw and ran one of her hands up and down his chest while undoing the buttons of his shirt with the other. He closed his eyes and leaned into her. It took less than a minute to undo his shirt. He slid it off and rose turning to face, she kissed him as she began to lead him toward the stairs, stepping easily out of her heels. They disappeared up stairs to the bedroom.

Eliot gave it the ten minutes she had said before heading up stairs, when he went in to the apartment he sore the shirt that Nate had been wearing discarded on the floor as well as a pair of heels he was sure Sophie had been wearing. Deciding not to investigate further he stepped back out into the little hallway thinking that if everyone else was having a good night he might as well put the hundred signals to good use.

THE END